As
I said to a brother in the faith yesterday (Saturday, September 26,
as of this writing), the world feels a bit different, today. There
seems to be a qualitative difference. I have embarked on a new leg of
the journey, as though I have boarded a ship to I know not where.
Still, I am not alarmed. I know who takes my hand, and I know that
this adventure will take me ever closer to Him. So, no, I am not
alarmed. I am at peace.
Writing
to the church at Philippi, Paul writes about an unfathomable peace,
one that is beyond all understanding, associated with doing the will
of God, that will mount a guard around your heart and your mind, in
Christ Jesus.
This
was not some special insight granted Paul while he was in a cushy
loft or penthouse. Paul wrote that letter from a dungeon, where he
was in chains, guards and prison bars all around him. Do you see the
ironic parallel, though? He, Paul, surrounded by guards keeping him
imprisoned, writes about a guard set upon keeping you pure.
Truly,
I have been pondering that peace ever since I noticed its presence
about me. I would never have thought to experience it in connection
with doing something that most would see as being self-oriented, and
yet, there it is.
It
is as though my thought process was like, “OK, I own my own
company, now, and it promises a herculean task ahead. OK. Thank You,
Lord!”
I
think that the quality that most stands out to me is the utter lack
of fear, indeed of total and complete confidence. Now, not a
confidence in myself, mind you, but a confidence that, yes, this is
the right path, and God has got my back (and my front, my sides, and
my up, and my down). That He is, in fact, all around. You see, this
is not a trust in me, but a trust in the guard all around me.
Do
you recall the terror of Gehazi, the servant of Elisha, when they
were surrounded by an army, and Elisha’s response? “Fear not,
for greater are those who are with us, than those who are with them.”
1
There is no one greater than God, so when He is all
around about you fear becomes a non-sequitur.
Where
there is no fear, there is peace, and that peace takes on an
unfathomable character when your past experience is telling you that
you really ought to be feeling fear in that situation, but fear has
fled the field.
For
the humbled man, broken, abused, and pilloried by life, the total and
absolute absence of fear is an unnatural situation—indeed
supernatural. Ever since I
can remember, fear has been a constant battle of mine, but on that
day, realizing the path before me, shrouded though it is, fear was no
where to be found. It was simply gone—and
that, my friend, made me stand up and take notice.
Even
while I was attempting to explain it to that brother of mine, my mind
was still trying to wrap itself around what it was taking in, and
trying to make sense of it. Even as I spoke to him, trying to seem as
if I knew what I was talking about, it was like my mind was saying,
“Can this be for real?” All
I can say right now is I hope it never leaves.
Quite
often in my online adventures I run into people who seem quite unable
to hide their loathing of all of the things of God, blaming Him for
all that they have ever done to their own lives. Reason and fairness
very clearly are not constant companions of theirs—indeed,
if
ever present at all.
At
the very mention of Him, they rail and moan and rake, the coals of
their hatred never being hot enough for their satisfaction. That and
recent events make me question: when you take a gun away from
someone, does it make them a better person? Does the vileness in
their soul not, in truth, live on? Will they not, in fact, continue
scheming their way into Hell? Scripture tells us that merely being
angry without cause is the same as being guilty of murder, and this
murderer’s weapon is the tongue.
Murder
of any variety has a
destination of Hell, and the return address is your heart.
What
eternal use, therefore, is law upon law upon law when all those
around you insist upon violating the most basic and simple law of
all: “Love the Lord
your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind and all
your strength, and love your neighbor as yourself”
2?
In
such a world, where is peace? Why bother taking their gun away when
they will simply use their mouth?
You
don’t change a society by taking away their weapons; you change it
by taking away their hearts.
Through
the Prophet Ezekiel God told the Israelites, I
will gather you from the peoples and fetch you out of the lands where
you were scattered
and give you the land
of Israel. They shall come there and take away all the detestables
and all the abominations of it, and I will give them one heart, and a
new spirit put within you, and
I will take away the stony heart from their flesh and I will give
them a heart of flesh so
that my ordinances they will walk and my Law keep and do, and they
will be my people, and I will be their God.3
When
God revealed that grand plan to the Prophet He said nothing
about taking away their weapons, because they would not be changed by
that, but would simply make more weapons and use them on each other.
The
problem is not the weapons; the problem is the hearts. Their hearts
must be changed. If you do not change their hearts, whatever else you
do will simply be a waste of time.
Ever
since the Umpqua Massacre this has been on my mind: that a man would
hate so very much that he would put a bullet in the brain of any
follower of Christ that he came across is witness to the condition of
his heart and the destiny of his soul.
It
is a truth that rages forth in spite of the cynical efforts of the
mass media to hide that aspect of the hideocity perpetrated in Oregon
against God and His people on October 1, 2015.
Yes,
certainly it was a crime against humanity, but it was also a crime
against Christianity—a hate crime of most epic proportions—and
therefore, a hate crime against God Himself.
What
will be your reply? Will you
call what is αγαπη4
hate, what is hate justified, and what is unadulterated lust love? Or
will you turn your heart to seek the truth instead of insisting upon
a lie? Will you seek to murder hate—or redeem it? What is the right
path to take?
Underneath
the falling leaves, Messiah looks on
At
the rending of the place He has poured His Love
And
the sorrow streaks His face With undying Love
As
He contemplates the fate Rendered from above.
Jesus,
Christ, Messiah, Lord of all there is, told those following Him to
take up their cross—daily—and follow Him.
He
who made the universe, and therefore
holds governance over it, nevertheless
executed, not those deserving, but humility, taking on the reek of
the sinful form, and allowed those deserving of the penalty of death
to instead execute it upon Him.
Αγαπη4.
Love. Self-sacrifice. Take
up the cross.
Wonderful.
Counselor. Mighty God. Father of Eternity. Prince of Peace.
Do
you want peace?
Do
you want real peace?
Do
you want True Peace?
Which
do you prefer, the easy road of eternal torture and the undying fire
of everlasting torment? Or would you prefer real, true, genuine,
everlasting Peace?
Then
why not follow the Prince of Peace?
Take
up your cross—daily—and
follow Him.
12
Kings 6:16
2Luke
10:27
3Ezekiel
11:17-20
4A-ga-pay.
It is a Greek word meaning to sacrifice of yourself for the sake of
others; that is, self-sacrificial love.
