Spiritual Ponderings

  Therefore I urge you , brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service. Don't be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what is the good , well-pleasing , and perfect will of God . For I say, through the grace that was given me, to every man who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think reasonably , as God has apportioned to each person a measure of faith . (Romans 12:1-3) Caterpillars can’t fly. But butterflies can (only a bit different than birds do). Caterpillars don’t fly, yet I wonder if they might be born with deep, innate cravings to do so…. If caterpillars are destined to fly, yet have no equipment to do so, isn’t that the ultimate frustration? What is the identity of a caterpillar? Is that identity permanent, or temporary? Does a caterpillar have any choic...

Jesus invites every person to join His class action lawsuit against Satan. If we are willing to believe the truth that God declares about the cause of our sinful condition, we can sign up to participate in the lawsuit to vacate the sentence for our punishment on grounds that the charges relied on to convict us are based on a fraudulent premise. We have been manipulated under duress and misinformed, and thus the charges must be vacated while the accuser himself is to receive the punishments he demanded against us. This is according to the requirements of the legal system he put in place to punish us. If an unrighteous witness rise up against any man to testify against him of wrong-doing, then both the men, between whom the controversy is, shall stand before Yahweh, before the priests and the judges who shall be in those days; and the judges shall make diligent inquisition: and, behold, if the witness is a false witness , and has testified falsely against his brother ; t...

 No longer a beggar. I want to no longer beg and plead with God as if He is reluctant or even recalcitrant to listen to my desires for healing or salvation, either for myself or for others. What does my begging infer about God's heart, when I display the disposition that God has to be persuaded to bless, to heal, to love, to forgive, to feel compassion? The message it sends is that God is a great deal like me – hard-hearted, loath to let go of offenses, demanding satisfaction for debts and administration of execution for unpunished sins before He will relent to release a measured bit of kindness or mercy. What a horrific view of God our prayers often unconsciously project without our even realizing it. Yet its true, and its tragic, and I don't want to continue to imagine that God is like the monster my feelings made Him out to be as a teenager based on how others made Him appear in my imagination. To continue to allow those dark, dungeon-like perceptions of God to still aff...

The divine Teacher bears with the erring through all their perversity. His love does not grow cold ; His efforts to win them do not cease . With outstretched arms He waits to welcome again and again the erring, the rebellious, and even the apostate. His heart is touched with the helplessness of the little child subject to rough usage . The cry of human suffering never reaches His ear in vain. Though all are precious in His sight, the rough, sullen, stubborn dispositions draw most heavily upon His sympathy and love ; for He traces from cause to effect . The one who is most easily tempted, and is most inclined to err, is the special object of His solicitude . Every parent and every teacher should cherish the attributes of Him who makes the cause of the afflicted, the suffering, and the tempted His own. He should be one who can have "compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way; for that he himself also is compassed with infirmity....

This Good News of the Kingdom will be preached in the whole world for a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come. "When, therefore, you see the abomination of desolation , which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place ( let the reader understand ), ...then there will be great oppression , such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, nor ever will be. (Matthew 24:14-15, 21) I believe we live in very serious times in history, possibly the most pivotal time when our beliefs about God can make the most difference, both in our own lives and with many around us. Given an urgency to know the truth as it is in Jesus, I sense strongly that it is vital we be willing to reexamine every tenant of our faith to discover if there may be hidden faulty assumptions lurking in traditions we have failed to see because there was not sufficient light of truth about God's character that is now becoming clear. One of those ...