WHAT IS LACKING IN OUR LIVES!

 

 

 

I’ve discovered that I need to drink more water. If I don’t, I am prone to get a lot of headaches, especially during the night. But it is just not a question of headaches. We tend to need more water for many reasons. I, therefore, try to always have a glass of water at my side.

 

However, there is another commodity that we continually need by our side. Without it we suffer and fail to develop properly. The Bible demands that it must be the staple of our diet:

  

·       Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. (Psalm 1:1–3 (ESV)

 

The servant of God who is nourished by the Word prospers. Jesus also embraced this truth. In His parable of the Seeds and the Sower, He concluded:

·       “As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.” (Matthew 13:23)

 

The fearful Joshua was about to take the reigns from Moses to lead Israel in the conquest of the Promised Land. At this time, God revealed to him what we be the necessary ingredient of his success:

 

·       Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go. This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. (Joshua 1:7–8)

 

Joshua had been fearing this transition, so God informed him that his courage and success would be derived from meditating on the Word “day and night.” It had to be foremost in his thinking and doing. Therefore, it was necessary to understand it to apply it. This could only come from a steady diet of meditation upon this Word.

 

We are continually assaulted by doubts, confusion, fears, and temptations, each vying for our spirit (Galatians 5:17). How to resist them? Only with the armor of God:

 

·       In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. (Ephesians 6:16–17)

 

We cannot say, “I have the Spirit to guide me. Therefore, I do not need the Word.” Instead, to trust in the strength and guidance of the Spirit requires us to use the sword of the Spirit – the Word of God.”

 

When we are assaulted by fears, these should turn us to the only solution for our fears, to God through his Word and its:

 

·       When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can flesh do to me? (Psalm 56:3–4)

 

To trust in God is to put our trust in the promises of His Word. The Word is also the test of truth (2 Corinthians 10:4-5). It gives us the correct lens to interpret life, our experiences, and the faith to resist the accusations of our enemy. Too often, we think that bad things are happening to us because God doesn’t love us enough. Instead, the Scriptures inform us that our suffering proves the opposite:

 

·       For the Lord disciplines the one he loves and chastises every son whom he receives…For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. (Hebrews 12:6,11)

 

There are so many truths we must learn from the Scriptures so that we can confidently endure. We tend to grieve over our weaknesses, failures, and inadequacies if we fail to understand that our lives are no longer our own:

 

·       I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)

 

Since Christ is now at the helm of our lives, we no longer need to obsess about our weaknesses. Instead, our weaknesses are our strengths:

·       But he [God] said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12:9–10)

 

These many truths set us free and enable us to accept ourselves and others. Why am I writing these things? Because I am convinced that our diets do not contain enough of the food of the Word. We need to have this Word guarding our thinking, speaking, actions, and even the Words we write on social media:

 

·       so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, (Ephesians 4:14–15)

MY RESPONSE TO A JEW-HATING WHITE SUPREMACIST

 

 

You are no different from the Leftists you despise. They too are racists, but against whites. You are racist but against everyone other than whites. You both are kissing cousins. Both sides are bullies who try to silence by intimidation.

Yet you are right – God does judge according to nations and peoples. However, He has not given us the right to judge in this manner:

·       Deuteronomy 24:16–18 “Fathers shall not be put to death because of their children, nor shall children be put to death because of their fathers. Each one shall be put to death for his own sin. “You shall not pervert the justice due to the sojourner or to the fatherless, or take a widow’s garment in pledge, but you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt and the LORD your God redeemed you from there; therefore I command you to do this.”

 

Consequently, we are to love even our enemies. (And you can start with me!):

 

·       Romans 12:10–21 “Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor…Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them…Live in harmony with one another…Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

 

A lot of my Jewish brethren deeply upset me, but I must remind myself of Jesus’ teachings:

·       Matthew 6:12–15 “and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

 

If you are truly a Christian, you should be willing to follow the teachings of Jesus and His Apostles. I certainly must. Trust me – if you want to bring in a more perfect world you want the Lord’s help, it will not be through your methods but by working in accordance with our Lord’s methods.

 

I’m still waiting for you to give me a verse that claims that God favors whites. If you cannot find such a verse, perhaps you have to consider that maybe you have been misled. I hope that one day I will be able to call you “brother.” In fact, I will pray about this.

BEWARE OF THE TEACHINGS OF JESUS

 

 

Most of Jesus’ teachings cannot be taken literally, like those that tell us to pluck out our eyes and cut off our hands if they cause us to sin. Of course, even if we do this, we will still sin. I knew a blind man who had left his wife for his secretary. Instead, these teachings mean that plucking out an eye or cutting off a hand is a small price to pay for eternal life.

 

There are many other teachings that must be taken figuratively like:

 

·       “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 14:26–28 (ESV)

 

Should we all literally be carrying a big cross around with us? Or should we literally hate our “father and mother and wife and children?” If we did so, we would be violating other commands of the Scriptures. Instead, we know that Jesus is talking figuratively. He wants us to understand that He must come first in our lives. A parallel verse proves this:

·       “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.” (Matthew 10:37)

 

This leads us to a more controversial verse:

 

·       “So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 14:33)

 

What does this mean to “renounce all?” Once again, it means that we need to be aware of the cost of following Jesus. He must be first in our lives (Matthew 6:33). In this context, he likens serving Him to a king going to war. If he is wise, he must first be aware of the costs and only proceed if he is willing to pay the costs.

 

Many wrongly cite this verse as proof that we should literally give up every possession we have to follow Jesus:

 

·       Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. (Luke 12:33–34)

 

Of course, Jesus must be our primary possession, but does He expect us to literally sell everything we have? Of course not! His own disciples were not required to sell all their clothing including their underwear. Nor would he expect us to deprive our children of their eyes, hands, shelters, or underwear. Instead, this teaching must also be understood figuratively. How? Jesus likened our possessions to our “treasure.” If our wealth and possessions are our treasures, they, not Jesus, will control our heart. Immediately before these verses, Jesus revealed that His concern was about how our fears can dominate our lives:

 

·       “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” (Luke 12:32)

The Father wants us to have everything! Therefore, don’t worry about your future. Don’t cling fearfully to your possessions. God will provide.

 

Instead, there is nothing wrong with preparing for the cold with clothing or filling the pantry for times of drought, if the Lord is first in all our considerations. The Bible even commends those who do this very thing. The ideal wife and mother devotes herself to the material needs of her family:

·       She rises while it is yet night and provides food for her household and portions for her maidens. She considers a field and buys it; with the fruit of her hands she plants a vineyard…Her lamp does not go out at night. She puts her hands to the distaff, and her hands hold the spindle. She opens her hand to the poor and reaches out her hands to the needy. She is not afraid of snow for her household, for all her household are clothed in scarlet. (Proverbs 31:15–21)

 

Clearly, this ideal woman does not deprive her family of everything they own. She does not make her children go naked in the winter.