Judging God

COMMENTS

No, you didn’t read the title wrong.  It doesn’t say “Being Judged by God”; it says “Judging God”.  If that seems backwards to you, GOOD!  But it’s still our subject today….

NOTES

Pardon my trip into the past, but I was watching TV a few days ago; and Wagon Train came on.  I remember watching it occasionally as a kid, but I was usually too busy with other stuff to spend much time watching TV.  Anyway, I sat down and watched this particular episode, just expecting an entertaining trip into the past via a shallow 1950s-60s western.  Imagine my shock when Flint McCullough (played by Robert Horton)—the handsome, womanizing scout for the wagon train—made a statement that still has me thinking!

Let me set the scene for you.  Flint finds a man (Luke) in the desert, alone and seemingly out of his mind, wanting to die.  As the show continues, we learn that he had been a minister in a small town.  His wife ran off with the proverbial traveling salesman.  His church, instead of supporting and encouraging him, defrocked him because of the scandal; and he had to leave town.  As a result of all this, he has now lost faith in God and in God’s people.  Without hope, he no longer wants to live.

Flint listens closely as Luke tells his story and bemoans the treatment he has received from the church back home.  God must not be the good God Luke thought He was.  When he finishes, Flint says, “You can’t judge God by the people who worship Him.”* 

That’s the statement that got my mind spinning:  you can’t judge God by the people who worship him.  People are flawed, but God is not.  He is good, kind, benevolent, caring, patient, forgiving, merciful, generous, loving, and on and on….  You can’t look at flawed humanity—even the Christians—and judge God by what you see because He is SO MUCH MORE.

BUT:

People do it all the time.  A Christian is judgmental, so they think that God must be judgmental.  A Christian is unkind, so God must be unkind.  A Christian is selfish, so God must be selfish.  When the unbelieving world sees a Christian, they think they are seeing what God is like and impart that believer’s characteristics to God Himself.

Jesus knew that would happen because He knows human nature.  Did your parents ever tell you to be careful what you did because it would reflect back on them (even if they didn’t approve of it)?  Were you ever embarrassed by something your child did because it made you look bad?  It’s the same thing with God.  We’re His children, and what we do reflects back on Him (even if He doesn’t approve of it).

Thinking about Flint’s statement has given me a new and deeper understanding of at least part of the purpose of Jesus’ commands to His followers.  BECAUSE people judge God by the people who worship Him (Christians), the people who worship Him are called to a higher standard. 

“So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you.” (Matt. 7:12)

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you:  Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” (Matt. 5:43-44)

“If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.” (Matt. 5:39b)

“Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.” (1 John 3:18)

We must look and act like Him so that the world gets an accurate picture of our God.  We can only do that when we are “filled up” with God (the Holy Spirit) and leaning on the Spirit to guide us and give us the strength to do what He commands. 

Think about your day today.  Would you want someone who watched you to say, “That must be what God is like”?  What’s scary to me is that there’s probably someone who is thinking that about me—someone I’m not even aware of.

In Matthew 5:13 Jesus said, “You are the light of the world.”  Then, he followed that with a command:

“Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” (Matt. 5:16)

Let’s go out and behave in such a way that we show the world what our God is truly like!

*Wagon Train, Season 3 Episode 34, “The Luke Grant Story”

Solar Power (Power from the Son)

COMMENTS

I’m not a science person, but I’m married to one.  You can be sure that if one of us is watching TV and “How Things Work” comes on, I’m not the one who stays and watches it!  So, I found it quite interesting when I became obsessed with how solar panels work.  Here’s how it happened….

NOTES

Last summer, my husband, James, and I were going to visit my dad at the North Little Rock (Arkansas) VA Hospital, when we passed a parking lot that had weird-looking covers over the cars.  I commented on it, and James informed me that the covers were solar panels.  Fine.  That’s all I wanted to know, so now I can forget all about it.  Did you hear? Now I can forget all about it!  Why can’t I forget all about it?!

Since I couldn’t forget all about it, I went online and searched “how do solar panels work”.  There was one for kids and one for dummies.  Fortunately, I found what I wanted in the kids section—I’d rather think of myself as childish than dumb!  If you’ll bear with me, I’ll share what I learned.  Remember, I’m not scientific so I’ll stick to the basics (which, of course, are STILL scientific).

The type of solar power we observed at the VA collects the sun’s light with solar panels.  A solar panel is made up of a bunch of solar cells.  Each one of the cells collects light.  When the sun shines on them, it generates DC electricity (that’s Direct Current).  The DC electricity is fed into a solar inverter that converts the DC power into AC electricity (that’s Alternating Current).  The AC electricity is used to power appliances in your home.  (Info found at www.energymatters.com.au) (Image found at https://kids.britannica.com/kids/article/solar-energy/433607)

That explanation was simple enough for me to get the general idea because it wasn’t weighed down with words like “atoms” and “photons” and “electrons” like some of the other sites were!  Well, good.  NOW I can just forget all about it.  Right….

A day or so later as I was NOT thinking about solar cells and solar panels, I decided I wanted to read 1 John again.  It had been a good while since I had studied the book and that just seemed like a good thing to do.  As we all know, our God is in control of all things; and that INCLUDES what book of the Bible we just DECIDE that we’ll read 🌝.  So, as most of us do when we start to read a book, I started at Chapter 1 Verse 1.

Then I got to Verses 5 - 7!  Wow!  Let me read them to you:

“This is the message we have heard from Him and declare to you:  God is light; in Him there is no darkness at all.  If we claim to have fellowship with Him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth.  But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.”

I read on in 1 John and came to Chapter 2 Verse 6:

“Whoever claims to live in Him must walk as Jesus did.”

Then, I came to Chapter 2 Verses 9 – 10:

“Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness.  Whoever loves his brother lives in the light….”

On this earth where Satan has so much power, the darkness often seems overwhelming.  Yet, God is light; there’s no darkness in Him at all.  As we walk through this world, our thoughts, words, and actions show who we are walking with.  No matter what we say, if we take the dark path, we are not walking with God.  And 

1 John 1:7 and 2:10 make it clear that walking in the light means that we not only love God but that we also love our brothers and sisters.  We have a holy example in Jesus, who loved God the Father enough to obey Him and loved His brothers and sisters enough to die for us.  While He was on this earth, He spent all of His time fellowshiping with either the Father or the people—or both! 

Suddenly, I was glad that all of that effort to forget about solar panels hadn’t worked! Did you see what John called Jesus in 1 John 1:7?  The SON!  Not the

“s-U-n” but the “s-O-n”!  Now I have a whole new interest in solar cells and solar panels.

Let me repeat the explanation of how solar panels work:  A solar panel is made up of a bunch of solar cells.  Each one of the cells collects light.  When the sun shines on them, it generates DC electricity (that’s Direct Current).  The DC electricity is fed into a solar inverter that converts the DC power into AC electricity (that’s Alternating Current).  The AC electricity is used to power appliances in your home.

 

May I suggest that each believer is a solar cell who collects energy from the Son 

(S –O –N)—Jesus.  Put a bunch of us together, and we (the Universal Church) become a solar panel.  Jesus shines on those solar cells and that solar panel and generates DC (Divine Current).  The solar inverter is the Holy Spirit in us that converts the Divine Current into AC (Active Current).  The Active Current in each of us and in the church as a whole empowers us to love God and love each other as Jesus did.

Having trouble loving that neighbor whose dog barks all night, keeping you awake?  Turn your face to the SON.  Upset with that relative who mistreated you?  Turn your face to the SON.  Don’t have the time or the energy to take a meal to that person who just had surgery?  Turn your face to the SON.  However God is asking you to love a brother or sister, He is also providing the power you need—through the SON!

When Jesus was here, He said, “I am the light of the world.  Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”  But in Matthew 5:14, He also said, “You are the light of the world.”  We can only be the light because He is the light.  We can only be the light when He is the One who empowers us!

The downfall to solar power is that it only exists when the sun is up and the solar cells are facing it.  To be God’s light, we must keep the SON lifted up and our faces turned toward Him.

“You are the light of the world.  A city on a hill cannot be hidden.  Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl.  Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.  In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven." --Matthew 5:16

Sandy

COMMENTS

This posting is actually a devotional that I gave a couple of months ago at Community Bible Study.  I hope you find it interesting and beneficial.  One of the illustrations was used in a previous blog so if it sounds familiar, it is!

NOTES

This past spring we kept our grandson’s dog for about 3 months while he was out of state.  One morning, I called Roscoe to put him outside to take care of his business.  Roscoe disapproved of this idea and promptly laid back down on his bed and went back to sleep.

As I looked at him, my memories took me back about 25 years to a dog we had when my kids were growing up.  Sandy was 16 when she died, which (as I understand it) is about 112 in people years.  She was a very unusual dog, not tiny but small.  She was gray with black spots and had one blue eye and one eye that was half brown and half blue.  And Sandy had quite a personality.  For a dog, she was a pretty good mouser.  Our other dog, Muffin, caught a mouse one day and, being the gentle creature she was, she was having a wonderful time playing with the terrified creature until Sandy happened upon the scene.  She ended that foolishness with a quick BITE, and I’m sure that Muffin got a lecture on the appropriate way to deal with any future mice found on our homestead!  One of our favorite things about Sandy, though, would occur when my husband would sit on the patio playing his harmonica.  Sandy would join his concert, and such howling you’ve never heard!  We recorded it with our VHS camera (remember those?!) and always threatened to send it to Funniest Home Videos but never quite got around to it.

One day, we were all outside; and Sandy started off down the driveway.  I called her:  “Sandy!  Come here, girl!”  Sandy stopped and looked back at me.  You could see the wheels turning---“Do I want to go back to her or not………NAH!”  And she trotted on down the driveway, determined to follow her plan and do what she wanted to do.

Thinking about that event of so long ago—which has always been so funny to me—suddenly became very serious.  How many times have I been trotting down God’s driveway, only to have Him call me:  “Brenda!  Come here!”?  How many times have I stopped and looked back at Him and thought, “Do I want to go to Him or not?”  How many times have I said, “NAH!” and trotted on down the driveway, determined to follow my plan and do what I wanted to do?

The thing is:  we have a choice.  In His mercy, God made the choice to give us a choice.  He calls us.  He commands us.  But He does not force us.  He wants us to obey because we choose to obey.  We may choose to obey out of love for Him.  Sometimes, we may choose to obey out of fear of what will happen if we don’t.  We may choose to obey because we trust that He loves us and that His plan is for our good—our best.  But it is a choice, and it is our choice.

As I was thinking about making choices, I wondered how many times a day I do that.  What frightened me was realizing how many “choices” I make by “default”.  What I mean is that I don’t really think about the fact that I’m actually choosing.  Instead of consciously deciding, I let my habits or my mood or my desires or my human tendencies decide without even giving it a thought.  But I still made the choice.   Let me give you an embarrassing example:

Quite some time ago, I got an email that was simply laugh-out-loud hilarious.  So, I laughed out loud and proceeded to forward it to a few close friends.  It was a little “off color”, so I included a comment that the recipient should let me know if it was offensive so that I wouldn’t send any future off-color missives their way.  The need to include such a comment should have been a wake-up call.

As I lay in bed that night, little pricks of conscience nagged me; but they were easy enough to ignore.  The Holy Spirit must have been working on me as I slept because by mid-morning the following day, my conscience was in full-blown revolt.  I couldn’t think about anything else.  So, I surrendered.  I asked God to forgive me and determined to send an apologetic email to my victims as soon as I got home.  At that moment, peace came. 

Sending that email was a “default” sin.  Without thinking, I yielded to my human tendency to share something funny.  Something that shouldn’t have been shared.  Then, God gave me another chance.  As I stood on God’s driveway for a second time, He called to me again, asking me to repent.  This time, I listened and made the choice to obey, which brought me peace and made Him smile ;-).

No matter who we are, no matter where we come from, no matter if we like the idea or not, each of us makes choices every day.  Choices that determine if we follow our Lord or ourselves.

All through the Bible, we see people facing that same choice.  Adam and Eve stood on the Father’s driveway when they were faced with the decision of whether or not to eat the fruit of the tree in the center of the garden.  They said, “NAH!”, ate the fruit, and trotted on down the driveway, following their own plan.  And we’ve paid for it ever since.

Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego stood on His driveway while they were in captivity.  When God called them, they came.  He was faithful, they were saved, and He was lifted high.

David knew he was loved by God; but when he stood on the driveway on the rooftop of his castle looking down at Bathsheba, he said, “NAH! I want to do what I want to do!”  And he started a chain of events that led to death and disaster.

And Jesus Himself, even though He WAS God, stood on the Father’s driveway when He was in the Garden of Gethsemane.  Hallelujah, Jesus chose to obey God’s call, making a way of forgiveness and salvation for all who will respond to HIS call.

Each of us stands on that heavenly driveway, and God calls us to come to Him.  Sometimes we don’t even pause—we just go our own way.  But sometimes we pause and look back, wheels turning in our minds as we think:  “Do I want to go to Him or not?  Do I choose to follow my own plan and do what I want to do, or do I choose to obey?”

If Sandy had returned to us, she would have been patted and hugged and loved and given a treat.  But she missed that because she was determined to do things her way.  When we choose to obediently respond to our Father, our reward is MUCH greater than Sandy’s would have been!  The Father welcomes us with arms of love opened wide and says:

“Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!” (Matthew 25:23)