Tue, Sep 22nd - 1:13PM

The Way -vs.- the way

  Living in Colorado, and having come to Colorado from the Midwest, I’m very aware of the pioneer trails in American history.  For over 100 years, explorers and then pioneers frequented the American West in ever increasing numbers, and as the trails became established, the trickle of new arrivals increased into floods – an entire nation moving west. 

  Obviously, the single wagon tracks became deeper as they were used more, and finally evolved into many of our roads and highways today.  The pathfinders gave way to the pioneers, and the pioneers built the settlements, many of which are today's cities.  Old history to most of us, but the pattern has a lesson to teach.

  Biblical Christianity quite clearly teaches that the only way to be “saved” is to be “born again”, and the only way to be “born again” is to accept God’s gift through faith in Jesus Christ, His (‘only begotten’) Son.  Why is this not simple to grasp?

  This plan of Salvation is not only clearly recorded from Genesis to Revelation in the Bible, but has always been clearly detailed in the night sky – before the Bible existed.

  But even after thousands of years of human history and pre-history, many “good” people think that through good works we can religiously evolve ourselves into being sons of God, and they will tell you the proof it can be done, is evidenced in the life of Jesus – who himself became a/the son of God, thereby showing us the way.  They will say that our Bible is still evolving, and cite their “prophets” for the add-ons.  I wonder, is it happening to the Bible as it’s happening to our U.S. Constitution?  Come on!  Is this better than science fiction, or what? 

  I’m sure there are many good folks in the world – I know many of them myself, and in some cases, I could even find room for envy, if I thought it would help, but their “goodness” is according to man’s definitions – NOT GOD’S. 

  That makes it childishly simple – since God is in charge (it’s the truth; like it or not) He gets to make the rules for who gets admitted into His heaven, and our rules don’t apply in the slightest. 

  And God’s rules work ONLY like this: we must be “born again”, and to do that we have to have faith that Jesus died for our individual sins, so through faith in Him (as the ONLY natural son of God), we become “adoptive sons” and co-inheritors of the Kingdom. 

  To be clear:  THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO WAY, EVER, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, THAT WE CAN BECOME SO “PERFECTED” WE ATTAIN TO GODHOOD OURSELVES – those positions are already taken.

  In sum: Jesus is God Himself, and always has been, even before he came to earth as a human being.  That’s God’s rule – I’m not making it up. 

  So this brings up a question for those who daily strive to be perfected unto godhood: If Jesus indeed showed us the way to become God like Him, why are we still so imperfect?  This is a bit like the Evolution argument: if man came from apes, why do we still have apes?  Are they the stupid ones?

  Once a trail to a desired destination is successfully blazed, the trickle will turn into a flood every time.  This being the case, why do we, 2000 years since Jesus and counting, have only Him?  How many true, 100% sons of God do you know who have already reached perfection this side of the grave? 

  It should be painfully obvious by now, that trail is a Dead-End.  It is “the way”, or “a way” for sure, but it’s not ‘The Way’.  The ruts to follow are clearly marked in the Bible (as well as the night sky).                                                

 John

Mon, Sep 21st - 4:22PM

From Poop to Gold

  Yesterday was a Sunday morning for my household, and I rolled out of bed a little after 5:00 a.m. in conformity to my daily routine. 

  My first task was to wander downstairs to the lower level, followed by the dog, and let him out.  At my age, mortality can mean that everything hurts until you’ve been awake and moving for awhile, and I was still half asleep when I walked up to the back door and stepped on something squishy.  I figured the little area rug had been folded over on that leading edge, so I took another step, then another.  Slowly I came to the realization that the dog had indeed preceded my arrival by several hours…and several little steps for mankind became several huge steps of chaos when I turned the light on and realized I had stepped in, and spread, dog poop all over the room! 

  Imagine my delight!  Thirty minutes later my stomach was in no mood for breakfast, and I planned on catching a doughnut at church – my next activity of the day.

  We usually attend the early service at our church, which begins promptly at 8:15, and so, my day was only 3 hours old when we began to sing our first “worship” song.  Can you see where I’m going with this?  And I’m sitting there mouthing the words to the song, one I usually like, and I’m thinking that singing a worship song this soon after my particular morning genesis, is the very last thing I want to do.  Pardon me, Church, but my day began in the toilet just hours ago…….

  But I sang the song anyway, and determined to worship God in spite of my day, and it worked, because He quietly communicated this truth to me:

‘For I am the LORD, I change not;…’  (Malachi 3:6 KJV)

  And I (re)learned an indelible (according to my carpet) lesson – I am able to honestly and wholeheartedly worship God in spite of circumstances, because He is the same, and does not change.  He is worthy of my worship every day – regardless of the day, and His worthiness is not affected by my circumstances.

  My circumstances change every day, and sometimes just a different mix of sleep or lack of it, will attempt to exert control over me – but I don’t have to let any of it affect my ability to worship God.  I do not have to let circumstances keep me away from my Father – I have choices, and another option.  How good is that?

  Frankly, I know I’m not presenting any new teaching with this account, but it’s vital to realize the dramatic difference between knowledge and actual experience.  For me, it’s incredibly exciting to see biblical truths at work in reality, and it’s exciting to think what the next lesson will cover – but I’m watching the dog, and closely.

  I also learned to turn on the lights – hope this turned some on for you!

John