What do you Actually Own?

What do you possess?  I mean, what do you actually own in your life?  If someone were to ask me what I own, I would say a car, house, furniture, clothing, food and a lot of other things, but do I really?

There is no true verb for "to have" in the Hebrew Scripture.  You can not say "I have this or that."  By the Hebrew language you can not possess anything in this world.  It is simply an illusion.  There is nothing in this world which you can keep.  It is only temporarily entrusted to you.  What you think you have, you really do not.  If you fight to keep what you have you are fighting for what you do not have.

God is the only person who actually owns anything and He allows us to be stewards of some of His earthly riches.  Even your own life is not your own but God's; therefore the burdens in our lives are not ours but God's also.

The only things we can give to God which belongs to us are our sins and our will.  The only thing a Christian can truly possess is God Himself.  When you have nothing but God, you own everything.

Photo Credit: A vintage Jaguar XK150 on show at Hinton Ampner in Hampshire by Anguskirk

No Fear! No Worry!

Would you like to live a life without fear and worry?  It seems impossible in this fallen world filled with violence, war, sickness and death. If it was impossible than why would scripture so many times tell us not to fear or worry?

The people with no fear are not extreme sports athletes who do death defying stunts.  The answer is not in being brave.  The mystery of where to find a worry free, fearless life is found in the Bible.  If we really believed it we would be closer to a fear free life.

"Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid.  The LORD, the LORD himself, is my strength and my defense; he has become my salvation." Isaiah 12:2

When Isaiah says "I will trust and not be afraid" he is not just talking about fear of death and where we would go afterwards. If we truly trust God with our lives, we would have no fear.  We would know that God loves us too much to let unnecessary pain in our lives.  Yes, some pain is necessary in order to grow in Him and to serve Him, but even then God is there beside us.  The life of a Christian will have have pain, suffering and even death because of the fall of man. But God is love and in the love chapter of the Bible, 1 Corinthians 13, it says that love always protects.  God protects us from Satan's plans, so the we can follow God's plan for our lives.

So what do you have to fear?  What do you have to worry about?  The God who loves you more than anything you could imagine is with you; protecting you.  You just need to rest in Him.  Trust that you are in His protective hands where you can just peacefully curl up and sleep soundly; knowing that He is watching over you.

"Peace I leave with you, my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your heart be trouble and do not be afraid."  John 14:27

Photo Credit: Panic by Nate Steiner

The Death Penalty for a Lie

It just doesn't seem fair that we should be thrown into Hell for telling a little white lie.  In fact there are lots of small sins that we feel shouldn't send us into eternal damnation.  So why would a loving God have such a harsh punishment for such a little thing?

God is the ruler of all the universe.  He is king of everything and everyone is living within His kingdom.  God sets forth laws which are beneficial to the people of His kingdom.  They are laws which are established out of love.  His nature is one of love and protection.

When we go against any Law of God we are saying that God was wrong to establish that law.  We are telling God "I know better than you do.  I should be the King and not you."  We are attempting to tear God off the throne and establish ourselves in His place.  What we are doing is treason.

Throughout history anyone who tried to take down the authority of a nation was deemed a traitor.  It was the most horrendous crime you could commit.  The penalty was death, and usually a very horrible and prolonged death.

All sin is taken very seriously by God because it is a direct attack against Him and undermines the loving protection He gives to all people.

Photo Credit: Flames by Jaymann91

Cold Blooded Evil

In the Scriptures, the serpent is a symbol of evil.  That does not mean that the serpent is evil, but that it represents evil.  The cold blooded serpent moves by twisting its way to its destination.

Evil is also cold blooded and twisted.  Just as a snake twists its body to move, evil twists the truth.  It will twist all that is pure, good and Godly into something defiled and vile.

Deception is cold blooded. Gossip is cold blooded. Illicit sex is cold blooded.  Hatred, slander, revenge, and even pride are all cold blooded.

God desires that those things which are cold blooded to be cast from us.  They are finite while that which is of God will endure forever.  The evil cold blooded things must give way, in the world and in our lives, to the goodness of God.

Jesus' Evil Twin

Pilate stood before the crowd of Jews with two men on either side of him.  On one side was Jesus, the Son of God and on the other was Jesus, the son of his father.  When offered to release Jesus who had done no wrong or Jesus who was a famous criminal, the crowds freed the evil Jesus and called for the crucifixion of the righteous and sinless Jesus.

The story found in Matthew 27 calls the one set free Barabbas.  In Matthew 27:16 the most trusted ancient text the full name given is Jesus Barabbas.  It is much more likely that the name Jesus was deleted, is some text, out of respect for the Messiah rather than added.  

What does the name Barabbas means? Bar means "son" and abbas means "father".  So Barabbas means "son of the father"  

To explain the mystery of why these two identical men were brought forth to the people we must go back to the time when God gave Moses the laws found in Leviticus. In Leviticus 16 God instructs that the high priest should take two goats that were identical in appearance and cast lots for them. One goat would be sacrificed for the sins of the people, while the other goat would be freed.  Two goats where presented to the people; each with a separate destiny.  

This act of choosing which goat was to live and which was to die was a fore shadowing of  the coming Messiah.  

Dry Bones

The Romans destroyed Jerusalem in 70 AD, but it wasn't until 73 AD that the last of Israel was truly conquered. The fortress of Masada held out against the Romans until finally the last zealots, numbering about 1000, killed themselves so that the Romans could never have the victory of actually defeating them or sending survivors into slavery.

When Masada was excavated in the 1950s, they found a scripture buried in the ruins, Ezekiel 37: 1-14. This is where God shows Ezekiel a valley full of dry bones and ask "Son of man, can these bones live?"  God then tells Ezekiel to prophesy over the dry bones to put on flesh and skin and to live.  And the dry bones did and they stood up like a vast army.  God then says that He will bring the Jews up from the grave, they will will live again in their own land and God will put His spirit into them.

On May 14th 1948,  for the first time since the fall of Masada, Jews lived under the banner of their own nation.  God brought them out of the grave of history back to life just as Ezekiel pronounced He would.  Today Israel lives by the grace of God.  They have their own land back, they speak the same language as they did 2000 years ago. They have the shekel as their currency again. No people have ever come back from destruction like this before and become a nation again.  God brought them back from being dry bones to being a living nation of people that someday Jesus Christ will return and rule.

Photo Credit: Masada, Israel by Miguelsihman

To Kiss God

I love God.  I desire to see Him with all of my heart.  I know I will be so happy, but I wonder what I will do when I see Jesus face to face.  What will any of us do?  Will we cry with joy?  Will we hug him and never want to let him go? Perhaps we will fall down before him and kiss his feet.

Do you desire to give God a kiss?  Did you know that you can kiss God even now?  In the Greek New Testament, Proskuneo is translated as worship.  Pros means "towards" and kuneo means "to kiss"  It is the idea of so adoring Him that you throw yourself down and kiss His feet.

Would you like to give God a kiss?  Worship Him!  Right now you can give the Lord a kiss by worshiping Him.  Sing a love song to Him. Pray and tell Him how much you love Him.  Worship Him and kiss God.

Photo Credit: kiss by summerbl4ck