If You Aren't Thinking It...

...You won't say it. From MSNBC:

"California’s Democratic candidate for governor thought he had hung up the phone when he began a discussion of battle tactics with an aide in which derogatory language toward women was used. TODAY’s Natalie Morales reports."

When will people (politicians) learn that people won't find out about all the bad things you're saying and doing IF YOU AREN'T SAYING OR DOING THEM AT ALL?!?

Ecclesiastes 12:14: "For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil."

Fattened for the Slaughter

I was recommended by a friend to purchase a specific audio version of the NKJ version of the Bible, so I did. One of the things I learned from listening to it was that the chapters, section breaks and individual verses formatted into the Bible, not to mention the long-winded run-on sentences popular in the New Testament (much like this one), have caused me to lose something when reading the Bible. The audio version just flies along and you're forced to hear the context of each topic in its entirety without stopping. Yeah, I miss a lot of the details that I get from reading, but it paints a better overall picture of what purpose the author is trying to portray as each book is read.

That said, I was listening to James today and something stood out to me in chapter 5 that I didn't notice before. It begins with:

¹ Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you! ² Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten. ³ Your gold and silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have heaped up treasure in the last days.

So some rich people were having some problems, to say the least. Clearly, these were people that were leaning on their riches rather than on God and were pretty impressed with themselves, but those riches were clearly temporary. God states what He thinks of such behavior in verse 4:

⁴ Indeed the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out; and the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth.

The word "Sabaoth" is a Greek-rendered version of the Hebrew word for "hosts". Hosts, in the context of the Old Testament, were also referred to as the armies of God. To paraphrase, "God has heard about your treacherous behavior; prepare for a whoopin'."

The next verse has something interesting in it that gets discussed in the first three verses, but this stands out to me because of the imagery it presents:

⁵ You have lived on the earth in pleasure and luxury; you have fattened your hearts as in a day of slaughter.

Just think about that for a second... Cattle probably think they've really hit the jackpot when they enter the feed lot. Food is constantly given to them anytime they want it. Just eat and eat and eat and eat for weeks on end... Nummy! Then one day, it's time to take a walk. "Oh, okay, I'd rather keep eating, but I probably do need the exercise seeing as how I put on 100+ lbs in the last few months." Next thing it knows, it's corralled down a few chutes with a few other fattened friends and... Well, the rest is obvious.

After verse 6, which I'll get to below, the audio version of the Bible kept on reading to verse 7, which is separated from this first section using a different header in the text.

⁷ Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain. ⁸ You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.

Notice how it starts with "Therefore", which clearly shows it to be a continuation of the proceeding section on rich people's attitudes and actions. In previous chapters, James is admonishing the Church to have a humble attitude and to tame their tongues. Here, he tells them that their materialism--and really, this section describes anyone who's overly materialistic, not just the richest among us--should be replaced with patience... Patience in waiting for the good gifts God has in store for us. Don't constantly seek to be better than the Joneses or add to our pocketbooks, our business "empire", our collections or our toys. Ecclesiastes 5:10-17 has an eye-opening view of this kind of pursuit of wealth.

¹⁰ He who loves silver will not be satisfied with silver;
Nor he who loves abundance, with increase.
This also is vanity.
¹¹ When goods increase,
They increase who eat them;
So what profit have the owners
Except to see them with their eyes?
¹² The sleep of a laboring man is sweet,
Whether he eats little or much;
But the abundance of the rich will not permit him to sleep.
¹³ There is a severe evil which I have seen under the sun:
Riches kept for their owner to his hurt.
¹⁴ But those riches perish through misfortune;
When he begets a son, there is nothing in his hand.
¹⁵ As he came from his mother’s womb, naked shall he return,
To go as he came;
And he shall take nothing from his labor
Which he may carry away in his hand.
¹⁶ And this also is a severe evil—
Just exactly as he came, so shall he go.
And what profit has he who has labored for the wind?
¹⁷ All his days he also eats in darkness,
And he has much sorrow and sickness and anger.

The point is that the numbers we see in our bank account can easily come to represent power and security we think we possess through material goods. Clearly, according to the above passage, those pursuits are empty and temporary. We've seen enough MCIs, Enrons, Bernie Madoffs to know that's true. They hurt us because they take our eyes away from the One who can give both riches and joy in the life to come. James exhorts that we must patiently wait for God to provide what we need when He finally sees that we're ready for it. "Establish your heart" in the humbling fact that God knows what's best for us and when.

Haughty materialism is not an effective path to living a godly life. It's fun while it lasts, but it leads us to a not-so-fun judgment. It has caused many people enamored with their power and wealth to treat "lesser" people with disdain and disrespect while employing an attitude of wishing such foolish, "lesser" people would simply go away--once they're done with the gardening, of course. Note verse 6:

⁶ You have condemned, you have murdered the just; he does not resist you.

Do you think the rich people James was speaking to or about were murdering their servants? Surely in the world, that was occurring! However, I think another point that can be made here that applies to us non-murderers is that selfishly acquiring objects can easily lead to a spirit of murder--that is, wanting someone to cease existing for reasons of hatred or disdain. Does this seem like a bit of a stretch?

⁹ Do not grumble against one another, brethren, lest you be condemned. Behold, the Judge is standing at the door!

James warns the Church to stop griping about fellow brethren--something materialistic individuals are guilty of--due to vanity (over what we own), jealousy (over what they own) or a competitive spirit ("I'll get the best of you!"). Grumbling against another potential son of God is a spirit of murder (Matt. 5:21-22) and James wants us to be aware of that attitude and destroy it. I will demonstrate how materialism translates into a spirit of murder by destroying an entire society a little bit later.

So who can we to look to as an example of the kind of conduct James is talking about?

¹⁰ My brethren, take the prophets, who spoke in the name of the Lord, as an example of suffering and patience. ¹¹ Indeed we count them blessed who endure. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord—that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful.

The prophets patiently endured some awful hardships and tests brought on directly by their work with God. Yet they are esteemed by God as blessed. And let's face it, when we consider today what they went through (peruse Hebrews 11 just to review a few), they've likely earned our respect, too. Righteous Job lost everything he had except his wife and some not-so-consolatory friends. Yet after a hard-learned lesson, he received double what he had before, yet had the godly character and wisdom built to appreciate and share it even with those same friends afterward.

God does not want us to refrain from riches or success. Nor does God despise us for desiring and working towards getting material things. But He does want us to build and utilize His holy characteristics, including a meek and thankful spirit, as we do. We follow His lead in our labors because His character is the very essence of joy, peace, quality and richness. And He is well-acquainted with what happens to our desires when He is removed from the picture. They mutate...

Materialism without God's character is pure selfishness, and selfishness leads to poverty and death. This is outright suicidal when you think about it. Yet God wants to save us from death, so He wants us to destroy selfishness in our labors. Note the shift in behavior He requires in Ephesians 4:28:

²⁸ Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need.

"Hey, burglar-dude! Stop robbing Quik-E-Marts, get a job and give it to the poor!" Much like tithing, finding a job, working hard at it and giving of that money to the poor seems counter-intuitive to the foolish. "How am I supposed to make money by giving it away?" the Burglar-Dude asks. This is uncommon sense, really. Successful people always cite the characteristic of drive, hard work, resiliency, resourcefulness and perseverance as primary reasons they're successful, which is contained in the part about laboring in an honest manner. But being charitable adds to our labor God's spiritual law that we are to love our neighbor. Stealing simply reinforces lazy habits, hurts others in the process and promotes distrust among society.

There are many proverbs about dishonest scales and weights. Looking at the business world today shows thousands of corporations and individuals trying to shortcut, lie, misrepresent, scam and outright steal money and goods from others. Proverbs 30:15: "The leech has two daughters--Give and Give!" Those who engage in such practices have seen short-term gains, prompting other fools and simpletons to follow in their footsteps.*

*My favorite such story is the guy who's selling a video on how to make thousands of dollars a month FROM YOUR OWN HOME! In the video, he tells his customers--future millionaires, all of them--to make a video and commercial to sell others on how to make thousands of dollars a month FROM YOUR OWN HOME!

What will happen when we find out that products, services, business practices and ethics of those claiming to serve our best interests have been cheapened just for the sake of a quick buck? Sadly, that has already happened. These companies--not to mention the nations housing and, at times, protecting and supporting them--are beginning to fail due to distrust and grumbling by their customers and partners. All of society as we know it is crumbling beneath our feet and our destroyer is our own lust for more.

All of this from the selfish desire for more riches and material objects that God says are fleeting. "[Y]ou have fattened your hearts as in a day of slaughter." Indeed, it makes us wonder who is actually performing the slaughter--God or ourselves. Regardless, let's follow James' sound wisdom and seek a patient spirit in our labors and establish our hearts in His ways so that we may embrace God's bountiful riches in peace and joy in the time to come.

Can I Get a Witness?

[This post is mainly me just exploring some words and is quite in-depth for, to be honest, such an obvious conclusion. It follows my line of thinking from my initial reasons for studying into this topic, then moves onto things I think I learned. Read it all if you dare!]

Strange Words

Growing up in the Church of God, I never really witnessed the other styles of church services that are out there. In fact, the church seemed to go to great pains to denounce any practices that were reflective of common stereotypes of false worship of Jesus Christ. This included the choice of words that those churches typically used. As a result, I always got a chuckle out of anyone that could do a good Southern preacher impression, saying something along the lines, "Ah have ex-or-cized the de-mons!" or "Have you found Jesus, son?"

There were many common sayings in Protestantism that just seemed to get overused to the point that they became common to my ears as a kid, but I never really knew what they meant; words like "justified", "providence", "redemption", and the list goes on and on. Other words like "holy", "good" and "true" have been hijacked by the human language to be more man-centered than God-centered, which leads to philosophical questions like "What is truth?" and "Whose version of good?" Once I came to this realization, I had to go back to re-learn what all these words meant in their proper context.

Enter in the words "testimony", "testify" and "witness", which are used over 300 times in the New King James Version of the Bible. I knew the meanings of these words in the context of a courtroom, but to me, they didn't seem to mean the same thing in a religious setting. I mean, if a defense attorney stood up in the middle of trial and asked, "Can I get a witness?" he'd probably lose the case.

"Testify, sister! Testify!" is cried out at some church services. But outside of that setting, I'm curious as to why that would be something worth praising another over. Really, it seems as though the only time appropriate to use these words is when we're taking someone to trial or having our own deeds put under the microscope of judicial review. I rarely get too happy when I'm seated before a judge.

Perhaps I’m just being purposely obtuse…

Definitions

So I decided it was time to look into the definitions of these words. After all, they are used throughout the Bible in ways not commonly phrased in today's courts, right? My findings were not as surprising as I thought they might be. First, the technical dictionary definitions. To "witness" simply means to provide firsthand evidence of. "Testify" simply means to make a statement based on personal knowledge or belief, generally to be used to as evidence or proof. This is exactly what I would attribute to these words from the standpoint of a courtroom.

In churches everywhere today, it takes on a similar meaning, but—to me, anyway—it's completely different in context. In these cases, Webster's dictionary and others state that "witnessing" and "testimony" are more of an expression of "a strong belief, especially to make a declaration of faith".

My question is to whom? For what purpose? On a street corner banging your Bible on a soap box? Who's going to listen to you? I suppose in decades and centuries gone by, this individual may have gotten more attention than the kooks who do this today. [It did work for the Apostle Paul's in Athens: see Acts 17:17.]

If "testifying" occurs in a church, well, this is simply preaching to the choir. I mean, do those present in church need more proof? I'm not saying this is all bad, mind you. We do the same things by announcing miracles and healings which are meant to increase our faith. But if this is a major portion of your church service, it feels more like patting each other on the back for continuing to believe in Jesus for one more week. Hallelujah!

So as I read through the list of examples of the word "witness" throughout the Bible, I find, in most cases, that it is indeed the "evidence" context of the word. For example, the concept of "bearing witness" in a trial-like setting is used somewhere around half of the time in the Bible. Back before they had forensic evidence like we have today, a person's word and some scant evidence was all that could really be held against anybody.

[Exhibit A: This bloody coat of many colors is evidence of the victim's death along with the testimony of the victim's brothers. Exhibit B: The prosecution witnessed the defendant's hairy arms through touch alone and the defendant testified that he was Esau.]

In God's law, we find that He requires at least 2-3 eye-witnesses to testify against someone in order for them to be found guilty. It is up to the judge, perhaps, to determine if they were delivering false testimony. Even in Jesus' trial, the stories of the false witnesses had to somewhat agree before the Sanhedrin—who wanted Christ dead—even thought about handing Him over to Pontius Pilate. Really, it wasn't until Jesus Himself affirmed that He was the Son of God that they convicted Him.

Elsewhere, I find unusual statements like, "For God is my witness..." and "I tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit" and so on. What kind of witnesses are these supposed to be if they're not technically present to tell us? Should I believe your conscience?? John writes about an equally perplexing exchanging in chapter 8. I mean, could you imagine the following discourse taking place in a court of law today?

¹³ The Pharisees therefore said to Him, “You bear witness of Yourself; Your witness is not true.”
¹⁴ Jesus answered and said to them, “Even if I bear witness of Myself, My witness is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going; but you do not know where I come from and where I am going. ¹⁵ You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one. ¹⁶ And yet if I do judge, My judgment is true; for I am not alone, but I am with the Father who sent Me. ¹⁷ It is also written in your law that the testimony of two men is true. ¹⁸ I am One who bears witness of Myself, and the Father who sent Me bears witness of Me.”
¹⁹ Then they said to Him, “Where is Your Father?”
Jesus answered, “You know neither Me nor My Father. If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also.”

Christ established that He had two witnesses of His authority, but then follows that up with the fact that the Father wasn't known to the party He was trying to convince. How was this expected to convince the highly skeptical Pharisees? Yet Jesus was performing amazing miracles that were unlike anything anybody had ever seen or written about up to that point, so His witnessing was backed up by strong evidence.

Also, in many places in the Bible, inanimate objects are said "to be a witness" for something, generally a promise or covenant. This is the case with Abraham and Abimelech over the area of Beersheba in Genesis 21, and between God and Israel in Deuteronomy 4:26.

"So what's the point, Mike?" you may ask yourself. Good question. Let's summarize what we've learned up to this point. The words "witness" and "testimony" are used in the Bible as firsthand evidence in a trial. But they are also used to bind agreements, build faith among the people and exhort others that what God or His servants are saying is true.

Viewpoints

God has predestined a small group of people to be His followers at this time. Being omniscient, He knows the time in our life that we will most likely receive His word, hear His witnesses and come to the conclusions He desires us to come to. Naturally, we go on to a lifetime of learning to find out what is RIGHT, GOOD and TRUTH (capitalized to mean God's perfect version of these words). Of course, it's not the TRUTH that is changing, but rather we are continually uncovering more of it and throwing out the counterfeit versions Satan and this world has deceived us with.

Because we are only eyewitnesses of evidence of godly GOOD, and not its entirety, we must be mindful in how we witness to others. And this is where God instructs us to obtain a sound mind—the mind of Christ—to rightly divide the TRUTH from the stuff people merely call truth. So how do we convince someone else that our mind is sound and our message is worth listening to?

We could compare witnessing the TRUTH of God to somebody new to believing someone who's claiming to have seen a UFO. Both God’s TRUTH and UFOs are equally foreign to this world, but many claim to have some belief in them to one degree or another. So if someone claims to you that they've seen a UFO, what would convince you that they had? Would it be just their word? How detailed their story is? How about the sober-mindedness of the individual? Would you require physical evidence, like pictures or video? In practice, UFOgraphers have produced all of the above and more, yet there are still many more skeptics than believers.

The Church of God’s function of preaching the gospel is kind of like this. We are presenting material that to most will just seem odd or just flat-out wrong. Even Mr. Armstrong initially reacted to the Sabbath with incredulity. Some will find the Gospel fascinating whether it's our take on prophecy, Biblical truths they didn't see before, or how it answers questions they've always had. But as with the parable of the sower, many of these individuals stay interested for a time until some other distraction, the cares of this world or Satan pull them away. But it does serve a purpose: to get people's attention directed to the Truth of God so their minds are primed to receive it when the time is right.

Back to our UFO example, what if you went out and saw what the other believers did? That might be pretty compelling. Even the greatest skeptic would have a hard time explaining that away, but they may look for every scientific argument they can find to cast doubt on what they experienced. Most people would be compelled to share their story—far more so than the average believer who hasn't witnessed a UFO.

God's calling is more like this example. In my own calling, he began doing things that were beyond natural explanation. The Bible began to come alive to me in a way it hadn't before. I begin to get angry at the actions of this world, and I was sad at its ignorance. Then I got angry with my own inability to live up to God’s commandments. My prayers seemed to get answered over and over and questions I had in my mind got answered by a conversation I had with someone the next day. Coincidental and weird things!

It's here where the average person being called begin to sense there's a little more to this whole Sabbath/Holy Day/unclean meats/tithing/10 Commandments thing. However, they have to understand that this calling isn't happening to everybody else. But now we're at an impasse. Like the guy who didn't believe in UFOs before he saw one, we have a choice to make: Do I tell others or do I keep my mouth shut and let it drive me nuts? Do I seek out others who have seen similar things? What do I do? You know that it would appear crazy to everyone else, but you saw it with your own two eyes! Surely I'm not crazy, you say.

The Developing Witness

God tells us that His Holy Spirit produces in us a sound mind (II Tim. 1:7) rather than the blinders those trapped in this world have over their eyes. We shouldn't fear this new knowledge even though we will likely appear freakish to others. Over time, we come to see that we must fulfill the requirements Paul outlines in Romans 12:1-2:

"¹ I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. ² And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God."

Here, we’re given the purpose of why God is working specially with us. We have to prove that His way of life that we're witnessing is real. And yes, it will be a sacrifice, but one that's highly acceptable and notable to God—you know, the One who rules the entire UNIVERSE.

So we ask, as Paul did on the way to Damascus, "What will you have me do, Lord?" The rest of Romans 12 gives us that answer. We are to join His body, the church, and serve within it. This says that God, having called us for a specific role in His body, must begin training us to fulfill that role. At first, we are students. But over time, the Holy Spirit may lead us to various other roles. The whole way, we cannot forget to continue to "prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God".

In other words, no matter what position we receive, from babe in Christ to apostle, we must recognize that we haven't been shown the entire TRUTH yet, just the pieces needed to do our job. We grow—or read about a portion of God's eternal nature, take time to figure it out and practice it, and then see how it really works in real life. Another part of our role in the body is learning to care about the people of this world so much that we provide them with evidence of God working in our life, whether through example or by explaining. We must learn to do these things both individually and within the greater context of Christ’s body—the church.

It's a learning process. Others will challenge us and we will receive trials to refine our understanding. Step by step, we'll remove our feet from walking with this world, and that will cause others to take notice. We are showing evidence of Christ living within us. Paul makes this point in Romans 5-7 where he discusses that keeping God's word is proof of its authenticity because it creates the perfect man. Our mistakes and missteps of following God's perfect word will also be used as a witness. Paul states that our inability to keep the law proves its righteousness, too, in that our carnal nature couldn't begin to ascribe to the perfection of God’s law and character without His help.

This is why we must remain humble. We really don't know whether the evidence we're presenting in each moment of our life is really the Truth or just carnal self-righteousness. That is, until the Holy Spirit which is working and living within us lets us know. Over time, we'll begin nailing down those things that keep get hammered into our minds and they become readily-accessible knowledge and understanding. Other times, we'll just think figured something out, but will be proven wrong when we find we actually just stepped out on our own understanding.

Paul gives us good advice in how he chose to witness to others. He tells us in I Corinthians 2:

" ¹ And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. ² For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. ³ I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. ⁴ And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, ⁵ that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God."

This is just after he rebukes the Corinthian church for being sectarian. Are we representing Christ in the way he would want, or are we showing off like mere men? Either way, we are an example and people are watching.

A Spiritual Witness

Let’s look at John 15. “I AM the True Vine…” What does this have to do with witnessing? Read further to verse 5:

“⁵ I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. ⁶ If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered…”

If we really think about what’s being said in John 15, we see that our spiritual growth is directly tied back to Jesus Christ. We bear spiritual fruit only by being attached to Him. Even His body—the church—is Christ’s, which grows through His direct intervention. Spiritually-speaking, our ability to sustain anything in a spiritual manner comes from the Holy Spirit dwelling within us and Christ leading and guiding that growing process—not other human beings.

Peter, Paul, James and John spend much time talking about how contentions, strife, poor examples and sin can inhibit spiritual growth because they are distracting and destructive to our physical mind and body, which can take our thoughts and hearts away from focusing on God. That is, they have an effect on our emotions, stress levels, etc. But it’s only when we choose to let these things affect us that we remove ourselves from the True Vine and degrade spiritually. In other words, if other people attack us, that is not a valid reason in God's eyes for us to fall away.

Romans 7-8 explains this a little more. The spiritually-discerning nature of the Holy Spirit can use contentions and strife to demonstrate sin’s awful power over us. For example, if contentions arose between brethren, the Spirit may use that opportunity to point out that the source of the problem is one with attitude. This will resonate far more clearly and personally than just reading about fighting in the Bible. After experiencing it firsthand, we are repulsed by our actions. This is certainly not promoting sin, but rather shows how the Holy Spirit magnifies sin’s effects in our own lives and on humanity as a whole. It is at this point that we can begin seeing sin as horribly as God does and begin to destroy it. However, if we refuse to repent and continue to provide a home for sin—nurturing rather than destroying—we will be distracted by it and wither away from the True Vine.

We see that no other member of mankind other than our own self can distract us away spiritually from Jesus Christ; not a parent, a friend nor a minister. This idea is bolstered by I Corinthians 10:13 in that God will not allow us to be tempted more than we can handle. Matthew 10:28 tells us to not fear man, but God. Psalm 118:6 and Hebrews 13:6 ask, “The LORD is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?”

It is in this way that the Holy Spirit and Jesus Christ are a spiritual witness to us—when we accept their help and surrender to their will.

Free Will

The apostles were firsthand eyewitnesses to Jesus Christ's life, teachings, death and resurrection. They were most qualified to accurately describe what He had said and done because they were right there with Him. And Jesus sent them the Holy Spirit to remind them of Christ’s words and to further show how they were to teach others. If miracles, signs or teachings were done through them, these actions were evidence of God's power. The prophets also spoke and performed similar miracles for ancient Israel’s sake through the Holy Spirit and God speaking through them. All of God’s servants’ roles throughout the Bible were to provide evidence that God exists and that He has specific instructions for mankind to follow.

Yet what I find interesting in no matter what any of them say, mankind still has the freedom of choice to do whatever they want. We all agree that if a witness testifies something, that testimony doesn't somehow become the de facto truth and all must agree in its correctness. Rather, it is simply placed in front of somebody and that’s it. No matter how much persuading, reasoning, logic or evidence that's there, it is up to the other person to accept or deny it as fact.

WOW! Or perhaps... "Duh!" But this is key: YOU don't have any power over what that person chooses. And even crazier still: neither do the prophets, the apostles, the Bible, Jesus Christ nor God. Now, it is true that Christ can be awfully persuasive when He chooses to be. Pictures of a mountain quaking with awesome lightning displays and trumpets shouting louder and louder might get your attention in a way that O.J.'s bloody glove might not. But even then, people can choose to reject God—and He has allowed for this in His plan.

The point for you and I is that we—when it concerns others—can ONLY be a witness to them. We can do no more. In my mind, this takes a great deal of the weight off my shoulders, similar to Jesus saying how His burden is light. We are not responsible for other people's decisions—they are.

We are not off the hook, though. Our testimony to others is required by God once we surrender our will to Him. And this testimony must take the form of a tireless and lifelong pursuit to a) provide ample evidence of God's existence, b) prove that the Bible is His Word, c) teach the correct way to understand and study it, d) reason with and exhort others to change their lives, e) live our lives as an example to our neighbors, f) and proclaim the Good News of the wonderful Kingdom of God to come to all nations, etc. But it ends where our words and example meet other people's eyes, ears and brain.

Summary

Those called by God are witnesses to the Truth, and these witnesses can only state the things they've seen and experienced. Others, who may or may not have experienced such things, can only guess if their word is true. Christ—the Word, Truth and Light—declared that His witness is TRUTH because He is the only one who knows TRUTH, outside of His Father. This is precisely why we need Christ living in us at all times. It is also precisely why—the moment we realize we're trying to take over—we need to stop ourselves and return to Him. No one else, if we are firmly planted on the foundation of Christ, can take that away from us unless we allow it.

When Jesus, Peter, Paul, Stephen and many others spoke in front of mass audiences, before kings, councils and judges, Who was witnessing? Likewise, when we are speaking to others, or just simply living our lives in the midst of other people from any background, who is witnessing? What evidence are we putting forth? The testimony that resonates the most with any one individual isn't important—that's for God to worry about. Our job, simply put, is to be a witness. But it must be accurately based on the powerful witness of God the Father and Jesus Christ testifying about a kingdom of love, joy and peace for all who are a part of it.

“Can I get a witness?” The whole world will soon desire one.

I Was Just Trying to Help!

With the extremely terrible and difficult situation in Haiti, many are reaching out to help their fellow man. Donations range from pocket change to millions of dollars, food, clothing, tents, diapers, and other immediate needs. However, like 9/11, Hurricane Katrina and other disasters, some are sending food that spoils en route, fur coats and winter jackets to hot climates, and other items that are either not useful or actually hinder the aid efforts.

This article goes into a lot more detail about such issues. It's an interesting read because it shows that even good intentions can often times prove to be a hindrance in desperate times. Note this quote from the article:

No question, the two church-goers from New Jersey had the best intentions in the world when they arrived in Port-au-Prince this week to help victims of Haiti’s killer earthquake.

Trouble was, [best intentions were] all they had in a land where food, water, shelter and transportation are at a desperate premium, said Laura Blank, a disaster communications manager on the ground for World Vision, a Christian humanitarian aid group with long ties to the country.

“They seemed very eager and very passionate about helping the people of Haiti, but they didn’t have a ride to get out of the airport,” said Blank, who had to direct the pair to assistance.

It is described that 40,000 such people show up to volunteer their time at major disasters, but many times do not have the skills or resources to properly help. In fact, due to their lack, they oftentimes become part of the very group needing help!

The article goes on to discuss how a 59-cent can of tuna or veggies can be cheap for us to throw in a donation box, but due to its packaging's size and weight, it may cost up to 80-cents to a dollar of additional donations to send it. Whereas the aid groups who have warehouse contacts to buy in bulk for far cheaper than the average citizen has access to or ability to donate. It turns out that giving money to these larger organizations can be the most efficient way to help those in need even though these organizations have 5-30% of administrative costs taken out before help ever gets sent. This can seem counter-intuitive, but the average person needs to get all the facts before giving.

This is not to say that these aid groups want to stamp out the giving nature of people. Rather, it's how folks give that is most effective and helpful. When we give and serve others under any circumstance, we must prepare ourselves to give in a manner that's most helpful for those whom we're giving to. Sometimes our best intentions can make a situation less than ideal or perhaps pile on additional trials for those we're attempting to serve. The writer goes on to say:

From volunteer medical teams who show up uninvited, to stateside donors who ship boxes of unusable household goods, misdirected compassion can actually tax scarce resources, costing time, money, energy — and lives, experts say.

“Everyone wants to be a hero. Everyone wants to help,” said Dr. Thomas Kirsch, co-director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Refugee and Disaster Response. “It’s not the way to do it.”

"Misdirected compassion"... Yikes. Good intentions are wonderful, but we must consider the needs and feelings of those we are serving before doing so. It's a popular notion to think, "Of course others want my help." But do they? We should ask ourselves several important questions before choosing the way we're planning on aiding others. What are all the costs associated with my helping? Do I need to factor in time, additional money and resources, even borrowing from the very people I'm planning on serving in order to help? Is my timing right, or should I hold off? Am I offering something they would find usable? Am I the best person to help in this situation? Will my help actually be a hindrance? Would I want me to help if I were in that same situation?

Please don't think that I want to stop people from giving. On the contrary, we're commanded by God to do so. Jesus Christ commanded us to love our neighbor and gave us plenty of examples of His own service to mankind. He gave us parables about serving others, including the good Samaritan. He warns us that those found not feeding the hungry, visiting those in prison, clothing the naked, etc. will not be in the Kingdom. My purpose here is to take those good intentions and transform them into the most effective force possible. Simply acting in any case with minimal to zero planning is simply unwise.

Consider some of these more common forms of serving... If you're entertaining others, have you planned and prepared enough in advance so you can have maximum time with them? Do you have enough food and room for all your guests to be comfortable? If not, perhaps a having a smaller group over or meeting elsewhere might work better. Perhaps bringing food you've prepared to their home might be better.

If having people stay with you for a weekend, do you have enough beds and bedding to house them? Will all guests have enough privacy for prayer and Bible study? Are there any issues with "appearance of evil" to others; not just to those in the church, but by our example amongst neighbors? Just because you're comfortable with the situation doesn't mean your guests are. It's worth it to ask in advance to be sure.

Purchasing food or necessities for someone? Perhaps checking with a friend or relative to verify that it meets their needs. They may not have the resources or abilities to cook certain things (us men can barely operate the microwave). Others may have dietary restrictions.

God tells us to correct one another in love, which can be considered a service if it improves our relationships, or stops one from breaking apart. Need to talk with someone about a problem? Matthew 18 describes how to approach someone who has offended us, not others. If this is the case, this chapter also describes the attitude we are to have; that of a child with the willingness to be gentle, yielding and understanding. If it's not directly an offense against me, then it's worth it to consider if I'm the one who should be doing the talking. Bringing it up would potentially make that individual aware of the issue, but it might spark an even bigger conflict that has nothing to do with me.

Similar to this notion is giving advice. I'm not sure of the origin, but my brother-in-law said it to me: "Is that what really needs to be said? Is now the time to say it? Am I the one that should say it?" There's a time and place for everything and we need to give extra thought to advising others (myself included here).

Service is a vital part of the Christian's life. However, the act of giving mustn't be a self-serving act with no consideration given to those we are helping. Many today give to get that "feel good" feeling or to be seen by others, and while I don't believe most of us think in that way, we may be too wrapped up with the idea of doing good that we fail to do so in the end. Take the extra effort to analyze the situation fully before launching into action giving heed to love our neighbor in the process. If you're unsure, pray about the situation. Pray about it either way, really. God desires and will turn us into compassionate and effective servants when we allow Him to.

...And Apparently That's Not All That's Contagious...

Blaming others for problems encourages others to do the same. See this article.

I blame Satan and society...

Self-Control Is Contagious

Here's an interesting read: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34881243/ns/health-behavior/. They say a lack of self-control is also contagious, too.

"He who has, more shall be given him. He who has not, even that which he has shall be taken away from him."

Patience and Perception

Okay, so I'm pondering something... How much of a wait-and-see attitude should a Christian have? What role does experience play in determining the "spirit" of a person's actions, a current event, etc.? How long should we wait before drawing conclusions on any fruits we perceive?

I'm interested because having a balance in two vital areas--that is, with patience and perception--is both a foundation for and true sign of building godly wisdom and character. However, being short on supply of either one or having a false variety thereof has caused millions to be blinded to the Truth.

Allow me to explain what it is that I currently think I think of these two qualities...

There seems to be varying levels of patience and perception (based on our experiences). Perhaps there are better words for what I'm describing, and maybe typing this out on a blog will flesh out those terms. One way to define these terms is to start with extremes: the person with much patience and little perception will wait and wait to draw a conclusion on a matter until they just accept the consequences of having not done anything when everything has finally unfolded. The person with much perception and little patience will sense the faintest whisper of a wind blowing similarly to their previous experiences and immediately draw conclusions that the same is happening now. The former is the typical frog in increasingly hotter water analogy and the latter is your wackiest conspiracy theorist. Certainly, this doesn't even begin to show the many varieties of patience and perception/experience nor even their good side, but it can show the flaws of having a false variety of each one.

To demonstrate some of the other sides of these two qualities, I'll try to describe them with examples. I am reminded by those older than me that "I haven't been around as long as they have to experience these things that they're seeing." And I believe them, I really do. On the other hand, the ever-optimistic, open-minded youth or rarely-judging pacifists seem to have peace, joy and a gentle spirit in their lives. Personally, as I grow older, I have tended to lean more on my experiences to help make quicker judgments of a situation. Still, I attempt to hold off some before making my final judgment to verify that my perception of the situation is indeed correct (I said attempt...).

A patient-only individual may have an opinion, but is waiting for further validation before acting. A perceptive-only person probably had their minds made up long ago and wondered what took so long for everyone else to catch up. Yet the perceptive-only person may have missed crucial information that wasn't initially presented and make a rash decision. The patient-only person may never find the validation they're looking for and take lumps for not acting decisively earlier.

Several years ago, the Worldwide Church of God was taken over from the inside and turned inside out. It was a terrible experience for all, but it was indeed experience-building. Based on everything I've read and everyone I've talked to, many lessons were drawn from each of these experiences. Some folks took the approach to wait it out and patiently see what God would do within the church He raised through Mr. Armstrong, allowing themselves to drift back into worldly Christianity as the Worldwide Church of God transformed itself into Grace Communion International over the decades to follow. Others, being badly scalded personally by this enormous trial, have ran in fear from all organized religion and point the finger accusingly at any who continue to live or teach such a "god" who would allow such a thing to occur. Of course, there are many, many shades of gray between these two extremes.

Similarly in politics, war, prophecy and religion, experience and education are especially needed, as is patience. Many people I know took one look at Barack Obama and immediately knew what kind of man he was by his words and his politics, while others want history to judge his actions. (NOTE: I'm not passing judgment on either camp here, just noting them.) The same goes with George W. Bush, the Iraq War and the recession as well as the future of Jerusalem, Germany, the Catholic Church, and even the Church of God.

Some with much godly experience may see the Church as having shed several of the problems of the past. Others with much experience** have identified loose bricks in the House of God that reek of the sins of the past.

**As a side note, it appears to me that some men with extreme cases of relying too much on their so-called perception have practically turned themselves into prophets and apostles, if they're not already declaring themselves to be so. These people are so sure of their predictions, even if done under the guise of "I've seen this all before" or even "God has given me special insight to know this."

Some with patience have learned from enduring such difficult trials and have gleaned a great deal of knowledge from the lessons each has taught. Others with a more complacent patience have come to the point of not worrying about nor praying for the problems of others because doing so might require some introspection on their part as well. I've seen people refuse to "judge" others because doing so would be hypocritical. We probably shouldn't be so patient with our own sins just because we're supposed to be patient with others. What are we hiding or not overcoming? Paul says we shouldn't want grace to abound for our sins' sake (Romans 6).

Why am I talking about all this? Because I want to figure out the right balance of each of these vital characteristics and make sure that I'm not misidentifying each one for something quite different. I would like to have the patience and mercy to be willing to let God work with every individual to perfect them in His image regardless of their current state. Yet I also understand that God will eventually draw a line in the sand when someone's character is set and their mind cannot be changed by Him or anyone else. Final judgment will take place.

Next, God expects me to make decisions with limited information at times to test me and I can't always have the time that I might want. Other times, He wants to see if I'll act upon my selfish desires or emotions of the moment or patiently dig deep and rely on past experiences to realize what a poor decision that would be. Other questions I've asked are: Will I let God and Jesus Christ lead Their Church? Will I leave in the case of apostasy? Will I scour for problem areas in others or will I get on my knees to pray for any problems that happen to come to my attention?

Also, combining these two characteristics is a powerful concoction. Together, we can draw on our experiences while patiently allowing our minds to sift over all available knowledge that's available, whether through seeking advice, researching and studying the subject in the Bible and asking God personally for help. Whatever mood we're currently in can color our perceptions. Patience can smooth out the erratic nature of our emotions and help us to see the larger picture by analyzing things through a variety of emotions and experiences. Humans are generally incapable of more than just a few emotions or memories at any given time, so repeated exposure to these things while not coming to one quick decision can help us verify that our original perception was or was not the right one.

Perception is absolutely required to make any kind of stand in our lives and it requires us to thoroughly re-analyze our experiences over a lifetime against a backdrop of fellow members' perceptions to build a more complete picture. This is why a Church is required in the first place--in order to allow the various parts of the body of Christ to share their individual growth and knowledge to edify, encourage and grow the Body. Our perceptions need to become the Body's perceptions and the Body's perceptions need to become ours.

As it is, the Body is constantly adding new members, and thus new parts, and this requires patience to help them draw closer to the stature of the fullness of perfection that is our Elder Brother. Our experiences can help us remember what it was like being in their position, if there are similarities, and sympathize with them...even drawing us closer to them by desiring to help them along. Of course, the opposite occurs when someone with more experiences than ourselves offers us a hand in our current trials and lack of understanding some issue.

Anyway, that's me getting all of this stuff off my mind. I suppose the wisest people of all are the most experienced folks around that still practice a great deal of patience in coming to a full judgment, even distrusting their own human nature until God delivers His perfect understanding to them. May each one of us continue to work towards that...

Ownership

Building on my last post about appreciation, I wanted to write a little about how I've grown in appreciation for things I didn't necessarily highly value at earlier points in my life.

Perhaps each one of us can look back and remember being told to do chores around the house and how much we loved to do them (not). I couldn't watch TV on Friday night or Saturday morning or attend any of the school holiday parties. I remember having to sit still in church as a preteen, taking notes and looking up scriptures while my school friends were out playing team sports and riding their bikes. I remember my first experiences on the job not exactly being the most exciting. I have heard over and over from friends a co-workers--and I might have uttered more than once myself--that we work to live and not the other way around.

Yet one of the main lessons I've learned in life is that anything worth having is worth working for. 'Work' here can probably mean anything we've put effort into or perhaps even struggled through. While I didn't like doing chores for my parents, I did find, upon moving to my own apartment, that I had certain expectations of cleanliness and kept my place fairly tidy. When I started working, a nice Sabbath rest and spiritual recharge proved to be a huge relief after a long week in the world's grasp..

And on my motivations in my career... Well, let's just say that it took more than a few years to get through my thick skull that hard labor was actually good for me. In those years, I annoyed my first manager quite a bit to the point he would drag me to a private room for one-on-one meetings. There, and in my annual reviews, he would tell me that I lacked "ownership," which to me was a nebulous managerial term meaning I needed to work nights and weekends for no additional pay. (I was never lacking for cynicism...) But in order to appease my manager and keep my job, I prayed to God that I might learn good work habits and become a profitable servant.

Over time, I switched teams and got handed several projects that I became the "expert" of. In other words, nobody else wanted it, it was new, or I brought it with me from my old team. My clients would need something quickly and I had to build it for them with timeliness and quality. Several of them would forward on their appreciation for my efforts. Then another issue might arise with a different project or I'd receive a new one, and the cycle would continue. This same cycle occurred on my first team, but now I was suddenly aware of what true "ownership" was; it was responsibility for something that I had invested a great deal of time and effort into and got a great deal of appreciation out of.

There's a word here that's very significant: 'invested'. The difference between cleaning my parents' home and my own was that I was invested in my place. That's not to lessen the wonderful lessons I was taught by doing chores as a kid. But when you search for a house or apartment, sign all the paperwork, move all your stuff, decorate, pay rent and utilities, lock up and protect your place, it's a whole different ballgame. When they're my projects, they were far more important to me.

Likewise, rather than just getting rest on some random day of the week, the Sabbath became a whole day to invest in God, just as the Bible says He has invested in me. I attend services with like-minded brethren and invest in them, too. And as we study, pray, fast, meditate, serve, encourage and edify, we are investing in the soon-coming Kingdom that Christ Jesus will set up shortly on this earth!

'Work' takes on a different meaning for me when I am invested. Rather than drudging from deadline to deadline, each job has meaning and there are important lessons that can be derived from most every activity. When invested, I take the role of a servant leader to my manager, minister, clients, co-workers, brethren, and even strangers in that I will volunteer to do whatever it takes to give them what they need to thrive. More accurately, God places us in a position and hands us expectations spelled out over the duration of our calling, baptism and conversion, similar to a business. It should be our privilege to serve in this way and take ownership for what we're invested in.

Appreciation

I'd like to say a few words about appreciation today. And no, not the kind of appreciation that my home's value is unlikely to be receiving lately. Google's definition is, "understanding of the nature or meaning or quality or magnitude of something." 'Understanding' here, to me, is more than just an acknowledgment of something we think is good or helpful, it is also the deep feelings of value associated with something.

For example, I find God's Law, the Bible, wisdom and other spiritual concepts to be good and helpful. But I seem to have a stronger emotional reaction to physical things, perhaps a nice condo at the Feast, a fancy sports car, a fine wine, expensive clothes or shoes, a quality vacation, etc. I'm not saying that the spiritual things aren't better, as they obviously are. I'm referring to the fact that given my actions, I seem to be more naturally drawn to the physical than the spiritual. That said, I also recognize that when the Holy Spirit is truly working with me, it's far and away the most powerful experience I've had. But over time, while the memory of that experience remains, the feelings fade, as it does with the physical.

This comes as no surprise to me when I think about it. But the problem I'm having is that I don't think about it all that much. Sure, I study, pray, try to find ways to serve and what not, but I still find the pulls of the flesh more tempting. In order to do these spiritual things, I've had to make them habitual. I've gotten to the point that I've derived real value out of these activities, but when push comes to shove, I'd rather go shop for a new stereo than read an extra couple of chapters. "Oh, you wanted to hang out tonight? Okay, I can fast some other time." And so forth.

In other words, I'm okay with the daily routine of prayer, Bible study, etc., but in order to grow my current plateau, I think I need to increase the worth I place on spiritually-based activities in order to increase the amount I want do them versus the purely physical--or the kinds of things that are simply carnal pleasures. Carnal doesn't necessarily mean bad things, just not things that help you grow in grace and knowledge. I figure if I learn to grow in my desire to do these spiritual tasks and perhaps lessen the excitement I feel for the others, I will choose the eternal over the temporary. Or to steal the other meaning of the word 'appreciate', which is to grow in value, I'll appreciate my appreciation.

Talents

I was having a conversation with a friend about motivation the other day. During it, we were discussing a personality type that seems to put forth a lot of effort towards some stated goal, but rarely seems to finish the job. I told him I was at a loss for how one could encourage such individuals, so he suggested that I take a closer look at the parable of the talents. He thought this tale would be a good way to illustrate some important points on productivity. This suggestion prompted me to reread the parable of the talents within the context of motivation and productivity and their importance to God. The more I read and thought about it, a good number of helpful lessons became apparent.

First, let’s get the context of this story. Matthew 25:15 states, “And to one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to each according to his own ability.” The word ‘ability’ here signifies that the master knew how much each servant was capable of based on past performance. He obviously knew the servant to whom he gave five talents could handle a larger amount of responsibility and the servant given two talents with somewhat less.

The servant receiving only one talent was entrusted with the least. Perhaps the master knew this servant’s character displayed a clear lack of motivation judging by his past work as we will see later. It may have been a test for him, but that is speculation. We do know that he only gave him one talent, so his ability was deemed to be smaller than the others. Based on that understanding, we find out what the servant actually did with his money; he buried it in the ground (v18). It is possible that he had hoped God would tremendously bless him by growing a money tree, but that, too, is speculation.

Why did the last servant not do anything? Verses 24-25 give us his explanation: “Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered seed. And I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there you have what is yours.” “See? No harm done. You got your talent back, even!” It’s not exactly clear what the servant was really afraid of, but it is clear he wasn’t fearful enough to actually have done anything with the money. Verse 26 shows the master’s reply to this excuse: “You wicked and lazy servant,” – obviously, the master wasn’t pleased that his servant did nothing with his money – “you knew that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I have not scattered seed.”

The master explained that the servant’s clear understanding of his expectations should have motivated him to work rather than stop him from working. “So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I would have received back my own with interest.” Here, the master implies that the servant should have known to at least use bankers. It appears likely that the servant was educated enough to know this, but he simply refused to take the first step. It is imperative to begin working in order to gain momentum; otherwise we are merely dreaming and hoping. That is the first lesson we can glean here: Take one step.

If the last servant would have taken this first step, he would have already met the stated criteria of his master – to grow his investment. In doing so, he theoretically would have talked with the bankers and perhaps found other ways to invest his master’s money. He could have learned on the job while gaining knowledge and experience each step of the way. He had the opportunity to become a more profitable servant, but chose to pass it up because of a lack of motivation, true fear and respect for his master’s expectations.

Although the parable doesn’t say so, the master likely gave the last servant many chances to prove his worth before this final opportunity became the last straw. He ordered his other servants to “cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth” (v29). The second lesson is: if we won’t work, it won’t be pretty.

If we aren’t willing to work with God, He can’t work with us. “Can two walk together unless they are agreed?” (Amos 3:3). When we enter our covenant relationship with God, He expects us to do His will and become more like Him (John 15:14, Heb. 8:10). The consequences of not holding up our end of the bargain is destruction, yet it is mercifully so. We could not be happy living in a giving, sharing, loving and everlasting Kingdom such that God is preparing for us if we’re not willing to put forth the kind of effort required for it to stay that way.

Ecclesiastes 9:10 simply states that “whatever your hand finds to do, do it with [all] your might.” If one isn’t putting their full effort into each task they undertake, they likely won’t get the best results. If our whole attention isn’t given to the task at hand, there might be lessons that go unlearned and knowledge that is missed. Certainly, we cannot expect God to bless us to the fullest if we are only partly devoted to Him. Nor can we truly say that something wasn’t meant to be, or “God’s will,” if we didn’t really try our best. This is the third lesson: If you’re going to work, work hard.

The other servants did just that. The second servant, judged to be slightly more capable than the last servant, was given two talents by his master. He took that first step – and likely many more – worked hard, and earned double his master’s investment. “Therefore by their fruits you shall know them” (Matt. 7:20). His reward? Verse 23 says, “Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things.” He was complimented for his hard work and given a portion of his master’s sizable inheritance. To summarize, there are two lessons here: we are judged by our fruits, not just our desire and effort, and hard work pays off.

While highly celebrated by his master, the second servant wasn’t quite as industrious as the first servant, who was given five talents and earned five more through trading (v20). This servant was judged by the master to be a go-getter and self-starter. It has been said that if you want something done, give it to the busiest person. The first servant was that kind of individual. This is demonstrated by verse 28: “So take the talent from him, and give it to him who has ten talents.” This describes the sixth lesson: accomplishment generates a greater desire to produce more.

This hardly seemed fair to the other servants in the parallel account, who stated: “Master, he [already] has ten minas” (Luke 19:25). But the master replies: “For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away” (Matt. 25:29). This practice might not appear fair at first glance, but it can be explained as the only fair way.

To illustrate, one point must be made about the kind of person the first servant was. These personality types are many times the top men of organizations or governments, much like a CEO, president or leading evangelist. They hone their efforts to become as efficient as possible. Every task undertaken is organized and prioritized so it gets done with quality. And they always try to keep the big picture in mind in order to keep themselves focused and moving in the right direction. People with this mindset do not sit around waiting for someone else to schedule a meeting or worry about every last detail. Rather, they get to work knowing they have plenty more to do later.

In essence, this industrious servant was of the pedigree that God could trust with that high level of workload. He displayed the motivation required and used his God-given talents to perform the job at hand. The lazy servant, if given such responsibility, would have likely caved under the pressure! It could be said that the second servant wouldn’t have even liked having that much responsibility, but was productive enough to handle and enjoy the amount he was given (Luke 19:19) because it better suited his skills and personality. God doesn’t need everyone to be CEOs and presidents, but he will test our character to see what we can handle. Similarly, each one of us must be motivated and productive in order to prove to ourselves what abilities we have. Positions in the Kingdom of God will match our skill set. The final lesson we can take from these profitable servants is: God prepares us for our perfect job.

We learn much about where we’ll fit in God’s awesome plan through our efforts in this physical life. The parable of the talents teaches us that motivation breeds productivity, responsibility, skills and knowledge that are required by God to rule in His Kingdom. These attributes, once started upon, will continue to increase asymptotically until they match God’s eternally flawless character. Finally, we will receive our inheritance, as He declares in Matthew 25:21: “Well done, GOOD and FAITHFUL servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.”

Be Diligently Vigilant

I heard a story a long time ago about a guy, we'll call him Bob [his name was NOT Bob :) ] that was crossing the street, when all of the sudden, he was shoved in the back by a stranger. Knocked down by the incident, he furiously got up and found his assailant. This man, obviously winded, asked, "Are you okay?" Puzzled, Bob retorted, "Not after you knocked me down!! What were you thinking?!" The other man, obviously taken aback by this comment, replied, "You were almost hit by a speeding car! Crazy drivers these days!" "But I didn't see any car," Bob muttered, confused himself. "Well," the man said with a smile on his face, "I don't suppose you do see the car that hits you most times, do you?"

I remembered that story after thinking about getting caught off guard by sudden frustrations and temptations in my life. Wondering what to do about these problems as they catch me unaware along with the resulting filth I produce reminded me of I Peter 5:8-9. It states, "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith..." I've heard and read this passage what seems to be hundreds of times, and occasionally, a fuller picture of what this scripture is really stating stikes me. However, recently, events have caused this and other passages like it to hit me more like a ton of bricks.

See, normally, I'm focused on the "your adversary the devil" part, and honestly, I think I look out for the more obvious evil attitudes or actions that would come from him. However, after analyzing myself and situations I frequently get myself into, I've realized more and more that we are to be vigilant against the far more subtle everyday occurrences influenced by the attitudes and confusion that Satan unleashes on this world.

Quick aside: Now, some of you (or the one person that may actually read this blog (thanks!!)) may be stating, "Duh." But epiphanies sometime hit us emotionally more than intellectually, and this is one of those occasions for me. When things strike at my person or emotional base, it causes me to seriously dig deep with real questions and begin a process of change. Whereas when I just intellectually understand something, it's generally more like, "That's such a cool idea! Ooh, look! A pretty bird!" And my mind is onto the next distraction, ala James 1:22-24 (the mirror passage).

But this whole concept much deeper than that to me, so I'll attempt to go into the line of thinking that led me to it (feel free to follow along if you'd like). It started out by analyzing some of the sins I've been having serious trouble overcoming. One thing I've learned from meditating on these sins is that knowledge helps us understand why we do things, but it doesn't necessarily help us to stop. So once I was satisfied with the fact that I had mostly understood why I was committing these sins repeatedly, the effects of them on me, my loved ones, and God, the spiritual fruits and gifts required to overcome them and even how those fruits helped and blended with God's other fruits and gifts to make life so much easier... (I'll take a deep breath now from this run-on sentence...) ...I started to look for the solution on how to actually stop committing them.

But upon trying to stop several times, I was led to understand that really didn't want to overcome these sins. I mean, I knew I needed to, and I know God requires us to act on what we know, otherwise it's sin to us. Yet I was being completely stubborn.

So I figured the way to gaining back this desire to change for the better was to study how to overcome stubbornness. I mean, the Bible has the answer for all of these kinds of questions, right? What I found shouldn't have surprised me, but it did... The Bible merely points out that people are stubborn and foolish, similar to the way it points out that people are prideful, arrogant, liars, fornicators, drunkards, idolators, etc. There was no way to "ease" out of being stubborn, no mantra I had to chant umpteen-thousand times, and asking God to "change me" over and over again, ala the persistent widow, wasn't going to work quite the way I hoped... <*sigh*> All it points out is the same solution for each and every one of our problems: humble yourself to God, allow Jesus Christ to work within you and, finally, simply DO what He tells us to do, wherever we learn it. I had to just man up and do it. A great quote that goes with this concept is given to us by Master Yoda, "Do or do not. There is no try."

I always take my advice from Muppets, don't you?

A physical example of this could be the day some of us look in the mirror or look down at our gut and say, "Wow, I need to exercise." And that thought quickly passes as we head to the fridge. Then a few weeks down the road, we finally get really sick of it and we might attempt a few sit-ups or take a long walk. But the follow-up is lacking. Finally, we realize that we need to get into a routine of exercise. Once again, it lasts for a while, but busy-ness, distractions, stress and just being utterly tired get in the way. Besides, that cheeseburger looked waaaay too good. But we learned how much better we could feel by trying...

Then it finally hits some of us. Real change can only take place when we notice that it's our entire lifestyle that needs to change. The kind of food we eat, the amount of sleep we get, the kind of exercise we do, the stresses we have, even the people we spend time with... It's at this point that it all becomes clear, and yet we have to make a choice: Am I really going to change my whole lifestyle, or am I going to go back and just be satisfied with what annoyed me so much before?

I give this example because it demonstrates that physical and spiritual problems can be viewed - and resolved - in much in the same way. The moment I realized I had to go all out kind of scared me, and yet it gave me clarity that I needed to go forward with the Just Do It attitude. There is no try over the long run...

So how in the world, after doing whatever bad habits we've done for who-knows-how-long (hence why Paul calls it the OLD man) do we suddenly change everything surrounding an issue? I mean, sure, if I did every right and good thing at once, it would be wonderful. But the initial inclination to stop at the first sign of any inconvenience is ridiculously high. It takes a ton of physical, mental, emotional and spiritual energy to get this fully-loaded cargo ship turned around in rough seas!

It was going to take all the will power I had, obviously. And then something else hit me... I was reading some old sermon notes how Jesus Christ had to constantly guard against evil in His life. Think for a moment about how difficult His job was. Sure, He had a ton of wisdom, experience and help. Yet if He messed up even once, ONCE, it ruined everything. How did He do it? By constantly having his guard up and being ready for anything. He never once let down, even while relaxing with His best buds over a glass of wine.

Coincidentally, I have said some of the meanest things to my friends over a glass of wine. I noticed that because of my comfort level, I felt I could say anything to them or about others and they would understand. Yet I keep finding out that harsh words from a good friend are like arrows shot through the heart. And looking back, those statements were rarely necessary. It's funny how, at least in my life, I treat perfect strangers better than I do my own family and friends a lot of times.

I finally saw that I, too, had to begin to get my guard up in all situations. I had to turn on my active sonar and begin scanning the world around me for possible tripping points. I had to anticipate what to do in case something happened. If I am particularly susceptible to some problem, then I need to have thought about how to stop it before it has an opportunity to present itself. Then when it occurs, I need to immediately act upon that!

When driving, most of us have learned to be defensive drivers. I've had cars come out of nowhere into my lane before when I didn't even have an inclination that they might. Similarly, I've had the most innocent situations erupt into a temper tantrum or a sin-fest. If I'm going to go all out, I have to be vigilant and always ready to counter temptation, no matter what shape it comes in. For example, I heard one minister say that we have to be in a constant state of forgiveness just in case somebody offends us.

Perhaps I should permanently keep my foot in my mouth so I stop myself from re-inserting it.

And of course, Jesus, in His off-time, went and prayed, sometimes entire nights. He never strayed from His Father in order that He would be guarding against those things that were really a problem, not just man-made ideas about what's bad. He was intimately familiar with the Scriptures (seeing as how He inspired them, Himself) so He wouldn't counter with the wrong words or actions. And if He knew to do something, He always did it.

I, who started this life as a mere mortal, get access to the same resources, too. However, I have to gain understanding and habits gradually over time by experience, advice, embarrassment and more embarrassment until we're finally sick of whatever we've become. Or we can choose to do what we're told in the same spirit as that of a child. Unfortunately, the older I get, the more stubborn I seem to become. Or as a friend recently put it, my conscience has become that much more seared from habitually choosing the wrong thing, and it is far more difficult to find out what's wrong with me, much less change. I guess it's in my best interest to make sure I'm in the right mold before the cement completely dries, so to speak. Otherwise, God will have to get out his trusty pick axe.

So I finally got back around to our opening scripture in I Peter 5. Be SOBER. Be VIGILANT! Sober (or nepho in Greek) means to abstain, be discreet or watchful. Vigilant (or gregorgeuo) means to keep awake, or also watchful. Satan is constantly throwing stumbling blocks into our path in obvious and sometimes completely obscured places to us. What may be obvious to a friend, we are blind to. We must, at all times, be in a state of awareness of what's going on around us regardless if we're amongst hungry lions or sleeping lambs (isn't that where it's easiest for hungry lions to attack?). Satan is always on the prowl regardless of how much we let our guard down.

I found another scripture that talks about being sober-minded: the qualifications of an elder in I Timothy 3 and Titus 1. It's interesting how the job of a shepherd requires constant watchfulness. They are having to watch out vigilantly to defend their flock from outsiders trying to destroy or chase off members. Ministers must not be given to wine or quarrelsome, yet be gentle, hospitable, unmaterialistic and filled with self-control. These qualifications are to keep the overseer, himself, from doing damage to the flock. That said, the responsibility on the shoulders of each minister is that much heavier than that which is on us laymembers. And God even states that teachers are held to a stricter judgment (James 3:1) in a similar way that Jesus was held to the highest standard possible. Any falter would have greater consequences on God's people. Yet ministers are generally more humble, teachable, serving and loving than I have ever hoped to be. Why? I believe it's because they see the tremendous amount of responsibility placed on their shoulders and the seriousness of their role causes them to remain on high alert as Christ did.

These are the men responsible for actually living up to the "true religion" James points out in his epistle. Their job requires them to get to know all the members, visit the elderly and those in prison, go and annoint those who may be on their death bed, and in some cases, watch them die. They assist people with counseling and carry the burden of each person's issues in confidence without being able to "vent" to others about it. And they have to deal with troublemakers and make tough decisions on how to deal with such individuals. Yikes! Oh, and they speak and write and plan activities, camps and Feast sites from time to time, too.

How about me? Does my life carry the same kind of weight? Do I have a great deal of responsibility placed on my shoulders, too?

I believe the way we individually answer that question will guide how much we're vigilantly anticipating each word or action that comes our way. Heroes and champions have a way of rising to the challenge and God is making champions today. The weapons of God's warriors can be found in Ephesians 6:13-18 and other places. Will we bend our will towards him so He can bend us straight? Will we ask Him to show us what we need to see?

How clearly do I want to see? On one hand, the less blinded I am, the more vigilant, the more responsibile and the more accountable I'm expected to be, which requires more work and diligence. On the other hand, we are to be promoted by God to a position far higher than earthly ministers. And we are to let Christ live in us. If He is truly living in us, then He will cause us to walk as circumspectly as He did.

It's a tall order. I already have that uneasy feeling like there's no way I can maintain it for all that long. And yet, like a muscle being exercised, the pain will subside and we will grow stronger. And like a healthy person, I know I won't look at junk in the same way I did before. God wants us in His Kingdom and He'll stop at nothing to get us there. But it's we that have to be willing to ACT on what God is teaching us today along with tireless, ceaseless anticipation for what this world has to throw at us next.