Nobody to Blame!

Posted on March 17, 2021 by russellmckinney

Several years ago I cut a little article out of a Christian newspaper. I threw the article in my nightstand drawer where I keep some of the illustrations I’ve accumulated and didn’t think much more about it. Today I was sifting through those illustrations and again came across the article. It was now somewhat faded from being in that drawer so long, but I was amazed at how relevant the words still are for these current times. The article is entitled “Nobody to Blame!” and goes like this:

When Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, they did the same thing people have done ever since — they started making excuses. Adam blamed Eve. Eve blamed the serpent. Nobody stepped up and said, “It was my fault.” What if they had used some of the same stupid excuses we use today?

They could have said their sin was due to the environment in which they lived, but their environment was perfect. They could have said it was a lack of education that made them do it, but they were the most educated people on earth. They could have blamed it all on their in-laws, but they didn’t have any. They could have claimed that their sin was due to a repressive government, but they only had one law. How repressive is that?

They could have said poverty was the problem, but they had the whole world. They could have blamed injustices in society, but they were society. They could have blamed the influence of TV and video games, but those hadn’t been invented yet. They could have said it was all because of an absentee dad, but their Father was with them every day.

They could have pinned it on their upbringing, but they were created as adults and never had any upbringing. They could have blamed racial problems, but Adam was the only man, and Eve was taken out of him, so I would imagine they were both of the same race. They could have said their sin was the only way to get ahead, but who was there to get ahead of?

No, none of these excuses would hold water, and neither will any of ours. “So…they are without excuse: Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools” (Romans 1:20-22).

Now let me tell you the fascinating thing about this article. It was written by a prisoner who was at the time serving a sentence in a state prison in the south. The prisoner’s name remained anonymous, but the initials were T.S.P. After all these years, I have no idea if the prisoner is alive or dead or ever got released. I don’t even know if T.S.P. refers to a man or a woman. All I know is that whoever it was, they certainly wrote the truth about how we all unsuccessfully attempt to shift the blame for our sins.

Posted in Addiction, Attitude, Backsliding, Character, Complaining, Confession, Conscience, Depravity, Disobedience, Guilt, Repentance, Sin | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Praying On the Go

Posted on March 15, 2021 by russellmckinney

D.L. Moody ministered during the latter half of the 1800s, a time when crossing the Atlantic ocean could only be done by ship. During one of his voyages a fire broke out aboard the ship. The crew immediately formed a line to pass buckets of water, and some volunteers also joined the line. A friend said to Moody, “Mr. Moody, let us go to the other end of the ship and pray.” But Moody answered, “Not so, sir. We will stand right here and pass buckets and pray hard all the time we are doing so.”

I used to think that me praying ideally could only be done while I was for the most part motionless. To me, Jesus sitting in stillness on a mountainside late at night was the best example of how to do real praying. After all, He did tell us to go into a room, shut the door behind us, and pray to God the Father in the secret place, didn’t He (Matthew 6:6)? Over the years, though, I’ve learned that ideal praying doesn’t necessarily have to involve inactivity.

Sometimes the busyness of life forces us to multitask. I myself do some of my best praying when I’m driving somewhere that’s an hour or more away. During such times my “secret place” becomes the driver’s seat of my car. Likewise, I enjoy praying while I’m doing household chores such as making the bed, folding clothes, or emptying the dishwasher. Sometimes I even try to pray while I’m riding my lawnmower, but I’ll admit that I find the roar from the mower’s engine a bit too distracting. Multitasking does have its limits.

In 1 Thessalonians 5:17, the apostle Paul urges Christians to “pray without ceasing.” Since we have to sleep, Paul obviously didn’t mean for his words to be taken ultra literally. What he meant was that we should spend every waking moment in what might be described as a continual atmosphere of prayer. As the prominent pastor Ed Young Sr. describes it, “We are to pray constantly, faithfully, and over and over, until our prayers are so much a part of who we are that we remain on praying ground throughout the day.”

The reality is that there will be plenty of times when your circumstances will prevent you from retreating to your secret place, closing the door behind you, becoming inactive, and then praying. It’s during such times that you’ll need to know how to pray on the go. Shopping is a good example. There you are in the store, trying to decide whether or not to buy that item. You need to seek God’s will concerning the decision, but what can you do? I’ll tell you. Right there in the store you can go to God in prayer, asking Him, “Lord, do you want me to make this purchase or not?” I’m not talking about you dropping to your knees in the store aisle. I’m not even talking about you literally closing your eyes. I’m talking about you multitasking. You shop and pray at the same time, just like D.L. Moody passed a bucket and prayed at the same time.

Am I saying that you shouldn’t have times when you come to an “all stop” and do nothing but pray? No, I’m not. As a matter of fact, you should do whatever is necessary to make those times happen with great frequency. But between those times you should master the art of praying as you go (or, praying as you do, if you like that description better). If your life is like mine, you can find it difficult to get to a place of complete inactivity and complete silence. Thankfully, though, the Lord doesn’t require us to be in such a place in order for Him to hear our prayers. Remember, Christian, prayer is simply you talking with your heavenly Father, and if we earthly fathers know how to talk to our kids while they are on the move, so does God.

Posted in God's Will, Personal, Prayer, Prayer Requests | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Is It Sin Or Not?

Posted on March 13, 2021 by russellmckinney

One morning a boy was dressing for school. He picked up a shirt that was lying around and asked his mother, “Mom, is this shirt dirty?” Without even looking at the shirt, the mother answered, “Yes, it’s dirty; put on a clean one.” The boy said, “But you didn’t even look at the shirt.” To that, the mother replied, “If you have to ask, it’s dirty.”

While some would consider the mother’s standard as extreme, I’d say her little boy was never caught out in public wearing a dirty shirt! I’d also say that we Christians could do a lot worse than apply her high standard to our everyday conduct. “Is what I’m about to do here a sin?” “If you have to ask, it’s dirty.”

Officially, the New Testament’s standard for Christians goes like this: “Whatever is not from faith is sin” (Romans 14:23). Putting it another way: “Let each person be fully convinced in his own mind” (Romans 14:5). The teaching isn’t hard to understand. If you aren’t fully convinced in your own mind that what you are considering doing isn’t sin, you shouldn’t do it. Going back to my illustration, it’s dirty to you.

Several years ago, our whole family went on vacation to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. Dollywood is a popular theme park in that area, and at some point Tonya’s mother, Jessie, met a couple who gave her two pre-paid passes to the park. The couple had purchased the passes and planned to use them, but their plans had changed and they offered them to Jessie as a free gift. The only problem was the fact that the passes clearly stated that only the purchaser could use them.

Since our two boys were still young at the time, Jessie offered the passes to me and Tonya. She figured that we could use them to take the boys to Dollywood for half price. I didn’t feel right about accepting the offer, though, because I knew that none of us had purchased those two passes. So, I told Tonya, “No, we’re not doing that.”

Jessie, on the other hand, who is a devout Christian herself, took a different view of the situation. She thought that her running into that couple by happenstance was the Lord’s way of blessing her with those passes, and she wasn’t about to turn down the Lord’s blessing. That’s why it didn’t surprise me when she loaded up Tonya’s dad, Charles, the next morning and headed off for a day at Dollywood. To this day, I don’t think she’s ever felt the slightest twinge of guilt or conviction over using those passes.

My guess is that some people who read this post will agree with Jessie’s assessment of that situation. Then again, some of you will agree with mine. However you feel about it, the point I’m trying to get across is that life is filled with these gray zones, areas where Christians might not agree on what is sin and what isn’t sin. Jessie could use those passes in faith and be fully convinced in her own mind that what she was doing wasn’t sin, but I couldn’t. As for which one of us was truly in the right, I’ll let the Lord sort that out in eternity. Like that mother in my opening illustration, I took the cautious approach and called the shirt (the passes) dirty. All I know is, I slept fine after turning them down. Would I have slept so good had I used them? I guess I’ll never know, at least in this life. By the way, Tonya and the boys have been to Dollywood several times for school trips. I myself still haven’t seen the inside of the place.

Posted in Choices, Decisions, Discernment, Entertainment, God's Will, Inner Peace, Personal, Personal Holiness, Sin | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Why Does God Allow Suffering?

Posted on March 11, 2021 by russellmckinney

We live in a world that is deeply scarred by suffering. Some people suffer physically, while others suffer emotionally, mentally, psychologically, or financially. But whatever your specific brand of suffering happens to be, no one gets out of this world unscathed.

Sometimes we bring suffering upon ourselves. Since God’s universal law of sowing and reaping is always in operation (Galatians 6:7-8), it ensures that we reap an unpleasant harvest anytime we sow bad seed with our behavior. Other times, however, our fellow man hand delivers suffering to us through no fault of our own. Perhaps the most frustrating bouts of suffering we have to endure are those that aren’t our fault or anyone else’s. They just kind of happen, seemingly without cause.

The inevitability of suffering isn’t easy to explain, and it’s what sours some people on the whole notion of God. As Adrian Rogers once said in his sermon “The Stars & Scars of Christmas”:

There’s a great problem in the world today when you try to testify about God. The problem is not primarily science. The problem is primarily history. The problem is primarily suffering. And people will ask you again and again, how can you believe in a God, if there be a God, who allows so much suffering?

I think we have to admit this question is a fair one. In our human way of reasoning, we assume that any God who is not only all power but also all loving should eliminate suffering completely. Consequently, since it’s obvious that all suffering hasn’t been eliminated, we are left to assume that God either doesn’t exist or that He isn’t all powerful and all loving. As Rogers pointed out, this is the conundrum that turns many people atheistic or at least agnostic.

However, when we consult the Bible and learn what it teaches about suffering, we find quite a bit of help to answer the conundrum. Not only does the Bible explain the source of suffering, it also explains how God uses suffering as a tool in His toolbox. And just how does He use suffering as a tool to accomplish His purposes? There are at least seven ways.

First, God uses suffering to remind us that we are members of a fallen race that has become separated from Him by sin. Romans 5:12 explains how suffering became a part of this world’s basic set-up. Adam, the biological father of the human race, brought sin into the world by accepting his wife’s offer to eat of the forbidden fruit (Genesis 3:1-6; 1 Timothy 2:13-14). Bringing sin into the world was plenty bad enough, but with sin came death as well. Furthermore, by implication, sin and death also brought suffering. An unending chain of dominoes was thus begun as this sin/death/suffering package was then passed down to each of Adam’s billions of descendants by way of his sin-poisoned reproductive seed. To make the whole catastrophe even worse, Romans 8:20-22 explains that Adam’s sin also subjected God’s once-perfect creation to futility and the bondage of corruption (decay), so much so that creation itself now groans like a woman experiencing labor pangs. Yes, what happened way back there in the Garden of Eden did that much damage, and God uses all the suffering in the world to continually remind us that we are members of Adam’s fallen race, a race that has become separated from Him by sin.

Second, God uses suffering to motivate us to seek Him. In James 5:13, the Bible says: “Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray…” (N.K.J.V.). Can you hear the direct line of connection between suffering and seeking God? Just as your body uses pain to get you to seek a doctor, God allows you to suffer as a means to get you to seek Him. That’s why He says in Psalm 50:15: “Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me” (N.K.J.V.). If we never experienced a day of trouble, would we ever call upon God?

Third, God uses suffering to help us keep our eyes on eternity. If suffering does nothing else, it lessens our love affair with life on planet earth. That, as it so happens, is a good thing because God has built us for eternity. Ecclesiastes 3:11 refers to our eternal makeup when it says of God’s relationship to human beings: “…He has put eternity in their hearts…” (N.K.J.V.). Of course the problem we face is that as full-fledged members of Adam’s sinful race, we stand in need of forgiveness lest we be separated from God for all eternity in a hellish place of torment. To receive that forgiveness, we must place saving belief in Jesus, the One who died on a Roman cross as the payment for our sins (1 John 2:1-2). God wants each individual to receive this forgiveness (1 Timothy 2:3-6), and it is this forgiveness of sin — this salvation experience — that qualifies the believer (the Christian) to enter God’s heaven in the afterlife. As for how awesome heaven is, the sufferings we have to endure in this present time aren’t even worthy to be compared to the glory which shall be revealed in us there (Romans 8:18).

Fourth, God uses suffering to enable us to sympathize with others who are suffering. Romans 12:15 says: “Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep” (N.K.J.V.). But how can we effectively weep with those who weep if we ourselves have never had to shed a tear? God solves this potential shortcoming by allowing us to experience suffering, enough suffering to produce tears. Another great verse on this subject is 2 Corinthians 1:4, which says that God comforts us in all our tribulation so that we may be able to comfort those who are in trouble. The truth is that people who live in ivory towers and never know suffering make for very poor comforters.

Fifth, God uses suffering as a means to receive glory for Himself. In John 9:1-12, we find the record of Jesus encountering a man who had been born blind. When Christ’s disciples saw the man, they asked, “Was this man born blind because of his sin or his parents’ sin?” Jesus answered, “Neither. He was born blind so that the works of God should be revealed in him.” Jesus then restored the man’s sight. The story of the death and resurrection of Lazarus conveys this same truth (John 11:1-44). Jesus said of Lazarus’ sickness, “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it” (John 11:4, (N.K.J.V.). While it is true that both of these stories had happy endings, miracles whereby God received glory, suffering that doesn’t end in a miraculous healing or resurrection can still produce glory for God. Just think about the awesome testimony that is showcased when an individual or a family is forced to endure a fatal type of suffering and yet continues to have faith in God and praise Him in spite of the suffering and the loss. In many ways, that brings even more glory to God than a miracle does.

Sixth, in the life of the Christian, God uses suffering as a tool to produce many beneficial characteristics within the Christian. For example, Romans 5:3-5 says the Christian should glory in tribulations because they produce perseverance (endurance), which in turn produces character, which in turn produces hope. Likewise, James 1:2-3 says the Christian should count it all joy when he falls into various trials. Why? Those verses describe the trials as being tests for the Christian’s faith, and that testing benefits that Christian by producing patience (perseverance, endurance). Additionally, experiencing suffering can also help the Christian appreciate Christ’s death on the cross better and align himself or herself more closely with Christ. The apostle Paul spoke of this benefit in Philippians 3:10 when he proclaimed his desire to know the fellowship of Christ’s sufferings. Peter spoke of it in 1 Peter 4:13 when he encouraged Christians to rejoice over the fact that we have been granted the privilege of being made a partaker of Christ’s sufferings.

Seventh, in the life of the Christian, God uses suffering as a means of chastising the Christian for disobedience. The Bible’s classic passage on this is Hebrews 12:3-11. Those verses teach that God chastises (scourges, whips) every Christian just as a loving earthly father faithfully chastises a rebellious child. The passage even goes so far as to say that if an individual can live a lifestyle of sin without God chastising him, that is clear proof the individual isn’t a true Christian. This idea of God chastising His disobedient children held true in the days of the Old Testament as well. A proof text for that is Psalm 119:67, where the Psalmist says to God: “Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep Your word.”

Finally, let me conclude by mentioning that Romans 8:28 also has a bearing upon the question, “Why does God allow suffering?” That verse says to the Christian: “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose” (N.K.J.V.). Those words “all things” surely include all suffering. Somehow, in some way for which God rarely gets credit, He knows how to weave suffering into His tapestry of goodness for our lives. I won’t pretend that this truth takes all the pain out of our suffering, but it at least helps us realize that we don’t suffer pointlessly. The fact is that God never wastes anything in our lives, even our suffering, and this should encourage us during those difficult times when we are called upon to suffer. Not only can God use our suffering, He can use it for our good. As a matter of fact, there is some good that can only be produced through suffering.

Posted in Adversity, God's Sovereignty, Problems, Suffering, Trials | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Sometimes Your Logic Can Make a Situation Worse

Posted on March 8, 2021 by russellmckinney

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths. (Proverbs 3:5-6, N.K.J.V.)

A husband and wife hitched their r.v. camper to their truck and loaded up their three young boys for a camping trip. Arriving at the campsite, the couple sent the boys off to play while they set up camp. The boys happily agreed to the deal, the only limitation being that they wouldn’t get out of the mother’s site.

An hour of hard work passed, with the mother periodically checking to make sure the boys were still where she could see them. With her chores just about finished, she looked out the camper window and saw that the boys were all lying on their stomachs in a circle. They were all engrossed with whatever was inside that circle, but she couldn’t see what it was.

A little bit of worry crept into her as she opened the camper door and hollered, “Boys, what are you looking at?” The boys responded by each rolling over onto their sides, thus creating a line of sight for the mother to see the nest of baby skunks they had been playing with for some time. Horrified, the mother screamed, “RUN TO THE CAMPER, BOYS! RUN!” And run they did, each one carrying a baby skunk by the tail.

Sometimes our logical solution to a situation isn’t the right one. As a matter of fact, sometimes our logic can make a situation even worse. That’s why our text passage flatly tells us not to lean on our own understanding. As that mother found out that day, the problem is that many times we simply don’t have all the information required to choose the correct course of action.

As you read this, are you dealing with a situation the solution for which seems obvious to you? If so, I beg of you not to rush too hastily into that course of action. Pray about the matter. Get God’s opinion concerning it. Ask Him to show you His will about what you should do, and then commit yourself fully to doing that will. It’s only by trusting in Him with all your heart, acknowledging His perfect wisdom, and setting your own logic aside that you can allow Him to direct your paths. Anything less than that and you might just end up with a camper full of baby skunks.

Posted in Choices, Decisions, Discernment, God's Will, Humor, Trusting In God | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Sometimes a Rebuke Is in Order

Posted on March 5, 2021 by russellmckinney

Living the Christian life isn’t easy. Along with our turning the other cheek (Matthew 5:38-39), loving our enemies (Matthew 5:43-48), not judging (Matthew 7:1-6), forgiving those who have sinned against us (Luke 11:4), showing mercy (Luke 6:36), and being kind to one another (Ephesians 4:32), we Christians are also called to openly rebuke sin. How’s that for a complex series of variables to coordinate?

For one thing, we are called to openly rebuke sin in the lives of lost people. For example, Ephesians 5:11 commands us to expose the unfruitful works of darkness, and Titus 1:10-13 tells us to rebuke false teachers sharply. Even in the Old Testament, in Ezekiel 3:18-19, God says to the prophet Ezekiel, “If you say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ but don’t actually warn him in an effort to save his life, I will require his blood at your hand.” John the Baptist rebuking Herod is a powerful example of a saved person rebuking a lost person’s behavior (Matthew 14:1-12; Luke 3:19).

For another thing, we are called to openly rebuke sin in the lives of our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. For example, in Matthew 18:15-17 Jesus explains the process for practicing church discipline upon the church member who has sinned against another church member. Likewise, in Galatians 2:11-21 Paul recounts how he publicly rebuked Peter face to face in Antioch when Peter’s actions were in the wrong. Even pastors aren’t to be spared public rebuke if it is warranted. 1 Timothy chapter 5 is a chapter that deals with the local church, and verse 20 of that chapter says concerning elders (pastors), “Those who are sinning rebuke in the presence of all, that the rest also may fear.”

Of course, the ground upon which all rebuking should be done is the Bible. As 2 Timothy 3:16 says, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.” Any rebuking (reproving, correcting) that we Christians attempt to do should always be Biblically based. Even when we are dealing with lost people, we must not shy away from citing scripture concerning their sins.

Sadly, some Christians are far too quick to rebuke people, while others want nothing to do with ever rebuking anybody. Neither extreme is correct. What we must somehow find is a God-approved balance in which we rebuke others only at His bidding, in His way, and in His timing. Make no mistake about it, this is a difficult balance to find. With so much sin and error not only in the world but also in the church, it can seem as if there is a possible rebuke to be offered in every situation. That’s why we must spend quality time in prayer, asking God to show us which battles He wants us to fight.

We would also do well to remember that rebuking (done correctly) is actually an act of love. That’s why Proverbs 27:5 says that open rebuke is better than hidden love, and why Proverbs 27:6 calls the wounds of rebuke a friend inflicts “faithful.” But how can an open rebuke be considered an act of love? It’s because the goal of the rebuke is to get the sinner to turn from the sin and turn to God’s will, which is always better for the person. On the subject of a Christian rebuking a fellow Christian, James 5:19-20 says that if the rebuking Christian can get the rebuked Christian to turn from his sins, the rebuked Christian’s life will be saved from death. Additionally, Jesus said that the fellowship between the one doing the rebuking and the one taking it can then be restored (Matthew 18:15).

At the end of the day, we Christians simply aren’t afforded the luxury of remaining silent or “going along to get along” as sin and evil steamroll unchecked. As Isaiah 5:20 describes the situation: “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter” (N.K.J.V.). If nobody else in this world calls evil “evil,” Christians should. If nobody else in this world calls darkness “darkness,” Christians should. If nobody else in this world calls bitter “bitter,” Christians should. Again, it is a fundamental part of living the Christian life. Granted, it’s not a part that produces popularity and worldly applause, but it will produce a, “Well done, good and faithful servant” when the Christian gets to heaven. And that, after all, is what we are supposed to be striving for anyway.

Posted in Criticism, Discipleship, God's Word, God's Work, Scripture, The Bible | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Our Creator God

Posted on March 3, 2021 by russellmckinney

A group of the world’s leading scientists came together for a great conference. During the conference the scientists reached the conclusion that the human race had now advanced enough to no longer need any notion of God. Only one scientist, a Christian who rejected evolution and held to a literal interpretation of Genesis chapters 1 and 2, disagreed with the conclusion.

The Christian scientist argued passionately for the importance of God, but the other scientists simply laughed at him. Finally, in a mock gesture, they wrote out a formal document that gave him their permission to tell God that the human race no longer needed Him. They said, “Tell God that we have now mastered so many technologies that we can create whatever we need. We can even create human beings through the process of cloning.”

In humiliation, the Christian scientist left the conference hall and retreated to his room. There, he humbly knelt down beside the bed and began to pray. He said, “God, my fellow scientists have told me to tell You that the human race no longer needs You because we can, by means of cutting-edge technologies, create whatever we need. We can even clone humans. So, what should I tell them is Your reply?” He had barely voiced the question when God spoke to him audibly right there in that hotel room and said, “Tell them that I’m perfectly willing to let them do all their own creating. That’s their choice. I do have one rule, though. They can’t use any of my source materials.”

There is a difference between recreating and creating. There is a difference between organizing and causing to exist. Hebrews 11:3 tells us that the things which are seen were not made from things which are visible. If I drive past a lot one day and see that truckloads of lumber, brick, roofing material, etc. have been delivered there, and then drive past that same lot several months later and find that a house is now standing there, I will know how that house got there. I will know because I saw all the source materials (the building materials) there before I saw the house. But when God created all creation, He started with no source materials whatsoever. That’s how awesome He is.

And then, as if that isn’t incredible enough, that same Creator God took upon Himself human flesh by becoming an embryo in the womb of a virgin and being born. Why did He do that? He did it so that He could live a sinless life and then die on a Roman cross as the sinless sacrifice for all the sins of the entire human race. He did it so that those of us who choose to voluntarily believe in Him as Savior can have our sins forgiven. He did it so that we can spend eternity with Him in perfect bliss. He did it because He loves us. That, my friends, is a Creator God worth believing in, and His name is Jesus.

Posted in Atheism, Christ's Birth, Creation, God's Omnipotence, Humor | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

When It Doesn’t Make Sense

Posted on March 1, 2021 by russellmckinney

Most of us have had to endure times when life didn’t make sense. For that matter, some of us are there right now. What’s especially difficult about such times is the fact that God, who is normally the source to which we can go for answers and guidance, is the one who has either caused or at least allowed the confusing events. Imagine getting lost on safari in Africa and your guide is the one who got you lost!

It is during these times of confusion, these times when even God doesn’t seem to be providing much clarity, that our faith in Him and obedience to Him are sorely tested. I wish I was a good enough writer to pen some masterpiece about how to get through such times, but I’m just not at that level. Even if I was talented enough to string the words together, my spiritual insight concerning what words to use would surely fail me. So, what I think I’ll do is let Vance Havner do some writing here. In a piece entitled “When It Doesn’t Make Sense,” he said the following:

“…perplexed, but not in despair.” (2 Corinthians 4:8)

Paul was in perplexity but not in despair. He was not whistling his way through the graveyard, however; nor was he merely “smiling through” or looking for something to turn up. His way out was not by painting the clouds with sunshine, wearing rose-colored glasses and quoting lovely poems about “God’s in His Heaven; all’s right with the world!”

I am constantly encountering dilemmas that don’t make sense. I have a picture of myself standing with two other preachers taken only a few years ago. One was rudely snatched from earth in an automobile collision with a drunken driver. The drunken driver escaped, but the splendid young preacher was taken from a fruitful ministry and a fine wife and little children. The other preacher in the photo died later in his forties, just a few weeks before the birth of his only child, a son he had longed for through the years. I saw that little fellow recently and was struck again with the unexplainable mystery of what just doesn’t seem to make sense.

Even now I am tramping the woods with another fine youngster whose father died some years ago. When I think how much he loved that boy but had to leave him, and wonder why I am enjoying that little fellow instead, there looms again the perplexity of those enigmas that just don’t fit into any of our patterns.

Of course men have wrestled with such puzzles from the beginning. It was Job’s perplexity. Habakkuk contended with it and gave us his blessed “although” and “yet” (3:17, 18). Micah surveyed a dismal day when godly men had perished from the earth, while the wicked prospered. He got through to God and a man had better do that or he will go crazy. John the Baptist sat in prison and doubtless pondered why Jesus could work all His miracles but leave His forerunner in jail.

Some things are given us to know (Matthew 13:11), but some things are not for us to know (Acts 1:7). Unfortunately, we fail to learn much we could know by trying to find out what we cannot know. The little boy who couldn’t understand why God put so many vitamins in spinach instead of putting them all in ice cream was learning early that things just don’t work out as we would do them if we had the universe in charge.

Some things just don’t seem to make sense, but we may be perplexed yet not in despair. The way out is not by explanation but by revelation. The Bible does not give us explanation for some of these riddles, but it does supply revelation. To begin with, when things do not make sense to us, it does not mean that they don’t make sense at all. Furthermore, when some things do not make sense to us now, it does not mean that they never will make sense.

But a still deeper consideration remains. There is a higher viewpoint from which things which don’t make sense to our ordinary reasoning can make sense to our spiritual understanding even now. The highest lesson God wants to teach us is to trust Him regardless. If everything made sense to our understanding, we would need no faith. If everything worked out in storybook style, we would become complacent and spoiled. God wants to bring us to a higher place where He Himself is our portion and reward, where we can sing, “Now Thee alone I seek; give what is best.”

One line from Havner’s last paragraph really helps me. He says: “The highest lesson God wants to teach us is to trust Him regardless,” That line surely speaks truth. Like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego calmly submitting to being cast into the fiery furnace (Daniel 3:1-30), and like Daniel not raising a fuss over being thrown into the den of lions (Daniel 6:1-28), God wants us to trust Him even when what is happening to us makes no sense whatsoever.

Then again, since those two famous stories both have happy endings of divine deliverance, perhaps they aren’t the best ones to cite as examples. After all, sometimes the deliverance doesn’t come (at least not in this life). The husband and wife who just buried their child won’t find much help in a story in which God Himself shows up to miraculously spare the lives of three Hebrew boys. The family who just lost a loved one to cancer or Covid-19 can’t take much encouragement from a story in which God sends an angel to close the mouths of a bunch of ravenous lions so that a prophet’s life can be preserved. Sure, it’s easy to trust in God when the outcome goes the way you want it to go. But how do you keep on trusting in Him when it goes the polar opposite direction?

That question doesn’t come with a neatly packaged answer, and it’s one that each of us must hash out with God for ourselves. What works for me in regards to answering it might not work for you. What brings me comfort on the subject might leave you comfortless. What strengthens my faith might not do a thing for yours. At some point, though, God will give us what we need to keep on keeping on with Him.

In reference to this, Vance Havner said that Micah got his help by getting through to God. As comforting as that thought is, it strikes me that some people might need for God to get through to them because they’ve stopped trying to get through to Him. You see, that’s a whole other way for Him to provide the required help.

One thing is for sure, though, whatever your confusing situation is, God won’t leave you alone to make sense of it on your own. If you won’t freely go to Him for help, He will freely come to you to provide it anyway. But let me warn you, you getting His help still might not be enough to cause you to agree with Him either causing or allowing the confusing situation to come to pass in the first place. During such times you’ll just have to say, “Lord, we’re going to have to agree to disagree on this until I can get a little farther down the road and align my way of thinking with yours, but in the meantime I’m going to stick with you, trust you, and keep walking with you.” Admittedly, this won’t be an ideal solution, but it will at least be enough to keep you moving in the right direction until you can get to a better place with it all.

Posted in Adversity, Commitment, Depression, Disappointment, Discipleship, Faith, Faithfulness, God's Sovereignty, Human Life, Persecution, Perseverance, Problems, Suffering, Trials, Trusting In God | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

The Ear of Dionysius

Posted on February 26, 2021 by russellmckinney

The Italian city of Syracuse is located on the island of Sicily. In that city is a limestone cave called The Ear of Dionysius. As you might expect with that name, the cave’s shape is similar to that of the human ear.

According to local legend, Dionysius I of Syracuse had the large cave carved into its earlike shape so that he could eavesdrop on his prisoners inside the cave. The acoustics of the cave created an echo effect that carried sounds a great distance. Purportedly, Dionysius I could sit in the parlor of his palace directly above the cave and listen to the prisoners’ cries, conversations, plans to escape, etc.

Like many local legends from ancient times, it’s impossible for us to know whether or not The Ear of Dionysius was actually man-made and served such a sinister purpose. Certainly the cave is shaped like an ear, but some believe it is simply a natural formation. Then again, perhaps it was a natural formation, complete with an uncommon echo, that Dionysus’ workers tinkered with a bit to bring to full effect.

Whatever the truth might be, we know that The Ear of Dionysius could never compare to the ear of God. Psalm 34:15 says of Him: “The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, And His ears are open to their cry.” Likewise, Psalm 34:17 says: “The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears, And delivers them out of all their troubles” (N.K.J.V.). God hearing our cries is surely a good thing. For that matter, He even hears our complaints. As Moses told the Israelites, “…He hears your complaints…” (Exodus 16:7, N.K.J.V.).

It should be noted, however, that God can choose to not listen to us. It’s here that the warm, fuzzy feeling we get about God hearing our prayers goes to die. Consider the following verses (all from the N.K.J.V.):

  • Psalm 66:18: If I regard iniquity in my heart, The Lord will not hear.
  • Proverbs 28:9: One who turns away his ear from hearing the law, Even his prayer is an abomination.
  • Isaiah 1:15: “When you spread out your hands, I will hide My eyes from you; Even though you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood.”
  • Isaiah 59:2: But your iniquities have separated you from your God; And your sins have hidden His face from you, So that He will not hear.
  • Jeremiah 11:11: Therefore thus says the Lord: “Behold, I will surely bring calamity on them which they will not be able to escape; and though they cry out to Me, I will not listen to them.”
  • Zechariah 7:13: “Therefore it happened, that just as He proclaimed and they would not hear, so they called out and I would not listen,” says the Lord of hosts.

These verses plainly teach that there is a limit to God’s hearing, and it’s a limit that He Himself imposes. Fortunately, this limit only applies to those who persist in their sins. You see, God’s default setting is to hear us when we speak, no matter if what we are saying involves a cry, a complaint, or just a conversation. If the lines of communication get switched off, we are the ones to blame, and the root cause of the problem will always be those sins for which we refuse to confess and repent.

Posted in Prayer, Prayer Requests | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Should We Call a Church Building “The House of God”?

Posted on February 24, 2021 by russellmckinney

These things write I unto thee, hoping to come unto thee shortly: But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. (1 Timothy 3:14-15, K.J.V.)

Have you ever heard a preacher welcome a congregation by saying, “It’s good to see you in the house of God today”? Have you ever heard a church member say, “I think the church building should be the most beautiful building in the community because that building is the house of God”? If you have heard such statements, you probably accepted their basic premise without any objection, that premise being that the church building is the house of God. But is the church building actually the house of God? Well, I hate to break this to you, but it isn’t.

You say, “But in 1 Timothy 3:14-15 Paul talks to Timothy about behaving himself ‘in the house of God, which is the church of the living God.'” Yes, that’s what the text does say in the classic King James translation. The problem is, this is one of those instances where the venerable old K.J.V. misses the mark. Just as the K.J.V. errs in Romans 8:16 and Romans 8:26 by referring to the third person of the Trinity, God the Holy Spirit, as “the Spirit itself” rather than “the Spirit Himself,” it errs in 1 Timothy 3:15 by translating the Greek word oikos as “house.”

To be fair to the K.J.V.’s translation team, oikos really is the Greek word for “house.” For example, the word is used in Matthew 9:6, which records how Jesus healed a certain paralytic and told him to take up his bed and go to his house (oikos). Furthermore, the word can also rightly be used to refer to a building that isn’t actually a house. As evidence of this, it’s used in Matthew 12:4 in reference to the Old Testament Tabernacle and in Matthew 21:13, Matthew 23:38, and John 2:16 in reference to the Jerusalem Temple. Obviously, each of those two buildings was an actual structure that could metaphorically be called a “house” and in those instances the K.J.V. correctly translates oikos as “house.”

The problem arises when we try to apply this same terminology to the church. First of all, even though the Christians of the early church era met in their homes, and the familiar word oikos is used to describe each of those “house churches,” those houses certainly weren’t exclusively used as sites of worship the way the Jewish Tabernacle and Temple had been. No, people actually lived in those houses throughout the week whenever a church assembly wasn’t taking place. This explains why, when those house churches are referred to in passages such as Romans 16:3-5, 1 Corinthians 16:19, Colossians 4:15, and Philemon verses 1 and 2, they are described as being the houses of the people who lived in them. That’s different than each of them being described as “the house of God.”

The source of the confusion regarding the term “the house of God” isn’t hard to identify. Whereas the human worshippers who came to the Tabernacle building weren’t called “the tabernacle” and the human worshippers who came to the Temple building weren’t called “the temple,” the human worshippers who came to a house church were actually called “the church.” That made it easy to blur the line between the people themselves and the building in which they met for worship. Naturally, then, when the congregations stopped meeting in peoples’ homes and started meeting in ornate buildings that were built to exclusively be places of worship, each of those buildings came to be known as “the house of God.” For the record, that happened in the third century A.D.

The truth, however, is that the only “temple” or “house” that God has today is the body of each and every Christian. As the apostle Paul taught, the Christian’s body is the “temple” of God because God the Holy Spirit literally dwells inside that Christian (1 Corinthians 6:19-20; 2 Corinthians 6:14-18). Another good verse to work in here is Acts 7:48, which tells us “the Most High does not dwell in temples made with hands” (N.K.J.V.).

When you understand all this, you will understand why all the newer translations of the Bible, translations other than the K.J.V., translate the word oikos in 1 Timothy 3:15 as “household” rather than “house.” That term “the household of God” is a reference to the family of God, the body of believers who can correctly be called “the church.” And just to show you that “household” is a perfectly acceptable alternative translation for oikos, the K.J.V. translators themselves translated oikos as “household” in Acts 16:15, 1 Corinthians 1:16, and 2 Timothy 4:19. We can only wish they would have followed that pattern when they came to 1 Timothy 3:15. It would have spared us a lot of confusion.

Posted in Church, King James Only, The Holy Spirit, Worship | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment