god

Was it because there were no graves in Egypt?

/ Mike Farley / Leave a comment

I really like second part of Exodus. I know most people prefer the first part where God sends the plagues and shows His power over Pharaoh and the Egyptian gods but I really like the second part. I enjoy reading about the wilderness experience because it reinforces a very specific point. Three days into the journey the Israelites are complaining about water. Not too long after that about food and so on. It seems that all throughout the wilderness time they are grumbling. But can we really blame them? I mean somewhat I suppose after all they did just see the plagues, the parting of the Red/Reed Sea, water from a stone, and so on. But those are all external things.

You see Exodus starts to solve the Babel problem, but it did not solve the Eden problem. Deliverance without an internal change changes little. They were not a changed people. They had been slaves for 400+ years and you do not go from slavery to freedom without carrying some baggage. It is that old saying “You can take the man out of Egypt but it’s not easy getting Egypt out of the man.” Cliche but true. We can change a circumstance and not change the person. Change has to be an internal thing before anything external can really have an impact. If you are a addicted to heroin and live in a abandoned building you are a addict living in a rough spot. If I give you a million dollars you are still an addict but now you can afford you addiction. Nothing has changed.

The only time I really see God getting upset with them in Exodus is when they decide to worship the golden calf. That is because He had just told them not to do that very thing. We can look at story and be all high and mighty “saying see how much better we are” but if you are a Christian you have the Spirit in you they did not have that. That was not even the point. Exodus is not trying to solve the problem of internal change. Instead it is setting up the scene for when that does happen.

I am going through some things right now, and to be honest it stinks and is quite scary, but I have to make a choice. Will I trust in the God who has brought me out & changed me in on the inside or will I forget what He has done and complain? Sounds like an easy decision but walking that out is another thing all together.

Just a thought,

Mike

Dates, Dates, and more dates.

/ Mike Farley / Leave a comment

Dates…..Dates…..Dates…..

That is all that is in my brain right now. I am putting together a paper for class and the section I am stuck on is Date of Events. Normally not a big issue but this is for the book of Exodus so it actually is a big deal. A huge deal actually.

But who cares really? I mean these dates, those dates ehhh whatever right? Well for one I care and I think you should too. I mean yes I suppose you can go through life and never once even think about when something in the Bible happened but a lot of people use dates as an excuse to not believe. Honestly they are grasping at straws to say I don’t believe because of dates but it is still what they hold onto.

So a few things. First the Bible is historically accurate because the events took place in history but it is not a recording of history. It records what was going on at the time but that is not the point. The point is God revealing Himself to man and calling a people to Himself. Second the Bible is not a geography book, but it does include locations. Again it talks about where things happen but by and large they are not the intent of the story. Now that being said the Bible has been proven very accurate in finding locations. I think the reason for this being the case is land was part of the conventional promise to Abraham. Third and final the times in the Bible are not very good. What I mean by that is they use completion and parts often. They might say 40 and it was only 32 but 40 is a complete time. So I do not prefer a literal reading of timespans in the Bible. Not to say that some of the times are not correct but I think (and could be wrong) that a lot of the time that “time” and numbers are used it is to represent something. I am not saying that the days in Genesis are or are not a 24 hour day.

So do the dates matter? Yes emphatically yes they do. Can we know with any degree of certainty? Yes! I mean NO! Well maybe I don’t know. It seems that when we decide one thing we change our minds so I don’t know but dates are no reason to throw out the Bible when there is so much we can say. There are good reasons for the dates and I tend to go towards Exodus occurring on the later side (mid 1200) because of Genesis ch 39 and the Merneptah Stele but I could be wrong.

The important thing again is the events in the Bible are real events that actually happened. I do not place my faith on a story but on events that can be traced. If we have to have all the details to believe something then we would believe nothing. Jesus for example was a real person who really lived and really said what He said. Some people have taken to saying He was not real but these are usually (not always) the same people who say the Holocaust never happened and we have people living from that time so what does that tell you.

Just a thought,

Mike

Compounding Interest and Faith

/ Mike Farley / Leave a comment

On one hand, I know it might sound silly and to those who think it does you can just ignore this post and move on to something in the Archives, but I want to be a better Christian. I want to know more and do more for God. Not because I am trying to earn favor or get something from Him but because I love Him and want more of Him. I guess I just want to add to my faith. The question is can I and should I? Should this even be a desire to have?

2 Peter 1:5-7 says it is possible and more so that I should give all diligence to this very task of adding to my faith. That I should actually not just want this but do it. There is a lot in these three verses, and it might just spill into two posts so bear with me because as my daughter used to sing “we’re going on a trip in our favorite rocket ship…”

There are seven things we are told to add to our faith in these three verses. Seven things that are supposed to be compounded upon each other. It is like compounding interest which is awesome when investing and horrid when paying. Compound interest works like this; You put money in and then interest is added to that, but that interest money that is given is now added to the total and you get interest on the whole amount. So for example, you put in $100 with 25% interest (unheard of I know) for four years, you would have somewhere around $244 at the end. Whereas if the interest did not compound you would only have $200 at the end of the year. It is like the whole doubling a penny a day trick where you end up a few million in a month or something like that. Peter is talking about the same thing. Start with your faith and then compound it.

2 Peter 1:5-7 But also for this very reason (see verse 4) giving all diligence add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love.

These are the things that are supposed to be compounded on each other. It is not faith, then virtue, then knowledge and so on setting them aside after each use. But they are supposed to go one on top of the other so that as you compound them so we will have knowledge of Jesus and not be shortsighted or unfruitful. So let’s look at the list:

Virtue

Knowledge

Self-Control

Perseverance

Godliness

Brotherly Kindness

Love

I also think it important to mention that this is not a 1-7 list. It is not first Virtue then Knowledge as if when you do one you are done with it. No this is a continual list as in keep adding to these things. Sometimes you are working a little more on Self-Control then Brotherly Kindness. The order is not nearly as important as the act of the adding. So onto to Greek….

Virtue – aretē

Moral excellence as modesty or purity. Think of Virtue as being ethical. If it is right then do that. Regardless of ease do the right thing and take the right path. Virtue is added by doing.

Knowledge – gnōsis

Knowledge here is actually specific to the things of the faith. It is not just any old knowledge. It is not learning more about Starfish (which are pretty cool), but the things the Bible says. This is done by reading and meditating on the Word of God.

Self-Control – egkrateia

Self-Control is funny to define because it is like defining the word “is.” But I shall try. Self-Control is not giving in to your desires. It is realizing that you can say no to the TV, girl/guy, yes to quiet time, and so on. Self-Control is only done when tempted to not have it. You can only have it when you need it.

Perseverance – hypomonē

Perseverance in the Christian faith is a whole lot like exercising. It is that dig deep moment. It is the my legs are shaking but I am going to keep going moment, the I want to quit or let this discouragement in moment but I am going to keep at it. I am going to push forward. If courage is doing it regardless of fear than discouragement is giving into the fear. Perseverance is not giving into the hardship but pushing on towards the goal.

Godliness – eusebeia

Godliness is reverence and respect for God. It is just the realization that you are not God. It is understanding that your ways are not His ways and that He can do as He pleases and that His purposes are good.

Brotherly Kindness – philadelphia

Not this city or movie. This means love. Not agape love because that is slightly different but this is love for your brothers and sisters in Christ. When you see others being persecuted or hurting or needing help it is doing what is needed. It is taking time to serve and love the body.

Love – agapē

Now, this is real God like love. This is 1 Corinthians 13 love. I won’t say too much because a lot has been said, but suffice to say it is giving of yourself.

So there we have it. There are seven things and all of them hard. All require something of us, but all give us something better than what we can be without them. When applied and compounded we get a faith that is strong and we will have fruit.

We managed to get it all in one post. It’s a long post but oh well.

Just a thought,

Mike

The Bible Says

/ Mike Farley / 1 Comment

Bible Newspaper Letters

Did I ever tell you about my band in high school? No, well it was pretty awesome. No Longer Silent was the name and the first album was Silent Screaming. Oh, it was spectacular. All the band stuff is now gone but trust me it was amazing. I mean there were no other actual members, and I cannot really play or sing, and no one else ever heard of us (I mean me). But you have to trust me if I could play or sing and had other people who could play and sing we would have been huge. I mean like STP or Alice in Chains huge. Alas, things that never were… The Bible says a lot about a lot. I mean depending on your translation the word count, and verse, count are staggering. The New Testament quotes the Old Testament a number of times as well.

Just a few stats:

Words – 750,000 (approximate)

Chapters – 1,189 (approximate)

Verses – 31,103 (approximate)

Quotes – 247 (approximate)

With this many words, chapters, verses, and quotes I would be surprised if it was never misunderstood or misquoted. I, however, am not surprised. It is impossible to not mess it up to some degree because we are all messed up to some degree. You might be wondering at this point what paragraphs 1-2 & 3 have in common. You might think I was just bragging about my awesome band (which in part I was) but in reality, some of you just read paragraph 1 & 3 totally skipping 2 which explained that the band was less than real (OK not real) and that is the point. I did say I had a band and if you quoted me you would be correct. However, if you asked me to play a show and I said I don’t know how to play I would be correct as well. We’re both right to an extent but one of us is very wrong and here’s a hint it is not me.

I don’t want to give specific verses and stories because we all know enough of them, and I don’t want to talk about what the Bible doesn’t say because that is for a different post. Instead I just want to focus on the fact that it does say a lot. I mean really you can make a case for just about anything using Bible verses. Everyone has a verse, and every Christian cause has the “key”, every denomination has the most important verses. We do it all the time. I focus on love because I think that is the most important thing in the Bible. I think that the Bible talks about love in one way or another constantly. I see a beautiful tapestry of love and relationships throughout the Scriptures. I think the whole thing is about love.

I see love in the 10 Commandments, in the wilderness story, in everything I see it. Some would disagree and I can see why. Some would say that the whole point is that God is Sovereign and maybe they are right. We can make a cause for most anything because the Bible talks about almost everything. The key to understanding the Bible is simple, though. I mean if you really wanted to understand what a passage is talking about it’s really easy. You just have the understand the context.

When you know the conversational context, background context, language context, and relational context you can understand what is going on. Most of the issues we face when we don’t understand the Bible and others in general is because a lack of proper context. We place ourself and our understanding into the situation and remove the context leaving us with what we went into it with. You get out of the Bible what you go into it with. If you go in with bias you get bias, if you go into it with material desire you get material desire. If you go into it with a submissive heart, desiring to learn and love God, then that is what you will get. Don’t misunderstand me though. God is good and great and powerful He can easily shake you and show you something that changes everything but if you look at a lot of people who use the Bible as a weapon they got out what they put in. The Bible was written in 3 languages, by 40 authors, in a span of 2000 years, and while there is unity in the Scripture there is enough there to make it say almost what you want. You have to twist it, take it out of context, and imply a lot but it can be done. The best approach is to go to the Scriptures each time with a humble and submissive heart. If your desire is God you will find Him.

A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in expressing his opinion.

Proverbs 18:2

Just a thought,

Mike

p.s. I understand this is a gross over simplification but it is supposed to be, and that is part of the point.

Itchy Legs & Dead Caterpillars

/ Mike Farley / Leave a comment

Image-1 (1)

Everyone loves the story of the caterpillar. The little thing makes itself a cocoon and then poof it is a beautiful butterfly. You too little boys and girls can turn into what God wants you to be. It is just so lovely.

Of course just like most things that is only the part we see. The other part the part we do not see is the process. The process to go from caterpillar to butterfly is messy and destructive. The caterpillar basically dies. It releases enzymes that completely digest itself. Then it is reborn into a butterfly. For a time in that cocoon there is just butterfly goo. Just ooey gooey ukyness…

In Genesis 17:5 God gives Abram a new name, and while here is a lot that can be said about that. I only want to talk about the process from 12-17.

There are 13 years between Genesis 12 and Genesis 17. In between is the it’s my sister Egypt issue, Lot being captured, Melchizedek, Ishmael, and a host of other trials victories, learning and failings. 13 years between God calling Abram and turning him into Abraham. It took 13 years of ooey gooey ukyness to make an Abraham, and the process was by no means complete.

The New Testament is full of verses talking about dieing to yourself. Two of my favorites are Romans 6:4 and Galatians 2:20 (I even know a song for this one). Even more famous is Jesus teaching that you must pick up and carry your cross daily. The process to become what God wants you to be, to be what He has made you to be is hard, and it is painful.

I remember going through the “process” of going from being a boy to being a young man. There were hormones raging, legs that itched so bad, growing pains, and so on. It was horrible. I could not think straight, could not understand why I kept crying all the time, I could not even as some say. It was horrible but it was something I had to go through in order to become a man.

A walk with God is no different. We have to go through some growing, some changing, some itchy legs. It is a process and it is not an overnight one. It is not something that just happens. Some call it progressive sanctification, some call that heresy, but still say we grow and change. Either way I think we can all agree that you are not who you were before you gave your life over to Jesus. I would assume (and I know that is dangerous) that you have matured. That as Paul says you no longer think as a child. That you have moved on from mothers milk and eat solid food. At least I would hope you do.

Like Abraham you will still make mistakes and that is OK. God knows you are going to fail, He expects it, He sees it. That is a non issue. Failing is part of the process, but so is getting up. Abraham did not have 13 years of successes because there were some heavy failures in there. No he did not have 13 years of success, but what he did have was 13 years of growing. 13 years of maturing. 13 years of itchy legs, crying spells, caterpillar goo, and 13 years of growth.

Today we should stand up and realize that yesterday’s failures and successes have brought you to today. Shake off the dust and keep growing.

Just a thought,

Mike

Small sentence big implication!

/ Mike Farley / 2 Comments

There are a few verses in the Bible that stand out. Not that other verses are not important but some change the way you view everything.

Luke 10:27 “You shall love the LORD your God with all: your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.”

This is a simple statement however the implications are huge and require some explaining and examples.

Love God:

Before we can even begin to look at the ways we are to love God we have to understand that we cannot on our own accord love Him. Our attempts at loving God fall short and our attempts at living a righteous life are but filthy rags. We can only love God because He first loved us. God is good and in His goodness He saved us from our sins by sending His only son to save us. It is by placing our trust in the finished work of the Cross that we can then love God. The twist to the story however is that now we can love God but require His love in us to then love Him properly. We must constantly receive from Him to give our love to Him. I believe that Colossians 3:3 shows this well that we cannot think of our love to God as separate from our being in Him. We love Him because we are in Christ who is in the Father. The implications of this are of course that the love we give to God is really His own love back to Him. Desiring to always be in Him.

With all your heart:

The word for heart that is used is more than emotion and feelings. It does encompass this but it is for your mental, moral i.e rational and emotional. We are called to love God with our thoughts, and to bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. We are to think about the LORD, and to be engaged with His heart. We are to seek His heart and then put ours in alignment with His. We are to not let our feelings and emotions control us. This is done through Prayer.

With all your soul:

Loving God with all your soul is to give Him your whole inner being. A dog can love it’s master, it can come when it is called, it can respect that you feed it, but it has no soul so it cannot love fully. God does not desire that we come when called. God desires that we desire Him. We are to long for Him like a deer pants for water my soul pants for God, we are to thirst for Him. This is done through Worship.

With all your strength:

The love we give to God from our strength is by loving with all the ability we have to love with. We are to love God by doing what we are able to do. This is not done to gain merit or earn salvation but instead we do works because we are saved by Grace. Our love for God is shown in what we do, not done to be loved. Loving God with our strength is to love Him through Service.

With all your mind:

To love God with your mind is to love Him with all your understanding. I love God more now than I did when I first gave my life to Him, but my love for Him was no less real than it is now. Now I simply understand more so I can love Him more. The more I learn of Him and the more I seek Him the more I love Him. The more I transform my mind by His word and see what He has done the more I am able to love Him. My daughter loves me more today than she did 5 years ago only because she understands me more now. The more we study the more we have ability to love Him. This is done through Reading the Bible.

Love your neighbour as yourself:

This is done by living in Grace and Truth. Jesus came full of Grace and Truth and we should live the same way. Some churches are big on Truth and some are big on Grace but what would happen if we were big on Grace and Truth. What if we looked to Jesus as our example and said go and sin no more. What if we offered to others the same grace we need. What would happen if we told the truth we desire to hear.

The local church is to be an extension of Jesus. We are to be His hands and feet. We are to love the unloved, to care for widows and orphans, to offer mercy to those who need it. There is a time for discipline and we must use it when needed but we must not be to quick to reach for it. We must be ministers of reconciliation.

As a church we need to have opportunities for people to serve. We need to have opportunities for people to come to Jesus. We should also be active in the community. We cannot expect to have people come to us unless we have first demonstrated that we will go to them. Jesus spent His time going to the people who needed to hear and receive the Word. We should be a force in the communities we are placed in.

We should also be looking to train up the next generation for service. We should be actively looking for those who have a call on their life and equipping them for service. If someone wants to be a pastor or missionary or doctor or lawyer or nurse or mechanic we should be showing them that they can be whatever they are called to be for Christ. Ministry happens everyday in a variety of ways and we should be showing that to the next generation so they can be a force for Jesus as well.

Just a thought,

Mike

What is love?

/ Mike Farley / 1 Comment

I think it is safe to say that we as a culture are obsessed with love or at least the idea of love. We listen to songs about it, watch movies about it, read books about it. We think about how we can better love ourselves, love our spouses, love our children, and love others. Selling love has become a multi-billion industry in it’s multiple forms. Those who don’t have it long for it, and those who have it try to figure out how to hold on to it or find it in new ways.

Often times when we lose the feeling of love we turn to new things in an attempt to get that feeling back often times with failure and sin as a result. There are those who have mastered the craft of the illusion of love. People who have studied the feeling of love and like a painter are able to create it. But like a painting it is only a two dimensional and lacks depth. We have taken a great and wonderful thing and made it trivial and cheap. We treat love like a drug and or a solve it all. All the while we tend to only seek love for our benefit.

The story in Hosea is a beautiful love story filled with tragedy and joy, tears, and rejoicing. Hosea is a story of a man who deeply loves his unfaithful wife, and it is also the story of how the children of Israel have left their first love. But it is also a story of you and I.  A story written some almost three thousand years ago that today still speaks true. It is all a story that today is an all too common scenario. A story that at the time it was written was scandalous, but today makes the for good television. It is story of a fall from grace and an undeserving return to glory.

I think the thing that makes the story of Hosea, and Gomer so great is that Gomer thought she knew what love was. She thought she had an understanding of what love was, and sadly it is the same misunderstanding that many of us have. But she learned what love truly was and is not because of her seeking but because of her husbands seeking of her.

Hosea 2:5 says “For their mother has played the harlot; She who conceived them has behaved shamefully for she said I will go after my lovers, who gave me my bread and my water, my wool and my linen, my oil and my drink.”

Gomer the wife of Hosea decided that her husband was not enough for her, more to the point she decided he was not the provider she needed. She had desires for more that he did not provide. She wanted things more than she wanted her husband and family. She loved other things more. Notice she refers to the providers of these things as her lovers who gave me.. It was the things she wanted more than her husband. She desired these things and these many men more than Hosea. This was not a marriage on the rocks. Not a marriage where her husband did not love her. It is very clear from the text that Hosea loved his wife dearly. She and she alone was the one with issue.

In the same way we too leave God for other lovers. Maybe it is not full leaving maybe it is just a little something on the side. You hold a little back from offering so you can get that shirt, or watch, or rims. You skip fellowship so you can have a little more time to play that game, or get caught up on work, or finally spend some quality time with NetFlix. It is not leaving just a little flirting. You have not cheated on your girl it’s just a work wife because it’s fun. It is just a little harmless fun.

But a little this and a little that make a lot of something.

We look for things that will give us the thing we want; the feeling of love. When we see something that might be it or even lead to it we follow it. We chase love and the idea of love relentlessly all the while not realizing that a relentless love is chasing us.

Don’t get me wrong love is not a bad thing I love love. The problem is our understanding of love. The problem is that we sometimes love the wrong things and don’t understand what love is. We love tacos, cookies, and Jesus. As if these three things are the same.

We chase things that are not love as if they were. We long for what we do not have all the while completely missing the thing in front of us. A big part of the problem if not the whole problem is we do not understand what love is.

Here is three examples of misunderstanding what love is.

So it’s gonna be forever, or it’s gonna go down in flames, you can tell me when it’s over if the high was worth the pain, Got a long list of ex-lovers, they’ll tell you I’m insane, cause you know I love the players and you love the game. – Taylor Swift.

Oh won’t you stay with me, cause you’re all I need. This ain’t love it’s clear to see but darling stay with me. – Sam Smith

Well you only need the light when it’s burning low, Only miss the sun when it starts to snow, Only know you love her when you let her go. – Passenger

You have a song about talking about love as a temporary passion, one that wants love knowing it does not have it, and one that says you only know you have love when it is gone.

Love as defined by Webster’s dictionary is a feeling of strong or constant affection for a person and the strong affection felt by people who have a romantic relationship. This is nice but easy to fall in and out of. This is just an affection it is no more than a stong like, and I can stop liking something or someone pretty quick. We have turned love into a feeling. A strong feeling but a feeling nonetheless. We love out of our desire, needs, and wants. We love when there is something in it for us.

God does not command that we really like our neighbor. Jesus does not say in Luke 10:27 you should really like the LORD your God. No it says you should LOVE the LORD your God.  The love being used here in the Greek means to wish well to, take pleasure in, long for; denotes the love of reason, esteem. It is so much more than like or strong like. Biblical love is crazy dedication.

So how does the Bible define love. After all if we are going to talk about Biblical love we should define it.

1 Corinthians 13:

Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.

Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away.

When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.

And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

If I had to sum it up I would say the Bible define love as a selfless devotion to others that is ready and willing to go the distance.

There was a man a few years back named Kamal Saleem who was a part of something called Culture Jihad. It is a branch of jihad that instead of guns and swords to attack the flesh they instead choose to attack the mind. He moved himself to America to begin to reshape America for Islam. Long story short he was in a horrible accident one day on his way to recruit some young men. He was thrown from his car and broke his neck in two places. He was found by some christians who called 911. He was brought to a christian hospital where all of his bills where paid and treatment was set up for him. He knew they were all the same people he wanted to destroy (christians). They put him in an apartment after he was released from the hospital, and even bought him a car. One day he realized that these same people he wanted to destroy loved him without condition and he decided to take his life because of his confusion but he heard a voice call him by name and tell him to cry out to God. He did and God answered. This man now has a large ministry dedicated to seeing people find freedom in Christ.

Back to Luke 10 Jesus then goes on to talk about loving your neighbor as yourself and tells the story of the good Samaritan. A man who had no reason whatsoever to love the beaten and battered Jew. Let me ask you this and I understand that no one wants to hear this and I do not want to say it. If a member of rival sports team was beaten and battered would you help? If it was the one who your spouse cheated on you with would you still be willing to help? What if it was the person who got you wrongly fired? What if it was a member of ISIS or Al Quada? If you are walking down Main St and someone was bruised bloody and dying would it matter who they are before you help them?

We have to love, we have to choose love. We have Jesus as our example of what love does. We look to Him and see how love responds. Not living out of feelings no matter how strong.

We go back to our love story in Hosea 2:14-16 “Therefore behold, I will allure her, will bring her back into the wilderness, and speak comfort to her. I will give her vineyards from there, and the Valley of Achor as a door of hope; she shall sing there as in the days of her youth. As in the day when she came up from the land of Egypt. And it shall be in that day, says the LORD that you will call me My Husband (Ishi – husband, mighty man, him that is, great) and no longer call me My master (Baali – My master, captain, chief man, have to do.)”

That parallel between two words is like an obligation and a choice. It is like the difference between the old ball and chain, and my wife.

We look and see that even before we get cleaned up God is calling us to Him. We did not get to get right before we could get right with God. It says in Romans that while we still sinners Christ died for us. He did it out of love. God is love and whoever lives in love, lives in God (1 John 4:16).

The whole point of what I am saying is this. God loves you and loved you before you were worth loving and He says we are to love as well. We are to love God and love our neighbor. We are to live in love. We are to love the brethren and being willing to lay ourselves down for them. We are to love others and show them a more excellent way. We are to be known for our love. I say it again we are to be about the business of love.

We are to love our children when they don’t ask for it. We are to  love our spouses when they are being difficult. We love our parents when they are being crazy. We are to love our pastors when they seem to require much from us. Love is not a feeling but an action. We must be about the business of love, because it is the business God is in.

In looking at Hosea and Gomer again. Love is worth it. Love wins. Hosea buys back his wife at a great price. A price higher than any of her false lovers would be willing to pay. A price that was above and beyond what any slave was worth. Hosea paid this price because she was no slave but his bride.

We need to first understand that God is love. We can hear that and not understand it. Read 1 Cor 13:4-8a again but this time replace Love with God. God suffers long and is kind; God does not envy; God does not parade Himself, He is not puffed up; He does not behave rudely; He does not seek His own, He thinks no evil. he does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in truth.

Jesus went to and died on a cross for a Bride. He purchased you back with His own blood He bought back as His bride. He paid a price that no one else was willing to pay. No false lover came to your rescue, no tempter ever thought to secure you. Jesus laid down His life to redeem you. Hosea purchased his wife with things that perish because his love while great had an end. 1 Peter 1:18-19 says:

“Knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by traditions from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as a lamb without blemish and without spot.”

Jesus purchased His bride with things that do not perish because His love does not end. That starts to build a pretty good picture.

Later read it again but put yourself in there you will quickly see where you need to work on things. You will have a hard time saying certain things. Your voice might even crack a little when you read words you know are not true about yourself. Read them anyway. Then ask God to help you become those things.

Just a thought,

Mike

Dancing before God

/ Mike Farley / Leave a comment

I was just thinking about David dancing before the LORD.  If you read through the story starting in Chapter 5 you see that David defeats the Philistines and then wants to bring the Ark back to his home.  After he places the Ark on a cart it goes to fall Uzzah goes to brace it and the LORD struck Him dead.  God said in Leviticus 10:3 that He is holy and will be revered as holy by the people, but David and Uzzah forgot this for a minute.  David being afraid decides not to take the Ark back with him but leaves it Obed-Edom, but once he hears that God has been blessing Obed-Edom he decides to bring the Ark to his house.

David now has a better insight into who God is.  He is capable of punishment but He also the provider.  David is so happy and has so much joy that he dances the whole way.  He was dancing in such a way that his wife was embarrassed to see it.  She even tells him this in 6:20.  But David’s response is what I want to focus on.  He says in 6:21-22:

It was before the LORD, who chose me instead of your father and all his house, to appoint me ruler over the people of the LORD, over Israel.  Therefore I will play music before the LORD.  And I will be even more undignified than this, and I will be humble in my own sight.

When David understood how great God, and how God is the one who gave him his position he knew he needed to praise God.  He knew he needed to praise the one worthy of praise.  God is so big, so mighty, so powerful, so amazing that He has to be praised.  Not that He should, but He must.  One day everyone will praise Him anyway.  Praising God is not about sounding good (Heaven knows I don’t), it is not about looking good.  It is about humbling yourself before a mighty and amazing God who is bigger than your prayers and desires.  It is about seeing God and then seeing how small you really are.

Just a thought,

Mike

Reconciliation and other fancy words

/ Mike Farley / 1 Comment

Don’t use a five-dollar word when a fifty-cent word will do. – Mark Twain

I like that quote because it reminds me as I study new things to not to use the words to sound fancy.  However these words exist for a reason, and there are places and times for them.  There seems to be a general consensus that we need to dumb down everything in order to be easy on those that do not know.  To which I reply somethings are inherently difficult to comprehend and refusal to express them to appease those that refuse to learn is ludicrous.

Now that I have given a rant on to the topic.

I love the reconciliation.  I love reconciling my checkbook, and most importantly I love being reconciled to God.  I have been reading a book by an author I will not name and I must say that while I have gleaned a few things from it mostly I am frustrated with every word I read and page I turn.  Why am I doing this to myself you ask?  Am I glutton for punishment?  Do I enjoy wanting to throw a book?  No, it is because I want to better understand his (in general the larger movement) point of view.  I find that the most frustrating thing is not the ideals that are being espoused but the manner in which they are communicated. I have also noticed that the manner in which these particular ideas are communicated is indicative of the movement as a whole.  Chiefly it is arrogant, condescending, and overstating of their opponents views.   I will not name the movement because the very nature of how they label themselves is absurd to me, and I will not name the author because it would start an argument I do not wish to have.  I will however talk about reconciliation.

Again this is a bigger word than I typically like to use but it is very important.

The movement I am referring to likes this word and the 5 verses that contain it very much.  I agree, however as Inigo Montoya said “You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.”

So what is reconciliation?  Reconciliation is the element of salvation that refers to the results of the atonement.  John calvin describes it as the peace between humanity & God that results from expiation of religious sin.  D.M. Loyd Jones says of reconciliation God & man are no longer at war.  Two great verses on reconciliation are 2 Corinthians 5:19-20 (below)

namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

From the verses about I will draw out a few important items.

God has reconciled us to Himself – God is done with the issue on His part.  He was the offended party and has said I forgive you, lets move on.  That is a done deal no questions asked (on my part).  The verses above and others (Rom 5:10-11, Eph 2:14-17, Col 1:19-22) are very clear that God has reconciled the world to Himself and placed all things in Christ.  That is not something I can or wish to argue.  The wall of separation has been removed, and now we can access the Father, through the Son, by the Spirit.  No arguments here.

Reconciliation is not relationship – This one is very important as well and cannot be missed.  As we read above, God is reconciled to us but that does not mean we have a relationship with Him.  Some of of the writings I have read will not say this but imply it.  That should not be.  God is no longer counting our sins against us but that does not mean that we have fellowship with Him.  Instead we can have a relationship with Him because He has reconciled the world to Himself.  How about an example.  I have a brother I have never met.  I know he exist, and he knows I exist.  Yet I have never spoken to him, and do not have a relationship with him.  We are reconciled as in there is no hostility there.  If he were to reach out to me (I do not have contact info for him) then I would welcome him with open arms.  One leads to the other but it does not equal the other.  Reconciliation does not equal righteousness (or relationship) as Romans 5:19 points out.

Reconciliation is not sanctification – This is one that gets hot but again they are not synonyms.  They are not the same thing.  Sanctification is both a one time event and an ongoing process.  Quick definition time; Sanctification is the act or process of acquiring sanctity, of being made or becoming holy.  It is being set apart.  We are at the moment of accepting the finished work of Jesus Christ sanctified (set apart, and looked at a holy) in the beloved.  But we must also continue to sanctify our lives as we grow more like our Saviour.  This is what I believe Philippians 2:12 means.  I have seen in my own life how it has become and how I have become different because I have continued to sanctify my life to the Lord.  It has been a process of continual growth and maturity one which I am confident will not stop (Phil 1:6).  Think Romans 12:2.

Reconciliation is not removal of rules – This is the one that might cause the most outrage among my friends.  Some will shout “He’s a legalist!” or “Pharisee!” or possibly (and quite likely) “I am under Grace not Law!”.  Well calm down already, I am not promoting legalism, or some sort of mixed grace message.  What I am saying however is there are certain shoulds and oughts you are supposed to adhere to.  Not for earning or keeping salvation but because you are saved.  For example, love the Lord, love your neighbor.  Thinks these don’t apply?  Jesus disagrees.  He said “If you love me, keep my commands.” John 14:16.  What does that mean?  Well He leaves that up to you to for the most part.  But generally speaking don’t be a jerk, help people when you can, treat God with the respect He deserves.  You get the general idea.  Two last points on this one.

First I have been told this analogy a few times.  You do not do things for your spouse (and children) because you have to, you do it because you love them.  I see the logic in that and believed it for a minute or two.  The problem is that it is wrong.  You do things for your spouse (and children) because you love them and are obligated to.  For your spouse, you took a vow to love, honor… sickness, health.. you get the idea.  It is because you love them you keep the vow to love and serve.  Your children come with an implied and legal obligation.  You do it out of love, but you must do it all the same.  It is still something I should and ought to do.

Secondly some claim there is no law that applies to them but yet they confess they still sin (at least on rare occasion).  This I do not understand.  1 John 3:4 defines sin as the breaking of law.  If there is no law there is no sin, therefore you do not sin, therefore cheating on your wife is OK, being a drunk is OK, murder is OK, and so on.  You cannot have one and not the other (as I understand it).  If you sin you break the law, if you break the law there is law.

The question is not is there law, and it is not how do I keep this law, and it is not should I keep this law.  The question is even though I break it what is left for me.  The answer is Jesus.  Jesus came in Grace and Truth.  He is bigger than my ability to fail, and by His working in me I find a removal of desire to sin.  I live by the faith of the Son of God, not I but Christ in me.

Reconciliation is part of the bigger picture.  When I look at a motorcycle, I see many parts working together to create a thing of beauty.  The wheels, the motor, the handlebars, and so forth.  They all work together to make it a motorcycle.  Reconciliation is part of a bigger picture called Salvation.  Lets not put God in a little box and say this is who God is instead lets unwrap His presents and enjoy each of them.

Just a thought,

Mike

The lawnmower didn’t change

/ Mike Farley / Leave a comment

Phil 1:6
being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

A while back I had not cut the grass for 3 or 4 weeks. It was due to a mix of it raining every time I did have a chance and being lazy (not sure which played a bigger part). The result was the same; the lawn was out of control. I mean it was probably 8-12 inches high in some spots. Also, I should mention I had 50% grass 50% weeds. Not to mention my front yard had a pretty decent slope. All this together created a nightmare of a time. My little walk behind had a terrible time keeping up and didn’t at times. What usually took me 30-35 minutes to cut took over an hour and then it still took me about 45-50 minutes each time after that. It drove me crazy because it was always hard to cut. I had complained a lot about my stupid mower. I could not understand why that stupid thing would not cut the grass… Then I had an epiphany. It was not the mower.

I had always cut it down to the lowest or second lowest setting. Now I was on the highest or second highest setting. Because I let it get out of control I could barely manage to keep it under control. It is a lot like our spiritual life. If we walk away from Bible Study, Prayer, Fellowship, etc. then things start to grow out of control. When we come back to it we are expecting our normal effort to produce an extraordinary result. The lawnmower did not change the request, however, did. My Bible Study, Prayer, and Fellowship has not changed after not attending to these things but the lawn I expect them to take care of has overgrown. What is then required is either a bigger tool or repetitive use of the tools.

In order to deal with the overgrowth, I would have to go back and mow the lawn a few times or I needed someone with a more powerful (and hopefully riding) mower to intercede on my behalf. If I walk too far away from Bible Study, Prayer, and Fellowship then when I come back I need either a drastic move from God or more Bible Study, Prayer, and Fellowship to help cut down the overgrowth. The same thing applies. I sometimes think that the rules of life do not apply to spiritual things but sometimes they do. We need to be diligent in dealing with our relationship to God. He has promised to not quit on us but we have a part to play in the relationship with Him. That is why it is called a relationship.