Gleanings From The Word

Tuesday, November 29, 2016

Gentleness and Respect

But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect (I Peter 3:15 NIV).

We must always be ready to defend the Gospel of Christ, but that does not give us the right to be harsh or disrespectful of people with different beliefs than ours.

He is another one of those Moonies I said to myself with disdain. An Asian looking man had approached me in a parking lot and started to tell me what he believed. His literature indicated that he was a follower of Sun Myung Moon, who founded the Unification Church whose beliefs were inconsistent with orthodox Christian doctrine. Most Christians considered this group cultist. I impatiently waited for him to finish his spiel and then I let him have it. I told him in no uncertain terms that he was a part of a cult and I used scriptural proofs to validate my case. I walked away thinking, I guess I got him told. I was pretty sure I had defended the Gospel, but for some reason, I had a sense of unrest in my spirit. I pondered as to why I was troubled. It became apparent that I had not even come close to dealing with this man with gentleness and respect.

I knew what I had to do. I searched the parking lot for this man. As I approached him, he must have been thinking, not this guy again. I simply told him that I had talked to him in a way that Jesus would never have spoken to him. I asked him to forgive me for my attitude. In our first encounter, it is interesting that all my theological arguments were like water off of a duck’s back. They are trained to counter to these kinds of responses. In our second interaction, he was visibly shaken. He had no comeback to a little bit of humility. We should share the truth with people, but our theological truths need to be validated by the love and respect we show to those to whom we speak.

As the poet, Emerson once said, “What you do speaks so loud, I cannot hear what you say.” That just may have been true with that Moony that day.

Image used with permission by Microsoft.

Ken Barnes the author of “The Chicken Farm and Other Sacred Places” YWAM Publishing
Email: kenbarnes737@gmail.com
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Sunday, October 23, 2016

The Broken Vessel

I am forgotten as a dead man, out of mind;

I am like a broken vessel. (Psalms 31:12 NASB)

The concept of a man being a broken vessel is hard for the human mind to comprehend. Two messages revealed by the Cross of Christ help us grasp this spiritual state. Namely, that life follows death, and that joy always comes after mourning

As recorded in Matthew 27:46b (NASB), when Jesus hung on the Cross He cried out, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” God the Father, because Jesus took on our sins, had to turn away from His beloved Son. Brokenness happens when spiritually we find ourselves all alone and seemingly abandoned, even by God. Brokenness is never brought about by something that we do, but what God does. No amount of self-degradation can affect this spiritual condition. No extent of pain or self-sacrifice we inflict on ourselves can bring about a broken spirit. We just end up being proud of our humility. It reeks of the ugliness of self-righteousness.

So what do we do, just hang out and expect God to do it? I think there is something we can do. It called obedience. When God brings circumstances or people into our lives that test us seemingly beyond our ability to endure, do we run or remain where God has called us. Often our human abilities are overcome by life’s perplexities; a spiritual death transpires and a vessel is broken. Only then are God’s grace and strength released.

It is difficult for me to write on this topic as one who understands how unbroken I am, but that may be how it works. You are probably not broken if you think you are. Someone once said, “Humility without grace, is pride in disguise.

Thursday, October 6, 2016

Childlike Faith

Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them! For the Kingdom of God belongs to those who are like these children. I assure you, anyone who does not have their kind of faith will never get into the Kingdom of God.

(Mark 10: 14b-15 NLT)

My young grandson, Noah, once asked me the “T” question. “Granddad, what is the trinity?” This inquiry taught me a lot about childlike faith.

When Noah was a little guy, I often kept him while his Mother worked. He loved to put together jigsaw puzzles. While completing these puzzles, I talked to him about God. I must have used the word trinity in one conversation. His inquisitive little mind went into action, and he asked that dreaded question. I took a deep breath and started to explain the essence of God to a child. After I had finished my explanation, he said, “So you are saying that God is one person, but he is also three persons.” I said, yes. He paused to ponder only momentarily and then said. “OK” and proceeded to put the next piece in the puzzle. His demeanor said; the question was answered, no need to talk further, let’s get on with the puzzle.

What made it so easy for Noah to accept this truth that adults have labored to understand for centuries? I think there might be a very simple answer to this question. He did not believe that his granddad would lie to him. Of course, he did not understand how this could be true, but he trusted the one that told him. Is it much different for us adults and our heavenly Father? The integrity of the one making a promise validates its legitimacy. The character of God is the basis of every word spoken in the Bible. God is good; he is kind, and just, and trustworthy. God does not lie to us.

Many have desired to enter into the Kingdom of God, but the door to enter into this realm is and has always been childlike faith. Great minds have sought to understand the unsearchable riches of Christ, but without this simple faith, their intellect has proven to be a hindrance. A little child taught me what Jesus meant when he said, “For the Kingdom of God belongs to those who are like these children.”