Contrary to popular belief, we all really do need a mediator. We have a conflict within us between life and death and there needs to be a judge and peacemaker to help resolve our conflicted thinking and crisis of conscience.        

         Hebrews 9:13-15, “For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? And for this reason, He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.”

         How will God reward us in Heaven when we have led a life of constant self-condemnation? i think that for many of us, we’ve bought into the lie that we are alone and nobody cares, making it easy to aim our own condemning finger at ourselves. Either way, it’s still all about ourselves… the consummate victim and martyr. Being a victim is as much about domination as being a controller.

         It is not true that we are alone, nor is it true that no one cares. Maybe that works for many of us because we’ve got this idea that if we were God, we wouldn’t have anything to do with us either… but in light of that, i’m very pleased that i am not God, and He is exactly who He says He is.

         Are we just old sinners, doing sinner things with sinner people, thinking sinner thoughts, going sinner places for sinner reasons?

         What is it we know about ourselves that if God found out, we are sure He wouldn’t like us anymore? Do we think God is somehow blind to the entirety of our lives, and we must continuously hide?

         If the sacrifice of bulls and goats was only good to cover sin for a year, how much more is the sacrifice of Jesus Christ sufficient to cover your sins? i believe there are two kinds of secrets, the ones we hide from others, and the ones we hide from ourselves. Without foundational honesty, our hearts shift from vision… a singleness of eye, to di-vision, a multiplicity of vision. To buy into the lie from hell that we are nothing and a zero… and always will be because we are just old sinners… is a lie that divides… our heart, making the condemning vision of ourselves our truth, never taking into account how God sees us. How the Lord sees us is, by far, the correct perspective.

         i’m Social Porter and this is Outposts, a semi-live broadcast from the deck area of a rural cafe overlooking the Ockluhwahhah River.

         Who are you anyway? We all know who we say we are, but in our heart of hearts, do we see Jesus staring back at us in the mirror, or do we see the eyes of Judas the traitor, imagining reproach in our own faces with tears of condemnation leaking from the corners of our eyes? Who does God say you are? Do you really believe it?

         Psalm 118:24, “This is the day the LORD has made; We will rejoice and be glad in it.” Friends, take it from someone with some hard-won wisdom, it is right nigh impossible to rejoice and be glad in the day which the Lord has made when all your thinking is busy being just an old, no-count sinner.

         Matt19:19 says to love your neighbor as you love yourself, not loathe your neighbor as you loathe yourself.

         Objective honesty is the truth according to God; Subjective honesty is the truth according to me. When our subjective truth is so negative, looming and large, as it apparently is in many, it diminishes the objective truth, so much so that it can be difficult to grasp what God says about us. i figure we can either be mind changers or simply be the ones with changing minds. Who are you anyway? And even more important… to whom do you belong… or who’s your daddy?

         i was raised in the southeastern United States… the Bible Belt. After i met the Lord in 1973, for more years than i can count, i was constantly, constantly, constantly told who i was not, what i did not, all that i could not, and everything i would not…i can’t remember but a scant handful of times in the first 30 years of my walk with the Lord that i ever heard anyone tell me how the Lord sees me, other than to say, “He loves you”, then quickly adding not to get too proud about it, lest you prove Prov16:18 true… you know… that part about pride going before a fall… then adding “And brother you’re pretty close so you better watch out!” My world was filled with watch out, be careful, and don’t.

         How long can we live in the subjective truth, the truth according to ourselves, while striving to rise above the constant pointing out that we are sinners? There is an incredible conflict in us which says i’m just an old sinner man and can never rise above my wrongness of character, and the other which is the perspective of God Himself who says we are beautiful and loveable. Maybe, when God says we are made righteous by the blood of Jesus, it’s just too good for most of us to bare… . because i feel badly about myself doesn’t change the fact that Jesus, by His blood on Calvary’s Hill, made those who believe on His name righteous. Just because it seems too good for me to bear, doesn’t make it not true. Romans 8:1, “Therefore, now, there is not even one bit of condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, for the law of the Spirit, that of the life in Christ Jesus, freed you once for all from the law of the sinful nature and of death.” There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

         Yes, we all fall short of the glory of God, great day, haven’t we constantly, day and night, been reminded of just how “no good” we are? What do we do then with the sacrifice of Jesus Christ? Is it enough? If we’re going to be under the law, of which no man is justified, made free or whole, then all we’ve got left is condemnation. If Jesus satisfied all the law, i must ask the question, Who’s side are you on? If we have tasted the grace of God and gone back to doing the law, the endurance and surrender of Christ is made of no effect and there is no other sacrifice to be made. We are free, by the blood of Jesus and no going back to Egypt allowed, if you catch my drift. We are either in the law camp of condemnation or the grace camp of Jesus.

         Did God speak to you…by His spoken word, through the church, or by His written word? Either way, i believe He certainly has spoken to you, one way or another… therefore, three questions really need to be answered. 1. You need to know, did God, indeed, speak to you? 2. What EXACTLY did He say? And 3. What are you going to do about it?

         i’d like to unfold those three important questions a little bit. There are people who don’t believe God speaks to anyone anymore, which if you take scripture seriously, that is silly. i figure He has a mouth, we have ears, why wouldn’t He speak to His kids? Maybe it’s more that many people think it’s too scary, or maybe they believe they are too low, insignificant, or sinful for God to speak to them… i find it peculiar that it’s not them who can’t hear, but God who doesn’t speak.

         So let’s suppose the Lord DOES speak to us… c’mon, play along… suppose He did. In that case, we’d have to follow His path of possibilities. If all things are possible with our God, as it says in Mark 10:27, then isn’t it possible He has spoken to you? AND… if He was speaking, it seems to logically follow, you’d probably want to better understand exactly what He was saying… right?… because you don’t want to misunderstand, add anything to His words or leave anything out. If He said to clean up your room, you wouldn’t want to turn it into cleaning everyone’s room all the way down the street, when He only asked you to clean up your own room. From there, we must pursue the Lord to know how to take action. He doesn’t talk to us just to hear Himself speak…it is for our benefit. It may take time to understand what to do, so be patient. One time, it took 9 years to conclude what was initially spoken to me by the Lord in a dream… as another example, it was a long time before Abraham and Sara saw the word of the Lord come to pass concerning Isaac.

         i believe a large part of the body of Christ is in the middle of an identity crisis. Our Savior is speaking to us, and one of the primary subjects He is speaking to us about is “Who are you anyway?” We’ve established that the Lord is indeed speaking to us… If you don’t believe it, read your Bible…God’s voice is loud and clear. What else does the Lord say about each of us other than our selective reading which only points out our short fallings?

         Years ago i saw a woman with a Bible in which she had taken a Sharpie Pen and blacked out all the scriptures she didn’t like… she had literally created a redacted Bible. i asked her why she had done that and she replied that some were too good to be true, and others were too cruel to be true and she just wanted to read the moderate parts because she was a very moderate person. Similarly, we can’t read a redacted Bible, only picking out the scriptures that point to our badness, and all our sins… we must read the rest of what God says about us… and those scriptures that seem too good to be true, if we are going to walk in sound doctrine, we must DO something with those verses and no longer continue to ignore them. The Lord HAS spoken to us, we have a record, and at the very least it’s good enough to understand what He’s saying, so now… what will we do with the entire counsel of God? Ummm… tough question there, huh?

         When we are constantly bombarded by information concerning what sinners we are, we can only hear just so many calamitous stories before they set a bias in our minds.  

         Ephesians 2:10, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”

         The word “workmanship” is originally a Greek word, “poiema”… it is where we get our English word for “poem”. Ephesians 2:10 tells us that we are God’s poetry, and if we are His poetry, it just doesn’t seem right for us to call bad what God has called good. If we, who belong to Christ are His poem, His righteous rhyme, and joy, who do we think we are to re-decide what God has declared?

         You, yes you are God’s poetry. He knows all your secrets, all the things you may not want anyone to ever know, yet He still loves you and would still like very much to have a never-ending conversation with you. Yes, i realize that if you were God, you maybe wouldn’t want to talk to someone like yourself, but you aren’t God, He is, and He has chosen to talk to you, that is if you have time. If you don’t have time now, believe me, eventually, you will have time and the Lord will be ready.

         For years, i was under the impression that the Lord was just barely able to contain Himself toward my smaller sins, though numerous and proliferate, but He wasn’t so quick to forgive concerning the larger ones. The implication was that if i didn’t get my act together, God would leave me for reprobate in the desert, so to speak, and there wouldn’t quite be enough of the Savior’s blood which could wash me clean from sin. That is NOT what the Lord says. We must do something with Psalm 103:11-12, “For as the heavens are high above the earth, So great is His mercy toward those who fear Him; As far as the east is from the west, He has removed our transgressions far from us.” It doesn’t say, as far as east is from west until it suits Him to go get them back to use as leverage against us, neither can we go fishing for them to bring them back to make ourselves pay over and over, being filled with regret. That is the way the devil thinks, NOT the way God thinks. Your sins have been thrown into the sea of forgetfulness…but just to be clear though… the phrase sea of forgetfulness is not actually in Scripture. When people mention the “sea of forgetfulness,” they are usually referring to several passages that talk about God’s forgiveness, and how when we are justified in Christ, God forgets our sins so completely that they might as well be buried at the bottom of an ocean. 

          The main passage that contains the idea of a sea of forgetfulness is Micah 7:19, “He will again have compassion on us, and will subdue our iniquities. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.”

         Isaiah 1:18, says, “God will make our scarlet sins as white as wool.” A sea of forgetfulness represents a place where our sins are sent so very far away from us, that they can no longer affect us.

         In light of that, the Lord sees you as a son, daughter, beloved, and friend. We’ve got to get the vision… out of our heads that the Lord is some tooth-gritting, raging galactic hurricane that can’t wait to burn desperate sinners, those monsters of iniquity to the ground. THAT is NOT God’s heart. Sure, He is holy and righteous, unwavering in excellence above all the earth, but the problem isn’t the way He sees us, it’s in how we see ourselves. 2 Corinthians 5:21, “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” A man recently said that Jesus used death to defeat death and became sin for us. He got what He did not deserve, death on a cross, that we would get what we do not deserve, righteousness. If God says, by His son we are righteous, just because we are uncomfortable with that, doesn’t make it any less true.

         C’mon church, let’s get a hold of this and see ourselves as the Lord sees us. 2 Cor 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” What part of all doesn’t mean all? All means all, not mostly, pretty much, or for the most part, and God is not kidding around. If we’re going to be balanced believers, walking in sound doctrine, then we must take ALL scripture into account, and if we’re going to do that, then we can’t continue to see ourselves as just an old sinner, barely scraping by into Heaven with the faint aroma of sulfur and brimstone on us because we so narrowly missed hell. Hebrews 7:25, “Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.” To barely get into Heaven means all powerful God very nearly couldn’t save us. Is there any part of you that His blood does not cover? If not, that is to say, the blood of Jesus, the Son of God, was insufficient. He could save others, but couldn’t quite save you. Really? C’mon, really?

         That’s absurd. What is it your eyes see that you think God’s eyes do not? Maybe you feel you’ve somehow walked far from the Lord and the world has inserted itself into your thinking… nevertheless, the Lord has not stopped calling after you,

“Come home!” Maybe you’re afraid God will be mad at you. In Is54:9, the Lord says He will no longer be angry with us. i can assure you, having wandered away myself, the true heart of God says, “I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance”, Luke 15:7.

         Maybe you feel surely you are lost for good, but i can guarantee you, God knows exactly where you are, and you have not escaped His attention… you’re not just some old no-count sinner… don’t call foul what God has declared sanctified… the Father knows His children and calls them by name…and He calls you by name. The Lord is confident in His ability to love you back from the edge of destruction and has made a way for you to find your way home and be welcomed with open arms.

         i read somewhere that your worth and value are not determined by the popular clique group that rejects you! Ultimately, not what YOU think, but what does God think of you… THAT’S where the buck stops… with God. If we’re going to be in a club, all we have to do is believe we are all right and everyone else is wrong. But to be a Christian, we have to believe we are all wrong, and there is only One who is right. If He says you are more than a conqueror, then take Him at His word and believe it. What…have you got… to lose? To say anything is “just” this or “just” that… is a subtle way of belittling, as a result, in the mind of many believers, not only are they sinners, but out of their mouths comes a further belittling of themselves by being “just old sinners”. Start speaking life to yourself in the mirror every day.

         Acts 10:15 has a powerful statement we should apply to ourselves… “What God has cleansed you must not call common.” The word “common”, in this case, means profane. From God’s perspective, if we are His poetry, His beloved, who are we to re-decide His decision, calling ourselves profane? He says we are lovely, we say we are just ugly sinners. God says we are beloved, we say we are just sinners, barely liked, much less loved. God says we are righteous in Christ, we say we are sinners and don’t deserve anything good.

         You can snuff out all the flaming missiles from hell with your shield of faith, and you, yes you are a child of God, born of the incorruptible seed of the Word of God which lives and abides forever. Amen. And that’s just a start.

         Because for so many years i went through an identity crisis, over the years i’ve compiled a list of who God says i am. i hope you’ll adopt these for yourself as i have.

         You, yes you can do all things through Jesus Christ, you are complete in Him who is the head of all principality and power. Did you know you are alive in Christ, free from the law of sin and death? You totally are! You are far from oppression and fear is not part of your makeup. 1 John 5:18 says you are born of God and evil does not touch you… You are made of Holy Ghost teflon and the curses of darkness do not stick to you. Prov 26:2 is the truth, a curse does not stick without a cause, and Jesus has made it so there is no cause for curses to cling to you. Eph1:4 says you are holy and without blame before the Lord in love. We can not curse what God has blessed, just ask Balaam… read his story in Numbers 22. If Balaam couldn’t curse what God had blessed, then we need a different story in our mouths about ourselves than being “just a sinner”.

         You have the mind of Christ, and the peace of God in you passes all understanding… God said so, therefore it is true. 1 John 4:4 says you have the Greater One living in you… confess every day to yourself, if necessary, that greater is He Who is in me than he who is in the world. Tell yourself that as often as necessary until you get it down…in… your… head!

         You really really do have the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Jesus Christ, and, yes, actually actually, the eyes of your understanding have been opened.

         You are a new creation in Christ, new, all new, never been another you like you are now. You are alive in Christ, fully alive, not just barely getting by, and the light of the gospel shines in your mind and heart. You are blessed in your actions and are a doer of the Word of God. Not only are you more than a conqueror, but according to 2 Cor 5:21, you ARE the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ. You are either righteous or you’re not… if you’re only mostly righteous then you’re not righteous… according to the Lord, if you believe in Jesus Christ, God calls you righteous… that may seem too good to be true, but it is true because the Lord said so.

         Who are you anyway? Just an old sinner, sludging along like some desperate bunker dweller, or are you who God says you are, an overcomer by the Blood of the Lamb, and an ambassador for Christ? 1 Peter 2:9, “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession, that you may proclaim the excellency’s of Him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”

         You are beautiful in the eyes of your Heavenly Father, beautiful and beloved as Jesus is beautiful and beloved. You are blood brother to the Son of God, not some no-count sinner. Lift up your chin church, stand up straight and put one foot in front of another, any day can be your new day to begin walking in your calling.

         Drive carefully this week, think about what you spend your time thinking about. Be consistent and repeatable, we are almost home. Amen, and amen!

Ugh! Mammon! What a word… the more i say it the more the word feels like something very unpleasant in my mouth. The way it is used in scripture speaks of more than just money, which is what most of us have been taught… it is more than just money, it is a heart posture, a soul focus and money is more a result than a cause.

A few years ago the Lord began speaking to me of mammon, what it means, how it impacts things, and why, if Christians are so taken with the Lord, can we get so entangled with this ugly… thing… mammon… it is a real golden calf of sorts. Getting in bed with mammon eventually makes us someone of constant sorrows, afterall, without Jesus, there is no real happiness in the end. And yes, i realize “happy” is a very subjective word, but, God is happy, so i believe His desire is for us to be joyful and happy also.

Mammon elevates us in the moment, it spikes and then trails off in a negative direction… it starts high and then the thrill deteriorates until the next high… like drug use… we spend so much time trying to get back that initial spike of exhilaration, as a result, little by little we, pursue our devotion to stuff, and things, or for some maybe, the possibilities of fame and power, but it never quite becomes as satisfying and delicious as the first time we encountered “mammon”.

In the days of old, if a man was caught being disobedient to a cruel lord of the land, sometimes, the master would have a dead body tied to the living man, and through contagion, which is the communication of disease by direct or indirect contact of dead things with living things, the man would eventually die a terrible death. If we hold “mammon” to ourselves, it will eat a hole in our pocket, and upon laying against us… all the terrible soul-sicknesses will begin to invade us, inserting themselves into our thinking, making us become dull-eared, dim-eyed, and thick-skinned toward the Lord. It won’t be long until we are “distant” from God, and we’ll wonder how we got so far from home… never meaning to have become so removed, yet there we are. Mammon is sneaky and insidious, and hell knows mankind can easily get sucked into an addiction to it.

This evening’s topic is “mammon”, absorbing and grave, personified and opposed to God.

Mammon! It even sounds like something i want no part of…The Lord calls it a way of death. As previously mentioned, it is absorbing, grave, insidious, personified, and opposed to God. Cunning and deceitful, it looks good at first and reassures us all things are well as we are slowly swallowed alive down the vortex of the never-ending gullet of a world without God. Like a child playing with a very dangerous toy, the Lord says to us, specifically and plainly, “Don’t touch that! Mammon and all it represents is bad for you and everyone in the sphere of your influence. Put it down and don’t handle it!” Mammon can easily be represented by the character Gollum in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, when coveting the one ring, calling it, “My precious!!”

Early on, believers in Christ began to use the word “mammon” in a way that expressed contempt and disapproval… it also was used in reference to gluttony, excessive materialism, greed, and unjust worldly gain. Amongst mammon’s subset of qualities is covetousness, which says “i want what i have and what you have too.” Covetousness is idolatry because mammon is idolatry at its core.

Colossians 3:5, “And that means killing off everything connected with that way of death: sexual promiscuity, impurity, lust, doing whatever you feel like whenever you feel like it, and grabbing whatever attracts your fancy. That’s a life shaped by things and feelings instead of by God.”

Those words, “doing whatever you feel like whenever you feel like it, and grabbing whatever attracts your fancy,” is the foundational attitude representing the idea of mammon.

Go ahead… say the word to yourself a few times… feel the way your mouth makes the letters… the word has a stop in the middle meaning you’ve got to stop saying one thing to start saying something else. To me, it’s just ugly to say out loud. More importantly, watch the vision in your head when you say the word… slowly, several more times… i don’t know about you, but i see dark clouds, encroaching dire gravity, weights not wings, which sing us a lullaby to doze us off while regret grows gently around our feet, binding up our courage and growing roots through the foundations of our confidence… it is like a dark, circumvoluted path that is riveting to our soul… mammon finds life in us like a seed planted in a rock wall… when it grows, roots break down our barriers and eventually tumble our fortress defenses.

The use of the word isn’t so much about what you’ve got, but more what you trust in… the word comes with a leaning toward vices that spring from idolatry and are peculiar to its practices… another word that comes to mind is avarice… mammon breeds covetousness and avarice. Hear this: friends, these are the days of the golden calf, something to worship other than the Lord… glittering, shiny, just… dazzling, and many of us get so lost in the dazzle… money dazzle, eye candy dazzle, everything, even architecture is just dazzling and hypnotic.

Col 3:5, as translated by Kenneth Weust, a noted Christian New Testament Greek scholar of the mid-Twentieth century reads, “By a once-and-for-all act, and at once, put to death your members which are upon the earth: fornication, impurity, depraved passion, wicked craving, and avarice which is of such a nature as to be idolatry;”

There should be an incredibly poisonous snake named avarice which, when bitten, we die an unhalting, slow, agonizing death by which only the blood of Jesus can arrest its continual march to stop our hearts.

The root word for mammon comes from a Hebrew word which means “your treasure, what you lay up or store up.” It’s the same root word for what Isaiah 33:6 calls “treasure”. This is important to understand: A literal translation of the word “treasure” means the head and heart are connected by the things we pursue… i’ll say it again, treasure means the head and heart are connected by the things we pursue.

We all realize there is nothing wrong with “treasure”, but when our treasure becomes our god, now we have problems. The obsession with greed and treasure was so great, many early believers held mammon to be personified as a demon. It was seen as just that powerful.

When we are “near” God, there is no room for the subtle and corrupt things of the world to get a grip in us to grow, but when we are “far” from the Lord, the world inserts itself into our thinking through the cracks in our character, like a snake in the grass, it just slips along until it starts influencing all our thinking. Mammon is about who or what you have confidence in, and in the case of Luke 16:13, Jesus counsels us to either be on the left or be on the right, but we can’t be in both places.

In a believer, mammon breeds chaos. The word Babylon is first used in 1 Kings 17:24, literally meaning confusion and chaos. People who try to do both grace and law, with one foot in the New Testament and one foot in the old, have a heart of Babylon, or confusion… we can’t do the law and grace at the same time. 1Cor15:56 says the strength of sin is the law, and if we have tasted the grace of God which came by Jesus Christ, then according to Gal5:4, we have gone backward and lost our hold on grace. i think Babylon and mammon live on the same street and are close neighbors.

Luke 16:13, “No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.”

Serving the Lord requires the surrender of our worldly ways, humility to get low, and the relinquishing of our past lives for a better one which He will lead us into. This world we live in beckons us to live in such a way, our attitude is: ‘I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods. I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.” So, don’t worry about anything, you’ll be dead soon, so what does it matter? The Lord says in Prov 14:12, “There is a way that seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death.” God doesn’t ask for our heart so He can prevent us from having good things, but so He can position us to actually have good things which cause us to live, not die.

Jeremiah 24:7, “Then I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am the LORD; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God, for they shall return to Me with their whole heart.”

Love says, “Give me your heart.” Mammon says, “NO! Give it to me!”

In Jeremiah 24:7 is a word that is the 12th most used verb in the O.T… it’s the word “return”… and better than any other verb, it combines in itself the two requisites of repentance: to turn from evil and to turn toward the good, and that is Godly good, not just good as the world understands. The Lord beckons to us to give Him our heart, yet the world we live in croons to us to join in its dark, godless state and leave the Lord out of everything we do.

If mammon and avarice were a large, corporate service provider, i think their advertisements and sales pitch would sound like this:

“We at Mammon and Company thrive on facilitating a belief system which serves people’s needs… right away. Most have a mortgage, a family, and, according to them, an extremely demanding job. People DON’T want a religion that complicates their lives with unreasonable ethical and moral demands. Mammon and Company has done the research… we find that God requires a huge amount of commitment concerning things like “single-deity” clauses, compulsory goodness, and a never-ending litany of over-spiritualized, mystifying mumbo-jumbo. It’s no wonder people are switching over to Mammon and Company. We know we aren’t the biggest player in the spiritual race, but our ability to deliver on our promises is… well, unique, and our moral flexibility is absolutely unmatchable. Why? Because you deserve to enjoy life – guilt-free.”

That was a parody, but can you hear the insidious, near reasonableness of the creative advertisement? … that is if you don’t think about it, letting the world appeal to your needs, pointing out how you don’t have what you want, and that they can fulfill all your needs, just give mammon your heart.

Love says, “Give me your heart,” mammon greedily says, “No! Give it to me!”

Love says, “Be content with what you’ve got.” Mammon says, “Get everything you can by hook or crook.”

Where is your treasure? Jesus said in Luke 12:34, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Friends, let us cease our efforts to gain prominence, positions, titles, possessions, manufactured personas, and a greedy grabbing for the supernatural. It is the Lord’s good pleasure to give us the Kingdom, stop being afraid, it is His choice to give it to us. Make a provision from your wealth and give to the poor; provide for yourselves money-bags which don’t deteriorate with use, a treasure which is unfailing, in the heavens, where a thief can’t get in, not even a clothes-moth can destroy, for where your treasure is, there also is your heart.

Many years ago, i was having a hard time sorting out what spiritual direction to go. i wondered where my heart was on some very real issues. As i dropped the plows into the ground one day, over the roar of the tractor i plainly heard the Lord say, “If you can’t find your heart, go look for your treasure… your heart will be laying around there somewhere.” Again, where is your treasure?

Mammon says to grab all you can, get it for yourself, and only share if it means an increase in your profit margin. Most wealthy people aren’t wealthy because they are so generous you know… and that amazingly cool guy that is a Christian music producer…you know, the one who is so interested in your project? Remember, he probably doesn’t drive a fancy car and have a suite on Hollywood and Vine because he’s such a good guy.

1 Timothy 6:7-9, “for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.”

Love says, “Be honest and just.” Mammon says “Cheat your own father if you can gain by it.”

It’s always about what you can get, even if you have to step on the neck of the person in front of you.

Love says in Philippians 4:8, “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honest, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”

Mammon says to not worry if it is true, who cares if there’s any honesty as long as you’ve got your legal paperwork done, no one really wants justice, purity isn’t relative today; it says life is most beautiful when you’ve got yours and theirs too, always commend yourself first. Mammon says that having what you want when you want is true excellence, and always remember, you and only you are worthy of all praise, you are your own beginning and end… constantly think of these things.

God and mammon are completely opposed. Love says, “Be giving.” Mammon says, “Hold tight to what you’ve got!” Love says open your hand, releasing the provision God has provided to those around you. Mammon says let others fend for themselves. They’ll get what they deserve, and it serves them right.

The Lord says in Proverbs 25:21, “If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat, and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink,”

Mammon says if your enemy is hungry, too bad, this is my food and water and you don’t get any… well, unless you want to work a deal… what have you got in mind?

Jesus said in Luke 6:30, “Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back.” Mammon says take from the one who begs, and from the one who steals, prosecute them till they drop and take all their stuff.

In the “meaning of things”, the dictionary doesn’t give significance to your words, nor is your content and context derived from some approving agencies’ board members, sitting in their high places, vowing and disavowing potential ministers and ministries. In the eyes of the Lord, we are not defined by our stuff, but by Christ who lives in our hearts. If our hands are influenced by mammon, we will have shut up riches and closed hands, we will become narrow-eyed, tight-lipped, and our mind will become darkened and dull… thick-skinned toward the Lord.

In 2001 i was at church one Sunday and as i walked out that afternoon, i had an open vision. In front of my face, as plain as day i say in full technicolor, a man’s hand… it was open, palm up, and had a nail hole at the heel of the hand. The open vision was only for a couple seconds, and honestly, for a moment, i wasn’t sure what had just happened and wondered if i had actually seen what i thought i had seen. When the vision happened, it was like a light blue wind pushed through my person and rocked me backward a little, but yet i had no understanding nor application for the vision. Only in the last 2 years, have i begun to understand what i saw. The Lord has opened His hand to whomsoever will receive from Him.

Matthew 10:8, “… Freely you have received, freely give…” and Acts 20:35, “…. the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”

i believe somehow, we typically find ourselves somewhere in the middle between Love and mammon. On one hand, we have a heart to give, and on the other hand, we would really like to have something for ourselves. We say titles and validation don’t matter, but secretly, more than a few wish for those things. Friends, we need to balance the equation, so to speak.

Within us, we have conflicts on many levels that are being allowed to continue unchallenged. A question for us all: How has the love of “stuff” and an idolatrous dedication to possessing whatever we can invade our thinking and being? Think about it.

Love says, “Be anxious for nothing.” Mammon says, “Be careful for everything!”

Luke 12:22-23, “And he said to his disciples, “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing.” But mammon says to watch every possession like a hawk, be greedy with everything.

The Lord denounces the blind watchmen in Isaiah 56:11, “Yes, they are greedy dogs which never have enough. And they are shepherds Who cannot understand; They all look to their own way, Every one for his own gain, From his own territory.”

Do you see it? Driven by the insidious, cunning, deceitful way of death called mammon, those watchmen found themselves in opposition to God. We either have our feet on God’s side, or on mammon’s side, but we cannot straddle the divide with one foot on each side… it tears us apart, and we end up in chaos and confusion.

The contrast of Love vs. Mammon, was something i found, in Matthew Henry’s Commentary. i was so impacted by, what has been called, the simplicity, strength, and pregnancies of the expressions in his short piece on God and mammon, i thought it valuable to bring it up at this juncture.

Love says, “Be careful for nothing.” Mammon says, “Be careful for everything!”, Love says, “Be giving.” Mammon says, “Hold tight to what you’ve got!”, Love says, “Be content with what you’ve got.” Mammon says, “Get everything you can by fair or foul.”, Love says, “Be honest and just.” Mammon says “Cheat your own father if you can gain by it.”, Love says, “Give me your heart.” Mammon says, “NO! Give it to me!”. There is a lot to think about there.

The Lord calls each of us to be anxious for nothing, to be giving and content with what we’ve got, to be honest, to love the truth and justice, and above all give the Lord our heart. We are bid to consider carefully… to choose this day whom you will serve. The ball is in your court… how do you plead?

Be strong and courageous, pray for your neighbor, be a cheerful resource of hope and strength for those who are in short supply, and i’ll talk to you later. Amen.

On a side note, it seems so much of our time is spent on things of lesser importance, sort of like the anxiety about sanctuary carpet color, knowing the 25 little-known Harry Potter facts, or maybe doing a study on the average length of lampshades in America. i must admit i’m pretty surprised and fascinated by the things people seem to think is so important. Like it’s more important to take an online quiz to find out what kind of potato you would be, if you were a potato, than it is to pick up the phone and have a short conversation with someone who needs to hear an encouraging voice today. Things of lesser importance seem to have completely distracted our entire nation…. another example – many seem to be overly concerned about the number of likes they get on Facebook, overly concerned if someone is texting them or not, whether or not they are wearing an acceptable style of clothing, being pre-occupied over if so-and-so saw me would they like my hair, etc, etc till the stomach turns.

We’d all do better by learning to ask ourselves –“what is critically significant in life”- and to recognize the things of lesser importance we are caught up in which cause us to miss out on what is truly important. It seems like it’s easier to watch a silly reality show than it is to spend a little time reading the Bible. i suppose our preferences are a pretty strong indicator concerning our relationship with God, wouldn’t you say?

Over time, the Lord has given me some little, hard-won wisdoms, and this evening i’d like to cover a few of what i’ve gathered.

1. The first little wisdoms on my list of “notes to myself” is the idea that “God comes TO us before He goes THROUGH us.”

To me that means we must become possessors and not simply professors – we must actually possess Christ, not just proclaim or maintain that He lives within our hearts while remaining clueless as to who He is and what He means when He says what He says. It also means we can know all about Hebrew and Greek and the Bible, yet rarely if ever do we connect with God. One of the saddest things i’ve ever seen is a man graduating seminary with a master of divinity, but he’s more lost today than he was when he started. Lately, i’ve been using a phrase to describe the response of many believers to deeper discussions of our faith…. that phrase is “white noise”. You may ask… maybe…what is white noise?

White noise is like tuning your radio to a place where there’s no station and nothing but the hiss of the radio…. no signal…. no music…. no nothing, just the sound of soft, consistent static. It can also mean, “random talk without meaningful content”. When we possess Christ, within ourselves we have a response. When we merely profess Christ and come to times of necessary response, we either give no response, or we only offer cheap, shallow talk with no meaningful content. i consider it a great disappointment when other believers have the opportunity to enter into a deeper conversation about God, but instead of being inquisitive, asking questions, and searching out answers, they bow up in pride, act all huffy, as if someone told them they were stupid, and either storm off, or just stare at you in silence.

1 Peter 3:15-16, “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give an answer to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear; 16 having a good conscience, that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed.”

He comes TO us before He goes thru us so our answers aren’t merely academic, but truly Spirit-driven.

2. Another little wisdom is that “we seem to often confuse character with accomplishment”.

True, our conduct influences our character, and our character most definitely influences our conduct, but so often…. it seems…i find myself believing that if i could just do such-n-such, then i must be a good person, or, i might say to myself that i do good therefore i should get good. You know, even the worst people can do good things, and just because we do good things from time to time doesn’t mean we are people of Godly character. God’s idea of good works, isn’t about the good thing that was done but about the righteous heart behind the works. Even the worst sinners can do good things, but only the righteous are considered to have good works.

Matt 7:11 says that even those with a corrupt conscience know how to give good things to their children. In Christ alone is my character built, not just in doing some good things. i say it is always the right time to do the right thing….believe me, doing the right thing, even when it’s to our own hurt, takes Godly character. Testify. Let us reveal to the world our Godly character and not stop short of that unveiling by only declaring to them our accomplishments.

3. The next little wisdom is about forgiveness, which seems to be a repetitive and difficult lesson for many of us. “Forgiveness is not so much about the other person but about us as individuals.”

For as long as we don’t forgive, we stay chained to the other person, or persons, in the offense of the circumstances. Forgiveness restores the standard and good boundaries maintain that same standard of righteousness.

In 2 Timothy4, we read about how Paul, who was publicly confronted by Alexander the coppersmith, was called upon to give his self-defense at a preliminary trial. But when he stood to testify, no one stood with him as a friend. No-show friends seem pretty common these days, which means we must resolve to follow Christ, regardless of who clicks like on our Facebook page, or gives us verbal cudo’s when we need propping up. Then Paul says, “May it not be put to their account.” Even though all his friends were a no-show, he asked the Lord to not lay it to their charge. So what standard was restored by his forgiveness, even though scripture is silent as to anyone even asking for forgiveness?

i believe it was the standard of mercy and grace. His feelings were hurt by the no-show friends, but he chose to exercise grace and prayed that the Lord would not count it against them. Friends, there will be times in your life when support doesn’t show up – it’s not IF it will happen, it’s when it happens…. in light of that, how will you react? i like to think Paul knew they didn’t show up because they were afraid, and by his employing mercy and grace… he let it go. When friends don’t do what they say, let’s have grace for them and allow their offense to slide off our backs, knowing that God is faithful to address their issues in His time. Consider….the Lord was and is merciful and exercises grace toward us when we are unresponsive towards Him. God is generous, let us be generous also.

4. Here’s a little wisdom: “Silence can speak volumes if we’re willing to listen.”

Now i’ll be the first to admit, silence from any corner can be trying, but rather than object loudly to the silence, how about we listen to hear what’s underneath? Like “white noise”… rather than only hearing the non-response…. let’s go the extra mile to listen for what’s underneath it…and you KNOW there is a lot going on beneath the surface of silence.

Luke 14:3-4, “And Jesus, answering, spoke to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?” 4 But they kept silent. And He took him and healed him, and let him go.” What was underneath their silence?

Ok, now this is just what i think, but i believe they were astounded by the position in which Jesus had placed them, and being unable to discover some means of saving face they simply remained silent, at which point Jesus healed the man, and since the man was evidently not one of the invited guests to dinner, the Lord sent him on his way. i believe their silence was about saving face. i believe their silence was about unbelief, and not knowing how to respond concerning was Jesus really who He said He was. It was about the fact that they couldn’t say it was not lawful, for the law didn’t forbid it. If it had, they surely would have spoken up. Jesus presented the opportunity for protest … and right in front of them was the perfect time to make objections if they had any… right now was the time to object and not after the man was healed. But yet, they were silent. Maybe it wasn’t so much that they objected to someone being healed, but more WHO was doing the healing.

Oftentimes, if we could hear what is in the silence of those around us, quite possibly we would find good reason to exercise great grace. Silence speaks loudly if we are willing to listen. Maybe fear holds people silent more often than we think; maybe most people really don’t know what to say – so they say nothing. We really, really need to learn to listen beyond just the words. i think maybe we’ve been taught to speak and to speak well, but it is rare to meet someone who has been taught to listen.

i’d like to add a twist to the “little wisdom” of “silence speaks loudly if we’re willing to listen”, and that is the side note that silence is not ALWAYS golden. For example, when someone is mad at us and they may give us the silent treatment. This kind of silence, however, usually means they are playing a cruel game of “who can care less, the most, the longest”. And to add further complication to the idea that silence speaks volumes if we’re willing to listen, what do we do with the Silence Of God? Oooo! Profound question there. i have a small amount of wisdom on that…..i’m afraid it’s not much, but here it is: When God is silent, let us wait patiently knowing He will indeed answer, letting strength rise as we wait, learning to live well where we are until the Lord replies. And know this, He is faithful… He WILL reply.

5. “Anytime we “turn on the light of truth, somebody is sure to cry”.

Or, i suppose that could be restated as “You can rest assured that anytime we present the Good News of Jesus Christ, someone will find a reason to object.” Let’s not worry if someone is going to feel hurt when we are truthful about the gospel …..it is necessary that we testify. The gospel of Christ rocks people’s boats, it unbalances their world perspective, it shifts the earth plates in all their agendas, and unclutters chaotic thinking…. in light of that, someone is going to be disturbed and troubled. As preposterous as it sounds, we must realize that there are people who actually thrive in chaos, they Godlessly prosper in a perfect storm. God is not surprised, and when it happens, we need to keep our focus on presenting the gospel, and not be swept into silence because we are afraid of what others will think. i have often found myself being the generator of “white noise”, or non-response – just the noise of nothing but moving air, and oh gosh, haven’t i left a discussion only to repent later for my silence on behalf of the gospel? Truth be told, i was afraid of the potential confrontation and didn’t feel i had a good reply at the moment or maybe i was afraid the people in the discussion wouldn’t like me, which would mean they might not speak to me anymore. Either way, at the core of my non-response, i was afraid.

1 Peter 3:16, “Having a good conscience; that, whereas they speak evil of you, as of evildoers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ.” The world often sees the Gospel as scrutinizing, and any time we turn on the light of Christ and the world feels scrutinized, somebody is gonna cry.

Psalm 30:5, “…The Lord’s favor is for life; Weeping may endure for a night, But joy comes in the morning.”

6. Here is wisdom we should all heed: “An oath is only as good as the person behind it”.

The moment someone says to me, “I swear it’s the truth,” immediately i have red flags of doubt go up. Chances are good that my red flags of doubt go up because so often in the past my experience has been when someone swears something is the truth, loud, long, and often, it has typically not been the truth. As a result, i tend to project into the future what i’ve learned from the past, meaning due to history i tend to doubt someone who makes an oath and swears up and down it’s true. “An oath is only as good as the person behind it” and once someone has proven themselves to be unreliable in keeping their word, i believe it is nearly, if not probably impossible to become expressly and exclusively trustworthy again. It’s like there never fades this little inkling, a little thin shadow of doubt. It’s as if once we violate trust, even if for years we prove ourselves to be of reliable and faithful character, there will often seem to be a little thing in the back of people’s minds that will niggle at them to not be so trusting.

Many people will swear by God….on someone’s grave, or even swear by some false god as to their truth and sincerity, and then they’ll say if they fail to keep their oath they will expect some kind of punishment should they either be lying or fail to live up to their pledge.

Friends, there is no such thing as “personal truth”. There is only one truth, Jesus. Also, i think this is wisdom….if you don’t have to swear and make an oath, then don’t.

Let’s be very careful with all our swearing and declaring, James 5:12 reads, “But above all, my brethren, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath. But let your “Yes,” be “Yes,” and your “No,” “No,” lest you fall into hypocrisy.”

And really… above that, the truth is… we should put our trust in no one BUT the Lord for He alone is sovereignly faithful. In fact, the Lord is so confident in His ability to do all that He says, we see God swearing by himself in Genesis 22:16, swearing by his holiness in Psalm 89:35. In Isaiah62:8 the Lord is seen swearing by his right hand (the right hand being the hand of prosperity), and swearing by his great name in Jeremiah 44:26…..all that in order that He might stress the absolute certainty and immutability of His performing that which He swore. The Lord is the most reliable person in the entire universe and if He promises anything, we can stake our lives on it; He does not fail. God is good for His promises and truly, He is as good as His oath.

Think about it.

Let wisdom sink down into your soul, and notice, it is subtle, and most of the time the wisdom the Lord gives us doesn’t first appear as earth-shattering, but as it unfolds in our lives, we see the face of God, His glory rising in our hearts……it is there to help us navigate life, sort of like …..it is wise to learn to make small talk….if we don’t learn the art of small talk, we’ll probably miss seeing the green shoots of grace which grow in people’s back yards.

And to that i’ll say, think about it….amen.

             i fully believe the Lord is talking to us, one way or another, all the time. Sometimes it’s in whispers and dreams, maybe a few resonant words in the middle of a conversation or a song lyric…. other times loud and clear, that is, if we’ve got our ear to the ground and are interested in what He’s got to say.

John 16:13, “But when the Friend comes, the Spirit of the Truth, he will take you by the hand and guide you into all the truth there is. He won’t draw attention to himself, but will make sense out of what is about to happen and, indeed, out of all that I have done and said.”

If we are interested in the Lord, He will guide our way. His word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path.

This discussion this evening is concerning another four little wisdoms which the Lord has given to me, wisdom gleaned through blood, sweat, and tears…

Without wisdom, we are dead in the water, just wild beasts standing in the wind and rain, knowing we are wet and cold, but not knowing what to do about it. i had some cattle many years ago, and i can remember looking out the kitchen window one morning through a downpour of snow and sleet and seeing some of the cattle standing up on a hillside, their backs to the wind, with what looked to me like misery on their faces, and snow and ice stuck to their backs. Don’t worry, cattle are usually pretty good outside down to about -30 below zero, and that morning it was 10 degrees above, nevertheless, cold and wet is cold and wet no matter how you cut it. While watching them in the moment i had to chuckle to myself thinking how they looked like people without wisdom or understanding, in that the look on their faces seemed to say they were cold, wet, and miserable, but really had no idea what to do about it. i imagined one looking at the other and remarking, “Boy it sure is cold and wet!” and the other saying back, “Yea, it sure is…i’m very unhappy, but i don’t know what to do….gosh, it’s really cold and wet.” …then letting out a pitiful moan or two with the conversation just going round and round as they rolled their large soft, wet eyes at each other, lost in their circular thinking. Similarly, without wisdom and understanding, we too, tend to just sit in our unhappy places, wonder how we got there, but don’t know what to do about it. Sounds like it’s prime time to ask the Lord for wisdom and understanding wouldn’t you say?

1. “Never contend with a contentious man. Let him go his way.”

The first little wisdom of this evening was born out of a few long-running difficult situations of my own, similar to what the New Testament Christians found themselves in during the time of Roman occupation when the religious people of the world were being confronted by the presence of the Savior of mankind.

Jesus was active in His ministry and it was obvious just by His presence in the room, He tended to make the room feel pressed to choose if they were on God’s side, or their own side. Many loved Him, many just liked Him, and many hated Him with unfounded and profound anger that they couldn’t seem to explain other than He prevented them from making a profit or breaking their traditions. The old church paradigm was shifting, a Savior had been born, and as can be read throughout the four gospels, people were hungry for what Jesus had but yet they were very uncomfortable with what He represented.

Matt 26 gives an account where Jesus has been dragged before the chief priests, elders, and all the council was just looking for something to accuse Him of, even if it wasn’t true so they could justify putting Him to death. In all their searching, they found no one at first who would say lies about the Lord. Eventually, two came forward to testify against Jesus, and it was all the chief priest needed. The leadership invented stuff when they could find no fault. They were a contentious lot….how dare anyone disrupt their personal agendas and religious system!

When they questioned Jesus, the Lord answered not a word, even when the high priest demanded an answer, declaring Jesus was under oath by the living God, spitting and raging. When Jesus did speak, it was all the high priest needed and the council declared Jesus deserving of death. Then they spat in His face and beat Him, striking Him with their open hands, taunting and ridiculing Him, yet He answered not a word.

In Matt 17, when Pilate, a contentious man in his own right, was troubled in his heart about Jesus, made his own inquiry. Matthew 27:13-14, “Then Pilate said to Him, “Do You not hear how many things they testify against You?” But He answered him not one word so that the governor marveled greatly.”

When in the middle of my own dealings with difficult people, the Lord has spoken to me, “Do not go to the mat and wrestle with this person. Do not contend with a contentious man, just let him go his way.” And you’ve gotta understand, this doesn’t mean someone who merely challenges our thinking or doctrine, but someone who is consistently contrary, always has a beef about something, and spares no efforts to make sure you know they’re contrary. Someone who controls the conversation and even when what you’re saying makes sense, they naturally take the counterpoint. Contrary i tell ya, just contrary, as if they just neeeeed the conflict.

When we are accused, it is hard to not reply, but remember, just because we are accused doesn’t mean we must defend ourselves. Jesus did not have a defense because He did not carry an offense, He held no toxic waste in His heart towards anyone. For me, when i have employed this wisdom of the Lord, it was a hard-won wisdom…i carried many offenses so it was hard to not make a reply. Proverbs 26:21, “As charcoal is to burning coals, and wood to fire, So is a contentious man to kindle strife.” Friends, do not contend with a contentious man…let him go his way.

 2.    “We want a foreseeable, calculated outcome and a predictable crisis, but that’s not the nature of faith.”

Most of life is not lived in crisis, which is a good thing….but crisis does have something to say for itself: In a time of crisis, everything, absolutely everything is important and significant. Every little word has impact, every raindrop, every short breath, every anxious moment…. it all is important and significant. i don’t believe anyone, anywhere, anytime looks forward to, nor asks for a crisis of faith in their lives, but i have an observation about that… it seems to me, a crisis in our lives, as navigated by the Lord only serves to refine us and make us better. But as for the world…at this very moment in time, they are in crisis with no clue how to curb it all.

i worked for a large manufacturing company in the late 1980s and 90s. During those years i saw many ideas rise and fall, but one thing stood out among others, management was always and forever working to predict profit, loss, and failure….it’s called risk management, which is calculated in an effort to try to prevent financial ruin. Nevertheless, those on the manufacturing floor were continually driven, by management, as if there was a constant crisis and jobs were at stake.

But faith simply doesn’t work like that. Within myself, i find i am more than willing to take a chance on God when i can somewhat see the possibilities of what might go wrong, but exercising confidence and hope in Jesus doesn’t work that way. i find that if i could accurately gauge what my losses would be, the more willing i am to step out on the water like Peter did in Matt 14:29. i believe most people, who would rather “play it safe”, are so worried they might get it wrong, might be seen as foolish or stupid, or judged harshly by others, so much so that they never move out into God’s destiny for them. Always playing it safe is a fear-filled lifestyle.

Most believers really do have something to say, but very few of them actually get around to saying it. It is safe to remain quiet, and risky to voice what’s on your heart. Faith rarely, if ever, provides an avenue to calculate the outcome in order to measure the failure potential. With God in your picture, all bets are off as to a predictable outcome, other than He will accomplish His purposes, and we don’t necessarily know them. i think what we find so difficult to believe is that with the Lord, even if you get it wrong or sound foolish, He is with you and makes all things work together for good to those who love Him, to those who are called according to His purpose. With the Lord, there is no percentage of failure to calculate, and we must be willing to trust God and take a chance which, somehow, usually looks like a longshot. Yet, if we don’t take a chance and step out on the water, the longer we “play it safe” waiting for a calculatable outcome and a predictable crisis, the more we increase towards becoming despondent and disheartened, which is what Dr. Martin Luther King called the “fatigue of despair”.

Faith does not work within the box of a worldly business model where we play it safe and minimize our crisis potential. A crisis of faith is necessary for making faith a surety for us. 2Cor12:9″My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Most, especially when we are not allowed a measurable outcome, nor a predictable crisis, believe that in God’s strength, we are more than conquerors, for God has a way of wringing good out of our most uncomfortable circumstances. It’s time to walk on water friends!

3.     “Convenience short circuits conflict, which seems good, but convenience never produces character.” Dealing with our internal conflicts may seem inconvenient and uncomfortable, but not dealing with them solves a grand total of zero challenges and it is increasingly hard on our mental and physical health.

Convenience is about saving someone time, effort, resources, frustration, or maybe even responsibility…it also short-circuits obedience and spiritual growth too.

Having heated with wood for years, i’ll be the first to say going out, cutting wood, splitting wood, stacking wood, bringing it into the house as needed, only to have the heat level spike and then taper, over time, back to being chilly again, is really inconvenient, especially if you’re like me and you can always think of something else you’d rather do. Having an armload of firewood, walking in the snow to only fall down and get snow all down your boots is very inconvenient, especially when you’re thinking of all the other places you’d rather be. Or having to go get wood from the woodshed when the wind chill is below zero and the wind is howling, is very inconvenient, especially if you’ve got a heart full of “don’t want to”….and maybe all that hard work it’s pretty fun when you’re young, but i’m here to tell you, when you get older, i’ve become addicted to having a little thermostat on the wall that raises and lowers the temperature with just the smallest movement of a lever, i see that as a wonderful convenience.

It is also important to point out that in all those years of cutting and splitting firewood, i learned some very Godly character traits. i learned responsibility, endurance, and how to persevere. The Lord spoke to me a great deal in the deep woods when my muscles ached from strain, and sweat was running off my nose. When a tree would fall down the hill, i would have to cut and carry it back up the hill, armload at a time, stack it on the trailer, then go back down the hill to carry more up….. over and over. i learned sheer persistence in the face of exhaustion, and soon approaching cold, and bad weather.

Without learning to persevere, which is a Godly character-building exercise, i would never have made it through college or had the character to pursue resolve in any conflicts. On a larger scale of today’s world, sure, it would be convenient to say the government will resolve our conflicts with the wrongdoing of others, but it takes character and courage to not let the convenience of “letting someone else take care of the problem” sidetrack us from dealing with our own personal difficulties.

A man told me recently the reason he had a DUI on his record was because the breathalyzer failed….and he was serious. Maybe i shouldn’t have, but i had to laugh a little at his belief that it wasn’t his fault that he was driving drunk, it was the breathalyzer that lied. It was convenient to blame the device, and very inconvenient to be responsible for his actions. Convenience was looking to short-circuit his character. It is inconvenient to stand your ground when being wrongfully accused….it’s scary and uncomfortable. Convenience says to just say, “Whatever” and walk away, which may seem good in the moment, but tomorrow the bias has been set and we have to live with our not being firm…all because we avoided the conflict in the moment. Justice isn’t convenient…oh let me tell you, it is SOOO inconvenient. Doing justice on behalf of someone else is very costly and uncomfortable. It may be convenient to avoid getting involved, but where is the courage, where is the strength, where is the heart it takes to chase after the poor and support the beaten down?

i was having trouble writing a script and for several days the Lord would wake me up in the middle of the night and tell me, “If you’ll get up now, I’ll give you the whole thing in one sitting.” i put it off because it was inconvenient to get up. i was convicted by the third day and asked the Lord to forgive me and to try me again. In the middle of that same afternoon, when i was in the middle of a rare break in the day, the Lord came to me again saying, “If you’ll come away with me now, right now, I’ll give you the entire script in one sitting.” Wouldn’t you know it, on the instant, i momentarily found myself reasoning that … i was in the middle of a break and that i’d come aside with Him in a minute… Suddenly i started laughing at myself, thinking, “Yea, as long as it’s convenient for me, i’m willing to be inconvenienced.” i got up, went aside with the Lord, and in fact, He gave me the entire script in one sitting. Amazing! i almost talked myself out of it because it was inconvenient.

Conflict plus commitment equals change….. and to avoid it all because “we don’t want to get involved” is not the heart of the Lord. There is a conflict between a wax floor and the buffing pad of a floor polisher, but as the polisher does its job, the floor is made bright. Convenience short circuits conflict, which seems good maybe, but convenience never produces Godly character.

 4.     Here is wisdom: “A one-way street only runs just so far.”

And yes, i’m talking about the self-centered, self-focused, individualism-focused church…where it’s all about me…. yes, me, me, me.

When people become believers they don’t, at the same moment, become nice. For many, i think this comes as a surprise. Coming to Christ doesn’t automatically provide someone with good manners and suitable morals. The people of Corinth, evidently, had a reputation for being unruly, hard-drinking, and promiscuous. Paul spent a year and a half going over the “good news” in detail. Sometime later Paul got a report that things had somewhat fallen apart, with morals in disrepair, and worship had degenerated into, what i call, a selfish grabbing for the supernatural. Paul knew that if they continued in their self-absorbed behavior, the church would hit a dead-end street…because…. a one-way street only runs just so far before it either ends or becomes a two-way street.

Galatians5:19-20, “Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies,”, etc, etc. Selfishness, or a “one-way street” is listed among those things considered as “works of the flesh”.

The world and all it entails is destined to come to an end, so i suppose you could say, the way of the world and the flesh, will come to nothing in the end.

Romans 11:7-8, when Israel tried to be right with God on her own, pursuing her own self-interest, she did not succeed. The chosen ones of God were those who let God pursue his interest in them, and as a result, received his stamp of legitimacy. The “self-interest Israel” became thick-skinned toward God. Moses and Isaiah both commented on this: Fed up with their quarrelsome, self-centered ways, God allowed their eyes to become dim, their ears to be dulled, and allowed them to shut themselves away in a room full of mirrors…i believe they’re there to this day.” You know….in a room full of mirrors, all you can see is yourself.

Let us serve the Lord with eyes to see beyond ourselves, to hear more than our own voices, and to live for more than just our own self-promotion. If we think we are the absolute only ones who can do what God has called us to do, and if we don’t do it, it simply won’t get done, friends, think again. If the Lord wants something accomplished, we can rest assured He will make it so, and if we refuse or fail, the Lord will find a way to bring about His purposes for His glory. Pride and arrogance will close our eyes to see only what we want to see, will deafen our ears to hear only what we want to hear, and will turn the song in our mouth into the braying of a donkey. i have heard the bray of a jackass from my own mouth on more than a few occasions. Hear this wisdom: A one-way street only runs just so far. Think about it.

i love this quote from Dr. Martin Luther King, “Life has its bleak and difficult moments. Like the ever-flowing waters of the river, life has its moments of drought and its moments of flood. Like the ever-changing cycle of the seasons, life has the soothing warmth of its summers and the piercing chill of its winters. And if one will hold on, he will discover that God walks with him and that God is able to lift you from the fatigue of despair to the buoyancy of hope, and transform dark and desolate valleys into sunlit paths of inner peace.”

Aren’t those beautiful words? i have read them often and pondered Dr. King’s use of contrasts like drought and flood, soothing warm and piercing chill, and fatigue of despair and buoyancy of hope. i find the Lord uses contrasts to help us understand what He is saying, and it’s not that He isn’t speaking, it’s us who aren’t hearing, it’s not that God isn’t giving us a vision, it’s us who aren’t seeing. Believe me, if the Lord wants you to know something, He is entirely capable of getting your attention and making Himself very plain, but i believe He wants us to be interested enough in what He’s got to say that we pursue Him. You know, God loves to be wanted just like we do… He is the beautiful lover of our souls.

i’m Social Porter and this program has sprung to life near the cascading banks of the Ockluhwahhah River, where the trees gently lean over the rivers edge, and every evening is pleasant.

Four little wisdoms: Never contend with a contentious man, let him go his way; We want a foreseeable, calculated outcome, and a predictable crisis, but that’s not the nature of faith; Convenience short circuits conflict, which seems good, but convenience never produces character; And the last one i gleaned from a life of being on my knees with bleeding knuckles …. a one-way street only runs just so far.

Consider these four wisdoms as you go your way this week. Let yourself  laugh and sing….it will serve to lift your heart to redefine joy for you. Be strong and courageous, and i’ll hopefully, talk to you next time. Amen!