FOUNDATION OF FAITH

Labels help to identify things but they can also restrict things.  The label of Christian identifies one with Christianity, and somehow that becomes labeled Church.  Christians are taught that Church began at Pentecost in the first century, or with Constintine in the forth century.  That is similar to the teaching that this nation (America) began when Columbus landed and the pilgrims arrived on the new found shores.  This continient (nation) was not new.  The Indians were well settled and living here when the colonists came and took control.

One of the last things Jesus did before He returned to the heavens was to throughly open the minds of His disciples to understand the Scriptures and His place in them, all the way back to the Law of Moses and the prophets.  These Scriptures are what we know as the Old Testament.  Jesus did not come to start something new.  He came to fulfill all that was done by God since the beginning, when man's relationship was broken with God by Adam and Eve.

The Bible as one book reveals God's Way from beginning to end.  The Bible reveals the consequence of human beings doing things our way from the beginning of time to the end.  Knowing the Story of God from beginning to end provides the Fountain of Faith required for God's people in order to live well, do well, and be accepted.  It also reveals how to master sin that so readily surrounds us and keeps us from living well. (Genesis 4:7)

As a whole the Bible is truly good news, "profitable for instruction, for reproof, and conviction of sin, for correction of error, for discipline in obedience, and for training in righteousness."  It causes God's people to be proficient, well equipped for every good work God would give us to do.

The Bible yokes me to Jesus so that I may be in conformity to God's will, in thought, purpose, and action.  Jesus ALONE is my Foundation of Faith.

GOD SEEKERS

I have always sought after God Seekers, those Godly men and women who diligently seek after God, inquire of and for God, who require God as their greatest need, and sought after His Presence as their home, their dwelling place.  There used to be many I could look to for guidance and companionship, but now it feels like there are fewer and fewer of them. There are many good people who do many good things for others; many good church people who are faithful to their congregations.  But I find a decline in the number of people who live their whole life as God seekers.  I come across them in books that find their way into my hands, but it's been awhile since I was face to face with one.

I find these folks to be very simple in their faith and in their way of life.  They are truly and clearly focused on God.  That is difficult to do these days with so many things to do and so much information readily available at the touch of a button.  Seeking takes time and commitment and a desire that just can't be met with second hand knowledge and experience.  Seeking requires working at things for oneself not just being given everything.  It takes creating the questions and then exploring and finding the answer.  Then it takes time to work the answers out in one's life.

The world today comes pre-packaged, prepared, instant, and quick.  There is a laziness in all that constant convenience.  Starting from scratch and working it all through gives more than just the answer; it gives one a sense of quest, participation, investment, and a satisfaction that pushing a button can't give.  It's more than reaching the destination, it's getting life and enjoyment in the journey itself.

Convenience and instant gratification brings with it a sense of emptiness, meaninglessness, and boredom.  There is ease and more time available but no purpose or sense of fulfillment.  A quest for seeking God brings joy, fulfillment, and meaning to life, at least it has and still has to mine.

WILL WE EVER LEARN TO HEED WARNINGS?

This world is in crisis.  The sad truth is that we are reaping what we have sown, so the blame lies on our shoulders.  Each individual natural crisis that has hit very hard this year is the result of not heeding warnings given years ago.
  
When people are hurt it is not proper to say 'I told you so'.  But when can that conversation be had?

In Huston and Santa Rosa the destruction was horrific to communities of people, by water and by fire.  But those communities would not have been built if warnings had been heeded years before they were built.  The greedy developers who disregarded the warnings suffered no loss or punishment for their greed and prospered financially.  Their innocent victims lost everything.  WILL WE EVER LEARN?

The same is true in the Global Warming/Climate Change argument.  I remember hearing the warning for what is now happening back in the 1970's.  Very little was done to change the practices that would bring this crisis on.  A lot of talk and a lot of arguing back and forth.  WILL WE EVER LEARN?

I believe that God created this world and built in laws and principles to maintain and sustain all the He created.  Human beings need to take heed that we cannot go against God's laws and principles in nature. Nature will always win!  WILL WE EVER LEARN?

THE LAW OF THE LORD

"The law of the Lord is perfect"

Psalm 19

Law is the order of God, how He works, and how all His creation works.  I can know that order by observing nature, its rhythms, its seasons, its giving of life.  I can know it by reading the Bible and observing how God has related with people throughout history.  I can know it by observing Jesus and His interaction with individuals.

God put His law within His people, imprinted on their minds and engraved on their hearts.  He did this for one purpose; that His people would KNOW Him.  That they would recognize, understand, and be acquainted with Him as their God.

God is a God of perfect order and perfect harmony.  Everything and everyone, from least to greatest, has a purpose in the grand scheme of things.  When I am aligned with that scheme I will do well.

My whole person will be restored, I will be wise in my simplicity, my heart will rejoice, my eyes will be enlightened, I will be clean, righteous, and true to who I am and who God made me to be.