Heritage

Many people put a lot of stock in heritage, thinking it says something about the individual.  If one's ancestors fought in the American Revolution, that makes them somehow more American.  If your grandparents marched in the Civil Rights Movement with Martin Luther King, that makes you a civil rights activist.  If your parents helped lay the bricks for the church building, that makes you a stalwart member of the church.

Really?  No, not really!  The truth of the matter is that while your ancestors provide you a heritage upon which to build, that heritage does not automatically transfer to you.  You may benefit from it, using it as a springboard to help propel you to greater heights, but does not work its way into your being or simply show up in your DNA.

When the Lord warned Ezekiel of the Israelites' Judgment, he warned, "even if Noah, Daniel and Job were in it, they could save neither son nor daughter. They would save only themselves by their righteousness" (14:20).  The good, or the evil, our parents have done is certainly a foundation upon which we can build our own character but it is not something that can be handed down like an inheritance.

Later in Ezekiel's writing, he makes this abundantly clear in saying, "The one who sins is the one who will die. The child will not share the guilt of the parent, nor will the parent share the guilt of the child. The righteousness of the righteous will be credited to them, and the wickedness of the wicked will be charged against them" (18:20).

If we can legitimately say, "My ancestors helped settle this land" or "my grandparents helped establish this church" or "my parents helped build this senior center;" none of that has anything to do with you.  You have to leave your own footprints, you have to make your own contribution, you have to pass on your own legacy from which the next generation can benefit but not claim as their own.

The point is that we are each responsible for our individual lives.  We cannot rest upon what was accomplished in the past but must instead build upon it, reject it or just ignore it.  Whatever we are to do is not directly tied to our heritage, it may be influenced by it and even enriched by it, but not determined by it.  We must choose.

Do you recall the words of Joshua after the death of Moses?  Moses afforded Israel a great heritage, his legacy was off the chart, but Joshua words were not, "We have Moses as our heritage!"  Instead he challenged the people, "choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord" (Josh 24:15).  Heritage or no, the choice is yours.  What do you choose to do with you life?  Jus' Ask'n.

Marked

Reading again from Ezekiel, the Word talks about a vision the prophet had where six "men" came from the north gate of the temple.  One of them had a writing kit on his side with which he was to identify the faithful: “Go throughout the city of Jerusalem and put a mark on the foreheads of those who grieve and lament over all the detestable things that are done in it" (9:4).

This is similar to what John saw and recorded in the Book of  Revelation, where those who gave in to the Beast were made "to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads" (13:16).  The difference being that in Ezekiel's vision, it was the righteous who were marked and in John's it was the unrighteous.

So, why the good marked in one occasion and the bad marked in another?  The answer is that everyone is marked on their forehead.  Everyone is clearly identified before the Lord as to whom he or she belongs.  The Lord knows his people.  As Jesus puts it, "I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me" (Jn 10:14)

So how does the Lord know his sheep or identify his people?  What mark is placed on us?  The actual identifier is not a mark per se but rather that we are marked, not by religious symbols or by a name over a church door or a certain way of dressing, we are marked by how we respond to the Lord's call: "My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me" (Jn 10:27).

Our marking, our distinction as Children of God, is clearly seen according to our walk with the Lord. If we are his, we are his disciples, his followers.  Our lives will therefore, clearly resemble His.  We will be kind and loving.  We will hunger for God's Word.  We will separate ourselves from the sinful living of the world around us without passing judgment upon them.  We will be listening to the words of our Lord Jesus, the Good Shepherd, and we will be following in his steps.

Being a Christian is not a matter of just believing in God, "even the demons believe and shudder" (Js 2:19).  Those who belong to God "show their faith by by they do" (Js 2:18), living out their faith daily - they don't just believe that God is, they believe God is to be trusted and obeyed.  Just like the words of the old gospel hymn, "Trust and obey for there's no other way, to be happy in Jesus but to trust and obey."  Jus' Say'n.

Hidden Places

I was reading from Ezekiel this morning, where the prophet was told to dig into a wall, where he found a door.  The Lord told him to go through it and see what the people inside are doing.  He saw, among others, the seventy elders of Israel, who were doing detestable things saying, "He said to me, “Son of man, have you seen what the elders of Israel are doing in the darkness, each at the shrine of his own idol? They say, 'The Lord does not see us..." (Ezek 8:12).

It seems amazing that these ancient religious and spiritual leaders of the land would think that what they did in a hidden place would not be seen by the Lord.  However, not only was it true of them, it is true of many church leaders today.  Hotel and motels have found that pornography channels spike upward when a convention of ministers stay at their facility.  There seems to be the thought that what they do out of town or in a hidden place is not noticed by God.

Of course, this mentality is not reserved to religious leaders - husbands, typically, across the country stay up after their children and their wife is in bed to do the very same, logging on to porn channels or watching television programming they wouldn't want their family or others to see.  It is foolish to think that one can keep their hidden activities hidden forever.  But it is absolutely laughable to think that God will not see it considering "Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account" (Heb 4:13).

The truth is that there are no hidden places, no secrets, nothing that is not known by God and will not be discovered by others.  Your life is an open book before God and your choices will be recorded in His Book.  Those things one chooses to do in what they believe to be a hidden place will be recalled by the Lord on the Day of  Judgment - and on that Day, you will have to give an account.  What will you say then?  How will you answer Him?

May I offer a suggestion?  Lay your hidden choices, hidden agendas, hidden desires before God now instead.  Fully and freely confess your sins, seeking God's healing, for "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness" (1 Jn 1:9).  Chose to do and say the same things in the open as you would  do in hidden places.  And, stay out of hidden places, live your life in the light not the dark.  Jus' Say'n.

Nothing Left

The prophet laments that Judah has been carried off into exile, that the great city lies in ruins, that there is nothing lift of its former glory.  He laments that everything they had worked for was gone, reduce to ashes and they themselves we being carried off into captivity.  The book he writes is the Book of Lamentations, in which he laments the absolute loss of Judah.

And yet, in the middle of the lament, he finds reason to rejoice: "Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him" (Lam 3:22-24).

They had lost everything except the One Thing that really mattered: God Love."  Max Lucado once mused, "If all God ever did was save my soul, wouldn't that be enough?"  If we did, in fact, lose the whole world that we know, but gained our soul salvation, wouldn't we have gained everything? (the flip side of Matthew 26:16).

I remember when my wife, Gayla, died and I wound up losing my business, my house, my savings and even my pick-up truck.  I thought to myself that I had lost everything except for my faith in God, which was all I really needed from the start.  I had nothing left except the One Thing that really matters in the end: My relationship with the Lord.

I minister to hospice patients daily who have nothing left.  Their jobs are a fading memory, their houses are owned by someone else, they live in a bed in a nursing home, they have nothing to call their own.  And yet, so many of them greet me with a big smile and always have something encouraging to say because they know they have, as "Curly" in the movie "City Slickers" once quipped, "That one thing."  They had their faith and everything was lying before them.

The great mystery of the Christian faith is that when you lose everything in your life except the Lord, you discover that all you ever needed was Him.  In fact, it is not until we give up on everything else that we finally gain what is truly valuable: "Those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples" (Lk 16:33).

Job said, "Naked I came from my mother's womb and naked I will depart" (1:21).  We come in with nothing and we leave with nothing.  So why do we wrangle our whole lives for things that we don't need coming or going?  Why not instead work to develop such a deep abiding relationship with the Lord that we have nothing left of remotely comparable value - until we, in truth, have nothing left?  Jus' Say'n.

Going Nowhere

We have those days when we have a hard time getting it into gear.  As we take stock of our sluggish attempts to get it going, we conclude, "I'm just going nowhere today."  Actually, while it may appear certain that you are going nowhere, you are most certainly going somewhere.

Life doesn't have a pause button, where we can "sit this one out."  Our journey continues whether we like it or not and whether we are on track or off the rails.  We might not make much progress today, we might even loose some ground, but we are going somewhere.

Life is a bit like a river, always flowing.  In a lake you can climb on your air mattress and float in one place.  In a river, if you are not paddling against the current, you are being drug downstream.  Unlike a lake, a river is not static - neither is life.  Time keeps moving on, regardless of what we do or not do.  If you are not swimming upstream, you are being carried downstream - you are always going somewhere.

In Hebrews 9:27, we read, "people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment."  We have an appointment, an appointment with death and judgment.  We don't get to reset that appointment, we are moving closer to it every day.  The only question really is how prepared we are to arrive there.

It is often said that Heaven is a prepared place for a prepared people.  And it is in this life that our preparation takes place or not.  “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven" (Matt 18:3).  Did you notice the action word "change" and the object "heaven?"  We are called to move toward a childlike faith in Jesus, trusting in him for all things.  Each day is an opportunity to make progress toward that goal.

Even on days when you feel like you're going nowhere and perhaps even especially on  days like that, we have an opportunity to increase our trust factor as we admit that we do not feel up to par and need to rely on Him more today than yesterday.  Facing a day that seems overwhelming, while you feel like you are running in mud, turning to Christ only makes more sense.

You are never going nowhere.  You are either making progress or you are regressing, either paddling upstream or carried downstream.  On days when it seems to be too much, accept Jesus' offer: "Come unto me all who are heavy burdened and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you..." (Matt 11:28-30).  Taking his yoke means to get in the yoke with him so that he can help you and teach you how to more easily carry your burden.

If it seems like you are going nowhere, turn your face toward Jesus and invite him to provide you with the strength and the help you need to make forward progress in your journey home.  Jus' Say'n.

The Power Within

I've began chewing on a book that someone brought to me, asking if I would read and share my thinking about it.  I haven't read enough to know whether I could endorse it or not, so I'm not going to share it's title or author at this point.  But I do want to talk about a concept that is opened in the first part of the book: The power within.

The author talks about the fallacy of looking for answers outside ourselves when all the answer lie within ourselves.  I'm not sure exactly where he is taking this yet or if I could agree with him, but I do know that people often search a lifetime for love, happiness and fulfillment in the world around them and end up lamenting, “Meaningless! Meaningless!...Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless" (Eccl 1:2).

The Book of Ecclesiastes chronicles Solomon's quest to find meaning, purpose, happiness and so on.  But "under the sun" as he says, or in the world, his search comes up empty or meaningless.  He built great projects, he acquire great wealth, he had 700 wives and 300 concubines (or as one four-year old said, "300 porcupines") but nothing filled his longing, nothing satisfied.

What Solomon concluded is that there is an emptiness within us that cannot be filled by the riches or the passions found in the world - that contentment and happiness and fulfillment are not out there somewhere.  We will never fill that void with what the world has to offer.

What satisfies, what fulfills our soul is only found in the Kingdom of God, and that kingdom is not found in the world around us: "The kingdom of God is not something that can be observed.  Nor will people say here it is or there it is.  For the kingdom of God is within you" (Lk 17:20-21).

The Power to bring happiness, fulfillment purpose does not reside in the world, it resides in us but we are not the source of it.  God is the Source and we can only be truly content when His Spirit resides within us.  There is no meaningful thing that can be had in the world without God, for "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights" (Js 1:17).

The power for every good thing we desire is within as long as The Power is within.  Without God, one may feel superior and think he has it all, but the truth is "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" (Rev 3:17).  Jus' Say'n.

The Enemy

A deputy sheriff is shot in the back while putting gas into his cruiser.  The "Black Lives Matter" crowd marches, while chanting, "Pigs in blankets, fry like bacon."  A war is brewing in our country between a segment of the population and our police forces across our nation.  Lines are being drawn and the enemy is clearly defined except the Enemy is not at all who they imagine.

The "Black Lives Matter" extremists, have decided that the police are the enemy because they are "killing young black men daily."  But the truth of the mattter is that less than 0.1% of all arrests ends in a shooting of anyone.  And, caucasions are shot at roughly twice the rate as African Americans.

A young black man is 100 times more likely to be shot by another young black man than a police officer.  The daily taking of black lives is within the black community and the real Enemy is blinding those who are set out to undermine and even kill our country's police officers: "“He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts" (Jn 12:40).

This movement found traction in the Ferguson, MO shooting of a young black man named Michael Brown, who was called "A gentle giant."  A young black man gunned down while innocently walking home from a convenience store, begging the officer with hands held up, "Don't shoot, don't shoot!"  Except that the "Gentle Giant" had just robbed that convenience store and forensic evidence clearly proved that not only were his hands not up, he had been trying to wrestle the gun from the officer.

The movement whose standard is "Hands up don't shoot," should be "Pants up don't loot" because their champion was looting a store before being shot by a police officer in self-defense and the crowd burned and looted their own community in protest incited by the Enemy.

There are problem officers in virtually every police force just as there are criminals in virtually every black or white community in the country.  But the enemy of the young black man is not the police officers who daily go into harm's way to keep the peace.  The enemy is not truly the other young black men who are doing 90+% of the shootings: "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 truth of the matter is that "Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour" (1 Pett 5:8).   And he is devouring a large part of an entire nation as he turns one segment of society against another.  Jus' Say'n.