I had a relationship with someone for a very long time. In a large part of the early years I would tell people I was his friend but never said he was my friend. It was a complicated relationship but suffice it to say that I gave him a lot more than he gave me. Then things changed and he began to be a better friend after realizing, for himself, what I just described. And the relationship was good for a time.
Maybe it was just his nature, but things began to move back toward him taking advantage and me giving more than he was giving in the relationship. Eventually, he got mad and he cancelled our friendship. Abruptly, and to me, without real reason to end the relationship. But, that was his choice. I did not contact him. He did contact me, but he never asked me how I was doing, if I was okay, if I needed anything. No, he contacted me to tell me how wrong I was to put him in the position that he ended the relationship. He couldn't believe I was willing to throw away a relationship that had lasted that many years.
But, here's the thing: I didn't. He did. He contacted me several times with lies and threats, but I never responded to those messages. If I were to respond to a message from him it would have to be a message that included the questions how I'm doing or if I'm okay. He has yet to ask any question of me about my wellbeing. Just making threats and telling lies. Why would I respond to that?
A true friend who truly loves you is always going to put your wellbeing ahead of anything else. If there are problems within the friendship, a true friend is going to come to you and talk it through, not slam the door in your face. Then come back later and make out that it was your fault they slammed the door in your face. That's narcissism. It's not friendship and it's not love.
I do have true friends who share true love with me. I may not have a large number of friends in my circle, but I do have true friends in my circle. And I don't have time or energy to deal with someone who is only concerned with themself and wants to turn problems that they have caused around and try to put the blame on me. I've dealt with that enough in my life and I'm not going to deal with it any longer.
As far as anything else goes, God's in control, not me. And I lay all my problems at the throne and leave them there. He'll take care of that for me. I won't worry and I won't fret, because God has never failed me yet.
Saturday, June 21, 2025
Friday, June 20, 2025
He Who Is Without Sin
In the 8th chapter of the Gospel of John, the Pharisees brought a woman to Jesus and threw her on the ground at His feet. They told Jesus they had caught the woman in the act of adultery and the Law demanded she be stoned for her sin. They asked Jesus what he had to say about that situation. Now, first, there's a little bit of that section of the Law the Pharisees failed to mention: the Law said the woman and the man she was with were to both be stoned to death. Where was the man in this instance? Why was he not brought with the woman to be condemned by Jesus?
The Pharisees were a hypocritical bunch of self-righteous men who wanted others to live the perfection of the law while they, themselves, wanted to be exempt from the parts of the Law they didn't want to abide by. Sounds kinda similar to a lot of Believers today. They want others to live perfect lives without sin and when they see someone who is a sinner committing sin they want to condemn them. Lock them away or something. But they want to outlaw what they consider to be sin to make the whole nation behave as they believe Believers should behave. But, in this instance, why did they leave the man who was caught in adultery out? Was it someone they knew? Was it someone they protected in order to receive some special treatment later on? We will never know.
Jesus wrote something on the ground, which was not revealed in the Gospel, maybe it was the man's name who wasn't brought along, but He rose and told the Pharisees that whichever one was without sin was to cast the first stone. Challenged in that way every single one of her accusers walked away. Now, today's Believers want to point out that Jesus told her to go and sin no more. Okay, yes, Jesus taught us to live our lives sin free, but can any single one of us truly live even one day without committing sin? I suppose somewhere there's someone who might be able to go 24 hours without sinning, but it's highly unlikely. The point of this passage of scripture is not the statement, "go and sin no more." The point of this passage is "let he who is without sin cast the first stone."
Any person who is without sin has the right to condemn sin. Does that give that person the right to stone someone to death? I don't think it does. Because there was One there who had the right to throw stones, yet He showed grace and mercy and love to the woman instead of condemnation. So, as Believers when we see someone sinning we are not to condemn them and point out their sin, we are to show love, grace and mercy to them, just as it has been and continues to be shown to us by God, Himself. What we receive we are to give. We can only give love, grace and mercy to others because we receive from God.
People sin. It's a fact of life. We sin. Another fact of life. Condemning someone's sin is different from condemning the sinner. Making laws to punish someone for committing sin is condemning the sinner, not the sin. The law cannot save a soul. It's an impossibility. The only thing that can save a soul is Jesus Christ by His life, death and resurrection. If He chose to offer love, grace and mercy to a sinner caught in sin, how can we do anything less that He did?
The Pharisees were a hypocritical bunch of self-righteous men who wanted others to live the perfection of the law while they, themselves, wanted to be exempt from the parts of the Law they didn't want to abide by. Sounds kinda similar to a lot of Believers today. They want others to live perfect lives without sin and when they see someone who is a sinner committing sin they want to condemn them. Lock them away or something. But they want to outlaw what they consider to be sin to make the whole nation behave as they believe Believers should behave. But, in this instance, why did they leave the man who was caught in adultery out? Was it someone they knew? Was it someone they protected in order to receive some special treatment later on? We will never know.
Jesus wrote something on the ground, which was not revealed in the Gospel, maybe it was the man's name who wasn't brought along, but He rose and told the Pharisees that whichever one was without sin was to cast the first stone. Challenged in that way every single one of her accusers walked away. Now, today's Believers want to point out that Jesus told her to go and sin no more. Okay, yes, Jesus taught us to live our lives sin free, but can any single one of us truly live even one day without committing sin? I suppose somewhere there's someone who might be able to go 24 hours without sinning, but it's highly unlikely. The point of this passage of scripture is not the statement, "go and sin no more." The point of this passage is "let he who is without sin cast the first stone."
Any person who is without sin has the right to condemn sin. Does that give that person the right to stone someone to death? I don't think it does. Because there was One there who had the right to throw stones, yet He showed grace and mercy and love to the woman instead of condemnation. So, as Believers when we see someone sinning we are not to condemn them and point out their sin, we are to show love, grace and mercy to them, just as it has been and continues to be shown to us by God, Himself. What we receive we are to give. We can only give love, grace and mercy to others because we receive from God.
People sin. It's a fact of life. We sin. Another fact of life. Condemning someone's sin is different from condemning the sinner. Making laws to punish someone for committing sin is condemning the sinner, not the sin. The law cannot save a soul. It's an impossibility. The only thing that can save a soul is Jesus Christ by His life, death and resurrection. If He chose to offer love, grace and mercy to a sinner caught in sin, how can we do anything less that He did?
Tone It Down
It has been suggested to me that I need to tone down my teachings about being a Believer. The underlying meaning was that I'm upsetting some people because I'm being too radical in my suggestions that people need to get more in line with love, grace and mercy versus pointing out people's sin. My answer to that is simple: I don't need to tone it down, I need to fire it up!
I haven't said anything that does not come directly from the New Testament section of the Bible. I haven't said anything that doesn't come almost directly from the words in Red in the Bible. My comments come from the sermons and lessons of Jesus Christ, who happens to be my Savior, my Master, my Lord and my example. No, I'm not going to tone it down, because my light has to shine and not be put under a basket. I keep my oil filled so that I won't have to run off somewhere to find more oil just when Jesus returns.
I will continue to question why Believers want to enact laws to govern sin when the whole process of the law governing sin is what required Jesus to be born, live, die and be resurrected because the law will never work to conquer sin. As Paul stated it, the law is there to show me my sin while the cross is there to forgive me of my sin. Believers want the law to force people to behave the way they think they should. They don't want to the law to save people's souls, they just want people to stop committing the sins they find too grievous. Or maybe they just want to feel superior to those who are committing what they call sin. I don't understand it, and probably don't want to understand it. Because it's not the way of God and it's definitely not the teachings of Jesus.
We've become a generation of hypocrites. We want to outlaw abortion but we don't want to do anything for children who are not being taken care of. We want the homeless to not be seen but we don't want to provide shelter for them. We want beggars to go away but we don't want to give them food or water. We want the prisoners to be locked up and never be seen again and we sure don't want to go to the prison to visit them. We want the widows to be taken care of but we don't want to have to give anything out of our pocket for them to be taken care of. We want paradise but we don't want to have to do anything to build it.
I look around at the religious folks in the world and I see the Pharisees and the Sadducees all over again. It's not even a stretch to compare so many of today's religious folks to those of Jesus' time on earth. It's all talk about the law but there's no talk about grace, mercy and what so many today want to call love has no reflection of the love of God. Tough love is a lie of the devil. 1 Peter 4:8 says, "and above all things have fervent love among yourselves: for love shall cover a multitude of sins." It doesn't say that love gives you the right to stop helping people so they'll grow up or become self sufficient. Love covers a multitude of sins means that you forgive them, you act as though that thing never happened and you continue helping them to grow and become self sufficient. It doesn't give you the right to walk away from them. That's not love, that's cowardice, self indulgence and greed.
No, I don't have any intention of toning it down. I'm called to spread the Good News of Jesus; I'm called to share love, mercy and grace. I was born in this time to be a voice for love, grace and mercy; for forgiveness and tolerance. I am to be a light unto the dark to give hope to the hopeless and help alleviate a bit of suffering every chance I get. I'll tone it down when I arrive in Heaven to spend eternity with my Creator. Until then, I think I'll stoke the fire.
I haven't said anything that does not come directly from the New Testament section of the Bible. I haven't said anything that doesn't come almost directly from the words in Red in the Bible. My comments come from the sermons and lessons of Jesus Christ, who happens to be my Savior, my Master, my Lord and my example. No, I'm not going to tone it down, because my light has to shine and not be put under a basket. I keep my oil filled so that I won't have to run off somewhere to find more oil just when Jesus returns.
I will continue to question why Believers want to enact laws to govern sin when the whole process of the law governing sin is what required Jesus to be born, live, die and be resurrected because the law will never work to conquer sin. As Paul stated it, the law is there to show me my sin while the cross is there to forgive me of my sin. Believers want the law to force people to behave the way they think they should. They don't want to the law to save people's souls, they just want people to stop committing the sins they find too grievous. Or maybe they just want to feel superior to those who are committing what they call sin. I don't understand it, and probably don't want to understand it. Because it's not the way of God and it's definitely not the teachings of Jesus.
We've become a generation of hypocrites. We want to outlaw abortion but we don't want to do anything for children who are not being taken care of. We want the homeless to not be seen but we don't want to provide shelter for them. We want beggars to go away but we don't want to give them food or water. We want the prisoners to be locked up and never be seen again and we sure don't want to go to the prison to visit them. We want the widows to be taken care of but we don't want to have to give anything out of our pocket for them to be taken care of. We want paradise but we don't want to have to do anything to build it.
I look around at the religious folks in the world and I see the Pharisees and the Sadducees all over again. It's not even a stretch to compare so many of today's religious folks to those of Jesus' time on earth. It's all talk about the law but there's no talk about grace, mercy and what so many today want to call love has no reflection of the love of God. Tough love is a lie of the devil. 1 Peter 4:8 says, "and above all things have fervent love among yourselves: for love shall cover a multitude of sins." It doesn't say that love gives you the right to stop helping people so they'll grow up or become self sufficient. Love covers a multitude of sins means that you forgive them, you act as though that thing never happened and you continue helping them to grow and become self sufficient. It doesn't give you the right to walk away from them. That's not love, that's cowardice, self indulgence and greed.
No, I don't have any intention of toning it down. I'm called to spread the Good News of Jesus; I'm called to share love, mercy and grace. I was born in this time to be a voice for love, grace and mercy; for forgiveness and tolerance. I am to be a light unto the dark to give hope to the hopeless and help alleviate a bit of suffering every chance I get. I'll tone it down when I arrive in Heaven to spend eternity with my Creator. Until then, I think I'll stoke the fire.
Thursday, June 19, 2025
Do Not Take God's Name in Vain
Ask 100 people what that means and 98%+ will tell you it is to not use the profanity God d**n. That is not taking God's name in vain. That is telling God what to do, which we shouldn't do either. It seems like only when it comes to this commandment people forget what in vain actually means.
In vain means to no avail, useless. For no good purpose. As in "all our work was in vain because the rain washed it all away." So, to take God's name in vain means that you use God's name but you don't really want to talk to God. You're using His name for no good purpose. It would be like me calling out your name when we're in a room or house and you turn to me to see what I need but I don't have anything to say to you. I ignore you and keep doing whatever it is I'm doing. That is using your name in vain.
To use God's name in vain would be for me to be surprised at something happening and me crying out, "Oh my God!" I don't want to talk to Him. I'm not praying to Him. I'm just simply calling out His name for no purpose.
The sad fact is that I hear many, many people who are followers of Christ who say His name a lot for no purpose. I've heard preachers do it. I've heard singers do it. I've heard congregation members do it. Because somewhere along the way the devil convinced us that the "in vain" part of that commandment did not mean the same thing it means in every other use of the phrase. Somehow the devil convinced Believers that in the command to not use God's name in vain the "in vain" only meant the word damn. And so many Believers have been using God's name in vain ever since.
We need to wake up and realize just how far from the original followers of Jesus we've come. We need to wake up and realize our purpose as Believers is to love and help others. To serve others. We're called to be servants, not leaders. Not masters. Not overseers. Not judges. Not jury members. Servants. To take care of the needs of every person we come into contact if we have the means to do so.
It's time to stop living the life of a Believer in vain.
In vain means to no avail, useless. For no good purpose. As in "all our work was in vain because the rain washed it all away." So, to take God's name in vain means that you use God's name but you don't really want to talk to God. You're using His name for no good purpose. It would be like me calling out your name when we're in a room or house and you turn to me to see what I need but I don't have anything to say to you. I ignore you and keep doing whatever it is I'm doing. That is using your name in vain.
To use God's name in vain would be for me to be surprised at something happening and me crying out, "Oh my God!" I don't want to talk to Him. I'm not praying to Him. I'm just simply calling out His name for no purpose.
The sad fact is that I hear many, many people who are followers of Christ who say His name a lot for no purpose. I've heard preachers do it. I've heard singers do it. I've heard congregation members do it. Because somewhere along the way the devil convinced us that the "in vain" part of that commandment did not mean the same thing it means in every other use of the phrase. Somehow the devil convinced Believers that in the command to not use God's name in vain the "in vain" only meant the word damn. And so many Believers have been using God's name in vain ever since.
We need to wake up and realize just how far from the original followers of Jesus we've come. We need to wake up and realize our purpose as Believers is to love and help others. To serve others. We're called to be servants, not leaders. Not masters. Not overseers. Not judges. Not jury members. Servants. To take care of the needs of every person we come into contact if we have the means to do so.
It's time to stop living the life of a Believer in vain.
Wednesday, June 18, 2025
Walk On
So many times in life when we're facing struggles and trials we're told by others to just walk on. We even tell ourselves to just keep walking and eventually we'll make it through. But, that's not God's way. God tells us "Be still," seven different times in His Word. It's always telling us to sit and wait on the Lord. He says, in Psalm 46, "Be still and know that I am God." In Psalm 4 he says, "Meditate on God with your heart, and be still."
Sometimes we get so busy with things we forget to just be still and know God. Or sit still and wait for God. His plans, and His ways, are not our ways or plans. Our ways and plans can interrupt God's plans for us. If you're in the midst of a storm, don't try to outrun it, be still and let the storm pass. If you absolutely have to run, run into the storm, not away. If you run through the storm you will get to the place of peace faster. If you run away, it will eventually catch up to you and you'll have to suffer longer.
Yes, we have to walk on with God throughout our lives, but there are times when God wants us to just sit and be still and allow Him to do whatever work He's doing. Our continuing to walk delays the blessings, the gifts and the lessons that He's trying to teach us during those times He wants us to sit still and meditate on Him. He has everything under control, so what can we do? Nothing. So instead of trying to do whatever plan you have, just do nothing to begin with. Sit still and let God do the work.
In the trouble: be still. In the trial: be still. In the storm: be still. In chaos: be still. In confusion: be still. In heartache: be still. In grief: be still. In peace: walk on. In triumph: walk on. In joy: walk on. In happiness: walk on. In victory: walk on. In health: walk on. In Jesus, walk on.
Sometimes we get so busy with things we forget to just be still and know God. Or sit still and wait for God. His plans, and His ways, are not our ways or plans. Our ways and plans can interrupt God's plans for us. If you're in the midst of a storm, don't try to outrun it, be still and let the storm pass. If you absolutely have to run, run into the storm, not away. If you run through the storm you will get to the place of peace faster. If you run away, it will eventually catch up to you and you'll have to suffer longer.
Yes, we have to walk on with God throughout our lives, but there are times when God wants us to just sit and be still and allow Him to do whatever work He's doing. Our continuing to walk delays the blessings, the gifts and the lessons that He's trying to teach us during those times He wants us to sit still and meditate on Him. He has everything under control, so what can we do? Nothing. So instead of trying to do whatever plan you have, just do nothing to begin with. Sit still and let God do the work.
In the trouble: be still. In the trial: be still. In the storm: be still. In chaos: be still. In confusion: be still. In heartache: be still. In grief: be still. In peace: walk on. In triumph: walk on. In joy: walk on. In happiness: walk on. In victory: walk on. In health: walk on. In Jesus, walk on.
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