The Awkward Guess of When The Impending Judgement Day WILL Happen (and Why I'm Still Scared)

I was talking to my wife a few days ago about the whole "Judgement Day" thing and, although this post is a little late to the game, it's really a chance to express my own thoughts from the past few days. The idea that some man "figured out" the day God is going to fulfill His promise to return to earth for His people, using the same Bible that has verses like Matthew 24:36, is ridiculous.  I actually told my wife, it wasn't going to happen, based solely on the fact that he predicted a date and time. If "...no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only," then any time someone says, "Yeah I know when it's going to happen," you can bet it will not be that day.

But that's not really my point in writing this post. I did some reflecting on my own life and what a nightmare, joke, sham, ridiculous mess it is, compared to the life the Bible directs a believer to live. After all, our example is the life of Jesus Christ, who was (besides perfect) compassionate, faithful, a servant, a leader, knowledgable of the things of God, a prayer, a studier, a teacher, solely focused on satisfying God's will for His life.  Even on the cross, at the point where God was going to turn His back on Jesus and place all our sins on Him He said, "Not my will but Yours be done."  And, I'm more realistic to what REAL LIFE is like these days. I mean, the longer I live and the more I experience, the clearer the picture of our desperation and absolute need for God's grace becomes. I never believed a sinless life was possible, but I did think, at one point, I was doing okay.  But, more and more I understand the recognition of our depravity is important, and the pain sin causes is required for us to comprehend just how much grace and mercy are crucial for us to spend eternity in Heaven verses Hell.  I don't think it is ever going to be possible to feel qualified for Heaven, and if we do, we are probably living a lie, but I am so miserably unhappy with my current Spiritual place, I am becoming more honest with my own "disgustingness" as a creator created by God and realizing my desperation for His grace on either Judgement Day or the day he takes me home.

Here comes the BUT in this, for my Christian friends who are thinking I am justifying sin. I know I am still called to live a life that is holy, blameless, and pure. I just think the holy life of a sinful creator proves to be much harder than most Christians pretend it to be. I often think about the Holy Spirit's role here, and wonder if I'm completely ignoring His prompting and cautions for me to avoid sin, or I'm I not able to hear them because my sinful life is the true evidence of a lack of salvation. OH CRAP, that scares me. If I really think about eternal separation from God, it makes me want to puke. I hate my sin. I hate that I am often consumed by it or overpowered by the temptation to be involved in it. And the fact that it seeks me out and draws me into itself is a horror film playing out its plot in my life.

So what can I do? I can turn to God, His Word, and His people for support. I can flee from the advances of sin. I can pluck out my eyes or cut off the parts that lead me to sin (Matthew 18:9, 5:29, Mark 9:47). Only, I feel I've done that last one in the past (jail job), and yet I continue to fall back into the same negative disgusting life. Why? Why am I drawn to the very thing I do not want? And why I'm I not running toward the very thing I know I need? God gives us all we need to be successful as His children, but I turn towards selfish gain and self desire instead of purity and holiness found in Him and His word. Granted, there is nothing we can do to earn our salvation, but we are still called to live holy, pure, and without blame.

So, there is either Hell or Heaven. One I can achieve on my own, living in the nature of my sin. The other I long for, but can only achieve apart from myself and that nature. One takes no effort. The other takes a life time of selflessness and God's grace. And, although I believe that we all earn Hell, I can not earn the Heaven I so desperately long for. Not without Christ. Not without the sacrifice of God's Son. Not without the WILL of God being such, that He placed all the eternal penalty for my sin onto His blameless Son to bare the price to free me from myself. I am nothing, but I will suffer forever for my nothingness if I don't trust in the Lord with all my heart, and lean not on my own understanding. I am called to acknowledge Him in all my ways, and He will direct my path and make it straight (Proverbs 3:5-6).

Oh God, I cry out to You. Renew me, forgive me, oh God. Make me whole in You. Give me joy only Your truth can give. Make me love, like only You can love. Give me peace and patience in this world. Help me trust in you. Direct my path.
 


via jimmythegun.com 

Wisdom is Christ Crucified

Man, I'm crazy. My last post was really more of a cry out about being surrounded by non-Christians and how that draws me into sin. I was talking to a Christian friend about this and we both realized our lives have gone significantly sideways because we don't surround ourselves with Christian friends who can encourage us and hold us up. The problem is really the state of our churches today. They are mostly about feeling good, being welcoming, and entertaining the attendees; it's not about accountability, building up of the saints, worshiping God, and sharpening one another.

1 Corinthians 2:1-5 explains that sharing Christ is not something we do out of our own wisdom. I think man's wisdom is getting in the way of church and the Christian life today. At least here in the USA, there is a major push today for more and more and more information. We are overwhelmed and flooded with info from so many sources. The Internet has so many different types and services to provide information. Cell phones can give you instant notifications. E-mail, radio, TV, texts, social networks, etc. all provide us with a constant barrage of information. And we seem to be more and more hungry for it. It is our knowledge of things that we confuse with wisdom.

But the wisdom we can have as Christians is like Paul said, "to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified." Paul went to Corith in weakness and fear to preach Christ crucified. His message was not in "plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God." He spoke about Christ crucified and lived in faith, and allowed God and the Holy Spirit to make the changes in people's hearts. I actually think we over-complicate it because we have to know and understand everything; I know I do. I have to understand everything and how and why it works. Faith in Christ is as simple as understanding our need for salvation from our sins, knowing Christ was crucified to provide that salvation. And...that's it. Faith in Jesus Christ as our Savior is the only way to Heaven and eternal life. I long for that time. No more sin. No more temptations. Being with our God, our Savior.

Here is a final reminder, and one I have to put down because I just had a hard time writing it. We do need to make Jesus our Lord too. This is the part where we let Him rule in our lives. Sin's draw makes this hard. But the account that we will have to make in Heaven is going to happen. We want to be able to hear the words, "Well done good and faithful servant."(Matt. 25:23)

Crazy Love - Chapter 2, You Might Not Finish This Chapter

Well, the title of this one may be confusing but Francis was pointing to that fact that none of us knows when death will come...or Christ for that matter. We need to live every moment as though our life could end right then. This means live every moment to the glory of God.

Some things I highlighted from the chapter include his thoughts on people like my self, "worriers." Francis says of himself, "I was the worrying kind. I'm a problem solver, so I have to focus on things that need fixing." If you've ever read my other blog, you'd see that pretty much could be the mission statement of my writing there. Francis points to verses like Philippians 4:4-6, "Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God." Francis also says, "Both worry and stress reek of arrogance." Stuart pointed me to Matthew 6:27, "And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?"

Francis points to the fact that we are often "quick to forget God" when "life is all about God and not about me at all." Our existence is not even equal to his description of our "two-fifths of a second" compare to God's eternal existence. God has been forever. "The point of your life is to point to Him (God). God wants to be glorified, because this whole thing is His....His world, His gift."

Francis also quotes a essay from a young girl who ended up passing away at a young age. She wrote the essay at around twelve years old, but her understanding of our purpose on earth was far better than mine. I even felt a little emotional thinking about my son and the example I am to him. She wrote, "I'll live my life to the fullest. I'll be happy. I'll brighten up. I will be more joyful than I have ever been. I will be kind to others. I will loosen up. I will tell others about Christ." Francis spoke at the little girl's funeral and witnessed people who were affected by her little life. Later, Francis writes, "Sadly, many people die while living selfishly. Their funerals are filled by individuals who stretch the truth in order to create a semblance of a meaningful life." Was he talking directly to me? It felt like it. Who is getting up at my funeral and lying about my meaningful life?

Chapter 2 closes with a strong reminder for me. "Friends, we need to stop living selfish lives, forgetful of our God...nothing matters except out King and God."

God's Wrath - Part 5, Conclusion

"And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done." Romans 1:28

And now Romans 1:29-31 gives a list of some of the things a debased mind is involved in. "They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless." I can't really do anything to make this more clear. If you are involved in anything on this list, it's time to really look at your life. And, I'm sure we all are struggling with at least one thing. I remember hearing this passage when I was in high school. It was funny to me that a list with "haters of God," also had "disobedient to parents."

I look at where our society is right now, and it is a scary thing. This list almost defines our society. People live exactly this list. Envy, covetousness, gossip, slander, haters of God, boastful, faithless, heartless, these are all things I see and hear everyday. The whole list is lived by people I come in contact with. Or I'm struggling with it. The last verse of this wrath section says, v32 "Though they know God's decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them." All we do is justify each other with approving statements. IF someone wrongs you, you look to others for approval to wrong them back. Instead of forgiveness and love, attributes God requires, we try to get even. We always want what's "fair".

What's fair? Do we really want what's fair? I don't think so. We want what benefits us. Look at Matt 20 and the vineyard grower parable to see how we don't want what's fair but are selfish and want what benefits us. Because "fair" for us would be Hell. We all deserve Hell. Only by God's grace do we receive salvation and Heaven. God gave some over to their debased minds to satisfy His wrath. He can not allow sin into Heaven. He can not even look on sin or allow it in His presence. God is Holy. God is Righteous. God is Perfect. God is the Judge. Guess what's coming in the next verses. God's Righteous Judgment. YIKES!!!!

We will get into the judgment that is coming from God in the next verses but to conclude my "God's Wrath" series, I want to recap in just a few words. God's wrath is real. It is revealed from heaven against all unrighteousness of men. All mankind can see the invisible attributes of God in nature. But man rejects that knowledge and creates his own images to worship. God gives some over to that lust and the dishonorable passions. This leads to more sin, shameless acts, unnatural acts, a debased mind. And man continues these sins and gives approval for it to each other. Without God, sin continues and grows. Mankind IS hopeless without God.

Something I've been thinking about through this wrath study, God giving people over to sin sounds like He doesn't love those people and it seems to go against the grace of God. On the contrary, God's grace is realized by understanding the level of depravity that is in all mankind. Without God, when men are given over to sin, we see that they do not make better choices without God. Mankind sinks further into disgusting horrible sin without God. Look at that list. So much filth and evilness is a result of man's desire to do things without God. Our society slips further and further away from God and true righteousness. The battle going here in California over Prop 8 (the right for gays to marry) is just a small example of that. San Francisco tried to pass a bill to legalize prostitution. Marijuana is practically legal these days. Our society is slipping further away from God's demand for righteousness.

Without God's grace we can not avoid sin. We so often think we can do things on our own, but look at what our society is becoming. And this country started with a strong Christian belief. How quickly man's sin has turned this country so horribly wrong. We Christians need to be working so much harder in our lives to stand out as lights in this dark world. All to often we blend right in. Do your co-workers know you are saved? Do they want the joy you have that only God's grace provides? Can they see you are complete because you are living your life to glorify the true and living God? I'm afraid it's a big NO for me. We must make that our life's goal. We are the method God uses to spread the gospel. Only God can save, but we are His messengers of hope.

Praise God for He is Holy, Righteous, Perfect, Grace.
Praise God for the Perfect Hope we have in Him.