The Narrow Gate

My beloved was once told by a Pastor's wife that the verse "Do unto others" was not in the Bible! While technically that is correct, the concept of it is though...

"So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets." (Matthew 7:12, ESV)

My blog today is not actually about the "Do unto others" but the verses that following along afterwards...

"Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy [1] that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few." (Matthew 7:13-14, ESV)

The picture that comes to my mind when i read/meditate on these verses is one of having to persistently look to the goal. To make a constant struggle (for lack of a better word coming to mind right now) to stay on course. No cruise control, no coasting. For me part of that struggle is maintaining a balance in my walk with God. I have noticed that God has not allowed me the "luxury" of becoming "legalistic" (again, a word chosen for lack of a good alternative at the ready) in my pursuit of fellowship. For me practices of "read three chapters a day", or "make sure you spend time in prayer at the same time everyday" have been very short lived. You see, i like patterns, i like set plans. So much so that things can become 'robotic'. I am doing them out of habit and i am not concentrating on the task at hand. So for me my life is a pretty good example of Ecclesiastes 3:1-15:

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:

a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.

What gain has the worker from his toil? I have seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live; also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil—this is God's gift to man.

I perceived that whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it. God has done it, so that people fear before him. That which is, already has been; that which is to be, already has been; and God seeks what has been driven away. [1](from the ESV)

There have been times in my life when i have had to push, to strive, to seek God in one way... but that season never lasts in my life. There always comes a time when i need to lean more on grace and seek God in another - new/different - way. The saying "there is nothing new under the sun" is also from Ecclesiastes (1:9), but i believe this in regards to a lot of man's bits of "wisdom" be it from Monastic Monks, Hindus, or 'Buddha'. That does not mean everything is good for me.

"All things are lawful,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful,” but not all things build up. Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor." (1 Corinthians 10:23-24, ESV)

I think a good example can be found in how i consider myself a "samurai" for Christ. I seek to pursue my Lord (Jesus Christ) like a samurai of feudal Japan would serve his earthly (human) master - but in all things however i pursue to serve my Lord... it must line up with the Bible. For example, if i stumble and fail my Lord (aka as sin) i do not have to commit ritual suicide to appease His honor (or my own for that matter). He has already taken that failure and paid the penalty. I am called to trust and have faith in His grace, His sacrifice on the cross on my behalf. So, in the end i do not see the Ying-Yang symbol as a symbol of some eternal struggle between good and evil. That struggle has already been resolved. Sin may still wage its war, but in the end it has been defeated. No, for me the symbol represents my own struggle to walk the path that God has laid out before me. The path may be straight, but it is i who struggles to maintain that straight line. My own internal struggle between "license" and legalism. Back when i was a "baby" Christian i used to wear a "patch" jacket. They used to be fairly popular in the 80's. The jacket was sort of a canvas in which to put patches, etc. to display things about your beliefs. Sort of like bumper stickers for pedestrians. 8) Anyway, mine was one i had made while i was in basic training. On my left should i proudly wore a Ying Yang Patch (pictured right), and i would often get "guff" from my fellow Christians about it. That "guff" stemmed from a misunderstanding about what it was i was proudly displaying. I was not saying i believed in the eternal struggle of good and evil, what i was saying is that i was proud to be a member of the 29th Infantry Division. We all need to be careful lest we fall, but what is harmful for me may not be harmful for a brother or sister - and vice versa. We all need to work out our salvation with earnest (Philippians 2:12-13). I will end with this:

The next day, as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the housetop about the sixth hour [2] to pray. And he became hungry and wanted something to eat, but while they were preparing it, he fell into a trance and saw the heavens opened and something like a great sheet descending, being let down by its four corners upon the earth. In it were all kinds of animals and reptiles and birds of the air. And there came a voice to him: “Rise, Peter; kill and eat.” But Peter said, “By no means, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean.” And the voice came to him again a second time, “What God has made clean, do not call common.” (Acts 10:9-15, ESV)

"For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart." (1 Samuel 16:7b, ESV)

Music Monday - 20091005

Not too long ago i was rambling on about constantly striving and dealing with bad attitudes (my own) towards my own mistakes. The line between grace and striving perfection is pretty thin. I had heard my song for today before this, but in God's providential timing i heard it again later the same day as that previous post.

Free to be Me Francesca Battistelli Album: My Paper Heart At twenty years of age I'm still looking for a dream A war's already waged for my destiny But You've already won the battle And You've got great plans for me Though I can’t always see (Chorus) ‘Cause I got a couple dents in my fender Got a couple rips in my jeans Try to fit the pieces together But perfection is my enemy On my own I'm so clumsy But on Your shoulders I can see I'm free to be me When I was just a girl I thought I had it figured out My life would turn out right, and I'd make it here somehow But things don't always come that easy And sometimes I would doubt (Chorus) And you’re free to be you Sometimes I believe that I can do anything Yet other times I think I've got nothing good to bring But You look at my heart and You tell me That I've got all You seek And it’s easy to believe Even though (Chorus)

Perfectionism is a form of legalism. To make no allowances for grace. I struggled with using this song though. Not because of how great (IMO) it shows how grace is at work in our lives, but because i was worried about the reverse of legalism being seen as ok... license. Our walk with Christ is all about grace. Without God's grace we would be lost, and yet we cannot just lay back and say grace covers it. My mind is wandering (even after taking the Strattera this morning) and i am having a hard time focusing on exactly what i am trying to say. We no longer live under the law, and yet we are to strive/work. There is a difference between justification (that which grace has achieved) and our on-going sanctification (our on going working). But even in the sanctification process grace is at work. We can never achieve perfection because of sin in both ourselves and the world.

But [2] God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:4-10, ESV)

We are indeed free to be ourselves, but we no longer live for ourselves but for Christ. I know that Francesca was not trying to say that it is ok for us to go on sinning, and i am not trying to convey that she was. Christ meets us exactly where we are. Not just when we were still in sin, but even after the Holy Spirit has come to dwell in a Christian's heart. Live free and enjoy the ride, but always ride towards the object of your affection. If it is not Christ... it is an idol.

I'm sayin', but I'm not sayin'

I have been receiving some really good, thoughtful, comments from my blog entry the other day, titled 'The Objective and the subjective'. But I think I am being mis-understood. In regards to God changing His mind. Did God really change His mind regarding Sodom and Gomorah, or was He teaching Abraham to be concerned with the welfare of others? Was it God saying, "maybe I shouldn't destroy these cities", or was it God shaping Abraham to teach him that He can interact with God regarding such things? I mean, in the end the cities were still destroyed. Only Lot and his daughters were saved. In the end, our input is heard by God, and I firmly believe if we "ask not", we will not see any changes. God desires our interaction that is for sure. His Word is clear in that we are to seek Him, petition Him, and ask Him for things. This is one of those things that we will enjoy getting to know about God as we walk with Him. The second item brought up was regarding 1 Corinthians 9:20-23. There is definetly no one right way to preach the Gospel. I fully believe Pastor Orsteen is sincere in his efforts to reach the lost for the sake of Christ. And I fully believe that he is doing that. But, if we allow those who are brought through the doors to remain in such a state they will at best remain ignorant of exactly what God has accomplished with Christ going to the cross, and at worst they will remain connected to the church because it is so welcoming - but remain seperated from God, never having seen the need to accept His work on the cross. America is full of people professing to be Christians, but having a schewed view of what exactly being a Christian means. And they are from all points of view. Some that are incredibly legalistic (*), while others are the exact opposite (God's grace in all things, no matter what I do). We have churches that are failing to grow spiritually, or even worse they misrepresent God. God is unchanging (Malachi), His ways are perfect (2 Samuel), He cannot lie (Numbers), and He cannot contradict Himself, thus my concern for what I perceive as a misrepresentation of God. Especially when it is in the context of we being able to change God's mind when it comes to 'difficulties' or 'hardships'. And when the message is consistantly leaning towards how good and gracious He is, without any mention of why God is so good and gracious to us, then I am concerned. I never debated that the situation changed for the King in 2 Kings, and I never said that Pastor Osteen was preaching a false gospel (if he ever mentions it at all) or that he is not bringing people to Christ. What I am trying to say is that - I feel - that it is a weakened presentation, and that it does not fully represent the God to whom he is calling people to. "And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent." (John 17:3, ESV) "For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him." (John 3:17, ESV) Some people when they come to Christ are not ready to hear what they have been saved from, others cannot be saved without knowing it. Some people come to Christ in an instant and/or when they are very young. Others after many years of faithful witness and/or when they are older. Some people are never ready to hear the "whistle of the train coming". No matter how we are brought to Him can we ever adequetly justify a complacency, an "I have arrived" type attitude if you were? And what about looking to ourselves for change? If you've ever heard "The Message" this is exactly what is being presented. When we constantly look to ourselves, we eventually fail. We "work out our own salvation" (Phillipians 2:12), but we never achieve the ultimate goal on our own - our salvation, without God's gift of grace (Ephesians 2:8-10). It is one thing to presnt a "feel good message" in order to draw people to Christ, it is another thing entirely to present a false image of God. When that happens we are creating idols, and I think we know how God deals with idols. Before I "close out" this blog entry I think I need to also say that, when I stand before the throne of God, and my life is reviewed, I am confident that there are a great number of things (I dare say - most) that I will be mistaken on. I know that my views are not perfect. But I feel compelled to share these concerns - and thus I have prayed, I rely, and I trust that the Holy Spirit will use these imperfect words as He sees fit, and ultimately for His glory. If what we "know" contradicts what His Word says, we must carefully examine our own heart and mind, and ask for Him to reveal it to us - because ultimately we are subjective, and He is objective. Verse for today: Numbers 23:18-19, ESV “Rise, Balak, and hear; give ear to me, O son of Zippor: God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it? * the definition I find most helpful was summarized by CJ Mahaney (in one place in his book "The Cross Centered Life", by Multinomah books, 2002, pg 25, para. 2), he summarizes it like this, "Legalism is seeking to achieve forgiveness from God and acceptance by God, through obedience to God."