Walking Thoughts

There was once a great and noble King whose land was terrorized by a crafty dragon. Like a massive bird of prey, the scaly beast delighted in ravaging villages with his fiery breath. Hapless victims ran from their burning homes, only to be snatched into the dragon's jaws or talons. Those devoured instantly were deemed more fortunate than those carried back to the dragon's lair to be devoured at his leisure. The King led his sons and knights in many valiant battles against the dragon.

Riding alone in the forest, one of the King's sons heard his name purred low and soft. In the shadows of the ferns and trees, curled among the boulders, lay the dragon. The creature's heavy-lidded eyes fastened on the prince, and the reptilian mouth stretched into a friendly smile.

"Don't be alarmed," said the dragon, as gray wisps of smoke rose lazily from his nostrils.

"I am not what your father thinks."

"What are you, then?" asked the prince, warily drawing his sword as he pulled in the reins to keep his fearful horse from bolting.

"I am pleasure," said the dragon. "Ride on my back and you will experience more than you ever imagined. Come now. I have no harmful intentions. I seek a friend, someone to share flights with me. Have you never dreamed of flying? Never longed to soar in the clouds?"

Visions of soaring high above the forested hills drew the prince hesitantly from his horse. The dragon unfurled one great webbed wing to serve as a ramp to his ridged back. Between the spiny projections, the prince found a secure seat. Then the creature snapped his powerful wings twice and launched them into the sky. The prince's apprehension melted into awe and exhilaration.

From then on, he met the dragon often, but secretly, for how could he tell his father, brothers or the knights that he had befriended the enemy? The prince felt separate from them all. Their concerns were no longer his concerns. Even when he wasn't with the dragon, he spent less time with those he loved and more time alone.

The skin on the prince's legs became calloused from gripping the ridged back of the dragon, and his hands grew rough and hardened. He began wearing gloves to hide the malady. After many nights of riding, he discovered scales growing on the backs of his hands as well. With dread he realized his fate were he to continue, and so he resolved to return no more to the dragon.

But, after a fortnight, he again sought out the dragon, having been tormented with desire. And so it transpired many times over. No matter what his determination, the prince eventually found himself pulled back, as if by the cords of an invisible web. Silently, patiently, the dragon always waited.

One cold, moonless night their excursion became a foray against a sleeping village. Torching the thatched roofs with fiery blasts from his nostrils, the dragon roared with delight when the terrified victims fled from their burning homes. Swooping in, the serpent belched again and flames engulfed a cluster of screaming villages. The prince closed his eyes tightly in an attempt to shut out the carnage.

In the pre dawn hours, when the prince crept back from his dragon trysts, the road outside his father's castle usually remained empty. But not tonight. Terrified refugees streamed into the protective walls of the castle. The prince attempted to slip through the crowd to close himself in his chambers, but some of the survivors stared and pointed toward him.

"He was there," one woman cried out, "I saw him on the back of the dragon." Others nodded their heads in angry agreement. Horrified, the prince saw that his father, the King, was in the courtyard holding a bleeding child in his arms. The King's face mirrored the agony of his people as his eyes found the prince's. The son fled, hoping to escape into the night, but the guards apprehended him as if he were a common thief. They brought him to the great hall where his father sat solemnly on the throne. The people on every side railed against the prince.

"Banish him!" he heard one of his own brothers angrily cry out.

"Burn him alive!" other voices shouted.

As the king rose from his throne, bloodstains from the wounded shone darkly on his royal robes. The crowd fell silent in expectation of his decree. The prince, who could not bear to look into his father's face, stared at the flagstones of the floor.

"Take off your gloves and your tunic," the King commanded. The prince obeyed slowly, dreading to have his metamorphosis uncovered before the kingdom. Was his shame not already enough? He had hoped for a quick death without further humiliation. Sounds of revulsion rippled through the crowd at the sight of the prince's thick, scaled skin and the ridge growing along his spine.

The king strode toward his son, and the prince steeled himself, fully expecting a back handed blow even though he had never been struck so by his father.

Instead, his father embraced him and wept as he held him tightly. In shocked disbelief, the prince buried his face against his father's shoulder.

"Do you wish to be freed from the dragon, my son?"

The prince answered in despair, "I wished it many times, but there is no hope for me."

"Not alone," said the King. "You cannot win against the dragon alone."

"Father, I am no longer your son. I am half beast," sobbed the prince.

But his father replied, "My blood runs in your veins. My nobility has always been stamped deep within your soul."

With his face still hidden tearfully in his father's embrace, the prince heard the King instruct the crowd, "The dragon is crafty. Some fall victim to his wiles and some to his violence. There will be mercy for all who wish to be freed. Who else among you has ridden the dragon?"

The prince lifted his head to see someone emerge from the crowd. To his amazement, he recognized an older brother, one who had been lauded throughout the kingdom for his onslaughts against the dragon in battle and for his many good deeds. Others came, some weeping, others hanging their heads in shame.

The King embraced them all.

"This is our most powerful weapon against the dragon," he announced. "Truth. No more hidden flights. Alone we cannot resist him."

Melinda Reinicke, Parables for Personal Growth (San Diego, CA: Recovery Publications, Inc., 1993), pp. 5-9.

Is God cruel? Those who know the scriptures would immediately say, no, God is faithful and merciful. His steadfast love endures forever.  However, it's easy to tout the company line and regurgitate what's written and what one has heard every Sunday for the past umpteen years.  For the heart to follow the mind is a more challenging endeavor - especially in the wake of extremely difficult, painful and hurtful trials.  Is God trustworthy and good? Yes, but how do you tell that to a young man I know who was born "by accident" to a prostitue; who lived his life disregarded and shunned by his family?  Essentially orphaned, he grew up on the street, having been shot, stabbed, abandoned and punished for being born in a circumstance that was entirely out of his control.  How do you convince an another older gentlemen who described to me how his father, the church's pastor, experienced a mental breakdown, abused the family and left him, his younger siblings and mother with nothing?  Explain this truth to a woman I met who, as a young child, was raped by a deacon in her church? Or how do you explain it to a young man, having a history of friends and family very close to his heart leaving and hurting him, finally thinking his hope for having a family with a woman he loved was in reach, only to have that come to an abrupt and surprising end?

These are all true stories, and you may be responding to them in one of a several ways. You may be thinking, in a very disassociated and objective manner - That's fine, but they just need to trust God.  What's the big deal, anyway? They must not be believers.  Or you may be sympathizing with them, feeling pity for them in their trials.  Or, you may even be starting to question God yourself because you are all too familiar with hurt and pain.  This just proves that God is cruel.

I would propose that none of these assessments are valid.  To simply say, "just trust God" negates the very real trial and circumstance that God has orchestrated in order to help that person build trust in Himself.  Rather, encouraging them to exercise patience and waiting on the Lord is required - having faith that He will act in the time of distress and waiting is what proves God's trustworthiness and our trust in Him.  On the other hand, to show pity brings God good and wise judgement into question.  He is the author of all trials. Should we pity the "poor person" saying he should never have deserved this - never! God is wise and His ultimate authority and sovereignty is being displayed for that person's good in God's ultimate glory! Is God cruel? No, He is compassionate and like any good father, will train His children to depend on Him through whatever it takes.  He will train them in faith through the trials of life.  The fact that there are trials is not evidence of God's cruelty, but rather His kindness in providing the means through which we can see His power, His glory, salvation and deliverance. Is God cruel? No - in His compassionate mercy He has already told us that He will grow our faith through the trials He orchestrates.

He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry.  As soon as He hears it, He answers you.  And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your Teacher will not hide Himself anymore, but your eyes shall see your Teacher.  And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, "This is the way, walk in it," when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left.
Isaiah 30:19-21

 
And the people grumbled against Moses, saying, "What shall we drink?" And he cried to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a log, and he threw it into the water, and the water became sweet.  There the Lord made for them a statute and a rule, and there he tested them, saying, "If you will diligently listen to the voice of the Lord your God, and do all that which is right in His eyes, and give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you that I put on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, your healer."
Exodus 15:24-26

The the Lord said to Moses, "Behold, I am about to rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day's portion every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law or not."
Exodux 16:4

Moses said to the people, "Do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of Him may be before you, that you may not sin."
Exodus 20:20

Take care lest you forget the Lord your God by not keeping His commandments and His rules and His statutes, which I command you today, lest when you have eaten and are full, and have built good houses and live in them, and when your heards and flocks multiply, and your silver and gold is multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied, then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the houses of slavery, who led you through the great and terrifying wilderness, with its fiery serpents and scorpions, and thirsty ground where there was no water, who brought you water out of the rock, who fed you in the wilderness with manna that your fathers did not know, that He might humble you and test you, to do you good in the end.
Esodus 8;11-17

His eyes see, His eyelids test the children of man. The Lord tests the righteous
Psalm 11:4-5

The crudible for silver, and the furnace is for gold, and the Lord tests hearts.
Proverbs 17:3

He brings us trials to test our heart. Is He cruel for testing us? No - it is the very testing, the trying and the trials that build our faith in Him rather than faith in ourselves.  The faith that grows in our hearts can only be proven as real, genuine and precious because of the trials! He is exercising fatherly discipline to train us in faith.

'My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by Him.  For the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and chastises every son whom He receives.' It is for the discipline that you have to endure.  God is treating you as sons, For what son is there whom his father does not discipline?  If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.
Hebrews 12:5-7

Count it all joy my brothers when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.  And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
James 1:2-4

In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuiness of your faith - more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire - may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
1 Peter 1:6-7

Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.
James 1:12

So whatever became of those individuals I mentioned earlier? The orphaned boy recently gave His heart over to Christ, trusting Him for His salvation and the hope of a future that is good and not evil.  He has been folded in to the family of God where he is not rejected but is being cared for and loved by the body of Christ.  The woman who was raped by a church deacon has grown into a God-fearing woman who, now as a pediatrician, works to serve the Lord caring for children and helping to protect them against abuses.  The young man who experienced unrequited love spent time truly questioning God's goodness but trusted the Lord and is serving Him as his first love. The older gentlemen spent much of his young life as a man with a hardened and embittered heart towards God. Though Christian by profession, he held God at arm's length from his heart until one night, after returning to his mother's house, darkened from no electricity with no food in the cabinets, he found his mother face down on the ground praying.  She grabbed his shirt and pulled him down to the floor saying, "Pray." Reluctantly, he acquiesced.  No sooner had he begun praying to God, when there was a knock on the door. Going to see who it was, he was surprised to see one of the neighbors handing him a bag of groceries and $200 saying, "God gave me a sense that your mother might need some groceries and money tonight." He is now a pastor of a growing congregation of God-fearing believers.

Maybe your pain and hurt still runs very deep.  In your disillusionment, it still seems very difficult for you to concede that your horrendous circumstances could have been orchestrated by a good and loving God rather than a cruel God.  My friend, please hear me - it is your own sin of pride and hardness of heart that is keeping you from experiencing the joy of humbling yourself in your trial.  God has the best plans for you, and wants to give it to you if you would only be willing to lay down your demands for your own will to determine how things should be or have been. Understandably, the trial is painful. Of that there is no argument, but softening your heart to the One who is willing to heal you is something you will have to choose to allow Him to do. Please take His word to heart.

For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His hand.  Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, as on the day at Massah in the wilderness, when your fathers put me to the test and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work.
Psalm 97:7-9

Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you, and therefore He exalts Himself to show mercy to you.  For the Lord is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for Him . . . you shall weep no more. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry.  As soon as He hears it, He answers you.
Isaiah 20: 18-19 

You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
2 Peter 3:17-18

Life is full of circumstances, situations, and trials. Whether it's a lost job, inability to meet your financial needs, a lost relationship you desired, responsibilities that seem overwhelming, an habitual sin that seems unbreakable, or an unexplained pervasive illness - the pressures of life can mount and temptations to doubt, fear, worry, rebel against the Lord and worship idols will arise.  Satan knows when we are the weakest, he will not forego an opportunity to shake us from our foundation.

So the error that we face is to embrace the lies that fear, worry and the empty promises of idol worship tell us; these are the ways of lawless people.  Peter tells us that allowing ourselves to listen to these will throw us off balance.  We can be carried away, meaning that Satan and his cohorts will use very subtle means to entice us away from Christ. Subtle attacks cause us to lean over the edge until we lose our balance and are carried away with whatever sin we are most susceptible to commit.

But each person is tempted when his is lured and enticed by his own desire.  Then desire when it has concieved gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.
James 1:14-15

How can we fight against this? Is it possible to remain stable by trying harder to not do these things, to pursue the law of righteousness? Peter would imply that it is not. Notice that he doesn't tell us to try harder, to attempt to do the right thing not the wrong.  See what he says - But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Grow in the GRACE and KNOWLEDGE of Jesus Christ!! We cannot remain stable, we cannot find victory, if our battle plan is to avoid and NOT do. Only in throwing ourselves unto the righteousness purchased for us by the blood of our Lord (the one who has full authority over all circumstances) and Savior (the one who delivers us from all evil) can we stand.

By paying the penalty for our sins, Jesus gives us the ability to stand by giving us the freedom to get back up and walk even after we have fallen down, been banged up or thrown over and carried away by the wiles of the enemy's lawless ways.  And notice - he doesn't say that we should just know, but exhorts us to GROW in this.  The temptation after being carried away is to condemn ourselves because we may already know the right verses for our situations, we already know Christ was crucified and  that our sins forgiven.  But Peter says that these are times to grow in our understanding and become more intimate with the knowledge of what He's done and who He is so we can experience His grace and forgiveness as we apply it personally.

But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ is the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins.
1 John 2:1-2
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
1 John 1:9

Remember, God has called you.  You never "found" God, God found you in your sin, delivered you from hell and has called you His own. By His grace, He is sustaining you through your darkest hours of trials, temptations and sins - not to leave you in them but to deliver you from them in His strength and by His grace.  As we humbly wear His robes of righteousness we can stand stable through faith in Him in the face of all external and internal circumstances and battles. Only... humble yourself, release your stubborn heart, let loose your stiff neck and trust in His wisdom, His strength, His ability and His mercy paid for by the justice He unleashed on Christ.

Listen to me, you stubborn of heart, you who are far from righteousness; I bring near my righteousness, it is not far off, and my salvation will not delay; I will put salvation in Zion, for Israel my glory.
Isaiah 46:12-13

Responsibility is a part of life. It cannot be escaped.  Starting from our first assigned chores and homework, through managing a career, family, and a household, responsibilities drive our schedules.  Many of the tasks we undertake are in faithful stewardship of God's blessings in our lives, but many others are wasteful distractions from the most important and urgent duties we have everyday.

We can be made aware of the fruitless activities and time in our lives, but all too often, we are not aware of the overwhelming and devestating effect that our good endeavors have in our walks, attentions of heart, and ultimately our reception of Christ in our lives in a daily fashion.

No parable, I feel, more comprehensively addresses and covers this spiritual battle than that of the sower.  In Matthew 13, Jesus tells a parable of a man throwing seed on different types of soil.

And he told them many things in parables, saying: "A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, but when the sun rose they were scorched. And since they had no root, they withered away. Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.  He who has ears, let him hear."
Matthew 13:3-9

To anybody who is willing to listen to God's voice, Jesus says to hear what He's saying.  Jesus is, in effect, talking about the condition of our hearts.  He proposes four conditions (the path, rocky ground, thorns, and fertile soil) and four consequences of receiving God's word (the seed) in those conditions (birds devouring, ephemeral existence, oppression/neutralization, and fruitful production).  To prevent us from manipulating God's word in our own misinterpretations, Jesus Himself explains the relevance of this most important parable to those who will hear.

"Hear then the parable of the sower: When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown along the path. As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away. As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty."
Matthew 13:18-23

From the outset, Jesus makes it clear that the locations described are indicative of the conditions of our heart. Notice how He describes the first situation, that is the seed spread on the path as the word sown in a man's heart.  So and so forth, the Lord shows us that the condition of our hearts will determine how we receive the seed of His word and the fruitfulness thereafter.  You see, the seed thrown on the path was no different than the seed thrown on the fertile soil, it was only the condition of heart that determined the reception of the seed and the consequent fruitfulness.

What does all this have to do with responsiblities in life? Let's examine the conditions again.  The first two heart conditions are both non-receptive, that is the condition of the soil itself prevented the growth to maturity and fruitfulness.  The latter two conditions depict receptive heart conditions!  It was an external condition and attention given to specific attributes of the world around the soil that prevented maturity and fruit!

Jesus cannot make it anymore clearer for us. He says, "the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful."  We can strive and endeavor for good things like providing our family with food, education, a quality of living standard.  We can attain means to that end in transportation, a career or wealth accumulation.  But when all is said and done, these are all cares of this world that will cease to matter upon our death, our children's death, their children's death, and on and on for as long as humanity exists.  They are of no eternal consequence and provide no eternal benefit - yet they can have an enormous impact on our eternal perspective by causing us to set our minds on this world rather than His word.  This is no small matter.

Jesus explains that it's not a simple matter of salvation. It's not simply a parable of unbelievers hearing the word of the Gospel, but it's for believers as we continue to get to know and understand our God in spending time in His word (for as much as it is feasible for a finite creature to understand an infinite God with the help of the Holy Spirit).  We either come to our devotions (or rather come to Him) as a path, with no care at all being ruled by the call of disobedience, as rocky ground, being excited with what He shows us but not living it out because it's too "hard," as receptive soil, with schedules packed to the brim with urgent and important items that we highly value to the point that they are driving our attentions and minds, or as fertile soil, surrendered to the word of the Lord, minds kept on things above, ready to do His will thus glorifying His name in bearing fruit for the Kingdom.

We cannot change our hearts - but He can.  The Lord is gracious and desires to pour out His grace in our lives, to give us abundant life with hearts richly blessed with fruit.  He is longing to have a place in your heart, to dwell within us! Jesus speaks.

"Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me."
Revelation 3:20

Let us listen today and open the door of our hearts to Him and His transforming power.  Let us be receptive soil, with our attentions drawn and fixed on the author and perfector of our faith - Jesus Christ. He will bear fruit, let us ask Him to till our hearts and our minds for His glory.  With urgency, let us serve Him and not the cares of this world.  This is not a call to forego our responsibilities, but discern what the Lord has called us to do in faithfulness, not in busy-ness.  To honor Him in faithful stewardship as a secondary issue to the condition of our hearts before Him.

"Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.
Matthew 6:19-24

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
Romans 12:2

Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.
Colossians 3:2

We've all been asked, and have even asked others, why they think they will go to heaven. The prevailing answer to the question of entry is being good enough.


"I haven't murdered anybody... y'know like I'm not Hitler."


"I've never tried to hurt anybody, or I don't try to lie and steal and stuff."


"I try to be nice... I think if you do what's right, God will like that."


These are all answers I've heard, and remakrs that at one point emanated from my own mouth, from within my heart. I thought that if I could be good enough perhaps God would look at the good and ignore the bad. I didn't have to be perfect because after all - that's impossible!! So the best anybody can ever do is their best, even though it's not all the time, right?


It makes "logical" sense. If nobody is able to score a 100% on God's Ten Commandments, then He has to be like your local University professor and grade on a curve... But here's what happens, the more we try to live right (according to His rules), the more we find we can't keep them so we change the rules or just pick a few rules of our own we can follow (read the bible, go to church, pray with big words, no drinking, no smoking, no sex before marriage, no curse words, no movies rated higher than PG...) and become prideful. We think we're doing well because we aren't doing "wrong" things but the whole time we have no concern for and continue to break God's Laws (1.) Not letting Him rule our lives [with whatever He decides good and bad] 2.) Having other gods and making idols [out of hobbies, people, or things] 3.) Using God's name wrongfully 4.) Not keeping the Sabbath holy 5.) Honoring your mother/father 6.) Not murdering [equal to calling somebody a fool/jerk/idiot/moron] 7.) Committing adultery [equal to undressing somebody with your eyes or checking somebody out] 8.) Stealing [regardles of value or hurt caused] 9.) Lying [regardless if it's a white lie, bad lie, or hurtful lie, or even a joke!] 10.) Not wanting what somebody else has [including a car, a house, a spouse, a job, or even a pen or a paperclip!])


Truth of the matter is, we can be doing all the "right" things on our list of do's/don'ts and still never once do one thing on God's list of COMMANDMENTS!! When we're asked why we would go to heaven, however, we still come back to His list and pick the ones that we might have a slim chance of managing to possibly have upheld such as murder, or lying and stealing to some degree. We justify our obedience by a disclaimer of "too much";  I don't lie or cheat "too much" in relation to this guy over here...


Here is where we find ourselves in trouble. God is not comparing us to each other, He's assessing us according to His perfection by His law. Can you measure up? I know I can't. This is what Jesus said for the qualifications for entrance into heaven,


"Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect."
Matthew 5:48


This is something most poeple don't realize. They agree that to get into heaven, one should abide by His law. What they fail to realize, however, is that by agreeing that obeying His law means going to heaven, you are by default agreeing that not obeying His law will earn you hell!  God cannot ignore the bad because if you agree that good gets you to heaven, you agree with God that the bad will keep you out!  Not only that, by saying you accept the law as your standard you are holding yourself accountable to the punishment of failing to uphold the law - which is eternal damnation.


Please pay careful attention now - this is the CURSE OF THE LAW. Remember what we said earlier, it's impossible for anybody to be perfect and ever follow His law. So if you decide to live in obedience of the law as your measure of successful entry to heaven you are putting yourself under its curse as it will condemn you. Anybody who agrees to the obedeince of the law is agreeing to condemnation in hell because that is what the law will do to imperfect sinners! It is its curse! This is not my opinion, mind you, but a clear proclamation in the Bible!


For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, "Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book fo the Law, and do them." Now it is evident no one is justified before God by the law
Galatians 3:10-11


Friends, if your holiness, your righteousness, your Christian life, is marked as a success by your actions in relation to others, your disengagement from things others partake in, or your abstinence from unholy activities, you are living under the curse of the law because you are trusting in what you have done rather than what the Savior has done for you.


Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for "The righteous shall live by faith." But the law is not of faith, rather "The one who does them shall live by them." Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us
Galatians 3:11-13


If you claim to be a Christian, know that you were once under the curse of the law.  You were striving to be a better person, good enough to maybe eek out a slim chance of making it into heaven. But God loved you so much, knowing that you could never do it, He sent His only Son to take your punishment for all the sin you ever committed and will ever commit, so that by trusting in and being sactified by His sacrifice and blood, you could live with Him through His resurrection.


And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience -- among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ -- by grace you have been saved -- and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages He might show the immeasurable riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Ephesians 2:1-10

If you are not Christian, then don't wait, the Savior has His arms open to you right now.  He loves you very much and wants you to be with Him for eternity - so much in fact that He died for you so you would never have to see death.  He does not want you to be cursed but redeemed!  Run to Him now, pray and ask Him to give you His grace and forgiveness.  Tell Him now that you are willing to make Him the Lord of your life and want to turn away from the death of sin in your life. He is here right now for you to hold you and take you with Him to heaven.

"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever blieveth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."
John 3:16

Did you ever have a teacher who made it a point to make you fail the class?  Have you ever had a professor that purposefully tested you on material that wasnot covered or deliberately created a test that would have a mean equal to a failing grade?  I did.  In fact, the main purpose of many of the courses I took in college was to have people fail out, drop out, and be discouraged from continuing on to medical school - in essence, weed out those who were not worthy to the high calling of the medical field.  Those who made it through, earned it, they worked hard to maintain a high grade and do better than the rest.  Everybody started equally, with an A, a perfect score of 0/0, and either stayed close to that ratio or fell short.

Can you imagine a professor ever saying this: "Welcome to my classroom.  Because you are willing to attend and take my course, I will give you an A.  No matter what happens for the rest of the year, you have already received your A for the course.  I would like you to keep coming, however, so I may help you learn and lead you in reaching your fullest potential in the subject matter.  I will work with you to do well on the tests, succeed on the quizzes, and complete exceptional projects.  But I will give you the passing grade simply for being here and letting me instruct you."  It sounds almost absurd!! Yet, God, in His infinite wisdom, decided to do that for us in the course of Human Life 101; consequently giving us the grade we need for admittance to heaven.

In a college, everybody started the course with a perfect score of 0/0 and fell short from there, but before God we start life with a grade of 0/Eternity which gives us a failing grade of Hell.  God, in an amazing feat of mercy and grace, decided to give the only One who deserved to pass, Jesus Christ, a failing grade and its consequences in order to award us, by faith, with the passing grade. Jesus Christ, the perfect Son of God, failed for us so that we may have his perfect score.  When we turn our lives over to Him and are willing to sit before Him, He teaches us and helps us through the tests, the quizzes, the projects - not in order to make the grade to graduate to Heaven, but to thank and glorify Him!

Yet so often we view God as one of these professors who lives to make their students fail, drop out, or be discouraged from achieving great things.  When we stop and look at the cross, we see that God is in fact more like the professor who gives His disciples the passing grade (by trading His passing grade for their failing one) and then blesses them as He helps them through the tests of life, guiding them in His projects, the work of His kingdom prepared specifically for them.  His disciples are not rewarded on the basis of their performance in the class, but only that they attend and be directed by Him.  Unlike graduate school or medical school where admittance is based on performance, our admittance to heaven is based completely and solely on Christ's love for us demonstrated on the cross!  What a hope! What a Savior!

For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.
Romans 3:22-25

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Ephesians 2:8-9

For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person--though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die-- but God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by His blood, much more shall we be saved by Him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by His life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
Romans 5:6-11

In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent His only Son into the world, so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
1 John 4:9-10

Do you ever feel lonely, as if there is nobody in the whole world that cares about you? Or have you had a great loss where afterwards you wake up the next day, and within the first few seconds of consciousness it dawns on you that things are different.  There is heartache, there is grief and mourning; there are questions for God, what if's and if only's.

If you've ever experienced that, you are catching a small glimpse of what it must have felt like for Christ's disciples this day; the day after His crucifixion.  The Bible doesn't give much treatment to what went on in the disciple's lives during the few days between Christ's crucifixion and ressurection... perhaps because much explanation isn't necessary when life itself makes us so acutely aware of the pain of such an event.  When we lose family members, friends, loved ones, we experience the pain of the permanency of death and change.

Now imagine, instead of losing a family member, you lost somebody even closer - such was the bitter breakfast for the mind's of those who intimately walked with GOD!!  I'm sure there were a lot of doubts, many what if's, and several if only's.  I'm sure there were many moments during the day when they paused, stood with blank stares, and slowly digested their loneliness.  Death was permanent, they would never see Him again...

But he said, "What is impossible with men is possible with God."
Luke 18:27

Being on the other side of the resurrection, we can lose sight of the profundity of what occurred.  We are acutely aware of loss and the side dishes of loneliness and pain in our own lives because we just don't see people being raised from the dead today.  Can you imagine the joy you would experience if the person you loved the most were returned to you, or if the relationship that seemed broken beyond repair was restored and made even stronger?!  If what was impossible was made possible - if the steel shackles of death were suddenly broken - would not the overwhelming joy and awe drive you to your knees as your unsatiable cup of loneliness was filled with an ocean of restoration?!

Christ's resurrection and ascension brought forth the Holy Spirit - God Himself would now dwell with us forever in our hearts!  Restoring, redeeming, renewing, regenerating, and reminding us of God's great love for you - so great that He would die for you to be with you.

If today you are lonely from a great loss or great change, take heart because Jesus the Christ experienced the greatest measure of loneliness when on the hill of Golgotha, abandoned by his closest friends, He was separated from God the Father, in order to spend eternity in your heart, to be with you, care for and about you, to bless you and give you abundant life.

The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.
Psalm 34:18

I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.
John 10:10

And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.
John 20:16-17

When a runner competes in a race, he must continue to run if he wants to finish.  That sounds simple enough, but the ramifications it has on our spiritual race are sometimes underestimated.  A runner is competing for the whole race. He doesn't just have to make it to the last 20 feet, he has to make it to the finish line, but not only there does he stop, he must run through it!

Any athlete on a competitive team will tell you that the fight to win isn't over until the last second has ticked off the clock.  Football players have to play hard all the way through the fourth quarter, baseball players have to make it through the ninth inning, soccer players must play through an unknown amount of injury time, as we just saw in college basketball, basketball players must play 100% all the way down through the last tick.

The opponents job is to keep you from getting to the end in victory.

In our walks with God, we have been given a numbered amount of days in which we run to glorify God in our lives.  Our race doesn't end at retirement.  Sadly for many it does, for that's what they have been living their entire lives for, a chair beside a lake where they can petrify themselves in self-absorption for the remainder of their days.  But as Christians, no, we have a much more glorious reward on the other side of the finish line of death - the Kingdom of God, an eternity with our Maker!  That is what we are running toward because Christ's blood has made it what we are running for.

Our mortal opponent Satan tries to keep us from victory by deceiving us.  All games end, all clocks tick a final second, all referees eventually blow the final whistle and one is either found a victor or a loser.  Everybody will get to the end of their lives, the finish line of death.  Everybody makes it there.  The question is where will you be found. Just like any competitive sport, life is more than just about making it to the end when it's over, it's about winning the game, to be called a victor! Those without an advocate to plead their case for their sins will receive their just punishment. Those found in Christ will be carried through by Him to God for He took our just punishment - all we have to do is get to the end to meet Him, and physical death is guaranteed.  How awesome is that?!? Our victory is guaranteed and we have a 1/1 chance of making it to the finish line... In Christ we never have to fear, accept, or entertain anything that Satan can and will use against us to discourage, destroy and defeat!!  What a glorious hope!!

With all these in perspective, if we read the book of 2 Chronicles, God gives us a glimpse into the lives of the Kings of Judah and their own life races.  We find that each king either did or did not glorify God during the heat of the race of life, and near the end, in the years of their retirement, when things became easy or when pressures subsided, they failed to honor God.  They did not play through the fourth quarter... 

I will suppose that if we examine our own lives in light of these kings, we would find many similarities in smaller time scales.  For example, the last semester of high school or college... the last few weeks of the semester before finals... the last few hours before 5 at work... and many more.  I know I do in my own life.

Let us be encouraged that our victory is not dependent on how we run the race, but in Whom we run the race - Jesus Christ and the grace of salvation purchased for us on the cross by His sacrifice.  But for this great grace, let us endeavor, together, to run each day to His glory!  Hand in hand and arm in arm, let us help each other when we are weak and struggling in sin to remember the victory of Jesus Christ over the flesh!  And so let us then give the maximum glory to Christ TODAY so that all may know and see the victory that lies for us TOMORROW at the finish line of death - HEAVEN!!! Let His grace, the work of the Holy Spirit in your life today, bring Him the glory this and every day!

Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.
Psalm 90:12

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.
1 Corinthians 9:24 

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.
Hebrews 12:1

His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness.
2 Peter 1:3

For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.
John 3:16

One of the most common responses I get when sharing God's grace and mercy on the cross, especially from my muslim family, is the question of licentiousness and grace abuse.  "So you can do all the wrong things you want to then?" or "So you can do drugs, sleep around, and murder people as long as you say Christ forgives you?"

The answer is enigmatic, because it is yes but also no.  Christ's sacrifice on the cross was enough to forgive every and any sin, whether murder, adultery, immorality, lying, stealing, etc. etc.  Yes, somebody who has committed murder can be forgiven by His grace, but salvation is not a ticket to sin.  In the early Catholic church, the priests would sell indulgences to parishioners, in effect, buying pardons for sins they were to commit, like cheating on their wives or taking revenge, etc.  The questions above imply that Christ's forgiveness is akin to purchasing an indulgence for sin - that is, obtaining the ability to sin without consequence.

Those who propose this view on Christ's forgiveness and grace are rhetorically stating that such a thing is wretched.  How could it be possible that God would allow man a means to sin?  What they fail to apprehend, is that it's not God who causes them to sin, to lust, to be greedy and take advantage of opportunities to sin.  Their question, which they don't realize, is a not a matter of God's ability to forgive sin, but man's propensity to sin at any and every opportunity!  The position of the question assumes man's desire to sin and rebel.  If humans did not pursue rebellion there would be no need to ask that question.  In fact, the one who asks that question presupposes man's sinful nature and then, rightfully asks, where is the judgement?  The question becomes, if judgement is poured out on Christ rather than the one who is rightfully guilty, why should anybody obey the law?  If obeying the law has no merit in our standing before God, what would lead a man to obey the law?

In the book of Romans, Paul comprehensively describes the reason, purpose and application of the law; how it is faith and not the law that leads us to live a life of obedience, which is repentance.  In his introductory remarks in the letter to the Romans, Paul outlines the what and why:

Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning His Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by His resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of His name among all the nations, including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ
Romans 1:1-6 (emphasis added)

In his opening remarks, Paul states that through the Son of God, Jesus Christ, and the power of the Spirit given to us in partaking of His resurrection, we receive grace (implying salvation) so that we can obey in faith.  The book of Romans clearly explains that, like a magnifying glass, trying to follow the law will only make your sin more sinful.

In order that sin might be recognized as sin, it produced death in me through what was good, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.
Romans 7:13

Consequently, we can either stand before God with the guilt of sin in negligence of the law, or with the guilt of sin in our own attempt to live according to the law.  Either way, we stand before God guilty requiring judgement just as our questions above inquire - isn't judgement required, yes it is.

The LORD is slow to anger and great in power,and the LORD will by no means clear the guilty.
Nahum 1:3

However, God loved us so much that He made a way to save us from the eternal consequences of our guilt.

He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. 
But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ--by grace you have been saved-- and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
1 John 2:2; Ephesians 2:4-9

Does sin go unpunished, unjudged - no, it was taken by Christ the Son of God, and only because God showed kindness, mercy, and grace to you who do not deserve it.

For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly...but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Romans 5:6,8

If that's the case, the queries above can become a cross-examination of God's decision to be kind to man who has a heart that is prone to wander and sin.   Not only does the ponderance presuppose man's wretched sinfulness, but God's inability to show mercy and kindness to wretched sinners.

Do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?
Romans 2:4

You see, God's willingness to forgive sin by punishing His own Son rather than us is, simply, His rich kindness!  And it is this very kindness, this blessing instead of wrath, this salvation instead of damnation, that leads us to live a repentant life of obedience.  When a man is saved by Christ, he is saved from all condemnation from his sins, and not only that, but he will be blessed because of God's kindness - never to see wrath, never to experience eternal judgment, but always be forgiven no matter what he has done or will do. And as we come to understand the magnitude of His love for us, we love Him for His kindness and obey.

We love because he first loved us.
"If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching."
1 John 4:19; John 14:23

Therefore, it's clear that obedience comes by faith in the grace of salvation.  Our questions above erroneously assume that condemnation from the law is the crucial element that leads somebody to obey the law. We see, however, that it's the grace and forgiveness in Jesus Christ that leads us in obedience.  In faith in the gospel and the power of the Holy Spirit we have freedom from the law and can live in the obedience of faith.

And why not do evil that good may come?--as some people slanderously charge us with saying. Their condemnation is just.
Romans 3:8

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus who walk not according to the flesh (but according to the Spirit).
Romans 8:1

For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.
Galatians 5:13

What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
Romans 6:1-4

A little girl sat down to dinner with her family but her mind was filled with thoughts of the large lollipop sitting in the living room that she got at the county fair that day. As the family began to eat, she asked her parents to let her go to the living room and eat her lollipop. Her parents denied the request.

Her desire was unsatiable so she asked again. The request was denied. She began insisting on it, saying she didn't want to eat with them and, in fact, didn't like eaiting with them.  Her mind was fixed on what she desired, the lollipop. Her parents were patient with her but as she began to throw a fit, her father told her she could leave the family if she desired, but she would have to accept the consequences of her own decision. Elated that she was going to have the object of her desire, she ran to the living room and began to eat her sweet treat.

As she ate, she reailzed that her hunger was not being satisfied. Furthermore, the hearty laughter and joy emanating from the dining room was much sweeter than the artificially colored sugar on a stick. She realized her lollipop was paltry compared to what she was missing with her family.

She walked back into the kitchen and told her parents she wanted to come back and eat with them. Her parents reminded her that she had made her choice and agreed to accept the consequences of her decision.  They told her to go back to the living room. With tears welling up in her eyes she understood the cost of rebellion. Lollipop in hand, she slowly marched into the living room. Sitting on the couch, tears streaming down her face, she ate her lollipop. Her once delicious object of desire never tasted so sour.

After several minutes, the girl's parents called to her. Still in tears, she entered the kitchen anticipating more rebuke hoping her parents still loved her.  They told her that she was always welcome to be part of the family, but if she wanted to join them, she would have to let go of her lollipop and throw it away before sitting at the table with them.  A smile crept through her tear-blurred eyes as she threw away out her once cherished lollipop and returned to her place at the table with the family.  Vegetables never tasted so good!

Later that night, as her parents were putting her to bed, they told her that they loved her so much that they didn't want her to miss out on the joy of being with her family at dinner, and that unless they let her realize what she was missing, she would never learn to trust them when they said no. In that way, they told her, they were also showing her that God always desires the best for her and that when He denies a request, it's for His glory and her good. If we resist Him like the Israelites who didn't want to enter into the land God had for them, He will sometimes allow us to make our choices and endure the consequences. But, they reminded her, He would always love her and care for her just like they were doing right now.  They explained how her sin separated her from God, and that accepting Jesus meant letting go of her selfish desires.  If she did, He would always let her sit at His table next to Him, just like they did, and she would enjoy His company as part of His family.  With that, they tucked her in and kissed her goodnight.

Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.
Revelation 3:20