Sanctified

"...Sanctify them in the truth, Your Word is truth." (John 17:17)

Truth is always truth whether people believe it or not.  I don't think it can be discovered and appreciated without thinking and reasoning about God and His Word.

“Come let us reason together says the LORD, though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow” (Isaiah 1:18)

I have reasoned that God is not just the creator, but the Father of mankind.  And He loves them in spite of their faults, and intends to make them into his image through death and resurrection. I reason that mankind must experience the death of the old mortal creation in order to appreciate the new creation to come, the abundant, immortal life which will be the  mirror image of God. Jesus was the first, all the rest of us will follow.

God is lhe originator of truth. And truth regarding mankind, in a nutshell, is the good news that God in His grace intends to give mankind eternal life after death. But this truth cannot be discovered by blindly believing and doing what others say, or joining a religious institution.  Truth is discovered by thinking and reasoning on your own, and being willing to discard the false notions about God along the way.  

Doing so over the past 65 year has given me peace and joy in this present evil age. Try it and you may find that the…

“…peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:7)

Good Comes From Bad

"God is working all things together for good" (Romans 8:28).

M. R. DeHaan (1891-1965) once wrote about this verse as follows…

“Before a thing can be made useful, something must be broken...the history of the world is but the breaking of governments, systems, ideals and programs. The history of every human life, too, is the history of breaking...every broken thing is but the assurance that God is making something useful."

“Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.” (Isaiah 1:18)

I want to pause in my assault on false teachers and teaching for one day at least…..in order to assault the rest of us Christians...just kidding...I think.

My oldest brother recently posted this comment on his Facebook page:

What does "following Christ" really mean? Just an idea. Jesus was certainly not religious in any sense of the word.

It started me thinking, as usual, so blame him for what follows ...although I thank him for making me think and “reason” about my view of Scripture.

My mind went immediately to the words of Jesus quoted by Luke...

“Now large crowds were going along with Him; and He turned and said to them, If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple (follower). Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it…So then, none of you can be my disciple who does not give up all his own possessions?” (Luke 14:25-28)

Pretty harsh words, who was he talking to? The large crowds FOLLOWING him hoping to get something from him (food, healing,etc). The same crowd who not long after would be screaming “crucify him”. But he loved them and had compassion for them, and would in fact die for them and all other sinners. But for now he told them what it takes to really follow him.

First: hate your father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters and your own life.

Second: take up your cross (and die on it)

Third: consider the cost

OK, forget the commentaries and alterations to the above made over the past 2000 years by the pious super duper high IQ holy men. Their opinions don't count. Believe Jesus...think about what he said above...and then form the logical conclusion with respect to what he was saying in light of all else we know in the Bible about Jesus and what he has done for mankind. I have thought about it and here is my conclusion...Jesus is saying...

“You sinners are not me, I am a unique, one of a kind, never to be cloned man WHO HAS NEVER SINNED. So where I am going you are not qualified to come. And what I am going to do you are not qualified to do. I am going to abandon Mom and everybody else I love together with all my possessions and die on a cross...for you sinners. And in doing so I am going to save your miserable selfish asses...why?  Because our Father God is gracious and merciful. Believe it or not my heavenly Father and I created you and we love you, and so saving you is the right thing to do. As for you and those who come after you...well count the cost of what I alone can and will do...and just bow your head and simply say...THANK YOU JESUS!” (The Bible - Robert's paraphrased version)

We Christians, especially the elite do gooder types, need to stop putting ourselves on a pedestal, self-righteously claiming to be “followers of Christ” with a 20 year perfect attendance pin to prove it....for even if we “surrender our life to Christ” or join a monastery and eventually attain the official designation of “Saint so and so” or even if we would die on behalf of all mankind...all of them would stay dead anyway.

So I choose to place my faith and hope in what the Bible says God and Christ Jesus have done for sinners...

“God demonstrated his love for us in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us....for the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 5:8-10; 6:23)

The freest of people, the nobelist of people, the most virtuous of people, and those among mankind who reason the best and accomplish the most have one thing in common with the worst of people...they all die...and in time are forgotten. The writer of Ecclesiastes therefore reasoned...

“So I commend the enjoyment of life, because there is nothing better for a person under the sun than to eat and drink and be glad. Then joy will accompany them in their toil all the days of the life God has given them under the sun.” (Ecclesiastes 8:15)

The best that people of this world can do is to enjoy life as best they are able and simply do what they can to be the best they can be...then leave the rest to the Lord.

"Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait until the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of the heart. At that time each will receive their praise from God.” (1 Corinthians 4:5)