by R. Herbert | Oct 9, 2014 | Forgiveness, Obedience
A great many unfortunate people have been affected by foreclosure on their homes in recent years as a result of the worldwide economic down- turn. Millions of people have been forced out of their houses in this situation – from tiny homes to great mansions – and moving beyond foreclosure is not easy. The process of recovery can be grueling and take years.
The first recorded home foreclosure may have occurred far earlier than you suspect. That first foreclosure was not due to failure to pay a high interest loan, however – or any kind of loan, in fact. The third chapter of Genesis describes the foreclosure in detail and shows that the first homeowners/tenants were evicted not for failure to pay, but as the price they paid for disregarding God’s clear tenancy instructions (Genesis 3:22-24).
Heartbreaking as modern home foreclosure may be, it is nowhere near as tragic as that first foreclosure in which the human family not only lost its “perfect home,” but also its relationship with the One who was the perfect builder and loan officer combined. Many homeowner and renter contracts are extremely complex, but according to the Garden of Eden story the first couple had a very straightforward contract which they understood fully: “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die’” (Genesis 3:2-3). The last few words quoted there show that foreclosure on their home was only the first – and not the worst – part of the penalty the first homeowners faced.
Fortunately for the human family, God realized that this chain of events would occur – that spiritual foreclosure was likely to happen – and as a result He set in motion a plan for recovery. We all know the basis of the plan: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). But that is really just the first part of the plan. Jesus himself spoke of the second step for foreclosure recovery in a new home: “In My Father’s house are many dwelling places … If I go away and prepare a place for you, I will come back and receive you to Myself, so that where I am you may be also” (John 14:2-3 HCSB). But we have to develop a new relationship with God in order to move past the old, voided, home contract and take advantage of the new one. Put simply, God wants totally remade tenants, remade homeowners for the new home He offers to those who want an eternally secure home with no foreclosure possible.
Physical home foreclosure can be a matter of great anguish, but whether we experience it physically or not, it can illustrate an important lesson about human life. We should be lastingly thankful for the ultimate foreclosure recovery plan that God has instituted for all who return to Him to claim it.
by R. Herbert | Oct 5, 2014 | Growth
When explorers Lewis and Clark conducted their historic mission through the American West, they took with them many small mirrors which they traded and gave as gifts to the native Americans they met. One native warrior later described these mirrors as “things like solid water,” and the Indians considered them quite wonderful as they gave much better reflections than looking into water could do.
Today people everywhere take mirrors for granted, but not every mirror gives an accurate reflection. Even apart from the type of distorting mirror that is used in carnivals, there is actually quite a range of reflection accuracy in normal commercial mirrors – as you can often see by comparing several together.
Nevertheless, despite imperfections they may have, we all need mirrors occasionally to check on ourselves as we go through life. Sometimes we need a spiritual mirror too, and there the level of reflection accuracy becomes much more important, of course. But when it comes to taking a look at our own characters and spiritual condition, it’s amazing how often many people will settle for mirrors which can’t really be trusted to give an accurate reflection. We all fall prey to this to some extent. When we ourselves attempt to judge how we are doing spiritually, we run the risk of getting an inaccurate reflection as Jeremiah 17:9 reminds us, because “The heart is deceitful above all things…” and it’s that human “heart” or mind that twists things so constantly that we simply can’t trust its judgment. Even if we turn to friends and fellow believers to get input on issues regarding our character and behavior, the “reflection” we get from them may be distorted by friendship, too.
The truth is there is only one spiritual mirror we can trust and that is the one God provides us in His word. It’s a particularly effective “mirror” because it works two ways. First, the word of God doesn’t pull any punches. We can always trust it to “tell it like it is” because its reflection goes much deeper than our surface selves: “For the word of God is… sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates … the thoughts and attitudes of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12). That’s a non-distorting reflection we can trust one hundred percent. It might be discouraging at times to see a true reflection of our inner nature, but there is another, more positive way the word of God acts as a mirror for us which does change the reflection to our advantage. The more we look into the mirror of the word, the more we clearly see the nature of Christ himself – an image to which we are striving to conform as Paul tells us: “We … beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image …” (2 Corinthians 3:18).
So God provides a mirror that we can trust when it comes to seeing things we need to change and fix – and also provides us with a mirror that gives us a clear image to aim for as we change. It’s really not that complicated: a reflection of what we need to avoid and one of what we need to be. The only caution is that we mustn’t forget to regularly check the mirror we are given and to act on its reflection, as the apostle James wrote: “Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do” (James 1:22-25). That’s a mirror we can trust – all we have to do is use it regularly.
by R. Herbert | Oct 2, 2014 | Difficult Scriptures, Fellowship
Scripture in Focus: Acts 4:32–35
“All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had… And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all that there were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need” (Acts 4:32–35).
Many have used these verses in Acts to try to prove that the early Christians followed a form of communism, but a careful reading of what the Bible says here shows that nothing could be further from the truth. We should note immediately that this seems to have been a temporary situation while the fledgling church was becoming established and before any formal mechanisms for helping the poor within the church were in place. Many of those who had come to Jerusalem to keep the Feast of Pentecost (Acts 2) and had been converted now were staying there and had as yet no means of support. So many shared what they had at that time. But we should also remember that once this temporary situation passed, there is no evidence that the early church continued in exactly the way described here.
Unlike communism as it is known in the modern world, the State was not in any way involved in this sharing; the Christians did not all share their property as a result of some decree or decision – rather “from time to time” people would decide to give, and only those people gave who wanted to. There was also no requirement to share, as Peter himself clearly tells us in the story of Ananias and Sapphira: “Ananias.…why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the [sale of your] lands? While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? …You did not lie to men but to God!” (Acts 5:3–4). Finally, we should notice that the early Christians’ goods were not equally divided among everyone, but were “distributed to anyone who had need” (Acts 4:35).
This is all very different from modern era communism in which the State forcibly redistributes all wealth – theoretically sharing it equally between everyone in the society. There is also a clear difference in attitude. As has been jokingly said, though not without some truth, communism operates on a principle of “What’s yours is mine,” whereas the early Christians operated with the attitude of “What’s mine is yours.”
We should also remember that there is no room for communism in the teachings of Jesus. Although he recommended a certain rich young ruler sell all he had and give to the poor (not distribute it among Jesus and his followers), this appears to have been an individual test. We see that Jesus had Judas look after his funds and these were used as were needed and, on occasion, some funds were given to the poor (John 13:29) rather than anything that was received being automatically equally distributed. Communism is, in fact, diametrically opposed to a great many of the teachings of Jesus, as we can see in the parable of the “talents” (Matthew 25:24–30) and the parable of the “minas” (Luke 19:12-27) where the servants are unequally rewarded, and elsewhere.
by R. Herbert | Sep 28, 2014 | Great Commission
Gideons International photo from NYC Bible Blitz
Gideons International is a Christian organization, founded in the United States in 1899, which has grown into a powerful force for the worldwide distribution of free Bibles, New Testaments and other scriptures. If you have ever found yourself without a Bible in a hotel room far from home, you know what a help the Gideons have been to millions of travelers and others – many of whom first read a Bible provided by that organization.
The group takes its name from the Biblical figure Gideon, who is depicted in Judges 6 in the story in which flaming torches were placed inside clay jars – such a jar being the well-known logo of the Gideons, found on the cover of each scripture they distribute.
Today, Gideons International provides Bibles not only for hotels and motels, but also for schools, hospitals, medical offices, military bases, prisons, abuse safe houses and many more venues where they might be appreciated, as well as in sidewalk distribution in many cities. The “Bible Blitzes” they regularly organize are named after the Second World War “Blitz” of intensive bombing of certain areas – but referring now to intensive coverage of selected areas with Bibles!
Two recent Blitzes conducted by the Gideons show the scope and extent of their work. September 13-19 the organization conducted the “New York City Bible Blitz 2014” which distributed some 236,238 Bibles and Testaments in all five boroughs of the Metro New York City area in less than a week. Gideons also spoke in over 100 churches in the city, explaining their ministry and encouraging congregations to consider supporting their work through prayer, giving and involvement.
Further from home, a two-week International Scripture Blitz was also conducted this September in Nairobi, Eldoret, and Kisumu, Kenya. There, the Gideons had set a goal of distributing some 400,000 Scriptures in hospitals, schools, and other venues, but by the end of the Blitz the Gideons’ teams had exceeded their goal and had distributed over 600,000 free copies of God’s Word in Kenya.
One has to stop and think about the numbers involved to begin to understand the amazing accomplishment of these Blitzes. The Gideons work in almost 200 countries and have distributed scriptures in over 90 languages. More than 1.9 billion Bibles and New Testaments have been distributed by the organization since 1908. On average, numerous copies of the scriptures are distributed every second of every day through Gideons International, and it is anticipated that the organization will give away its two billionth Bible or testament in 2015.
This is clearly an organization doing wonderful work that is worthy of our support. You may find it inspiring to take a look at the Gideons International
website some time.
by R. Herbert | Sep 24, 2014 | Growth, Overcoming, Tactical Notes
You know the feeling. You are about to do or say something, or you pause in a chain of thought, when you suddenly tell yourself that something is not right, that it may not be good to continue with the thought, word or action.
There is nothing mystical about it, but this moment of hesitation, this quiet voice of self-restraint is something that everyone experiences at some point, just as the apostle Paul wrote that it was something that affected Christians and pagans alike (Romans 2:14-15).
We may call this our conscience or use some other term. Some say it is God speaking to them, others that it is just the result of learned social behavior. In the Middle Ages many people thought it was an angel whispering in their ear. Albert Einstein called it an “inner voice” and others have called it an “inner light.” But no matter what we call it, or where we feel it comes from, it is an established fact of human psychology. We are not talking about hearing voices in one’s head – just a feeling or awareness that some action or response isn’t good or right. It’s like an internal warning system that is suddenly sounding in our minds. The problem, of course, exists when we turn down the volume and stop listening to that alarm. Typically, before we act in error, our conscience warns us to stop. If we choose to ignore its warning, or begin to think up rationalizations why we need not heed this feeling, the alarm will turn off and the urging of our conscience subsides – only to return later to condemn us if we go ahead with behavior we knew was not right.
The apostle James wrote about this progression between the awareness of something wrong and the results of tuning out that awareness: “but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death” (James 1:14-15). The beginning of this chain is the still small voice that, if rejected, temporarily disappears. The amazing thing is that this is something we all understand, yet something that we so often don’t act upon. Yet the battle for good habits and right living is almost always fought at this point – at the very beginning of the trajectory. If we ignore the restraining call and proceed regardless, we invariably end up, as James affirms, in sin.
As a result, it’s possible that one of the greatest things we can do in overcoming wrong and growing in doing what is right in our lives is to train ourselves to listen to that voice and immediately act on its guidance. To listen and stop immediately has been called, in theology, the obsta principiis – the determination to “resist the beginnings,” because, as we have seen, that’s where the real battle is always fought at the moment the alarm sounds. Again, there is nothing mystical about this, it’s simply a matter of acting immediately on what we know is right. But the key lies in understanding that every time we ignore the inner voice of restraint and go ahead with what we wish to do, say or think, we actually move further away from where we really want to go in life. Every time we stop at the first “sound” of that alarm we move further toward our real goals. We need to train ourselves to listen for that inner alarm, learn to recognize it and to stop in our tracks. Counter-intuitive as it might seem physically, if we want to move forward further and faster spiritually, we need to stop more often.
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