A Collective Insanity?

Early this morning, as I was writing a piece for Mind On Fire, I decided to simply post James 1:19, 20 on Kaleidoscope:

“…But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger; for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God.”

This was all I really wanted to say this morning…but then life intruded – more specifically the insanity surrounding us intruded.

As the pandemic continues, as civil unrest continues, as the concerted effort to erase the image of God continues, it seems as if what little equilibrium we once had is being toppled like so many statues. Is this a result of fatigue? Uncertainty? Prolonged stress? Fear? All of the foregoing and more?

I have a dear pastor friend who has been accused by elements of his leadership of leading out of fear because he has adhered to our governor’s executive orders and the guidance of public health officials. 

An acquaintance of ours told us that his very large church was not going to succumb to fear and would continue church pretty much as usual.

The vitriol, bad as it was prior to the pandemic, seems to be worse. This morning someone forwarded me an article from a “Christian leader” of a “Christian” organization attacking our governor with sarcasm and disrespect – where is Christ in this? Whether I agree with government officials or not, I am to respect them – especially as a follower of Jesus Christ.

There is a place for fear in godly leadership; the fear of the Lord and the fear of leading out of a rebellious spirit and heart. As the centurion of the Gospels teaches us, Jesus was “also a man under authority”. As Christ is subject to the Father, so we are to be subject to Christ and His Word, and His Word is clear about being in subjection to civil authority – this subjection is not the exception, it is the rule.

My gracious, the white church had no problem being subject to civil authority when there was segregation, when there was Jim Crow – where was our outrage then? Hypocrites we have been, self-centered hypocrites we are today.

So much of what I see within the professing church is anarchy - and that is insanity because it is self-destructive. Anarchy and lawlessness comes from the enemy – dress it up as we might, it is still from the enemy.

I guess I’ll close with another quote from James (3:13 – 18):

“Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth. This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy. And the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.”

The Father’s Day

“See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God…” (1 John 3:1).

Do we realize the greatness of our Father’s love for us? Do we ponder this and meditate upon it as a way of life? Our Father is not a father who is distant from us, who is removed from our lives, for He greatly desires intimacy with us in His Son Jesus Christ.

“…indeed our fellowship [koinonia] is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.” (1 John 1:3).

Do we realize our koinonia with our Father? The measure of our koinonia with Him is the measure of the Trinity.

“…that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us…” (John 17:21).

Since the measure of the Trinity is infinite and unfathomable, so our koinonia with our Father is incomprehensible to us – a boundless and bottomless ocean of love, peace, delight.

Can we quiet our hearts and minds and sense the Father’s Presence within us?

“If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him.” (John 14:23).

Do we realize whose sons and daughters we truly are?

“For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons [and daughters] by which we cry out, ‘Abba! Father!’ The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God…” (Romans 8:15 – 16).

O the intimacy of the cry “Abba!” A cry without pretense, without agenda, without self-consciousness, without shame. A cry with love, adoration, trust, joy, delight, wonderment.

Do we realize that our Father has “qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light” (Colossians 1:12) and that we are “heirs of God [our Father] and joint heirs with Christ” (Romans 8:17)?

Let this, and every day, be The Father’s Day, for all things in creation and in history are moving toward that Great Father’s Day when Christ will hand “over the kingdom to God the Father” (1 Corinthians 15:24) and we hear the words, “He who overcomes will inherit these things, and I  will be his God and he will be My son” (Revelation 21:7).

As we move toward that Great Father’s Day, let us follow the Lamb wherever He goes, having the Lamb’s Name and the Father’s Name written on our foreheads (Revelation 14:1). Let us live as His sons and daughters, manifesting His light and life and love to the world around us – to His glory and the glory of our elder brother, our Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 8:29; Hebrews 2:9 – 13).

What greater gift can we give to our Father, than completing the work which He has given us to do? (John 17:4; 2 Timothy 4:7 – 8).

The Valley of Vision (5)

The prayer titled, God the Source of All Good, begins on page 6 with:

“O LORD GOD, WHO INHABITEST ETERNITY, the heavens declare thy glory, the earth thy riches, the universe is thy temple; thy presence fills immensity…”

On page 7 it ends with, “Impress me deeply with a sense of thine omnipresence, that thou art about my path, my ways, my lying down, my end.” (The Valley of Vision, Banner of Truth Trust).

Throughout the Bible we see the point and counterpoint of the omnipresence and immediate presence of God; He fills the universe and yet He is here with me. In Christ, not only is He here with me but He has come to live in me. As Psalm 139 points out, God knows all about me; my words, my thoughts, my steps – He has always known me.

There is no place I will go today, or tomorrow, where God is not already there. There is no journey I’ll take without Him. There is no decision I’ll wrestle with that He will not know the thoughts with which I’ll struggle.

God inhabits eternity, and in Christ we are called to live in eternity. An element of our growth as the sons and daughters of God is learning to view life from eternity past to eternity future and within that framework to view the present. (Yes, eternity is eternity without past or future in one sense, but in another the Scriptures speak to us of before the foundation of the world and also of that event that will see the heavens and the earth pass away. Who can really think and speak of these things without using the language of time and space?).

“Thou hast made me what I am, and given me what I have; in thee I live and move and have my being…” (Page 6).

He created me to be me, not to be somebody else, and the same is true of you. Yet, how often do we want to be someone else, at least in some measure? Certainly our world and our economy fosters and cultivates this desire within us – we want to look different, act different, have different innate skills and talents and abilities, have different possessions. Our economy operates off our dissatisfaction with ourselves and our experiences and our possessions.

While because of sin, there is a sense in which I am not the person God created me to be; when I come to live in Christ and when Christ lives in me I become a new person in Christ and a process of restoration begins, hence in our prayer we have; “Let me know the need of renovation as well as of forgiveness…”

If we think that initial redemption and forgiveness is the Gospel we are mistaken, the Gospel is so much more – included in the Gospel is our transformation into the image of Jesus Christ (Romans 8:29) with all that entails. Yet, sadly, so many of us escape Egypt only to camp on the other side of the Red Sea, never moving across the Wilderness and into the Promised Land. There is more to life than escaping Egypt, than leaving behind a life of sin and death and idols – we do not cleanse and sterilize a canning jar for the sole purpose of getting it clean, we do it to fill it and seal it (Ephesians 1:1 – 12). Frankly, we cannot leave behind a life of sin and death and idols unless Christ lives in us and we live in Christ – unless He is willing and working in us His exceptionally good pleasure (Philippians 2:12 – 13).

O the glory of living life in the God who fills all in all – including ourselves in Christ.