Near But So Far Away

“Righteous art thou, O LORD…Thou hast planted them, yea, they have taken root; they grow, yea, they bring forth fruit; thou art near in their mouth, and far from their heart” (Jeremiah 12:1a,2).

We are living in a day of cardboard Christians, pseudo saints, and plastic preachers. Far from being true in the innermost being to God there is falsehood and deceitfulness. Any nation that finds itself in this position is a nation in great decay and headed for destruction.

Words will never move the hand of God to bless unless they are words backed from a righteous life found only in God. God desires truth, humility, honesty, and that is found only in Yawheh, the Covenant Making God.

The prophet Jeremiah was planted in God and true to the core of his being. He was wheat among the poisonous tares of his day. He saw planted around and next to him those who had taken root in the land and who had filled the air with their words that were religious but unrighteous, in other words people far from God.

Friend we are in conflict with the world. It will only get worse and the affliction is real. As long as the world becomes more religious and God’s people become compromised then we can be assured it is all shaping up for judgment. Yet you and I do not have to fall into despair. Jeremiah said, “But thou, O LORD, knowest me; thou hast seen me, and tested mine heart toward thee” (Jeremiah 12:3). God tests us that we may be proven. Character develops in Christ as we understand the times and we are aware of the devil’s tactics. We are on the winning side!

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  • Whiners or Workers?

    “Do everything without complaining and arguing, so that you may become
    blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved
    generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out
    the word of life” (Philippians 2:14-16).

    J.B. Philipps translates this verse: “Do all you have to do without
    grumbling or arguing.” Don’t be a whiner. Kim and I went to the library
    years ago and found a video entitled “Wendy the Whiner.” We showed it to our
    oldest and every time she felt like whining we would remind her of the cloud
    that came from Wendy’s mouth when she whined.

    It is not fair to ask others to do something that you and I would not do by
    ourself. If it is leading a family, a Sunday School class, a youth group, a
    group of deacons, a small group, or in any situation or group, the one who
    leads will lead out front without grumbling. This is not to show off or to
    pour on guilt, but it is to grow oneself for the glory of God personally and
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    It has been said that most of the significant things done in the world were
    done by persons who were either too busy or too sick. There are few ideal
    and leisurely settings for the disciplines of growth. Unity and harmony in
    the home and the church home is paramount to the glory of God!

  • Gallup-Poll Faith

    “Unless the LORD of hosts had left to us a very small remnant, we would have become like Sodom, we would have been made like Gomorrah” (Isaiah 1:9).

    God works with a remnant of people who believe. Isaiah speaks of a remnant of real believers among the many with a Gallup-Poll faith. A Gallup-poll faith is a faith that is wishy-washy. It’s the total amount of people who say but do not behave. Their living contradicts their position.

    It takes the grace of God to preserve a trusting remnant among those who identify outwardly with Him. The remnant is not a super-spiritual elite looking down on others, but they do dare to live by faith in God. The rest are careful not to risk too much on Him. The difference does show.

    Jonathan Edwards describes a true Christian:

    “As he has more holy boldness, so he has less self-confidence…As he is more sure than others of deliverance from hell, so he has a greater sense that he deserves it. He is less apt than others to be shaken in faith, but more apt than others to be moved by solemn warnings, God’s frowns and calamities of others. He has the firmest comfort, but the softest heart; richer than others, but poorest of all in spirit. He is the tallest and strongest saint, but the least and tenderest child among them.”

    That beauty marks God’s true people.

  • Jesus The One and Only

    “Who is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation” (Colossians 1:15).

    Jesus is the uncreated Creator, the second Person of the God-Head, who subjugated Himself not in essence but in function, that He would exegete God in a language we could understand.

    Do you want to know what God said? Listen to Jesus. Do you want to know what God feels? Watch the heart of Jesus as He walked among us. Do you desire to know Him? Look at Jesus upon the cross who died for our sins. Listen to His words. Do you desire to see what God looks like? Look at Jesus. Do you want to know how to live? Look at Jesus and accept Him into your life and He will live in you, through you, and for you.

    Jesus is the One and Only. He is the way, the truth, and the life. There is no going to Heaven without Jesus, no knowing of the true God without Jesus, and no real living without the Lord Jesus. He is divine and eternal. He is eternally existent, intimately close, and equally divine to God.

  • Values are Timeless, not Temporary

    “And these words , which I commanded thee this day, shall be in thine heart; and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children.” (Deuteronomy 6:6-7a).
    As parents, we need to see our kids at the age of the twenty- or thirty-year-olds they will one day become. This is not trying to grow them up before their time. But it is a vision that says to the world and to the culture that your children will not be had by them. We are talking about placing before them and within them the vision of training them into adulthood, growing them into disciples.
    One of the values of Scripture, for instance, that has always been before us is this matter of being not “yoked together with unbelievers” (2 Cor. 6:14), especially in the terms of the marriage relationship. Of course, this wasn’t an issue when they are only ten, twelve, and fourteen. But since this issue would arise in their lives in a short period of time, as Christians who love our God, we as parents place these values of the sanctity of Christian marital vows before them as they grow.
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  • An Angry Nation

    “Wherefore, laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speaking, as newborn babies, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow by it” (I Peter 2:1-2).

    With the breakup of the home we are becoming an angry nation.  With the advent of kids who are angry at life and what it has done to them there is an uptick in gun violence.  What used to be settled through normal communicable channels and court systems, we are now discounted and unsettled through the vengeance of young men or women with a gun.

    The race issue has surfaced like days before.  Except now the media covers quickly what it took papers days to print.  Many conservative speakers can no longer enter our universities because of radical leftists who have resorted to violence.  Add white supremacists into the mix and we could have a war on our hands.

    Dietrich Bonhoeffer lamented the fact that students and professors during the Hitler era resorted to silence so as not to lose their jobs, etc.  Today in our institutions Christian students, and especially professors, have to keep their convictions to themselves in order to graduate or continue teaching.  One cannot even say, “Jesus“, in a classroom without repercussions.

    I have no hope that the immigration crisis will be ever resolved.  As both sides demonize each other we will continue to have a toxic atmosphere of name-calling and political posturing.  The good news with all of this is that the churches have the privilege of welcoming whomever God sends to us.

    God has called us to honor Him by letting our light shine despite the consequences.  What is at stake are the eternal values that has been handed down to us.  The Lord Jesus has given His Church (notice that I said, “His Church“) all the resources she needs to be faithful in every culture, every generation, and every circumstance.  He will not forsake us now!  By His Grace let the Church be the Church!

  • The Third Day

    “Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off” (Genesis 22:4).

     

    Abraham’s son, Isaac, was the child of promise. All the hopes and desires of nations rested upon this son. Out of Isaac comes Jacob and out of Jacob the twelve tribes, and out of the tribe of Judah King Jesus. And still God told Abraham to take his son and sacrifice him. Would Abraham hold too tightly or would he loosen his grip on his son? Would he trust God or hold tightly?

     

    Corrie Ten Boom said, “Hold everything in your hands lightly, otherwise it hurts when God pries your fingers open.” Do we trust God in all things? Is He all we need? Will God fail us? Has He really promised that if we bow to Him He will honor us?

     

    Abraham traveled three days with his son knowing the time of sacrifice was ahead. Look at Abraham’s fingers for they were not clutching to Isaac. Every step his fingers were opened. On the third day Abraham’s eyes saw the place far off and said to the others to stay behind for he and his son were going to worship and come again to them (Gen. 22.4).

     

    The power of the third day is this: When we walk with our hands open and hold to things and people loosely we can worship God. And what we give back, God takes, and what God takes, He cleanses, and what He cleanses He will use. And what He will use He gives back in a more powerful, pure, and purposeful manner.