Where Will You Stand?

I would like to ask all of my friends and family to please pray for our country, and to pray for God’s church in particular. I have prayed long and hard about this and have read and studied many Bible passages recently that have me re-evaluating my spiritual and fleshly life. I know there are many that do not agree with me in what I'm about to say, but like the prophet, Jeremiah, it is a burning within my soul that I can't hold back any longer.

We that are Christians have a higher authority that we live by than the governments of man, no matter who they may be. We believe that we will answer to that higher power once this life is over (II Timothy 4:1, Romans 2:6-11), therefore we try to live by the laws as set down by that higher authority.  That higher power is the Sovereign God, Jehovah. His Word, the Bible, is supreme over all, therefore we live or die by that Word. As Christians in this country, we are at a crossroads. We can either follow God or follow man, we can't do both. We have to choose who we will obey. We must decide if we will continue to teach, admonish, and instruct as we are commanded to do (II Timothy 4:2-5, I Peter 4:11) or if we will bow to the laws of the country and accept that which is evil in the sight of God. 

We also need to think long and hard how we will respond when challenged in our belief, because respond we must, if we are to continue to follow God. Make no mistake about it, the time has come that we will be challenged. We will be told we can’t say someone is living in sin, that we must accept it, or even arrested if we persist in teaching that it is sin.  To keep quiet is the same as acceptance.  I’m not only talking about homosexuality, but people living together that are not married, becoming pregnant outside of marriage and other immoral behavior and lifestyles.  The Bible is clear what the will of the Lord is, especially when it comes to sexual immorality. We either accept it or reject it, but we must decide where we stand.  Has this country come to this crossroads because we have sat silent too long?  I fear that is the case.

I’m not judging, God has already done that.  I can only do what I’ve been told to do and that is to tell the Good News of Jesus Christ, and I can’t tell others that unless I also tell them that they have sin in their life and that they need to repent of that sin and obey God. I have prayed about this for a long time and my heart is heavy because of my indifference and my acceptance of many things that God has said I should shun or not be a party to (Romans 12:9, Romans 1:32). I’ve let others influence me into justifying sinful behavior.  I can’t with a clear conscience do that anymore. Do I have to be brutal about it? No, but I also don’t need to support them in their sinful behavior either.  I have to do what I believe God wants me to do, they have to decide what they are going to do about their situation. Do I have nothing to do with them? No, that is not being a loving person if I do that. But I don’t have to encourage them in their sin. (if we don’t have contact with them, then how can we teach them the Gospel or be an example to them) Even Jesus ate with sinners and tax collectors, but he never justified or condoned the sin in their lives. Rather he told them to turn from their sin and walk in it no more.

We Christians, must also re-evaluate our own lives, and think long and hard about the things we have allowed to creep into our lives that are unacceptab"le to God. What we are filling our minds with in the name of entertainment and such like. How our lifestyle and choices we make look to the outside world.  I’m afraid we are walking too close, or actually stepping over that line into darkness because Satan is enticing us with the pleasures of this world.  He’s trying to get us to call good that which God says is evil, (Isaiah 5:20) or at least be or act indifferent to that evil.   We can’t teach only partial truth, we must teach it all.  Will some be offended? Yes, in fact, family and friends will turn their back on us because of it.  But we have to decide who we would rather please, man or God.  Three passages come to mind:

 “Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord.  But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”  - Joshua 24:14-15

^“But Peter and John replied, ‘Which is right in God’s eyes: to listen to you, or to him? You be the judges! As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.’ ” – Acts 4:19-20

“Peter and the other apostles replied: ‘We must obey God rather than human beings!’ ” – Acts 5:20

I pray this is taken in the way it was intended. I’m not perfect. I’m only an imperfect vessel trying to do the Lord’s will. I’m guilty of some of these things I’ve written about. I know I need the Lord Jesus Christ and the grace of God in my daily life, as I strive to do His will and not my own. I ask that you pray for me also, that I will continue to prayerfully study, so that I will come to a better knowledge of what is the Lord’s will. To God be the glory! Great things He has done! 

" This is what the LORD says 'Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls' " - Jeremiah 6:16

Complaining

Complaining, is probably one of the most wasteful, ungrateful, selfish things we do.  I have to raise my hand on this one, because I’m guilty of complaining. It’s too hot, it’s too cold, rains too much, doesn’t rain enough, there’s nothing to wear in my closet full of clothes, why is this happening to me? etc., etc. We never seem to be satisfied with what we have been blessed with by God.

Israel, when they were wandering in the wilderness was no different. God had brought them out of the land of captivity and were taking them to a land for their own possession; a land he was giving to them that flowed with milk and honey. But they rebelled against him and he made them wander for 40 years until the first freed generation was to die out.  Knowing this, they still complained about everything. 

Numbers 11 gives us insight into their ungratefulness. They complained about not having meat to eat (v.4), they were better off in Egypt (v.5-6). They longed for the rich delicacies they remembered from there and not the manna they were given by God.  They seemed to forget they were slaves in Egypt; abused, worked to death, oppressed and had no rights. They forgot that God had freed them from this bondage. He was providing for them with Manna from heaven to eat. They only had to go gather it up and prepare it. It was more than enough to sustain them on their journey. But yet they complained it wasn’t what they wanted.

Do we complain when we don’t have the things we formally had or perceived we had?  Do we take a longing look back to the past and wish we still had the things of the past?  I know I have and still do on occasion.  Does it change my current situation?  No, it doesn’t and never will. Does it bring back what was?  No, of course not.  There’s nothing wrong with remembering the past and the memories that it brings us, but when we long for those things over what we have now, then we are doing ourselves a disservice and are ungrateful for what God is giving us now.  Paul wrote about this discontentment.

^“… I’ve learned to be content in whatever situation I’m in.  I know how to live in poverty or prosperity. No matter what the situation, I’ve learned the secret of how to live when I’m full or when I’m hungry, when I have too much or when I have too little.” – Philippians 4:11

Moses was no better than what verse 4 called the “rabble among them”.  He complained too.  In verse 11-15, he questioned God about a number of things.  “What have I done to displease you that you put the burden of all these people on me? Did I give birth to all these people? Where can I get meat to feed them all? I can’t carry all these people by myself.  This burden is too heavy for me.  Just kill me now.”   

Are we any better when we complain about our circumstances?  Do we complain because we may have a heavy burden placed on our shoulders we didn’t personally desire?  Do we complain when things don’t go smoothly or the way we think they should go? I can answer “yes” to these questions. I’ve questioned God many times as to why things happen the way they have in my life.  Did it change the situation? No, I just wasted my time being ungrateful for what I have now.

“A godly life brings huge profits to people who are content with what they have. We didn’t bring anything into the world, and we can’t take anything out of it.  As long as we have food and clothes, we should be satisfied.” – I Timothy 6:6-8

Job is a prime example of the attitude we should have when we are faced with events and things we didn’t ask for. His attitude should be mine always:

“Naked I came from my mother, and naked I will return. The Lord has given, and the Lord has taken away! May the name of the Lord be praised.” – Job 1:21

When Job’s wife told him to give up and die he told her something that I need to tell myself every time I find myself questioning God or feeling sorry about my current circumstances:

“Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” – Job 2:10

What did the ungratefulness of the Israelites and Moses bring them?  Verse 16-17, 23-25 of Numbers 11, tell us that Moses had some of the Spirit taken away from him and placed on other elders of the Israelites.  I’m not completely sure what this means, but I think it means he was no longer looked upon as the only leader of the people.  There were other men who would share that preeminence with him now.

The Israelites would get what they asked for, but in verse 18-20 the Lord told Moses, they would eat it for a month, “until it comes out of your nostrils and you loathe it”. In verses 31-33 this is fulfilled.  God sent so much quail that it covered the ground three feet high all around the camp. Along with the quail came something they didn’t anticipate. Verse 33 says, “while the meat was still between their teeth and before it could be consumed, the anger of the Lord burned against the people and he struck them with a severe plague.” They ended up losing their lives over their ungratefulness.

There is an old saying that says, “be careful what you wish for”.  How true this was for the Israelites and how true it still is for us today. Sometimes when we complain about something we don’t have or wish for our circumstances to be different, after we get it or the circumstance changes, it’s very rarely what we thought it would be like or were expecting.  Oftentimes we’re worse off than we were before. Sometimes this is a hard lesson to swallow. We need to look at our current situation with thanksgiving in our hearts and be grateful for what we have. 

“Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” – I Thessalonians 5:16-18

“Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’” – Hebrews 13:5

This is not to say, you can’t work towards bettering your situation, but while we’re in the place we are currently, we need to be grateful for the here and now.  When I begin to question God as to why things are as they are, I try to bear in mind Job 38-41, especially 40:8.  Read these chapters the next time you are questioning your situation and see how small and insignificant you feel about your complaining in face of the almighty Sovereign God.

“But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? “Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this? – Romans 9:20

What a sobering thought.

Idleness

Another school year has come to a close. Summer is here, the kids are on vacation and Mom is already pulling her hair out wondering what to do with them. What will your kids be doing this summer? Sleeping late? Watching TV/Movies? Playing video games? Texting? Facebooking? Instagram? 

We’ve become a nation of idle doers, with our heads stuck in our phones, watching TV and playing video games. We have lost the art of communicating without a device in our hands. I’m as guilty as anyone of idleness and of allowing my grandkids to play on the computer and watch one movie after another the whole time they are at my house. Lately, I’ve been contemplating just how we have allowed this to slowly creep into our lives until it totally consumes our time and that of our children/grandchildren, and I’m asking myself, what are we feeding our kid’s minds when we allow them to spend so many hours in front of a TV or computer screen playing games, texting on their phone, or watching videos? What does it benefit them? What does it teach them? Are we using it as a cheap babysitter?

The Bible takes a very dim view of a lazy or idle person.           

“Laziness casts one into a deep sleep, and an idle person will suffer hunger” - Proverbs 19:15

“The path of lazy people is like a thorny hedge, but the road of decent people is an open highway” - Proverbs 15:19

“A lazy person puts his fork in his food. He doesn’t even bring it back to his mouth.” - Proverbs 19:24

“A lazy person does not plow in the fall, He looks for something in the harvest but finds nothing.” - Proverbs 20:4

“As a door turns on its hinges, so the lazy person turns on his bed.” - Proverbs 26:14

 “His master responded, ‘you evil and lazy servant! If you knew that I harvest where I haven’t planted and gather where I haven’t scattered,’” - Matthew 25:26

“And withal they learn to be idle, wandering about from house to house; and not only idle, but tattlers also and busybodies, speaking things which they ought not” - I Timothy 5:13

“I went by the field of the lazy man, And by the vineyard of the man devoid of understanding; and there it was, all overgrown with thorns; its surface was covered with nettles; its stone wall was broken down. When I saw it, I considered it well; I looked on it and received instruction” - Proverbs 24:30-32

The “field” in these verses could easily be our minds. A mind is like a field - what we plant in it - that is what we shall reap. If we plant our minds with mindless nothing, we will reap mindless nothing.

“But whatever goes out of the mouth comes from within, and that’s what makes a person unclean. Evil thoughts, murder, adultery, other sexual sins, stealing, lying, and cursing come from within.” - Matthew 15:18-19

“Good people do the good that is in them. But evil people do the evil that is in them. The things people say come from inside them.” - Luke 6:45

“Make no mistake about this: You can never make a fool out of God. Whatever you plant is what you’ll harvest.” - Galatians 6:7

The summer is a great time for us to teach our children how to do many things that will be beneficial to them. You can teach your daughters to sew, cook, clean house, learn a craft or plant and tend a garden. Your sons can learn to build things, take care of the yard, and help their dad. What a great time to have Bible Studies or activities centered on Biblical truths.

Children need our guidance in all aspects of their lives, even in time management. Idleness in children leads to boredom—boredom leads to trouble and trouble leads to sin. Juvenile Delinquency in this country can be traced back to kids having too much time on their hands, unsupervised by an adult, and left to their own devices. In Jeremiah 18:12, we are told what happens when we are left to our own devices,

“...but we will walk after our own devices, and we will, every one do the imagination of his evil heart.”           

As a parent take charge of their time. Budget their time on electronic devices, including the TV and yes, even their phones. I’m not saying they shouldn’t have some down time, but encourage them to do other things. Even going outside to play is more beneficial to their health and physical well-being. Invite others over to your house. Have a backyard swim party. You don’t even need a pool to do this, just give the kids water hoses or water guns and let them have at it. Visit nearby museums, libraries, and parks. Look for festivals, ball games and other events going on in your area and go. Think back to your summer vacations. What do you remember most about them? The time you spent in front of the TV or the time you spent doing things with your parents, friends or others?

I’ve made a commitment this summer, not only to be less idle myself and limit my time on electronic devices (so if you're a Facebook friend you may not see much of me this summer, except to post this blog and scriptures), but to encourage my grandchildren when they are at my house, to do other things, to limit their time on electronic devices of any kind and encourage them to do other things and do it with them. 

           

Help your child learn not to be idle. It will not only be constructive for them, but for you also. And who knows, maybe you both will have memories to cherish in the years to come.