Peace with God and man...

Peace with God and man...

Jesus is our peace.
Jesus made peace.
Jesus preached peace.

Jesus is our peace. There was a time when the Living God would visit men through the Holy of Holies in the Temple. Only one guy could go in there one time a year. Others could approach from some distance. Jewish men could get the closest. Jewish women the second closest. Everyone else --Gentiles-- could come, but only so close. There was a railing around the Temple complex --the soreg-- that determined how close a Gentile could come to the Temple. Thank God, when Jesus gave up His life on the cross, the veil in the Temple was torn from the top down, signifying it was God who tore it, and God made Himself available to all mankind in equal measure through Jesus. The veil didn't matter; anyone coming through Jesus can have intimacy with God. The soreg didn't matter; Jew and Gentile alike could come, and if any did come to the Father, they did have to come through the Son. Ephesians 2:14 tells us, "For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility" (ESV) Yes, Jesus is our peace with each other. Any who come to Jesus can access the Father, and any who would access the Father must come through Jesus. ALL distinctions matter not. Red, yellow, black and white...rich and poor...fat and skinny...old and young...educated or not...every tribe, every tongue, every nation...ANY can come to God through Jesus. We don't HAVE to be divided by distinctions; we can be one in Him. He IS our peace, that is, if we will come unto Him.

Jesus made peace. Ephesians 2:15 continues to tell us about Jesus as the peacemaker: Jesus made peace "by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace" (ESV) Jesus didn't kill the Law; Jesus killed the sin the Law revealed. Whether Jew or Gentile; whether one knew the Law or not, all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Whether religious our entire lives, or secular up until this moment, we are all sinners. Whether we we knew exactly what sins we committed --what Law we broke-- or not, we have indeed broken the Law. In Jesus, God forgives all who come to Him. In Jesus, those who've been under the Law and knew it, and those who broke the Law without ever knowing it stand on equal ground: separated from the Father. In the end, as Paul says in Romans 7, the Law is holy and just and good, but no one has been able to keep it perfectly, so those who knew the Law ought to see God more clearly, but they also are in the same amount of need of those who did not know the Law. In this way, Jesus puts all men on equal ground again. Now, for all who come to Jesus, He cleanses them from all unrighteousness, and makes them One Body, wherein HE might dwell and move and work upon this earth, thus making peace between people who were once separated by knowledge or ignorance of God's Law. Through His work, Jesus made peace so that He "...might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility." (Ephesians 2:16 ESV) Would you like to kill hostility? Come to Jesus; He has made peace possible for all men with one another and for any man would come, Jesus has made peace between them and God.

Jesus preached peace. Yes, Jesus spoke to all of mankind. Jesus spoke to the ones who were close to God --knew Him by His Law and continued keeping of His covenants with Israel-- and to those were far off --we Gentiles. Jesus bade any and all to come to Him, and to trade their heavy burdens for His light burden. To those who knew the Law, Jesus came and offered them a trade; they bore the burden of their sin because the could not keep the Law, and Jesus offered them the burden of grace instead. Law lives in failing duty; grace lives in willing response. To those where bore the burden of looking for God in many gods, and rocks and trees and rivers and the sun and so forth and so on, Jesus offered to trade them the lighter burden of KNOWING God through Himself for the heavier burden of blindly thrashing about in spiritual search. Jesus preached His peace --Himself-- to ALL, and He still does. Paul said, "And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near." (Ephesians 2:17 ESV)

Do you want peace with others?
Do you want peace with God?
Do you hear Jesus calling?

Come to Jesus. Join the people who are at peace with God and others. Join those who've answered God in Christ Jesus. Be at peace. Know peace. Enjoy peace with God and with man.

Surely, God will dwell in such a house, and move in such a body.

"For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit." (Ephesians 2:18-22 ESV)

At the risk of cold...

At the risk of cold...

We hate being done wrong. I know I do. (I often wonder do I hate doing wrong as much as I hate being done wrong...hmmmm...let's think about that later.)

Jesus tells us how to handle "wicked" people who do us wrong. In Matthew 5:38, Jesus says (my paraphrase), "You've been told it's right to practice revenge when you've been done wrong."


Then, Jesus says, "But I say, do not resist an evil person! If someone slaps you on the right cheek, offer the other cheek also." (Matthew 5:39 NLT) Does this mean we are to never defend ourselves? Does this mean we are to never speak out or stand up?

It does not mean that at all. Jesus flips the script on revenge, but He does not toss out the common sense of defense. Nor should we.

Still, what Jesus does do is do away with the false understanding that we are pay back evil with equal evil. Actually, we aren't to do ANY EVIL, even payback evil.

What Jesus does say is this: "If you are sued in court and your shirt is taken from you, give your coat, too." (Matthew 5:40 NLT)

Should we defend ourselves from continuing injury? Yes.
Should we pay back evil with evil? No.
Is Jesus saying that where we can endure pain, we are to do so? It seems He is.
Is He saying where we are able to meet wickedness with generosity, we should? I think so.

See, friend, this runs counter to our nature. It runs counter to our culture. We are often too busy grabbing matching cloaks for each outfit to even think of giving one away under good circumstances, not less under difficult circumstances.

I love Matthew Henry's comments on Matthew 5:38-42; he says, "The plain instruction is, Suffer any injury that can be borne, for the sake of peace, committing your concerns to the Lord's keeping. And the sum of all is, that Christians must avoid disputing and striving. If any say, Flesh and blood cannot pass by such an affront, let them remember, that flesh and blood shall not inherit the kingdom of God; and those who act upon right principles will have most peace and comfort." (Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary)

At the risk of being cold, I'd like to inherit the Kingdom of God, please. Lord, help me live YOUR higher laws and ways even as I am constrained in the lesser laws of this world.

"Just like a zombie!"

"Just like a zombie!" 
"Um, no, not at all like a zombie." 
"Man..."

Talking to kids about huge spiritual things is always a joy. Recently, while talking about baptism with a 6 year old, I explained the picture of being buried with Christ in going under the water and being raised with Christ in rising out of the water. I used my hand as the surface of the water; he held his finger up beside my hand, went under and came back up. I said, "See, it's like going under --being buried-- and then coming up --rising from the grave..." Then, the short exchange found above.

See, dear friend, God does not raise the dead to death; He raises the dead to life!

Okay, let's be sure we understand it; we absolutely are spiritually dead without the quickening of God.

"And you were dead in the trespasses and sins" (Ephesians 2:1 ESV)
"...even when we were dead in our trespasses..." (Ephesians 2:5a ESV)
"And you, who were dead in your trespasses..." (Colossians 2:13a ESV)

There's no way to come alive on our own. We need God. We need to know God and have His supernatural power do a work in our natural flesh. The cross of Jesus, in paying the debt for our sins, makes peace with God for all who will receive it. That peace grants us access to the mighty, resurrecting power of God. Jesus defeated death in that resurrecting power, and He rose from the grave. When we believe on the name of Jesus, and receive Him, we are given access to God the Father by God the Son, and thus are given the right to be sons of God, fellow heirs with Jesus. However, dead things don't get a living inheritance, so God the Father sends God the Spirit to quicken us --make us alive!

God does not make us alive so that we might continue in the mindless pursuit of our flesh's desire. No, God makes us alive for life, and for Life; God makes us alive that His Life might be alive in our lives.

That Life joins our once dead spirit with His living Spirit. His life comes to live in our lives, so that our lives, EVEN IN THE FLESH, take on a new direction, new purpose, new LIFE.

"God made alive together with Him..." (Colossians 2:13b ESV)
"...made us alive together with Christ..." (Ephesians 2:5b ESV)
"...and raised us up with Him..." (Ephesians 2:6a ESV)

It reminds me of the story of the prodigal son in Luke 15. The man never bodily died, but he was dead in his relationship with his father and dead in his spiritual relationship with The Father. When he came to himself, repented, turned to God and returned home to his father, his earthly dad said, "For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate." (Luke 15:24) Don't you love how that sentence ends? "And they began to celebrate." The New Living Translation says, "So the party began." And, that son’s life was changed. He did not live or think or act as he once did. It was a new deal, a new day and a new life!

No, friend, God does not grant spiritual life in the way we think of zombies. The life He grants the redeemed is the Life of His Son.

My young friend was a bit disappointed to learn the redeemed are not zombies. He thinks zombies are "neat" (as he says). He will learn. He'll discover that what God offers is a gajillion times better than the idea of zombies.

I pray we learn it too. I pray we stop mistaking Life from God as the excuse to keep living in dead works. God doesn't offer us heaven absent of His Life. He offers us His Life now, that we might be made fit to enter heaven, for it is a place for people with His Life.

Friends, everyone is born dead in sins and trespasses, cut off from God and His promises. It takes yielding to Him in Christ Jesus to change that. For those who come to Him, it's not just that new life is possible, but necessary, and resultant.

Those made alive are made alive to live our Jesus's Life in their lives. We are not the walking dead! We are not mindlessly in pursuit of fulfilling our desires! That's what we WERE, and if someone still IS that, but claims to be alive in Christ, well, that's what we call a lie, or, in the minimum, a self-deception.

Friends, God gives us His Life that we made be alive!
Is Jesus's Life alive in you?

You have to meet my doctor...

You have to meet my Doctor...

My foot had been hurting for 16 months, which is a week in normal people's terms. I finally saw a doctor. He said I needed to see a podiatrist.

The podiatrist diagnosed me, said my foot was broken, and probably had been for quite some time. He thought I needed a cast, and I told him I don't play, nor do I star in them and that I was not going to wear a cast. He didn't get it, at first, nor, really, at last, but he did understand I was not going to wear a cast.

So, he had some thing made to fit in my shoe and suggested I not walk or stand without this thing being in my shoe for 3 months. He said my foot would heal, and then it would need to reshape. I promised 6 weeks, because, I'm not all that sharp, and it was uncomfortable.

Funny thing happened, after six weeks, my foot stopped hurting. The excruciating pain actually went away. I decided the other six weeks didn't sound so bad, but four weeks more seemed reasonable, because, you know, even though I was healing, less seemed like more. Another four weeks passed and two weeks jumped on the end of it and before you know it, I'd been obedient till the end. My foot was all better!

That was four years ago. My foot is still at the end of my ankle, and it feels great, and with its nerves, 'cause that's what feet do.

It's amazing what has happened since I met and obeyed that podiatrist.

More so, it's amazing since I met God. It's amazing what happens when we get the treatment we really need.

"But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed." (Isaiah 53:5 ESV)

Friend, do you know The Law tells us we're afflicted? We might call it Dr. Law. He has a helper, Dr. Conscience. Nurse Experience and Intern Failure often assist the good doctors, but they do their work; they tell us we need help they cannot offer. They diagnose, but they cannot cure.

We need The Great Physician for that! We need God! There's a problem, though...

We cannot get into to see The Great Physician! We have no audience with Him! Dr. Law and Dr. Conscience work in The Great Physician's office, but they cannot open the door to His office. We need access, but we cannot get it alone. We need an Advocate. That's what the cross does for us. It pays the debt we owe, breaks down the wall of hostility, makes peace with God and allows us to go before Him.

When we trust in Jesus, the healing begins. According to the Prophet Isaiah, that's what Jesus's death on the cross did for us. He was crushed for our sin, that we might have audience with God. He was chastised in our place, that we might have peace with God. His wounds initiated the healing of our relationship, and those wounds are the beginning of our full healing, too.

See, it starts with knowing The Great Physician. It starts there. If we don't know Him, we cannot receive His help. If we do not know Him, we cannot receive His healing.

Some healing happens right away -- the sick, broken relationship with God is what is first healed.

Then, as we obey His prescribed treatments, we get emotional healing, sometimes physical healing, mental healing, spiritual healing...it starts in this life and culminates when we pass through the Judgement and are given a new, glorified body, enabled to live in full and free fellowship with God throughout eternity.

Have you met my Doctor?
You need to meet my team!
You need to meet The Great Physician!
He IS healing!
He is rest!

For my city...

People have all sorts of reasons for wanting a town to fail...

I can't say I know why, exactly, that is, but Jonah didn't like Nineveh or that city's citizens. When God has compassion on Nineveh, and relented of His plan to destroy that city and its people, "...it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry." (Jonah 4:1 ESV) Jonah was so displeased with God's graciousness and mercy towards Nineveh that he wanted to die when God relented (see verses 2-3). Jonah was mad. Real mad.

God asked Jonah a probing question: "Do you well to be angry?" (see verse 4) Or, another way of asking, "Jonah, is it right for you to be mad about my pity on Nineveh?"

You see, Jonah is wrong. He's not the only one or the first one or, I doubt, the last one to ever be wrong.

If a city is still breathing, God is having mercy upon it.

To Jonah, God said, "And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?" (Jonah 4:11 ESV)

Do we well to be angry about Roxboro? It's breathing. God's pity is real and alive; today.

Do we well to be angry about Ferguson? 
Do we well to be angry about New York? 
Do we well to be angry about Chicago? 
Do we well to be angry about San Francisco? 
Do we well to be angry about Dallas? 
Do we well to be angry about Miami?

May God have pity on our cities and may we each obey our call and preach the Gospel. May we each be joyful when people repent. May we put down roots and build the Kingdom in our cities. May we seek justice, love mercy and walk humbly with our God in our cities. May we love our neighbors AND our enemies in our cities. May we show Christ, share Christ and shower Christ upon our cities. May we plow and plant in hearts and sow and seed God's word in our cities. May we defend the weak, speak for the mute, work for the weak, give to the needy, encourage the downtrodden, feed the hungry, visit the lonely, gather with the grieving, serve the sickly and dig wells for the thirsty in our cities. May we judge less of what we see in others and judge more of what we see in ourselves in our cities. May we be family to the orphan and befriend the stranger in our cities.

Many people scoff and scorn, belittle and berate. Many people tear up things and tear down people, like locusts sweeping in swarms, ruining much in a gobbling rush to fill self.

But, I will show you a better way!

Let us love the city we are in! Its buildings still stand and its people still breath; God's pity is active.

Let us not run from our calling. Let us, instead, run to it!

Get wisdom, get understanding...

Get wisdom, get understanding...

Of getting wisdom and understanding, John Gill said, "Not only moral and political wisdom and understanding, but that which is spiritual and evangelical; Christ, and the knowledge of him; he being the only happy man that has an interest in him, and is possessed of him by faith, which is the meaning of getting him." (from Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible)

Gill was commenting on Proverbs 4:5, which commands, "Get wisdom; get insight; do not forget, and do not turn away from the words of my mouth." (Proverbs 4:5 ESV)

And, when you get it or some or any, "do not forget" and "do not turn away."

We like to hunt and shop and search and inquire. We love, as the Apostle Paul said to the philosophers in Athens, to spend our "...time in nothing except telling or hearing something new" (see Acts 17:21).

We love the search, but for what? Are all new things full of wisdom and understanding? You bet not.

Are stores and websites and books and magazines and movies and songs all full of wisdom and understanding? You bet not.

Wisdom comes from the Lord. Understanding is a thing of God. 
Go to Him...
Get wisdom! 
Get understanding!

Listen, beloved, wisdom and understanding are worth getting! The previous chapter finds the proverb writer saying: "Blessed is the one who finds wisdom, and the one who gets understanding, for the gain from her is better than gain from silver and her profit better than gold. She is more precious than jewels, and nothing you desire can compare with her. Long life is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honor. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her; those who hold her fast are called blessed." (Proverbs 3:13-18 ESV)

If nothing else, getting wisdom and understanding is worth it to me because I love that "all her paths are peace" (vs. 13:17).

Go look...seek...search...inquire with the Lord! Get wisdom! Get understanding! Do not forget it! Do not turn away!

A Just Petition to a Just Action Taker

Are you a just action taker? Are you a just action petitioner?

A just action taker doesn't need to be begged or protested into submission. Such a person sees what is right and does it. A just person doesn't have to be compelled out of personal comfort to take action. A just person gives up personal comfort to do what is right.

What is an unjust action taker? A biblical definition would lead us to understand an unjust action taker is one who neither fears God nor respects man (see Luke 18:2). The unjust action taker (1) does not care what God says is right nor does he (2) care what people need. An unjust action taker will take action, but they have to be compelled.

Consider the following parable from Jesus: "And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. He said, 'In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, "Give me justice against my adversary." For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, ''Though I neither fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.''' And the Lord said, 'Hear what the unrighteous judge says. And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?'" (Luke 18:1-8 ESV)

Part of our nation is trained to seek justice in the way they do because it's filled with unjust judges / unjust action takers. If we had godly people making decisions -- note: godly, not religious -- such people would not have to be compelled from their comfort by belligerent beggars. They would do what is right (1) because God says it's right and (2) because God would be leading them to really care about people.

In more disturbing ways, many people fail to understand exactly who we should be seeking for justice and change. We -- ME included; ME first -- NEED GOD!

We need more prayer meetings to the One True and Just Judge than we do protests meetings to unjust judges. I think it's interesting, especially with so many so-called Christians lighting up social media with hate, political junk talk, race baiting and arguing, that the Luke 18 passage ends with Jesus asking a question: "...when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on earth?" In other words, will those seeking the Just Judge be found? Or, will the earth be consumed with men and women biting and gnawing on each other.

I know who the Just Action Taker really is. I may want to lead protests, but I'll start with prayer meetings. I may want to rail against man, but I shall begin by petitioning God. I want it to be said of me that the Lord Jesus can "...find faith..." in me. I know who the real Just Action Taker is and I want to be a just action petitioner.

May God find faith in Person County. May God find faith in His Church. Whatever needs doing, changing, starting or stopping, let we who know the Just Judge lead the way in petitions, action and sacrifice. If we know right, let's do it. If we care about people, let's serve them.

Protest against man is weak if it is not filled with petition to God. Petition to God is weak if it is not filled with the righteousness of Jesus and the power of the Spirit.

Much love. I'm praying for the nations, and our nation. Join me.

A reflection concerning accountability for the Body of Christ

This is for my Christian brothers and sisters...I'm talking exclusively to those who claim saving faith through the name of Jesus...

Do you know how we say, "You can't judge me!"? Yes. I hear it all the time from young people (actually, they say, "Only God can judge me" but they are really meaning "YOU can't judge me!").

I agree. God is Judge. Amen. Praise Him who is love and whose justice is perfect! Praise Him, THE Judge who is full of mercy, but also perfect in judgement. Thank You, Father!

So, we agree, right? God is judge. Amen.

Check out what Jesus says: "Pay attention to yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him, and if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, saying, 'I repent,' you must forgive him." (Luke 17:3-4 ESV)

We are called to live in community with one another, and we are called to take care of each other. Part of taking care of each other is NOT looking over sin, pretending it's not an issue, glossing it over or ignoring it all together. We are called to care for each other by rebuking.

What? Rebuking? Yes.

Now...LISTEN CAREFULLY [READ CAREFULLY]: "If another believer sins against you, go privately and point out the offense. If the other person listens and confesses it, you have won that person back." (Matthew 18:15 NLT)

See that? The New Living Translation says "...go privately..." The English Standard Version says "...between you and him alone..." The New American Standard Bible says, "...show him his fault in private..." The New International Version says, "...just between the two of you..." The Holman Christian Standard Bible says, "...rebuke Him in private.."

We don't ignore sin.

But, we don't call people out in public; not on social media. C'mon, now. Let's get with Jesus on both sides of this deal!

Let's not ignore sin. But, let's handle it the right way! There is a time and a place to bring some individual's sin out in a group, but there's a couple steps to cover BEFORE calling them out in a group. AND, the GROUP you call them out in front -- AFTER the other stuff has been tried -- IS THEIR LOCAL CHURCH where they can receive loving discipline AND have hope of being restored. (Check out Matthew 18:15-20)

And, it's not just an issue of not ignoring sin, nor does it only involve who we rebuke in front of whom. There's more...

Who should rebuke someone? What is the goal of rebuking someone's sin?

Galatians 6:1 asnwers it most succinctly: "Dear brothers and sisters, if another believer is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path. And be careful not to fall into the same temptation yourself." (NLT)

Who should rebuke? "...you who are godly..."
Well, who's godly? Back up into Galatians 5:16-26; that'll answer that.
What is the goal? ''...help that person back onto the right path..." Or, as the ESV says, the goal is to "...restore..."

We are called to live in community! "Pay attention to yourselves..."
This stuff matters!

Don't ignore sin.
Obey Jesus.
Obey Jesus.
Do it the right way.

Narcissistic much? Moi? Let me fix my hair before I answer.

Narcissism. Let's talk about it. But, first, let's define it.

from dictionary.com 
noun
1.
inordinate fascination with oneself; excessive self-love; vanity.
Synonyms: self-centeredness, smugness, egocentrism.
2.
Psychoanalysis. erotic gratification derived from admiration of one's own physical or mental attributes, being a normal condition at the infantile level of personality development.

You know, many today seem concerned about people's self-esteem. I'm becoming increasingly convinced we need to examine ourselves and see whether we are in the faith, but do less thinking about self. I'm becoming more convinced that it's fruitful to judge ourselves, that we might be fruitful in self-correction, but not to dwell on self too much, or to consider ourselves too deeply, and definitely not to think on self so often.

I'm positive putting God first and others second are direct biblical commands to the believer.

However, there's too much these days that lends toward self. We don't need more self-esteem; we need more esteem for God. No matter what good thoughts we could wrangle up about ourselves, God's thoughts towards us are better than ours are towards us.

Go back and read that last paragraph again. You need to do that; trust me.

In Book III of Ovid's "Metamorphoses", there is a telling reading of when Narcissus sees himself and falls in love: 

            As Narcissus had scorned her, so he had scorned the other nymphs of the rivers and mountains, so he had scorned the companies of young men. Then one of those who had been mocked, lifting hands to the skies, said ‘So may he himself love, and so may he fail to command what he loves!’ Rhamnusia, who is the goddess Nemesis, heard this just request.

            There was an unclouded fountain, with silver-bright water, which neither shepherds nor goats grazing the hills, nor other flocks, touched, that no animal or bird disturbed not even a branch falling from a tree. Grass was around it, fed by the moisture nearby, and a grove of trees that prevented the sun from warming the place. Here, the boy, tired by the heat and his enthusiasm for the chase, lies down, drawn to it by its look and by the fountain. While he desires to quench his thirst, a different thirst is created. While he drinks he is seized by the vision of his reflected form. He loves a bodiless dream. He thinks that a body, that is only a shadow. He is astonished by himself, and hangs there motionless, with a fixed expression, like a statue carved from Parian marble.

            Flat on the ground, he contemplates two stars, his eyes, and his hair, fit for Bacchus, fit for Apollo, his youthful cheeks and ivory neck, the beauty of his face, the rose-flush mingled in the whiteness of snow, admiring everything for which he is himself admired. Unknowingly he desires himself, and the one who praises is himself praised, and, while he courts, is courted, so that, equally, he inflames and burns. How often he gave his lips in vain to the deceptive pool, how often, trying to embrace the neck he could see, he plunged his arms into the water, but could not catch himself within them! What he has seen he does not understand, but what he sees he is on fire for, and the same error both seduces and deceives his eyes.

            Fool, why try to catch a fleeting image, in vain? What you search for is nowhere: turning away, what you love is lost! What you perceive is the shadow of reflected form: nothing of you is in it. It comes and stays with you, and leaves with you, if you can leave!

I heard someone credit C.S Lewis with the following: "Humility is not thinking less of yourself but thinking of yourself less." That's good. To be humble, we don't have to be mean to ourselves, or self-deprecating; we just have to spend more time thinking on others!

I digress.

Or, do I?

Are we talking about humility or narcissism?

Well, yes. One will always force the other out. 

The Apostle Paul would say, "Because of the privilege and authority God has given me, I give each of you this warning: Don't think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us." (Romans 12:3 NLT)

The Lord Jesus said some fairly rattling words to the overly-self-esteemed and narcissistic types: "For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted." (Luke 14:22 ESV)

On and on we go. "Mirror, mirror, on the wall..." Yeah. We get it. 
Do we?

It's healthy to think up towards God, and worship. It's healthy to think out towards others, and serve. It is healthy to be honest in our evaluation of ourselves, but it's not healthy to think about ourselves all the time.

It's not more of me I need; it's more of the Lord.

Outlasting the Dust

Working on works that work beyond my working days...

Over 2,000 years ago, Cicero said, "There is no work of human hands which time does not wear away and reduce to dust."

Cicero was sort of right, and his sentiment rings home in hearts and minds restrained to this mud glob of a world, and to the droning clock which clicks away the heartbeats of the worried and nervous.

But, my heart stretches upward, to the beyond; beyond the space I occupy and the time measuring my moments. My heart stretches up to what matters in matters of great matter. Tick, tock may mete out the moments which my rocker rocks, but it is to Him eternal, to Him beyond this globe and her celestial heavenlies who numbers my days.

Yes, surely, our works will be tested. Time will test some, and they will be dust by the time time has tried them fully. In the final sum of things, however, our works will be tested by fire. The apostle said, "...each one's work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done." (1 Corinthians 3:13 ESV)

Even the dustiest of dusted dusts will be tried in this fire.

We measure and weigh in days and digits, in dollars and dreams had and done, but the prophet challenges us to consider more: "But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap." (Malachi 3:2 ESV).

Who can stand when He appears? Who? Indeed.

Let us inspect our works...
Let us reflect upon our position...
Let us examine ourselves...to see...if we are in the faith...
Let us weigh our working, and see who it is we really serve...

Time, trudging like a rocket, drones on with the future ever rushing up into our faces. It's coming, and upon us and gone. And, again.

What are you working on? For whom? Toward what end?

Are the thread of your day's labor sewn with eternal thread, or are you simply nailing ashes and dust together to the wind?

"Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil." (Ephesians 5:15-16 ESV)