Taste and See

“I love my early morning walks! In fact, tomorrow I'm going to get up and go for a walk at 4:30 am. That way I can get in 2 hours of walking before I have to come back and make breakfast." I rattled on animatedly to Stella.

Stella looked at me in disbelief. “You're crazy!" She exclaimed. “Why get up so early, just so you can go for a 2 hour walk?!"

“Because I love it!" I replied with a grin.
“You don't know what you're missing out on, because you haven't tried it." I added.

Straight after I had said that last sentence, I realised...
People say they don't need or want God. But they don't know what they're missing out on. Because they haven't “tried" Him.

O taste and see that the Lord is good. Ps 34:8

Take It Or Leave It

"I was reading in Exodus this morning... you know, where God was giving instructions about the building of the tabernacle. And I realised something, for the first time." My friend and I were discussing Bible passages over the phone.

"Yes?" She replied.

"Well, I realised something that many people obviously miss - God is very precise."

Really, when you look at the Bible, you'll see it. Everywhere! I guess the reason I noticed it there, was because it goes for so many chapters! But it says in Exodus 27:14-17.

(14.) "The hangings of one side of the gate shall be fifteen cubits: their pillars three, and their sockets three.

(15.) And on the other side shall be hangings fifteen cubits: their pillars three, and their sockets three.

(16.) And for the gate of the court shall be an hanging of twenty cubits, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, wrought with needlework: and their pillars shall be four, and their sockets four.

(17.) All the pillars round about the court shall be filleted with silver; their hooks shall be of silver, and their sockets of brass."

God is precise about everything. Including His law. When He says something, He means exactly that. No bending. Take it or leave it.

Hated By God?!

"Mum! Look at this! Have you ever read this verse before?!" With that, I read it out. "The Lord trieth the righteous; but the wicked and him that loveth violence, His soul hateth." (Ps 11:5)

Mum looked at me. "Wow. No, I don't think so." Animated, I replied "I always figured that it must be like that.... but here it is! In the Bible. And it's so clear. There is no way you can mistake it."

"Yes," Mum agreed. "It is."

"You know Mum, I was just thinking how, you read a book, and think Oh that's so cool, but you can't be sure that it's true. You know, it's not like that with the Bible. It's always true, and you can always take it for granted."

I'd just finished doing my Bible reading. A few chapters out of 3 books of the Bible. It started out as Genesis, Job and Matthew. But now, I was further along. Every morning, when I found a verse I found particuarly interesting, I would jump out of bed (yes, I do my Bible reading in bed!), run to Mum and read it to her. I'd been reading Psalms that morning. Realising how interesting it really was. When I stumbled across this important verse.

Thinking about it. I realised how broad that can go. How many people love playing war/fighting games? How many people love watching violent, action packed movies? I've heard people have say "Action is awesome! It's what makes it worth watching." What about the books? There are many books based on violence. Okay, some aren't based on violence, but have violence in it.

You don't need to be wicked as such. But God says that if you just love violence, His soul hates you. Pretty harsh. But it's true. God is not violent. It's against His nature. And He hates it so much, that He hates them that love it.

I don't want to be hated by God. Do you?

Chocolate, Immorality, and the Scaffold

I remember the day I decided to go vegan. I couldn’t wait for the super-charged energy and keen intellect that my vegan friends told me about, but more importantly, I knew it was something that God was asking me to do. It was time for a change.

I began to make a mental checklist.

Replace ice cream with sorbet.

Replace milk with soymilk.

Replace cheese with…um, fake cheese?

I felt pretty satisfied at the replacements I had thought up. Until I remembered: Hershey Bars aren’t vegan. Then, panic struck.

What?? How could I go shopping and not buy a Butterfinger? What would I do without a Snickers when I was stressed out? How could I say no to Ms. Brenda’s famous peppermint chocolate fudge? Chocolate ruled with an iron fist and dictated my fingers and mouth to do actions against my will. But I liked it.

A fellow chocolate addict and I decided to quit together. We had a ceremony around a trash can and threw in all our chocolate. Then we deposited the entire garbage bag in the dumpster. We were done.

But then…

Have you ever had someone say to you the words, “just this one time?” or, “it’s just a little bit!”

Well, let’s just say that the trash-can ceremony was not the last time my fingers handled cocoa products. It’s been at least a couple of years since I’ve eaten chocolate, but the quitting process was not easy. I’ve thought about it since then, though. Isn’t it true that just a little bit of chocolate won’t kill me? We could debate the physiological effects of chocolate, but when we make it really simple, a little bit of chocolate, or chocolate just once, will not have a significant effect on my overall well-being.

So what’s the big deal?

Big deal number one is that God said to abstain from stimulating substances, like caffeine, which is in chocolate. Anything that messes with the brain messes with my vital connection with God. But let’s pretend, for just a moment, that this point was excused on the basis that just once won’t really hurt anything. There’s still more.

Big deal number two is self-control.

A lack of self-control looks like this:

1. A stimulus comes.

2. You desire the stimulus.

3. Reason tells you that the stimulus is not good.

4. You still desire the stimulus.

5. You act in favor of the stimulus.

It is not reason or conscience that is in control, it is the stimulus. You do not possess yourself; the thing of temptation rules you. Herein is the secondary reason for resisting the “just this once” trick: resisting builds self-control.

Learning self-control on little things like appetite becomes much more important when the stimulus is something more serious, like an immoral image or an improperly intimate thought. How do you respond when your conscience, reason, and judgment tell you that you have no right to interact with such things? But that thing of temptation moves you, controls you, forces you…If you have not been cultivating self-possession, your lust will possess you.

What about the day when you are brought to give an answer for your faith? Think not that this day is far in the future, my friends…the sword, guillotine, and scaffold have claimed the blood of countless martyrs in the past, and their work is not finished yet. The scaffold is unlike chocolate and immoral desires in that it is not a stimulus of craving—it is a stimulus of fear. Your emotions tell you to do whatever it takes to avoid it. How do you respond when your conscience, reason, and judgment tell you that you must accept it? But that thing of temptation moves you, controls you, forces you...if you have not been cultivating self-possession, your fear will possess you…

What am I saying with all of this talk about chocolate, immorality, and the scaffold? I mean to say this: our first and primary reason for obeying God is simply because He said so. But embedded within simple fidelity is another lesson—that of self-control. Self-control, self-possession, is to make decisions based on conscience, reason, and judgment rather than on desires. By exercising this every time that a temptation comes, God’s followers become people of integrity. I want that.

Watch out for the “just this once” trick. God is calling us to possess ourselves, and He will be faithful to complete that good work in us. "Let calmness and self-possession be cultivated and perseveringly maintained, for this was the character of Christ…Remember in Him dwelt all the fullness of the God-head bodily. If Christ is abiding in our hearts by faith, we shall, by beholding the manner of His life, seek to be like Jesus, pure, peaceable, and undefiled. We shall reveal Christ in our character." 2SM 22.3,4.

(Credits: God, through Jamie)

God and Your Behavior

My post, "War" began an interesting comment discussion. Reading these always sparks new thoughts for me. Seeing other people's worldviews has been educational. Before, "different" doctrines and ideas seemed very un-important. That changed when a friend brought up a topic that I'd never heard of before.

"God doesn't love everybody," he informed me.

I was shocked! "What about John 3:16?"

Thus began a debate about God. He lent me a book on this idealogy. I decided to read the Bible the whole way through again, and this time keep my eyes open for clues on "what is the real relationship between God and humanity?"

I learned a lot. I still am. But what I've noticed since, is an intriguing connection between our perception of God, and our behavior. Crazy? Not really. It's pretty consistent.

I don't like to step on toes. But here's what I've observed.

There was a nun. As in most denominations, views on God differ. Some believe that we earn our way to heaven by sufferings. These we are to "offer up to god". Behind the fairy tales about this woman, is a different story that most don't know. One that doesn't make sense. Yet does. Those that were in terrible suffering, she left that way, as she believed they then would be saved. She sent all her money to the man she admired most, instead of using it to relieve the suffering she was in contact with. This un-heard story sounds strange. But she was just following her worldview.

Still another view of god. He is a god that planned from the birth of this world, who would be saved - andwho wouldn't. Nothing can happen or has happened, that he did not plan to happen, from the start. Only to these random, special ones who are chosen, does this god love and offer salvation. And nothing they do, from the littlest lie to a murder, can change their guarantee to heaven. It all hinges on whether you feel like you're one of those elect. You can't know for sure. But, hoping is the best way to look at it. The others... well, god does not offer them salvation, but um, they like darkness anyway, so god punishes them for that. These cannot do anything to be saved and everything that they do, god planned that they should. This makes Him the most murderous, tyrannical being in the universe. I mean -- every genocide, and act of a serial killer, he planned. Children from families who believe in this god, often reject him. Those that don't - well, they're another story. And I can understand. If that was really the case, I would be very proud. I mean - special me! I'm saved and I can do whatever I want. Whatever you do however, you cannot escape destruction.

Another god, is an indulgent Santa Claus. He will give you anything you want, whether or not it is good for you. This god takes all to heaven. Even though many would be terribly miserable in that pure world above. With this god, your good outweighs your bad. And once you realise that you want god, you are forever secure. Believers in this god, live a careless, wreckless life, for after all their god is too kind to punish them.

There is another god who inspires his adherents to kill 'un-believers', in his name. And if you do, you will be guaranteed immediate entrance to heaven at death. From this belief stems the cause of many suicide bombers and acts of violence.

The character of the individual is highly shaped by their view of God. As He is the highest standard of everything desirable. Reason dicates that one will not be a better person than their highest conception of Good.

Among the confused crowd of these, stands out some. Different from the rest. One of these was George Muller. He personally was responsible for the well-being of ten thousand orphans. Without any charity. There has only been praise for his genuine un-selfishness and kindness in his life. This was a natural outflow from a man that believed in a God of Supreme Love. A God to whom all are equal and precious. He wasn't the only man who lived out a life consisent with the character of a loving God. There was also the apostle Paul. Abraham Lincoln. David Livingstone. And more recently, Brother Andrew. David Gates. Many others too.

As a child, I imagined God to be Someone intimidating, far away, and critical. Such an idea in turn made me very critical of my siblings in their mistakes. But, I don't think that way anymore. As I've taken the challenge, "And ye shall seek Me, and find Me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart," (Jeremiah 29:13) I've gotten to know the Father who is the epitome of the world's best daddy. One who truly knows what's best for me, and plans great things for my life. I've gotten to see that He truly "is gracious, and full of compassion; slow to anger, and of great mercy. The LORD is good to all: and His tender mercies are over all His works." Psalms 145:7,8

My journey in getting to know God has prompted some personal questions.

Is my behavior Christ-like? If not... am I getting to know the true God?

(Credits: Christella)

Genesis 1 Excerpt from my Diary

Genesis 1 is about creation, but notice "In the beggining GOD created the heaven and the earth." So who made the heavens and the earth? God. Next it goes on to say in vs 2 that "the earth was without form, and darkness was upon the deep." What does that mean? That God started with nothing, and made something.

The 1st day he made day and night. Verse 5 had been bugging me, "the evening and morning were the first day" I asked mum: It probably means that God started with the evening, (it wouldn't make sense if it was "the evening and the evening were the first day") but it still hadn't gotten through everything Mum said. Then the thought came "Ask God". So I did, and when I got off my knees it was like I heard: "the first 24 hours". That was it! The evening and the morning were the first day and the evening coming was the next 24 hours - the next day. Like as with Sabbath - it starts at sundown and ends sundown!
The 2nd day the heavens are made - atmosphere.

On the 3rd day God gathered the waters together and made dry land - earth, then named the waters Seas. Next He made grass, herbs, and fruit "and God saw that it was good".

The 4th day God made the sun, moon and stars "to rule the season and to be signs". He put them in the "firmament" - space.
The 5th day - God made/formed the birds and sea animals.
Day 6 - Land animals created/formed. "...and God created man in His own image..." God created Adam and Eve (not Adam and Steve!!) He didn't stop there - He said "be fruitful, and mutiply and replentish the earth." Thus was creation ended and the Sabbath came.

Ruth

Ruth 1:15...........And she said, Behold, thy sister in law is gone back unto her people, and unto her gods: return thou after thy sister in law. 
1:16 And Ruth said, Entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God:
Here we have a Moabitish woman, who grew up in a pagan family, worshiping pagan gods, and living with her whole family. And her husband died and Naomi, thinking of how they would probably not like Bethlehem because of all the differences I named above, told them to go home. Orpah went home.

But Ruth was steadfast. She had seen what she wanted, and her eye was on that goal. She wanted not a husband, she wanted God, Naomi had something she didn't, (not the bitternes), and she wanted it, more than home, family, friends, old gods, and an husband. She wanted God, the only one infinate, the one who could give her peace which was void in her culture. And she was willing to leave all to find it, to leave negetive influences, so that she could be with a city, a nation of people who worshiped the God she was looking for. And because she cared not for things of sentamentality, such as family and home, and that she was looking for a higher calling, God blessed her with a home of her own, a husband and a child, and a mother in law for the childs nurse.

Let us all seek God in earnest, with all our heart, forgetting all but not, and clinging to God our only comforter. Let us stay by God's side, and let us not forget the price paid for us, and the meaning of it. Amen.