Do We Really Have a Relationship with Jesus? -- Philippians 3:7-11

Philippians 3:7-11


"But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of His resurrection and participation in His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead." (NIV)

I grew up in the 60's. An interesting decade, particularly for Christians. It was in the 1960's and early 70's that the idea that Christianity was a relationship, not a religion, started. This excerpt from an Internet site is typical of this thought:

"Christianity is not really a religion; it is a relationship with God. It is trusting in Jesus and what He did on the cross for you (1 Corinthians 15:1-4), not on what you can do for yourself (Ephesians 2:8-9). Christianity is not about ornate buildings, flamboyant preachers, or traditional rituals. Christianity is about truly accepting Jesus as your Lord and Savior." (from http://www.allaboutreligion.org/christianity.htm).

I don’t disagree with this statement in principal, but I think that we, as a Church, have actually watered down what it means to be in a relationship with the God of all creation. I don’t know if it comes from our narcissistic ideas of what a relationship actually should be or from our idea that everything in life should be fast paced and expendable. But I do think that, rather than having a relationship with the Lord Jesus, we actually are more like fans.

Americans are actually very comfortable with being fans and, I think, rather good at it. Perhaps that’s why reality television is so popular. It allows us to "share" the lives of interesting people without having to make an actual investment in that relationship. We can discuss our opinions about their lives without having to really deal with the down-and-dirty parts of life and we certainly don’t have to sacrifice to maintain a relationship. Fanship is actually pretty cool because we can act like we have a vested interest without having really made the investment needed to have a relationship.

I think many of us have done that with Jesus. We have become fans, even expert fans. We read the Bible and we know all about Him. We can number off all the do’s and don’t’s, list the stats about His life and the history of the early Church. We even make emphatic opinions about how a life as a Christian—a "Christ"-one— should live. But I think we fail to have a relationship with Him. We want our lives as they are, comfortable and rather self-indulgent. We like living on our terms and feeling that God rather approves of us just as we are. So instead of investing in a relationship with Him, we learn as much as we can about Him and then expect that He will be satisfied with that.

Paul, in Philippians, outlined rather concisely what a relationship with the Lord Jesus actually is:

• Counting all things as loss

• Knowing Jesus

• Participating in His sufferings


Counting all things as loss
Paul wrote: "for whose sake I have lost all things" (v. 8). The Greek word, zemioo (Strong’s G2210), has the sense of us actually forfeiting or casting away that which has great value, of penalizing ourselves with eternal loss. The connotation is that Paul cast away everything that was of great value to him in order to grasp that which was of greater value. And the "casting away" wasn’t temporary, but eternal.

The fact is, there is only so much room in our lives for anything. So much time, so much energy, so much emotional commitment. Whatever consumes us is where our hearts are. Paul literally cast away anything and everything that kept him from having a relationship with the Lord Jesus. Nothing was more important than spending time with the Lord. And since Bibles weren’t portable in those days, the majority of Paul’s relationship with the Lord had to be through prayer.

Do we pray? We study, but do we pray? We listen to sermons, but do we pray? We talk about God, but do we pray? And when we pray, do we listen? Or do we just talk and then walk away? What things are we willing to count as loss in order to know Jesus?


Knowing Jesus
The Greek word, ginosko (Strong’s G1097), is actually a Jewish idiom for sexual intercourse between a man and a woman. When Paul talked about knowing Christ, he was talking about that kind of intimacy where you know everything about the other person and they know everything about you because you submit to them. In marital sex, the focus is supposed to be on doing whatever to make your spouse feel happy, loved, and satisfied. The focus is on them and their focus is on you. It’s not at all about what I need, but rather what I can give to them. When this word is connected with gnosis (v. 8, Strong’s G1108)), we see that this knowledge is more than just head knowledge. It is knowledge that is acted out in the life! It is so intimately knowing who Jesus is that our every conversation includes Him, that our every decision is to please Him, that our every activity presses toward His will.

This isn’t simply knowing about Jesus, but is that surrendered life that wants to know Him more than anything else that exists. Nothing is as important as being in His presence and nothing is as imperative as pleasing Him.

That is what Paul meant by knowing Jesus.


Participating in His sufferings
When we are in a committed, intimate relationship with someone, we meld ourselves—our interests, our desires, our activities—to be in line with that person. When Christ lived on the earth, He lived sufferings. He lived nomadically and in poverty. He lived being ridiculed and often despised. At every point, His decisions were based on how He could minister to those around Him, rather than on how to get His own needs met. He totally trusted God to supply His needs and poured Himself out sacrificially to everyone He met.

That is how we are to live if we want to truly know Jesus. Our activities need to be what He did (and now does through the Holy Spirit). Our choices need to be what He would choose (and still chooses through the Holy Spirit). We need to embrace His sufferings on this earth so that we can walk in a relationship with Him.


Do we really have a relationship with Jesus?
Fans sit and watch from afar. They may know countless facts about the person they are watching, but they will never know the intimate details that make life count. They may know how many touchdowns were made, but they will never know what makes the Running Back afraid. They may know the exact kind of make-up a star uses, but they will never know the sound of her weeping in the dark for the loss of a child. They may know every hit song of a band over the band’s long career, but they will never know the nightmares that keep the drummer awake at night.

Fans sit and watch from afar. But those who know intimately will walk side by side, experiencing every moment together, willing to cast away that which comes between them and their love. Do we love Jesus? How much time do we spend with Him? Do we know what pleases Him? And perhaps the most important question of all . . .

Do we even know Him?

© 2015 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.

Purify Yourselves -- 1 Peter 1:22

1 Peter 1:22


"Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart" (NIV)

"Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth . . ." It is absolutely true that we cannot rid ourselves of our sin. It is also absolutely true that we have, as believers, been given the ability through the power of the Holy Spirit, to choose at every step of our lives whether or not we will continue to sin. We have the ability and the freedom to choose whether or not to obey the truth which is God’s Word. To obey! Not just to believe, but to obey through our words, through our choices, through our behavior. James wrote:

"Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says" (James 1:22 NIV).

There is a very real sense in the American Church today that we believe we don’t have to obey the Word of God, that we can live as we choose and God will forgive every sin. It’s as if we believed that God is actually tolerant of our sin. "Well, He knows I’m a sinner. He knows I can’t help it, and that’s why He forgives me (over and over and over again)." This is such a fallacy. God is never tolerant of sin. He hates it with a vengeance.

"Kiss His son, or He will be angry and your way will lead to your destruction, for His wrath can flare up in a moment." (Psalm 2:12 NIV).

"You are not a God who is pleased with wickedness; with You, evil people are not welcome. The arrogant cannot stand in Your presence. You hate all who do wrong; You destroy those who tell lies. The bloodthirsty and deceitful You, Lord, detest." (Psalm 5:4-5 NIV).

"God is a righteous judge, a God who displays His wrath every day." (Psalm 7:11 NIV).

There are many more similar scriptures, enough for us to be convinced that God hates sin and He hates it in us! He understands our moral frailty and He gave us His own Holy Spirit so that we would be able to choose to please Him, rather than to sin. When we are careless with our choices, we come close to crossing a line (or may even cross it) where we go from being God’s beloved to God’s enemy. We may even cross into that state where our sin becomes more important to us than pleasing God. And after that, what can I say? For there are those who named the name of the Lord Jesus, who served Him with their hearts and lives, but since have become enemies of God! They are among those with whom even now we wrestle within the American culture, those who have set themselves up to destroy the American Church. These very people were once Christians! But no longer. At some point, they allowed the sin in their lives to become more important than their relationship with God.

How can we avoid that in our own lives? James wrote:

"Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in humility that comes from wisdom. . . . The wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness." (James 3:13, 17-18 NIV).

How do we purify ourselves? What is the truth that must be obeyed? James delineates some of it in chapter 3: a good life, deeds done in humility, peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.

What is a good life? The KJV translates the Greek as "out of a good conversation his works." The Greek word for conversation is anastrophe (Strong’s G391) and literally means "a turning back." Good is from kalos (Strong’s G2570) meaning good, honest, approved, beautiful by reason of purity of heart and life, morally good. Thus, James is literally talking about turning our lives back to purity and moral goodness. And that is always a choice. What do we listen to? What do we watch? What do we say? Where do we draw that line of compromise? In all things, are we living purely?

The other part of this is humility. And this is a humility that is first toward God and then, as a result of our relationship with God, toward those around us. About the word prautes (Strong’s G4240), Vine’s writes:

"Prautes denotes ‘meekness.’ In its use in Scripture, in which it has a fuller, deeper significance than in nonscriptural Greek writings, it consists not in a person’s ‘outward behavior only; not yet in his relations to his fellow-men; as little in his mere natural disposition. Rather it is an inwrought grace of the soul; and the exercises of it are first and chiefly towards God. It is that temper of spirit in which we accept His dealings with us as good, and therefore without disputing or resisting; it is only the humble heart which is also the meek, and which, as such, does not fight against God and more or less struggle and content with Him. This meekness, however, being first of all a meekness before God, is also such in the face of men, even of evil men, out of a sense that these, with the insults and injuries which they may inflict, are permitted and employed by Him for the chastening and purifying of His elect’".

There is a very real sense of absolute trust in God in this humility which allows us to walk through any circumstance of life, fully believing that God is in control and is working "all things" for our good. It is this trust which empowers us to live a good life, to behave in sincere humility, to be peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.

How we respond to those who would harm and despise us is a true measure of where our relationship with the Lord is. Are we more concerned about getting vengeance or even making sure everything is fair than we are about their eternal salvation? Are we so mistrusting of God that we are afraid life on His terms simply won’t measure up to the life that we think we can carve out for ourselves?

A life that has chosen purity will be able to love with a love that mirrors the love of our crucified Savior. We will be able to follow Him through the agony of the cross, completely surrendered to whatever the Father wills for us, knowing that His plan is always good. A life that chooses purity will fully and quickly put away anything and everything that displeases Him so that we may become the people that He wants us to become. A life that is pure will choose His truth every time in every way without ever looking back.

© 2015 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.

God Will Give Us More than We Can Handle -- Job 1-2

Job 1:13-19, 2:7-8, 10b


"Now there was a day when his sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house; and a messenger came to Job and said, ‘The oxen were plowing and the donkeys feeding beside them, when the Sabeans raided them and took them away—indeed they have killed the servants with the edge of the sword; and I alone have escaped to tell you!’ While he was still speaking, another also came and said, ‘The fire of God fell from heaven and burned up the sheep and the servants, and consumed them; and I alone have escaped to tell you!’ While he was still speaking, another also came and said, ‘The Chaldeans formed three bands, raided the camels and took them away, yes, and killed the servants with the edge of the sword; and I alone have escaped to tell you!’ While he was still speaking, another also came and said, ’Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house, and suddenly a great wind came from across the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell on the young people, and they are dead; and I alone have escaped to tell you!’

"So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord, and struck Job with painful boils from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. And he took for himself a potsherd with which to scrape himself jwhile he sat in the midst of the ashes. . . . [And Job said,] ‘Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?’ In all this Job did not sin with his lips." (NKJV)


Will God give us more than we can handle? This saying has been around for quite a while (as long as I can remember), and yet, when I truly look at life and the many painful experiences that I (and others) have gone through, I personally am coming to believe that this is a false doctrine. You see, here is something that must be true about God and the Bible: Whatever is true for one believer is true for all believers. God’s promises aren’t selective for only certain ones of His children; His promises are true for all! And so, if this saying is a true saying, then it has to be true for all believers.

Is it?

Was it true for Job?

In one day, Job lost all of his possessions, all of his livelihood, and all of his children. The only person left in his life was his wife and she told him to "Curse God and die!" (v. 9). There may be situations in life that are worse than this, but this is all pretty bad. Job was not only righteous in the sight of God, he was considered to be "the greatest of all the people of the East" (v. 3). He went from having everything to having nothing!

I certainly don’t need to repeat the litany of tragedies that strike people on a daily basis. Most of us are on social networking and between Facebook, Twitter, news media, and gofundme accounts, we know that tragedy strikes people’s lives everyday and often in such quantity to be mind boggling! Natural disasters strike. Accidents occur. Evil abounds . . . and all this leaves people with loss and pain and suffering. And sometimes, we’re the one at the center of all this mess!

Does God restrict suffering to what we can "handle"? I don’t think so. I think God restricts suffering to what He can handle in and through us. We need to understand that humans are resilient and what we think we can’t bear, we often can. We don’t die of broken hearts, from painful bodies, or from enormous embarrassment. We might like to think we might die of these things in order to escape them, but we will live out each day, one day at a time, until the Lord decides to bring us Home. And until then, it’s not about what we live through, but how we live through it that should be the focus of our lives. We will suffer. We will experience great loss. We will live with deteriorating bodies. Once we accept what life really is (compared to what movies and TV shows say it is), we can then begin to look to scripture to see what it is we should do in order to live like Job and "not sin."

Here are some ideas that may help us as we learn to navigate through a life that is far different than we would like for it to be:


Search for God with all our hearts
"For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart" (Jeremiah 29:11-13 NKJV).

The Lord’s plan for each believer is a good plan. To understand what is meant by this, we need to truly understand what God means when He talks about "good."

Romans 8:28: "And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose." The Greek word here for good is agathon or agathos. The connotation of the word is so helpful because it means something that is good in its character or constitution and is beneficial in its effect. The "good" described here is the goodness that is God, not simply goodness that comes from God, but is foundationally God Himself. And this goodness has to, by definition, be completely beneficial for us. When Jeremiah talked about God’s plan for us, it is a plan of peace (peace with God), of a future, and of a living hope, the hope of the resurrection from the dead. Everything that God does for us is with eternity in mind, to make our "forever" as wonderful as possible (and with God all things are possible). It is a future with all good things in it!

The first step to moving toward this future is to seek God with all our hearts. And the Lord tells us that this "seeking" begins with prayer. We are to call upon Him and He will listen. We are to seek Him and we will find Him!



Learn to be content in His will
When Job was notified of the loss of all his possessions and his children, this is what he prayed to the Lord:

"Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return there. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord." (Job 1:21-22 NKJV).

Scripture says that Job worshiped as he said this and this passage is formatted as a prayer or even a song. Job had learned to be content in God’s will. He clearly understood that everything we have on this earth comes from God and that God gives or takes away as is best for us!

The apostle Paul wrote:

"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." (Philippians 4:11b-13 NIV).

Paul had the long view of life, understanding that the only important thing in this life is how we respond to it. Job understood that we come into life with nothing and we leave with nothing! It is whether or not we worship God regardless of our circumstances that’s important.



Have a "forever" view of life
1 Peter 1:3-4: "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you." (NIV)

This life isn’t about how much we can accumulate or how comfortable we can make ourselves. This life is about pressing forward, pressing forward, pressing forward in the Kingdom of God by winning souls and disciplining them, by maturing in our own faith, by continuing to seek God and His righteousness. Loss here doesn’t matter except how we choose to respond to it. Job chose to respond to loss with praise and worship and scripture tells us that he didn’t sin. The opposite of sinning is living righteously. Thus, the response that Job chose was righteous in God’s eyes.

We have lived long in a society that tells us, rather than to be thoughtful in our lives, to follow our emotions. We have become, in many instances, convinced that we are less than truthful if we don’t follow the path down which our emotions lead. But that is a fallacy. We know that Job’s emotions were heart-wrenching. In 1:20, we are told that Job tore his robe and shaved his head, the culture sign of mourning. We are told in 2:8 that he sat in the ashes, another sign of great mourning. And in 2:13 scripture says, "they saw how great his suffering was." But Job chose not to follow his emotions, but to act on what he knew to be true: that God can do nothing except pour out goodness on us. And when Job finally allowed his emotions to overcome him (beginning in chapter 3), God rebukes him (chapters 38-41). Job’s response is then this:

"I know that You can do all things; no purpose of Yours can be thwarted. . . . Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know. . . . Therefore, I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes." (Job 42:2, 3b, 6 NIV).

Job turned from responding to his emotions and instead responded to the truth of God’s character. Job learned that God has made things so wonderful that we cannot even comprehend them! And Job repented of his complaining, of his emotional outbursts. The psalmist speaks of this, I believe, in Psalm 131:

"My heart is not proud, Lord, my eyes are not haughty. I do not concern myself with great matters or things too wonderful for me. But I have calmed and quieted myself." (Psalm 131: 1-2a NIV).

We have no promise that God will give us only what we can handle. We will often be given situations in which our emotions may feel out of control, situations to which we have no solutions. God hasn’t promised that the road will be paved with only those losses that we can face or only those pains which we can bear. What He has promised is that no situation is beyond His control or more than His ability to work good for us. What He has promised is that His wisdom and His will is in each step of our lives, whether in happiness or in loss. We cannot have the eternal view that God has; these are the things that are "too wonderful" for us. But we can calm and quiet ourselves. We can take our thoughts captive and turn our hearts in praise and worship to the Lord. In His presence is fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore (Psalm 116:11).

© 2015 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.

Our Loss Often Results in Satan's Victory -- 2 Corinthians 10:3-5

2 Corinthians 10:3-5


"For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." (NIV)

Do you have a loss in your life or have some other painful situation that seems to be holding you captive? You can’t move forward the pain is so horrible. You can’t forget because it is something that happened to you. You can’t find the peace that God has promised. You are simply mired in the loss.

I think this happens to most, if not all, of us. Life on earth is excruciatingly painful and death, loss, and agony are waiting for us at every corner. We try, with various techniques, to lessen the emotional affects, but frankly I think most of the things we try are simply band-aids that attempt to hide our pain from others. When the darkness comes, we have to honestly admit that the pain is still overwhelming and ever-present.

Our Father did not intend for us to live with these kinds of paralyzing memories. I believe that we have been given the tools in scripture which, while not mitigating the fact that we have experienced terrible loss, will allow us to move on boldly as believers, facing life as we need to in this moment and clinging tightly to His hand as He leads us eventually Home.

(1) Our enemy isn’t a person. Our pain is a direct attack by Satan.

And, to be honest, that makes me (as my Southern relatives might say) "fightin’ mad!" Our pain, our loss, isn’t just some random act that happened because we live in this earth and "things happen." Our loss is a direct result of the anguish that Satan deliberately wants to cause; it’s a direct result of sin on this earth, sin brought initially by Satan because of his hatred of our Father:

"Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings." 1 Peter 5:8-9 NIV.

Satan wants to destroy us. And if he can’t destroy us, physically or spiritually, the next best thing he wants is to make us ineffective as children of the Living God. He wants to destroy our ministry and make us impotent as instruments of the Holy Spirit. He wants to steal our joy, to destroy our peace, and to rise up within us a paralyzing sense that we simply can’t go on because of what’s happened.

My question to myself (and to you): Am I going to let that happen? Or am I going to find a way in scripture to overcome?

(2) We can decide that Satan will not win this battle.

I refuse—refuse—to let what Satan intended as evil to become evil in my life.

In the story of Joseph, his brothers sold him into slavery, an experience which even ended with him being thrown into prison. But when Joseph confronted his horrible brothers, this was his response: "As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, in order to bring about as it is this day, to save many people" (Genesis 50:20 NKJ).

What happened to Joseph was horrible and his life was never the same again. He lost many years of his life, the opportunity to marry as he had dreamed, his culture, his language, even his own name! God led Joseph from the life of a nomad, the favored son of a rather wealthy shepherd, into the culture of the Egyptian court. Joseph was given a new name, had to use another language (other than his native tongue), was forced to adapt to a new culture, and even had to agree to marry an Egyptian woman. He lost everything that defined him as who he was and none of it was restored to him in this life!

But Joseph understood something that would do us well. The battle that we fight isn’t fought on physical terms, but on spiritual terms. If Joseph had used his new found power in the Egyptian court to take vengeance on his brothers, all would have been lost. (It was from one of the those "evil" brothers that the line producing the Lord Jesus would come.) Joseph was willing to see the bigger picture and to trust that God would use all this for His purposes and for our good! We can do the same thing if we force ourselves to see the larger picture, to see the truth of God’s plan.

(3) We can win against the pain of our memories.

Joseph was able to put all of his losses behind him and move forward. How do we do that?

Scripture has already given us the tools necessary.

• We take every thought captive.

"We take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." (2 Corinthians 10:5 NIV).

The pain that we feel is a direct result of the thoughts we think. We think back to what it was like before our loss or we think back to what happened that caused the loss or we think about what this moment would be like if the loss hadn’t occurred (or something similar) and our pain overwhelms us. We have suffered loss and our lives will never again be the same!

We can overcome this pain by taking every thought captive. This word is aichmalotizo (Strong’s G163) and means to "subjugate our thoughts to the obedience of Christ." To subjugate. To overpower, to subdue, to compel, to force. Our thoughts are obviously not something that control us; we have the ability to control our thoughts! And when we control them and place them in submission to Christ, we have the ability to live lives that are pleasing to our Lord and Savior. We have the ability to bring our lives back into victory over Satan. We have the ability to Win. This. Battle.

I can’t say that strongly enough. We have the ability and wherewithal to get our lives back again and to forge ahead in ministry by first taking these thoughts captive and subjecting them to Christ.

But why should we? Our loss is very real and thinking about it isn’t a sin. Or is it? Is there something else that we are supposed to think on?

• Think instead on these things

"Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. . . . And the God of peace will be with you." (Philippians 4:8, 9b NIV).

I will ask you bluntly: Is Satan’s attack on your life noble or right or pure or lovely or praiseworthy? No! It is, instead, intended to cause you spiritual harm. Then why think on it? We already know, because we have experienced the tremendous sorrow of our loss, that thinking about our tragedy paralyzes us in our tracks! And if it stops us from doing that which the Lord has called us to do, then it is excellent or true? No! It isn’t.

The Lord calls us, then, instead to think on the things that are from the Father, the things which He has intended for our good. And the promise is that when we think on those things, the God of PEACE will be with us! Do we want peace? Then we need to think on the things of God and His purposes.

• Refuse to allow the thoughts that paralyze us to return, but rather praise God for His ultimately victorious plan.

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who has been called according to His purpose." (Romans 8:28 NIV).

Our loss, while not God’s intent for our lives, is being used by Him, through His power, to produce good for us. It can also result in good through us if we are willing to be obedient to His call on our lives: The apostle Peter wrote: "Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called." (1 Peter 3:9 NIV).

When we sit in our misery, we are repaying evil with evil because we are doing that to which we were not called! We are surrendering to Satan and agreeing that he has won, that he has conquered us because what has happened has overcome us. We can no longer minister to the extent that we did before because we are overcome with sorrow over what has happened. While we may not be repaying a person with evil, we are repaying Satan with evil (which is what he wants) because we have stopped being the person we were prior to our loss. We are allowing our thoughts to control who we are becoming.

How do we overcome Satan? By taking our thoughts captive to the obedience of Christ, by thinking on the things of the Lord Jesus and, in obedience, trusting that He will make good from the evil that Satan intended We overcome Satan by embracing the peace that God will soon send once we are obedient.

"Everyone has heard about your obedience, so I rejoice because of you; but I want you to be wise about what is good, and innocent about what is evil. The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet." (Romans 16:19-20a NIV).

If we have any hope of overcoming the crushing losses that Satan has placed in our path, we must learn to take our thoughts captive and turn our hearts to praising the Lord. Every time we think of what was, what happened, or what might have been, we need to turn from those thoughts and instead turn to praising the Lord. At first we may wrestle with our own minds because we have developed habit patterns that turn our thoughts to our losses. But we can find victory in thinking on the things that are pure, noble, and praiseworthy. We will find victory in thinking about and praising the Lord whom we serve. And through that victory, we will find the peace that need to move ahead strongly for His purposes and His glory!


The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer;
my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge,
my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

I called to the Lord, who is worthy of praise,
and I have been saved from my enemies.

In my distress I called to the Lord;
I cried to my God for help.

From his temple he heard my voice;
my cry came before him, into his ears.
He reached down from on high and took hold of me;
he drew me out of deep waters.

He rescued me from my powerful enemy,
from my foes, who were too strong for me.
They confronted me in the day of my disaster,
but the Lord was my support.
He brought me out into a spacious place;
he rescued me because he delighted in me.

You, Lord, keep my lamp burning;
my God turns my darkness into light.
As for God, his way is perfect:
The Lord’s word is flawless;
he shields all who take refuge in him. (Psalm 18:2-3, 6, 16-19, 28, 30 NIV)

© 2015 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.

God's Love Is Limitless -- Psalm 103:8-12

Psalm 103:8-12


"The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever; he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us." (NIV)

All across America, people are posting pictures on social media about Christmas. Some post pictures of family . . . and certainly Christmas is, for many people, the gathering together of family generations to renew relationships and share memories of the year. Some post pictures of presents . . . and certainly Christmas is about giving to others, of planning what might please them and then seeking out that very special gift. Some post pictures of parties . . . and certainly Christmas has become a time to enjoy good food and good friendships.

But there are others for whom social media will be darkness or who may try to cry out by posting images not quite so jolly. These are those for whom Christmas—and very possibly this particular Christmas—isn’t nearly so happy or joyful. These are those for whom Christmas this year is lonely or painful or even tragic. Because here’s the deal: Even while we try, as a nation, to set aside "Christmas" as a holiday, life continues to come crashing in. Pain, sorrow, and loss continue to plague us and always will as long as we live on this earth.

What’s interesting, however, about the word "holiday" is that its primary meaning (and etymology) is "holy day." It was, initially, a day set apart for religious activities, a day set apart to honor God, as it were. Christmas is and must be initially and always about God and what He has done for us by sending His Son.

The psalmist tells us that God is "abounding in love." The Hebrew word, rab, translated here as "abounding" generally means "aboundant, great, exceedingly." But it also means "captain or chief" (Strong’s H7227). Father God is, in every sense, the chief Lover of people. As our Creator, He also became our Savior through His only begotten Son, Jesus. He is abounding in love because He did everything necessary to restore us to Himself after we completely rebelled. "He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities." He created us; we rebelled against both our Creator and our created purpose. We deserve any fate He determined, but instead, He didn’t treat us as we deserved nor repaid us according to our rebellion. Rather, because He is the Chief Lover, He became a Man—Emmanuel, God with us—and took our punishment. He suffered all the loss so that we wouldn’t have to.
The psalmist uses two metaphors to describe God’s love for us. First, he says that God’s love is as high as the heavens are above the earth. There is a great website that tries to demonstrate the size of the universe in comparison to other things: http://scaleofuniverse.com/ At the "end" of the demonstration, the "unknown" universe is shown as extending on and on and on. The fact is, the "heavens" extend so far above the earth that, at this moment, we have no idea where the limits may be, if there are limits. The point that the Holy Spirit was making when He inspired this description is that God’s love is limitless. And He couldn’t have shown His limitless love any better than to come Himself to earth as a baby in order to give us salvation from our sins. He "does not treat us as our sins deserve nor repays us according to our iniquities" because He took our punishment for us. And His love wasn’t an accusation or a judgment but rather became hands reaching out to us to surround us with His love and mercy.


Secondly, the psalmist says that "as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us." Not only are our sins forgiven, but Father God has actually removed them from us. I always find this metaphor so interesting, but didn’t fully understand it until I saw it explained in a children’s sermon. (Sometimes I really need things simplified in order to understand them.)

The best way to demonstrate this is with an actual globe, but I’ll try with instructions. First, take a globe. Point to any place on the globe and move your finger north. 
At the point where your finger hits the North Pole, you stop going north. If your finger continues along the globe, you will now be going south . . . until you hit the South Pole. At the point, you will be going north. You can only travel half of the distance around the world—going north or south—until you change direction.

However, if you try to same thing going east (or west), you will never stop. If you trace a line eastward, you will continue going east . . . and east . . . and east. There is never a point where you will begin going west. In order to go west, you actually have to stop and change direction.

North and south meet at the poles, but east and west never meet! The point of the metaphor is that when Father God separated us from our sin, He did so in such a manner that we will never again be confronted by our sin. It is so separated from us that it can never meet us again. His "payment" for our iniquities came with a guarantee. Our sins are totally and absolutely removed.

He loves us exceedingly great! (More than we will ever know or be able to comprehend.)

As we celebrate Christmas today, as we set aside this day as a "holiday" (or holy day), I hope that we will take at least some time to remember what Christmas really is, the day that God set into motion His great plan to demonstrate His limitless love by removing our sins from us forever! This day is about the baby in the manger, but it’s also about the Savior on the cross and the Risen King at the tomb. This day is about God’s great love in the person of His only Son, Jesus our Lord.

© 2015 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.

Where Is Our Inheritance? -- 1 Peter 1:17-21

1 Peter 1:17-21


"Since you call on a Father who judges each person’s work impartially, live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear. For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God." (NIV)

As Americans we often place a great deal of importance on what we own or the resources we are able to accumulate. Peter is clear that there is no amount of "silver or gold" (or anything else on this earth) that can offer us salvation. Our salvation exists in the Lord Jesus and is kept for us in heaven where it is imperishable.

I have been so fortunate to have had a number of wonderful and devout Christian women in my life, beginning with my mother, Em Benedict, and maternal grandmother, Hilda Sheddan. Later it included my paternal grandmother, Marie Benedict, who was saved in her 70's. There were also my "aunts" (women who adopted me as family even though there was no formal relation): Audrey Mieir, Doris Fulfer, and Marian Etchason. All of these women, in significant ways, molded my life and my walk with the Lord. I carry a "piece" of them with me everyday as I continue to learn how to be a Christian that is pleasing to our Father God.

As each of them went onto Glory (except for Aunt Marian), I was fortunate to receive some of their jewelry. Brooches, bracelets, earrings . . . none of which had much intrinsic value, but which I cherished because each piece had been worn by them. For many years, I’ve kind of seen these pieces as my "inheritance" from them. But as I’ve grown older, I’ve come to realize that my greatest inheritance from them lives within my life, in the way I make decisions, in my goals and desires, in my very lifestyle.

And, it’s a good thing, because in the past few days, most of the jewelry is gone! My house was broken into and all of the jewelry that I hadn’t packed with me was stolen. Pieces and pieces which have basically no value to anyone but me. Gone! In one fell swoop. If I believe that these women’s inheritance to me exists in pieces of jewelry, then my inheritance is gone. But as a Christian, that isn’t the case!

The Lord Jesus spoke about inheritances when He talked about storing up treasures in heaven: "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." (Matthew 6:19-21 NKJV).

The inheritance I was given from these women is my life and what they taught me while they lived on earth. It is how I now choose to live my life and what I will pass on to those that follow me. The apostle Paul, in 1 Corinthians, wrote: "Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ." (1 Corinthians 11:1 NKJV). Inheritances that last are never the things of this earth: jewels, furniture, money. The inheritances that last are the lives lived in obedience to the Lord that we can faithfully follow and know that we are truly living pleasing to the Lord.

The Lord Jesus tells us to store up treasures in heaven where thieves can’t steal. For these women, their treasure in heaven are the lives of those of us who are imitating them. For those of us remaining here, our focus needs to be on storing treasures in heaven by investing ourselves into the lives of those around us.

As for the thieves who broke into my house, I pray for them. They desperately need the Lord in their lives. And if my prayers are part of what brings them to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus, then any loss that I’ve experienced in this life is more than worth it!

© 2015 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.

How to Live Holy Lives -- 1 Peter 1:13-16

1 Peter 1:13-16


"Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming. As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: ‘Be holy, because I am holy.’" (NIV)

One of the greatest problems, I believe, that the Western Church has faced in the past two centuries is our schizophrenic approach to the doctrine of positional holiness or righteousness. Positional holiness says that we are holy and righteous in the presence of God, not because of what we have done or will do, but because of what Christ has done by imputing His own righteousness to us. "It is because of him [God] that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: ‘Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.’" (1 Corinthians 1:30-31 NIV).

Because of this doctrine, there has become a kind of resigned surrender to the idea that we will never stop sinning. And since we can’t stop sinning, we might as well continue to sin with impunity, not even trying to dig our sinful ways out of our habit patterns. I can remember talking to a woman on the Internet who basically said that, until the Lord forcibly changed her, she would continue on with who she was, faults and all. We, in fact, often make light of our faults, simply embracing them as eccentricities rather than acknowledging that they are sins that God hates! And in the process, we have created an anemic Church that is hated by the world, not because of the Spirit who dwells within us, but rather for the hypocrisy that we live.

The decline of righteous living in the Church is something that has been observed and noted by church scholars for more than a century. And yet, as a Church, we don’t seem quite motivated to do much about it. It seems that rather than digging in to find out where we displease God, we have created doctrines that allow us to simply "be ourselves" and demand that God love us however we are. My own pastor, Larry Brown, often says, "God loves you as you are, but He loves you too much to leave you the way you are." God’s plan was never for us to continue in the mire and muck of sin, but rather for us to reach above the darkness and step into His glorious light in this life! The apostle Paul, in Romans, writes:

"What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?" (Romans 6:1-2 NIV).

Peter gives us four steps in moving from the darkness that is sin into the light of righteousness that is Christ and all of these steps are things we are to choose to do in this life:

(1) Be alert

The KJV actually translates this "gird up the loins of your mind." Paul uses an idiom here which is one associated with both long travels and going into battle. In the days where men wore long robes, they would "gird up their loins" by pulling up those robes around their waist and holding the robes there using a belt. The point was to free their legs so that they had easier movement for the task ahead. The meaning of the idiom, when used with the mind, is that "the Christian is to have his mental powers alert in the expectation of Christ’s coming." Everything we do is to be done within the interactive relationship that we have as believers with our Lord. Our choices, our behavior, our plans all are to be centered around what it is that Christ wants for us to do.

We have become so used to just doing what we want because "we live in a Christian nation" that we have failed to develop the discipline needed to actually live in a relationship with the Lord Jesus. We talk about that relationship a lot, but we don’t actually even know how to live it. We fail to study the Word. We fail to pray. We fail to live lives pleasing to the Lord. We talk the talk, but we don’t walk the walk, and then we wonder why the world despises us so. We aren’t being persecuted for being Christians; we are being persecuted for failing to be Christians! The world actually wants us to be Christians. They want us to be holy and righteous. They want us to love as Jesus loves, to reach out as Jesus did, to become His hands to them. But we have become content in our sin, leaning on a doctrine that says Jesus will forgive us regardless of what we do! And by doing so, we have continued to go on sinning, believing that we do so with impunity.

We need to become alert in our lives, believing that we could face the Lord Jesus in our next breath! What kind of life can we give Him as a gift? What would please Him? My dear friend, Dawn, who went home to be with the Lord this year, stood in front of a group of Native American youth and said, "I’ve been given nine days to live. What would you do with your life if you knew you only had nine days to live?" That is the question for all believers. How would we choose to live if we weren’t guaranteed tomorrow? I think we would choose to live righteously, not only ready to follow His command at a moment’s notice, but actually following His commands each moment. We need to learn to be alert to His will.

(2) Be sober

We are a society that is addicted. We are addicted to heightened chemicals in our brain that come when we do things that please our lustful natures. For many of us, we don’t even realize that we’re addicted. We simply "have to have" our coffee, our chocolate, our TV programs, our exercise workout, our daily sex, our after-work shopping trips, our . . . whatever! Even if we don’t drink alcohol (which many believers do now), smoke (which a number also do), or become involved in illegal drug usage, there are things in our lives which either we have to have or which we can’t live without to assuage the emotional or physical pain. We have no idea that we’re addicted, but we are. We are the opposite of sober!

The Greek word nepho means "to be free from the influence of intoxicants" (Strong’s G3525). Can we live without our video games, without our social networking, without our comfort food? Whatever we feel we need to live (to either exist another day or to enjoy life) has become for us an intoxicant.

Merriam Webster defines "intoxicate" as "to excite or elate to the point of enthusiasm or frenzy." Think about the things you long for that bring you to this kind of point. Have we, as Christians, become self-aware enough to know when we are crossing the line from happy to intoxicated? Perhaps the best measure is that point when we would prefer not to stop whatever it is we are doing. And yet, if we can’t stop, then we aren’t able to move into ministry if the Lord were to call us to do so at that moment.

We are called as believers to live sober lives. The point isn’t to live in such a way that we are sad or serious all the time, but rather that we are able to respond to the Lord’s call on our lives at every moment in time. We are to be sober so that we can be obedient.

(3) Be obedient

Obedience isn’t a word that we use much anymore. As a public school teacher, I’ve been taught to talk to students about being appropriate or respectful, but not necessarily about being obedient. We don’t even hear our pastors talk much about obedience. It’s like, as a Church, we are afraid to even mention that there are a set of rules that we should obey.

We don’t much want to comply with rules anymore anyway, particularly if a rule doesn’t make sense or doesn’t conform with what we want to do. If we’re late and in a hurry, we may choose whether or not to obey the speed limit. When filing our income tax return, we may choose whether or not to report income that hasn’t been 1099'd. It’s definitely clear that our society rarely wants to obey, but seems to make up the rules as it goes along.

Peter tells us that as obedient children, we are not to conform to our evil desires. But how do we do that? In order to know what to obey, we need to become knowledgeable in what scripture actually says. We need to recognize that the opposite of obedience is sin. We need to realize that we have the full ability to live sinless lives. Why? Because we have the Holy Spirit living within us. The Holy Spirit gives us the power to resist temptation; God has promised that can endure through it and come out on the other side sinless.

"No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it." (1 Corinthians 10:13-14 NIV).

When we sin, it isn’t because we can’t live sinless lives, but because we choose to sin! We need to take responsibility where it lies. If we chose to be obedient, we wouldn’t sin. Peter tells us clearly to be "obedient children" by not conforming to our evil desires.



(4) Become knowledgeable

Peter relates "evil desires" with ignorance. The Greek word is agnoia (Strong’s G52) and means lack of knowledge, especially of divine things, and moral blindness. Paul told Timothy that there were three things from which the choice to obey commandments came: "a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith" (1 Timothy 1:5 NKJ). The kind of knowledge that we need as believers isn’t as much about learning facts as it is about learning what God wants from and for us. It is the knowledge that results in a pure heart and grows our faith. And that knowledge comes directly from the Word of God. Paul, in Philippians, wrote this:

"Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things." (Philippians 4:8 NIV). Think about such things. We need to actively filter what comes into our minds. Do we need to think about this or that? Is it pure? Is it lovely? Is it true? There is so much garbage out in the world. We would learn an infinite amount of things about what’s going on around us, but would knowing those things make us more loving and kind and gentle?

"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." (Galatians 5:22-25 NIV). It is fully possible for us to live by the Spirit, to be holy as He is holy. We need to become alert, looking every moment for His return. We need to be sober so that we can be sensitive to the move of His Spirit. We need to be obedient to the commands of scripture in our lives and we need to become knowledgeable about His will through focusing on His Word. In these ways we will become holy as our Lord is holy.

© 2015 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.

Seasons and Temptations -- 1 Peter 1:6-7

1 Peter 1:6-7


"In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed." (NIV)

Peter speaks about trials. The Greek word here is peirasmos which Strong’s actually translates as "temptations" (Strong’s G3986). I think this is very important for us to consider because it is often "trials,"—those times of suffering, grief and pain—that tempt us to turn away from trusting God, from believing that His hand is in control. Think about it! When great tragedies strike our nation, one of the first questions often asked is, "Where is God in all this?" It is the same with the tragedies of our lives. The temptation is to ask why God would allow us to go through something like this.

I can only speak for myself, but I know that when life is going along rather nicely, I’m inclined to forget God. And then when things get painful and difficult, I’m inclined to mistrust and question Him. Not a very satisfactory faith relationship. When things are good, I should always been seeking His wisdom and asking what I should do next. And when things are difficult, I should be clinging to His goodness and love, knowing that He has promised that all things will work for my good (Romans 8:28).

Peter writes that these trials (and temptations) come "for a little while." The word here is oligos and it is best translated "a season." I can remember my Aunt Audrey (Mieir) talking about the seasons of life. Each season brings with it joys and sorrows, rejoicing and heartache, opportunities and limitations. She encouraged us always to embrace the current season in which we lived, trusting that God had already given us what we needed to successfully fulfill His will. But she also taught me to remember that a season has its beginning . . . and its ending. And not to believe that life would always be as it is now.

When I was crowned Miss La Verne (a very small city in Southern California), I can remember thinking about what Aunt Audrey had taught me. From that first night, even while enjoying all the activities that the Chamber of Commerce had outlined for me to do (which included riding on the top of the town’s fire engine), I always kept in mind that, in a year, I would be passing my title and crown onto someone else. This wasn’t a permanent assignment, but simply a wonderful and fun time that would last for twelve months.

All the seasons of our lives are temporary. They may last for a few weeks or months or they may last for a few years, but at some point, this season will end and a new one will begin. The only "season" of our life that won’t end is that precious eternal time in heaven. When we enter the gates of our "forever" Home, we can rest assured that it will never end. But until then, we live through various seasons, each of which will test our faith. If we persevere, each trial will result in praise, glory and honor to the Lord Jesus Christ who is willing, even now, to guide each step, to reveal each decision, to provide for every need.

© 2015 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.

Living Happily Ever After -- 1 Peter 1:3-5

1 Peter 1:3-5


"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time." (NIV)

This week another episode in the popular Star Wars series is being released in theaters, earning even before the movie is shown over $100M in sales. (I can’t even grasp how much that is.) Movie goers are flocking in droves, not only to see the movie once, but to see it several times. Why? Because they enjoy the characters and want to see what happens next. People want their favorite characters to live on and on and on and on. That was proven with the latest Star Trek sagas which "resurrected" characters that had previously been killed off (and, subsequently, a number of the actors actually dying off). "Let’s keep Star Trek going forever by now introducing it as an alternate reality. Those characters killed off in the original series are now living again, in different adventures."

We are obsessed with living "happily ever after" with the emphasis on living forever. We invent video games where the characters are "killed off" only to resurrect moments later. Cinema embraces stories where characters live on. In the world of fantasy, very few die (and we’re guaranteed that few of the "main" characters will be in that category as their actors, in contract with the producers, will appear like clockwork the following week).

The problem with all this? It’s fantasy, not reality. In reality, people die every day, every week, every month. Death is a reality that only a very few (Enoch?) will escape. So, it’s not whether or not we will die, but what happens when we die that we must face, and hopefully, face it sooner rather than later.

As Christians, we are guaranteed "a living hope . . . for an inheritance that can never perish, spoil, or fade." What does that mean exactly? The Greek word for "hope" is elpis (Strong’s G1680) and means "good, joyful and confident expectation of eternal salvation." Within this word is also the idea that the Lord Jesus Christ Himself is the hope. He is the guarantee as well as the creator of the hope. In other words, our expectation isn’t simply an emotion or a wish; it is grounded in the idea that because the Lord Jesus Himself was resurrected from the dead that, as believers, we will absolutely and without doubt follow Him in being also resurrected.

The word "living" is zao (Strong’s G2198) and has a double meaning here. First, this passage could be translated "We have a hope for life" for the word means "to have true life, active, blessed, endless in the kingdom of God." It also means "active, powerful, and efficacious." So, the meaning becomes "He has given us new birth into an active, powerful and efficacious, good, joy and confident expectation of eternal salvation which is true life, active, blessed, and endless in the kingdom of God."

In other words, we are guaranteed forever! And this is a guarantee that will never be revoked and is absolutely dependable. We will live forever in heaven with the Lord. We will see and be with our believing loved ones who have gone on before. We will have perfected bodies and an amazing experience that will never end.

Why wouldn’t everyone want this? Because they are deceived.

The Bible talks over and over again about deceit. Those who refuse to accept God’s gracious gift are deceived and continue to be deceived as they continue to turn away from God.

Matthew 22:4: "Take heed that no one deceives you."

Mark 12:24: "Take heed that no one deceives you."

Luke 21:8: "Take heed that you not be deceived."
Romans 16:18: "For those who are such do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly, and by smooth words and flattering speech deceive the hearts of the simple."
1 Corinthians 3:18: "Let no one deceive himself."

1 Corinthians 6:9: "Do not be deceived."

1 Corinthians 15:33: "Do not be deceived."

Galatians 6:7: "Do not be deceived."

Ephesians 5:6: "Let no one deceive you with empty words."

Colossians 2:4: "Now this I say lest anyone should deceive you with persuasive words."

2 Thessalonians 2:3: "Let no one deceive you by any means."

We are, as a race, easily deceived. Our senses, our minds, and our emotions fail us and cause us to believe that which isn’t real. (Been to an amusement park lately? They are designed to have us believe that which isn’t real as being real.) Scripture is, as we can see by this list (which isn’t complete), replete with warnings to believers to not be deceived. And we live with the Holy Spirit residing in us! If we can be deceived, how much more easily are those who don’t have the Holy Spirit?

What are we, then, to do?

Paul Billheimer, who wrote Destined for the Throne, is convinced that our only hope is prayer. I agree. The apostle Paul writes in Ephesians:

"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. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And 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 6:12-18 NIV).

We are to put on the full armor of God and then . . . what? Once we are clothed in the armor, what are we to do? We are to pray! We are to pray on all occasions with all kinds of prayers! We are to pray that we aren’t deceived, that other believers aren’t deceived, and that those who are lost around us are saved from their deceit through salvation.

We are to pray!

Prayer takes us into the Holy of Holies where the truth of life is the purest, where the deceit of this world can’t exist. Prayer takes us to the Father who is the Father of Truth and who is ready and willing to act on our behalf. Prayer activates the powers of heaven on our behalf and on behalf of those for whom we pray.

We are to pray. Why? Because we have a living hope, the power of the resurrection, which guarantees us eternal life. We are to pray because we have the only hope in this world.

We need to pray if we truly believe this!

© 2015 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.

Who Are We as Christians? -- 1 Peter 1:1-2

1 Peter 1:1-2


Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to God’s elect, exiles scattered throughout the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to be obedient to Jesus Christ and sprinkled with his blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance. (NIV)

Peter, in his opening remarks of this letter, identify believers in three ways and describe two behaviors of true believers.

Identifying believers as:

• The elect. This word actually appears in verse 2 and is, in the Greek, eklektos, or the "chosen." There is great debate between some about the meaning of this word. Those who fall within the Calvinist/Reformed doctrine, believe that, before the beginning of time, God Himself chose who would believe (and, by default, who wouldn’t) and those He chose at that point will eventually become the elect. Those within the Arminian doctrine believe that God chose or predetermined a group to be elect and that all who, with their free will, chose salvation become part of that group. The fact is that while debating the two opposing positions might be interesting for some, functionally it means nothing. We are still commanded to "go into all the world" to share the good news of Jesus Christ with everyone who will listen.

That begin said, I believe that it’s important that we treat every person as a potential believer. And how is that done? To know, we should look at our Chief Example, the Lord Jesus Himself. The Lord Jesus, in all instances except one (the cleansing of the Temple), was giving, gracious, and loving. In fact, the Lord was so compelled toward those who were disenfranchised that this was said about Him:

"The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’" (Matthew 11:19 NIV).

He was publically acknowledged as a friend of tax collectors, the most corrupt individuals in the Jewish society.

As the "elect," we need to not use our position as the "saved" as a way to consider ourselves above others nor as an excuse to fail to mingle with and befriend those who are living quite differently from ourselves. We need rather to deliberately make ourselves available, with all the resources available to us, to those who are live quite differently and who are in desperate need of God’s salvation.

It is only natural that we might be repulsed from people who have chosen to not be Christians. Our first inclination might be that they are judging us (they probably are) and finding us lacking (we probably are). In those cases, our response is likely to be to pull away from those whom we feel simply don’t approve of us. That is the wrong response! We should, instead, begin to even more fervently pray for these and to look for ways to love them and to minister to them. We need to press into these relationships and to intercede that the Holy Spirit might begin to compel these lost ones to Himself. "Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it?" (Luke 15:4 NIV). Doesn’t he leave . . . and go after? Those who are already in the family of God of course need our prayers and our love. But even more are those who are barreling with even faster steps towards an eternity of hell because they haven’t accepted the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. With those we need to press in. Our calling as the elect isn’t to set ourselves apart from those who aren’t saved, but rather to press in with love and prayer that they might also become the elect.

• Strangers

Peter identifies believers as strangers. The Greek word is parepidemos and is a compound word, a word created from three other words: para (from, expressing a contrary condition), epidemeo (to sojourn or to temporarily stay), and demos (a people). The overall connotation is someone who is temporarily living somewhere that is not their permanent home. This is different than an immigrant who moves from their native land to a different country or culture and, arriving there, settles in and assimilates. This is someone who is living someone temporarily and retains their own social and cultural characteristics.

"Here on earth we do not have a city that lasts forever, but we are looking for the city that we will have in the future." (Hebrews 13:14 NCV). You may have heard the song "This world is not my home; I’m just a-passin’ through." That is the culture of the believer. This isn’t our home, but merely a place where we reside while we live out this life. But soon, the Lord Jesus will come for us and take us to our permanent, eternal Home. Because of that, we need to not get attached to the things of this world. We need to be willing to drop anything at a moment’s notice if, in dropping it, we will advance the Kingdom.

• Through the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit

We are identified with Christ through this "sanctifying work." It isn’t enough to simply walk down an aisle and say the sinner’s prayer. We must daily, moment by moment, surrender to the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit.

What is sanctification?

The Greek word is hagiasmos and means "consecration, purification; the effect of consecration; and the sanctification of heart and life." (Strong’s G38). "Sanctification" means "to make holy" and "to free from sin." When God makes us holy, He sets us apart for His purposes. That means that in all of our activities and choices, we need to remember that we are set aside for His purposes, not for our own. We no longer belong to ourselves, but to Him for His higher and better plan.

"What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with,[a] that we should no longer be slaves to sin—because anyone who has died has been set free from sin." (Romans 6:1-7 NIV).

Sanctification, in part, is that process where the Holy Spirit compels us to lives of righteousness, part of which is our own decision to live according to His will rather than our own. And the more we are compelled toward lives of obedience, the more we realize how much we are sinners.

Four behaviors of believers:

• Obedience. As a culture, we aren’t much into obeying. We don’t want to embrace the lessons learned of a previous generation, but are convinced we must go through it ourselves in order to determine a course of action. If we don’t agree with a particular rule, we will often just ignore it or pretend that it doesn’t apply us. After all, our own priorities are much more important that obeying someone else’s arbitrary rule.

Or are they?

I direct children’s choirs. When any of my choirs perform, they perform on risers that usually don’t have security backs on them. In other words, there is the very real possibility that children can fall off if they aren’t paying attention. At the beginning of concerts, we ask parents to please not yell out for their child as the children need to pay attention to their directors and other school adults while the children are on the risers.

I always have at least two to three parents who ignore our request and yell out loudly for their child. I have no idea why the parents do this. To become the center of attention? To prove they love their child? The rule was put in place to create safety; the rule is ignored because the adults who ignore it don’t agree with it (for whatever reason).

We often do that with scripture. We will come upon a "rule" in scripture and simply ignore it because it isn’t convenient at this moment in time for us to abide by it. We divorce our spouses due to "incompatibility" ("We’re no longer in love) even though scripture tells us that there are only a very few reasons for divorce. We remarry even though scripture tells us that we can only remarry if our divorce lines up with scripture. We commit adultery because we are lonely. We get drunk, do drugs, lie, cheat, steal, watch R-rated movies, become addicts (to all kinds of things). The list goes on. We ignore what scripture says because it can’t possibly apply to us or perhaps simply because we are unwilling to give up our sin.

We aren’t obedient . . . and the world is watching! Unbelievers don’t care at all about our excuses. They only care that we don’t love the Lord enough to obey His word. "If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land" (2 Chronicles 7:14 NIV). One of the characteristics of a believer is obedience. One of the tragedies of God’s people is disobedience.

• Sprinkled with His blood. When was the last time you asked the Lord to forgive you? I’m not talking about a general "forgive my sins," but a face-to-face time where you asked the Holy Spirit to reveal your sins and then you dealt with them one by one? We are sprinkled with His blood that we might be forgiven, but the point of forgiveness includes the idea of repentance. We can’t repent unless we actually face our sin: that one, individual thing we have done that displeases Him. Yes, He will forgive our sins (over and over again) if we pray a generic prayers, but we can’t repent unless we look at ourselves in the light of His holiness and see—genuinely see—that thing that we are doing which is sinful!

If we are truly His children, adopted and chosen, then we should trust Him enough to be willing to stand in His presence and ask Him to reveal our sin to us. Not just that we are sinful, but that specific sin that we did (and probably are doing over and over again). Obedience, forgiveness, repentance. Hand in hand, this should be our lifestyle.

We are God’s chosen, but we need to walk in the acceptance of that lifestyle, understanding that with being chosen comes great responsibility. We haven’t been forgiven so that we can continue in sin. Rather, we have been forgiven that we might become the hands of Jesus to a hurting and dying world. We have been forgiven that we might join in His sufferings so that those around us might actually see Jesus! We have been forgiven because we are the world’s last chance for salvation!

© 2015 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.

Settling a Debt - 2 Kings 4:1-7

2 Kings 4:1-7


A certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, saying, "Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that your servant feared the Lord. And the creditor is coming to take my two sons to be his slaves." So Elisha said to her, "What shall I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?" And she said, "Your maidservant has nothing in the house but a jar of oil." Then he said, "Go, borrow vessels from everywhere, from all your neighbors—empty vessels; do not gather just a few. And when you have come in, you shall shut the door behind you and your sons; then pour it into all those vessels, and set aside the full ones." So she went from him and shut the door behind her and her sons, who brought the vessels to her; and she poured it out. Now it came to pass, when the vessels were full, that she said to her son, "Bring me another vessel." And he said to her, "There is not another vessel." So the oil ceased. Then she came and told the man of God. And he said, "Go, sell the oil and pay your debt; and you and your sons live on the rest." (NKJV)

The Father knows our need. And the easiest thing for God to do is to provide for our material needs. Why? Because it’s much more difficult for Him to compel us to surrender, to bend our stubborn wills to His. But in the area of material things, He has the complete cooperation of His creation. Jesus changed the water into wine. God sent manna from heaven to feed the Israelites. And here, He replenished the oil from a single jar until the village supply of jars could accept no more.

He supplies . . . and in abundance.
There are some interesting aspects to this story. First, we know the woman’s dead husband was a student at the school for the prophets. "The Old Testament prophet, Samuel, created the School for the Prophets to further the sacred teachings of Melchizedek. It remained a cornerstone for the education and dissemination of the ancient wisdom for centuries" (http://sanctuaryofthebeloved.com/schoolprophets.html). The widow describes her husband as a "servant [who] feared the Lord." It is also likely, since the widow refers to her husband as "your servant" that her husband was a disciple of Elisha. This was, in all these aspects, a deserving family.


Second, we know that this family had, at some point, turned to creditors to borrow money. The passage doesn’t describe the background of the debt, but it was substantial enough to require the payment of two slaves. Due to the patriarchal nature of the Jewish society, if the widow lost both of her sons, she would be unable to provide for herself. (Women in that culture couldn’t work or own property.) To lose both of her sons to slavery, even for a few years, would be a devastating loss and she had no other assets with which to satisfy the debt.

Third, Elisha doesn’t ask for why the woman was in debt. He doesn’t criticize her for it; he doesn’t berate her for it. He doesn’t even discuss it. He knows that God is willing to provide for her needs.

Third, Father God provided for more than her immediate need. "Go, sell the oil and pay your debt; and you and your sons live on the rest." God isn’t stingy. He wants to liberally provide for us if we trust Him.

Economic situations worldwide are becoming increasingly difficult. According to a number of different studies, the few who are rich are become richer while everyone else is becoming poorer. Certainly, the cost of living in America is becoming higher while wages aren’t matching the need. The situation seems so desperate. Many are desperate to know how their needs will be met.

Desperation, fear, and worry are not reactions that Christians should choose. Looking at our circumstances, rather than the promises of God, may make our hearts faint, but looking to our Father Who has promised to provide all of our needs according to His riches in glory (Philippians 4:19) should bring peace to our hearts. Like the widow, the situation may seem desperate, but God is waiting for us to trust Him so that He can provide for the need and more that we might also be generous with those around us.

For those of us facing great need (and I’m one of those), we serve a greater God. Money is the easiest thing for Him to provide. Father God filled every empty jar in this woman’s village with oil. There was enough to satisfy the debt and more! Let’s pray and trust for our need and watch the miracle of God unfold before our eyes.

© 2015 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.

 

Light of the World - Matthew 5:14-15

Matthew 5:14-16

"You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they slight a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, tthat they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven." (NKJV)

My garden’s looking pretty pathetic about now. It’s late November. The nights are cold. My annuals (the flowers that only grow for the year) have pretty much died and the perennials (the plants that will reemerge in the spring) are going into hibernation. What’s left are the metal and wood garden decorations I bought at the dollar store . . . and the chrysanthemums. The chrysanthemums are riotous, regardless of the fact that the nights are cold and the days aren’t much better. Regardless of the fact that the soil is predominantly sand. Regardless of the frequent winds.

The chrysanthemums are blooming like crazy!

In fact, what’s amazing is that when they were planted in a pot with all "good" soil, when the sun was constantly shining and the nights were warmer, when the conditions were "perfect" for good gardening, the chrysanthemums didn’t do very well. They were just kind of . . . well . . . there. They were part of the garden, but the blooms were few and the leaves were rather insignificant. In my earlier summer garden pictures, you don’t even really notice the chrysanthemum plant. In fact, there was a tendency to think that it didn’t even belong in the garden. But now that the circumstances are much more adverse, it’s blooming spectacularly.

There’s a message in this for the Church, a message that we need to take to heart.

In the past 200 years, America has fostered a cultural climate that embraced the middle class, white Christian church. (Many of us don’t even realize how our country created a culture that seemed to imitate Christian values.) Many grew up in communities where "everyone" went to church, outwardly embrace Judeo-Christian values, and seemingly supported the idea of God and country (both becoming rather synonymous). And now that we are facing rather large cultural shifts, we are frantically trying to maintain the comfortable status quo rather than realizing that this new culture may be exactly what the Lord wants in order to teach us how to become the light on the hill.

The reality is that the Church is like my chrysanthemums. When the circumstances were perfect for growing a Judeo-Christian culture, the real Church was slowly disappearing. It was there in a bleak, limp imitation of itself, but, in truth, the spiritual growth that is produced by an intimate relationship with the Holy Spirit has been missing. The real Church has all but disappeared as many have attempted to replace it with an imitation, the idea that we can have a "Christian culture" that is devoid of a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.

We need to become "the light in the world," but the light isn’t needed if we don’t first realize that we are living in great darkness. We need desperately to first understand that our world—our nation—lives in this great darkness and needs us to become the Light that is Jesus. And, according to what our Savior said in Matthew, that Light is real only when we are recognized by our "good works" that glorify God.

That phrase "good works" is an interesting one. The word works is, in the Greek, ergon, and can mean "toil" as in an occupation. Our works are those things which occupy us, which occupy our thoughts, our efforts, our time, and our resources. The word good is, in the Greek, kalos, which means "good, excellent in its nature and characteristics, and therefore well adapted to its ends." And that end is what? Bringing glory to God. But how do we do that?

The Lord Jesus, Mark 12, says something very interesting. He first begins with: "And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’" (v. 30-31a). These are very familiar to most Christian and certainly fit the definition of "works". These are the things that need to occupy our thoughts, efforts, time and resources. We need to love the Lord with all our hearts, souls, minds, and strength.

Then Jesus goes on to say that we need to love those around us. He outlines these two statements as two commandments. The first is that we need to love God and the second is that we need to love our neighbors. Certainly both of these fit the definition of good works. What we need to know is that these two commandments are linked. We cannot love others without loving God with all of our efforts and we cannot love God without demonstrating sacrificial love to others.

This is similar what He said in Matthew about doing being a light and doing good works. The two are inextricably connected. We cannot be a light without doing good works and we cannot do good works unless they are done as the light of the world. And what are those "good works"? They are loving our neighbor as ourselves! Good works aren’t good works that don’t demonstrate love to those around us. Good works are those works which are "well adapted to its ends" which is to love our neighbor.

The one comment that I continue to hear over and over again, across the Internet, (and so, cross-culturally) is that Christians aren’t very loving. We say we’re loving, but what we appear to be is demanding, self-centered and, frankly, mean. We generally have a rather "us four and no more" attitude that demands that the world suits itself to our desires, needs, and culture before we will presume to come down off our self-created pedestals and fellowship with those we consider "sinners." While all that seems harsh, that is indeed what unbelievers are saying about us. Instead of seeing our good works, the world is seeing our self-interest. Instead of acknowledging us as the light, we have become the irritating rock-in-the-shoe that they simply want to get rid of. We aren’t attracting people to the Lord; we are repelling them by our unloving actions.

To be honest, I welcome the adverse cultural conditions that are growing in America. Like the chrysanthemums in my garden, I truly believe that the American Church has the opportunity to return to its true nature and true calling in these times. While others may be afraid of altered foods, scary vaccines, faltering economics, and threats of war, we can stand firm in the knowledge that God loves every person; He died for all of us and His hand is firmly in control. We can walk through the fires, be attacked by snakes and scorpions, and come out victorious because the Lord Jesus has already won the battle!

We need to live as if we always have enough to share with anyone in need, because we do! We need to live as if Christ died for every lost soul, because He did! We need to love as if every person is precious to the Father, because they are! We need to become the chrysanthemum that blooms in adverse conditions, the light on the hill, because that’s what we’re called to do, and we can do all things through Christ Who strengthens us (Phil. 4:13).

© 2015 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.