Running the Race: Hebrews 12:1-2

Hebrews 12:1-2

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before Him He endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."

"Run the race marked out for us." What is this race? It is the command of the Lord Jesus given in Matthew:

"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." (NIV) (28:19-20a)

We frequently have marathons in the community where I work. These races are always "marked out," that is, the direction and place where the runners are to go is clearly marked so that they all run the same race and they will stay safe. When Father God determined, in His great wisdom, to leave His Church on the earth, He devised a specific direction for His Church to take. He didn’t just say, "Okay, now that you have been reconciled, now that you have the power of the Holy Spirit, go live your lives the best you can until I come for you." No. He had a purpose, a specific direction for us, and the characteristics of that purpose are delineated in Hebrews through the idea of a great race in which believers are all participants.

Notice the characteristics of this race:

* Throwing off everything that hinders
* Throwing off the sin that entangles
* Running with perseverance
* Fixing our eyes on Jesus


Throwing off everything that hinders
The Greek word is onkos and is defined as "whatever is prominent, protuberance, bulk, mass" (Strong’s G3591). Think about that for a moment. This is, in a very real sense, anything that comes between us and God, anything that is more important to us than obeying Him, anything that distracts us from the task at hand, which is to run the race with perseverance.

The writer to the Hebrews gives us two things to throw off. One is the thing that hinders and one is sin. So, it is possible to have something that distracts us from the race but which isn’t necessarily sin. It could, in fact, be something that appears to be totally fine and, in a different circumstance, might actually be, but in this case, is hindering us from fully running the race set before us. It could be culture. It could be relationships. It could be obligations. It could be something as simple as what we eat or drink.

Paul encouraged the Church to not be hindered by even the things we are allowed to do (those things which are not sin), but rather to be constantly thinking about serving each other, even through our actions (even in what we model):

"You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’" (Galatians 5:13-14 NIV).

We are to throw off those things that distract us from running the race set before us. If we are offending those around us, if we are demanding or fighting for our own rights or opinions, if we are refusing to serve others humbly, we are distracted from the race and we cannot encourage others to follow behind us with confidence. The cause—whatever it might be—might appear to be valid, even noble. But the race has been lost when we fail to humbly serve those around us, when we lose our kindness, when we fail to be gentle, when we aren’t self-controlled.


Throwing off the sin that entangles
The Greek word is euperistatos and is translated as "skillfully surrounding as in besetting" (Strong’s G2139). The definition of "beset" is to trouble, harass, to hem in (Merriam-Webster). I like the NIV’s translation "entangles." That certainly is what sin does. It entangles us to the point that often we feel we have no way out, nowhere to go, no solution to find.

The original Greek was translated in the KJV as to "lay aside" the things that hinder, the sin that besets. But I like the NIV better. The Greek word apotithemi also means to "cast off" (Strong’s G659). The idea that there is a sense of violent repudiation, I think, is important. We need to strongly and emphatically throw off those things which keep us from running the race with perseverance. We need to turn our backs on them and never again even consider that they might become part of our lives.

I’ve had to do that with chocolate.

Now when I share with people that I can’t eat chocolate, their responses are almost always the same. They can’t imagine a life without chocolate! "How do you do it? I can’t even think about never eating chocolate." But in my case, I have a severe allergy that puts me in the hospital if I eat even a tiny amount. The pain is akin to a heart attack (which is what the doctors thought I was having the first time I had a reaction to eating chocolate). It wasn’t always this way in my life. I loved many kinds of chocolate and ate it with great regularity. But now it’s like poison to my body. I wouldn’t dream of voluntarily eating even a small bite, the consequences would be too great, too painful.

We need to make that kind of final decision with many things in our lives. We need to say, "Never again!" and mean it. We need to turn our backs on those things which hinder us from running the race set before us. We need to throw off those things which hinder including all sin. We need to turn our backs on our old lives and embrace that new life to which the Lord has called us.


Running with perseverance
The Greek word is hupomone and is translated "the characteristic of the person who is not swayed from their deliberate purpose and their loyalty to faith and piety by even the greatest trials and suffering" (Strong’s G5281). This is the race to which we are called. It is a deliberate purpose. Our loyalty shouldn’t waver, regardless of whatever we face. Whether we are maligned, persecuted, attacked, or even killed, we are to maintain our loyalty to the faith and to worship of God Almighty.

What’s interesting is that scripture doesn’t demand that we fight for our rights or try to change our circumstances. Rather, the emphasis is upon our response within difficult situations. We are to remain kind, generous, loving, forgiving, patient, and self-controlled. This is a hard thing. And, frankly, it’s easier to judge someone else’s response to their circumstances than it is to remain patient within our own. Patience, by definition, requires suffering and we don’t suffer well. We would rather bring any and all efforts to bear to remove our suffering rather than to remain in that pain for one second longer. And yet, as a Church, we are called to share in the sufferings of the Lord and of other Christians:

"So do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord or of me His prisoner. Rather, join with me in suffering for the gospel by the power of God." (2 Timothy 1:8 NIV).

We are called to run with patient enduring in the midst of suffering. We are called to persevere.


Fixing our eyes on Jesus
Who is Jesus? This verse tells us that He is the one who modeled our faith for us through His life here on earth. The KJV says "the author and finisher of our faith." The NIV says "the pioneer and perfector of faith." The Greek word for "finisher" is teleiotes and means "one who has in his own person raised faith to its perfection and so set before us the highest example of faith" (Strong’s G5051). I think about the Lord Jesus who cried out from the cross: "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" (Matthew 27:46 KJV), but who then moments later said to the same God, "Into Your hands I commit My Spirit" (Luke 23:46). Jesus who was totally rejected by God so that He could bear our sins but then fully entrusted Himself to that same God, the God who had rejected Him.

It is this Jesus who modeled faith for us in these pivotal moments. Jesus who showed us that we can fully trust God, regardless of the circumstances, that we can fully follow God even in the darkest moments, that we can fully run the race set before us knowing that God’s will is perfect and holy and wonderful!

As Christians we have a high calling and we often forget it. We become so immersed in our own egocentricity, in our own emotions, that we fail to look past that moment to see that we are called to run a race already set out. We are called to live lives that beckon others to follow us. We are called to persevere through this life, casting off the muck and mire, and joyously trusting God regardless of what lies around us.

We are called to be the Church that He intended, a Church that is the light on the hill, the light that cannot be extinguished. We need to determine today, in the power of the Holy Spirit, to become that light so that others might follow us without reservation, that others might join in the race set out before us, that others might follow into the Kingdom of Heaven because our faith is sure and the way is clear.

© 2016 Robin L. O’Hare. All rights reserved. Permission granted for nonprofit and church groups to use this article in its entirety (including this notice). For other uses, please contact servinggodalone@yahoo.com.

Modeling

Matthew 28:19-20a

"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." (NIV)

As soon as someone becomes a Christian, they should be informed that their primary duty is to become both a student (a disciple) and a teacher. We were never left on this earth to receive blessings, but instead to become a blessing to those around us by teaching them how to obey everything. And the only way we can teach how to obey everything is if we do it ourselves.

Stuart Briscoe, in The Fullness of Christ, writes:

"Men and women born of God, rich in Christ, blessed beyond their wildest dreams, who have failed to develop normally into the ‘measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,’ are tragic misrepresentations of all that life in Christ could and should be." (p. 18).

Part of why this has happened is because we have reduced Christianity to a fast food drive-through window. All one has to do is raise their hand or walk down the aisle, say the "sinner’s prayer" and heaven is guaranteed. We have become salesmen that sell fire insurance against hell rather than true disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. We have failed to understand that being a Christian is work, hard work, which includes learning how to obey, how to grow, and how to teach others what we have learned. And it’s more than simply an obligation which we can conveniently forget. To teach others how to obey is a command given to us by the Lord Jesus Himself: "teach them to obey everything I have commanded you." This wasn’t a command given to only the leadership of the Church or only to the early apostles. This is a command given to every believer. It is what we are here for.

You know, God could have determined that once a person becomes saved they would be transported immediately to heaven. We know that He is fully capable of doing that because He did it twice in history, once with Enoch and once with Elijah. But God doesn’t do that. Instead, He commanded that we stay on this earth and make disciples from all nations.

The apostle Paul understood this mandate intimately. In his early life, as Saul, he was a disciple of Gamaliel, a famous Jewish rabbi. After his conversion (and name change to Paul), he saw the Lord’s command with new understanding. "Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ" (1 Corinthians 11:1) and "Therefore I urge you to imitate me" (1 Corinthians 4:16). The writer to the Hebrews also wrote: "Imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises" (Hebrews 6:12b).

Part of teaching is more than explaining; it’s modeling. Modeling means to show someone else how to do something. It’s not enough simply to tell how to do it. In fact, simply telling is often not teaching because we can tell someone how to do something and that "telling" can be totally off-base, totally ineffectual.

Years ago, after I first got out of college, I entered a recipe contest. Now understand, at that point in my life, I was not a cook. In fact, I could ruin a box of macaroni and cheese! But the contest peaked my interest, so I whipped out a recipe that sounded wonderful and entered it in the contest. Lo and behold, I won! (No one was more surprised than I was.) But the fact was, this was a recipe I had made up. I had never made it. So when my very proud father asked me to make my "winning" recipe for dinner, it was a disaster. The recipe didn’t work at all! Of course, after many tears later (and in the privacy of my room), the Lord and I had a talk. God convicted me of the sin of passing myself off as someone other than who I was (a good cook) and then told me something I’ve never forgotten: "Don’t share a recipe that you haven’t first cooked."

Of course, the lesson I needed to learn was far greater than simply about cooking. The Holy Spirit was reminding me that I should never teach something I hadn’t first lived, that the finest kind of teaching comes from modeling what I have already mastered.

As believers, our first and most important duty to those around us is to teach them how to obey God’s commandments. But we can’t teach what we haven’t learned ourselves. When the writer to the Hebrews talks about running the race, the passage is explicitly about how we should live as believers.

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." (Hebrews 12:1-2).

Think about a race. In a race, we are doing our best to stay ahead of those behind us. That is the same for Christians. We are growing spiritually as fast as we can so that those who follow us can follow a true course and imitate us as we are imitating those who’ve gone before, including Christ!

Notice the characteristics of this race:

* Throwing off everything that hinders
* Throwing off the sin that entangles
* Running with perseverance
* Fixing our eyes on Jesus

When we learn how to run the race, when we can call out to those around, "Follow me. I know the way," when we can teach others how to obey God’s commands . . . at that point, we will have truly become the Church that God established on this earth, the Church that will one day become His bride.

© 2016 Robin L. O’Hare. All rights reserved. Permission granted for nonprofit and church groups to use this article in its entirety (including this notice). For other uses, please contact servinggodalone@yahoo.com.

We Sin Against God Alone

"Sin is an attitude of heart, common to everyone, which repudiates God’s right to possess what He made, control what He designed, and fulfill what He planned. . . . Forgiveness for sin can only come from God." (Stuart Briscoe, The Fullness of Christ).


I’ve often wondered why King David, in Psalm 51, wrote: "Against You, You alone, have I sinned" (v. 4a) when it was obvious that David’s sin was far more reaching than just against God. David had, through his adultery (and through the immoral use of his kingly authority) sinned against Bathsheba. He had, through murder, sinned against Uriah. He had, through his preference for this new wife, sinned against the other members of his family. He had, through his lies and desire to hide his actions, sinned against the nation. But in Psalm 51, he stated, "Against You (God), You alone."

Stuart Briscoe succinctly hits the nail on the head: When we sin, we rebel against God’s authority, an authority that is not only logical (since He is the Creator), but is foundational to this very creation. God made, God designed, God planned. And yet, we want to rip out of His hands the inherent rights and authorities of possession, of control, of fulfillment and take those rights as our own.

We want to rule what we haven’t created. We want ownership of our lives when our lives aren’t ours to own. We want to make our own plans and let God sit forgotten on the sidelines (or better yet, become invisible). We want to live as if we actually can take credit for who and what we are.

The Internet is filled with articles about us learning to forgive others and to forgive ourselves. But I think that our problems lie directly in the truth Briscoe wrote: "Forgiveness for sin can only come from God." 

When we look to find peace by forgiving ourselves or asking others to forgive us, we ignore the point. Sin always begins when we rebel against God. Everything else is a by-product of that one point. And yet, as believers, how much time do we give to spending time with God, asking for His forgiveness. The Bible clearly teachesthat He will readily forgive:

"The Lord is slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion" (Numbers 14:18a NIV)

"Blessed is the one whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the one whose sin the Lord does not count against them." (Psalm 32:1-2a NIV).

"You, Lord, are forgiving and good abounding in love to all who call to You" (Psalm 86:5 NIV).

To those who call to You.

The Lord’s forgiveness comes when we call on Him, when we come to Him in prayer and ask Him for forgiveness. He is readily willing to forgive, but He isn’t tolerant. He doesn’t excuse our sin; He forgives it. And that forgiveness comes when we come humbly to the Throne, repent of our sin, and ask for His forgiveness. Forgiveness comes when we recognize, once and for all, Who God is and who we are.

© 2016 Robin L. O’Hare. All rights reserved. Permission granted for nonprofit and church groups to use this article in its entirety (including this notice). For other uses, please contact servinggodalone@yahoo.com.

Philippians 2:3-4 Who Comes First?

Philippians 2:3-4

"Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others." (NIV)



From Just Turn It Around:¹

Hook: You’re right, Wendy. I shouldn’t have taken them. But I was so desperate. We’ve never won a soccer game. My team’s been completely demoralized for years, simply years!

Wendy: Wow! I never thought about it that way. Winning was so much fun.

Hook: But every time you won, we lost! Where there’s a winner, there’s also a loser.

Wendy: (pauses and looks like she’s thinking) Well, how’s about we call this game a tie?

Fergus: (looking up) A tie? Really?

Tomasina: You mean, we don’t have to lose this game?

Wendy: Absolutely not! We can all be winners! 

School’s started again (students begin next week) and the conversations about how to recognize effort are again starting. It’s the same most years and I don’t mind the conversations repeating because I think that recognizing effort is important, particularly for children who are immersed in activities they’d rather not be doing. (I mean, for most kids, sitting and learning just isn’t that fun.) The most recent discussion was about recognizing those students who were able to reach their reading goals in one year. (They are all invited to go to a movie.) I couldn’t help but thinking about the students I teach, the students receiving special education services, who rarely get A’s; who, when compared to their peers, will probably never have strong academic success. For my students, learning to functionally read (5^th grade level) is a huge success. Most will never take honors classes in high school or go to Stanford. (And most will not be invited to go to the movie.) But they can look forward to becoming great spouses, great parents, and successful adults, given the chance.

Unfortunately, before they can reach adulthood, they have to navigate years of being "told" that they will never be quite as good as some of their peers. They have to sit through classes where they won’t have the answers, assignments where they won’t understand what’s being required, and tests where they will fail. Meanwhile, there are students (and, growing up, I was probably one of them) for whom school is easy. Students who learned early how to read (and read well) and figured out how to navigate teachers and classes and assignments in order to get high grades. Students who, truthfully, aren’t working nearly as hard, but are having far greater success. And that success doesn’t measuring drive or determination or effort. It measures ability, something we are born with. From the earliest days of kindergarten, kids know who was born to easily succeed in school . . . and who wasn’t. And if you’re one of the "wasn’t’s", it can be, frankly, demoralizing. Like Hook, in the play, losing becomes a constant of life and life then simply isn’t palatable anymore.

As believers, we have the responsibility to try to even the playing field as much as possible. You see, Christ—by His death on the cross—evened the playing field for us. By taking our place and paying the price for our sins, Christ made it possible for us to live eternally with God. Without His sacrifice, we would be spending eternity in hell. We don’t deserve heaven, but Christ made it happen. He asks us to do the same for others.

(1) Christians are to look to the interests and needs of others.

(2) Christians are to live sacrificially.

(3) Christians are to take a back seat so that others can be first.

Christians are to look to the interests and needs others.

Those of us in America live in a society founded on competition and winning. We love sports and contests of all sorts. Frequently we will even see another believer—a sports figure, a beauty queen, a candidate—standing up and "giving glory to God" for the fact that they won. Yes, they won . . . and someone else (or many someone else’s) lost! Winning requires losers. So while we, as Christians, brag about our win, there are others who are demoralized because they didn’t win. There are losers trying to invisibly creep out the door because they are devastated that they didn’t get the trophy, the crown, the acknowledgment of their efforts.

"Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!" (Philippians 2:3-8 NIV)

In your relationships with one another . . . humble yourselves, become servants, be like Jesus. Christ didn’t use His abilities to lord over us, though as God He had the right! Rather He became a servant in order to serve us. He asks us to look to the needs and interests of those around us. He asks us to live as He lived.

Christians are to live sacrificially
"But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back." (Luke 6:27-30 NIV)

It’s one thing to compete against someone else. It’s perhaps even easier to back away and allow them the opportunity to shine. It can be completely another thing when someone is purposefully mean to you. But Jesus is explicit in what He says. Our forgiveness should not only be swift and complete, but we should also be fully giving and compassionate. This is what Christ did for us; He expects His Holy Spirit, living in us, to continue to love the dying world in the same way:

"You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:6-8 NIV)

The Lord Jesus sacrificed for us. While we were still sinners He died for us. The word for "sinner" is hamartolos (Strong’s G268) and means devoted to sin, not free from sin, pre-eminently sinful, especially wicked. Before we became Christians, we were awful! It doesn’t matter what we had done. We were horrible people in total rebellion against our Creator. We were His enemies! Christ died so that we wouldn’t have to stay that way. He asks us to do the same, to love those who are our enemies.

Christians are to take a back seat so that others can be first.

"Jesus called them together and said, ‘You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave—just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.’" (Matthew 20:25-28 NIV).

They say that a great leader won’t ask his followers to do anything he isn’t willing to do himself and our Lord Jesus was no exception. He simply asks us to follow Him, His path, His way if we want to be His disciples. "Whoever wants to become great . . . must be your servant." If we truly love Him, if the Holy Spirit truly lives in us, then we will live lives of service. We will step back and allow others to shine, to have the recognition, to even have their way. We will live like Jesus.

There’s a world of people out there who feel like losers. They feel unrecognized, unloved, unvalidated. This is what so many "movements" are about. Those movements aren’t about numbers (data), but rather about heartache, about misery, about sorrow, about loss. We have the opportunity—the great Commission even—to reach out into the world and minister to those people, to make them feel special, to make them feel loved. They need to know that the Lord Jesus loved them so much He died for them. If we aren’t willing even to give up our place in line, how will they understand how much they are loved?

"Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’" (Matthew 25:34-40 NIV).

1 Just Turn It Around, a musical play by Robin O’Hare. © 2016. All Rights Reserved including performance rights.

© 2016 Robin L. O’Hare. All rights reserved. Permission granted for nonprofit and church groups to use this article in its entirety (including this notice). For other uses, please contact servinggodalone@yahoo.com.

Will You Say: "Your Life Matters"?

Your life matters!

It seems, in the last week, that our nation has erupted into craziness. And, unfortunately, with the tragedies of death and violence that have occurred, it seems that the social networks have erupted with everyone’s opinion about what’s right, why things have happened, and what should happen next. People are even arguing about whose life matters or matters more!

"Your life matters. It matters to God and it matters to me." Maybe that’s what we should be shouting: "Your life matters!" Because when we start taking "sides" in this insane debate, we communicate that we need for someone to think our　life matters. They think our arguments are all about us and that we are ignoring their cries of pain, of fear, of frustration.

Oh, Church, we need to begin to think about someone other than ourselves! We need to get out of our own self-centeredness and begin to reach out to those around us, those next door to us, those standing in line behind us. We need to begin to start ministering and stop trying to change what we were never called to change.

We need God to change us so that we can become who we were meant to be. We need to stop being self-willed and learn how to submit to God and to His plan for this hurting world.

"The Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment, and especially those who walk according to the flesh in the lust of uncleanness and despise authority. They are presumptuous, self-willed." (2 Peter 2:9-10 a NKJV)

This issue of submission, surrender, and authority goes to the very heart, both of the matter and of our hearts as believers. One might even ask if it is at all possible to truly be a believer and not understand and practice submission. There is, within scriptural teaching, these two ideas standing in opposition to each other: despising or rejecting authority and submitting to those around us.

John H. Westerhoff III, an Episcopal priest and professor at Duke Divinity, wrote in his book, Living the Faith Community: The Church that Makes a Difference:

"The typical church person living in any historic Christian denomination has been so influenced by the modern spirit of individualism and its social expression, relativism, that it is almost impossible for persons in any denomination to reach agreement on what is central and fundamental for religious or moral life. When you bring up the issue of authority, almost everyone becomes uneasy. We no longer have an authoritative tradition. We have lost our corporate moorings and, thus, communal life has been made next to impossible.

"Authority has a poor reputation with most of us; liberty is more popular. But liberty that holds authority in contempt is but a mask of self-will. The question, therefore, is not one of authority or no authority, but What is our authority? To what do we give obedience?" (p. 41)

There are three issues in this portion of Westerhoff’s book:

• To whom or what do we give obedience? To whom or what do we surrender?

• Where does judging of others fall into this paradigm?

• How important is submission in the life of the believer and how does that intersect with civil disobedience, tough love, and standing one’s ground for one’s beliefs?


To Whom Do We Submit?

Paul dealt with surrender/submission in Romans 6 when he wrote:

"For we know that our old self was crucified with Him [Christ] so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin." (v. 6).

There is a very important concept hidden within this verse (and within v. 14, 16, 18), and that concept is this: People who are unsaved are slaves to sin! The Greek word is douleuo and means "1 to be a slave, serve, do service. 1a of a nation in subjection to other nations. 2 metaph. to obey, submit to. 2a in a good sense, to yield obedience. 2b in a bad sense, of those who become slaves to some base power, to yield to, give one’s self up to." (Strong’s G1398). There are some very important connotations here. First, the slavery is self-chosen; those who are unsaved have chosen by their rejection of Christ and His gift of salvation to become slaves to sin. Second, the slavery involves service. As a slave, one serves the master, doing the master’s will without recourse. The unsaved serve sin without the ability to question or turn from the sin. They are slaves and have yielded their obedience to sin, to the rejection of God, to rebellion against Him. Third, they have fully given themselves up to the sin.

So, initially there is this issue of surrendering ourselves to sin or surrendering ourselves to God. What’s interesting about Paul’s premise in Romans 6 is that there is no other option, no middle ground of any kind. We are either slaves to sin or slaves to God; we either surrender to sin or surrender to God; we either submit to sin　or submit to God. And, in Romans 2, Paul makes it clear that those who are self-seeking are those who are submitting to sin:

"For those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and following evil . . ." (v. 8 NIV).

The act of self-seeking is the act of rejecting God’s truth. The act of self-seeking is the act of refusing to submit to God’s authority, to His will. Westerhoff wrote: " liberty that holds authority in contempt is but a mask of self-will." And so that first step in obedience is submission to God’s authority, surrender to His will.

We are first to submit to God.

Because Father God knew that we could, in our self will, say that we are submitting to Him when we are actually submitting to sin, He also outlined what obedience and sin looks like.

In Galatians 5, Paul compares the "works of the flesh" (self-will/sin) and the "fruit of the Spirit" (submission to the Holy Spirit):

"The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.

(Galatians 5:19-26 NIV)

Paul is explicit in stating a list of sins and ending with "and the like," meaning that the list isn’t inclusive; there are (many) other sins. But as believers, we are no longer enslaved to our "flesh," but instead are to submit ourselves as slaves to righteousness. We are to live out the fruit of the Spirit all of the time.

"Fruit" is singular, meaning that this list isn’t a list of separate characteristics, but rather is a concise description of the submitted Christian life. We can’t be loving if we aren’t good. We can’t be faithful if we’re not joyful. We can’t be gentle if we’re not self-controlled. And all of this has to do with completely submitting to God. Submission to God is first and that is what it looks like.

We are also to submit to other believers.

"Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for ‘God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.’ Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you. Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world." (1 Peter 5:5-9 NKJV).

Peter begins this passage with an admonition to younger people to submit themselves to their elders. Now, we have to be careful with this because this isn’t permission for those of us who are older to lord over those who are younger. (Peter follows with stating that we all are to be submissive to each other.) Rather, I think this is much more about becoming life-long learners.

It’s been awhile since I was "young," but I still, in many ways, feel immature. There are so many things that I need to learn and so much that I still don’t know. And that feeling isn’t exclusive just to me. I had a very dear adopted aunt, a great saint of the Lord (and a worldwide minister), who told me in her very senior years that she was realizing how much she didn’t know about being a Christian. At the time (and I was much younger), I was astonished because I greatly admired and looked up to her as a great saint of the faith. Now that I’m approaching that age myself, I totally understand what she was saying. As we grow older, we become wiser, not in having all the answers, but in realizing how many of the answers we don’t have!

Another one of my adopted aunts was always learning. She cultivated relationships with younger people in order to learn from them and keep current. (She even bought her first computer at age 78 and diligently learned how to use it.)

That being said, there is an arrogance that seems to come with youth. For those of us who are older, we all remember when we were in our 20s and how much we thought we knew. Then as we aged, we realized how little we actually knew at that time. I think that arrogance is what Peter is talking about, admonishing young people to continue to look to their elders. If I had been more humble in my 20s and looked to my parents for guidance, there are many mistakes I think I wouldn’t have made, many consequences I wouldn’t have had to live.

But all of us can learn from each other. All of us need to have a teachable spirit, need to want to be learning, need to listen to what others have to say. We are to submit to each other, both in learning situations and in life itself:

"Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others." (Philippians 2:1-4 NIV).

Value others above ourselves. Looking to the interests of others, rather than to our own interests. Submitting to others in the Body of Christ. Being a Christian is about serving others, not getting for ourselves.

"They came to Capernaum. When he was in the house, he asked them, ‘What were you arguing about on the road?’ But they kept quiet because on the way they had argued about who was the greatest. Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, ‘Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all..’" (Mark 9:33-35 NIV).

Submitting to other Christians is being a servant. And not just a servant sometimes or to some people, but the servant of all. Whoever wants to be first must be the very last. This is the will of God.

"Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another in the fear of God." (Ephesians 5:17-21 NKJV).

Sometimes we might ask what the will of God is for our lives. His will is to be filled with the Spirit (actively and only living out the fruit of the Spirit), worshiping Him together with others and alone, giving thanks for everything, and submitting to each other! Father God is less concerned about where we are (our circumstances) and much more concerned about who we are (our character). And our godly character begins and ends with submission: Submission to Him and then submission to those around us.

We are finally to submit to everyone around us.

"You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also. And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two. Give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you do not turn away. You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you" (Matthew 5:38-44 NKJV).

What is the Lord Jesus actually saying to us?

First, He is talking about how we relate to nonbelievers. Pon ros means evil and is particularly used to describe Satan. We know that we are commanded (1 Peter 5:5 and James 4:7) to resist the devil in the sense of not choosing to sin, so that can’t be the meaning here. When we look at the context, Jesus is obviously talking about those nonbelievers who want to either take from us or persecute us by forcing us to feel pain or sorrow. We are to love our enemies. Why? Because they are also those for whom Christ died. And in loving them, we are to do more than they asked of us. If we are asked to walk one mile, we are to walk two. If we are asked to give our tunic, we are also to give our cloak.

How might that look in our society?

I think that first we have to understand what our obligation is to the unsaved around us. Let’s look at this example that Jesus gives. Rather than trying to compel the unsaved to stopping sinning, the Lord Jesus commands us to treat them with great mercy, even to the point of seeming to walk beside them as they were in sin. Under Roman law, soldiers could compel Jews to walk one mile, carrying the soldier’s equipment. While this was legal, it was obviously immoral. It was asking a free person to work as a slave, even though temporarily. It was also asking that the free Jew ignore his legal freedom and even his own obligations while seeing to the needs (and comforts) of the oppressor.

"Well," you might say. "Isn’t that being complicit in the sin of the soldier? That Jew didn’t have any reason to become a slave, even temporarily. That soldier was being mean and demanding. If that person walked willingly, not only for one mile, but two miles, how is that not buying in to that soldier’s arrogance, narcissism, and desire for power?"

It is, actually. There is a real sense of complicity in this command, at least from one perspective. And do we sin when we come alongside a sinner who is sinning? The Lord Jesus has made it very clear that we do not sin when we submit to the needs, requests, and even demands of the unsaved around us. Rather we exhibit the finest character of God, loving them unconditionally and fully while they are still sinning: "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8 NIV). In fact, the way in which we view others should be completely different once we are saved:

"So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." (2 Corinthians 5:16-21 NIV).

We are:

• To regard no one from a worldly point of view.

• To not count people’s sin against them.
• To commit ourselves to the message of reconciliation through submission and unconditional love.

Notice that Paul is imploring the Christians of Corinth to be reconciled to God through their love to others. How can we minister reconciliation to others? By submitting to them, by loving them unconditionally.

As a side note, I feel compelled to address a concept that has been permeating the Church at large and that is the idea of "tough love." Even if we haven’t articulated that this is how we love those we don’t like, it is, in a very real sense often what is happening.

The term "tough love" is actually very new to American culture (originating in 1976), but has been embraced as both a parenting model and use in interventions for addictions. (On a secular note, it has been found to not be highly successful in changing behavior). Some Christians have embraced this concept as a rational for being brutally honest with those who disagree with them. In essence, I can tell you you’re wrong and I can tell you how wrong you are because I actually am loving you by doing so.

The problem that I have with this is that this model of love is used sparingly in scripture. And, in every case that it was used, the person using it (who was usually God or Jesus) had an authoritative relationship in the situation. Even the Apostle Paul, when he spoke firmly to others, had an apostolic relationship to the churches to whom he was writing. What, then, is the difference? I believe that the difference between our use of "tough love" and God’s is our willingness to actually sacrificially love.

Let’s look at what God did. His "tough love" (actually called judgment) was to say that the "wages of sin was death" (Romans 6:23) and then HE died. In other words, He was willing to take the natural consequences of our sin upon Himself because He loved us. The concept of "tough love" is to be blunt (brutal?) in telling the person what is "right" and then allowing the natural consequences of their decisions to occur. God’s concept of love is to lovingly tell us what is right and then to take the consequences of our decisions upon Himself. God submitted Himself to our decisions so that we could live with Him!

Are we willing to do that? For each other? For those around us? How can we submit more to God in order to become more like Christ? How can we submit to each other in the Church, meeting needs and pouring ourselves out for them? How can we submit to those around us who are hurting and angry and afraid?

I am becoming convinced that we need to demand less that the culture around us change to make us more comfortable and that we need to be willing to sacrifice our comforts, our schedules, our pleasures, and even our own needs in order to minister to a world that desperately needs the love of God in their lives.

Are we willing to learn to say to everyone around us: "Your life matters. It matters to God and it matters to me. What can I do to love you?"

(c) 2016 Robin L. O'Hare.  All Rights Reserved. 

What if . . . ? -- Ephesians 4:11-13

Ephesians 4:11-13

So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. (NIV)

http://scottsauls.com/2016/04/25/pastors/



Recently I read a blog by Pastor Scott Sauls from the Christ Presbyterian Church in Nashville. The blog, entitled "Thoughts on the Rise and Fall of Pastors," dealt with what Pastor Sauls believes are some of the reasons that pastors, more and more often, are failing morally. Though in the blog, he doesn’t outline in detail how he defines moral failure, my assumption would be that he is discussing adultery and/or pornography.

Sauls states:

"Studies show that pastors experience anxiety and depression at a rate that is disproportionately high compared to the rest of the population. Due to the unique pressures associated with spiritual warfare, unrealistic expectations from congregants and oneself, the freedom many feel to criticize and gossip about pastors with zero accountability (especially in the digital age), failure to take time off for rest and replenishment, marriage and family tensions due to the demands of ministry, financial strains and self-comparison, pastors are prime candidates for relational isolation, emotional turmoil, and moral collapse."

I agree that, in most congregations, the task of pastoring can be daunting. But what if pastoring was never meant to be a singular responsibility? What if Christ didn’t establish the church to be managed from the top down? What if salvation was always meant to be worked out, by leadership and by the congregation, as a team? What if we have shot ourselves in the foot by expecting one man or one woman to be the end all?

Church in America has become a corporate structure. The vast majority of churches, in order to be "non-profit," are corporations which, by their very nature, require a Chairman or President to be "in charge." But even if we go all the way back to the Reformation when the Protestant movement was created, the norm known by believers was the idea of a top-down hierarchy (and patriarchy) that ignored the very idea of teamwork and collaboration.

But what if that was never God’s intention in the first place?

Ephesians 4 outlines the idea of a team of leaders whose sole purpose is to equip each other and the remainder of that local church for the works of service. And while there are infrequent other passages that deal with the ideas of qualifications for leadership, there is nowhere in scripture that says one person is in charge of the church and decides or determines everything that is to happen. Christ gave the leaders (4 or 5 types, depending upon how you want to divvy up the Greek in verse 11) to equip to Church to do the work. And that doesn’t mean that the leaders themselves aren’t also recipients of this equipping. All of us are members of the Church. So while I may be a prophet, I can learn so much from the evangelist because all of us are commanded to do the work. No part of what the Church does was ever intended to be a solo occupation except, perhaps, prayer in certain situations. We are stronger when we learn together, when we "do" together, and when we worship together.

Paul outlined what a church service should look like in 1 Corinthians 14: "When you come together, each of you has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. . . . Two or three prophets should speak, and the others should weight carefully what is said. And if a revelation comes to someone who is sitting down, the first speaker should stop. For you can all prophesy in turn that everyone may be instructed and encouraged." (Emphasis mine. Verses 26, 29-31 NIV). Paul’s instructions clearly make church interactive with people using their gifts for the edification of the Body. Church was never meant to be "us" and "them," performers and audience, active and passive. We are commanded to be civil and courteous, but to be a group, a team of members who all take responsibility for what the Church does, both in the "worship service"and in all other activities.

Church was meant to be a team effort.

God provided salvation as a team. The Father sent the Son who died for us and then sealed us with the Spirit. In essence, there is a sense of God working as a team (within Himself) and He is asking us to work, not in isolation, but as a team. Ironically, it is also this "team-ship" that moves us into maturity and unity in the faith. Verses 12-13 (Ephesians 4):

" . . . to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ."

What if we, as a Church, haven’t reached unity because we are failing to do church as a team? What if the very isolation of our leadership has thwarted God’s plan for maturing us in the faith? What if our weakness is due to the fact that there is this "us" and "them" mentality permeating our worship as believers?

What if we were never meant to do it alone?

© 2016 Robin L. O’Hare. All rights reserved. Permission granted for nonprofit and church groups to use this article in its entirety (including this notice). For other uses, please contact servinggodalone@yahoo.com.

Follow Me - John 21:1-4

John 21:1-4


After these things Jesus showed Himself again to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberias, and in this way He showed Himself: Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of His disciples were together. Simon Peter said to them, "I am going fishing." They said to him, "We are going with you also." They went out and 1immediately got into the boat, and that night they caught nothing. But when the morning had now come, Jesus stood on the shore; yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. (NKJV)

Sometimes after the greatest things that God does in our lives, we return to the familiar mundaneness.

Now I have nothing against the mundane. I think that some of the greatest acts of God have been done by people we would consider mundane. But we also need to guard against returning to that which is familiar so that we don’t miss that which is miraculous.

After His resurrection, the Lord Jesus appeared to the disciples in the upper room.

John 20:19-20: "Then, the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, ‘Peace be with you.’ When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord." (NKVJ).

Just imagine! This great miracle! The Lord Jesus back from the dead. Now, Jesus had raised several from the dead during His ministry, but here, the Lord Himself raised from the dead. And He appeared to His disciples not only this time but again, eight days later (v. 28). He, who had been crucified, was alive, was appearing to people!

So what did the disciples decide to do? Did they go out and tell everyone the great news? After all, there were many who loved the Lord and would rejoice at His resurrection. No. They left Jerusalem and went to the Sea of Tiberius to fish. They returned to those activities that were familiar, even mundane, in their lives. Great emotional trauma had occurred in the past two weeks and, for stability I believe, they looked to return to that which they knew, to that which they could depend not to change. They returned to fishing.

I can’t begin to tell you what I would have done in their place. I know that in times of great emotional upheaval, I have longed to find some centering activity that would simply allow me to breath, to put one foot in front of another. But as I look back, I have to wonder if I might have missed something great that God wanted to do in my life. Certainly the Lord wanted to do something great in the lives of the apostles. He searched them out, even to the Sea of Tiberius, to make sure that they didn’t remain with the mundane, but instead searched out the miraculous that God wanted to do in them. They left Jerusalem, the place where the Church would be born on Pentecost, to go back to what they knew, to what was familiar. The Lord had other plans. He went to Tiberius and said to Simon Peter, "Follow Me," (21:19).

Now Simon had been following Jesus for three years, so there was obviously some kind of emotional break that had occurred. Simon must have believed that his tutelage as a disciple was at an end. But the Lord wasn’t finished. "Simon, follow Me." And in following, the disciples returned to Jerusalem to wait for the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

Has something happened in your life? In mine? Have we retreated to that which is familiar because the emotional pain is so much to bear? And yet, the Lord Jesus is pursuing us, calling after us, "Follow Me." His path may take us right back to the place of our pain, but now for a different reason. This may be the start of a miracle that we could never begin to imagine. Any time that the Lord says, "Follow Me," His purposes are beyond the scope of what this world can offer. And He often births those miracles out of great loss and great distress. Today, if we are facing the darkness, we need to trust that He is standing on the other side, holding out His hand, saying, "Daughter. Son. Follow Me." Do we trust Him enough to follow?

© 2016 Robin L. O’Hare. All rights reserved. Permission granted for nonprofit and church groups to use this article in its entirety (including this notice). For other uses, please contact servinggodalone@yahoo.com.

Repentance - 2 Peter 3:9

2 Peter 3:9



The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness. Instead He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. (NIV)

For Christians, Easter is about salvation. The Lord Jesus was crucified and died, was buried, and then rose on the first day of the week. In His death, our sins were buried. In His resurrection, we can be born to new life. For many it’s a familiar story. But I think it’s important at Easter not to let the familiarity of the Easter story rob us of the amazement of what salvation actually means, of what the Lord actually did at the cross. Because what He gave us through His death and resurrection is nothing short of a miracle.

When Father God created the world, as the Creator, He had the complete and absolute authority in making the decisions He made. This wasn’t the first time He had created anything, for He had, at some event previously, created the myriad of angels. And likely there are other creative acts not yet revealed to us that happened. It is God’s nature to create and because it’s who He is, it’s also what He does. However, our concern is with the creation of this universe for within it the most amazing thing happened. God created people in His image with the free will to choose whether or not to live within His rules. Think about that. His playground; His rules! And yet, He created us with the freedom to choose to obey or choose not to obey. And within that freedom, He also so loved us that rather than destroy His disobedient creations, He reached out His hand and instituted a plan that would save us from ourselves and from our sin. He created the plan of redemption..

"Those who receive God’s abundance provision of grace and the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ. . . . [His] one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people." (Romans 5:17b, 18b NIV)

It is through this "righteous act"-the Lord’s death and resurrection-that we are given the privilege and power to repent. I think repentance is amazing. Repentance gives us three things: Forgiveness, freedom, and forever.


Forgiveness

1 John 1:9 says: "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to purify us from all unrighteousness." (NIV). All unrighteousness. Not just the sin we know, but even the sin we aren’t aware of. King David wrote in Psalm 19:

"But who can discern their own errors? Forgive my hidden faults" (v. 12 NIV).

When we confess the sins we are aware of, God’s grace forgives us of even the sins we don’t know we’ve committed. There is a complete cleansing. Repentance is that process which leads us to this place of confession. The apostle Paul wrote:

"You became sorrowful as God intended. . . . Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret." (2 Corinthians 10:9b, 10a NIV).

Repentance leads us to God’s forgiveness and God’s forgiveness is complete. When we repent, the Lord graciously forgives because of the cross. Our debt has been paid, and we appropriate that payment through repentance.


Freedom

The repentance that we can now exercise not only provides forgiveness for our sins, but it actually frees us from sin’s bondage. The apostle Paul taught on this idea of slavery to sin and slavery to righteousness in Romans 6:

We used to be slaves to sin (v. 17). When we were slaves to sin, we were separate from the control of righteousness.
Through salvation, we are now slaves to righteousness (v. 18).
Prior to salvation, we didn’t have a choice; we had to obey sin (v. 20)
Now, we have a choice, whether to sin or to live righteously (v. 19).

Those who aren’t saved are slaves to sin. A slave has no choice, but do what his master commands. Those who aren’t saved can’t live in obedience to God’s commands, but must sin because they are powerless to do otherwise. Those who are saved have the freedom to choose whether to sin or to live righteously. Because of the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives, we can now live apart from sin. We are free of the grasp of sin and its consequences. "For sin shall no longer be your master." (v. 14). Paul writes:

"Offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness leading to holiness" (v. 19b).

The great preacher, John Wesley, believed it was possible for the Christian to live a sinless life. Though he never claimed to have achieved that himself, his premise was that through understanding Paul’s writing in Romans, a Christian could embrace this freedom from sin and live a righteous life leading to holiness. Paul certainly believed that sin was always a choice and that the believer had to power to make the choice for righteousness.

I think getting a sense of that freedom, of understanding that we are no longer slaves to our flesh nature which will always sin, is the first step in choosing a life where we live in obedience to God rather than a life of sin. Paul was adamant that the Christian choose not to sin: "What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means!" (v. 15). Through the Lord’s death and resurrection, we have been given the freedom not to sin. Who would want to go back to a life of sin when there is another choice? Repentance is the step toward that kind of freedom, not only being sorry for our sin, but turning around and going a different direction. It’s a chance to redo what we should have done the first time.


Forever

Repentance is also the first step to eternal life. The apostle John writes:

"God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life." (1 John 5:11b-12 NIV).

Earlier in the same chapter, John wrote: "This is love for God: to keep His commands. And His commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world." (v. 3-4a NIV). The progression of life for a Christian is repentance, then obedience, then eternity. Not that we can earn eternal life by anything that we do, but we demonstrate to ourselves and to God that we have accepted His gift of salvation through our repentance. Our repentance is the natural result of our salvation. If we truly love God, we will want to repent of our sins. "My sin, not in part but the whole, is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more" ("It Is Well with My Soul," Horatio G. Spafford). This sense of "bearing" it isn’t just about the guilt and shame. It’s also about continuing in that same sin. Repentance is the idea that we turn away from the sin and don’t return to it again.

Sinlessness is rehearsal for eternity. There won’t be sin in heaven. No more arrogance, presumption, anger, self-centeredness, or narcissism. In heaven, everything will be about Jesus and we will be rejoicing just to be in His presence.

Repentance is our guarantee of eternity in heaven. Repentance allows us to walk away from our sin without penalty because that debt has been paid by our Lord. Repentance allows us to step aside from what we’ve done and look forward to what’s been promised to us. Repentance is our guarantee of a better life after this one, our promise of "forever."

© 2016 Robin L. O’Hare. All rights reserved. Permission granted for nonprofit and church groups to use this article in its entirety (including this notice). For other uses, please contact servinggodalone@yahoo.com.

Is He Enough? -- Rev. 21:22-23, 22:3b-5

Revelation 21:22-23, 22:3b-5

 "But I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light. . . . the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him. They shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads. There shall be no night there: They need no lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light. And they shall reign forever and ever." (NKJV)

I’ve been thinking a lot about heaven lately. I think as Christians we often think about heaven. Even non-believers talk about what life is after death. And there are so many misconceptions, so many wrong ideas about what actually happens!

First, we don’t become angels. When someone dies, there isn’t "another angel in heaven." Angels are a totally different and separate species. To be honest, I wouldn’t want to be an angel. Angels can’t be redeemed. Those angels who rebelled against God are destined for the eternal Lake of Fire. They cannot avail themselves of the Lord Jesus’ precious blood of salvation. No, it’s so much better to be a human being. We are the ones for whom the Lord died. And those of us who are saved are destined to become the Lamb’s bride forever!

Second, we seem to think that we will need "stuff" in heaven . . . that we will need the relationships we have here or the pets we have or the activities we have. As if just having Jesus won’t be enough! There seems to be some kind of idea that heaven might be boring or that we will need to have other things with us to somehow fulfill us. We are so wrong in that. Jesus will be enough!

Third, we talk about those who’ve gone before as watching over us, protecting us, or somehow even being aware of what we’re doing. Don’t we realize that when we get to heaven, just seeing the face of Jesus will consume us forever? That every hope, every dream, every longing, every desire will be swallowed up by His very presence? Those who have gone on aren’t thinking about us at all. They don’t need for us to prove we love them nor are they concerned about what we’re going through except as it brings glory to God. In heaven, they are consumed with being in God’s presence.

In heaven, we will live with a one-on-one, personal relationship with the Lord of lords, the King of kings, the Savior of our soul. I don’t know how God will accomplish that, but we won’t have to "share" our time with Him with anyone else. We will have His full, undivided attention forever! Yes, there will be others there and we will be aware of them, but how much everything else will fade because He will be there. Jesus. Father God. Holy Spirit. The Trinity that we cannot comprehend (and may not even there fully understand). Nothing. Else. Will. Matter. We could be the only one in heaven and as long as Jesus is there, it will be enough!

Yes, God will wipe away every tear from our eyes (Rev. 21:4), but it won’t be like when we were children here on earth. It won’t be going to our mom to get our hurts bandaged and kissed and then we’re off again to find another adventure, another way to satisfy ourselves. No! In heaven, when we step into the presence of our Abba Father, we will never leave His presence and every longing will be fulfilled simply by His presence. We won’t want to leave . . . ever! He will be enough!

© 2016 Robin L. O’Hare. All rights reserved. Permission granted for nonprofit and church groups to use this article in its entirety (including this notice). For other uses, please contact servinggodalone@yahoo.com.

Happy . . . or Content? -- Philippians 4:11b-13

Philippians 4:11b-13

"I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." (NKJV)

Social media seems replete everyday with beautiful pictures and posters encouraging people how to be happy in their circumstances. I often hear from parents how they want their children to be happy. Commercial advertisements are focused on the idea that if we buy their product, those products will make us happy. The saying goes, "Money won’t buy happiness" (but many try to make it so.) There’s even a song about being happy.

Happy. Happy. Happy.

But are we content?

Even in our happiness, are we content? Are we perhaps chasing after the wrong thing?

I’ve lived through a number of cultural shifts in America. I grew up with conservative Southern parents who held onto their middle class 1950's values of a comfortable home, two weeks of vacation every year, and retirement at 65. I lived through the upheaval of values and the beginning of the sexual revolution of the 1960's and 70's. I’ve continued to experience all that has come since: cultural diversity, economic turmoil, and discontent with how things are. And now, as we approach the 20's (in the 21^st century), we have become a country that has expanded its vision to include the world, a culture that has become increasingly diverse, and an economy that can no longer be counted on to provide for us throughout our entire life. Yet, we own more stuff than ever, have more access to entertainment and recreation, and seem, well, even more unhappy than we were in the middle of the 1900's. Many people long for the "good ole days" (which I’m not convinced were actually that good, but whatever).

We have more and still isn’t enough. We have the ability to be happier, but we aren’t. It seems like the more knowledge we gain, the more freedom we grasp, the more stuff we own just isn’t enough to make us happy.

Maybe, just maybe, happiness shouldn’t be our goal. Maybe we’re searching for the wrong thing.

Paul talks about being content. That word, in the Greek, is autarkes (Strong’s G842) and means "independent of external circumstances, contented with one’s lot, with one’s means, though the slenderest." The English word content has to do with being satisfied. Basically, it means "satisfied independent of external circumstances."

But what is life without our circumstances? Most of us certainly aren’t satisfied with ourselves. We would like to be healthier, wiser, more successful, more loving, more . . . well, whatever! So, if it’s not about ourselves, what’s it about?

It’s about God. Are we satisfied with just having God in our lives? Is His love enough? If we were to lose everything else (which we will in death), is His love enough? And if it is, then, well, we have that now! We are promised to always have His love in this very moment.

"For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8:38-39 NKJV).

For I am persuaded . . . convinced to the point that I can yield completely to this truth . . . that nothing shall be able to separate me from the love of God. As I began to meditate on this the other day, as the Holy Spirit began to pour this truth into me, God spoke in that gentle voice that He often uses. He said, "Robin, is my love enough for you? Do you have to have anything else? If you have My love, is there anything else you could possibly need or want?" What an eye opener that moment was. It was one of life’s a ha moments for me. And as I pondered over this amazing thought, I knew what my response to Him had to be: Yes, Lord, Your love is enough!

And so, since that day, every day since, as I walk through circumstances that I cannot control, situations that either bless or pain me, I am learning to say, "Lord, I am content because I have You. Your love is indeed enough." We aren’t called to just stoically "be content" nor to accept what happens to us as if there’s nothing we can do. What we are called to do, as believers, is to grasp the hand of our loving Father and to be completely satisfied with His presence, His blessings, His plan, and His love.

Yes, Lord, Your love is definitely enough!

© 2016 Robin L. O’Hare. All rights reserved. Permission granted for nonprofit and church groups to use this article in its entirety (including this notice). For other uses, please contact servinggodalone@yahoo.com.

Learning to Be Content and Other Miracles -- Philippians 4:11b-13

Philippians 4:11b-13

"I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through Him who gives me strength." (NIV)

A couple of months ago, I had a mice infestation in my house. I can’t tell you how frustrating it was. It took about four weeks to get rid of all of them, money for traps (and finally poison), continually cleaning, reboxing things, and throwing out the things they destroyed (including a pair of my favorite sandals). In the process of trying to locate the mice, we had to plug and unplug the refrigerator several times.

Now, I have to tell you that this fridge isn’t the one I originally chose and bought a number of years ago. The one I chose had no fancy doo-dads because that’s just more to have to repair. It was a simple bottom-freezer fridge. But the ice maker kept going out until it finally disintegrated. Since the fridge was still under warranty, they tagged it a lemon and allowed me to get another fridge. The problem was, the only fridge available in the same price was a side-by-side with all the computerized stuff in the door. But needing a fridge and not having the money to buy another one, particularly when I could get this one as a free replacement, I took the side-by-side.

The night we had to plug and unplug the fridge several times (to get to the mice in the wall behind it), my worst fears were realized. The computerized panel in the door stopped working! We tried resetting it (talking to several techs a number of times) with no results. Finally, I paid a company to send someone out to see what was wrong. Of course, it wasn’t just something simple (or inexpensive). The entire motherboard was blown and needed to be replaced to the tune of $600.

Well, that wasn’t happening. First off, I don’t have that kind of money to spend on refrigerators and, if I were so inclined, I wouldn’t do it since I can buy a perfectly good refrigerator (albeit used) for half that price. The water feature in door still worked, so we could access filtered water and I could pull out the (heavy and cumbersome) ice tray to get ice, so that’s how I decided I would live. And I’ve been content to do that.

I’ve been praying about some other financial needs and concerns, but basically stopped praying about the fridge since it was deemed "dead." The basic cooling/freezing functions still worked, it still made ice, and I could get water, so I’ve been totally fine. The inconvenience of the door panel stuff not working is, in the scheme of life, simply not that important. I’m working hard at learning to be content with what God provides for me that day.

The Lord’s prayer says "Give us today our daily bread" (Matthew 6:11 NIV). The Lord Jesus’ reference, I believe, is a direct reference back to the manna that God provided to the children of Israel in the desert. The Israelites traveled across the desert and there was no food available. He provided a seed which was named manna. It fell from the sky six days a week, with double the amount needed on the sixth day to provide for the seventh day, the day of rest. But the manna would spoil if anyone tried to save it from one day to another except for that sixth day. It was, literally, daily bread.

And so, my fridge had become my "daily bread" in some ways. I certainly didn’t need that panel to work. I could get water and ice just fine. Even though it was inconvenient, it was certainly doable. Daily bread.

Then, this morning I woke up and the panel is working! God performed a miracle on my fridge during the night and repaired the $600 motherboard that the technician swore was damaged beyond repair. My fridge is working fine.

I’m learning to be content in plenty and in want.

I think this is a lesson that is so important for us as Christians. I think we become, without even realizing it, greedy and then stingy because we are afraid of being in want. We have forgotten what it means to be generous, even sacrificially generous, because we are afraid of want. The apostle Paul talked about the generosity that comes from God’s grace, the kind of generosity that should be characteristic of all Christians:

"And now, brothers and sisters, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches. In the midst of a very severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own, they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the Lord’s people. And they exceeded our expectations: They gave themselves first of all to the Lord, and then by the will of God also to us" (2 Corinthians 8:1-5 NIV).

The Macedonian Christians gave beyond their ability to give. Rather than hold onto what they needed for themselves or for their families, they gave sacrificially trusting God to provide for that day.

I’ve often wondered what is going to happen when the Church is raptured and it is discovered that there are literally millions of dollars in savings accounts that could have been used to feed and house people who are desperately in need. We often use the excuse that we are saving in order to provide for our families, but what are we teaching our families (our children) by this lesson? And if the economy does collapse, are we willing to board ourselves up in our homes and keep our own stomachs full while people around us starve? Isn’t that what we are often doing now, rather than sharing with those who are in need?

I think that the Father wants to teach us to trust Him for today because tomorrow is never promised. And with what we have today, He wants us to be generous beyond our ability so that He can bless us even more than He already does. Father God loves to bless us, but if we are so busy taking care of ourselves, how can He do that? He wants us to reach out to those around us, taking care of them so that He can take care of us. And that begins with us learning how to be content with whatever He provides for that day.

Lord, give us today our daily bread.

© 2016 Robin L. O’Hare. All rights reserved. Permission granted for nonprofit and church groups to use this article in its entirety (including this notice). For other uses, please contact servinggodalone@yahoo.com.

The Battle for Our Souls -- 1 Peter 2:11-12

1 Peter 2:11-12

"Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day He visits us." (NIV)

There is a war going on, but it isn’t usually a war of physical bodies. Everyday we read—in the news or on social media—or we watch on TV or the Internet the many battles happening, battles on every front. Battles about the environment, about the economy, about social morals, about rights, about wrongs, about cultures, about land. People do die, but the number of people dying is small compared to the number of people involved (both intimately and on the periphery) in the battles themselves. With the ability to network worldwide, literally thousands (perhaps millions) of people become involved in the battles. But the battles have become battles of mind and will and opinion more than battles of physical bloodshed. And while, as I said, there are people who die as a result, there are many, many more who have damaged souls! Who become obstinate, embittered, fearful, or angry. Souls, whether they are Christian or not, who become focused on the battle and who feel real effects of the warring.

"Finally, be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 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." (Ephesians 6:10-12 NIV).

There is a war against our souls, but that war is being waged by the father of deception himself, Satan the devil. He and his minions are fighting against God and the battlefield is our souls! We need to understand that the enemy is Satan, not other people and the battlefield isn’t what happens on this earth; the battlefield is people’s souls. There is not one person on this earth that is our enemy even if that person has set themselves against God. Jesus Himself told us not to battle against other people, even those who set themselves up as our enemies on earth:

"You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. . . . Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect." (Matthew 5a;43-45a, 48 NIV).

Pray for those . . . Prayer is the weapon that we use against the battle for our souls. It is the first weapon, the most powerful weapon, and should be the only weapon that we take up. "Pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people" (Ephesians 6:18 NIV).



The battle is definitely for our souls and for the eternal souls of all people. The Lord Jesus died for all people. He loves all people. He wants all people to be saved. This is so important! We have to begin to understand that other people (regardless of what category we place them in or what title we give them) are greatly loved by the Lord Jesus. He loves them. He died for them. He wants them to repent.

"The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness. Instead, He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance" (2 Peter 3:9 NIV).

When we set others up as our "enemies" and refuse to pray for them and refuse to love them sacrificially, Satan begins to win an inroad into our very soul! We begin to become deceived and it becomes even harder for the Spirit to speak to us.

"The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth. For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer" (1 Timothy 4:1-4 NIV).

Prayer is the key. Prayer is the battlefield. And prayer is the weapon which wins against the forces of Satan who battle for our souls. Before we talk, we should pray. Before we walk, we should pray. Before we listen, we should pray. Before we breathe, every breath should become a prayer. We are battling for our souls and the souls of those around us. Nothing is more precious than souls and nothing is more important than winning this battle! Saints, we need to pray!

© 2016 Robin L. O’Hare. All rights reserved. Permission granted for nonprofit and church groups to use this article in its entirety (including this notice). For other uses, please contact servinggodalone@yahoo.com.