Life / Religion / Philosophy / Science / Polictics

Tag: Grace

  • Are You Too Big to Fail?

    One of the greater mysteries of all of creation is the understanding that God is completely in control and yet at exactly the same time, mankind has free will.  I’ve mentioned this before and called your attention to Louie Giglio who has also referred to it as a great mystery.

    The fact is, God cannot help but be God.  And God sustains everything.  Is there any part of creation, in all of Heaven or Earth, that can wrench itself away from God and stand on its own?  I would suggest that there is not.  Can any part of creation, either in Heaven or Earth, ever surprise God, change the course of God’s great plan, or circumvent the will of God?  Once again, I would come to the conclusion that there is not.  To do otherwise would be to rob God of being God.  Of course God is in control, one hundred percent and at all times.

    And yet we have free will. at exactly the same time.  And how do I know that?  Well one reason might be because none of us is too big to fail.

    Consider the Apostle Peter.  When Christ found Peter fishing on the sea of Galilee, his name was Simon (Matthew 4:18).  But Jesus Christ had great plans for Simon and changed his name to Peter (the Rock) and said he would build His Church upon this Rock and promised him the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven (Matthew 16:15-20).  Jesus Christ called Simon The Rock (Peter), said he was going to build His Church upon him (and that the gates of hell would not prevail against it), and said that he would have the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven.  Obviously Jesus had great plans for Peter.  Obviously Jesus had great trust in Peter.  Has God ever entrusted you (or me) with the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven?  I don’t think so.  In the first place, I tend to believe they are still safely in the hands of Peter.  And no, I don’t think there are any copies.  And secondly, I think that God entrusts whom He will entrust.  And in this case, it was Peter.  Jesus Christ had great plans and great trust in Peter and he placed him in a position of great responsibility because of it.

    So here we have Peter, a greater human than you or I by any spiritual standard, and one who has been entrusted with much.  One would be led to believe at this point that either God would have a close eye upon Peter, lest he stumble and fall, or else that God would closely guard his path, lest the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven fall into the wrong hands.  Consider the fact that we don’t want Satan coming along and duping Peter into handing over the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven.  You would think that God would have a pretty vested interest in Peter remaining loyal and true to Him at this point.

    And yet consider just how far Peter’s loyalty actually went.  Jesus Christ had already placed great emphasis upon that loyalty.  He had stated that if anyone were to deny Him (Jesus Christ) before men, that person would be denied by Him (Jesus) before the Father in Heaven (Matthew 10:32-34).  Now consider the great consequences of that statement.  If you deny Jesus Christ before men, Jesus Christ will deny you before the Father in Heaven.  Probably not the best way to start eternity.  To be denied before the Father in Heaven is to not secure a place in the Kingdom of God for all of eternity.  Very, very serious consequences indeed.

    But that is exactly what Peter did, AFTER Jesus Christ himself had told him that he would do it (Matthew 26:33-35).  Peter adamantly proclaims his loyalty to Jesus and even goes so far as to say that the whole world could be offended because of Him, yet he would remain loyal to the end (and beyond).  And Jesus said, No, Peter, not even you will remain loyal to me during this time.  Not only will you not remain loyal, you will deny me before men three times in one night.

    And Peter does deny Jesus Christ three times that night (Matthew 26:69-75).  He even denies Jesus Christ with an oath.  And if you think about it carefully, Peter was in the palace of the High Priest, at a trial for Jesus, where witnesses were brought forth, for all intents and purpose, Peter was in a court of law (Matthew 26:58-66).  So you might consider that Peter was willing to take an oath in a court of law, and proclaim before the Judge that he never knew Jesus Christ.  He denied Jesus before men.

    The thing that I would like us to consider here is the very compelling turn of events.  Jesus Christ had called Simon, Peter, The Rock.  Essentially the Firm Foundation upon which He would build His Church.  Jesus Christ had also stated with great certainty that Peter would deny him before men, a most serious charge since Jesus himself had stated that those that denied Him before Men would be denied by Him before the Father in Heaven.  Jesus Christ had placed great trust in Peter, promising him the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven.  You would believe at this point that Jesus Christ had a great deal invested in Peter and would do anything to keep him from failing.

    But he DID NOT.  Jesus Christ knew that Peter was going to fail, and yet he let him go ahead and fail.  Why?  Free Will.  You see I believe that for all of eternity Peter will remember that he failed (Luke 22:60-62).  And that will be a great lesson and testament to the Grace and the Mercy of God.

    So, do you think you are too big to fail?  Because if one in whom so much trust and responsibility had been placed, was allowed to fail, don’t think that God won’t allow you or I to fail as well.  But the great lesson for all of us is, God is a God of Mercy and Grace.  And it is because he has given us Free Will and allows us to fail, that His Mercy and His Grace may be manifest in all the world.  Praise Him!  Oh the Love that drew Salvation’s plan, Oh the Grace that brought it down to man, Oh the mighty gulf that God did span, At Calvary.

  • Hell: Is it For You or Me?

    In my last couple of posts I’ve espoused the idea that Hell is God’s holding place for Sin for all of eternity.  But I haven’t fully explored what that entails.  Particularly, will we (humanity) find ourselves there?  It is a reasonable question after all, because we know there is evil in the world and if Hell is God’s prison for evil, will we (any or all of us) find ourselves there?

    Unsurprisingly, this question haunts a lot of individuals in the world today.  Dr. Stephen Hawking is so disturbed by it, he has devoted his life to trying to answer it.  And if you think I stretch the bounds of reason here, look at the last few pages of his book The Grand Design. S.W.Hawking and L. Mlodinov (Sep 2010), ISBN-13: 978-0553805376.  Look at the last few pages of the vast majority of any Evolutionist’s book.  They usually conclude with the thought that if evolution is true, there is no God, and if there is no God, there is no Heaven, and by contrast, if there is no Heaven, there is no Hell.  Ahhhhh finally!!  We’ve escaped Hell.  The Evolutionist’s means of escaping Hell is by disproving it.  By-the-way, the Agnostic’s means of escaping Hell is to ignore it (after all, what do they care?  An Agnostic is impartial by definition).  The Theist however escapes Hell by trying to understand it.  It is up to you as to which path you choose.

    The Creator’s answer is yes, some of humanity will find themselves locked away in Hell for all of eternity.  Jesus Christ himself told the story of a certain rich man who found himself in a place of torment (Hell) in Luke 16:19-31.  Here we have a man alive on the earth who died and found himself in Hell.  So if we are to take the Creator’s word for it, the answer would seem to be yes, we (humanity) can definitely end up in Hell.

    However, knowing that mankind can end up in Hell, does not necessarily mean that Hell was created for mankind.  Actually Peter tells us that it is God’s desire that none should perish (2 Peter 3:9).  In other words, God does not desire to see anyone in Hell.  That doesn’t sound to me like God created Hell for humanity.  Rather that he is saddened that some of humanity gets swept into Hell along with the rest of the evil host.

    I was asked to lead a singles Bible study about 16 years ago in Fort Lauderdale, Florida,  One of the members of that study asked me what I thought the difference between angels and humans was.  The question really boiled down to whether or not an angel could experience mercy and grace. I do not (personally) believe they can.  We are two different types of vessels,  In the case of humanity, we have the distinct privilege of being made in God’s own image. When God created us, He made family, His family,  I, for one, am more than happy being the weaker of the vessels.  An angel will never know the honor and the privilege of being a part of the family of God.  Angels certainly get to watch God’s plan play out on a stage and an scale I could only hope to understand.  But that is not worth trading to be a part of the family of God,

    So I believe that God created Hell for the vessels of dishonor He created for the purpose of introducing Sin into creation.  Mankind was created as God’s very own family and then was allowed to be put to the test with that Sin.  Adam, on behalf of all of mankind (yeah, I know, but before you give Adam a bum rap, consider that you or I would have done no different), failed that test,.  And God then had to set his plan into motion to rescue us by paying the price for that Sin in our stead.  Had we never been in that Sinful state we wouldn’t have needed rescuing, and by not being rescued we would have never known God’s Mercy, and Grace, and Love.

    A few years ago, Rev. Rick Warren wrote a book titled The Purpose Driven Life.  You may take several things away from that book, but the one thing that kept hitting me in the face was It’s not about me, it’s all about God.  People keep asking question like “If God did not want anyone to perish, why didn’t he just put us all into Heaven to begin with?”  Well, it is His show, His plan, His design, and it is for His Glory and His Honor.  It is all to Glorify Him.  And that alone is good enough for me.  But my theology also allows me to reason that perhaps God wanted a family that actually knows Him on a personal level, that understands His Mercy and His Grace.  And knows of His Love like none other in all of creation.  And that required us to know what was NOT Him to begin with.

    But God did not want just want dedicated servants.  I believe he has those with the Angels.  Both the ones created to serve His purpose in good, and those created to serve His purpose in evil.  No, God wanted his family to choose Him because they desired to of their own free will.  And thus he gave us a choice.,  We may choose.   Choose rightly, and spend eternity in Heaven, choose wrongly and spend eternity in Hell.

    Astute theologians should recognize at this point that we have a paradox,.  The Youth Pastor and Worship Leader of my home church growing up pointed out to me that perhaps I was asleep during certain studies and that there actually is a study of these paradoxes in theology,  My Youth Pastor was Rev. Mitch White and he has been a great friend and mentor over the years.  The study he recently introduced me to is antinomy, literally two competing but equally true ideas.

    I don’t know how it is that God can be 100% in control and that at exactly the same time you and I have the free will to live our lives and to either choose or reject Him.  Louie Giglio said in one his Passion Series that it is a great mystery that God can be completely in control and mankind can have free will at exactly the same time.  We cannot resolve or know all paradoxes in this life.  But I do know this, you and I have a choice, and that choice is Heaven or Hell.  And the choice is final, for all of eternity.

    Hell: A Finality?  Very much so.  I would surmise that it takes an eternal Hell to offset an eternal Heaven.  I choose to believe on Jesus Christ, that He is The Way, The Truth, and The Life.  I believe with all my heart that I have chosen wisely.

  • Do You Deserve The Best?

    Well here we are in a brand new year and people are wondering what 2016 will hold for their lives. If you invest in the stock markets or have any part of your retirement portfolio in them, you might be wondering what is going to happen with your money (Wall Street News).  As we enter into a new year people all over the world have many things to be thankful for and yet many have much to be fearful of.

    It is an interesting dynamic between thankfulness and fearfulness.  The balance between thankfulness and fearfulness is part of the equation that drives our expectations in life.  This is because if I allow fear to rule my life I will be driven into either desperation or despondence.  Meaning I will either be driven to take bold actions that I would not normally be inclined to take in my life or I will simply shrink into a shell and shun the world and not take actions that I should be taking in my life.  On the other hand if I allow thankfulness to rule my life, I risk an abnormal state of euphoria or I risk a state of constant disappointment in my life.  And what drives our expectations in life, is what brings us to a state of entitlement.

    I overheard a mother and daughter talking on New Year’s Eve and the mother was wishing the daughter the best year in her life in 2016.  This seemed normal to me as most of us wish each other the best in life.  But then the mother added something alarming onto the statement.  She said “Because you deserve the best.”  And I immediately thought “Why?”  Why do we, any of us, deserve the best?  What have any of us done to merit the highest quality of anything in our lives?  When we start believing that we deserve the best in our lives we enter dangerous territory on a path to developing an entitlement attitude towards life.

    This is an epidemic that is sweeping America and I believe most Western European counties as well as parts of Asia.  Many conservative commentators have exposed this on talk radio and in their books.  We have even had it creep into our legal system as is evidenced by the Affluenza Teen (see any of these news article here).  Even within theistic realms we have developed the ideal that we somehow deserve the best in all that life has to offer.  And note that there is a very sharp contrast between God wanting the best for our lives and us deserving the best in life.  We, the people of the world, have come to establish within our minds that we should get the very best that life has to offer.

    This is simply astounding to me.  First of all it is totally unrealistic.  It presumes that there is enough of the best to go around in the first place.  However you define what is best, if you do happen to acquire it, then more of it would have to be found in order for others to have it as well.  Liberals have been attempting to achieve this happy utopia for decades and they have never even come close.  And note that those who have achieved any level of success in life hardly ever want to give up that level of success in order for the rest of us to enjoy some of the benefits they have acquired.  And yet they would typically be the first to demand that we do more.  The logic is confusing to me.  It would seem to me that if they really wanted an equal playing field they would first address their own affluent states before requiring the rest of us to do something with ours.  And please note that I (personnaly) have no desire nor expectation of them to do so.

    Secondly it makes no sense from any point of your world view.  For the atheist it is always astonishing to me that they would take up any world cause.  To what end would an atheist want the best for either themselves or anyone else?  The atheistic view point, by definition ascribes no meaning in life.  Nor can it.  There is no order, no design, no grand purpose in life.  It is simply all random and without definition.  They cannot do anything about it.  Events were prescribed from the absolute beginning from the occurrence of the Big Bang. Even their attempts at ascribing some change in their own lives or the lives of other is the result of completely random events that follow the laws of the universe.  For the agnostic any type of ambition on their part would seem contrary to their world view.  As long as you are not affecting their particular station in life, the agnostic should not care about whether or not you obtain the best in life.  Neither should they ascribe to any particular state of affluence on their own.  They are, after all, agnostic in their point of view.

    For the theist however, it is confusing to me as to how they could have any expectation as to what they deserve in life.  As a theist I understand that what I deserve and what I obtain is ordained by the plan and purpose of the creator.  And if I am a Christian I understand that the best is not what I expect but what God provides in my life.

    As a Christian I understand that what I deserve in life is a cross, eternal separation from the Creator, a Holy and Righteous God.  But I also understand that what the Creator has provided us is His Grace, complete and unmerited favor in the very act of taking that cross away from me (and you) and providing restoration to his family and his goodness in our lives.  And by doing so, Jesus Christ, on His Cross, has already provided the very best that life has to offer.  There is no greater gift, there is no greater prize to be achieved.  He has done it all and it is by His Grace that it has been made available to us and not some some entitlement we should expect.

    So this New Year I wish for each and every one of you the BEST life has to offer.  My hope and desire is that you will find God’s Grace in your life.  That you will come to understand and enjoy a personal relationship with the Creator of all we survey, and that this new found relationship will come to change your expectations in life, as well as mine.

    Happy New Year to ALL.

  • What Are You Going To Hell For?

    Normally a good apologetics case for the truth of the Bible would be built upon a logical foundation.  One might start with the question “Is there a God?” and build from there.  Given the premise that there is a God, one might ask the question “Which god is the God?” or they might ask “Who is God?”  Once a particular god has been settled upon one might ask the questions “What is the personality of God?” or “What is the nature of God?“.  We might progress to the point of asking the question “Do I owe anything to God?” or “Does God expect anything from me?”  And finally we might ask the question “Are there any consequences to not meeting God’s expectations?”

    I haven’t quite built that case over the past couple of years but I need to jump to the end game here.  Hopefully you will see why in a minute.  I would like to consider the question “Are there any consequences to not meeting God’s expectations?” and allow me to express my belief that there are.

    The other day a group of us were sitting around discussing this story about an 18 year old woman who wants to marry her biological father (this story garnered overseas attention here).  This prompted one of the members of the group to make the, rather emphatic, statement “Don’t they know they will go to Hell for that!?!”

    This is always an interesting statement to me because people (all of us here on this earth) tend to establish different levels of criteria for what will get us into Hell and what won’t.  I would like to say a whole lot more about Hell later on.  I believe it is a place.  A very real place.  But for the sake of time in this particular post, lets just agree that Hell (whatever your definition of Hell is – you will note that I have intentionally not provided any links to a definition or description of Hell, this is because I wish to revisit this topic in the future) is the consequence to not meeting God’s expectation.  So if we may agree, for the time being, that Hell is the consequence to not meeting God’s expectations, and it is obvious that we all establish different levels of criteria for what will cause us to end up in Hell, then the obvious question that arises is do we really understand what God’s expectations are?

    In the particular case of the referenced story, some of the group either held a preconceived belief, or else had decided that their own threshold level for going to Hell was incest (this definition is a little broad.  I’m fairly certain the level of impact meant by the statement was sexual intercourse between immediate biological family members).  The implication of the statement is “Hey!  If you engage in this activity you ARE GOING TO HELL!!!” as opposed to some lesser (or perceived to be less offensive) activity.

    If we follow this logic we are left to conclude that if one engages in incest, they are destined to go to Hell.  But is that really the case?  I don’t care what your Life foundations are, if you are an Evolutionist or a Creationist, we are all faced with the fact that at some point in the distant past of human existence, we all gained our bloodlines from a single set of parents.  Actually, if you are a Christian, you should believe this happened twice in human history because you should believe that the great flood wiped out all humans except for Noah and his immediate family.  And from both the initial creation, and the flood, all human existence grew from a very limited set of parents.  Hence, incest, on a fairly large scale.

    The question then becomes, if incest is the criteria for failing to meet God’s expectations and thus ending up in Hell, what about all of those people in the beginning?  It would be a very cruel God to establish one set of rules for one person and a completely different set for another person.  So what are we to believe here?  Did incest used to be OK and pass God’s “stay out of Hell” test and now incest is not OK and actually fails God’s “stay out of Hell” test?  And is that the only criteria?  Because we, as human’s, want to believe that incest will send us to Hell, but a small lie, while not the right thing to do, is not quite enough to send us to Hell.

    Now please don’t get me wrong here.  I am definitely not advocating, nor making a case for incest.  It was only the topic of conversation.  I could use any heinous sin such as murder to make the case.  The fact is, there is a line drawn in the sand with the belief being that when that line is crossed, you have failed God’s expectations and thus are destined to face the consequences of Hell.

    I could make the same arguments about any SIN you want to put before the group for conversation.  There are examples of those that have committed great sin and yet God himself has brought to light their redemption.  Moses committed murder.  He killed a man in a fit of anger and rage.  And yet God himself buried Moses when he died, and when Jesus stood on the mount of transfiguration the disciples looked and recognized him (Matthew 17:1-4).  So here we have a murderer, and Jesus is standing with him on the mount.  That is quite a paradox.

    Rather than focus on what we can, or cannot do to avoid Hell, it might be better to focus on exactly what God’s expectations are with-respect-to our response to him and try and determine if there is a level of expectation that avoids Hell.

    One thing I can absolutely guarantee you of is that we all have met the threshold of SIN to deserve Hell (Romans 3:22-24).  No, I’ve never engaged in incest nor physically murdered anyone, but even that small lie, that moment of ill will toward another, those times when I’ve rebelled against God, those are more than enough to seal my place in Hell.  And you and I are in the exact same boat.  We are ALL headed for Hell from the day we are born.

    So what then is the answer?  It is actually found in Romans 3:22, the beginning of the point where Paul tells us we’ve all sinned and are deserving of Hell.  The answer to the righteousness of God (meeting his expectations) is through Jesus Christ and is upon those that believe.

    Jesus Christ himself told Nicodemus that those who believed in him would not perish but have everlasting life (John 3:16).

    It is what we do with the person of Jesus Christ that determines whether or not we meet God’s expectations and avoid Hell.  Not who we lie to or whom we lie with.  We can live our lives by all the guidelines we can possibly establish, but if we miss the person of Jesus Christ, that he is the Son of God, God in the Flesh, and that he died on the Cross paying the penalty for our sins, that he and he alone is our answer to meeting the expectations of God and thus avoiding Hell, that our belief and our faith must be in and through him, then we have missed the mark.

    So what are you going to Hell for?  Because if you feel safe having never committed murder or engaged in incest, you’ve missed the mark.  The one thing in life that will determine whether or not you meet God’s expectations and avoid Hell, is what you do with the person of Jesus Christ.

     

     

  • Whose Justice Is It Anyway?

    I know a lot of Old Testament Christians.  You know what I am referring to when I say an Old Testament Christian, right?  An Old Testament Christian is one who doesn’t know how to rightly balance The Law and Grace.  The two concepts have never been rightly defined and rightly applied within their own lives.  An Old Testament Christian is one who declares “Kill them all and let God sort them out!” at the most extreme, and those that cry “Good!  I hope they suffer!” at the least extreme.  And to what end?  Do they think their own perceived injuries will be vindicated by the death or suffering of the unrighteous?  Of course they won’t.  If they are looking for justice here on Earth, they are looking in the wrong place.

    A lot of these Old Testament Christians will point out that God is a Just and Holy God and that he cannot stand the wicked to be in his presence.  They are quick to point to passages like Psalm 58:9-11 but then do not believe that Romans 3:9-11 somehow refers to them.  And if there are none righteous (and the passage says “no, not one“) then who is there to rejoice at the vengeance of the wicked?

    And it is not just Christians that fall into the trap of proclaiming their justice to be the definitive balance between right and wrong.  Here in Baltimore, Maryland this week there were protests over the Freddie Gray incident similar to others held around the United States of America the last several months.  A common rallying theme heard at such protests is “What do we want?  Justice!  When do we want it?  Now!” and all the while the vast, vast majority of those that pick up that cry have never received injury from those they seek vengeance from, nor will they ever receive injury within their lifetimes.  And yet they still demand justice.

    Everyone wants Justice.  The problem is, everyone wants their justice (or justice as they perceive it).  When it comes to justice for you or for me or for anyone else, only they are able to judge rightly.  Only they have the right sensibilities to correctly apply justice and to extract the exact amount of payment necessary for the crime.  We all stand around and judge one another seeking justice for those perceived injuries we feel we have received in our lives.

    I have had the sheer joy and pleasure of hearing Dr. Ravi Zacharias speak on several occasions.  One of the most profound things I have ever heard him proclaim (and there have been many) is “If there is no God it makes a mockery of justice“.  And it is true.  Where is the justice for those that died in the Nepal Earthquake?  Where is the justice for those wrongfully persecuted and imprisoned?  Where is the justice for those that are born into impoverished and violent conditions?  Any Atheist who holds to a model of justice in this world is a fool.  Their own model should tell them that the chaos within the system will never allow it to be achieved.  And if it were, Whose Justice Would It Be Anyways?  Yours?  Mine?  Or theirs?  I can certainly assure you it will never be “Ours”.

    Allow me to illustrate the point this way.  Here in the United States we have an idiom (a saying) that goes “You can’t fight City Hall“.  It is a way of saying that you are going to receive an injustice whether you want it or not and there is absolutely nothing you can do about it.  I had an Atheist (self acknowledged) boss once tell me (in almost the exact same breath) that (a) I couldn’t fight city hall.  And (b) that he was the fairest boss in the entire company.  And he didn’t even realize the irony of what he was saying when he said it.  The fact is, he was saying that any justice other than his did not matter and since he was the most just (fair) it didn’t matter that you couldn’t fight it because it was totally righteous to begin with.  Because that is exactly what those two sentences put together mean.  He also didn’t realize that just the mere statement of his own self acknowledgement of being the “most fair“, makes him not fair.

    No, there is no Justice here in this life.  Oh, there are pockets of Justice here and there.  There are times when things seem right and just.  But there are far more times when we want to cry out for justice and it seems fleeting or escapes us.

    What then should our response be here in this life?  My Old Testament friends would point out that we should be like God (at least that is what they mean to say).  But I would point out that we are to be like Jesus Christ.  One might argue that Jesus Christ IS God, and you will get no argument from me on that point.  But Jesus Christ is the expression of God in the form of man (see Philippians 2:7-9) and is the example on how we are to be.  There are some traits of God we will never possess, nor should we, for he alone is God.  But we are to be like Jesus Christ.

    And what was Jesus Christ like?  Well consider the time when he was in the Temple teaching (pretty much minding his own business) found in John 8:2-11.  When a woman caught in the very act of adultery (stop and think of the sheer embarrassment of that for a moment) was brought before Jesus Christ, what was his response?  It is found in verse 11, where he says “Neither do I condemn thee:“.  If the God of Heaven and Earth stands before a woman caught in the very act of adultery (which is a violation of the law) and says to her that he does not condemn her, then who are we to seek our irrelevant justice here on Earth?  Please note the last part of Jesus’ sentence to the woman, “go, and sin no more“.  He said “sin no more“.  Jesus Christ recognized that she had sinned.  He realized that she was in the wrong.  And yet there was no condemnation.

    That is Grace.  That is God’s Grace.  And that is Grace as only God can deliver it.

    Perhaps the world would be a slightly better place if we were to all step back and consider our injustices, and before we seek justice or vengeance ask ourselves the question: Whose Justice Is It Anyway?

  • Are You Walking Through Fire?

    Fire Walking has been a test of a person’s mettle for several thousands of years (or so the claim goes).  The afore referenced Wikipedia article places it at around 3,215 years old.

    Today, many people attend seminars that supposedly help them build confidence by walking across glowing embers.  You can find a number of them with this search here.

    The first one that showed up on my list (your mileage may vary)  (Firewalking Institute of Research and Education) suggests that:

    “In just one four-hour seminar, you can discover your inner strength, power and confidence. Journey with us through the fire, and you’ll discover an exhilarating world where anything is possible. You’ll be guided through overcoming your fears, building your inner strength and finally, after a calm and confident walk across the red-hot coals, claiming the life of your dreams on the other side! You will profoundly understand that you can do anything you want.”

    This quote is from their Seminars page.  Many of the other Self-Help, Motivational, Fire Walking symposiums will tell you the same thing in a very similar fashion, but with different words.  They are all here to help you gain confidence and change your life!

    I can’t help but wonder though, if any of the gurus that guide these self-help events know about the most impressive Fire Walkers in all of history?  That would be my friends Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.  You can read the accurate story of their encounter here.

    You see my friends Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego did not just walk across some glowing embers that someone had spread out on the sand, they were cast, bound, into an oven that was so fiery, and so hot, that it literally consumed those that cast them into it (Daniel 3:22).  Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego really and truly knew what it meant to walk through the fire.

    I also can’t help but wonder if any of these self-help gurus are sensitive to the plights of folks all around them that Walk Through the Fire each and every day?  These would be the folks that face life’s most challenging situations head on without any or little support from those around them.

    I know such people.  A coworker and friend actually.  I saw my coworker the other day, as I do most days, and he asked me what my plans were for the weekend.  I began to outline a weekend with family and friends spent at a local area theme park where we were looking forward to fun, and shows, and fine dining.  But I noticed that he had something much more troublesome on his mind.  So I paused and asked him about his plans for the weekend..

    And that is when he relayed to me his story, a story he told me that no one else at work had heard yet.  My friend told me that for the past year he has been struggling to keep his marriage, and his family intact.  His wife has asked him for a divorce and he was facing some very difficult decisions regarding his home, his daughter, and his very future.  This weekend, he told me, he was going to have to sit down and have a discussion with his mother and ask to move back in with her.  And let me add some more relevancy to the story, my friend is an older gentleman and I gather his daughter is college/career age and we are talking an impact of a  marriage that spanned decades coming to an end.

    My friend is Walking Though the Fire right now.  And he is walking through fire that is hotter, and more trying, and more damaging than anything the Firewalking Institute of Research and Education would ever have him walk through (or across, as the case may be).  He is walking through life changing, life impacting, and life scarring fire.  Fire that will try his faith and his very foundations in life.

    So regular readers of this blog may ask the question, what exactly is your friends life foundations?  Well, he is a Theist.  He believes in God.  He gave his life to Jesus Christ some 44 years ago.  And he has grown in the Lord over those years and today serves as a Deacon in his church.  He was raised in a Christian home, and I believe (based upon his active Church life) that he attempted to establish his home as such as well.

    And yet God is allowing him to Walk Through the Fire.  Why?  Why does God allow His children to encounter some of the deepest, darkest, and most trying times in life?  I believe there are several reasons, but one very compelling reason is that when standing before the Judgment Seat of God, no one will be able to claim that God favored those whom he loved in such a way as to provide them an unfair advantage in their path to seek him out.  As in the case of Job of old, God says to Satan (or anyone else who will listen) “Have you considered my servant …”?

    God has allowed people to Walk Though the Fire since the beginning of time.  God did not take away the fire walk from Shadrach, Meshach, or Abednego, rather he allowed them to pass though it to show that he was God.  And what was their response?  It is found in Daniel 3:16-18.  GOD IS ABLE TO DELIVER US!  They knew that God could deliver them.  BUT (and that is a very important but), If he does not, WE STILL WILL NOT BOW DOWN.  Rock solid Faith.  Even when faced with the fire, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, stood on their Faith in God, no matter what.

    Every time I begin to think my life is not as good as it could be, I come across a friend or a coworker, who shows me what it is really like to Walk Through the Fire all the while keeping their Faith.

    If you are Walking Through the Fire today (like my friend and coworker), I pray God’s Peace, and His Mercy, and His Love, and His Grace would touch you in such a way that you would have to know you have been touched by the hand of God.  And I pray that God would carry you safely to the other side.  BUT, If he does not, I pray that like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego you would KNOW that he still is God.