A question of faith, an answer of grace

A buddy of mine who is very out spoken about the need for repentance and a change in our lives (to be saved) asked a question on social media:

"Why is it SO hard to be Holy, and SO easy to be a sinner?" (emphasis mine).

Because of our human (fallen) nature. Paul mailed it in Romans 3.

Admitting that is the first part salvation.

What's worse is hypocritical piety. "Not me! I'm certainly not a sinner...." Or "I'm not as bad a sinner as so-and-so..." I know I'm no better than an axe murderer, and no worse than one who steals a penny.

We all fell with the angels when we strived to get close to God on our own.

Dude, it's HARD to be Holy. It's difficult to apply the attributes of God that we learned through Christ to our own lives.

I KNOW I'm going to sin. It happens everyday. That is why I need Jesus.

Grace is the only way. And that happened on the cross and is STILL happening on the cross.

So everyday, I get up, and go about my business. Trying not to sin. Trying to be Holy. Failing and falling, and relying on God's grace. And everyday HE is faithful to forgive, and to lift me up. And if I'm faithful and willing, he fixes me, makes me just a little better each day. ;D

Jesus teaching Jews the law...

Jesus, speaking to a group of Jews in Matthew 22, did something interesting.

He was answering questions from experts in the law, based on the old testament, and I believe it worked because it was poetically correct.

He "bookends" "You shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart, all of your mind, and all of your soul" with "You shall love your neighbor as yourself "

If you read this like Yoda, it starts to make sense.
"Your self, as your neighbor, you shall love."

 IF I am to love anyone else, I FIRST must love myself.

The bit in the middle, that the "This is the first commandment, and the second is like it" is Hebrew poetry which means you can and should read it both ways.

FIRST You love yourself as your neighbor loves you. Your soul, mind, and heart, all of you, is what God Loves FIRST.

little convo with God

I could site all the passages I've looked up about prayer. In fact, I'm 2 days into a "Prayers of Jesus" devotional. Our Lord and savior was *always* running off to pray somewhere, or just praying about mundane thing's  like blessing a meal. Why? He was God incarnate, and man.

Because, he needed to teach us to.

So, I've been trying, especially when asked, to pray. like stop the car, turn off the music, pause netflix, close my laptop, go someplace quiet, and actually PRAY.

So, yesterday it was peace and joy for someone else. Today, it was wisdom and understanding for me. Some prayers I don't know if they are answered immediately, other times I get a word in my head, or emotional (sure sign of the Holy Spirit).

Today, God interrupted me. Cut me off short, several times..

"Is that it Fred?"

Yes, but..

"Why is that all you're asking?"

Well, errrr... I dunno Lord.

So I get "Rejoice always, pray without ceasing" popped in my head, and "but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God."

These are both verses buried in passages of instruction to the early churches to be good, get along, work hard, focus on the positive, don't be drunk, or do evil. All things that we try to do everyday right? I mean, we're forgiven anyway, but...

So what's missing? The prayer and the promise. Peace beyond understanding. Joy from the Lord. Sanctification. Complete coverage.

God answers prayers 3 ways: Yes. No. Or not right now.  He never says "stop bugging me about it". In fact, the Bible says KEEP PRAYING.

So I'm praying, constantly. And accepting peace, joy and sanctification. For the smallest things, and the huge things beyond my control. I'm thankful for the blessings I've received, and those to come.

Salvation surpasses time and distance

We will get to the end of our lives somehow.

"How" we get there is not as important as really being spiritually prepared. Our lives are the very process of this. Salvation is instantaneous and continuous. So why not just pray the sinner's prayer and kill yourself? Because God wants us to walk with him. Many religions seek a state of spiritual perfection through isolation, silence, and adherence to tradition. Great. And then what?

Ours says get ready: I'm coming back, but I'm already there too. No matter what, where, when, God is with us. Young, and old alike, God is with us. Back-sliddin sinner? Yup. Still there. Turn your back on Him? Go ahead and peek. He's STILL there. Smiling, because he caught me peeking.

Just turning towards him, and taking the slightest step, even just reaching out, and I'm at Heavens gate in a way that defies the minds of the greatest astrophysicists in the world or Sheldon from Big Bang theroy....

There will be trials. It will be hard. God will allow, and assist us through these. Funny thing is when we make trouble for ourselves. God is still here. And he wants me to be surprised, but not in an anxious way.

Get Ready! It's gonna be a fun, and wild, and sometimes scary, but totally worth it ride.

The difference between Man and God, duh...

There just some things you cannot share with people. No biggie. God already knows.

There are secrets to be taken to the grave. Jesus was IN the grave with them already.

We hope and wait for comfort and support from our friends and family, and are often disappointed

The Holy spirit is "grieved" that we don't even bother to ask.

Trusting another man (or woman) is just a really bad idea. We're gonna get hurt.

Trusting God, REALLY trusting God, is just SO hard for us.

But we live here and now, in the world, and we're not supposed to go through this alone...

God keeps trying to connect with us. He is faithful, even when we're not.

Such a model for us here. He is light. We should be attracted to the safety and warmth of His love.

We should become magnets to Godly people TOO. Mind you, even David, called a "man after God's own heart (Acts 13:22), was a total screw up despite what God had called him to do.

Still, we reflect Jesus' light.

So we are going to attract the flawed. The broken, The liars, cheaters, murderous thieves and all. Just like He did.

We being in the light will cast out into darkness our light. We will attract moths.

Best we be a beacon of hope, not a flame that burns them.

And as we move through life with others, we should not dance with the fires lest we ourselves get burned.

The Holy Spirit in a movie theatre?

I went and saw a movie yesterday. I had some preconceived notions about the content and profession of Christian faith in it. They didn't make a big deal about the miraculous survival, or unwavering hope of the main character. See, this was a true story. We KNOW it was a miracle that a little girl who lost an arm and 60% of her blood survived after being viciously attacked by a huge shark. We KNOW how when she thought her life's passion had been taken from her, she turned to serving God in the mission field.

Those things alone did not make it a great movie.

There were several great actors in it. Most of  them are into Scientology or something. One made a comment about the "spiritual" nature of making the movie. The rest as far as I know, were just acting. The screenplay, cinematography, the "wet scenes", the CGI, the cameos by many famous (even legendary) surf-people & North Shore locals; All great. Fabulous work by the cast and crew. Really "took me there" to the time and place


Made it a quality product, but, Nah, that's not it.

Here's what did it: The Holy Spirit.

Throughout the movie, there were silent prayers. A look skyward. A single word uttered; "Please". It was the fear every parent has; (losing a child). Every one's nightmare; Watching their friend die. Dr's and coach's guilt; Could I have done more?

All were answered. Every single want fulfilled, every need met, every prayer answered. IN A MOVIE RIGHT? Remember: This is a TRUE story.  How's that possible? And, wouldn't it be boring it it always came out that way?

In the Bible, Jeremiah 29:11 and Romans 8:28 give us some insight into the very nature of our God and Savior. I don't often take individual scriptures out of context and put them up on a soapbox, but these in particular stand on there own merit in ANY situation. But especially in bad times.

Now. How do I prove the Holy Spirit is at work in the movie theaters?

Read the reviews from non-believers. I thought for sure there would be a rash of Bible-bashers trashing this like they did "The Passion of the Christ" (which was far better produced movie). The theaters could make more on Kleenex than popcorn. No one with a soul left in them isn't touched near their heart by this movie.

I'm not "into" surfing, sports-success stories, nor Gurl-power movies. Why would I tell you to see it, or that it was good? Because the Holy spirit made Hollywood tell the story of a teenage girls tragic (truly tragic, not emo-tragic) life, and return to her first passion. All the while, praying and spouting off about Jesus. Does this even sound like a successful movie to you? 

This is not a movie review. It is a commentary on the activities of the Holy Spirit.

I give it a "Thumbs Up"

Are we really walking miricles?

 Science seems to be able to explain a great many things about us. How the various systems in our body work. How they function together to give us mobility, the ability to sustain ourselves, and even the difference between instincts in our genetic code and our innate ability to learn new things. All Simply AMAZING!! Right?

What about our conciseness? Our soul. The spark of life? The part that makes us both merely mortal AND a living thing? The moment we gasp for our first breath. No. Wait... The first heartbeat. Evolution cannot explain how a single cell "decided" to get together with a bunch of others just like it and become heart-tissue for the soul purpose of pumping blood though our body to carry oxygen from our air filled lungs to our thought filled brains...

God doesn't bother to bog us down with the details. All the bible has to say about it is "Dust of the ground" and "bad breath" or some nonsense... Then, to make matters an even better convolution, He "made" Woman from the rib of the man. The bone CLOSEST to his HEART. I just love imagery. Don't you?

I think if God had wanted us to know how it all worked, he would have written our DNA code out in Aramaic or something and given us instructions on how to mix it up in clay pots, put it in the oven for 9 months and POOF!! you created life. To paraphrase that old joke about the devil betting God he can do everything God can: Get your own dust....

What about our fear of death? Why were we afraid of our parents catching us screwing up when we were kids? Why do good people still do stupid shit on a daily basis? Also, if our lives are so short, and when the lights go out, we're done, why even worry about it? Knowing how eff'd up most of the world is and our propensity to war over meaningless crap, why even have kids? Anyone want some kool-aid (never you mind that funny aftertaste)?

Because God loved us enough to not only CREATE US in the first place, but he gave us a way out, and a promise for the future. All of this can be explained very simply without complicated details. Dust, Breath, Life, Sin, Death, Atonement, Resurrection, Eternal Life.

Don't worry about being perfect. You're not. Neither am I.
Don't worry about your life, or where you're going. It's already handled.
Don't live selfishly. Give. Share. take, but take less.

Jesus said to do two things.  Love God more than anything else, and Love other people as much as you love yourself.

Think we can just do that?