Faith to Faith

The apostle Paul wrote, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed---a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith" (Rom 1:16-17).

Paul's affirmation is clear in teaching that our life in Christ begins in faith and that it continues in faith, that apart from faith there is no life.  It also reveals that our faith gives rise to faith, as read in the KJV, "faith to faith."  Or, perhaps we could say that our faith will be found living in another - not that our statement of beliefs will live in another per se but that the faith we live will be transferred to those who see our living faith.

The apostle Peter contributes to this theme in saying, "Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have" (1 Pet 3:15).  The teaching is that people, seeing our life of faith in our daily example, will want to know what we have and begin to ask us about it.

Therefore, when my faith is not simply held but lived out, my faith will be born in another and their like faith will also establish a living, dynamic faith in another.  Faith only held as a set of beliefs or convictions has little value, and to proclaim our beliefs in words alone is not very compelling.  But to give life to our faith in how we live, consistently, day by day - that is a faith that gives rise to faith.

There is an old poem I remember from Harding University about four decades ago, which says, "You are writing a gospel, a chapter a day, by the things that you do and the things that you say.  People will read your gospel, whether faithless or true.  Say, what is the gospel according to you?"

What about your faith?  Will it remain a set of ideas or even ideals in your thinking or will it be the compass for your walk?  Will your faith be alive and open for review or hidden from view?  Will your faith give rise to faith in others or lay quietly in the recesses of your mind?  Jus' Ask'n.

Slipping Away

Ever feel like you were just slipping away, that life was absolutely crowding you to the edge and you were loosing your footing?  Perhaps, even now, you are feeling overwhelmed with the pressures, the challenges or the negative forces in your world that you don't know how you will hang on.  You may be wishing that you were stronger, that you had it more together, that you could find the strength to stand up against the storm that is rising.

King David did - a man who out of all of Israel was hand-picked by God to be the leader of Israel, a man who fought a lion, a bear and a giant - and won!  King David, described by the Lord as "a man after my own heart" (Acts 13:22), came to a place where he felt that he could not hold on.  But, he did not look for personal inner strength, he did not seek to conjure up the ability to overcome somehow, instead, he looked deeper, he looked for the strength of the Lord:

"Who will rise up for me against the wicked? Who will take a stand for me against evildoers? Unless the Lord had given me help, I would soon have dwelt in the silence of death. When I said, “My foot is slipping, ” your unfailing love, Lord, supported me. When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought me joy" (Ps 94:16-19).

Notice he did not ask, "How can I keep from slipping away?"  Instead, he poses the question, "Who? Who will will rise up for me?"  And the answer is "the Lord!"  The Lord will rise, the Lord will stand, the Lord will support me when anxiety is great - when I'm slipping away, it is God, not me, that steadies my feet.

Listen to what Jesus says to the one heavily burdened by life: "...take my yoke upon you and you will find rest for your soul" (Mt 11:29).  He does not say that he will take away your burden or that he will empower you to overcome it, he says that he will help you pull it - that is purpose of a double yoke, for one ox to pull with another when the burden is too great for the one, when, try as he might, he cannot gain enough traction or call up enough strength to make it on his own.

Our Lord Jesus wants to steady our feet, to keep us from slipping away, when the burden of life is pressing us toward the edge, when we just can't find our footing.  The question is only, "Will we accept his offer of grace or try to manage on our own?"  Jus' Ask'n.

Redeemer

Two cents, that was the redemption price of a soda bottle when I was a boy.  Very early on, before I even started going to school, I was in he redemption business.  I would scour the neighborhood, looking primarily in ditches along the roads for bottles caked with dirt, filled with dirty water and often extinguished cigarette butts.

The bottles were nasty, too dirty to even take to the country store across the road to get the redemption price.  Even after I cleaned them up and made the deal, they were not fully redeemed.  The owner of the store would turn them in to the soda distributor, who would take them back to the plant and fully cleanse them until they sparkled like new, free from contamination before completing the redemption process and filling them back up with soda to be returned to the store.

The bottles I dug up out of the ditches didn't look very appealing.  I can't imagine anyone thinking "What a lovely bottle, I think I'll fill it with something cool to drink."  In the condition I found them, they seemed to be worthless, something you would pass by with the same lack of value placed by the ones who threw them into the ditches.

But, despite their apparent worthlessness, I knew they had value.  I knew that the owner would buy them back and make them whole again.  I knew that there was a redeemer if only the bottles could be brought back to him, regardless of how dirty or foul or mud-caked they might have become - their was a redeemer.

We get in that condition.  Our lives are caked with sin.  We become filled with worldly contaminates. We appear to have lost any of our original value.  But their is a Redeemer, one who willingly pays the price to buy us back, who cleans us of every dark stain and returns us to our original state - cleaned out, filled up and returned to our rightful place.

This is the message I read this morning from the Book of Job that contains the narrative of a man who seemed to devalued and tossed upon a garbage heap, never to be reclaimed but not so: "I know that my redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand on the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see him with my own eyes---I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!" (19:25-27).

There is a Redeemer yet for you and me.  There is One who stands ready to make us whole, having paid the purchase price and prepared to cleanse us, fill us and return us to our original state.  His name is Jesus and he sees past all your sin and stain, sees the inherit value that comes from your Creator and desires to fully redeem you.  Jus' Say'n.

Mediator

His name was Don, he was the uncle of a good friend of mine and he saved me from a very hostile encounter with five words, "I know him, he's cool."

It was a summer night in 1971.  I was turning left into the parking lot of Pizza Inn using a hand signal as my left turn indicator light in my 1966 Chevy pick-up had gone out.  Another pick-up full of beer-drinking rednecks (not unlike myself at the time) slammed on the brakes, swerved hard to the right, barely avoiding a rear-end collision and the aftermath which might have ended with me as a statistic as the driver assured, "If I had hit you and survived, you wouldn't have."

He was angry, they came back around to deal with me, thinking I had made a turn without signaling and nearly causing a wreck.  Their intention was to provide me a lesson on the rules of tthe road via the school of knocks, not hard knocks, just knocks on the head and body.

But Don, not even waiting to hear my explanation of a burnt out flashing light and attempt to hand signal, spoke up for me, affirming my status of being known by him and prejudged as being "cool."

Wouldn't it be great if we had someone, as we stood before the judgment seat of Almighty God and the angelic host, who having a relationship with us, prejudged us and would mediate before the Throne saying, "I know him, he's cool."

Well, while the precise words may differ a bit, we do have someone who does exactly that "For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus" (1 Tim 2:5) - our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, stands between us and judgment from the Throne because, as he reveals in the Fourth Gospel, "I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me" (Jn 10:14).

I had an explanation for why the other driver could not see my signaling in the darkness, I was prepared to offer my excuse but the fact was, I knew the bulb was out, I knew that seeing my hand in the dark was problematic, my excuse was defenseless except for my relationship with Don, his knowledge of me as friend and willingness to mediate for me saved my hide that summer night.

We may have explanations for all we have done and not done in life, we may think we are ready to offer our excuses for our failures, we may even think we deserve a pass.  But the truth is that "all sin and fall short of the glory of God" (Rom 3:23) and it is only our relationship with Jesus Christ, who will mediate for those known by him that will save our souls on that Day for "no one comes to the Fathter except through [him]" (Jn 14:6).  Jus' Say'n.

Evil

As I went to bed last night, the death toll in Nice had reached 73 and expected to continue climbing.  The assault weapon was a truck, not one filled with explosives, just a truck.  Guns, explosives, planes, whatever they can think of to cause death and destruction.

It isn't because they have access to destructive or deadly things, it is that these Jihadist nut jobs dream of ways to kill and then find, buy or steal what they need to carry out their evil plan.  I am reminded of what God said about mankinds in the days of Noah just before he destroyed them: "The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time" (Gen 6:5).

These people are evil.  Passing additional restrictions on guns or knives or explosives or motor vehicles or whatever, is not going to detour them.  Being nice to them is not going to incite them to play nice with us either.  Waging a war on poverty in the Middle East is not going to stop the war they are waging against infidels like us.

They aren't driven by fear or need or social/political stressors, they are driven by an ideology that is steeped in radical Islamic theology and fuel by a radicalized hatred that is nothing less than evil personified.  They are motivated by evil, they want to force the world to accepted their demented form of religion at penalty of death.  And, it is clear that killing rather than converting suits them just fine.

The battle to be waged requires that governments take decisive and deadly action to destroy the evil Islamic Jihadists, but that will not be enough.  They will have to win the battle against the evil ideology itself.  If they can break the back of the caliphate and then uproot the ideology, the governments will be successful in turning the tide.

But that will not be the end entirely, the evil itself will continue in one form or another "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms" (Eph 6:12).

The physical destruction of Islamic Jihadists will not end the struggle with evil.  As Christians we must be forever watchful of evil as it manifests itself and engage it on the spiritual battlefield or prayer and righteousness.  It is not the government's of the citizens of the world that will ultimately overcome evil but the godliness of the Christians.

As Christians, we need to take our faith very seriously, realizing that we are in a battle, a battle in which, as I have previously shared, "the gates of hell shall not overcome" (Matt 16:18).  The god they follow is not God, but rather a demon that wishes nothing other than death and destruction.

Our job?  Take the battle to a higher plane: "But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you" (Matt 5:44).  As children of God we are to win the world with a radical love that issues from the Spirit of God within.  Everyone will not be won over but everyone that will be won over will have been won over by the love of God.  Jus' Say'n.

Gates

As a child, I remember my mother taking great comfort in the words of Jesus, "on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it" (Matt 16:18).  I can still see her telling us kids that no matter how hard Satan tries, he will never be able to destroy the church, that there always would be a righteous remnant.

I can see why that would be of comfort and I agree with the premise that Satan lacks the power to destroy the church of God, but I have to say that my mom, as Gospel savvy as she was, did not truly understand the meaning of that passage.  While the passage does talk about the combative relationship of the Church and Satan, and his lack of power in relation to the church, his role, in this passage, is defensive not offensive.

So what am I saying?  Specifically, "Gates" do not attack, they defend.  The gates of Hades or Hell as some versions put it, are Satan's defense against the attack of the Church, not the other way around.  The Gates of Hell, the stronghold behind which Satan ensnares mankind, are not sufficient to withstand the onslaught of The Lord's Army when we in the Church marshall ourselves, empowered by the Spirit of God, against them.

People all around us and all around the world, some we know and love, and some we have yet to make their acquaintance, are being entrapped by Satan's schemes and in his snares.  They are being held behind the gates, hopeless and helpless until Christians share their faith and he power of the Gospel to set them free.  And set them free we can, because the Gates of Hell cannot prevail against the Children of God on the move.

Empowered by the Holy Spirit, we are directed, "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age" (Matt 28:19-20).  In so doing, we assail the Gates of Hell, setting the captives free.  Jus' Say'n.

All Your Needs

Life can be very difficult.  Just trying to pay the bills make ends meet can be a challenge.  For many, the hope that things will get better somehow is what keeps them going.  A commonly shared dream is that of a big windfall someday, somehow dropping into their laps.  What drives the state lotteries and keeps the doors of casinos open is that dream of a big payday.

Life would be so much easier if only we had some way of seeing to it that all our needs were going to be met, that we would have to worry about making it by.  If only we had some assurance that we will have enough, we could rest easy on that front allowing us to enjoy life and focus on more important things than economics.

If only?  There is no if, and or but about it, as my mother used to say.  In Christ, we do have precisely such assurance: "My God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus" (Phil 4:19).  Yeah, but.  Nope, no buts.  In Christ, God will meet our all needs - period, exclamation point!

Some of you may be thinking, "I hate to burst your bubble Doc, I am just barely making it.  I live paycheck to paycheck."  I have no doubt that what your are saying is true.  However, let me introduce two things to consider: 1) you are still here and 2) the difficulty in making ends meet has more to do with the ends we choose than the needs we have.

Let me amplify that a bit.  If you are reading this, your needs have been met to date and you have more than you need or else you could not be on the Internet reading my post.  Yes, most have trouble making ends meet but look at the ends we are trying to put together.

Our physical needs of food, clothing and shelter are much easier to provide than all the stuff we can acquire by diving headlong into debt as we tend to do.  If we made it a habit of living within our means instead of stretching our lifestyle to our economic limits, the stress factor of life would begin to shrink.

But, what if we took God for his word that he will meet our all needs?  Stress would vanish from our lives entirely.  What if we really believed that in putting the kingdom of God first in our lives, He would meet all the needs of food, shelter and clothing (see Matthew 6:25ff)?  Question: Do you have those things currently?  Do you believe God can continue meeting those needs?

One more thing, critical to understanding God's blessings, is treasure seeking.  Much of our stress comes from seeking treasures on earth instead of in heaven as Jesus so plainly tells us in Matthew 6:19-20.   If our success is measured by the stuff we can gather around us in life, we will forever be chasing the wind of materialism.  But, when we set our sights on gaining the treasures of heaven, we find the breath of God and "the peace that passes all understanding" (Phil 4:7).  Jus' Say'n.

My Name Is Billy

In one of the nursing homes I visited yesterday, I visited my patient in the cafeteria.  As part of the visit, I sang an old hymn for her that was heard by others nearby.  Several of the older women stopped me and said how much thy appreciated the hymn.

One of the individuals nearby was not an elderly woman, it was a young man of 37 years.  He rolled up in his wheelchair and sat patiently as I talked to a group of women at a table.  As I turned and saw him, I stopped and looked him in the eyes.  He looked up at me and said, "My name is Billy ..., I have been a drunk and a crack addict for 17 years.  I've been in prison three times for a total of 14 years.  When I finally got out, they found a tumor on my brain.

I didn't say a work, I just stood there, looking him in his eyes and nodding my head in understanding as he went on speaking, halting and even holding his head to steady his thoughts.  He said, "I am here for ..."  Loosing his words, I offered for him "rehab."  "Yes," he replied.  "I have to get better so I can go home."

"I heard you singing that song...."  He paused again, trying to formulate the words.  "I know you are too busy now, but could you stop by and talk to me some time?"  I knelt beside him and said, "Can I pray for you right now?"  He nodded yes and took my hand.  Before I began to pray, I said to him, "Whatever your sin, the grace of Jesus is greater.  If you will accept him as your Lord and Savior, he will deliver you."

Although my time was very limited as I had to drive to another town, continuing my patient visits, I shared with him my faith in Christ and encouraged him to turn to Jesus for deliverance and then I prayed for him.  Although his thinking processes are limited by his drug abuse and brain tumors, he was able to understand how much he needed the Lord and believed God gave him a second chance through the tumor itself.

I couldn't change the consequences of his drug abuse or fix the damage caused by his tumor.  But, I could offer him a bit of my time, my attention and respond to his need to hear of God's grace.  As we talked, I noticed that his short-term memory was deeply impaired as he repeated statements and asked the same questions over again.  But, I knew this was a divine appointment that I had to keep, whether he remembered we ever met or not.

I plan to stop by again and talk to Billy.  He may not remember me and he may not have the same questioning  heart.  But I will make myself available to him and I hope that I can offer him further encouragement and once again share a bit of my faith with him in the goodness and graciousness of Jesus Christ my Lord.

As I write this final paragraph, two thoughts fill my head: 1) Jesus words, "Whatever you did for the least of these brothers or sisters of mine, you did for me" (Matt 25:40) and 2) My son, whose first name is William (Billy being a shortened form) is 37 as is Billy.  It occurs to me that I would hope someone would take the time for my Will when he may need someone to talk to.   Wouldn't you?  And, will you?  Will you take time for someone's Billy when the divine intersection in your life occurs next?  Jus' Ask'n.

Attitude

Paul writes something in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 that is very difficult for most to wrap their minds around: "Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."

Really?  Rejoice and be prayerful thankful to God in all circumstances?  Did the apostle Paul have any idea what we would be going through today?  Civil unrest, terrorist attacks, economic downturns, ad nauseam.  Could Paul have any idea how little some have to be thankful for today?

While I am pretty certain that Paul did not know that an America would even exist and certainly would not therefore have anticipated our particular circumstances today, I am equally certain that his words apply nonetheless as Paul lived under the authority of Caesar, where every third person was a slave and oppression was the watchword of the day.

Paul didn't need to know our circumstances as his were so much worse having "been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was pelted with stones, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my fellow Jews, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false believers. I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked" (2 Cor 11:23-27).

Yes, Paul knew suffering, more than you and I will ever begin to understand.  And yet, he chose to rejoice always personally and calls us to do the same.  Why, how?  Where is the sense in rejoicing and being thankful in circumstances that are miserable?  Because thankfulness lifts our spirits toward God and the blessings he promises while complaining pulls us away form him into our own misery.

Jesus put it this way, “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light.  But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!" (Matt 6:22-23).

If we focus on the negative and complain about how bad we have it, our spirit will be darkened causing us to pull into our she'll of misery.  Should we, however, focus on the good and thank God for his blessings, our spirit is filled with light.  We can cause personal increase or decrease just in what we choose to focus upon and how we respond to it.

The circumstances of life will sometimes be good, sometimes bad - we don't get to choose the circumstances into which we are born or even that come upon us necessarily.  But we can choose our attitude.  President Lincoln once mused, "Folks will be just about as happy as they choose to be."  That's it, that's our choice: Be happy or not but don't wait for society to make you happy, you will miss out on happiness entirely.  Jus' Say'n.

JealousI

I'm not sure why jealousy is referred to as "the green-eyed monster," in particular.  The monster part I do understand, but green-eyed?  Perhaps if I had taken an interest in Shakespeare's "Othello," I would have a clue.  But I was not a member of the "Dead Poet's Society" growing up and I never did grow into it.  I have to say, however, that I am a little jealous of those who can quote volumes of poetry.  But not enough so that I would actually take time to read it.

But I digress.  Jealousy is seen as monstrous in the way it clouds one's perception of things, in the way it gives rise to anger and even violence, in the way it can reduce an individual to an object to be owned, in the way it disrupts and destroys.  Jealousy just seems so childish and petty that it is annoying on the surface and so selfish that it is repelling as the layers are pealed back.

While most people are a little bit jealous at times and most spouses find a little bit of jealousy kind of cute in their partner, even a little hurt if there is no sign of jealousy, no one warms up to someone who is truly jealous, certainly not someone who is so jealous as to be identified by the term.  "Oh boy, here come Jealous John, whatever you do, don't look or smile at his wife.  He'll go ballistic.  He is a real nut-case!"  If you've had a jealous boyfriend, girlfriend or spouse, you know exactly what I mean.

So, most would agree that jealousy is a negative adjective and worse if it is one's personal monicker.  And yet, God himself is wears this title: "Do not worship any other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God" (Ex 34:14).  How can that be?  How can God be so petty, so small, so childish and still be God.  He couldn't - there has to be something missing in our general understanding of the word.

The missing part comes from the root of one's jealousy, is it selfish or other-centered.  In boyfriend/girlfriend relationship it tends to be selfish, a personal affront.  But in a parental sense, it tends to be centered on the child's best interests.  For example, "I am jealous for you" is something a loving mother or father would say as they covet the best for their children.

God, as our Father, feels the very same way.  He knows the outcome of falling into Satan's traps lured by the gods of money, power, prestige and such.  He desires our good and he knows that "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights" (Js 1:17).  That our ultimate and lasting good is found only in Him.

God is jealous.  He is jealous for our ultimate good.  He is jealous that his children be holy unto him (set apart from the world and set toward heaven) so that we can can enjoy eternal bliss and avoid eternal condemnation for "God is not willing that any should perish but that all would come to repentance" (2 Pet 3:9).  Jus' Say'n.

None of These Diseases

After freeing Israel from slavery to Pharoah, God warned them, “If you listen carefully to the Lord your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, who heals you" (Ex 15:26).

That's an interesting historical promise to God's children as they headed for the Promise Land, but does it have any application to us?  I mean, can following the Word of God keep us from diseases today or was that just a promise that they would not suffer the same fate as Egypt if they were not disobedient like Pharoah?

Well, let's take a look at some diseases and consider them in this light.  STDs such as AIDS or gonorrhea are caused by sexual transmission.  Every single STD can be 100% avoided if one follows God's will in refraining from fornication and adultery.  If a man and woman refrain from intercourse until marriage and are faithful to each other afterward as God directs, they will have none of those diseases.

Stress, the bane of the Modern Era, produces hypertension, heart disease, stomach disorders and a myriad of other problems.  It is caused by being overloaded and overworked, both of which run counter to God's call to take a Sabbath Rest and to cast our cares upon him.  If we trust in God and rest from our labors, stress and its associated illnesses will not visit us.

Obesity and the countless disorders directly related to it comes from overeating and the consumption of junk food - living to eat instead of eating to live.  God clearly warns us against the sin of gluttony and if we listened to him, we could avoid all the many diseases that come from allowing our stomachs to become our God.

I could go on but I think the point is clear that so much of what ails us is us.  Because we don't listen to God, we find ourselves inflicted with diseases that we could absolutely avoid.  And, if our food supply wasn't contaminated with pesticides and preservatives, we could avoid so much more, even diseases such as cancer are so often traced back to a food supply controlled by marketing forces not for nutrition.

The science is clear that processed sugar is very bad for us but it is put into nearly every processed food on the shelves.  We continually pick up bags of this poison to create tasty but toxic treats.  Processed food often contains portions of sugar, fat and salt in order to create an addictive effect on the consumer.  Greed drives our food production and our addiction supports market greed.

What if, in America, we followed God's design for sexual fidelity, balance of rest and work, and thoughtful food consumption?  How would that change the medical landscape?  If we obeyed God, do you think that a country, which makes up 5% of the world's population would still be consuming 75% of the world's prescription drugs?  Jus' Ask'n.

Let My People Go

Moses carried the message of Almighty God to Pharoah, "Let my people go" (Ex 5:1).  While it took the hand of God, rocking the very core of Egyptian existence to convince Pharoah to actually let them go, but Israel was set free by the power of God so that they might freely worship him.

This country's beginnings includes a similar setting free as people leave the religious oppression of Roman Catholic Church on the European continent to come to a new land where they could worship God without fear of prosecution.  As you read the accounts of their escape, you can see the hand of God working to let His people go.

Unfortunately, we also see a similar turning away from God that occurred again and again in the Children of Israel in freedom lovers of this country.  The Puritans, once enjoying the freedom of religious expression, began to enforce their own religious views, which, in itself is a rebuff of God's offer of grace and freedom.

And while great moments of freedom and grace have been seen in the history of our nation, over all we have been turning away from God to a false religion of freedom to do anything under the banner of political correctness, which seeks to disallow any debate.  Our Post-Christian Era is one of the entrapment of self-fulfillment and personal desires.

It is not what God wants, what's good for my country or what my family needs that is important, it is what I personally want that sets the standard.  Men are fathering children and leaving them to be cared for by single mothers, mothers are leaving families behind to chase personal dreams and our leaders are no longer servants but are power brokers working only to serve themselves.

As we travel down this path of political correctness and desire to be free of any personal restraint, our freedom to worship God freely is being infringed upon as we are being forced to accept things such as the wholesale slaughter of babies in the womb, a redefinition of marriage, a breakdown of the sanctity of the family unit and much more.

The freedom we need is not personal freedom from the design and desire of God but a freedom to worship him according to His Word not man's political correctness.  We are being enslaved by a pseudo freedom, which actually keeps us from being free from Satan's snares that are meant to keep us from true freedom and life everlasting in the kingdom of God as we are "deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures" (Titus 3:3).  Jus' Say'n.

Stairway to Heaven

The year was 1971, I was 16 driving a 1960 Ford I had worked three months in the wheat fields to afford.  It wasn't much but it had shackle lifts on the rear end and an eight-track player I had installed under the dash.  And the tune playing was the newly released Led Zepplin hit, "Stairway to Heaven."

The opening lyrics crooned, "Their's a lady who's sure all that glitters is gold, And she's buying a stairway to Heaven."  I wouldn't say that a band known for riotous parties culminating in tossing TV sets out of the windows (banned from Toyoko Hilton for life), was exactly God's messenger to mankind.   Nonetheless, their song contained biblical theology strong enough to preach or blog.

The opening lyrics fairly state a common failing of man to misunderstand what is really valuable, substituting the counterfeit for the real, and then to assume that what he's accumulated will be sufficient to provide him with all that he needs - even their ultimate good, "buying a stairway to heaven."

While money is perhaps the most common medium of wealth and many are actually trying to buy their way into Heaven by donating to charitable works or religious organizations, many are trying to barter with God by doing good deeds, attending religious services or self-denial.  We seek to trade our glittering objects or actions, as though they were truly valuable to God, as if he would be enriched by our offerings, willing to trade a portion of he glory.

The truth, however, is that we have nothing to offer God in trade for his glory.  We simply have nothing to trade and no way to acquire heavenly treasure.  Instead, God calls us to come to him to receive "true gold" for which our counterfeit glitter can never be exchanged: "You say, 'I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.' But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see" (Rev 3:17-18).

Later on in their song, the lyrics ring out again with biblical truth: "Yes, there are two paths you can go by, But in the long run, There's still time to change the road you are on."  As Jesus put it, “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life" (Matt 7:13-14).

There is no purchase price for glory other than what Jesus has already paid on the cross.  Instead there is a path, a path that Jesus took, which leads to Heaven.  And, all we need to do, all we can do to reach heaven's shores, is found in original call to his disciples: “Come, follow me" (Mt 4:19).  Jus' Say'n.