Jesus said, “The poor will always be with us.” My idea of poor and God’s idea of poor don’t line up well many times. Somehow, i’ve gotten it in my head that to say someone is poor, immediately into my mind springs the vision of someone who lives day to day, has no property or possessions, with their only collateral being the clothes on their back.

Poverty is more than simply not having stuff. God’s use of the word varies, but much of the time it can mean thin and deprived of righteousness, afflicted in our thinking, defenseless against unprofitable decision making, destitute of good ethics, morals, and principles. To say someone is poor also includes being absent of spiritual prosperity, vanished strength, missing courage, and so absent of spiritual gifts that we cry out to God, which is poor, as in not fruitful. And the greatest poverty is “without Christ”. Poor, in the sense of not being near to the Lord. With God is prosperous, without God is poverty. Poverty is definitely having to do with social and economic conditions, but i believe the Lord is additionally speaking to something much more broad than simply not having stuff.

In order to understand prosperity, we also have to look at poverty and i believe the Lord has laid out what His idea of prosperity is in order that we would also understand what it does NOT look like. There is a difference between being humble with few possessions, and being afflicted and deprived, socially defenseless and subject to oppression, victims of infringements. To complicate the issue as to the difference between humble and poor, Jesus said in Matthew 5:3, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven”. In English, one idea of poor is to have no possessions, but yet, He said, “blessed are the poor in spirit.” What in the world is He talking about?

In this case it means “to bow down timidly, as in someone who is beggarly and understands they are so destitute, God alone is their only hope and help. That could be someone who has nothing or someone who has everything, both ends of the spectrum can be poor. It’s a picture of being humble in our spirits, so if we put the word “humble” in place of the word “poor,” the meaning becomes clearer. In other words, when we come to God, we must realize our fallen state, along with our spiritual emptiness and poverty. We must not be self-satisfied or proud in our hearts, thinking we don’t really need God. If we do, it certainly restricts any prosperity He would extend us. Can you imagine trying to give someone a gift, but they are busy saying they don’t need it because they can make do with all they have? The Bible says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble”. The Lord holds up a cautionary flag about being empty and impoverished in our souls and urges us to pursue spiritual wealth instead.

Jesus said, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” When we feel cold and uninspired, when we can’t seem to find our heart, i say go find your treasure, because i guarantee, your heart is laying around there somewhere. Look at what you value and you can get a good idea about what is most important to you.

Another common view of “the poor” is someone who is paralyzed by feeling useless, worthless, and unworthy.

“i’m just a poor old sinner man, just pumping out sin all day long, even in my sleep. i sin when i’m awake, sin when i don’t mean to, and sin when i’m asleep. It’s just hopeless, what’s the point?”

i feel quite strongly that to rise above that is not about building up our self-esteem, recognizing our own excellence. That’s not what God says. The Lord didn’t say to stop putting yourself down because the truth is you’re so well spoken, He said, “Stop looking at your own corruptness and look at me.” If you’re always looking down, all you can see is the ground. The Lord made our mouth and He promises to help us find the words which make a difference. Look at Jesus and live. The answer to thinking too little of ourselves isn’t in thinking too much of ourselves. Being poverty stricken is every bit as poor as lounging in elevated self-esteem, they are both poor.

Consider: There are two types of poverty here: there is the poverty which settles upon someone who won’t work, and the kind which is upon someone like an orphan who has no recourse but to beg. In Mark 12:42, the widow gave one sad little copper coin, which was a beggar’s tithe, possibly being seen by others as pitiful and poor. But from God’s vantage point, the one who judges according to the heart, she was richer than all the rest put together. She was a picture of prosperity from God’s view of things.

In John 12 a woman poured very expensive ointment on the head of Jesus, and rather than appreciate the value of the gift from her heart, Judas Iscariot scolded her, suggesting she “could have” done this, and “should have” done that. He was basically saying her gift was a waste and she was just stupid. God saw differently though. He knew her humility and understood that she did what she did in worship and praise of God from whom all blessings flow. The critic of her actions was actually the one who was poor, and he was also the one who held the money. That’s pretty arrogant for the guy with the most money to complain about someone’s gift to God only because it deprived them of adding to their own money bags.

The poor will always be with us, not just the ones who don’t own anything, but also those who are far from God without right principles, good morals, or excellent ethics.

What do you think?

Recently, a man says to me, “Why do we so often defer to anyone and everyone except God?”

You know, that’s a real good question. Why do we do that? National Geographic has published several articles in the last year which consistently made scientists out as having discovered everything from the origins of the universe, to the source of happiness. The titles, as advertised on the cover, would lead anyone to believe archeologists and scientists have found the true source of everything, yet when you read the article, the writer is careful to use words like, “probably”, “maybe”, “it’s possible”, “we think it might be likely”. The articles almost always exclude God in any fashion, and point the reader to everything NOT God. Through that kind of publishing people are influenced to defer to scientists, archeologists, their family doctor, college professors, or even the pastor of their church, virtually anyone above God. Why?

In the Hebrew word used in Leviticus 19:15, scripture reads, “You shall not be partial to the poor nor defer to the great, but in righteousness shall you judge your neighbor.” For “defer” or “deference” in this case, it doesn’t mean to prolong or procrastinate but to hold another up above others. In the word itself, God has hidden a more specific explanation, meaning that when we defer to another, we are making a conscious choice to open to God for life, or to be closed to Him for our own alienation. The word represents a giant life-determining fork in the road as the beginning of greatness or the beginning of degradation. The path of our lives have many intersections, many circling back to the main road, and some which lead off into only God knows where. Who we choose to defer to isn’t a small fork in the road but a major, galactic intersection. It may seem small that little five letter word “defer”, but the direction we aim our feet determines our heart and mind set, and is easily seen in how we conduct ourselves and the details of our lives. Who or what we defer to influences what we see and hear, and the more we are influenced, the more we steer toward our deference’s. Jesus said in Matthew 13:12, to those who have, more will be given, and to those who have not, even what they have will be taken away. That’s like saying, the more we go towards the influence of our deference’s, the more we’ll be influenced by those we defer to.

In the end, either we defer to God or we defer to the world. i don’t believe for a second that we can defer to God a little and the world a little. In our heart of hearts, many seem to believe there is some sort of middle of the road of faith … i think that’s called being “luke warm”, which is to never really buy into all the Lord has, and never really buy into all the world offers without God. And i can say with confidence, there isn’t anyone smart enough to do life without Jesus. Regardless of what we may think, there really are only two choices, Heaven or hell. Whose side are you on? It’s the same question God asked Adam in the garden when He said, “Where are you?” He wasn’t asking for a geographical location, He was asking, “Who’s side are you on buddy? My side or the devil’s side?” It was a choice Adam and Eve made, consciously choosing to defer to the snake over the word of the Lord.

For what reason do we often defer to anyone but God? Anger? Unbelief? Self-centeredness? Hurt? Indifference? Probably all of those and more if we’re honest.

In my efforts to not be hurt by others, the enemy often accuses me of being indifferent, and i’ve struggled with believing i actually was. Here of late, i’ve discovered something though. i know i defer to God with all my heart and i’m peddling my little tricycle just as hard as i can go in the name of Jesus, but yet i struggle with believing i’m indifferent versus caring too much. i’ve realized my apparent nonchalance is not indifference, but trust. i’ve also realized my own tendency to go over the top to maintain favor, or to defer to everyone i encounter, being Mr. Go-Along-To-Get-Along. Often, i find myself among others in ministry who are viciously, while smiling, competing for roles of power, working day and night to build an incredible Christian resume. They seem to operate under the theological assumption that they use their gifts for the greatest opportunities to the fullest capacity, which results in success driven leadership. We defer to them because they often “imply” to us, in the way they treat others and how they present themselves, that we should defer to them … and we even defer to that implication, thinking it is “the way you’re supposed to do this thing”. We need to defer to God instead of deferring to someone who has a knack of turning everything into an emergency where they are the only ones who are skilled firefighters.

i say we should defer to God and God alone. Not what does your pastor or some scientist think, but what does God think? Like when Elijah encountered the dry bones. The Lord asked, “What do you see”, Elijah’s heart was revealed in his deferring to God by his reply of, “You know Lord, You know.”

Ask yourself, how much effort do you spend, making sure you maintain that other person’s favor in order to keep the relationship? If you didn’t defer to them, would they still be onboard with you? In our society, our identity is measured by our contribution, and it’s actually easier than we think to translate our standing with God to a platform of performance. It feels more like a contortion than deferring. Believe me, “they” don’t “know”, but God does and He’s the only one we should defer to, first and last as a habit.

What do you think?

Church – an essay

What is this thing we do?

Not too long ago, someone in a group conversation asked,

“Do I really, truly, have to go to church?”

Continue reading →

Counsel And Exhortation (the doctrine of Instruction)

           Proverbs 12:20, “Deceit is in the heart of those who devise evil, But counselors of peace have joy.” It seems these days there’s a lot of people who like to offer lots of counsel, whether or not anyone asked them for their counsel! For me, i’m still working on filtering the words I let into my mind and heart, i’m learning, sometimes hourly, how to constantly guard my heart by not allowing poor counsel to stick to me.

i’m Social Porter and this is Outposts, cool jazz and contemplative conversation just for you wherever you are. The days in which we live are increasing in darkness and increasing in light as the in-breaking Kingdom of God invades this downward spiraling world. Let us exercise our minds to consider carefully the counsel and exhortation of God. Again, friends, lazy thinkers don’t get far. We desperately need a standard. Let us study the word of the Lord, not so we can strut around because we know some-thing, but so we can go in peace because we know some-one, THE someone who is above all and supersedes the authority of all kings and princes of the earth.

This evening, the doctrine of instruction and is the last of a four part series, the doctrine of influence – or impact and significance; the doctrine of impulse – being inclination and motivation; the doctrine of direction – our set and bearing; and now counsel and exhortation, or the doctrine of instruction.

What is good counsel and right exhortation, and why do you trust the people who give that to you? What’s your epistemology, or what you believe, how you came to that conclusion, and why do you think it’s a good idea? And we can be mad and offended that we would be asked such a pointed question, but in the end, the question still stands, what do you believe, how did you came to that conclusion, and why do you think it’s a good idea?

i must admit, i’ve allowed a lot of words take up way, I mean waaaaay, too much space in my head and heart from people who didn’t have joy or peace in their lives, and honestly, i question if they really possessed the desire to allow the Lord to be the motivation of their words. Maybe the words I chose to let take root in my mind and heart have been there way too long without my questioning the wisdom behind them. Here are two phrases for us to ponder concerning how we hear God: cognitive bias and incognitive bias. Those two addresses the little conscious and unconscious preferences in us which turn the word of the Lord in to something God never intended.

We all have the counsel of other people rattling around in our heads, and the truth is, we can only grasp just so much of it all. i am a finite person with finite thinking abilities and typically only function beyond finite when Jesus, the infinite King, is involved in my life. i think we have to remember that all those words in our heads, they take up space, and it truly is space which belongs to God’s word and His counsel. Friends, in a world which wants to overwhelm us with godless counsel, vision, and exhortation, we should determinedly strive for God’s counsel, vision, and exhortation to flood our mind and heart. I want His words to define my life and my choices. We are either defined by the world, or defined by God, either way, we WILL be defined by someone or something, and i believe God’s defining is the best choice.

Because i am human, much of the time, i must admit, i’ve let other people’s counsel influence my thinking. On a side note of sorts, i have thought that many people often give counsel to others that is really meant to make the advice-giver feel better about a decision they made to make themselves feel important. If advice comes from a self-serving place, it’s end is nowhere i want to be. Pride and entitlement will always put us in the wrong place.

i am always making war on my own religiousness, and as a result i’m getting better at hearing my words before i give my words. i don’t want to join the ranks of those who seem to have the gift of unsolicited counsel and hand out advice in order to sound good or appear important thereby getting credit for themselves. We want to hand out Godly wisdom, Godly counsel, and Godly exhortation at the right time to the right person, for the right reason.

John 14:26, “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.”

And if you’re wondering just exactly what things the Lord has spoken to you, i suggest He has been speaking to you l-o-n-g before you were aware He was speaking to you. Think. Remember when you were a child and you would suddenly have moments of clarity about doing the right thing, possibly feeling the sudden necessity to tell the truth, or a sudden urge to be kind, or maybe, just maybe, you would find yourself with wisdom to not do something dangerous or harmful to others. Where do you think those motivations came from? Do you think the devil would prompt you like that, or maybe it was just the shear excellence of character you possessed?

Maybe, but i’d rather cast my vote for the Lord intervening in your life. He was the one counselling you, even before you believed. If you were interested, you could ask Him to show you the times He intervened and counseled you before you were aware God was even God. You know, these ARE the days that if you ask Him, He will reply. Here’s another idea: for those who are believers, the Holy Spirit is so close to us, He gives us ideas and we think we thought of them.

Good counsel and wisdom is like gold, and many times it’s just hard to get your hands on. When we find a friend who has Godly exhortation brimming in their pockets, we need to hold on to someone like that. The Lord put that person in your path for a reason. Oh and remember, Godly exhortation doesn’t mean just hearing positive, pleasant words which confirm your personal agenda. Listen and think about what was said. No one said we have to receive everything anyone says. Whether or not we allow someone else’s counsel to persuade us is absolutely our responsibility. It is up to us as to the counsel we allow into our hearts, and we should take all words captive, and consider them carefully before we let them roll around in our heads. There are a lot of people who may feel they have a “word from the Lord for us”, but, again, it is our responsibility as to whether we let them stick to us.

Philippians 4:8-9, “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, 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. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.”

Here’s an expansion of that verse: Friends, this is good and right counsel, anything or everything that supports and confirms the cross, whatever lets the glory of God in the door or your house bringing freedom, everything that points to the righteousness of the Lord, all that inspires us to be crowned with His goodness and is clean and sound doctrine, everything or anything which is hospitable and pleasant, all right action making you favorably mentioned and well-spoken of, whatever is of substance and inspires you to be willing to righteousness, if there is anything which causes you to open your hand to the poor, to share your bread with the hungry and downtrodden, consider and think on these things which you have seen of me, and practice them all as your life’s action items. If you do this, the God of peace will be with you.

If the words rolling around in the hallways and rooms of our mind don’t meet the criteria of good, lovely, commendable, honorable, upright, clean, and faithful, then we’ve got to show those words their exit, not even being allowed to stay hidden for a secret time in the future. If someone in your life fills your ears with unkind criticism, manipulative or coercive word patterns, and we do have to learn to see the patterns, don’t even stand still to listen. Ask the Lord to show you any truth in them, then give them the boot out of your head to the trash can. If internet videos or TV shows fill your thoughts with ideas that don’t honor the beauty of marriage, kindness, honor, and respect, don’t even stand still to allow it in your eyes or ears, ask the Lord to purge them from your mind and replace them with His perspective.

Whatever counsel fills your mind, may you only give heart-space to that which brings the joy and peace of the Lord. No one is smart enough to run their own lives. We all need the Holy Spirit to guide and help us discern all that is passing in front of us, trusting only that which would draw us nearer to Jesus. Again, as was in a previous program, if it leads us to God, it must have been sent by God, for only the Lord can lead us to Himself.

Why don’t we receive or accept the counsel of the Lord more often? Isn’t that just a perplexing question? Well, it is to me anyway. Often in my life, God has extended me His counsel and exhortation and reasons unknown to me, i was indifferent in my heart, cold and distant to the love of God. i’m supposed to be this long-standing believer of the gospel of Christ, yet i can sometimes feel the dark edges of unbelief crowding out faith and common sense. It isn’t that the Lord doesn’t give us His wisdom, but i think we wash back and forth in the flow and tides, in the time and seasons between interest and disinterest. His hands of wisdom and supply are consistently open to us, but why we don’t take from His hands more often, accepting what He gives to us, i honestly don’t know, unless it is, again, unbelief which works in us somehow. i don’t know what is going on in my heart sometimes, and i do understand the eternal importance of heeding the Lord, but why, oh why do i, sometimes, become seemingly indifferent? If you were honest with yourself, does that ever happen to you? Can you relate?

In the world we live in, living and dying is just part of life. Everything which draws breath finds it’s end, even the things which aren’t born, like inanimate objects, they eventually decline and are reduced to rubble, ceasing to be as they were if given enough time. We celebrate the birth of one, and mourn and grieve at the death of another. No one can outwit death. Yet, living in our hearts is Jesus Christ, who faced down death, hell, and the grave, He didn’t just outwit death as if He might fail at some great game of chance, no, He championed over death from before the beginning, and put His foot on the neck of death at the end. Jesus literally used death to defeat death.

If, living in our hearts is someone so great as Jesus Christ, what is our problem with receiving and practicing His instruction? Lack of clarity? Is it really God who is not clear or is it us in our misunderstanding, our incognitive biases, or being indifferent?  Is it our own unbelief that we simply can’t hardly believe God could be so good to us, or is it that we claim God doesn’t make sense so, without in-depth investigation, we just go our way in our own little world, flipping our hand up, saying over our shoulder, “What ever!”? Is it shear rebellion and we don’t really care sometimes? Maybe we’ve spent so much time chasing answers that make no difference and can’t be found that we are exhausted somewhere deep in our souls, using that as a reason to not hear God’s counsel and exhortation? Tom Skinner wrote, “I spent a long time trying to come to grips with my doubts, when suddenly I realized I had better come to grips with what I believe. I have since moved from the agony of questions I cannot answer, to the reality of answers that I cannot escape . . .”

Psalm 16:7, “I bless the LORD who gives me counsel; in the night also my heart instructs me.” i thank God for His counsel. Yep, i’m saying this again: Nobody, nobody is smart enough to run their own life. i find that statement to always be before me lately, and it doesn’t mean i need some man or woman to tell what to do, it means i need God’s wisdom, counsel, and exhortation in order to do life. That phrase is the counsel of the Lord, it’s an exhortation to seek Him out and ask His opinion about everything, above anyone else’s counsel. Jesus said, to come to Him as little children, He didn’t say come to Him and be childish, but come as little children, meaning wide eyed with wonder, willing to sit with Him and listen to what He has to say. Again, i am not smart enough, and do not have what it takes to run my own life, so after having failed time and time again because i ignored God, finally, only in the last few years do i feel like i’m listening to God’s counsel more than ever before. And you know, things have started going really well. Storms have come and gone, but inside me, things are well with my soul.

We need to depend, exclusively on God’s direction, His counsel and exhortation. No one else knows what He knows, sees what He sees, nor loves and cares for us like our God. Jeremiah 10:23, “I know, O Lord, that the way of a man is not his: neither is it in a man to walk, and to direct his steps.” i think, even from hundreds of years ago, even then the wise and insightful knew, they knew, nobody is able to run their own lives. We need help, we need God’s counsel and exhortation. There is truly no other help beside the Lord, and fortunately for us, He is also the best help there can be.

i believe most people probably ask for the Lord’s guidance and exhortation, and they’ve got a list of wants and self-determined needs they fully believe are of the utmost importance, in fact their list becomes the primary focus. i’m not saying they aren’t concerned about others, or the things on their list are unimportant because they are, nor am i saying most people aren’t concerned about situations beyond their own door step. What i am saying is their own personal list, typically, is a priority above everything else. God’s counsel becomes something people want for their own happiness and fulfillment so life will just flow along smoothly like riding on a long straight stretch of smooth highway. And who wouldn’t want that? i doubt anyone prays for dark storms and a dangerous path with any sincerity. And if they do, i don’t think that prayer will be prayed more than once. Life is difficult enough without asking the Lord to purposely make our way dangerous and heavy with trials.

This may seem a little abrupt to some, but, if we’ll look at the subject of most passages of scripture where the Lord gives us His direction and His will, well, you’ll see that our own happiness and all those details we are so often occupied with are secondary. Our pre-occupation, selfie-focused-leaning typifies the shallow thinking of a society that is truly out of touch with the purposes of the living God and how He works. Some believers may think i’m being negative, but look up, beyond where your own feet are. Look and think. What do you see of the world around us, including church? We are a consumer-oriented society bent on our own convenience, comfort and pleasure, and God has much greater goals in mind. Actually, convenience and comfort have become and idol to us.

What do we get in God’s counsel and exhortation? i suppose first it is important to say something about what it is. It is more than mere words formed by our lips and air. They are words infused with the very person of Christ, meaning His counsel is alive and active. His counsel and exhortation is something we must take action to grasp and hold to our heart, something from the Lord we consume in order to redeem and elevate our fallen state. His counsel and exhortation is offered to us to not only lift us above a fallen world and to achieve the purposes of His heart, but also for us to offer to those who don’t know Jesus yet, it is wisdom for, what some would call, the “fallen sparks”. To “consume” counsel means we take it into ourselves and digest it. God’s counsel may not go far on our behalf unless we accept and do something with it. We may not like His wise counsel, but it is always the best option, every time.

The way the Hebrew word for counsel is spelled points, once again, to prudence, seeing life with both eyes, employing practical common sense, taking the trouble to think out what you are doing and what is the likely outcome. Wise counsel is not necessarily built on a lot of words, wise counsel is like “the little which holds much”, it is a ray of light to separate some things and other times God’s counsel serves to connect others. The Hebrew word for counsel points to three nouns, thought, speech, and action, where thought sets the scene and how we relate to the world around us, speech expresses our thought and inner feelings, and action means we put the counsel in motion. Another angle on counsel is concerning us passing out counsel to others. Consider this, and if you hear nothing else, hear this: our lips are a natural boundary, and it is an act of leadership on our part to regulate what comes out of our mouth. Do you hear me? James 3:5, “So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire!” That scripture is no fooling around.

The counsel and exhortation of the world, even when it looks positive and encouraging, due to its unrelenting vacuum and void of God, eventually leads us down to the pit. With the counsel and exhortation of the Lord we gain a hand up, a grip and firm path to set our feet on, for all the promises of God in Him are yes and in Him, amen, all His counsel and exhortation work to the good for those who love Him and are called according to His purposes. Without His counsel and exhortation there is no hand up, nothing to grip to nor any firm path for our feet.

In the O.T., under the law, the exhortation of the Lord was typically a warning, words filled with the idea of “watch out, be careful, and don’t”. In the N.T., under grace, exhortation is comforting, consoling, encouraging, and usually refers to the pursuit of Christian ethics in day–to-day living. It is letting God’s counsel, the heavenly perception that is most precious, be connected to our heart. Friends, let the Lord’s counsel and exhortation in the door of your house, yield and allow His words to persuade you.

As believers we are to live godly lives here and now, and there is supposed to be a noticeable difference between our former behavior and our present existence.

The Lord counsels us to recognize we were sometimes darkness, but now we are light in the Lord, meaning now that we are children of the Light, then walk like children of the Light.

So, is the Lord, God or not? Say? Yea, i’m asking you. Say? Is the Lord, God or not? If He is, then act like it.

Friends, God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness, and if we disregard God’s counsel we will soon come to growing shadows in our lives. We are counseled and exhorted to love the Lord with all our breathing, all our thinking, all our feeling and all our forward momentum, and to love our neighbor as we love ourselves, which means we have to learn to forgive ourselves that we would also forgive our neighbor. For the glory of God, just like Jesus welcomes us, we should welcome one another, walking in wisdom toward those outside the House of God, and make good use of our time, practicing our prudence. Learn to be the kind of leaders who are always gracious, well acquainted with the values of the Lord so we’ll know how to answer those around us.

The counsel and exhortation of the Lord is to treat your employees, friends and family well, be kind and generous to them. God is generous and we should be generous also. Open your hand in prosperity to those whom you serve and who you are served by. God’s counsel to us is – if we know anyone in missions or serving in the field in another country or even in your own town, watch the vision of the Spirit, be watchful in your prayers for them, be consistent and repeatable to speak to the Lord on their behalf that He would open doors for them to speak the gospel, declaring the mystery of Christ, that they would be clear, and speak as they ought to speak.

This is God’s counsel and exhortation: pay attention to your own salvation, and do it with dedication, reverence and sensitivity to God’s leading. And when you’re in your work-a-day world, do it all without whining, grumbling, and complaining, dreaming of being somewhere else, wishing God would do something other than what He’s doing. Friends, be morally whole with solid integrity, righteous and just in the eyes of God and the world, as children of God, spotless in the middle of a crooked and twisted people. If we’ll do that we’ll shine like the sun. Above all, the ultimate counsel and exhortation of the Lord is from John 13:34-35, Jesus said, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Think about it friends, roll all this around in your head and think about it.

The entire Bible comprises God’s counsel and exhortation to us, it is a written version of our “doctrine of instruction”. Think about it, what an incredible book. Don’t get me wrong here, i still have plenty of unanswered questions about it, but those questions are true “feather-weights” compared to the “heavy-weight” truth about this supernatural book. Consider this:

Its is 66 different books which were written by at least 39 different authors, separated by as much as 1600 years or more, in different cultures and in three different languages. It is the bestselling book on the planet, ever. We have more evidence that the Bible we have today is what was written originally than any other historical document of its age or older. The Bible we have today actually has far fewer translational errors than other works which aren’t as old.

Science continues to prove (rather than disprove) its historical accuracy. And its central theme remains clear: The heart of God wants to know and be known. He loves mankind and wants to redeem men and women to Himself. It tells us how to live, how to separate out real from unreal. It gives us everyday life directions on how to best succeed, find joy and fulfillment, and live with power and healing. It gives us hope in the face of death, peace in times of trouble, and leads us to Jesus who died and rose from the dead that we would be free and have life more abundantly. Friends, it contains the best set of blueprints for building a home, a marriage and family that I’ve ever seen. Cover to cover, it is God’s written counsel and exhortation for us to live by.

i’m Social Porter and this is Outposts, cool jazz and contemplative conversation broadcast semi-live from the late evening, cascading banks of the Ockluhwahhah River, where the trees gently lean over the river’s edge, and every evening is pleasant.

Support for the program came from Winfield at Miller’s Laundry, Valley Hill Barber Shop, Longview Video Works, The Mebane Freedom League with Allan, Kevin, and Tommy, Little Laurel at Jump Off Rock Gift Shop, and the fine folks at Tempo Music. Let’s not forget our dear friends, Trinity Bakers, where there’s always something good in the oven.

God’s counsel and exhortation is extended to us because the Lord our God wants us to succeed, Jesus gave His life so we could live, becoming shining lights in a dark place. Yahweh is on your side, every day, all the time.

Be strong and courageous this week. Stand your ground and hold tight to the Word of God. In the light of the face of Jesus, there is life, and his favor is like the clouds that bring the spring rain. Drive carefully, practice your prudence with diligence and i’ll talk to you next time. Amen.

We’ve been pursuing a better view of the King of Kings whom we love and serve, to understand His character which would be to know His values, that we would be like Him, from beginning to end in honor of the Lamb with every step and breath.

Joseph Ivimey in 1821commented on a section of John Bunyan’s book, Pilgrim’s Progress written in 1678: he wrote, “Our author intimates that God sometimes communicates spiritual knowledge and heavenly joy by “dreams and visions of the night.” The Holy One “works all things after the counsel of His own will,” and employs whatever methods He pleases to bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. The effect produced by dreams must be brought to a test. Here is a good, short statement expressing a rule to test concepts and dreams by, that what leads to God, must have come from God, if God has sent us, He will go with us.”

Right there is an observation and insight worthy of a lot of contemplation, “That what leads to God, must have come from God.”  It is a good test of what we believe, hear, and dream. Ask yourself, and be honest, Does what i hear, think, and believe lead to Christ? If indeed it does, then, friend, it must have come from God, for the Lord is the only One who can lead us to Himself. Let us think and explore these things not fearing our doctrines will fall apart. And if, upon investigation, our doctrines do come to pieces in our hands under the inspection of scripture, then they weren’t worthy of being held as the truth.

i’m Social Porter and this is Outposts, cool jazz and contemplative conversation, broadcast semi-live from the late evening cascading banks of the Ockluhwahhah River. Go out Hwy 25, turn right onto Old Field Road, make a left at the old stone bridge, actually, it’s the only way you can go, travel all the way to the end. When you’ve come to the end of yourself, there you’ll find a rural cafe of divine vision, righteously situated above a long green field by an impeccable tree line which borders things greater than themselves.

Beautiful words that roll, tumble and soar like a bird in the late afternoon, catching it’s daily bread.

There is an underlying attitude in the church which seems to feel that the truth will somehow suffer and die if we do a closer inspection of it, and nothing could be further from the truth. Augustine said “The truth is like a lion; you don’t have to defend it. Let it loose, it will defend itself.”

A lot of folks love to use phrases like, “in the sphere of our influence”, and it’s a good phrase which describes having the power to affect the development of hope and faith in people around us, although it has no formal authority. It’s also a phrase we use to make ourselves sound r-e-a-l-l-y spiritual and oh-so-well informed, giving us the appearance of high standing, having high dignity and being very influential.

Regardless of the influence we think we have, there is only one path to the Father and that is through Jesus Christ, who is the ONLY path to God. That which leads to God must have been sent by God. John 10:1 says, “the sheep enter by the door and if anyone climbs in any other way they are criminals and will be treated as such”. In vs7 Jesus said again, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.” and vs9, “I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.” Jesus is the path to the Kingdom of God and he offers to each person an opportunity to return to their true roots of relationship with God.

After setting the stage, let’s get closer to our topic, and in order to do that let’s give the concept of “doctrine” a definition. A doctrine is “a belief or set of beliefs held and taught, it is our internal descriptive theology and ideology from which we operate and continue on” (my summary). On December 16, 1855, in his sermon titled “Heaven”, Charles Spurgeon spoke of four subtle doctrines which i think are worthy of discussion. The doctrines of influence, impulse, direction, and of instruction by the Holy Spirit. Four very important elements of how and why we do what we do that we would see Christ in us more clearly. This evening’s program is concerning the doctrine of influence. A bit brainy, but i think it’s a worthy discussion to have. Why? Because i don’t think, we the church, know why we do most of what we do nor why we think it’s a good idea. We generally have a fractured world view, and for many, the road ends with get saved and do right. We’re so busy accomplishing this or that, we’ve not explored God’s character in us or how He operates, nor are we very aware of how the gears of the Holy Spirit mesh in our heart.

i don’t want to focus on the people who use the doctrine of influence for the wrong reasons, although i must admit it’s difficult to speak of up without speaking of down, or right without speaking of wrong. i believe we need the contrast in order to understand better. Honestly, it’s just too easy to speak of all those who use their influence for evil, but i believe it’s better to look at those who use their influence for righteousness, how God raised them and used them so we may be better at positioning ourselves to walk the same path. i want to catch people doing good, not purposely set out to catch them doing evil. Remember: If God has sent us, He will go with us.

Here is a fact we should all remember, or as others would call it, a “sticky statement”: You are the company you keep. If we truly are the people who keep company with God, then we become like Him – moral, righteous, responsible, healed and whole. The more we abide in Him, the more we abide in Him. If we keep company with the world, its influence helps us become immoral, unrighteous, irresponsible, sick, sore, and divided, and that’s pretty unattractive once you’ve tasted what is good.

The influence of others on our lives is powerful. Don’t kid yourself, the constant downward pull of the worldly posture of those we keep company with is contagious. The number one reason for felons returning to prison is the influence of their circle of acquaintances, or friends, if you can even call someone who inspires you to more perfected criminal thinking a friend. It’s a big enough deal that even the parole office and the dept. of corrections insists newly released felons not associate with other known felons.

We all change, little by little, with every person we meet, and every season we live through. Although i don’t know how to measure the impact of this, i highly suspect that everyone i meet leaves some sort of mark on me. We may say it was just a short conversation filled only with words, but there is more to it than words, there is influence. We influence others with our faith, it may not seem like we have had an impact, but in the sense of sowing seed, every attitude lived and word expressed is a seed sown. There are people whom we do not allow in our lives because we know to allow them in would be to allow their influence on us, and we understand it would not be healthy for us or our families.

The value of influence on others is easily seen in long term friendships or marriages. When people have close and frequent conversations, the influence of one person on the other can actually be seen as, recognizable bits of one soul beginning to show in the other person’s nature. Look at the influence of a man and woman who have been married a long time, they sort of act like each other with similar ways of expressing themselves and even how they conclude decisions. Sometimes, the influence is so great, and this is just what i think, the influence is so great they even begin to look a little bit like each other. We see what was once two different individuals who have now become more a composite of both.

Who we admire and hold up as a hero has influence with us, so it’s not unreasonable to me to think we need to be careful who we allow to hold our places of admiration. Who are your hero’s?

When i was much, much younger i completely admired some icons in the music business. i read all the articles about them, had posters of them, listened exclusively to their music, and even tried to fashion my own music after their style of doing things. i eventually began to act like i thought they acted, to wear the clothes i thought they would wear, talk like i thought they would talk, and live like i thought they would live. i even drank and did drugs like i thought they did. Many of my life’s hero’s died, and thank you Lord, i didn’t feel compelled to follow after them even in death, they were important, but weren’t all THAT important.

There was a flavor of David in Jonathan, and a flavor of Jonathan in David. It was inevitable considering we tend to take on the attributes of those we keep company with.

Hope and faith keep their distance from selfish motives because they know that the company they keep influences their actions. Even when Mr. selfish-motivation openly cries, accusing hope and faith of not taking him seriously hoping to manipulate them, hope and faith know better than to allow such influence upon them.

To reiterate, another place i see incredible weight and impact on our lives is, i believe it’s the family unit, human or animal, the influence of close family and relatives is huge, for better or worse. By far and large family has a huge influence on us all, even when the family unit is divided, i believe we are simply left with people who have the nature of division living in them, brought about by what was modeled to them as children. Friends, we need Jesus to glue our hearts and souls back together.

C.J. Heck, published poet and writer said, ““We are all products of our environment; every person we meet, every new experience or adventure, every book we read, touches and changes us, making us the unique being we are.” Superseding the influence of the world, is the influence of God’s hand in our lives. If we are, indeed, those who keep company with God, then because He is the greater and the universe is the lesser, He is the greatest influence upon us.

Please consider this: What or who do you allow as your greatest influence, who or what do you give that kind of power to, that would change your life and character?

When Jesus walked the earth with the disciples, true, He was an incredible influence on everything around Him. But when He was crucified and rose from the dead, ahh … now He was and is at His greatest influence on everything, everyone, everywhere. If we imitate God it can simply be mechanical, being an imitator only requires that we change, but when we reflect Him, now it is something organic, born from our character, and our character is expressed in our habits. i believe in order to reflect the Lord, who is the ultimate influence upon us, we can’t just act similar. To reflect Him requires that He has imprinted Himself on us, and suddenly the highway to His city runs through our heart. Remember, that which leads to God must have been sent by God. Imitation is flattery and implies change, but true reflection is transformation, it is evidence of His signature upon us. 2 Corinthians 3:18, “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.”

Those who surround themselves with the highest, will be those who transform into the highest, suddenly finding new music in their hearts. If the Lord is diluted a million times in the hearts of men and still has this kind of everlasting influence on us, how much more when we are fully in His presence before the great throne of God?

In the first chapter of John, Jesus encounters the first disciples, and i bet they were, initially, some pretty unspiritual, rough, guys. As the gospel story is told, if we follow the lives of the twelve who were called into the inner circle with Jesus, they spent time with Him, hour after hour, day after day. You can see their demeanor soften, they were changed by the One with the greatest influence on them, Jesus.

In Luke 9 they are wanting to call down fire from Heaven, but by the end of Luke’s report of the gospel story they are graceful and kind. Reading their story is like seeing buds open when winter becomes spring and the flowers come out. i can’t say they realized the change was happening, but over time they became different men. Even the world around them saw they were different.

Acts 4:13, “Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus.”

Peter and John weren’t simply being imitators, it was who they were because they were reflecting the signature of Christ which was upon them. They probably didn’t know how they had become who they were, transformed from rough men, to those who went around doing good. The transformation was obvious and unexplainable all together.

Here’s a sticky statement: it is impossible to allow ourselves to come into the consistent influence of Jesus Christ, and remain the same. i say, you’ll not leave here as you came, in Jesus name. Bound demented, depressed, sick or lame. For the Holy Ghost of Acts is still the same, you’ll not leave here as you came in Jesus name. i believe John found the influence of Jesus so astounding, He couldn’t even conceive of sin existing in the same place as the presence of God.

1 John 3:9,“Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remains in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.”

We are powerful in Christ, and through prayer and our continual relationship with Jesus, we are changed and our transformation, not just imitation but transformation, influences the world around us to also be transformed. We have influence because He is the ultimate influence in the universe.

You may secretly think to yourself that you have no impact on anything. You may think that because you see no change in anyone or anything, you don’t make a difference. Who told you that you don’t make a difference, where did you get that? If your information doesn’t lead to God it probably wasn’t sent by God. If Jesus is in your life, you make a difference. Imagine, is it possible that you are all God says you are? Is it possible? Can you envision that? How does that look to you? Who are you going to believe, Jesus or your own dismal forebodings?

Have you ever gotten an email or a letter from someone or some company that just set your jaw tight? Your nostrils instantly flared, and your face felt like it flushed? You went to type a reply and you were so angry you spent as much time backspacing and re-writing as you did actually writing. But by the end of your scorching reply with it’s most vicious adjectives, you had softened a little, and you decided a simple, plain, non-volatile reply was actually the best thing, if you even dignified their message with a reply at all. Something or someone in your heart changed your mind. THAT is the influence of the Holy Spirit. By the time the day had gone by, and you have held the provoking message up to the Lord in prayer, mountains were moved in your heart and instead of blasting them, you found grace for them. For part of today you were only thinking of your offense, but the rest of the day God’s influence in you persuaded you toward a more righteous reply, and His wisdom stuck to you to not only not reply vicious-for-vicious, but to even play the rest of the movie as to how you were going to conduct yourself next time you see that person.

That influence is the evidence of His signature in you. We must be under His influence more than any other influence.

2 Corinthians 4:18, “While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.”

How do we, who live on this earth and see with earth eyes and have earth thoughts, how do we look at the things not seen. How do i see what i cannot see? Many scholarly individuals have some great explanations i suppose, but for me, He has opened my eyes to see what i cannot see, the patterns of the outlay and providence of His hands. If He did not open our eyes, they simply would not be opened. If He did not give us “wisdom that makes a difference”, we simply would not have any The Lord points out to us patterns of His grace where no eye would normally see it; patterns of His mercy in places where it is not obvious; patterns of His influence which are not noticeable except by the Holy Ghost vision within us. In His vision, things which are not seen are visible. Through faith we see in a divine mirror set at the right angle which opens our eyes to a life of higher vision.

Now back to the inflammatory message you received. At the time of the reading of the offensive message, all you could think about was yourself, your insult, and how wrong they were. But as the day wore on, something changed. A Godly attitude was overcoming selfish motivations, until all the defensiveness was won over by the goodness of God.

In those types of moments, in my heart there drips on me the drops of influence from the face of God, influencing me to right thought, right reply, and right action. His influence inspires me to bring into subjection my passions, to put my foot on the neck of pride, and to stop, in it’s tracks, the power of self-motivation, selfish ambition, and self-preservation. i can say my best ideas, my best visions and dreams, my best models, and the gifting to influence the world around me has totally come from Jesus more than any human character what-so-ever. We are truly influential because He is the ultimate influence.

In my heart of hearts i have a constant conscious awareness that from Christ i have adopted and reflect the thoughts and intentions which make the Kingdom of God a reality to me. Every thought which paves that road which is laid between God and myself has been sent by God to draw me closer to God. All the steps made, foreseen and unforeseen, lead to divine life in Christ. “In Christ” is a phrase powerful to own for ourselves. How did we get where we are? By what means did we see the unseen, and hear the unheard?

Galatians 2:20, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ is alive in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.”

All the righteous insight and understanding of our past and future are derived from the Savior. He’s not just some “higher power”, or reducing God to merely “the universe”, which is an unclear, vague, and poorly defined “something” out there. You know, just a “something but i don’t know what exactly” that is beyond our knowing. Jesus is not just “A” higher power” but “THE” highest power. My higher power, my great influence has a name, has specific ideas for specific reasons. He’s not a “that” but a “Him” and His name is Jesus. He is confident, confident in the power of His love to persuade and enable, to influence, every living thing to come into right relationship with Him. He is confident in the power of His love. All my concepts of the increase and momentum of grace came from Jesus, who is the path TO God and was sent BY God. He is that which leads to God, and only God can make a pathway to Himself.

Paul used all the influence in himself to persuade others to believe Jesus really, really, actually, actually is the Christ, the way, the truth, and life. He used everything he had and left nothing on the table. He grabbed “the Truth” with both hands and refused to let go even to his own death. The influence of Christ is powerful in us to influence the world around us. You are NOT powerless, a nothing, or a nobody.

When the discomfort of change washes over us and the afflictions of this life bludgeon their way into our lives, the influence of the Lord inspires us to have faith and trust in God to such a degree we can lie down and sleep through the hurricane that thunders in our ears. Maybe the overwhelming and continuous discomfort and grief we suffer due to loss points to the idea that maybe we had more trust and comfort in people and physical things than we did in Christ, and there’s a big “think about it” tagged on the end of that.

Psalm 46:2, “Therefore we will not fear, Even though the earth be removed, And though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea, the Lord is our refuge and strength.” The blood of Jesus is more powerful in us than our inclination to run away.

Even though we may be gripped by fear, the righteous stop their feet from running because they know there are things more important than fear and self-preservation. Life slaps us down but we reply “Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him.” Through murderous thieves and famine in the land, through the persistent grief of what did NOT happen to us, the power of God’s influence causes us to say, “…though the labor of the olive shall fail, and the field shall yield no increase, yet will I trust in the Lord, and stay myself on the God of Jacob.” When persecution surrounds us, through the influence of the Holy Spirit, the righteous remain resolved and unmoved which are evidence of the Fruits of the Spirit in our lives.

You and i can use our influence for good or evil. Korah, the master of public opinion along with Dathan, and Abiram, used their influence to persuade Israel against God and Moses in Numbers 16. Needless to say, it didn’t go well with them, they became a sign to us even to today. They all, their families, servants, pets, and all their belongings perished in their sin. They become an example to everyone, forever, to be very careful about how we use our God given influence. Our impact and significance, our influence, isn’t amazing because we are so influential but because Christ is the power and authority of our ability to influence the world around us.

You are influential. Within the “sphere of your influence”, which God has given to you, within you is the power to exercise the Love of God to others. We are not free to do whatever we like, we are free to do the right thing, and it is always the right time to do the right thing. 2 Corinthians 10:3-4, “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds…” Think about it.

Dinesh D’Souza points out: “This is our culture’s powerful emphasis on compassion, on helping the needy, and on alleviating distress even in distant places. If there is a huge famine or reports of genocide in Africa, most people in other cultures are unconcerned. They see ‘the tears of strangers only as water.’ But here in the West we rush to help. Part of the reason why we do this is because of our Christian assumptions. The ancient Greeks and Romans did not believe this. They held a view quite commonly held in other cultures today which is, yes, that is a problem, but it is not our problem. However paradoxical it seems, people who believed most strongly in Christ did the most to improve the situation of people living this life.”

As a believer, your influence impacts all human life in that our concept of universal human rights and equality comes exclusively from the biblical idea that all people are created in the image of God, but only those who believe in the resurrected Christ also have His reflection. In Genesis 1:26 scripture says He made us with His image AND His likeness or reflection, with “image” being an outer similarity, and “likeness” being an inner similarity, or reflection. A Christian document called the Didache, meaning the Teaching of the Twelve Disciples which is dated from the late first century or early second century, contained instructions against abortion, instructed others concerning marriage, and Godly ethics. Your Godly influence inspires a pro-life view, and teaches that slavery is wrong. Our education today stands on the shoulders of early Christians, not to mention that the same influence is visible in our work ethic, and especially in art, music, and literature. Friends, the Lord has given us the power of His influence and we are powerful to affect every facet of our society.

i’m Social Porter and this is Outposts. This program is brought to you semi-live from the late evening, cascading banks of the Ockluhwahhah River, where the trees gently lean over the river’s edge, and every evening is pleasant.

Godly influence, it’s real and alive in you, it’s time to change the planet. Volunteer at a food bank or help the hungry, naked, clueless and blind and shine like the sun in Jesus name, today, just like you did yesterday.

Pray for your neighbors, and read your Bible, it’s time to change the planet. Amen? Yea, and amen!

          Transitions can be very tough and if they’re not made in today’s world, it’s called an adjustment disorder.

James writes as a Jewish man who knows something about transitions. There he was, a half-brother of Jesus, learning to get over any stereotypes he may have had of Jesus and surrendering to Him, as Lord. Although scripture doesn’t say, i would guess he had to also resist the urge to a possible claim to fame by telling people he was the half brother to the Lord, surrendering to God any possible insistent petitions for prestige. Of course, on the other hand, to make the “claim to fame” for himself, eventually would cost him his life, but all for the wrong reasons. Knowing God was more important than a claim of prestige to get a title and a platform for himself.

It’s always tough to accept changes within a family when one member rises to an unexpected position. But James’ whole method of operation changed after the resurrection of Jesus. As one example, we can see his thinking change concerning his trials in life.

James 1:2-4, “Dear brothers and sisters, whenever trouble comes your way, let it be an opportunity for joy. For when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be strong in character and ready for anything.”

Right off the bat, this alone is enough to sour people on the book of James. But it gets even worse! He says the rocky road we travel on our journey to maturity is to be one of joy. Somehow then, we are supposed to be glad to be on a path just filled with sharp corners which gouge at our skin, while stepping high over “stub your toe” rocks.

Now, i’m not sure about you, but I don’t necessarily have a great deal of joy when I’m going through difficult times. A well-known preacher said once, you can either be pitiful or powerful, but you can’t be both. This whole idea of joy when facing trouble sounds a little crazy. I can understand the idea of not letting troubles destroy us, but to consider it pure joy!? That can seem like a little much.

It’s not natural to think this way. But James isn’t saying we should have some kind of superficial party when adversity comes, or that we should plaster a fake smile on our faces and look religious to the world when we’re hurting deeply inside.

But he does encourage us to consider letting it be an opportunity for joy, because something very important is taking place for our benefit. God is leading us through these places and we need to see the upside of it all.

Recently, a man and i sat together and i wondered where he was in his process of dealing with some very difficult things. He then told me that he knew he had a choice to either be a victim and resent his circumstances and the people involved, or he could see it as an opportunity for the Lord to change his life, and he was consciously choosing. If someone steals your coat, instead of being mad about the theft, maybe we could exercise the other choice to see it as an opportunity to upgrade to something better.

The phrase, “…whenever trouble comes your way…” was used of a young bird, whose wings were being tested: like an Eaglet being pushed out of its nest.

I’m sure the eaglet would love watching a video about flying, or learning about the details of swooping down on fish, or gathering information about lift and trajectory; all from the safety of the nest. But real life doesn’t work that way. When the hard times hit us, it can feel a lot like a helpless eaglet that’s been kicked out of the nest by its mother.

But trials, James says, are not to make us fall but to make us fly; not to make us stumble but to make us stand and not to defeat us, causing us to rise to victory. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be strong in character and ready for anything.

If we don’t mind this gap and change our method of operation over to James’ view of trouble, what could happen? What do you think?

i’m Social Porter for Living In His Name.

If – If Only (or Might Have Been),

in the world of “If Only” and “What might have been”.

Almost, pretty much, just about, for the most part, if, maybe,

might have been…yea but, yea but if…

…if

…if only

Might have been

Might have been if only

Might have been

How much of my time do i spend living in the circular thinking of those

words? Round and round and round.  i doubt i could measure the hours and days. my mouth reflects my heart so i must take the words of my mouth seriously in reflection of what the inventory of my heart is. I heard someone say once that mistakes rarely come in the singular, they are often in litters. In light of that, i’ve decided i should pay better attention to what, and how i sow.

In the principle of Reaping and Sowing, often in life, among the good seeds we sow, there are the sowings of things that, never in this life, would we wish to grow at our feet. But yet, more and more often, i see the seeds of regret that grow around our feet like vines that tangle us and cause our attention to shift from important matters to spending more and more time untangling ourselves from these “vines”, strangling vines, ropes impeding forward momentum, vines of distraction and the more we are distracted the more we are distracted.

Many people like to wander in the cemetery of past errors and old wrongs, rereading old headstones and epitaphs of the things we think we have “reckoned dead”, moaning over old wrongs saying over and over, “Oh, i so wish i hadn’t done that.” but never really letting it all go. Regret often paralysis hope, corrodes the connection between vision and purpose, and becomes a dead weight to our forward momentum.  This is not healthy; it is a chronic gastrointestinal turbulence of the soul. We spend so much time bringing the past to be alive in the present that “what was” dominates the “what is”, and heavily influences “what will be”. Regret is surrender to the dominion of the past that should not be.

In the silence of late night, the gray place between awake and asleep, we play the video of what “might have been”. True, there are times when it is wise, in small amounts, to consider “might have been” and “if only”, but when it plays in a constant loop it makes us weak because it over-emphasizes the past at the expense of the present.

The constant playing of “might have been”, becomes an anchor around our necks, becoming weights, not wings.  “It might have been” sings softly to us, lulls us to doze 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 seed that has fallen into the crevice of a rock wall, finds a little water, sprouts to life, then grows roots that eventually turn a crevice into a crack, and the wall falls broken to the ground.

Consider the effort we spend trying to reconstruct our lives from some date in the past, when we might have taken a different path or gone another way. We go back in our memory to some fork in the road in life and think how amazingly better life would have been  “If i had never taken…”, “If i had only bought the land when…”, “If i had only married the other one…”, “If i had only graduated high school”,  “If i had prayed the right thing at the right time”, “If i had been more persistent”, “If i had not fallen asleep while…”, “i wish i had never said…”, “If i had only just stayed home”,  “If God had only…”

A man said to me while weeping over his life, “Sometimes, i seem to spend the bulk of my time wishing God would do something other than what He is doing.”

If.

If. If only.

If. It might have been if…

Oh my, that little “if” is as slippery as black ice…it seems so right until suddenly your feet are over your head. And it would seem to probably be true, things may have been better, but it is certainly more presently true… that was then and this is now, today is upon us, and this is where we are and this is what we’re doing. The past is done. Fini! Over! Forever done, for good or bad. Backing up is not allowed. There is no regret which will allow itself to ever be relived in order that it would become something other than what it is.

Don’t you know that looking back at “what might have been” always looks sweeter in the rear view mirror.

The colors, the colors of “might have been” are always so brilliant! The reds, and blues, the crimson and purples, the yellows & pales. The white sails of distant ships are always full and whiter than our own, and the green of far away hills are always greener. Might have been always looks SOOO good from a distance.

It seems to always be the attraction of “the other road”, and hell works to keep us circling in the dream world of “what might have been” on “the other road” without visualizing the cost. “The other road” might have brought us crowds chanting our name gloriously, but we would have lost someone very close to our heart. “The other road” may have made us ridiculously rich, but maybe we would have had to live with shame, forfeiting dignity and honor. The cost of “the other road” is rarely discussed in the video loop of “might have been”.

As long as we wear flesh we will always make mistakes, it is, evidently, something we, as humans, do very well. i heard someone say once that the present is the making of soon-to-be-history. If we don’t like what we reap, then i suggest we change what we sow, for in our obsession with our mistakes there is fertile ground for regret.

Let us leave of the graveyard of “might have been” and “if only” to go forward. We are not people of our history, but people of our destiny.  As best we can let us take seriously what we sow, leaving the graveyard of old things where regret grows around our feet … let it go. Let the dead be dead and let us catch our breath in a new direction. Don’t just change your mind, better yet, come home!

i’m Social Porter for Living In His Name.