The Pure Shall See

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.” —Matthew 5:8

I am sipping from my devotional Styrofoam coffee cup. Last year for Christmas, my church staff gave me disposable coffee cups labeled with inspirational sayings. Today, the devotional saying reads, “Since the things of God are ‘spiritually discerned.’ A proper understanding of scripture is often more the result of an individual’s spiritual condition than his or her intellectual ability.” Although I cannot locate the exact source of the quote, it appears to relate directly to 1 Corinthians 2:14. “The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.”

Many persons mistakenly believe that understanding the Bible and spiritual truth is related to intelligence and education, but often the opposite is true. Please, don’t get me wrong. After 26 years of schooling and three degrees, you can be certain I am completely for higher education. But persons acquire spiritual truth by revelation rather than by education. We can understand all the original languages of the Bible, but if our heart is not right, we will not be able to hear a Word from God.

When Jesus asked the disciples who they thought He was, Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” To this Jesus replied that Simon was blessed because the Heavenly Father had revealed this to Peter. At another place, Jesus commented on the way God the Father gives spiritual insight. “At that time Jesus said, ‘I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children’” (Matthew 11:25). God reveals Himself and The Truth, Jesus Christ, to those whose hearts are pure.

Fall is the season when young persons go off to college or begin a career in the workforce or military service. Parents and the church family often lament that young people lose their faith as they go off to college and career. Many times we blame the Survey of Religion Class or that “liberal teacher” as the cause for their loss of faith. Losing one’s faith may be directly related to willful disobedience in drug experimentation, sexual exploration, or walking away from God’s ways in disobedience. Spiritual receptivity and faith have more to do with heart purity and an individual walking obediently in the light they already have.

If you are having moments of doubt, or trouble understanding God’s Word, check your obedience level. Are you justifying some sinful behavior in your life? Is there a secret sin you are trying to keep hidden? “Blessed are the pure in heart.” Truthfully, we all have our “stuff.” We have all fallen from God’s intended purpose for our lives. We have all sinned. But, as we call upon the Lord in sincerity, out of a pure heart, God will restore us to a right relationship with Himself and reveal His Son, the Way, the Truth, and the Life, to us. God still answers the prayer of the old hymn written by Clara Scott, “Open my eyes, that I may see Glimpses of truth Thou hast for me; Place in my hands the wonderful key that shall unclasp and set me free.”

A God Revolution

“I have not come to abolish them [the Law or the Prophets] but to fulfill them.” —Matthew 5:17b

During difficult economic times we often hear stories about the good old days. I have many treasured memories from my childhood but never thought of them as the good old days. My childhood would be better described as a time of innocence, or at least ignorance. I didn’t know how poor we were. My dad worked for a brick plant that was owned by the local clay mining company in St. Charles, PA. We did have an indoor toilet, but we bathed in a galvanized tub in the basement. Didn’t everyone? A special treat was when Dad would take my older brother and me to work and give us a shower in the company locker room.

When Jesus Christ began His earthly ministry at age 30, He proclaimed, “The time has come, the Kingdom of God is near” (Mark 1:15). Jesus began a God revolution. I am not referring to a rebellion, but a revolution. The original meaning of the word revolution is “the movement around something, one complete turn.” The earth makes one revolution around the sun every year. The moon makes a complete turn around the earth every month. Jesus came to bring the world one complete turn back to God’s original purpose in creation.

When we think of revolutions, we think of countries or peoples rebelling against the current government. They may be wishing to return to former better times, “the good old days,” but they seldom seek to return to God’s intended purpose. Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount that He came to fulfill the Law and the Prophets. Jesus did not come to throw off the rule of God but to re-establish it. Jesus came to earth, lived a perfect human life, died, and rose again to reconcile fallen humanity to an intimate relationship with God.

Spiritually speaking, if we are to return to the good old days, we must go back farther than good memories from our childhood or a boom period for the church in the 1950s or 70s. We must return to the good old days of God’s intent for creation in the Garden of Eden. In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve had intimate fellowship with God and a carefree enjoyment of the natural world—no pollution, no recession, and no terrorism.

The New Testament describes a future where the blessings of God’s original creation are restored. The similarities between the opening chapters of the Bible and the last two chapters, Revelations 21-22 are amazing. The environment is described as a paradise. The river of God waters the land. The Tree of Life is available with an abundance of fruit to eat. God and human beings have close communion. Revelation 21:3 says, “Now the dwelling of God is with men … God himself will be with them and be their God.” Genesis describes streams watering the land and God walking with man and wife in the garden (Gen. 2:6, 3:8).

The God Revolution that Jesus brings makes it possible for you, me, and the entire world to make one complete turn back to God’s intended perfect world. Jesus Christ invites you and me to see, enter, and receive His Kingdom. Brian McClaren writes, “To see it, we need to repent and acknowledge how blind we have been, becoming teachable and ‘young’ again, like children. To enter it, we need to become a part of it, and to receive it, we let it become a part of us.”

Think about the best good old days you can remember. Wouldn’t returning to God and God’s good and perfect plan for your life be a thousand times better than anything you can imagine? Turn to God, receive His love and forgiveness. Start a God revolution in your life.

Heroes Run to Trouble

“Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.”—John 15:13

We had planned a church picnic for a Sunday afternoon at the Quemahoning Reservoir. As I prepared for morning worship, it was storming: hard rain, lightning, and thunder. I prayed for guidance concerning what to do about the church picnic. At around 7:30 AM, the weather channel was forecasting storms all day. Then a news flash reported the stage at the Indiana State Fair collapsed due to high winds and storms. Several were killed and many injured. Having prayed for guidance, I looked toward heaven and said, “Okay, Lord, I get it.” Immediately, I decided to move the picnic to the church fellowship hall. Of course, between services, the skies cleared, and it did not rain again until Sunday night after everything was over.

Updates on the Indiana State fair disaster told amazing accounts of heroism. As soon as the stage fell, instead of running away, Hoosiers went running into the debris to help. Their quick heroic efforts saved many out of the catastrophe. Heroes run into trouble. This past week as we remembered the 911 terrorism attacks, I observed similar reports from the Pentagon attack. As soon as they saw the flames and smoke, retired, active, and former military personnel went running into the fire rather than away. They guided and carried many to safety.

I continue to be proud to be an American. As we remember the 911 attacks, we are reminded of the many acts of sacrifice and bravery. Unlike the terrorists and suicide bombers who kill innocent victims and even their own people, American heroes run into trouble to benefit others without regard for their own well-being. The heroic firemen climbed the stair towers as fast as they could toward an unknown fate. The collapsing towers took their lives as they gave aid to others. The heroic passengers on Flight 93, charged the cockpit and saved the Capitol and many lives as they gave theirs. Yes, heroes run to trouble.

We sing in the national anthem, “the land of the free and the home of the brave.” As Americans, we have our share of faults, but we have lots to be proud about. When tyranny oppresses and evil attacks, American missionaries and American soldiers choose to run into trouble giving aid and support. Trouble seems to bring out the worst and best in us. The worst is that we depend so much on our superior military might that we think we are invincible and can cure every ill with power. The best is that Americans will sacrificially run to trouble rather than selfishly away from trouble.

I believe, as an American Christian, that America has benefited from living in a culture influenced by the sacrificial example of God’s Son, Jesus Christ. As He prepared to give His life on the Cross for the sins of the whole world, Jesus told His disciples to love one another as He loved them. He goes on to say, “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). When the Church and when Christians get it right, we are seen as those who run to trouble. Troubled individuals, troubled homes, troubled cities, and troubled peoples around the world attract Christians like moths to a flame. Jesus has given us the example of sacrificial service.

More than an example, Jesus promises His power and presence. “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me…And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:16, 20). Do you want to be counted for Jesus sake? Do you want to leave your mark in this world? Then be a hero for Jesus. Run into trouble. The Lord will meet you and use you there.

Waiting for What?

“No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.”—John 6:44

When we lived in Kentucky, my wife went to an elderly chiropractor for regular adjustments. One day, the doctor gave me a round disc of wood about the size of a 50-cent piece with the letters “TU IT” printed on it. When it took me a little too long to figure out the meaning, the chiropractor interjected, “You know how folks say they’ll do this or that when they get around to it. Well, now you have one.” I wish getting started on some important project or positive change in our lives was that simple. I would begin giving “round TU ITs” to everyone.

But honestly, think about it. Why does is take so long to make a decision to begin doing something that we want or need. Why do we hesitate beginning a deed that would benefit our life or another’s? The obvious answers might be we are either too lazy or too busy, but I believe there is an underlying spiritual issue. Being born into original sin, we are unable to transform ourselves without divine intervention. We need a divine catalyst or instigator to begin the process into new life. The Bible calls this beginning the “New Birth” or “being born again” (John 3).

An instigator is defined as someone or something that starts a process in motion, or in some minds, stirs up trouble. In order to begin a new life, we must become disgusted enough with the old ways in order to embrace the new. In a Christian understanding, we must become sick enough of sin in order to accept God’s invitation to salvation and new plan for our lives. Jesus said, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him” (John 6:44). I have heard persons describe this drawing process as a growing dissatisfaction with their worldly life and an attraction to God’s future. People will say things like, “I was just sick and tired of the way I was living. There had to be a better way.” “My life seemed fine until I realized how messed up it was, but it was all I knew.”

The Bible uses a special word to describe turning from a sinful, harmful way of life to living according to God’s plan. “Metanoia,” translated “repentance” means to change your mind. More specifically, metanoia means to be sick enough of sin to turn from sin to God. The scripture says that because Jesus Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection, we can turn to God and be accepted. James 4:8 says, “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.”

The Holy Spirit serves as God’s great instigator. Jesus promised that when the Holy Spirit comes, “He will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment” (John 16:8). On the surface, it seems to me that convicting the world of sin means to make people realize they are lost, bad, and need God’s help. The conviction of righteousness stirs our desire to walk in God’s way. The Holy Spirit causes us to want this change in the present that we will make a leap of faith and call upon the Lord, Jesus.

So what are we waiting for? God has nearly done it all. God has taken 99 steps on the 100-step journey to reconciling us to Himself, but He waits for and invites us to take the last step. If God has shown you the way to walk, ask God for strength to obey and go for it. Why are you waiting to take that final step to faith? If you need a round “TU IT,” call me. I’ll send you one.