See how they love one another

Well, our church made headlines in the local paper. We are praying the story doesn't get picked up by other news agencies - we would like for this to all go away soon.

What happened? Well, first some background: there is a group of people in our community who seem to want the church to take a more active - read that "adversarial" - role in fighting abortion in our nation. Not our local church, but 'the church' in a larger sense. They want us to do exactly what they do. We don't want to do exactly what they do, so they have done their level best to hold us hostage to their beliefs. Now let me be clear - we are a pro-life church, not only our local church, but our national denomination.

Exactly what transpired is this, boiled down: They began to picket in front of our church a few months ago. Not just our church, but many of the local churches. One church at a time, as they seem to only have a few people who will take the time to "demonstrate" on Sunday mornings. Their signs said, "Church Repent" and "4,000 abortions a day," and it has to be very confusing to people who drive by. I don't know if they have ever picketed in front of the Jewish Temple or other houses of worship - why do I mention that? Because there are houses of worship in our community which are public in their support of Planned Parenthood and in other ways make it clear - publicly - that they are pro-choice. We are not. We are pro-life. We support the local "Crisis Pregnancy Center" and we have given large gifts to the neo-natal wing at our local hospital, in hopes of keeping babies alive. We do not want to make the lives of women harder - on the contrary: we want to help any woman who finds herself facing an unplanned pregnancy. We will love you, take care of you, give you a safe and secure place to calmly sit and make tough choices and we will even give you a place to live while you await this new life coming into the world. We want to save lives.

So this group showed up with posters - eight feet tall - of aborted babies. In full, gory color. And several of our young children were exposed to this gore as their moms and dads drove them in to Sunday School. There was no way to warn our parents: they simply drove up to church as usual, and their kids got an eye-full. And many of them reacted as you would expect: asking "what is that!!??" with tears, many with night terror or at least trouble sleeping that night and the next.

One parent went too far and engaged the protesters in a water fight. And THAT is what made the paper. The reporter did not quote any statistics about how many babies die each year, or how often babies are aborted after the point at which they are viable, living individuals. Nothing was mentioned of the ability of a teenager to have the school nurse take her to a clinic, get an abortion and go back to school as if nothing had happened, without contacting parents - nope. The father, angered at a rude exposure of his kids to violent bloody images in front of his place of worship was the focal point.

Well, what he did was not very level-headed. He may pay a huge price for his actions, but I would truly love to know the answer to this question:

If the protesters are truly interested in saving the lives of unborn babies, how many do they think they will save by turning a pro-life church into the butt of jokes, the object of scorn, the focus of hate and revile among our neighbors? Of COURSE there have been calls and letters from our neighbors asking "what were you thinking?"

We had to explain that those ugly posters were most definitely NOT being held up by members of our church, nor were any of the events that transpired part of some plan by the leadership of our church - it was an outside agency which fully wants to pressure us into their agenda. But it is too little too late: so many local people will get up and read the headlines this morning and ask:

Is this how Christians behave?

Another lesson from the dog

I had a silly thought this morning - it involves the honest confession that my dog does in fact shed. I had told my wife that our dog does NOT shed - this was information given to me by two reliable people when we got the animal. It was noted with amazement, "And she just doesn't shed!"

Well, I got her bed out and cleaned it the other day, and there is enough brown hair all around it to make another dog. If I could spin it and weave it, I could have a nice blanket. And it was not just around the bed - as I began to widen my cleaning efforts to the rest of the family room, I found clumps of hair had begun to coalesce in corners, cracks and under furniture all over the room. And later that same day I reached down and grabbed at something that caught my eye on the floor of my truck. You guessed it - another tenth-of-a-dog's-worth of hair. Brown hair. I will need to go buy some back-up bags for the vacuum before I start cleaning out the truck - cleaning the doggy bed and the family room stuffed the last one we had on the shelf.

So - OK - my dog sheds. So what is the silly thought that this brought to my little Chas brain?

I have a desire to leave as much of a mark on my world as my stupid dog leaves. In her case it's just fuzzy wads of hair. But nobody could dig around my world and not know that there had been a brown animal living there. Nobody. So - after I pass from this world, will people look around and have a tough time knowing that I ever lived here? No, I don't want piles of Chas hair, or other cast-offs, to be the thing that reminds them I passed this way. I want something more Godly, more Christ-honoring.

I want to be so full of the goodness of God that I leave a trail of it - at least as much as the trail of brown hair my dog leaves in her wake. Is that asking a lot? We'll see.

A lot of loss

"I need to put it in gear. "

That saying is so very appropriate to me today. It is Monday, my 'day off,' and I would really love to just putter around the house: mow the lawns, do some weeding, maybe even buy a few new plants to put in the ground to make the place look a little better. But I have a bunch of broken cars and trucks to get to work on - so I'll be "getting it in gear," any minute now. Soon. Real soon.

But first a moment of private grief. Within the past two days I have lost two friends. One was a dear old saint - she would not mind me calling her dear, nor 'old.' Mabel was a wonderful lady who served God to the very last breath He afforded her, and it is my firm conviction that Mabel is in the presence of her savior right now, rejoicing.

Another friend, this one a young man with children scattered in age and geographically, took his own life. The questions we all ask ourselves at this point came immediately to mind: could I have been a better friend? Why didn't he talk to us, to me, about hitting a level of pain that would push him to do this? He had great loss in his recent history, but none of us loved him less nor would have hesitated to do whatever we could have to keep him moving on. But he is gone.

And then this morning, I opened an email and learned that my favorite aunt passed away. She actually passed a couple of months ago but my cousin has been busy with the details and apologetically just notified people now. Having lost both of my parents within the past few years, I completely understand the whirlwind of details, emotions and thoughts that can overtake a person. In fact, Pauline was the last of the siblings. In the past five years - give or take - my Mom's brother, twin sister, sister-in-law and both brothers-in-law have passed. It is the end of an era in our family - and I hope we can get all the cousins together once more before the next chapter begins to close.

But that's a lot of loss to absorb. I can't tell you how glad I am that I have family, friends, and a loving heavenly Father who are all willing to share in the pain. A real support team. Awesome.

And a set of wrenches, waiting for me to get to them. That will have to be therapeutic, and I think it might actually be.

OK - I pray for the friends and families of the loved ones we have lost. Lord Jesus: It is a sad time, it is a sweet time, it is all a part of life. Thanks for walking along with us - thanks that death is not something you don't understand. You even grieved the loss of friends while you were here on earth, and I know you grieve for the lost all the time. It is a comfort to know that you understand. Thank-you Lord. Amen.

God bless you - each and every one.

Purity

God does not abide in an unclean vessel.

I don't know what I could possibly add to that.

There came a Man...

Luke 1
The Birth of John the Baptist

57When it was time for Elizabeth to have her baby, she gave birth to a son. 58Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown her great mercy, and they shared her joy.

59On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to name him after his father Zechariah, 60but his mother spoke up and said, "No! He is to be called John."

61They said to her, "There is no one among your relatives who has that name."

62Then they made signs to his father, to find out what he would like to name the child. 63He asked for a writing tablet, and to everyone's astonishment he wrote, "His name is John." 64Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue was loosed, and he began to speak, praising God. 65The neighbors were all filled with awe, and throughout the hill country of Judea people were talking about all these things. 66Everyone who heard this wondered about it, asking, "What then is this child going to be?" For the Lord's hand was with him.

I have thought often of John. Life for John was so very different than most - he lived in the wild, and ate wild things. God called him to be an outsider, and God provided a life and a living for him as he answered that call. Can you imagine being called to live outside and apart from all of society, to be utterly dependent upon God alone, and to then be used to prepare the way for Jesus Christ?

Well - we don't have to imagine. We are called to do that. Perhaps we will not eat locust and wild honey, or wear animal skins, but we ARE called to make the way clear for Jesus. And that, by it's very nature, will assure us a place as an outsider to most of society today. Are we answering God's call?

Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their coutnry, and PRAY.

I have been following three very different 'news' items lately - two young women who are sailing single-handed around the world, and the health care bill.

I'm not going to get into the health care bill at this time, but suffice to say that I am not encouraged by recent votes and activity.

However, I was challenge by a simple thought which occurred to me this morning as I glanced at the blogs and updates from my two mariners: they simply updated the people who are following them about how fast they are currently sailing, where they are, and things like that. The very same things that they have been doing for weeks, months. They even offer encouragement to one another, even though to a certain extent they are competing to be the first to do what they are doing.

It was an encouragement to me. Their exploits seem to be larger than life to me - what an amazing thing for a young woman to take on - but the ocean is a tough mistress, and if they take their eyes off of what they are doing right now they could end up in serious trouble. At the very least, they could go off course and have many miles to make up getting back on course.

It seemed a fitting metaphor for us as a country: we need to keep our eyes focused on the true source of everything we need in our lives, and that most certainly is NOT the government. It is God.

So as our young friends give us this simple example of maintaining focus, I would call us as believers to maintain focus: keep praying for our country, for the unborn, for our leaders, and keep our eyes on God. HE is the author and perfecter of our faith, and the source of everything we need to live.

Keep praying.

Paid in Full

I heard a preacher just the other day say something which I believe to be wrong. Not Biblical. It is a generalization, so there is a way of looking at it which could be loosely construed as 'true,' but look close and you will find that it is not only error, but it can be a sign that the person saying it does not fully understand the concept of Jesus' work, done for us on the cross.

The phrase goes something like this:

"I have been justified by grace - that means it's 'just as if I'd' never sinned."

But the problem I have with that is simple: when Jesus died on the cross for you and I, it was to pay the price for our sins. That's quite different. In case I'm not making sense to you, let me put it in the form of a story:

Let's imagine that you walk into a restaurant and order a big meal, but just then you discover that you don't have your wallet. You apologize to the waiter, ask them to cancel your order and get up to leave. No food came to the table, things like this happen, everyone is gracious, you leave, the table is quickly offered to the next patron, and nobody is really out anything other than the fact that you didn't get a meal. That would be "just as if it never happened." But...

What if you walked in, sat down, ordered everything on the menu, ate all you could to the point of pain, ordered lots of expensive specialty drinks, dessert, and even some food to-go. Then you got up and announced that you didn't have a dime with you. You would have committed a crime, but set that aside for a moment - imagine that some other patron observed the scene. Somebody with whom you are not in any way acquainted. That stranger steps up to the manager, and quietly hands them the exact, precise amount that you owed the restaurant. Even a perfectly calculated tip for the waiters. To the penny.

Now - is it 'as if it never happened?" It happened! People saw it happen, you know it happened, you did wrong and tried to get away with it. No - it is as if it happened but the price was fully paid. Perfectly paid. Completely paid.

THAT is what Jesus did on the cross - he paid for my sin and yours. He did not somehow turn back time and erase the sin. He did pay for it - in full - perfectly. It is as if the debt was covered, handled, paid in full.

Big difference. Makes me want to be sure that I don't create more debt for my precious savior. How about you?

The time it is a changin'

I have several timeclocks in my life which turn on lighting for security and convenience. They are a pain to maintain because they are always needing to be changed. I don't know if it occurs to the casual observer, but as the seasons change, we go from sunset at around 5 to 5:30 in Winter, all the way to sunset at around 9:00 to 9:30 in the summer. That is over three hours of change, in six months. That's a half-hour each month, actually a little more. Which means that I have to adjust timeclocks about fifteen minutes every two weeks. Or I can bump them a little under ten minutes every single week of the year.

They are very basic mechanical devices, so it isn't really possible to set them in exact increments, so trying to get 7 or 8 minutes of adjustment is not really possible. I just move them a little and hope for the best.

I also have some security lighting which is controlled by photocell. A photocell is a great little device with detects ambient light and switches things on and off based on that. So they never need to be adjusted, as long as you want the lighting to turn on a dusk and off at dawn, you're good. You may have to be sure that the thing is not aimed right at some other source of light, or it can be fooled, but once it is set up and properly adjusted, it just does it's job without further care.

I like that. Something in my life which does it's job without input from me. Something which 'looks around,' adjusts to the changing situation all by itself, and goes right on doing a perfect job. I could use more things like that.

I could stand to be a person like that, as well.

Crowd pleaser

Mark 15:9"Do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews?" asked Pilate, 10knowing it was out of envy that the chief priests had handed Jesus over to him. 11But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have Pilate release Barabbas instead.

12"What shall I do, then, with the one you call the king of the Jews?" Pilate asked them.

13"Crucify him!" they shouted.

14"Why? What crime has he committed?" asked Pilate.
But they shouted all the louder, "Crucify him!"

15Wanting to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them. He had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified.

Easter is coming up - and we Christians celebrate the most significant holiday on the calendar: the day Christ Jesus rose from the dead. But to rise from the dead, he had to first die. And it was not some made-for-TV movie death - it was gruesome. Thank-you Lord that you endured what you did for me. For all of us.You paid the price for the things I have done. Wow.

What would you do differently?

Today is the day we lay John Woertink to rest.

"Lay to rest."

I don't know where that term had it's genesis, but it is interesting. John may be resting now, free from the pain and suffering of the past six months, but he is not doing that resting in a box in a funeral home, nor will he be doing so in a grave in Camarillo.

We know beyond doubt that John is with the Lord now - when people pass from this life to the next, we often reflect on the day they did so by saying, "we lost John on Saturday night," or something similar. I said it about my parents for a brief time - but then it dawned on me that THAT is also not correct. They were not 'lost,' I knew exactly where they were and are. So it is with John.

I was going to write an obit about John here, but it dawns on me that many of you don't know him or Ruth, or their kids or grandkids, so there would be no real point to it. But suffice to say that John knew Jesus, served Him faithfully, and is with him now and for all of eternity.

So - six months notice. That's what John had. If that 'sentence' was passed on your life today, would you make changes in the way you live?

A friend

I lost a friend named John yesterday. I was busy running around my life as usual, and I had to pause and look inside.

John and I served together. That was going to be the first part of a statement about something we did together, but as I type just those words, I realize that the essence of our relationship is captured best right there. "We served together."

In serving together, we had our differences, disagreements, disappointments, delights, laughter and we developed a sense of camaraderie which comes from time in the trenches together. Yes, we did field a shot or two - from people and from situations - which made us appreciate each other. And we laughed together over cards more than once, I assure you. While eating some delicious goodies and learning just how competitive certain people can be... "just a friendly game" may never have the same meaning for me...

This is not some official obituary, but John Woertink entered into God's rest in his sleep after a brief battle with cancer. He was actively serving God at his local church almost to the end of his time here. He is survived by his loving wife Ruth, grown children and grand children. And many friends who sampled and enjoyed the hospitality of a warm christian home.

John - we will miss you, but we know we will see you again one day.

Fathering - not for wimps

I took my daughter to the airport today. It is always bitter-sweet to do so: I am very proud that she takes her education so seriously, I think she has chosen a fine school (Southeastern University in Florida) and yet I am always amazed at her ability to cram so much life into her life. As a result, I love to be around her, even though I know she needs to get back to school. I also know she has a few books to read on the remaining break she has! Hope and Kristen surprised me by 'sneaking' her home for Spring break. What a wonderful surprise!

She and I share a special bond - and it is so very new and different for me. I have a good relationship with both of my kids, and it is very different between the two of them because they themselves are very different people from each other. I loved my dad, but we didn't get to be friends until late in life. It just happened that way, I guess. So when Hope and I decided we were ready to have kids - at least as ready as anyone ever is - I decided that I was going to not leave it to chance - I was going to work to cultivate a friendship, even in the midst of being the best dad I could be. It is a daunting task that can consume you, as any parent can attest to - and I gave myself to it. So, of course, even before we were expecting we began to pray. Very specific prayers. We prayed for things which our friends laughed at. Thinks like, "may our kids sleep through the night at an early age."

Of course we covered the basics that most praying parents pray for, such as, "May they be born healthy and whole. Cute little nose and all their fingers and toes. May they know God at an early age. May they serve God all of their lives." Basic stuff. But we wanted to have all the detail stuff in God's hands too, so we prayed for future mates, careers, hobbies, likes/dislikes, schooling and that they would look first to what God would want in their lives before what WE would want in their lives, or even what THEY would want in their lives. We prayed for the right influences, the right passions, holy lust for life instead of just lust - there was an amazing list and I don't know if I have prayed in such detail for anything else in our lives!

And now they are grown up and we are done with the parenting.

*** Contented, emotional sigh ***

And they have both turned out pretty well. Interesting then, that they still consume so much of my time before the Father... but it is precious time. Because in the midst of developing a loving relationship with my kids, I also developed a loving relationship with my heavenly Father as we shared the joys and sorrows. Thanks kids! You have given me a wonderful friend on earth, and helped me to draw close to our Father at the same time.

Bear fruit

The Withered Fig Tree

Mark 11:20In the morning, as they went along, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots. 21Peter remembered and said to Jesus, "Rabbi, look! The fig tree you cursed has withered!"

Interesting that Jesus did not say to the tree, "wither from your roots."

He also did not say, "Die by tomorrow."

"14Then he said to the tree, "May no one ever eat fruit from you again." And his disciples heard him say it."

Simple. To the point. He cursed a fruit tree to never bear fruit again, and it died as a result. You see, and fruit tree needs to bear fruit. Not just to have a reason for existing, but it is part of it's life. Part of how it lives.

We are no different: if we do not bear fruit, we die. No, our death may not come overnight, but it comes nonetheless.

Are we bearing fruit?

A call to Anquish.

I want to share something with you which stirred my heart. Our pastor gave us an amazing message yesterday. It was about one of the Beatitudes - specifically " 6Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled."
It was challenging. And then he sat down and played the video I have put below. That is a very bold move - not only does our church challenge people, but our pastor is not afraid to share the pulpit if another messenger can bring the message in a powerful way. So - in lieu of my blog today, please take seven minutes of your valuable time and watch this:



If you also want to hear the sermon Pastor Tony Cervero delivered, click here. Don't know exactly how fast they post it after the day it was preached, so you may have come back in a day or two. Date you are looking for is March 7, 2010

Pass the salt

Last week I was doing a load of white laundry. I like my whites to be white - I don't know why, because nobody SEES the white laundry as I am wearing it. But I do like them to be nice and bright.

So I added bleach to the little bleach dispenser on our "Macho 9000 Super Space/Time Clothing Cleansing Unit" or "washer" as you regular people would call it. I set the Macho 9000 ("Gets your clothes Macho-Clean") to 'whites, extra hot, soil level high,' which runs the thing for like an hour or something.

Anyway, once the load was finally done I heard the little song that it plays to let me know it has once again accomplished the amazing, and I went out to transfer over to the dryer. (Macho 9001). But as I stepped into the laundry room - AKA "family room," AKA "former garage..." - I noticed the overwhelming smell of chlorine. I suppose it is possible that I may have added a bit too much bleach. I don't know - but it sure smelled like an indoor swimming center. The clothes went into the dryer, and then later into the drawer - and they did smell like bleach. I smelled like bleach whenever I would put any of those items on in the morning.

But whatever - at least I had the whitest whites I could. I was fine with it.

But this morning at around 4am I was running a load of whites - and I decided to skip the whole bleach thing and see how it went. Well, I just pulled them out a little while ago and ...grey!! Or 'Gray' if you insist. Point is - NOT WHITE!

I had grabbed a black sock and tossed it in with the load by accident. It was dark, ok? ONE stupid black sock. Looks like I'll be adding bleach again next time... I am SO glad I don't own any red socks!

I guess it's sort of like US. We are supposed to be Salt and Light in our world. We can be the one black sock in the load of white laundry - it's amazing just how much that can change things.

Mark 9:50"Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with each other."

Time and place

I sat in an accountability group last night and heard a man share that his father had put him down when he was young. As a result, he said that he now has low self-esteem.

Something came over me that made me feel weak and shaky at the same time I felt bold and motivated: I began to speak. I said something to the extent that I could understand why he had low self esteem as a child - but why did he have that problem now that he was an adult? His father's influence was past history - he now had to own these feelings of inadequacy himself. He agreed. Then I asked him, "if I was a doctor and could hand you a pill which would end this in your life instantly, would you take that pill?"

"Oh yes!" he said and he began to show obvious signs of an emotional struggle.

"Well, I believe that Jesus wants to deliver you from this, right here, right now."

I was shaking as I said it, moved almost to tears myself. He nodded, and I was about to ask the group to join us and pray for this man's deliverance.

"OK, the next question on our worksheet asks, ..." it was the voice of the facilitator, who wanted to keep us 'on track and moving along.'

The moment passed. I don't know if the man found the deliverance he was seeking. I had scripture coming to mind that spoke of no longer being a slave to sin - I had my iBible open to the page, I think we would have seen something great happen in our midst.

I wish we had been able to see this thing broken in the life of my brother, but I guess it was not the time and place for a healing to take place.

I don't know which saddens me more: the fact that our schedule precluded a moving of the Holy Spirit in a powerful way, or the fact that I didn't make more of an effort to stop and pray for him on the spot. I can say this - our church very much supports the moving of the Holy Spirit - we certainly ask for it, pray for it, and normally fashion our services to encourage it. This just wasn't one of those times, I guess.

Lord - let me learn how to know your voice, and sense the moving of your Holy Spirit that no matter is going on around me, I will be ready to move as you direct. Even if it is not part of my plan for the moment, the hour, even the day. And especially if your plan is for me to sit under submission to the leaders you have set in place, humbly allowing you to be God, because I certainly am not God. I give you my time, my schedule, as I have already given you my life.

Amen.

Good morning world

I have no real study to post today - just thought I would do a quick catch up on "Living with Wolves..."

Hope has been running our store, and doing a pretty good job of it. A few sales here and there help to keep some cash flowing. It mostly flows OUT of our various accounts, but at least there is a little of it to flow... let me correct that: it ALL flows out of our accounts.

Our building has been leased. We have carried this thing for a long time. Any income our spa business might have made was gobbled up greedily by our commercial building on East Main Street in Ventura. That was actually our plan back in the day when our Spa store was putting out huge amounts of profit: we were able to put money into the building instead of sending it off to Uncle Sam or Cousin Arnold. It worked fine for a few years, till the tenant's business went bust, and the economy cut our income to zero. But our new tenant will cover most (but not all) of our monthly costs, and she has a good track record. Her name is Tina and she owns and operates "Pet Barn." Good things for your good friends. Or something like that. She was amazingly careful in looking at every little thing before signing the lease - I am way fine with that: it shows there will be no surprises on either side. We all want Pet Barn to succeed in it's new location!! Shop there, even if you don't have a pet, please.

Hope is leading a couple of small groups at church - 'Life's Healing Choices,' with a video by Rick Warren and a book by John Baker. I am in a similar group on Wednesday nights - accountability has helped me overcome some destructive habits, and I am glad to be part of it. Now - if I can get my schedule free enough to actually BE THERE a couple of more times...

I get up real early and go walking a lot. Not every day - but a lot. I have lost over 65 pounds since October. That's had an amazing impact on my physical well-being. But it is still a challenge, I truly love to eat. I am one of those persons who makes a large batch of food, then sits and eats it. Some people eat until they are satisfied, I eat until I am tired, or usually until I have eaten it all and the bowl or plate has been licked clean. Not anymore. Diabetes, back problems, snoring, sleep apnea, all gone. And that encourages me to keep going.

OK - enough about me - how are YOU?

Armed priests - a new leadership style?

Numbers 25:6 Then an Israelite man brought to his family a Midianite woman right before the eyes of Moses and the whole assembly of Israel while they were weeping at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. 7 When Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, saw this, he left the assembly, took a spear in his hand 8 and followed the Israelite into the tent. He drove the spear through both of them—through the Israelite and into the woman's body.

This sounds so brutal! The priest killed this couple in the tent. I wonder if they were on their guard, or if they were uh, shall we say, "otherwise distracted?"

In any event, they had to be close together at the moment of death since the spear went right through them both. So why do I want to blog about this act which on the surface seems to be not something a loving God would send His priest to do? Because I am afraid that we do not take sin seriously enough these days. Oh yes, myself fully included here. In fact, when I think of the damage sin can do in my life, I don't know why God has chosen to STOP doing this type of simple law-enforcement.

A friend and I were talking about a couple of christian people we know who smoke and drink. We opined that if you are going to stand up as an example to young people, you ought to think twice about allowing these behaviors into your life. We fully realized that there is no list of sins in the Bible which specifically says not to smoke or drink - not specifically. But my friend took it a step farther, and asked, "so which sin is the greatest - smoking, drinking, porn, simple anger..." and he went on to list a few others I can't remember just now. I guess I finally answered with some quip, because we were not being all that serious. But I woke up this morning thinking about it very seriously. God does NOT joke around about sin. If it exists in our lives in secret it will be brought to light. If we nurture it, feed it, keep it as a pet, it will destroy us. God promises that.

So, back to our priest with the sword: how does that reflect a loving God? Easy. Look at story: Moab had "seduced" Israel and the men of Israel had taken wives. Not just that, but read verse 1, " While Israel was staying in Shittim, the men began to indulge in sexual immorality with Moabite women, 2 who invited them to the sacrifices to their gods. The people ate and bowed down before these gods. 3 So Israel joined in worshiping the Baal of Peor. And the LORD's anger burned against them. "

So - this private sin had become very public all by itself. And the Lord was doing a job of cleansing his people. He loves them, and wanted them to remain pure. This is not a one-time teaching, the people of Israel had to lose a lot of friends and relatives to get this lesson learned. And Jesus spoke about it later, during His time on earth. So - what did the priest accomplish by killing the sinning couple? I believe he showed the nation how seriously God take sin. And, he saved a lot of lives, because in the second part of verse 8 and on into verse 9 we see this: "8b Then the plague against the Israelites was stopped. 9 but those who died in the plague numbered 24,000."

Sin kills. Purity is very difficult. But God commands it - and He gives us the tools we need to live it.

TIdy filth

Mark 7
Clean and Unclean

1The Pharisees and some of the teachers of the law who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus and 2saw some of his disciples eating food with hands that were "unclean," that is, unwashed. 3(The Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they give their hands a ceremonial washing, holding to the tradition of the elders. 4When they come from the marketplace they do not eat unless they wash. And they observe many other traditions, such as the washing of cups, pitchers and kettles.[a])

5So the Pharisees and teachers of the law asked Jesus, "Why don't your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with 'unclean' hands?"

6He replied, "Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written:
" 'These people honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
7They worship me in vain;
their teachings are but rules taught by men.'[b] 8You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men."

Interesting - we cannot read passages like this without stopping to take a look at ourselves. Do we worship God by drawing near to him with our hearts, or do we simply practice the traditions established by men?

Don't look at me! I am just like the rest of us: I'm sure there are plenty of things I do out of pure habit. But I am asking God to show me ways in which I can honor Him, worship Him and draw close to Him with every part of me.