Truth is Priceless

Sometimes preachers speak “peace” to us and sometimes we speak it to ourselves.  We think we are doing well when we “claim a verse” as God’s promise to us but we must be absolutely certain that the living and active Spirit of the Living God has spoken that word to us.  God does still speak to His children.  Jesus said His sheep would recognize His voice.  Sadly, our world gets noisier every day and the chances of randomly hearing His voice gets slimmer.

We carry noise and distractions with us everywhere we go.  Our lives are cluttered with interruptions and it is a struggle to think deeply about anything. 

The sad truth is many people claim to be Christians but they have no desire at all to know Christ well, to talk to Him and know what He expects of them.  They do not pursue truth in the innermost.  They find something that feels right and good and they embrace it as truth whether it is or not. They forget that God has an enemy and this enemy is the master deceiver. 

A follower of Christ must want to hear His voice- must want the absolute truth.  We must crave it- pray for it- look in the Bible for it.  We must ask God to “lead me to a passage that speaks to where I am today”. However, it is a sobering thing to hear from Him because then we cannot claim to “not know” the truth.  It is like a child playing outside and making lots of noise so he “doesn’t hear” his mother calling him to come inside.  If he hears he is obligated to obey or risk punishment.  The positive side is that if we asked God for directions on making a decision and felt like we heard from Him then we can proceed with great peace and confidence.  And it will be a real peace.

We have to fight for the truth- sometimes it’s like looking for a hidden treasure in a garbage dump.  It is a lot of work, there are many distractions and a lot of junk to wade through.  But God does love to bless the children who persevere in this work and finding a jewel can be the most joy-filled, exciting thing!  It makes all of the work worth the effort!  Truth is priceless.

The Hard Path

There is a destructive evil in Christianity today and a tendency for preachers to comfort the masses with words of peace.  Given the bad news on the TV each day it is no wonder that we long to hear something pleasant.  The more upbeat the message- the more popular the preacher.  The helplessness we feel over devastating weather patterns or shaky global economy should cause us to look to God for comfort and answers but sadly even Christians turn to the government – not God. 

   

When I saw hurricane Sandy headed for the east coast I prayed that my friends and relatives out there would cry out to God for protection- deliverance- salvation!  I thought of the biblical account in Amos 4 where God is talking to Israel and says:

 “I gave you cleanness of teeth (starvation) in all your cities, and lack of bread…yet you did not return to me,” declares the LORD. “I also withheld the rain from you…I would send rain on one city, and send no rain on another city; one field would have rain, and the field on which it did not rain would wither… yet you did not return to me,”…I struck you with blight and mildew; … your fig trees and your olive trees the locust devoured; yet you did not return to me,”  “I sent among you a pestilence(plague or disease)… I killed your young men with the sword…and I made the stench of your camp go up into your nostrils; yet you did not return to me,” declares the LORD.

          God very clearly takes responsibility for starvation, drought, insect and plant diseases- loss of crops, human illness and even war and death.  He is sending calamities in the hopes that His people will return to Him and acknowledge their need for His provision and protection.  But He laments that despite all suffering and loss the people refuse to cry out for His help.

We have made God into a formula: "Just say this prayer, give, serve, try to do the right thing and you can go to heaven when you die".  How nice.  How handy and convenient.  I have been to a number of funerals where the deceased never showed any interest in God his entire life.  Why would he even WANT to “go to heaven and be with God”?  His very life proved that he didn’t.  But many don’t want to face the awful truth that someone we knew and loved might be facing an eternity of screaming agony…so we talk about what a good man he was.

I fear that churches today neglect the call to fight evil, pursue holiness, put on the full armor, engage in the battle against sin, be watchful and pray.  Fight against our natural tendency to be spiritually lazy.  If it’s true that I simply need to follow a few guidelines and “believe” the right things then why would Scripture warn so strongly against sin and call us to work out our salvation with fear and trembling!? (Phil 2:12).  It is NOT a simple formula – it’s a craving- a hunger- a passionate pursuit of God and a desire to be with Him more than we want life here on earth.  It’s a love that encompasses our heart and mind and body and soul.  It’s a desperate desire to know Him better and please Him more every day.  It’s a heart thing- not a ritual.  We have to WANT to be with God so much that it affects everything we do and everything we are.

"For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few."

(Matt 7:14) Search for it!  This is the most important thing you can do in all of life!!

Getting to the Roots

If your shoes were causing your foot to blister you wouldn’t focus totally on the blister- buy ointments, band-aids etc.  You would get different shoes.  If you didn’t change the shoes in some way they would simply give you another blister. 

Emotional pain can be like a blister- it flares up and hurts like crazy!  Sometimes we hurry to put out the inflammation and soothe the hurt but real, lasting healing will only come if we can deal with the source of the pain- the root issue.   We need to find what is causing the emotional pain.

I like to garden and do yard work.  I live on an acreage that was once meadow and prairie.  The weeds are stubborn and tenacious.  A person can mow and mow, week after week and chop the tops off of the weeds but if you don’t deal with the roots they simply come back.  I have also discovered that many weed species are able to go to seed when they are very short. When that happens I have an old root AND new baby weeds to deal with.  The mowing is simply not enough.  It can make the surface look better for a while but it isn’t a true solution to weed control.

Killing off the roots with chemicals is costly.  Digging up the roots by hand is hard and dirty work.  It is time consuming and slow but either way- getting rid of the roots is going to cost me something.  However, it is a much more lasting and effective solution to the problem.   

The same is true with struggling to understand the emotional issues that drive my behavior.  Sometimes I am believing lies and really don’t want to admit that I have been wrong my whole life.   But oh, the sweet peace and joy I experience when the lie is replaced with truth and the darkness is replaced with light.  It is worth every bit of effort.

The Battle for Holiness

One area of sin that I have struggled with for years is the sin of idolatry.  I didn’t recognize it for a long time- I thought it was just a bad habit or character weakness.  God opened my eyes to see that my idols were many- there were a few dominant ones but many smaller, fairly adequate idols also.

As my understanding of the Bible increased I realized that God expected me to fight for holiness and a “One God allegiance”.  I realized my idols had to go but I loved them dearly, they had served me fairly well.  My idols were the things I ran to for comfort, pleasure, to unwind after a hard day and I surrounded myself with them for easy reach. 

There was TV… what a nice distraction from mental pain.  I can sit motionless and stare at it and “forget” all my troubles.

There was food- umm a soothing comfort to ease physical tension- smooth and creamy was my favorite idol.  Salty, crunchy was next.

Then there was shopping- this one made me feel strong- powerful.  Slap that credit card out and have anything I wanted.  THIS will fill the void!

I read in the Bible that Almighty God would one day ask me what I had done with the life that He gave me. I read that His intent was to create me in hope that I would look for Him- find Him and turn to Him for every need- live with a constant focus on Him- living to please him- adore Him- rejoice in all the blessings He showers me with, recognize His authority over me.  He’d be my dad and I would be His beloved child and we would enjoy one another forever!

He wanted to be ALL I needed.  He wanted to satisfy every longing.  He wanted me to check in with Him regularly and live with the intent to please Him.

A lawyer walked up to Christ one day and asked Him “what’s the greatest law?” and Christ answered “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.  This is the great and first commandment.” 

Well, I rationalized, these things are not really gods- I don’t bow down and pray to them!  But they WERE the first thing I ran to when I wanted to unwind and soothe myself.  I am entitled to some pleasure! I want something real and tangible.  I couldn’t figure out how God- so distant and unseen could soothe me like a DQ chocolate extreme blizzard.

My real battle for holiness began when I realized that I had a bigger problem than just having a bad habit or two.  I was deeply involved in a lifestyle that compromised my standing with God.  Breaking the #1 top commandment was a serious offense and there was grave danger in ignoring it.  I was going to have to do serious battle with my own body and mind.