The marvelous Three-Hole Punch

      So I haven't done one of these in a while... well i haven't blogged period in a while... but it's been even longer since I did a God in the small things kinda post. I looked around the desk and tried to find something that I could anologize into something. I settled on my three hole puncher. It rarely gets used but as I sat and pondered it's function I gained a little bit more appreciation for it. 
      The general function of the three hole puncher is to punch wholes in something so that it can be bound into a notebook. As we go through life it often seems like we are getting a lot of holes punched in us and sometimes we let those holes be used to bind us to things that we shouldn't be bound to. We get caught in all sorts of worries and trouble and sin from the world; but thanks be to God the He sent one to set us free from all of that and fill in the holes in us. To further the analogy, He puts us in a page protector and binds us into His book!!! Remember what the apostle Paul said in Romans 7: "Therefore, my brethren, you also were made to die to the Law through the body of Christ, so that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God.  For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were aroused by the Law, were at work in the members of our body to bear fruit for death.  But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter."  Christ has set us from from the old bindings so lets keep moving forward and not bindign ourselves into anything but Christ and His Word. 

Slave By Johnny Mac

Slave By John MacArthur

So this is a book a received from book sneeze. They give it to me for free and i read and post a review. It is a pretty sweet deal. So the book as you might guess is about slavery. Inquiring minds might wonder what kind. Well he gives you a great amount of details on roman slavery, which is what was around in the new testament writers day, and gives you a good understanding of what it meant to be a slave in those days. Many of us when we hear the word slavery we think about slavery in america during the 1700 and 1800s. He points out all these facts while keeping it interesting. The main subject matter though is people today as slave. I believe a good general thesis for the book is that you are either a slave to God or a slave to sin. The New Testament never really talks about freewill. However, the New Testament does constantly use slave language. Dr. MacArthur gives shows us our options quite clearly; you can either be a slave to sin or you can be a slave to God. If we follow the world and our passions we are letting our self's be ruled by sin. If we follow God then we are selling our selling ourselves to a new master who loves and treats his "slaves" as members of the family. At times the book can seem a little bit repetitive but it is a really good read that gives us a better understanding of our relationship to the Father.

There and .... we ain't coming back again

So I was recently doing my daily web surfing and stumbled upon the wonderful, amazing, exciting news that they are making the movie The Hobbit. I know that many of you will be as excited as I am, and some of you won't have the good sense to care. Being of good taste and a cultured reader, my impatience forced me down to the Volusia County Public Library (Deltona branch) to get the book and read it. 


While I haven't finished the book, it has so far been wonderful. I sat pondering (I won't say where) the main character, Mr. Bilbo Baggins. I dare say he is one of my favorite characters ever. "Why?" might you ask. He has no real super powers. He has no honed skills other than eating and napping, which also happens to be two of my favorite past. Also, not only does he have no skills to advance him in his adventures, but he is small and out of shape with over-sized hairy feet that I can only imagine make it difficult to run away from villians and minions and other evil pursuers. 


But I am going somewhere with this thought. 


Despite Mr. Baggins' short comings, the universe (for it surely had nothing to do with him) conspired to save him from goblins, worgs, both goblins and worgs working together, a cannibalistic hobbit, and the underground caves in which he found himself hopelessly lost. Now it seems the logical emotion would be thankfulness or some positive emotion that reflects your gratitude at not being eaten, starved to death, or meeting any of the horrible deaths that were very real possibilities. Yet, the only thing you see from him is his frustration at not being at his comfy little hobbit hole as well as disappointment at having the buttons on his shirt broken.


After noticing this, I couldn't help connecting the dots between us and him. While I may not be speaking for everyone, I think it is safe to say that most of us fail to realize what is really important and  to be thankful for. Instead, we freak out about the problems we still have. We get so hung up on our circumstances and forget all the blessings we have. 


So here is my goal, and hopefully yours, the next time we find our self freaking out over life's latest kick in the proverbial backside: let's remember what Jesus said in Matthew 6. "Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble."  


Life has enough trouble without us driving ourselves and (very likely) others crazy over things we can't change. Just remember the promise we have from the God of the universe to take care of his people. Joel Osteen wrote a book about how we were created for victory. To a point he is right; we do have victory in Jesus. Like Bilbo and every other hero, fictional and real, you don't get remembered for winning every time, you get remembered for how you overcome the adversity and come out the other side. So as James said in James 1, "Count it all joy, my brothers,when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.  And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing."

Transforming our Priorities

So unless you live under a rock it has been impossible to miss the whole Chick Fil A on-goings. The C.E.O. S. Truett Cathy made a statement that he believed in the biblical definition of marriage and some people got their panties in a wad and cried for people to boycott Chick Fil A. So Christians and chicken lovers alike turned out in mass numbers to supposedly stand up for their beliefs and the right to free speech. People could not abide this sort of oppression and wrong doing. 


For the most part, it was encouraging to see. But after a few days, one can't help but look back at some other occasions when moral biblical morals were threatened and how WE as Christians responded to it. The D.E.A sting, commonly referred to as Fast and the Furious, allowed U.S. fire arms to find their way into the hands of Mexican drug cartels and were used to kill Mexican and American citizens, including American law enforcement. No one stood up then in outrage that our elected officials would let this atrocity happen. No one has stopped buying gas because the oil companies can be directly linked to terrorism that caused 9/11 and all the deaths in the war that followed. Those are big far off problems though, I suppose. 


Closer to home, we have Fred Phelps who slanders the name and mission of our God, not to mention the memory of troops who gave their life for our country, who has yet to warrant any major outcry or action (not promoting violence) from main stream Christianity. However, when someone threatens our favorite chicken joint, we and our wallets are in the car and on the way to Chick Fil A to stand up behind biblical morals. Why is it we won't stand up for the things that really matter? While  Chick Fil A refused to report the profit they earned off of the August 1st support day we know from them, and also the news showing footage of the event, that it was record breaking sales for Chick Fil A. We as Christians got a good picture of what can be done when we as believers unite and stand together for a cause.  While all causes may not be able to be supported through eating, in my opinion, the best chicken sandwich ever, we now know for sure that we have the numbers and thus the power to make ourselves heard and to make an impact on our nation and our world. 


Our problem is our priorities; we'll fight for a fast food chain but we don't fight for prayer in schools or anti-abortion laws and the countless other issues we could make a huge difference in if we fought for it as if it was our favorite fast food place going out of business. God has given us a huge calling as His disciples to reach this world with the Gospel. So why have we settled for sitting on the sidelines and watching the world turn?


What do we see before us today? We have let the world transform our minds and become ruled by political correctness and fear of offending people. We don't want to be seen as narrow minded. A great man, Jordan Cane, once said "We must be narrow minded because there is a narrow way." That does not mean we become KJV only Bible thumpers who protest funerals and think everyone else is going to hell. But we must be a people who are committed to the truth of God's word and the calling He gave us. We must "go into all the world" and tell people about Jesus. Yes, some will think we are religious nut jobs...but others will be saved. 
So at the end of the day we have to decide whether our pride is more important to us than those of lost people. 


So I said all that to say this, "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect" (Romans 12:2). And one more, "Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. ¹⁰  Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. ¹¹ Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord."