The Better Part, week #46

 

Another two weeks of FB posts...

The Better Part, Day #222:

 

There is this fairly famous computer guru who's "how to" column and his reading blog I subscribe to. Last night, on the blog, he shared some statistics from a poll of "white evangelicals" As you might guess, this was one of those "The Church in bed with Trump" polls, and at its conclusion, this usually politically neutral guru commented, "This is why I no longer identify as a Christian".

 

And maybe there are some problem with the poll numbers, but the real problem is: Being a Christian is a personal relationship with your God and Saviour. If your "christianity" is one that depends on people and poll numbers, and you can leave it like resigning from a club, you were never a Christian to begin with. Faith is not a check box on your census, it's a life relationship. Anything less you are kidding yourself.

He did end the topic with good advice: "Examine your beliefs". Perhaps if he really had, he would have done more than "identify" as a christian.

 

 

 

 

The Better Part, Day #223:

 

 

One of the reasons I spent 12 posts on my blog on Judges was because our pastor was reluctant to dig very far because of the distasteful nature of some of the things Israel did. But digging, I learned a bunch, especially the last two posts. And today, Jack Hibbs, while preaching on something totally different, almost quoted verbatim the two big lessons from those posts! More proof the Bible is a living book- if God wants it learned, you can find it anywhere you dig!

 

 

The Better Part Day # 224:

 

The best thing about the Bible is how it continually teaches you with its consistency. I was amazed again today when I realized that the Tenth Commandment, with all of its "Thou Shalt Not Covet"s, was merely God's Old Testament way of Jesus saying, to look upon another with lust is adultery, to be angry with another is murder- the thought being as bad as the deed!

 

 

 

 

The Better Part, Day #225:

 

 

David Jeremiah today, paraphrased for my leaky memory: "I am convinced that the best way to defeat temptation is to love God more." I agree, have been fighting this battle for a long time. First God had to start explaining to me what love is, and HOW to love Him. Work in progress.

 

 

 

The Better Part, Day # 226:

 

Yesterday, a Catholic FB friend posted a "picture of Jesus" with the quote, "I didn't give you a Bible... I gave you a Church". 

 

This philosophy is one I've often encountered on his page. If I believe Sola Scriptura, because Jesus said He was the Word and the only way to heaven, I am "worshiping the Bible"... but they can place Mary as the go between between us and Jesus, despite His commands, and they aren't "putting other gods before"Him. Thing of it is, Jesus DID give us the Bible, not in its forms, but in His Word; He constantly quoted the Old Testament, even using Deuteronomy 3 times to defeat Satan. And if you reach into the Bible for wisdom, instead of letting others feed you carefully selected portions at yearly intervals, you see how marvelously living, and consistent it is. The Word that God gave Abraham is the same as that Solomon gave Rehoboam (Proverbs), as Isaiah gave Uzziah, as Jesus gave His disciples, as Paul gave the Churches. And Jesus didn't "give" us a church, He MADE us the Church.

 

Did I pass this on to that friend? No, I scrolled on by, because of what Jesus told us in His telling about Lazarus and the Rich Man:

 

Luk 16:27 And he said, 'Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father's house--

Luk 16:28 for I have five brothers--so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.'

Luk 16:29 But Abraham said, 'They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.'

Luk 16:30 And he said, 'No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.'

Luk 16:31 He said to him, 'If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.'" 

 

Jesus commands us to find His word in His Bible. And He rose from the dead to save us. And yet, they are not convinced.

 

 

The Better Part, day #227:

 

 

Another observation from David Jeremiah, paraphrased somewhat: "We are in two circles with God. One circle is that of relationship, the other is one of fellowship. If we are saved, then sin cannot affect the circle of relationship. However, it can break the circle of fellowship, until we confess and repent of it."

 

 

 

The Better Part, Day #228:

 

Rom 1:19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.

Rom 1:20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.

Rom 1:21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.

Rom 1:22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools....

 

 

Last night, it struck me when John McArthur said, "The only way you can truly learn about God is through the scriptures." The first thing that popped in my head was that passage, stopping at "...things He has made." And I thought for a half-second, "What about that?" But... then the rest of the verse read itself to me and I realized John was right. Without the Holy Spirit, speaking to someone through the Word of God, which is Christ in the Bible, you only know enough to send you to hell. Without that, it's easy to pass off "religion". Without it, you miss out on the truth and the life, the power of Jesus.