Tuesday, May 23, 2006
The Warning
If generation after generation goes away from the true pursuit of holiness and does evil, He will scatter them among the nations! God is holy and just; He is also love. Deuteronomy 4:29 brings the promise: “But if from thence thou shalt seek the Lord thy God, thou shalt find Him, if thou seek Him with all thy heart and with all thy soul.” So is God’s love conditional? No, but our experience of God as love and compassion depends fully on our allegiance. This I learned from Jerry Bridges’ Pursuit of Holiness. We are so quick to accuse God of loving us only if we are good. He loves us every bit as much when we are bad, bad, bad…separated from His holiness…veiled from seeing His affections.
“If thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God to keep His commandments”…no lying, cheating, jealous envy, stealing even a paper clip…”and His statutes which are written in this book of the law, and if thou turn unto the Lord thy God,” wholeheartedly, with undivided devotion…”then, the Lord thy God will…have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all nations whither the Lord thy God hath scattered thee.” ~Deuteronomy 30:10, 3
Isn’t that the church today? Scattered and in many ways ineffective, separated from their God’s affections, delights, and even His very presence in Spirit. You know how everyone says, God never leaves you; you leave Him! Maybe they haven’t read this verse. God pretty much left them on their own! The truth of the matter? Because in our unholy pursuit, we depart from God in a billion selfish directions, His Holy Spirit cannot work as masterfully through the shattered pieces. Pray tell, how does your job get done when your tools break? He is only one call (Jeremiah 33:3) away but that can be an eternity of distance if you don’t “pick up the phone”. We, of all people, should get it. In our newfangled world of contraptions, Australia and the West Coast can illusively be closer than the flesh and blood in the next room! When’s the last time you called your next-door neighbor? Close, yet so far away.
God the Father IS near. His Spirit. That’s the part that is gasping for air, groaning for help from One, Holy Church, united in His Divine Truth, seeking Him with all their might. My mommy taught me this when I was in third grade and prayer was abandoned in the schools. She was concerned with how God would leave us because we had rejected Him. As I grow in wisdom, I recognize hers.
You might be wondering why the cynicism. In the past few weeks, I have been involved in two Bible studies, I informed you of the women’s group last week, Kyrios Theos. I am horrified at the casual ripping apart of God’s Word and amazed that even a direct quote of Jesus is tossed out with the scraps!
A couples group includes quite a few new faces. We know our neighbors, who invited us. I felt invisible last night. It was a social kick off so “Great!” We can get to know these people before we delve into our study on some very personal issues. The topic is offenses, as in forgiveness so here’s hoping for a safe environment, right? Um, we are reconsidering…the why next time. This is sure to become a rant.
“If thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God to keep His commandments”…no lying, cheating, jealous envy, stealing even a paper clip…”and His statutes which are written in this book of the law, and if thou turn unto the Lord thy God,” wholeheartedly, with undivided devotion…”then, the Lord thy God will…have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all nations whither the Lord thy God hath scattered thee.” ~Deuteronomy 30:10, 3
Isn’t that the church today? Scattered and in many ways ineffective, separated from their God’s affections, delights, and even His very presence in Spirit. You know how everyone says, God never leaves you; you leave Him! Maybe they haven’t read this verse. God pretty much left them on their own! The truth of the matter? Because in our unholy pursuit, we depart from God in a billion selfish directions, His Holy Spirit cannot work as masterfully through the shattered pieces. Pray tell, how does your job get done when your tools break? He is only one call (Jeremiah 33:3) away but that can be an eternity of distance if you don’t “pick up the phone”. We, of all people, should get it. In our newfangled world of contraptions, Australia and the West Coast can illusively be closer than the flesh and blood in the next room! When’s the last time you called your next-door neighbor? Close, yet so far away.
God the Father IS near. His Spirit. That’s the part that is gasping for air, groaning for help from One, Holy Church, united in His Divine Truth, seeking Him with all their might. My mommy taught me this when I was in third grade and prayer was abandoned in the schools. She was concerned with how God would leave us because we had rejected Him. As I grow in wisdom, I recognize hers.
You might be wondering why the cynicism. In the past few weeks, I have been involved in two Bible studies, I informed you of the women’s group last week, Kyrios Theos. I am horrified at the casual ripping apart of God’s Word and amazed that even a direct quote of Jesus is tossed out with the scraps!
A couples group includes quite a few new faces. We know our neighbors, who invited us. I felt invisible last night. It was a social kick off so “Great!” We can get to know these people before we delve into our study on some very personal issues. The topic is offenses, as in forgiveness so here’s hoping for a safe environment, right? Um, we are reconsidering…the why next time. This is sure to become a rant.
