YOUR LAW IS MY DELIGHT

“Open my eyes that I may behold

Wondrous things out of your law.”

Psalm 119:18

The law of God is all around me.  It is in every sunrise and sunset, every change of season, every tree, plant, and flower that grows, everything that has life has life because of the law of God.  “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims His handiwork”, and that handiwork is the fruit of His law.

According to the Psalmist the law of the Lord is perfect, sure, right, pure, clean, and TRUE.  The law of the Lord is manifested and fulfilled in Jesus so he is perfect, sure, right, pure, clean, and TRUE.  Everything in nature manifests the law of God.  It is what makes life grow within everything.  Human beings were created and designed to manifest God’s law, the fruit of which is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control.

What stands as an obstacle to that manifestation is the flesh with its desires and passions; our conceit; our provoking one another, and envying one another.  Our flesh is temporary, a container for the Spirit that abides within us.  “All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like the flower of the field.  The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of God blows on it; surely the people are grass” (Isaiah 40:4-8).

When God created man He formed him from dust.  But He breathed within him, into his nostrils the breath of life.  That which is within is what gives us life.  That Spirit within us is the law of God we are to strengthen, operate from, and manifest, not the outward covering and container of the flesh.

Satan and sin appeal to the corruptible covering and container, tempting it with desires and passions.  God and righteousness appeal to the incorruptible  Spirit and Word of God, the true law of God within us, that will stand forever.

“Oh how I love Your law!  It is my meditation all the day.”

“It is my Delight.”  

WHOSE WORLD AM I LIVING IN?

“Believe in God; believe also in me. 

In my Father’s house are many rooms…

And if I go and prepare a place for you,

I will come again and will take you to myself,

That WHERE I AM you may be also.”

John 14:1-3

“Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man.

He will dwell with them, and they will be His people.”

Revelations 21:2, 3

Our destiny is to be in God’s Presence forever.  BEYOND the invisible Presence we have here on earth, there we will see Him face to face.  Maybe hell is simply not being in God’s Presence, which means being in the world that human beings made, the broken cisterns that cannot hold water; the world where humans act selfishly and violently against one another; the world where anything goes. 

In a world where humans turn a blind eye and deaf ear to God’s healing and wholeness and choose to destroy the very One who came to save them.  In a world that is proud to say, “We did it our way” and” made a name for ourselves”.  In a world that continually refuses the invitation God freely offers to the Great Feast because of their gain, greed, and seeking pleasure elsewhere.  In a world that not only laughs at but scorns the Presence of God and certainly would not seek to dwell there all the days of their lives.

People cry out for justice here on earth.  But they also have a difficult time understanding a just God that is presented in the last days.  How could a loving God send people to hell?  I have difficulty with that concept too, but that is not how I see God.  I see God as someone who continually invites all people into His Presence and live the life He created them to live.  I see Him do this again and again and again throughout the Biblical narrative.  So I wonder if at some point He simply leave humans to their own devising, always giving them the choice.  We are living in a world of human devising now and I for one choose God’s Presence and His plan for my life.  I’m with David…

“One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek:

That I may dwell in the house of the Lord

All the days of my life,

To gaze upon the beauty of the Lord

And to seek Him in His temple.”

Psalm 27:4

LIFE MATTERS

I AM THE WAY THE TRUTH AND THE LIFE

John 14:6

Life Matters:  We live in a world that easily disrespects and dismisses life.  We sacrifice it in the name of convenience, dominance, greed, gain, justice, and punishment.  Life is given by God so it makes sense to me that the enemy of God would focus on destroying it in any way he can.  The enemy of God is the enemy and destroyer of all of God’s handiwork, in nature and in human beings because all speak of God and are his witnesses and image in and to the world.

Can life really matter if the Creator of that life doesn’t?

Can life really be respected if the Creator of that life isn’t?

Can life really be honored it the Creator of that life isn’t?

We live in a world of competition, contention, and contempt for one another.  That is revealed in the way we treat one another, speak to and about one another, and so easily disrespect and dismiss one another.  We manufacture artificial lines of division between us; black or white, liberal or conservative, rich or poor, moral or immoral, and then determine the labels of good or bad, pointing our fingers and blaming the other side for all our woes.  But those lines of demarcation are not the true tipping point of our problems.

The true tipping point is found in Deuteronomy 30: 15-20.  God puts the choice in our hands, hearts, and minds; life and good or death and evil.  Then He pleads with us to choose life and then reveals Himself as that life we are given as we choose it.  Generations after He sends His Son in the form of Jesus Christ to be received and believed, and again, the choice is ours.

Choosing Life means “loving God, walking in His ways, obeying His voice, and holding fast to Him, for He is our life.  Let us all live the life that truly matters and respect and honor that life in one another, in ALL one anothers, by doing unto one another ONLY what we would want done to us.  Then, and only then, will Life Matter.

SHOW & TELL...ONLY ONE WORD NECESSARY

“No speech, no word, whose voice goes unheeded…

The heavens declare the glory of God with

His handiwork displayed in the firmament.”

Psalm 19

Research has shown that a person listening to a sermon will, within 2 hours, forget 85% of what was heard.  People retain what they experience, not hear, and yet so many churches still continue to use preaching as their central event on Sunday.  The world suffers the consequence of that now, more than ever.

Maybe that method worked when other equal events were happening at the church on Sundays, like pot lucks, evening prayer meetings, simple gatherings, were also occurring.  There was a time when the whole day of Sunday was set aside for family and church.  But now there is an hour of expected commitment.

Maybe that method worked when our forms of direct and personal communication were limited to face to face times. That is no longer true; now we suffer the consequences of a deluge of information and faceless communication readily available at our finger tips with the simple click.

God declares His invisible attributes of His eternal power and diving nature in His handiwork; in the things He has made with His words and His breath; namely everything of creation.  All around the earth to the utmost bounds of the world, the glory of God is conveying His message and imparting His knowledge, from the rising of the sun and the going down of the same God is in full view of everyone everywhere.

God’s desire is that we know Him as He knows each of us.  He created us in His image and gave us everything we need so we could live an abundant life in relationship with the fullness of the trinity of who He is; Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  As His handiwork we are able to reflect God’s eternal power and divine nature here on earth and to the utmost bounds of the world, from the rising of the sun to the going down of the same.

 His children, His people, are to show and tell of God’s love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control to all we meet and interact with in our daily walk through life.

God’s Word became flesh and dwelt among us in the person of Jesus.  His Word is enough, no more words are needed.  As His children, as His people we are to live out that Word and be a witness to that Word in all we show and tell one another, all we show and tell others so that all may come to know Him and be known by Him. “All who love God are known by God.”

IF YOU DO WELL

“Receive with meekness the implanted word

Which is able to save your souls.”

James 1:21

“Create in me a clean heart, O God,

And renew a right spirit within me.”

Psalm 51:10

The word God speaks and the Holy Spirit implants within us is not simply for information, but for transformation.  It is implanted in the heart, a clean heart free from all filthiness and wickedness.  Only God can give me a clean heart free from all filthiness and wickedness.  I must keep my heart clean by preparing it just as a farmer prepares his fields to sow his seeds in.

I must be slow to speak until the seed is well within me, so it cannot be trampled or snatched away by the words and opinions of others, including the devil himself.

I must be patient and give the seed time to grow roots.

I must clear away all debris of filthiness and wickedness, as well as the cares, riches, and pleasures that the world offers in an instant and wait for the true fruit to mature.

I must break up the fallow ground by sacrifice, sometimes suffering aloneness, misunderstanding and even persecution, knowing that God is with me through it all.

I must truly believe that the seed of God’s word will work within me to produce the righteousness of God that He wishes me to image to the world.

The life of a follower of Jesus is a life of sacrifice.  The flesh must be denied of its need for instant gratification and constant pleasure.  But in the sacrifice comes the transformation that frees the bondage to self and the choice to live in the safety of God’s boundaries, where true freedom dwells.

I GET IT

The titles are all there on my bookshelf, in my CD collection, in my conversations with others…..”Church Without Religion, The Death of Religion, I’m not Religious, I ‘m Spiritual, I’m not Religious, I just Love the Lord.”  I understand the heart behind these sentiments because it is very much my heart.  Religion can be delegated to an external fixation, an end rather than the means.  But I also know that God made Laws and Rules for a reason.  To me they are foundations to be built on.  But I believe they are to under gird, not predominate.

I get it; but something just doesn’t feel right to me when I say these words that make Religion seem like a bad thing.  There is even a feeling that it is dangerous to throw out Religion altogether because human beings have abused it; it’s like throwing the baby out with the bathwater.  It wasn’t that Religion and Religious acts were bad.  The problem came when the people continued doing them after they had forsaken God.  This made the practices empty and meaningless in the eyes of men and probably in the eyes of God.

God was serious about His Religion of Law and Prophets.  He gave them for a purpose.  Jesus began his public ministry by saying he wasn’t throwing anything out.

“For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not

One iota, nor dot, will pass away from the Law until

All is accomplished” (Matthew 5:17, 18)

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets;

I have come to FULFILL them” (Matthew 5:17)

 Jesus fulfilled the Law.  He was who the Law foreshadowed and He came to give it Life and meaning.  We cannot live right without it.  We need to put it in it’s rightful place and honor its fulfillment.

If Jesus didn’t abolish or throw Religion in the form of the Law and the words of the Prophets out, we had better be careful not to do what He didn’t.

Knowing this makes me mindful of what Religion is to me.  Somehow rather that frame it as bad, empty, or meaningless, I want to see it as a foundation to under gird my faith walk with God and to go Beyond it into a Relationship with God.  So what is my sense of Religion, at least my Religion?

M Religion is what draws me into a Relationship with God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, the Bible, nature/creation, the ‘one another’s’ in my life, and the world.

My Religion is what cultivates and maintains those relationships.  It is those Spiritual Practices I use like tools to work on the garden of my life.

My Religion is not external applications I ‘put on’ to appear righteous to myself and to others.  It is internal assimilation and immersion into the heart of God.

My Religion is Intentional Discipleship to Jesus.  It keeps my heart, mind, and soul growing internally, keeps me invested in the Kingdom of God, and keeps me involved in what it takes to manifest that Kingdom on earth in my day and time. 

My Religion is Intentional Living the way I believe God intended me to live from the beginning of time.  It is living my faith with heart filled devotion one ordinary day at a time.

When I look at Religion that way there is no need to differentiate between being Religious of Spiritual; there is no need to frame Religion as the ‘bad guy’, and there is no sense in loving the Lord without it.

WHEN DID RELIGION BECOME A BAD WORD?

I remember the first time I heard the words, “I’m not Religious, I just love the Lord”.  It was back in the 70’s during the Jesus Movement when an amazing event was happening and God was at the center of it.  Years later I hear the same sentiment; “I’m not Religious, I’m Spiritual.”  I find myself today questioning those statements.  I know what people are trying to convey but something just didn’t make sense to me.  The word Religion didn’t have a bad connotation to it for me.  I have always been intrigued by Religion and loved studying about it, not only mine but all others as well.  I have come to understand that it is simply a matter of the definition that people have of the word Religion.  This made me examine what I believe the word means.

I have always seen my Religion as my way of life.  It is my faith and practice.  It is all about Relationship.  It is how I relate to God, to the Bible, to myself, to other people, to nature, and to the world around me.  It is the perspective through which I see, I hear, and I feel about life.

I have always been interested in the Religions of people.  I was raised Christian and enjoyed exploring that Faith.  But I also found myself interested in Religions that were very different than mine, from other lands as well.  I believe that knowing one’s Religion helps me to understand what is beyond the superficial stuff and get to know the real depths of a person, which becomes a good source from which to build relationships.

I see Religion as both a heart and mind thing.  Knowing my Religion becomes a home base for me, a place of peace where I can stand firm rather than getting caught in the wake of all the battles and confusion that seems to be involved in the discussions of Religion, as it is an entity in itself.  It’s just not where I live so I don’t understand why it is a problem for so many people and nations in the world.  All the arguing just makes me sad.

My Religion is a very personal and precious thing to me.  It is not so much what I believe or think; it is who I am.  It seems to me that when my I AM

relates to another I AM in a communal and not competitive way the result should be love and respect for one another.  The result of that is peace; a peace that comes from knowing and understanding one another’s heart and mind.

BIG OR SMALL GOD TAKES CARE OF IT ALL

It’s amazing to me that I have no trouble knowing and believing God in the big, supernatural things like my eternal life, His Presence with me at all times, and His taking care of my soul and heart.  But I get tripped up and worry about the little things like who can drive me to my doctor appointments or who will help me get my groceries, or how I will get around town when I need to run errands.  The supernatural things are no brainers for me.  I know God has those covered.  Why can’t I believe he has the minor practical things covered too?  Maybe it’s just human nature.

Jesus begins his Sermon on the Mount with the heavy duty things of the Kingdom of God but then goes to the little practical things…not worrying about what I’ll eat, drink, about my body, and how I will clothe myself.  These are all talked about in the same teaching.  He goes from big kingdom expectations to simple exhortations for me to look at the birds of the air and the flowers of the field and observe how well God takes care of these little creatures, meeting all their needs.

God knows what I need; He takes care of all of them, just the same, the big and the small.  Jesus gives the solution to all my worries, the big and the small.  “Seek first the kingdom of God”, all those supernatural things I know to be true.  If He takes care of those big things He can certainly be trusted to take care of all the smaller details I get concerned with, so I can ease my mind and soul.  I don’t need to be anxious for anything at anytime.  He will be forever Present and light my path one step at a time.