So many good lessons taught today about Truth, prayer, and the use of the tongue. Now to process and apply. Not so easy.
Pastor Rich shared something this morning that I had never seen in this way before. He said that Christianity is the only "religion" in the world that is not culturally based: Hinduism & Buddhism are essentially culturally based in Asia; Judaism, Israel; Islam, Arab countries; Catholicism, Italy; Mormonism, America...
Arab nations consider America and Western Europe "Christian." Interestingly, I have heard many Americans balking about not being called a Christian nation anymore, and, yet, Christianity has never had a national identity. Even when it was birthed in the heart of Israel, the Jews who were saved were scattered all over the world, from many different locations and languages.
"We talk about a Christian nation--there has never been such a thing. There are Christians in the nations, but not Christian nations." ~Oswald Chambers
God has revealed Himself to humans, but since the Fall, we are naturally inclined to create our own traditions, philosophies, and culturally-based religions.
"For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.
"For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.
"For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things." (Rom 1:19-23)
But God has pointed out to us from the beginning that Jesus Christ is the basis of our relationship to God (read Isaiah 42:1-9).
In light of this, it is interesting that many hate Christianity and call those who adhere to the Bible's teachings, bigots. I suspect it is because they have either never seen a true Christian who lives out the teachings of the Bible or they have chosen to be ignorant.
The Gospel of Christ is the only call that goes out to people of every race, creed, colour, and sex and says that we can come and be one family through Jesus Christ. It isn't based on how smart you are, what education you've had, what connections, what talents...It is all centred on confessing faith in Jesus' payment for our sin. To me, that is inclusive.
Yet it is exclusive. The way to God is narrow (Matthew 7:13-14). It is only through Jesus that we may come (John 14:6), because the basis of all true faith is founded on Him.
The road of deception is broad. Many will choose to follow their own beliefs, traditions, cultural allegiances, and philosophies. Yet, God's call is to "as many as receive Him to them He gives the right to be called Sons of God."
If true faith is based on Jesus Christ, who is revealed in the Bible, how true is your faith? Do you trust your own philosophies, the traditions of your church, the beliefs of your parents, your own experiences?
Experiences, philosophies, cultures, and opinions are born and destroyed. God's Word will never pass away.
Life is short. Don't put it off.
14 June 2009
07 June 2009
How Bad is Bad?
I was reading this morning in the book of Genesis. I have read these passages over many times, but this time something hit me in a new way.
"The LORD saw how great man's wickedness on earth had become, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. The LORD was grieved that He made man on the earth, and His heart was filled with pain." Genesis 6:5-6
The idea of God's heart being "filled with pain" is what struck me. It took on new meaning, especially in light of many who say that all should be saved, that there are many ways to God, and that God would not condemn someone to Hell because of that one's rejection of Jesus.
I've heard it before, but it just was so clear. Our understanding of God is so microscopic that we cannot comprehend how incredibly ugly and revolting our sin is.
If God was not love, our sin would merely give Him reason to wipe us off the earth and forget. Instead, because He is love, His heart fills with pain at our unbelief, at our making up our own set of standards, and ignoring what He shed His blood for us to see.
In Genesis, God looked for any way to save mankind without compromising His holiness. When He found one man who feared Him and desired to obey, He gave that man, Noah, time to build a boat and the specifications. Before the flood filled the earth, God shut the door with His own hand and saved Noah, his whole family, and at least two of every animal.
This salvation, like the sacrifices the Israelites gave for thousands of years, were just temporary fixes for an immediate problem. The saving was physical and symbolic. Both pointed to the one day when God would send His Son to be crucified.
Oswald Chambers said, "Jesus Christ hates the wrong in man and Calvary is the estimate of His hatred." Instead of taking His hatred of sin out on the sinners, who have broken His heart, God paid the price.
This is what makes rejection of Jesus so horrible. He has withheld judgement on me and you, because He is giving us a chance to accept a payment that cost the life of a Perfect man, God in flesh. It took God to be perfect; it took flesh to die. If you and I will not accept this unfathomable grace that would take our punishment, then we must face our punishment--forever separated from God.
If you argue for those who have never heard, God, who is rich in mercy, knows what it takes to show them Jesus. He has sent many missionaries in to the heart of jungles and isolated villages. Sometimes they are surprised to find the people expecting them.
God is not unjust. He promises to make us each responsible for the truth that we are given. You can be sure that what breaks His heart will never be allowed into His Kingdom.
If He did not love you, Jesus would not have died. You would have been punished without mercy, only justice.
Because He loves you, you have the choice to break His heart and reap the fruit of your sin. Or, you may accept His payment and reap the fruit of His love.
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16
It is your only life. How will you use it?
"The LORD saw how great man's wickedness on earth had become, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. The LORD was grieved that He made man on the earth, and His heart was filled with pain." Genesis 6:5-6
The idea of God's heart being "filled with pain" is what struck me. It took on new meaning, especially in light of many who say that all should be saved, that there are many ways to God, and that God would not condemn someone to Hell because of that one's rejection of Jesus.
I've heard it before, but it just was so clear. Our understanding of God is so microscopic that we cannot comprehend how incredibly ugly and revolting our sin is.
If God was not love, our sin would merely give Him reason to wipe us off the earth and forget. Instead, because He is love, His heart fills with pain at our unbelief, at our making up our own set of standards, and ignoring what He shed His blood for us to see.
In Genesis, God looked for any way to save mankind without compromising His holiness. When He found one man who feared Him and desired to obey, He gave that man, Noah, time to build a boat and the specifications. Before the flood filled the earth, God shut the door with His own hand and saved Noah, his whole family, and at least two of every animal.
This salvation, like the sacrifices the Israelites gave for thousands of years, were just temporary fixes for an immediate problem. The saving was physical and symbolic. Both pointed to the one day when God would send His Son to be crucified.
Oswald Chambers said, "Jesus Christ hates the wrong in man and Calvary is the estimate of His hatred." Instead of taking His hatred of sin out on the sinners, who have broken His heart, God paid the price.
This is what makes rejection of Jesus so horrible. He has withheld judgement on me and you, because He is giving us a chance to accept a payment that cost the life of a Perfect man, God in flesh. It took God to be perfect; it took flesh to die. If you and I will not accept this unfathomable grace that would take our punishment, then we must face our punishment--forever separated from God.
If you argue for those who have never heard, God, who is rich in mercy, knows what it takes to show them Jesus. He has sent many missionaries in to the heart of jungles and isolated villages. Sometimes they are surprised to find the people expecting them.
God is not unjust. He promises to make us each responsible for the truth that we are given. You can be sure that what breaks His heart will never be allowed into His Kingdom.
If He did not love you, Jesus would not have died. You would have been punished without mercy, only justice.
Because He loves you, you have the choice to break His heart and reap the fruit of your sin. Or, you may accept His payment and reap the fruit of His love.
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16
It is your only life. How will you use it?
31 May 2009
Staying Afloat
Regardless of whether or not you can swim, in the middle of the ocean when the boat capsizes, it is imperative you have something to cling to.
Life is a similar ocean. The economy, job loss, death, fire...so many things can sink the boat of circumstance. Something to hold you up is just as imperative in the ocean of life as in the physical ocean.
If you grab on to a talent, an experience, a person, you may be just prolonging the struggle to keep your head above water. An accident can take your ability to do what you enjoy, a person may leave, and other things, such as alcohol, that numb the pain for a while become a whirlpool beneath you, pulling you down.
If you want something that will outlast the storms and bring you safely to the other side, there is only one Saviour. If you know Him, it is a daily choice to look to Him to strengthen you and lift you up.
"Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith..." Hebrews 12:2a
If you don't know Him, on what are you placing your hope? Is it something that will hold up through sickness, financial ruin, rejection, loss? Anything that gives you merely good feelings when the sun is shining or a distraction when the pain is great, will not be enough to carry you when emotions numb and things go dark.
It's your life. Make certain your hope is sure.
Life is a similar ocean. The economy, job loss, death, fire...so many things can sink the boat of circumstance. Something to hold you up is just as imperative in the ocean of life as in the physical ocean.
If you grab on to a talent, an experience, a person, you may be just prolonging the struggle to keep your head above water. An accident can take your ability to do what you enjoy, a person may leave, and other things, such as alcohol, that numb the pain for a while become a whirlpool beneath you, pulling you down.
If you want something that will outlast the storms and bring you safely to the other side, there is only one Saviour. If you know Him, it is a daily choice to look to Him to strengthen you and lift you up.
"Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith..." Hebrews 12:2a
If you don't know Him, on what are you placing your hope? Is it something that will hold up through sickness, financial ruin, rejection, loss? Anything that gives you merely good feelings when the sun is shining or a distraction when the pain is great, will not be enough to carry you when emotions numb and things go dark.
It's your life. Make certain your hope is sure.
25 May 2009
What Would You Die For?
Most of my life I have wondered if I would have courage to die for what I believe. I have honored heroes who have. I wonder the point they crossed, the thought, the reason that made life so small and the unseen so...worth everything.
Someone once said that dying for what you believe is easier than living for it. I think there may be truth there. But I'd take it one step farther. I say, unless you live for what you believe, you can never die for it.
It is so easy in the day to day mundane tasks to lose sight of the important for the urgent, to compromise in the small things until you have moved so far from the goal you don't know who you are anymore or where you are going. Or, maybe you have never known...
"How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to Your Word.
With my whole heart I seek You; let me not wander from Your commandments!
I have stored up Your Word in my heart, that I might not sin against You....
"I am a sojourner on the earth; hide not Your commandments from me!....
"Even though princes sit plotting against me, Your servant will meditate on Your statutes.
"Your testimonies are my delight; they are my counselors.
My soul clings to the dust; give me life according to Your word!...
"My soul melts away for sorrow; strengthen me according to Your Word!
"Put false ways far from me and graciously teach me Your law!
I have chosen the way of faithfulness; I set Your verdicts before me.
I cling to Your testimonies, O Yahweh; let me not be put to shame!
"I will run in the path of Your commandments for You have set my heart free!
"Teach me, O Yahweh, the way of your statutes; and I will keep it to the end.
Give me understanding, that I may keep Your law and observe it with my whole heart...
"Incline my heart to Your testimonies, and not to selfish gain!
Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things; and give me life in Your ways....
"Let Your steadfast love come to me, O Yahweh, Your salvation according to Your promise;
then shall I have an answer for him who taunts me, for I trust in Your Word....
"I will also speak of Your testimonies before kings and shall not be put to shame,
for I find my delight in Your commandments, which I love....
"This is my comfort in my affliction, that Your promise gives me life."
(Psa 119:9-50)
Is there anything for which you would die?
Someone once said that dying for what you believe is easier than living for it. I think there may be truth there. But I'd take it one step farther. I say, unless you live for what you believe, you can never die for it.
It is so easy in the day to day mundane tasks to lose sight of the important for the urgent, to compromise in the small things until you have moved so far from the goal you don't know who you are anymore or where you are going. Or, maybe you have never known...
"How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to Your Word.
With my whole heart I seek You; let me not wander from Your commandments!
I have stored up Your Word in my heart, that I might not sin against You....
"I am a sojourner on the earth; hide not Your commandments from me!....
"Even though princes sit plotting against me, Your servant will meditate on Your statutes.
"Your testimonies are my delight; they are my counselors.
My soul clings to the dust; give me life according to Your word!...
"My soul melts away for sorrow; strengthen me according to Your Word!
"Put false ways far from me and graciously teach me Your law!
I have chosen the way of faithfulness; I set Your verdicts before me.
I cling to Your testimonies, O Yahweh; let me not be put to shame!
"I will run in the path of Your commandments for You have set my heart free!
"Teach me, O Yahweh, the way of your statutes; and I will keep it to the end.
Give me understanding, that I may keep Your law and observe it with my whole heart...
"Incline my heart to Your testimonies, and not to selfish gain!
Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things; and give me life in Your ways....
"Let Your steadfast love come to me, O Yahweh, Your salvation according to Your promise;
then shall I have an answer for him who taunts me, for I trust in Your Word....
"I will also speak of Your testimonies before kings and shall not be put to shame,
for I find my delight in Your commandments, which I love....
"This is my comfort in my affliction, that Your promise gives me life."
(Psa 119:9-50)
Is there anything for which you would die?
15 May 2009
I Love the Idea of You
In February, I was in a play where I met a new friend of mine. Harmlessly flirtatious, "J" often missed cues because he was busy teasing the women backstage. Because of my frequent sarcasm, "J" fluctuated between charm and sarcasm in his interaction with me. One day, after he had a bout of charm, he started in on the sarcasm. I reminded him that he loved me the day before. "I was in love with the idea of you," he said.
All this was, of course, in jest, but the phrase struck me. It's so true. I wonder how often I "love the idea" of someone more than who they are. When love is put to the test--the wrong temper, disappointing action, hurtful words--I may find the emotion dissipates and the "love" is gone. Sweet was the idea of love, but no follow through.
A song by DC Talk points out that love is a verb: "Words come easy but don't mean much/ When the words they're sayin we can't put trust in/ Were talkin 'bout love in a different light/ And if we all learn to love it would be just right."
In Sonnet 116, Shakespeare says, "Love is not love/ Which alters when it alteration finds,/ Or bends with the remover to remove."
Even more clearly, the Apostle Paul breaks it down to actions: "Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude.
"It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.
"Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends..." (1Co 13:4-8)
I have only ever experienced this unconditional love from God, the Source of real love.
This is the type of love I desire to exhibit to my friends and family: to see their failings, but as no worse than my own; to be hurt by them, but to remember that I have hurt, knowingly or unknowingly, too many times to count; to reach out to them (these are the hard ones for me) when they do not reach out for me; and to be willing to be rejected, to do what is best for them.
The Ultimate Love is Jesus: "Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends." (John 15:13) And He did.
What about you? Do you love people or do you just love the idea of them? If you're like me, it may fluctuate day by day, minute by minute, but the source always stays the same.
All this was, of course, in jest, but the phrase struck me. It's so true. I wonder how often I "love the idea" of someone more than who they are. When love is put to the test--the wrong temper, disappointing action, hurtful words--I may find the emotion dissipates and the "love" is gone. Sweet was the idea of love, but no follow through.
A song by DC Talk points out that love is a verb: "Words come easy but don't mean much/ When the words they're sayin we can't put trust in/ Were talkin 'bout love in a different light/ And if we all learn to love it would be just right."
In Sonnet 116, Shakespeare says, "Love is not love/ Which alters when it alteration finds,/ Or bends with the remover to remove."
Even more clearly, the Apostle Paul breaks it down to actions: "Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude.
"It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.
"Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends..." (1Co 13:4-8)
I have only ever experienced this unconditional love from God, the Source of real love.
This is the type of love I desire to exhibit to my friends and family: to see their failings, but as no worse than my own; to be hurt by them, but to remember that I have hurt, knowingly or unknowingly, too many times to count; to reach out to them (these are the hard ones for me) when they do not reach out for me; and to be willing to be rejected, to do what is best for them.
The Ultimate Love is Jesus: "Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends." (John 15:13) And He did.
What about you? Do you love people or do you just love the idea of them? If you're like me, it may fluctuate day by day, minute by minute, but the source always stays the same.
09 May 2009
Don't Forget Your Mind
I went to see some friends perform in a play based on The Screwtape Letters. The script well represented C.S. Lewis's book and the essay Screwtape Proposes a Toast. It reminded me again, with Lewis' usual combination of wit and truth, of the subtleties of sin.
The demon Screwtape explains to Wormwood, the younger demon, that truth isn't to be avoided, but twisted. It is much more efficient to block the human ears to what he doesn't wish to believe than to constantly be whispering lies to him.
A follower on Twitter--Bob--illustrated this idea very clearly this week (for those who don't understand Twitter, think of it as being like what used to be status--now "What's on Your Mind?"--updates on Facebook, but more frequent).
I posted a link to an article our ministry wrote about why God allows evil. Bob responded that it was simple logic: 1) God doesn't exist. 2) Evil is only in the mind of Christians.
I asked him if he didn't believe murder to be wrong. He tried to dodge the question with all sorts of rabbit trails, but eventually agreed to a definition of murder as the taking of a human life that cannot defend his- or herself. He said it wasn't okay, but he would do it if he was willing to take the consequences. He also added that he didn't believe it was evil. "Murder is murder," he concluded.
Then Bob brought God and Jesus into his arguments. I reminded him that he did not believe in God.
Bob said he had read the Bible. I told him I was glad, because it is good to know what you believe and why. I have read it for about 27 years. If what I believe about its truth is wrong, I have lost a false peace. If what he believes is wrong, he loses everything.
He then quoted a verse, obviously twisting it, as a comeback to my statement. When I smiled and pointed to his taking it out of context, he agreed, but said he believes that's how Jesus meant it.
Finally, I asked him who he thought Jesus was. He said, "Jesus is who he claimed to be." Our conversation ended when I asked him who Jesus claimed to be.
Bob wanted to believe the Gospels about Jesus, but did not want to accept any of Paul's writings. He, of course, failed to understand that Jesus did not write anything about himself. The writers were eyewitnesses or wrote down the statements from eyewitnesses to Jesus' life. Paul, likewise, wrote as God revealed to him. This was accepted by believers at the time these men lived and have been passed down together for nearly 2000 years.
Bob is just one of many who sample religions like dishes at a smorgasbord. They believe they can gather truths and create a religion comfortable to their lifestyle. What they fail to understand, for one thing, is the founders of each religion would never assent to the points of another. Buddha claimed there is no God; enlightenment comes from within oneself. Muhammad tried to kill the Jews and Christians that would not convert to his belief in Allah. And more isolating than all the rest is Jesus statement: "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me."
Every religion, except the Bible, gives you a chance to have pride in your own accomplishments, to gain the right to heaven, to balance evil with good. The Bible says, "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God;" "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord;" and "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He has saved us... not by works lest any one should boast."
Atheists, though too simplistic, at least try to balance their unbelief with an effort at logic. Smorgasbord religionists ignore their minds almost completely in their attempt to sample only what they like or feel.
God asks us to love Him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength.
Do you know what and why you believe what you do? It is equally as dangerous to avoid the mind as it is to avoid the heart. Don't forget to think.
The demon Screwtape explains to Wormwood, the younger demon, that truth isn't to be avoided, but twisted. It is much more efficient to block the human ears to what he doesn't wish to believe than to constantly be whispering lies to him.
A follower on Twitter--Bob--illustrated this idea very clearly this week (for those who don't understand Twitter, think of it as being like what used to be status--now "What's on Your Mind?"--updates on Facebook, but more frequent).
I posted a link to an article our ministry wrote about why God allows evil. Bob responded that it was simple logic: 1) God doesn't exist. 2) Evil is only in the mind of Christians.
I asked him if he didn't believe murder to be wrong. He tried to dodge the question with all sorts of rabbit trails, but eventually agreed to a definition of murder as the taking of a human life that cannot defend his- or herself. He said it wasn't okay, but he would do it if he was willing to take the consequences. He also added that he didn't believe it was evil. "Murder is murder," he concluded.
Then Bob brought God and Jesus into his arguments. I reminded him that he did not believe in God.
Bob said he had read the Bible. I told him I was glad, because it is good to know what you believe and why. I have read it for about 27 years. If what I believe about its truth is wrong, I have lost a false peace. If what he believes is wrong, he loses everything.
He then quoted a verse, obviously twisting it, as a comeback to my statement. When I smiled and pointed to his taking it out of context, he agreed, but said he believes that's how Jesus meant it.
Finally, I asked him who he thought Jesus was. He said, "Jesus is who he claimed to be." Our conversation ended when I asked him who Jesus claimed to be.
Bob wanted to believe the Gospels about Jesus, but did not want to accept any of Paul's writings. He, of course, failed to understand that Jesus did not write anything about himself. The writers were eyewitnesses or wrote down the statements from eyewitnesses to Jesus' life. Paul, likewise, wrote as God revealed to him. This was accepted by believers at the time these men lived and have been passed down together for nearly 2000 years.
Bob is just one of many who sample religions like dishes at a smorgasbord. They believe they can gather truths and create a religion comfortable to their lifestyle. What they fail to understand, for one thing, is the founders of each religion would never assent to the points of another. Buddha claimed there is no God; enlightenment comes from within oneself. Muhammad tried to kill the Jews and Christians that would not convert to his belief in Allah. And more isolating than all the rest is Jesus statement: "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me."
Every religion, except the Bible, gives you a chance to have pride in your own accomplishments, to gain the right to heaven, to balance evil with good. The Bible says, "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God;" "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord;" and "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He has saved us... not by works lest any one should boast."
Atheists, though too simplistic, at least try to balance their unbelief with an effort at logic. Smorgasbord religionists ignore their minds almost completely in their attempt to sample only what they like or feel.
God asks us to love Him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength.
Do you know what and why you believe what you do? It is equally as dangerous to avoid the mind as it is to avoid the heart. Don't forget to think.
03 May 2009
The Imprisonment of Freedom
I finished reading Crime & Punishment this evening. I must confess, had a friend with excellent literary taste not raved about how good it is, I may have been tempted to stop in the first chapters.
The book does not make good bedtime material. The intense internal struggles begin as depressing, move to desperate, and then weave amongst mystery, suspense, intrigue, discovery, despair, and hope.
Fyodor Dostoevsky is a master at storytelling with depth. He does not just tell you the state of human affairs, he causes you to experience the enslavement to such a point that you suddenly realize the mirror you are peering into.
The murderer mentality appears as a foreign thought process to most readers or at least on the surface. Character Raskolnikov's rationalization of his crime, his belief that his only mistake was in lacking the nerve to carry his plan to fruition, and that the end would justify the means if he had succeeded...these thoughts are much closer to the views expressed on the news for varying degrees of crimes.
If these ideas are unfamiliar to you, perhaps you might relate in diverse extents to Svidrigailov. Passion drove Svidrigailov. Not passion for life but for lust. Addiction dictated his life, strangled any chance for love, and left him without hope.
The worst criminals in the story fluctuated between great acts of kindness and terror. The great acts flowed from need within themselves, but stopped miles away from being instigated by love. They needed to alleviate guilt, felt a compulsion or had an ulterior motive. The good they did never wiped out the evil for which they were capable. They knew that. That knowledge eventually lead to the drowning or birthing of hope.
Lest you think this book was 629 pages of depression in ink, Dostoevsky ends the tale with hope. He doesn't tie everything up with unrealistic rosy bows, but he shows the key that frees us from the imprisonment into which we are born; the imprisonment of slavery to passion, pride, greed... An imprisonment that destroys not just those enslaved, but everyone we touch. Slowly, sometimes imperceptibly, our own natures erode other people like water wearing away at rock.
The Apostle Paul sums in his letter to the Roman church:
For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.
There is only one source for freedom. Freedom from Jesus means slavery to sin. Slavery to Jesus means freedom to live.
It is for freedom that Christ has set us free, Paul tells the Galatians (5:1). Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.
Who are you living for? You or Jesus? It is a matter of death and life.
The book does not make good bedtime material. The intense internal struggles begin as depressing, move to desperate, and then weave amongst mystery, suspense, intrigue, discovery, despair, and hope.
Fyodor Dostoevsky is a master at storytelling with depth. He does not just tell you the state of human affairs, he causes you to experience the enslavement to such a point that you suddenly realize the mirror you are peering into.
The murderer mentality appears as a foreign thought process to most readers or at least on the surface. Character Raskolnikov's rationalization of his crime, his belief that his only mistake was in lacking the nerve to carry his plan to fruition, and that the end would justify the means if he had succeeded...these thoughts are much closer to the views expressed on the news for varying degrees of crimes.
If these ideas are unfamiliar to you, perhaps you might relate in diverse extents to Svidrigailov. Passion drove Svidrigailov. Not passion for life but for lust. Addiction dictated his life, strangled any chance for love, and left him without hope.
The worst criminals in the story fluctuated between great acts of kindness and terror. The great acts flowed from need within themselves, but stopped miles away from being instigated by love. They needed to alleviate guilt, felt a compulsion or had an ulterior motive. The good they did never wiped out the evil for which they were capable. They knew that. That knowledge eventually lead to the drowning or birthing of hope.
Lest you think this book was 629 pages of depression in ink, Dostoevsky ends the tale with hope. He doesn't tie everything up with unrealistic rosy bows, but he shows the key that frees us from the imprisonment into which we are born; the imprisonment of slavery to passion, pride, greed... An imprisonment that destroys not just those enslaved, but everyone we touch. Slowly, sometimes imperceptibly, our own natures erode other people like water wearing away at rock.
The Apostle Paul sums in his letter to the Roman church:
For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.
For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.
Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand.
For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.
Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!
(Rom 7:18-25a)There is only one source for freedom. Freedom from Jesus means slavery to sin. Slavery to Jesus means freedom to live.
It is for freedom that Christ has set us free, Paul tells the Galatians (5:1). Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.
Who are you living for? You or Jesus? It is a matter of death and life.
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