Stop Racism

Below is an excerpt taken from a post (Don't Repay Racism with Racism) I found so enlightening I wanted to share it. 

God doesn’t instruct us to repay evil for evil or racism for racism. God doesn’t instruct black people to assume the worst of white people because some white people assume the worst of black people.

Racism is a vicious cycle that would be stopped if we refused to repay evil for evil—racism for racism. However, we continue to repay black supremacy for white supremacy, anti-white racism for anti-black racism. 

The Bible says: “finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing.” (1 Peter 3:8-9

Do Not Repay Racism For Racism

Posted on July 17, 2020 by Samuel Sey

Guard Duty

In 1967-68, I served in the US Army in the country of Vietnam.  I served as a crew-chief on a CH-47 Chinook helicopter.

My duties included being a door gunner, supervising loading and unloading cargo and routine maintenance on the helicopter.  When we were not flying, we had to pull guard duty. The perimeter of the base is the outer limits of a military position. The area beyond the perimeter belongs to the enemy. During the night, you sat in a guard tower with a M-60 machine gun and watched for enemy movement outside the perimeter. The perimeter was several miles long and consisted of four rows of razor wire.

I have often thought how that guard duty experience compares to my life as a Christ-follower. That physical enemy and our spiritual enemy are similar. 

1. Both require extreme diligence. Proverbs 4:23 says "Above all else, watch over your heart; diligently guard it..." In the Bible, the 'heart' refers to the mind, will, and emotions; it is the true person. While in the guard tower, you could not be distracted. The enemy was very good infiltrating through the razor wire. Our spiritual enemy, Satan, is just as crafty. John 10:10 "The thief comes only to steal and destroy..." 
2. Both enemies use deception. The Viet Cong are masters in camouflage. When watching outside the perimeter, you have to remember where each bush and plants are. When you look back you might discover a bush that was not there ten minutes ago! 2 Corinthians 11:14 says, "for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light ."
3. Both enemies are to be taken seriously. It was dangerous to underestimate the Viet Cong. They did not have the sophisticated weapons we did but they made up for it with tenacity.  Many people do not believe that Satan truly exists but the Bible repeatedly says he is real. He is not a cartoon character with a pointy tail and pitchfork. While the Christ-follower should not fear Satan, we must realize he is a formidable foe.  

I encourage every Believer to be on constant guard.

Lawlessness

Man is not a sinner because he sins. Man sins because he is a sinner.

The Bible is clear that sin is basically lawlessness. "Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness.” 1 John 3:4 The word translated “lawlessness” comes from the Greek word anomia, which means “an utter disregard for God and His laws. This was first seen in the Garden of Eden when Adam disobeyed God. 

Every sin is a transgression against God because sin violates His moral standard for human beings. A lawless person is one who has given himself or herself over completely to a sinful lifestyle. Lawless people either do not believe in God or refuse to acknowledge His right to rule their lives (Psalm 14:1)

Those who persist in lawlessness will not inherit the kingdom of God. Jesus warned that in the end times lawlessness will increase and “the love of many will grow cold” (Matthew 24:12). When an attitude of lawlessness pervades the atmosphere, people stop wondering about right and wrong. They no longer know or care that absolute moral standards exist.

 Jesus warned that in the end times lawlessness will increase. We are seeing the effects of lawlessness in much of the world today. God’s laws—and even secular society’s laws—are rejected as obsolete, superfluous, or repressive. Each man is a law unto himself, and the outcome of that type of lawlessness is anarchy and chaos.

Be Still - Part Two

                                    He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; Psalm 46:10

In my last post, we considered the concept of "being still" and saw it meant 'to lower your hands,' to quit striving in your own strength in an attempt to know God.

The Bible uses two different words that are translated "know" into English. The first word means to come to an intellectual understanding. I can truthfully say, "I know Donald Trump." That is to say, I would recognize him if he came into a room and this is the same word found in our text. 

But I don't know him in a relational setting. I don't know his likes or dislikes. I don't understand him personally. In Genesis 4:1, it tells us that Adam knew Eve and she conceived a child. The writer choose the Hebrew word meaning an intimate relationship and this is the same word used in our text. 

Many people know God intellectually but few know Him in an intimate relationship. Knowing God intimately requires"being still" in the sense we need to totally surrender all OUR efforts and struggles to know Him. 

Find a quiet place and just allow Him to reveal Himself to you. 

Be Still - Part One

"He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; ... Psalm 46:10

One of the hardest thing for me to do as a child was being still. I cannot count the number of times at church my mother told me to be still. As an adult, I still have a problem of being still, so this command in Psalm 46 is still a difficult command for me. 

But as I studied the true meaning of this verse, I found that it means more than sitting quietly with my hands folded on my lap. The Hebrew language actually means admit defeat, give up trying to work out everything in your own strength. Come to the end of yourself could be a literal translation. It even means trying to be godly, at least in your strength. Much of my frustration in my spiritual journey come from ME striving to be the model Christ-follower. 

But how can we learn to be still when all around us is noise and hurry? The fact is God will allow us to run in our own effort until we come to the end of ourselves and find God is all that's left.  So, how do we learn to let down our hands and quit trying to figure out everything in my own strength when that is all I have known? 

One of the most familiar story about being still is found in Mark 4:35-40.  The sitting is Jesus and His disciples are in a boat when a furious storm suddenly threatens to capsize their boat. Most of these disciples were fishermen by trade, so they were familiar with storms but this storm was fierce and they were terrified. Jesus on the hand was sound asleep in the back of the boat. The disciples woke Him with a rebuke, "Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing? verse 38. Jesus woke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!”And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. 

Who was Jesus telling to be still? The storm? Or His disciples? One Bible scholar suggested that Jesus' command to "be still" may also have had a second application. The disciples were undoubtedly bailing water as fast as they could. Apparently they were not successful in alleviating the danger. The passage tells us the storm went calm but what about the men? They suddenly realized their salvation from the storm wasn't the boat but the Person in the boat.    

Appointment With God

If you are like most Christ-followers, you probably have problems with consistency in your quiet time. For me, the urgent screams from my attention and many times my devotional time is put on the back burner. I rationalize that I will do it later when I have more time. 

This morning a thought came to me that could change the way I live. That thought is so simple, I cannot believe I had not thought of it sooner. 

We make appointments for everything: doctors, meeting with friends, a date night with your spouse, vacations, etc. So why not make an appointment for meeting with God? What could be more important than meeting with the Creator and Sustainer of the universe? If you had an appointment with the President of the United States tomorrow morning, I am sure that you would keep that appointment! So why do we think missing an appointment with God is less important? After all, God would understand if I have more pressing matters to take care of right?

What if we woke 30 minutes earlier every morning, and had an appointment with God? Set an actual time, say 7 a.m., and then be committed to the that every day. But a word of caution, don't make this time just a requirement. Don't make it something you check off your to-do list for the day. Your meeting was God should not be a requirement. It's all about relationship.

So, why not make an appointment with God for tomorrow morning?

Don't Just Listen

I think we all have, from time to time, left a worship a service where a sermon was preached and said something along the line, "I did not get anything from that message." That got me to thinking, why didn't we? I am sure there are many reasons but allow me to share just two. 

1. I once heard a preacher say he believed that God has something for everyone attending that service. That "something" may be different for each person. It may be just one verse that was read. It could be just one sentence or word that was spoken. If we believe God is Sovereign, and He is, everything is under His control including what transpires in that service. "The Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives." Ps 37:23 NLV 

2. I think that we are so preoccupied with other things that when we come to church we have little [if any] expectations that God will speak to us. Matthew 11:15 says, "Let anyone who has ears listen" It is like when we are having a serious "talk" with your son and you can tell he is hearing the words but he isn't really listening and you say, "Do you understand what I am saying? The goal of the "talk" isn't just hearing words spoken but the goal is a change in behavior.

So, the next time you come to church, come with the expectation that God has something to communicate with you personally. Don't just listen; hear!

What Are We To Do?

You are probably as concerned with the condition of our country as I am. It seems we are unraveling at the seams. As Christ-followers, my wife and I pray daily for our country and our President. 1 Timothy 2:1-2 We believe that even through this chaos, God is still in control. Romans 8:28  

As I look over the seemingly insurmountably conditions, my mind goes to a situation Israel found itself. In 2 Chronicles 20  King Jehoshaphat finds himself surrounded by an enemy army. The king was vastly outnumbered. so fighting was not an option. He did not know what to do but what he did do was applicable to our country as well.

He assembled the city together and called out to God. 2 Chronicles 20:3-11 His only hope was God. " For we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on  .”

In today's culture, praying to God in our time of need seems archaic. In fact, forgetting Good in our lives and in our nation is why we are in our present situation.  I don't want to be simplistic but the solution to our problem simple. 

In 2 Chronicles 7:14 we read "If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land."

Our problem is, we are too proud to humble ourselves before God and acknowledge our need of Him. 

Touching First Base

The 1924 baseball World Series between the Washington Senators and the New York Yankees remains legendary.  It persists in the memories of a few fans  as one of the most exciting baseball championships in the history of the game. It is the seventh game of the series.  The Senators and the Yankees are tied, three games a piece.  It is the bottom of the ninth inning.  The first two batters strike out. The third batter has two strikes when he hits the third pitch well into the outfield. It looks like a home run but, the ball hits a pole and bounces backward into fair territory.  Rather than a home run, he has to settle for a triple. 

As the runner runs for third base, the third base coach signals the runner to steal home. The short stop throws the ball to home plate. It is going to be close but the throw to home is high and the catcher has to leap to catch it. In doing so, the runner slides under the catcher and touches home plate! The crowd goes wild. Until the home base umpire calls the runner OUT!  The crowd erupts in an out roar!   Fearing a riot, the umpire convenes a conference of all of the field umpires and himself.  Finally, they reach a decision.  The home plate umpire goes to the mike to announce the determination.  “The runner at home is called out because he failed to touch first base.

Imagine that!  The entire season and the World Series are lost due to a technicality.  The runner in his excitement fails to touch first.  The runner in his excitement fails to touch first.  Countless hours of practice, travel, and games was canceled by a small yet very significant omission.  However, that is also the case with the life of faith. 

Jesus tells Nicodemus that no one can enter the kingdom of heaven (home plate) unless he is born again (First base).  It does not matter that Nicodemus is one of the teachers of the law.  His knowledge of the law was not synonymous with a relationship with God.  Even though Nicodemus, as a member of the Sanhedrin, was a keeper of the history, literature, and religion of Israel, he had missed first base because he failed to seek a vibrant and growing relationship with Almighty God.  In the Church, we can think because you had taught Sunday School for years, had perfect church attendance for 20 years, served on the Church Board, been baptized, joined the church or any other outward ritual you are assured of heaven (Home base.) 

If you have never said the sinner’s prayer and followed the dictates of Romans 10:9-10, then you have missed first base.  It is important that we surrender our hearts completely to the Lord Jesus Christ. Some of the saddest words in the Bible is found in Matthew 7:22-24 . People will stand before God and claim the all the good things they have done for God guarantees entrance into heaven but God will say He never knew them.  

Jesus said "You MUST be born again..."