Functions of the Law

We are under a new covenant with Jesus Christ, but it’s the Law that made us realize we needed Him to save us. It is the Law that helps us understand how to obey Him. It will not save us, that is what Jesus did for us on the cross if we accept it. Once saved we follow the Law only to know how to grow and be like Him, our greatest example of how God intended us to live.

Psalm 19:7-11 NKJV

7 The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul;

The testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple;

8 The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart;

The commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes;

9 The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever;

The judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether.

10 More to be desired are they than gold,

Yea, than much fine gold;

Sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.

11 Moreover by them Your servant is warned,

And in keeping them there is great reward.

A quote from Ray Comfort says, “The demands of a holy Law bring us to the foot of the cross and keep us there, trusting only in the grace of God.” The grace is our gift if we accept Christ. We will be forgiven and have a chance to continue on in life under new rules that really set us free from all the bondage our worldly living caused. Don’t despair if this takes time. Just like a child learning to do things, there are steps to be taken on the journey.

Ignorance of the Law is no excuse. Whether you know you broke a law or not, you are still guilty. This goes for any law made by man or by God. God wrote His Law on our hearts and our conscience will bear witness against us. There are moral standards God imprinted upon man when he made him in His image and breathed life into him. No matter what culture you talk to, there are the same ideas. Now some may not see them all the same way and some have tried to stamp out some of the Laws, but the choice is for each person to make. Have you hardened your heart to try and run from these Laws or are you letting them guide you?

Christianity really is a “guilt trip” because it takes you straight to the cross. If you go there and accept Jesus Christ as your savior, all that guilt is removed. You are made new and can start living life the way God intended. However, I would heed what J. I. Parker once said, “Simple assent to the gospel, divorced from a transforming commitment to the living Christ, is by biblical standards less then faith, and less then saving, and to elicit only assent of this kind would be to secure false conversions.”

It’s truly an all or nothing commitment, but it’s the best decision I ever made. Now I march to the tune of God’s Law because I am His child and understand it makes life better, not because it keeps me saved or gets me what I want. Which way are you marching today? I pray you accept Jesus to the fullest and learn to accept the abundant life He offers when we follow Him.

Meditation is Focused Thinking

Phil 4:8-9 NKJV - Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy — meditate on these things.

Many people see meditation as an emptying of the mind. This is just emptiness. Nothing constructive or even destructive is going on. Quiet is nice at times, but it is better for the mind to be focused on the right stuff. The Bible tells us to meditate on good things, things that align with how God meant us to live.

Worrying is meditation of the negative kind. You are focused on all the bad stuff going on. Unless you are working on a solution to the problem, stop thinking about it. Especially stop wondering what to do about things you have no control over. If it is the past, you can’t change it.

What you can do is meditate on positive things. No matter how bleak things may look and feel to you, there is some positive there, too. It might even be as simple as someone just giving you a friendly smile, holding a door for you, or saying hi even if you are a stranger. It might be the way the sun hits the dew on the grass. Finding a flower where you did not expect one to grow. The hug of your child even if they were just being bad a few minutes before.

God’s Word is the best thing to meditate on due to all the great promises He has given us if we accept Jesus Christ as our Savior. Way before God sent this wonderful gift of salvation to us, He was telling His people to meditate on his word. He told this to Joshua when he took over leading the Israelites after Moses died. Josh 1:8 NKJV - This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. Sure this part is based on the old covenant and law, but Jesus came to fulfill that law. If it were not for the Law we would not know what was right or wrong and thus know we were sinners needing a savior.

Never stop meditating on God’s word every day. It is our spiritual food and we need it as much as we need meals to fuel our body each day. Do not just read the Word, but digest it to know how to be prosperous and have good success.

On Earth We Know in Part

1 Cor 13:8-12 NLT - Now we know only a little, and even the gift of prophecy reveals little! But when the end comes, these special gifts will all disappear. It's like this: When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child does. But when I grew up, I put away childish things. Now we see things imperfectly as in a poor mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God knows me now.

I love that Paul, who wrote so many of the epistles in the New Testament claimed we all knew in part. I believe this is true. Just like children we have to learn things in stages and God reveals things that way.

It’s good that it makes us want to know more, but we should not be making things up to fill in the holes due to impatience. When we do that we skew God’s Word. God reveals things as we are able to learn and properly digest them. I always equate this to an onion. The first few layers come off pretty easy. Deeper in they are fresher and as they come loose the smell is strong enough to make our eyes water. We all have our own layers we should peel away to be like Christ. The deeper we go the harder it may get, but well worth the effort.

God did not leave us here without help. He gave us the Holy Spirit as our counselor and guide. He made sure we had his revelations over time written into the Bible. If we are unsure that something is of God, we should be checking the Bible. The Holy Spirit will help us feel God’s peace about things that are right, but we should always be in our Bible daily.

Knowing the Bible keeps us close to God’s plan, promises, and purpose. It is our weapon against our enemy who would rather devour us than see us take even one step with Christ. Without daily Bible study to know more and maintain our connection with God, we leave ourselves open to being sidetracked by the wiles of our enemy. This should really scare us: we can know the right way to go, but still run off the grid to do wrong. Some of the kings of Israel were guilty of this and led the people into greater wrongs than could have been imagined before.

I encourage you to keep pushing through and growing. If you can’t figure something out, go to your pastor or someone you trust with God’s Word to help you understand it. Get encouragement when you need it from a church member you know. God made us a family. We are not perfect, but together we can learn from each other and grow stronger in the Lord.

For the non-believers reading this, I encourage you to seek out Jesus and when you do accept him, I promise you will know who to run to. You will know the Christian friends or people in your life that truly walk with Jesus and they will welcome you in so you can learn to grow with God. It happened for me at thirty-three. Don’t go looking for perfect. Go looking for God’s love and you will see it in them.

Let’s all learn to walk with the Lord together and shine his love into a dark world one step at a time.

He Is Risen

The cross is the hardest thing to digest with the Christian faith, but it is the crux of it. If God knew we would require His son, Jesus, to die for us, why did he give us free will in the first place? Why not do it differently?

The answer is in his love. He reveals himself as Father, Son and Holy Spirit to show us proper relationship. He gave us free will so we could choose him. He could have so easily made little automated toys to tend the garden.  Instead he made man in his image and gave him free will.

We can now read the Old Testament using Jesus as a lens. God knew what was going to happen. He made sure man knew about it. The more we dig to prove things right or wrong with the Bible the stronger its truth becomes. It keeps pointing at Jesus and his death on a cross for us. It points at how God wants us to be part of His family, but only through the blood of Jesus Christ.

Jesus is definitely Lord of Lords and King of Kings, but he is also our brother when we are adopted into God’s family. He wants to be our friend. When Jesus returned to heaven after defeating death, God made sure we had a helper in the Holy Spirit.

This should be blowing our minds. It is very hard for us in our short lives on earth stuck in the confines of time to digest this. All eternity is out there beyond our own deaths and that scares us. However, we know Jesus defeated death and is eternal. Being in the image of God we have an eternal piece that longs to be acquainted with him here and now, and beyond.

Some wonder about Christians who truly believe in eternity and whether what Jesus told us was the truth. Honestly, after many disappointments and downfalls in life, I decided to give Jesus a shot. I’m going to stick with him.

If you are not walking with him yet, I would like you to really think on why. Some say it is all nonsense, but I’d rather have a chance at heaven rather than an eternity in hell when Jesus is proven right upon his return. If he is proven wrong, I am still no worse off than anyone else at the end. So I’ll be talking up Jesus until the day I die and sticking to His ways. It has made far more sense than a lot of other things.

Please take the time to check Jesus out for yourself. He wants you to be part of his family and his friend. He wants a one-on-one relationship with each and every one of us.

Words Have Power

God spoke the world into existence in Genesis chapter one. This shows us words have power. Since God lives in us as the Holy Spirit, we have access to this power. But how often are our words not aligned with God’s? More often than I like.

Mark 11:23 NKJV - For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be removed and be cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. Our words can move mountains out of our way. Are we talking to our problems in order to move them? Pray and then act as God directs. Speak to your problems according to God’s promises and this will invoke the power to put them in their place. Sure your problems may not disappear instantly, but aligning with God will make them seem like a bump in the road instead of mountainous. Sometimes miracles do happen, but they won’t if you don’t speak out.

Another example of the power of words is earlier in Mark 11 starting at verse 12. Jesus comes upon a fig tree in leaf, but it doesn’t feel like giving up its fruit. It will do so when it wants to regardless of the season. Jesus rebuked the tree for not bearing fruit and the next day when they passed it, it was withered. All Jesus did was rebuke the unprofitable tree with words. Personally I never want to hear that from God and wind up withered. I’m hoping to hear the well done good and faithful servant comment no matter how much I have stumbled trying to align with God.

In the same way, our words can really hurt people and make them whither into a shell of themselves. Words really do hurt. We do not need to be causing strife. Prov 6:2 NKJV - You are snared by the words of your mouth; you are taken by the words of your mouth. Our words can lead us towards a fight or towards resolution. Do not let your words snare you from moving forward into the life of an overcomer that God promised, nor take people down to make yourself feel better. It is a vicious cycle of decay.

However, words can lift people up to heights they never expected to reach. Be an encourager. Prov 12:25 NKJV - Anxiety in the heart of man causes depression, but a good word makes it glad. We all get worked up about things and encouraging words from any source will help us overcome. I love making people smile or at least see a positive point they can be heading toward despite the issues they believe are overwhelming them.

Prov 25:11 NKJV - A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver. I wish all my words could be like this. I’m still learning to properly speak to my problems and to the world about how we all can be overcomers in Christ Jesus. It is not an easy road, but a comforting one and filled with blessings.

How are you directing your words? Are they rebellious and quarrelsome? Or are they positive with uplifting power, not only for you, but for others? I would challenge us all to learn how to aptly speak the right words and even show love to our enemies. One kind word can diffuse what feels like a war. One word can move a mountain.

Ask God to direct your words and to speak his words through you. He will answer this prayer, it is one of his gifts.

Don't Be Rude

I see a lot of rudeness in today’s culture. We think being aggressive will get us what we want rather than the more positive assertiveness. If we don’t fight for what we want, we could lose more. Yes, we need to fight for what is right, but not to get what we individually want. We need to work and fight as a team to keep humanity on the higher track, one that lifts us up and isn’t putting us down.

So many quote the Golden Rule, which can be found in Luke 6:31 NKJV - And just as you want men to do to you, you also do to them likewise. What I see more often is mistreatment and then retaliation which cycles into a downward trend. We have racism, religious persecution, rape, stealing, lying, and murder to name a few things all because each individual is striving for what they want first.

We are not to retaliate to the evil. I’ve seen hatred diffused because of one act of kindness. Sometimes it will take a lot of acts of kindness, but in the end kindness wins. This is because it is based on love. 1 Cor 13:4-5 NKJV says - Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil. We are to show love even to our enemies, so they know that what they are doing is not right. We are not to let the enemy walk all over us, but they better know we are not going to retaliate the way they expect. Doing it the enemy’s way will only make it worse.

Prov 20:3 NKJV - It is honorable for a man to stop striving, since any fool can start a quarrel. Anyone can get into an argument and most times it is over something petty and selfish. We find it so easy in our culture to throw out anything that is considered an inconvenience or causes us a little aggravation. We scream for what we want and in turn don’t want to let others have their rights because they annoy us.

There is a lot of freedom of speech infringement going on as people start crying about hate speech. I do not have to agree with every belief you have and you do not have to agree with mine. I would like that those that disagree could have intelligent conversations to understand the other point of view better. Bringing up our thoughts on abortion, gay rights, religion and politics sometimes leads to ducking for cover as the words fly. Whatever happened to true debates where you could relish the intellect and presentation of it to the point of being able to adjust your own opinion? Most of the time, I’m tuning debates out as people slam their opponents like bullies. It’s downright refreshing when a debate has minimal lambasting.

God does not want us fighting amongst ourselves over selfish things. He knows that will not help us prosper in the long run. Isa 35:8 NLT says - And a main road will go through that once deserted land. It will be named the Highway of Holiness. Evil-hearted people will never travel on it. It will be only for those who walk in God's ways; fools will never walk there. If you are a Christian and not acting the part, everyone will see that and you will not make it onto God’s highway. Do you want others to follow you onto God’s path? Then you must make sure you are on it, as well.

Let’s show the world how to be assertive with love.

Pride

Proverbs 16:18 NKJV - Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall. The pride of Eve and the lies of the serpent made her believe she could be like God if she ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Adam did not stop her and ate, as well. Then they knew they had done wrong and wanted to hide from God. In the end it caused man to be removed from the garden and put into a world where the land would rebel against them as they tried living off of it. This is called the Fall and the curse of it is what we all must face. We should be looking at how we live and making sure we are on track with God. Do not wander off because something catches your eye as ‘good’ when it really isn’t.

Proverbs 8:13 NLT - All who fear the LORD will hate evil. That is why I hate pride, arrogance, corruption, and perverted speech. God does not want us to have a pride that makes us think we can do it ourselves without him or that we are better than others. We are all created in his image and no one should be exalted above or trampled below another. Our goal should be learning how to help others as Jesus did. Our pride should be in knowing we have done our work for the day the way God intended us to.

If you look about the world, you will find that man tends to fall to the evil side if they have not learned how to properly discipline themselves. Our culture loves to think we are all individuals entitled to doing it our way. In the end, we wind up bumping into each other and causing friction instead of cohesion as God planned. When our society believed in an objective morality, we proved how great we were as we worked together. Now we are not seen as great as our individual prides vie to be seen and gain what they are entitled to. Everyone is entitled to their opinion unless your opinion does not agree with theirs.

Galatians 6:3-5 NLT - If you think you are too important to help someone in need, you are only fooling yourself. You are really a nobody. Be sure to do what you should, for then you will enjoy the personal satisfaction of having done your work well, and you won't need to compare yourself to anyone else. For we are each responsible for our own conduct.

We should be helping others because they need it, not because of some ulterior benefit. Be sure of whom you are as a child of God and your actions will tell the world. You won’t need to be arrogant about it or need to think you are better than someone else. You will be content in being you.