Work Hard

James 2:14-26 (ESV)

"What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. But someone will say, "You have faith; I have deeds." Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do. You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder. You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. And the scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness," and he was called God's friend. You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone. In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead."

This is War

The Road to Hell

"Indeed the safest road to hell is the gradual one—the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts." - C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters

If you known me for any amount of time, it comes as no surprise that I think very highly of C.S. Lewis. I do have to admit that being fond of C.S. Lewis often seems like the popular intellectual Christian thing to do. I am not exception to that stereotype, but for good reason. He was a prolific writer and a intellectual giant. Although he was a literary genius, I am not writing this post about him (Maybe at a later date when I can not stand the temptation any longer). I wanted to just expound upon my favorite quote from one his great books The Screwtape Letters. As quoted above Screwtape, a demon, is writing to his nephew, a fellow demon, in encouragement to detour his assigned Christian. Now this quote is found about halfway through the book, but it hit me hard. Let me lay it in context for you. Screwtape is enlightening Wormwood on many different ways in which to trip up his assingment. It seems to reach it's apex in this very quote. Screwtape says that Murder is not better than cards if cards will do the trick. He is insisting that it doesn't take a "large" sin in order to condemn us to hell.

That's what I wanted to talk about in this post. The Road to Hell. C.S. Lewis is right. It is a gentle slope, that is soft underfoot and it does not have sudden turnings or signposts. That is separates us from God and how we are drawn away from Him. It is not the big events that tear us apart, it is the little things all along the way that slowly separate us.

So what do we do about it? We need to protect ourselves from this. Although it sounds cliche, a battle like this is daily. The only way in which we can continue to strengthen this relationship is to be diligent each and every day to seek God with our whole heart. It really is the little things that will lead us away from Him thus we must guard ourselves from them. Seek holiness in every aspect of your life.

Thinking Theologically About Adoption

The Weaker Vessel

1 Peter 3:7 (ESV): "Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered."

Once again, as always, I was doing my devotions reading through 1 Peter a few times. A book like 1 Peter I try to read through a few times in one sitting because of the brevity of the book. As we should all do when reading the Scriptures I was seeking to mine out the precious jewels that the Bible has for us to find. This verse in the 3rd chapter of the book stuck out like a sore thumb. To truly expound upon this verse I am going to have to talk to men (and I do not use that term flippantly).

As men we often look at passages throughout the Bible that deal with marriage and the such and focus on the subordination of women and the elitism (or so we think) of masculinity. Somehow we have got it in our minds that for a truly "biblical" marriage/relationship that we are suppose to be some radical dictator and that woman are suppose to obey our every whimper. This is very much NOT the case. You are suppose to be leaders; but for you to be a true leader you yourself must follow Christ in the way in which you have been called. There are no dictators in a biblical relationship, only followers of Christ. We like to quote Ephesians 5:22 without taking any responsibilities for the rest of the passage.

This brings me to this gem of a verse in 1 Peter. As Peter is writing here, he refers to women as the weaker vessel and how as men, we must live with them and guide them in a way accordingly. Instantly, our male egos are boosted knowing that we are sequentially the "stronger" vessel. Now put your male ego in check. I sat for a while and meditated on this verse and this is what I came up with. What are things around us that are weaker? I started making a short list. Things like silk, fine china, ornate glasses, etc. See a pattern here? I started to realize that the things in our life that are "weaker" are far more precious then those things that we look at as "stronger". There is so much more value in silk then say, a tough piece of rope.

So what are the implications? Since women are the weaker vessel, thus much more precious then us, we need to treat them as such. Treat the women around you like they are precious and valuable, because they are. Treat your wife or your girlfriend like they are priceless, because they are. They may be "weaker", but that is only because they are far more priceless then us and need to be cherished and treated with care. So men, do so accordingly.

Be True

Romans 12:9-21 (ESV)

"Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord." To the contrary, "if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head." Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good."

What Does It Mean To Think Theologically?

I Never Knew You

Matthew 7:21-23 (ESV) - "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?' And then will I declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness."

Disclaimer: I have no original thought unto myself. All the witticisms, bright ideas, or revolutionary concepts that I post on here are only products of books I read, lectures I hear, or conversations that I have the privileged to take part in. This revelation, without exception, is the product of a in depth conversation I had with a good friend just recently.

So me and my dear friend were discussing this passage just the other day. I've always had a very uneasy feeling about this passage. Maybe I'm the only one, but when I've read this passage before and it says "depart from me; I never knew you", I always thought that was just a harsh way of God telling us to be gone. I thought in fewer words that God was simply telling us "You didn't do what you were suppose to, I'm forgetting ever knowing you". Now I might have had a very staunch interpretation of this, but I think I was wrong.

Let me explain. I think I missed the point completely. I mean I think I completely and utterly missed the entire meaning of the passage. This passage has nothing to do with works. Obviously. The first part of the passage talks about doing all sorts of works in the name of Christ, but it doesn't mean anything. I think the emphasis of the entire passage lays in the words "I never knew you". See, these people that did all these great works in the name of Christ, they never knew Him. They never sought to have a personal relationship with Him. It was never their intention to grow closer to God and get to know Him intimately. God wasn't telling them to depart from Him because they weren't doing the right things, works had nothing to do with it, it was because they never sought a relationship with Him at all.

It is only through our relationship with Jesus Christ that we accomplish anything for His Kingdom. Let us start getting to know Christ in a deeper relationship with Him.