Month: January 2021

In my previous blog post we took a look at why the belt of truth is the first piece of armor we should put on as we prepare to battle our enemy. Today, I want us to look at how God feels about being untruthful. Solomon was the second wisest man who ever lived (Jesus being the wisest). This is what Solomon wrote in Proverbs 6:16-19. “There are six things the Lord hates – no seven things he detests: haughty eyes; a lying tongue; hands that kill the innocent; a heart that plots evil; feet that race to do wrong; a false witness who pours out lies; and a person who sows discord in a family.”

God is love, so isn’t it a contradiction to say there are seven things that God hates? There are no contradictions in scripture, so how can that be? It’s simple! God loves us so much that He hates the things we do to harm others or ourselves. He loves us so much that when we repent of those hateful actions and turn from those ways, He forgives us by his mercy and grace. Simply put, God hates sin but loves sinners. Jesus makes that clear in all of His teachings and His every action. I thank God every day that He loved me before my actions were lovable and covered my sins with the precious blood Jesus shed on the cross in my place.

Back to that list in Proverbs; did you notice that out of the seven things God hates two of them involve lying? That should make it clear to us just how much God values the truth. So, the belt of truth not only protects us from the lies that originate with Satan, the Father of Lies; but you and I must also hold tightly to it when we speak, to make sure our words are always true and that we aren’t guilty of harming those God loves – including ourselves.

Satan knows our name but calls us by our sins. God knows our sins but calls us by our name. I remember seeing a drawing on Face Book several years ago of a man on his knees with his face buried in his hands while four or five religious zealots were beating him with their Bibles. I took offense at that depiction of “Evangelical Christians”, but it opened my eyes to the fact that Christians are often viewed as attacking the sinner instead of the sin. Listening to Satan call them by their sin, some people begin to identify so much with their sin that even just speaking the truth about the danger of their sin is seen as a personal attack. It isn’t enough just to speak the truth, I must speak it with kindness, love and empathy. As a Christian I must follow God’s lead calling them by their name, not by their sins. I must love them and pray that they accept Jesus, freeing them from their sins as I have been set free from mine. Instead of clubbing them with the truth, I need to show them there is hope for a better life through Jesus Christ.         

What role does forgiveness play in the life of a Christian? First and foremost, we receive God’s forgiveness through His love, mercy and grace when we confess our sins and repent (stop doing them) and accept His gift of salvation; Jesus Christ paid the price for us with His shed blood on the cross in our place. “But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.” (1 John 1:9) “Though we are overwhelmed by our sins, you forgive them all.” (Psalms 65:3) Jesus proved that He had the power on earth to forgive sins even before He went to the cross. (Mark 2:1-12)

We are commanded to forgive others as God has forgiven us. “But when you are praying, first forgive anyone you are holding a grudge against, so that your Father in heaven will forgive your sins, too.” (Mark 11:25) Jesus teaches us to pray, “Forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin against us.” (Matthew 6:12 and Luke 11:4) Paul wrote, “Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.” (Colossians 3:13) When Peter asked Jesus if seven was enough times to forgive someone, Jesus told him to forgive them 490 times instead. (Matthew 18:21-22) I don’t know about you, but I have never met anyone so persistently evil that I had to forgive them that many times. What Jesus is telling us is there should be no end to our forgiveness. Do we wait for others to confess and ask our forgiveness? No! While the Roman soldiers were throwing dice to see who would get His clothes, Jesus asked His heavenly Father to forgive them. (Luke 23:34)  

I think the hardest lessen I have had to learn as a Christian is to be able to forgive myself. It has been said that God knows our sins, but calls us by our name; while Satan knows our name but calls us by our sins. Guilt is one of the enemy’s most powerful weapons against those who have been redeemed. A dear friend of mine shared with me that she was plagued by guilt for years until God spoke to her through the Holy Spirit telling her, “I have forgiven you! Are you greater than I am?” That realization released her from the burden of that guilt.

How is it possible for us to forgive and forget? It is because of God’s love in our heart. In Paul’s beautiful definition of love, he tells us that love “keeps no record of being wronged” (1 Corinthians 13:5) As Christians, God’s love pours out of us onto everyone with whom we come in contact; even our enemies. (Matthew 5:44)  

In the sixth chapter of Ephesians, Paul writes about our battles as Christians. He makes sure we understand our enemy isn’t other people, but Satan and his evil spirits that are unseen. Then, in verse fourteen, he tells us what we must do to prepare for our battle against them. He was writing from prison and was probably looking at a Roman soldier as he described his armor.

I was surprised he began with the “belt of truth”. You would think the most important protection from the enemy would be the helmet to protect our mind or the breastplate to protect our heart or even the shield. Why was it so important to wrap the belt of truth around our waste first? The answer is found in John 8:44, as Jesus describes our real enemy; “He was a murderer from the beginning. He has always hated the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, it is consistent with his character; for he is a liar and the father of lies.”

What truth does the belt represent? Jesus is the personification of truth. (John 14:6) The scripture is always true. “All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true…” (2 Timothy 3:16) The Holy Spirit that God places in our heart when we receive Jesus as our Savior is described by Jesus; “He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth.” (John 14:17) So, if Christians believe and follow Jesus; read and apply God’s word to our daily lives; and then obey the prompting of the Holy Spirit within us; we have secured the belt of truth around our waste.

How does the belt of truth help us in our Christian life? It keeps us from being deceived. It has been said the three biggest lies of our time are these. First, to love someone you must accept their sinful lifestyle. Second, if you don’t approve of someone’s lifestyle, you hate them. Third, a loving God wouldn’t send anyone to hell. All three involve a twisted sense of fairness, but the belt of truth straightens it out for us.

Let’s begin with the third one because the statement is true, but its inference that God sends people to hell is not true. God is love and He doesn’t want anyone to go to hell, so He sent Jesus to die on the cross in our place so that everyone who believes in Him and follows Him can avoid hell. Salvation is a free gift that you can’t earn, so it is available to all. The only way someone will go to hell is because they refuse God’s gift and choose to follow Lucifer and his band of angels (Satan and his demons) into the hell prepared for them. How could a loving God make it any easier for us to escape the fires of hell?

The other two lies can both be straightened out by the truth of what it means to love someone as God loves you. Jesus shows us that you can love people without condoning or accepting their sins, any sins. As he drew his disciples closer to him, Jesus drew them away from their sins. He associated with sinners, not to approve or participate in their sin, but to draw them away from sin and to Him. Jesus loves them (and us) so much that He gave His life to set us free from our sins. Hate has no place in our Christian lives. Warning someone that they are on a dangerous road is an act of love. Accepting their sinful lifestyle and watching them go to hell as a result is not love.

The belt of truth will help us recognize and correct even the tiniest white lies of our enemy and even those we tell to ourselves. “And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:32)

All of us will be afflicted by some limitations in life, some minor and some serious; even in our Christian life. Physical limitations are the most obvious. Some physical limitations are from birth, some are due to injury or others come with age and use; like the arthritis in my knees or my hearing difficulty. My favorite example of overcoming physical limitations as a Christian is Joni Eareckson Tada. A diving accident at the age of 17 left her a quadriplegic in a wheel chair. Her infectious smile, beautiful singing voice and Christian testimony have lifted the hearts of millions including mine. For over 40 years her organization, Joni and Friends, has helped countless handicapped people around the world to get wheelchairs or other help they need. As if she hadn’t been through enough, several weeks ago she contracted Covid-19 and was critically ill. I watched a video update of her condition yesterday.  At age 71, she seemed a little hoarse, but otherwise healthy. She described how she called out to God as the virus limited her breathing and He responded, “Do you trust me? Whether I take you home now or allow you to serve me longer; do you trust me?” She described a calmness that came over her and she was at rest in the shadow of the Almighty (a reference to Psalms 91:1) as she turned the corner and began to recover.

Some limitations are caused by others. My wife wanted to go to nurse’s training when she graduated from high school, but her mother wanted her to go to business school instead. All of her life, she regretted not trying to become a nurse. She told me, “Maybe she was right and I would have failed, but at least I would have known I tried.” In 50 years of marriage, I never saw her set her mind and heart to something and fail. One thing I do know; she had the TLC (tender loving care) down pat.

The saddest limitations of all are those we put on ourselves. One of my favorite quotes from Henry Ford is, “Whether you think you can or think you can’t – you’re right.” When God calls us to His service in whatever capacity, He can use us in spite of our limitations. In fact, he uses our limitations to His glory. When God spoke to Moses and ordered him to lead the Israelites out of Egypt, Moses reminded God of his limitations. God wasn’t looking for a great speaker; he was looking for someone to speak His message. God used Moses in miraculous ways, not in spite of his limitations, but because of them.

Personally, I believe if I had knee replacement surgery and physical therapy when I was considering it, before my wife was diagnosed with cancer, I would still be so active “doing” things for the Lord that this website and the more than 400 blog posts on it would not exist. Actually, that isn’t true. I’m sure God would have found someone else with physical limitations to write them instead.

So whatever limitations you might have now, or in the future, ask God to either help you overcome them or to use them for His glory. Whatever happens here, you can be certain when you enter into His kingdom all limitations will disappear and you will be the healthy, happy son or daughter He created you to be. Even Joni Eareckson Tada can look forward to joyfully dancing with Jesus. 

Medical science is clear that ingesting nutritious food, along with exercise, is the foundation of good physical health. What we eat has a direct effect on our body. In addition to prescribing medicine for physical ailments, doctors also suggest vitamin supplements when blood tests reveal deficiencies. I am currently taking a daily dose of multi-vitamins for seniors, iron, vitamin D3 and zinc.

Just as good nutrition is important for our physical health, ingesting good and positive information is vital for mental health. Have you ever heard the computer expression GIGO (garbage in – garbage out)? What is entered has a lot to do with the results and that is true of the super computer of our mind as well. Logic teaches if any part of a premise is false, the conclusion will always be false. That is why stereotypes are always false, because no two people are alike, much less a group of people. That is also why we must be careful that the information we take in is true.

The Apostle Paul gave the church at Philippi a list of nutritious food for our minds to ingest. “Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.” (Philippians 4:8) Paul also wrote this to the Colossians, “Think about things of heaven, not the things of earth.” (Colossians 3:2)

Our thoughts also feed our spirit. Paul told the church in Rome, “Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit.” (Romans 8:5) There are some other ways the spirit ingests nutrition. All of those ways involve a direct connection to God and to other Christians. Communing with the Holy Spirit within me always feeds my spirit, so does reading and studying God’s word and praying. Worshiping and fellowshipping with my brothers and sisters in Christ always makes my spirit healthy and joyful.

Like a large menu in a restaurant, life provides us with choices of healthy foods that are good for us and unhealthy foods that are tempting because they taste good going down but are bad for our health. The internet, especially social media, offers a wide variety of good and bad options. We must choose what is best for our health. It would be impossible to make healthy choices for our mind and spirit without the Holy Spirit to guide us. God knows what we need, and He has always provided my needs. As a loving Father, he has also given me some of the things I want, as long as they are not bad for me. God looks out for my health even when I don’t.

I am so glad you have made the choice to read this blog and I hope it has nourished your mind and your spirit as much as writing it has nourished mine. That is another way to nourish your spirit; share with others what you have been given.   

My parents taught me, “Honesty is the best policy”. Although it is not quoted directly from scripture, the Bible is clear that honesty is an important quality. Dishonesty is even condemned in most of the Ten Commandments. A big part of honesty is truthfulness. I can’t remember ever lying to my parents because I valued their trust in me and I knew it would hurt them deeply if I ever lied to them. It wasn’t the punishment I feared; it was the fear of disappointing them and losing their trust.

That early training has carried over into all of my relationships. One of the reasons our marriage lasted fifty years is that it had a foundation of mutual trust and honesty. We both had personal relationships with God that required us to be honest in our relationship with each other. I have held many jobs in my life and in each of them I quickly earned the trust of my supervisors by being honest. In one situation, a jealous coworker spread a rumor about me that he was sure would get me fired. I was called into the Operation Manager’s office and asked to answer the accusation. I told the truth and even offered to take a polygraph. I was told that wouldn’t be necessary because my word was good enough for him. I not only kept my job, but was promoted to corporate trainer soon after; a position I held for seventeen years until my retirement. Honesty has definitely proven to be the best policy for me in so many ways.

Being honest with ourselves and even with God can sometimes be harder than being honest with other people; even though it is most important. There is a famous line in the movie A Few Good Men when from the witness stand the colonel shouts, “You can’t handle the truth!” There are some truths about our weaknesses that are hard for us to handle, so we not only try to hide them from others, we sugar coat them and bury them in the back of our subconscious mind. That tactic never works for long because our enemy, the devil, loves to remind us of them every chance he gets. We will never resolve them until we face them head on and ask God for the strength we need to overcome them.

We can even feel at times that God can’t handle our true feelings. We think God wants us to be His happy, obedient children; so we put on our smiling worship face for church or even for our private devotions. Do we really think we can fool the Creator who knows us better than we know ourselves? One of the times I felt closest to God was when I was very angry with Him and let my anger all come out in prayer. I had only been a Christian for less than three years when my mother was diagnosed with leukemia. I and every Christian I knew prayed day and night for her healing, but she became weaker and weaker then she died. How could a loving God allow that to happen to me after I gave my heart to Him and prayed so fervently for her healing? Through His Holy Spirit, God assured me that I will be with her again someday. Then, He sent a wonderful Christian woman to be my step-mother and to lovingly get me through high school.

As we read Psalms, we find that time after time the writer cries out to God, complaining about his troubles and weakness. Then, he praises God for answering his prayers. God sent His Son to bear your sins and mine on the cross. He not only can handle the truth about what we are going through; He wants us to share our true feelings (anger, frustration, pain, etc.) with Him! Take my word for it. That is the best policy of all.

God specializes in the impossible – events we call miracles. (Matthew 19:26) Jesus’ life on Earth began with a miracle – the virgin birth. During His earthly ministry He performed many miracles – calming the storm, walking on water, feeding thousands with a boy’s small lunch, driving out demons, healing the sick and even raising the dead. His stay here ended with two miracles – His resurrection and His ascension back into Heaven. There is no rational human explanation for any of those events other than God’s love, mercy and grace for a world of lost sinners, including you and me. (John 3:16)

When was the last time you prayed for God to do what seemed impossible? Did you pray with full faith that it would happen, or were you praying a “fox hole” prayer (Lord, help me) while clinging desperately to your last thread of hope? My most recent request for a miracle may seem trivial or even selfish, but to me it was neither of those things. In the winter where I live, storms usually seem to come through at weekly intervals on the same day of the week. Last week an ice storm kept me from breakfast fellowship with my brothers in Christ. With church still restricted, I desperately need that Christian fellowship, prayer and sharing early Saturday mornings. So I asked God to change the weather pattern so we would be able to meet. This weekend has been clear and we took full advantage of it.      

During this time of health concerns and restrictions, most of our prayers have to do with healing or health related issues. God is the “Great Physician” and is the one to turn to for help. When you or a friend loses a loved one, our prayers are for the “Comforter” to grant peace of mind and spirit that only comes from God. All of it may seem impossible at the time at the time of our prayer.

When you pray for people to come to faith in Christ before it is too late, is there a person you have written off as too far gone? Maybe an enemy living a life so evil they could harm or even kill you without batting an eye. Saul of Tarsus was such a person. He zealously imprisoned and executed those who put their faith in Jesus (The Way. They were not yet called Christians). Even his name brought fear to the hearts of believers. Who among them could believe that such a person could ever be saved and used by God? As Saul traveled on the road to Damascus with authorization to capture and return believers to Jerusalem for trial, Jesus did the impossible. You can read Acts 22:1-23, as he tells in his own words how he was transformed from Saul of Tarsus to the Apostle Paul, who not only became a believer in Jesus Christ leading countless Gentiles to Christ, but was himself imprisoned and eventually executed for his faith. Never consider anything or anyone beyond the reach of God.  

Alexander Pope, not the Bible, is credited with the quote, “To err is human; to forgive divine.” As a Christian for many years, I know that to sin is human and forgiveness comes from God’s divine mercy and grace. Christians are still human and we are quite capable of making mistakes or being wrong about things. When the Holy Spirit points out the errors of our ways, it is often easier to admit our mistakes to God than it is to admit them to other people. To paraphrase another Pope quote; No one should be ashamed to admit they are wrong. It is just another way of saying, “I’m wiser today than I was yesterday”.  

Have you ever known someone who never admits being wrong about anything? I hope it isn’t the person you see in the mirror every morning. I never have had a problem with admitting my mistakes, even several times a day if necessary. I think that may be a product of fifty years of married life. The choice between being right and being in a peaceful relationship always seemed an easy decision for me to make. Where sharing my faith or writing on my blog is concerned, I depend on the Holy Spirit to make sure I don’t make mistakes or spread false information. Once I gave the Apostle Paul credit for writing Hebrews. Although that was the traditional belief, modern scholars believe it was probably written by another unknown Jewish Christian. It didn’t change the message in the blog post one bit, but I still changed it to “the writer of Hebrews” instead of Paul.

One of my favorite Mark Twain quotes explains why so many people are wrong and refuse to acknowledge it. “It is much easier to convince someone that a lie is the truth than it is to convince them that what they believe to be true is a lie.” If it’s on social media it must be true, right? Wrong! That is the reason I stopped sharing posts on Face Book several years ago. I don’t have the time to research the information thoroughly and just because a trusted friend posted it doesn’t mean that they weren’t fooled by it.

There are two reasons people accept false information as the truth. The first is that they trust the source of the information. Either that person was fooled and believes it to be true, or they are using their trusting relationship with you to get you to believe what they want you to believe. The second is that the information is something we want to believe. If we have a biased view of a person or group, we will be more apt to believe good or bad things about them depending on our bias. The only fact checker who can always be trusted is God and His word. Christians have the advantage of having God’s Holy Spirit within us to let us know when something is not right. The question is, do we carefully run everything past Him? Shame on us if we don’t; but if we do, there will be a lot less mistakes for which we will have to admit and apologize.

Don’t forget that others in your life are also still human, even those who are brothers and sisters in Christ. So be quick to forgive, even when they don’t admit or apologize. You are not doing it for them, but for your own peace of mind.

Like a building, our Christian life is only as sturdy and strong as the foundation upon which it rests. Jesus tells us, “Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse because it is built on bedrock. But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn’t obey it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand. When the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash.” (Matthew 7:24-27)

For most of us the hardest part of starting our new life as a Christian is when the Holy Spirit comes into our heart like a demolition crew to tear down the old life we had built on the shifting sand of our sinful nature and excavate out all of the hidden debris (bad habits, stinking thinking, etc.); establishing our new life on a foundation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and scripture. It is necessary to leave the old life behind and beginning a new one in Christ. A Christian life that will survive the storms and floods that will surely come against us.

In his first letter to the church in Corinth, Paul also uses that analogy for building the Christian life. “Because of God’s grace to me, I have laid the foundation like an expert builder. Now others are building on it. But whoever is building on this foundation must be very careful. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one we already have – Jesus Christ.”

(1 Corinthians 3:10-11)

Just like the construction of a building, the higher you want it to be, the deeper must be the foundation to counterbalance and support the added weight. How high do you want your Christian life to reach? Do you have a deep enough foundation? Building and living the Christian life is not easy, but I can tell you from experience that it is the most rewarding thing anyone can ever do in this life; with the bonus of eternal life that continues when this one comes to an end. The life, death and resurrection of Jesus make it possible. The Holy Spirit does all of the heavy lifting. All we have to do is stay out of His way and obey His promptings as God prepares us for the life He has planned for us as His son or daughter.      

As we begin a new year, it is a good time to ask the Holy Spirit to become our building inspector. Pointing out any debris that has started to accumulate again and making sure our life in Christ remains firmly on its foundation.