Can't....

Somewhere in my life I've heard it said that  'Cain't couldn't never do nuthin'....' 
It was an admonition to make an effort.  It was a warning that if you decide you can't succeed before you even try, you will certainly NOT succeed.

There is truth in the saying.

 We have to WANT to try....and it is really hard to want to do some of the really hard things...  Our flawed nature does not naturally WANT what is good and right.  In that, I'm afraid that it is true that we 'cain't' do 'nuthin' about it.

But God can.  And He will, but only by our honest request and permission, only according to His will and not our own.


"  You're the One I've violated, and you've seen it all, seen the full extent of my evil. You have all the facts before you; whatever you decide about me is fair.   I've been out of step with you for a long time, in the wrong since before I was born.

  What you're after is truth from the inside out.

Enter me, then; conceive a new, true life.  

Soak me in your laundry and I'll come out clean, scrub me and I'll have a snow-white life.  
God, make a fresh start in me, shape a Genesis week from the chaos of my life.  Don't throw me out with the trash, or fail to breathe holiness in me.

 (selected verses, Psalm 51 from The Message)



We certainly 'cain't' do 'nuthin' about our flawed nature.  How thankful I am that He is willing to restore mine....

"...Change my heart, O God,

Make it ever true...

Change my heart, O God...

May I be like You. "

Left....

I've never been much of an Elvis fan.  He could sing pretty well, and I could enjoy listening to some of his stuff, it depended on the genre...

I remember the saying, 'Elvis has left the building...'.  I understand that was first said after Elvis had in fact left the performing auditorium, and it was said in order to encourage people to remain in their seat and watch the rest of the show. (..seems people wanted to follow Elvis off stage instead of hear the next performers....)



Now I in no way equate Elvis with God.. but God left a building too.  God's Shekinah glory once lit the tabernacle. (Ex. 40:34) 

But then, because of man's disobedience and rebellion,  "....the Glory of GOD left..." (Ez. 10:18)

God left the building.  (...how sad, yet again, is the response of humanity to the Person of God.)



When God filled the tabernacle with His glory, there was no need of light.  After He left, candelabras were set up to dispel the darkness within the tabernacle.

Hundreds of years later, Messiah Jesus, God in flesh, spoke in an area of the temple, the temple where those candles were still burned. (John 8:20)


God had now returned.

He had returned to 'the building'. Not a cloud of smoke or fire this time, but in the Person of Jesus Christ.  (how sad, even again, the response to the Person of Jesus Christ, God in flesh.)



He told them He would leave again.  (John 8:21)  And He did.

But He left us the benefit of His light.  We don't have to burn candles nor do we grope around in darkness. He has given us His Word, and has sent the Helper to be with us in His place. 

.....until He comes back yet again.  One last time.

Stoning....

Throwing rocks.  AT a living person. Until they die.  That is what stoning is.

It was the death penalty of Biblical time. (...still practiced in some cultures today)

It just sounds horrible to me.  I can't fathom throwing a rock at somebody, especially with the intentions of it being a death blow. 

The religious leaders'  in John 8 suggested a stoning.  Not because they wanted justice, but because they manipulated the rules for their own purpose.


That old saying about sticks and stones?  It's a lie.  Words hurt and can bring about death. 

So I repent this morning as God shows me my words can be spewed out like stones at some guilty person, not because I'm concerned with justice, but because I too am capable of manipulating the rules for my own purpose. 

Lord, give me a heart like Yours...full of mercy and compassion.  I purpose not to be an executioner of those caught in sin, but an encourager, encouraging  them to leave it behind.

Finagle...

It's an odd word.  I've heard it used for years, it's certainly not a new term.

It is defined as.... "to obtain or achieve something by using shady behavior, manipulation, or deception; achieve by indirect, usually deceitful methods"

That's what the religious leaders did in John 8, and they used only one of  two equally guilty people caught in the very act of adultery. 

They used the woman to finagle a trap. (..musta been a neighborhood good ole' boy... he didn't get drug out into the street like she did...)

They had an agenda.....to discredit this Teacher who was gaining favor with the public, they intended to find something wrong with Him.

Finagle.

  They would protect their agenda, keep their (un)holy huddle in tact, and not share the limelight with Him or anyone else.  They would remain top dog.

Finagle.


Why is honesty so difficult for us?  Why can't we just deal with each other as we are?

 Why do we finagle?

What is so difficult about simply speaking plain and truthful? Truth in love....no better way.  Certainly better than the best finagle.



One of the things that makes it so difficult for me is the hard truth that people don't handle truth. (...I'm hearing Jack Nicholson as he portrayed his character in A Few Good Men..)

People don't always handle the truth well.  I often don't handle it well...but I want to be able to BE truthful with others, and I want THEM to handle MY truth.

 I do want to be a big enough person to handle truth with no need of finagling.

 Always.

Caught....

".....and they said to Jesus, "Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. " (John 8:4)

It is a familiar story to anyone who has been churched.  "The woman caught in adultery"

I have never been an adulteress. But I sure know what it is like to be caught in sin.

The most important thing is my response to having been caught.  Do I try to cover it up? Deny it? Make excuses for it,  in attempt to justify it?

Worse...do I just accept the sin, callousing my heart so that I'm not even bothered about my wrong behavior?

We do that you know.  Just say 'oh well...', and keep right on with the wrong choices and wrong actions.  Pretty soon, we don't have a second thought about our wrong behavior. (...it can even get to feeling right somehow....)   Maybe I'm the only one with that tendancy.  But I doubt it.



I've read this story many times.  One character I don't want to find myself playing is that of the ones who drug this naked, sinful woman to Jesus.  Out into the street, out into public. 

It is easy for me to identify sin in other people. That in itself is not wrong.  Just as it was not wrong for these religious leaders to call this woman to account for her sin, it is not wrong for me to call others to account for their sin.

Their motive had nothing to do with the woman's spiritual welfare. It had to do with promoting their own agenda.

God help me to never have the wrong motive for bringing sinful behavior to the Light of Jesus Christ.

Division...

"...So there was a division among the people because of Him." (John 7:43)

Jesus admonished us to seek unity.

His whole purpose in becoming a human was to bring about a restored relationship with our Creator God.

Yet when He is present, there is a schism.   A divided sentiment.  Divisions in the way people respond....

Jesus never promised superficial harmony.  In fact, He warned us of the opposite. 

"Don't think I've come to make life cozy...... Well-meaning family members can be your worst enemies....If you don't go all the way with me, through thick and thin, you don't deserve me. If your first concern is to look after yourself, you'll never find yourself. But if you forget about yourself and look to me, you'll find both yourself and me. (Matt. 10:34-39 The Message)



When I was 12, I recieved a Bible with my name stamped on the front in gold lettering.  There was a poem printed on cardstock in it that I used for a bookmarker.  It is the only poem I can remember much of and I had lost it somehow, somewhere down thru the years.  (....Google can find ANYthing...)

The poem used the word schism.

I had not heard that word and it was hard t find a definition for it. (...didn't have Google then...)

I still have that Bible with it's notes in the margins.  Notes taken from sermons, notes copied from other people...very little notes from sitting alone myself at Jesus' feet with that Bible opened. I had the information drilled into my head....much of it with a certain doctrinal twist.  (...schism...)



That strange word, 'schism' has always stuck with me...and that Bible has become more than ink on a page. I do not tire of the message written within...and I pour over it prayerfully that no preconcieved doctrinal slant (schism) cloud my vision or dull my hearing. 

I want nothing to bring about any division in my heart regarding Jesus.
I purpose to seek Him with a completely undivided heart. 


He has promised that when I do that....He will be found.  (Jer. 29:13)

My Bible And I

We've travelled together,
My Bible and I,
Through all kinds of weather,
With smile or with sigh!
In sorrow or sunshine,
In tempest or calm!
Thy friendship unchanging,
My lamp and my psalm.

We've travelled together,
My Bible and I,
When life has grown weary,
And death e'en was nigh!
But all through the darkness
Of mist or of wrong,
I found there a solace,
A prayer and a song.

So now who shall part us,
My Bible and I?
Shall "isms" or "schisms"
Or "new lights" who try?
Shall shadow for substance,
Or stone for good bread,
Supplant thy sound wisdom,
Give folly instead?

Ah, no, my dear Bible,
Exponent of light!
Thou sword of the spirit,
Put error to flight!
And still through life's journey,
Until my last sigh,
We'll travel together,
My Bible and I.

Publicity....

Publicity is an attempt, deliberately designed to attract and manage public attention.  It is possible to buy it. I don't do it often, but I have paid lots of money for some of it....

Movie stars and politicians are very stratetic about managing how the public percieves them. They go to great lengths to be at the right place at the right time, wearing the right thing, saying the right thing...

The best kind is free.
The best kind can't be bought. 
The best kind is word of mouth....not managed, not designed, not some strategy.

Jesus' disciples would have been publicists if Jesus had cooperated with them. 

As I continue in my study of John's gospel account, I read in John 7 about Jesus' ministry going forward, and it is again near the festival season. (...think 4th of July when everyone rushes to the lake with hamburger and hotdog supplies..) 

Jesus would have participated in these festivities every year as He grew up.  It would have had great religious meaning but would also have been part of His heritage and something He had shared with His family and friends.

"It was near the time of Tabernacles, a feast observed annually by the Jews.   His brothers said, "Why don't you leave here and go up to the Feast so your disciples can get a good look at the works you do.  No one who intends to be publicly known does everything behind the scenes. If you're serious about what you are doing, come out in the open and show the world."    (John 7:2-4)



Just as the devil had suggested, (Matthew 4:5-6), now Jesus' brothers suggest, "Dazzle them! Show off some of those tricks you can do !! This is a perfect opportunity, all these people in town, everyone receptive to hearing about Messiah, You can take down the house !!"

But....as they should have realized, miracles don't bring about belief.  They had seen, yet demand more miraculous 'proof'. 

Jesus is the most famous person Who ever walked this earth, but His strategy to be in the right place at the right time was not a plan to manage public opinion. 

It was a strategy planned out from eternity past.....

It was a strategy to be in ONLY the right place at the right time....


.......on Calvary's hill, as the Lamb of God, at the time of the final Passover.



Hallelujah.