The simply complex Lord's Prayer

 Most Christians know The Lord's Prayer. As a refresher, from the King James (KJV)

(Matthew 6:9-15) "After this manner therefore pray ye: 

Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the Kingdom, and the power, and the glory for ever. Amen 

Probably you are like me, you bow your head, shut your eyes and begin, "Our Father, .." and the rest flows smoothly across our lips. A former pastor of mine would close his prayer by saying, "These things we pray in the name of Jesus, who taught us to pray saying, 'Our Father, ..." And the congregration would finish The Lord's Prayer. And we felt good about that!

Now understand, I have no problem with The Lord's Prayer. I am concerned we say it so routinely, we tend to dismiss the significance of the prayer; we say the words without thinking too closely to their meaning. Certainly thousands of sermons have been preached about the meaning of each phrase in the prayer. It is not my intention to repeat those sermons. But it struck me one evening, there are a few details in the Prayer we don't think about. Below are four of those details.

Personal or Corporate?

It seems almost blasphemous to say this, but The Lord's Prayer does not seem to be a personal prayer. It seems to be a corporate or group prayer. Notice the wording (the italics are mine); Our Father, give us, our daily, forgive us, as we, forgive our, lead us, deliver us. It seems my former pastor was on solid theological ground when he asked us to repeat The Lord's Prayer as a group prayer. 

Also in Matthew (6:6-8, 6:14-15) Jesus does instruct his disciples in prayer using the personal pronoun you. For example, "But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father ..." If I may speculate, I suspect Jesus wants us to pray on behalf of all those who call Him Lord. When I am praying The Lord's Prayer, I am praying for you and you and even you.

The prayer model is excellent as a personal prayer as well, I suggest you say, "My Father, who art in Heaven, Hallowed be thy Name. Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven. Give me this day my daily bread. And forgive me my debts as I forgive my debtors. And lead me not into temptation, but deliver me from evil: For thine is the Kingdom and the power, and the glory forever. Amen. This is not The Lord's Prayer, but I think it catches the meaning on a personal level.

Thanks for God's gifts

I have heard more prayers thanking God for His blessing than I have asking God to give us our daily necessities. It comes naturally to thank someone when they give us something. Especially when God gives  us something. We thank God for our food, for healing, for safety, for health for our salvation, and His presence in our lives. And this is as it should be!

But Jesus did not include a phrase in His prayer offering any thanks to God. Nothing! It would be a mistake to think Jesus did not want you to be thankful or that He wasn't thankful. There are numerous reference to times when Jesus thanked God. Matthew 14:16-21, Matthew 26:26-27, John11:41, Matthew 11:25. But not in the model prayer! Why? 

I am not a theologian so I am only guessing, so here goes.  The three personal petitions are "Give Me" petitions; give me necessities of life and give me forgiveness and give me protection. They are all asking God for these things because these are things people can not provide for themselves. Only God has the power to grant these petitions. We can not give God anything! He doesn't need anything from us, He only gives. God does not need our thanks! For us to give God our thanks suggests we have some power to give God something He can't provide for Himself. Thus to give thanks to God suggest we are on a somewhat equal plane with God. 

This is not to suggest we shouldn't be thankful for all the blessings God gives us.

The only conditional phrase 

Jesus didn't tell us to pray "give us this day our daily bread, because we give daily bread to others." Neither did Jesus say "lead us not into temptation because I have not tempted others," You get the point, these petitions are not conditioned on our doing anything else. Except for this one, "Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.". This was important enough for Jesus to expound on it in Matthew 6:14 and 15. "For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: but if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses." Other translation use words like debts, or sins, or offenses. In another passage Jesus touches on the same theme. Your treatment by God is based on hold you treat other people. 

Jesus warns people not to be casual in judging other people. (Matthew 7:1-5)  "Do not judge, so that you won't be judged. For you will be judged by the same standard with which you judge others, and you will be measured by the same standard measure you use." Note this does not say to not judge period. It sets a standard for judging. When you judge, you must use the same standard to judge others as you want to be used to judge you. (Forgive us our debts (sins) as we forgive others their sins against us). Maybe I can give an example that is popular in today’s climate. It is popular to condemn homosexual people. (In my day, the popular sin to use to condemn others was sex before marriage. In an earlier era, the popular sin to condemn was alcoholism.") But this is the meaning of Matthew 7:1+, If you  condemn people for the popular sin of the day because, it says it is a sin in the Bible, then be prepared to be condemned yourself because there are a good many sins listed in the Bible for which you can be condemned.    

"Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors."

For Thine is the Kingdom and the power and the glory forever. 

I know this is in the King James Version of the Bible out of which most of us learned The Lord's Prayer. But frankly the translators in 1611 made a mistake. It is not part of older transcripts of Matthew. The KJV translators assumed they had the most ancient manuscripts and they didn't. Honest mistake! But hey I like the ending and will probably continue using it , but it is not what Jesus taught in Matthew.

Hope this helps you understand The Lord's Prayer. It is simple and complex. But so is life!

God Bless You! 

 

What's Love Got To Do With It?

 We all know the bible verses found in Matthew and in Mark where Jesus is asked, "Which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" Jesus replies, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and  with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment." This is the response you would expect from Jesus. It is the response his listeners would expect, any other answer would have been blasphemous. Jewish leaders who heard this would not have been able to argue with Jesus response. 

But then Jesus went beyond the original question and said something not so obvious to the crowd. He said, "And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." This second commandment was not so obvious to his listeners. And truthfully, it is not so obvious to us today!

We can understand the first commandment; it may be hard to quantify and thus hard to really do. But we, at least, understand the idea and strive to obey it. But the second commandment involves other people and this is not hard to quantify. These other people include our family, our neighbors, those who love us. Sure we can and do love them. Jesus recognized our natural love for those who love us. In fact he states the obvious when he said, "If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even the pagans do that? Yes He know how we are and he wants more from us!

There are a few clues in the Bible to tell us what this love of others really means. The first is in Matthew where he says, "Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you..." Now that is not easy, in fact, it is hard, almost impossible! But that is what he said. If you want to obey the second commandment, you must love those who don't love you even those who hate you! Don't just love them, pray for them!   

Maybe the next clue to loving your neighbor will be easier. Jesus taught, "Do not judge, or you will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use; it will be measured to you." Put in another way, You must use the same standard for judging your neighbor as you would want your neighbor to use when judging you! That is harsh. Assume my neighbor stole money from a local charity. If I condemn him without knowing the reasons he stole the money, I am giving him the right to judge me for stealing from the PTA treasury without knowing why I took the money. Love my neighbor as I love myself. Judge my neighbor as I want to be judged. 

The third way to love your neighbor is in the way you treat those who are in need. For this go to First John the third chapter and the seventeenth verse. John the Apostle writes, "If anyone has material possessions and see his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?" Notice, John does not set any qualifying conditions on the person in need. He does not mention why the person is in need. He does not say to see if the person is able to work, or is in real need. Jesus also talks about this giving to those in need in Matthew 25:31-46. In this passage ay judgement day, people are separated into sheep and goats. The sheep gave to those in need while the goats did not. In verse 45, Jesus says to the goats, "I tell you truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me." Read the full passage to see those Jesus sees in need.

Love for those who inhabit this world can be complicated or it can be easy. Love and pray for those who you love as well as those you hate. Be loving in your judgment of others, give them the same benefit of the doubt as you would want for yourself. Be conscience of and eager to help those in need. By helping, you are loving them.

What does love have to do with it? Everything! Love the Lord your God and Love your neighbor as yourself. 

How's your anchor?

The temperature was unseasonably warm. On the open seas, you noticed the weather more than usual. And you did not want to hear "unseasonably warm" in regard to the weather especially in the North Atlantic. Low winds and high humidity and higher than normal water temperature were the ingredients for bad weather, really bad weather!

The first mate remaindered Captain Thomas, "Cap'n, winds calm. We ain't moving. You thinkin what I'm thinkin?"

"Probably", the Captain responded.

"Think, we can run it, sir?"

"Expect not. We're too heavy after loading in Boston. These ships not really built for speed."

"What ya gonna do, Cap'n?" The experienced first mate knew what he would do. "But", he wondered, "does this young inexperienced captain know what to do?" 

Then to the grizzled old sailor's surprise, the young buttoned down Captain turned to him and said, "What do you think we should do, Mate? You've been here before."

"Were it up to me, Sir, I'd steer toward the bay off the starboard. We need to get close enough for the anchor to grab hold, but not too close."

"Don't want to run aground, right?"

"No Sir, Cap'n."

"Well, get the boys going and let's run for cover."

"Yes Sir", the mate replied as he rushed out to bellowed his orders to the crew.

The ship made it to the bay and put down their anchor before the storm hit. The winds tossed  the ship around. Waves washed over the deck sweeping everything not tied down into the angry sea. Black surrounded the tiny ship as brilliant lightning zipped through the darkness. Mother nature seem angry this evening!

But the anchor held through the night!

Weeds and Thorns

Are you a gardener? I am not, I will readily admit. One season, in a fit of enthusiasm, I purchased some tomato seeds and planted them in small containers. They were put in sunny spot and watered regularly. I told everyone to be ready for my Big Boy tomatoes. As they grew, I eagerly staked them and watched over them like a mother hen. One day, I checked on my baby tomatoes and discovered some other plants were taking over my tomatoes crop. I spent the rest of the summer until harvest time, on my knees grumbling as I pulling weeds. I would pull a mess of weeds and two days later more showed up. My persistence payed off that fall with some juicy bright red tomatoes. And Yes, I will plant them again. Even with the hard work those tomatoes cost me, they were worth it! Your own tomatoes taste juicier than those grown for the grocery store and they are better for you. Truth be told, it is a lot more fun bragging about your own tomatoes than those bought at Kroger! 

Isn’t that a bit like growing the seeds God plants in our lives? We receive the Word with enthusiasm and eagerly anticipated the harvest. But somewhere along the way, the weeds and thorns begin to grow in our lives and become a threat to the growth of the Word. You just can't stand by and expect your faith to grow. It becomes obvious, looking at your faith is not the same as growing your faith. In fact, if you don't go something there is a real risk your faith may not grow at all!

The weeds of life bring a harsh reality to growing your faith. Those weeds spring up in to the most unexpected places. Your attend a gathering when across the room you spot the one person you dislike the most. The one who hurt you greatly. The one who caused the most pain you have ever experienced. There they are laughing and joking as if they are throwing the hurt right back at you. They are so smug. You feel the pain and hurt as if it happened only yesterday. Your face turns red, your nostrils flare, your fist clinch. Just as you are about to charge forward with every intention of showing them  what you think about them, you are stopped by a still small voice, a quite intruder muttering the words you least want to hear, "Love your neighbor as yourself", "Love your enemies", "Love, love, love persist in your mind".

Love Lifted Me

I've listened to sermons in big churches and in small churches for a good number of years. I've heard some of the best preachers Christianity has to offer. I've even preached a few sermons myself. But you know something - I do not remember any of them! I could not quote any of those sermons even those I preached. This lack of memory is a not a result of my advancing age, as my wife suggests, or my diminished mental capacity or my inattention during the sermons. I suspect I have a lot company.

However, there are some things I remember quite well. There are good Christian beliefs which come easily to mind, often seemingly "out of the blue". The brain is minding it's own business when out of the blue, something pertaining to God and Jesus and the Holy Spirit interrupts.

The other day I was walking my dog Lilly when this popped into my frontal lobe.
   
     Love lifted me, when nothing else could help, Love lifted me.
     I was sinking deep in sin, far from the distant shore,
     Very deeply stained within, sinking to rise no more,
     But the Master of the sea lifted me, heard my despairing cry
     From the waters lifted me. Now safe am I
     Love lifted me, Love lifted me.

 That isn't from a sermon I heard. It isn't from scripture I read and studied. It's from a hymn, a hymn written in the early, early 1900's, It was copyrighted in 1912, but was written and sung years before. The scriptural basis for the hymn is Matthew 14:22-32. I am positive there have been numerous sermons on this passage, but I only remember "Love lifted me". What better reminder of God's love for those of us who are deep in our sin? If you could only remember one thing about God's love, why not this old hymn?

Build your house on a rock

Okay, I know Paul wrote in Ephesians and in Romans we are saved by faith and not by works. Here is the passage just in case you missed it.

"For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God's gift - not from works, so that no one can boast." (Eph 2:8-9 HCSB)

What a relief! All we have to do is have faith; faith that Jesus death on the cross is the payment for our sins. Jesus made us righteous before God. Seems so simple and really easy, right? But in the back recesses of our mind, it doesn't seem fair, does it? Jesus suffered and was crucified and all we have to do is believe He died for us. Just believe! Oh well that's what the man said. Now we can go on with our lives, occasionally thanking God for His love and His grace.

And then someone hits us with this bombshell,

"Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will likem him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock..." (Matthew 7:24 27 KJV) (Italics are mine)

How do you like the Old English words from King James? Laugh as we will at the old English, we can not laugh away the meaning of this parable from Jesus. Simply, everyone who hears what Jesus has been saying and does them will be counted wise. I knew it! There is more to this than just believing and getting along with our lives. We do have to do something. Frankly, that is just fine with me; I want to do something, I expect to do something. I am eager to find out what these things are so I can get on with doing them.

Okay, let's look at a few "do's" in no particular order.

"Don't worry about our life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. ...For idolaters eager seek these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteous, and all these things will be provided for you. Therefore don't worry about tomorrow,...." (Matthew 6:25-34 NIV)

Can you really not worry? How are you going to pay the bills, put food on the table, keep a roof over your head? You can't just forget those things, can you? But Jesus tells you to not worry about those things, God will take care of you. Jesus tells you to seek the Kingdom of God first and foremost. Can you in all honesty do that?

Another "do".

Faith vs Works, a Christian tug of War!

One of the lingering questions among Christians is the struggle between being saved by faith alone verses the necessity of doing good works for your salvation.

The Apostle Paul was very emphatic that a person is saved by faith. He writes about salvation by grace through faith in several places. From Ephesus, around 60 AD, Paul wrote Ephesians a letter meant to be circulated throughout the early church. In the second Chapter he wrote, "For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God's gift - not from works, so that no one can boast." (Eph 2:8-9 HCSB) This is a repeat of Paul's earlier statements in his letter to the Romans written in 57 AD. The dates are important because they are among the earliest writings of the New Testament. The Jewish Paul was converted to this new understanding of the relationship with God on the road from Jerusalem to Damascus when he was confronted by the risen Jesus. This experience is normally dated to AD 33-36. Since his birth is estimated to have been in 5 AD, he would have been around the age of 28-31. These dates are also important as they indicate Paul was able to talk with many of the men and women who knew Jesus when he walked the hills and valleys of Israel and Judah. With the guidance of the Holy Spirit and the influence of Jesus contemporaries Paul developed his understanding of what it meant to be a believer of Jesus Christ. So his statements bare the ring of authority. His understanding was that a person could not work his or her way into God's good graces and thus have eternal life with the Father. But God was willing to grant sufficient grace to those who believed the sacrifice of Jesus erased all barriers to the Godly relationship.

Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord...

I'll bet most of you can repeat the rest of this nighttime prayer. Unfortunately this is as far as a lot of folks get in their prayer time. There are probably as many reasons for not praying as there are people who need to pray.

For some, prayer is foreign to them because they don't have a belief in God. For others, they believe in a God, but they do not believe their God cares enough for them to want to hear for them. Some think God can not possibly hear all the prayers of all the people on earth, there are just to many of us. Or perhaps they feel God is working on other situations much more important than yours. Maybe, they are like me, I just didn't know how to pray! I’ve been around men who gave long inspirational prayers; they covered all the bases, invoked the name of Jesus and God in the same prayer. When they finished, you wanted to give them a standing ovation. But for me, these prayers were validation I didn't know how to pray. I did not want to offend God with my awkward prayer. So I didn't pray.

Over the years, I have learned a few things about prayer. My prayer life has improved steadily. My relationship with God has improved. I feel better about talking to God. There are two passages in the scriptures which have been instrumental in improving my prayer life.

The Golden Verse of the Bible

I think it is safe to say, in our modern culture we demand brevity. We don"t like long books; baseball games are too long; we criticize our preachers if they preach over thirty minutes. We don't like long winded speakers or sales presentations or negotiations. The head of a company to whom I was making a presentation say, "Stop, tell me in ten words or less, 'What is your point?'"

The task of reading the Bible through requires a great deal of patience particularly when you get to books like Leviticus and Deuteronomy with all those laws and rules. Half way through you want to plead with God, "What's the point? Can you tell me in as few words as possible?"

Brevity has another benefit, perhaps it's most beneficial. Once in our history, people, having few books, committed things to memory; family linage, historical events, important documents, anything worthy of remembering. With the advent of the printing press, these things could be written and copied and recorded and saved. There was not need for memorization. Frankly, our attention span grew shorted. We no longer memorized long passages; brevity became the key to memorization.

So, you ask, what does all this have to do with the title of this article? In God's infinite wisdom, the problem is solved by the inclusion of a single verse in the Bible which is short and to the point and is easy to memorize.  That verse I call the Golden Verse of the Bible. It is in John 3:16.

I just do not understand.

I have to admit, there are things about God and Jesus and the Bible that I just do not understand. I am not saying these things are wrong, I just have trouble with them. Maybe my problem Is I do not know enough about the Bible. One of my Bible study guys said, "Everything you want to know is in the Bible." He may be right, but I still do not understand some things..

I do not understand, "Why the Jews?". Presumably God could have chosen a group of people from the vast area we call China or maybe from India or Europe or even the Americas. There were people in those areas. Why not there; why not a group of people from one of those other places? Why Abraham? Why Issac and Jacob? And on a related subject, once the people who would later be called Jews were chosen to receive God's attention, what about all the other people in the earth? Did God abandon them? Did basically say to Chinese ancestors, "Sorry guys, you lost out on receiving my favor. You are on your own. I'll see you in 4000 years when I send missionaries to tell you about Jesus." 

I need a Burning Bush

What does God want me to do? I am willing to follow in His will, but I am at a loss to know what His will for my life is. Do I stay in my current job or look for another? Do I continue in my current relationship or does God want me to be in a different relationship? I am happy where I am, does God want me to do something else? Where should I live? Where go to school? Stay in this Church or go to another Church? What does He want me to do?

I suspect quite a few of us ask these questions. We love God. We know God loves us and wants the best for us. We really want to do God's will. We want to go where He wants us to go. We want to make decisions pleasing to God. We are willing to sacrifice our treasuries if it is God's will. We are a bit jealous of others who are doing God's work and enjoying it. We want that same joy of doing what God wants us to do.

But...

What is it God wants? Living in Nashville or living in Charleston; dating Judy versus dating Betty; or Bob versus George; being an engineer or being an accountant; staying at my current job or taking another job; all good choices where there is no difference so far as we can see.

Some choices would seem to be obvious. Do I stay in an unhappy marriage or do I leave it and search for happiness alone or with another person? Do I report a wrong in the workplace or do I keep silent? Do I run and hide from trouble or do I stand up against it?

All the choices whether obvious or not so obvious have pros and cons. Maybe God wants me to stay in the unhappy marriage and change the other person, maybe He wants me out of that marriage because He has a better one for me. Maybe God wants me to leave my extended family in Nashville and move to Charleston because He has a person in Charleston who needs to be saved and will listen only to me.

Choices, Choices. What's a Christian to do.  

Your Faith Box; The Sixth Basic Belief: "Conquering Death"

So is that all the new Christian must believe? God is creator of the Universe and all that is in it including humankind. God loves His creation including the humans He created "in His own image". Being in God's image means we are allowed to have free will. God does not direct us or make decisions for us. Humankind has chosen to reject God. We call that rejection of God, sin. Even though we regularly reject a relationship with God by our sins, He continues to pursue us. He continues to want a relationship with us. But having that relationship requires a way to wipe out the sins that come between us and God. God originally instituted a system of blood sacrifices as a way for us to receive the forgiveness of our sins. When that method proved unworkable, God developed another method. God's plan includes providing a perfect sacrifice for the forgiveness of our sins. This forgiveness is available to all who chose to accept it. the sacrifice needed to be a perfect sacrifice of something so valuable it would cover the sins of all the people who ever lived, the sins of people living at the time and the sins of all people who would live afterwards. That perfect sacrifice was Jesus. By the blood shed at His death on the cross, all the sins of the world were forgiven. all we need do to receive this forgiveness is believe in the name of Jesus and accept His sacrifice.

But is that all there is to the story? 

Your Faith Box Series: The Fifth Basic Foundation Belief: God's Plan

That last post was depressing! We are all sinners and that sin keep us separated from God. The truly depressing part is there is nothing we can do about it. Not a thing! Left of our own, we are destined to leave this physical life and spend eternity separated from God with no hope or chance to ever get back in His good graces. We will spend eternity with all others who, like us, were sinners in their physical life and never bridged that gap existing between themselves and God.

But there is good news! God does not want us to be separated from Him. In fact He wants us to be a son or daughter in His family. It is reasonable to ask if God wants us so bad why doesn't he just say we are forgiven of all these sins? If He spoke the universe into being and if He loves us so much, why can't he just speak us into his family? Better yet, why does He even want us to be separated from Him in the first place?

It all goes back to the nature of sin. Sin separates us from God and we are the ones who sin. If it were up to God, we would enjoy His presence in our lives and us in His life. That's what He envisioned in the beginning with the creation of Adam and Eve. But, and this is critical, Adam and Eve chose to separate themselves from God by disobeying His commandment. Read the account of that first disobedience in Genesis. Notice in your reading, God did not forgive them. He punished them. This is a basic principle, sin must be punished. That punishment for us is separation from God.

Fortunately, God put a plan into place to bridge that gap caused by our sin. That gap can be closed by a blood sacrifice. The first blood sacrifices were those made by the Jews in the desert after their deliverance from Egypt. The Jewish exiles were instructed to offer a blood sacrifice annually for the forgiveness of their sins. That sacrifice was a perfect animal; perfect bodily and innocent. That practice continued for through the entrance to the promised land, through the time of the prophets, through David's time and though the conquest of the Jews by the Babylonians. When the Jews were allowed to return to their ancestral homes, they rebuild the temple and re-instituted the practice of a blood sacrifice annually for the forgiveness of sins. At the time of Jesus, an annual blood sacrifice was still required.

Your Faith Box Series: The Fifth Basic Foundation: "...he sent his only begotten Son.."

Now would seem a good time to review our faith box contents. We have committed four realities to our faith box which are basis to our Christianity.

1. There is a supreme being we call God who is the creator of the universe. He is involved in His creation and He loves His created creatures including and especially the Humans who He caused to be created in His own image.

2. God loves his creation. God can not stand to be separated from his creation. God loves you regardless of whether you are lovable or  not, whether you are his enemy or his friend.

3. Your faith box must include the belief God loves you so much, he refuses to give up on you! You can not ignore him enough or reject him enough for him to step away from the pursuing you. In the grand story of God's pursue of his creation, he finally found a different way of reconciliation. He chose to forego his efforts to reconcile a peoples in favor of reconciling individuals to him.

4. We find ourselves in a state of separation from God and we can't do anything to close the gap, to reconcile us to God. We can not do enough good works, feed the poor, cloth the naked, comfort the weak and ill. We can not pray enough or go to Church enough or introduce enough sinners to God or perform miracles or give enough money or give our life for someone else. As noble and righteous as all these things are, they will not save us; they will not reconcile us to God, they will not keep us from receiving the punishment our sins deserve. And the punishment we deserve is death, not physical death, we all are going to physically die, but eternal death. Eternal death is eternal separation from God. That is what we deserve.
The good news is God does not want us to be separated from him. God does not want you to be eternally separated from him. God wants to be reconciled with you.

And He has a Plan!

Your Faith Box: The Fourth Foundation Belief "We can not do it by ourselves"

If you have been around toddlers, you have heard them say, "I can do it myself." It seems to be human nature to achieve something without any help from anyone. In fact, this attitude is not limited to four year old children. The iconic phrase "self made man" is used universality to describe a successful man, or woman for that matter. Politicians, especially those in the campaign season, remind us, "Anyone through hard work can make it to the top. Anyone can be the President." Mothers and fathers of young girls tell them they can do or be anything they want to be. This hard work theme is called in America, the Protestant ethic, but in reality, it is the Universal ethic of Humankind!

With this basic instinct, the young and inexperienced enter adulthood. Yes we enter the physical world with it's demands and trials, it's risk and rewards, it's ups and downs, but we enter it confidently because we believe, "I can do it myself!" While there are exceptions, most of us can do most things for ourselves, at least enough to live in the world. And some individuals can do amazing things most of us could never do.

But, and this is a big but, there is one thing no one can do for themselves. The wealthiest person can not do it, The most powerful man or woman can not do it. A strong willed person will fail when they try to do it. You can not get enough education at any level to do it. It is impossible o do it yourself!

Your Faith Box: The Third Foundation Belief: God will not give up on you

The unfolding story of God's relationship with his creation can be summed in one phrase; relentless pursuit. This is so different from the human experience. Imagine a letter to an advice columnist.

Dear Amy:

I like this girl and want to ask her out. I have tried to make friends with her and it is okay for a while until someone else comes along and she drops me. I send her flowers and she says, "Oh how sweet."and we are friends for a while. But when I ask her out she always has something else to do. I did her homework for her and she says, "Oh how nice." and we are friends for a while. But when I asked her out she can not make it. What should I do?  

Lonesome

What would you advise "Lonesome" to do? I, for one, would tell "Lonesome" to forget this girl, look for someone else who is not so heartless. She had ample opportunity to date you. clearly she is not interested in you. 

But God is not human! He does not operate as we do. To summarize the situation to date. God created the universe and humans. God loves his creations especially humans. God gave us the right to make our own choices and we chose to turn away from God. But God loves us and wants us to have a family relationship with him. So God does all he can to win our voluntary choice to return to him. Unfortunately, we reject his overtures to us. We reject him.

Your Faith Box: The Second Foundation belief, God "loved the world"

Love is a misunderstood word or concept. What is Love? We use "love" in many ways. I love my mother, I love my wife, I love my children, I love my car, I love my work, I love my school, I love my sports team, I love, I love, I love. Is any of this relative to "For God so loved the world..."? Can we truly understand God loving the world, or God loving us? Coming to grips with the idea this great creating and sustaining God actually loving you and me, is absolutely a foundation belief lining your faith box.

Love has a price. If I offered you $1 million for the car you love, would you take? In a heart beat you would take it. What would be the price of others things you love? What would you take for your spouse? or your children? That really is not a far fetched idea, many families are broken because one spouse accepted something in exchange for their family. Families have been broken when one spouse thought a career was more important or an affair was more satisfying, or money could solve any problem or any number of other things. The point is love has a price, something more important than the thing you say you love.

Which of us would give up our life to save our child? I dare say most parents would give their own life to save their child's life. The need to protect our children is embedded in our DNA. In fact it is an animal instinct of the parents to protect the young whether in the animal kingdom or in the human kingdom. Sacrificial love for those we create or for those who love us is natural. Is God's more than that?

Who would give their life for someone they do not know? I am not talking about donating a kidney for a stranger. I am talking about being willing to die so you can donate a heart to someone you do not know. A child, maybe, but a stranger? You want me to let you kill me so a women in Dallas can receive my heart? Whoa!

Your Faith Box: The First Foundation Belief, "For God..."

I have asked many Christians the following question. What is or are the basic essential beliefs of a Christian? Most of the responses are some variation of the familiar scripture in John chapter three where John writes in verses 16 and 17 (do not leave out the critical 17th versus). Let me quote it from the King James Translation, but feel free to read it from other translations.

   "For God so loved the World, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
     For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved."

If I were stricken dead and not able to complete this blog, that verse would stand as my primary faith statement. This is the one truth Christians must be able to affirm in the face of any temptations or challenges Satan might thrown at you even if your life depended on it. Within this statement, complete though it is, we can learn several secondary but essential truths basic to Christian.

First, a Christian acknowledges there is a supreme being we call God. Muslims call that being Allah. Ancient Jews were so in awe of this supreme being they could only spell his name with no consonants, YHWH. There are many other names for God, but they all point to a supreme being, someone or something well beyond the human experience.  There are numerous concepts about this God. In pantheism, God is the universe itself. In atheism, God does not exist, The agnostic sees God as unknowable or unknown. In deism, God is the creator, but not the sustainer of the universe. He built it and then left it on it's own. There are other "isms" about the concept of God, all beyond the scope of this blog, but worth reading about.

Your Faith Box: What is in your faith box?

As a young boy, I had a cigar box I found in my grandfather's basement. Over the years, I began to fill that old box with my "treasures". Even into young adulthood, I added to my box. While the contents of the box were not valuable to anyone but me, they served to remind me of my youth and the events that shaped my life. I had an old knife my grandfather gave me, my Dad's military ribbons, a lock of my first girlfriend's hair, a medal I won in high school, a letter from my Dad, a postcard from a family vacation; nothing of worldly value, but priceless in the story of my life.

I am suggesting you have a box as well. This box, however, should be filled with something more valuable than my cigar box. My box was filled with things. This box should be filled with your ideas. Filled with your beliefs. Filled with the keystones of your faith walk. I call this your Faith Box.

In your faith box are those things you truly and deeply believe. Things you will not disown. Things that guide your life. Things no one can take from you. Have you read the story of a gunman who entered a classroom on a college campus and held the class captive? At one point he asked a student, "Are you a Christian?" When the student answered, "yes", the gunman shot her. While her courage and commitment needs to be celebrated, it is what happened next that speaks volumes about courage.  The gunman turned to a second student and asked the same question. Imagine what goes through a person's mind when they know answer to the question will get them killed. Answering "Yes" would get her killed! What would you do? A lot depends on what is in your Faith Box. She did answer "yes" and was shot. What a testimony to a strong faith, what courage!

So what is in your Faith Box? What do you believe, not what do you think, not what do you feel, not what you hope, but what do you believe; absolutely, unshakable, without a question, believe?

Your Faith Box: Planting in good soil

For your faith to grow and mature and produce a good crop, it must be planted in good soil, soil that provides room to grow, proper nutrients, protection for the weather and resistance to the weeds and thorns seeking to hinder growth and maturity. The new Christian has already provided the soil ready to receive the word. You have accepted Christ as your savior and Lord. Hopefully you have been baptized and have received the Holy Spirit. What more can you do? The first thing you can do is read the Word of God regularly. Find out what the scriptures say about the life you want to build with God.

Luke's gospel 4:1-13 records the story of Jesus temptations by Satan in the wilderness after John had baptized Him. Notice in the story as Satan tempts Jesus, His every response begins with, "It is written,..." Or "It is said.." Jesus knew the wisdom of the prophets and ancient men and women of God; the scriptures. He used the scriptures to rebuke Satan because He knew the scriptures. A new Christian would be wise to know what the scriptures say about God and this new life you want to live.