Thoughts from a Random Mind

            If people could see you the way God sees you what would they see?  Would they see a living example of Christ’s love, patience, and kindness? Or would they see someone who in no way resembles the Lord? 

            We ARE human; however, as followers of Christ we are to be a reflection of our Lord as much as it is possible, in spite of our humanness. We have two mighty weapons in our arsenal. One is prayer, and the other is the Holy Spirit, who lives within us since the day we received salvation. That is the key to becoming a reflection of Christ. That and feeding your spirit thru reading scripture, listening to teachings and sermons, and taking a deep dive into the Bible as often as you can. Don’t forget contemporary Christian music, whose lyrics can at times be a sermon in itself. These things need to become priorities in our life. 

            Are you bearing fruit? Do you resemble your Heavenly Father at all? Are you learning your lessons regarding how you, as a Christian, should act and react in any given situation? Are you taking a tip from the apostle Paul and learning to be content in all circumstances? Some of these traits do not come naturally, therefore they do not come easily. It takes determination and a willingness to change. God has plans for all of us, but if we resist change then His plan will fail, by no fault of His own. 

            After considering what I’ve said here, let me ask you again: If people could see you the way God sees you, what would they see? Ponder that as a start of some self-assessment regarding your walk with the Lord.

            Until next time, walk with the King & be a blessing.

In His Name & for His Glory,

RL Keller

Bread of Life Ministries

Seek & Follow

“Seek the Lord & follow his commands (not suggestions, commands) ... Seek to do what is right and live humbly.” ^{(Zephaniah 2:3 Amp)}

The OT prophets announced news of destruction, but also offered the only means of escape and protection turning from sin and walking with God.

Micah 6:6-8... “What can we bring to the Lord? Should we bring him burnt offerings? Should we bow before God Most High with offerings of yearling calves? Should we offer him thousands of rams and ten thousand rivers of olive oil? Should we sacrifice our firstborn children to pay for our sins? No, O people, the Lord has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.”

Frankly, the only way to accomplish what Micah is saying above is to draw close to God and learn from Him that which is required of you as His child. The Holy Spirit is the One who resides within us and will guide and direct us if we will learn to be attuned to what He is saying to our spirit. It requires trust. Trust in Almighty God. Without proof that He even exists, we need to allow our faith to kick in, followed by trust, believing that our God always has our best interests at heart.

Without God, we are a rudderless ship with no ability to navigate the rough seas or shallow waters. Chances are we would either be broken up and sink or run aground. Faith and trust in the Lord enables us to strap ourselves to the mast and ride out any storm. We must seek out a spirit of calmness in the midst of calamity so as to properly navigate thru our troubles. Do as we know we ought to do according to God and His Word and our life will be pleasing to the Lord. Until next time, walk with the King & be a blessing.

In His Name & for His Glory,

RL Keller

Bread of Life Ministries

Monergism vs. Synergism

          Big words that will mean nothing to most of you, I’m guessing. Well, Monergism happens to be what most of us believe; that God is solely responsible for the salvation of ones soul. Synergism shows that while God is involved in salvation, yet must work in tandem with His creation to achieve redemption. 

            The essence of the Monergistic argument is that God is in the business of actually saving people and not merely making them “savable.” Monergism starts with an enemy of God, seemingly unsavable, and, by the grace of God, brings that spiritually dead person into saving faith and union with Christ. Synergism starts with a person who has at least a spark of spiritual life. This person has the natural ability to take a step toward God apart from grace and thus meet God in the middle. God may do most of the saving work, but He must somehow also depend on the work of the individual being saved. This concept is found nowhere in scripture, but Monergism is.

 “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.” ^{(Ephesians 2:8-9 NIV)}

“And since it is through God’s kindness, then it is not by their good works. For in that case, God’s grace would not be what it really is — free and undeserved.” ^{(Romans 11:6 NLT)}

            It is solely God’s doing to save us. We can do nothing in and of ourselves to achieve forgiveness, heaven or even come into God’s good graces on our own. While atonement is available to all, only those who are drawn to Him can receive God’s redemptive work. In other words, man is not ever inclined to come to God on his own, although it may on the surface appear that way. It’s a spiritual encounter that our spirit recognizes and latches onto. 

            So believing in the biblical rendering that God alone is responsible for the salvation of man would make you Monergistic in your beliefs. Until next time, walk with the King & be a blessing.

In His Name & for His Glory,

RL Keller

Bread of Life Ministries

John 6:29

Jesus answered, “This is the work of God: that you believe [adhere to, trust in, rely on, and have faith] in the One whom He has sent.”

 

            There was a problem back in Jesus day that still exists today. “Many are seeking to earn their way to heaven by good works. But before they can do good works for God, they must first believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Good works do not precede salvation; they follow it. The only good work a sinner can do is to confess his sins and receive Christ as Lord and Savior.” ^[1]

            Isn’t it interesting that Jesus is having to explain what the work of God is even after the miracle of the loaves and fish. The number 5000 didn’t include the women and children, so there were more than twice that number in attendance. Feeding all those people as much as they wanted from 5 loaves and 2 fish. I don’t know about you but that seems like a mega miracle to me. Yet they still sought ways to please God thru what they did.

            “The crowd misunderstood what Jesus was saying in v.27 [“Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of God will give to you, ....”], which prompted Jesus to remind them that an exclusive focus on material blessings is wrong. The only “work” God desired was faith and trust in Jesus as Messiah and Son of God.” ^[2]

            Doing good, while admirable, means nothing without the acceptance of Christ as Lord and Savior of your life. You cannot EARN your way into heaven. A wholesale change needs to take place on the inside. Without that you are just spinning your wheels. Not to mention the fact that God knows every motivation for why you are doing what you’re doing. All glory should go to God and Him alone. Not you, not me, not anyone other than Almighty God. Until next time, walk with the King and be a blessing.

In His Name & for His Glory,

RL Keller

Bread of Life Ministries

^[1] The Believer’s Bible Commentary

^[2] The MacArthur Study Bible

 

Isaiah 53:4-6... We Are Healed

        “Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” ^{(Isaiah 53:4-6 NIV)}

            What is the reason Christ went to the cross? Was it to heal our sicknesses and diseases? Where exactly does it say that? Verse 5, “... by his wounds we are healed.”? Is there only one type of healing? Could it refer to the healing of our souls that were bound for an everlasting hell because of our propensity to sin. Again I ask, why did Jesus have to go to the cross? The answer is simple, but has nothing to do with physical healing.

            The answer is that Jesus had to go to the cross, bleed, and die to provide a living sacrifice for the entirety of sins committed by us all. Being sick or having a terminal disease aren’t classified as sins. But a lifestyle that contradicts what God had intended for us is sinful. Why? Because Romans 3:23 tells us “we have all sinned and fallen short of God’s glory.” No matter how good you may think you are, without Christ you are a sinner, just like everyone else. Christian’s are just sinners saved by grace.

            Nothing in Isaiah 53 would lead us to believe that His death on a cross would insure our physical healing. Would that mean no one would ever die? If every time we were ill, no matter how mild or how critical, God would touch us, and we would become well? That sounds a little absurd to me. We all die eventually, but God does heal according to His will for us as individuals. He chooses not to heal at times, and though I don’t entirely understand why, it’s okay with me because I’ve learned to trust Him with my life. There are many examples of believers who were struck by tragedy, and while God chose not to heal them, He did use them mightily for His Kingdom.

            Life this side of heaven was never intended to be perfect. Evil exists in this world because of the one who has control over it; Lucifer, aka, Satan. We can live within a sin sick, evil world because Christ lives and is our protector.

            To conclude, let me ask you one more question. Would you rather be healed of some terminal disease or be forgiven for all your sins? Mind you, it’s one or the other. It cannot be both. A terminal death would just usher me into His presence that much sooner. Do you love the Lord? Are you disillusioned by the fact that not all sicknesses are healed by God? Don’t be. Scripture is very clear; Jer 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” That’s why I trust the Lord. How about you? 

            Until next time, walk with the King & be a blessing.

In His Name & for His Glory,

RL Keller

Bread of Life Ministries

Is It Ever Okay to Lie?

“The Lord detests lying lips, but he delights in those who tell the truth.” ^{(Proverbs 12:22 NLT)}

            The Bible nowhere presents an instance where lying is considered to be the right thing to do. The ninth commandment prohibits bearing false witness (Exodus 20:16). Proverbs 6:16-19 lists “a lying tongue” and “a false witness who pours out lies” as two of the seven abominations to the Lord. Love “rejoices with the truth” (1 Corinthians 13:6). There are many examples of liars in Scripture, from Jacob’s deceit in Genesis 27 to the pretense of Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5. Time after time, we see that falsehood leads to misery, loss, and judgment.

There are at least two instances in the Bible where lying produced a favorable result. For example, the lie the Hebrew midwives tell Pharaoh seems to result in the Lord’s blessing on them (Exodus 1:15-21), and it probably saved the lives of many Hebrew babies. Another example is Rahab’s lie to protect the Israelite spies in Joshua 2:5. It is important to note, however, that God never condones these lies. Despite the positive outcome of these lies, the Bible nowhere praises the lies themselves. The Bible nowhere states that there are instances where lying is the right thing to do. At the same time, the Bible does not declare that there is any possible instance in which lying is an acceptable option.

The question then remains: is there ever a time when lying is the right thing to do? The most common illustration of this dilemma comes from the life of Corrie ten Boom in Nazi-occupied Holland. Essentially, the story is this: Corrie ten Boom is hiding Jews in her home to protect them from the Nazis. Nazi soldiers come to her home and ask her if she knows where any Jews are hiding. What is she to do? Should she tell the truth and allow the Nazis to capture the Jews she was trying to protect? Or should she lie and deny that she knows anything about them?

In an instance such as this, where lying may be the only possible way to prevent a horrible evil, perhaps lying would be the best of the available options. Such an instance would be somewhat similar to the lies of the Hebrew midwives and Rahab. In an evil world, and in a desperate situation, it may be the right thing to commit a lesser evil, lying, in order to prevent a much greater evil. However, it must be noted that such instances are extremely rare. And, even in those situations, lying would still be a sin, because it would still be violating the character of the God of truth (Hebrews 6:18). The vast majority of lies are due to people seeking to protect themselves, promote themselves, or harm someone else. That is why the Bible so clearly, strongly, and consistently condemns lying as a sin.  

Until next time, walk with the King & be a blessing.

In His Name & for His Glory,

RL Keller

Bread of Life Ministries

SOURCE: www.gotquestions.org

NOTE: For other Scriptures that speak negatively of lying, see Psalm 119:29, 163; 120:2; Proverbs 12:22; 13:5; Ephesians 4:25; Colossians 3:9; and Revelation 21:8.

“I Have to See Evidence of God’s Existence.”

Behind this seemingly humble and reasonable request there is actually a vast amount of pride. The trouble is that the person making this claim assumes they are in the position of being able to judge the evidence. They assume they have the neutrality, intelligence, and ability to assess whether there is a God or not. They have, in effect, positioned themselves as the judge of The Judge. So the first question we should ask anyone who demands evidence, is why they think they have the capacity to judge any such evidence? You cannot see God without humility. It is only when we kneel at the cross, rather than flying over it at drone height, that we are able to see where love and mercy meet.

Very often, the person who demands evidence has already made a pre-judgement that there can be no such evidence. Some have found that if you answer a particular problem, or provide a particular piece of evidence, the person you are answering immediately turns to something else just to avoid the issue. In order to overcome this prejudice and to avoid wasting a vast amount of time arguing about such vital issues as whether Noah walked to Australia to get kangaroos, simply suggest the following: ask anyone who demands evidence, what evidence is it that they would accept for God? Honest atheists like Richard Dawkins admit that there is almost nothing that would convince them of God. If a giant finger was to write in the sky, “I exist”, they would find some alternative way of explaining it. Anything other than believing in an almighty personal Creator. 

When the Big Bang was proven and it became clear that the universe did indeed have a beginning, as the Bible stated, some atheists were so desperate to avoid the obvious implications that they refused at first to accept it (and afterwards quickly ran off to place their faith in the unproven multiverse theory). Their philosophy is what I call ABG-ism (Anything But God). It is not so much that they believe there is no evidence for God, but they are emotionally driven by their desire that there should be no evidence for God.

                  In the end believing in God is a choice. He created a belief system and the right to either abide by it or not abide by it. He calls it “free will”. There IS no solid, tangible evidence that there either IS a God or ISN’T a God. To potentially complicate the issue even more, just because atheists say there IS no God, doesn’t mean they are right.

            Until next time, walk with the King & be a blessing.

In His Name & for His Glory,

RL Keller

Bread of Life Ministries

Source: https://www.solas-cpc.org/what-to-say-when-someone-asks-for-proof-of-gods-existence/