Corrupt Words

Ephesians 4:29 says, "Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for nessecary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers."
Out of all the things we Christians do wrong, this has to be pretty high up on the scale. Not only in the form of cursing, which is becoming more rampant, but in the sense of sarcasm and bringing others down. As Christians, we are suppose to be in the world, but not of it, meaning that we are to live in the world but not conform to its call or adapt to the "normality" of it. We are to be lights shinning on a hill, but how can lights shine when they are exactly like the darkness they try to reach out to?
The first and formost form of corrupt word that I think is cursing. When we throw down the "F-bomb", what it really says is either, "I have anger issues" or "I am conforming to the world." People will curse because it is cool. Honestly that is just the reason people do it. In a group of friends, people will start conversing and as soon as someone lays down the first blow, the others soon follow. But really, how can we blame them? We constantly watch movies in which cursing isn't really that bad, and we hang out with friends who don't follow Christ and we hear them say dirty and corrupt words. Sure, one looking for sin can always find it, but do we really try to guard the hearts of our young ones to teach them edifying things?
If I asked you if it was possible for everything you say to come across as what is good for necessary edification, how would you answer?
I often struggle with the line between joking and lying, and I have come to the conclusion that not many know where that line is either. However, I think we can really lose focus on what our goal is by staring at this line in between such things. If you ever wanted to know the secret behind the tightrope walker, he'll tell you that he focuses on the end, and not the rope itself. When I learned to rollerblade, my father told me to look ahead, and not at the floor because where you look, there you will go. The same is true with this imaginary line. If you really try to find the balance, you will fall every time, but if you focus on pursuing Christ, then you will be more successful.
Notice how Paul, the writer of Ephesians, says that edification is necessary. Do we really think this is true? Do we consider edification necessary?  Do we impart grace to those who hear? And most importantly, are we chasing after God? - Forsake All

Forgiven of Much

Luke 7:47-48 says, “Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little. Then He said to her, ‘Your sins are forgiven.’ ”

This story starts off in verse 36 when a Pharisee named Simon asks Jesus to come eat at his house. Jesus accepts the offer and begins to dine with Simon. When the sinful woman heard of Jesus and Simon’s meal, she brought an alabaster flask of fragrant oil in order to wash Jesus’ feet. Simon questions the authenticity of Jesus’ claims because he reasons that Jesus really knew who this woman was, he wouldn’t allow her to come near. However, Jesus instead goes on to explain that because she has been forgiven much, she loves much.

This passage has meant a lot to me personally through out my life. I have dealt with a lot of different sins and struggles, some of which I steal deal with. To know that God has completely washed me clean of that sin is something I can’t fully comprehend. I understand that because of the Fall of Man, we were cursed. That curse we don’t have the communion that we could of had with God the Father. In fact, we were even made enemies in the site of God.

Paul wrote a letter to the Roman church and in it is a very strong summary of the Gospel and Theology. He wrote it with the intent of explaining all of Christianity to those in Rome who had not completely grasped the concept yet. He explains in chapter 5 that because of Adam and Eve, we were all born into sin and there was no way out of it, except for a perfect, divine, and human sacrifice to cleanse the earth of its sin.

I love to think about the immensity of our sin because of the beauty of redemption. Romans 5:20 says, “Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more.” On our way to Church Youth Camp last week, we watched The Incredibles. The villain of the movie wants to become a hero, so he makes the most evil robot the world has ever seen and puts it in the middle of the city. The villain’s hope is that the robot will destroy everything in sight, and before it completely demolishes the people of the city, he will destroy it, looking like the hero who has saved the day. His plans are foiled and the real heroes defeat the robot and are renamed the best.

Those who have seen this movie relate to it and see the bad guy as a selfish human being who doesn’t care about anyone else. Anyone like this leaves a bad taste in our mouths. However, I wonder if this the way God works. Obviously, His love is vast and He truly does love us, but not more than Himself. For Him to love something more than Himself would mean that there is something out there that is better and worth more. For God to love Himself means that He is the ultimate, and there is nothing even close to being better than Him.

With this description, we could say that God is a jealous God. Romans 8:28 says, “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” Some people will take this verse and say that God will do anything and everything to give us the best that we need. In saying that, they mean the things that they want, which are desires of the world. However, we know that God’s will is unchanging because of the power of His predestining. Anyone who has His will lined up with God’s will see the will put into action, not because of the man willing it, but the man choosing God’s will over his flesh’s will.

All of this is important to note because without it we know that if God is not selfish then we cannot be sure of His existence as the Supreme Being of the Universe. If this is not true then we have no reason to have faith in His death and resurrection. If this is not true, then the whole idea of Christianity is false and in need of “repair”. But because God desires adoration more than anything else, we can have assurance that He will get it through everything that happens because of His sovereignty. Thus we can trust Him, if we indeed seek after Him, when we go through struggles and persecution.

2^nd Corinthians 12:7-10 says, “And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. 8 Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. 9 And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

Right now, I want you to understand that God forgives because God loves adoration and He wants everyone to be apart of it. This is the true sign of love because when all life is centered on giving God praise and He offers the most intimate praise possible, it is a true act of love because we are fulfilling our purpose as human beings. God used sin in the world to make us realize that we are stuck here on earth. Without a Savior or a way out, there is no way we can possibly live and do what we were meant to do as humans.

I think it’s funny how Jesus says that this woman has been forgiven of much and kind of points out that Simon doesn’t love as much because Simon thinks that he isn’t such a bad guy. It’s not that the woman, without God, would have been sent to a lower level of hell than Simon because of her deeper sin, but it is simply that she recognized how much she was in need of a Savior. Simon had yet to realize that.

I pray we all understand just how much sin we have been saved from, and then maybe we would begin to love God more. – Forsake All

Power Perfected

2^nd Corinthians 12:7-10 says, “Because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me—to keep me from exalting myself! 8 Concerning this I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me. 9 And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. 10 Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong”

This passage is such a beautiful contrast that defines the Christian life. I just got back today from a church camp at which this was the theme for a single night. We were told it was okay to be weak, for God works in those weaknesses. I am currently writing on this subject with the purpose of explaining the contrast logically so that it may make sense and seem to you and I as a realistic goal to chase after.

The italicized portion of the passage is what we are going to be looking at the most, and is the summary of the whole section. Here, we are talking about two different types of strength. The strength that Paul says he lacks is the humanistic and worldly strength, which says that you must stand up for yourself. You must make yourself look stronger than you really are and more active than normal. He says that he doesn’t have this type of strength because he understands that this strength fades. When Christ comes back, it doesn’t matter how many world records we have or songs that we have written. God will come back only seeking those who belong to Him.

However, Paul says he has a certain type of strength but what does he mean by that? John 15 gives us a picture of vine connected to the branches, and verse 5 says, “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.” We Christians are the branches that abide in Christ and rely on Him to produce fruit through us. As the campers this past week learned, we are to have both dependence and discipline when it comes to faith. We are to step in faith and do as God asks us to do, but we must remember and rely on Him to work through us. Proverbs 21:31 sums it up with, “The horse is prepared for the day of battle, But victory belongs to the LORD.”

This strength is reliance in Christ, for what we do for Him, which is really Him working through us, lasts forever. Only the things of Christ will last past the destruction of earth. We will be giving God glory forever in Heaven and we are called to do so even here on earth. Paul knew that the worldly sense of strength was fleeting and doomed to end, but he understood that if He relied on Christ, than the things he did would support the King of Kings.

But why does he have to be weak? We sing a song at my church called Shipwreck by Starfield. The chorus says, “I am just a beggar here at Your door; I am just a Shipwreck here on Your shore; I come empty handed and ready to see Your life in me changing who I’ve been to who I need to be.” When we see ourselves as “capable” to accomplish God’s will through the world’s sense of strength, there is friction. God doesn’t need a strong and stuck up person to do His will, but He works through the humble. Psalms 51:17 says that God desires and will cast out a broken and contrite heart. If we come humbly to the cross in full repentance of our sin, then Christ will work through us.

I don’t mean to say that Christ only works through the humble, but to say that is a character quality that God demonstrates, and those who chase after God and fear Him should become like Him in such a way as to be humble. Think about Paul in the sense of being a trampoline. What sense would it make for a trampoline, if possible, to think, “I want to see how high I can jump”? Instead, the reason it was made was to help others be able to jump higher. Now, God is in way “in need” of us. This is to say that if we were nonexistence or disobedient, God would still be able to work out His plan with no complications. However, it is a blessing for us to be able to be apart of God is doing. It is when we are working for God, while He works through us, that we experience true Joy, because we know that there is something more to this life; that is Christ’s glory.

I am to live weak so that I can understand that I am neither worthy nor capable of obeying God’s will, and that I am in complete need of Christ to work in and through me for the sake of Gospel. The whole fact that God would not remove the thorn in Paul’s flesh (Imagery that may mean some sense of sin, whether that’d be pride or something else) was to simply remind Paul that he was indeed human and could not do anything alone. If Paul gained too much confidence in himself, his ministry would completely die or be in vain, for Christ would no longer be working through him. He has a thorn in the flesh to level out his balance of discipline with dependence.

We are to rely on Christ alone for the spreading of the Gospel, but we are to take simple steps in faith as well. – Forsake All