tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-49210066512580479142024-03-19T03:47:29.389-05:00Stickler's Musings - A Daily DevotionalDrawn from life experience, Stickler's Musings is a free daily devotional that centers around unique observations from God's Word and uses illustrations from contemporary media. Sprinkled with wit and humor, this daily devo is designed to encourage, inspire and instruct.Christopher St.Clair IIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18247671647751722033noreply@blogger.comBlogger381125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4921006651258047914.post-25543103803546859522024-03-18T06:28:00.002-05:002024-03-18T06:28:41.114-05:00Assisting Apollos With Open-Heart Surgery<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Suggested Reading:<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Corinthians+3%3A1-9%2C+16%3A12&version=NLT" target="_blank"> 1 Corinthians 3:1-9, 16:12</a><br />
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The movie <i>Something the Lord Made </i>dramatized the story of two men, Dr. Alfred Blalock and his assistant Thomas, who developed and performed the first open heart surgery. While Dr. Blalock was recognized as a renowned surgeon, Thomas was his black assistant in a day when blacks were still required to enter Johns Hopkins University through the back door. On the day of the first open heart surgery, performed on an infant with Blue Baby Syndrome, Blalock stopped the surgery. In front of a gallery of other surgeons, Blalock realized that he was going to have difficulty performing the surgery on his own and, even though it could damage his own reputation, brought in Thomas, his black assistant, to talk him through the procedure. No one expected the surgery to work in the first place and Blalock would simply have been thought ambitious for being willing to try it if he had failed and the baby had died. But bringing in a black assistant to talk him through the surgery? That was sure to diminish his standing among his colleagues. In the end, though, Blalock decided that the life of the infant was worth more than his own reputation.<br />
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The Apostle Paul planted the church in the city of Corinth. At some point after his departure, Apollos came on the scene and began working in the church of Corinth as well. Apollos' presence diminished Paul's standing among the Corinthians and Paul wrote to them, urging them to stop arguing about whether they followed Paul or Apollos but to focus on following Jesus together (1 Corinthians 1). Paul insisted that he and Apollos were on the same team, working for the same goal, even though Paul had lost some influence due to Apollos' work among the Corinthians. But toward the end of 1 Corinthians, Paul wrote of a conversation he had had with the other famous teacher, saying, <b><i>Now about our brother Apollos- I urged him to visit you with the other believers </i></b>(1 Corinthians 16:2, NLT). Even though Apollos' presence had diminished his own influence, Paul urged Apollos to visit the Corinthians again because he thought that the Corinthians would benefit from his teaching.</div>
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I've discovered that we often do a great of job of talking about being on the same team but our walk doesn't always match our high ideals. Instead of getting the best replacement at work to fill in for us during vacation, we find someone who is competent but won't become competition. Community churches talk about working together to reach youth, but then won't let their youth participate in a joint worship service at another church because they might get "confused" (often code for: "they might like that church better than us"). Instead of coming up with joint solutions that will help the country, our politicians grand-stand to make the other party look bad to increase their own standing. Instead of picking the best person for a particular task, we reserve it for ourselves because it is a more visible or prestigious task and we want to be seen doing it.</div>
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Like Paul, we must learn to put aside questions of personal influence and renown in favor of doing what is best - best for our church-members, best for our co-workers, best for our customers, and best for the people we minister to. Do we really believe that we are all on the same team? Are we really interested in doing what is best for the people we care for? Or are we more interested in maintaining our own influence? We must make our decisions based on what is best for the people God has given us, not what is best for us.</div>
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Christopher St.Clair IIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18247671647751722033noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4921006651258047914.post-32979430771561501732024-03-13T08:49:00.001-05:002024-03-13T08:49:06.911-05:00Celebrating Property Damage<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Suggested Reading: <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark+2%3A1-12&version=NLT" target="_blank">Mark 2:1-12</a><span id="goog_1785848581"></span><a href="https://draft.blogger.com/"></a><span id="goog_1785848582"></span><br />
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Several years ago, I was part of a church that was considering doing a Vacation Bible School for the first time after a long hiatus. But as I led the church through a discussion about VBS, I discovered a pocket of resistance. The only space in the church that was big enough to host many of the activities was our sanctuary. But while the chairs were easily removable, people began to voice concern about the carpet. More than once I heard concerns that we might mess up the carpet for a whole year for the activities of a few days and that such a thing simply wasn't good stewardship. In the end, sadly, that church did not host a VBS that year.<br />
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When Jesus began his ministry and called the first disciples, he seemed to base his ministry out of Simon Peter's house in Capernaum. After a tour ministering in the smaller villages of the area, Jesus returned to Capernaum and picked up his ministry right where it had left off, healing people and casting out demons from Peter's living room. On one occasion, when the house was so crowded that no one could get in or out, <strong><em>four men arrived carrying a paralyzed man on a mat. They couldn't bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, so they dug a hole through the roof above his head. Then they lowered the man on his mat, right down in front of Jesus </em></strong>(Mark 2:3-4, NLT). Jesus forgave the man's sin and then healed him so that he could pick up his mat and walk out under his own power. But what I find odd is that no mention is made of Peter's reaction to having a hole dug in his roof. <br />
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Sometimes ministry gets messy. Sometimes it costs us money or means we have a mess to clean up. Sometimes, bringing someone to Jesus means that more work is created for us, that we have someone else who needs to be discipled, someone else who needs instruction and encouragement. Sometimes ministry means we have more mouths to feed or that our worship times are disrupted by people who have never been in church before and don't know how to behave. Sometimes ministry means that people are so excited and enthusiastic that they get carried away and we have to deal with the consequences. <br />
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When we find ourselves in the midst of messy ministry, are we willing to look past the mess and rejoice that someone is being brought to Jesus? Are we willing to put up with extra work and repair the property damage because it means someone's life has been changed by a relationship with Christ? Are we willing to be inconvenienced or spend some money we could have personally used elsewhere in order to meet a need in someone's life? Or is the carpet too important? Is the possibility of a stain or that hole in the roof so daunting it overwhelms the possibility of someone coming to Christ? If Peter could deal with a hole in his roof without making a fuss, couldn't we handle a little mess of our own?</div>
Christopher St.Clair IIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18247671647751722033noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4921006651258047914.post-67964163318440102882024-03-08T06:54:00.002-06:002024-03-08T06:54:15.884-06:00The Dumbest Arguments<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Suggested Reading: <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+timothy+2%3A8-14&version=NLT" target="_blank">2 Timothy 2:8-14</a><br />
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When my kids were young, they argued about the dumbest things. They argued about whether bacon is meat or a pig. They argued about whether enchiladas are Mexican food or normal food. They argued about whether or not a jacket qualifies as a coat. Inevitably, one of them would get convinced of a particular position and the other would be convinced of the opposing opinion and they would argue back and forth until the argument escalated into a fight where they both ended up getting their feelings hurt. Most of these arguments sound stupid on their surface and probably amounted to nothing more than semantics. But, at times, it seemed like they just couldn't help themselves.<br />
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Unfortunately, as Christians, we often get into arguments with each other that are essentially the same. We argue about whether God knew we were going to sin or whether we sinned on our own. We argue about whether Christ's death on the cross was substitutionary or conciliatory. We argue about whether this sin is tolerable or whether that behavior is acceptable. We argue about whether the Creation account was literal or whether the author intended us to read it figuratively. We argue and we argue and we argue about things that, many times, don't amount to much more than semantics. We stake our salvation on insignificant things that have nothing to do with God's offer of forgiveness through Christ. We argue over stupid things until we rightfully look like fools to a watching world. So often I want to tell arguing Christians the same thing I tell my kids, "It's ok if he calls a jacket a coat! It's ok if you call enchiladas normal food! You're not responsible for what the other person thinks! You are responsible for behaving and for getting along with each other!"<br />
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Paul knew the danger that flows from arguing about every little thing. In 2 Timothy 2:14, Paul warned Timothy, "<i><b>Remind everyone about these things, and command them in God’s presence to stop fighting over words. Such arguments are useless, and they can ruin those who hear them.</b></i>" (NLT). Some things in Christian theology are worth fighting for. But many of the arguments we get into with other Christians simply are not worth the time and the energy that we put into them. Worse, they do much more harm than good. These silly fights alienate brothers and sisters from each other and drive wedges between us and our partners for the cause of the Gospel; they distract us from the primary goal of reaching a lost and dying world with the love of Christ and cause us to spend all of our energy on a war of words that will ultimately mean very little, if anything.<br />
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Hopefully, as my kids grow older, they will learn to pick their battles a little more wisely and argue only about those things that really matter. Hopefully, they will learn to have even those disagreements in a manner that demonstrates they still love each other. But what about the arguments we have with our Christian brothers and sisters? When we get into arguments do we evaluate the significance of the disagreement or do we jump on in regardless of the consequences or the resources we will expend? When we pick an argument, do we carry it out in a spirit of love for each other or are we more concerned with proving that we are "right" and eliminating the other person's "false" perspective?<br />
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What have you argued about recently? Have you picked your battles wisely? Or are you wasting precious time and resources on things that don't really matter? </div>
Christopher St.Clair IIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18247671647751722033noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4921006651258047914.post-52244515119034730142024-03-07T06:37:00.004-06:002024-03-07T06:40:11.661-06:00Translating the Language of Karmic Balance<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Suggested Reading: <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Corinthians+14%3A6-12&version=HCSB" target="_blank">1 Corinthians 14:6-12</a><br />
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Several years go, I had the privilege of spending a summer witnessing to a Vietnamese family that had moved into the neighborhood. Most of my conversations took place with a college-aged young man from the family. He had been raised in a Buddhist tradition and had only been in the States for a couple of years. Very early on in the discussion I discovered a significant difficulty in witnessing to this man: language. I don't mean that we spoke different languages in the sense that I spoke English and they spoke Vietnamese because most of them spoke very good English. I mean that there were entire concepts that were alien to them. Sin was literally a foreign concept. How do you convince someone that they need to be saved from sin when they don't understand what sin is or why it could cause lasting consequences? When you believe firmly that karmic balance is always possible, why would anyone ever need a savior? That summer I had to learn ways to communicate the Gospel in its most basic form and in terms that someone completely unfamiliar with Western Christianity would understand.<br />
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In 1 Corinthians 14, the Apostle Paul was discussing the roll of speaking in tongues in the church and he wrote, <b><i>There are doubtless many different kinds of languages in the world, and all have meaning. Therefore, if I do not know the meaning of the language, I will be a foreigner to the speaker, and the speaker will be a foreigner to me </i></b>(1Co 14:10-11, HCSB). Paul was specifically addressing the benefits of saving that particular spiritual gift for non-public moments unless an interpreter was present, but the statement also has larger implications pertaining to basic communication, like the example of witnessing to my Vietnamese neighbors.</div>
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More and more we live in a world where people do not understand the language we use when we witness. Words like "sin" and "saved" mean little in a world where people either believe everybody goes to Heaven or that your existence ends the moment you die. Fifty years ago, the American church still had the educational power that ensured nearly everyone knew what "justification" and "atonement" meant, even if they didn't put much stock in those things. Today's society has grown up without those influences and educational experiences and we must learn to speak a new language. We must learn to step outside of the church cultures in which we operate and speak in a language that unchurched, unreached people understand. We must strive to understand the Gospel well enough that we can communicate it in its most basic form to those who have no reference for what we are saying. Who is Jesus? Why do we need Him? How do we follow Him? What difference will following Him make? If we cannot answer these questions in simple terms, we might as well be speaking a foreign language.</div>
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Christopher St.Clair IIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18247671647751722033noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4921006651258047914.post-74709000457952200222024-03-06T06:51:00.002-06:002024-03-06T06:51:41.002-06:00When Pastors Get Facebook Bombed<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Suggested Reading:<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Proverbs+18%3A12-20&version=HCSB" target="_blank">Proverbs 18:12-20</a><br />
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On Facebook, a while ago, I read a post that disturbed me. Someone had posted an opinion piece about a particular prominent pastor who was supposedly trying to blend Islam and Christianity. I clicked on the article to discover that the author didn't cite any sources or link to any articles but proclaimed this pastor the Spawn of Satan for mixing up his theology so badly. The comments on the article were even worse, decrying how this pastor was a false-prophet and the anti-Christ for pushing such an evil idea. The problem was, none of it was true. So I linked to an article which contained an actual interview with the pastor in question, an article in which he not only denied the accusations in the first article but gave compelling reasons why he would never hold those views. Once I linked to the article, suddenly the hateful comments stopped and no one had anything else to say. The experience reinforced a proverb I have read for years: <b><i>The first to state his case seems right until another comes and cross- examines him </i></b>(Proverbs 18:17, HCSB).<br />
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We quite easily fall into the trap of believing the first thing anyone tells us, especially if we are told something that reinforces a negative feeling we already have about someone. Because we already have negative feelings we are much more likely to simply say, "Well, that wouldn't surprise me," and then quickly accept the claim as fact. Sometimes, we are shocked that such an accusation could be true but swallow it anyway. At other times, we hear something from a source we trust and, even though the accusation doesn't make sense, we believe it because we trust that person. The problem is that nasty accusations always have some kind of emotional baggage attached to them and every single one of us has blind spots when it comes to certain groups or people. There is always another side to the story. </div>
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If someone were to make a nasty accusation against me, I would want them to investigate the claim before accepting it. I would want them to verify the truth before passing it on to other people. So the least we can do is verify such claims when we hear them. If we can't verify nasty accusations or we don't have the time to check it out ourselves, we ought to let the accusations drop. Most of the time, the first person we hear is going to sound right until we hear the other side of the story. <br />
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Don't just believe nasty accusations or pass them on without verification. You would be pretty upset if you were the one being accused.</div>
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Christopher St.Clair IIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18247671647751722033noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4921006651258047914.post-44579729650236171492024-03-05T05:40:00.001-06:002024-03-05T05:40:04.605-06:00White-Water Canoeing Up the Road to Hell<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Suggested Reading: <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+9%3A10-19&version=NLT" target="_blank">Acts 9:10-19</a><br />
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When I was in seventh grade, our church youth group went on a white-water canoeing expedition for Spring Break. We drove up river, paired up in canoes, and then started down the river. Most of us had never done this before, but we all seemed to be doing well. Until the rain started. Within a few hours, the river had risen several feet and the rain was still coming down hard. Most of the group reached the camp where we were supposed to stop for the night, but several were still unaccounted for. As the waters continued to rise, a few of our more experienced canoers got back in their canoes and headed up-river to find our missing people. We all knew that setting out, canoeing up-river with the water rising, was not safe. But teenagers were missing in the storm and someone had to go save them. So, even though the men were scared and we were scared for them, they headed out because someone had to save those teenagers lost on the rising river.<br />
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Looking at Acts chapter 9, I was reminded of that Spring Break trip by the reaction of Ananias of Damascus. Saul of Tarsus, the nemesis of the early church had been sent to Damascus to arrest and detain followers of Jesus. Without telling Ananias that Jesus had appeared to Saul on the road into town, Jesus appeared to Ananias, telling him to go find Saul and heal his blindness. Oh, and Saul already knew he was coming. <i style="font-weight: bold;">"But Lord," Ananias exclaimed, "I've heard people talk about the terrible things this man has done to the believers in Jerusalem! And he is authorized by the leading priests to arrest everyone who calls upon your name"</i>(Acts 9:13-14, NLT). With some pretty good justification, Ananias was scared to death of walking right into Saul's hands. But going to Saul was an important task. Saul needed someone to open his eyes, both literally and figuratively. And so, even though it scared him to death, Ananias went.<br />
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We understand the urgency of saving people who are in danger, of sending rescuers into burning buildings to save children from fires and of searching for teenagers lost on raging rivers when the water is rising. We understand that urgency and we commit ourselves to action because, even though we might be scared, something has to be done. But far too often, we fail to apply that same urgency and commitment to reaching the lost, in spite of the fact that the consequences can be even more significant.<br />
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Every day we see people living without hope, never living out the potential with which they were designed to live in Christ. We see people who are either casually strolling or running at full speed down the road to Hell, people in desperate need of forgiveness and purpose. Yes, the idea of sharing the Gospel with them may be a little scary, but we wouldn't let fear stop us if there were children drowning in a river or standing in front of an oncoming car. Why would we allow fear to keep us from sharing the Gospel with people in need of rescue from Hell? Do we hold back simply because the danger doesn't seem as immediate?<br />
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Bravery isn't the lack of fear but the ability to do what is necessary in spite of fear. Isn't it about time we put a little bravery back into sharing the Gospel?</div>
Christopher St.Clair IIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18247671647751722033noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4921006651258047914.post-54461705528361953332024-03-04T06:54:00.002-06:002024-03-04T06:54:29.363-06:00Idolatry in Back to the FutureSuggested Reading: <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark+15%3A27-38&version=NIV" target="_blank">Mark 15:27-38</a><br /> <br />As a teenager, one of my favorite film series was the Back to the Future series. In fact, when I was sick and I would stay home from school, I would lay down on the couch and watch all three movies back to back. The first two movies are a lot of time-traveling fun, but they set up the third movie where Marty McFly, the main character, learns an important lesson about how to respond or, more accurately, how not to respond when people call him a coward. See, Marty's biggest flaw was that he couldn't stand for anyone to call him a coward and he felt compelled to demonstrate his lack of cowardice anytime anyone did. Only when that tendency landed him in a life-and-death situation did he realize that trying to disprove every disparaging statement made about him was not the brightest idea in the world. <br /><br /> I was reminded of Marty's lesson recently when reading the crucifixion scene in Mark. As Jesus hung on the cross, his political enemies (and those who just joined in the "fun" of a public execution) mocked and taunted Jesus, demanding that he prove his status as Messiah by coming down from the cross as a sign. They scoffed, "<i><b>He saved others but he can't save himself! Let this Christ, this King of Israel come down from the cross that we may see and believe</b></i>" (Mark 15:31-32, NIV). If Marty McFly had been on the cross, we would all have been in a lot of trouble because he would have had to prove himself to his mockers by coming down from the cross. But coming off the cross would have eliminated the primary task Jesus fulfilled as the messiah, enduring the crucifixion so that he could rise from the dead. Fortunately, Jesus was sure enough of himself that he endured their taunts, knowing that he did not have to prove himself to anyone. <br /><br /> How many times do we feel the need to prove ourselves to someone? How often do we do things we know are unwise because we want to silence those who mock us? How often do we take a position we don't really believe because we don't want people to see us as stupid or ignorant? As believers in Christ Jesus, we cannot allow our actions to be dictated by the possibility of someone looking down on us. We cannot silence the words God has given us to speak or hold back acts of love and service because people might think we look stupid. We have to remember that, like with those people who wanted Jesus to come off the cross, proving ourselves is not worth the cost. <br /> <br />More than that, when we allow ourselves to be goaded into an action we would not take on our own simply because of what those people might think of us, we give those people, rather than God, control of our lives. Our desire to look good (or to not look bad) gives those people who would mock and ridicule us power over us, and that turns us into idolaters who worship at the altar of other people's opinions rather than faithful followers of Christ. <br /><br /> People thinking badly of us is not the end of the world if they think badly of us for doing the right thing. We should respond to taunts, insults and mocking in the same spirit as Jesus: "<i><b>When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly</b></i>" (1 Peter 2:23, NIV). Sometimes, not responding is the very best thing we can do.
Christopher St.Clair IIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18247671647751722033noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4921006651258047914.post-69816312233388403602024-03-01T06:28:00.002-06:002024-03-01T06:28:52.575-06:00Quoting Rabbis and Missing Theology<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Suggested Reading: <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+7%3A21-29&version=HCSB" target="_blank">Matthew 7:21-29</a><br />
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Because of my field of study, I have spent much of the last twenty years with biblical scholars and theologians. One of the good things about this group is the amount of reading they do and the number of ideas they are exposed to. Many pride themselves on thinking outside the realms of traditional theology, which can be a very good thing when tradition has wandered away from Scripture. But the other day I was talking with someone online and responded to his theological assertion by quoting a verse from 1 Corinthians and then by paraphrasing a verse from Ephesians and pointing out the tension between the verses. Mostly, I quoted those verses just to give him a hard time because they created some tension with his position and I enjoy ribbing my friends. But he responded by saying that I had missed Paul's theology on the issue. When I got the response, I thought, <i>All I did was quote Scripture. How did I miss his theology? </i>I wondered if he realized that I was simply quoting scripture. I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt. After all, the guy had a Master's Degree in biblical studies. But his response left me wondering.<br />
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Unfortunately, people getting so wrapped up in theology that they forget scripture is nothing new. The rabbis of Jesus' day commonly taught by reading a passage of scripture and then quoting all the famous rabbis' interpretations. The people were so used to synagogue services filled with nothing but quotes from scholars that when Jesus finally came along,<b><i> the crowds were astonished at his teaching, because he was teaching them like who had authority and not like their scribes </i></b>(Matt 7:29, HCSB). Jesus didn't quote all of the theologians, he pointed at the Scripture and then laid out what God intended when it was first inspired.<br />
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As I say this, I know that we do not have the clarity of understanding that Jesus had about Scripture. I can't give you a definitive declaration of what Scripture meant because it is always possible that I can be wrong. But what I can do is point you back to Scripture, to the words God preserved in the first place, the words that the Apostle Paul said were <b><i>inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work </i></b>(2 Timothy 3:16-17, HCSB).</div>
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Theological study is good. I've spent more than two decades engaging in it myself. But never get so invested in your personal theology and theories that your first instinct is to explain away Scripture to preserve your theories and ideas. Don't be more loyal to your denomination, or to your Bible study leader, or to those ideas that you like than you are to Scripture. Every word is profitable to us, whether we know the latest theological trends or not. </div>
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Christopher St.Clair IIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18247671647751722033noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4921006651258047914.post-85395110494137390512024-02-29T06:36:00.000-06:002024-02-29T06:36:06.837-06:00The Time I Tried to Steal a CarSuggested Reading: <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Samuel+25&version=HCSB" target="_blank">1 Samuel 25</a><br /> <br /> I was never what you would call a "trouble-maker" growing up. Most people would have called me a "goody-two-shoes" and I took more than a little grief for how "good" I was. But looking back on my childhood, I was very fortunate that I did not get in more trouble. I remember this one time, when I was 14 or 15 when I was extremely angry with my parents. At that point, we had this key hanger where my parents tried to put their keys when they came in. For a couple of weeks, my mother had dutifully hung her keys there. On this particular day, while I was very angry with my parents (for what I don't remember) and while they were gone I decided I was angry enough to do something about it. My parents had gone out together, so I figured they only needed one set of keys, and I decided that I would take the car that was still home for a spin. I worked my anger into a hardened resolve and I marched over to the key hanger. There were no keys. My parents had taken all the keys with them. My anger quickly dissipated into frustration and, by the time my parents got home, I was fine again. Looking back on that incident, I've often thought about how the Lord protected me, both from danger and from doing wrong, by having my parents take both sets of keys with them. <br /><br /> There is a similar story in the life of David. David and his men had been standing guard for a group of shepherds for a season and, as was the custom, expected that he and his men would receive a token of tribute for their service when it came time to shear the sheep. David sent a few of his men to collect this token and Nabal, the owner of the sheep they had protected, turned them away with insults. When the messengers returned to David and told David of Nabal's response, David was furious and roused his men for war. Back at Nabal's home, Nabal's wife Abigail heard how foolish her husband had been and loaded up a wagon full of provisions to take to David and head off the danger her husband's foolishness had caused. She met David before he reached Nabal's home, presented him with the customary reward for guarding the sheep (and probably a little more) and spoke to David. Abigail said, "<i><b>Now my lord, as surely as the LORD lives and as you yourself live, it is the LORD who kept you from participating in bloodshed by avenging yourself by your own hand</b></i>" (1 Samuel 25:26, HCSB). David agreed with her sentiment and they both returned to their respective homes. Two weeks later, Nabal was dead from a stroke and David asked Abigail to be his wife. <br /><br /> In this particular instance, David was going to make a big mess of things because he felt he had been wronged, much like the mess I would have made if I'd had access to the car keys and had acted out my anger by taking an underage joy-ride. In those instances, neither David nor I could take credit for not doing something stupid. We were both saved from our own stupidity and anger because of circumstances or people God had placed in our lives. <br /><br /> I often meet Christians who don't feel like they have a story to tell because they were never drug dealers or gang members whose lives were turned around by the power of the Gospel. But sometimes, the fact that God prevented us from doing stupid things is just as powerful a story. None of us, even the "best" of us, are all that good on our own. At times, only the loving intervention of our Heavenly Father keeps us from completely ruining things. <br /><br /> If you want a story to tell other people about God's power, don't think that you have to pull out an example of horrible sin and how God turned you around. Point out times where God, in grace, saved you from doing something stupid, protected you from your own penchant for sin, and saved you before you realized you needed saving. God's power can be demonstrated by the times God keeps us from going over the brink, not just by the times God pulls us back from it. <br /><br /> How often has God saved you from doing something stupid and kept you from ruining things? Thank God for the protection you've been given and then be willing to share that story. Never underestimate the power of God's preventive care.
Christopher St.Clair IIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18247671647751722033noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4921006651258047914.post-79202669427942080652024-02-28T06:07:00.002-06:002024-02-28T06:07:19.593-06:00I Swear It's An Invisibility Mask!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Suggested Reading: <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah+30%3A8-17&version=HCSB" target="_blank">Isaiah 30:8-17</a><br />
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My son has a very active imagination. When he was younger, one of his favorite things to do was to take a mundane object from around the house and decide from then on that it was something very exciting. The plastic ruler became a sword that had to be held a particular way all the time. The spy glasses from the Happy Meal became a mask that made him invisible and if you claimed to see him while he was wearing those spy glasses, he would tell you in all seriousness that you were wrong because the glasses made him invisible. Whatever his imagination decided was what the item became forever, and if you had the audacity to ask him to put it away and call it by its real name, he would act like he didn't know what you were talking about. You couldn't ask him to put away the spy glasses, you had to ask him to put away his mask of invisibility. At that age, it was still kind of cute. But when adults do it, there is something a little disturbing about it. <br />
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In the book of Isaiah, God was speaking through the prophet about his people who wanted the world to be the way they imagined it and not the way it really was. He described them this way: <i><b>They are a rebellious people, deceptive children, children who do not want to obey the Lord’s instruction. They say to the seers, “Do not see,” and to the prophets, “Do not prophesy the truth to us. Tell us flattering things. Prophesy illusions</b></i> (Isaiah 30:9-10, HCSB). The people in the passage wanted safety to be something they could find easily by fleeing to Egypt, but safety was found in facing their sin and trusting God's instructions. Because they enjoyed the thought of their own imagined world better, they would tell the prophets, just like my son would tell me, "Don't tell me the way things really are. Just reinforce my own illusions."</div>
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I've discovered, as much as we want to deny it, adults still behave this way quite a bite. When someone tries to tell us that we're being unreasonable and we get angry and refuse to listen because they're not being supportive (who cares if they're right?), when we dismiss what the preacher has to say because we're uncomfortable with the standards he proclaims (so what if they come from scripture?), when we blame our child's behavior problems on the teacher (it's just a coincidence every teacher he's had was a bad one, right?), we are saying, "Don't tell me the way things are. I like the imaginary world I've created and I'm not leaving it."</div>
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The problem with refusing to acknowledge reality is that reality will still acknowledge us. We may refuse to admit we're being unreasonable, but the people around us still know it's true. We may insist our child doesn't have the behavior problem, but he's still going to get in trouble with next year's teacher, too. So, rather than try to maintain our own little world, as scary as it can be, we must face reality. As embarrassing as it might be to admit that you're wrong, pretending you're right just makes you look worse.</div>
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Don't try to silence the truth when people share it with you. Don't be afraid to face the way things really are. You can only live in your own imaginary world for so long before it comes crashing down around you.</div>
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Christopher St.Clair IIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18247671647751722033noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4921006651258047914.post-84676765330901016462024-02-27T06:38:00.000-06:002024-02-27T06:38:00.447-06:00Getting Embarrassed by Your Pastor<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Suggested Reading: <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=James+5%3A13-20&version=NLT" target="_blank">James 5:13-20</a><br />
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I was eighteen years old when I planned my first youth trip as a leader. I was the summer youth minister for a little church on the Texas coast and I was taking our youth group to Schlitterbaun Water Parks in New Braunfels. I was just beginning to drive long distance trips on my own, but here I was with a car full of youth, leading a caravan to a place I had never been. I had printed out directions but between not knowing where I was going and being distracted by all of the kids in my car, I ended up missing a major turn. Fortunately, our pastor was driving the car behind me and he pulled up beside me, got my attention, and we turned around and headed the right direction. Then I missed another turn. After the third missed turn, the pastor took the lead. I was a little embarrassed. No, I was a lot embarrassed. But, in the end, I was glad that he stopped me and turned me back in the right direction because I wanted to get to Schlitterbaun, not end up in Dallas. I've since gotten much better at driving long distances and making all of my own turns.<br />
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After all of the practical advice for Christian living that the book of James contains, it ends with the following verses: <i><b>My dear brothers and sisters, if someone among you wanders away from the truth and is brought back, you can be sure that whoever brings the sinner back will save that person from death and bring about the forgiveness of many sins </b></i>(James 5:19-20, NLT). In my experience, one of the greatest deterrents to pointing out when people have wandered away from the truth and into sin is the idea that we will embarrass them or hurt their feelings. This fear is a well-founded fear because nearly everyone gets embarrassed when their mistakes and bad choices are called to light. But letting them continue to wander can lead to far more devastating consequences. <br />
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I was embarrassed when that pastor stopped me and turned me around, but I was embarrassed because I was at fault. Ultimately, however, I would much rather have been embarrassed right then than discover my mistake an hour down the road or, even worse, when I was completely lost. But all that trip would have cost me would be a bunch of disappointed kids, angry parents, and a loss of trust. Wandering away from the truth can lead to life-shattering consequences and, just as I was ultimately glad that my pastor embarrassed me and turned me around, I would want someone to turn me around if I was wandering away from the truth and off into sin. I would want that person to turn me around <i>gently and kindly</i>, but I would want to be turned around.</div>
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If we truly care about someone, we won't simply let them wander away from the truth - we won't let them end up in a place they would never have wanted to go without at least trying to warn them and turn them around. Yes, they might be embarrassed or get their feelings hurt. But that is a small price to pay for saving them from tragic consequences.</div>
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Christopher St.Clair IIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18247671647751722033noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4921006651258047914.post-71618134147670838892024-02-26T06:38:00.001-06:002024-02-26T06:38:02.418-06:00When Avoiding Pain Gets You Killed By a Comet<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Suggested Reading: <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Numbers+14%3A11-23&version=HCSB" target="_blank">Numbers 14:11-23</a><br />
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At the end of the movie, <i>Deep Impact,</i> as a massive comet is on a collision course for Earth, one family is stuck in traffic, trying to flee a city where the comet's impact will be felt most deeply. The family had hoped to find refuge in an underground bunker by allowing their teenage daughter to marry her boyfriend who already had a spot in the fallout shelter, but that plan didn't work. Finally, the teenage husband is able to return for his new wife and finds the family by weaving in and out of traffic on a dirt-bike. The girl's parents immediately put their teenager and her infant sister on the bike and tell her to leave. She refuses to go. She doesn't want to leave her family behind. They love her, but in order to save her, they insist that she leave, knowing she will be hurt by the loss of her family but hoping she will survive the coming disaster. They intentionally cause her pain, not because they hate her, but because they love her.<br />
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Too many people have fallen under the assumption that loving somebody means you never do anything that will cause that person pain. These people would be wrong. Numbers 14:18 tells us, <b><i>The Lord is slow to anger and rich in faithful love, forgiving wrongdoing and rebellion. But He will not leave the guilty unpunished, bringing the consequences of the fathers’ wrongdoing on the children to the third and fourth generation </i></b>(HCSB). Upon first looking at this verse, one can see a possible contradiction within it: God is forgiving but doesn't leave the guilty unpunished? Doesn't forgiving mean that you don't punish someone? Absolutely not.</div>
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As a father, there are times my children do things that are wrong, things for which I can forgive them. But as a father, I also love them enough that I want to teach them not to make the same mistakes again. So, even though I have forgiven them for what they have done wrong, I still discipline them, not because I am angry with them or because I hate them but specifically because I love them and I want them to learn. Forgiveness doesn't mean consequences shouldn't occur and love doesn't mean that you avoid causing pain at all costs. Some lessons can only be learned through pain and sometimes love means allowing people to face painful consequences so that they will learn. Sometimes the only way to save someone involves allowing something painful to occur. You don't like the pain, but you accept it because it will eventually bring about something good.</div>
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Some of us are going through some painful circumstances and wondering if God really loves us because of the pain we are experiencing. I would like to encourage you with a brief paraphrase of Romans 8:38-39: <i>there is no amount of pain you can endure that will separate you from the love of God</i>. Pain is never pleasant, but it sometimes accompanies things that are necessary and good. If you are struggling with how to respond to someone, don't base your decisions on whether or not someone will be hurt but on what is best for them. Don't ever inflict unnecessary pain, but don't let the possibility of pain keep you from doing what needs to be done. </div>
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Pain is a necessary part of life. Don't avoid it. Keep it in the proper perspective. </div>
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Christopher St.Clair IIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18247671647751722033noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4921006651258047914.post-24440807000878821112024-02-23T06:39:00.002-06:002024-02-23T06:39:56.461-06:00Bad Umps and Protecting Your Rights<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Suggested Reading:<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Corinthians+6%3A1-8&version=NLT" target="_blank">1 Corinthians 6:1-8</a><br />
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When my son started playing little league baseball, it wasn't long before his team lost a game. His head coach was out of town and so things were already a little rocky. On top of that, the umpire was a 15 year old kid who was uncertain of himself and listened to the opposing team’s coach (I think they were somewhat acquainted with each other) when trying to make calls. On one particular play, our pitcher barehanded a ball on the ground and ran over to tag the runner coming home from third base. Inexplicably, the runner was called safe. Apparently, the opposing coach convinced the ump that the pitcher tagged him with his throwing hand when the ball was in his glove. It wasn’t. But the game was pretty much lost by that point anyway and so our assistant coach did something I was rather proud of. He taught the boys to respect the umpire and his call rather than creating a scene. He presented an example of good sportsmanship.<br />
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Whether you agree with the coach’s decision or not, Paul actually urged the believers in Corinth to follow a similar line of thinking when dealing with their own legitimate complaints. Apparently, there were several disputes that had broken out between members of the church and these people had taken each other to court. Paul argued that they should find someone in the church to resolve their disputes rather than take their disputes into the secular courts and present a bad witness to the world. Naturally, not everyone would agree to that and so Paul continued, “<b><i>Why not rather put up with injustice? Why not rather be cheated? Instead, you act unjustly and cheat – and you do this to believers!” </i></b>(1 Corinthians 6:7, HCSB).</div>
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We live in a society that treasures the rights of the individual and I am glad that we do. We should always respect other people’s rights. But when it comes to our own rights, we should be willing to let go of them when it would advance the work of the kingdom. When that person looks you in the eye and then cuts in front of you, will your witness be greater if you confront them and demand your proper place or if you graciously allow them in and strike up a conversation? When that woman takes your Avon order (and your money) and takes six months to get your order delivered, would the greater witness be to ask what happened and then forgive her or to demand a refund because you didn't get what you paid for when you paid for it?</div>
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I am not saying that you should let people run all over you, although it sometimes looks like that. I'm talking about willingly laying down your rights, refusing to cling to what you deserve because the kingdom will grow more through your self-denial. I'm talking about, in those moments where you could legitimately demand your rights, intentionally choosing to let them go. <b><i> You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal's death on a cross </i></b>(Philippians 2:5-8, NLT).</div>
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We should always protect other people's rights but we must also be willing to let go of our own. Just as Jesus gave up what he deserved in order to reach us, we must be willing to give up what we deserve to reach others.</div>
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Christopher St.Clair IIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18247671647751722033noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4921006651258047914.post-17160072280683391352024-02-22T06:39:00.002-06:002024-02-22T06:39:45.916-06:00Fearing God For His ForgivenessSuggested Reading: <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm+130&version=HCSB" target="_blank">Psalm 130</a><br /> <br /> One of the bad things about vacation, especially if you have things planned to do, is that kids can get really tired and cranky. When they start misbehaving there is a fine line that parents must walk between being disciplinarians and extending forgiveness. If we don't discipline them when they misbehave, they begin to believe that it is acceptable to misbehave. If we are so harsh with our discipline that a transgression is unforgivable and they don't get to do anything they can adopt an attitude of "Well, I've already blown it, what is the point in trying to behave?" When we come down on our kids (especially on vacation), we want them to believe that they stand a chance at forgiveness so that we stand a chance at getting them to behave. <br /><br /> Psalm 130 expresses a similar situation between us and God. Psalm 130:3-4 reads, "<i><b>Yahweh, if You considered sins, Lord who could stand? But with You there is forgiveness, so that You may be feared</b></i>" (HCSB). At first, that sentiment seems a little odd. How does offering forgiveness lead to fearing God? But the principle is exactly the same as I described with my children on vacation. If God didn't offer forgiveness, what would be the point in fearing God? We have all sinned at some point, most of us before we truly begin to grasp the consequences. Without the prospect of forgiveness, there is no point in trying to obey God because we are already damned. But if we can be forgiven, then there is a possibility that trying to live right from this point forward will pay off. <br /> <br />As parents, employers, supervisors, and people in authority, there is a tremendous lesson to be learned here. Offering forgiveness does not mean we are weak. Offering forgiveness does not have to undercut our authority. In fact, not offering forgiveness may undercut our authority <i>more</i>. The possibility of forgiveness can be motivation for people to do their best because they understand that one failure does not mean disqualification from the benefits of living and working well. But refusing to offer forgiveness can harden people against us and de-motivate people because there is no longer any point in trying to do things the right way. <br /> <br />But this principle is also significant because it is a logical basis for us to remain grounded in the hope of God's forgiveness. There are times when we think we have messed up so badly there is no point trying anymore, when we think we have disqualified ourselves because we have done something so terrible that forgiveness is no longer an option. If that is where you find yourself, the psalmist reminds us that God offers forgiveness so that we might fear Him. God would rather forgive you and bring you back onto the straight and narrow than condemn you. God is more interested in you living right from here on out than in punishing you for the misdeeds of the past. <br /><br /> "<i><b>Yahweh, if You considered sins, Lord who could stand? But with You there is forgiveness, so that You may be feared.</b></i>" God wants to forgive us. Will we accept forgiveness or harden ourselves for no reason? Will we offer this same forgiveness to those around us?Christopher St.Clair IIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18247671647751722033noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4921006651258047914.post-50212459411747369422024-02-21T06:39:00.002-06:002024-02-21T06:39:59.999-06:00The Ethics of Batman Begins<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Suggested Reading: <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=MArk+2%3A23-3%3A6&version=HCSB" target="_blank">Mark 2:23-3:6</a><br />
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The movie <i>Batman Begins</i> relaunched the adventures of the Dark Knight in a much more compelling fashion than the Batman movies of the previous decade. At one point in the movie, a young Bruce Wayne has missed his chance for revenge against his parents' murderer. A childhood friend, who is also Batman's love interest, shows him a place where everyone knows the city's biggest crime boss hangs out but adds that no one will touch him. She makes this statement (paraphrased), "All it takes for evil to win is for the good people to do nothing."<br />
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In Mark chapter three, Jesus finds himself in a setup by the Pharisees. A man with a withered hand is in the synagogue while Jesus is teaching. Jesus had already taught that human life was more important than religious regulation, including the observance of the Sabbath, and now the Pharisees were watching how Jesus would respond to this man's presence. Would Jesus really break the Sabbath in order to heal someone? But Jesus turned the test around on the Pharisees by asking them a question: "<b><i>Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm? To save a soul or to destroy it?</i></b>" (Mark 3:4, HCSB). By asking this question, Jesus reminded the Pharisees of their own traditions and interpretations of the law which equated the refusal to do good with doing evil. <br />
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We often hear people make the statement, "I'm not that bad," and we agree with them because they don't kill or steal or cheat people. But we cannot judge ourselves by the evil things we avoid doing. Jesus basically said that to choose not to do good when we have the ability to do good is evil. The book of James actually spells it out for us. "<i><b>So it is a sin for the person who knows to do what is good and doesn’t do it</b></i>" (James 4:17, HCSB). <br />
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We cannot judge ourselves solely by the evil things we don't do. We must also judge ourselves by the number of chances we have to do good and how often we actually take those chances. How often do we see someone stranded on the side of the road and choose to ignore them? How often do we see someone in need and choose not to share what we have? How often do we see the defenseless attacked and do nothing to defend them? How often do we fail to pass on the vital lessons of the faith because we're too tired to bother? <br />
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As followers of Christ, it is never enough that we simply avoid committing evil acts. We must never refuse to do the good we are capable of doing. Choosing not to act when we are capable of doing good, Jesus argued, was the same thing as doing evil.</div>
Christopher St.Clair IIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18247671647751722033noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4921006651258047914.post-40626404485553468632024-02-20T06:32:00.002-06:002024-02-20T06:32:50.576-06:00Scared to Pray in Front of New Neighbors<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Suggested Reading: <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=James+5%3A13-18&version=NLT" target="_blank">James 5:13-18</a><br />
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One summer during college, I came home to discover that new neighbors had moved in two doors down from my childhood home. The new neighbors were a Vietnamese family and the head of the household, a very old man, had been brought home to die. He had recently had a surgery which had removed a large portion of his brain and his family wanted him to be able to die at home. When I heard they had moved in and heard the condition of the family patriarch, I felt compelled to go visit the family. I walked up to the door that first time, completely unaware of what I was supposed to do or say. When the family matriarch answered the door, knowing only four words of English, I simply asked if I could come inside and pray. She recognized the word "pray" and took me right into the room where the older gentleman lay sleeping.<br />
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For the next two weeks, I went to pray at his bedside every day and, each day, every family member who was home would crowd into the room and listen as I read scripture and prayed for this man and for his family. One day as I was sitting there praying, the idea of praying for his healing occurred to me. Up to that point, I had been praying that he wouldn't suffer and that God would be with his family during this time. But the idea of praying that this man would be healed scared me to death. What would I look like if I stood up and placed my hands on his head and asked God to heal him and nothing happened? What would the God I was sharing with these people look like if I did that? I thought about the passage in James 5 which says the sick should call for the elders of the church to come in and anoint the person with oil and pray for them, and I considered calling in some elders. But the thought of doing what Peter and John did, just praying boldly, out loud for God's miraculous healing, scared me to death.<br />
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I was reminded of that summer recently, when I was reading that same passage in James again. I thought of how scared I was at the idea of praying that prayer where everybody could hear and then I kept reading: <b><i>Elijah was as human as we are, and yet when he prayed earnestly that no rain would fall, none fell for three and a half years! Then, when he prayed again, the sky sent down rain and the earth began to yield its crops</i></b> (James 5:17-18, NLT). Reading this word, I was even more ashamed at my fear. I don't know if God ever wanted me to stand up and pray for that man's healing. But I am absolutely certain that God would have wanted me to have the courage to pray for his healing, knowing that God could answer any prayer He calls me to pray.<br />
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How many times do we refuse to pray because we are scared? Scared that God might not answer? Scared that we will look like fools? Scared that we will make God look bad if He does't answer? How often do we want to stand up and pray a bold prayer but just don't have the guts to do it? How much courage did it take for Elijah to stand up and publicly pray (or announce that he had prayed) that God would stop sending rain? What would Elijah have looked like if God didn't answer? What would Peter and John look like if they pulled up the lame man in Acts chapter 3 and his legs fell out from underneath him? Or Jesus if he shouted in that loud voice, "Lazarus, come forth!" and nothing happened? They would have been embarrassed and humiliated. But God <i>did</i> answer their prayers and acts of faith!<br />
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Are you willing to pray bold prayers? Do you have the courage in front of other people to ask God to do the miraculous when you know its the right thing to do? Yes, you risk being embarrassed and looking bad. But is that risk worth missing out on seeing God perform something incredible?</div>
Christopher St.Clair IIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18247671647751722033noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4921006651258047914.post-20776965277981071522024-02-16T06:38:00.002-06:002024-02-16T06:38:32.523-06:00Birthday Wishes But No Promises<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Suggested Reading: <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=James+5%3A7-12&version=HCSB" target="_blank">James 5:7-12</a><br />
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At the beginning of the Jim Carrey movie, <i>Liar, Liar</i>, in order to demonstrate how much of a liar Carrey's character is, they show him promise to show up for his son's birthday party and then break that promise. The son didn't believe him when he said he would be there so he made a promise in order to demonstrate that<i> this time</i> he would keep his word. The son didn't believe him but still hoped and had his hopes crushed which, of course, led to the magical birthday wish that prevented Carrey from being able to lie for the rest of the movie. Carrey's promise was the desperate tactic of a man whose word wasn't any good but wanted to be believed. In the end, though, making a promise only made him more pathetic. After all, breaking your word is one thing but breaking a promise is worse, right?<br />
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James, the brother of Jesus, addressed this dynamic in James 5:12, saying, '<b><i>Now above all, my brothers, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath. Your “yes” must be “yes,” and your “no” must be “no,” so that you won’t fall under judgment' </i></b>(HCSB). James' response to the entire issue was to never swear, to <i>never </i>make a promise. In part, this mindset was an extension of the thought from chapter 4 where James warned people not to say definitively what the future held because they couldn't know what God would do. And if you can't know what the future holds, making a promise is essentially setting yourself up to break your word.</div>
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Instead of making promises to let people know how serious your are or so that people will know that you mean it <i>this time, </i>speak in such a way that your word is good <i>all the time</i>. Let your "yes" be "yes" and your "no" be "no." Say exactly what you mean and don't oversell yourself. If you might not be able to do something, say that. If something is possible but not certain, say that. If someone asks a favor but you have more important priorities then be honest. Such honesty will strip away the disguises we build, making us more transparent and genuine (maybe even motivating us to change our priorities), and will cause people to believe us, even when we don't make promises.<br />
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Don't make promises so that people will believe you really mean it. Speak in such a way that your word is always good and there is no need for promises. </div>
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Christopher St.Clair IIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18247671647751722033noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4921006651258047914.post-91352830211248160622024-02-15T06:18:00.000-06:002024-02-15T06:18:07.228-06:00Dishonoring the Prophet You Know<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Suggested Reading: <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark+6%3A1-6&version=NLT" target="_blank">Mark 6:1-6</a><br />
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Not long after Jesus began his ministry, when he he had already been preaching and doing miracles for a while, he visited his hometown and began teaching and ministering there as well. But unlike the other towns where he had ministered, where people had flocked to him and pressed in to be around him, <b><i>they scoffed, "He's just a carpenter, the son of Mary and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas, and Simon. And his sisters live right here among us." They were deeply offended and refused to believe in him. Then Jesus told them, "A prophet is honored everywhere except in his own hometown and among his relatives and his own family</i></b>" (Mark 6:3-4, NLT). The passage goes on to tell us that Jesus didn't perform many miracles there because they refused to believe.<br />
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Jesus experienced the truth of that old proverb, "Familiarity breeds contempt." You see, the people in Jesus' hometown had watched Jesus grow up. They had seen him playing with the other boys in the village and gone through the annual religious festivals with him. Many of them had probably been in the group traveling back from Jerusalem when Jesus, as a twelve year old boy, had stayed behind in Jerusalem and frightened his parents to death. They knew Jesus. So well, in fact, that they thought they could dismiss him. They could rationalize away his miracles with thoughts like, <i>Well, he grew up just like I did so there can't be anything that special about him</i>. And because, in their familiarity, they dismissed the messenger, they ended up dismissing the message and missing out on miracles Jesus wanted to do among them. </div>
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Unfortunately, we do the same thing far too often with people God sends to us with a word of truth for our lives. God sends a friend to tell us we need to choose a different attitude and, rather than evaluating the truth of the statement, we think of all the times our friend has been less than perfect and dismiss the message. Or, maybe, God sends your spouse, or your pastor is a family member, and you don't like what they have to say so you listen to them like a family member you disagree with rather than hearing the word from God that was spoken through them. Maybe, your parents or your children (never!) share a word with you and you judge the message based on your relationship with them instead of heeding the wisdom of their words. If people could dismiss the Son of God because they were familiar with him, why would we be immune to doing the same thing with some of the imperfect messengers God sends our way? </div>
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Is there a message God has been trying to communicate to you through someone you know well, maybe someone who knows you well enough to see details of your life that you sometimes miss? Try evaluating the message instead of dismissing the messenger because you are familiar with them or because you don't always get along with them. After all, is it more likely God would send you a stranger or someone who cares about you and is already in you life?</div>
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Christopher St.Clair IIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18247671647751722033noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4921006651258047914.post-15119034251864637542024-02-14T06:21:00.000-06:002024-02-14T06:21:01.957-06:00When It Feels Like God Has Forgotten You<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Suggested Reading: <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+7%3A23-32&version=NLT" target="_blank">Acts 7:23-32</a><br />
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Some of you aren't going to like what I have to say today because you probably don't want to hear it. You see, some of you are in a place you <i>hate.</i> You might be in a place where you are under-appreciated or taken advantage of. You might be in a place where you feel trapped like you will never escape. Maybe where you are right now doesn't fit into the plans you have for your future. But as often as you have prayed for God to move you, you're still there. You are frustrated and angry. You might even be taking it out on the people you love because can't bring yourself to admit that you're angry with God. This is not the way your life is supposed to be! This is not the way things are supposed to go! <br />
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If your are in that place today, I want to remind you of the story of Moses, which Stephen summed up nicely for us in Acts chapter 7. Feeling a call on his life to deliver his people from Egyptian slavery, Moses rescued a fellow Israelite by killing the Egyptian who was attacking him. But when Moses realized that his actions were known and at least one Israelite didn't appreciate it, he fled for fear of his life. Eventually, Moses stopped in Midian where he settled down to wait until it was safe. While he was there, he married, had children, and learned how to be a shepherd (something that wouldn't have happened in Egypt since the Egyptians despised shepherds). Finally, <u><b><i>forty years later</i></b></u><b><i>, in the desert near Mount Sinai, an angel appeared to Moses in the flame of a burning bush </i></b>(Acts 7:30, NLT).</div>
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Moses had been raised as member of the Egyptian royalty. He accurately experienced the call of God on his life. But then he was "sidetracked" for forty years, trapped, working in a profession he had been taught to despise, and growing old. But during that time Moses started a family, matured, and learned lessons about wandering around in the wilderness that he would desperately need down the road. But at the time, Moses didn't know what God was going to do. He didn't know that God was training him to help a massive group of people survive in the wilderness. He didn't know that God was stripping away all of the habits and bad attitudes he had picked up from the Egyptians who raised him. But somewhere along the way, he made the best of it, by starting a family and living the life God had given him. </div>
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If you feel like you are trapped, like you know what God has called you to but you don't seem to be moving in that direction, like you are meant for something more than what you are doing right now, you have a choice to make. You can either allow your frustration and bitterness to grow inside you, believing that you are being wronged, or you can choose to trust that God knows what he is doing and has placed you where you are for a reason. Maybe that person who is mistreating you is someone whom God wants to use to change the world, and God has placed you there to win them to Christ. Maybe God needs you to learn some important lessons that you can only learn where you are right now, even if you can't imagine what those lessons could possibly be. Maybe God is using this time to strip away some of the bad habits or attitudes you have picked up because they will hinder your effectiveness when you finally get to the role God has called you to. </div>
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So what are you going to do? Are you going to continue to look at the place where God has set you as a frustration and an obstacle? Or will you <i>choose</i> to look at it as God's perfect place for you right now, even if it doesn't feel that way? Will you choose to look for the lessons God wants you to learn and make the most of this place? Or will you wallow in self-pity, frustration and anger? If you really trust that God is in control, there really is only one option.</div>
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Christopher St.Clair IIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18247671647751722033noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4921006651258047914.post-18631114702942906362024-02-13T06:13:00.002-06:002024-02-13T06:13:29.370-06:00Destroying Talking Lego Buildings<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Suggested Reading: <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans+9%3A14-29&version=HCSB" target="_blank">Romans 9:14-29</a><br />
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I've always loved watching the difference between the way little girls play with Legos and the way little boys play with them (please forgive the stereotyping I'm about to do based on my experience). Little girls like to build something and then play with it and admire it. While boys sometimes do that as well, little boys are just as likely to build something for the sole purpose of destroying it. They enjoy putting something together just so they can knock it down and I admit I did the same thing when I was a little boy. When girls and boys play together this can lead to conflict, and eventually to separate building endeavors. Often I hear the little girls ask the question, "Why do you build it if you're just going to knock it down?" and just as often I hear the boys respond with something like, "I built it. I can knock it down if I want to." Imagine for just a moment, though, if one of those Lego construction projects suddenly spoke up and said, "You can't knock me down! I have rights!" While children might stop and wonder at the suddenly speaking legos, they might just as easily laugh and say, "Oh yeah, I built you and I can knock you down if I want." <br />
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As human beings created by God, the human race has grown increasingly arrogant through the centuries, believing we have the right to tell God what he can do and what he can't do. Even Christian theologians today have the audacity today to decide what God can and can't do based on their own ideas and human systems of moralities. Paul fought this same attitude from people who didn't want to face God's judgment for their sin and questioned God's right to act as judge. Paul responded by asking, <b><i>But who are you, a mere man, to talk back to God? Will what is formed say to the one who formed it, “Why did you make me like this?” Or has the potter no right over the clay, to make from the same lump one piece of pottery for honor and another for dishonor? </i></b>(Romans 9:20-21, HCSB).</div>
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We serve a God who is loving and kind, who extends mercy to us because of His great love for us. But we must never take God's kindness and patience for granted and start believing that God <i>owes </i>us kindness and patience. As his beloved children, we can trust that God will give us mercy because God has promised it to us, but we must never presume upon it. We must never begin to treat God with the attitude that he owes us anything. God has the right to do whatever God wants to do with us. The fact that God doesn't simply destroy us and has promised not to doesn't mean we should treat God like he can't. </div>
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Have you been presuming on God's grace? Doing things you know you shouldn't because God <i>has </i>to forgive you if you ask him? Have you been pushing the boundaries without worrying about the consequences because you <i>know</i> God will be patient with you? Normally, we call that taking advantage of someone. As kind and merciful as God is, trying to take advantage of God is a dangerous game to play.</div>
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Christopher St.Clair IIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18247671647751722033noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4921006651258047914.post-46582289827737947052024-02-12T06:15:00.000-06:002024-02-12T06:15:01.688-06:00Making an Android Jesus<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Suggested reading: <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark+3%3A7-19&version=HCSB" target="_blank">Mark 3:7-19</a><br />
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In the early seasons of <i>Star Trek: the Next Generation</i>, there is a controversy that surrounds Data, the Enterprise's Android officer. Is he a person or a tool? Is Data really alive our just a complex series of algorithms that make him look alive? The two different camps break down somewhat predictably. Those who have served with him, spent recreation time on the holodeck with him, played poker with him, and generally gotten to know him believe that Data is alive and deserves all the rights and protections of a living being. On the other hand, those who want to use Data, to turn him into an army of Android slaves, those who see Data through lenses of what he can do for them, see him as nothing but a machine, a complex tool to be used however they see fit. <br />
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Mark chapter three contains a passage that demonstrates that, when it came to Jesus, people tended to break him into those two categories as well. The first part of the passage describes how the crowds mobbed Jesus because they knew about his abilities to heal and cast out demons. These people were only concerned with what Jesus could do for them, to the point that Jesus instructed his disciples <i><b>to have a small boat ready for Him, so the crowd would not crush Him</b></i> (Mark 3:9, HCSB). Notice, this was not a boat for him to teach from because people were coming to him in order to be healed. This was a getaway boat just in case the people started to crush him!<br />
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Contrast that scene with the one a few verses later where Jesus called some of his followers, the ones he wanted, and "<b style="font-style: italic;">named them apostles — to be with him</b>" (Mark 3:13-14, HCSB). He also called them to teach and cast out demons, but the first reason given is just so they can be with him. What a contrast from the scene just a few verses before where Jesus instructs his followers to have a getaway boat ready in case the crowd starts to crush him!<br />
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But what about us? Are we more interested in Jesus as a person or as a machine? Are we only interested in what Jesus can do for us? Or do we want to be with him? When Jesus set the disciples apart, one of the primary reasons Jesus gave was for them to be with him. Yes, they were going to preach and do miracles and turn the world upside down, but to do that they had to know him first. They had to be willing to spend time with him on his terms and not just hang around to see what they could get out of it. Are we willing to just be with Jesus? Or can we only see Jesus through the lens of what Jesus can do for us? Are we willing to get to know him or is Jesus just a tool to us? <br />
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How will we choose to treat Jesus? Is he a Person whom we get to be with and know or is he a tool we use to get what we want?</div>
Christopher St.Clair IIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18247671647751722033noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4921006651258047914.post-20681689870897739852024-02-09T06:42:00.002-06:002024-02-09T06:42:46.820-06:00Looking for Blame in All the Wrong Places<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Suggested Reading: <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans+7%3A7-25&version=HCSB" target="_blank">Romans 7:7-25</a><br />
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One of the frustrations of parenting is that nearly all
children go through a phase where they blame their parents when they get in
trouble. Instead of looking at themselves when they face consequences for
hurting someone, they get mad at you for giving out the consequences. Rather
than dealing with the fact that they lied, they get angry with you for calling
them on it. The reaction is perfectly in keeping with human nature and,
fortunately, most of us grow out of this phase. But even when we grow beyond
this default reaction, it is a tool that we cling to when we encounter
consequences we really don’t like.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Paul responded to a similar reaction to the Old Testament
Law in Romans 7:7 saying, <b><i>What should we say then? Is the law sin?
Absolutely not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin if it were not for
the law. For example, I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had
not said, Do not covet </i></b>(HCSB). Some people in Paul’s experience, because of their own rebellious nature, responded to the Law with a desire to sin and then chose to
blame the law for their choice. They tried to argue that their own choices weren’t
the problem but that getting rid of the law would get rid of their sin. The mentality rested
upon a foundation of “if there are no rules to break, we can’t be punished for
breaking the rules.” They fundamentally misunderstood the nature of sin. So rather
than dealing with themselves, they chose to blame the law.<o:p></o:p></div>
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We experience a lot of that in today’s society and people
are falling away from Christ because of it. The “rules” of the Bible are more
restrictive than some people are willing to deal with and so they begin to
think that the “rules” are the problem. One person I know, addicted to
pornography, decided that his addiction wasn’t the problem and so he tossed out the relationship with God that told him it was. Another, engaged in a
sinful lifestyle, chose to keep calling himself a Christian but also decided to toss out as “flawed
and barbaric” the scriptures which called his activities sinful.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Now, if you aren’t a Christian, feel perfectly free to toss
out God and His Word. I don't expect you to live according to a system you haven't bought into. But if you are a believer, if you have experienced the
movement of God in your life and are now doubting because that relationship creates tension
with your behavior, don’t toss out the God you have known and experienced just because your actions don't measure up. Ask yourself, is it
more likely that the God you have known and experienced never really existed or
that you are trying to blame anything but yourself for what you know to be
wrong? <o:p></o:p></div>
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If you want to continue doing things you know to be wrong,
have the guts to be honest about it. Don’t suddenly pretend God doesn’t exist
or decide the scriptures which guided you to Christ must now be outdated and
barbaric. Don’t blame anyone or anything else because you want to make your own
choices.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Christopher St.Clair IIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18247671647751722033noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4921006651258047914.post-54131283454335884572024-02-08T06:54:00.002-06:002024-02-08T06:54:19.842-06:00Murder, Betrayal, and Bitter Water<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Suggested Reading: <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Numbers+5%3A11-31&version=HCSB" target="_blank">Numbers 5:11-31</a><br />
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My wife and I used to enjoy watching a weekly television Dramedy
(Dramatic Comedy) called <i>Castle</i>. Rick
Castle, the main character of the show, is a mystery novelist who has gotten
permission to shadow and work with the city’s leading homicide detective, Kate
Beckett, as research for his books. Castle is always throwing up wild stories
about how a particular person might be responsible for the murder of the week,
but there is a pesky little thing called evidence that they still have to find
before they can charge anyone. No matter how much sense the story makes, if
Castle and Beckett can’t find evidence to support the story, they have to let
it go and look for other leads.
Sometimes, they encounter someone they just <i>know</i> has to be guilty but never discover any evidence and, of
course, someone else ends up being the killer.<br />
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While we applaud the detective work of real police officers
who search for evidence and while we often pride ourselves on an American legal
system in which everyone is presumed innocent until proven guilty by the
evidence, far too often we do just the opposite in our personal lives. Quite
often, we hear a rumor or a story from someone and believe it, even about
people who are close to us, without any evidence whatsoever. Sometimes, we even
look for evidence and, unable to find any, we continue to believe these
stories. <o:p></o:p></div>
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In the book of Numbers, God gave his people an example of
how to deal with just such an occurrence within their marriages. When, a
husband suspected his wife had been unfaithful but had no proof of her
infidelity, he was supposed to bring her before the priest and the priest would
give her some water, mixed with a little dust and shavings (from an oath which
would be written on leather and then scraped into the water). With the water in
hand, she would have to make an oath of innocence, paired with a curse if she lied,
and the priest would <b><i>require the woman to drink the bitter water
that brings a curse, and it will enter her and cause bitter suffering</i></b>
(Number 5:24, HCSB). If the woman was innocent, nothing would happen. But if she was guilty
of infidelity, she was supposed to be caused great pain and become barren, but
there was nothing in the water that
would itself cause pain and barrenness. In other words, the husband would
secure a vow of innocence from his wife, turn the issue over to God, and then
let it go, trusting God to deal with his wife if she was guilty.<o:p></o:p></div>
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When we face similar circumstances in life, when we suspect
someone of betraying us or doing something behind our back, we ought to take a
very similar approach to things. Ask the person, maybe even add the insecure, “Do
you promise you didn’t do this?” And if they deny it, turn the situation over
to God and allow God to deal with it. Life contains too many real betrayals and
back-stabbings to worry, fret, and obsess about the ones we can’t prove
actually happened. Continuing to obsess about betrayals for which we have no
proof only serves to drive us crazy. <o:p></o:p></div>
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If you suspect someone has betrayed you or done something
behind your back, or if you have heard a rumor about someone but you don’t have
any proof, step up and ask them about it. But then be willing to trust God to
deal with them if they lie to you. Suspicions without proof are not worth
destroying a relationship, especially because you might be wrong. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Christopher St.Clair IIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18247671647751722033noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4921006651258047914.post-20828978463979911442024-02-07T06:22:00.001-06:002024-02-07T06:22:02.982-06:00Removing Dragon Flesh With Burning Coals<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Suggested Reading: <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah+6%3A1-8&version=HCSB" target="_blank">Isaiah 6:1-8</a><br />
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In C.S. Lewis' <i>The Voyage of the Dawn Treader,</i> Eustace, one of the children who gets magically transported to Narnia, falls under an enchantment and becomes a dragon, unable to communicate properly with his shipmates and powerless to return to his human form. Eustace, who had started off as a pain in everyone's side with an antagonistic view of all of his shipmates, doesn't realize how bad he's been until he sees how well he is treated as a dragon, even though he is a burden to his companions. Finally, Aslan the Great Lion appears in order to remove Eustace's dragon curse. He does so by ripping into the dragon flesh with his claws, peeling it away, and causing Eustace enormous pain. But Eustace welcomed the pain because it accompanied his healing. Almost instantly, the pain was forgotten in the joy that he had been restored to his rightful form. <br />
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The prophet Isaiah, I think, experienced a similar sensation when he saw the Lord seated on the throne of Heaven. Immediately, upon seeing the Lord, Isaiah said, <i><b>"Woe is me for I am ruined because I am a man of unclean lips and live among a people of unclean lips, and because my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Hosts." Then one of the seraphim flew to me, and in his hand was a glowing coal that he had taken from the altar with tongs. He touched my mouth with it and said: Now that this has touched your lips, your wickedness is removed and your sin is atoned for </b></i>(Isaiah 6:5-7, HCSB). Isaiah's immediate reaction to seeing the Lord was one of pain; he became acutely aware of his sinfulness and knew it created a problem. More than that, the cure itself was painful: a burning coal pressed against his lips. But Isaiah never mentioned the pain this act undoubtedly caused him. The fact that his sin had been cleansed from him overrode the pain. </div>
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God's process for removing the sin from our lives is almost always painful. God removes our delusions and shatters the false images we have of ourselves. Often God pulls out the sin by allowing us to suffer its consequences and experience a great deal of pain. But when we allow God to do what is necessary, embracing the purifying fire and the pain that comes with it, God is able to peel away our sinful covering and restore us to our proper form. We can become the people God created us to be in the first place.</div>
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If you haven't yet, you will eventually experience the pain that comes when God begins purifying you and removing the sin in your life. Rather than running from the pain, when you recognize God exposing and dealing with your sin, embrace the pain, laying yourself open to God's cleansing work in your life. The process will be painful but, once completed, will be something you look back on with a profound sense of gratitude and joy.</div>
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Christopher St.Clair IIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18247671647751722033noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4921006651258047914.post-86378250754724417362024-02-06T06:38:00.002-06:002024-02-06T06:38:56.648-06:00Rejoicing Over the Evil Step-Mother's Demise<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Suggested Reading: <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah+8%3A5-10&version=NLT" target="_blank">Isaiah 8:5-10</a><br />
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I have always been amazed at the number of Cinderella type movies that come out every year. One of the things that nearly all of these movies have in common is that the evil step-mother character gets what's coming to her in the end. Usually, the step-mother experiences some kind of humiliation, often forced to spend the rest of her life doing the kind of back-breaking labor that she had previously forced Cinderella to do. Just as often, the step-mother loses her fortune to Cinderella because it really belonged to her all along. On rare occasions these movies kill off the step-mother character at the end. The reason we always see the step-mother "get what's coming to her" is simple: we enjoy seeing people paid back what they deserve. It's human nature.<br />
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Unfortunately, our joy at seeing another person experience well-deserved pain is not something our Heavenly Father is proud of. In the book of Isaiah, God had promised delivery and judgment against the northern kingdoms of Israel and Syria for teaming up to attack Judah. But instead of simply being grateful that God was protecting and avenging them, the people of Judah began to rejoice that Israel and Syria would get what was coming to them. So God sent this message through Isaiah: <b><i>"My care for the people of Judah is like the gently flowing waters of </i></b><b><i>Shiloah</i></b><b><i>, but they have rejected it. They are rejoicing over what will happen to King </i></b><b><i>Rezin</i></b><b><i> and King </i></b><b><i>Pekah</i></b><b><i>. Therefore, the Lord will overwhelm them with a mighty flood from the Euphrates River- the king of Assyria and all his glory. This flood will overflow all its channels and sweep into Judah until it is chin deep. It will spread its wings, submerging your land from one end to the other, O Immanuel" </i></b>(Isaiah 8:6-8, NLT).</div>
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Justice is important to God, but mercy is just as important, and God's desire is that we crave mercy for our enemies because we ourselves have received mercy. Rejoicing in another's pain or misfortune earns God's discipline in our own lives, no matter how much the other person deserves what's coming to them. When God sees us do things like rejoicing over the death of Osama Bin Laden, or celebrating that a murderer was executed, or gloating that our back-stabbing co-worker had her heart broken, we demonstrate that we do not value justice or mercy the way God does, that we are only interested in payback, and we earn God's judgment ourselves.</div>
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If we are truly children of the God who sent His Son to die for a world that rejected Him, our prayer would be for mercy; we would long to see the wrong-doer changed by the Spirit of God and transformed by the power of the Gospel; we would find ways to reach out to them just like our Father reached out to us. Even if they deserve it, we should never rejoice that someone gets what is coming to them. </div>
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Christopher St.Clair IIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18247671647751722033noreply@blogger.com