Does It Matter?

To those who would deny God or claim there is no God I have to ask two questions.

1) Does it make a difference what you think?

If God is who He says He is, He does not need your approval to exist or to function in any way He pleases. Even if you deny Him He is still there. If you refuse to acknowledge His hand in creation and attribute the balance and order of the universe to a random evolution that drew what is out of the chaos that once was it does not mean God is going to change His mind about what He is doing because of your puny lack of faith or recognition.

If there were no God then ones denial of His existence would be a moot point. So what?

Whether there is or is not a God, what you think about it does make a difference. To other like-minded souls it will make a difference. It will make a difference in your behavior. After all, being accountable to a higher power can be so binding and oppressive. But you will require some personal and social standards to keep things from getting out of control. Hmm. You still have rules and accountability. I guess some things never change.

2) Does it matter what you think?

Does it really matter what you think? If there were no God you would be right! I am sure that would count for something to some one somewhere. If you could only prove it.

Now there is the problem. If God is who He says He is there is no earthly, scientific, philosophical, sociological, psychological (unless you stretch it to some form of para-psychology) or even theological way to disprove His existence. In fact, these disciplines, such as they are, are more likely to lean toward the existence of God than away from Him.

Does it matter to God what you think? I think He cares. In the big scheme of things it may seem a small matter but on the personal level it could mean everything. If God is as big and comprehensive as He claims to be then what you think is known to Him and He has an appropriate response. If you have the intellectual capacity to unlock the barriers of your mind and assume for a moment that God made the universe and He made you, and He has the ability to be conscious of your existence along with all the other billions of people on the earth, what do you think His response should be? Should He just leave you alone? Should He hold you accountable? Should He care at all about you? Should He love you and want you to love Him in return?

I know where I stand. God does love me and He wants me to love Him in return. He also holds me accountable for my lack of rightness (That’s right, we call it sin.) but is willing to forgive if I will love Him. In order to love Him I need to believe in Him and if I believe in Him I need to obey Him by believing that He paid the price for my unrighteousness when He gave His Son, Jesus, to die on the Cross for my sins. I guess it does matter what you think.

God's Peace

Sometimes things do not work out the way we expect or the way we would like them to. This may cause us to wonder and to doubt that God cares or that He is even remotely interested of aware of the circumstances we are in. Romans 8:28 states:

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose.

If we love the Lord our knowledge of God's providential workings in the affairs of mankind should give us a heart of peace. We may not always understand the things that go on around us and sometimes it is going to seem unfair and painful, but God is still there and still working for our good. He has a calling and a purpose for your life. No one said it would always be easy but we can have peace. Jesus said:

Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. (John 14:27)

Personal trials, family problems, church difficulties; these are all things that fall under the jurisdiction of God's peace. They are not things to be run from but rather to seek God's help in overcoming. Let us rest in God's peace.

RH

Where Does Evil Come From?

Evil is that which is not of God. God is good. He creates good. He does good.

Evil is departure from the good of God. Since all of God is good and it is His Will that good be done the ultimate source of evil is disobedience to God.

Lucifer disobeyed God and became evil.

Adam disobeyed God and caused the evil of sin to fall upon all creation – including himself and his posterity.

Sin, by definition, is disobedience to God.

Evil is the “bad” associated with sin. It is inherent in sin. Note that some “good” may come of sin but it is inherently evil. One might justify steeling from the rich to give to the poor. However, the poor then become complicit in the crime. Lotto dollars may be used for schools and economic development but it in fact takes money from those who have false hopes and the innocent become dependent on the vices of the weak. Abortion may be seen as good to one who does not want to accept the responsibility or the inconvenience of a child but it means the slaying of the most innocent among us. These are evil results of sinful behavior.

If disobedience has brought sin and the subsequent evil, only obedience to God can restore the goodness and forgiveness of God through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ.

Some would argue that if God created all things He also created evil. However, evil is not something created or generated by good. It is the consequence of the freedom God gave man to choose to obey Him or not. Such a design is risky can only serve one purpose: to prove love. Without a choice love is irrelevant, a mere glandular emotion that only complicates life and has no meaning. With choice love is still glandular and still complicated but when it is true and one chooses to love God who first loved us it is the greatest treasure and brings Him the Highest pleasure, glory and honor.

A perfect creation without love? Or a fallen creation to choose to love and be loved of (at least by some) in return? Creation will eventually be purged of evil but the love of God is forever!

RLH

Does God Remember Forgiven Sin?

The Scripture indicates that God forgives our sin and separates it from us as far as the East is from the West and remembers it no more. (See following passages.) However, There is a Judgment of the Saints following the return of Jesus Christ where the redeemed will receive rewards and suffer loss according to their works in this life. (Romans 14:10; II Cor. 5:10) If God cannot remember the sin how could He rightly judge ones works upon the earth?

The key is in the timing of the separation of the sin. Though our sins are forgiven there is still an accounting. (I Cor. 3:13-15) Due process must be served and though sin is forgiven, a trial of our life must take place and a judgment be rendered as to our reward in Heaven. The verdict of "guiltless by reason of redemption by the blood of Jesus" is already determined. The rewards in Heaven are already laid up and ready to be awarded. Past indiscretions have been considered and judged rightly according to God's precise knowledge of our hearts and circumstances. (Matt. 4:22; 12:36)

Once this Judgment known as the "Judgment Seat of Christ" is complete all matters will be settled for eternity and the sins of our natural lives will no longer be an issue. In fact all will be completely forgiven and there will be no more need for a record, remembrance, appeal, correction or anything else. That sin will be remembered no more. The blood of Jesus has erased it from existence. It will not be able to come back to haunt us and in our glorified bodies there will be no more opportunity to sin.


11 For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him.
12 As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.
13 Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear him.
Psa 103:11-13

11 And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.
12 For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.
Hebrews 8:11-12

16 This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them;
17 And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.
Heb 10:16- 17

Has God Failed?

A young man works long hours and has a long commute to work. One evening, coming home late and exhausted he falls asleep at the wheel, crashes his car and ends up in traction in the hospital. Has God failed?

While in the hospital he has some time to think and re-examine his life. He realizes how easily he could have died. When the pastor visits he decides to prepare for eternity and asks Jesus to come into his heart and gains a whole new perspective on life. During rehab he meets a young physical therapist named Judy. They develop a Christ centered relationship, fall in love and are happily married. Has God failed?

A young woman has an unhappy and abusive childhood. In her search for happiness and acceptance she becomes addicted to drugs, alcohol and cigarettes. In her search for love and through her own indiscretions she becomes pregnant. Has God failed? Unwilling to face the consequences of her moral dilemma and following he reasoning that it would be unfair to bring a new life into her world, and it is her choice, she has an abortion a the free clinic (sponsored by Planned Parenthood – now there is an oxymoron). Has God failed? As a result of the abortion she contracts toxemia and nearly dies. Has God failed? While in recovery she is visited by her godly aunt who has been praying for her. She realizes what a disaster her life has become and wants to get out of it but does not know how. Through the witness of her aunt she realizes her lost condition and cries out to God for forgiveness, salvation and deliverance from the drugs, alcohol and immoral life style that has bound her. When she is well enough she goes to church with her aunt and really enjoys the services, the people and the presence of the Lord. The next Sunday she goes again and is even more excited about what God can do in her life. She decides she wants to be a missionary and help the poor and starving in Africa. Has God failed? The following week she meets some of her old friends. They talk a while and the next thing you know she is popping a few pills and taking a swig of Jack Daniels that just happened to appear. Her aunt continues to pray but never sees her in church again. She dies before she is thirty, her body racked by drugs, alcohol and venereal disease. Has God failed?

11:15 Saturday morning a young man answers the door to find a middle-aged man with a church flyer in his hand inviting him to church. The young man’s grandfather was a Pentecostal preacher and though he loved and respected his grandfather he thought his religion was a little “over the top” and did not sync with reality. As far as he could tell God had failed. People suffered for no apparent reason, innocent children were abused, even by those who claimed to be Christians, there was war, crime, natural disasters… the world was a mess. If there really was a God he had failed and He didn’t want anything to do with Him. The young man was polite but voiced his opinion briefly. After a short exchange he took the flyer and said “goodbye” and closed the door. Had God failed?

The obvious, but not so objective answer is “No.” God has not failed. We accept the assumption that God cannot fail. Our theology will not allow it. He would not be the God we claim and love and serve. If He failed then He would have to be some lesser god that would be unable and unworthy of our devotion.

God cannot fail. But He created a world that is riddled with failure – death, pestilence, destruction… Isn’t that a failure?

If it was wrong to give man a choice, the ability and privilege to make his own decisions and the responsibility to live (or die) by them, then I suppose God has failed. However, if in that freedom of choice or “free will” mankind were to choose God and to live rightly before Him how much more glorious that would be!

So who has failed? If you have to blame someone for the woes of the world who should it be? The one who made it all perfect in the beginning or the one who “chooses” to mess it up?

Incidentally, failure is a very subjective thing. Often our greatest successes are built on multiple failures. An experiment is typically a series of controlled failures that are adjusted and repeated until the desired result is found. If we are wise our failures teach us what to avoid whether personal, social, national, historical… We should be able to learn from our mistakes.

God does not fail. People do.

Every choice, every action, every decision will set in motion a chain of events with its own inevitable conclusion. All the chains are woven together in a fantastic tapestry of the moment. We affect it continually. It flows with the currents of time like a large flag billowing in the breeze. But where a flag is a two dimensional surface being folded into the third dimension of depth. We live in a three dimensional world that is ever “unfolding” through time.

The earlier scenarios are fiction except the last one. Yes, that middle-aged guy was I. But the events depicted, with some variance, have happened and are happening all the time. People meet and fall in love under the strangest or tragic circumstances. Others are freed from sin through faith in Christ but allow themselves to become bound by it again to their own destruction. Some are embittered by a philosophy of anger toward God and hopelessness in life. There are many other stories of tragedies as well as blessed lives. Has God failed some and been overly generous with others? God is not willing that any should Parrish but that all should come to repentance. He is also unwilling to force His perfect Will upon us because He loves us and desires that we love Him in return. God does not fail. But men and women fail to love Him and obey Him and one bad thing just leads to another.

RLH