The New Kingdom.2

"The kingdom of heaven can be likened to a farmer’s wheat field, planted with good seed. One night, while the farmer slept, his enemy came and sowed darnel weeds among the wheat. When the first blades of wheat finally pushed up through the earth, weeds appeared alongside. 

Seeing this, the servants rushed to the farmer, and with distressed voices wept: “Sir, did not we sow good seed in your field? Why then are there so many darnel weeds?”

The farmer answered: “An enemy has done this.”

“Shall we try to remove them?” the servants asked.

“No,” the farmer replied. “If you pull up the weeds, you will uproot the wheat as well. Let them both grow together until the harvest time; and at the time of the harvest I will instruct the reapers: ‘Gather first the weeds, and bind them into bundles for burning. Then gather the wheat into my storehouse.’”

Here is the lesson: he that sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world. The good seed represents the children of the kingdom, while the seeds represent those deceived by the wicked one. The enemy that planted the weeds is the evil one. The harvest is the end of the world, and the reapers are the angels. Just as the darnel weeds were gathered and burned in the fire, so will it be at the end of this age. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather everything that has caused humankind to stumble, and those who live lawlessly outside of the kingdom, and will exile them to a place of weeping and regret. Then the righteous will shine as bright as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. If you have ears to hear, then hear these words."

--Jesus

I've written in times past about our attempts at gardening. One thing I've learned is that

the definition of a "weed" is any plant that is growing where you don't want it to!

To help with our ongoing efforts to create and enjoy the beauty of growing things, I downloaded a new app this year during the growing season called "Picture This". Take a picture of a plant you're curious about and, Wallah!, instant information about origins, ease of care, susceptibility to disease, and even whether or not it is considered an "invasive species", i.e., any plant that could quickly proliferate and overwhelm your well ordered, beautiful garden!  

According to Wikipedia, Darnel, Lolium temulentum, usually grows in the same production zones as wheat and was a serious weed of cultivation until modern sorting machinery enabled darnel seeds to be separated efficiently from seed wheat.The similarity between these two byplants is so great that in some regions, darnel is referred to as "false wheat".It bears a close resemblance to wheat until the ear appears.

Jesus considered those represented by the "darnel weeds" as "invasive species"; people He obviously did NOT WANT POPULATING HIS KINGDOM!

The operative prerogative for Kingdom living is:

  Righteousness.

Perhaps there is nothing that causes people to stumble more than the counterfeits to righteousness.

Counterfeits to righteousness are the coin of the realm in the world's moral morass. Even though the basic assumption of righteousness, namely, fair play to your neighbor, is the same goal for the masses of humanity, the way to achieve those ends is often diametrically opposed to God's ways. Here are some examples of counterfeit righteousness:

Imposed Righteousness

Today's mantra (born out of the CCP pandemic): "wear a mask, save a life" resonates with the masses, for who doesn't want to save lives? But it illustrates the fickleness of trying to impose right behavior on people. For if you in anyway oppose the efficacy of mask wearing because 

• 1. the mask wearing rules keep changing, 
• 2. you don't believe people who aren't sick should be treated as if they were; 
• 3. it seems absurd to guard against spreading a disease through "droplets" when you are handling merchandise and money handled by dozens of people around you; 
• 4. you don't believe the lethality of the disease warrants the extreme measures taken to "protect" you,
• 5. You do believe in Nature's God, natural law and self-evident truth, the foundation of freedom and don't want to be part of a giant social science experiment that violates the principles of liberty

then you are branded an insubordinate rebel and reminded you are not an "expert" so your opinion is of little consequence. 

And in case you missed the message: A close friend, refusing to wear a mask in a local grocery store, was escorted out of the store by police! My workplace is threatening write ups and suspensions for improper mask wearing! The consequence of not complying with imposed righteousness is often severe and/or deadly.

Inflated Righteousness

We live in a world where Harvard Law graduate and proven pathological liar, congressman Adam Schiff, rather than being scorned and ridiculed off the national stage, is esteemed and afforded preferential media treatment over his counterpart, Devin Nunes, farmer, congressman and common sense truth teller, when it comes to describing events that expose the deep corruption at the highest levels of government.  The "credentialed", those who deem themselves morally, intellectually, financially and spiritually superior to the common man, due to their wealth, titles and status, not only are given preferential media treatment but live impervious to the law itself, rarely ever being held accountable for the outright brazen hypocrisy of their behavior.

Imputed Righteousness

I encountered one such counterfeit in a facebook exchange with friends.

Friend 1: "I would seriously question if someone is truly saved if they are ok with killing a baby."

Me: "What we believe about Jesus, or even "doctrines", isn't what makes us a Christian. It's our obedience to Him that makes us his followers. A man's faith is demonstrated in what he does not in what he thinks he believes. Obedience isn't perfection in believing correctly about theology, it's about trying to do what He tells you. If we can't trust him to help us get things right, what kind of faith is that?"

Friend 2: "Just be careful that you don't base your, or someone else's, salvation on works and performance and outward "obedience", because being a Christian truly IS about what we believe, not what we do. It's "calling on the name of the Lord and you will be saved". The thief on the cross had no time to obey nor do good works nor to get all of his doctrine right. He only had time to recognize his own sin, to recognize that Jesus was the perfect Son of God who could save him, to repent and to call upon Jesus to remember him when Jesus comes into His kingdom. And Jesus said "today you will be with me in paradise" because he saw the man's faith and trust in Him as his Savior and heard the confession of faith from his mouth. But of course the RESULT of our repentance and faith in Jesus as our Savior should produce obedience and love and all kinds of good works. We just can't take it to the level of judging others and examining their works and obedience and deciding whether they are Christian or not."

Me: "thank you, friend. Paul and James wrestled with both sides of this coin. I think it comes to this: Obedience IS faith. "The one great heresy of the church is that it is always substituting anything but obedience as faith in Christ." George MacDonald. The example you used bolsters my point: wasn't "calling on the name of the Lord" by the penitent thief an act of the purest obedience? Do you think he didn't struggle inwardly with his thoughts like any human being caught in the Holy Spirit's convicting power ("they'll think I'm silly", "who am I to think he'd care?", etc) until his will submitted to the living will of his Creator God and burst out in his soulful, obedient heartcry: 'Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom!'

So rather than focusing on questions like "what do you believe about (fill in the blank_______ abortion, resurrection, atonement, virgin birth, etc) to try to "judge" whether a person is a "true" "Christian"; shouldn't we rather ask this of us all: "what one thing have I done today because Jesus said "do it", or not done because Jesus said, "don't do it"? That is a far better case for "proving" your allegiance, trust and faith than any doctrinal or theological position!"

We've got it quite wrong if we think God is not interested in us becoming truly righteous like Jesus. A common interpretation of 2 Corinthians 5:21 "For he hath made him [to be] sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him", is that in confessing Jesus as Lord and praying to "receive Him into our heart", we lose our own individuality and God only sees Jesus' "righteousness" plastered on our being. Or as MacDonald points out: "That is, that, by a sort of legal fiction, Jesus was treated as what he was not, in order that we might be treated as what we are not."

That's what Friend 2 considers "believing" in Jesus.

The best antidote to the counterfeits of righteousness is:

Indelible, Intrinsic Righteousness

Let's let friend George MacDonald instruct us on the richness of the righteousness that comes to us by faith in Jesus:

"Be sure that the thing that God gives, the righteousness that is of God, is a real thing, and not a contemptible legalism. Pray God I have no righteousness imputed to me. Let me be regarded as the sinner I am; for nothing will serve my need but to be made a righteous man, one that will no more sin.  

What, then, is the righteousness which is of God by faith? It is simply the thing that God wants every man to be, wrought out in him by constant contact with God himself. It is not an attribute either of God or man, but a fact of character in God and in man. It is God's righteousness wrought out in us, so that as he is righteous we too are righteous. It does not consist in obeying this or that law; not even the keeping of every law, so that no hair's-breath did we run counter to none of them, would be righteousness. 

To be righteous is to be such a heart, soul, mind, and will, as, without regard to law, would recoil with horror from the lightest possible breach of any law. It is to be so in love with what is fair and right as to make it impossible for a man to do anything that is less than absolutely righteous. It is not the love of righteousness in the abstract that makes anyone righteous, but such a love of fair play toward everyone with whom we come into contact, that anything less than the fulfilling, with a clear joy, of our divine relation to him or her, is impossible. 

For the righteousness of God goes far beyond mere deeds, and requires of us love and helping mercy as our highest obligation and justice to our fellow men--those of them too who have done nothing for us, those even who have done us wrong. 

Our relations with others, God first and then our neighbor in order and degree, must one day become, as in true nature they are, the gladness of our being; and nothing then will ever appear good for us, that is not in harmony with those blessed relations."

-George MacDonald, Unspoken Sermons III, Righteousness. (emphasis added)

That's what I want to be, where I want to live and among those I live with...for eternity! 

The New Kingdom.1

"Since the time of John the Baptiser until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and great is the number that eagerly, and in desperation, have seized hold of its truth."

--Jesus

Forcefully advancing.

Like a CEO detailing his company's place in the market, Jesus gives his assessment of the Kingdom of Heaven Enterprise launched at his baptism by John. And as he reflects on the great number of people freed of various diseases, demons exposed and evicted, emotional/spiritual wounds healed and sin eradicated, he sums up their efforts as "forceful advancement." In the clash of light vs darkness, light is winning!

Each victory over the devil's devices serves a dual purpose: to bring heaven's wholeness to individuals and reveal heaven's purposes to His team.

If you haven't had the chance to watch the TV series, The Chosen, I highly recommend it. Dallas Jenkins, son of Jerry Jenkins co-author of the Left Behind series, has done a convincing job, within the limitations of a camera lens, of creating the turbulent world of humanity into which the Son of Man entered. Rich characters such as rascally Simon Peter, on the precipice of disaster over tax problems, Matthew tax collector, a germophobe with slightly autistic characteristics, Thomas, ever the fretful doubter, Nicodemus wrestling with the

deeper truths of God while trying to maintain his vaunted position as "Israel's teacher of the Law." Roman occupation, political intrigue, demonic possession, family spats, debilitating diseases, theological disputes, racism and all the things humans struggle with daily. In the midst of the milieu: 

miracles, freedom, peace, hope, joy, laughter, friendship, love and light and truth.

Who wouldn't clamor for, in eagerness and desperation, seize hold of that truth?

"The human race groans for deliverance: how much does the race know that its redemption lies in becoming one with the Father, and partaking of His glory?" -George MacDonald

In today's equally swirling milieu of political intrigue, demonic possession, massive deception, family spats, debilitating diseases, racism and all the things humans continue to struggle with on a daily basis let us remember that we still serve the King who's Kingdom will continue to forcefully advance the things humans still clamor for and in desperation will seize hold of. As for us, our part in this advancement is fairly simple according to brother Peter: "But in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect."

--1 Peter 3:15 (ESV)

The Promise Forty Four Years In The Keeping.5

"My doctrine is not my own, but his who has sent me. If you choose to do my Father's will, you will quickly discover whether or not my teaching comes from God."

-Jesus

To Do God's Will

It was a wintry January night sitting together in my car discussing the most important decision of our young lives. I'd been contemplating the future and come to an important place in my life: the only thing I really wanted to do in this life was whatever God wanted me to do. As I sat with the beautiful woman at my side I explained the promise I'd made to God to do whatever or go wherever He said. I told her that I really wanted her to go with me but warned her that God's will may take us to unusual and perhaps difficult places. I didn't tell her that:

• we'd move far away from her family
• she'd leave her beloved horses on the family farm for fifteen years
• we'd raise eight sons
• our adventures would allow us to meet many wonderful people...and some not so wonderful.
• we'd be challenged financially at times
• we'd home school those boys for many years
• we'd move into and out of many houses over those many years
• we'd be challenged by our parents on decisions we'd make
• there would be heartache and headache in abundance
• and joy

Honestly, I think she would have stopped me at the "eight sons" part!

But, of course, I didn't know all those things as a young man. But I knew the One who did...and, apparently, that was enough for her!

She said yes!

This October we will be celebrating our 44th anniversary of promising to be true and faithful to each other! 

Early on in our marriage she actually lost her wedding ring. I've never replaced it until now; I recently purchased a ring like the one pictured with eight diamonds representing the "fruit" of our love. 

Most wedding ceremonies describe the ring as a "token" of a love that is perfect and eternal.

But it isn't a "token" that makes a marriage successful. It is the promise.

• We, together, promised to love and serve God. 
• We promised each other our love and respect. 
• We promised to provide for, protect, direct and discipline the children God gave us. 
• We promised to be salt and light to a love-starved world. 
• We promised to go where He led us, serve who needed us, share what we had, teach what we learned, and be His hands, feet, ears, eyes and mouth.

The promise, the commitment of our wills, is what has shaped our lives these 44 years. You cannot think of Denise Lyon (affectionately known to us as the "Fun Grandma") without marveling at the wonder of her energy, the intensity of her work, her devotion to her kids, love of friends and family, horses of course, and her excellent spirit. 

All things that her promise opened up and developed in her!

For George MacDonald God's will is the essence of eternal life:

"For the will is the deepest, the strongest, the divinest thing in man; so, I presume, is it in God, for such we find it in Jesus Christ. ...by the obedience of a son, he receives into himself the very life of the Father. Obedience is the joining of the links of the eternal round. Obedience is but the other side of the creative will.  

Will is God's will,   

obedience is man's will;  

the two make one!

If we do the will of God, eternal life is ours...within His reach to fill with the abundant and endless out-goings of His love. Our souls shall be vessels ever growing and ever, as they grow, filled with the more and more life proceeding from the Father and the Son.

What the delight of the being, what the abundance of the life he came that we might have, we can never know until we have it!"

The promises that have shaped us over forty four years are just a taste of the glory waiting to be revealed when our eternal Promise Keeper makes all things new!

 

The Good Shepherd.1

"Fear not, little flock, it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom."

-- Jesus

Much has been made lately about immigration. At the heart of the issue, whether immigration in the USA or in Europe or anywhere in the world where any people group is moving away from economic or political or religious

turmoil in their own country and seeking refuge in another, is this: are the immigrants willing to change their lifestyles -their language, values and habits- in order to assimilate into their new culture?

At the dairy farm where I formerly worked, I often engaged the Mexican workers in conversations about culture. On one occasion I tried to explain why it was important to Americans that people who come here should come through the legal process. The simple answer is because of a fundamental appreciation that we trust one another in our country. We believe in the ideals and principles of our founding; and that our laws, for the most part, are fair and that if we all try our best to live by the ideals and follow the rules we can trust each other. But if the very first thing you do in getting into our country is disregard the rules, it makes it very difficult to trust you. We don't want to live in a place where you can't trust your neighbor.

For those of us who live in the relative peace and comfort of the USA it is difficult to understand the fear associated with the uncertainty, hardship, instability and danger that so many live with everywhere else in the world today.

Fear may elicit compassion from the countrymen of the land you seek to enter, but it doesn't necessarily make you fit to become a productive member of that society. Fear can, however, drive you to desire the qualities that would help you assimilate and contribute to your new homeland.

The current administration in the USA is proposing new standards for those who want to come live here. They include:

"...a proposal that would grant green cards to immigrants who meet requirements related to education, age and English-speaking ability. The administration has previously proposed regulation that would deny immigrants entry to the U.S. or lawful permanent residence if they are likely to use Medicaid, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (formerly known as food stamps) and other forms of public assistance."

This is in fact nothing new, for it has always been the intent of the people of this country that those people who want to come enjoy the fruit of the sacrifice of those who defend and protect this enterprise in freedom should understand and love the ideals upon which this nation exists. They should be willing to do their duty to live out and promote these ideals.

For Trust is very much related to Truth and Truth is tied to our behavior more than it is tied to our intentions.

We talk much about our "rights" here in the USA, for example, the "rights" every human being has been endowed with from the Creator:

• The right of self-government.
• The right to bear arms for self-defense.
• The right to own, develop, and dispose of property.
• The right to make personal choices.
• The right of free conscience.
• The right to choose a profession.
• The right to choose a mate.
• The right to beget one's kind.
• The right to assemble.
• The right to petition.
• The right to free speech.
• The right to enjoy the fruits of one's labors.
• The right to improve one's position through barter and sale.
• The right to contrive and invent.
• The right to explore the natural resources of the earth.
• The right to privacy.
• The right to provide personal security.
• The right to provide nature's necessities: air, food, water, clothing, and shelter.
• The right to a fair trial.
• The right free association.
• The right to contract.

(from The 5,000 Year Leap by Cleon Skousen)

Clearly these are rights we enjoy (and too often take for granted) as US citizens but we do not spend nearly enough time considering and teaching our "duties" as citizens to keep our Republic viable and attractive.

"These are some of the more important responsibilities which the Creator has imposed on every human being of normal mental capacity:

1. The Duty to honor the supremacy of the Creator and His laws.
2. The duty not to take the life of another except in self-defense.
3. The duty not to steal or destroy the property of another.
4. The duty to be honest in all transactions with others.
5. The duty of children to honor and obey their parents and elders.
6. The duty of parents and elders to protect, teach, feed, clothe, and provide shelter for children.
7. The duty to support law and order and keep the peace.
8. The duty not to contrive through a covetous heart to despoil another.
9. The duty to provide insofar as possible for the needs of the helpless -- the sick, the crippled, the injured, the poverty-stricken.
10. The duty to honor and perform contracts and covenants both with God and man.
11. The duty to be temperate.
12. The duty to become economically self-sufficient.
13. The duty not to trespass on the property or privacy of another.
14. The duty to maintain the integrity of the family structure.
15. The duty to perpetuate the race.
16. The duty not to promote or participate in the vices which destroy personal and community life.
17. The duty to perform civic responsibilities -- vote, assist public officials, serve in official capacities when called upon, stay informed on public issues, volunteer where needed.
18. The duty not to aid or abet those involved in criminal or anti-social activities.
19. The duty to support personal and public standards of common decency.
20. The duty to follow rules of moral rectitude.

(from The 5,000 Year Leap by Cleon Skousen)

There is much "fear" on the issue of immigration on both sides of the USA's southern border. 

• Political parties, fearing the fallout of voter's embracing the opposition, are waging a raging debate on whether or not there is a "crisis" of mass migration into the US. 
• Landowners along the border states are fearful of trespassers on their property, often armed and dangerous. 
• Taxpayers are fearful that reports of advertisements in central American countries inviting people to the USA for its "free social programs and work" are creating the stampede to our borders further burdening our strained social safety net, bringing low-skilled people and new diseases. 
• Central American citizens, fearing that stricter immigration policies and the "Wall" will make it even more difficult to flee their squalor, rush the border, endangering themselves and their children.

In the land of the free, the USA, in a shadowy way, illustrates important eternal truths:

• It is worth sacrificing all to be free
• There is a legitimate requirement to become fit for citizenship

Since none of us have internet access to Google the heavenly landscape, most likely Jesus was addressing the most common fear to man: fear of the unknown.

Old Testament prophets alluded to it; Jesus said He came from there; John the beloved had visions of the Kingdom's grandeur and Lazurus stayed mum about his brief encounter. So, really, the only first person account we have of God's dwelling place in the heavenlies is from Paul the Apostle and even he couldn't find the words to describe it!

Just as He has always done from the very beginning, God asks us to trust Him and understand that what makes Heaven Heaven is Him! Fearlessly we can choose and anticipate His divine good pleasure as our eternal home!

Eventually every human being will "migrate" from this war ravaged planet through the doorway of death into our eternal destiny.

Having established that our Creator, albeit at a painful cost, takes pleasure in giving us His kingdom, what is our part in preparing to participate in Kingdom life?

Is it too difficult an idea that God would want the people he invites to populate His eternal kingdom to be trustworthy and true? Of course not, but how do we become trustworthy and true?

Unlike desperate people eagerly entrusting themselves to "coyotes" to lead them into the US, God provided the Good Shepherd who not only leads

us into His Kingdom but prepares and fits us along the journey:

• teaching us the language of the Kingdom
• improving our perception of His ways
• using the consequences of our feeble attempts at obedience to His words to correct or confirm our character development
• delivering us from evil within and without
• Perfecting the currency of the Kingdom: Love!

"Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of His glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen." Jude 24, 25

Hallelujah! What a Savior!

The New Doctrine.3

Once there were two men who went into the temple to pray.

One was a proud,

self-righteous man,

while the other was a miserable tax collector well known for his dishonesty.

The proud man prayed:

"Thank God I am not a sinner like other people,

especially that cheating tax collector

I see here today.

I never cheat,

nor do I commit adultery.

I fast twice a week,

and I give the temple a tenth of all that I earn."

The tax collector remained in the

back of the temple,

and dared not lift his eyes toward heaven.

He prayed sorrowfully:

"God, please be merciful to me. I am unworthy

and have fallen short of what you ask."

I tell you now, that the tax collector

who recognized his need

for God's mercy,

returned to his house

lighthearted,

free from anxiety, and

forgiven.

Those who,

in their pride,

exalt themselves

will be humbled,

while those who humble themselves

will rise above the cares of this world

to a place of blessing and honor."

--Jesus

As far back as Cain and Abel mankind has been divided into two camps:

Those who reject God's judgment

-vs-

Those who seek God's approval & blessing

The Self Righteous get humbled.

The humble find freedom.

Or as Jesus put it: justified - the legal and formal acquittal of guilt.

Hubris (excessive pride or self-confidence) is never justified.

The Self Righteous Man can never be justified because he:

• can't properly assess his own actions
• sets himself above the moral assessment of others, including God
• takes the place of God in judging and condemning others
• is not merciful 
• is inured to the conviction of sin by God's Spirit
• can never be truly reconciled to God or man

The first step in properly aligning ourselves with the

True Righteousness is to admit how far we fall short in being like our Creator.

The Tax Collector, as Jesus points out, was well known for cheating others.

Worse yet, he had a governmental position that may even have sanctioned this kind of cheat. He may very well have been insulated from the seething hatred of people, his own countrymen, by the fact that most every tax collector skimmed or inflated the tax owed.

I remember meeting a burly business man who owned a cement company. He told me he worked for the IRS for over twenty five years before starting his own company. He said he never understood why people hated him so much until he left the premier tax collecting agency in the world and started his own company!

It was an "Aha" moment when he could see what he'd been blind to for many years! The tax collector in Jesus' parable had that "aha" moment in coming to a point when he realized the terrible wrong -cheating people, and therefore God, out of what rightfully belonged to them- he'd been committing. So profound was his sense of loathing that he couldn't even lift his eyes upward. 

"When a man acknowledges the right he denied before; when he says to the wrong, 'I abjure, I loathe you; I see now what you are; I could not see it before because I would not; God forgive me; make me clean, or let me die!' then justice, that is God, has conquered--and not till then." George MacDonald, Justice.

By saying the man was "justified" Jesus is pointing out that justice had begun in his heart and would open the door to true atonement -- the righting of the wrongs he'd done to his neighbors. Perhaps Jesus had in mind the tax collector Zacchaeus who upon meeting Jesus while sitting in a tree trying to catch a glimpse of the Man, immediately repented and declared his commitment to making things right with those he'd wronged!

The only vengeance worth having on sin is to make the sinner himself its executioner! A man may be saved from sin by learning to loathe it, to hate it, to shrink from it with an eternal avoidance. Punishment is not the thing required of God, but the absolute destruction of sin. -MacDonald, ibid

Notice the attempt by the Self Righteous man to guilt shame the tax collector. Hubris does that. In fact, the more it is gotten away with the more widespread the disease becomes.

Consider today's "Cancel Culture" lead, primarily, by the "Credentialed", those with self important pedigrees from highly esteemed institutions or wealthy actors, athletes and business owners as well as governmental authorities and academics. Using the insulation of social media they are able to cast slurs on others who do not share their moral superiority and politically correct views. Or worse, destroy lives and careers by their hypocritical hubris.

Their attempts to do the work of God's spirit will never bring people closer together for there is no appeal to the "divinest" in one another, to the eternal brotherhood under one Father; an appeal based on grace, repentance, humility, a common understanding of our own fallen-ness and desire for true friendship and godly Oneness.

So follower of Jesus, remember that the great divide in the USA today is not between races or political parties, CNN and FOX, Trump haters and Trump supporters, men and women or urban and rural America, but the real divide is between humility and hubris. 

The New Doctrine.2

"But whoever hears my life-giving words,

and rejects them,

chooses to build on a foundation of sand.

The rains descend, and the floods rise.

Hurricane winds beat against the house,

and the foundation crumbles.

The house collapses,

and great is its fall."

-Jesus

After leaving the company of my friend and mentor, Paul Maxim, I took my newly developing carpentry skills* as well as a hearty supply of Maxim's Maxims! --"measure twice, cut once!"-- and used them to make money!

However, I found out that even though I wasn't "accountable" to my old boss for my work now, I was accountable to a new boss: building codes! More specifically, the people who enforce those codes! (I once had an over zealous electrical inspector threaten to "write me up" for unlicensed electrical work because he found me holding a wiring box I'd picked up off the floor and a pair of wire strippers in my tool belt!)

Most of the time Codes represent the processes, protocols and procedures for ensuring a safe, secure and enduring structure. But occasionally they are nothing more than attempts to generate revenue for government or the influence of business interests to protect their industry. Most of the time codes represent good science and good sense. Sometimes, not.

I've done enough remodeling work now to really come to appreciate best practices "codes" (and annoyed by questionable regulations.) Believe it or not, people try to do a lot of work on their own homes who really don't know how to properly safeguard their work or understand the potential danger they are "building" into their project.

Building codes recognize that there are always forces at work that have the potential to erode and/or destroy a structure whether instantaneously (like a fire) or over time (like water erosion of soil under a foundation.) They take into account a variety of conditions like geography - (structures in Florida are different than in Michigan to account for the possibility of hurricane force winds!); lifestyles - (the frenzied activity in urban areas vs quiet country living); property issues - (renting vs owning).

Jesus' words are the "best practices" for ensuring a solid, enduring life in a world filled with dangerous forces working to erode or destroy you! If you want a life in harmony with the Created Order, one free of dubious regulations or capricious influences, who better to know and teach these best practices then the One through Whom Life came into existence?!

There are hurricane force winds and flood waters of fear, technology and sexual deviancy that are working to destroy the foundation of our lives as individuals, families and communities today!

The current worldwide panic over the Coronavirus is a perfect example. Without internet technology, government officials would not have the ability to communicate directives for people to "shelter in place" on such a coordinated global scale (as a matter of fact, our governor here in Michigan issued a smartphone emergency alert when she ordered her "stay home, save lives" directive.)

But the truth of the matter is that since the introduction of graphic media in the early 1900's up until the inception of the smartphone at the turn of the century, our senses have been trained to accept emotion based appeal over reason. (Actually you could go back many centuries to document mankind's attempt to disconnect the truth of God revealed in nature from man's attempt to control nature.)

Case in point, most every state (in order to qualify for Federal Disaster money) took strict measures to "flatten the curve" of the spread of Covid19 to ensure hospitals would not be overwhelmed. These measures included shutting down schools and businesses, ordering healthy people to quarantine in their own homes to avoid social contact and possibly spread the virus. Some states, including my own Michigan, took what has come to be considered "draconian" steps by determining what is "essential" to any individual's well being, ordering big box stores to cordon off areas like paint and garden supplies to keep the public safe and save lives, encourage neighbors to turn violators in and issue fines for those who disobeyed. Rather than deal with the naturally occurring development and course of a virus (including the fact that a certain percentage of people will die from a viral outbreak), governments turned to technology: computer models, expert opinions and social science theory to determine public policy. Since it has been difficult to get consistent and reliable information which, historically, enables people to make good decisions for themselves, the general economic and cultural uncertainty enhanced by technology (social media is rife with "experts" contradicting one another) is in many ways more destructive to the social fabric than any virus could ever be.

To Jesus' warning. Rejecting the Nature of God's dealings with mankind; rejecting His attempts to bring all people into a love relationship with Him using whatever resources He can; rejecting His words which bring order to the chaos and destruction people are capable of generating; rejecting obedience as the outworking of our love and trust in Him can have catastrophic consequences! Think of it this way: Have you ever built a sand castle, then channeled water towards it? If you look closely, it is individual grains of sand that move with the current. Eventually, as enough grains are washed away, the entire structure collapses! In the same way, individuals are pulled away from faith, trust and obedience to the Lord of Truth and Life in today's world by addictively looking at smartphones hundreds of times a day and allowing, as Rod Dreher points out in The Benedict Option, "online technology by its very nature to scatter our attention like nothing else, radically compromising our ability to make sense of the world, physiologically rewiring our brains and rendering us increasingly helpless against our impulses." (page 219) Fear is the one great impulse being fostered by this unprecedented use of technology to control people's behavior!

Consider the great irony: as people put more of their trust into technology to provide relief and security from the chaos and uncertainty technology helped create, they will find themselves more isolated and fearful. As more individuals get swept away by fear, the more likely families, communities and nations will crash!

How can putting Jesus' words into practice provide protection and stability during difficult times?

Refuse to let fear dominate your thinking. Try unplugging from technology on a regular basis and just discipline your mind to focus on His commands and words, which are essentially His promises to help you achieve His right action in every situation. Trust in Him with all your heart. Don't lean on your own attempts to understand (believe it or not, you can't Google God's will!) before you put your heart into seeing what He is doing and join Him to be a blessing to a fear fractured world. When evil/fear increases, Jesus warned, the love of many grows cold. What a powerful opportunity to demonstrate the life of Christ by being kind, loving and carefree in world gripped by fear. By staying steadfast and true to the Word of Life you strengthen other's faith and help ensure your family, church, and community stays strong!

That's how you build an enduring life!

*(see previous post at https://8-greatmen.blogspot.com/2020/04/the-new-doctrine1.html)