I'm Sorry

My little sister, (in the Lord), knocks on my door. She was involved in something that I didn't ever blame her for, but it put me in an uncomfortable position. I go to the door and she is crying. She apologizes and my heart is overwhelmed with love for her.

It's such a heart-touching event that I can't help but think about it for a long while.

I have to conclude that the Lord Jesus' heart must overflow with love; He must be deeply touched by our admission of guilt and loving - even tearful - apology. If it's that good, and it must be that or better, we should be mindful to do it more often. I'm sure there is no shortage of offenses to confess to Him in sorrow.

3 Parts

"And may the God of peace Himself sanctify you through and through [separate you from profane things, make you pure and wholly consecrated to God]; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved sound and complete [and found] blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah)." 1 Thess. 4:23

God is One, yet three parts. Father, Son, Holy Spirit.
An egg is one, yet three parts. Shell, albumen, yolk.
The human being is one, yet three parts. Spirit, soul, body.

The physical condition of the body CERTAINLY has an effect on the whole being. Imbalance in the physical body contributes to thoughts or behavior that manifest the natural darkness of the flesh rather than the goodness of the indwelling Spirit. Disease and infection in the physical body suffering the abuse of the world affects the human spirit and soul because the human being is one.

All of this to say that the food that the world offers contributes HEAVILY to the suffering of the physical body. God made food whole and un-processed. In our pride, we like to think we can make things better, including food. "Better" means processing, refining, genetic engineering and more.

We have:
Fats that are better than butter
Sweeteners that are better than natural raw sugar, honey or maple syrup
Refined enriched flour that is better than whole grain and is "the standard"
Pasteurized milk that is better than raw
Water that is enhanced with fluoride for better health
White rice that cooks faster and chews faster without the chewy germ
Oatmeal with bran rolled out that cooks faster
Salt that is kiln-dried so it is no longer hygroscopic and comes out of the shaker easily

As a result:
Hydrogenated fats cause more damage than butter.
Refined sugar contributes heavily to disease and artificial sweeteners damage the mind.
Refined flour is worse than refined sugar and harms the digestive tract.
Pasteurized milk is too acidic and needs to be enriched, (if you can't drink it raw it's actually better not to drink it)
Fluoride is highly toxic, (you should go to the water plant and see the precautions that have to be taken in fluoridation chemical room)
White rice - see refined flour
Instant Oatmeal - heading toward refined flour
How come sun dried sea salt doesn't exhibit the antagonistic attack on cells that kiln dried table salt has?

The world, it's food and it's ways have nothing to offer except self-destruction.

The Impossible Weight

Things change when you find out someone you love has slipped into a sin. Especially someone in the family, someone you consider part of the family or someone you feel responsible for. An oppressive weight settles on you, presumably because of your care for and connection to that individual.

An oppressive weight it is. The dark feelings haunt as you understand that you are no better. Maybe you've been down that road yourself and know the end result(s). If you dwell on it, it becomes too oppressive to handle any more.

It certainly helps to remember that the Lord Jesus Christ handled not just one sin like that, but the entire crushing lot of them from absolutely everyone over billions of lifetimes and more to come.

"Hero" is too small of a word. Strongman of the Universe would be better as long as it acknowledges His deity. Understanding what He did for everyone in bearing the oppressive weight of all sin is absolutely beyond comprehension. Only an inifinitely powerful God could do it.

"They shall come and shall declare His righteousness to a people yet to be born--that He has done it [that it is finished]!" Psalm 22:31

Either Delight or Grief

What did you think about this-or-that?
What kind of day are you having?
What do you think about such-and-such?
What do you think about what so-and-so did?

Many questions can be answered with a non-commital answer: "I don't know", "OK, I suppose", "I hadn't thought much about it", "it doesn't matter to me."

It occured to me that God's thoughts and answers don't work that way. He is either delighted with us or we are greiving Him. There IS NO IN-BETWEEN. We're so mired in an attitude of luke-warmness and a world that so readily accomodates it, that we don't relate very well to God's views. We "create" our own perception of God based on our flawed thinking. The only cure is for us to read His Word and to desire the work of His Spirit in us.

Death. Scary?

"Unbelief shudders at the Jordan which still rolls between us and the goodly land, but let us rest assured that we have already experienced more ills than death at its worst can cause us."

This quote from Charles Spurgeon's daily reading is an undeniable truth that really hits home. How often have our circumstances, or even more appropriately, our perception of our circumstances tortured us physically and emotionally? We have done more harm to ourselves with anxiety. People and circumstances have done more to torment us than the opening of the doorway to the presence of Christ.

This isn't some agreement with the new love of self-destruction that is now the popular "culture of death": (Truly scary because it is a sure gateway to the second death). This is the rock-solid way to life that the believer-in-Christ can stand firmly on.

The Evil and the Good

"That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for He maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust."

My Buddhist friend was describing his experience to me. He was very late for the airport and was riding with one of the salesmen with our company. Our salesman, Roy, told him not to worry, he'd be fine. Obviously, that would not be the case. Roy drove like a maniac and got him there just in time and the Buddhist friend made it on the plane, breathing a sigh of relief that he had survived the ride and gotten there on time after all.

My first thought was that God took care of his immediate, pressing need whether he believed in Him or not.

This world has plenty of terror, horror and darkness, but God still gives good gifts and grace to everyone. You can scare people about hell with it's unquenchable fire and torment, but the real torment will be a total absence of love, happiness, life-giving light, (living) water, and gifts of grace from the One who provided them every second of every day on earth - even though you never thought of Him, acknowledged Him or even cared.