Month: August 2018

Believing the wrong things can be very dangerous.

One time when my step-sister and I were kids we had taken a long board and laid it across a 55 gallon drum and used it as a teeter-totter.  After a while, we got bored with it and went inside to play with something else.  A short time afterwards, a friend of my step-dad came over and as they were standing around talking, the friend noticed our contraption and asked what we were doing with it.  My step-dad lied and told him we were using it as a ramp and jumping our dirt bikes on it.  Said friend supposed that if a couple of little girls could jump this homemade, Evil Knievel style ramp so could he.  After all, he did just ride his motorcycle over to our house.  Let’s just say it didn’t end well with the friend.   He should have never believed my step-dad… Very dangerous.

People often reject biblical Christianity because they don’t understand it.  Even people who consider themselves to be Christians often reject the parts of the bible they don’t understand.  Having the correct perceptions and perspectives are important; because it affects what we believe and what we understand to be truth.   What we perceive as truth will have a direct bearing on how we order our steps in life. It will determine who and what we value.

“What you see and what you hear depend a great deal on where you are standing.”    C.S Lewis

Perception, or the act of perceiving something, is basically the idea of how we filter incoming information.  We can perceive with any of our 5 senses; touching, tasting, smelling, seeing or hearing,  but it is more than just taking information on board. It is how we process it.  It is how we interpret the data we take in.

Perspective on the other hand, is the position from which we view the world outwardly.   As C. S. Lewis said, it is the view from which we stand. As a dental assistant, I sit on the left of the patient while the doctor sits to the right.  It is part of my job to make the doctor aware of things that he may not be able to see from his perspective; from his limited view from the right side of the chair.   It’s not that he is blind and cannot see, he just can’t see clearly from where he sits. From where we sit (or stand) in life will also determine how we process our incoming data.

We will believe what we perceive as truth.

What we believe defines our reality.

At one time in my life, I did not believe the bible was true.  Oh, I would have told you that I did, but the evidence of my life would have said otherwise.  The sum of my reality did not factor in seeing myself as a sinner, let alone being held eternally accountable for my thoughts or actions.  That was the direction I was walking.

 

But I had people in my life who were praying for me.

And God began to work through those prayers and I started to entertain the thought that perhaps I was believing wrong things.  I allowed the possibility to enter into my mind that perhaps my truth was really a lie; that God was not only real, but alive and well and in pursuit of my heart.

I picked up my old bible and began to seek to understand God and His word.

I started to believe differently.  My reality shifted.

This is why believing is so paramount to the Christian faith.  It is the act of changing your mind- from perceiving one thing as truth to perceiving another thing as truth.  It’s abandoning one reality and surrendering to another.  That is repentance in its most basic form.

 

God implores us in His Word to believe rightly.

He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him. John 3:36

Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life. John 5:24

Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst. John 6:35

For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.  John 6:40

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this? ” John 11:25-26

And Jesus cried out and said, “He who believes in Me, does not believe in Me but in Him who sent Me.  He who sees Me sees the One who sent Me.  I have come as Light into the world, so that everyone who believes in Me will not remain in darkness.” John 12:44-46

Do you get the idea that believing is important?  Look at all the promises that are afforded us by believing!  Salvation, forgiveness, eternal life, to never hunger or thirst for truth, the resurrection, and to never walk in darkness! And that’s just a few from the book of John! (And I didn’t even list John 3:16 here because I know you already know that one, right?  If you don’t, look it up!)

 

It is my hope that by spending time together studying the word, you will come to perceive God like never before.  I pray that it will change your perspective of yourself and the world around you.

Believing is the first step in salvation for a reason.  It opens up the doors for everything else the Spirit has to offer; to receiving, knowing and growing in your spiritual life.

As C. S. Lewis also once said, “We are what we believe we are.”

Just believe RIGHTLY!

I believe God has been inspiring me (maybe nagging me) to start this blog for quite some time- alright, longer than I care to admit.  It’s not that I wanted to be purposefully obstinate, it’s just that I am so completely ignorant of such technological matters.  It felt scary and overwhelming.  But finally I decided to dive in, and with much prayer and pleading with God for the grace and ability to do what I surely believed He wanted me to do, here I am- blogging.

Turns out it’s not really that hard to set up a blog.  There are plenty of helpful websites and Youtube videos to walk you through.  Now, it was just getting down to the task of actually writing something meaningful and intelligent.

I have been contemplating the content of my initial post for some time.  I don’t know why, but I felt like it really needed to be epic.  Again, I was putting too much pressure on myself and making this harder than it should be.   I just wanted to give a proper introduction of the “Glory Road” blog to the world, one that adequately reflected my reasons for taking on this venture.   Then this morning as I lay in bed in the early morning hours, it all started to come to me; the right words I was waiting for.

All Roads

There is an old proverb that says “All Roads lead to Rome”.   The saying got started back in the days of the ancient Roman Empire and was a testimony to the elaborate road systems they engineered, ultimately leading a traveler from any secondary city to the capital city of Rome.    (Now we use it as an expression to mean that there are many different ways to reach the same outcome or destination.)

12^th Century French theologian Alain deLille wrote, “A thousand roads lead men forever to Rome”.

Rome was one of the largest and most civilized empires of the ancient world and contributed much to modern government, politics, law, literature, language and society in general.  The problem was they were plagued with blatant immorality.  They worshipped a pantheon of false and pagan dieties that incorporated sex, as well as other perversions, into their religious practices.  They entertained themselves en masse with brutality (especially against Christians), baths and brothels. It is said that the ultimate fall of the Roman Empire came because of its internal moral decay.

A.W. Tozer writes in his book Whatever Happened to Worship?, “Rome went down like a great rotten tree. She still had military strength and the show of power on the outside.  But Rome had crumbled away on the inside.  Rome doted on plenty of food and drink and on circuses and pleasure and of course, on unbridled lust and immorality.   What great army put the Roman Empire down?  Rome fell to the barbarous hordes from the north- the Lombard, the Hun, and the Ostrogoth-people who were not worthy even to care for the shoes of the Romans.  Rome had become fat and weak and careless and unconcerned.  And Rome died.”

Christian, spiritually speaking, we do not want to be on any road that leads us to Rome, and unfortunately, in this world there are many.

Rome, in my analogy, leads to death and sin and destruction.

“Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it.  For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.” Matthew 7:13.

Friend, as followers of Jesus Christ, there is only one way for us, one road we want to be traveling on, and that is the road that leads us to the One True and Living God-  the Glory Road!

When The Lord led Israel out of Egypt and into the wilderness, He led them by His Glory; a pillar of cloud by day and fire by night.  The Glory cloud would descend onto the tent of meeting and there the Lord would speak with Moses “face to face”.  When Moses prayed and asked the Lord to ”let me  know Your ways that I may know You, so that I may find favor in Your sight,” the Lord responded by saying, “My Presence shall go with you, and I will give you rest.” Exodus 33.  God’s Glory is His Presence.

If you are a born again, Spirit filled believer of Jesus Christ, then that Glory resides within you.  “The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one…” John 17:22.   (And, by the way, if you are NOT a born again, Spirit filled believer of Jesus Christ and would like to be, this website is a great place to learn how.   This is where you can start your journey!)

The Glory of God has descended upon you and you can now hear the voice of your Father leading you in the right way.  But you must harken unto that voice in obedience and follow Him fully.  That is what will keep you on that Glory Road.  “If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.” 1John 1:6-7

It is unbelievably easy to take a wrong turn.  It is just as easy to stumble and fall.  I’ve done this many times; so many times it’s embarrassing.  But to be perfectly honest, The Glory Road isn’t always the easiest way to travel.  It is sometimes very difficult and demanding, at times extremely painful.  It always requires a great deal of self-sacrifice and self-discipline. God will at times lead you in ways that will make you scratch your head and wonder if even He knows where He is going. (I promise you, He does.)

By the way, when (I would say “if” but who are we kidding?) you do lose your way and get off track, it’s just as easy to get right back on.  It only requires that you turn around (repent) and head back toward the Light.  It is in these times of wandering away, lost and confused, that God shows Himself to be a loving, gracious, forgiving and merciful God.   “For the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost.” Matthew 18:11.   If you stray, He will come looking for you (Matthew 18:12-14).

When we are born into this world we begin a journey of a lifetime.  You have the span of that lifetime to decide which Road you are going to travel; the Road that leads to Death and Darkness or the Road that leads to Light and Life.  “Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, ‘I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of Life.’” John 8:12.

Don’t be afraid.  Man up and choose the right road, friend.  I don’t mean to sound like an alarmist, but I fear your time for choosing in running thin.

This is the purpose of the Glory Road blog, to stand in the hedges and the by- ways of all the roads leading to Rome and cry out, “You are going the wrong way!  The right way is over here!”

Help me point others to the narrow way.  Help me cry out to the lost, to those wondering in the dark deceived and misguided by the enemy of our souls.  Let us join together in unity and love and be a beacon of hope to a dying world.

If you have made it this far, then I thank you for taking the time to read my first blog post!  Please feel free to share and invite others to follow the Glory Road blog.  I pray that He uses it for His purposes and for His Glory!   God bless you!