Did you know God is the best story teller? Look at his millions of stories he has written in the pages of time. And Son like Father.... Jesus, who we are saved by, often told people stories to illustrate biblical truth.
Fiction or not do you believe in the power of stories? Do you believe in what they represent? Stories pass down history, entertain, teach, and also warn.
NOTE: Evil is no stranger to
story telling either... think of the false things of this world... the
gossip, lies, deception, and making fun of others and so on....
Christians writers often write about such dangers. J.R.R. Tolkien wrote about a powerful wizard,
Saruman in the Lord of the Rings who was seduced into serving evil and darkness. King Theoden of Rohan who became powerless as he was poisoned and bewitched with words of his chief adviser Grima Wormtongue. The drawf King Thror seduced by arrogance and riches of gold. And who can forget the murderous riddling Gollum filled with deception, rage, and greed, who probably would have never become so if he hadn't laid eyes on that "single" ring.
C.S. Lewis also wrote about evil in the beloved stories of "The Chronicles of Narnia". Where the children not only face the evils in Narnia but the hidden evils in themselves such as pride, greed, and covetousness.
The bible (not fictional) speaks of many accounts of those tricked, seduced, and tempted into acts of evil.
Adam and Eve.... to King Saul and King David..... to Judas who saw the miracles and heard the life giving words of the Lord Jesus Christ yet betrayed him for the temporary pleasures of thirty pieces of silver. These warnings echo off and reflect off the pages of bible for us today that we might heed them seriously.
We expect evil from the world but in some ignorance or naive or absent minded thinking- we, the body of Christ, think we are immune to disturbing acts in our midst but in a sad reality we are not.
The bible speaks of those falling away. It speaks of those seduced into acts of evil. It speaks of wolves amongst the sheep. It speaks of chaff and tares among the wheat. It speaks of false teachers and prophets. It speaks of goats and sheep
But as the song goes... "Don't Dream It's Over."
(Sixpence None the Richer.)
Dealing with the Disturbing:
Jesus said "
I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth
you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have
overcome the world."
John 16:33
How we forget... this world/ life which can have some mighty disturbing and heartbreak moments is only temporary.
How we forget... Satan, the prince of this world, the same serpent who poisoned those in the past is still working hard today. And like a defeated prideful vengeful foe he awaits to give a strike with a devastating blow.
How we forget....
Psalm 35:5 says, "Let them be like chaff in the wind, with the angel of the LORD driving them away."
Psalm 37:10 says, "A little while, and the wicked will be no more; though you look for them, they will not be found.
Symptoms
I don't know about you but the most disturbing acts are
NOT mistakes or momentary moments of lack of judgement BUT these willful
deeds of evil by people who consider themselves Christians. Evil so dark it is disturbing. Evil that doesn't make any type of sense. Evil that is just plain evil. Evil that does not
seek forgiveness or help but intentionally stays away from the light and
continues to live in ignorance and practice evil. Spiritually they have crept to the dark side of the moon.
When you hear of disturbing things, how do you react
- Do you become more protective, wary, or distrustful?
- Do you become more vigilant both outside and outside the church especially for your children and other people's children?
- Do you pay attention to those nagging feelings and/or the Spirit of God- saying less and observing more?
- Do you ask why?
I find the questions that arise -will never be answered or never be answered to our liking.
We
can ask these questions until we can be SO overwhelmed.... that we
start to forget to look up. We start to look at everything with
blinders--- where we see everything horizontally and very little on a
vertical. We can be so much on our guard that we aren't paying
attention to what God wants us to say and do. Preoccupation is one of
the greatest tactics of the devil to stop God's work from being done and it seems he knows precisely when to let these things come to light.
People can become disillusioned because of what they have heard....
Some want to retreat deep within ourselves..... Others might become
more suspicious, not wanting to take a chance to reach out and become a
friend to anyone seeing people as unpredictable and untrustworthy.
Then there are others who want to lash out and take vengeance.
Sin is often like spiritual vomit. Just hearing about it makes one feel sick.
The only thing I find most helpful when I hear of these disturbing things is taking them to the Lord.
The Fallen
2 Peter 2:20-22 says "If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and are overcome,
they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. It
would have been better for them not to have known the way of
righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the
sacred command that was passed on to them. [To love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and all your strength.]
Of
them the proverbs are true: “A dog returns to its vomit,”and, “A sow
that is washed returns to her wallowing in the mud."
I have seen from what appears -the well seasoned, well versed, to the outwardly assured of faith fall
into worse shape then those who never professed Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
Some I have pitied and some I have had to just "let go" and "distant" myself from- these are the ones who usually disappear.
Some had us fooled.... Others... we might of had a feeling that something about them never sat right inside of us. But when their evil deeds were exposed we all felt some kind of burden.....
The fallen, lost the snares of sin don't realize the
pleasures of sin are fleeting... they are but a season. They don't care or realize their millstone dropped in the pond of faith
effects everyone.
What Scripture says about those unwilling to turn from sin:
"hand this man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord.
" 1 Corinthians 5:5
"Alexander the copper smith did me much harm; the Lord will repay him according to his deeds." 2 Timothy 4:14
Seeing fallen souls reminds us to be secure not in any means of our own -but be solely secure in God/Jesus Christ.
Hebrews says, "Be careful then, dear brothers and sisters. Make sure your own hearts are not evil and unbelieving, turning you away from the living God. You must warn each other every day, as long as it is called, "today" so that none of you will be deceived by sin and hardened against God. For if we are faithful to the end, trusting God just as firmly as when we first believed, we will share in all that belongs to Christ.
But never forget this warning: 'Today you must listen to his voice. Don't harden your hearts against him as Israel did when they rebelled.' And who were those people who rebelled against God, even though they heard his voice? Weren't they the ones Moses lead out of Egypt? And made God angry for forty years? Wasn't it the people who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? And to whom was God speaking when he vowed that they would never enter his place of rest? He was speaking to those who disobeyed him. So we see that they were not allowed to enter his rest because of their unbelief. God's promise of entering his place of rest still stands, so we ought to tremble with fear that some of you might fail to get there. For this Good News- that God has prepared a place of rest- has been announced to us just as it was to them. But it did them no good because they didn't believe what God told them. For only we who believe can enter his place of rest. As for those who didn't believe, God said, 'In my anger I made a vow: 'They will never enter my place of rest,' even though his place of rest has been ready since he made the world." Hebrews 3:12-4:3
Note the writer isn't writing to those of the world but people in the church. He saying you Christians, who have seen the mercies, miracles, signs and wonders of God, could easily fall into sin just as Israel -who also so the miracles and powers of God. Look what happened to them because of sin... they never entered the promise land but their bodies fell in the wilderness.
"In the fear of the LORD there is strong confidence, And his children will have refuge. The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life, That one may avoid the snares of death.…" Proverbs 14:26-27
People say.... "They knew God's word." But how many times have we heard stories of people knowing God's word but it having no effect on their life....? I find most often these people are reckless with God's word and swing it in any way they want. Just because they know all the right words be careful - the devil knew all the right words as well. He comes to steal, kill and destroy in lies, deception and manipulation.
Some know the word of God but do not know it as they ought to know it.
Seeds in a package do nothing until they are put in the ground and watered. We may know the words of the bible "mentally" but have we sought God to the empower and nurture those words within us with a relationship with Him keeping the spiritual fire burning within us?
".... Knowledge makes arrogant but love edifies. If
anyone supposes that he knows anything he has not yet known as he ought
to know, but if anyone loves God, He is known by Him." 1 Corinthians
8:1-3
Knowledge without the empowering nurturing love that comes from above- is what? What does 1 Corinthians 13 say? It is a waste, it is no good to anyone, and even can be dangerous. It even a false sense of security.
3 For
I say to every man that is among you, through the grace given unto me,
not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think
soberly according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. Romans 12:3
"Soberly"... right now means to me..... seeing our need in God.
Our Need
Jesus said, "God bless those who realize their need for him, for the Kingdom of Heaven is given to them."
In every instance, do we realize our need for God?
What is the spiritual distance we stand from God- figuratively? Is he before us, behind us.... beside us? Is he even there at all? Do we think we got "it" all taken care of...? I sure don't!
Scripture says we are complete in Christ. That is Man (6) + God (1) = 7. Seven represents completeness.
God works through the Spirit ----touching and teaching our soul ----guiding the mind and body. BUT it is not how the world operates which is manipulated from the outside.
Then he answered and spoke unto me, saying, “This is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel, saying, ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ saith the Lord of hosts. Zechariah 4:6
"
This is what the LORD says: "Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who depends on flesh for his strength and whose heart turns away from the LORD." Jeremiah 17:5
A man who turns away from God isn't complete.... he is always looking for completion or satisfaction within himself or from world.
HOW is it that we think we can save ourselves or be
self-sufficient when God is the one who saved us, transforms us and makes and prepares
and encourages our way? He is the one who completes us.
Does self-sufficiency fit into Micah 6:8?
8 He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, and to love kindness and mercy, and to humble yourself and walk humbly with your God? Micah 6:8
- Does self-sufficiency fit into a lump of clay on a potter's wheel or is the lump transformed when the Creator is working on and in as it sits on the potter's wheel?
"Yet you, LORD, are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand." Isaiah 64:8
We are not our own.... we were never designed to be
self- sufficient- self-sufficiency grows from the idea of arrogance and thinking
more highly of ourselves then we should. For God is and was always to be our strength
and source of encouragement.
- Does self-sufficiency fit into a child? A child depends on their parents to fulfill their needs. We as children of God are to depend on God from salvation to the rest of life.
He (Jesus) called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. 3 And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 18:2-3
"Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing. Anyone who parts from me is thrown away like a useless branch and withers. Such branches are gathered into a pile to be burned. But if you stay joined to me and my words remain in you, you may ask any request you like, and it will be granted!" John 15:5-7
It is HIM not us.
Remain
Jesus said, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry
about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what
you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than
clothes? Look
at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in
barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more
valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?" Matthew 6:25-27
Who is holding the burden? I tend to worry and get anxious over a lot of stuff because I am holding the burden instead of giving it to God who liberates me in His love. I see no point, and get exhausted and frustrated and let thoughts and imaginations run rampant when I don't trust or rely on God who wants me to accept and embrace His love.
For a few of us ... arrogance is not our problem. But we
just forget how precious we are to God so we allow life to bully us. So
often this world makes people feel unimportant or unworthy and not good
enough. We have to be reminded it's Him... He is the one who counts. It's not us or anyone else.
Perhaps "nothing" truly is good enough and that is precisely why
Jesus came. He came to fulfill all our shortcomings in all the measures and depths of this short existence we have on this planet. We all fall short of God's glorious standard and obviously we all don't have the means on our own to find and live a good and satisfying life. Once again he came to complete what was incomplete.
Jesus says, ".... Remain in my love, just as I obey my Father and remain in his love. I have told you this so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow! John 15:9-11
Knowing the Power of the Good News
"For Christ didn't
send me to baptize, but to preach the Good News- and not with clever
speech, for fear that the cross of Christ would lose its power. "
THink of it... the power of knowing what comes through the cross of Christ.
If we really took everything in.... the magnitude and scope of what we are given through the Cross of Jesus Christ we would be so amazed.
But to the world who doesn't realize this .... it is not just imaginable but foolish.... Because they are closed off by their cynical minds.
It was through God's love the scales fell from our eyes, the heart was changed and we were set free....... The door of light was revealed to us and we took it, setting in motion new understanding and realities of words written over thousands of years before our time.
1 Corinthians 1 says "But to those called by God to salvation, both Jew and Gentile, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God."
He is the author and finisher of our story and in the words of Paul.... "As a result, no one can ever boast in the presence of God.
To those not decided... "Let go and Let God."
For Jesus said, "For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it."
Matthew 16:25
