Genesis 22:1-4

“After these things God tested Abraham, and said to him, ‘Abraham!’ And he said, ‘Here am I.’ He said, ‘Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering upon one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.’ So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac; and he cut the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place afar off” (Genesis 22:1-4 NRSV).

Have you ever said “no” to God?

As many of you know, my husband and I are in the process of moving into a beautiful house given to us by the Lord. Moving in and unpacking a container we packed up two years ago, discovering things we’d forgotten that we had. It’s like meeting old friends again, finding the things we’d lived with for a long time and then suddenly didn’t have for two years. In many ways, a warm reunion, finding a place to put each thing.

In the process of unpacking I found a series of books that I’d had . . . and missed. I’m an avid science fiction fan and this series of books has been very enjoyable for me to read. I keep my books and read them over and over; the characters are, in a real sense, old friends with whom I become reacquainted each time I pick up a book. Yesterday, the Lord told me to clean out this particular series, to get rid of it. While there is no obvious sin within the books, there are moral threads that don’t exactly line up with scripture. Still, the main story line is moral (the good guys win) with strong characters.

The Lord said get rid of the books.

Can you believe I have fought with the Lord for an entire day? That I would either think I could convince Him to change His mind, that I could convince myself that I hadn’t heard from Him, or that I would have the temerity to say “no” to God? Finally this morning, I got up, surrendered (albeit still a bit rebelliously) and put the books in the thrift store stack in the garage. (And, no, I won’t be bringing them back into the house.) Sometimes our “loves” get between us and God. It doesn’t mean that I was in any sense in danger of losing my salvation, but I was willing, at least for a time, to trade God’s next blessing for the comfort of what I knew.

Not today.

It made me think of Abraham and the story of God demanding that Abraham sacrifice his son. The biblical account is very flat; it doesn’t give us the details of what Abraham was thinking, of how he had to have struggled during the night with what God asked of him, or how he continually prayed, pleaded, and begged God during the three day journey. But you have to know that he went through all of these things. Isaac was the child of his old age and the child of promise. How could God bring about what He had told Abraham without Isaac growing to maturity, marrying, and having children? You have to know that Abraham argued and bargained, demanded and pleaded during those hours prior to finally climbing the heights of Mt. Moriah. And yet, how much would Abraham have missed if he had refused to obey God?

I know that there are other things in my life—beside a set of paperback books—that stand between me and obeying God fully. If I want God’s best blessings, if I want to become the woman that He envisions me to be, I need to be willing to set it all aside in order to seek Him and Him alone.

© 2011 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.

Romans 6:16-18

“Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God that you, having once been slaves of sin, have become obedient from the heart to the form of teaching to which you were entrusted, and that you, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.” (NRSV)

The Lord has been talking to me a lot lately about how I make decisions. There has been instilled within me a strong Puritan work ethic: God only helps those who help themselves. And while I do believe that Christians are commanded to work and to work hard (and often), I think that my own worldview has been corrupted with the idea of American self-determination.

Romans is an interesting book. Of all the books, this is the one that is the least personal. All of Paul’s other epistles are letters written to churches with whom he had personal relationships, but the letter to the church at Rome was written to people he had never met. Thus, Paul takes the time to outline the doctrines of Christianity. In essence, this—even more than the other epistles—is a book of the Bible written to us for this time, a church which Paul never meets and a church which desperately needs the anchor of correct Christian thought and practice.

Prior to his conversion, Paul had been trained as a rabbi, but even more than that, as a Pharisee. To understand what this means, we need to understand the concept of rabbi and talmidim, the Jewish concept of teacher and student. It was very different than our concepts of teacher/student today. In fact, in America, that concept is in the process of changing with the introduction of the learning concept of constructivism. To understand the difference in how Paul thought and how we thought, we need to understand where we are now.

Constructivism is the idea that knowledge isn’t a static entity which can either be known or learned. It isn’t a concrete set of truths or ideas which the student must learn from the teacher. Rather, constructivism teaches that each student constructs their own reality—their own truths—from the environment around them. The teacher, then, rather than being a sage that communicates truth to the student becomes a facilitator, helping the student find the resources that she needs to learn what she deems to be important. This is a drastic change in worldview from our previous beliefs that teachers were deposits of knowledge from which the students needed to learn. It is also a drastic change from the idea that there is one Truth which can be learned.

It may be that constructivism is actually the result of the idea of American self-determination. America is, I believe (though I’m not a historian), the first country to believe that every person has the inalienable right to determine what he will be, where he will live, what he will do, and what he will decide. And while it’s unlikely that our founders believed that this concept would take our nation far away from God, unfortunately it has.

Paul didn’t believe in self-determination. As a talmidim to the Pharisees, he lived by a strict code of conduct governed by the Jewish religious laws. Every decision was pre-determined by those laws, with no room for personal choice. And even though it had been his personal choice which launched him into this life, once there, all choice was taken away. What he wore, what he ate, where he could travel, whom he could marry . . . everything was predetermined by the Jewish religious laws.

It was within this worldview that Paul wrote what he did in Romans 6. There he teaches that human beings have no ability to self-determine at all! He teaches that we are all slaves . . . all the time! We are slaves either to sin or we are slaves to righteousness. He gives no third option. Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? (6:16). The Lord Jesus Himself confirmed this truth:

“Jesus answered them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, every one who commits sin is a slave to sin’” (John 8:34 NRSV).

In America, we have become accustomed to there being moral neutrality, so much so that our churches even have often bought into it. I’ve had pastors tell me that there are songs that are morally neutral (neither good nor bad), even though those songs promote immoral lifestyles! Paul is clear: everything we do is either as a slave to sin or as a slave to righteousness. No other options are given.

How does this affect me as a believer? I believe that it clarifies whether or not my choices are sinful or righteous and it gives me actually no choice at all! Either my choices are determined by God or they are determined by me. If they are determined by me, then I am asserting my independence from God. And independence from God is rebellion. I am either God’s slave or I am not. When I am God’s slave, I wait upon Him to tell me what to do and I do it without question. If I am not God’s slave, then I am a slave to sin, doing what I want, asserting my independence from Him and becoming a rebel.

Paul writes to the Ephesians:

“Follow God’s example in everything you do, because you are his dear children. Live a life filled with love for others, following the example of Christ, who loved you and gave himself as a sacrifice to take away your sins. And God was pleased, because that sacrifice was like sweet perfume to him. Let there be no sexual immorality, impurity, or greed among you. Such sins have no place among God’s people. Obscene stories, foolish talk, and coarse jokes—these are not for you. Instead, let there be thankfulness to God. You can be sure that no immoral, impure, or greedy person will inherit the Kingdom of Christ and of God. For a greedy person is really an idolater who worships the things of this world. Don’t be fooled by those who try to excuse these sins, for the terrible anger of God comes upon all those who disobey him. Don’t participate in the things these people do. For though your hearts were once full of darkness, now you are full of light from the Lord, and your behavior should show it! For this light within you produces only what is good and right and true. Try to find out what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the worthless deeds of evil and darkness; instead, rebuke and expose them. . . . So be careful how you live, not as fools but as those who are wise. Make the most of every opportunity for doing good in these evil days. Don’t act thoughtlessly, but try to understand what the Lord wants you to do. Don’t be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, let the Holy Spirit fill and control you. Then you will sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, making music to the Lord in your hearts. And you will always give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 5:1-11, 14-20 NLT).

This is an amazing passage and very convicting. I can see that there are still many areas in my life where I am rebellious, where I don’t want to give up my sin! Father God, please forgive me for my rebellion. Take hold of my hard heart and teach me to love You as I should, giving up what little I have in order to claim all that is Yours! I ask this in the name of the Lord Jesus, my Savior.

© 2011 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.

2 Thessalonians 1:3-8

We must always give thanks to God for you, brothers and sisters, as is right, because your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of everyone of you for one another is increasing. Therefore we ourselves boast of you among the churches of God for your steadfastness and faith during all your persecutions and the afflictions that you are enduring. This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, and is intended to make you worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are also suffering. For it is indeed just of God to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to give relief to the afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. NRSV

It’s interesting that Paul doesn’t address the persecutions of the Thessalonians in the same way that we often address persecutions. If you think about it, most pastors tell us that our faith is exemplified when we take authority over Satan and believe that our trials will disappear based on God’s love. But Paul, rather than preaching that, says that faith is based on persevering through afflictions.

We need to ask ourselves what we believe.

I think that many American Christians live in a state of fear, in a state of doubt, because we have come to expect that Christians who have faith won’t have trials. To the contrary, there are at least three reasons why we do have trials, some of which we can avoid, some of which we can’t.

• We experience the trials that are the consequences of our bad choices.
• We experience the trials that are God’s discipline.
• We experience the trials that are a result of living in a sinful world.

We experience the trials that are the consequences of our bad choices.

When we sin—when we make unrighteous choices—we usually suffer because of it. Driving too fast in a car often brings a ticket. Demanding our own way at work can lead to getting fired. Spending too much money on our wants can results in our having too little for our needs. The problem with many believers today is that we have failed to understand that self-discipline is one of the foundations of the Christian faith. And this isn’t a self-discipline that is put on us, but rather a self-discipline that we embrace in order to bring glory to God Who has forgiven us all.

The apostle Peter encouraged believers not to bring suffering upon themselves that was a result of their own choices.

“Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that is taking place among you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. . . . But let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, a criminal, or even as a mischief maker. Yet if any of you suffers as a Christian, do not consider it a disgrace, but glorify God because you bear this name” (1 Peter 4:12, 15-16 NRSV).

Suffering for our choices is suffering that is easily avoided by simply making better choices. Don’t overeat (or eat wrongly) and you won’t gain weight and will likely be more healthy. (You won’t suffer from bodily pains and illness). Don’t overspend (or spend wrongly) and you won’t suffer anxiety about not being able to pay for the necessities of life. Tend to the tasks of life set before you (rather than indulging in recreation) and you won’t be called to task when something important has been left undone. Live a life that always seeks to bring glory to God and we won’t have to suffer the consequences of bad choices.

We experience the trials that are God’s discipline.

David was king of all Israel. He could have any unmarried woman he wanted for a wife (and indeed had several already). But he took, instead, the wife of Uriah in an adulterous affair and got her pregnant. Then, to cover his sin, he had Uriah, a soldier, sent to the front lines of the battle where Uriah was killed. David thought that his problems were over, that his sins were hidden and thus gone. But Nathan the prophet exposed David’s sin to the entire Jewish royal court and then pronounced God’s judgment on him.

David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” Nathan said to David, “Now the Lord has put away your sin; you shall not die. Nevertheless, because by this deed you have utterly scorned the Lord, the child that is born to you shall die.” (2 Samuel 12:13-14 NRSV).

God doesn’t hold believers accountable for their sin in the sense that we don’t have to suffer His holy judgment for sin (which is death). In 2 Samuel, Nathan assures David that his sin won’t be held against him: The Lord has put away your sin. However, God’s discipline included the fact that the child born to Bathsheba and David would die.

“Endure trials for the sake of discipline. God is treating you as children; for what child is there whom a parent does not discipline? If you do not have that discipline in which all children share, then you are illegitimate and not his children. Moreover, we had human parents to discipline us, and we respected them. Should we not be even more willing to be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share his holiness. Now, discipline always seems painful rather than pleasant at the time, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it” (Hebrews 12:7-11 NRSV).

Father God disciplines us—His children—in order to teach us how to live in such a way that glorifies Him and avoids sin. As scripture teaches, discipline is painful, but it will yield the fruit of righteousness if we allow ourselves to be trained by it.

We experience the trials that are a result of living in a sinful world.

These trials are two-fold. Some are simply because we live here: physical death, the difficult interactions with each other, the toil of growing old, the loss of things. Sin is a destroyer; consequently, nothing here can be permanent due to the effect of sin upon it. Everything and everyone is in the process of decay. And as much as our society would like to ignore the death and dying process that surrounds it, sin has wrecked havoc on this world and will continue to do so. That is why God will destroy this world and replace it with a new heaven and a new earth (Revelation 21:1). Meanwhile, we live in a world where things (and people) wear out, break, and are destroyed. Even having the best, more careful habits, we can still get sick. We will (unless the Lord comes) still die. We often suffer consequences of the bad choices of those around us.

We live in a sinful, dying, hurting (and hurtful) world.

And so, what should be our response to the pain and suffering that we must bear? Scripture tells us that we should cast all of our cares on Him! (1 Peter 5:7). It is the Father’s responsibility to take care of us (Romans 8:28), to bring judgment and vengeance where He would and for us to simply continue to trust Him in the darkness. It pains the Lord Jesus when we are persecuted for His sake; He will bring judgment against those who deliberately harm us. And His judgment—and vengeance—is far greater (and more appropriate) than anything we could do. Meanwhile, it is our responsibility to forgive those who would hurt us and to trust Him to take care of us.

© 2011 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.

John 3:16-18

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him may not perish but may have eternal life. Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him. Those who believe in Him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God.” (NRSV)

Today is Christmas, the day traditionally that Christians celebrate the birth of our Lord. Surrounding this tradition are such things as nativities, Christmas pageants, Christmas carols, family celebrations, gift giving, and the like. But as a Christian, I believe that it’s very important that I not so focus on the Child in the manger that I fail to see either the Savior on the cross or the King returning in the clouds.

The Christmas story is one of amazement and wonder. Music and stories sometimes reduce to the story to actually less than it is (and was):

Away in a manger, no crib for a bed,
The little Lord Jesus laid down His sweet head:
The stars in the sky looked down where He lay;
The little Lord Jesus, asleep on the hay.

Yes, the Lord Jesus had no crib when He was born. Yes, His mother laid Him as a baby in the hay trough used to feed the animals. But it is so much more than that. Father God—the Creator and Master of the universe—sent His Son, the very essence of Himself, to earth to exist within the frail form of a human for the purpose of bringing us salvation, a salvation that couldn’t be secured in any other manner. God Himself, both judge and savior, understanding that mankind was lost beyond hope because of our own sins, provided a Hope by becoming that which He had condemned, a human. He condemned us by necessity and His holy judgment. He saved us from that condemnation through His own sacrifice and His overwhelming love.

The Christmas story isn’t a story that exists in isolation. We cannot tell the Christmas story, even the story of the Child given to rule (Isaiah 9:6) and stop there. The story of Christmas is only the beginning. And, in fact, even the story of Easter is still yet only the beginning. The 33 years that Christ lived on the earth was the beginning . . . the beginning of a marvelous relationship that God, in His infinite love, wants to offer each and every person who has ever been born, who has ever lived on this earth. For God so loved the world, not part of the world, but the entire world, and gave His Son as the only possible sacrifice to reinstate a lost relationship, a relationship lost because of our sin.

The story of the life of the Lord Jesus—the life lived here on earth—is such a small part of the story. For God Himself will write the end to the story of this earth through a great judgment:

“Then I saw a great white throne and the one who sat on it; the earth and the heaven fled from his presence, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Also another book was opened, the book of life. And the dead were judged according to their works, as recorded in the books. And the sea gave up the dead that were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and all were judged according to what they had done. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire; and anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire” (Revelation 20:11-15 NRSV).

The One who sits on this throne is indeed the same One who came as a baby and lay in a manger. God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit will sit in judgment over each person who has lived. This is the Christmas story, the guarantee to those who have had their names written in the Lamb’s book of life that there will be no more punishment for sin, but instead full forgiveness and salvation! There will be no more death, but life for those of us who have fully thrown ourselves upon His mercy and grace. And this isn’t an exclusive club or society where only some may enter. Anyone who wishes to come to the cross and accept this gift may come. All are invited:

“The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come.’
And let everyone who hears say, ‘Come.’
And let everyone who is thirsty come.
Let anyone who wishes take the water of life as a gift” (Revelation 22:17 NRSV).

The KJV uses the phrase “whosoever will.” That whosoever will is God’s Christmas gift to the world. Any and all may come and accept the water of life as a gift. If you haven’t done so, today that gift is being offered to you. Will you accept it?

© 2011 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 4:19

“And my God will fully satisfy every need of yours according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” (NRSV)

We just moved. God opened a way for us to finally own our own home again, but as you can imagine, regardless of how much preparation we did prior to closing the sale, as we walked into the house to become acquainted with it, there have been surprises. (It doesn’t matter how much you inspect a home, there are things that you discover once you live in it, even for a short time.)

One of the “surprises” was that the microwave/stove hood fan was missing. The brackets are there, but the unit is gone. It doesn’t matter the legal or ethical particulars of the issue; what we now have—instead of a beautiful black microwave—is a gaping hole.

For the past two days, as I’ve walked past the hole, I’ve thought a lot about it. As a Christian, I have the choice of two responses. The first is that I can be angry with the previous owners for taking something that was clearly a fixture, an attached appliance. I can refuse to forgive and insist—however ugly a situation that might result—that it is our right to have the microwave restored. Or, I can forgive, try to see the situation through their eyes (they had to sell their house in a short sale) and see that gaping hole as a future blessing.

I am choosing to see it as future blessing.

God has promised to fully satisfy my every need and not only in the limited way that I deserve, but according to His riches in glory. This gaping hole is an obvious need. Not only is there an appliance we lack (the stove hood fan), but there is this ugly hole in the wall, brackets glaring. And my Father God has promised that He will supply this need.

My obligation? To forgive and to pray for the family who felt compelled to try to mitigate their loss and sorrow through fraud and deception. Having had to sell our own home two years ago through a short sale, I am fully aware of how painful it is. I understand that they are hurting and are trying to appease that hurt by making their new place as much like this house as possible. I simply can’t be angry with them, but I am praying that the Holy Spirit will touch their hearts and continue to pursue them.

Meanwhile, I’m joyfully waiting to see the miracle that my Father is going to do to fill the gaping hole in the kitchen.

© 2011 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.