Look at God, Not People

I know people who have never allowed a relationship between themselves and God to develop because of the way supposed “Christians” treated them way back when, or the way they perceive Christians and the church acting now.

Perhaps you are one of these people. Maybe you were a pregnant, unmarried teen and felt judged by a “Christian” family member, pastor, congregation or some other “Christian.” Or perhaps you felt inadequate in some other way and perceived a finger pointed at you by a supposed “Christian.” I have two things to say to this: 1) Make sure it isn’t your own judgment you are feeling and displacing onto others. Many people feel their own guilt and then attribute it to others laying it on them. 2) Looking at how other “Christians” treated you or failed to love you only does one thing: it keeps you from looking at and seeing God.

People spend decades remembering or reimagining how people have treated them, thus blocking all opportunities to learn how God actually does and desires to treat people. Their worldview of the past and people in the past prevents them from getting to know God now. They are missing out. Maybe you are missing out.

The second group of people I am familiar with (I was in this group at one time) is those who were raised on sound bites of what born again Christians, God, Jesus, and the Bible are like. They never got to know a true Christian and never attended a real Bible-honoring and believing church. They never read the Bible. But they adopted someone else’s biased opinion and never got beyond it to find out for themselves what they believe about God, Jesus, true believers and the Bible. These, too, are missing out.

It’s one thing to have rejected God for yourself after getting to actually know Him and understand who He is. It’s another thing to reject Him when you don’t even have a proper understanding of Him and are rejecting Him based on your interactions with other people.

Not all people in churches are Christians. I grew up in and attended several non-Bible believing "churches" for years and was not a Christian, nor did I have any clue as to how to live as one because I did not know God, Jesus or the Bible. And Christians aren’t perfect. We still sin.

The Triune God of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, however, is perfect and does not sin. Who are you going to trust with your life? People? Or our Triune God?

"Turn your eyes upon Jesus,

Look full in His wonderful face,


And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,


In the light of His glory and grace" Helen H. Lemmel 1922

“And lifting up their eyes, they saw no one except Jesus Himself alone.” Matthew 17:8

Worldly Wisdom Ruins Households

These lyrics from Warren Zevon's song "Disorder in the House" set up my Quote of the Day:

Disorder in the House

Disorder in the house
The tub runneth over
Plaster's falling down in pieces
By the couch of pain

Disorder in the house
Time to duck and cover
Helicopters hover over 
Rough terrain

Disorder in the house
Reptile wisdom
Zombies on the lawn
Staggering around

Disorder in the house
There's a flaw in the system 
And the fly in the ointment's gonna
Bring the whole thing down

The floodgates are open 
We've let the demons loose
The big guns have spoken
And we've fallen for the ruse

Disorder in the house
It's a fate worse than fame
Even the Lhasa Apso 
Seems to be ashamed

Disorder in the house
The doors are coming off the hinges
The earth will open and
Swallow up the real estate..."
                                Warren Zevon



Quote of the day: by Tony Evans

"Do you know why our homes have disorder? Because too many of our marriages and families operate out of envy and ambition. Instead of everyone upholding the central goal of the home, every family member wants his or her agenda. What else can you have but discord? That's earthly wisdom. 

But James offers us another kind of wisdom, the 'wisdom from above' (v. 17), which he says is first of all 'pure.' That means it's authentic, transparent, clean, like God's Word. Psalm 19:8 says, 'The commandment of the Lord is pure.'

God's wisdom is also 'peaceable,' promoting unity and not strife; 'gentle,' meaning considerate; 'reasonable,' willing to take instruction, ready to listen to people who make sense; 'full of mercy and good fruits,' giving practical help to others; 'unwavering,' taking a stand on principles instead of flowing one way today and another way tomorrow; and 'without hypocrisy,' not wearing a mask. That's what a wise person looks like." 
Tony Evans, Theology You Can Count On, page 142-143

"But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. Such 'wisdom' does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice." James 3:14-16

" But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law." Galatians 5:22-23

Not on facebook Club

     This day and age, there must be a disclaimer for everything. So here it is for this post: 

1. The internet, including facebook, can be used for good or ill. See my upcoming post on the dangers of the internet, especially for young people. 

2. If you are on facebook once in a while, and use it to reach out to lonely people, or in a ministry, free from self-absorbed, self-centered, self-promotional poser motivations, great. This post is not for you. 

3. The marriage mentoring I am involved with tells a dark story of facebook. I’m not talking about porn sites here, I’m talking about facebook and its sad impact on relationships, marriages and the family. Facebook is not a person: However, your spouse, best friend, children, grandchildren, parents, etc. and yes, even politicians, are people—real human beings! Facebook is not a license to take liberties with the lives of others, whether you know them or not, and does not give license to spend time on facebook in lieu of time with one's spouse or children.

With that, I will begin...

Welcome to the Not on facebook Club. This will be a monthly, or perhaps even one-time newsletter to keep members posted on what they are not doing, and where one cannot see copious amounts of photos of children, grandchildren, puppies, iguanas, prom dates, inaccurate political diatribe and links to indie bands. 

Members of this organization do not concern themselves with what they, or others, eat for breakfast, where they grocery shop, or details of their daily workout. They do not say things like “LOL late for work again...,” or “OMG what is up with Robert and his wife in apartment 2B, OMG?!” 
       Club members do not “like” (thumbs up) or “dislike” (thumbs down) comments, paraphrases, quotes taken out of context, or character assassinations of politicians, rock stars, United Nations members and mother-in-laws.

            Not on facebook Club members raise children, work hard, volunteer, mind their own business, cook dinner, pull weeds, attend to dentist and oil change appointments all without public broadcast and fanfare. Many club members still utilize conveniences such as landlines, rolodexes, postage and paper, along with the human foot and voice, to stay in touch with others.

            Members of Not on facebook need support! We are written off by anyone under the age of 35 and admonished by women in their 50’s and 60’s who brag endlessly about how they are their kids BFF’s on facebook. Sadly, being on facebook = “in crowd.” Not on facebook = “out.” We need to stick together!

Not on facebook Bylaws:

1. We will continue to read primary sources and research political candidates instead of adopting sound bites from late night comedians and then accepting them as if they are legit political commentary and worthy of repeating.

2. We will never cross the boundary of privacy by posting a picture of anyone, anywhere, “learning to potty,” getting a bad haircut or giving birth.

3. We promise to let other people’s news be their news, and wait to hear things “from the horses mouth.” If you do not know what that means, you better make sure you are not already on facebook.

4. We will spend time with our children instead of time on facebook writing falsified accounts of how great they are, or lamenting constantly (and again, most likely unrealistically) about how frustrating they are.

5. We will never ever discuss anything about our marriage that we would not discuss with our spouse. In fact, we will prioritize the boundary of privacy in our marriage by never discussing our spouse or marriage in a public, cavalier manner.

6. We will not maintain running commentaries on the dating and personal lives of our children. We will let their news be their news, not ours. We will let them grow up out of the internet spotlight. We will let them decide, when they are all grown up, whether or not they want their life broadcast on facebook, and then, if they sadly so choose, we will let them do the broadcasting, not us.

7. When having a bad day we will take it to the Lord in prayer (and share personally with a trusted confident, in person, if the need is great).

8. When having a good day, we will take it to the Lord in praise.

9. We will not have too high a regard for ourselves, and will remember that, just as we may be traveling to enchanting places, going to the latest restaurants, hearing the latest music, serving in the latest ministry, seeing the latest movie, doing the latest thing, rebelling in the latest fashion, having a baby, getting married, going to a party, going on a journey, running a marathon, painting a picture or taking a photograph.....so are a million other people.

10. We will not let facebook become another person living in our homes, and will continue, in fact, to be

Not on facebook.

Christian Response to Disaster

From the Calgary Herald website, August 20^th, 2013, quoting a volunteer who helped with the June 2013 flood clean-up in Bowness, Calgary:

“The Red Cross is great at what they do and they raise a lot of money, but organizations like Samaritan’s Purse were the ones who were organized and getting the real work done — they were amazing.”

As I write this, Samaritan’s Purse and the Rapid Response Team is deploying to Boulder, Colorado. Thank you, Samaritan’s Purse and the Rapid Response Team for all you do in the name of Jesus and for often being the first to respond. 

“We always thank God for all of you and continually mention you in our prayers. We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.”

1 Thessalonians 1:2-3

The Knowledge of God

Quote for the day:


"But at least consider who God is, and as you consider God, expect to find fallacies in your thinking." 
Edward T. Welch, Heart of the Matter: Daily Reflections for Changing Hearts and Lives

"We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God..." 2 Corinthians 10:5a

"Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord." 2 Peter 1:2