Got Spirit?

Categories: Fruit of the Spirit, Prayer, Quiet Time

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. – Galatians 5:22–23

My wife and I have been going through The One Year Walk with God Devotional, by Chris Tiegreen. (I would recommend it if you are looking for a good devotional either for yourself, or as a couple, or as a gift.) Yesterday’s devotion was on the fruit of the Spirit—a topic I’ve talked about briefly before. This shed a new light on things, though, that I felt was worth sharing.

Immediately, I began to bristle the moment the author began referring to the individual elements as individual fruits. The thought that runs through my head is, “How hard is it to pay attention to grammatical cues, people? It clearly states the fruit not fruits of the Spirit.“ (Also, I’m not the first person to bring this concept up.) No sooner had I began to tune out to what I was reading than the “still small voice” wasn’t so still and small any more, saying, “don’t get all self-righteous and pay attention to what you’re reading. You just might learn something.” Sure enough, there was treasure to be had amongst those self-created briers.

The concept was quite simple, and it was something of which I have been terribly guilty. When we find ourselves lacking an element of the fruit of the Spirit, we tend to pray for more of that element. For example, I find that I’m not very patient, so I pray for more patience. Joe finds that he isn’t very loving, so he prays for more love. Mary finds that she doesn’t have much joy, so she prays for more joy. And so on, and so forth. The problem is that we are Christians. We are supposed to produce this fruit. Think of a farmer. What does a farmer need to be successful? Does he need the fruit that he harvests at the end of the season? Yes, but what does he need to get it, the fruit or the seed that yields the fruit? The correlation here, (and in the devotional,) is that more often than not, our short supply of spiritual fruit can be linked to a short supply of the Spirit.

Please understand, neither I nor Mr. Tiegreen are trying to imply that there is a lack of salvation, but often we become caught up in the routine of physical life and neglect our spiritual life. When this happens, we lose connection to God and Jesus Christ, the Author and Finisher of our faith, and Supplier of all our needs, including the ability to produce more spiritual fruit. So as the farmer needs seeds to grow successful crops, we need the Spirit to produce spiritual fruit, and the only way to get God’s Spirit, is to spend time with Him in prayer and studying His Word. (Of course, just as the farmer can go to the store and buy more seed, it doesn’t hurt to pray for more of His Spirit in your life, either!)

But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. –Matthew 6:33

Posted by PCGuyIV at 08:50 | 1 Comment  

Pearls Before Swine

Categories: Apologetics, The Great Commission, Witnessing

Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you. – Matthew 7:6

There are quite a few blogs that I read on a fairly regular basis, and a good number of them are listed off to the side of this blog. (I would encourage you to check them out if you have the time.) A few of them deal largely with apologetics. While it certainly can make for some interesting reading, and I see nothing wrong with being able to logically defend ones faith, I sometimes wonder if perhaps too much emphasis is put on arguing against atheism and evolution, or rather, against atheists and evolutionists.

First, there is the evolution vs. creation debate. One thing that immediately gets me absolutely irate about this debate is the immediate assumption by most Christians who believe in the literal interpretation of Genesis 1, is that anyone who believes anything else is an absolute atheist. This in and of itself is not necessarily so. There are those out there that do not hold to a necessarily literal interpretation of Genesis, but see it as a figurative interpretation that could be easily understood by the people of that time. They do not deny that God was in charge and in control of the whole process, but do not necessarily accept it as literal for various reasons. Personally, I believe in the literal interpretation. The God I worship could have taken 7 seconds, the time is irrelevant. The important part is that God was the one who made it happen, and more importantly, that Jesus Christ was part of the process. (Genesis 1, John 1).

The second, and far more egregious aspect of the evolution vs. creation debate is the fact that it takes the focus off our primary purpose. We are not commissioned to spread the creation story. We are commissioned to go and spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Jesus said that no man comes to the Father except by Him, not that no man comes to the Father except that he acknowledges Genesis 1 to be literal truth.

Now, about those atheists… Yes, they will die and go straight to Hell if they don’t change their minds and believe in God and the redemptive work of Jesus Christ on the cross, just like everyone else. Also, just like everyone else, brow-beating them with their flaws and “spiritual shortcomings”, which is what typically happens, isn’t going to win them over. It seems to me that the tendency is to be a lawyer for Christ when it comes to dealing with atheists, rather than being a witness for Christ. A lawyer tries to defend and/or prove, whereas a witness just shares his own personal experience, and lets the person he is sharing with decide for himself.

When Jesus sent His disciples out, he told them that if they were not received, to shake the dust from their feet as they left town as a testimony against them. (Luke 9:5) While we are to spread the Gospel and truth to everyone, God is the one who opens the ears and hearts of the individuals. Many need to hear. How much time are you wasting spreading your pearls before swine, when you could be reaching a new flock of sheep?

Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen. – Matthew 28:19 & 20

Posted by PCGuyIV at 10:21 | 1 Comment  

Who’s Idea is It Anyway?

Categories: Dilemma, Vexed, Writers Block

It’s fairly obvious that I haven’t posted in a while, and normally, I wouldn’t bother bringing that fact up, but it actually ties to the subject at hand. I’ve been stewing over an idea for the last month or so, that in concept seems to work quite well, but every time I try to put in into words it comes out with a tone of superiority and/or condescension, neither of which is the intent, which leads me to question whether or not I should even proceed with the idea. I want to make sure that if I “step on toes” that it’s God pricking consciences, and not merely me being snarky, snooty, holier-than-thou, or whatever, as occasionally I tend to be. All I can say about the concept for now is that it centers on casting pearls before swine. I am currently praying for further discernment and clarification on what to write regarding this or whether to abandon it, either permanently or just for a season. Things may be kind of slow until I get this out of the way. (Not that they’ve ever exactly been lightning quick around here, anyway.)

Posted by PCGuyIV at 07:21 | 1 Comment  

“Have Faith & Repent”

Categories: Salvation, Semantics, Theology

Continuing on from my last post, I have been pointed to a source of the debate, and must admit that what Todd Friel has to say is quite compelling. While I do not recant what I said, I cannot deny the truth in what Mr. Friel says. If the message of salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ gets muddied by using a particular phrase, then that particular phrase should be avoided.

Posted by PCGuyIV at 13:27 | 1 Comment  

“Accept Jesus”

Categories: Christianity, Salvation, Semantics, Theology

Recently, I’ve been having a discussion via blog comments concerning the phrase, “accept Jesus.” This phrase has been around seemingly forever, and is quite common in “official church-speak,” but is it truly Biblical? While a particular phrase or concept not being explicitly spelled out somewhere betwixt “The Book of Genesis” and “The End” doesn’t make something automatically Biblically false, it does put pressure on us to make sure that it is Biblically true and Scripturally accurate.

The first and most obvious defense of this phrase as being Scripturally sound comes from the repeated reference to salvation and eternal life being the “gift of God.” (Romans 6:28, Ephesians 2:8, et al) In order to receive that gift, we must accept it. By this, we can say that “accept Jesus” is a Biblically accurate & true phrase, yes? Not necessarily. The “gift” is salvation and eternal life. That’s what is being accepted. It is being offered by grace through faith in Christ’s redemptive work on the Cross. In order to accept the gift, we must believe in Jesus. (John 3:16)

Ok, so it’s not a Biblically accurate phrase, right? Again, not necessarily. By “believing” in Jesus Christ, we are accepting that what the Bible says about Him is true, and therefore, accepting Him as He is presented to us. Also, throughout the Bible, we are instructed to follow God’s commands. This means that Jesus is to be the Lord of our lives. For this to happen, we must submit our will to His, effectively accepting (there's that word again) Him as our Supreme Sovereign.

In the end, whether or not you use the phrase, “accept Jesus,” or not is fairly irrelevant, as long as the message of the Gospel is being preached.

Posted by PCGuyIV at 23:47 | 0 Comments  

Missing the Point

Categories: Creation, Theology

I’ve been doing some reading on various blogs with Christian authors, (some listed in the side bar of this page,) and have noticed a trend with arguing over creation, evolution, and atheism. As a professing believer in Jesus Christ, I do accept that the Bible is the infallible inspired word of God. That includes Genesis. I also, however, believe that some words were translated into the most applicable word in the English language. The word in Genesis 1 that is translated as, day, for example, can mean a literal 24-hour period, but also, can merely mean a given period of time in which work takes place. I do not pretend to know exactly how long God took to create the world and the universe, but I am willing to accept a literal week. The fact is, that God could have made the entire universe in 7 seconds if he so chose. The first and foremost point is not that God took seven days, (technically, 6 days with 1 day of rest,) to make everything, but rather, that God made everything, and therefore, was in control of the creation process. The fact it was divided into 7 steps, (6 “days” of creation followed by 1 “day” of rest,) does have significance, in that it is on this fact that we are to set a side 1 day a week to rest from our labors.

If all we get out of this is that God made the universe, we have still missed the point. John confirms in his Gospel what the “us” in Genesis tells us—that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, had a hand in the creation process. From this, we can extrapolate that if Christ made all things, and God made all things, that while God the Father and God the Son may be separate, they are, in fact, one and the same. This is significant, because without the deity of Jesus, the Cross of Calvary is meaningless.

So in the end, it may be fun to argue semantics and technicalities about scientific views, but if that gets in the way of the message of the Cross, we have lost focus on what is most important and possibly missed out on opportunities to be a true witness. After all, it was such technicalities about Scriptural teachings that fueled the fervor and malice of the Pharisees and Sadducees toward Christ when He would do things like heal a person on the Sabbath.

Posted by PCGuyIV at 19:51 | 1 Comment  

Jesus the Heretic

Categories: Heresy, Jesus

Yes, I’m at it again. I’ve gone off and based a post on Kevin’s work, but it’s so inspiring, I just can’t help myself. So, before you hang me out to dry for the title of this post, read through and check out what he wrote.

I would not have thought to call Jesus a heretic. In fact, the thought of doing so seems outright blasphemous. For all intents, and purposes, though, a heretic is exactly what Jesus was. Don’t get me wrong, I do believe that there is such a thing as Biblical heresy, and that true Biblical heresy is truly blasphemous against God’s Word. The term, heretic, though, applies in a much broader sense. People have been labeled heretics for centuries because they merely went against the established traditions, philosophies, and accepted practices of their day. A perfect example of this would be Galileo Galilei, who was branded a heretic because he opposed the accepted teachings of Aristotle in favor of the scientific truth that he had discovered. In this regard, Jesus was no exception. Jesus was almost always at odds with the standards and practices set by the religious authorities of His day. So, was Jesus a true heretic, preaching against the Word of God? No, but he was considered heretical by His contemporaries because He challenged the accepted religious system, in favor of God’s truth.

Posted by PCGuyIV at 15:45 | 0 Comments  

Newest | Older Posts