Month: November 2020

“Repent of your wickedness and pray to the Lord. Perhaps he will forgive your evil thoughts,” (Acts 8:22)

There is much said on guilt by psychoanalysts, psychiatrists, ministers, hairdressers, and even bartenders.  They have all heard their share of guilt stories and most of the time guilt is looked upon as a bad thing.  A quick google search will reveal a lot more information about the destructiveness of guilt than its value.  Guilt is almost always looked at as a negative, but if we look at guilt as a negative, it is easy to miss positives that true guilt can play in our lives.

The dictionary calls guilt “the act or state of having done a wrong or committed an offense.”  This is pretty straight forward.  Guilt is an indicator something going wrong. It is the negative feeling that accompanies a negative behavior.  Guilt in itself is not wrong.  It is the warning light on the dash board of our car.  In society today, we are basically told to cover up that light.  We are told it is wrong to feel guilty and so we are told, in essence, to deal with the symptoms of guilt rather than the causes the guilt.

Guilt originated in the garden.  Adam and Eve ate of the one thing that was forbidden and they hid.  They were not experiencing some sort of false guilt planted by Satan.  They were facing the real feelings of guilt after the real trespass of God’s commands.  After they presented themselves to God, God did not tell them to wipe out those evil guilt feelings from their mind.  He was not angry for their guilty feelings, but for their rebellious actions.  Guilt was not the wrong.  It was an indicator of wrong.  Because of the trespasses in the garden we know that “all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23)  So sin is with us always, regardless of the message the world tries to give.

Later in the New Testament, Jesus used the hypocrisy of men to save an adulterous woman from stoning.  After all the would-be “stoners” walked away, Jesus did not tell the woman to go and not feel guilty any longer because she had a reason to feel guilty.  He asked her who was there to condemn her.  “She replied, ‘No one, Lord.’ And Jesus said, ‘I do not condemn you either. Go, and from now on do not sin any more.'” (John 8:31)   He told her to go and sin no more. He did not deal with the symptom of sin, but the act of sin.  He told her to stop the action that led to guilt.  To often today we stir real guilt and false guilt both in the same pot and make the feelings the same.  The consequence of this is a lot of people not dealing with root causes of their sinfulness.  John tells us in 1 John 2:1 “My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.”  We need to deal with the sin, not just the feelings of sin.

I have told the story many times about the man who would just walk up and hit people for no reason.  He felt terribly guilty about it and went to therapy.  After months of therapy, he finally felt cured and shared his relief with a friend.  “I still  hit people for no reason, but I don’t I don’t feel guilty any more.”  A humorous story, but all too true today.  We are told not to feel guilty about acts that we should feel guilty about. If we remove the guilt, we will not deal with the acts.  Guilt is often the vehicle that transports us to a place of healing so we should not ignore it.

Down deep we know when we are guilty, and we don’t want to face reality, so dealing with the surface feelings becomes much easier than dealing with the deeper truths.  Two men were on trial for armed robbery. An eyewitness took the stand, and the prosecutor slowly moved to what would be his climatic conclusion of questioning. “So, you say you were at the scene when the robbery took place?”

“Yes,” the witness answered.

“And you saw a vehicle leave at a high rate of speed?”

“Yes,” the witness answered again.

“And did you observe the occupants?”

“Yes, two men.”

“And,” the prosecutor boomed, “are those two men present in court today?” He turned and faced the defendants.  At this point the two defendants sealed their fate. They raised their hands.  We know when we are guilty, we often just need to come clean.

If we would just test our guilt feelings, we would realize that many of them have a legitimate basis.  There was an NFL player back in the day who had terrible pain in his knees.  He would just have them shot up with pain killers and play the games anyway.  After years of doing this, he retired and his knees were beyond repair.  He was virtually a cripple.  The pain in his knees was an indicator that there was something wrong that needed to be dealt with.  Covering up the pain was like us covering up our guilt; it keeps us from dealing with the root problem and it will just continue to get worse.  Soon it will cripple us.  Guilt is often a warning sign, flashing away, letting us know there is a malfunction and we must take the time to look at problem and deal with it.

As is the way of the world, everything is topsy-turvy.  Legitimate guilt is made to seem false, and false guilt is made to seem legitimate.  We are told we shouldn’t feel guilty about acts of sin, but we should feel guilty about acts of righteousness.  We are told that any guilt we might carry inside our hearts by being separated by our savior is illegitimate.  But we are also told that if we shake the forbidden fruit from the tree and eat, we should shake off the guilty feelings that will follow.  There is only one way to shake off the guilt and Dr. Luke tells us how in Acts, “Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord.” (Acts 3:19)  You notice he doesn’t say, “just don’t feel bad anymore.”  That just doesn’t work.

There is a lot more authentic and necessary guilt out there that are signposts pointing to disaster than there are bouts of false guilt.  We must not fear guilt any more than we fear the burglar alarm going off on the back porch.  We should not fear the alarm, but the burglar. We should not fear the guilty feelings but the actions that set them off.  Of course, there is such a thing as false guilt and the key is how do we distinguish between good guilt and bad guilt.  Next week I will get into how we tell the difference. Until then have a great week…

“‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.”  Matthew 15:8

One of the things that we are instructed to do in the Word is to honor God.  In these fast-paced times when honoring almost everything but God is rampant, it can be easy for believers to forget their obligation to honor the creator.  Honor has several different meanings all of which can be applied to our relationship with God.  First of all, it can mean to greatly esteem, secondly it can mean to fulfill, and thirdly it can mean privilege.  In one way or another all three of those meanings should come into play in our worship of God.

First of all, we should esteem God above all else.  We can do that in many ways, but most importantly we must believe in His Word.  It is hard to say that we are honoring God if we don’t read the Word and obey its instruction.  If we want show respect to the boss at work, we do what he says.  That is a form of honor.  If our hearts our right, we are honoring to God.  The Word says that the greatest commandments are to “Love the Lord God with all our heart and mind and soul, and to Love our neighbors as ourselves.”  If we fulfill the instructions in the Word with those two things in mind we will be esteeming God as we should.

There are hundreds of ways outlined in the Word that we can honor God.  If we read what He says, take it to heart, and follow through with His commands our actions will be honoring.  We are told that we should use the Bible as our textbook for behavior, and when we do, we honor Him,  “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.”  (2 Timothy 3:16-17)  We are told to pray and when we do, we honor Him, “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”   (Philippians 4:6)  We are told to put others first and when we do, we honor Him, “Do nothing out of rivalry or conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than yourselves” (Philippians 2:3)  We are told to study the Bible and when we do, we honor Him, “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth”  (2 Timothy 2:15) We are told to we need to accept the sacrifice of the Son and when we do, we honor God.  “If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”  (Romans 10:9)

When we esteem the Word, do what it says, we honor Him. When we ignore the Word, we dishonor Him.  It is pretty clear.  But we shouldn’t get this wrong.  We are not following God’s instruction so that we can earn His love.  We are following God’s instruction because we love Him and want to show our love.  We earn nothing by our actions; we show something by our actions.  We show honor.   We can get so caught up in our own lives that we forget that honoring God should be our top priority.  I told you a few weeks ago about “top-button” theology.  If we get our top button right on our shirts, all the other buttons will align.  That top button is honoring God.  If we get that right, the rest of life will align.  If not, all other things will be askew.

Honor also means to fulfill our responsibilities.  If we honor our obligations, that in itself is honoring.  We no longer walk this earth on our own accord.  We represent  Christ.  Along with that representation are certain kinds of behavior that glorify Him.  God has told us that he has paid a debt for us in full.  “He was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.” (Romans 4:25)  He will honor that.  We, in turn, can show our love by honoring the obligations we have to Him.  It is clear what He asks of us, “He has told you what is good and what it is the LORD requires of you: to act justly, to love faithfulness, and to walk humbly with your God.”  (Micah 6:8)  We will honor Him, by honoring what we are called to do. Many Christians spend six days a week sowing wild oats and then come to church and pray because of crop failure.  That does not honor God.

Honor also means privilege.  It is an honor to serve God.  “But be sure to fear the LORD and serve him faithfully with all your heart; consider what great things he has done for you.”  (1 Samuel 12:24)  If we consider our service to Him an honor, that is honoring to Him. Paul tells us that, “Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for God’s glory.” (1 Corinthians 10:31)  If we are doing things for God, it honors God.  If we honor God all other things will be taken care of.

Our honor thanks Him for His grace and mercy.  Our love for Him recognizes His love for us.  “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.”  (Deuteronomy 6:5)  So, it is an honor to honor Him, and we should honor the command to honor by honoring Him whenever and wherever honor is possible.  Phew, that is a mouthful, but with God’s help we can do more than say it- we can do it.

“For every house is built by someone, but he who built all things is God” (Hebrews 3:4)

Years ago I listened to a discussion between a creationist and an evolutionist and it has really stuck with me.  It was very interesting and although both men were very intelligent, my faith was bolstered by the great points made by the creationist.  One point that he mentioned really stuck with me.  I know that it is probably obvious to everyone else, but for me, well, it was an epiphany.  Basically he said it is not logical that the eye could have evolved, and he supported his argument with statements from a variety of evolutionists who basically said the same thing.  Here was his point: unless the eye is complete and functional, it does not work.  Why would something that is so detailed and complex but non-functioning continue to evolve? Why would anything continue evolving which has no use until completion?

The eye is so complex that even Darwin, the godfather of evolution, admitted that the chance it could have evolved was beyond belief.  In Darwin’s Origin of Species he wrote “To suppose that the eye with all its inimitable contrivances for adjusting the focus to different distances, for admitting different amounts of light, and for the correction of spherical and chromatic aberration, could have been formed by natural selection, seems, I freely confess, absurd in the highest sense.”  Okay, Charles, if I get this right, it is logical for all parts of the body to evolve, except the eye because it is so complex.  We then, in theory, should be eyeless beings.  I just can’t see it (pardon the pun).  Psalms tells us should praise God because “(We) have been remarkably and wonderfully made. (His) works are wonderful, and I know this very well.”  (Psalm 139:14) That refers to every part of us, not just our eyes.  We are made in God’s image.  We are special.

Darwin is not the only evolutionist who struggled with “seeing” the eye as an evolutionary  problem.  There are mountains of quotes from those who believe in evolution who find the evolution of the eye an almost untenable propostition. The reason stems from its incredible design that defies any logical explanation other than a designer.  They, of course, do not admit a designer as a possibility, but just admit that it is a conundrum that they must ignore.  But we don’t have to ignore the wonderful design of the eye because we can be assured there is a designer.   “But now, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand.”   Isaiah 64:8

John Blanchard, author and scientist has some interesting information about the eye.  It is one fourth-thousandth of our weight, yet we receive 80% of our information about the outside world through the eye.  Our retina contains about 130 million rod-shaped cells which detect the intensity of light then one million nerve fibers transmit impulses to brain, while at the same time six million cone-shaped nerves respond to color variations and send those impulses to the brain.  Our eyes can handle 500,000 messages simultaneously and are being constantly cleaned by just the right amount of fluid to keep both eyes clean in one five-thousandths of a second.  Wow, and guess what.  We are not the only ones that have eyes.  Thousands of  living creatures have eyes.   When did these eyes develop in the evolutionary process?  It boggles the mind that something so unbelievable just “happened” in thousands of different species, regardless of how many millions of years you add to it.  It is much harder to think eyes just developed, rather than came about in a completed fashion.

Some scientists readily accept evolution, even though it is scientific folly, because they refuse to accept any alternatives.   Dr. George Wald (co Nobel Prize winner in Biology and professor of Biology at Harvard) said: “There are only two possibilities as to how life arose: one is spontaneous generation arising to evolution, the other is a supernatural creative act of God; there is no third possibility.  Spontaneous generation, that life arose from non-living matter was scientifically disproved 120 years ago by Louis Pasteur and others.  That leaves us with only one possible conclusion- that life arose as a creative act of God.  I will not accept that philosophically because I to not want to believe in God, therefore I choose to believe in that which I know is scientifically impossible, spontaneous generation arising to evolution.”  At least Dr. Wald is honest.  He will believe anything, no matter how preposterous, so he will not have to believe in God.  What a  sad admission.  How many other scientists feel the same way but fail to admit it.

When I look at what is around us, I see evidence for God.  When I look at our bodies, I see evidence of God.  Paul tells us, “For His invisible attributes, that is, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen since the creation of the world, being understood through what He has made. As a result, people are without excuse.”  (Romans 1:20)  If we look at the wonder around us and examine the amazing design of our bodies, earth, and universe, we are without excuse.  There will be those who stand before God someday and say that our bodies are amazing and our universe is amazing, but then say they still weren’t sure that He actually existed.  I don’t believe that weak agrument will hold water.

GK Chesterson has a great quote that I really like, “It is absurd for the evolutionist to complain that it is unthinkable for an unthinkable God to make everything out of nothing, and then pretend that it is more thinkable that nothing should turn itself into anything.”   To me, complexity spells out design. In a devotion a few weeks ago I told you about a cartoon of two scientists saying to each other that if they could just create life in the lab, they could prove that it doesn’t take intelligence to create life.  Besides the irony of the statement, I am thinking that if anyone could ever create a telescope that could do what the eye can do, I guess that would prove that it doesn’t take intelligence to create the eye.  Ironic, huh?

“And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.” Galatians 6:9

It is easy to get tired when we fight a prolonged battle of any kind. Whether we are trying to lose weight, break a habit, change an attitude or battle against someone battling against us, it can be a long and tedious road. Sometimes the battle fatigue gets so heavy that we start to lose heart. We look at the mountain ahead of us instead of the the next step. We fixate on the enormity of the task and get the overwhelming desire to just put the work aside and give up. As we know, however, if we stop doing something, it is twice as hard to get going again and sometimes, unfortunately, we never do.

Chapter 17 of Exodus records the battle between the Israelites and the Amalekites. The Amalekites were descendants of Esau, so this was sort of a family feud. Amalek was the leader of the Amalekites, and in Deuteronomy 25 we learn that they took advantage of the exodus from Egypt by picking off the old, sick, and weary that lagged behind the group. It was much like the predators in Africa which follow herds and wait for one to get separated from the larger group and then attack. “Remember what the Amalekites did to you on the journey after you left Egypt. They met you along the way and attacked all your stragglers from behind when you were tired and weary.”

Now they were once again in a battle with those same people and Moses was reminded of their dirty tricks from the past. Moses told young Joshua to choose a fighting force and that Moses would stand atop a hill with the rod of God in his hand. Moses would raise the rod of God and as long as his arms were raised, Joshua would have the upper hand in the battle.

Joshua and his men fought hard, but as Moses began to become fatigued and started to lower his arms, the tide of battle would turn in favor of the Amalekites. Finally, when it looked like Moses could not hold on any longer, his brother Aaron and a man named Hur raced to help him. Exodus 17:12 records what they did, “When Moses’ hands grew heavy, they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat down on it. Then Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one on one side and one on the other so that his hands remained steady until the sun went down.”

Moses knew he had a job to do and others depended on him doing it. But regardless of how important it was, there was a limit to his physical strength. We are not God. We are not all powerful. We will reach our limits in our battles. We can learn much from Moses, Aaron, and Hur in these verses and the lesson of these verses is two-fold.

First, the rod that Moses raised to heaven was his reliance on God’s strength while engaged in battle. It was like the prayers we raise in difficult times. As fatiguing as it may be, we must continue to go to Him and to raise our prayers to heaven. It is often easy, especially in trying times, to neglect going to Him for our strength. When we are fighting evil, we must remember that God, too, is engaged in our battle. We are not asked to fight the battle alone. Moses was in the battle, but so was Joshua and hundreds of others. When we are in a battle we can enlist others to help us as well. God expects that. He will bring those people into our lives that can help us to fight and to remain strong.

Secondly, we need others to strengthen us in moments of weakness and we need to strengthen others when they face difficulties in their own battles. When Aaron and Hur supported Moses, it was as though they were coming alongside him in prayer. They supported him when weakness ravaged his body. They did not replace God, but helped Moses to remain strong in God.

Our support of others should always point them to who God is and what he can do. Our battles might be small like better eating habits or large like handling the loss of a loved one, but regardless, the rod of God needs to remain pointed upward so that God can be engaged in the battle, as well.

First Timothy 2:8 says, “I desire therefore that the men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting.” Keeping our eyes on Jesus and our hearts raised to him is the only way we can fight the battles before us. Remember what John said in his gospel, “I have said it before, and I will continue to remind you as my brothers and sisters – we cannot do anything apart from God.” (John 15:5). We should be quick to support others in prayer and not be afraid to have others join us in prayer. All of us are in battles and we need each other for support. God did not reprimand Moses for his fatigue, but answered his prayers and the support of Aaron and Hur with a victory over the Amakekites.

Prayer is our link to victory. Joshua defeated the Amalekites with the sword, but we too have sword to take into battle with us. Our sword is the word of God. Ephesians 6:17 says, “Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is God’s word.” It is the only offensive weapon we have. All of the others are defensive. So it is important that we know how to wield the Word as God would want us to and we will only know that through prayer.

In James we learn that we should “confess your sins (weaknesses) to one another and pray for one another, so that you may be healed (strengthened). The urgent request of a righteous person is very powerful in its effect. (James 5:16)

A man had a dream about going to Hell where he went into huge banquet room that was filled with food and people, yet all were starving because their arms were splinted and they could not get the food to their mouths. Then he dreamed he saw the same banquet room in heaven yet everyone was enjoying the food. They were feeding each other. We all need help and we can all give help. With each other’s help “(we) will soar on wings like eagles; (we) will run and not grow weary; (we) will walk and not faint.”