"But do you suppose this, O man, when you pass judgment on those who practice such things and do the same yourself, that you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance? But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who WILL RENDER TO EACH PERSON ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS: to those who by perseverance in doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life; but to those who are selfishly ambitious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, wrath and indignation. There will be tribulation and distress for every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek, but glory and honor and peace to everyone who does good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For there is no partiality with God. For all who have sinned without the Law will also perish without the Law, and all who have sinned under the Law will be judged by the Law; for it is not the hearers of the Law who are just before God, but the doers of the Law will be justified." - Romans 2:3-13

Wow! I apologize for the gaps in-between the last few blogs... God's been doing a work in me, and it's left me less than energetic about blogging. But it's all good, because times of brokenness and reliance upon Christ cause us to become more devoted to Him and become less amused with ourselves and our own abilities. When you're brought to the edge of yourself and the love of Christ and His abilities continue to stretch out in front of you... You realize the smallness of self and the enormity of God and of His love for us.

I just want to touch, really quickly, on a single verse in this passage... "For there is no partiality with God." Amen to that! Isn't it great that no matter what we do we cannot earn, nor detract from, God's love for us???

I was recently struggling with this very concept... Have you ever felt outside of the grace of God? It's not a pretty place to be! Of course, we know from Scripture that God will never fail us or forsake us (Deut. 31:8). But what's happening, then, in those times when we feel so far off? Guilt! Shame! It's quite simple really, we are judging our character by the standards of Scripture and realizing that we have fallen short... again! It's important, at this point, to remember the grace of God. We CANNOT be good, but Christ is our good, instead. He paid the penalty of ALL of our shortcomings, past, present and future! The hope we have is in HIM!

So, forget about the partiality that we humans struggle with, because it doesn't exist with God. Nor should we have partiality, it shows that we are basing our response to others on their ability to perform well. This is not the love of Christ.

Really quick, though, here's what I'm not saying.... I'm not saying that this is applicable in, say, the workplace. Should the boss give everyone a raise so as to not show partiality to those who perform well? Of course, in a situation like that, there is reward for good behavior and correction for bad behavior. But this is because these institutions are run by fallible humans, who are working for money, which has nothing to offer us in eternity and can actually become a god to some of us, if we're not careful.

What I am saying is this... in your workplace, home, school, etc. treat everyone with the love of Christ. Don't evaluate their worthiness of your good treatment towards them. Remember what you have to offer God? Nothing. So, keep that in mind when you are showing kindness and the love of Christ to others. They might not have anything to offer you, but that's okay. You have everything that matters, Christ, to offer them!

I don't think I'm doing a very good job of explaining what I am thinking... but unfortunately that's all I have time for today. I'll probably revisit this idea tomorrow and try to make more sense of it.

In conclusion, we can rest in the assurance that we are children of God and that His love for us is not portioned out according to our worthiness, but rather according to the fact that He has decided to love us and that His love never fails. We have been called out of our sins, and He has given us the greatest gift, eternal life! I hope this is as encouraging to you as it has been for me... to know that my past failures aren't going to affect my grade with God, but that Christ's blood is all that matters when I stand before Him.

Look at verse 4 again... "Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?"

It is the kindness of God, which we see, in light of our unworthiness, which causes us to fall on our faces and cry out for mercy... We cry out for forgiveness, not because of our own understanding, but because God revealed to us the greatness of His love for us!

It is this same kindness which birthed forth the Savior... Jesus' death was the kindest act of God towards us. It was the only way that we could be saved from our sins, and He accomplished ALL of it. We had no part in our salvation. He simply chose to express His kindness towards each of us! What an awesome concept!

So, don't get caught on the flipside! Don't sit there with a stubborn and unrepentant heart, as Paul continues on to say. God's righteous judgment will be poured out on the stubborn one who says in his heart, "There is no God."

The contrasts are given... which side are you on?

Grace and Peace!

Questions or Comments? E-mail me at afflquestions@yahoo.com .

Don't Play "The Judge"

"Therefore you have no excuse, everyone of you who passes judgment, for in that which you judge another, you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things." - Romans 2:1

"Therefore" means "in light of what we've just said." So, we need to remember what we've just looked at in the end of Romans 1.

"And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful; and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them." - Romans 1:28-32

So, here we see Paul calling out the Romans on their sin. They were busy keeping an eye on each other's holiness and, in that process, not keeping a close enough eye on their own! Jesus talked a lot about this same subject...

"Do not judge so that you will not be judged. For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' and behold, the log is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye." (Matthew 7:1-5)

This whole ordeal really boils down to one simple thing... Spiritual maturity. It is the humble and loving Christian that is going to be able to bring peace and restoration to a situation. To paraphrase what we just read from Matthew 7... "Examine yourself, FIRST!"

Have you ever noticed how the faults that someone points out in another person are usually the same faults that we notice in the person doing all the pointing out? Did that make any sense at all??? You know what I mean, though, right? There are people who are so quick to point out the things that they see in others, but we notice the same things in them!

Okay, so first off... would it not be considered gossip if we were to discuss the faults of others with people not at all directly related to the issue? I think that's a big "Yes"... it would be gossip to talk about other people's faults and shortcomings, in their absence.

Secondly, according to what we've just read... What does that tell us about the condition of the gossip's heart? It would seem that, according to the Scriptures, the person who notices the faults of others should be just as quick, if not quicker, to examine themselves before they ever consider going to that person and pointing out the things that they notice.

So, what does a judgmental heart say about our inward condition? It says that we have the same problems as the one whom we see struggling! Not only that... but we condemn ourselves when we judge others with a higher standard than the one that we use to judge our own behavior! Consider this... no matter what "standard" you judge by, it will always fall short of perfect. God's standard is so much higher than man's standards could ever reach! With that being said... why would we ever even think of judging others while letting ourselves off of the hook? We're saved by GRACE alone! There is nothing that we have ever done to make ourselves worth the saving work which Christ has done in us! So, really, we're putting our own standards above the power of the cross when we judge our brothers and sisters in Christ.... That's a sobering thought!

Galatians 6:1 puts this concept into perspective, perfectly!

"Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted." (Galatians 6:1)

"You who are spiritual..." again we come back to the idea of spiritual maturity being a primary necessity in dealing with others. We must be able to come to a brother or sister in love. There cannot be a judgmental tone to the way in which we address the issue, because that is pure hypocrisy according to Christ. It shows a lack of compassion and desire to see the other person restored.

"In a spirit of gentleness..." Again we see what we've just covered... that our goal must be their restoration. Anything short of seeking the other person's restoration shows a dangerous relation to a judgmental spirit, which again leads us back to hypocrisy. Do you see the vicious cycle which takes place when we do not treat others as if they are given the same amount of grace with which we ourselves would hope to be treated?

In conclusion... how much grace are you extending to your brothers and sisters in Christ? How much understanding do you treat their circumstances with? And how much of an emissary of Christ's love are you towards those who are struggling and in need of support? Being a "mercy-giver" is as important a ministry as any other... some are called to be comforters, but we are all called to love others with the same love which Christ showed us!

Grace and Peace!

Questions or Comments? E-mail me at afflquestions@yahoo.com .

"For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures. Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error. And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful; and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them." - Romans 1:21-32

I know we've covered the first couple of these verses several times already, but I wanted to add them on as a refresher since it's been a little while since we last looked at them. I won't be directly addressing them, but they're there to show their relationship to the verses that we'll be looking at today.

This is all a continuation of one thought... darkened hearts, without the light of Christ to illuminate them, fall into the deepest pits of sin and rebellion. The list that Paul gives... "being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful..." (vv. 29-31) it shows us that there is a broad spectrum which he calls the foolishness of those who do not acknowledge God. So, do we mean that those who are disobedient to their parents are not acknowledging God? Yes... God gave us parents, He told us to honor and obey them, and when we do not follow this command upon our lives we are breaking God's law and are not showing acknowledgement of His authority over our lives. We should be acknowledging God's authority over every aspect of our lives, but this is often easier said than done...

Well... I'm running out of time, much quicker than I would have hoped... My prayers for you, today, is that you will take some time to reflect on how you either have or haven't been acknowledging God as your ultimate authority.... What drives us? What is the determining factor of our actions? Who do we serve? Ourselves and the lusts of our flesh, as Paul mentions? Or are we serving the One Who has called us to forsake our own agenda and to follow Him, wholeheartedly?

If you call yourself a Christian, you've been called out of the depravity of "self." Paul says, "How shall we who died to sin still live in it?" (Rom. 6:2) We're a part of something bigger, by the grace of God, and that's not something to take lightly! We must take the necessary steps to be freed from the lusts of our own desires! Confess your struggles to the One who understands... repent and turn away from them... And be used by the One who has set YOU apart for His glory and your ultimate good! He loves you... that's why He called you out of your darkened state of depravity. That's why He was willing to send His Son to earth to live a perfect life and die a gruelling death on your behalf... because of the great love with which He loved us... The least we can do, in return (not that we could ever repay the debt which He covered with His own blood), is live a life which points to Him in everything that we say and do... to flee from the things which cause Him sorrow and which separated us from Him in the first place.

Grace and Peace!

Questions or Comments? E-mail me at afflquestions@yahoo.com .

Good Friday: Just a verse or two...

"Who has believed our message?
And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot,
And like a root out of parched ground;
He has no stately form or majesty
That we should look upon Him,
Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him.
He was despised and forsaken of men,
A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;
And like one from whom men hide their face
He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
Surely our griefs He Himself bore,
And our sorrows He carried;
Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten of God, and afflicted.
But He was pierced through for our transgressions,
He was crushed for our iniquities;
The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him,
And by His scourging we are healed.
All of us like sheep have gone astray,
Each of us has turned to his own way;
But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all
To fall on Him.
He was oppressed and He was afflicted,
Yet He did not open His mouth;
Like a lamb that is led to slaughter,
And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers,
So He did not open His mouth.
By oppression and judgment He was taken away;
And as for His generation, who considered
That He was cut off out of the land of the living
For the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke was due?
His grave was assigned with wicked men,
Yet He was with a rich man in His death,
Because He had done no violence,
Nor was there any deceit in His mouth.
But the LORD was pleased
To crush Him, putting Him to grief;
If He would render Himself as a guilt offering,
He will see His offspring,
He will prolong His days,
And the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand.
As a result of the anguish of His soul,
He will see it and be satisfied;
By His knowledge the Righteous One,
My Servant, will justify the many,
As He will bear their iniquities.
Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great,
And He will divide the booty with the strong;
Because He poured out Himself to death,
And was numbered with the transgressors;
Yet He Himself bore the sin of many,
And interceded for the transgressors."
- Isaiah 53:1-12

That's our Christ! Those were our sins... He took them all! He interceded for US!!! We are the transgressors, WE were due the stroke of wrath... but He shielded our lashings with His own body!

That's all I have to say for today...

May the Grace and Peace that comes through the Blood of the Lamb be yours in abundance!

Just A Quick Thought...

As I sit here in my living room... listening to my family as they all play a game together... I'm compelled to stop and think a minute about the fast-approaching day. Good Friday.

Why do we call it "Good" Friday? Perhaps we're referring to the gruesome death of our Savior, on a cross? I'm not sure we could call that "good"...

Perhaps it's because of the diverted wrath of God being poured out upon His Only Son, instead of upon each of our souls? I guess the only problem I have is... couldn't they have found a better word than "Good" to describe what happened on that day? I consider it to be a "good" thing when I can have chocolate ice-cream while I blog from the comfort of my couch! So, something's wrong in the wordage of our modern society...

Could it be that the word "Good" just doesn't do justice to the enormous work accomplished on the cross? Or could my usage of "Good" just be WAY too generous a word for the situation? When Paul talks about Goodness being a Fruit of the Spirit, in Galatians 5:22-23, the meaning of the word is "moral or spiritual excellence." I don't think that my chocolate ice-cream is causing moral excellence in me... I'm just saying... I could probably find a better word to use.

Again, though, I'm thinking that there MUST be a better word we could use for the day in which sin and death were fought with the sinless blood of the Lamb of God! But what word could it be? This my dilemma...

You know what, though? It's not as big a deal, as I'm making it, that we would have a word to better describe what our Savior accomplished... but rather that we would have a better (fuller) understanding of what exactly happened on that day. That we would understand our sin... that our sin was the reason that He must die. That our punishment was placed upon the shoulders of the only person who should never have needed to bear that load. That the punishment for our sins was the greatest agony that can possibly be experience, both by body and soul. The agony of suffocating, ever so slowly, drowning in your own blood... But if that weren't punishment enough for the perfect life that He lived, there was a greater, more despairing thing to come.... The agony of separation from His Father... The Father whom He had had perfect communion with since before time began.

His Father could not look upon Him because of the enormity of the sins which fell upon our Savior that day... He cried out! Not because of the pain from the whips. He Cried out, not from the weight of the crowds jeering. He Cried Out, not because of the searing pain in His most blessed wrists and feet, as cold, cruel nails dug deeper and deeper into Him... HE CRIED OUT... because His Father had forsaken Him! He cried out because His perfect communion with the Father was broken!

Do we understand this agony? I don't think that we do... I don't think a human being has ever experienced, on this side of the grave, complete separation from the God of the Universe.

Does the prospect of complete separation from God cause you to tremble? Does it cause in you an extreme desperation? If not, we must question what our hearts are truly devoted to. How much do we love our Lord? Does the idea of being separated from Him cause us to weep in despair of what our lives would be like without His light in us?

To what extent do our words and actions demonstrate the grateful love and devotion that we have for our Savior? What is our response to the Love that we've seen? Do we humbly bow and cry "Holy! Holy! Holy!"? Or do we sniff contemptuously at the blood that we have taken part in shedding, blood which has the power to redeem souls, and go about in our pursuit of worldly pleasures? Friends, I confess my guilt to the latter... I have chased meaningless things! I am guilty of allowing distractions to creep in and become more important to me than loving my Lord!!!

What is this illness??? What madness could possibly drive us beyond perfect love? What insanity could offer more pertinent things than eternal life to our souls??? Two words... Pride and Selfishness

Pride... the inability to recognize our need for someone, outside of ourselves, to save us from our predicament. Or, quite simply, the unwillingness to admit that we don't have all of the answers and that we aren't in control of our own destiny.

Selfishness... the self-absorbing cancer which plagues so many of us, today! The constant pursuit of personal goals, rather than pursuing the things of Christ!

I don't want to get too in depth, right now. But I do hope that these thoughts, mixed with an understanding of the meaning of Christ's death on our behalf, might cause us to consider our priorities more...

Who do you love? God or this World?

Who do you serve?

Who gets the majority of your time?

Who is on your mind, when you wake up and when you go to bed?

I'm convicted by the very questions that I'm asking each of us to consider! I'm guilty! I'm a sinner, saved by grace that I do not, CANNOT, deserve! I'm a work in progress... but that doesn't mean I'm exempt from growing in my love for my Savior. If we truly call Him "Lord," then we will want to know Him more, to serve Him more, to give our all for HIM!

So, Good Friday... the day that the World was given HOPE! Without Christ's death, there is law... And we cannot keep the whole Law. There is no way for us to keep the law, or the death of Christ wouldn't have been necessary. There would be less importance to the death of Christ if we were capable of saving ourselves. But that's not the case! The Law cannot be kept, in full, by a fallen soul. BUT GOD! Those precious words! Most precious because they represent intervention by the only One who could possibly bring hope. The only One outside of the fallen nature. The only One... sent His Only Son. His Only Son, after living a perfect life, sacrificed Himself for us... a people who could never repay Him! There's something to be said of sacrifice with no expectation of repayment. He loved us that much!

I feel as though I may be rambling... there are more qualified preachers who could do a much better job of helping you to understand the weight of our sins and the freedom and hope we have in Christ's victory over sin and death! I just thought I'd give my "two-cents worth."

Grace and Peace!

Questions or Comments? E-mail me at afflquestions@yahoo.com .

Too Few Hours In A Day

I, uh... er... ran out of time today...

I thought that I'd have time, this evening, to work on some more thoughts with these few verses... but I think we'll have to wait and hope that it works out better tomorrow morning.

Of course, by the time most of you read this, I'll probably already have the next post up! At least... hopefully!

Grace and Peace!

Glory? Who's Glory?

"For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures." - Romans 1:21-23

" 'For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,' declares the LORD. 'For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, And do not return there without watering the earth And making it bear and sprout, And furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater; So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It will not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.' " - Isaiah 55:8-11

"Thus they exchanged their glory for the image of an ox that eats grass. They forgot God their Savior, Who had done great things in Egypt, wonders in the land of Ham and awesome things by the Red Sea." - Psalm 106:20-22

"Many times He would deliver them; They, however, were rebellious in their counsel, and so sank down in their iniquity. Nevertheless He looked upon their distress when He heard their cry; and He remembered His covenant for their sake, and relented according to the greatness of His lovingkindness." - Psalm 106:43-45

Well, hopefully these few verses have helped in the understanding of the history from which Paul pulls this concept of "Professing to be wise, they became fools..." Do not suppose, though, that this behavior is limited to the Old Testament. No, we are still professing wisdom, today, and are, all the while, becoming more and more foolish in our thinking. The "wisdom" of the world is called foolishness in the Scriptures... we see it many times.

The "wisdom" of the Israelites often got them into more trouble than it was worth! Wouldn't you agree? That perhaps if they had just followed the commands of God... they might have all made it into the Promised land of God a whole lot earlier? Am I crazy in assuming that God could have kept His promise to bring them into the land the first time they arrived? But God does keep His promises. He promised blessings for those who would be obedient, and a curse upon those who would turn away and seek their own ways... If you don't believe me, just read Leviticus (chapter 26) and Deuteronomy (chapter 28)!

So, here we see Paul dealing with those who have turned away... They began to follow after idols. He lists a few different things here, but I think one of the more interesting, and probably more applicable, things that he deals with is an image in the form of corruptible man! Isn't that weird? No! It's absolutely true! We idolize those around us... we make a person our ultimate standard of what is good and right and true.

We try to obtain Truth, capital "T", in the places where Truth isn't found. Jesus is THE Way, THE Truth, and THE Life. If Jesus Christ is Truth.... then, when we try to find fulfillment and truth in places other than the Scriptures and our relationship with Him.... we're failing ourselves and our Savior. We are rendering ourselves completely ineffective for His kingdom when we chase after the corruptible, as our number one goal in life.

So, what should we be chasing after? What do the Scriptures say that a follower of Christ should chase after? Well... Jesus said that we should pursue the souls of everyone around us. And when we run out of souls to pursue around us.... we relocate and pursue more souls in other places. We are told to "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations." (Matt. 28:19)

In the New Testament we see several other commands as well:

To love the Lord our God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength. (Mark 12:30)

To have love above all other gifts of the faith. (1 Cor. 13)

To have humility. (1 Peter 5:5)

To have joy in times of trial. (James 1:2-4)

There are more, but this list should give us a little bit of insight into what God requires of those who would call themselves by His Name. We are not called to be consumers, but rather to be servants... Just as Christ said that He did not come to be served, but rather to serve. (Matt. 20:26-28) Can we even begin to understand this concept? Not of our own accord and on our own merit, but through the conviction of the Holy Spirit and the humbleness (through grace) which He gives us, we can become the fully devoted servant whom God will use mightily for His name's sake! Can I get a "hallelujah!"? Have you ever noticed that the ones who seem to love and understand the things of God the most are those who serve Him without expecting praise or anything else in return? I think there is some good reasoning behind this...

So, all of this to say... "Chase hard after God, and do not turn to the left, nor to the right. But rather let us continue on in the faith and work of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior! For there is nothing greater on this earth that we could possibly be a part of!"

Don't profess wisdom... profess Christ! That's all the wisdom we need!

Don't exchange the glory of God for the glory of man... there is no lasting value in glorifying yourself. Only the glory of God is everlasting! Only the glory of God is worthy of our mentioning. Boasting of our own efforts is like bragging about the shack we built next to the Empire State building. Let's take it one step further... It's like boasting about the Empire State building while we stare at Mount Everest. There is a Builder and Creator Who is infinitely greater than we are. Nothing is worth mentioning unless it points back to, or reflects, His greatness.

Be a mirror of Christ. Be a reflection of His light in a darkened world, where men are professing wisdom while spouting follies by the minute! Don't follow the crowd in exchanging the glory of the incorruptible God for corruptible things. Store up your treasures where they are really going to matter the most! (Matt. 6)

Grace and Peace!

Questions or Comments? E-mail me at afflquestions@yahoo.com .

The Futile Speculations of the Corruptible Human Mind

"For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures." - Romans 1:21-23

"I don't believe in a God who would do that! I believe in a God who loves us and takes care of us!" ...Okay... Many of us may have heard this before. There is a large percentage of "Christians" who would claim that God really doesn't pronounce judgment on people's souls just because they don't believe in Jesus. They would tell you that God loves people, and that people who are good will go to heaven... You know, the only problem I have with this mindset is... IT'S COMPLETELY WRONG!

When did finite human beings begin to think it was okay to put an infinite God in a box and imagine Him in whatever way that they might choose??? If a person spent 30 minutes a day in the Scriptures, reading the Old Testament and the New, they would see just how Holy and intolerant of sin God really is! Let's look at the very first example that is given in Scriptures... Adam and Eve! It didn't take very long for the human race to get really messed up, did it? Adam and Eve, the very first people created by God, chose to eat of the one, single tree in the garden of Eden that they weren't allowed to eat from. What is God's response to this? Pain! Toiling work for man, enmity between the man and the serpent. Suddenly there's danger, and ultimately... death. God casts them out of the Garden, where His presence had resided with them, and they no longer have the joy of intimate communion with their Maker.

Do you see how God views sin? Does it sound like He really doesn't care too much about it? You know what, maybe that's not a very good example of God's distaste for sin... let's move into the next chapter of Genesis... So, God cast Adam and Eve out of perfect communion with Himself in Genesis chapter 3... In chapter 4... Cain murders Abel! So, here we get example 2 of how God views sin. In chapter 3 He casts Adam and Eve out of the garden, and in chapter 4 we find Him addressing the first murder trial. Cain ends up as an outcast, sentenced to wandering the earth for the rest of his life.

Are we beginning to think, yet, that God might in fact care about the sin in our lives? How can we then say that God is anything less than a perfect Judge, Holy and incapable of tolerating sin in His presence? If sin cannot be allowed to dwell in His presence, and Jesus Christ was the perfect sacrifice for the punishment of our sins... How can we say that Christ is not the Only way for us to be saved? How can we even begin to assume that our good works will help us to gain God's approval?

Do these questions sound elementary to you? They are! But even the most elementary facts of human depravity and the saving work of Christ have been ignored in many of the modern day churches! And here is where Paul's statement gains extreme legitimacy.

We see it all the time... people who believe that God is going to pardon their sins based on the fact that they have been "good people." Unfortunately, Paul also tells us that our righteous acts are like filthy rags to God. This is, again, why it is important to understand that it is by grace alone that we are saved, through faith in Christ.

What should this knowledge cause in us? Honor of the One Who is deserving of all honor! Unrelenting thankfulness for His sacrifice on our behalf! But what do we do? Where do you fall in the honor and thankfulness department? Are you speculating? Are you being foolish in your perception of God's holiness, judgment, and completed work on your behalf? Are you trying to add to the work that's been accomplished or detract from it's exclusive ability to save your soul?

There is no benefit in trying to add to the Word of God. Revelation 22:18-19 says, "I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues which are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city, which are written in this book."

There is no need to speculate... all wisdom and understanding comes from the same God who's words are recorded in the Scriptures. We have no further wisdom to offer! We have no understanding beyond that which has been revealed through either the Scriptures or the Holy Spirit, Who communes with our spirit.

Friends, I fear that I may be delving too deeply into a subject to which I do not bring enough of a prepared knowledge and understanding of. I am distracted in my reasoning... and for this reason, I will end this entry right here.

I will sleep, pray, read and return in the morning! Hopefully in that time my thoughts will have cleared, and the troubles that cloud my mind will have passed.

To summarize the entire thought for today into fewer words... "Don't speculate about the importance of the cross, and it's effect on your salvation. Rest in the humble knowledge that it had nothing to do with you, and that God loves you in spite of yourself! Don't get caught up in yourself and forget to Whom all glory, honor, praise and thanksgiving is due!"

I leave you with these thoughts...

Grace and Peace!

Questions or Comments? E-mail me at afflquestions@yahoo.com .

Who's Getting The Honor?

"For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures." - Romans 1:21-23

Okay, so... I'm gonna come down kinda hard today... Don't worry, if you're living a life of sincerity before God, you have nothing to worry about! Otherwise, we're going to be dealing with the hypocrisy of our hearts, today. Lookout! :)

So, here we're going to deal with some interesting territory... the darkened, inner-parts of the human heart. You know, most of the time, it seems like we approach these verses as one who is looking outside the windows of the church, and into the streets filled with the unsaved... However, there is an importance and urgency, within these verses, which we must not fail to reflect on, for our own lives! Here's what I mean...

We, as professing believers, claim to "know" God. Now, obviously we cannot really "know" God, because He is much greater and higher than we could ever comprehend. But that's another topic, for another time, altogether.

Anyways... we know God, as He has revealed Himself to us. But, do we honor Him? Do we treat the Creator of all matter as if He really does matter? Are we thankful for the redemptive work that He accomplished on cross, on our behalf? Or have we, "Professing to be wise," become foolish in our thinking? Have we overlooked the mountain of grace which is before us, and instead built a sandcastle of our own understanding, expecting it to shelter us from the storms of God's judgment upon our sins?

What does Paul mean when he says, "they did not honor Him as God or give thanks..."? Let's look at this... When we as Christians try to "be good" and "live a good life" instead of giving all glory to God for any goodness that is found within us... we demonstrate our works before the world in a way that is most hypocritical! When our actions are not followed with all glory for them being given to God... we are not honoring Him.

As a little aside, here... I understand how good it feels to be praised for doing a good job! We like being praised for our works, but it is dangerous to accept such praise without redirecting it to the One who drives your actions. It's hard to redirect praise! We love the approval of man! But it becomes an extremely addicting drug, if we do not pass it along to the One who deserves all praise and honor! We will become desperate for a "fix" of praise, and will then become resentful when we do not receive it, if our focus is even slightly off! Remember what it means to "take up your cross" and follow Christ? We are called to deny ourselves, and to follow hard after Him! Part of what this looks like is that we give all glory and honor, from any situation, to God! He is, after all, the Author and Perfecter of our faith. Such ranking deserves every ounce of praise we can muster from within ourselves!

Back to the verse... here's where an honor-seeking soul gets scary... Paul says that "their foolish heart was darkened..." That's a scary place to be! I'm speaking from experience when I say that it is a dark road, the one the pride will lead you down, when you seek praise in your service. The only way to be an effective servant of Christ, is to deny yourself and to divert all praise before it seeds deep within your heart and becomes even harder to remove. It is a root that sucks the life and vitality from the heart of service.

Well, these aren't very pleasant thoughts... but I hope this will help you to examine yourself, as I must examine myself, to be sure that there is no root of pride or a self-glorifying spirit within us. We must constantly "pull the weeds" that sprout up within our service... If we don't pull them, they will choke out our service, and will cause resentment to take it's place. This leads to us feeling "burnt out" in our service, which then leads to frustration, which leads to us becoming completely ineffective for the kingdom!

Friends, don't let pride win the day! Don't let the desire to be recognized by men leave you without recognition before the Throne! Jesus said, "Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?' And I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.' "

Know Christ! Be known by Him! Serve Him faithfully, and know that your reward is in heaven... where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal! (Matt. 7:20-21)

Friends, we have only covered one side of this two-faced coin of hypocrisy and prideful living... there is yet more to be covered. But we will get to that next week...

For now... I plead with you to examine your hearts for any hint of pride or hypocrisy in your service. These are the things which are better dealt with, sooner, rather than later.

Grace and Peace!

Questions or Comments? E-mail me at afflquestions@yahoo.com .

A Little Recap and A Little Rant

"For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse." - Romans 1:20

Okay, so... for today, just a little recap of what we've already seen in the past few verses.

I'm not going to make this a very lengthy entry, today...

So, here Paul states what he has already been hinting at in the past few verses. God's attributes are clearly seen in everything that He has created! As an aside, science is extremely useful in acknowledging the existence of a Creator. We are truly without excuse! The more studies and the more research that takes place, the more complexities we discover about cell structures and the impossibilities of evolution. And that takes us back to verse 18 where Paul talks about men suppressing the truth in unrighteousness. They see clearly the complexities of creation, and yet they continue to teach evolution in schools. Proven false theories are taught as possibilities in our public school systems!!! How's that for suppressing the truth?

Anyways, enough of that rant! I wish I could record and show you a video of my recent acquaintance, Caleb, on here! He was explaining to me about a research project that he was a part of, in which they studied the decay of uranium atoms. I don't remember what the technical term was, but it was very interesting... It basically disproved, through the scientific method, the theory of the earth being billions and billions of years old, and actually dates rocks anywhere from three to seven thousand years old! Which would put them within the account given in Scriptures!

I'm going to stop attempting to relay this information, since I'm doing a terrible job at it! I hope you get the picture, though... God's handiwork is clearly seen through creation and the study of it!

Just think, for a moment, about the sustaining nature of the earth... The natural way in which oxygen is replenished and reused by all of creation. The way in which dead plants break down into the soil and supply nutrients to new plants. Self-sustaining life... and yet not "self-sustaining," but rather, "kept in balance by God." The words of His mouth are what keeps everything from falling apart. There is another video I wish I could show you, by Loui Giglio, in which he shows the enormity of the universe, and the complexities of the tiniest structures of the human body!

Well, I think I'm gonna have to cut this one short, today... I started a little late and I have to work a little earlier than usual...

We'll get into some of the "good stuff" tomorrow (not that we haven't gotten into any good stuff already, but you know what I mean!).

Grace and Peace!

Questions or Comments? E-mail me at afflquestions@yahoo.com .

God Has Made Himself Evident to Us!

"For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them." - Romans 1:18-19

Alright! So... we get to move from the righteousness of God... to the wrath of God! That's always fun!

Let's look at these verses in reverse-order... I think they'll actually make more sense to us if we do it that way!

"because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them." (1:19)

What does this verse mean? How has God made Himself evident to us... through us? In one word: Conscience! God gave each and every one of us a conscience. This is the tool, which God has given to man, that speaks truth to the heart. How do you cause a person to feel the conviction of sin and the need for repentance? You go to the conscience! Don't try to battle with them in a sparring match of intellect, but rather go directly for their conscience, which will then say, "truth" to the heart.

The conscience is also the governing factor which tells us that things are wrong. What do I mean by this? I mean that we can look at murder and automatically see that it is not alright. Murder is wrong! But how do we know that? God has revealed His standards to us through our conscience. A group of people from completely different backgrounds could all get together and come to the conclusion that stealing is wrong. Is it because our laws say that stealing is wrong? No, but rather because something deeper within ourselves understands and comprehends the injustice of taking something which is not your own. Who is the very epitome of justice? God!

The character of God is shown to us through His Word as well. He has revealed Himself through Scripture, as we talked about yesterday, and has made known His hatred for wrongdoing. The Ten Commandments (Exodus 20) are the standard which God gave, in the Old Testament, for His standard of goodness. Has anyone ever kept all of the commandments of God? No! This is one of the ways that we can know something about our God. He has a standard of perfection, which none of us can attain to!

Don't lose hope on that point, though... because here's what else we learn about God, in the New Testament... We learn that God's standard was kept by His Son, Jesus Christ, and that the innocent blood that He shed on the cross paid the penalty for all of our sins. So, we learn that God is just, through His laws, but that He is merciful, because of His plan of redemption through His Son. He sacrificed what was most dear to Him on our behalf... And through this we see another attribute of God... His love and grace!

So, in light of what we know about God... let's look at verse 18 now. "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness." God is Holy! Sin cannot dwell in His presence. The wrath of God is poured out upon the souls of those who do not confess their sins and repent of them. Those who would choose to continue in unrighteousness have no excuse for their behavior... they have been given a conscience, just like you and I have.

So, what do we do about this? First, we make sure that our conscience hasn't been seared by the world... that we aren't letting things slip under the radar of our conscience and allowing ourselves to do the things which, deep inside, we know aren't right. Do you think your conscience has been numbed by the things that you have allowed to creep in and gain a foothold in your life? There is hope! Pray and ask God to revive your conscience! Ask Him to make you more aware of the things in your life which are detrimental to your spiritual health. This may take some work on your part... it's not always fun, getting rid of the things that God shows us that are poisoning our hearts. Sometimes it's quite painful, and a bit of a struggle, to let go of things that we want, but that are keeping us from knowing Him better... I am not unfamiliar with this kind of struggle! If you need any encouragement on this matter, please feel free to e-mail me.

Secondly... we must appeal to the consciences of others! This is our greatest tool in showing people their need for a Savior. Take all of the supports, on which they stand, out from under their feet. The average person is going to think that they're a pretty good person... but if you show them, through the Ten Commandments, that according to God's standards they aren't quite measuring up... their conscience will then relay this truth to their heart. They will begin to feel the conviction of sin, and this is when we can share the Good News! We can then show them the way out! That there was a penalty for their sins, and that Christ took that penalty and punishment upon Himself so that we wouldn't have to... that the Scriptures say that if we confess our sins and repent of them (turn away from them), God will forgive us and make us clean, through His Son! This is such wonderful news to the soul that has been made aware if its predicament! If a heart if soft enough to understand the weight of its sin, and to feel remorse because of its offenses against God, then repentance is the next logical step.

God has truly made Himself known to us! His Word is clear... Jesus is The Way, The Truth, and The Life! No man comes to the Father, except through Him! (John 14:6)

I hope this hasn't been too confusing for anyone. If you have questions or if something didn't make sense... then please, feel free to e-mail me! There's no such thing as a stupid question! Any question that I can help you to answer, I would welcome the opportunity! That being said...

Grace and Peace, Dear Friends!

Questions or Comments? E-mail me at afflquestions@yahoo.com .