Category: Justice

Getting the Inside Out

“The author who benefits you most is not the one who tells you something you did not know before, but the one who gives expression to the truth that has been dumbly struggling in you for utterance.”

Oswald Chambers

Stuck in the Wash Cycle


Am I the only person unable to give a voice to what God lays on my heart? I don’t mean to imply that I have received more revelation than you or any other fellow believer in Jesus. What I mean is that the nuggets God has revealed to me continue to slosh about inside me like blue jeans in a washing machine. They always seem to need more time to get past the spin cycle and become ready to come out clean and well-fitting. What’s inside my washing machine takes forever to come out.

I am not implying that I have nothing to write about. I have plenty of words, but when I give them some breathing room, I often find them lacking. It takes time and a delete key to provide a voice for something suitable for spiritual consumption. Do you ever feel this way? 

You may want to communicate a deeper understanding of a passage of Scripture or an insight that you know came from the Holy Spirit, but it seems stuck. No matter how you say it, it doesn’t communicate what you mean.

Spin ‘Till Dry

Whether informal or formal, God sets a high bar when we endeavor to teach. Concerning teachers in local churches, the book of James warns us, “for we who teach will be judged more strictly.” (James 3:1–2 NLT) It is often good for us to let our thoughts age for a while. We should revisit them regularly but not always to edit them. We just need to be sure that what we state as truth is really Truth. Attaching God’s name to our words carries great responsibility. We must teach, we must preach, and we must demonstrate unconstrained love for each other, for this is the command that Jesus gave us.

“So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.” John 13:34–35

Remove Before Wrinkling

We should not hold back what the Holy Spirit has shown us something that needs to be communicated. But when we do, let’s be sure that we are proclaiming the excellencies of him who called us out of darkness into his marvelous light (1 Peter 2:9).

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Don’t Cry

12 A funeral procession was coming out as he [Jesus] approached the village gate. The young man who had died was a widow’s only son, and a large crowd from the village was with her. 13 When the Lord saw her, his heart overflowed with compassion. “Don’t cry!” he said. 14 Then he walked over to the coffin and touched it, and the bearers stopped. “Young man,” he said, “I tell you, get up.” 15 Then the dead boy sat up and began to talk! And Jesus gave him back to his mother.

Luke 7:12-16

The Hebrew writing style is to put the primary point, event, or reason in the middle of the account or story. The first part prepares the reader for the key point, and the remainder shows the reader its effect.

Luke gives us a brief account of Jesus bringing a dead young man back to life. The primary event is found in verse thirteen, where Jesus, filled with compassion, stops the funeral and says to the widow. “Don’t cry.” We may be inclined to think that the miracle was Luke’s point, but the miracle was the result of Christ’s compassion. The miracle does testify that Jesus was and is the Messiah, but Christ’s compassion tells us about His heart.

Jesus is the same today. When He looks upon a brokenhearted believer, He has the same heart. His action may differ from what He did for the widow, but His compassion is no less. We find our greatest comfort in Jesus. In times of distress, run to Him. In Jesus, you will find the comfort you need.

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Between My Ears

Sometimes, I come across a passage in God’s Word that compels me to stop reading and meditate on those words. I’m sure you experience the same thing. Well, today, I was reading in the Psalms when I came upon this verse:

“Precious in the sight of the Lord     
is the death of his saints.“

Psalms 116:15

I know Jesus delights in His own when we exercise faith. And I know that I will be with Jesus when I pass; however, I hadn’t given a lot of thought about our Lord’s frame of mind when we die. How liberating God is. He has all of the bases covered for our lives. So, when our appointed time comes, the time He established before creation, He sees our death, not from this world’s view, but from His view from the throne of heaven.

He sees us as athletes that have crossed the finish line and now enter our rest. So it makes perfect sense that God sees our death, our crossing of that finish line, as something precious in His sight. We teach our kids this song:

Red and yellow, black and white
They are precious in His sight.
Jesus loves the little children of the world.

How marvelous it is that this song is true for His own when we pass.

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Between My Ears

If you have ever listened to a classic rock playlist or radio station, you have probably heard the song “We Are Family,” sung by Sly & the Family Stone. It’s a catchy toon. For believers, we are family. The old saying, you can choose your friends, but you can’t choose your family is true about the Church. “The church is a family, the “household of God” (1 Timothy 3:15)

Now you may have had bad experiences with your natural family and some in the Church. Here’s the difference. You only have your natural family for a short while. Don’t love them to get love; love them to be love to them. As for your spiritual brothers and sisters, you have them for eternity, so do as God’s Word declares: “Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.” (Romans 12:10)

Thanks for taking the time to read this. Have a great day!

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Between My Ears

Just as you cannot understand the path of the wind or the mystery of a tiny baby growing in its mother’s womb, so you cannot understand the activity of God, who does all things.

Ecclesiastes 11:5 NLT

Oh how often we want to know the mysteries of God. When we are crushed, we cry out to God, “Why?” When our lives seem to be unraveling, we cry out to God, “Why?” When doors of opportunities for good deeds are shut, we cry out to God, “Why?” But God seldom tells us why. In these times, what God desires is trust. In our darkest hour, we should remember Psalms 16:8 KJV, “I have set the LORD always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.“

When confronted with events that make no sense to you, don’t allow doubt to come into your life. Don’t be moved by circumstances. Trust in Jesus, the only one that can mediate your condition to our God whose activities cannot be understood.

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Between My Ears

In the 1957 TV show, “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour,” there is a funny exchange of words between Lucy and the actress, Tallulah Bankhead:

Lucy Ricardo : Are you asking me to leave?
Tallulah Bankhead : ‘Throwing you out’ would be more appropriate.
Lucy Ricardo : Let me tell you something, Tallulah Bankhead, I’ve been thrown out of better places than this!
Tallulah Bankhead : You have never BEEN in better places than this!

The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour

When we experience an embarrassing or stressful circumstance, our nature tries first to justify our actions, but then our emotions kick in, which makes us relive that event over and over and over. We run scenarios in our heads to take the same set of circumstances and produce a better outcome. This state can become crippling, but that’s not God’s plan for you.

Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.

Psalms 43:5 NIV

If you find yourself reliving an embarrassing or stressful event, give that circumstance to Jesus. Remember, it is because of God’s will that you are alive. “for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” (Philippians 2:13)

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Between My Ears

This morning I was reading in the book of Mark, chapter eleven. This chapter begins with the first-hand account of Jesus making His triumphant entry into Jerusalem. I had to stop and write this “note” when I came to these two verses.

As they were untying it, some bystanders demanded, “What are you doing, untying that colt?” They said what Jesus had told them to say, and they were permitted to take it.

Mark 11:5-6 NLT

This verse may be surprising to us because we no longer have a society in which everyone participates. It is impossible to impose a civil society “from the top down” – this approach is called oppression. Only when a society has a unifying “good” can they experience peace and prosperity.

Notice that some bystanders challenged the disciples when it appeared that the disciples were stealing the colt. Israel had a unifying “good.” Their “good” was God and His Scriptures. These tenets were generally taught and accepted by the Israelites. This cohesiveness empowered average Israelites to be invested in the good of their country. America needs this.

We, as Americans, need to return to our “good.” Our “good” is God – “Only God is truly good.” (Mark 10:18) We find our good documented in our “Declaration of Independence.”

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed…”

Declaration of Independence

Only when “these self-evident truths” are generally taught and accepted by Americans will we have sufficient cohesiveness to empower average Americans to be invested in the good of our nation.

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Our Judicial System

Something that is a concern in our country is whether our judicial system is trustworthy. There are many political perspectives, but I don’t want to consider any of them today. Instead, I would like us to consider why any judicial system must be accountable to God to be effective and accepted.

Let me state right up front that there is only one law that is required for a safe, peaceful, and just society: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ Mark 12:31 Every disagreement can be resolved by this law. That doesn’t mean that we don’t need rules – speed limits, tax levies, building codes – but all laws, codes, and ordinances should be under (ruled by) love your neighbor as yourself.

Insulated From the Flaws of Humanity

When it comes to upholding the law, credibility is key. Every judicial system requires the trust of the people it serves to function effectively. Anything that chips away at this trust erodes the system’s legitimacy in the eyes of those it’s supposed to protect. For a judicial system to be credible, it must be insulated from humanity’s flaws. This seems impossible, but God solved this problem for the Israelites and set the example for every judicial system ever created.

16 If a malicious witness arises to accuse a person of wrongdoing, 17 then both parties to the dispute shall appear before the Lord, before the priests and the judges who are in office in those days. 18 The judges shall inquire diligently, and if the witness is a false witness and has accused his brother falsely, 19 then you shall do to him as he had meant to do to his brother.

Deuteronomy 19:16–19

The Solution

Here is the solution for removing human flaws from a judicial system: Accept God as the head over the judges and all those that serve in the judiciary as well as all people that are accountable to the laws of the land. Notice what God established in Deuteronomy 19:16–19. The defendant, the accuser, and the judges all are beneath a mediator between God and man. For the Israelites, priests fulfilled the role of mediator.

No judicial system can ever hope to serve justice if its laws and the legal system are made by people, implemented by people, and enforced by people. Why? Because people are fundamentally flawed. I heard an attorney say that our legal system had nothing to do with justice. The sole responsibility of our system was to enforce the laws. There should be no consideration as to what is construed as “fair” or “just” because our legal system is charged with the enforcement of statutes conceived by legislators and codified by bureaucrats

What We Need

In America, courts used to require anyone that spoke to the judge or jury to take a vow of truth (swear to God). This put the court, and everyone involved in the judicial system “under God,” just like our money.

When we talk of mediators, as Christians, we may be tempted to claim that we are accountable only to Jesus as our high priest and mediator but concerning civil matters, He said, render to Caeser what is Caeser’s. (Mark 12:17) If we desire justice, then we must bring God back into our judicial system. The same is true for our school system and legislators. If we bar God from our institutions, we can have no expectation of justice.

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Distorted Gospel

So, what is a Christian to do? Flourish! Where sin abounds, grace abounds more (Romans 5:20). We are in the midst of a great harvest.

 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. – Galatians 1:6-7

A time of distorted gospel

We live in a time like the days of the apostle Paul, so much so that this passage in Galatians, from the pen of Paul, resonates in us as we, too, seek to tell the good news that Jesus bought and paid for with His blood and royal position (Revelation 17:14). Yet even while we tell people that Jesus came to seek and save the lost (Luke19:10), we are confronted by false doctrines from laypeople, religious leaders, and people at all levels of our government that lay claim to the name of our Savior, yet twist His words, attempting to smother the Truth with a gospel mixed with the leaven of this world. (Matthew 16:6)

Our goal is obedience

A Christian’s goal is not to rack up the most days lived, but to rack up the most days lived in obedience to Christ Jesus. It’s not a long life that we seek. It’s a long obedience in the same direction that we seek. Being schooled by public officials on how we should worship and where we should worship is beyond foolish; it’s heretical. 

This world is not our home. We are as Abraham, looking for a city built by God (Hebrews 11:10). We are just passing through this veil of tears (Psalm 84:6-8 NLT), attempting to avoid the Slough of Despond1. We live in this world, but we are not of this world (John 15:19). If we were to receive and ingest the heretical teachings from those who believe they have made wickedness holy by their own power, then I would no longer need the cleansing of my feet, but as Peter said, “wash all of me.” (John 13:9-10)

Purveyors of a perverted gospel

These purveyors of a perverted gospel are received and extolled by business tycoons, heads of state, and all manner of media moguls. The safety net that Christianity has so long enjoyed is gone. We are witnessing a separating between the wheat and the tares (Matthew 13:24-30), a kind of foreshadowing of that great day of God’s judgment. (Acts 17:31)

Where sin abounds, grace abounds more

So, what is a Christian to do? Flourish! Where sin abounds, grace abounds more (Romans 5:20). We are in the midst of a great harvest. People are desperate for the true fruit of the vine. (Matthew 26:27-29) True, people deceive easily. And when told the true Gospel, the decision they face is whether they will surrender all to Jesus. (1 Peter 5:6-10) And by all, that means their lives, prejudices, predispositions, and pride – this often costs them their family, friends, and the very structure upon which they’ve built their lives.

Yes, it’s no longer business as usual. We can’t just hide in our houses and wait for this sea-change to fall upon us. God is a Mighty Warrior. His name is El Shaddai – God Almighty, the Overpowerer (Job 40:1–2, Matthew 19:26)

God is a Mighty Warrior

I think many of us have forgotten this. It’s time to put on the whole armor of God (Ephesians 6:11) and join in the spiritual battle that now rages, for we fight not against flesh and blood (people are made in the image of God):

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

Ephesians 6:12

God destined us for this time in history

Some Christians may lament the loss of a lifestyle that their grandparents had, a time of distorted gospel, but be of good courage. God had us born into such a time as this, for this is our calling!

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  1. Slough of Despond – The Slough of Despond (/ˈslaʊ … dɪˈspɒnd/ or /ˈsluː/;[1] “swamp of despair”) is a fictional, deep bog in John Bunyan‘s allegory The Pilgrim’s Progress, into which the protagonist Christian sinks under the weight of his sins and his sense of guilt for them.

Children Running

The kids of this school, like most schools, are full of hopes, dreams, social challenges, social victories, and all that comes with an environment built to affirm the value of each child.

Right at this moment, I hear children running, and screaming with glee. Today is the first day of school and this is their first recess of the year. There seems to be an imperative within kids that when exiting a school building and entering a playground that they must run and scream and burst forth with joy and that’s just fine with me.

Upon this first day of school, each child is a bit older, a bit wiser, a bit fuller of anticipation of what the future may hold for them. What joy this brings to both my wife and I. You see, we live behind a school. It is all an open field between us and the school. Over 200 yards of empty.

The kids of this school, like most schools, are full of hopes, dreams, social challenges, social victories, and all that comes with an environment built to affirm the value of each child.

For me, I’ve reached a point in life when birthdays, holidays, anniversaries, and such have lost their excitement; not their joy but just their newness. In this process, I see within me the mechanics of what often happens as people age.

Shrinking World

So often, older people shrink their world, they become hesitant of change, they close their pockets, and close their minds. But I have determined that I will have none of that. Whatever I have, that is good or of value, has come from Jesus.

I have not forgotten who I really am. I am that young man, standing in the dark, outside a social gathering, hoping I could find someone to help me get a job because I had failed in all my efforts. That’s the real me. All else is the work of the Holy Spirit within me.

Anything good that can be found in me or from me is not of me or is mine. That which is of value or is just or right is what Jesus, my Lord and Savior, placed within me. Therefore, how can it be that I should allow myself to be stingy, withhold my help, or haphazardly pass judgement upon others. No!

I pray, oh my Father, in the Name above every name, that Name of Jesus of Nazareth, help me to “not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind…” (Romans 12:2 ESV) Oh God, I pray you would impregnate me with Psalms 112:5, which says:

It is well with the man who deals generously and lends;    
who conducts his affairs with justice. Psalm 112:5 ESV

May I never deal harshly or haphazardly with anyone made in Your image, my God. Amen.

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