A loving God does not allow suffering ...

Is what one writer wrote in our discussion forum at school.   And the more I think about it, the more I disdain the thought of no suffering in this world.    First off, I'll say that I do not like suffering, and it's horrible that people suffer from illness, starvation, homelessness and psychological disorders of any kind.    But this kind of statement, that a loving God would not allow suffering in the world, is not only an example of shallow minded-ness, but it negates the beauty of humanity, and all that God has intended for us.    It also defies basic logic.

It goes against the evolutionist.   Without suffering as Timothy Keller in his book 'The Reason for God' points out, "the evolutionary mechanism of natural selection depends on death, destruction, and violence of the strong against the weak--these things are perfectly natural."  I'm not an evolutionist, but even those who are, realize that suffering is part of the process.   And yet their most ponient arguement against God is that there is suffering.   Go figure.   Actually if there was no suffering, on evolutionary term we should never change from being a one cell organism, because that is the only way that we would not suffer.

It goes against logic.    Without suffering who are we as human beings, and would we even be human.   Without suffering would there be any need for compassion?   No, because there would be no reason to practise it.   If all the hunger problems of the world were non-existant one day, and everyone would have shelter .. why would we work?   If God would heal everyone no matter what, I believe that caring would go out the window.    I could go around shooting someone, and jumping off of buildings and there would be no consequence.   Sure to some this might be a neat idea, but after awhile it would go stale.   With no reason for working or doing anything, we would cease to have purpose, cease to care about family, or friend.    There would be no need for community.    There would be no love, because heartbreak would be eliminated.    It would be a selfish society.

Goes against our culture.   Society itself would be different.   Books would be filled with pages of countless 'happy stories' that are pointless, and in fact our greatest works of composition and song would be lost, because there was no suffering for the artist to talk about, or write about, or sing about.    Humanity would lose inspiring stories of overcoming challenges to grab hold of victory, because none would be writen, and everything would be the same, no change.

You can argue that this is going to far, that you only want a god that can eliminate important and significant suffering.    How do you grade what is significant?   Do you choose just the hungry people of the world, and leave those suffering cancer?   If suffering in the world is not fair, than at what point do you decide what is fair?   Even if you get rid of all sickness and all food problems and all housing problems, why should God stop there?    Because as long as humanity is around, we will never be satisfied with what is fair, and what is not fair.   Because what we decide is on human terms, and when it comes to what we want the world to be like, we are very selfish individuals.

If what I have said has any shred of truth in it, then the question naturally arises ... Why do we suffer?  Like it or not there is suffering in the world, and we need to deal with this question which naturally comes to the forefront of our minds, at one time or another.

If we don't like suffering in the world, then the idea of evolution as a belief system is self condemning and has no hope.   But the fact that we don't like suffering, that we don't enjoy the agony that a person is going through is not only an example of compassion ... which in a complete evolutionary point of view, should of been eradicated millions of years ago, but this idea itself is should be strange.

Why should I care about someone suffering, why does the idea that "suffering should be done away" with come into our mind to begin with?   If I may suggest, that this comes to our mind because we know, somewhere in our very innmost being that things are not as they should of been, that there is some 'higher destiny.'

If evolutionary thinking is self-defeating when it comes to the question of suffering (and to many others of which I have no time to write about) than the only solution is that there is a compassionate God!   Why a compassionate God?   Because Compassion, Empathy, Love (not lust, but the genuine love we have the compacity to have for the well-being of another person) ... are unessential in the evolutionary thought process.   So if we have Compassion and Empathy and  Love and it doesn't come from evolution, then it comes from a being who is personal who knows Compassion, Empathy and Love.

Before I go on, let me as you a question.    When you go and see your doctor, and you say "I have a pain in my chest, it feels like there are a thousand pins pricking me from the inside, and my left arm is numb."   Would you like that doctor to just go "Well, that's nice to hear, but I don't know what you want me to do about it.   I'm feeling fine.  You go ahead and take an asprin and call me in the morning, if your still around we can talk about it some more."?   Or would you like a doctor that was genuinely concerned about your welfare?    Of course you would like the second one, as would I.

When we think about a God that has Compassion, Empathy, Love (and much more), if this was passed on to us, human beings, isn't natural to thing that God would know what we are going through?    Doesn't make sense that if God passed this stuff to you, that God would know something about it?

If God made the universe, stars all its wonder and He did not know what he was doing, I don't think we would even be around.    If the person(s) that created the computer on which I'm typing on did not know what they were doing.   Very good chances are that you wouldn't be able to read this.

This is why the God of the bible is who I choose to serve, and try (sometimes not so easy) to follow in my daily life.   God is a God of compassion throughout the bible.    We can read how God continues to challenge his followers to take care of the orphans and widows to seek justice

"Wash yourselves and be clean, Get your sins out of my sight.  Give up your evil ways.   Learn to do good.  Seek justice.  Help the oppressed.  Defend the cause of orphans.  Fight for the rights of widows." -Isaiah 1:16-17 NLT 

His compassion is proclaimed

"The Lord is merciful and compassionate, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love.  The Lord is good to everyone."  Psalms 145:8

The God of the Bible isn't talked about as just being compassionate.   He is not some far-off entity.   It is not enough that God knows about suffering, or compassion.   Prove it to me!    All the other religions in the world have a God that talks the talk, but show me a God that walks the walk!!  

We are right to not want suffering in the world.   At one point when we look at the creation story in the bible we see that everything was awesome.  No suffering, nobody without food.  All was well, until we decided that at one point we wanted to 'be like God' .   In essence we screwed up, suffering entered the world.   Pain, sorrow, death etc.   This is where suffering started, and the reason why we even have  a desire to get rid of it.   Because in the deepest recesses of our heart, we know that things were meant to be different.   God wanted to have that relationship with His creation.   But we messed up.

So what happens when we mess up?   If you have children, and you take them to the beach and they build a sand castle.   What happens when someone tears it down?    After much crying and consolling, maybe through your help, your child picks up the pieces, and starts to make the sandcastle the way it was meant to be.   Moat, walls, and everthing.     This is what God decided to do, to come down to our level, to show compassion, and even suffer the most horendous death.    That through His suffering, he could bring us back into that relationship with Himself.

"For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God's glorious standard.  Yet God,

with underserved kindness, declares that we are righteous.  He did this through Christ

Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins.   For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice

for ours sin.   People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed

his life, shedding his blood."  - Romans 3:23-25a

Suffering in any way, shape, or form is not easy, and there is no easy answer as to why a person is undergoing suffering, why children are dying of malaria, cancer, aids.   But suffering is a call for us to serve, a call for us to be active in our compassion.    The act of suffering is a reminder that God is not only there for us to call upon, but that because of what Jesus did for us, we know that He is empathetic to our situation, but not only that, but He has given us a real hope that is in an everlasting life where suffering is no more.

In the Bible we start off where mankind introduced suffering by listening to a serpent, and taking a fruit off the tree in hopes to in essence become like God.   God being compassionate decided to lift us up out of our sinful mire and give us back eternal life through Christ His one and only Son.   Why is there suffering?   We did it to ourselves a long time ago.   But the good news is that Christ has made a way for a brighter future were there is no more suffering.   In and of itself that is an awesome thing.   But He has also given us a purpose to be comfort in this world.   What is our purpose in life?  Why should we get up in the morning to face the day?   "To love God withou all our  



Nice band from Scandinavia

Kalevala quotes...

Reading the Kalevala for class.  Basically a series of Finish songs, or a long lay.  Here are a couple quotes I found today:


"God starts the race, the Creator determines the finish, not the skill of a human being, by no means the power of a strong man."


"I am not moving by virtue of my own muscles, I am moving by virtue of my Creator's muscles; I am not moving quickly by my own powers, I am moving quickly by the Almighty's power; I am not speaking with my own mouth, I am speaking with God's mouth.  If I have a lovely mouth, God's mouth is lovelier; if my hand is fair, the Creator's hand is fairer."

``Mercy means that you don`t receive the punishment you deserve, but grace means that you do receive the blessings you didn`t earn. This was all paid for when Jesus died on the cross. Jesus didn`t just die for you; He died as you.``
- ``Purity, the New Moral Revolution.` by Kris Vallotton.

The singing God

Zephaniah 3:17 "For the Lord your God is living among you, He is a might savior.  He will take delight in you with gladness.  With his love, he will calm all your fears.   He will rejoice over you with joyful songs."

When we look at the Old Testament it seems easy to look through its pages and pick out the times when God pours His wrath on the wicked people.    We tend to see the Old Testament as a time of God's anger, and the New Testament as that of God's grace and mercy.   But nothing could be further from the truth, as we can see in these few verses in Zephaniah.   

God gives hope to His people who have been in exile, exile brought onto themselves.   God restores his people, and we have one of the most beautiful passages in scriptures, and yet one that is hidden in a little book called Zephaniah. 

"With His love, he will calm all your fears.

He will rejoice over you with joyful songs."

Not only is God willing to take back His people after they have fallen away from him, but He gathers them with His love -- and He sings to them.

God is a singer!   God is a song maker, a singer to the lost, and those that feel far away.   How amazing this is.  We are not the only ones singing praise to God, but He sings joyful songs to us.

Somehow this has been lost in my thinking (or it has never come up before in my mind in the first place), and when we realize that we are a product of the likeness of God, then how could we not think that God sings, and that he sings joyful songs to us?

What a great image.    May we continue to dive into the word and come closer to the singer of our souls, the maker of songs!!

Beowulf (2114-24)

"The Lord disposes

all things on earth

and always will;

foresight, therefore,

and forethought are best,

and mental balance,

since men who inhabit

this weary war-ravaged

world experience

many good things--

and much evil"

1 Peter 4:1-6 Body dying, Spirit living

As we just celebrated Easter weekend, we can still have that vivid picture of Christ hanging on the cross, dying for our sin, and this can also be seen as a way of living for us today.   Not that we start hanging ourselves on a tree with spikes, but the illustration that Jesus was done with sin on the cross because it was His decision, His will to do that for us.   We too need to do the same and be done with sin.

Peter calls the church to not live as 'the pagans do', but to 'live according to God in regard to the spirit' (vs 6).   Peter does also talk about the fact that we are going to have to give an account at judgement time in regard to our actions.   We are not living to fulfill our desires, but to live according to the ways of God.  

That's what makes us different, and sometimes that's what makes life harder.    Peter encourages believers to live a holy life (1 Peter 4:4) and that some people will think us strange.   This is were the Church needs to encourage each other, lift each other up, instead of tearing down.   This is were we are called to encourage each other in our faith because we face the same choices every day .. whether or not to follow the ways of the world, the way of selfishness, or the way of holiness that God has set before us.

1 Peter: 3:18-22 Baptized in Freedom.

Christ died for our sins once and for all ... what a great promise/revelation.   That no longer are we bound by the laws of sin, with no choice of doing what is right, but we are now free from the bonds of sin that easily entangles us.   Peter also uses the flood in Noah's time as an illustration of baptism, how the old and corrupt of that world was washed away, so that Noah and his family could begin anew.    Christ has saved us from the old ways.   We now can have a new life, a new beginning because of what He has done on the cross for us.

This passage also mentions that Christ preached to the spirits in prison whom had rejected the ways of God back in Noah's time.    Jesus was proclaiming his victory over death, that sin no longer has hold over us.   I'm also wondering if he preached redemption to those spirits in prison (3:18-19).    What did he preach?    Peter doesn't tell us in this letter, but his emphasis was on the symbol of baptism, and letting us know that Christ is at God's right hand "with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him."   

Peter tells us that Christ is sitting at God's right hand with authority and power.    What a great hope we have in Christ, but it is real hope, not a hope that is wishful thinking, but a hope that is built on the promises of God, and the knowledge of what God has already done for us.

1 Peter 3:13-17 Know your faith, and live it.

"And if someone asks about your Christian hope, always be ready to explain it."

1 Peter 3:15b

These verses are a call for us to be holy in everything we do, to worship Christ as Lord of our life (3:15).   It talks about doing good, so that no one can harm us, and even if they do, we know that God will reward us for our holy living.   A call for us to be ready for an explanation of our faith is also on order.   Always be ready to explain our faith that we have in Christ, and to do it in a gentle and respectful way (3:16) and to keep our conscience clear.

One of the hardest things for some Christians to do is learn how to defend our faith, that is the art of Apologetics, and learning how to deal with questions that people have for us.   We have an amazing faith, an amazing God, and a message of hope to share.   We need to be be ready for those times that will come up were people ask about the faith that we are living.

The bible is our first tool in apologetics, and then reading books that will help us defend our faith.   That is where the local Church need to be a resource in this area.   Our faith should never be blind, but should be with reason, because it is truth.   One thing that might help is to write out a testimony of what God has done in your life, because this is the greatest thing that you can say, and will have a great impact on people who are wondering about the gospel that we hold so dear too.

Be ready and able with the truth, to defend it, and to share it.

1 Peter 3:8-12 The Difference God makes.

These verses are a prime example of the difference that Christ can make in one's life.   When the scriptures tell us to "Don't repay evil for evil.  Don't retaliate with insults when people insult you.  Instead pay them back with a blessing.  That is what God has called you to do, and he will bless you for it."

How different is that from the world's idea?   Or our own, if someone gives you the one figured salute, what do you do in return?  When someone criticizes you, what is your first reaction?   These verses are a call to holiness, and a reminder of our inheritance as a child of God.  Our calling is a higher calling, a higher standard of righteousness.   When we see the world as God sees it, when we realize that the people around us are not going into a better place unless they come to that knowledge of the loving savior, then how we react toward aggression to our faith changes.

In the midst of trial or persecution there are two things that happen:

1) either we grow, are strengthened, made resolute by our faith, or we give in to what the world wants, what Satan loves to see, us get angry and give into temptation.

2) If we give in to anger, the person that is persecuting us will think the gospel full of hypocrisy, and  their view of Christ is that he's is no different from anyone else.   But if we see people as God wants us to see them, and we bless them, not repaying anger for anger, but with the peace of the knowing God, then it opens a door for that individual to see Christ as they have never seen Him before.  They realize that Christ is different, there is love, redemption, and righteousness in this 'Christian' that is speaking to them.  This is when the power of the gospel can impact a life.

This is why we need to take 'loving our neighbor' to heart,especially when it isn't so easy.

1 Peter 3:1-7 Charge for wives and husbands

With wives Peter gives instruction about not worrying about outer beauty versus inner beauty  (vs. 3-4), but the hardest thing he proclaimed was for wives to accept the authority of their husbands ... even if they refuse to obey the Good news. (vs.1-2) .. and Peter says that they will be won over.   The Prayer of a wife to win over her husband is very powerful.    When I look at how my dad received the lord, through the years my mother had to put up with his negativity ... it's inspiring.   I've seen first hand how this has worked.   This is also a warning for women to know the person your about to marry, and to think of where that person is spiritually.

There is also a call for husbands to honor their wives (vs. 7) and Peter reminds them that wifes are an 'equal partner in God's gift of new life'.   This is a radical understanding for the Church to hear back then, and a reminder of the progressiveness of the gospel.   I like it when Peter says "Treat her as you should so your prayers will not be hindered."  Men if your don't treat your wives with the honor she deserves, expect your prayer life to suffer, and your prayers to be hindered!

1 Peter 2:13-25 Endure what you need too

Initially when you read these verses, what comes to mind, at least to me is that Peter is saying for people to stay 'pro quo' don't fight for rights, don't bother changing the 'system' or look for betterment of the social order of things.    Slaves be slaves, I don't care, and authority ... heck don't fight oppression, just stand back and be little pawns in an unfair political system.    After all, Peter wrote this during a time of Jewish uprising against Rome, and just after the temple was burned down because of it.    Was Peter talking about 'crawling back' into your holes, be safe, just do your thing but nothing too radical?  Was he going back to the nature of when he denied Christ 3 times because of the threat of reprisal?

I think there are a few things that we need to learn from Peters gospel:
a) Living for Christ over-rules our political desires.   It overrides our own desire, versus living a holy life.   We don't commit crimes in the name of justice, because that is not the way of Christ.   We need to carry our cross during the hardest of times.

b) This is a call for Christian living, and testimony of Christ in us during times of trouble, whether political, or even as a slave.

c) Even though we are called to respect authorities, check out the call of authorities ... "For the king has sent them (officials) to punish those who do wrong and to honor those who do right."(vs. 12)   If the king and his officials don't do this, we are mandated to care for the orphans and widows, and to stamp out oppression.

We are called from a biblical standpoint to lift high the voices of the oppressed, but to do so without compromising the message.   For us though, we have to keep an eternal perspective on things, and realize that we do need to carry our cross.   It's a hard thing to do, but its what God has called us too.

God's Possession 1Peter 2:1-12

"Be careful to live properly among your unbelieving neighbors.  

Then even if they accuse you of doing

wrong, they will see your honorable behavior, and

they will give honor to God when he judges the world."

-1Peter 2:12

These verses are talking about Christ being the 'living' cornerstone of God's temple, and we are living stones in God's temple.   We are also royal priests, and a holy nation, and God's possession as He has called us out of Darkness and into light.

Peter continues a theme that we are foreigners in this world, and in these verses, he lifts up the believer, letting us know that we belong to a different leader, different nation.   What does this do to any sense of nationalism that we may have for our own country?   I think this doesn't eliminate our nationalism, or pride we have in our earthly nation, but this isn't our home.    It's much like when a person becomes a citizen of another country, their loyalties and love change to the new country.   Thousands of people come to Canada because they have to flee their old country because of threats to them, or the living conditions, but immigration isn't so easy, if you want to become a citizen of Canada, you have to show that you can hold down a job, do something to be productive to Canada. It's the same way in a sense when we become a Christian.  We still love our earthly country, but our allegence is to God first, and when we are living for God, we need to be active ... to know that we are holy priests, that we are living stones of God's temple, that what we do in this world should reflect our citizenship with God.

The verse on top of this page is interesting, that our lifestyle, how we live not only gives praise to God in judgement, but the testimony of the people around us about us will give honor to God when he judges the world.  This could man that they will accept Christ because of our testimony also.   It just emphasizes that our lifestyle needs to reflect God's work in us. 

Give me Food ... NOW 1Peter 2:1-3

"Like newborn babies, you must crave pure spiritual milk so that you 

will grow into a full experience of salvation.  Cry out for this nourishment, now that you 

have had a taste of the Lord's kindness."

(vs. 2-3)

I find that its way to easy to NOT look into God's word, to NOT pray, to let the world and our own desires trump what we need to do to stay pure and growing in our relationship with God.   The 'craving' to grow in God, is partly due to discipline, and our need to better ourselves.   We have had a taste of the goodness of God, what it's like to have God work in our lives .. the Mountain top experience as it were.   But the test of our faith comes when we need to live out that faith, that desire to grow even when we don't necessarily feel that spiritual.

We can do a few things to combat this, whether its accountability with someone else, setting up a routine, or even as these verses mention ... thinking about the kindness of God already in our lives.    Knowing what God has done, and our deep yearning to see him continue to do it.    

2:1 says "So get rid of all evil behavior.  Be done with all deceit, hypocrisy, jealousy, and all unkind speech."  All these things change through the transformation that God does in our lives the more we crave his righteousness.

I enjoy the book by Ed Dobson "The Year of Living like Jesus", were he tried his best for one year to live as Jesus would live.   The author even used beads as a way to meditate on God's word, and to help him change his mindset.   Now I'm not suggesting that everyone get prayer beads, but its a great example of someone that craved God's heart.   Changing something in our lives that helps to focus on Christ.

May we have heart that craves after God's righteousness, that longs to follow Christ, that waits anticipation for what God wants to do in our lives.

The Forever People 1Peter 1:17-25

"People are like grass;

their beauty is like a flower in the field.

The grass withers and the flower fades.

But the word of the Lord remains forever."

And that word is the Good News that was preached to you.

1Peter 1:24-25

We are 'Forever People', people who are strangers and foreigners in this land, we are bought and paid for by the ultimate ransom, not by money, but by Christ's blood (vs.18-20), we are slaves to sin no more.    These verses also talk about living in 'reverent fear of Him', of God.   Though we do acknowledge that we His children, there is something wrong to think that we are 'best buds' with God.  We can't loose the fact that there is a judgement coming, and though I believe that if you have Christ as lord and saviour of your life, you are secure in your salvation, but it is a reminder that our faith cannot be an idle faith, but a faith that is active.    We also need to realize that, as it says in vs. 17, God doesn't play favorites.   We are not judged on a scale based on what others have done, but on we ourselves have done with what is given.

I remember watching Oprah one day, quite a few years ago, and she said that she couldn't believe in  a God that  tells us to fear Him.    Yet how can we not have a reverential fear of the maker of worlds, designer of people, and of our salvation.   In the Old testament we have people in awe of God, afraid to show their face to Him, because of his holiness and awesomeness.    Though we are made pure through the blood of Christ, we cannot mistake our salvation for being able to treat our relationship with God like the relationship we have with our everyday friends and family.    Take time to remember the holiness of the Lord, and when we pray, give him the praise He is due.    Also, there is a warning given through the pages of 1Peter, a warning against complacency of our faith.   We need to remember what God has done for us, and live that out through our lives.

When I read 1Peter 1:24-25 I look at the poetic verses (originally Isa. 40:6-8) which I have used on occasion, and then I see what Peter added to it.  That the word that lasts forever is the Good News that was preached to us.    The truth of the Good News, that is what lasts forever.  Because of what Christ has done, we are 'Forever People', people with an eternal destiny with God because of the living word that was preached to us, and that lives in us through the Holy Spirit.   We are strangers and foreigners in this land, like Peter wrote, because of the Good News.   Everything changes for the believer ... our vision, our hope, the way we live our lives, our goals, our perspective on life, all because of the Good News, because of the living Word, Christ has changed us, transformed us.

May we not live in complacency, but in victory, may our vision not be limited to the hopelessness and despair of this world, but be lifted up to the hope, peace, and love of the next.   We are Forever People, people with a destiny.   The greatest thing about the word of God is that we can let people in on this hope we have.   We have limited time to share an eternal hope.

Bilbo would be proud...

Ok, so I have 111 posts up on this blog, and I'm surprised I've made it  this far.   For those that may of stumbled onto this site, here are a few pointers:

• These are all draft posts, done before I head to work in the morning.   Lots of grammar and spelling mistakes will need to be endured.  These are 'thoughts unplugged'.
• These posts are basically guidelines for me, for whatever day it is.   It's a way to get my head straightened out before I head out.   Sometimes there are big ideas, sometimes simple ideas, but either way it's nice to see that God has alot of work to do in me.
• I hope you are blessed by something that is written, and you are encouraged to go to the 'source' and check out God's word.
• Thanks for reading.

Holy Living Batman!! 1Peter 1:13-15

"So you must live as God's obedient children.

Don't slip back into your old ways of living

and satisfy your own desires.  You didn't know any better

then." 1Peter 1:14 NLT

Because of what Christ has done for us, because of the Good news and the work of the Holy Spirit, because of our trust in the salvation of our souls, we are called to holy living.   Why?  Because our hearts are to reflect the heart of God, like the moon reflecting the sun, so we are to reflect the Son of God.

We can be very judgemental of the people in the world who don't know Christ, but the fact is, they don't know the holiness of Christ, except through our lives, and our walk of faith.  Our old ways we were a slave to sin, only Christ has saved us, set us on a new course, a course that needs to be set to the holiness of God.    It is why we try to better ourselves, to read the scriptures, and practice what Christ demonstrated.  Our desires are new, our thoughts are renewed.   Yes we struggle with sin, but we do have a way out, that is found in the holiness of a righteous God.

The Christian life isn't an easy one, but the payoff trumps any struggle we have here.   Our hope isn't built on our desires, but what God desires for me.   What a great God we have, that He takes us out of the sludge of sin that we can find ourselves, takes our hand and lifts us out, cleans us, and then uses us to reflect the same holiness He is.   

1 Peter 1:10-12 Angel Party

"They were told that their messages were not

for themselves, but for you.   And now this Good News 

has been announced to you by those who preached in 

the power of the Holy Spirit sent from heaven.

It is all so wonderful that even the angels are 

eagerly watching these things happen."

1Peter 1:12

Sometimes life doesn't seem THAT exciting, doesn't it?   It's not like everyday events should be written down and then put into a book, because our life is so exciting.   But here we have an account of were even the angels are waiting in anticipation of the Holy Spirit's work in our lives.

We have very much become a society that looks to the television for escapism, or the internet for the latest exciting thing, but the angels are waiting for what the Spirit does in our lives, much more than we are waiting for any Hollywood event.    What's important in the heavenly realm, is not what's important in worldly standards.  So what does this do with how I live today?

• Know that our faith has a great Heritage, and that what we take for granted, is what people have yearned for for thousands of years.   
• Live in anticipation of what God will do in you today.   The angels are waiting, and so should we.   We have the Holy Spirit working in us if we have made that life altering decision to give our lives over to Christ.
• Keep in mind that what we do for Christ here, is celebrated in heaven.   Nothing good gets unnoticed.

Facing the trials 1Peter 1:1-9

"You love him even though you have never seen him.  

Though you do not see him now, you trust him; 

and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy.  

The reward for trusting him will be the salvation of your souls."

Peter is lifting up the believers in what is today's Turkey.   Telling them about the salvation of Christ because of his resurrection, and then about the joy we need to have when facing trials, because of our great inheritance in heaven.    It's a motivational speech to those that are suffering, it's a hope to cling to when things look worst.

For the pessimist in us, we look at this and you want to think that Peter is just hoping that by saying positive things that the believers will stick it out.    The promise of a great reward at the end.   It's easy to promise something will come when your not the one supplying the promise.   So what's the difference between what Peter is saying versus what... lets say governments say to people to keep them in line, or what terrorist groups say to their suicide bombers?

Here are some marked differences:

• Peter was there when Christ was crucified, and he saw the risen Saviour .... along with over 500 other people.   This is why at the beginning of this passage, Peter emphasizes "because God raised Jesus from the dead.  Now we live in great expectation."    It's not that Peter came out of nowhere and promised these things, it's that he knew Christ intimately, he knew the truth of Christ, and the power of God.   
• Peter wasn't living in a vacuum, he wasn't having a good time of living out his faith either, there was persecution where he was, not just who he was writing too.   If history is correct, he probably suffered the worst out of the disciples, being crucified upside down on a cross.
• There is nothing earthly in his promise... there isn't a promise of something that doesn't line up with what we know of the hereafter.    It is salvation and the glory of God, not a new camel, or a thousand sheep and lots of women waiting for us, but the promise of the coming of Christ, salvation, and out of reach of change and decay.
• The people he is writing for are suffering, but they already have that joy, that inexpressible joy.   Peter is just lifting up the people for what they are already doing.  

Life isn't a cakewalk, and if it is, then your not angering the enemy enough, because 'carrying our cross' is one of the things that we as believers do.   But I do know that as much as life wants to kick us, there is joy in the Lord that allows us to stand throughout adversity.   We do have a hope, that is beyond this world.  We are foreigners in a strange land, and I look forward to the day when I can meet the Lord, and talk with the maker of my salvation.  What a great and real hope we have in Christ.

The Bitter Stew

*a rough cut of my sermon preached tomorrow*

The Bitter soup
Scripture: Genesis 25:19-34
One day, two monks were walking through the countryside. They were on their way to another village to help bring in the crops. As they walked, they spied an old woman sitting at the edge of a river. She was upset because there was no bridge, and she could not get across on her own.

The first monk kindly offered, “We will carry you across if you would like.”

“Thank you,” she said gratefully, accepting their help.

So the two men joined hands, lifted her between them and carried her across the river. When they got to the other side, they set her down, and she went on her way.

After they had walked another mile or so, the second monk began to complain. “Look at my clothes,” he said. “They are filthy from carrying that woman across the river. And my back still hurts from lifting her. I can feel it getting stiff.” The first monk just smiled and nodded his head.

A few more miles up the road, the second monk griped again, “My back is hurting me so badly, and it is all because we had to carry that silly woman across the river! I cannot go any farther because of the pain.”

The first monk looked down at his partner, now lying on the ground, moaning.

“Have you wondered why I am not complaining?” he asked.

“Your back hurts because you are still carrying the woman. But I set her down five miles ago.”

Dr. Anthony T. Evans, Guiding Your Family in a Misguided World



Genesis 25 - Abraham was the father of Isaac who married Rebekah (Gen. 25:20) and she couldn’t have children, so Isaac prayed for his wife, the Lord answered, and in fact gave them not one son but two.   This was quite unusual and so she asked the Lord what was happening, the Lord said “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than the other, and the other will serve the younger.”


(Birth of Esau and Jacob)


A) Esau didn’t look at the big picture “What good is the birthright to me?”
The birthright was given to Isaac, by Abraham and given to the eldest son.    The inheritance was a divine appointment by God for the descendants of Abraham, and in turn, the descendants of Isaac, Abrahams son … “I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and will give them all these lands, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because Abraham obeyed me and kept my requirements, my commands my decrees and my laws.

In the Old Testament times, being the first born was a great privilege and responsibility to carry on the family, and to receive the blessings from your father.    Old testament law of primogeniture provided that at least a double share of the father’s property be given to the firstborn son when the father died.

Esau exchanged the inheritance promised to his father, by his father, for a bowl of lentil stew, because he was famished!   For a momentary want!!

“Look, I am about to die,” Esau said, “What good is the birthright to me?” (25:32)

“Jacob gave Esau some bread and some lentil stew.  He ate and drank and then got up and left.  So Esau despised his birthright.” (25:34)

Question: Who knew the true value of the inheritance?   Jacob or Esau?
Esau saw the stew, he said “let me have some of that red stew” the Hebrew word meaning Red was Edom…. Esau was red when he was born, and he made a pun saying that he wanted the red stew … meaning that it was meant for him.    But the inheritance he didn’t care for at the time.

Sometimes we treat our inheritance the same way …. We don’t realize how precious it is, other things take precedence.   What inheritance?

Our inheritance:
Heb 9:15 “that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance-now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant (ie.laws of Moses)”

Ephesians 1:11 “In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, in order than we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory.  And you also were included in Christ when you heard  the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation.   Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession- to the praise of his glory.”

We have an ever lasting inheritance as a child of God.  Once we are marked by the Holy Spirit, once we have made the decision to follow the Lord, we can easily fall into the same trap that Esau did.

“Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another.  They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshipped and served created things rather than the Creator-who is forever praised.” (Rom. 1:24-25)   We are tempted to put things before our relationship with the Lord.  Esau was no different.

Beware of the pitfalls in our heart, and the temptations around us that keep us from knowing the truth of salvation.    We have this inheritance, this promise from God, but we only see the now.


B) The Lost Blessing  In Genesis chapter 27 we find Isaac old and blind, and he tells Esau that he would like him to go out to the country and get some fresh game and “Prepare me  the kind of tasty food I like and bring it to me to eat, so that I may give you my blessing before I die.” (27:4)

Rebekah who likes Jacob, and thinks that he should have the blessings, tricks Isaac by cooking two young goats, and covering Jacob in Esau’s clothes and covered his hands and neck with goat skins so that when Isaac ate the food and touched Jacob, he would think that it was Esau before him.

Blessing of Jacob
“May God give you of heaven’s dew and of earths richness-
An abundance of grain and new wine.
May nations serve you
And peoples bow down to you.
Be lord over you brothers,
And may the sons of your mother bow down to you.
May those who curse you be cursed
And those who bless you be blessed.”

Listen to Esau’s reaction when Isaac told Esau that he had given his blessing away … “he burst out with a loud and bitter cry and said to his father, Bless me- me too, my father!” But he (Jacob) said “Your brother came deceitfully and took your blessings”

Esau held bitterness in his heart towards his inheritance up to this point.   He really didn’t care to live the way his parents wanted him too, in fact he married two Hittite women which were “a source of grief  to Isaac and Rebekah” (Gen.26:35)

Maybe it was the prophecy that was told at his birth.  Maybe it was the teasing of some people about his red hair, or maybe it was that he couldn’t really understand the importance of the responsibilities of being the eldest son.   Sure he was loved by his father, but he was shunned by his, who liked Jacob better.   For a minute he probably thought that he could get it all back with this blessing.   But Jacob ruined that for him.

It’s easy for us to side with Esau, I mean the moral decision of Jacob and his mother were far from honest.    But then we look at what the bitterness cost Esau.    Esau who at one time didn’t care about his inheritance, about any blessing, dismissed it and gave it away to Jacob in exchange for some stew … a verbal oath that was binding between brothers.

We have choices that we make for ourselves, that we have to deal with.   We get bills for things that we pay for, we have debt for things we want, there is no one to blame for these things but ourselves.  The good and the bad.   When it comes to salvation, we need to put away those things that hinder us in our faith, put away our pride, our bitterness.
When we think about salvation, which is a free gift from God, that he gave to us through the sacrifice of Christ on the cross, through no merit of our own, He showed us the way to salvation.    Romans 10: 9-10 “That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.   For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.”


Esau begged for a blessings, his father gave him this one:
“Your dwelling will be
Away from the earth’s richness,
Away from the dew of heaven
Above.
You will live by the sword
And you will serve your brother.
But when you grow restless,
You will throw his yoke
From off your neck.”

Jacob was sent to Paddan Aram to get a wife, because Isaac instructed him to NOT marry a Canaanite woman, Esau went and married a Canaanite woman (Mahalath) (28:6-9) in addition to 2 Hittite women he married earlier.

The legacy of Esau was one of bitterness, and regret.   He was the father of the Edom nation that would later be subdued by Israel.   Esau let his past cloud his future.   He let things keep him from taking the inheritance that was due him.

Ephesians 4:31
“Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.  Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as Christ forgave you.”

Three things we need to do to move on in our relationships.
1) Accept the gift of salvation and forgiveness that Christ offers.
2) Practice Compassion - Part of communication and empathy.
3) Forgiveness … accepting forgiveness of others, and forgiving others are all part of breaking down bitterness  Bitterness is the result of powerlessness in the face of anger.   Something happens and we feel powerless about it.   And then we get angry, and if carried further, it goes into revenge.

You might be like the one monk at the beginning of this message, holding on to bitterness, that keeps you from knowing Christ.    The inheritance is in front of you, the choice is yours.

Genesis 33:4 “But Esau ran to meet Jacob and embraced him; he threw his arms around his neck and kissed him.   And they wept.”    God had done something in Esau’s heart to mend his relationship with his brother, even though the consequences of his actions would follow his descendants.

Whatever you have done, whatever you are holding on to that is keeping you from realizing the freedom and the inheritance that is waiting for us you need to allow Christ to break that down.   You have a chance right now to ask the Lord to work in your life, you have a chance that Esau missed.   Don’t be sidetracked by the trappings of this world, but find the freedom that can only come from Christ.