Eternal Reflective Patience

Don't you just hate waiting?  I've gotten better at it over the years but I still don't like to do it.  Someone in a car in front of me at a stoplight may pause when a light turns green, but after 3 seconds of grace, it's on!!  I remember years ago waiting for my dad to bring home a two-wheeled sulky for me to hitch up a little pony I had called Stubby.  He told me he had found what I wanted and he was going to get it on this trip to Memphis.  Good thing we didn't have cell phones, because I would have burned one up calling to see where he was about every 30 minutes.  Of course, he was late.  He decided to make a stop on the way home that turned into a two hour ordeal.  It didn't mean that much to him to be late, but to me.....AGHHHHHH!  I was so impatient and mad about him being a little later than expected usual that it almost ruined me getting the gift. NO PATIENCE.  If ever a group of people should be able to be patient, it should be believers.  Just think about how many times Christ is patient with us as we work and plow our way through something we got ourselves into.  Think about the amount of patience it took when His disciples just could not get the point of the whole thing.  But, He was patient.  I truly think patience isn't something we just wake up one day and have.  I believe it is much deeper than than.  It's one of those core things we must learn, but sometimes have to fail in a few times before we get it.  Paul in writing to Timothy in Chapter 1 verses 12-17 sets up a great "patience scenario."  This scenario hits deep in my heart about the subject of trusting God.  Patience. associated with trust God?  You bet!

In verses 12-15 Paul tells how much he appreciates Christ giving him the strength to serve. He goes on to remind Timothy that he was a blasphemer, a  persecutor of the church, and a violent person.  Yet Christ didn't give up and His grace and mercy impacted Paul in an incredible way.  He further affirms that Christ came into this world to save sinners.  He admitted he was one of the worst ones.  Paul upon self examination remembered the patience Christ had for him and shared with Timothy that he was a living example of that "perfect patience."  Hmmmm,  perfect patience.  I'm a long way from there for sure.  But, boy I am sure glad I got the benefit of that perfect patience as Christ waited for me to surrender to Him and His will.  Because of His "eternal patience" I am heavenbound and earth walking with Jesus.  In reality, we are ALL examples of God's patience and mercy and  living testimonies of patient grace.  Like Timothy, we have seen it in others lives, but now must realize the purpose of it in our lives.  The purpose of us realizing his patience in my life is to turn on "the switch."  You may ask, "what switch?"  The light switch!  It's the switch that controls a light that shines through each believer who realizes how good God is and then glorifies Him with their life.  The light is Christ and the switch is us receiving our marching orders and letting that light shine through us.  When we step into darkness, we hit the switch and the effect of Christ in our life lights the room.  Not us....Him!  The light that is shining is a new kind of patience that is reflective of the grace and mercy and trustworthiness that only Christ can give.  It's immortal, invisible, and only from God.  Let Him be reflected in you and allow His great patience toward us be seen through us.  People will notice and God will be glorified.

The Pilgrimage continues....

David Warren

Timothy - The Heart Surgeon, Pre-Med Years

As I begin blogging from the teachings of Paul the apostle to his son in the faith, Timothy, I can't help but get excited about what God is going to show me over the next few weeks.  I love reading and learning from God's Word because it is timeless and ageless and is always current.  There is no other book that can boast those qualities, because there is no other book inspired by God.  As humans we boast about a lot of things and try to make them pure and timeless, but they all fall short of their boastings because they are temporal.  Temporal is an interesting word.   You may not know this but temporal in the dictionary is defined as relating to worldly as opposed to spiritual affairs.  Isn't that cool?  The dictionary defining a word with two sides; spiritual and worldly.  That's kind of where we are going to go today in my opening blog.  This blog will be built around the scriptures found in 1 Timothy 1:1-11 and just some observations I acquired from these beautiful words of truth sent to Timothy by Paul.   Paul is so open in his letters to Timothy, and begins by doing some good bragging about his relationship with this young man in the faith.  In verses 1 and 2 he addresses the letter by calling Timothy his "true" child in the faith.  He does that with sincerity, but not before he makes a very important statement about his position as a person.  In verse 1 he states what his existence as an apostle is built upon, the commandments of God.  This is very important and need not be missed when he says "The commandments of God."  Why?  Because it is his basis for all he is, and all he does, and all he says!!  Woh!!  We haven't even gotten past the first two verses and already they are setting up the remainder of his writings to Timothy.  Paul has connected who he is in Christ  with Timothy.  Not just getting together to have a donut, mocha, and talk about God things.  He is "pouring his life" into this young man.  Why?  So Timothy will know the essence of the truth of life in Christ Jesus and live his life based upon it.  In the following verses we see the "why" of such a deep commitment to training Timothy.

This type of commitment is very difficult to do and you don't see it much in our society of "fly by night" wisdom and fleeting truth.  One example in our society that is parallel to such a commitment is medical school.  My son Ty decided he was going to be a doctor when he was 10 years old.  He went in and out of what kind of doctor he was specifically going to be but never stopped working toward that initial commitment of all the schooling and years of study required for such a calling.  I use the word calling because it takes a great commitment to "go the extra mile" and becoming a doctor.  I admire Ty's tenacious attitude in getting it done and marvel at how much he learned and how he uses it for God's Glory. But as good as Ty's commitment was, he wouldn't be the doctor he is today but for those who went before him and instructed him in the ways of medicine.  He has countless stories of college professors, instructors, and many more who poured their time and lives into him to allow him to bloom into the doctor he is today.  He knows how fortunate he is and mentions them frequently in conversations.  Why?  They "poured" themselves into his life so that he could carry on what they were teaching him.  He will never forget it.....

Because of Paul's commitment to do the same with Timothy, he buried deep into Timothy's life the truth of the commitment made by Christ to insure his freedom from the penalty of sin.  I guess you could say, "Timothy was pre-med in heart surgery."  His heart surgery would not deal with physical aspects of the heart, but the spiritual aspects of it.  He learned from Paul how to recognize the symptoms of the patient and how to administer the right cure to make the heart new and vibrant.  He learned how to share God's truth as any good heart  physician would and showed people their desperate need for a new heart given by Christ.  If not for the training from Paul, he would falter and even fail, but.....He didn't!!  The pre-med years started to pay off and Paul is ready to let him go and come into his own.  When we read Timothy he is reaffirming something already done, already shared. He is giving him a nudge of instruction, because now Timothy is a doctor too and there will be tough times ahead.  In verses 3 -7 he tells Timothy to forget the teachings of the world and trust his instincts based on a sincere faith.  In verses 8-11 he reminds Timothy that if you have Christ you are free from the law, but if you don't the law applies to you.  He is calling Timothy and us to live above the wisdom of this world and tap into the wisdom from God.  I wish I could explain it in more detail, but it is one of those things you have to experience for yourself.  Which brings again to mind the word TEMPORAL.  The truth of the world will always be subjective and fleeting, not satisfying completely.  It is TEMPORAL TRUTH!  It is from a fallen world.  It cannot heal what ails you. The truth of God is ETERNAL TRUTH!!  It is from Almighty God.  It will always heal you.  Timothy followed God's truth and impacted the world he walked and lived in, and the world was never the same.  Paul passed this truth down to Timothy and loved him like his own child.  Paul the heart surgeon, sharing truth with Timothy, the graduated medical student as he started his pilgrimage to minister to the world.  Wow!  Great Truth.  Are you sharing it?  if not, why not?  Now is the time to "school" someone with what it takes to be that "bearer of the truth."  Why not start now, here.

The Pilgrimage continues....

David Warren

Upcoming Topical Blog Posts on Timothy

I'm back!!!  My family went on vacation this past week and the week before that I was just lazy.  After spending some time thinking and praying about it, I have decided to do a series of blogs on the books 1 and 2 Timothy.  I will take portions (in order) and do blog entries that take the different subjects and do two things: 1 - explain the verses, 2 - expose the truth of how they are applied in daily life.  I hope this will be helpful and encourage each of you and myself in our Christian Walk.  While on vacation I was kayaking on the lake one evening and as I looked across the lake I stopped my mind long enough to think about the subject of living an aggressive life of faith.  In a time when any forward thinking activity is considered aggressive (ha) I thought I would practice doubling my "forwardness" in sharing my faith and my beliefs about God's Word and His Ways.  It seems I have let myself be lulled into a world shaped cocoon that is not as vibrant as God intends it to be.  It's not about church.  It's not about fellowship.  It's not about Bible Study with other Christians.  It's about me.........me.  I guess you could say I am going on a "faith walkabout."  I am going to look back into my early years as a believer and try to rediscover that part of joy that only comes through walking in faith.  Here's the thing.  It is not a walk that has anyone going with you, but a walk that is with God alone.  It is the ultimate, el-supremo, constant quiet time.  This time will be absent of church/world influence, and will not be compromised by other people's nominal opinions.  Some might call it "back to basics" but I won't call it really anything at all.

I was watching the news the other day and they were warning about the threat of salmonella from tainted cantaloupes.  As I watched that newscast I suddenly realized that the news was a warning to keep me, or anyone else, from eating that "forbidden fruit."  The warning was clear: Don't eat cantaloupes from this farm.  My ears perked up and guess what?  I made a mental note to watch what kind of cantaloupe I eat.  I believe part of my growth in the Lord is centered around warnings from God's Word about foundational things that must remain strong and fresh.  The world on the other hand takes great pleasure in getting me to drift from those foundations.  When the foundation is weak, the house will get tilted and almost fall.  The sad part is, we kind of accept it as being the norm.  It's kind of like the leaning tower of pisa.  It tilted and became a landmark as a tilted building.  Instead of straightening it up, it became a novel thing for tourists to flock to every day.  I believe the foundations of our Christian Faith have weakened and instead of fixing them by straightening them up, we just look at our tilted faith and think it's ok.  So what happens?  Thousands of people who profess Christ step back and admire the tilted faith we call Christian and accept it as being trendy and good.  In other words, we have made a tilted faith seem kind of trendy and cool.  But, it's not!  But keep this in mind, if I'm going to change anything as a believer, I am going to have to fix myself first, or I will go off half cocked and fizzle out.  This special time in my pilgrimage will be very honest and heart felt, and my blog entries will reflect that as I chronicle the words of Paul the Apostile to Timothy.  I am also going to do four video blogs that will be posted on Facebook at specific times in the study.  I welcome comments from you and hope you will be encouraged to deepen your walk with the Lord and get back to your roots and take a stand with me.  The blog's first entry will be on Monday, August 27 and I will add them in the mornings. Please pray for me and pray for yourself.  I need the prayer and you need the practice.

The Pilgrimage takes a new turn....

David Warren

Magnetic Faith

I was always amazed in science class when our teacher would show us different examples of electricity, chemical reactions, and many other things.  My ninth grade science teacher was like Bill Nye the Science guy and his experiments made our class time go quick!  One time he brought in a crank type generator and one person held on to one side of the output diode and another held onto the one on the other side.  He started cranking that thing and before long both those guys were shaking from the electrical charge they were receiving.  We all died laughing....Oh, that was a simple time when you could electrocute a student and not get in trouble.  ha ha..  Anyway, one day he brought in two powerful magnets and I was looking forward to getting my hands on those babies.  He asked for volunteers and my hand shot up so quick that he immediately took me and one other class member.  We went to the front of the class and I grabbed the handles of one of the magnets and immediately realized this was not your regular magnet.  It was heavy, and it was plugged in.  I had never seen an electromagnet and I came to understand how intense an electromagnet's current can be when you increase the electrical current.  I mean, these are the magnets that you see on the end of a crane picking up some heavy metal object, like a car!!  So now it was time for the experiment.  Our teacher had me hold one magnet and the other student held the other one about three feet apart.  He had us hold it one way so that it was in the attract mode.  When he hit the switch, wham!!  It pulled us together so fast, and the magnets were stuck so tight we couldn't get them apart.  Everyone in the class was laughing and then the teacher turned off the current and the magnets separated.  What a great experiment.  We sat the magnets down and he called two more students to the front and turned the magnets around and hit the power and it was the opposite.  The magnets could not be pushed together with all their might, so they finally gave up and set them down.  I walked out of class that day amazed by how much more powerful the magnets were when power is added.  If they are lined up right, they attract and bond.  If they are lined up the opposite, then they reject each other.

In James 4, James is addressing a basic problem for those early believers and the result of the problem is bad.   The problem is worldliness and it apparently was prevalent in the early church much like it is today.  Worldliness is something we have to deal with on a daily basis, what with all the bad stuff we see and hear.  When we let worldliness get in it causes a reaction in our lives that separates us from God.  Not God from us.  Us from God.  Pride becomes an animal in our worldliness and before long we start to stray from those basic convictions that God established in our life.  Why?  Because worldliness in believer's lives causes great distress and hurt and the usual thing we do is stay away from the one who knows us best.  When we do that our pride has taken over and humility is far from the scene.  We have God's power, but because of a lack of attraction to God's Ways, we drift or reject God.  That drifting allows things in our lives that shouldn't be there and we have a choice; humble yourself before God and repent, or continue on the same road and distance yourself from God.  For those who don't read God's Word much, it really catches them off guard and instead of being attracted to God and His grace, they run.  NOT GOOD-NOT GOOD AT AL!!

Here's what's supposed to happen.  We fail -We turn to God and humble ourselves- He forgives and restores-We learn from it and commit to life change-The power attraction to God is strong again and nothing can get in there between us and God.  In fact, in verse 8 James says, "Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.  Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded." Turn the magnet to attraction mode. He goes on in verse 10 to say we must humble ourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you.  When God's power is turned on through His grace and we turn to God His magnet is so strong He immediately pulls us back to Him.  What we thought was bad in humbling ourselves, actually became the way to get back in a right relationship with God. But, we must have a willing heart and that change lies with us.  Which brings to mind a question.  Are you drawn to God with how you are living your life, or are you constantly drawn away?  Are the things you have allowed in your life making you closer to God, or are they moving you away from God?  If they aren't drawing you closer then you are already rejecting Him and you don't even know it.  James says in verse 7 to SUBMIT!  Submit means to yield to a superior force or to the will or authority of another person.  If you are drifting, now is the time to submit and let go and let God!  He always has His electromagnet on and the only way we can get back right again is to be turned the right way.  Toward Him!! That will make the attraction back to Him stronger than ever and the end result will be restoration.  That is what I call a Magnetic Faith.  Just turn.....NOW!

The Pilgrimage continues.....

David Warren

It's Raining Somewhere....

I was in a meeting a few years ago and we were talking about future ministry efforts and what God could do with just a few people getting on board.  We were all dreaming and believing God could do a great work when all of a sudden one person in the room started doubting the whole thing.  Right out of left field this person had made themselves the self-appointed rainmaker on our parade.  If it was a brief shower we could have kept on going, but it turned into a constant downpour and the whole group went into "faith shock."  You know what Faith Shock is don't you?  It's where Christians kind of start believing this Bible stuff about God being all powerful, and answering prayer, and being alive and active, and blah, blah.  Then they start to hear every reason God can't do anything and they go into "Faith Shock!"  The group started showing signs of faith shock, but then it happened.  A smart, warrior of God stood up in the midst of the meeting and said, "Well, I'm going to go with this plan 100% and if it fails, it won't fail because I didn't give it my all."  That smart, warrior of God was a friend of mine (you thought it was me?) and after he sat down I turned to him and whispered, "If this thing starts to gain momentum, I'm with you."  Did his stand for God stop the rain?  Nope!  You know what would have stopped the rain?  Me standing with him!  With my support (where two or more are gathered in my name I am in the midst of them) we could have defeated the evil faithless rainmaker.  But no!!!  Why didn't I stand up when he did?  First of all, because I was a chicken and wanted to reserve the right to say, "I told you so."  If I stood with him, I would not be able to say those passive aggressive words of safety and denial.   Secondly, I wasn't in it to win it.  I was in it to score it!  If I'm in something to win it, I will be so busy serving, I won't even look at the score.   My life will be so totally immersed in following the plan, that I won't let the rain even start to sprinkle.  But, If I'm in it to score it, then that's a different story.  From the git go I will start to nitpick every detail and my half-hearted efforts will turn into no effort and thus the rain will start to fall.  Then before long, we will have a rain out on another great plan God had showed us to just believe in.  You know what happens when it rains.  You get sleepy and sleeping becomes the only thing you want to do.  So.....we sleep.

Well,  WAKE UP!!! It's time to get busy....(let's get it started ha...ala Toby Mac)  It's time to kick the rainmakers out of our path and stay away from Faith Shock and start believing again.  When we start believing, everything changes, and the rain stops falling, and the parade goes on.  Here are some of the float entries in the parade.  Float #1 - This float is a depiction of Christians uniting together for one central goal of reaching the world for Christ.  The characters on the float are children, youth, and adults serving together and moving toward a central goal.  Float #2 - This float has many working parts that are all powered by a motor in the middle of the float.  This motor makes it possible for all the parts of the float to do their part, work together.  Float #3 - This float is probably the most grand of all.  Those riding on it are all the lives that have been touched by those who planned the parade.  They are not just watching the parade.  Now they are in the parade.  Float #4 - Is the last, but the best float and it carries the Grand Marshall of the parade.  He is the one the parade is honoring and He is lifted above all other floats to show his position.  Do you get the parade illustration?  Float 1 is Christians uniting together to be the church as God supplies the power.  Float 2 is all Christians using their God given gifts to serve in some part of the church and they are focused on God moving them.  Float 3 is all the people who come to know Christ and join hands with us and serve in His church.  Float 4 is the church gathered to lift up the name of Jesus and honor Him who sets us into motion as we live the abundant life. Cool huh?  Only cool if these words and illustrations become actions.  Only then.  James 2:17 says, "Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself."  If we only live a faith of words, then Faith Shock will scare us off every time.  If we live a faith of action, then Faith Shock is a thing of the past and our Faith becomes Actions.  Don't let the rainmakers in your life keep you from standing up to the rain.  Even if they can't be specific, they will say, "It's raining somewhere!"  They will try every flimsy excuse they can to keep you from dreaming and dreaming big.  Your reply to them will need to be, "Yeah, it's raining somewhere, but it's not going to rain here anymore!"  Now that's the Spirit!!

The Pilgrimage continues.....

David Warren

I Have Never Known a Love Like This....

It's amazing how much we search through life for the purity of things.  Things like pure water, pure gold, pure knowledge, and many other things we would deem "pure."  The definition of the word pure is something that is free of any contamination.   That definition for purity is really hard to deal with in that anything with a hint of "human" in it will be impure.  Our very nature is rooted in the impurity of a sinful world.  We know that.....But, there are those things we have happen in our lives that we feel come close.  They probably don't, but we are so impacted by them that in our minds they have to be close to pure.  Things like pure joy over something totally unexpected and good.  Pure hope when you get a glimpse of something good happening when you've gone through so much bad.  Pure peace when you totally put yourself in the hands of God.  Pure direction when you know  exactly where you are going and exactly what you are doing.  The one I want to address today is Pure Love.  Pure love is an amazing thing that finds it's roots in the DNA of Jesus Christ.  When we continue to develop our relationship with our Lord it causes some changes in our life practices, and love purifies those practices over a period of time.  The Biblical word is sanctification, and the offensive movement forward in our lifestyle is toward purity.  That purity in all we do is found most prevalent in the way love is generated as we live our daily lives as believers.  In 2 Thessalonians 1, Paul wrote to the them concerning the afflictions of the church there and shared a result of facing those afflictions with God's power.  In verse 3 he said, "We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brethren, as is only fitting, because your faith is greatly enlarged,, and the love of each one of you toward one another grows ever greater."  If you read on you will see that the church had to put up with a lot of things against them, but instead of it defeating them, it made them stronger than ever.  Also, the result of all that was a love that was pure and real.  Get this.....Believers will go through almost insurmountable things together and the end result is purity, especially in the area of love.  That almost doesn't compute for me, but I'm starting to get it.  Pure gold (our faith) comes out pure gold (pure faith) when tested by fire (life) and proves to be genuine (pure).  I get it, I really get it now.

Today is an anniversary that means so much to me I almost can't explain it.  But the above mentioned examples of pure faith and pure love will hopefully put into context what I am trying to say.  Thirty six years ago I made a commitment to love, honor, and cherish my wife Andra.  I remember sitting in the back room of that church before we came out to say our vows and thinking about the heartfelt commitment that was about to take place.  I was nervous, not because I was apprehensive.  I was nervous because in all the things I had ever done, I wanted this one to be pure and genuine.  I was such a fruitcake in my younger years and even though I still am, that day the bad tasting fruitcake in my life left and a new fruitcake took it's place.  It was all because of one thing; I was hopelessly in love with Andra.  From that moment on everything else paled to my love for her.  Oh we've had our ups and downs and with our fiery personalities we have had some major mood swings through the years.  But one thing has stood.  Our pure love for each other.  I believe it is more pure today because of all the tough things life has thrown our way, and because Christ has been right there with us through it all.  That pure gold in our lives made possible through salvation, continues to stay pure gold when the fire hits it.  So in this journey of love and life, I need to say, "I have never known a love like this.  Our  love has not wained, but grown over these many years and even though we didn't like it at times, much of that growth has been because of the struggles along the way.  Those struggles continue today because we continue to step out in faith to do what God wants and let the cards fall where they may.  Since the two became one, I also believe that the individual sanctification of our lives is followed by a sanctification of our relationship as husband and wife.  That process must be protected by us both so that we can impact the world and make the greater impact as a couple.  I believe that is what we fight for most of all, this thing called "the sanctity of marriage."  Pure love has been lost in the shuffle of us all claiming our rights as human beings, but the pure love I feel for my wife is not about my rights, but about a relationship that surpasses all other relationship save one.  The relationship with my Savior, Jesus Christ.  The love He gave enables me to give the love Andra needs to make every day, and even every moment, an anniversary.  I love you Andra.  There is truly no one else like you.  We have been on a great journey and the best is yet to come.  Happy Anniversary.  

The Pilgrimage continues.....

David Warren

I've Told You a Million Times, Don't Exaggerate!!

Exaggerate - to represent something as being larger, greater, better, or worse than it really is...It also means to "heap up!"  If you listen to any news commentators in the past five years you will notice that our down to earth news is full of exaggerations and the news has become "heaped up" information that is mostly over blown.  Our politicians and those who represent them use words like unprecedented, unmatched, unequaled, etc. and the un's definitely have it.  Everybody is wanting to blow up the truth to make it more sensational and appealing, and in doing so even the truth becomes a lie.  This change in our society is unprecedented. (ha ha caught you didn't I?) That last statement may actually be true!!  Who knows?  The purity of truth is compromised more and more every day and we have to sit there and listen to one exaggeration after another.  It's kind of sickening.   If the top leaders of our country can't totally tell the truth, then what or who can we trust?  You may wonder why we are so dulled to common, basic, truth.  It's because things are so exaggerated beyond the point of reality, that it makes the foundational truths suffer because of a lack of pizzazz or exaggerations.  Ok, I admit it.  We are not just eating candy now, we have jumped into Willy Wonka's giant candy jar and we are eating ourselves into obscurity.  Why?  Because it's sweet to our ears and our eyes.  Do you remember in the movie Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory when one of the children, Augustus Gloop, was so gluttonous that he started drinking straight from the chocolate river?   Or course, in his present mental condition at the time, you can't blame him.  He downed chocolate bars as a hobby, so his desire for the sweetest things he could find had been developed over time.  The only problem was he fell in the chocolate river and then was wisked out through the chocolate tube and thus stopped him from finishing his opportunity to inherit the whole factory.  His desire for MORE MORE MORE was the thing that kept him from getting MORE!!!  Per his example it shouldn't be surprising that gluttony and exaggerated truth go hand in hand.  In our desire to see and hear the latest, greatest, and best we soon hit the wall.  That wall is our imperfect humanity.  Bummmmer.  Back to earth Peter Pan.  Back to the real world.  Wake up America!!  Time to tell the real truth about things.  Of course, the world and all it's habits will never totally wake up and that is prophetic truth from God's Word.  But, we as believers can wake up and set into motion a lifestyle that deals with God's Pure Truth and not need exaggerations.  If we start this process the gluttonous attitudes of a worldly perspective will not even interest us and over a period of time we will start to believe a new truth, GOD IS GOOD ENOUGH FOR ME!!  We will see that we are missing the joy of the inheritance Jesus Christ made possible for those who believe because we are drinking from the sweet river of the world's exaggerations.  We will also realize that the river of exaggerations will get us headed in a totally different direction than the best direction.  God's Direction

The Psalmist wrote in Psalm 111:7, "He manufactures truth and justice; All His products are guaranteed to last."  Also, in Psalm 119:90 "Your truth never goes out of fashion; it's as up-to-date as the earth when the sun comes up."  

God's truth is awesome with no exaggerations added.  It is what it is, and that's enough. News Flash - He is all we need.  You can present that on the evening news as being unmatched if you want.  You can even say it is unequaled.  Or better yet, you can just report it is God, I Am, and that will be enough.  He is beyond our words and our world's perspective.  You don't have to exaggerate who He is at all, because He is THE ALL!!

Psalms 119:91 - Your Word and Truth are dependable as ever; that's what You ordered-you set the earth going.  I'm liking that News.  Aren't you?

The Pilgrimage continues.....

David Warren

A Non-hypocritical Love - The Sting of the Bees

In Romans 12: 9-13, Paul writes a laundry list of what love is to BEE.   Shakespeare wrote in the play Hamlet,  "To be or not to be."  Paul wrote the same thing by saying you either have love or you don't.  He starts off in verse nine with a huge statement that shares what love is to BE.  He says, "don't let love be FAKE or hypocritical."  If we think about it, if we don't get this first one right the others are dead.  In other words, you don't just love as an exercise, but it is who you are.  It's not what you do, but who you are or "who you be!"  We throw the love word around like a hot potato game and eventually it loses it's true reality in our impressions.  Since impressions change with circumstance and time, so does that kind of love.  That kind of love is a result of something much deeper and troubled on the inside.  If that kind of love comes from a fake or weak love expression, then it will not last.  But......if it comes from who you are, then that is a whole different story.  You may say, "Woh, David, you are starting to get that starry, deep look in your eyes.  Don't make it too difficult to understand."  Just in case I'm being too cryptic, let me explain.  We are in a constant changing world and our individual pursuits are geared and affected by the things around us.  If we aren't anchored in pure truth and action, then we will get adrift and lose our way.  That drifting also gets us off the course Christ intends for us.  Realize, the basic premise for all Christ did in reaching out to each of us is one thing, LOVE!  He didn't only show love.  He is love!!  Get it?  When we receive Christ there is one main foundational thing He equips each of us to do, LOVE.  Guess how we can do that?  Well, when we receive the Holy Spirit He changes us at the core of who we are, and the first injection we get is LOVE!  Yes, love is no longer something we do, but who we are.  Have you ever had a bee sting you?  When a bee stings you it injects you with it's venom and guess what?  It leaves the stinger in there.  To treat it you need to remove the stinger and then put antiseptic and medicine on it, but the poison is still inside.  Your body will quickly go to work to deny the poison hurting you anymore than possible and then you will get over the sting and move on.  The body fights the poison from the injection.  Are you starting to get it?  Christ's injection of love at salvation (among other things) invades who we are and we will either give in to it's affect or start fighting it in order to subdue it and make it palatable.  Point of fact:  If you totally surrender to Christ, then His injected characteristics will take over your whole being and you will BE a Christ like person at your core.  If you fight it with your present circumstances, past personality quirks, and weak commitment at the core (take out the stinger) you will have a tough transition from lost to saved.  It will be immediately tough to transition to this new life.  It's what we have for years called "making Jesus Lord."  By the way, He is Lord.  Because of our lack of total surrender beyond "getting saved" we lose that moment of total surrender and we proceed to DO Christian things and not BEE a Christ like person at our core.  Whew!! That was deep, but not really.  To cut to the chase on the love thing is basically to say, "Realize how important your initial salvation experience is and know what you are BEcoming and continue to let it happen.  Just realize it all starts with LOVE!!!

The rest of the verses line up behind this whole love thing and become life characteristics of us at our core.  Here's the laundry list:

1. Run for dear life from evil

2. Hold on for dear life to good

3. Be good friends who love dearly

4. Practice playing second fiddle

5. Don't burn out.

6. Be alert servants of the Master

7. Be cheerfully expectant

8. Don't quit in hard time; pray harder

9. Help needy Christians

10. Be inventive in hospitality

You've figured it out haven't you?   If you BEE love at your core, these other things will happen and keep happening and keep happening.  By the way, if our churches would get stung with this kind of pure truth and realize the strength of it, the gates of hell would not be able to prevail against it.  But in our present condition we are ripe for the picking.  Read these four verses and really study them and see how they stack up in your life and then allow God to do some real changing at your core.  Let Him sting you again and this time let go and let God, and the process will be much more fulfilling.  Just be prepared; you will look different after the experience.  Different goooood.  Not different bad........  Come on BEE, sting me now and let God make some sweet honey in my life.  It's much sweeter than my taste right now...

The Pilgrimage continues....

David Warren