This Christmas a friend died from cancer, I was shocked because I had recently seen her at the gym. On Thanksgiving Day she learned her husband had an affair. She was so distracted by her husband’s betrayal she didn’t realize her body was tearing itself apart, her heart wasn’t the only thing broken.
I can’t imagine her pain. Two decades of hearing I love you every day, only to realize it was a lie. Her husband forgot his vow…the promise to be faithful he made with his mouth, but his actions proved otherwise.
For most of their marriage he was faithful, but the sinful desire was there in the beginning. Sin isn’t always black-and-white.
Same with the Pharisees; at first their cause was God honoring, educate Jews in His word (Deuteronomy 6:6.) Eventually, their passion became prideful and soured their love of God.
Their version of the Messiah reflected what they believed about God: do this and God will make you great, don’t do this or God will punish you—religion to its core.
Not much different from what the 21st century church, the God squad today. Pray this and God will give you the desires of your heart, don’t do this and God will bless you; we are made for greatness.
Dream theology comes from the heart of sinful man, not a righteous God! It doesn’t glorify God, but man; all in the name of God. An old T-shirt says Christianity is a reletionship, not a religion.
It is a result of the perfect love of God in our Divine romance. Relationships require commitment and religion doesn’t. Religious people are too busy for God, they lack commitment.
COMMITMENT?
As a single guy, I place a lot of worth into commitment. It means more than just an agreement. Love is not what I say, but what I do. If I don’t act like I’m in love, I’m a hypocrite.
Commitment is a pledge to do something in the future, an act of committing to a charge. It is the noun form of commit, a verb implying continual action. Not a simple thought. No wonder so many people are afraid of it.
Last year at a writer’s conference I met a young millennial who shared how she and her generation were terrified of commitment. She said the thought of giving up everything for it scared her.
I’m not picking on millennials; God’s people have always had a problem committing to Him, we are not worthy of His wreckless love.
• Adam and Eve wanted more than just their creator.
• As Israel grew, they looked at the world around them and wanted more.
• Their love for God decreased as their love for what they saw increased.
• Time and again God rescued them from their pursuit of greatness.
• Then came the religious Pharisees teaching greatness again!
Over 2000 years later the modern church is continuing the same pattern. We turn away from God for various reasons: a lost dream, lack of patience, and most common, a lack of commitment. Although we say, I just need you Lord.
We can try and cover it up with light work: we talk the talk, put on our Pharisaical robes to look godly and believe if we never give up on what we want, God will bless us.
Despite what many false teachers and well-meaning pastors teach, God is more concerned about giving us new hearts (for Him) than our selfish desires. Just like in the first century church, there are wolves deceiving many believers who think they are committed to God (Matthew 7:15, 10, 16).
WOLVES?
Wolves aren’t the most loving creatures. They are notorious for killing their own; they’re their own priority. It’s where we get the saying, “it’s a dog eat dog world.”
They do so for one of two reasons, they’re hungry or they are trying to become the top dog (wolf). They are fierce hunters and legendary enemies of sheep.
Pharisees put the spotlight on themselves (Romans 16:17-20). It’s no coincidence that throughout the Bible we see this wolf/sheep analogy. It contains warnings about wolves infiltrating the flock of God (Jeremiah 23:2, Ezekiel 34:2-3, John 10:12, Acts 10:29), the saints are in this together with wolves.
Jesus called the Pharisees wolves, because He knew they were fakes and told them their hearts were hard when they tested Jesus on divorce (Matthew 19:8). They loved no one, but themselves.
The A team of the Pharisees applied the law to everything; Jesus applied unconditional love to everything. The Pharisees’ passion for God turned them against Him and His people. Selfishness turns passion into pride. C.S. Lewis wrote in his classic The Great Divorce “No people find each other more absurd than lovers.” If we only love when it’s wonderful, then we were never truly committed.
I can’t imagine her pain. Two decades of hearing I love you every day, only to realize it was a lie. Her husband forgot his vow…the promise to be faithful he made with his mouth, but his actions proved otherwise.
For most of their marriage he was faithful, but the sinful desire was there in the beginning. Sin isn’t always black-and-white.
Same with the Pharisees; at first their cause was God honoring, educate Jews in His word (Deuteronomy 6:6.) Eventually, their passion became prideful and soured their love of God.
Their version of the Messiah reflected what they believed about God: do this and God will make you great, don’t do this or God will punish you—religion to its core.
Not much different from what the 21st century church, the God squad today. Pray this and God will give you the desires of your heart, don’t do this and God will bless you; we are made for greatness.
Dream theology comes from the heart of sinful man, not a righteous God! It doesn’t glorify God, but man; all in the name of God. An old T-shirt says Christianity is a reletionship, not a religion.
It is a result of the perfect love of God in our Divine romance. Relationships require commitment and religion doesn’t. Religious people are too busy for God, they lack commitment.
COMMITMENT?
As a single guy, I place a lot of worth into commitment. It means more than just an agreement. Love is not what I say, but what I do. If I don’t act like I’m in love, I’m a hypocrite.
Commitment is a pledge to do something in the future, an act of committing to a charge. It is the noun form of commit, a verb implying continual action. Not a simple thought. No wonder so many people are afraid of it.
Last year at a writer’s conference I met a young millennial who shared how she and her generation were terrified of commitment. She said the thought of giving up everything for it scared her.
I’m not picking on millennials; God’s people have always had a problem committing to Him, we are not worthy of His wreckless love.
• Adam and Eve wanted more than just their creator.
• As Israel grew, they looked at the world around them and wanted more.
• Their love for God decreased as their love for what they saw increased.
• Time and again God rescued them from their pursuit of greatness.
• Then came the religious Pharisees teaching greatness again!
Over 2000 years later the modern church is continuing the same pattern. We turn away from God for various reasons: a lost dream, lack of patience, and most common, a lack of commitment. Although we say, I just need you Lord.
We can try and cover it up with light work: we talk the talk, put on our Pharisaical robes to look godly and believe if we never give up on what we want, God will bless us.
Despite what many false teachers and well-meaning pastors teach, God is more concerned about giving us new hearts (for Him) than our selfish desires. Just like in the first century church, there are wolves deceiving many believers who think they are committed to God (Matthew 7:15, 10, 16).
WOLVES?
Wolves aren’t the most loving creatures. They are notorious for killing their own; they’re their own priority. It’s where we get the saying, “it’s a dog eat dog world.”
They do so for one of two reasons, they’re hungry or they are trying to become the top dog (wolf). They are fierce hunters and legendary enemies of sheep.
Pharisees put the spotlight on themselves (Romans 16:17-20). It’s no coincidence that throughout the Bible we see this wolf/sheep analogy. It contains warnings about wolves infiltrating the flock of God (Jeremiah 23:2, Ezekiel 34:2-3, John 10:12, Acts 10:29), the saints are in this together with wolves.
Jesus called the Pharisees wolves, because He knew they were fakes and told them their hearts were hard when they tested Jesus on divorce (Matthew 19:8). They loved no one, but themselves.
The A team of the Pharisees applied the law to everything; Jesus applied unconditional love to everything. The Pharisees’ passion for God turned them against Him and His people. Selfishness turns passion into pride. C.S. Lewis wrote in his classic The Great Divorce “No people find each other more absurd than lovers.” If we only love when it’s wonderful, then we were never truly committed.
