A mark of spiritual maturity

 

 Have you ever had someone you trusted and admired tell you about a speaker of whom he or she either thought highly or poorly?  Perhaps it colored your thinking of that one's lesson, even if only subconsciously.  Have you ever had someone speak ill of a person, castigating their character or maligning their motives?  Maybe, whether it was apparent to you or not, it influenced your view of that person.  We human beings can have such an influence on one another.  Our view and estimation of someone or something can be an overlay over another person's point of view.  That has powerful potential for good or evil.  

Each of us has an obligation to think for ourselves, to evaluate people, preaching, programs, positions, problems, and the like.  It is intellectual laziness to let another do our thinking for us.  All individuals deserve to be evaluated by us based on what we observe first-hand.  

It seems the Jews who dogged Paul's missionary steps were trying to "poison the water" in every place Paul went (Acts 14:2,19;17:5). Demetrius did this to Paul in Macedonia (Acts 19:24ff). Paul wrote 2 Corinthians, in part, to dispel the untrue reports made against him that tainted some of the brethren's view of him.  What drove these men to try so hard to destroy Paul's work and influence?  It does not matter.  It was indefensible behavior.

It is a mark of spiritual maturity for one to ignore the gossip, slander, and smearing of another.  Each person is owed the charity of our unprejudiced acceptance before we draw our own conclusions.  It is an exercise in which we would wish others to engage when considering us.  May we have the grace to return the kindness (Luke 6:31).

 

Neal Pollard    

 

 

FREE daily devotional app for any smartphone - just go to https://market.android.com/details?id=com.abiblecommentary.devotionals to get it!

For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when He shall come in His own glory and in His Father’s, and of the holy angels

                                           "Humans are the only creatures that blush,

                                                   and the only ones that need to."

                                                                                            Mark Twain

My topic for discussion today centers on the terms "shame" and "ashamed" and I just thought the above old wheeze of Mark Twain's was appropriate to this topic. But, he wasn't the only well-known person to say something relating to humans and their expressions. Another famous man once wrote that "of all expressions, blushing seems to be the most strictly human." Surprisingly, that was said by Charles Darwin. (Yes - that Charles Darwin)

As regular readers of my editorial efforts, you've no doubt deduced by now that I write from time to time about things that tend to bother or worry me. Well, today is no different and this particular worry deals with both our individual and societal "shame." Or, perhaps I should say, our lack of it.

You can look up the definition of blushing and you'll find a lot of causes for human blushing, usually in some high-falutin' medical terminology that says things like it being an "involuntary" reaction that reflects some sort of anxiety or fear. That's all well and good, but I'm just going to define it as an outward expression of something that our minds recognize as being embarrassing or of something we've done that violates our conscience. (And I'll save "conscience" for a later editorial).

And many times we blush because we're "ashamed" of something we've either done or did not do that we should have done. But, you know what? Studies have shown that, like conscience, blushing can be trained to not show after we've become enured to feeling "shame" if we continually do things that affect our conscience. In other words, we become so used to this violation that it no longer bothers us when we do it.

Furthermore, I believe that answers a common question that we hear uttered from time to time - "Have you no shame?" I'm afraid that much of the time the answer to that question is "No" we don't have any shame anymore. And that gets right to the basis of my prior statement about things that bother or worry me. I just don't think that a lot of our society is "ashamed" anymore by its conduct and behavior.

In reality, when you look at, or read about, some of the things going on in our society like lewd and lascivious lifestyles, unwed and pregnant high school girls, same-sex marriage and any other type of aberrant behavior, the participants in this sort of activity seem to be proud of their actions. They almost wear it like a merit badge, so to speak.

Would you like to know why this is? Well, if you read on you'll learn my take, my explanation, as to the root cause of there being no "shame" in much of our society. It seems to me that over the last 5 or so decades our society has become "enlightened" and I don't mean that in a good or progressive way.

The sad thing about our "enlightened" society is that it sees itself as being "progressive" but, in the manner of becoming more acceptive of what I earlier referred to as "aberrant behavior." We saw the early stages of the "enlightenment" when the phrase "I'm OK - you're OK" came into vogue. IE: Whatever "our" lifestyle or behavior may be - it's acceptable.

Acceptable to who? Only to a society that looks to itself (IE: man) for direction in morals, ethics and knowledge of what's right and wrong. Here is where we get to my belief as to the cause of our national lack of "shame." And that belief is simply that, as a nation and a society, we've removed ourselves so far from God and His precepts that we no longer have a valid basis for knowing what's right or wrong.

Brethren, there is a price to pay for this removal of God and any mention of Him or His Word from society's knowledge. From the beginning of this nation, the laws of God, His precepts and principles, have been the basis of our societal laws and mores. We've gradually moved away from Him, seemingly more rapidly in the last 5 or so decades, and it stands to reason that not only have the behavioral standards of society not "progressed," they've gone just the opposite direction - they've "regressed." Yes, we're paying the price for our "enlightenment" and I'm afraid that we'll continue to pay even more as long as the Lord allows this earth to exist.

Allow me to provide you some Biblical passages to our thoughts here that I feel are applicable to our subject matter today. I worry that we just might have reached the state that ancient Israel once reached where it's reported in Judges 17:6 that "....every man did that which was right in his own eyes." I ask you, isn't this what our society is now doing? Whatever it wants to do, morally speaking, and thinking that it's "right in its own eyes?" I see it as fitting to this picture.

When I think about the lack of "shame" exhibited by this society today, I'm reminded of a question asked by one of Job's buddies, Zophar, the Naamathite, in the 11^th chapter of Job, verse 3. I think his question shines a spotlight on our lack of societal "shame" and the reason that we're in serious lack of it. He asks, "When thou mockest, shall no man make thee ashamed?"

In today's society, I'm afraid that the answer to Zophar's question is: No, I think that we've succeeded in removing God so much from our national picture, that there is no one now able to make people feel ashamed. And that, my friend, is a sad liturgy relating to where our society stands in regards to shameful conduct. There just isn't much there anymore that brings "shame" or causing "blushing."

In closing my thought today, let me speak to one other worry that I see emanating from the effect of society on individuals. We have entertainers, commentators and people in high places mocking God and those who "believe." I worry that we'll let these people influence us into avoiding speaking out against our lack of "shame." That we'll be "ashamed" to stand up and protest this digression of our society away from God. Let me just leave you with two passages that we need to remember when we consider this subject.

                "For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him

                 shall the Son of man be ashamed, when He shall come in His own

                 glory and in His Father's, and of the holy angels." Luke 9:26

 

                "...and they shall not be ashamed that wait for me." Isa. 49:23

Ron Covey

Children First Foundation

Emmanuel Kelly and his brother, Ahmed, of Melbourne, Australia, were born in
the middle of a war zone in the country of Iraq. The two boys were
abandoned by their parents and found in a shoe box in a park in Baghdad.
They were both born with severe limb deficiencies. They were taken to an
orphanage in Iran.

Amazingly, Moira Kelly of Australia, director of Children First Foundation,
came in contact with the two little boys, brought them back to Australia for
some surgeries, and later adopted them.

Flash forward several years to August, 2011, when Emmanuel, age 17,
auditioned for the television talent show, "The X Factor - Australia."
Despite the disadvantaged start to his life, Emmanuel's life story and his
grand performance left many of the judges in tears and the audience on its
feet in thundering applause. He wowed the judges and audience with his
heartfelt performance of John Lennon's Imagine.

You may view his performance at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=W86jlvrG54o&

From the bleakest of circumstances to instant stardom, Emmanuel's life story
is quite astounding and inspiring, and it illustrates another "Factor" that
can bless our lives greatly.

Due to our own wrong choices, our sin left us in dire circumstances:
spiritually lame and left for dead. We could cry out with the Apostle Paul:
"O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?"
(Romans 7:24).

But Someone loved us so much that He came a great distance - from Heaven to
Earth - to save us! God loves us so much that He gave His Only Son to come
to us, experience life with all of its trials and temptations, and then to
die on the cross to pay the price for our sins and give us the abundant life
now and eternal life to come (John 3:16; 10:10; Ephesians 1:7).

He (the Son of God) was called "Immanuel," which means, "God with us"
(Matthew 1:23).

In order to accept His offer of life and salvation, we must: place our faith
and trust in Jesus (Acts 16:30-31), turn from our sins in repentance (Acts
17:30-31), confess Jesus before men (Romans 10:9-10), and be baptized
(immersed) into Christ for the forgiveness of our sins (Acts 2:38; 22:16).

When it comes to our salvation, Jesus Christ is "The X Factor," for if we
will submit our lives to Him, He will save us from sin and, one day, will
take us home to live with Him for an eternity (see John 14:1-6).

Won't YOU accept His offer on His terms?

David A. Sargent

Snooz Alarms

Alarms come in many forms, alarm clocks, tornado sirens, earthquake
warnings, fire alarms, seatbelt alarms, backup alarms on our vehicles; we
are surrounded by alarms in one form or another. Alarms are something that
we find very necessary, yet, we often hate it when we hear them.

Last night I had an alarm on my cell phone go off at three o'clock in the
morning. I had set it the week before to wake me up for a trip I was making
and forgot to turn it off. I was somewhat unhappy, when I woke up and
couldn't figure out where the noise was coming from. It stopped and I went
back to bed, but about one minute later it started going off again and I
discovered its source that time, (the purpose of the alarm in the first
place).

This week there have been fires raging around us and the authorities had
sent out warnings (alarms) to be ready to evacuate many homes. I was on an
airplane this week and they had various warning chimes (alarms) going off to
get your attention for one instruction or another.

That's the purpose of alarms isn't it, to get your attention! They often do
their job far better than we would like at they time the alarm is going off.
Because of that we problem solving humans have invented a device known as
the "snooze alarm button". If we really aren't ready for the event (such as
getting out of bed), we just push the snooze alarm button and it allows us
to snooze (sleep) a little longer.

The problem with that snooze alarm is that some folks rely heavily upon it
and not the real alarm. They do this so much that they tend to ignore alarms
completely and really believe that they will have extra time to snooze until
they are ready to react.

Sadly, I've known far too many people who base their relationship to God on
the snooze alarm system. They readily ignore the alarm or warning God has
given and when the time comes for action it will be too late. Proverbs
23:30-34 gives us this warning: "I walked by the field of a lazy person, the
vineyard of one with no common sense. I saw that it was overgrown with
nettles. It was covered with weeds, and its walls were broken down. Then, as
I looked and thought about it, I learned this lesson: A little extra sleep,
a little more slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest; then poverty
will pounce on you like a bandit; scarcity will attack you like an armed
robber." (NLT)

Poverty can be more than just a lack of money and things; it can also be
spiritual poverty. I know that many people believe they have lots of time to
prepare to meet God, but what if you don't? I've presided at funerals for
far too many people who thought they had more time. How many times to you
push the snooze alarm in your life before it's too late?

Notice what Peter writes in 2 Peter 3:9-10, "The Lord isn't really being
slow about his promise, (to come back in judgment, rl), as some people
think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be
destroyed, but wants everyone to repent. But the day of the Lord will come
as unexpectedly as a thief. Then the heavens will pass away with a terrible
noise, and the very elements themselves will disappear in fire, and the
earth and everything on it will be found to deserve judgment."

How many more times do you want to chance hitting the snooze alarm?

Russ Lawson

Audio sermons on twitter

The "audio sermon podcast" is available for twitter users at http://twitter.com/#!/audiosermons

 

Commentaryonthebible.com

offers free "sermon podcasts" that are now part of "friendfeed." 

 

If you would like to subscribe to the RSS service from "friendfeed," visit http://friendfeed.com/commentaryonthebible.

Avoiding Danger

Avoiding danger
by Michael E. Brooks

"For the love of money is a root of all
kinds of evil, for which some have strayed
from the faith in their greediness, and
pierced themselves through with many
sorrows. But you, O man of God, flee these
things and pursue righteousness, godliness,
faith, love, patience, gentleness" (1
Timothy 6:10-11).

Occasionally in Nepal I have traveled into the high
mountains to visit churches in remote villages. On one
such trip my guide pointed out a spot on the path from
which a Nepali had fallen to his death just a few days
earlier.

I guess he could tell from my expression that I was a
little surprised that a normally very sure-footed
Nepali would fall from a place where I was passing
without particular difficulty. He assured me, "He did
not fall from the path; he was out on the side of the
mountain trying to pick a wildflower for one of the
tourists."

In other words, he had left the relatively secure path
and gone to a place that was much more dangerous. Not
surprisingly he paid a terrible price for the risk he
took.

That incident reminds me forcefully of many people's
unnecessary exposure to sin and temptation. They leave
the fellowship of faithful Christians for the pleasure
of worldly companions.

They neglect the spiritual environment of the Church,
preferring that of a material nature. Not content with
God's rich blessings, they seek the treasures of this
world. Trusting their ability to not go too far, they
flirt with danger, heedless of the risk they are
taking. Tragically many fall to their spiritual deaths.

Paul warned the young evangelist Timothy, "Flee these
things." Stay away from greed and the love of money.
Don't get near them. Remain safe while you pursue
righteousness and godliness. There you will be firmly
planted on solid ground, in little danger of falling.

Elsewhere he commanded, "Flee idolatry" (1 Corinthians
10:14), and "Flee sexual immorality" (1 Corinthians
6:18). Again he said to Timothy, "Flee also youthful
lusts" (2 Timothy 2:22).

Whatever the temptation, the Christians safest position
is to be removed as far from it as possible. If one
wants to avoid a fatal fall, let him stay away from the
edge of the mountain. The closer one gets to the
precipice, the more danger in which he finds himself.

This is one appropriate application of Paul's well
known statement, "Abstain from every form of evil" (1
Thessalonians 5:22). He obviously meant that Christians
should do nothing that is evil in any way.

Not only should we avoid all kinds of sin, but we
should avoid sin in every degree. What man may consider
a "small sin," hardly worthy of the name, may lead to
some evil which is far more significant.

Of course, God does not consider any sin "small" or of
no importance.

When walking in the mountains, it often seems as if
every pretty flower one would like to pick is just out
of reach from the path, requiring us to venture out
onto the rocks and cliffs.

So it is with worldly pleasures. If we seek rewards and
satisfaction from the things of the flesh, we will
always be in danger of sin. Only when we pursue
righteousness, and trust in God, will we be safe.

----
Read this article online, write your reaction, and
read others' comments as well. Click here:
http://forthright.net/2011/09/10/avoiding-danger/

You can help get the word out. Here's how:
http://forthright.net/help/

--
To subscribe to Forthright Magazine, send ANY message to
forthright-join@associate.com

To unsubscribe to Forthright, send ANY message to
forthright-leave@associate.com

Please do not reply to this email. Replies will not be read.
Use the links to the online articles for comments and questions.
Subscriptions are the responsibility of the subscriber. Please
use the easy instructions above. We do not *ever* manually
subscribe or unsubscribe anyone, for your protection and ours.

Luke 22:61

 

One of the hardest verses for me to read is Luke 22:61.

 

And the Lord turned and looked at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how He had said to him, "Before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times." (NKJV)

 

Only moments before, Peter was boldly proclaiming that he would follow Jesus anywhere even if it meant to prison or death. However, life had gotten in the way of that grand claim.

 

That verse always comes to mind when I catch myself wanting the praise of people more than God. He watches when I fail to love like I should or forgive when I should. He sees when I spend too much time and thought on things that don't matter.

 

But even though there are times when I find shame and disappointment in that short verse, I also take comfort at his closeness. The son of God knows me better than I know myself.

 

He knows how I'll react to any given situation because he has been with me from my beginning. He was in that small Illinois hospital. He saw the first smile, heard that first giggle, and witnessed my first steps.

 

He cares for me, a woman still trying to figure out life and understand Scripture and him, a Savior responsible for both. I'm weak and sinful. He's perfect and spotless. Too often, I fail at dying to self and stumble in front of the one who was dead, but rose from the grave.

 

I'm a mess. He's mighty. At times, I seem to have more questions than answers. Yet the one who knows it all loves me, anyway. He's sees my frustration with others when I feel like I'm being shortchanged or labeled. He knows my struggles with pride, impatience, and apathy.

 

He sees all of our weaknesses, knows our faults, and still through them all, adores us anyway. He doesn't need us in his Kingdom. He wants us there.

 

I look forward to the day when I'll be the one watching him. It's then when we all will have the opportunity to thank him for never letting us go, never leaving our side, and always loving us anyway.

 

Won't it be grand to finally be able to tell him face to face?

 

--Paula Harrington

 

---- Read this article online, write your reaction, and read others' comments as well. Click here: http://forthright.net/2011/09/01/unworthy/