Sunday Best, or Narcissistic Worst?

Pink suits on men who have overeaten at every meal since 1997. Full pews, new hairdo's, intricate hats that should be in the Louvre. Brown babies with petroleum jelly glazed faces, tugging at their collars, and new shoe laces.

Easter, brothers and sisters, has arrived.

Remember Arsenio Hall, things that make you go hmmmmm? How about this to make you go hmmnm? If we know that our God has no concern with our exterior appearance. If we know that our Savior warned us against being men pleasers. If we understand that we are not to respect the 'man in the gay clothes' more than the man in the rags. If we understand these things, why on earth do we continue to pollute the most Holy day of the year with our foolish primping and parading? Who are we primping and parading for? God doesn't care what we look like.

Let's do something different next year. Let's take all that money we waste trying to look cute for Easter Sunday and donate it to someone who needs it. Or, better yet, let's actually put the money into God's house. It is reprehensible that we call ourselves Christians and we still hold on to traditions that are clearly not Biblical. We continue to edify ourselves instead of bringing glory to our God. If our purpose as Christians is to preach the gospel and bring glory to Him, how then is it that we will go into debt to glorify ourselves, but we pass the collection basket without putting anything in it. It is sad that old things are not truly passed away in the church. 

But our refusal to be outdone on Easter Sunday is a symptom, not the problem.  The real problem is in our hearts.  We love God, but we have not died to ourselves.  We do not crucify ourselves daily so we have overly inflated views of ourselves.  In our minds we are just as good as Sister Duflochee, or Brother Whodunit, so we are going to be just as fly as they are, if not more so.  If we saw how truly ugly we were in the eyes of a holy God, we wouldn't spend so much time playing dress up.  We would know that you can only dress up something that ugly so much, and even that is an inside out job. 

Have a wonderful Easter, Brothers and Sisters.  I love you. 

Joy and Pain

Brothers and Sisters, it is almost Resurrection Sunday and I can rejoice because my Lord and God is risen! Because he got up, I can have assurance that one day I will see the face of God and be with him in paradise despite my wretchedness. Hallelujah!

Beloved, tests come in all shapes, sizes, and colors. They appear out of nothing and occur when we are unguarded. I do not come to you with any answers today, only questions. I have searched the scriptures, and will continue to do so, but so far I have not found help for my particular situation. I have found comfort in His grace, and His grace is sufficient. But what do you do when pain enters your life and makes its home in your heart?

I have carried around a burden for longer than I care to remember now. It is heavy, and I am weary of it. This burden has been so long a part of me that there is never a time, awake or asleep that I am ever unaware of its existence. In times of great happiness, this thing pricks me so that I cannot experience the fullness of any moment. Beloved, this thing is so great that if I dwell on it (and I try not to) I literally can feel my heart rate increase. My breathing too becomes labored, as if this thing is sitting on my chest.

My dearest reader, I have fasted and prayed about this thing for months. I will continue to do so as long as it takes. The apostle Paul speaks of running a race until the finish. I am committed to running and running until either it, or I pass. My question dear reader is this, what do you do when your run turns into a hobble? Every step is more painful than the next, and you cannot see the finish line?

I know what some will say. They will say I have not given the problem to Jesus. Trust me, I have. However, when you are as close to the problem as I am to mine, it stares you in the face everyday. Everything you see, hear, and do reminds you of it. While I am making no attempts to carry this burden any longer, it seems to find me and jump on my back. It is like the thorn in Paul’s flesh, only it is in my heart.

I have found hope in the following idea. My Lord and Savior loves his church with a perfect love. He is married to the church and will continue to love her despite the fact that she may not always return that love. He loved us all so much that He became sin and bore the punishment for the sin of the world, so we could have his righteousness attributed to us. If He could do that, then He can either erase my pain, or give me enough strength to endure it. What he will do is His choice. I am comforted in the fact that the choice is His, and He works all things together for my good, because I love Him.

Friends, regardless of the pain this world can inflict, I have a joy in Him that this world did not give me. Thus, this world shall not take it from me. When that thing jumps on my back, I focus on that joy that I have in the only one that will never leave me, nor forsake me. I find solace, and refuge in the only one who knows everything about me, and loves me anyway.

If anyone has a good scripture that would encourage me, or someone else, now would be a great time to share it.

All Good People Go to Hell

If the TV show, Family Feud had a question, "What do you have to do to get to heaven?", undoubtedly, the number one answer would be, 'you have to be a good person.' While giving that answer would mean that you were in agreement with most other people, you'd still be wrong.

Good people don't go to heaven. All of your 'good' friends, are headed for hell, unless you join the war and do something about it. Our misguided culture wants people to believe that if they are good, then they will go to heaven. Most people will tell you that good people go to heaven and bad people go to hell. That is what the devil wants us to believe. If we believe it is that simple, then we will rest on that principal and reject the truth.

Let's dissect that argument shall we. First, when we say 'good' people go to heaven, whose definition of 'good' are we using? People have different measures of good depending on their perspective. I'm sure some slave owners were thought of as 'good' people, by other slave owners. Maybe, someone should've asked the slaves. I'm sure some Nazi's were considered really 'good' guys, by other Nazi's. Maybe, someone should have asked a Jew. You understand my point. 'Good' is a very relative term, subject to very much interpretation, if you leave it up to us.

Then we should consider heaven. Who made it? Who does it belong to? Who decides who gets in? God, right? So if God decides who gets in, isn't he the one who sets the admission fee? You can believe it costs a dollar to get into Disney World all you want, but if that's all you have when you arrive at the gate, guess what?

So if God owns heaven, and he decides who gets in, what does he have to say about it? Don't think in human terms, because God is not human. First of all- God's definition of good is perfection, because he is perfect. Read the scriptures below:

Romans 3:10, “As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one.”
Romans 3:23, “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.”

Do all 'good' people go to heaven? Yes, if they are 'good' by God's standard. Who is good by God's standard? No one! Not I, not you, no one! Luckily, God made a way. Read the scriptures below.

John 11:25, “Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.”
John 14:6, “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”
John 6:40, “And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.”

Since we are not good (God's standard) and can never make it to heaven on our own esteem, God made a way for us to get there anyway. Even though we don't deserve it, we cannot buy it, nor repay it, Jesus paid our admission fee.

But I am getting ahead of myself. By our human standards which are abysmally low, 'good' people should go to heaven. God says, no one is good. We have to look at ourselves through God's eyes and see ourselves as the wretched people we are. We have to humble ourselves and first understand our need to be redeemed before a God who demands perfection. When we can really see ourselves as the horrible, filthy, sinners we are, then we can accept the gift of salvation, through Jesus Christ.

If you ask someone if they are a 'good' person, and they say yes, chances are that person needs to meet Jesus. Christians know we are not good, not according to the standard that matters.

Brothers and sisters, if you are in the faith, then this is not news to you. But I promise, someone on your job, someone in your family needs to recognize their need for salvation. Some 'good' person out there will go to hell unless you share the good news with them.

Testing you own forgiveness

So I was flipping through channels....never a good thing.....and I hear someone on the TV say, "Hookers for Jesus." What?!! Who has the audacity to blaspheme the name of God? I had to find out.

It turned out, that "Hookers for Jesus" is the name of a ministry in Las Vegas that attempts to lead prostitutes to Christ by rescuing them from their lives and putting them in a a sort of halfway house. In this place they are protected, cared for, and exposed to the word of God. It is an utterly horrid name for a ministry, but I applaud the efforts of the ministry leader.

There was a young lady on the show who was attempting to reconnect to a boyfriend she had before becoming a prostitute. As she confessed to him what she had done, there was no anger on his face. There was no evidence of resentment, nor a loss of respect for her. He instantly forgave her. He stated on camera that he was considering marrying this young lady, even after the confession.

I am not sure if the young man was a Christian. It was never mentioned on the program. What I saw was a person who did an extremely Christ-like thing. He forgave her for what most men would consider an unforgivable act (or several unforgivable acts). I wondered at that point would most Christians be able to be that forgiving? Would I be able to be that forgiving?

Earlier the same day, my 5 year old son came to me out of the blue and apologized to me for being a little too loud. Then he asked me if I would forgive him. Of course I told him that I forgave him already, and I would always forgive him---but not to let it happen again (I had to add that part). He looked as if a weight was lifted from his shoulders, and I felt as if a weight was lifted from mine. Forgiveness seems to do that for us. My son was relieved, just like the young lady on the television. It does not matter the severity of the sin, forgiveness is necessary for healthy relationships.



Jesus has forgiven us all for our transgressions. He took the punishment we all deserve upon himself so that we can be in a righteous relationship with God. Jesus came because He understood that there can be no good relationship without true forgiveness. I am so thankful that I have been forgiven both by man and God. My transgressions are great and exceedingly abundant. The forgiveness I have received from God allows me to forgive others.

My earthly father would not be considered a very good one by any standards. It was a hard thing to forgive him for being absent from my life and present in the lives of other half-siblings. It was difficult to understand why he would choose them over me. By the grace of God I was able to cast that care upon the cross and leave it there. Some actions lead us closer to God. By forgiving others, I am able to grasp the awesome news that I have been forgiven. When I forgave and understood how hard it is to do so; I was able to gain insight into God's mercy---how great it is!

Brothers and Sisters, it is not too late right now, but one day it will be. One day you will be in eternity. You decide where you will spend it. Pray to God for forgiveness. Repent of your sins and learn from the master how to forgive others. It is an unfathomable experience.