Stand Against the Devil

by Richard Pelfrey

“but what’s confusing you is just the nature of my game” – Mick Jagger

For this lifter, on the outside looking in, it seems absolutely absurd. God turns on the lights and the water and then builds a paradise for his two most-prized creations: Adam and Eve. They have no worries. They don’t know work or pain or hunger or aging. They’ve got it made down there in Eden, walking unashamedly naked with the Lord. And only one rule: don’t eat the fruit from that tree. Then what do they do but break the one rule – cursing all of us.

How stupid can you be? Adam and Eve knew clearly what they could and could not do to stay in God’s good graces, and all it took for them to forget was two little prods from a beast (whom they were rulers over!). “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” and “You will not surely die…” But imagine being there. Imagine how much different it would be if it were you down there naked talking to a snake. He is, after all, the most crafty of the animals, and he knew how to get us. He knew to cause confusion and doubt and to introduce the possibility of more power.

Here’s the thing. When we are immersed in our selfish desires and stupidity, we have a hard time seeing it. Others can see how stupid what we are doing is, but to us it makes perfect sense. We are blinded by the opportunity to increase our earthly status or pleasure, and faith and reason easily go out the window. This is why we need each other. This is why we have fellowship and intercession, because we have the power to reach into other people’s bubbles of absurdity and pull them out.

Let’s look at what Adam did. It is clear that he was right there next to Eve while this whole thing was going down. He knew the rules as good – no, better than she did. And what does he do? He just stands there, he doesn’t make a peep. When the apple (or whatever it was) gets passed his way, he doesn’t hesitate to take a bite. Now when God confronts Him – “who told you that you are naked? Did you break the rule?” He gives the Almighty an excuse and tries to pass the buck – “this woman that you gave me, she talked me into it.” Adam had the direct connection to God, he knew what was going down was wrong, but he took no stand. This silence is what caused the fall of man and everything that came with it. It was a great victory for team Hell.

How many times have we let our fellows fall into sin, or even gone there with them, because we didn’t have the courage to speak up? On the street, we fear being thought of as a goody-goody and say things like “I ain’t no snitch”. However, the same thing happens in the Church. Only difference is we don’t want to be accused of intolerance and we say things like “that would be Pharisidical”. We half-quote Jesus saying “judge not…” When Jesus really says in Matthew 7 that we are to judge, just carefully and in love; with God’s conviction, not Satan’s condemnation. Galatians 6:1-2 expands on this idea: “…if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted. Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ”.

We can not sit idly by and watch our brothers and sisters fall victim to the persuasions of the serpent and then blame them for our own shortcomings when confronted by God at the time of Judgement. We must take the shortcoming of Adam and Eve and use it as a lesson. Let’s make an effort to speak up. Let’s bring each other back to the path when we get caught up in our temptations and confusion. Let us carry each others’ burdens lifters, and in this way not get caught in the garden with a snake who would like to confuse our faith.

Peace.

The Thorn

by Richard Pelfrey

I’ve been feeling very convicted as of late, and I take comfort – joy even – in the assurance that this means I am growing. But still it can be very rough. I’m under attack. Questions arise like “why am I still so ‘unclean’?” and “why can’t I rise above these worldly temptations?”…I wonder at times if I’m just paying lip (and ink) service to this deal. But then I look back on the way things were just two years ago, and I see amazing progress. That notwithstanding, when I mess up I still can’t help but feel like I’m doing “it” wrong. C.S Lewis speaks on this in “Screwtape Letters”. The devil doesn’t go after people who aren’t living for God, he’s already got them. No, instead the devil sends his little minions after those who are pursuing rank in God’s army, to make them feel unworthy.

Our weapon as soldiers of the faith: the Word. Remember, we’ve all got (if we choose to believe it) God in our backpacks, desks, nightstands, or wherever we keep our Bible. Paul refers to it in Ephesians as a sword, to be used in hand-to-hand combat against the principalities and powers of darkness.

During Church the other night I was led back to one of my favorite pieces of scripture and allowed to see it in a new light. 2 Corinthians 12:7-10. As I write this, it speaks directly to my heart, as if God heard my cries and is answering through my favorite Apostle.

“To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me.”(v.7). OK, God loves us, right? If He didn’t we wouldn’t stand for Him. We’re too selfish to worship something when there’s nothing in it for us. So why would He want to torment me? I believe it’s a Holy reminder; one without which we would become way too proud of our spiritual growth and maybe even start to think we were as Holy or even Holier than God Himself (sound familiar? See Isaiah 14:12-15). God says “OK, you’re doing good, but slow down, there’s a hungry lion out there, don’t lose focus”. We must remember how we got here and how easily we could return.

“Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me.”(v.8) This is what I’ve been stuck in. It’s almost as if I’m thinking I can be as pure as Christ. I’ve done it way more than three times. I’ve had intercessors, I’ve had counsel – one friend suggested I pray in tongues. But the temptations do not stop. If anything, they get stronger.

“But He said to me, ‘ My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ ”(v.9) I don’t have to be perfect, in fact I shouldn’t even be thinking about personal perfection. Christ reminds us here that all we should be pleading for is His Grace (and really there’s no pleading there, just receiving). If we come to God in any other state than total weakness, His power in our lives will be less than perfect. Remember, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble”. I must cast aside the proud supplications that amount to me saying “I should be better than this”, just as a fisherman throws away the bad fish from the net. God wants me to acknowledge my sinful nature and to feel the strength of the devil; to be reminded of it daily like a splinter that I can’t remove – every little while it gets rubbed just right and reminds me it’s still there. The more I try to fight the temptations through some delusion of personal power, the stronger the temptations will be.

Paul concludes “That is why…I delight…in difficulties. For when I am weak then I am strong.”(v.10) I’ve been frustrated about my inability to be clean (for lack of a better word). But today I realize that this is exactly where the enemy wants me. When I’m frustrated, even if I don’t give up, I’m taking my focus from loving God. When I do this the darkness gets a wedge in, and before I know it I’m out of God’s grace. The opposition wins. When I realize I am nothing but filthy rags, undeserving of any grace, and delight in the fact that it’s given to me in spite of this, the floodlight of His power is switched on. My spirit, through Christ, is way too strong for any darkness Satan can think of to throw at me.

Peace.

Temptation

by Richard Pelfrey

In one of the best Christian books I’ve read (and I’ve only read a few), Phillip Yancey devotes a chapter to the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness. He says some things in here that have greatly influenced my salvation. In it he concludes that Jesus had every opportunity to destroy the devil that day – once and for all; no more evil in the world. But He didn’t. Christ chose to rebuke Satan and to keep him around as well. God knows that we actually need the devil. After all, the almighty doesn’t do anything without a purpose. And the purpose of old Beelzebub, I believe, is to make us realize how much we really need God.

So sin is never eradicated. Yes I’m forgiven, but that is not a free pass through this earthly life. In this life, we never become exempt from temptation. And temptation in itself is not sin, but the acting out or entertaining of these temptations is. Temptation is a reminder that I need to have Jesus in my life. If we act out on temptation and turn to sin for long enough, we experience our little pieces of hell here on Earth, and ideally it brings us back to the cross. To quote C.S Lewis, “God whispers to us in our pleasure and shouts in our pain”.

God – according to James 1:13-15 – does not tempt anyone. Instead we are tempted by the evil that lives in our flesh (see Romans 7, we should never act as though we are innocent, because there is something in our fallen nature which makes us unrighteous by default). Temptation comes when that nature pulls our gaze from the face of God and entices us. This temptation is still just a seed, and when we choose to water that seed instead of cultivating the light inside of us, we get sin. Then, as James says, “sin, when it is full grown, gives birth to death.”

It’s a test. To see if we are willing to do what it takes to stay on the straight and narrow. In this world we will have trouble – take that one to the bank, it’ll pay. Satan will come at us with temptations every single chance he gets. Lord knows I am tempted in certain ways every single day, and I don’t always pass the test, lifters. But see, my shortcomings bring me back to the cross. My sin brings me to my knees and keeps me humbled in repentance, and this is where He can use me the most. All things work together for the good of those who love Him!

When I’ve got Jesus in my heart it’s just a little thorn, no big deal. Just a reminder that I still have flesh. But the minute I start entertaining the spiky temptations which Satan continually slides my way, I begin shutting the door on Christ and opening my soul to the outer darkness.

Let us pray what Christ taught us to: “Our father who art in Heaven…lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil”. Otherwise, we will get picked off. It’s like Peter says: “Be sober, be vigilant, for your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” I didn’t have to look that one up, it’s committed to my memory and I walk with it in my heart today. When we recognize this fact and pray the word of God just as Jesus did in the desert, we get the same power that He had on that day. With this, even though we may lose little sin battles, we emerge victorious – covered in blood and victorious.

Peace.

Holy, Part 2

By Richard Pelfrey

Most of my friends don’t read the blog. I don’t even try to get them to read it anymore. In a way it’s cool. I have them and I have you guys, separately. I do have one friend down here who takes an interest in these little columns though. In response to the post on Holiness, he suggested that a part two was justifiable; people (me) should need to know how to be Holy or to walk with the Holiness of God inside of us. Here it goes Barry:

If we have the holiness of God inside of us, then we should expect to resemble God in our lives at least a little bit, right?. But how? We can’t begin to approach the big three: omnipotence, omniscience and omnipresence. In the words of John Donne “no man is an island, entire of itself”, so I’m not sovereign. I’m not supposed to take revenge, so I can’t be wrath. I am definitely “mutable”…so how, in the face of such an awesome commandment by God for us to be Holy, can we do that?!?

It’s LOVE. The Bible says that God is (among other things) love. Paul says without love we are nothing, Jesus says to “love one another”. John Lennon said “all you need is love” (ok that maybe doesn’t fit, but I gotta shout out to my boys at least once). 1 Peter 4:8 says “Love each other deeply, because love covers a multitude of sins.” OK, but what is love? What do you have to do (beyond saying “i love you” to people”) to have love and be love and love deeply?

God says “if you love Me you will obey Me”. So there’s a start. But obviously none of us obey God fully all of the time, and He knows this. This is where His love comes into play. Our love for Him begins when we start trying to humble ourselves and seek His face and follow His commandments, and then when we mess up He loves us by forgiving us.

There’s this song that says we only hurt the ones we love. It says “if I broke your heart last night, it’s because I love you”.Love is an investment. It’s a decision to make oneself vulnerable to all kinds of pain in exchange for the opportunity to do something for someone. Think about it. We don’t really get our feelings hurt by acquaintances, but we get our hearts broken by parents, children, best friends and lovers. We open ourselves up to betrayal for the possibility of something wonderful. Sometimes we may become enamored with people for a while and then we see their “warts”, the things that are not so likeable about them. When we choose to love somebody, we choose all of them – warts and all – because we can see the beauty at their core.

I believe God is the ultimate example of this. “for God so loved the world….” that He gave up His only son. Not just gave up, but watched without acting as he was bet up, ridiculed, spat upon, nailed to a tree, and laughed at some more. He did this just in the chance that some of us would appreciate it and love Him back, and when we do we get to be in His pure and Holy Love for eternity. He took a chance with the world, and it brings Him pain every day. His heart breaks daily; when we mock him and spit in His face by hating each other, disobeying Him, or acting like He isn’t even there. Our father Loves the world so much that he opens Himself up to this pain, in the hope that some of us will receive Him. He loves our flaws.

It’s the ones we love the most whom we hurt. Let’s choose to love God the most. He can handle the pain and will forgive us, not if but when we let Him down. We choose to love people despite their warts, just as it is a choice to love God and “be joyful always”, whatever He causes to happen in our lives. We continue to love Him no matter what storm is raging on the outside of our lives, and we love each other deeply through joy and pain.

John wrote that “if anyone obeys His Word, God’s love is truly in Him”. So it’s our love for God that brings us into righteousness. We open our hearts to whatever He has for us, and he gives us the power to obey Him. It is through this righteousness which springs from love that God’s Holiness is shown in us.

Peace and Love, Lifters.

Holy, Part 1

by Richard Pelfey

Growing up, I was around “holiness” a lot, but I never really knew what it meant. It was just synonymous with Church for me. We always sang “holy, holy, holy, Lord God almighty” (or something like that). There’s Holy water, Holy week, Holy Communion, Holy moley, Holy Grail, Holy of Holies, Holy smokes, etc. It seemed to be just a word you put in front of something to show it was located inside a church or to add intensity.

For most of my life I’ve not really known what the word Holy means, only that it is associated with God. You know like “you better not break that, it’s Holy. Respect it. Matter of fact, don’t even look at it for too long”. Or “put the Holy water on so God don’t hurt you”. It seemed things had to be really old to be Holy as well. Sort of like the Hall of Fame, where you have to be retired for so long and have a little gray and maybe a belly going before you get inducted. Really, HOLY always just seemed to be a Biblical word like smote or unto, old-fashioned and of little significance.  Oh, how wrong I can be. In reality this word is alive and powerful and deeply connected to our savior.

What is God? What can we definitely say about Him? We don’t know what He looks like or how He reasons. But there are some defined attributes of God, and it turns out Holy is the most significant of them. I heard the other day that on more than occasion in the Bible God is called ‘holy, holy, holy’ and that never does it say he is love love love (that was the Beatles) or just, just, just. So God’s holiness is placed above all else, and actually is intrinsic in everything that He is; Holy Wrath, Holy Mercy, Holy Sovereignty etc.

What, then, is holiness? A friend of mine defines it as white-hot, 100% righteous,moral purity. Light so bright that us fallen humans are unable to stand it (see: the face-melting climax of Raiders of the Lost Ark). Webster’s says “exalted or worthy of complete devotion as one perfect in goodness and righteousness”. The Hebrew word for holiness,“kedushah”, mean separateness. This is more like our word sacred – meaning set apart for veneration. So the way I see it, Holiness is the essence of God, perfect in every way and set above and apart from our earthly imperfection to be venerated and revered.

I did a little research here. There are different levels of Holy places, all converging at “Kodesh Hakodashim”, the Holy of Holies – the earthly HQ for God. In it dwelled His presence inside of the Ark which was in the middle of the Holy room which was in the middle of the temple which was in the middle of Jerusalem which was in the middle of Israel—well, you get the point– it was at the center of it all. It was the holiest space on the planet, the belly button of the universe. This place was so full of the Holy purity of God that it would kill anyone who got too close. Maybe not so much as punishment but just because it is too much for our fleshly bodies to take. Back in the day one person, the high priest, could go in there once a year to offer blood for the atonement of sin. He’d tie a rope to himself and if he came out alive he’d be glowing. He would actually risk his own life to go in there and make the blood sacrifice for his people. It was at this center of holy power where forgiveness used to happen.

We don’t have to do that any more though. Now, the holiness of God is within us through the one-time blood sacrifice of Jesus Christ. We have become children of the holy light, and it flows out from inside of us to be spread into the world. When we have the presence of Christ within us, his holiness radiates out of us through our actions; naturally and without thought, we become examples of holiness. We are set apart for the world to experience and receive. The holiness of Christ is like a gentle magnet that pulls us away from temptation and towards righteousness. We can’t ever be perfect enough to experience the full spectrum of the light, but we get enough to be better people. Everything that God does in our lives and in the world around us is permeated with His Holy essence, and if we stay open to receive, it keeps our spiritual batteries charged. The holiness of God is infinite and inexhaustible, so we need not worry about running out of juice; He wants us – no He requires us – to let our lights shine bright like the stars of the universe. The more we do this, the more people can get hooked up to the Holy power grid.

I have more thoughts on this, so check out the blog tomorrow for HOLY PART 2.  – Peace

Father vs Dad

by Richard Pelfrey

I forgot it was Father’s Day this weekend.  You know that saying “any man can be a father but it takes a special person to be a Dad”?  Well, I have a father.  This can make me resentful and jealous, even hateful, if I allow it to.  For years I had hate for the relationship between us. There were many times growing up when this hate turned into rage.  I once punched my Father in the face…my own father.  I’ve cursed him.  I’ve hustled him for money.  I’ve acted with no consideration for his feelings or interests for years.   Praise God that, although it hasn’t been restored completely, the feelings here have progressed from total hate to just an absence of Love.  We have a difficult time loving each other.  This is progress.

God won’t just heal this relationship for me. It is me who has to take action with God in my heart to start this healing – if there is to be any healing at all.  You know I still wonder sometimes why He gave me this father.  Why did other kids get to spend time under the hoods of cars and fishing and playing ball with their Dad’s, while I fought and plotted against my Father?  But if I’m to trust God, I’m to believe what He says in Romans: “in all things God works for the good of those who love Him”.  All things.  We are too small to know the plan, too tiny to see the big picture and its end result.  If I’m complaining or comparing or coveting the relationships of others while cursing my own, then I’m not trusting God.  Who knows, maybe He will give me the power to reconcile things with the old man.  Then again, maybe He won’t.  Either way, my faith has the power and the promise to make it OK.  It’s all part of the plan.

For a long time my relationship with my Heavenly father was a lot like the one down here on earth.  Full of fighting and frustration.  Today I realize that there are many gods out there (anything we covet really) but it takes something powerful and special to be an “Abba”.

I used to walk around with so much weight on me.  So much anger, resentment and frustration.  With my back turned on the Father, I was miserable.  I think I knew that God could take it from me all along.  But I was too proud to ask for help, just like years ago I became too proud to ask my Father for anything.  Life got so bad.  I was out of control, ending up in jails, hospitals, dopehouses, dark alleyways…but I never asked either of them for help.  Even at my most broken, it seems I was unable to humble myself just that teeny amount (mustard seed small) that it would take to turn things around.

And then one day some people saved my life.  I was a stranger and they took me in.  They loved me without judgment.  They showed me that my Father in Heaven also loves me, that they had learned to love from Him, and they taught me how to love Him back.  They taught me about forgiveness.

All I can do is take responsibility for my part.  Please don’t let me demonize my father in you eyes, lifters.  He is a good man.  For a long time it’s me who has been the monster.  But Jesus has showed me that there is redemption in this life.  There is forgiveness.  I have been blessed with the opportunity to turn away from the old life and toward the face of God, who has forgiven me.  God tells me that as He has forgiven me so I must forgive others.  Jesus has changed in my heart from a frustrating, punishing being to a loving and forgiving “Abba”.  The light he’s put in me is too strong for the black resentment of the old life, and so today I can forgive my father…for whatever.  But just as I had to ask forgiveness from the Lord, the time is soon approaching when I’ll have to ask forgiveness from my earthly father.  I can’t make anything happen beyond this simple (but not easy) action of humility and love.  Whatever happens, I walk with the Lord’s prayer to our Father in my heart…”thy will be done”. It takes a strong man to say “I’m sorry”, but if that’s what God wants, that’s what I will do.  Maybe one day, the Father of lights – my Abba – will bless me with a Dad.

Solid As A Rock

By Richard Pelfrey

There’s this old Eastern Maxim: “you can never step in the same river twice”.  It’s always changing, constantly in a state of movement; it is never the same thing from one moment to the next.

Like this river, every living thing in the universe is in perpetual flux.  And so, we are never the same person from moment to moment; we are always changing, growing older, evolving.  Essentially, you will never meet the same Richard P. twice.

This concept of impermanence was an important and life-altering realization for me.  Nothing stays the same.  In the words of the poet Yeats “Things fall apart; the centre can not hold”.

Everyone we know one day will die…It’s important to know that nothing lasts in this world.  It helps me to take advantage of things, enjoy them while they’re here.

But is there something at our core that remains static? Our soul?  Does it change?  Or does it stay the same as it passes through a bodily life, like on a little vacation.  I believe the only thing in all of existence that remains unchanged for all of infinite time is God, and if so our unchanging soul is actually a piece of God planted in us.  He says it Himself in Luke 17:21: “the kingdom of Heaven is within you”.  He has gifted us this ancient heavenly connection to the starry dynamo in the machinery of night, as the Poet Allen Ginsberg calls it.

“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever”, we’re told in the Book of Hebrews.  He does not change.  He does not evolve, adapt, or reform himself according to our human intellectual development.  God is Holy, set apart from us in His perfection and completeness, and as such nothing we do or believe can ever change His being.  His precepts, teachings, laws, and qualities are the same today as they were at the beginning of time and will be the same forever and ever.

Jesus is immutable.  He does not grow old, He does not die (well, not permanently anyways).  He is our eternal rock in a life full of swirling rapids.  An anchor amidst the turbulent impermanence of our days here on Earth.  Like a beacon we can choose to fix our sights on down here so as to not lose our way. He is (among other attributes) unchanging and unconditional love.  All the stress, trouble and temptation in life comes and goes, and we choose how we will react to it.

If we build a foundation on the permanent solid rock of Christ, we are able to weather all storms.  Our feet are kept on solid ground as the world swirls on around us. We always experience the same God, and everyone always will until the end of time.  The only thing that changes is us. He is the way the truth and the life, holy holy holy from everlasting to everlasting. It’s up to us to build on the truth or on the shifting sands of self-will and convenience. I choose to grab onto some permanence, to have stability of spirit and the promise of eternal life.

Peace.

Unconditional

By Richard Pelfrey

Before I even knew the story behind it, I thought it was a cool line : “the prodigal son returns”. I’d get the image of this weary dude coming back home dusty from the road and receiving all sorts of glory. In a way I was right. The son did return, and he did receive glory, gifts, and even praise. But it wasn’t till recently that I knew what he was returning from. And it’s been problematic for me recently.

Come to find out, prodigal means wasteful or “wastefully extravagant”. So here’s a guy who grew up privileged. He has one older brother and their father is successful. He, in the arrogance and delusion of his youth, decides to take his inheritance early and lite out for the territories. He’s gonna see the world, do it his way, and make it. Take life by the horns, do it his way, and return successful. But, alas, it turns out he knows a lot less about the world and himself than he thought, and after an introduction to the harsh reality of the world he returns broken, ashamed, hungry and penniless. He has wasted his inheritance and returns home not triumphant, but defeated. He plans to beg for a job and instead is given the seat of honor.

This sounds like a pretty good deal, doesn’t it? Jesus seems to say I can go out and waste time, money, integrity, values, whatever…I can go out and blow everything I’ve got, go have a blast, and then be praised when I return broke. But what about dude’s brother? He stayed at home, probably working double to pick up his sibling’s slack. He didn’t have any of the extravagant fun that his brother must have had. He was stuck with Dad while brother was partying with prostitutes. And then he just wanders back onto the ranch and is welcomed with a feast and nice stuff?

But, Jesus explains through this parable, it’s OK. You see, the kid’s father has unconditional love for him. The father doesn’t care about the wasted money or the terrible decisions, he cares about his boy’s life. And so, our prodigal child is greeted with cries of exaltation and tears of joy. Welcomed back with open arms and even given the seat of honor.

It makes me wonder how my Sister must feel when I, having wasted years and causing stress and heartache to our parents and squandering all my stuff, reappear. In the past they’ve been like the Dad in this story, welcoming me back with open arms. Oblivious to where I’ve been or what I’ve been doing because of their simple joy to see me at home.

I wonder what it feels like for “Church people”?. To grow up in church, follow all the rules, not get trapped in worldly pleasures, etc…to try hard all your life to be righteous and then be expected to welcome in with hugs and excitement and honor people who’ve been prodigal for ten, twenty, thirty years. People like me, who turned their backs and lived it up out in the world for years until, after they had nothing left, came back begging. I’d be upset, not happy. It’s not fair. I wonder if my little sister is angry at me for being so selfish all those years? I wonder how many people in our Church today justifiably resent those who get saved from years of deliberate sinfulness and are welcomed into the kingdom just the same, but with pomp and praise?

I know that the moral of God’s prodigal son story isn’t “life is unfair, deal with it”. He left that lesson for my earthly father to teach me – over and over again. No, I think it’s got a different meaning depending on what side of the deal you are on. So really for me the lesson has changed since I first read it.

At first, as a man who had wasted all his blessings and had nothing left but stories – it gave me the hope that I could come back and be loved no matter how far down I had sunk or for how long. God, like the father in the story, isn’t very concerned with what we’ve done. He’s only joyous that we’ve lived through our wastefullness and decided to come into relationship with Him. There’s nothing too nasty that we can do, there’s no “point of no return”. If we want the love, it is there waiting patiently, free of judgment. It is unconditional, just like my parents’ love.

Now, as a traveler of the narrow road, I’m called to be accepting just as others (and God) were of me. There should not be any animosity, jealousy or resentment. Only joy. If there is, I have a chance to grow. God gives me the opportunity to love like Him, and accept anyone who has stepped off the broad road and wants to give this thing a go. It is an opportunity to live and not judge, and to share the gospel just as he commanded. Without this, our Church would stagnate and die. We are nothing without our love, unconditional and all-encompassing. This is what saves people, and what keeps the saved in the will of God.

Going up?

by Dan Merrell

Life is like an elevator.

At the very top of the building, the penthouse suite, is THE BEST LIFE POSSIBLE.

At the very bottom of the building, the basement, is THE WORST SCENARIO IMAGINABLE.

Somewhere in between those two floors is your floor.

It’s likely that depending on circumstances, some days you get on the elevator near the penthouse, and somedays darn near the basement.

Elevators go up and down.  It’s their nature, what they’re meant to do.

Sometimes you control that, sometimes you don’t.

Don’t we all wish there was an express built just for us that will take us right to the very top and beyond, like the WONKAVATOR?

Elevators do what they’re told, what they’ve been designed to do  (OK, sometimes they get stuck, but that’s rare.)

Sometimes you get on an elevator and you can’t wait to get to where you’re going (job promotion).

Sometimes, you’d rather die than cross that threshold (divorce court).

Sometimes, you stand outside and do nothing.  Too risky in there.

But life keeps going up and down without you.  People get on and off.

Life rushes by.

Up, down, up, down.

At some point, probably in the past, you may have been greeted by someone working the elevator who asked “which floor?” or “going up?”

These days, you don’t see folks running elevators.

Theses days we are greeted by elevator “music.” some beeps and clicks or dings or whatever letting us know that we really are making our way to our destination (up or down).

Some elevators are fancier than others, some faster, some larger (like in hospitals), some inclined (like in Vegas at the Luxor), some are glass (fancy hotels), both inside and outside the building (which is scary).

But they all get you where you’re going, wherever you’ve told them to go.

Sometimes you enjoy the ride, sometimes you don’t.

Other people may or may not be on the elevator.

Most of the time, you pretend they are not there, or just smile, or say hi, or talk about the weather, or watch the video or news crawl or listen to the little chimes and dings.

Have you ever stood outside the elevator punching buttons and wondering if anything is happening?

Have you every stood inside while NOTHING happened, and it kind of freaked you out a bit?

Imagine this tomorrow when you wake up and are ready for the day…

You are standing in front of an elevator.

What floor, in your life, are you on?  Near the bottom, the middle or the top?

Where is your destination?  Are you plans to go UP, to ascend to the best life possible?  

Or, do you find your fingers pressing the DOWN button one more time, just dreading the WORST CASE SCENARIO basement experience you’ve put up with for so long in your recent life?

What’s down there anyway?

Your ex?  Your kids?  Your finances?  Your unemployment?  Your bad health?  Your family?  Your eating disorder?  Your depression?  Your addiction?  Your disbelief?  Disaster?  Fear?  Death?  Hell?

What’s drawing you down there?

Who’s hitting the down button every day?

You?

If so, why?  Do you like it down there in WORST CASE SCENARIOVILLE?

Someone else?

If so, why are you letting them send you down to the basement, or down at all?

God?

Is GOD responsible for sending you down there, maybe as punishment, or revenge, or just because God can and wants to have you as low as you can possibly get to put you in your place once and for all, you miserable sinning wretch you?

“AND STAY DOWN THERE” He bellows.  “AND LIKE IT!”

Uh…

No.

Why are you punching the down button at all?

And if someone else is doing the punching why are you getting off on lower floors or in the basement?

Why not just push the button for a HIGHER FLOOR, or, GOD FORBID, THE BEST LIFE POSSIBLE BUTTON?

Maybe you think your elevator doesn’t go up anymore.  Maybe you think you lost your chance.

Maybe, you like it on the lower floors.  Maybe what’s UP THERE is more scary than what you know.

Where are you headed tomorrow on life’s elevator?

Up?

Nowhere?

Or down?

And why?

Roads Broad and Narrow

by Richard Pelfrey

I went to a high school graduation at Zion Christian Academy in Columbia, TN last weekend. My own graduation was in Detroit, MI in 1998 – it was another life, and I barely remember it. There was so much self-created chaos in my world back then, and I was completely absorbed in it. At that age I’d resolved to live absurdly in an absurd world, to “open my heart up to the benign indifference of the universe” as one of my favorite authors at that time -Albert Camus- put it.

The speaker was a youth pastor from a local church, and he delivered one of the most concise and practical speeches I’ve heard. He addressed the small group of twenty-nine bright-eyed eighteen year-olds, but man, he was speaking right into my heart. The speech was under ten minutes – a little intro, an anecdote, and then some advice which he said would save the graduates from countless amounts of pain and stress; three words: “MAKE…WISE…CHOICES”.

I was dumbstruck. This is what it all boils down to. Just about all of the pain and tribulation in my life thus far has been of my own making, the consequence of some bad decision or series of wrong actions. I was left thinking “where was this guy when I graduated?”. Truth be told though, he may have been there delivering the exact same message and I would not have received it. I just wasn’t ready, I was still happily reveling in my own folly.

All this got me thinking about what Jesus said in Matthew 7:13-14 —

Life is a journey. From Birth to Death we are on this long, windy road. It takes us through times of joy and pain, sunny days and rain. God decrees where our road begins and ends, so to some extent our journey is mapped for us. But in between we’ve got millions of decisions to make, so that it’s a path with myriad forks.  Seemingly infinite routes to the end of our time in this existence, but one right way. At every one of these forks in my life I have free will, the option to choose the broad road of destruction or that narrow and arduous road that leads to life. I can do what I feel like doing at the moment or I can do the next right thing, which, as we all know, can be very difficult. Every decision matters, and I can see this when I stop on the path to look back. All things work together…

God knows I’m gonna mess up. Paul reassures us that “all have sinned sin and fall short of the Glory of God…” but “we are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus”. So there is one choice that should matter to us above all others: the choice to accept the grace and redemption of Christ. I must first resolve to live for Him before anything else, and then when I do mess up, He brings me back from the broad road, redeemed. I like the way the prophet Isaiah puts it: “whether you turn to the right or to the left, you ears will hear a voice behind you, saying ‘This is the way;walk in it’ ”(Isaiah 30:21). When we are living for Him we get vision, we know how to stay on the narrow road; but we still must choose it.

Every day I must do as Joshua commanded Israel, “…choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve…” (Joshua 24:15). This needs to be my highest priority, and when it is I have a chance at being one of the few travelers on the narrow road. When I choose God, He shows me which fork to take.

I still miss the chaos of the broad road at times. The old life of reckless abandon still calls every now and then. But God reminds me of one of the scariest scriptures He’s shown me so far – Proverbs 29:1 – “A man who remains stiff-necked after many rebukes will suddenly be destroyed – without remedy.” I don’t want to push it anymore. I don’t want to find out how many chances I’ve got left. Dylan echoed Joshua back in 1979 when he sang “it might be the devil, it may be the Lord, but you gotta serve somebody”. Today I choose to serve the Lord.

Peace.