Why seek bread, when its pardon you need?
Why hang with the dead, and avoid the quick?
Why spurn God, and embrace a traitor breed?
Why keep from the well, yet live with the sick?
Who planted you for figs, but reaps no fruit?
Who gave you voice, and has heard not one hymn?
Who gave you His image, but you disrepute?
Who died to give you grace, yet must condemn?
Who made you pure gold, but you're only dross?
Who wants you on high, but you seek the vale*?
Who expects gain from you, and earns but loss?
Who desires you win, yet you always fail?
Must I say, you're falling short of your best?
You can have better, making God your quest!
*vale = valley of the shadow of death
These questions are meant, of course, for you only if you have ignored the behest of God to seek His face. Believers will recognize at once to whom they are directed. They are fair questions, but they just scratch the surface of the mountain of beneficence poured out on every human being by the Creator. If a dollar cost could, in any creditable calculation, be assigned to the provision and production of a single human being by economists for his value, including his pro rata share of the cost of producing earth in a 13.7 billion year process, it would be astronomical, even larger than the national debt of the United States. What has God received in return for His investment from the vast majority of us? No one, of course, could ever hope to reimburse Him, but non-believers have accepted God's munificence with a "so what" attitude, like that of an unruly child who shrugs his shoulders with an ungrateful air and says, "I didn't ask to be born!" If your child says that to you, it would hurt to the quick; that is exactly what you are saying to God by sailing through life and never giving Him a thought, sliding into hell when you die, when you could have lived a so much richer life and ended up with Him for eternity!
But God didn't choose a beligerent method to call attention to what we humans owe Him; instead, He calls to us in a still, small voice by His Holy Spirit. And He never will hound you like an aggressive bill collector trying to collect a past-due debt.
"So he said to me, 'This is the word of the Lord to Zerubabbel: Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord Almighty.'" (Zechariah 4:6)
Zechariah was a prophet to Israel about 400 years before the birth of Jesus; Zerubabbel was Israel's governor appointed by the king of Babylon, who currently ruled the land of the Jews. The Lord was sending word to Israel, and to us today, that Jesus would be no military conqueror, nor is aggression the manner in which people are going to be converted into service to God. Of course the Jews did not get it---they rejected the Messiah mainly because they did not believe the gentle, meek, mild Jesus could possibly be the Messiah who was to force their Roman (at Jesus' time) occupiers from their land.
The great majority of humans today go through life ignoring their debt to God, when He lovingly wants them to accept His gits of grace and faith and to be saved to eternal life. But God will never force them to become His children; His method is still "not by power, but by His Spirit". In John Chapter 16 Jesus tells the apostles that the Holy Spirit will witness to lost people and convict them of sin, but still in the soft voice of mental persuasion; force will never be used. Revelation 8-19 describes the awful destruction of most of earth's population for their refusal to accept the gentle voice of His Spirit.
Showing posts with label Not by might. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Not by might. Show all posts
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Saturday, March 21, 2009
God Forced Israel To Reject
"Who will go for me?" requested the Lord God.
"Here am I," responded Isaiah; "Send me!"
"Go! And tell this stubborn people, 'You trod
On me, though I brought you from Egypt, free!
You've trampled my laws, and hardened your hearts;
My words are ignored, like smoke in the night!
Alien wives you have taken from these pagan parts;
You worship idols that pervert the light!'
"Say, 'Your eyes see, but your minds are more slow;
Your ears hear, but you will not comprehend;
Hearts are more calloused to truths Christ will sow;
You'll be blind and deaf to Messiah I send!'"
These grim words by Isaiah faithfully went
Seven hundred years ere Jesus was sent!
The Chosen People (Israel) were stubborn, rebellious, disobedient and incorrigible failures in keeping their end of the covenant with God. Time after time, He forgave them and rescued them, only to be rewarded with new transgressions. For several hundred years He relented His anger and restored them. Finally, in the time of the prophet Isaiah, He imposed a permanent (or seemingly permanent; it's still in effect in 2009) judgment of stonehearted callousness upon them, which insured they would reject the Messiah Jesus when He came. This judgment had the effect of delaying Israel's salvation while opening it up for the whole world under a spiritual covenant of faith.
"He said, 'Go and tell this people: Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving. Make the heart of this people calloused; make their ears dull and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.'" (Isaiah 6:9-10)
No one can come to a saving belief in Jesus Christ spiritually blind. The Jews have always prided themselves on earthiness, practical words interpreted in a literal, concrete manner. This was the trait that inspired Jesus' strongest indictments. The Pharisees took God's commandments---for example, Keep the Sabbath day holy---and made hundreds of picayune oral rules defining what a Jew had to do to be considered obedient, with no flexibility, no mercy, no exceptions, no matter what. So when Jesus healed a crippled man on the Sabbath, it infuriated the religious leaders; and when the disciples picked kernels of corn to eat while walking on the Sabbath, also aroused anger. Jesus answered them that God required mercy rather than sacrifice, and spiritually the Sabbath wasn't dishonored by doing good.
Some Jews overcame the doubled callousness, believed the words of Jesus, accepted Him as the Messiah, and were saved all through the years. Most, however, will be delayed in spiritual understanding until Christ returns and lifts the judgment.
"Here am I," responded Isaiah; "Send me!"
"Go! And tell this stubborn people, 'You trod
On me, though I brought you from Egypt, free!
You've trampled my laws, and hardened your hearts;
My words are ignored, like smoke in the night!
Alien wives you have taken from these pagan parts;
You worship idols that pervert the light!'
"Say, 'Your eyes see, but your minds are more slow;
Your ears hear, but you will not comprehend;
Hearts are more calloused to truths Christ will sow;
You'll be blind and deaf to Messiah I send!'"
These grim words by Isaiah faithfully went
Seven hundred years ere Jesus was sent!
The Chosen People (Israel) were stubborn, rebellious, disobedient and incorrigible failures in keeping their end of the covenant with God. Time after time, He forgave them and rescued them, only to be rewarded with new transgressions. For several hundred years He relented His anger and restored them. Finally, in the time of the prophet Isaiah, He imposed a permanent (or seemingly permanent; it's still in effect in 2009) judgment of stonehearted callousness upon them, which insured they would reject the Messiah Jesus when He came. This judgment had the effect of delaying Israel's salvation while opening it up for the whole world under a spiritual covenant of faith.
"He said, 'Go and tell this people: Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving. Make the heart of this people calloused; make their ears dull and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.'" (Isaiah 6:9-10)
No one can come to a saving belief in Jesus Christ spiritually blind. The Jews have always prided themselves on earthiness, practical words interpreted in a literal, concrete manner. This was the trait that inspired Jesus' strongest indictments. The Pharisees took God's commandments---for example, Keep the Sabbath day holy---and made hundreds of picayune oral rules defining what a Jew had to do to be considered obedient, with no flexibility, no mercy, no exceptions, no matter what. So when Jesus healed a crippled man on the Sabbath, it infuriated the religious leaders; and when the disciples picked kernels of corn to eat while walking on the Sabbath, also aroused anger. Jesus answered them that God required mercy rather than sacrifice, and spiritually the Sabbath wasn't dishonored by doing good.
Some Jews overcame the doubled callousness, believed the words of Jesus, accepted Him as the Messiah, and were saved all through the years. Most, however, will be delayed in spiritual understanding until Christ returns and lifts the judgment.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Godly Armor Resists
Think you're fit with the devil to contest,
And him the master of subtle deceit?
Not by force will he your defenses best;
He spars in the mind your will to defeat!
Observing within your secrets he learns;
How deep your pride, greed, gule*, and sex-starved lust,
The forbidden fruit for which your heart yearns;
In what perverted logic rests your trust!
Satan's task is light when he stalks the soul
Of him without God's Spirit to indwell,
No armor of His to safely enfold;
No sword of truth his evil lies to quell!
Engage him not with human wits alone,
Lest you fall short, and your soul's fore'er gone!
*uncontrolled love of food
If you're not a child of God, you don't have the armor to remain safe from the temptations of Satan.
"Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes." (Ephesians 6:10-11)
The hardest thing for the Chosen People to learn was that the kingdom of God was not physical but spiritual. When Jesus came and taught them to turn the other cheek; love their enemies; submit to authorities; carry the burden two miles when asked to carry it one; etc., and then was crucified to death on the cross by his own people, in Jewish eyes He could not be the Messiah they expected. They thought Deliverer, King, and Savior meant He was to conquer their conquerers the Romans, but they could not grasp that He was a spiritual Savior, although they had been told that would be His mission.
"This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel, 'Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,' says the Lord Almighty." (Zechariah 4:6)
The armor of the Christian is the 'sword' of the Spirit---the Bible; the 'breastplate' of faith; the 'helmet' of salvation; we 'fight' by loving others; by Bible study; by prayer; by loving God with all our heart, mind, and strength!
And him the master of subtle deceit?
Not by force will he your defenses best;
He spars in the mind your will to defeat!
Observing within your secrets he learns;
How deep your pride, greed, gule*, and sex-starved lust,
The forbidden fruit for which your heart yearns;
In what perverted logic rests your trust!
Satan's task is light when he stalks the soul
Of him without God's Spirit to indwell,
No armor of His to safely enfold;
No sword of truth his evil lies to quell!
Engage him not with human wits alone,
Lest you fall short, and your soul's fore'er gone!
*uncontrolled love of food
If you're not a child of God, you don't have the armor to remain safe from the temptations of Satan.
"Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes." (Ephesians 6:10-11)
The hardest thing for the Chosen People to learn was that the kingdom of God was not physical but spiritual. When Jesus came and taught them to turn the other cheek; love their enemies; submit to authorities; carry the burden two miles when asked to carry it one; etc., and then was crucified to death on the cross by his own people, in Jewish eyes He could not be the Messiah they expected. They thought Deliverer, King, and Savior meant He was to conquer their conquerers the Romans, but they could not grasp that He was a spiritual Savior, although they had been told that would be His mission.
"This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel, 'Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,' says the Lord Almighty." (Zechariah 4:6)
The armor of the Christian is the 'sword' of the Spirit---the Bible; the 'breastplate' of faith; the 'helmet' of salvation; we 'fight' by loving others; by Bible study; by prayer; by loving God with all our heart, mind, and strength!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
