Monthly Archives: October 2021

A note on the tenor of the times

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Many of us know just how fast and far things have plunged into darkness. The whole trend of light being called darkness, truth being called a lie and love being called hate has already permeated the society I live in and is almost taken for granted in everyone’s lives.

One example stood out to me tonight, not even that much of a major but I was seeing it as an endemic example of the times we’re living in. I was reading about “fat shaming”, maybe you’ve heard of that. Simply put, someone ends up saying something to someone who has become “morbidly obese.”

There’s another relatively new word. When I was a kid, I had a good friend and his grandfather weighed 300 pounds (about 135 kilos). It was the kind of thing you said under your breath. That was the outside edge of what anyone ever weighed when I was 12 years old. Nowadays that’s pretty much within the range of normal here.

But the issue is that to say anything, to even “speak the truth in love” (Ephesians 4:15) to someone who’s been unable to restrain themselves and who has become morbidly obese, this effort to say anything to that person is now called “fat shaming”. I don’t know if it has become a felony yet but I could certainly see how that could happen.

Maybe I’m old fashioned but I don’t see it as being wrong to try to find a way, in sincere and humble truth, love and wisdom, to speak to someone who’s been overcome by their physical desires to the extent to which they’ve become vastly overweight. Certainly here in America this has gone on to the extent to which it is not even mentioned or almost even noticed. It’s not unusual to see people weighing 300 to 600 pounds (about 270 kilos), barely able to carry themselves about because of their girth.

Of course for Christians and actually for everyone, it should go without saying that to tease, mock or in any way make someone feel condemned for their looks or their weaknesses, this is not what I am talking about. Jesus taught love and love is totally different from mean-spirited taunting and teasing.

But it’s now a negative thing for anyone to say or do anything to help any of these people to try to be delivered from this dilemma. You’ll be accused of “fat shaming”. Honesty, I don’t even know if this article will survive the surveillance of the internet powers that be as this may be a bridge to far in the way of social/Christian commentary and observation. Possibly therefore it may be banned from the platform. Being “deplatformed” is the risk one runs for making comments like this.

But, are we “our brother’s keeper”? It’s a fundamental tenet of the New Testament that we are.  And we are to speak up in order to be a help to others who are struggling with human weaknesses, whatever they may be. Obesity is a leading cause around the world of a shortened life span.

When someone suffers an early death because of struggles with any number of cravings and addictions, it’s not just the victim that dies. They often have children, parents, brothers and sisters or friends who miss them dearly as their life is snuffed out prematurely through their “flesh”, as the Bible calls it, getting the best of them and ruling their lives.

But in the modern atmosphere, if any of us speak up, we’re likely to be called out as the guilty ones, guilty of “shaming” someone which is seen as a modern aggression, when actually it’s an effort to admonish and reason with someone who’s been “overtaken with a fault” (Galatians 6:1).

What’s the point? None really, but just an observation, a reflection on the deeply perverse nature of this time that to do good, to try to help recover someone from a series of choices and a lifestyle which can easily mean their death, to do that is seen as an affront and an aggression against the poor soul that needs someone to speak lovingly but plainly about how their choices are leading them to destruction.

Quite possibly some reading this know exactly what I’m talking about. What I’m presenting here is not even that much of a big issue. But it just fades into the overall bedarkening of our times where, on the right hand and the left, the Christian voice of conscience is powerfully hushed by the tenor of the times, the mood of “tolerance”, a mood of independence to the neglect of responsibility and of where doing basic Christian good can now be framed as ethical, moral evil, even to the extent of being criminal.

Christians everywhere are being confounded by these kinds of confrontations in their lives to what the simple prompting of the Holy Spirit would lead them to do. Common decency and brotherly love would lead someone to speak up to a friend or loved one to bring to their attention their being defeated by the desires of their flesh. But in these times, to do that is to invite strong censure from the society which tries to frame that as aggressive cruelty, rather than an act of loving kindness. And this kind of thing is seen everywhere.

What can anyone do? For one, they can recognize it. We are our brother’s keeper. Lovingly admonishing another in order to try to help them is the will of God and is a natural product of common, even human love for another.

As the darkness deepens, it will be decisions like these (against the mood of the times) that will be necessary for true Christians to make, if they’re to follow the leadings of the Lord through the Holy Spirit in our daily lives. God help us all.

Not easily satisfied

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Often, we’re not easily satisfied. The general of an ancient king came to a prophet to be healed. The prophet didn’t even go out to meet him. Instead he sent a messenger to tell the general to go wash in a small, muddy local river. The general was incensed. “Is that all?” seemed to be the question of his heart.

Scripture explains the incident like this. “But the general was very angry and went away saying, ‘I thought surely the prophet would come out to me and stand, calling on the name of the Lord his God, and strike his hand over the place, recovering the leper.’”

Continuing his complaint, the general said, “Are not the rivers of Damascus better than all the waters of Israel? May I not wash in them and be clean? So he turned and went away in a rage.”

This gets to be rather like what I wrote about in “Does God have a sense of Humor?” We can look at it now and smile at the petulant, pompous commander in his fit of pique. What a patient and loving God we have who could have just gotten fed up with the situation and struck the general dead on the spot. But instead, the Lord allowed the general’s servants to admonish and reason with the him.

The Bible says, “The general’s servants came near and spoke to him, saying, “My father, if the prophet had bid you do some great thing, wouldn’t you have done it? How much rather then, when he said to you, ‘Wash, and be clean‘”?

And it all turned out to have a happy ending. Scripture goes on to say, “Then the general went down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan River, according to the saying of the man of God. And the king’s flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child and he was clean.” This is all found in II Kings 5:10-14.

How about you? For that matter, how about me? I’ll admit that I may at times have a little of the attitude of that ancient military commander, Lord help and deliver me. There are times when I want to see some mighty moving of the hand of God in my life or in the world, when instead the message that comes back from heaven is rather like what it says in Zachariah, “despise not the day of small things.” (Zach. 4:10)

When Elijah was on the mountain and it was rent with fire and storm, the Bible goes on to say that the Lord wasn’t in either of those. But then, after the fire and storm, the Bible says that Elijah heard a “still, small voice”. (I Kings 19:12)

Some of us want the storm. I wrote about that recently in “Before the storm”. I don’t think that’s bad in itself. Jesus even named two of his top disciples, “Boanerges” which meant, “sons of thunder”.  (Mark 3:17)

But for all the times in our lives when we are swept up in the mighty power of the Lord, in huge reapings or winings of souls across a nation, miraculous healings, astounding revelations and life changing events, you have to admit that the majority of the time that’s just not how things usually go for most of us.

More often we are to be about our Father’s business in meaningful but simple daily tasks, whether they be physical or spiritual. But it’s easy for some of us to let dissatisfaction creep in. The Bible talks about “patient continuance in well doing” (Romans 2:7). But then we are tempted to “grow weary and faint in our minds” (Hebrews 12:3).

The Bible says, “Moreover it is required in stewards that a man be found faithful” (I Cor. 4:2). But our own wayward heart can find fault in this. We can find the temptation to boredom springing up in the garden of our heart. We can be like the people the Bible talks about who say, “‘My Lord delays his coming’ and they began to eat and drink and be merry” (Luke 12:45).

I wonder if Jesus was ever tempted with anything like this? It says He was “in all points tempted like we are” (Hebrews 4:15). But then I’m struck by the simple adverb that’s repeatedly used to describe the Lord towards the end of His time on this earth, “He set his face steadfastly to go to Jerusalem.” (Luke 9:51)

Steadfast. Not bored, not cynical, not jaded or double-minded, not weary in well doing and fainting in His mind.

Maybe the Holy Spirit is saying to some of us today what the king’s servants said to him long ago, “My father, if the prophet had bid you do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much rather then, when he said to you, “Wash, and be clean?”

We, or perhaps I should just speak for myself, I need to steadfastly continue in all the Lord has already shown me I should be doing, all that He has opened the door for and gotten started already. It’s not smart in any way to get impatient or dissatisfied with the ways of the Lord. It’s good to stay desperate with Him and to desire to stay close to Him. But the main thing is to continue to obey, follow and be satisfied with what He has been directing personally in our lives, as we delight ourselves in Him.

Continue in the things you have known

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Sometimes you don’t know what to do. You seem to be in fog. You become uncertain about your direction and even your vision and goals. I’ve been like that. And tonight I had to really go out and pray about it.

In these times there is a major cacophony of voices and proponents, fervently pointing to what they feel is the way forward. Meanwhile for most folks, it’s like what the verse says about “Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision” (Joel 3:14). What really is the way forward? Who actually does have the high ground when it comes to truth, relevancy and anything close to the voice of God and His love, truth and reason in these strange times?

I’ve been troubled and somewhat weighted down by these things for some months. Meanwhile I’ve been very embroiled in the physical side of making a move and buying house for the first time. I know it’s been the Lord and amazing things have worked out.

But it gets to be a little like what the apostles said in Acts chapter 6, “It is not right that we leave the word of God and serve tables.” (Acts 6:2) There are times when every person is called to just simply take care of things and of other people physically. But usually the Lord doesn’t want that to become our preoccupation. He has other things that are more pressing for the work of the Kingdom of God for us and I’ve certainly been feeling that.

Sometimes we just lose the thread, lose the rhythm and the pace of our lives , lose what we feel the Lord is really leading and doing and what His highest and best is. It’s been that way for me for a while as I try to turn back to more of the will of God overall after months of consolidating this new housing change.

If you’re used to trying to maintain a relatively close link with the Lord, trying to abide in that place where you feel the Lord is leading you presently and specifically, then it can be a troubling thing to feel you’ve not heard clearly from the Lord for some time about what exactly He has for you. Of course some Christians, perhaps many, have never really been taught to try to have that kind of relationship with the Lord.

But for those who’ve had a lifetime of Christian service, you just take it on board that you need to do what you can to maintain a continuing link with the Lord through prayer, where you feel and know you’ve really continued to hear from the Lord personally, His answers coming back to you in response to your desperate prayers.

There are so many verses on this. One of my favorites is “Call unto me and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things which you know not.” (Jeremiah 33:3). I was in a new Sunday school class last week and there was something in the lesson that opposed the idea of “name it and claim it” when it comes to Scripture. So I felt led to pipe up and say that actually there are times when we can and should claim and appropriate Scripture, bringing it before the Lord and claiming a verse in His Word that it will be fulfilled in our lives.

So I personally believe and live by the knowledge that we can get personal answers to prayer, directions, response, feedback and basic communications personally from the Lord to lead our lives and answer our prayers and needs.

That’s what happened tonight. I just really needed to get some response back, some direction from Him as He has done so regularly in my life for decades. I was looking for clarity, direction, some setting of the tone, some flash of lightning on what has been becoming an increasingly dark night.

And the Lord responded. Nothing shocking or profound but as is often the case, rather reasonable and what was almost common sense but also filled with wisdom, peace and strength. It could be boiled down to the verse which says something like “Continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of”(II Timothy 3:14) . The Lord was telling me that I should just continue in all He’s been telling me to do for months and years now. All the projects that He has gotten me started on but that are far from finished, all the articles, all the videos, all the leadings and new directions which He’s already set me in motion towards which I’ve not in any way finished.

“The slothful man roasts not that which he took in hunting, but the substance of the diligent man is precious.” (Proverbs 12:27) I’ve got a lot of stuff like that. Unfinished videos, nearly done, which could be a help to so many people, in over a dozen languages. Articles unfinished, directions that Lord has pointed me down, all of which are like “half baked cakes” which means there is still plenty more to just do what the Lord has already shown me to do for some time now.

It was refreshing to get this feedback from the Lord. I need to continue in what He’s already shown me to do. I don’t have to have some new revelation at this time. If I’ll just continue with all the Lord has shown me already, all that He’s done already, then I will stay on track and continue to proceed towards these visions and goals.

“Then shall we know if we continue on to know the Lord.” (Hosea 6:3) This was a help to give me a little nudge and encouragement to continue to go forward with all the truth, love and direction that I have had already from the Lord. And probably, further down the line as I go forward for Him, He will show me even more. I feel better now, ha!