Stand in Faith

When we go to the shops to buy food, there are often varieties of fruit or vegetables to choose from.  The fruit that is presented in the shop has already been whittled down by the pickers and the shop to present the best quality options.  Sometimes I have observed the fruit to be fresh and abundant, and other times it is hard to find a single apple that does not appeared damaged, soft or mouldy.  I try not to touch any fruit or vegetable I do not plan to buy, so I take a good look before I pick up each piece and place it in the bag.  Buying quality meat also requires discernment, for I take note of the cut of meat, the portion itself and the marbling.

Since my dad was a carpenter, I learned the importance of looking at the grain of wood and sighting it to ensure the timber was not warped by the process of drying or storage.  The lumber that is twisted and is full of knots is set aside, and it may require digging far into the stack of wood before pieces worthy of purchase are found.  Not all apples are good ones, and not every 2 X 4 is remotely straight.  I was reminded by this when I considered the word of God spoken to the prophet in Jeremiah 15:19:  "Therefore thus says the LORD: "If you return, then I will bring you back; you shall stand before Me; if you take out the precious from the vile, you shall be as My mouth. Let them return to you, but you must not return to them."  Jeremiah was a man who feared God among many who were unfaithful to Him.  There were many lies spoken as the "word of the LORD" that were imaginations of sinful hearts.  God exhorted Jeremiah to be discerning to take out the precious from the vile--to single out the truth of God's word, to believe and proclaim God's wisdom in a current of falsehood and deceit.

In the passage of Scripture preceding God's command, Jeremiah wondered why his pain was perpetual.  He questioned if God had lied to him and become as a stream that failed.  Giving space to these doubts and accusations against God who is revealed as good and righteous caused Jeremiah to wander from Him.  Thus God urged Jeremiah to return to Him, to repent of entertaining the possibility God deceives people, fails to keep His word or is incapable of helping the wounded soul.  Jeremiah was not to return to those who spouted such lies, and if he took out the precious from the vile would be restored as God's mouth.  In speaking forth divine truth, those who trusted and feared God would be drawn to Jeremiah to heed the word of the LORD.  This is a good reminder for all God's people, for we have unclean lips among a people of unclean lips.  There were many in Jeremiah's day who claimed to speak for God, but their words were vile in God's sight.  Let us be those who look to God and His word in a sea of deceit, gathering His truth, proclaiming and submitting to it day after day.

God promised if Jeremiah returned God would bring Him back and stand before Him, and we are called to stand--having done all our LORD has commanded.  Having been born again and filled with the Holy Spirit, we need God to help us stand when the wind howls and the fiery arrows fall like a wave upon our position.  The shield of faith has no trouble at all to deflect and extinguish every arrow expertly aimed at us by our adversary.  Praise God for His protection and His promises, for He is faithful.

Tried and Found Faithful

One of the more well-known quotes from G.K. Chesterton about Christianity is, "The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting.  It has been found difficult; and left untried."  (Chesterton, G. K. What’s Wrong with the World. Ignatius Press, 1994. page 37)  Following Jesus Christ is no guarantee of an easy life, but all who are in Jesus know He is the Life!  Those who trust and love Jesus shall not want, for He is our Good Shepherd.  Just because we follow Jesus, however, does not mean we are always willing to follow His word when the world and our experience leads us differently.

It can be difficult to submit to God's word and obey Him because it is not our natural inclination.  It requires faith for us to trust and obey God when it comes to the administration of discipline, whether it be in the church or with our own children.  Recently I was in a conversation when we discussed the few times we had ever observed church discipline administered as Jesus taught in Matthew 18.  Paul's 1st and 2nd letters to the Corinthian church illustrate how Christians can swing like a pendulum to extremes:  first Paul rebuked the church for allowing blatant sin to be accepted among them, and then Paul had to exhort the church to receive the man who repented of sin and to affirm their love for him.  Every Christian is a sinner and we can be easily offended, yet we are not always willing to put Christ's commands into practice.

Jesus taught His disciples in Matthew 18:15-17:  "Moreover if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother. ¹⁶ But if he will not hear, take with you one or two more, that 'by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.' ¹⁷ And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church. But if he refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector."  For every time church leadership has failed to discipline an openly sinning member, there are likely many more times believers have told others or the church how others are at fault--rather than going to the offender personally alone because it was difficult.  This is how the Pharisees operated:  when Jesus did something that offended them they spoke to His disciples about it, and when the disciples offended them they complained to Jesus.  Brothers and sisters, let us not follow their example but Christ's commands.

The individual member who obeys Christ to go to their brother who sins against him with the aim of restoration and edification is the first step to implement church discipline.  Going to a brother and humbly confessing he has sinned against me is a difficult thing that requires faith in Jesus marked by obedience.  I exhort you, fellow Christian, lay aside any protests and doubts it will not produce your desired effect!  Could it be the LORD is testing you to see if you will obey Him or not?  When we want other people to admit wrong or change their ways, it could be the LORD is using them as His instrument to further refine your faith and obedience.  There have been a handful of times people have been obedient to God to confess I had sinned against them, and their obedience to Christ resulted in great blessing by His grace.  We trust Jesus to provide forgiveness and eternal life:  how about trusting Jesus to obey Him when it is difficult?  Try Him, for those who trust and obey Jesus shall not want.  He is faithful.

United We Stand

"Unless the LORD builds the house, they labour in vain who build it; unless the LORD guards the city, the watchman stays awake in vain."

Psalm 127:1

I love the unflinching, unapologetic objectivity of God's word.  The almighty God who created all things and stands eternal supreme over all simply says how it is.  People can reject it, scorn or deride it; they can oppose it and rail against what they claim is unfair or incorrect, yet it stands unmoved and in full force.  This verse from Psalm 127 shows how dependant God's people ought to be on Him to help us do things we see as our right and responsibility.  Having purchased land and obtaining permits to build, we view it as our legal right to do.  Because there are thieves and enemies who would do us harm we set a guard over our cities and households.  But unless the LORD does the work and is with us, all our efforts will be in vain.  We won't be capable of perceiving or averting impending disaster even if we remain sleepless and vigilant.

Before Jerusalem was taken by king David, it was a city of the Jebusites who boasted that it was impregnable.  They taunted David by saying he could not take the city, and even the blind and lame would prevent him and his men.  With God's help the city fell almost without a fight, for Joab and his men crawled up a water shaft or gutter and opened the gate from the inside.  Fast-forward to the days of Jeremiah and the children of Israel did not look to God to save them, for they looked to an arm of flesh--the army of Egypt--to deter the Babylonian army.  God addressed His people in Jeremiah 37:9-10: "Thus says the LORD: 'Do not deceive yourselves, saying, "The Chaldeans will surely depart from us," for they will not depart. ¹⁰ For though you had defeated the whole army of the Chaldeans who fight against you, and there remained only wounded men among them, they would rise up, every man in his tent, and burn the city with fire.'"

The Israelites looked to their allies for help and the temple of the LORD like one who takes comfort in a "good luck" charm, but God told them not to be deceived:  even if the whole army had been destroyed and all that remained were wounded men, they would rise up and destroy Jerusalem.  In time God's word came to pass, for the Babylonian army returned, laid siege to the city, starved out the people and made it a ruin.  Without God's help and protection, Jerusalem could not stand.  Sounding the alarm and monitoring enemy movements did nothing to prevent the destruction that came upon those who departed from God and trusted in themselves and their allies.  What was fleshed out concerning the Jebusites and Israelites is true regarding our need for God in our marriages, families, churches, cities and nations.  Paul's warning in 1 Corinthians 10:12 is appropriate for God's people to consider:  "Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall."

As I observe troubles in this world and polarisation of people in my homeland that is quite beyond comprehension, the words of Patrick Henry in his final public address echo to this day:  "Let us trust God and our better judgment to set us right hereafter.  United we stand, divided we fall. Let us not split into factions which must destroy that union upon which our existence hangs."  What is to be done when people depart from God?  Draw closer to Him yourself:  seek His face, obey His voice, and as much as depends upon you live peaceably as you intercede in prayer on behalf of those who are spiritually blind rather than castigating them.  Unless the LORD builds the house we labour in vain who build, and no ideology, government, allies or humanist philosophy is capable of saving us from ourselves.  Union with God is paramount for God's people, and praise the LORD nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.

No Bad Days!

Growing up and living in San Diego, there was a graphic I saw occasionally on a t-shirt or stickers on the back of a car or van window.  With palm trees in the background, it said:  "No Bad Days."  The vibe reminds me a little of another bumper sticker that basically said, "A bad day fishing is better than a good day at work."  The implication of both these statements is the difference between a good and bad day is  based on geography and activity.  A day at the beach is a good day, while a day in the office is not a good one.  This view on the goodness of days can also be applied to what happens on a given day.  Many times people say they have had a bad day or year because of what transpired during it.

Scripture provides a different lens to view days and years--as gifts from God which in themselves are good because He is.  Psalm 118:24 has been made into a song we used to sing in Sunday School:  "This is the day the LORD has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it."  A company can have a "bad year" from a financial standpoint and bad things can even happen at the beach, yet the day itself and the time God has given us to see it and survive it are good things.  Even when our lives be required of us on a particular date or time and we breathe our last, the day not need be marred in our memory.  By faith in God who is the giver of all good gifts we can distinguish between the tragedy and the day God has given we ought to rejoice in.

As Christians, we can adhere to the view of "no bad day" when there are no palm trees in the background because the goodness of the day does not depend on what we have planned, where we are going, or what we are doing.  I have gone fishing on days that from a fisherman's standpoint were "bad" days for fishing, when the conditions were extreme and no fish were biting.  I remember once our family made the long drive to Lake Cuyamaca and we froze as the wind whipped and the rain drizzled down.  Though my dad had paid for our permits to fish, after about an hour we packed up and he drove us to town where we had a delicious breakfast in a warm cafe.  How grateful we were for the food and warmth!  We went to the Cuyamaca mountains unprepared for the cold and wet, and this made the unexpected pleasure of warming up and eating pancakes a special treat.

If only our gratitude for God would be stirred up to such a degree for the goodness God shows us every day!  Seeing every day as a gift from God helps us never take a day from granted.  Every day is divinely ordained opportunity to see God's goodness as David sang in Psalm 27:13:  "I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living."  Master Oogway in Kung Fu Panda had some wacky ideas, but he was right to say:  "Today is a gift--that's why it is called the present."  Gifts are given by someone, and every good gift--today included--is given by God (James 1:17).