Stubbornness

They crossed the line. One too many times, the Israelites provoked God. After He showed them His goodness by giving them food and water and delivering them powerfully from the Egyptians, they accused Him of being bad. They complained that it would have been better to die wandering in the desert than die by the sword taking possession of the Promised Land.

So God let that be a self-fulfilled prophecy. A generation died in the desert. Forty years later, the next generation of Israelites rose up and possessed the Promised Land under Joshua’s leadership.

That generation was too accustomed to a mouth that constantly b-tch-d — mmm, complained bitterly.

If you dig in your heels and insist on sinning, the consequences could be grave.

Complaining

The Israelites were five-star complainers. God freed them from 400 years of slavery. He brought them through the Red Sea. He gave them the gold of the Egyptians.

For nothing were they grateful. They b–ched about too hot, too cold, hungry, don’t like this, thirsty, etc., etc., etc. And they kept saying the unthinkable: It would have been better for us to stay in Egypt.

REALLY??? Remaining under heavy oppression is better than freedom?

Complaining is poison to your marriage, poison to your family, poison to your church, poison to your life. It steals your joy. It derives from a sick sense of entitlement (“I deserve better.”) Why do we think we deserve better?

Can we just enjoy what we have?

Deceit

Jacob couldn’t wait. To get ahead, he decided to take matters into his own hands. He took advantage of his brother’s weakness to get his birthright (he bargained it for a measly plate of food). Then he lied to his blind (and probably near deaf) father to get his blessing.

What did all his scheming and lying get him? Twenty years of being lied to, of being deceived, of losing. Well-said the Bible: You reap what you sow. Or as the world says: karma.

Availing yourself of deception only hinders your progress. Because real progress comes from trust. When you lose people’s trust, they won’t want your services any more. You burn bridges, lose friendships. You may think yourself the crab scrambling up to the top of the pile… but you’re just a crab.

Practice integrity. Build trust. Have character.

Despising (scorn, contempt, ingratitude)

Jacob was despicable, but Esau despised God.

So — despite Jacob’s lies, deception, betrayal, disloyalty and other reprehensible behavior, he was chosen because Esau was worse.

Esau despised his birthright. He despised his call in God. He despised the need to separate himself from the world. As difficult as it is to believe, what he did was worse, so God opted for Jacob to carry the line of the raising of the nation of God’s people.

Do you see how bad despising (scorn, contempt, ingratitude) is?

Do you despise God? Do you despise what He has given you:

• your family (parents, spouse, children)
• your possessions
• your upbringing
• your looks
• your talents

America wishes for more, always more. There’s a good side in the drive to better our circumstances. There’s also a bad side when we criticize the good gifts God has given us thinking we deserve better. How many youth abandon the church because they “deserve” something better.

The irony is that Esau, seeking more, got less.

He wanted to eat, so he sold his birthright. He wanted a pagan wife. When that caused problems, he got a second one (which never was the plan of God).

God passed over Esau and selected Jacob to inherit the promises.

(Of course, he had to work Jacob over a bit, make him reap what he sowed for about 20 years to teach him NOT to sin. But at the end of the day, Jacob got the blessing of God.)

Cowardice

He defeated a vast enemy army with 300 guys just to rescue his nephew. He wandered off from his homeland following his dream, his call. He braved 1000 woes and adversities.

Then he wimped out. When Abraham entered Egypt, he worried they’d kill him to get his wife. So he told her to lie, to say she was his sister. Instead of standing up for his wife, Abraham decided to sacrifice his wife to save his own skin.

The same despicable cowardice he repeated when he moved into Gerar. He told Sarah to lie again to Elimilech. (I guess Sarah was really beautiful.)

Ugh! Ugly stuff.

Sin is always ugly. We tend to see it as delightful — and we see God as a killjoy. But really, sin destroys people. It hurts others. It hurts ourselves.

Because of cowardice, we go with the flow with the world (it takes courage to be a Christian!). Because of cowardice, we are afraid to give to God, we are embarrassed to call ourselves Christians. We cover up our sins instead of confessing and repenting. We hold our tongue when we should speak up against injustice.

Other sins covered in this series so far:

• Unbelief
• Jealousy
• Pride

Unbelief

I don’t own the rights to this image, and I’m not making any money on it.

But the worse sin of all, of course, is unbelief.

It´s the third sin to appear in the Bible, in the times of Noah (skipping over a few minor narrations). The people in Noah´s days were too busy with their lives. Noah spent 100 years building an ark and warning that a world-wide flood was coming.

But it had never rained on Earth before (crops were watered by a constant mist/fog), so talk of “rain” seemed ridiculous to them. Why didn’t they enter the Ark to escape God’s wrath? There was plenty of room. Because of unbelief.

Jesus describes in the unpardonable sin. I believe this is nothing more than not believing Jesus. The Pharisees rejected Jesus, despised the conviction of the Holy Spirit, and that is what Jesus called unpardonable.

If pride is the sneakiest sin and jealousy the scariest, the unbelief is the most dangerous. The reason? If you believe, you can be forgiven of all sins. If you don’t believe, you don’t even ask God for forgiveness.

Jealousy

I don’t own the rights to this picture, and I’m not making any money on it.

It’s the second sin to appear in the Bible. Second after pride, it’s deadly, even if it’s not counted among the “7 deadly sins.” Carried away by jealousy, Cain killed his brother, Abel.

It kills friendships.

Jealousy is being upset over what others have that I don’t. If I can’t have, then neither should you, is the thought that carries the jealous to extremes. In Guatemala, I have see neighbors burn the cars of their neighbors for jealousy. In the U.S., we defame a person over internet.

Jealousy

• prevents me from enjoying what I have.
• makes me obsess with what others have.
• constantly makes comparisons.
• leads to insults.
• breaks up relationship.
• makes me feel lousy.
• creates war.

Pride

I don’t own the rights to this amazing pic. It’s from Imgur. And I’m not making any money on it.

It was the first sin, both in Heaven and on Earth.

It was what made Lucifer think he could replace God in a Zeus-like bid for power. Instead, he fell to Earth and became Satan.

It was what motivated Adam and Eve to transgress.

When he tempted Jesus, he made unsuccessful use of pride to get our Savior to stop being sinless.

Because of it:

• We don’t forgive.
• We don’t ask for forgiveness.
• We pay attention to comparisons.
• We don’t mind putting down another person.
• Our families fall apart, our kids get lost.

It is the sneakiest temptation because when we have conquered most other temptations, we feel proud of ourselves.

It is the most human of condition. It doesn’t afflict only the rich. The poor, too, are proud. Not only the beautiful are caught in its ways.

We lie because of it.

Revolutionize your life (one small decision at a time)

This world is mean. If you obtain bad results, it criticizes you virulently. It casts you off.

But if you start to get a victory — a small victory — nobody says anything. So you may need to congratulate yourself for every small good thing you do:

• you passed up the donut
• you didn’t yell at your wife
• you turned off the television and did something productive
• you didn’t take a swig of alcohol.

Since no one is taking the time to pat you on the back, let this blog be your congratulations! Woo-hoo! I’m impressed for you! Keep it up, and soon, no one will recognize you. Your critics will fade away. You’re on the road to success.

My son, at 16, is working for NASA

In the background, Rob Ashcraft participates in some hands-on work with NASA.

No kidding! No, he’s not a child prodigy. It’s simply a story how if you stay where God has planted you and remain faithful, He’ll bring big opportunities to you. Read the full story.

Rob made a wise but hard decision to give up summer fun for a pre-calculus class. He wanted to be an engineer, so he wanted a jump on math. It turns out the teacher, a member in our church, was working on NASA’s antenna for the 2020 Mars rover (yes, they’re still looking for life up there). Eventually, he invited Rob to see the practical applications of the math he was working on.

What an opportunity! To work on a NASA project! Being exposed to greatness doesn’t make you great, but it sure gives you the chance to aim for greatness. See also.

In memory of Robin Williams (voices in your head)

For many people, the negative rant you hear in your head actually goes audible. And science can’t adequately explain it, so they pretty much dismiss it. It’s wonderfully consoling to know that you are not going crazy. Those voice are actually real. Robin Williams confessed to hearing voices in an under-reported interview: “You have an idea there’s a dark force when you’re in that space, and it’s totally the opposite of doing the right thing… You’re standing at a precipice and you look down, there’s a voice and it’s a little quiet voice that goes, ‘Jump!’” Unfortunately, he ultimately listened to those voices and hung himself.

Those voices are demons. They hate all humans. They come to us because of sin. They literally want to take you and me to Hell. In the name of Jesus, you can rebuke them, and they have to flee. Read the Bible. Confess your sins to God. Get some mature Christian to help you with prayer. Begin to director your life more and more towards God and away from sin.

My mom was a counselor in the Sylmar juvenile hall facility in the L.A. area, at the time, the largest in the nation. Kids would come to her to share the frightening secret: they were hearing voices. Frequently, those voices were telling them to kill, either another person or themselves. Guards and psychologists had told these kids they were crazy. My mom no. She prayed for them. They got free from the voices. They had opened themselves to hear those voices from their gang activities (violence, drugs, murder, other things).

As we saw from Robin Williams, you don’t have to be a gang-banger to wrangle with demons. The further you stray from God’s plan, the greater the danger you can actually to start to hear these mean voices.

I feel for the girl who’s cutting, the guy who’s taking anti-depressants, the alcoholic who’s gone over the edge. You can be a supposed mirth-filled person (like Williams) and be struggling privately with deep melancholy. Whatever the case, Jesus IS the answer. Doping people up doesn’t help. Counseling can help. But the real solution is God.

Gene Simmons vs. Jesus

Photo: Reuters

Thanks for speaking clearly, Gene. There are actually a lot of people out there who think the world is preferable to the church. (My apologies to any offended fans of Gene Simmons for this comparison. I send you a KISS.)

Rebuild

Do you know what city this is?

It’s Hiroshima.

I was blindsided. We host international students in our home and got one from Hiroshima. Honestly, I had heard so much about the atomic-bombing of Hiroshima and the controversial question of use of nuclear weapons that I never learned anything about the reconstruction of the city. In the abyss of my mind, vaguely I assumed that it was never rebuilt. The wasteland was so contaminated with radiation that no one ever dared to get within 50 miles of it.

Hiroshima after the atomic bomb leveled the city and ended the war with Japana. from Wikipedia

When I asked my new Japanese student where he was from, I was dumbfounded by his simple answer: Hiroshima. Next, I had a stupid thought: he didn’t look like a nuclear fallout victim. Then I peppered him with questions. I asked for pictures. I looked it up.

The oleander was named the official flower of the city because it was the first to bloom after the devastation of the atomic bomb. In a desperate attempt to defeat the Japanese in World War II, the Americans dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945. It killed 80,000 people and leveled 70% of the city. Subsequent radiation and injury killed another 40,000 by the end.

In 1949, the Hiroshima Peace Memorial City Construction Law funded the reconstruction of the city. Life would return to normal.

It’s no matter how destroyed your life (family, finances, whatever) is (by sin). You can rebuild.

Don’t get frustrated with the people around you

People are either a blessing or a lesson.

That is beautiful because it almost rhymes and expresses profound truth. So we should not despise the people who are lessons to us — the frustrating ones. It appears to me that is generally cute to despise others: “I don’t hate people. I just feel better when they’re not around,” one T-shirt says. And thus we families that fall apart. Since we can’t get along with others (we are unwilling to work at building relationships and blame others, not ourselves), we wind up with loneliness.

This is my plea for you to work at relationships, to restore, to forgive, and to give without expecting in return. Demolition is much easier than construction. To tear down feels pleasurable. But the rubble left is no fun. It is better to build, even if it is costly. Build your family, your friendships, your church.

The most beautiful woman on earth

is your wife. Don’t look elsewhere. Swoon your wife like you once won her when she was your girlfriend.

To forgive others is to become a Christian

Even unbelievers admire Jesus. From the excruciating agony of the cross, he uttered these words about his crucifiers: Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.

It is another testament to the veracity of the crucifixion story. That unschooled fishermen could concoct such a counter-intuitive and unnatural denoument is the more unbelievable story that atheists buy into. Remember Peter’s natural reaction was to cut off the high priest’s servant’s ear to defend his Lord. All of the disciples expected Jesus to throw off the hated Roman domination and set up an earthly kingdom to the style of David. That things worked out completely so unexpected attests to the truth of the story.

So Jesus is our example of forgiving. I believe we become Christians when we forgive. And when we become Christians, as the years pass, we — I — need to continue to forgive. It is never easy, whether the offense be small or big. Especially as the offense gets bigger. I’m not trying to be glib. It may be an internal struggle requiring all of our effort, this difficult task of forgiving.

No, I’m not throwing stones at people struggling with forgiveness. Really, I’m trying to encourage you to continue trying to forgive.

Does God love me?

God’s love for you is not based on how well you have behaved lately. You don’t earn or lose His love. It’s constant and immeasurable. There have been many times in my life I have felt unloved by God, but these were my own feelings working interference. I couldn’t receive a clear signal from God because of this interference.

Even if you don’t feel it, God loves and accepts you. I understood this only when I studied more profoundly the Word of God. It’s funny now, but the devil used to lead me to those passages that spoke of severity — and only to those passages. In reality, I was falling into the error of condemnation. When I understood the totality of the scriptures better, then I realized that God loved me. And He loves you too.

You ARE important and loved

You are the apple of His eye. He’s watching you with eyes of compassion.

No one listens to me

What do you mean no one wants to listen to you?

I have been waiting for years for you to talk to Me.

Let beauty be born today in you

If you turn to God, it will be the beginning of beauty in your life.

Thanks Sarah Sue Jones for use of her original artwork. This was my interpretation of your painting. You are the greatest and have a great future. May God bless you! We will miss you.

God never gives up on you

Hopeless? God still has hope for you.

God still heals…

bodies, hearts, minds, souls

Heart, you’ve let me down

Heart, you’ve led me astray, following your desires, chasing love where it cannot be found. So I’m giving up on you. I’m going to follow One who is faithful and who forgives. I’m tired of the disillusions you lead me to. It’s time to settle down for an illusion, a hope, that won’t disappoint.

A new dawn for your life

Let God bring a new dawn to your life.

Making a masterpiece takes…

I’m still trying to produce my life’s masterpiece, that stroke of genius, that huge and beautiful work by which I may be remembered.

In the meantime, there are lots of starts and stops. I’ve thrown out the canvas a bunch of times. I’ve produced a long line of inferior works. Some of them have been good. But none of them is critically acclaimed.

Of course, I’m referring to whatever your calling may be, not just art. I myself am no artist. But I’ve compared my work serving the Lord to artistry. Am I satisfied success

with the works I’ve done to glorify Jesus? Not yet. I’ll keep working.

Don’t fret. Keep on in the right direction. Your last work will be your best and will make everybody forget the rest.

Making a masterpiece takes time.

Peace for the insulted

Nothing better than the Word of God: Don’t be afraid of their insults. Don’t be discouraged by their abuse. — Isaiah 51:7 NET

Old guys rock with God

First, an post-menopausal woman gets pregnant, even though her old husband doubts angel Gabriel’s announcement. Then an old prophet comes up to see the baby Jesus. Another elderly lady, a prayer warrior constantly in the temple, also coos over Jesus in Luke’s gospel.

The old guys ushered in the Age of Aquarius — I mean, of the marvelous Age of Grace. The old guys heralded it, waited for it, saw its dawning. God used the old guys.

They weren’t dumped in a retirement home. They weren’t mocked for old people habits. Maybe they talked incessantly of the “good old days.” Maybe the complained about new-fangled devices. Maybe they had their senior moments.

Regardless, God used them. And He wants to use you.

It’s fabulous that new generation of leaders rise in the church. But let’s not marginalize the older generation.

Oh, I forgot (!). In the interest of self-disclosure, I’m 47. And I don’t want to be excluded from whatever God is doing.

God favors the unfavored

Mary is rejoicing. She’s about to have a baby, impregnated by the Holy Spirit. He will be the Messiah. God has chosen lowly, poor Mary, a nobody who simply loved God and was passed over for every important assignment — passed over by others, not by God.

This IS a Biblical pattern. God chooses the foolish things to shame the wise. Over and over again, He chose the second born (or last born)  against the father’s preference for the first born.

Often those who enjoy power or riches think themselves too important to seek God. They sort of unchoose themselves.

If you find yourself lacking money, talent, beauty, intelligence, _________________ (fill in the blank), congratulations! You are a prime candidate to be chosen by God for a special mission.

In case you don’t know…

Absolutely nothing can/will/shall separate us from the love of God.

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,fn neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. — Rom. 8:28-29 NIV.

The darker it gets…

The darkness, as it grows, only serves to beautify the light. People will be drawn more and more naturally to the lighthouse under the gathering storm of godlessness. The more hopeless it becomes, the greater the need for hope.

All of human history summed up

Satan tried to crash God’s party.

Dive into the depths

Whether its natural treasure or Spanish gold coins, you’ll find it in the depths. You can’t remain on the surface.

So too, a superficial understanding of grace and God misses the treasures. The man who is content to skim the surface, totally ignores the incredible richness he would discover if only he would dive into the depths.

Pure joy

It smacked me across the face. I was bumming because of trials, but the Bible says I should rejoice.

How do your actually feel happiness for trials?

Keys:

1. Realize God is using them to bring you much-needed growth.
2. Realize God is bringing you through them to a blessed end.
3. Realize God wants you to rejoice in trials.

When you pass the test, you pass the class!

Trials come in all sizes. Generally, beginner Christians get beginner trials. And older Christians are in advanced classes, so to speak. Don’t despair by the size of your trials.

My definition of “pure joy” was something else. Like if Argentina would have won the World Cup. But I have to change my definition of “pure joy.”

You aren’t alone

So much effort and money is being spent on finding life in Mars or elsewhere — all in an effort to see if we are not alone in the Galaxy. You needn’t invest so much to find out that you are not, in fact, alone.

Jesus is only  a prayer away. He is loving you through your time of suffering. He is simply waiting for you to call out to Him.

Casting cares

Casting all your cares on Him, for He cares for you. — 1 Pet. 5:7.

Image thanks to http://www.wallconvert.com

Nimby Christian

A Nimby (not in my back yard) is a protestor who doesn’t want (development, resource exploration, homosexuals and so on) near his home. If you want to open a nuclear power plant, he complains about radiation danger. If you want to set up a windfarm, he complains about losing his view. He wants to use energy and agrees that they produce it, just “not in my back yard.”

A while back, I shared how I was forced to leave 16 years on the mission field by criminals. Somebody commented: “Let the Guatemalans rot.”

Ouch.

Sadly, Christians often can’t be moved to impact the world until something negative happens close to home. Jesus calls us to go to the world and address its problems. Don’t wait for them to come to America.

When terrorists destroyed the New York Trade Center towers, America reacted in a negative way. Go kill the culprits, whoever they may be, wherever they may lurk.

What about going and preaching the gospel to these nations??? Jesus told us to GO. The reason why they brought us hate is became we didn’t bring them love (the love of Christ).

Starting over

Sometimes, a few revisions, minor changes, slight alterations of modus operandi, sometimes it’s not enough. Sometimes, you have to throw out the whole thing and start over.

No, I’m not talking about divorce. I’m talking about salvation, or starting a new career, or starting your discipleship over completely.

It can be hard to humble yourself (myself) and take the role of inexperienced. Well, there’s nothing wrong with starting over.

I had been watering a bush in our school for a year. For reasons I ignore, it basically died. They pruned it down to the stem. Now it is sprouting. We had to start over.

As I looked at the plant, I wondered if there was a lesson for me.

Live Love Laugh Lord

God lives/loves