The Gospel is the Gospel, No Matter Who From

We now live in a culture where people are flocking to churches that teach people what they want to hear (2 Timothy 4:3). I would guess many of the preachers of these churches are very well aware of this, and bank on it. They deliver messages that satisfy people’s itching ears, in return they get more people to attend their church, more money, and more reputation. I’ve seen snippets of the tv show “Preachers of LA”, and I was disgusted. It seemed the only thing these preachers were concerned about was the appearance, the glam, the money. Although these people may not be sincere in what they preach, as they are not preaching for the glory of God, but for the glory of themselves, we must remember that God still uses His Word even from the most abrasive of people. Most of their teachings may be heresy, yes, but they are still proclaiming Christ and the Gospel. What am I getting at?

In referencing Philippians 1, Paul is in prison and in this particular section is writing concerning those who are preaching the Gospel for their own gain. These people were jealous of Paul’s reputation from the Gospel, and since Paul was in prison, they preached this message to gain reputation for themselves. Instead of dismissing these people and their message, he simply states “What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice” (v.18) Paul didn’t care about these men’s motives for spreading the Gospel (for they will answer for that themselves on judgment day), nor did he give any instructions to shut them up or shut them out. No, he rejoiced because the Gospel was still being proclaimed.

This is something to take into account when considering the vast amount of people out there who are in it for no other reasons then themselves. Most of us may think of popular tv preachers. Are these men sincere in their message? Perhaps not. Are they only in it for the money? Probably. Are they still proclaiming Christ?… Yes. Now this isn’t to excuse all the heresy that may follow in their teachings, but the simple fact that they are proclaiming the Gospel, that we need to rejoice in. Has anyone ever gotten saved at a Joel Osteen service? I am sure of it. Will that person continue to grow in Christ if he stays in that church, most definitely not. I am also reminded of a conversation I had with a friend who was recently saved. He started reading a book called “23 Minutes in Hell”. He asked me my thoughts, and I gave him all the biblical reasons on why I believed that book to be heresy. But being a new believer, he was enthralled in that book, and God perhaps was still using it to bring him closer to Himself. Ironically, even the author put this quote on the back of his book, “Even if you don’t believe my story, I hope you will believe the Scriptures and avoid hell just the same.” So whether or not this man’s story is true or not, he still proclaimed Christ as the Messiah, and for that we must rejoice, as that may lead someone to Christ.

I must also clarify that of which I mean by proclaiming Christ. I am speaking of those who claim Jesus Christ as part of the Trinity to be the only way to heaven by faith alone. I am not speaking of a generic “Christ is the Messiah”, as not to be confused with Mormonism, Jehovah’s Witness, etc., as these people are not necessarily heretics by purposeful means, but because they are deceived. I am speaking of people who proclaim the truth of the Gospel and use it for their own glory. I am also in no way condoning Joel Osteen’s ministry, or any other prosperity teacher, or heretic out there. But one thing I must give them is that they give the Gospel to the world, and God uses that. The intentions of their heart will be dealt with before the throne of God, and for that we must pray for.

Priorities in Prayer

 

These last few weeks at church we have been learning about listening and prayer. If there is one thing I definitely need to work on, is listening. I know how to pray, a lot. I guess you could say I talk God’s ears off, yet He listens to every word, but I don’t actually just shut up and listen.

I’ve been reading through Colossians and it really showed me just how lame my prayer life has been. Praying is good don’t get me wrong, but it’s what I have been praying for. I haven’t necessarily been praying for bad things, but there are things that we as Christians should pray for, yet we don’t because we are so focused on other things. One thing specifically that jumped out at me from Colossians is new believers, we need to be praying for new believers!

A brief history for those who don’t know, Paul wrote a letter to the Colossians to encourage them in their faith after learning of their salvation and the heresy that was being taught by false teachers. Things that Satan loves to use on new believers, such as faith in it of itself is still not good enough and that you need more, Jesus really isn’t God, or maybe you’re not really saved. Mind you, Paul had never met this church, but while in prison he wrote a letter to them saying “we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding.” ( 1:9) Instead of praying for his current predicament, (which is what I probably would be praying for), he is praying for a church of new believers that he had never even met.

Especially in thinking of the recent believers that have come into Calvary Campus, we need, we need to be praying for them constantly, every day. I am reminded of the book The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis (if anyone hasn’t read it I highly recommend it) which paints an awesome picture of how the devil tries to do anything to stop a believer from believing. But we must also believe in the effectiveness of prayer. I recommend that you just write a list of all the new believers that you know of that have come to Christ recently and pray for them every day, or make it part of your Listen Week Challenge if you attend Calvary Campus. I’m going to do it! The enemy has lost the battle for their souls, but he is going to try his hardest to take down everything else, let’s not let him. Let’s not just pray for these people, but converse with them, invite them into your home, show them love. Well this blog was mainly for me, I just know I’ve been struggling for new believers. That is all, God Bless!

It Is Corban

I was reading Matthew 15 the other day and something really got to me. We as Christians like to give the Pharisees a hard time, as if we think that our hypocrisy is in no way related to theirs, if we even see any hypocrisy in ourselves to begin with. In this chapter, the Pharisees are giving Jesus a hard time for not washing his hands before eating and Jesus’ reply to them reveals their true hypocrisy. It follows:

“And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? For God commanded, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ But you say, ‘If anyone tells his father or his mother, “What you would have gained from me is given to God,” he need not honor his father.’ So for the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God.” (v. 3-6)

 

To focus on verse 5, “What you would have gained from me is given to God.” Here Jesus is pointing out their hypocrisy in not honoring their father and mother by giving their due services to God, instead of their parents. If anyone was to say “Corban” or “it is Corban”, that which they say “Corban” over is then devoted to God and could not be used for any other purpose. I guess you could say it was more of a cop out of serving their parents by devoting that which their parents asked to God. To them, they justify it, for it is better to give to God than to our own parents, right? Wrong. For God does not care what we bring, but by the motive by which we bring it. Honoring our parents, after all, is the only commandment that comes with a promise.

How many times have I done this, have you done this? It may have been in the form of someone seeking help, but instead of helping, we say “I’ll pray for you,” as if to pass off a good work and justify it by considering prayer “spiritual”, and therefore can’t be wrong. Or instead of going out and sharing the Gospel or whatever else you may feel lead, you decide to stay home and read your Bible or pray, as if disobedience to God’s voice is justified by spending time with Him. But are we praying for this person or reading the Bible to get to know Jesus better, or because our real motive is to get out of what He had originally called us to do? I can think of countless times someone has needed my assistance and I write off as “I’ll pray for you.” I’m not saying you have to help every single person that calls your assistance, but when the Spirit leads us to do so, don’t cop out of it! So no, it is not Corban! A service is not devoted to God by words but by motive of the heart. So next time you feel the Spirit leading you to do something you don’t want to do, don’t say “Corban!”, say “yes!”

One Mighty Man of God: A Story That Has To Be Told.

 

Today was bittersweet. It was probably one of the more stressful days of work I’ve had in a long time. One of those days where you just keep staring at the clock just itching for the day to be over. Despite today being super stressful, it probably ended up being one of the most blessed days I’ve ever had.

To give you some background, I work at a nursing and rehab center, where my day started off rough from the get go. I had resistance from residents, which for anyone who has ever worked in a care facility knows that this can be stressful and put you behind in your work, which it did. I spent most of my day just trying to catch up. Breakfast couldn’t of come any slower, while most all the other staff already got their first break in, I was just barely finishing catching up my morning rounds. By the time I was done all I wanted to do was just sit for five minutes. As I was heading to the breakroom to sit, I saw the breakfast trays get rolled out, so I then started passing breakfast trays. As we got to the room of one particular resident, who has taken a turn for the worst, I was voted to be the one to feed him.

After feeding him for a while I really felt God laying on my heart to speak with him, perhaps even share the Gospel. I pushed that feeling away and just kept on feeding him without saying a word, after all, this man has never been the talkative type anyways. But the more I sat there, the more pain I could see this man was in. I couldn’t take it anymore, so I then obeyed that small voice and decided to open the door of conversation by asking him if I could pray for him. He agreed, so I did. After I finished praying I was excited to start talking with him about God, the Gospel, but before I could get a word in, he started talking to me instead. He proceeded to tell me about the good ol’ days and how he started following God at the age of 15. I couldn’t believe it, this man was a believer!

He then just started telling me words of wisdom. Things like how nothing else matter but to follow in God’s footsteps, or how sick he is of televangelists who are millionaires while the body of Christ is poor. He then got to the point in his life of when he met his wife. It was at this particular point that he started to expound. He told me to wait, to stop looking and being impatient, to know that in God’s good timing a wife will come. For anyone who knows me or has read my previous blogs, this is and has been the number one discontentment for me. Looking around and seeing all my friends married, in relationships, or heading towards relationships, it seems like everyone has someone except me. And I would get mad, even at God (stupid I know). But here I was sitting there, holding on to all of that, and this man was telling me exactly what I needed to hear. The only thing this man knew about me was my name, and God was using him as a vessel to teach me, put me in my place, and bring me back to Him. Needless to say I was shocked, I had never heard him speak with such wisdom and clarity. The most I ever really hear him talk is when he is yelling for help, but now he was helping me in the deepest of ways. What I thought was going to be me ministering to him actually turned out to be him ministering to me!

He shared more wisdom with me as well as he continued his story and by the time he was done he had me in tears, like the waterworks, snot and everything (sorry for such detail). But when he finished I told him “Wow, that’s quite a story!”, he then told me “Well it’s not my story, I didn’t write it, God’s the author.” Not only wise, but humble as well, he directed all that glory back to God. After I finished feeding him all I wanted to do was sit there and talk with him all day, but I had to get back to work. I thanked him for his words and left the room with tears still in my eyes. Who would of thought that such a mighty man of God was hidden amongst us. Day in and day out, completely dependent upon us, this man had far more to offer than anything we could ever do for him. He had wisdom.

Jesus: Desire

As of late, I have really had my priorities out of whack…and until this last week, I will admit that I had really been slacking on my Bible reading. Why? Because well, as I said, my priorities are out of whack. To make Jesus the core, the center of all you do can be the hardest thing. David (who was a man after God’s own heart) saw to have a woman’s husband killed after committing adultery with her. So maybe I shouldn’t beat myself up so much when I fall short… I mean when is the last time I killed a guy for sleeping with his wife, right? Wrong. My sin is ever before God. And even though it is covered by grace, it still separates me from His presence just as much as David’s sins. The reality of it is my sin has a foundation, and it is rooted in my priorities. The simple fact that I held Jesus where he ought naught was a sin in it of itself, and it’s a breeding ground for even more. I’m a man (if not still a boy) who has made many mistakes. Mistakes that have broken me in pieces, shaped me, molded me, and by the grace of God directed me back towards His presence. It’s almost an endless cycle. I put Jesus first and things are swell, my priorities shift, sin enters, repentance…rinse and repeat. Each time I fall back on Jesus it is much sweeter than the last, but at the same time my sin can get much worse. I have a spirit who longs for Christ while dwelling in a body that is the complete antithesis of that. I have desires, but God desires me. That should be enough! While I may desire so many things, He desires one thing, and that’s my heart. As His bride, He courted us by presenting Himself before our heavenly Father, and His grace has been chasing me ever since. I may try to run from it, ignore it if I may, but it is always there, beckoning me to return. I don’t know what the purpose of this blog is… to relate? If I only have Jesus in this life and nothing else, that is enough. I may die without ever having my desires fulfilled, but my number one desire of having Jesus will be. That is all I need.

 

God’s Perfect and Permissive Will

 

Sometimes I just find myself feeling ineffectual, lacking, and stuck in a void. Quite literally speaking this is true. It’s true for all of us. We are all useless and ineffective and worth nothing than to be burned up in eternal wrath. But this is not what I am speaking of. I got to thinking on

Proverbs 16:9, which states “The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.” And yet I also dwell on Romans 8:28 “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” I am stuck between that gray area of our free will vs. what He has predestined for us. We all hear God has a plan and will for our lives, but how do you go about seeking that? I have passions and desires that I would love to pursue, but are those God’s will, even though He will direct my steps as Proverbs 16:9 states? Right now I feel stuck. I am in college pursuing a degree for a career that quite honestly, I don’t know that I want. I am content with the career path that I have chosen, and I believe I would probably even enjoy it, but it’s not really what I want.

And that’s the problem, because it’s not about what I want, it’s what God wants. But does God want this for me? I chose to go to college and chose a career all at the drop of a hat because I was stuck going nowhere and had to go forward somewhere in life. Right now I see how God has used it for good, as college has provided me with a stable job as an NAC, which pays the bills right now and provides me a place to live. If it weren’t for that I may have been forced to move back to Wyoming, or somewhere where I would be dependent of someone else, so for that I am extremely grateful. But I am not one of those people who say “if you don’t go to college you won’t amount to nothing in life” because that is very much not true. What I am getting at is do I still continue on this path? I am paying hundreds of dollars every quarter for classes on a career that I am not sure I even want anymore. And eventually, I will have to move away to finish my degree at a four year university. But I don’t want to move as I believe God still as use for me here, but for what? I wish, as probably most of us do, that sometimes the clouds would part and God would speak exactly what He wants you to do, but that’s not how He works, we must walk by faith. But I want to be sure that those steps I am taking are in His perfect will.

I believe God has two wills: His perfect will and His permissive will. God has His perfect will for our lives; what He has designed for us. And there is His permissive will; when He simply honors what we have chosen out of our free will despite what He wants. I want God’s perfect will, not His permissive, because sometimes His permissive will can have it’s consequences. Take King Hezekiah for example, who God had ordained to die at a specific time by His perfect will, but King Hezekiah begged God to live so He granted him 15 extra years (Isaiah 38). After he was healed he had his son Manasseh, who ended up leading God’s people into great sin which led God to pronounce His judgement, as well as Manasseh himself shedding blood of many innocent lives (2 Kings 21). If Hezekiah would have allowed God to take Him at His perfect will, then Manasseh never would have been born to lead them astray. Hezekiah’s offspring and nation paid the price for his choice.

I have to discern which of my passions are simply just my passions, and which ones are from God that should be pursued. I want to be sure it is God’s perfect will. Pursuing a degree as a drama teacher was a logical, simple choice at the time. I have a passion for theatre, I would probably like the job, and it would allow me to reach out to teenagers for the sake of the Gospel. But have I ever really had a passion for being a drama teacher? Well, no. I always saw myself using my passion for theatre in other areas. Yes, ultimately I want to use it as a ministry tool, but I still don’t see how God wants me to do that. If he wants it to be used as a career in teaching drama, then so be it. But I honestly believe that if this is really what God had for me than there would be a strong passion for pursuing it… but at the same time strong passions can be misleading, and pursuing passions can lead to dead ends, as they have for me in the past…. passions that at the time I was so certain was in God’s will…which is another reason why I find myself stuck and confused. I don’t want to continue to pursue my passions and desires if they are all going to lead to dead ends. I want my steps to be lead by God. Perhaps that is what I was truly lacking when pursuing those previous passions and desires that lead to such dead ends. Walking blind is one of the hardest things to do, I know it is for me. If there is one gift of the spirit I wish I had, I wish it was an extra measure of faith, because I could sure use it. Forgive me if this was redundant. I hope some of you can relate. I just sat at my computer and started to just write my thoughts. I guess that feeling of lacking I mentioned in the beginning was my faith. That is what I am lacking…

 

God cover my eyes so I see no more and lead me by your grace. Faith needs to be blind and yet I keep looking for answers. Grant me the faith and patience to fall into your perfect will as I pursue my path of life blindly by your grace.

The Wrath of God’s Grace

I’ve got to thinking about God’s grace recently, and no matter how much you ponder it, it is unfathomable to say the least.  I’ve recently had discussions on eternal security, and this post is not to prove anyone wrong or put down anyone who believes otherwise, but this is my own opinion from what I have gleaned from scripture.

I guess the way I look at God’s grace is the same way I look at his wrath, but on the opposite spectrum. The sinner is a target of God’s wrath and unless redeemed, he cannot escape from it.  No valley, mountain, hill, darkness or ocean can hide a man from the wrath of God.  When it comes, it will consume him and destroy him. It is inescapable.  The same goes for God’s grace! The saint is a target of God’s grace, he cannot escape from it.  No valley, mountain, hill, darkness or ocean can hide a saint from the grace of God.  When it comes, it will consume him and restore him. It is inescapable.“ For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38-39)  So the way I see it, once we are saved, we are saved.  We cannot lose our salvation.  After all, Jesus Himself said  “I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.” (John 10:28-29)  Once we are saved we are in His hands, and nothing can take us out of them, and last I checked, nothing meant, well, nothing.  We cannot out sin God’s grace, because God knew all our sins before we even commit them and already paid for them.

When a Christian falls into unrepentant sin, God disciplines them, He doesn’t take away His grace.  “My son, do not scorn the Lord’s discipline or give up when he corrects you. “For the Lord disciplines the one he loves and chastises every son he accepts.” Endure your suffering as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is there that a father does not discipline?” (Hebrews 12:5-7)  Or when you look at Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, when dealing with their sexual sins.  One man took his father’s wife, and they were proud, unrepentant!  But Paul was still writing to them as believers.  He even commanded that the man be disciplined and turned over to Satan so his soul would be saved!  (1 Corinthians 1:5)  I don’t think this man’s salvation was ever in question, I think Paul was using strong language to get them to discipline him and dis-fellowship him until he repented.  But even if he was destroyed by Satan, he still would have been saved!   “you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.” (1 Corinthians 1:5)  So not even committing unrepentant sexual sin with your father’s wife which leads to destruction from Satan can separate you from God’s grace!  Wow!  I mean seriously, wow, and you thought God’s wrath was scary?  Now this obviously doesn’t give us liberty to sin, (Romans 6:1-2).   The true believer will eventually come to repentance by God’s discipline and by a change of heart.

 

Now what I say next is my own belief, but for the believer who falls into hard unrepentant sin, what of him?  Well I believe that for him, after being disciplined and still unrepentant, God will have no other choice than to bring him home, for I think God would rather have him there in heaven with Him than on earth giving God a bad name by living a sinful lifestyle, after all, God gave us the responsibility of representing Him on earth.  That is why I believe Paul used such strong language in dealing with the man sleeping with his father’s wife.  He commanded for him to be turned over to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, to perhaps even die! Why? So that his soul would be saved!  Paul would rather have this man’s flesh destroyed by Satan and his soul go to heaven, than him stay on earth and give the church a bad reputation.   Again, that is my own personal belief on an unrepentant believer.

I guess another way to look at it is to view grace as what it is, undeserved merited favor.  So how can we ever undeserve something we didn’t deserve in the first place?  I write this to give those who sometimes question their salvation at times peace, for God bought you with a price, his blood.  And nothing, not even you yourself, can take yourself back from that payment once you have accepted it.  You sold yourself to God, you are his.  Just like if you bought a tv from a store with a no return policy.  The store owner has no right to come into your home and take it back, because you bought it, and you also can’t take it back to the store because it has a no return policy.  Well, God’s grace has a no return policy…sorry! No exceptions!  You were bought with the precious blood of Christ, and if you have truly accepted that in faith, then there are no returns accepted, guaranteed!

“The Only Thing We Have To Fear Is Fear Itself?”…No, The Only Thing We Have To Fear Is God!

“The only thing we have to fear, is fear itself”, the famous quote from FDR. This of course meaning that we shouldn’t let fear consume us, because it prohibits us from moving forward, it destroys us, so we shouldn’t let fear overtake us. He is right, we shouldn’t let fear consume us, but there is one fear that should, that is the fear of God. The trials of this world, the fears that overtake us are all nothing compared to the fear of God! Jesus said “Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matt 10:28 ) That is truly the only thing we should fear, not fear itself. Temporary pain, no matter how excruciating, is nothing compared to eternal hellfire. So what does the fear of God look like?

Well it seems to be coupled with following His commandments. “the fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the LORD are true, and righteous altogether.  More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover, by them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward” (Psalms 19:9-11). Because we fear the Lord, we are to seek to follow his commandments and His rules more than we seek gold. By seeking the fear of God there is indeed a great reward, wisdom! (Psalm 111:10) We also see it written“…Beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness (being set apart from sin) to completion in the fear of God.” (2 Corinthians 7:1) We are to cleanse ourselves from sin, bring holiness to completion, we can’t do this but by being in the fear of God. Obviously we can’t bring holiness to completion in this life, that is God’s work to be completed after we die, but we are to strive for it. Yet unattainable, we are to seek it because we fear Him, and in seeking it, we obtain the ultimate prize. We are to strive not to be sinless, but to sin less.

By seeking the fear of God, it doesn’t just mean that we try to sin less and love God, but to love others. “Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor” (1 Peter 2:17). Notice the grammar, it says “honor everyone”, period! “Love the brotherhood”, period! “Honor the emperor”, period! No ifs ands or buts. This passage is in the context of submitting to authority, which is why emperor is put in there. Whichever authority you are under, be it king, emperor, president, we are to honor it. Yes, you may not like our President, and disagree with most of his ways as most Christians do, but we are to still honor him and his position, for God has put him there for a reason. But what great joy when those in authority fear God as well! “If you will fear the LORD and serve him and obey his voice and not rebel against the commandment of the LORD, and if both you and the king who reigns over you will follow the LORD your God, it will be well.” (1 Samuel 12:14) But of course when speaking of authorities, it doesn’t just mean over territories but also over families, being parents, after all, one of the ten commandments is to honor your parents, and oh how a family is blessed when the parents fear the Lord!

But all this being said, really the only thing God requires of us is to fear Him, for everything else will follow. “And now Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all you soul” (Deuteronomy 10:12). God didn’t require anything of Israel but to fear Him, everything else that follows in the verse is synonymous with the fear of God, for if we fear Him, we will do all that follows. It is why God created us, to fear Him. That is why we are on this earth, that is our one job in this life, our one goal, it is everything we are to live for! That’s it, fear God, period! I am amazed, and I will close with this, by Ecclesiastes 12:13, for it says “The end of the matter (that is to say, everything you have ever been taught concerning God, can be summed up in these few words);… Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.” Sometimes we try to get spiritual and complicate it by asking “what does the fear of God really mean?” It’s simple. Keep His commandments. This of course can’t be done but by His grace. Don’t view this as a work load, His burden is light. We can keep His commandments because we will revile that which draws us away from His commandments. Ask for God’s grace today relieve all your fears to Him in exchange for fear of Him. God be with you all, and God bless.

Desire: Is it sinful?

There I questions I ask myself, and God, that I still ponder quite often.  I recently read a blog from a friend on discontentment and it got me thinking how I myself am not content.  I am perfectly content in life concerning friends, job, where I live, finances, etc., but the one thing I can never seem to be content with is well, singleness.  Over and over again it is said that God is more than enough for us, and yes that is true, but even in the most healthy times of my spiritual walk I still desire to have a wife and a family.  Is this wrong?  Even though I have Jesus, to desire another lover?  To have that desire be more than Him, yes that is wrong, but is it okay to not be content with the single life, even though Jesus is supposed to be more than enough?

I look back at the beginning when God created Adam, when everything was by His original design and how He intended everything to be.  Adam was in the beginning sinless, a perfect man.  He walked with God in the garden, had the most perfect relationship with God than any mortal man has ever had because it was the way God intended it to be…but even Adam, in His perfect relationship with God, desired a wife.  And God Himself said “It is not good for man to be alone” (Genesis 2:18).  It was because of Adam’s loneliness that God created Eve, to be a helper to him.  But how could Adam be alone if he was in perfect fellowship with God?  And if it wasn’t good for a perfect man to be alone and God saw his need for a wife, how much more is that need to be met in sinful men?  That is why it is said “He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the Lord.”  and that she is “more precious than rubies.” (Proverbs 18:22, 31:10).

Is this desire I have God given, or is it unfruitful because it shows my discontentment with having just God?  What about Adam and his desire? Well God is omnipotent, He knows everything past, future and present.  Did God purposefully create Adam alone to spark in him a desire for a wife so that when God provided her, Adam would value her more?  I think so.  Adam wasn’t complete yet, because man and wife are one.  God wasn’t finished with Adam, yet he allowed Adam some time alone on the earth to realize he needed someone other than God to meet his earthly desire, then God provided for that desire. Ultimately speaking, God was still filling every part of Adam’s heart.  God  intentionally created Adam with a wife shaped hole in His heart that was provided by Him, so in the end, God is still the one filling that hole.  Now as fallen sinful men our hearts are completely broken and we are looking for anything to fill it, be it materials, money, and yes, a wife (or husband… don’t want this entire blog to be one sided).  But material possessions are hardly ever a desire put into us from God, we just want it because we want it.  But a spouse?  Well that is the one earthly, discernible and tangible desire I can think of that could very well be from God.

Basically what I am getting at is, is it still wrong to be discontent and want something more, or someone rather, other than God?  Because we are fallen men now, our original design is marred, which means all of our desires, passions, and our very nature is broken.  So have things changed?  We are the bride of Christ now yes, but He still allows and wills earthly spousal relationships.  Is that desire still God given as it was in the beginning, even though everything else from the beginning has been skewed?  I ask because I do not know.  I desire a wife and a family very much, but many would tell me to just be content with Jesus and she will eventually come.  Well what if she doesn’t?  There are probably countless people in history, perhaps godly people even, who have desired spouses and died before they ever got a chance.  So where is the line drawn?  Is it sin for me to not be content now, even though it wasn’t for Adam?  I do not know, that is why I ask these questions, but it is time I wrapped this up.

To be clear, I am not miserable and hating my life because I am single, I am just simply not content with being single, I believe there is a difference.  I still have the joy of the Lord and love Him more than anything, but I am still not content with singleness, and all I ask is, is it wrong?  What are your thoughts?

To Seek First Wisdom

               What is it that you seek for, desire? Any common man could have a list of things he desires, be it material, tangible or intangible.  But as a Christian, what should we desire?  My favorite verse growing up was always “Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.” (Psalm 37:4).  Of course God is not our personal genie who will give us whatever whenever we want, but in accordance with His will.  But sometimes our desires can be misled, out of place, or indeed wrong. I have found this true to myself recently with my desires.  It’s not that I find my desires sinful, but out of order.  What I desire most should not be what I desire most. 

               You look at Solomon, God asked him what seemed to be a very open ended question, “what shall I give you?”.  It appears as if Solomon could have asked for anything from God, anything his heart desired.  If God were to ask me the same question I probably would have responded with a wife, a better job, healing in certain areas, or what have you.  But Solomon asked for the most precious thing in the world, wisdom!  This is exactly what we should be seeking, God’s wisdom, because without it all other desires are useless.  What good is a wife if you have not wisdom to lead? What good is a job if you have not wisdom to perform?  And God still freely gives this same wisdom to us, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given to him.” (James 1:5).  This verse, with wisdom set as our number one desire, is basically another way of reading Psalm 37:4. 

               We are to seek first God and His kingdom, and everything else will be added (Matthew 6:33).  Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that desires apart from wisdom are inherently wrong in it of themselves, but we must have God’s wisdom, God Himself as our number one desire.  I know my desires need to be set anew, how about yours?