Opus 2013-114: He Is Risen!

He is risen, indeed!

Christmas is the most popular Christian holiday with the world.  It may also be the most popular among believers, but it is not the most important.  That distinction is reserved for Easter, or Resurrection Day.

Christmas is an important commemoration.  It is vital not because of the gifts and traditions but because it celebrates the incarnation.   It reminds us that God became man, that God sent His son.  What is important about that is the reason the Son was sent.

That is what Easter is about.  Easter is about the resurrection.  The resurrection of Jesus is the central truth of Christianity that is vital above all others.  Jesus rose from the dead.  It that important?  Here is what the apostle Paul said,

(1 Corinthians 15:17 KJV)  And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.

If the resurrection did not happen then the Christian faith is a joke.  In Paul’s words, it is vain.

The resurrection tells us that death has no real sting.  The grave has no victory.  Believers will be resurrected to life eternal.  There is some debate about what that will be like but you must accept it as our great hope.

I have lost both parents and a brother.  Someday my body will cease to function.  The separation is very real but so is the hope.

So Happy Resurrection Day!

My desire is that you would believe and thus know the hope that the day brings.  Not bunnies and chocolate eggs, as much fun as those are, but eternal life in glory.

Rejoice!  He is Risen!

homo unius libri

Opus 2013-113: Says Who?

In chapter 3 of the book of Genesis you have the discussion between the serpent and Eve.  This discussion led to Eve disobeying God and what is called, “The Fall.”  Alistair Begg was relating this and paraphrased what the Serpent asked Eve as, “Are you going to base your opinion on what God said?” 

This made me think again about a book I just read and reviewed called When Bad Things Happen to Good People.  In his chapter on Job, Kushner asks the same question of Job responding to God.  It would seem to be a silly question but it is at the root of our pagan culture.  We have this shrink wrapped, made in China, one size fits all view of God that is perpetuated by our culture and too many of our churches. 

It is a good question to ask ourselves.  “Are we going to base our opinions on what God said?”  Actually that is a question that should be asked every time someone gets up to preach.  We should ask ourselves the questions before we read the Bible.  If the answer is “no,” at least we are clear and realize that reading scripture is really a waste of time.

It is a question I have asked myself.  I have decided the answer is “Yes.”  I am going to go extreme and make it not just my opinions but also my attitudes, my priorities, my entirety. 

I am a long way from perfect in my application of this decision.  There, I said if for you.  I can live with that because I have decided to live with Him.  Sometimes it is a daily decision.  That is why I like the verse in Luke best, it includes the word “daily.”

(Luke 9:23 NAS77)  And He was saying to them all, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.

You need to make your own decision.  Don’t put it off too long.

homo unius libri

Opus 2013-112: Cornerstone Considerations: D of I, Truths: Irresistible Change

I was raised with the words of Jesus, “Turn the other cheek...” ingrained into my being.  My father could lose his cool but it took a lot to set him off.  I worked construction with him for years and I never heard him cuss, swear or take the name of the Lord in vain.  He set an example. 

As a result, I tend to put up with things longer than is logical.  I was literally bullied for a year and a half in elementary school before I learned that bullies are cowards and by pushing back I could set myself free.  I’m talking real, old fashioned bullying.  It involved physical violence and coercion, not just the little hurt feelings that are labeled bullying today.  I find myself feeling the pain of the Founding Fathers.

“Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient Causes; and accordingly all Experience hath shewn, that Mankind are more disposed to suffer, while Evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the Forms to which they are accustomed.” 

We put up with a lot.  Let’s face it, if we have read the founding documents we know that we have every right to rebel based on their standards.  I will get to the specifics eventually, but the colonists put up with a lot.

In the same way, we put up with a lot.  In general that is a good thing.  I lot of people would die ugly deaths and suffering would be greatly multiplied if we were not a patient people.  That is one of the reasons that the tribal cultures are so far behind in development.  They tend to take any slight and turn it into a killing offense.  That response generates feuds and generational hatreds.  It is destructive.

So don’t expect people to change.  We are patient.  We believe in giving people a second chance.  And a second.  And a third.  Jesus said seven times seventy.  The ones who should be worried are the leaders who have exceeded even that measure, who continue to stomp on people, whittle away at our liberty and demand more special privileges for themselves.  There are many people who are not as patient as I have been.  Someday they will be pushed too far.  The straw will break the camels back.  There will be Hell to pay.

Let us hope that the necessary changes come before the fuse gets to the keg.  They didn’t come in 1776.  Pray for a different result in 2013.

homo unius libri

Opus 2013-111: Good but Not Safe

Several seeds came together to make me consider the one of the Big Questions.  The most recent was Alistair Begg mentioning a book by C.S. Lewis.  He referred to a conversation in The Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe between Lucy and Mr. Beaver.  This brings up a second seed.  Lucy asks if Aslan is safe and the answer is, “No, he is not safe, but he is good.”   That made me think of the book I recently reviewed, When Bad Things Happen to Good People.  In that book Kushner rejects the power of God because he wants to hold on to his version of what it means for God to be good.  To him the two don’t go together.

Here is the difference.  Lewis assumes that God is good no matter what the results, Kushner assumes that God must do things our way in order to be good.  It is a totally different approach to the view of man, God and the purpose of life.  Lewis has a view that is Biblical.  Kushner has a view that fits in very well with the post-modern philosophy of today. 

The eternal God of the Bible is not safe.  He is holy.  That has consequences.  We cannot play like we are Lucy (as in I Love Lucy) and He is Ricky.  Yes, He forgives.  Yes, He sent His Son to die for our sins.  Yes, He is compassionate and merciful.  He is also holy and He doesn’t play games.

(Hebrews 9:22 NAS77)  And according to the Law, one may almost say, all things are cleansed with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.

God did not cut himself any slack.  Without the cleansing of the blood He won’t cut us any either.

homo unius libri

Opus 2013-110: Headlines: Obama’s Third Term

Have you noticed all the ads you can click on to find out about Obama’s third term?  They are everywhere.  So far I have resisted the temptation to snoop.  I know that the Constitution bars him from a third run.  Of course it also requires you be born in this country and that seems to have been ignored.

So what is behind the “click here” icon?  My son, a geek who knows everything computer and internet doesn’t have a clue either.  We surmised that it might be a plot by one of the alphabet federal agencies to sniff out people who are concerned about Obama being re-elected.  Those in favor could be added to the donor list, those against loaded into black helicopters.  Either way it is a win/win for the elites.

I don’t open attachments in my e-mails unless I know specifically who sent them, why they were sent and what they contain.  Call me suspicious.  I don’t click on the million and one ads that clutter up my screen.  I am not interested in hot dates from Russia.  I don’t need to learn the ten foods that will cure cancer or make me lose weight.  I don’t want to invest in the risk free method to get rich.  I would like to know what the scheme is behind the “Obama Third Term” notices, but not enough to go there.

Does anyone with an adventurous spirit want to fill me in?

homo unius libri

Opus 2013-109: Cornerstone Considerations: D of I, Truths: Slow Change

Have you ever been frustrated because it is so hard to change the Constitution?  I have.  When the Founding Fathers got around to writing the Constitution itself they knew that it would need to be changed but they also knew how fickle the general population could be.  Here we have the initial warning.

“Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient Causes;...”

We have all seen elections be turned around the day before the polls open by a hit piece that attracts a lot of attention, gets people all excited, changes their vote and is a total lie.  In 1776 they did not have TV and the Internet but they still had gossip and deception.  Emotion should not be the source of change.

So don’t be too concerned that we can’t put through every amendment we think is needed.  If we could do it, others could too.  It is best to give time for a reality check.  Make sure the changes can’t be addressed locally.  There will usually be time to change it later.

homo unius libri

Opus 2013-108: Real Love

What does it mean to love Jesus.  We talk about it and sing about it.  We think it expresses where we are at.

Unfortunately many of us love Jesus the way I loved Janet.  I saw her the first time in 7th grade.  She was a vision of loveliness.  She was my perfect woman.  I loved her for years, through junior high and high school.  She made my heart go pitter-pat.  Unfortunately, I never spoke a word to her, had a class with her or met her.  She did not know that I existed.  I worshiped her from afar.

Too many people love Jesus the same way.  They admire Him.  They think He is wonderful.  They think about Him but it is all from afar with no involvement.

The big difference is that Janet was unapproachable.  She ran in a different circle than I did.  If I had approached her she would have run away screaming or just laughed.  Jesus isn’t that way.  He is wanting us to reach out to Him.  He will turn no one away.

I went to the same schools.  I walked the same halls.  I ate in the same cafeteria.  I never met Janet.

Don’t live your life with nothing but admiration for Jesus.

homo unius libri