Don’t confuse God’s grace with His joy.
Although God’s grace is unmerited, His joy comes through simple obedience.
Where God rules …
There are no “selfie” churches.
God doesn’t want me to fix the fix He fixed to fix you …
Any more than He wants you to fix the fix He fixed to fix me.
Never works …
Never has, never will.
Show grace, but let Him do His perfect work in each other.
Never underestimate the ability to rationalize evil …
Among “Christians” who create their own Jesus to affirm their own comfort zones.
Emergent, postmodern, missional, beyond, deeper, radical, insurgent, whatever …
I’m tired of hip and long for simple.
We deny Biblical authority when we read post-Biblical traditions, meanings, and presumptions not actually found in Scripture back into Scripture.
This is especially true with our current concepts of:
“Church”
“Worship”
“Communion”
“Tithing”
“Pastor”
“Ministry”
“Leader”
“Submission”
“Covering”
“Preaching”
“Teaching”
The meanings we give those words today are not found in – and often are at odds with – the original language, meaning and context of the New Testament when written in the first century.
Let’s be like the New Testament Bereans and once again begin “examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.”
Only then can we truly say we have begun to accept the plenary authority of Scripture over all traditions and opinions to the contrary …
Including our own.
God’s truth is objective, but He can communicate it subjectively.
Only fools use the latter to deny the former.
Doing for others what they should be doing for themselves …
Is no mercy.
Using others as pawns in the vision, mission or purpose God’s given you …
Never turns out well.
For you or for them.
Although there are mysteries in the Bible, it is not “mystical.”
What God chooses to reveal there – including Himself – is accessible to all who simply repent, embrace His forgiveness, submit to the authority of His word and relate together in healthy local fellowships.
The mystical fringe, however, is driven by their own angst, anxiety and insecurities …
To go “deeper” or “beyond” the simple truths of Scripture by dismissing elementary repentance, basic forgiveness, Biblical authority and functional churches …
Which is why they never seem to find the authentic Christ of Scripture.
Don’t be led astray by them.
We make room for God’s blessings …
By giving our regrets to Him.
Unfortunately, the biggest hindrance to church as the New Testament shows it …
Is church as we’ve come to know it.
Expediency denies the efficacy of God’s sovereignty …
And is not a Christian value.
Hollow existential ideologies distort Christ and His Word to appease prevailing sensibilities …
And lack actual spiritual power.
An unresolved past will thwart your future.
To find resolution:
Acknowledge before God – verbally and fully – the hurts, wrongs or regrets your heart’s been carrying;
Openly give or ask for forgiveness as appropriate – in your own words – whether of others or from God;
Then quietly and reverently bundle up the related burdens of your heart and release them in your spirit to the Lord;
Once you do and the Lord takes them, ask Him who you are to Him and how He sees you.
Then stay quiet before Him and let your spirit gently receive His empowering truth and peace in return.
Often the listening ear and patient encouragement of a trusted, Godly friend can help.
Ultimately, though, closure and freedom are always your choice.
Those who claim that the Holy Spirit no longer convicts them of sin because of grace …
Know not grace.
Mercy can be an amazing wellspring of good …
Or a naïve enabler of evil.
Discernment makes all the difference.
God wants us to occasionally chill out by taking time out …
So our emotional batteries don’t run out.
Obedience is not just believing what God says we should …
But also doing what God says we ought.
Daily, I see how God delights in creating beauty from wrecked lives.
My role is to let Him do it His way …
By recognizing that His mercies are not all up to me.
Cynicism is often a convenient excuse …
For lazy.
Be wise.
Don’t sacrifice the lifelong joy of authentic …
For the short term thrill of illicit.
I really, truly do love the Church.
I just don’t like what typically masquerades these days as the Church.
“Church,” “pastor,” “preach,” “teach,” “tithe,” “worship” and “ministry:”
You keep using those terms …
But I do not think they mean in the New Testament what you think they mean.
Yet you claim to follow the New Testament as God’s written word.
How can that be?
It is not reasonable to ultimately rely on reason …
When its legitimacy ultimately depends on reason seeming reasonable.
Absent a transcendent God who alone can immanently define all – including the foundations of logic and meaning – because He alone created all …
“Reason” apart from God ultimately leaves us stuck with ourselves in circular absurdity.
Plumbline Faith 