Are you serious, I inwardly groaned. How many times in baking have I put in tablespoons instead of teaspoons? I suppose that's not as bad as cups for tablespoons, but it pretty much sabotages whatever is being baked. This morning I was making crepes for the family and only after piling 4 tablespoons of sugar on 2 cups of white flour did I realised my error. At that moment I faced a decision bakers and chefs from the beginning of time have been forced to answer: do I try to salvage the dish or just chuck it all and start over? Many times I have been able to salvage the dish by carefully removing the extra bi-carb or cream of tartar. But not this time. I dumped the lot into the bin and started over.
When we make mistakes, that is the right course of action. If we make a mistake and hope nobody notices, our salvage attempts often produce a poor result. It is far better to admit our mistakes freely, apologise genuinely, and humbly start over. This humbling process begins with us confessing our sin before God. We like to term mistakes like the aforementioned as "honest mistakes," meaning there was no malice in our hearts beforehand. In actuality it would be better to call such an error a careless mistake. Had I double checked the amounts and measured carefully, the mistake could have easily been avoided. Whether or not I had evil intentions when I poured the ingredients didn't change the fact I had loaded the bowl with almost four times more sugar than what the recipe called for! If my family can notice slight differences in texture and taste from one batch of pancakes or crepes from the last, won't God notice when I try to hide my flaws by my secret salvage attempts?
Repentance is a beautiful gift from God. It allows sinners like me to have a fresh start. God put in His law provisions for imperfection. Through sacrifice, atonement could be made for the sins of people. God knows we will make mistakes. Jesus loves sinners, and proved it by dying on the cross for the sins of His enemies. It was liberating to throw away the contaminated flour and start over. I didn't have to worry about the taste being off or the ingredients sticking to the pan. I didn't have to go through the process of spending an hour cooking the crepes only to discover they were inedible. All the worry, preoccupation, and irritation of making a stupid mistake was over because I started over fresh! When we have made a mistake, let us be quick to admit it and start over with a new beginning offered us by God's grace. What joy and peace is ours when we quit trying to salvage our mistakes and begin afresh!
06 December 2013
04 December 2013
No Love, No Justice
Last night I started thinking about the legal systems of this world. It seems to me the blindfold has fallen from the eyes of Justice, and her scales are a false balance. I have not studied law, nor am I a solicitor or judge. But I have studied the character of God and the divine law He instituted. When we examine God through scripture, we see Him as the perfect Lawgiver and Judge of all. He is the ideal. He is by nature wholly righteous, just, loving, and good. And this is where the legal systems of the world have lost the plot: law today has become the means to an end rather than a means to God's end. Justice according to God's standard is no longer the point. Legal wranglings are all about knowing the system, interpreting law according to precedent, and at times even using law to legally do what is by nature unlawful. Courtrooms have become a place of pride-fueled entanglements with the combatants not wielding swords and nets, but carefully crafted arguments to damage reputations and ensnare people in their own words. Making other people look bad makes others seem better, and paid experts brandish opposite opinions using the same evidence. Winning is more important than truth because truth is debatable.
There are many factors that have led to the breaking away of the legal system in America from the love of God and biblical truth to the relativistic slough it has become. John Jay, the first Supreme Court Justice said, "It appears to me that the gospel not only recognizes the whole moral law, and extends and perfects our knowledge of it, but also enjoins on all mankind the observance of it." Because God is just, without an intimate knowledge of God how can a man truly understand justice? Then it struck me: God's justice and love are inseparable. He is loving and just, just and loving. His love does not spring from pity and His justice does not grow out of pride. Apart from the love of God, there can be no justice. This was an amazing concept indeed! Is there any place for the love of God in our courtrooms? Is there room for mercy, grace, and absolute truth? Without being born again through the Gospel, a man can only be selfish, proud, and unjust. He cannot love as God loves or judge with righteous judgment.
From this biblical perspective therefore, the courts of the world who deny the existence of God and the truth of His Word are breeding grounds of injustice. Jesus railed against such in Luke 11:52: "Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge. You did not enter in yourselves, and those who were entering in you hindered." Are the lawyers or solicitors the problem? No. They are not different than any other person who goes through life in an unregenerate state. The problem Jesus had with the lawyers He rebuked was their hypocrisy. They made law so convoluted that the common man could not understand it properly. It was not that the law needed to be so complex, but such a maze had been created that the lawyers hindered people from entering into godly knowledge. The path of righteousness and justice they were to lead people through became so muddled and confusing they did not even bother to enter it themselves! Justice could wink at sin if you filled her scales from behind her back.
The trouble is not just in courts, government, schools, or special interest groups: the trouble resides in every single human heart because of sin. The Law was a schoolmaster to show us our great sin and lead us by the hand to salvation through Jesus Christ. He is the Judge of the living and the dead, and God has proved His authority through raising Him from the dead. In Him love and justice come together in perfect harmony. Our walk with Christ is not one according to outward conformity, but through inner transformation by the Holy Spirit. God is righteous and just, and Jesus speaks peace to all who will bow before Him. Psalm 85:8-13 reads, "I will hear what God the LORD will speak, for He will speak peace to His people and to His saints; but let them not turn back to folly. 9 Surely His salvation is near to those who fear Him, that glory may dwell in our land. 10 Mercy and truth have met together; righteousness and peace have kissed. 11 Truth shall spring out of the earth, and righteousness shall look down from heaven. 12 Yes, the LORD will give what is good; and our land will yield its increase. 13 Righteousness will go before Him, and shall make His footsteps our pathway."
There are many factors that have led to the breaking away of the legal system in America from the love of God and biblical truth to the relativistic slough it has become. John Jay, the first Supreme Court Justice said, "It appears to me that the gospel not only recognizes the whole moral law, and extends and perfects our knowledge of it, but also enjoins on all mankind the observance of it." Because God is just, without an intimate knowledge of God how can a man truly understand justice? Then it struck me: God's justice and love are inseparable. He is loving and just, just and loving. His love does not spring from pity and His justice does not grow out of pride. Apart from the love of God, there can be no justice. This was an amazing concept indeed! Is there any place for the love of God in our courtrooms? Is there room for mercy, grace, and absolute truth? Without being born again through the Gospel, a man can only be selfish, proud, and unjust. He cannot love as God loves or judge with righteous judgment.
From this biblical perspective therefore, the courts of the world who deny the existence of God and the truth of His Word are breeding grounds of injustice. Jesus railed against such in Luke 11:52: "Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge. You did not enter in yourselves, and those who were entering in you hindered." Are the lawyers or solicitors the problem? No. They are not different than any other person who goes through life in an unregenerate state. The problem Jesus had with the lawyers He rebuked was their hypocrisy. They made law so convoluted that the common man could not understand it properly. It was not that the law needed to be so complex, but such a maze had been created that the lawyers hindered people from entering into godly knowledge. The path of righteousness and justice they were to lead people through became so muddled and confusing they did not even bother to enter it themselves! Justice could wink at sin if you filled her scales from behind her back.
The trouble is not just in courts, government, schools, or special interest groups: the trouble resides in every single human heart because of sin. The Law was a schoolmaster to show us our great sin and lead us by the hand to salvation through Jesus Christ. He is the Judge of the living and the dead, and God has proved His authority through raising Him from the dead. In Him love and justice come together in perfect harmony. Our walk with Christ is not one according to outward conformity, but through inner transformation by the Holy Spirit. God is righteous and just, and Jesus speaks peace to all who will bow before Him. Psalm 85:8-13 reads, "I will hear what God the LORD will speak, for He will speak peace to His people and to His saints; but let them not turn back to folly. 9 Surely His salvation is near to those who fear Him, that glory may dwell in our land. 10 Mercy and truth have met together; righteousness and peace have kissed. 11 Truth shall spring out of the earth, and righteousness shall look down from heaven. 12 Yes, the LORD will give what is good; and our land will yield its increase. 13 Righteousness will go before Him, and shall make His footsteps our pathway."
03 December 2013
Life Observations of Pastor Bill Wilson
Our recent move has forced me to go through files and paperwork. Most of what I find is junk, but I did come across notes I took during a session taught by Pastor Bill Wilson of Metro World Child. He is a dynamic communicator with a heart to reach children with the power of the Gospel all over the world by meeting spiritual and physical needs. Some might find his style at times a bit gruff or abrasive, but I appreciate his perspective because it comes from a man who loves deeply. He is a man who has experienced a lot of tough stuff, yet God has brought him through stronger still. Here are some of thought-provoking proverbs he shared during that fireside chat many years ago:
- Everybody wants to walk on water but they won't get out of the boat.
- Whatever it takes!
- Some preachers love crowds and hate people.
- Don't wait to get knocked off a donkey.
- Your commitment must be stronger than your emotions.
- Happy hinges on what happens.
- If Jesus shows up and wants fruit, you better have it.
- What makes me angry is what God will use to change me.
- Everything in life is designed to make you quit.
- If you don't have it, you don't need it. Hone and develop what you have.
- Never discuss your problem with someone incapable of solving it.
- You don't decide on what your ministry is supposed to be: you discover it.
- When everyone thinks the same no one thinks much.
- Everything is just like church.
- Be faithful in the small things.
- If you do what you know, you know what to do.
- If you want something you've never had before, you have to do something you have never done before.
02 December 2013
The Importance of Attitude
Our attitude is a God-given looking glass into our hearts. Attitude is an insightful tool, a gauge discerning Christians can utilise to discover whether we are walking in God's truth or according to the flesh. We use thermostats to regulate the temperature of conditioned air, a thermometer to discern if meat is cooked through, and moisture gauges to measure the dampness of a room. Our bodies are designed by God to function at an optimal temperature, and it is not difficult to discern if we are sick if we will submit to taking our temperature. The instrument spells out the proof, whether we think or feel like we have a fever or not. Yet when it comes to spiritual health, things are not so clear cut. Many times in my own life I thought I was spiritually healthy and robust when I was suffering from the equivalent of walking pneumonia. Examining my attitude and motives according to God's Word was the way that God drove home the reality that I was gravely ill from a spiritually vantage point. The danger of not immediately seeking God to treat our spiritual sickness is we unwittingly open ourselves up for all manner of error.
A.W. Tozer wrote a most useful book called The Dwelling Place of God. He introduces the subject in the following manner: "These are the times that try men's souls. The Spirit has spoken expressly that in the latter times some should depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons; speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron. Those days are upon us and we cannot escape them; we must triumph in the midst of them, for such is the will of God concerning us. Strange as it may seem, the danger today is greater for the fervent Christian than for the lukewarm and the self-satisfied. The seeker after God's best things is eager to hear anyone who offers a way by which he can obtain them. He longs for some new experience, some elevated view of truth, some operation of the Spirit that will raise him above the dead level of religious mediocrity he sees all around him, and for this reason he is ready to give a sympathetic ear to the new and the wonderful in religion, particularly if it is presented by someone with an attractive personality and a reputation for superior godliness. Now our Lord Jesus. that great Shepherd of the sheep, has not left His flock to the mercy of the wolves. He has given us the Scriptures, the Holy Spirit and natural powers of observation, and He expects us to avail ourselves of their help constantly. "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good," said Paul (I Thess. 5:21) . "Beloved, believe not every spirit," wrote John, "but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world" (I John 4:1) . "Beware of false prophets," our Lord warned, "which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves" (Matt. 7:15). Then He added the word by which they may be tested, "Ye shall know them by their fruits."
Tozer suggests a series of useful questions intended to cause us to examine our attitude. Instead of judging others, we are to make our own attitudes the focus of this examination, for ours is the only attitude we can do anything about. Does this teaching or experience make Christ more indispensable? How has this new doctrine or emphasis changed my attitude towards God or others? Is it drawing me towards God or leading me away? He writes, "Briefly stated the test is this: This new doctrine, this new religious habit, this new view of truth, this new spiritual experience has it affected my attitude toward and my relation to God, Christ, the Holy Scriptures, self, other Christians, the world and sin. By this sevenfold test we may prove everything religious and know beyond a doubt whether it is of God or not. By the fruit of the tree we know the kind of tree it is. So we have but to ask about any doctrine or experience, What is this doing to me? and we know immediately whether it is from above or from below."
One question that especially hit me as true is one concerning our view of others. Again, quoting from Tozer's book: "Our relation to and our attitude toward our fellow Christians is another accurate test of religious experience. Sometimes an earnest Christian will, after some remarkable spiritual encounter, withdraw himself from his fellow believers and develop a spirit of faultfinding. He may be honestly convinced that his experience is superior, that he is now in an advanced state of grace, and that the hoi polloi in the church where he attends are but a mixed multitude and he alone a true son of Israel." Man, that really hit home for me. I remember going through seasons of spiritual growth when it seemed at every turn God revealed himself to me. But due to my immaturity I suffered from a serious case of "plank-eye" syndrome for some time! Once I was broken for my sin, I was able to see I had fallen into the trap of projecting my sins upon others. I had issues submitting wholly to God and His rule, and therefore was unwilling to yield completely to authority He placed in my life. When we begin to feel like Elijah - who thought he must be the only one still loyal to God - by His grace God will open our eyes to reveal that He has thousands who have never bowed the knee to Ba'al. God corrects our misconceptions if we will listen to Him.
Attitude is huge. We can be very right with our facts, but at the same time our attitude can be all wrong. God is teaching me to examine my attitudes and motives in everything I do. Am I afraid? Why am I worrying about this or that? Have I become envious or unsettled? Am I hoping for praise from men or am I fully resting in obedience to God? Am I experiencing the joy of the LORD despite trials of faith? Am I glad to substitute anything for reliance upon Christ and His Word? Praise the LORD that He gives us wisdom through the Holy Spirit to know if we are walking according to the Spirit or in the flesh. God has given every man a conscience that agrees with His Law, and the indwelling Holy Spirit to guide us into all truth. Attitude is a valuable tool to gauge where I am with my walk with Christ. When I see the fruit of the Spirit evident as I walk in love according to God's grace, I can know I am heading on the right track!
A.W. Tozer wrote a most useful book called The Dwelling Place of God. He introduces the subject in the following manner: "These are the times that try men's souls. The Spirit has spoken expressly that in the latter times some should depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons; speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron. Those days are upon us and we cannot escape them; we must triumph in the midst of them, for such is the will of God concerning us. Strange as it may seem, the danger today is greater for the fervent Christian than for the lukewarm and the self-satisfied. The seeker after God's best things is eager to hear anyone who offers a way by which he can obtain them. He longs for some new experience, some elevated view of truth, some operation of the Spirit that will raise him above the dead level of religious mediocrity he sees all around him, and for this reason he is ready to give a sympathetic ear to the new and the wonderful in religion, particularly if it is presented by someone with an attractive personality and a reputation for superior godliness. Now our Lord Jesus. that great Shepherd of the sheep, has not left His flock to the mercy of the wolves. He has given us the Scriptures, the Holy Spirit and natural powers of observation, and He expects us to avail ourselves of their help constantly. "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good," said Paul (I Thess. 5:21) . "Beloved, believe not every spirit," wrote John, "but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world" (I John 4:1) . "Beware of false prophets," our Lord warned, "which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves" (Matt. 7:15). Then He added the word by which they may be tested, "Ye shall know them by their fruits."
Tozer suggests a series of useful questions intended to cause us to examine our attitude. Instead of judging others, we are to make our own attitudes the focus of this examination, for ours is the only attitude we can do anything about. Does this teaching or experience make Christ more indispensable? How has this new doctrine or emphasis changed my attitude towards God or others? Is it drawing me towards God or leading me away? He writes, "Briefly stated the test is this: This new doctrine, this new religious habit, this new view of truth, this new spiritual experience has it affected my attitude toward and my relation to God, Christ, the Holy Scriptures, self, other Christians, the world and sin. By this sevenfold test we may prove everything religious and know beyond a doubt whether it is of God or not. By the fruit of the tree we know the kind of tree it is. So we have but to ask about any doctrine or experience, What is this doing to me? and we know immediately whether it is from above or from below."
One question that especially hit me as true is one concerning our view of others. Again, quoting from Tozer's book: "Our relation to and our attitude toward our fellow Christians is another accurate test of religious experience. Sometimes an earnest Christian will, after some remarkable spiritual encounter, withdraw himself from his fellow believers and develop a spirit of faultfinding. He may be honestly convinced that his experience is superior, that he is now in an advanced state of grace, and that the hoi polloi in the church where he attends are but a mixed multitude and he alone a true son of Israel." Man, that really hit home for me. I remember going through seasons of spiritual growth when it seemed at every turn God revealed himself to me. But due to my immaturity I suffered from a serious case of "plank-eye" syndrome for some time! Once I was broken for my sin, I was able to see I had fallen into the trap of projecting my sins upon others. I had issues submitting wholly to God and His rule, and therefore was unwilling to yield completely to authority He placed in my life. When we begin to feel like Elijah - who thought he must be the only one still loyal to God - by His grace God will open our eyes to reveal that He has thousands who have never bowed the knee to Ba'al. God corrects our misconceptions if we will listen to Him.
Attitude is huge. We can be very right with our facts, but at the same time our attitude can be all wrong. God is teaching me to examine my attitudes and motives in everything I do. Am I afraid? Why am I worrying about this or that? Have I become envious or unsettled? Am I hoping for praise from men or am I fully resting in obedience to God? Am I experiencing the joy of the LORD despite trials of faith? Am I glad to substitute anything for reliance upon Christ and His Word? Praise the LORD that He gives us wisdom through the Holy Spirit to know if we are walking according to the Spirit or in the flesh. God has given every man a conscience that agrees with His Law, and the indwelling Holy Spirit to guide us into all truth. Attitude is a valuable tool to gauge where I am with my walk with Christ. When I see the fruit of the Spirit evident as I walk in love according to God's grace, I can know I am heading on the right track!
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