If I Had Known I'd Be Alive! - That Ol' Bible

The Lord's anger burned against Uzzah, and He struck him down because he had put his hand on the ark. So he died there before God. - 1 Chronicles 13:10

I have always been a reader. I truly enjoyed it as a child. Today, as an adult I can't imagine electing not to read.

The world changes quickly. Innovation and the joining of technologies happens daily. Yet I often hear from business associates how much they dislike reading. I also hear it and even more often from Christians and even those who are in positions of leadership.

True pillars of the faith exist who do not have a habit, a discipline, of reading the Bible. You might be one of those. One such Christian friend and business associate told me that he found it a difficult discipline to master. My response was, "Jim, if you do not get into the Bible; if you do not read from it and yes, do it daily, you cannot know how it is that God will speak into and provide guidance to your life specifically."

My worldview, no, LIFEview on the subject of the Holy Bible has less to do with issues like infallibility and inerrancy and much more on the premise that its constant and continual message is this, God's written Word, as provided in the Bible, is life to our souls. It provides knowledge that leads to life."

The prophet Hosea tells us, My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also reject you as My priests; because you have ignored the law of your God, I also will ignore your children. - Hosea 4:6. God has given us His Word that has specific foundational principles. You can't know them unless you read about them. Understanding God's heart, His desire for mankind, the fulness of the message of Jesus Christ must be understood if we expect our Heavenly Father's personal, intimate blessing.

King David forgot to follow what we perceive as a law. But something more than God saying, "I said so!" was at work when God instructed David to allow no one to touch the Ark of the Covenant. "...But they must not touch the holy things or they will die..." - Numbers 4:15.

You might recall the story. When they were transporting the ark, one of the men, Uzzah, seemingly in an innocent manner reached to steady the ark but was immediately stricken dead when his hands touched the ark of God.

This has led to speculation. Did David know this law or did he simply forget? Well, the answer was that David knew it because God had told David directly. Had David failed to instruct Uzzah about this command and thus not take care of one who was put under Davids' care? If Uzzah was aware did he really believe it was a specific instruction from God?

Regardless of the implications we know that David thought it was okay to carry the ark the way Uzzah did. And, because of David's lack of truly "hearing" God a man lost his life for his presumption.

Too many of us take the Bible lightly.

We believe we can violate His Word without consequence. Or, perhaps that its directive instruction is not true or relevant to us or to the time in which we live. But the Bible itself says that the Lord stands by (He is at the ready) to uphold His Word.

The Bible can be life, or it can bring death. When God provides instructions, we need to follow them. The Word of God leads to the personal instruction and direction of God for each of us. Knowing this about God brings reverence for our Heavenly Father. David was afraid of God that day and asked, 'How can I ever bring the ark of God to me?' - 1 Chronicles 13:12

We must all have a fearful respect when, like David, God speaks to us to speak through us. For truly, it is life or death.

Do you take God's Word seriously? Is it life or death for you? Does it even register in your heart to devour it daily and discover how the Holy Spirit will use it to revolutionize your life? Do you feed upon His Word daily so that you might know Him and know His instruction and intimate communication to you?

It is my prayer that you understand God's written word as given in the Bible and that it does what it says it will do…give you abundant life in your daily walk…

 I remain...
 InHISgrip,
    ~J~

Well...er...The Reason You See Is....

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching. - Hebrews 10:23-25

Everyone I know realizes I am a major baseball fan. This is my season! I had two "stupid human tricks" as a child growing up. First, I could never ever make, model and year of every car from 1947 (I was born in 1952) until 1976 on the road. The other was I could remember the most minute details about ballplayers and the game itself. I loved it! I didn't see it as trivia because I loved it so much. To me it was cool and fun and I suppose it was also important. How good was I? Even my friends, who had teams that they loved more than I did and had heroes that were not my heroes knew less about their favorite players and teams than I did. I hated the Yankees but my Yankee loving fiends marveled that I knew more about Mantle, Maris, Ford, Berra, Richardson, Kubek and all the lesser known Yankees than they knew. You may be that kind of person or have friends and family like that. Well, I still am a bonifide member of this group of trivia containers.

Fans have other traits as well don't they? They have an indomitable sense of commitment, loyalty or determination - okay, okay, maybe "addiction" is a better word! Against incredible odds, sound logic, and even medical advice, sports fans will persevere to the dying end! Difficulties are viewed as a challenge ... never an excuse to stay away or miss a chance to support our teams!

I've often wondered what would happen if people were as intense and committed and determined about their love of Christ Jesus and the Body He died for as they are about sports or any other hobby. This topic was covered some years back in a Moody Monthly piece that illustrated twelve excuses a fella might use for "quitting sports." The analogy isn't hard to figure out.

1. Every time I went, they asked me for money.

2. The people with whom I had to sit didn't seem very friendly.

3. The seats were too hard and not comfortable.

4. The coach never came to call on me.

5. The referee made a decision with which I could not agree.

6. I was sitting with some hypocrites---they came only to see what others were wearing.

7. Some games went into overtime, and I was late getting home.

8. The organist played music that I had never heard before.

9. The games are scheduled when I want to do other things.

10. My parents took me to too many games when I was growing up. (Hmm...I'll have to ask my boys)

11. Since I read a book on sports, I feel that I know more than the coaches anyhow.

12. I don't want to take my kids, because I want them to choose for themselves what sport they like best.

I've come up with a few more:

13. The parking lot (steps, walkways, etc.) was awful . . . I had to walk 300 yards to the stadium entrance.

14. Nobody came up and introduced themselves to me; it was so impersonal!

15. The public address and lighting systems don't suit me.

16. It's always too hot (or cold) in the stadium.

17. It's so loud there!

Enough said. Think it over.

What would happen if we approached our responsibilities to the Body of Christ with the same enthusiasm we give to our hobbies, sports, and other extracurricular activities?

Are You a Domestic Bird?

But we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.
- Hebrews 6:11,12

The people of God, and most all of their forms of gathering, are running shy of eagles, and we're running over with parrots. Content to sit safely on our evangelical perches and repeat in rapid-fire falsetto our religious words, we are fast becoming overpopulated with bright-colored birds having soft bellies, big beaks, and little heads. - Chuck Swindoll

Chuck Swindoll penned those words more than a decade ago. Many positives have hit the church and many a wake up call has slammed into it's walls through the intervening years. But still the fact is that as a people we're still soft!

What would help to balance things out would be a lot more keen-eyed, wide-winged creatures willing to soar out and up, exploring the illimitable ranges of the kingdom of God . . . willing to return with a brief report on their findings before they leave the nest again for another fascinating adventure. We need soaring, adventurous, fast-moving, fast-thinking, quick-witted, single-minded and determined EAGLES!

To Chuck's point it should be obvious (in keeping with the analogy and hoping that the metaphor police don't come and get me!) parrot people are much different than eagle thinkers. They become accustomed to the familiarity of the cage. If you have ever owned a parrot (I grew up with one in my house) they are incessantly picking over the same pan full of seeds. Boring and meaningless repetition such as listening to the same words until they are burned into their lil' parrot heads and can be repeated out of their oversized, giant parrot beaks provides them satisfaction and more comfort; even YEARS later!

They like complacent and similar company too. Since they are colorful and easily, at least outwardly, the "brightest" creature in the room they crave lots of attention. Provide them with a scratch here, and a snuggle there, and they'll stay for years right on the same perch and right in that same cage.

In captivity I bet you can't remember the last time you saw one fly. I can. And, when Polly's clipped wings grew out (who knew they grew out or could?)Polly flew around the room and right back to the perch. End of story.I think what Polly realized was that she did something different and, oh my gosh, different is, well, scary! Parrots like the predictable, the secure, the strokes they get from their mutual admiration society.

Not so with eagles nor with eagle believers. There's not a predictable pinion in their wings! They think. They love to think. They are driven with this inner urge to search, to discover, to hunt, to learn. And that means they're courageous, tough-minded, willing to ask the hard questions as they bypass the routine in vigorous pursuit of the truth. The whole truth. "The deep things of God" - fresh from the Himalayan heights, where the thin air makes thoughts pure and clear - rather than the tired, worn distillations of humanity. And unlike the intellectually impoverished or at least unchallenged parrot, eagles take risks getting their food because they hate anything that comes from a small dish of picked-over seeds...it's boring, dull, repetitious, and dry.

Although rare, eagles are not completely extinct in the historic skies of the church. Thomas Aquinas was one, as were Augustine, Justin Martyr, Luther, Wesley and Bunyan, Wycliffe and Huss. So were G. K. Chesterton, R. A. Torrey, Spurgeon, Moody, C. S. Lewis, Charles, Finney, John Gill, Robert Dick Wilson, J. Gresham Machen, W. R. Nicoll, and A. W. Tozer.

Many of the reformers qualify, as do Jonathan Edwards, John Newton, George Whitefield, and a long line of nonconformists - original thinkers whose lives were interwoven through the treasured tapestry of the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries.

And in our day? We could name some...but they are increasingly rarer, as the "Entertain Me" philosophy of the public outshouts those who plead, "Make me think!"

Have you fallen prey to a similar mind-set? Do you find yourself contentedly sitting on your perch (i.e. church pew), pecking at dry morsels (i.e. some pastoral lesson or some popular book) rather than longing for the skies? Get off the perch. A great way to worship and glorify and honor God is to step out, step up and attempt great exploits in His name!

Think about it. I remain...

InHISgrip,
~J~