August 9, 2010 God's Clear Guidelines For Social Networking

Today the Lord reminded me of some things I'd learned, and clarified them for me.  I thought they might be relevant to you as they are to me.  They have to do with our interactions with people in the world, and with fellow Christians.

First, it is most important that we do what we say.  The issue of living what we preach came up first; often that's going to take crying out to God for help in order to do so.  Without that kind of integrity, we lose our good witness and end up ashamed.  God comes through with aid when we're committed to actually doing the Word, not just reading it and talking about it. 

The issues of "intermarrying with pagans" and "sexual immorality" got a lot of attention: these are obviously really important to the Lord.  With the Old and New Testament passages juxtaposed like this, I got a clearer understanding of what the Lord is trying to say, at least to me right now.  I think as Christians, we mostly know we're not to marry outside of Christ, or have sex outside of marriage.  But I think we can apply this to ourselves in a deeper understanding of intimacy and partnership. We shouldn't be birthing anything of mixed spiritual seed (children of the devil birthing something together with children of God; birthing something that's partly of the devil and partly of God).  We shouldn't even take the risk of that kind of illegitimate relationship -- it creates all sorts of trouble.

On the other hand, the Apostle Paul made it clear that the Lord wasn't telling us to go around judging the world for its idolatrous and sexually immoral behavior, or for all the rest of the things he listed (and there is so much more)!  God's got it covered.  He said he wasn't even telling us to avoid contact with the people in the world, "since then you would need to go out of the world."  How could we be a witness in the world if we're not allowed to hang around with people in the world? 

If you'll think about it for a minute, Jesus came down out of a holy heaven and entered into a very sinful world, in human form, to hang out with us sinful people.  It wasn't because He loved the sin!  Obviously He doesn't!  He came because He loves people, and He wanted to share God's good news with them.  He wanted to give them a way out of the sin, and a way to escape the corruption in the world and the judgement of the world that is to come.  He is the Way, and He made it possible for us to see that. 

Now it's up to us to do the same.  He never engaged in the sinful behavior, however.  He was always Himself, yet He made Himself accessible.  He was engaging without compromise.  Jesus is the best example of how to do godly social networking.  Not only that, He's given us His Spirit to help us do it right.

Paul brought up a major issue about how to deal with people who call themselves Christians and don't live like it (and it seems to me that he is talking about habitual lifestyle, not just mistakes, since he called them "evil people"!).  As I said before, we should not be one of those.  But here we see that we shouldn't even hang around with one of those!  Does this seem contradictory?  Hang out with the sinners in the world, but don't hang out with the sinners in the Church. 

Well, think about it.  First, there's the possibility that it might be an imposter (poser, infiltrator), possibly a wolf.  Or it could be a person under the influence of a Jezebel spirit.  Any of these types are stalking around looking to lead people astray and devour them.  Someone doing immoral things within the body of Christ ends up leading others to do the same, usually the lambs.  It despoils the testimony of the Church, and it grieves the Spirit of God.  The Church is about oneness with God and each other.  God will not be one with evil!  There may be other reasons besides these.  Whatever the reasons for God saying it's a big deal, Paul makes it clear that it's dangerous and that we are to take action. Yes, we are to judge it. We are to disengage from fellowship with them, and we are not to associate.  [If you have read further in the letters of Paul, you will see that this choice is to be redemptive always].

As you can see, the things we read in Scripture are very relevant and applicable to our daily lives.  I received some clear instruction today, and some things on which to seek God further.  I hope you did too.

Questions to ponder:
How committed are you to obeying what the Word of God teaches?

What do you do when you are up against a compromising situation?

Have you ever gotten too involved with an unbeliever?  How did that turn out?

How much say does God have in your own social networking practices?

How does God's Word affect how you relate to people in the world?  people in the church?  Is He calling for any change in these areas?

Have you ever had to give up a Christian friend because they were living a sinful lifestyle?  What would tell someone facing that type of choice?

May 14, 2010 God Looks on the Heart

“Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the LORD does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:7  I am so very glad that God looks at the heart, and that when He looks at me, He sees Jesus, and me in Him.  After reading this part of Saul's sad, sad story, I was very grateful to read of Jesus' mercy with the woman caught in adultery.  He saw a heart of repentance.  If there had been true repentance in Saul, he would have been accepted. 

No amount of bargaining with God can bring about a truce with Him; only accepting His way, and that Way is Christ.  But His love covers a multitude of sins-- things that couldn't be wiped out with any amount of tears or efforts at restitution.  We need Him.  We need to fear Him and obey Him, which can be hard until we know Him better.  Once we know His love, we would go through flames of utter destruction to get close to His heart.

Samuel was still learning lessons about discernment and seeing the heart, not just hearing words or seeing masks.  Jesus quoted what the Lord said to him, too, about not judging by appearances.  We need to know that God sees our heart: there's nothing we can hide from Him, but there's also nothing that God is hiding from us.  If we want to know Him, He is more than willing to reveal Himself to us.

I have never been the person the world would choose (funny, but I was really the proverbial person no one wanted on their sports team, at least until later on in highschool), and you probably aren't either.  But that's OK, because God chooses us.  He loved us before we knew Him, called us and accepted us.  I don't want to be unchosen for the things He's called me to do.  That keeps me on the straight and narrow.  He's not going to entrust anything to me if I'm untrustworthy.  I'm glad though, that He's not going to "unchoose me" from being His child, or "unfriend me" because I mess up.  He knows my weaknesses, and He helps me (and disciplines me sometimes).  Jesus said He'd never leave us or forsake us.  We would have to totally reject Him and leave Him completely to end up like Saul, which is, I guess, what Saul did.  I'd much rather be the one on the healing end of the harp than the one with a tormenting spirit because I rejected the Spirit of God.

 

April 20, 2010

How great is the faithfulness of our God!  When I read this verse, "Not a word failed of any good thing which the LORD had spoken to the house of Israel. All came to pass." Joshua 21:45, my spirit sighs a sigh of contentment.  I am proud to have a God like that.  He promises wonderful things to His children, and He keeps His promises without fail.  I want to be like that.

Our God is also faithful to stand up for us and defend us when He has authorized us to do something.  No matter what anyone says, if you're obeying the Word of the Lord, stand your ground.  Jesus always had the ultimate answer for any of His detractors, the statement that made His enemies close their mouths.  I want to be like that.

Ethan the Ezrahite, the writer of Psalm 89, extolled the Lord and His faithfulness in this beautiful song.  I want to be like that too.

God is faithful!  As I meditate on His intrinsic faithfulness, thanking and worshipping Him, His nature and His character will be imparted to me.  As I practice walking in godly faithfulness (something I have far to go on), He will strengthen and uphold me.

As we grow in faithful obedience to God's Word, we grow in authority. As we demonstrate His characteristic faithfulness, people will be drawn to the Lord, because it is a very winsome quality  indeed! 

April 16, 2010

I woke up today feeling kind of old, wondering how I was going to ever be able to do all the things the Lord had put before me to do.  I was wishing I had done them when I was young, thinner and much more energetic.  I'm so glad I read the Scriptures today, for they really spoke to me about all this.

Even though I heard my call when I was 14, in an unmistakeable way (not an audible voice, but one that couldn't be missed), I wasn't in the place to walk it out.  In fact, I outright rejected it, more intent on my own way of doing things than worrying about what God wanted.  The next seven years was pitiful indeed!  Since then, every seven years has brought a new fresh call, a renewal of the very first call, with an increase.  God has never given up on His vision for my life.  He has never given up on His vision for yours, either.

I was so impressed with Caleb, who went to Joshua and asked for the inheritance that the Lord had promised him.  "I was forty years old when Moses the servant of the LORD sent me from Kadesh Barnea to spy out the land, and I brought back word to him as it was in my heart. 8 Nevertheless my brethren who went up with me made the heart of the people melt, but I wholly followed the LORD my God. 9 So Moses swore on that day, saying, ‘Surely the land where your foot has trodden shall be your inheritance and your children’s forever, because you have wholly followed the LORD my God.’ 10 And now, behold, the LORD has kept me alive, as He said, these forty-five years, ever since the LORD spoke this word to Moses while Israel wandered in the wilderness; and now, here I am this day, eighty-five years old. 11 As yet I am as strong this day as on the day that Moses sent me; just as my strength was then, so now is my strength for war, both for going out and for coming in. 12 Now therefore, give me this mountain of which the LORD spoke in that day; for you heard in that day how the Anakim were there, and that the cities were great and fortified. It may be that the LORD will be with me, and I shall be able to drive them out as the LORD said.” 13 And Joshua blessed him, and gave Hebron to Caleb the son of Jephunneh as an inheritance. Joshua 14: 6b-13

At first, I was reading that thinking, "That sure doesn't fit me!"  But the Lord showed me otherwise, for two reasons.  One, I can do all things in Christ who strengthens me-- it's Christ's righteousness and work in me, not my own, that makes me worthy and gives me the ability to carry out God's will.  Only faith and obedience is necessary.  That is all.  I haven't always been so great on the obedience part, and that's the only reason I am still struggling to take my inheritance.  But I see now that the faith part has always been there, although many times as good as dead from lack of corresponding action.  But I am still believeing.  In my spirit, I am more vigorous than ever, and because I know my God more than I did when I was 14, 21, 28, 35, 42, 49, 50, and 57 (everything gets refreshed at the 50th year, the Jubilee), I think I am able to say:  Now, then, give me this mountain!

We saw Jesus teaching that men ought to pray and not give up.  Yet, He wanted to know if, when He showed up, would He find enough faith so that we could receive the answer to our prayer. 

Jesus has shown up over and over again to answer my prayers, and yet, I was still not ready enough to keep exercising my faith in His promises to stand firm when the giants came to try and steal it.  I am determined to see it though this time, with His help.  He's not going to do my life for me, or without me.  But when I take my Sword up and my shield of faith, He's going to be right there strengthening me, and fighting for me.  I think I even have enough faith in His creative power to get back my youthful vigor! 

What about you?  What's He promised you?  What's your inheritance in Him?  Are you just going to stand there and wait another 7 years?  I don't think so!  It's time to act out our faith and say:  NOW, THEN, GIVE ME THIS MOUNTAIN!

April 11, 2010

I think it would be wonderful to make a "scrapbook" or "memory book" of the things God has done in our life.  Don't you?  We take photos of our kids growing up, and the major events in our life, like weddings and birthdays, and we document our vacations and our mission trips.  We collect memorabilia from our various activities and event we want to remember.  Then we look at them occasionally, and these scrapbooks bring back the memories or our best times, strengthening them every time we do.  We talk to our kids about our life before they were born:  "Look, there's mommy and daddy with really funny hairdo's and clothes!" or the funny things they did when they were little:  "There you are at one year old, with a pie pan on your head!"  It's easy to laugh and share with our kids with something to look at that's organized and picturesque.

God did similar things with Israel it seems, only they didn't have iphones!  When Joshua led them across the flooded Jordan, heaping up the water, the Lord instructed them to take twelve stones out from the Jordan and pile them up in the Promised Land as a memorial for what He had done for them.  "Then he spoke to the children of Israel, saying: “When your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, ‘What are these stones?’ then you shall let your children know, saying, ‘Israel crossed over this Jordan on dry land’; for the LORD your God dried up the waters of the Jordan before you until you had crossed over, as the LORD your God did to the Red Sea, which He dried up before us until we had crossed over, that all the peoples of the earth may know the hand of the LORD, that it is mighty, that you may fear the LORD your God forever.” Joshua 4: 21-24

If we are to accomplish the things that God gives us to do, it is imperative that we bring to remembrance the times that He has worked in our life, the times He has empowered us and brought us through.  Otherwise we tend to lose faith in the midst of difficulty.  This has been one of my largest shortcomings throughout my Christian walk.  I'm a great starter, but carrying through is not so easy, and finishing something has always loomed before me like an impossible task. 

I very much related to this Scripture verse today: "For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it— lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish’? Luke 14: 28-30  The thing is, when I start something by the inspiration of the Spirit and the word of the Lord, I know the Lord can do it through me, because I know His power and ability.  But do I really count the cost?

Jesus knew the kinds of trials, struggles, temptations and oppositions we would face as we walked through life as His disciples.  He gave us the perfect antedote to failure: "pick up your cross and follow me," and "whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple."  The cost of fulfilling God's will and following Christ to the end, the finish line, is EVERYTHING.  You just don't quit!  And you let nothing stop you from obeying Him, not even yourself.

A scrapbook of remembrance, in lieu of stone monuments, might help us remember not only God's faithfulness to us and to our ancestors; but it might also remind us of the times we chose, yet again, to commitment ourselves to faithful discipleship.  We need reminders that we were once willing to pick up our cross and give up everything, so that we will continue in that choice when we feel ready to quit.

I like how so many of the verses tied together today, and I like how Proverbs sums up the concept of follow-through:
The lazy man does not roast what he took in hunting, But diligence is man’s precious possession. In the way of righteousness is life, And in its pathway there is no death. Proverbs 12: 27-28

There is only one righteous path, and that is Jesus Christ.  If we stop following Him, we fail, but if we continue to follow Him, enduring until the end, we succeed, because there is no death or failure in Him.

March 2, 2010

I love Psalm 45  and it's beautiful description of our glorious King-- and of the Bride! Don't you? It has advice to her on how to please Him as well. As I meditate on this, my love for Him is increased, as is my desire to be seated with Him to rule and reign.

It seems that James and John, the sons of Zebedee, had a glimpse into this calling, but perhaps their desire was not pure-- worldly ambition tingeing the dream. Isn't this true of all of us to one extent or another? If we want to "qualify," then, we'll follow Jesus' clear instructions. He led the way Himself, for He "came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many." Mark 10:45   It is not the way we picture a King preparing to take his throne, is it?

Jesus is the Way, and as we walk in Him, we will have our motives purified in the baptism of fire, we will drink a cup of suffering with Him as we follow Him in service, and we will be changed into His image and likeness as we submit to His leading, until we are humble and habitually lay down our lives as He did. He will make us ready to sit with Him if we are willing to walk with Him, stand up for Him, and bow down to Him.

January 27, 2010

Jesus told us to be humble like a child: that is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 18:4. Moses was humble, but he made God angry when he told God to "please send someone else," even after God said He's put the words in his mouth and had given him signs to show. Exodus 4:12-14 (I'm struck by how the Lord didn't recind the call, just made a provision for Moses' weakness.)

I've had the Lord tell me to do many things I just knew I couldn't do, and yet He was there helping me when I stepped out. Of course, there have been many, many times I didn't step out because of fear and unbelief.

Apparently, the greatest humility is to take God at His word and obey, no matter how crazy it seems, and no matter what anyone else thinks of you.

January 9, 2010

What I'm getting is "obedience". And the key to that seems to be truly knowing the Lord. "those who know your name put their trust in you" Psalm 9:10. Abraham knew that God would provide, he really knew God, so he obeyed. Matthew 7: 21 only the one who does the will of the Father will enter the kingdom. Because Abraham obeyed, all the nations of the earth are blessed. Because Jesus obeyed, I am saved. What will come of my obedience? What would be lost if I do not obey?