Claim to Fame
Lord, a lot happened this week. Surgery went smoothly thanks to You and the preparedness of the surgeons with the talents and work you have afforded them. I certainly thank you for that blessing. My mind is still a bit hazy, but there’s been so much going on that I want to talk to You about. I’m certain you’ve seen what’s been going on in the world from our shores in the US to the brain slipping wreck of the opening show of the Olympics. I love athleticism, but why in the world are we parading around the Olympic torch in the form of a blunt? Because it’s funny? Cute? Then there was the “fashion” show and scenes blatantly transforming artwork that was viewed in reverence to something that is abhorrent and opposed to your standards. The Paris Olympics Organizers apologized, but why? They were willing to have it put on, there was an obvious “ok” to let it happen, so what are they apologizing for? In an effort to make every hedonistic, heretical, and damnable offense normalized this was displayed all over the world for us to see, our children to see, and worst yet, to attempt to sear into the conscience that this is a “beautiful” thing happening. Some outlets have called it “wonderful”. Some have called it “amazing progression”. Some would assume this would mock You. That people would celebrate the ridiculing of the sovereign God of the universe. However, in Galatians 6, it’s quite clear, “7 Don’t be deceived: God is not mocked. For whatever a person sows he will also reap, 8 because the one who sows to his flesh will reap destruction from the flesh, but the one who sows to the Spirit will reap eternal life from the Spirit.” As Your word plays out in front of us, we can see the adversary desperately clinging to his deception to drag Your children away from Your presence forever. This is just his latest stunt. He’s got a TV show in the works. “Hazbin Hotel” from Amazon is flipping the entire script to show children that the devil was a victim which just adds fuel to the victim mentality that’s being spread across the world. In that short clip that was shown it completely obliterated context of absolute truths that have been written and verified over thousands of years, but as long as it’s appealing and offers a “good” story, something that can be watched with a smidge of humor, a dash of uncertainty, and a vein of what feels good, then it must be okay for the eyes that are completely devoid of a conscience.
If the Sermon on the Mount and David and Bathsheba were on different channels, people would flock to the dramatic instead of the edification of the spirit. But people want to believe we are inherently good though no evidence points to this. As Christians we could ask ourselves where we’ve gone wrong in trying to reach out and witness to a lost and dying world but we never start with ourselves. Faith and repentance have been clouded over with prosperity and the name it, claim it fanbase. God, forgive me if my thinking is muddled, but when we hear “God was certainly protecting Trump: but we see the death of two others who had proclamations of faith in You, that should make us evaluate the difference of what a blessing is vs what man has brought upon himself. I can no more speak anything that’s ailing me out of my life than I can ask for cheese on a hamburger. Does that mean I don’t have faith You will restore me? Absolutely not! You will restore me whether it's this side of glory or the other. So does that mean I don’t believe in divine intervention? Again, no. Christ left heaven to intervene in our history. Fully God and fully man. But that doesn’t mean that just because He was walking among us that pain ceased. That bad things didn't happen. That people weren’t evil towards one another. Today many are martyred because of their faith in You who are now renewed and at peace, but we don’t always get that here. In fact trials and tribulations come AFTER starting to follow You as we pick up our cross, You were very clear about that.
Yet we’re still going to say it’s ok to name and claim and it’ll be ours. That is not faith, that is a vending machine. Faith is that mustard seed that's taken, planted, watered, nurtured, and produces nourishment. Was I able to move a physical mountain from one place to another, no. But the mountain I stood before looking to link the heart and mind to the knowledge of my Savior to trusting in You was cast so far from me it’s viewed as a small hill when I completely put my faith in You. It made me realize that I don’t have to do the heavy lifting, You’ve taken that burden. I don’t have to be perfect to come to You, but rather humble in spirit and brokenhearted. I can’t claim to be a follower if I haven’t put my faith in You, it doesn’t work like that. Faith and love are not proclamations, they are actions. There has been a lot of action against You in the most recent months, actions of hate. Actions of depravity. Actions of incredible wickedness. You are outside of time and because of that You can see all time at a glance. You are not surprised, stunned, shocked, or stupefied by the failings of men and the constant yearning to serve a wicked master over the good. God in these last days, let not your servant be a coward but rather be able to respond to evil boldly and in truth. I ask that you pour out Your Spirit into all believers and give them a rallying cry to fight against the spiritual evil that is being paraded around and to fight for the lost and broken, the sick and the needy. May I, and all of us do good works in Your name and reject the ideologies of evil men and their master, the devil. Lord protect us and bless us, Amen.
PS - The naked blue man who portrayed the greek god of wine said “It wouldn't be fun if there were no controversy. Wouldn't it be boring if everyone agreed on this planet?” Yes, let’s all have different opinions on everything. That way if I slap a woman I can be ridiculed or justified depending on whose opinion I get. I can murder a man and as long as someone has the opinion that it’s ok, that should keep me out of the prisons or the chair. Let’s inject chemo to someone who doesn’t need it, it may be helpful in someone’s opinion. Let’s all disagree about human trafficking and slavery so we won’t be boring and make it right or wrong based on how it feels. We’ve truly come to the point where truth is now opinion, knowledge is what makes us dumb, sticks and stones may break our bones, but words are radically violent and oppressive it you have a different opinion to what truth is. About as thoughtful as the vapid machinations and dreams of rocks.