Truth

"There is a path before each person that seems right, but it ends in death."

- Proverbs 14:12 (NLT)

This seems to be an extreme case of moral relativism, but relativism is now woven into the fabric of our society. There is no way to deny that. We live with terms like....that's your truth, or it doesn't matter what you believe as long as your sincere. Ethics and right vs. wrong are being probed and questioned all the time.

This young man seems to know what he ought to do, but then cannot admit that there is objective truth. He cannot admit that there is a clear plain view of a right and wrong that we all believe. He can tell you he'd fight against all types of evil, but won't tell you why, nor admit that evil exist, let alone right or wrong. Yet how does anyone know evil or good exist? Was it placed in us to know?

How do we know that protecting innocent people is a worthy thing? How do we know that "love is superior to hate?" Why do we treat the sick? Why do we send aid to foreign countries when disaster strikes? Why do we know that criminals deserve appropriate justice? Why do we know what injustice is? Why do we want to stand up for those who can't? Why is it we hear stories of ordinary people who come to the extraordinary rescue of others? Why do governments rescue people when disasters strike? What makes us celebrate a new life, an old life? Why do we mourn in death? Why do we know the good things? What makes us thankful for what we have? Why do we want to avoid bad things or suffering? Why do we strive for a standard of right? Why do we believe in rights? Why freedom? Why do we spill our blood for liberty?

We can claim that there aren't any absolutes , yet we stand up for absolutes all the time! The Bible says that we have God's law on our hearts, even if we've never specifically heard it before. We still act in a way that represents God's standards (or law) much of the time. We seem to still have a remembrance of the type of life God wants us to live. Even if in pride or stubbornness we can't admit it.

So one might ask why aren't we getting it right? Why after all this time that mankind has been around are there still horrible wars, genocide, tragedies, disease, racism, rape, abuse etc. Why can't we live up to what we know is right? A few years ago I read about a homeless man who was stabbed coming to the aid of a woman who was getting mugged. This man eventually died because no one would help him, people just walked by him, some took pictures of him on their cell phone. How does that happen? Don't you agree that no one coming to this man's aid was wrong? Why?

I guess the over simple answer is we can get it right without knowing God. Even those who know God can't get it right all the time. So without God dwelling in the hearts of people we can never get it right. The world at large in a very real sense is an enemy against what God wants. We are stubbornly hostile to His will.

Mankind has a sinful nature, essentially the word "sin" means to "miss the mark." We miss the target completely of what God wants for us, the human race, the only creation made in his image. In our human nature we try to make right what isn't right. We suppress the truth of God by the wrong ways we live. Any recovering addict can tell you about justifying and reasoning with themselves for the wrong things they might have done when entangled in addiction. On a large scale humanity is just like that. (Romans 5 is a great reference for how we got this nature)

We seem to know full well the full good we ought to do, but don't do it. But because of our nature we are addicted to pride, selfishness, our own ways. Without God we are sheep without a shepherd. Be it the addict in the slums or the Warren Buffets of the world in the high hills. Be it the witch doctor in Africa, or the slick televangelist with the great suit. We have an aim but we fall short of accuracy upon the target.

Romans 2:14-15 (HCSB)

¹⁴ So, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, instinctively do what the law demands, they are a law to themselves even though they do not have the law. ¹⁵ They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts. Their consciences testify in support of this, and their competing thoughts either accuse or excuse them

Romans 8:7-8 (NIV)

⁷ the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. ⁸ Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.

Ecclesiastes 7:29 (NIV)

"This only have I found: God made mankind upright, but men have gone in search of many schemes."

Okay so we know man's default, our nature. We've got a divine spark placed within us to "reach out" and attempt to feel for God. (Acts 17) However....just like a magnet can mess up how a compass works, our nature distorts what we ought to know. We can't get due north without the specific knowledge of Christ. It's why ancient religions worshiped the sun as god ( a created thing) and not it's Creator. It's why our ancestors tried to atone for sin or tried to appease a god by sacrificing animals or human beings. It's why in our day and age we know there is a road to a god but then settle for "all ways" lead to that god, divine light, or whatever we allow ourselves to name it. Essentially making a god in our likeness rather than acknowledging that there was a God who made us in his likeness. With his imprint (Genesis 1:27) We are built with a thirst for truth, to know who put this spark in us, and that knowledge can't come from ourselves.

This is the truth mankind either has to accept or reject.....

Jesus said...." I am the way, the truth, and the life, no one can come to the Father except through me." - John 14:6

Mankind without God was roaming in the dark. Accepting it and liking it. Without God even still today we roam in the dark thinking of different shades of dark as if it were the light. We are glad that we aren't a murderer, rapist or criminal , but in the eyes of a Holy (set apart) God does that discount our own sin?

God sent his own son Jesus (God incarnate) to expose us to the light of himself. To buy us back from where our sins had taken us and give us right standing with God again. Our sins from the time of Adam and Eve had separated us from a right standing with God. We tried to reach out for God in other ways knowing something was out there and it expected something from us but we couldn't reach God in full. In our modern day we still try to reach a god through spirituality, new ageism, philosophy, science, humanism which deifies man etc. We still try to please a god by living a loving life, paying our taxes, giving sometimes to charity, etc. Thinking a moral life of our own truths will be the ticket to heaven if there is a god.

God's ticket simply isn't a boarding pass into heaven, or a get of hell free card.....but rather it is an adoption into his family, a changed heart, and a new nature, a new hope.....any judgement that God had against man is gone through Christ....(Romans 8:1-2) it is now a person who stands condemned already for loving their darkness rather than believing in Jesus and his sacrifice on the cross for all mankind. (John 3:16-21)

God has placed in us all a pull towards him. We all have a universal sense of truth. The problem is that we all fall short. (Romans 3:23) But God's truth " can be clearly seen" at the end of our life excuses won't matter.(Rom 1:20)

I'd just start encouraging you to start asking questions. You we're created to know him, your spirit wouldn't look for it's worth in this world if that wasn't the case. It to me is just genuinely a matter of what you are placing your faith in. The false hopes or the ANSWER of hopes. If you look into Jesus you'll have to determine one of three things.... that he was either a "liar, lunatic, or Lord." If he is Lord, then He is the completion of the truth(s) that already exist in your soul. The capstone to complete all truth.

Church is not a country club - Lent Day 16

Just to add AGAIN there are no prerequisites for God's love. To often the followers of Jesus, myself included, have added preconditions on just who is "lovable" and who isn't. Christ didn't....he sat, ate, had fellowship with people in broken places. ( prostitutes, tax collectors, etc) Why don't we...believers....the "salt and light" follow suit?



To often churches have a country club mentality. Lately I've been convicted on this. If you're a christian and reading this how many non-believing friends do you have? Are you investing your relational time solely in like minded people? Are you shying away from people because they're rough around the edges, hardened, or deemed not worth it? Because they don't believe like you? They may ask you questions and probe into your faith?



Sometimes the church is a place where you have to appear a certain way, pretend like you're perfect, and admit to no failures. You just can't come as you are. If you do there are plenty of people who will "clean you up. " Obviously a church should be where God's truth is upheld, preached, and taught.... but to often it seems like the people in church are worried about absorbing people into church culture rather than letting God change the hearts of people.


It's my growing aim to love anyone for where they are at and let God do the rest. This is not an easy task in my life. I do believe my faith in Christ to be a saving one, I also believe it's not me who saves them but the Grace of God through Christ. That same grace gives the repentant heart a new nature. In the end it's up to the individual to decide to take His grace or not. However I am still commanded to love regardless if a person accepts it or not. I am equally still commanded to not be ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ, even at the risk of not being liked.



Matthew 5:46-48 (NLT)


46 If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much. 47 If you are kind only to your friends,
how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that.



Romans 1:16 (NIV)
16 I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.

In line for the March of the Unqualified - Lent Day 14

In a big way I feel unqualified to serve God. I sin, struggle, fall short. I am my own worst critic on just about everything. I doubt and get pessimistic. I am a really hard learner. I have trouble paying attention. I am not a great speaker. I struggle with constructive criticism, I sometimes fail to practice what I preach. I get depressed. I've got "thorns in my side" that seem to never leave. The list could go on, hopefully you get my point.....I don't feel qualified to be loved by God, to serve Him, and tell others about Him.



I am reminded of some of these passages below, they are written by Paul who is the primary author of the New Testament letters.....if he struggled...no doubt I will. Yet his struggles and unqualified feelings didn't stop him from being used in a mighty way by God. It is not the purity of the messenger, but the purity of the message.....The Gospel. So in regards to following and serving the Christian life isn't about being perfect, you don't have to become qualified before serving him, it's about following the perfect Christ even in our weaknesses.

2 Corinthians 12:9-10 (NIV)

⁹ But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. ¹⁰ That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

2 Corinthians 3:5 (NLT)

⁵ It is not that we think we are qualified to do anything on our own. Our qualification comes from God.

Romans 7:21-25 (New International Version)

²¹ So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. ²² For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; ²³ but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. ²⁴ What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? ²⁵ Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!

So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.

Hebrews 12:2 (NIV)

² Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

*Hebrews not written by Paul, unknown author

Blessings and Trials- Lent Day 12

This last year especially I've seen many people suffer around me. Suffering like I've never suffered before. Incurable diseases, loss of children, loss of a spouse, people losing jobs, etc. I've admired how many around me who are suffering cling to their faith in Christ. I think it is safe to say storms in life have a way of erasing or refining faith.

I don't know what my life holds, but I can say I know it won't be pain free, it's not always gonna be easy. There will be a day where my faith will have to face a really hard test. It may be sickness, a loss, unemployment, etc.

I can fully expect not to react perfectly in any storm, (nor will I ever claim that, I react so imperfect on a normal day let alone a time of trial) but I think its important at least for me to make a pre-decison to cling to my faith before the hard times come. I am reminded of a few verses.......that at least to me tell me to expect storms and to have a genuine and practiced faith before they come. I know we can't prepare for what the elements bring ..... earthquakes, rains, and winds can be so devastating..... I guess I just believe if I live my faith now, it will be something to cling to when/if everything else is in shambles. A foundation among the rubble. This is what I believe I have witnessed in those around me who've had such trials this last year. Thanks for reading.


Proverbs 10:25 (NLT)

"When the storms of life come, the wicked are whirled away, but the godly have a lasting foundation."


Matthew 7:24-29 (NIV'84)

The Wise and Foolish Builders 24 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. 26 But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

28 When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, 29 because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law



1 Peter 4:1

Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because he who has suffered in his body is done with sin

'Spartan' - Lent Day 11

This song really resonates how I feel today. It's one of my favorite songs, from my favorite albums, from my favorite band. If that makes sense? Five Iron Frenzy!The lyrics that really get me today are this........"he said love endures all things and it hurts to think its true, if I mark a span of failure is his burden just as light?"

1 Corinthians 13:7 (ESV)
7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.


Matthew 11:28-30 (NIV)
28"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."


It's a guess those lyrics were inspired by the above mentioned two Bible verses.I don't want to expand my thoughts to broadly today..... but I am really thinking....man if you love someone you endure for their sake. You drive on. You display patience, kindness, and "speak the truth in love."

I genuinely feel my love for others is being tested. My own sensitivities are being challenged and in regards to caring for people my flesh and spirit are locked in combat.What if I do fail? In the confines of a direction or choice? Will my failures reflect Christ, will they prove Him to be true to his word? That his burdens are light in comparison to what I could ever carry. Will they be light in my failures as well? Will I be failing at all?

I know one thing right now, I never want to close my heart off. I never want to be someone who just folds there arms and says I don't want to play anymore. I want to be a person that can endure. Believe me I can be just as fickle or fair weather as anyone, shame on me if I ever succumb to that.To others I want to display a genuine love despite my circumstances and feelings. Just like Paul did as displayed in the verses below.


2 Corinthians 6:3-6 (NLT)
Paul’s Hardships

3 We live in such a way that no one will stumble because of us, and no one will find fault with our ministry. 4 In everything we do, we show that we are true ministers of God. We patiently endure troubles and hardships and calamities of every kind. 5 We have been beaten, been put in prison, faced angry mobs, worked to exhaustion, endured sleepless nights, and gone without food. 6 We prove ourselves by our purity, our understanding, our patience, our kindness, by the Holy Spirit within us, and by our sincere love.

The Gap of Eternity- Lent Day 10

Ecclesiastes 3:11 (NIV)

11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.



To be cliche....I agree with the statement that there is a God shaped hole in all of us. Mankind is restlessly searching for completion or fulfillment. We chase many things to try to fill the gap. We chase relationships, more things, a better job, the collection of stuff, hobbies, sex, pleasure, education, social status, religion etc. Only to find those pursuits futile or hopeless. Think about it we often think to ourselves....when I get to this point then I'll be set, when I just reach this milestone I'll be happy, when I get this degree or this job then my life will be complete. To me at the end of those things we start searching for a new mission to fulfill us so we can again be "set."

Now don't get me wrong many of those things are good. In my view many of the above mentioned are gifts from God. We ( myself included) just tend to reverse the order. Thinking things will be our joy, rather than knowing God and having him as our joy first.

To sum it up I'll borrow from something I read today. "Just as a square peg cannot fill a round hole, neither can the “God-shaped hole” inside each of us be filled by anyone or anything other than God. Only through a personal relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ can the “God-shaped hole” be filled and the desire for eternity fulfilled." Thanks for reading.

30 Days to Live - Larry's Story - Lent Day 8

Don't have much to say other than the below scriptures. Lately I've seen people suffer just like this man. While this reminds to me to wisely invest in my relationship with my wife, children, and forget the meaningless things that I so often chase after. Above all it reminds not to forget God as a young man, as to build a lasting foundation that when not leave me when the bad days come. I'd encourage y'all to read the passages below, to choose to live wisely, and that wisdom I strongly believe begins and ends with knowing the Lord. Thanks for reading.


Psalm 39:4 (King James Version)4LORD, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is: that I may know how frail I am.

Psalm 139:16 (New International Version)16 your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

Ecclesiastes 12
1 Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come and the years approach when you will say, “I find no pleasure in them”— 2 before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars grow dark, and the clouds return after the rain; 3 when the keepers of the house tremble, and the strong men stoop, when the grinders cease because they are few, and those looking through the windows grow dim; 4 when the doors to the street are closed and the sound of grinding fades; when men rise up at the sound of birds, but all their songs grow faint; 5 when men are afraid of heights and of dangers in the streets; when the almond tree blossoms and the grasshopper drags himself along and desire no longer is stirred. Then man goes to his eternal home and mourners go about the streets.
6 Remember him—before the silver cord is severed, or the golden bowl is broken; before the pitcher is shattered at the spring, or the wheel broken at the well, 7 and the dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.
8 “Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher.[a] “Everything is meaningless!”
The Conclusion of the Matter 9 Not only was the Teacher wise, but also he imparted knowledge to the people. He pondered and searched out and set in order many proverbs. 10 The Teacher searched to find just the right words, and what he wrote was upright and true.
11 The words of the wise are like goads, their collected sayings like firmly embedded nails—given by one Shepherd. 12 Be warned, my son, of anything in addition to them.
Of making many books there is no end, and much study wearies the body.
13 Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. 14 For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil.