Amongst my readings have been old diaries of people whom journeyed through the American wilderness in the 1840 to 1870 period. The pioneers, their travails, their thoughts, their pain at the randomness of life. Then my readings into the old literature of the Vikings, the Romans, the Greeks, the Egyptians. It showed me at an early age that people are the same today, as they were yesterday, as they were 100 - 200- 300 or even X,000 of years ago. We all still have the same basic thoughts, desires and needs - and the curse of the inability to learn our lessons from prior generations.
Today is a bit different in some countries, we have advanced over yesterday in a number of areas. Women being allowed to own land, stock or other possessions was a radical change! Prior to this a woman's only security was through her husband - and that is not exactly the best approach to security, especially when women are seen as a possession and treated accordingly. So, you have to marry and marry well or your future will be toast. Never mind that you would probably be dead by 24 from childbirth in any event.
The second area of change was the application of a standardized pricing approach to products. Prior to this it was haggling over everything's cost. A bargain for one, not so much for another less astute shopper! Of course, the barter system was driven primarily by the greed of the merchant wishing to maximize his profit and the purchasers desire to minimize his expense! Both are forms of greed, both are forms of not understanding that this world is not our final destination and we can not take it with us.
Yeah, nothing we possess on this Earth has ANY eternal value, it is completely wasted effort - unless we can use it for God's purposes! And no, that does not mean you own a mansion and it is okay with God because one room is dedicated to visiting missionaries! Really?!?!? And I hear this approach from all over the world, in every culture, greed is a universal problem and yeah if you are a missionary you probably will end up in someone's basement.
In the 1980's a new item popped up on my radar: people working the church membership for financial gain. AMWAY, AVON, the church membership roles being plied by realtors. I knew one guy whom belonged to seven churches so that he had the largest database of clients for his realty business. He was extremely successful financially, spiritually? Not so much. Really, anyone was surprised by this? The Church - is the place where you can find financial enrichment? That is why it was created? Carry that idea forward to a disaster in the Seattle area in the early 1980's - Delta Finance. Invest you money with this uninsured Christian financial investment firm and you will be guaranteed a financial reward and know that your money is protected by God. Really? When they went down, it wiped out most of those I knew in the Seattle area. It gave all Christians black-eyes. They gambled God's reputation and all of the sheep lost.
Well meaning Christians, came up with an idea on how to provide for their financial success by guaranteeing the success of others USING God as their alibi, safety - contentment for all! But, that is the exact opposite of what God asks of you!
At about the same time we had the wolves appear amongst the flock, looking for whom they may fleece. And fleece the Church they did! To the tune of millions! Some would go to prison but the majority went unpunished for their crimes against the Church, against God, against their siblings in Jesus. But, this was nothing newsworthy, it has been happening since the beginnings of the faith. And yeah, as unfair as it seems, God will level the playing field in the end - they will be brought to account for what they have done. Not very satisfying, huh?
Read 1 Timothy 6:3-6
Selling of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is God's and His alone. He gives, sharing His spirit with whom He will, how He will, when He will. We can not buy nor sell the gifts of the Spirit, nor the fruit of the Spirit. There is no power we control nor possess we can pass amongst ourselves or sell to others. We can not even give it away - it is not ours!
We can not make the message of the Gospel about us. It is about Jesus, from beginning to end. The split second we insert our personality and point to ourselves, we have left the truth of the Gospel behind and should no longer be followed or listened to. I honestly hurt for the Western Church. Yes, I criticize them and poke fun at them from time to time, but when the chips are down - I pray for God to break this evil bondage which has possessed His Church and is poisoning the world with a corrupt Gospel of health, wealth and materialism. Honestly, we need REVIVAL!
Further, we have to see to it that in our Body, the Church, we are not separating over the rather minor differences in our interpretation of Scripture. That very act of separation is the activity of Demons in our midst. I will pick on just one none doctrine as an example: "King James Only Bible". One of "my boys" fell into this slot many years ago and has been one of its pastors, pushing this ideology for two decades now. But, which KJV? His mentors all chirp 1611, however, they all use the 1769 - they do not even know their own chosen Bible's history! It is not convenient to show that there have been 100,000's of changes to the KJV just to get something fairly accurate for its time. But, with the revelations of archaeology, anthropology and linguists in the past 100 years - it could use more work to more accurately reflect truth and less Roman Catholicism.
No, the version of your Bible is not a concern to God. But He does care whether or not you can accept His tenants of the faith: one God/Creator, one payment for your sin/separation from Him, the virgin birth, the death, the resurrection of Jesus, the teachings of the Apostles. Yeah, if you can swallow those you can chew on other stuff like all of the minor items denominations are created over.
The goal of any of this is PEACE.
Christians can be:
- wealthy (properly controlled) or in poverty (actually easier to be Christian when you have nothing!)
- Powerful or powerless
- Free or slave
- Content or in pain
- Satisfied or unsatisfied
But you will never have peace in your life or your relationship with God until you have satisfaction with what you have. That means no requirement for any more of anything!
We are told that contentment is found in Jesus, with things of eternal value which can not slip away from us. Going back then that that bullet list above, that means you can have wealth, power, freedom, satisfaction and be content - just as easily as not being content at all. Conversely you can have nothing, be powerless, be a slave (as 2/3 of the world was in Paul's day), be satisfied with your portion and have contentment - just as easily as not being content at all!
WOW!
That is because contentment is the state of your HEART, it has nothing to do with any of these other attributes, it has to do with your relationship with Jesus. Given that relationship, it no longer matters what your state, your heart will be content with what you have been given by Him. Unfortunately, contentment is not the usual human condition and we actually have to seek and strive for that contentment. More on this tomorrow!
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