Saturday 28 September 2013

Call your next witness!

The justice system! Where would we be without it?

Angelina Jolie made this quite famous quote:-

I don't believe in guilt, I believe in living on impulse as long as you never 
intentionally hurt another person, and don't  judge people in your life. 
I think you should love completely free.

Well... That's one way of looking at it I suppose.

Guilt, justice and the pronouncing of sentences; all part of modern day life; - what some see as wrong others see as right. We can travel the world and get  five million different versions of what is 'right and wrong'.

Like Angelina we can live on impulses and forego all the 'guilt' feelings. We can extinguish our consciences and harden or hearts to the hurts we have given others and live as we please.

In some parts of the world for example women have no rights at all, If a woman is sexually assaulted, that assault has to be witnessed by four adult males and the offender has to 'confess' before any sort of 'conviction' will take place.

The Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden, Portugal, Mexico and Canada all permit same sex marriage while other countries totally forbid even the suggestion of same.

And while the Netherlands, with it's famous coffee shops, is best known for the decriminalization of marijuana, you can find yourself on death row for possessing the same thing in Bali.

Every country is different in their laws and their justice systems. What is totally OK and fair in some is totally so wrong in others. You may walk down the street in tee shirts and shorts in some countries BUT find yourself behind bars for doing the same thing in another.

Surf the internet to see 'laws upheld in different countries' and before long your brain will be swimming in confusion and questions - all different and all correct in view of cultures and living conditions.

Which ones are right and which ones are wrong?? There are 'expert witnesses' and there are all manner of 'expert opinions' - all divided and all with their own slant on things.

We can be so sincere in our thinking and I truly believe that every other system in the world is truly sincere in theirs - the thing is we can all be 'sincerely' wrong.

Unlike us, our neighbours or our local justice system, God and only God has the unique ability to judge people perfectly.

He, in His ultimate wisdom, doesn't have to rely on eyewitness testimony; He sees everything.

He isn't swayed by 'expert' opinions when it comes to motives; He knows every thought running through a person's brain.

And because He knows our motives; our thoughts and our actions it is very important to keep that in mind because ultimately God's 'verdict' is the only thing that matters.

Living your life to please yourself or to please others is a really bad idea. The consequences can be devastating. It will lead to an alienation from God, which is probably the main reason not to live for self, but it can also lead to a self-righteousness or I-can-do-nothing-wrong attitude that will eventually alienate you from friends and even family.

An on-again, off-again effort won't do when it comes to honouring God - we need desperately to 'get over' ourselves, see others as God sees them; love them as God loves them.

God wants you to give Him your whole heart, your whole soul and your whole mind - lukewarm won't do!

We show our love for God by loving others and glorifying God in what we do and say - it's a pretty poor show trying to keep the commandments because all of us fail miserably in that one!

The Bible tells us that God looks into our hearts, seeing our purity of motives. Not judging; but loving. That can be hard because quite frankly some people are downright nasty - God is the only one through His Holy Spirit who is able to assist us in loving the un-lovely.

Not judging also includes yourself. If you have asked for forgiveness and truly repented of your sin to God, then your past is gone; continually re-asking God for forgiveness of your past sins and beating yourself up about them time and time again makes you the Judge and not God.

Our goal should be to please the One who can pass sentence on us. Not us passing sentence on ourselves or others.

If we are judged faithful and true to Him - we are set forever. Eternally forever.

I love this quote from Dietrich Bonhoeffer:-

"Judging others makes us blind, whereas love is illuminating. 
By judging others we blind ourselves to our own evil and to the grace 
which others are just as entitled to as we are."



















Wednesday 18 September 2013

Bracing as a slap on a sunburned back!

Ever come to a place of realisation that brings you up with a jolt! I do often but the latest 'jolt' I had was just this week.

We were fortunate to have squirrelled away a week where we were able to set aside all work stuff and go away with two other couples and just relax.

Playing tennis, relaxing in a hot spa, eating outrageous food and generally just taking time to be with each other and God; amazing really! and so encouraging to be with others who are of like mind and appreciate where we are coming from.

We also brought with us heaps of books and DVD's . Daniel A. Browns' book "Embracing Grace" was one that I picked up just prior to going away and one that has had a profound effect on me, especially after I had been thinking along the very same lines and hence had written a blog "Blood Stained Pages' just days before.

Our God works in Miraculous ways indeed and then to top it all off, our friend Rick had brought along a DVD of Louie Giglio's "Grace (the one and only)" which just re-inforced to me that God was definitely giving me this message loud and clear.

Well! with all those prompts I was more or less forced to re-think where I was as a Christian; what was God trying to tell me and then coming to terms with my on-going sin, guilt and bad feelings.

Probably one of the first lessons of the week was that God does not want to punish me He is not a forbidding God sitting on His throne; staid and stern; more interested in his 'rules' than in me!

I must admit that prior to this week away, even though I knew God was merciful and kind, the very fact that I kept on sinning and having to come back time and time again to beg forgiveness, made me think that God must be so sick and tired of my sin.

How much further could I push him before He said enough was enough! "You have gone too far this time"  and I had crossed the invisible line beyond His amazing grace.

Jesus paid an incredible ransom to get me released from judgement and shame; He is faithful and so ever ready to forgive me every sin and cleanse me forever from every stain.

NOW THATS' AMAZING!! God isn't a big stick wielding God ready to whack us at every mistake we make being deliberate or otherwise!

We don't have to be afraid of coming to God when we mess up - That's what He wants of us. He is my ADVOCATE not my ADVERSARY!

Nothing absolutely nothing can worm it's way between me and God's love. Now when I pray I have a new vision of God from one ready to JUDGE to one ready to LOVE! That's what God is like.

We must be so careful to avoid what Daniel A Brown calls the "Spirit of the Pharisee" - and you will recall Jesus reserved the harshest condemnations for the Pharisees!

The Pharisees expected Jesus to agree with their low opinion of sinners and their high opinion of their own spirituality; instead Jesus shocked them by mixing with people whose very sinfulness were condemned by Pharisaical  law.

They, like a lot of Christians think of evaluating God on the basis of standards and scores; winning brownie points for their performance rather than on the basis of love and faith.

We shouldn't condemn ourselves or others for mistakes made now, in the future or the past but rather celebrate what Jesus did for all mankind on the cross. Judging and condemning ourselves and others only points out our insufficiency instead of Gods' all-sufficiency.

Yes; God will judge but His judgement for those who believe and accept will be a judgement of deliverance. The goal of God's judgement is to unlock peoples chains, not to imprison them!

So when we do sin, God, through the Holy Spirit corrects us to enable us to become more like Him. His correction expresses His love, not His wrath. It develops not damns!

So when we come to God, there is no need to come in fear and trembling; God is there to love and nurture not accuse and condemn.

All of us who judge or look down our noses at others or take on the 'holier than thou' attitude are really playing into the hands of Satan our accuser. This attitude will warp God's truth of love and forgiveness and replace it with the law and commands, hijacking God's love with threats of judgement and wrath!

So now when we do sin we don't have to keep our distance from God for a few days until He cools off - on the contrary - that is the very time He wants us to come to Him - he is NOT going to punish us - He wants to forgive.

That certainly doesn't mean that sin no longer matters at all because God's love and grace magically eliminates any need for coming back to God and asking forgiveness! No way!

Nor does it mean that we should be so focused on our sin that we are always constantly feeling inadequate and even unqualified for Gods grace so that each sin we commit brings us closer to the inevitble "chopping block" of God! - Again No way!

Confess our sins as they bombard us; genuinely come to God and repent; turn to Him knowing that He loves you and is so ready to forgive and forget.

The law and the "Spirit of the Pharisee"presses for the guilty verdict where Jesus came to suspend judgement not hurry it along!

So don't fall for the trap of thinking that God is a 'whip holding' God - that only re-inforces what Jesus did on the cross all those years ago was not quite enough!

Unfortunately Gods awesome grace doesn't remove sin from the world; what it does do though is to remove it entirely before the judgement seat of the our Holy God!

We can be assured of our future in Him; sin free because of Gods's forgiveness and love.

When doubts overwhelm you as they do me - draw closer to Calvary

Now THAT is a pretty bracing thought!!

Another amazing 'bracing' thought is that God makes us righteous when we accept Jesus's sacrifice as payment for our own sinfulness - RIGHTEOUS! can you believe it??

In God's mind, righteousness is determined by what we believe, not by how we behave. WOW! This is a game changer.

Frankly, our behaviour even when we try so hard to be good has never been very impressive to God.

So... The great gobsmacking - bracing lesson to be learned here is not found in our human 'behaviour' BUT in God's.

God in His almighty grace made salvation a free gift and from then on believing not behaving is the one and only possible pathway to righteousness.
























Saturday 7 September 2013

Blood Stained Pages

We have some really beautiful Christian friends and I praise God for them - they are such a blessings to us.

When we are together the conversation invariably turns to Christ and we encourage each other in the Lord.

Some of them however are pretty scared and might I say terrified to meet our Lord when the time comes for us to gather around the judgement throne - for all of us will be judged according the Scripture.

2 Corinthians 5:10 "For we must all appear before the judgement seat of Christ, that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.

So should we be scared to meet God? God in His awesomeness? The very word awesome actually can mean terrifying, so our friends may have a point!

Yes! I truly believe that our God is awesome and terrifying in some ways and I have no doubt that I personally will fall flat on my face when I come into contact with Him on the wondrous day.

But God is also faithful and true to His promises and I praise Him for that fact.

So should we be scared to Him? I firmly believe we shouldn't be. And I can say that with confidence because God spells out very plainly that anyone who comes to Him, confesses their guilt and turns away from their sins; trusting in the sacrifice of Jesus to cover ALL past and future sins, then He will show us compassion, mercy and love.

Believing that the amazing gift offered to us at Calvary when Jesus died to cover our sins, we can come before the awesome Creator of the universe with all confidence and assurance that He will accept us into the place he has prepared for us with Him.

Now some Christians view the judgement seat of Christ in abject terror, a place of intense scrutiny  and sorrow where all of our past sins will be on display for all to see and that we will experience suffering and punishment at God's hands for those sins.

They believe that Jesus, as Judge, will examine in careful and minute detail every word and motive and every past sin through this examination and although forgiven will have to explain in detail every sin committed.

I feel this is contrary to the life and death of Jesus who died once and for all sins. He paid that penalty for us and if we have to give an account of those sins again then that would be contrary to the teaching of 1 Thessalonians 5: 9 "For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us".

So Jesus' death paid that penalty for us - we don't have to pay it again at Judgement; isn't that saying that Jesus' sacrifice wasn't enough?

I personally believe that the Judgement seat of Christ will be a truly serious examination of our past lives yet the emphasis will be on the importance and necessity of faithful living. I also believe that any good works done purely under my own power will be regarded as worthless while anything done in the power of His Holy Spirit will be rewarded.

Now "rewards" smack of merit instead of grace and as we know works mean nothing unless they come from a heart and life fully committed to God - but rewards are freely and often mentioned in the Bible and even though we may feel unworthy about even the idea of rewards they are a real part of the necessity of Judgement.

We should serve God out of love and for His Glory; but the fact remains that the Bible promises rewards.

So I believe where the Judgement seat of Christ will be much more than a 'rewards ceremony' it WILL BE a place where we stand glorified before Him minus our old sin nature! There will be no need for further examination and/or punishment because Jesus has taken the wrath of God away from us who believe.

So let's be very sure about this just in case some us will draw the wrong conclusions. Jesus teaches us plainly that there are very serious and very specific consequences, both here on earth and for eternity for sin and disobedience.

Although, I feel that we as Christians won't be judged for past and forgiven sins, since Jesus did that for us, and we are now a child of God saved by grace, (see John 3:18) we must never, under any circumstances, take sin lightly!

I believe that our sins which were many are all washed away by the blood of Jesus. We don't know or need to know the details of the judgement only to know that the Judge is righteous and just (2 Timothy 4:8) and only He will be able to balance all the variables; individual gifts and uncertainties of life and the opportunities we are given.

I am reminded of Crystal Lewis' song "Bloodstained Pages" which goes like this:-

Whenever I stand before my maker
And the book is open wide
And the deeds of men both good and bad
Are recorded there inside
there won't be a sinful way beside my name
Or a time I let Him down
For the crimson blood of Jesus
Kept my wrongs from being found.

Oh the pages have been stained
By the blood He shed for me
Praise God I can't read  them
Neither can He
What's been forgiven is forgotten
And impossible to see
Bloodstained pages stained by blood
He shed for me

Whenever I stand in wait of Judgement
To account for all my sin
And a diary of the life I've led
Is the evidence brought in
There will be no need of that log of deeds
No conviction handed down
For the crimson blood of Jesus
Kept my wrongs from being found

Oh the pages have been stained
By the Blood He shed for me
Praise God, I can't read them
neither can He
What's been forgiven is forgotten
And impossible to see
Bloodstained pages stained by blood
He shed for me




Human love - super romantic and amazing!

Sometimes it is hard to give up on something you love - especially when that impinges on your family or your life in so many different ways ...