A Sad State of Affairs

As I was reading earlier I was struck by a couple verses.  Read with me Nehemiah 1:3-4, “And they said unto me, The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach: the wall of Jerusalem also is broken down, and the gates thereof are burned with fire.  And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned certain days, and fasted, and prayed before the God of heaven,”

As  I was reading these verses I thought about the Church of today.  Some Churches need to take the name “Church” off the building and out of the bulletin.  You say that is pretty harsh.  Yes, it is; but, it is sadly enough the truth.  Some Churches have gone so far from the Bible form of Christianity that you cannot even tell that they are a Church any longer.

You might be asking, “Who’s fault is it?”  I am not here to point fingers; but, you and I are to blame.  Everyone is at fault from the member in the pew to the Pastor.  Everyone stands guilty.  Sadly, we don’t care that we are the problem.  I know this because if we cared that we are the problem we would do something about it.

All most so-called Christians today just want to tip toe through the tulips safely home to Heaven when they die and that is enough for them.  This is why; as the title states, that the Church is in “A Sad State of Affairs”.  We are nothing like what Jesus planned His Church to be.  One day He will set all things straight and we will be sorry for what we have done to contribute to the delinquency of the Church.

So, how are you doing?

Change

Our Pastor gave the illustration of a friend of Frank Lloyd Wright who had Mr. Wright design his house.  The man was so excited that when it was finished he had a big party.  During the party it began to rain and the roof leaked.  This cause water to come dripping from the ceiling.  Mr. Wright’s friend called him on the phone and explained that water was now dripping from the ceiling on his head.  Frank Lloyd Wright reportedly told the man to move his chair.

There are far too many people that have lost their joy in life because they are sitting in their chair with a drip coming from the ceiling and hitting them on the head.  If this is you, move your chair!  One man defined insanity as doing the same thing the same way expecting different results.  In other words, if you are miserable in your situation, do something about it.  Don’t just sit there, do something!  Make the necessary changes.

If you are unhappy, you have the power to change that.  You can choose to have joy and not worry about happiness.  Our happiness is depends upon our circumstances and the things around us.  Joy is depends upon only on our relationship with Jesus Christ.

So, how are you doing?

Smell

The other day I was out and about and the day became pretty warm.  In our great state you do not know if it will rain, hail, sleet or snow.  It could all come at any time.  I enjoy spring and fall when the temperatures are usually a little cooler.

When I got home it was obvious that I had been a climate that was warmer than I really cared for.  In other words I smelled pretty bad.  This caused me to think how my life smells to God.  Our lives are like incense being offered on an altar to Christ.  When He takes a big smell of what we are offering up I wonder how it smells to Him.

I am afraid that all too often we are a gross stench in the nostrils of God.  I remember an account in Scripture where Martha smelled it one way; but, Jesus smelled it another way.  Look at John 11:39, “Jesus said, Take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days.”  Martha smelled death; but, Jesus smelled a soon resurrection.

So, how are you doing?

Access

The other day a friend invited me to go to a local fair with him and volunteer.  It sounded fun to me so I agreed.  We made arrangements to meet and go.  When we got to the fair we paid five dollars to park in a local parking lot and walked the four or so blocks to the entrance of the fair.  We both had cameras hanging around our necks.  My friend had a shirt on with the name of the organization we were representing and I was carrying a bag of incidentals for the booth.

To our amazement we were denied access to the event.  We would have to spend fifteen dollars per person to gain access to the fair.  We attempted to call everyone that we knew (and their dog really) with no success.  So, we turned around and left.  We were disappointed, out five dollars and the gas to drive to the event and back.  We did enjoy a doughnut from a local watering hole though.

As I thought of this event my mind moved to a day possibly not too far from today.  One day we will all stand before God.  He will either allow us entry into Heaven or He will send us to hell.  Actually, we seal our destiny when we wither accept or deny Him as Saviour.  If we trust Jesus Christ as Saviour when we stand before Him we will find our eternal home in Heaven.  The eternal destiny of those who do not trust Jesus will be different.  Look at Luke 13:27, “But he shall say, I tell you, I know you not whence ye are; depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity.”

So, how are you doing?

Stinking Feet

In John chapter 12 Jesus identifies Himself to His disciples again as God the Son.  He has walked with them, talked with them and loved them supremely.  Sadly, one would still betray Him.  We know by the eye of faith that Jesus is the Sinless Son of God.  There is no disputing that fact.

Then in John 13 Jesus suddenly gets up from dinner and does what nobody in the room expects.  Jesus, the Son of God, puts on a towel and begins to wash the disciples feet.  I don’t know about you; but, I do not like feet.  They are dirty, nasty and smelly.  Yet, God in the flesh took a towel and a basin of water and began to wash all of the disciples feet.  Yes, even Judas who would soon betray Him.

This really struck home for me today.  Maybe for you it means nothing.  It means a lot to me.  Jesus was the epitome of being a servant.  He showed these men by example how to serve one another.

What does this mean to me?  Look at John 13:12, “So after he had washed their feet, and had taken his garments, and was set down again, he said unto them, Know ye what I have done to you?”  It shows me that humble service is possible.  It does not discriminate; but, simply goes on to serve.  God forgive me and help me to be the servant leader You have called me to be.

So, how are you doing?

Refurbished

My dear friend Dr. Larry Lilly has posted an article that is worth reading.  You might think his article has inspired mine.  Truthfully, yesterday’s blog post of mine spurred my thoughts for today.  You can read Dr. Lilly’s article here.  I encourage you to read it.

Yesterday I posted about being used.  Now, I hope you do not get the wrong idea.  If I am used for God and by God I am not complaining.  I just get weary of those who say they are a child of God using other people.  It is a real problem today.

Today, my thoughts come from the same experience with my camera lens again.  As I thought about the lens being refurbished I also thought about people being refurbished.  Yes, we can be refurbished too.  We can yield our lives to Christ for salvation and then we too can be just like my lens.  We can be refurbished.

You seem skeptical.  Look at II Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”  There are too many people running around saying they are refurbished; but, their lives tell a different story.  One thing is true.  You cannot argue with a changed life.  Has your life changed.  I hope so.

So, how are you doing?

Used

Last year I purchased a lens for my camera that had been sent back to the manufacturer and refurbished and then sent out to be sold again.  It is supposed to be “as good as new”.  I don’t think mine is “as good as new”.  It does not allow me to take clear photographs and this frustrates me.  I think I will have someone else use it and see if they have the same problem.  This will tell me if the problem is me or the lens.  Maybe, I don’t want to know.

Used equipment is not always bad.  Being used is another story.  I found out the other day that a certain situation in my life had been just that.  This makes me angry.  Why do we as Christians “use” people?  I think that we allow the flesh to be in control and then we end up using people for what we can get from them and not what we can do for them.

If you know me very well, then you know that I love to help people.  When people take advantage of me it makes me angry; but, Jesus knows and one day we will all stand before Him.  When this happens He will level the playing field and all wrong will be made right.  Until then, we can just keep on keeping on for Jesus and let it run off like water off a duck’s back.

In your dealing with people be honest and don’t use them for your benefit.  Look at James 5:12, “But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath: but let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay; lest ye fall into condemnation.”

So, how are you doing?

Three Powerful Words

On Saturday evening Tara and I sat and watched the “Precious Memories” television program hosted by Bill Gaither.  He was featuring a new DVD that highlighted the Crabb Family.  This was a really good program.  There are three or four of their songs that I really like.  The songs I seem to like have been written by the father of this family, Gerald Crabb.  In one of his songs he says, “… on the back of my old four wheel drive Chevy is a fish and a cross for the world to see”.  He is just a regular guy.

Jason Crabb told the story of how his daddy had sunk pretty low.  He had gone so far down as to drink alcohol heavily and had lost his vehicle and was on the brink of loosing his car wash business.  One day God spoke to Gerald Crabb and said, “I still love you.”  As you can imagine the tears began to flow down my cheeks.  As Gerald Crabb knelt in the muddy floor of his failing car wash he pray, “Lord, I still love you too.  Please forgive me.”  Then he wrote from that experience one of my favorite songs, “Please forgive me.  I need Your grace to make it through.  All I have is you.  I’m at your mercy…”  You can watch a video of this song here.

Read Me

My dear friend Dr. Larry Lilly posted a great article at this link with a picture of a Bible covered in dust and the words “Read Me” written in the dust.  It caused me to think.  I was thinking about when I have downloaded programs before on my computer there seems to come with the download something called a “Read Me File”.  I found this interesting.

God saves us and then He gives us His “Read Me File” to help navigate the way.  The problem is that most Christians, like me, don’t read this “Read Me File”.  We let it sit around and gather dust like the picture on Dr. Lilly’s blog.  This is sad.  One of my favorite bluegrass songs is titled, “Dust on the Bible”.  If you listen to the words and get over the genre it has a powerful message.

We have all heard the trite sayings like, “Seven days without the Word of God will make one weak.”  Another good one is, “Sin will keep you from God’s Word and God’s Word will keep you from sin.”  The truth of these are mountainous.

So, why don’t we read the Word of God?  I am afraid we have been sold a bill of goods that says God’s Word is not relevant, it is archaic and many other lies of hell.  Honestly, some of us are just too lazy to pick it up and read it.  This is tragically sad.  Look at Psalm 119:105, “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.”  It is simple.  We want to live life our way and that is it.  We don’t want God’s counsel so we don’t read His Word.

So, how are you doing?

Apostasy

Apostasy is described as a falling away.  I am afraid that we see a great apostasy in the Church today.  My Pastor told a story in the morning service that struck a chord in my heart.  It goes as follows:

A man fell away from going to Church.  After a time his Pastor came to the house to check on him.  He invited the Pastor into his home and they sat down by the fireplace in silence.  Neither man said a word for some time.  Suddenly the Pastor go up and went to the fireplace and took the tongs and removed one coal from the fire and placed it on the hearth and put the tongs back.  He went and sat down again without saying one word.  When the coal had cooled off the Pastor suddenly got up and went to the door to leave.  The man looked at the Pastor and said, “I will see you on Sunday morning.”

The man in our story got the point.  What a powerful illustration.  It can be the same for you and I if we are not careful.  We can let the cares of this world get us so down that we no longer want to go to Church or hear the Word of God.  The Pastor in this story was obviously a wise man who needed no words to convey his message.

What about you my reader?  Have you come to the place where you are like the coal sitting on the hearth?  Are you so cold, calloused and careless that you have not desire to go to Church?  If you find your self in this place then you need to get close to someone that has a deep burning passion for God.  Look at Proverbs 26:21, “As coals are to burning coals, and wood to fire; so is a contentious man to kindle strife.”  Just focus on the first part of this verse where it says, “As coals are to burning coals, and wood to fire; …”.

Maybe you just need to get around people that will build you up on your most holy faith.  People that will encourage you to read the Scriptures.  You need friends that will encourage you to go to Church and pray.  I hope you do and do not be another member of the apostasy that has taken place.

So, how are you doing?