Pointing Fingers

 I know a great many people, late teens through thirties, facing a chronic adolescence. Some take pride in their prolonged immaturity, others are ashamed of it.  There are many that live games; video games, board games, card games, whatever kind of game you can imagine.
 I want to point out that i have this immaturity issue as well, in many ways, and it's by a force of will that it is put to rest. This was once a crutch of mine; as someone who was vying for the top position of the worldwide leaderboard on a video game, six hours of this video game in a single day was not uncommon. It's shameful in hindsight, but at the time i took pride in it.
 It can be about music, movies, tv shows, books, anything that keeps us "amused" (from the Greek, meaning non-inspired).

 I want to say that if you're more concerned knowing the top 200 on the Billboard charts than you are about knowing your Maker, you have messed up priorities. If you'are more excited about seeing that movie than you are about seeing a life changed, you have messed up priorities. In fact, Christ demands we hate all else in comparison to Him.
 God's first command to us was to multiply and fill the earth; this is to be productive, not to just exist here. Be productive! Get up, go outside, build something (maybe a legitimate relationship), work towards a goal, accomplish it, be productive. Fill the earth. What purpose or skill set is that remote control nurturing but more immaturity? It serves no purpose in life. None. It is a- (meaning non) musing (meaning inspiring). Amusements, amusements, amusements. That's what society tells us makes us happy.

 With this immature generation and its lack of "growing up," for lack of better term, comes a gross lack of responsibility. We have people who lack the commitment to stay with one person for more than a few months, people who are convinced that everything is someone else's fault; in this we have twenty-five year olds who are financially broke despite every chance given to them (myself), thirty year olds who blame every circumstance for their present state, and this is wrong.
Society has convinced those my age that nothing is our fault, that our problems are caused by others; we're poor because of the rich-class, we're depressed because others bully us, we have acne because of our genes--it doesn't end.
 More than this, we have a tendency to blame God, saying that we wouldn't have eaten from the Tree of Knowledge, but we're fools. We say it's not fair for us to die because of the sin of Adam. We say a lot of things, but i want to offer a question: are we paying for Adam's sin, or for our own? We can't blame God, we can't blame Adam, we can't blame our parents. No one will be standing beside us on the Day of Judgement, none to point fingers at, none to place the blame on; just you and God, just me and God, each of us, alone with our sin and the Judge.
 In this same train of thought, we can't blame external forces for our misfortunes.

 I am currently trying to make up for years of financial frivolousness, and i could sit here and say it's my parents fault for having not been more stern about teaching me to budget, but it comes down to this; i was stupid, i was careless, and i made mistakes. Instead of saving money and investing wisely, i spent my paycheck. And i know many others who do the same. But i can't blame my parents, the financial system, or anyone but myself.
 If you can't get out of your rut, then get out and push. Roll up your sleeves, get dirty, do something about it. For me, the hardest thing has been to learn financial responsibility. It's taken me a lot of work, and a seriously force of will, but i have learned to budget.
 We must all put down the remote, the games, the movies, and grow up. We must stop blaming others, realize the fault is our own, and start working today, in our means, to right the wrongs we've done.

 It's not Adam's sin, it's ours. We will be alone in front of the Throne of Judgement. We will have no one to blame. We can't say, "It's their fault."
It's your fault. And it's my fault.
The best thing we can do is acknowledge that, and begin working to fix it by prayer and much of your own effort. Faith without works is dead; what use is praying if you don't do your own part?
Work. Toil. Step away from your entertainment. Do what makes you uncomfortable. Live. Mature. And stop blaming others.

Undrawn Lines

 It's been a great long while since any posts have been made, but not for lack of inspiration or interest. On the contrary, the inspiration and desire to write new entries has been only increasing, it's the issue of time that restrains. 

 As it stands, my perceptions of things are going through a bit of a metamorphosis. Only time will tell if they're good changes or not.

 On one side, i'm being pulled towards something i can identify as being a narrow line to walk. I will never be justified by rules, and this is apparent because Christ justifies me by grace so that i can never boast. Nevertheless, i've determined to view all things as polarized;

"Those who are not with Me are against Me;"

"Here is how one can distinguish clearly between God’s children and those of the Adversary: everyone who does not continue doing what is right is not from God;"

"We know that we are from God, and that the whole world lies in the power of the Evil One;"

"...every spirit which does not acknowledge Yeshua is not from God — in fact, this is the spirit of the Anti-Messiah;"

"Turn my eyes away from worthless things;"

"All of us are like someone unclean, all our righteous deeds like menstrual rags;"

 It would seem as though the very Word of God tells me to polarize everything i may; to view things as holy or absolutely unrighteous. According to Levitical Law (which many seem to think we can ignore because Christ came), a man who has been touched by the menstrual flow of a woman is made unclean by it--all our righteous deeds are equivalent to the rags by which this blood is absorbed; anything it touches is to be considered unclean. Of course, my attempts at holiness are just the same, but Christ in me is righteousness. Only through Him can anything i do be made clean.

 If the best effort towards righteousness that the world can offer is something that, by contact, makes me unclean, how do i resolve my life to this? God draws pretty sharp lines here, and i'm in conflict as to how to proceed with this. Do i go about in fear of everything so that i don't be made unclean? Of course not! I'm not given a spirit of fear, but of power, of love, and of self-discipline!
 Nevertheless, how do i approach the world? With power and love and self-control. Does this mean all things are permissible? Maybe so, since the whole earth is the Lord's, as well as everything in it. But not all things are helpful or edifying. So again, this same question returns; how do i resolve my life to this?
 If God has drawn such sharp lines, why can't i so easily see them? He knows the false Christians, i don't. He detests the facetious in faith, yet if something proclaims Christ i flock to it. Is it a lack of discernment?

 This is an introspective post. A great deal of turmoil is raging inside of me, and i know that each line i draw just pushes me towards legalism, which i know separates me from God and perverts the Law. But having fewer lines lends my eyes to the side of worthless things.

The Problem of Complacency

Pilate asked him, "Are you the king of the Jews?" And he answered him, "The words are yours." Pilate said to the head cohanim (priests) and the crowds, "I find no ground for a charge against this man." Luke 23:3-4

 In this moment, Pilate questions Jesus by asking if He is the King of the Jews. Jesus says neither yes or no, but instead says, depending on translation, "The words are yours," or, "You have said so."
 The question Pilate asked Jesus was now turning back to him, just as when Peter was telling Him who the people said Jesus was; the real question was, "Who do you say that I am?" Jesus answers Pilate by stating something rather unexpected, "You have said so." Jesus, i believe, is saying that Pilate had at some point acknowledged Jesus as the Christ.

 So how does Pilate react? He turns from Jesus and tells the Jews that he finds no guilt in Jesus. Jesus has been charged with claiming to be the Messiah, and so Pilate asks him a simple question--and he finds no guilt in Him. Jesus didn't deny the charges. It was common knowledge that He was going around preaching the Gospel, healing the sick, raising the dead, making broken people whole. If He called Himself the Christ or the King of the Jews, He was in stark opposition to Caesar, yet He did make the claim.
 Pilate found Him innocent because He was not subverting the government. Speaking truth gives no guilt. So he turns to the crowds, "I find no ground for a charge against this Man." In other words, He claims to be the King, which puts Him at odds with the Emperor, but He is not wrong in Pilate's eyes.

 When the crowd demanded that Pilate carry on his tradition of releasing one prisoner during a festival, he succumbed; he looked for a murderous rebel. He picked someone the crowds would've hated worse. He picked someone who would safeguard Jesus' release.
 Nevertheless, the Jews were stirred into a commotion and asking for Barabbas.

Pilate appealed to them again, because he wanted to release Yeshua. But they yelled, “Put him to death on the stake! Put him to death on the stake!” A third time he asked them, “But what has this man done wrong? I haven’t found any reason to put him to death. So I’m going to have him flogged and set free.” But they went on yelling insistently, demanding that he be executed on the stake; and their shouting prevailed.

 "Why?" he asks. What crime did Jesus commit? Pilate still saw no guilt in the Accused. He didn't see Him as having done a thing wrong, not even in His claiming to be the Christ ("Everyone who claims to be a king is opposing the Emperor!" - John 19:12; in saying he found no guilt in Jesus, he was claiming that Jesus was not wrong in opposing Caesar).
 Even as they demanded Christ's death, Pilate still asked their reason, but according to Matthew's account, they only got louder in demanding His death, to the point that a riot was starting. So in order to keep the peace, he gives in and allows Jesus to be crucified.

When Pilate saw that he was accomplishing nothing, but rather that a riot was starting, he took water, washed his hands in front of the crowd, and said, “My hands are clean of this man’s blood; it’s your responsibility.” (Matthew 27:24)

 He washed his hands because he didn't want the death of the Messiah on his head. Let someone else take the blame. And the Jews agreed to shoulder the responsibility. It would appear as though Pilate got with compliance Scot-free.

 It may seem i'm defending Pilate in all of this, but such is not the case. This particular perspective creates something perhaps worse than seeing him as an accuser.
 He washed his hands. He didn't want the burden. He didn't want the blame. He didn't want the guilt. He wasn't willing to risk his reputation for the man he himself had admitted to believing in. He wasn't willing to change for the sake of the Lord.
 He embodied the modern Church's stance; "I won't let acknowledging Him change my life; won't let it make me uncomfortable or hated."

 What's worse: to not believe, or to believe and not act? Surely the man who can see evil and does nothing about it is far greater an accomplice than the man ignorant of it. If Pilate had not known, that would've been one thing. But to believe and yet still allow it falls on an entirely different order of complacency.

 If we truly believe Jesus to be the Messiah, we better be ready to defend that belief. We must be ready to lay down our reputation, find enmity in our friends, become an enemy of the government, and to lose everything we know and care about for His sake. Because if we don't, we will appease the crowd, wash our hands, and say, "Don't let this affect me."
 In doing so, we are as guilty (nay, more guilty!) as those who don't believe.
 The only way to have clean hands is to have them bathed in Christ's redemptive blood.

Going To The Romans As The World . . .

 "But in the prophets of Yerushalayim I have seen a horrible thing — they commit adultery, live in lies, so encouraging evildoers that none returns from his sin. For me they have all become like S’dom, its inhabitants like ‘Amora.” (Jeremiah 23:14, CJB)
 Adonai-Tzva’ot says: “Don’t listen to the words of the prophets who are prophesying to you. They are making you act foolishly, telling you visions from their own minds and not from the mouth of Adonai. They keep reassuring those who despise me, ‘Adonai says you will be safe and secure,’ and saying to all living by their own stubborn hearts, ‘Nothing bad will happen to you.’" (vs. 16-17)

 Adonai’s anger will not abate till he fully accomplishes the purpose in his heart. In the acharit-hayamim (latter days), you will understand everything. (vs. 20)
 When [someone from] this people, a prophet or a cohen (priest) asks you, ‘What is the burden of Adonai?’ you are to answer them, ‘What burden? I am throwing you off,’ says Adonai. (vs. 33)
 I will lift you up, burden that you are, and throw you off, away from my presence — you and the city I gave you and your ancestors. (vs. 39)
 There's more, but i encourage each person that reads this to read the chapter (or, better yet, the book) for themselves.

 There are many modern ways of evangelizing. And, lately, many have become caught up in "going to the Romans as a Roman." They mistake this for "going to the sinners as a sinner" or replace the word "sinner" with "world." This may be of the best intentions, but it is no less dangerous than a false doctrine.
 At the church i visited this past weekend, it was said that, "salvation is not by our works, so there are no works we can do to lose it." Another interesting quote was, "It's impossible to disappoint God. He knows your past, He knows your future, and so you can't surprise Him. If you can't surprise Him, you can't disappoint Him."

 Even with this kind of warning as given through Jeremiah, we still have so many social clubs operating as churches. People, preachers, saying, "God told me..." and following it up with some sort of infectious doctrine that would not encourage God's people to become too unlike the world for sake of looking "too holy," or "holier-than-thou," (and we dare not consider it a race, or should we refresh ourselves on 1 Corinthians 9:23-25?) and by doing so dissuading others from Christianity. But i tell you in the words of my Savior, "If you belonged to the world, the world would have loved its own. But because you do not belong to the world — on the contrary, I have picked you out of the world — therefore the world hates you."
 If the world loves you, there may be a problem. If the worldly look at you and aren't confused, perplexed, hateful, or angry, it wouldn't be a gamble to say that Christ hasn't picked you out of it just yet.

 Anyone who says you can be in Christ and not only live with your sin but be comfortable with it (even worse, that any facsimile or measure of worldliness as a good thing . . .); they're nullifying the sacrifice of the Messiah, the God-sent Holy Man, Immanuel Himself, Jesus the Christ, beaten and tortured and killed. If what they say was true, why did Jesus even hang, naked and bloody, on the cross? The answer is simply void. By His wounds, yes, by His stripes, by His resurrection we can be called children of God. If there was no way by our works to fall from salvation, how, then, did David cry out, "Restore to me the joy of Your salvation" after he had committed murder for the sake of having adultery? David felt God's salvation abandon him, and with it God's peace, joy, and Holy Spirit.

 A friend of mine shared this on Facebook. It's a snippet from Eric and Leslie Ludy;
 As Christ-followers, why should we think that friendship with the world is something to be proud of? When Hollywood and the secular music industry feels comfortable with us (and we feel comfortable with them), it means that something is wrong with our Christianity. Many of us have come to believe that we must participate in the things of the world in order to reach it for Christ, and that the more attractive we are to the culture, the better witnesses we will be.
 But Jesus said something quite different. “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you” (John 15:18-29). And, “Woe to you when all men speak well of you for so did their fathers to the false prophets” (Luke 6:26). Let us remember that true Christianity will influence the world - but it will never be applauded by the world.

 And this is true.
 Some may say, "But we have to attract the world!"
 To them, i say, "You go. Attract the world. Be loved by them."
 "The Lost" is something wholly different from "the World." The Lost are those who would seek to be found. The World is that which believes it already is found.

 Many preachers would do well to consider, when trying so desperately to fill pews, that Jesus offered bread, and all ate till they were filled. John 6 tells us that the crowds followed Him, and Jesus would give them no more physical bread, but rather Himself, the Bread of Life, and they became angry and bitter. It says that many turned away and no longer followed Him. And Jesus' response was rather unexpected; He let them go and kept to His twelve. The reason He lets them go is because, as He says in the very same chapter, "Everyone the Father gives Me will come to Me, and whoever comes to Me I will certainly not turn away."
 All who see and trust in Him will not be turned away; those who make the decision that they will starve the flesh to feed the Spirit; those who take up their cross daily and follow Him; those who trust upon His name; these are the ones He will raise up on the Last Day. The Father's will is that none should perish; we are to turn to Christ and repent of our sins or else we will perish not by His will but by our own.

 This choice is given each of us. And we would do well to share it.

Snippets

It's time to unpack some stuff from my phone. Little jotted notes and phrases and quotes that have come to me over the past few months are stacking up and cluttering it. So here are a few.

If we are incapable of discerning anything of the Spirit, we must ask ourselves if we have the Spirit.

Often we find ourselves asking God, "What do You want from me?"
The answer is very simple. "Everything."

We were entrusted with the Law, but we broke and disfigured it.
We were entrusted with the prophets, but we broke and disfigured them.
We were entrusted with Christ, but we broke and disfigured Him.
We are entrusted with His blood, and it restores everything.

There has been war between Heaven and Hell. Jesus came to implant the world with millions of people as far from the ways and appearances of this world as He is; millions of Jesuses; soldiers who would assault the gates of Hell.
Only now, as we approach the time when we are to be glorified, instead of saying, "Take this cup if You will, but Your will be done," these soldiers turn to lukewarm pacifism and say, "God wouldn't expect a sacrifice of me when Jesus already sacrificed it all."

Christianity is the only belief system that encourages fidelity to the spouse as fidelity towards God;husbands, love your wives; to even look at another woman with lust is adultery; to break either of these rules of faithfulness to the spouse is sin and, with sin, unfaithfulness to God.

Non-profits usually equal non-prophets.

The greater the threat from the outside, the stronger and thicker the walls must be. Make the home safer by building stronger, more fortified walls as society makes its attacks.

Those who live with the most dangerous faith rest in the safest death.

The need for consecration is a reflection of the need for temperance. God does not want abusers of His grace, but people who will receive it with control and the patience to extend it to others. This is the reason for consecration is such and important element in such a flippant world.

There is no way to know God and live the same way. To believe that you're His son, or that what He says about you is true means there is no doubt, not giving way to self, no submission to the world, no struggle-free clashes with sin.

If thought and consciousness are actually mere atoms that are in our mind, moving and firing in nerves, can those same atoms, freed from the cage of the human skull, not become part of something infinitely greater?

Water your garden with blood*

Minimalists realized something true to music that is also true to conversation; as much is said in silence as is said in sound.

It's the subtle, immemorable words that convince us to believe what we once doubted, not the memorable ones. The forgettable ones stick with us as seeds that germinate as our own ideas, though we know not that they were planted as quotes we so easily overlook.

I've been reluctant, yet God has been more than faithful, bestowing blessing on top of blessing, and grace upon grace upon grace until i can stand it no longer. My mentality forces the idea that a gift must be repaid, and i can't repay Him, because He gave me more than i have to give. It's impossible. If i don't, He still blesses me all the more. What, then, is to be done? I can't escape His blessings.

Love is jealousy. That's why God is jealous for us; He loves us. Jealousy is hating anything that is trying to come between us and our greatest love. He hates sin.
When we love God, we can't help but to hate the world because it's trying to come between us and Him. When we love the world, we hate God because He's trying to come between us and it.
We will hate the one and love the other.

Getting saved, we become like empty warehouses; all has been wiped clean. As we mature spiritually, we fill the warehouse with theologies and philosophies which are as our wares. We must be careful to keep only the worthwhile ones, ridding our shelves of the worthless ones. Only God can sort through it and, with His Spirit, discern in us which are profitable and which are a waste of space.**

There is a terrible moment when the Bible ceases to fit our lives.
It is then that our lives must fit the Bible.

And then a bunch of cheesy rhymes fill much of the remaining notes.

*This came to me in the middle of the night, and i never have figured out the meaning . . . But it sounds interesting.

**Over the past year, maybe year-and-a-half, my "theology" has changed drastically. I was of the type who always said "God is love," which is true, He really is. But my view of God was shaped more by modern theologies than by the Bible itself; God is unchanging. He is exactly today as He was before He said, "Let there be...", and He will be the same after the end of the age. God did not change when Jesus was born, God was simply with us. The same God that cursed nations, mocked rulers, hated the violent, purged Israel of all uncleanness, swore vengeance, shakes the earth at the sound of His voice; this is the same God we serve today--and He is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

Eyes On The Giver, Not The Gift

 Today suffered a rather weighty realization. I say suffered because, frankly, it was far from pleasant. It's as another of those things mentioned in the prior post that hurts. It burns, but it cleans too, like hot water. It must hurt if it does good. Gold is refined in a furnace, iron must be heated before it can be formed, and we are no exception; if we are to bend to the will of God, He must first allow us to suffer. After all, how can the Perfector of our faith work if we're cold and hard? He must set us in the kiln and immerse (read: baptize) us in the fire, and only then can the Perfector perfect.

 The aforementioned conclusion was this: God tests us.
 Yes, we've all heard the accounts of people being tested by God, such as Job, David, S/Paul (and Ananias for that matter), Abraham, and so many more, the list being quite overshadowed by God's very own Son.  And He tests us as well. It may not be of Biblical proportions, such as the laying down of one's own son as Abraham endured, losing family and health and wealth and pretty much everything as Job experienced. It might not even be the trials the nation of Israel suffered in Egypt as they waited for God's promise to be fulfilled, seeing Pharaoh time and time again deny them their freedom, his heart apparently hardened by God Himself. But that doesn't mean it's any less real. And He has promises for us. Sometimes we don't see those promises come to pass, but that doesn't mean they don't come to pass, it simply means we must do our part in lifting up the ancient gates, so that the King of Glory may enter in.

 Back to the Israelites in Egypt thing, as it seems to be the most apropos thing we can relate to (in this instance at least).
 God promised them freedom--not just freedom; He mentions a land, that is, the Promised Land. But it is said rather specifically that God told Moses in chapter four, "...I will harden [Pharaoh's] heart so that he will not let the people go."
 It almost looks like God is teasing these people with promises He will withhold. Not to say God isn't allowed to tease us. He is God after all.
 Firstly, God shows Moses how He's going to convince people to have faith, and that's by turning Moses' staff into a snake. "This," He says, "is so that they may believe..." God shows Moses another sign and says that the second is in case everyone doesn't believe the first. And then a third. The reason there were ten signs is so that they would be wholly without excuse. God was giving a sign so they'd believe. For the sake of those who wouldn't believe the first, He hardened the heart of Pharaoh long enough to perform a second. And a third. And... a tenth. And to think, i stop saying "Bless you" at three sneezes.
 He had set in front of them something they greatly desired, but before He gave it to them, He laid some stumbling blocks. That is, things that would ensure they would focus on Him instead of getting out of Egypt.
 Nine times, the people most likely became disheartened, thinking they would never go free. But those who held on till the tenth were rewarded with so much more than they were promised (err, after a substantial misadventure they caused themselves).

 My point is this: God tests us. He sometimes sets in front of us everything we've ever looked for. And He takes it away.
 He places before us things that may become idols, and then He says, "No." Hardens Pharaoh's heart again.
 Then comes that hope again--"No."
 And again.
 This isn't to tease us. It's to ensure we focus on Him, not on the thing He's offering. So that we will know He is God, that He is in control, that we have nothing but Him as our solid source of any hope either in this life or the next, He takes away the thing He lets us see. "Look at me," He is essentially saying, "Not the promised thing."
 Stop looking at potential idols. Stop looking at wealth, stop looking at a career, stop looking at a relationship, stop looking at your health even. Look at Him. Look upon the snake that was raised up in the wilderness. Eyes up! Heavenward! A horizontal gaze will never get us over a mountain, but only looking up.
 He tests us. Lets us see things, then takes them away, not for the sake of taking them away but for the sake of readjusting our eyes so that, when/if we do get it (if He has promised us, we have the full assurance of faith that He will make it come to pass!), He is still our focus, because we know it can be taken away.

 I pray we learn to walk with the mantra of a Heavenward gaze.

Truth Hurts

 There are many times that the Bible makes me mad. Really mad, even. There are times i want to slam it shut and put it on a shelf and not read from it again. It offends me. It throws some pretty heavy stones right at my head, and i have little room to move out of the way. Other books don't ruffle my feathers this much. Sure, there is a lot of peace, hope and the like to be found between its covers. But there's also some stuff that just makes me squirm.
 Take, for instance, the book of Psalms, one of the greatest sources of inspiration for modern poets, a one-hundred-and-fifty-chapter wellspring of comfort and joy.

Blessed is the one
who does not walk in step with the wicked
or stand in the way that sinners take
or sit in the company of mockers,
but whose delight is in the law of the Lord,
and who meditates on his law day and night.
That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither—
whatever they do prospers.

 That's Psalm 1:1-3.
 I read that and think, You know, maybe i'm this blessed fellow. Maybe i'm this man, this one who delights in the law of the Lord, who meditates on it and grows and flourishes and becomes firm in foundation and yielding a great harv--

Not so the wicked!
They are like chaff
that the wind blows away.

 Ow. That would be verse four.
 See, the Old Testament, which the apostles called Scripture, is God-breathed and, therefore, "is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness..." (2 Timothy 3:16) Basically, in other words, it is for us. It is an examination tool, and a method of correction and instruction. And it hurts. Because, as a human, i am evil. Horribly evil. My heart is deceitfully wicked. Every inclination of the thoughts of my heart are only evil all the time (apparently the amount of wickedness within us is sufficient to make God become rather redundant in His descriptions). So as much as those first three verses apply to me or you, that fourth one applies to us.
 This isn't a one-time ordeal. This is throughout Scripture. Proverbs, or "The Book of Wisdom," if you will, takes only seven verses.
 This book, or these sixty-six books if you like, is intended to cut. It's intended to cut. It isn't a feel-good-book. It's a two-edged sword capable of dividing soul from Spirit, and marrow from bone--and it is pointed directly at you and me. Because, by nature, we're evil.
 Yet again i say, it's intended to cut. Sharply. Swiftly. And it doesn't stop until it's separated you from your very nature.
 The marrow, the interior region of the bone, the very core of it, the heart of it, is severed from the rest of the bone by this, the Word of God. It hurts.
 It hurts because it cuts deeper than any physical sword may come close to touching, and it splits you from your core, your thoughts from your mind, your intentions from your heart. It cuts away all that exterior stuff we call the flesh. So then we may be the blessed one that doesn't walk in the way of sinners.

 You'll find cancer must be cut away, infected tissue must be torn off, and necrotic limbs must be severed. And only then can life be preserved, only then can the body be healthy. It's painful.
 The truth hurts. And the truth doesn't care about our feelings. Just because it causes pain or it offends or it's not popular; that doesn't negate the truth of it in the slightest. In fact, it may serve to compound the factuality of truth when it hurts, because it's at that point that it's being quite effectual.
 There have been times i've been reading the Bible and fell into tears wishing that God didn't ask that of me, or that He didn't say that about people with my particular mentality or sin. But He did--nay, He does. The Great Physician had to start slicing away at my flesh, splitting it from my spirit. And He still does so nearly every time i open His Word.

 Pick up the Bible. Let it . . . Hurt you.

On Bearing Fruit . . .

 Wisdom is know by her children. Another way of saying that is she is know by her fruit. What we reap is evidence of what we've sown. Everything planted underground, which is that what we put in secret and cover and water, will sprout. If one is, in secret, a sinner, it will grow into greater sin. If one is righteous in secret, it likewise will grow into greater righteousness. This is the nature of the supernatural; it is always a seed that will grow. This is why Jesus constantly refers to the Spiritual as having to do with fields, vineyards, crops, seeds, soil, etc. It's because it must be watered, must be kept, must be weeded, must be guarded. All things, we are given accountability to.

 But when we ourselves become the proverbial fig tree . . . What must we do?

 Bear fruit.

 Now, i'm not talking about some simple thing we can manage of our own accord; "Random Acts of Kindness," anyone can do. Not to say that specific gesture is without credence, but it's hardly a fruit of the Spirit when the world is just as capable as us. That could be, with the correct motive (glory given to God), a fruit of the Spirit, if we are led to it. But that's not what separates Christians from the world.

 Anyone can love those who are pleasant and lovely, which is why Jesus told us specifically to love our enemies. We are to love our neighbors as ourselves, and our neighbor is anyone put in our path, not merely the person of close residence. Neighbors are often our enemies, and enemies are often our neighbors, because those who wish us harm are oftentimes those who we are or have associated with.

 Do you know what it means to love an enemy? Do you know what it feels like to shake hands and to hug someone whom you know to be devising against you? Do you know what it's like to genuinely hope for their well-being?
 It's probably pretty difficult. In fact, i'd even dare say it's impossible for the flesh to accomplish some such feats.

 In 2006, in Pennsylvania, an armed man entered an Amish schoolroom of girls ranging from 6-13 years old with the intention of molestation. He killed five of them, and shot more. This would seem an unforgivable act. But there are those who are entirely unworldly, who are no more of this world than Christ is, who are able to attend the funeral of the perpetrator, look his family in the eyes and embrace them, and even contribute to his family's well-being. They forgave something i (and most others) could never dream of forgiving.

 Mark 11 tells us of Jesus being hungry and seeing a fig tree in leaf, though out of season for figs. Regardless, He approached it and found none on it, so He cursed it. The next morning, He and His disciples were passing back by and saw that it had died completely to its roots. It concludes with a message about faith, and He says, "whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses." (v. 25)

 There are some interesting details about that little occurrence. For one, it was out of season for figs. Despite that, Jesus still cursed it. Another thing is He would've known before approaching it that it had no figs, not just because it was out of season but also because He is Christ--He knows things.

 Christ doesn't want us to produce only when we're in season, only when we're strong in faith or ready to take on a mission. He wants us producing now. At His approach. And the sad thing is, that tree reflects so many Christians. It's green. Looks healthy. It's in leaf. But it has no fruit.
 A quote i often sarcastically use is, "We're all about appearances here." That's exactly how so many Christians these days are, though; as long as we look Christian, as long as we give the appearance, we're okay. But no, this is fruitlessness!

 We don't even produce fruit in season (when things are going well), let alone out of season (we curse the sky when it falls--praise God for holding it up as long as He has!).

 If we're patient and loving and gentle and faithful (and the rest of the list from Galatians 5:22-23) when we have a roof over our heads, financial and emotional and physical security, and when we're healthy and have a computer to blog on, that we're doing pretty good at living by the Spirit and bearing good fruit.
 Take it all away; no water, no heat, no shelter, sleeping on the ground in the rain, eating the refuse of others, what do we have? Joy? Peace? This is the out-of-season that God expects us to bear fruit in. This is His approach. And if we can't offer such fruits as He asks for when we have nothing else, when we just have Him before us and asking us to be patient and self-controlled, we will be cursed and will wither to the roots, fit and ready to be thrown into the fire.

 It's not enough to simply be Christian. We have to be like Christ. It was not yet His "season," and even still He turned water to wine--the best wine at that.

 We can't settle for loving those that love us, but no less than compassionate for those that harm us. While we are still enemies, we must be reconciled to others that wish ill against us. This is bearing fruit out of season. Any fig tree can produce in season, but it takes one living for Christ to produce fruit out of season. Any worldly person can love those that love them, but it takes a Christian to truly and selflessly lay down their life for someone that hates them. And this is what Christ demands of us.

 Disclaimer: i am by no means perfect. I could not, presently, do as i've been writing. Forgiving a minor offense is simple enough. Love always trusts, though, and i'm one of the most untrusting people there is. I have witnessed too many hypocrites (of which i am the chief)--i don't want to see a perfect person, i just want to see people genuinely trying. And that's where the problem lies; i have too long been around too many churched people outside of Christian gatherings to trust but the fewest of few, because "nobody's perfect," so they refuse to even try to be Christian outside of the church walls.

 Tallying it up, there are literally six people outside of immediate family that have my legitimate trust. And i've learned that people are people; my faith does not rest in their faith. To see any of these fall, i've learned to callous myself in this way, would not make me falter.

Who Are You?

Then some of the Jewish exorcists who traveled from place to place tried to make use of the name of the Lord Yeshua in connection with people who had evil spirits. They would say, “I exorcise you by the Yeshua that Sha’ul is proclaiming!” One time, seven sons of a Jewish cohen gadol named Skeva were doing this; and the evil spirit answered them. It said, “Yeshua I know. And Sha’ul I recognize. But you? Who are you?” Then the man with the evil spirit fell upon them, overpowered them and gave them such a beating that they ran from the house, naked and bleeding. (Acts 19:13-16)

 This passage has one of my favorite ideas regarding our spiritual duties as Christians.
"But you? Who are you?" the demon asked. Yes, of course demons know Jesus (James 2 says the demons believe--and shudder!). And Paul had a reputation in Hell, such that they recognized him. In a sense, they revered him. Like the soldiers of one army hearing the name of an opposing army's general; they would recognize it and it might even stir them a little to know that he was the one commanding their enemy's forces.
 But these seven sons? Who are they? Nobodies as far as Hell is concerned. Seven brothers, sons of the high priest no less, who were all overpowered, stripped, and lashed by one man with one demon (never forget that Legion had thousands, and they trembled before Christ; let that be an image of power).

 What really caught me about this today was that they tried to cast out on authority with degrees of separation; from Jesus to Paul to them. They had no first-hand experience with Christ, yet they cast out demons, "by the [Jesus] that [Paul] is proclaiming!" They knew of Jesus, but only because they knew of Paul's message.

 How sad would it be to know of Jesus exclusively through the words of another? How vain our pursuits, to be shaped by only the image given us by mortal men? Without experience of Christ, what have we at all?
 Here's something else to think about; the Bible is the true and infallible Word of God, but it was written/logged/chronicled by fallible men. In man's language. Translated into another of man's languages by other men. And then the translation process happened again.
 The Bible as the Word of God has no flaw, but we, humans, do. So debate all you like about NIV, KJV, ESV, NASB, whatever translation you think is the right one; we're farther from the original Hebrew and Aramaic/Greek than these seven sons of Skeva were from Christ. Slight variations in wording is hardly consequential at this point.
 To go a step further, take into account that the Gospels were written by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and that Acts was also chronicled by Luke.
 Again i say, how sad would it be to know of Jesus exclusively through the words of another?

 Now look around. We have preachers, straight out of seminary and Bible college, who have had no firsthand encounter with the Almighty (ironically, there's even a book titled, "How to Stay Christian in Seminary"). We have Biblical scholars whose connection with God is purely mental and not in the least bit Spiritual. We have missionaries that can only give a reason for believing in Christ from the text in the Bible (not to discount the authority of the Scriptures, but allow me to refer you to Revelation 12:10-11. Now a simple question: How do we overcome the accuser of the brethren?).
 Because you have read someone's autobiography and believe it to be true does not necessarily mean you know the author. You may be capable of quoting it backwards and forwards and still not know the author.

 How do you know Jesus Christ? Have you read his biography? The collected words of those witnesses?
Or have you met Him, known Him, trusted Him, and been a witness yourself? Can you look someone in the eyes and say, "Apart from the Bible, I know Him"? Is it in the mind only, or in the heart?
 We must yada (know something by firsthand, witness' experience) Christ.

 No one can stress enough the universal-scale of importance of Scripture. Each time you read the Bible, you are reading accounts of His qualities, you are being better-equipped to recognize Him. And how are we to know and to claim genuine witness about someone unless we recognize them?
 But unless we have met Jesus and we have received Him and been witnesses in our own lives and people who do the will of God, He does not know us.
 Reading the Bible does not save. Going to church does not save. Preachers and pastors don't save. Knowing Christ, with Christ knowing you, and having a relationship with Him does save.

Choosing Friends

 Something has been plaguing me lately, and it's a matter concerning those i call friends. This is not a post intended to share anything that has been learned, but rather a bit of a rant tinged with introspection.
 Second Timothy has a clear warning that, in the "last days," perilous and terrible things will happen.

People will be self-loving, money-loving, proud, arrogant, insulting, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, uncontrolled, brutal, hateful of good, traitorous, headstrong, swollen with conceit, loving pleasure rather than God, as they retain the outer form of religion but deny its power. (v.2-5, CJB)

 What's worse is these things are taught as not only normal, but good.
 "Yes! Love yourself! Be empowered! Do what you want to--" No! This is not the way it's supposed to be.
 And the love of money? Well, golly, nobody loves money, they just want more of it!
 Proud, arrogant, insulting . . . Our society tells us that we should love ourselves, and the result is just these things; we think we're better than everyone else.
 Disobedient to parents. Scarcely in a secular (read: popular) children's program are children actually encouraged to obey their parents. In fact, some actually discourage it. And the generation is evil, wicked, lawless, faithless, and so on.
 I could go on with each topic listed, but i'll cut to the chase.

 One sentence was left out from that passage.

Stay away from these people!

 Other translations (KJV) say, "Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away."
 This isn't aimed at heathens--at least not at heathens that don't know Christ. This is aimed at those falsely claiming to be Christians; people that clap their hands on Sunday, pray a prayer, maybe even shed a tear, then go back to their sexual immorality, their vile tongues, their intoxicating drink, their cigarettes, their sports worship, their idolatry, their obsessions with money, their obscene gestures, their crude joking, their filthy forms of entertainment . . .
 Shall i go on, or would that step on even more toes?
 People who claim to follow Christ but ignore the voice of God, are without conviction, teach a false gospel, say something is "innocent enough," make God into a magic genie, repost everything that says to repost it in order for God to bless them (this is a contrary gospel) . . .

"People whose minds no longer function properly and who have been deprived of the truth, so that they imagine that religion is a road to riches." (1 Timothy 6:5, CJB, emphasis mine)

 Stay away from these people (CJB). Have nothing to do with such people (NIV). From such people turn away (NKJV).
 Basically, don't associate with them. Avoid them. Get them out of your life. Purge the contaminate before it makes you sick.

 Again, it does not say to avoid those who don't know any better; Jesus ate with sinners--find me one instance where He chose the company of anyone who claimed to follow Him but only publicly. He didn't. He kept company with sincere hearts and those who had not heard.

 And here we are in the twenty-first century, where ungodliness and vulgarity are praised, where Christ is more often used as a curse than a blessing, where music and movies and television shows openly deny God to the point of portraying anyone who does believe in Him to be stupid. And it has seeped into our churches.
 If a pastor actually condemns sin, he's got a small congregation. If a person speaks of God in daily life, he's laughed at*. If anyone chooses a stricter way of life, they are scorned and people cry, "legalist!*" If one abstains from sexual immorality or from alcohol, they are repeatedly invited to bars and strip clubs*.
 Why?
 Because people hate a Gospel that actually changes you.
 Because it's all supposed to be on the outside.
 Because nothing that flows from the mouth (the overflow of the heart) should have anything to do with God.
 And if it does, it bothers them. They cringe. They don't want to believe that anything is honestly wrong with acting like everyone else. They don't want to see it change someone else because they don't want to have to change themselves. They want to be comfortable with their flesh.
 They're lovers of self.
 Lovers of sin.
 Stay away from these people!

 Who, then, are we left to fellowship with? A circle of honest believers we can count on a single hand? Are we to seek purposeful naivete? Not so! for Christ knew the hearts of those He walked past--He discerned, and yet He chose only eleven (a twelfth that He knew would betray Him).

 And here is a glorious promise, unknowingly fulfilled by the world: If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. (John 15:18-19, ESV)

 We will be hated. Though i have never been beaten nor spit upon nor threatened, merely mocked and ridiculed, for my faith, we should greet it as the apostles; "...overjoyed at having been considered worthy of suffering disgrace on account of Him." (Acts 5:41, CJB)
It is sad for sure when people can insult the idea of Christ dying for them, and that often brings me to tears. But our personal disgrace in the eyes of the world we will count as a grace from God. It means we're doing something right.

 And then there are certainly those who will say, "Well, you know, you have to look at who that was written to," or, "That was for a specific person or group," or, "That doesn't apply anymore because of Christ."
I am taking for granted those same people are discounting the fact that, "All Scripture is God-breathed and is valuable for teaching the truth, convicting of sin, correcting faults and training in right living." (2 Timothy 3:16, CJB, emphasis mine)
 All Scripture. That does not have an asterisk, a footnote, a cross-reference, it is just simply put that all Scripture is applicable. That the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, the same God who wrought destruction and wrath on Sodom, the same God whose anger makes the earth shake and tremble, the same God who has wrath and fury, is in all actuality the same God that loves us enough to give us Christ as propitiation for sin. Christ did not abolish Scripture, but fulfilled it.
 All Scripture, regardless of who it was written to, is valuable to us for the things mentioned because it is God-breathed.

 *denotes that which i've experienced from Christians

We Stick To Our Guns . . .

 It has been my prayer that God teach me to mourn over those who are perishing, and He has. I can't look at my fellow man, namely those who loosely tout the term, "Christian," while living no differently than the world save for an hour and a half on Sunday. And now my prayer also includes a reputation in Hell.
 This song that's played on the radio where i work ("This Is How We Roll" by Florida Georgia Line--thank you, Google, for supplying lyrics and title) sums up the state of Christianity so well, and it grieves me:

Yeah, we're proud to be young,
We stick to our guns.
We love who we love, and we wanna have fun.
Yeah, we cuss on them Mondays,
And pray on them Sundays.
Pass it around and we dream about one day. 

 That is what Christianity consists of in today's world. "Cuss on them Mondays, pray on them Sundays."
 If this doesn't make your stomach turn and your heart ache, then that song may very well apply to you. "The mix in [your] drink's a little stronger than [i] think." It pains me to see those i respect that call themselves Christians turn around and follow the rest of the world as it heads towards destruction.
 Israel, people of God, Church, Bride! Weep! And do something about it! If people apologize for cussing around you (this is a remark on my own complacency after this past weekend), then by all means apologize to them for not caring enough to impact their lives! Apologize for not desiring to see such a radical change in their lives that they can coexist with a Christian for forty hours a week and not want to experience what you have! Apologize for not caring about their soul enough to show them something real! That's who needs to apologize: you and i, not them.

 God has given each of us mission fields. Yours may be your neighbors, for some of you it may be your families, for others it could be coworkers or friends. That is your mission, and that is your responsibility. You will be held accountable for those put in your path that you don't reach.

 In the name of Christ, make for yourselves a reputation in Hell (Acts 19:15).

 There is a war raging, and Christians have been brainwashed by a very appealing angel of light that we're supposed to be on the defensive, laying down our weapons . . . But gates don't move; they open and close--why, then, will the gates of Hell not prevail against the Kefa, or rock, on which the congregation of Christ is built upon? We are made for siege. The gates of Hell cannot stand up to the battering from the rock of Christ.

 Here are some interesting words in red.

...let the one who has no sword sell his cloak and buy one. (Luke 22:36)

 If you are clothed and yet unarmed, you are misprepared. If you have dignity but lack a blade for which to hold against the throat of the devil, you are ill-equipped.

 Our armor of God, which is primarily defensive, conveniently contains a Sword: the Word of God that can separate soul from Spirit, bones from marrow. This is far from defensive; this is a weapon of assault -dare i say, of mass destruction even- in the spiritual realms. This is that Sword which proceeds from the mouth of Christ in Revelation chapter one.

Let the godly exult in glory;
let them sing for joy on their beds.
Let the high praises of God be in their throats
and two-edged swords in their hands,
to execute vengeance on the nations
and punishments on the peoples,
to bind their kings with chains
and their nobles with fetters of iron,
to execute on them the judgment written!
This is honor for all his godly ones.
Praise the Lord! (Psalm 149:5-9)

 This is not subtlety, this is not passivity, nor even passive-aggressive tendencies. This is full-on warfare. Capturing kings, imprisoning officials, these are acts of war. We are to be exacting justice swiftly all the while singing praises to God.

To quote a song ("Devastator," by For Today),
Hell, fear me. I am the one that will bring you down.
And when you fall, feel me. You’ll see my face on the battleground.
Let my name be feared at the gates of hell, as I exalt the Savior,
The One that died to buy my victory, and gave me a new name.
Let my name be feared at the gates of hell, as I exalt the Savior,
In the name of the Holy One of God!
I will cast you down at the foot of the cross He hung from.

 This is a proper stance in the realm of spiritual warfare; taking the fight to Satan, all the while exalting Christ.
 Weep, friends, and groan over the abominations committed within the Church (Ezekiel 9). We can't sit idly by and watch the world perish--not while twiddling our thumbs and whistling a catchy, trendy worship song. If the world is going to perish, it must only be allowed to do so as we rush in without care to our reputation while dragging others out.

From The Beginning

 After nearly a month and a half of not writing on this particular medium, things have been weighing too heavily to keep in any longer. And what has been screaming in my head most today is the person of Christ, the Son of God, as Man, and as God.

 Last night's reading brought to mind something about the Man of Christ. Brief summary of the chapter i'm about to quote from, a man was born blind, Jesus restored his sight to him, so the Pharisees and Judeans questioned his testimony by saying that he hadn't really been blind since birth. They wanted to believe Jesus to be a fraud and a liar, which sometimes proves quite difficult to do.

Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” He answered, “And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?” Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you.” (John 9:35-37 ESV)

 Jesus refers to Himself in the third-person rather frequently as the Son of Man, but this is a unique example; "It is He who is speaking to you." The Spirit is revealing His identity to the once-blind man through the flesh of Christ. Working through the flesh of Jesus, the Spirit opened this man's physical eyes to see the physical incarnation of Jesus, and again through Jesus' flesh, the Spirit opens this man's spiritual eyes to see that in doing so he has beheld the Messiah.
 The Son of Man is the embodiment of Christ as He walks and talks, the mortal shell that would be killed and resurrected.

 Now the Spiritual being of Christ is a little more difficult to pin-down, because He is rather encompassing.

So they said to him, “Who are you?” Jesus said to them, “Just what I have been telling you from the beginning. (John 8:25 ESV)

 A word used in most translations in that verse is, "beginning," instead of, "start." For the most part, same definition. There is a reference in chapter nine (specifically, verse thirty-two), where it's said that never since the world began had someone been given sight that had been born blind. In essence, not from the beginning had someone who was born blind been healed. The Spirit is revealing through the flesh of Jesus again exactly who He is; He has been telling them from the beginning who He is.
Another example is John 8:56-58.

Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.” So the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?” Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.”

 That seems to have rather upset them, seeing as they then tried to kill Him . . . Again.

 My point in saying this is that He has been telling them (us) of Himself through the prophets since time immemorial. Before He used prophets to speak through, witness was made of Christ, even so far back as Genesis chapter three, when He declares that the woman's offspring would bruise (or, as Paul says, crush) the head of Satan.
 From the beginning, He has been telling us who He is. Through His Word, through His prophets, through His Law, through creation. We are, therefore, without excuse.

Taming The Tongue

 Cussing is not mentioned directly in the Bible, therefore we have no legitimate (read: Scriptural) authority to say that it's a sin. So i don't say it is one. This is merely a collection of some of the reasons i (emphasis on the fact that this is the personal conviction of one who is far from being scholarly) believe Christians shouldn't cuss and why i put such a weight on the utterings of our lips (especially those in thoughtless response to disaster).

 We all -or at least most- know that verse that says that what comes from the mouth is the overflow of the heart. As Matthew 15 puts it,

And he called the people to him and said to them, “Hear and understand: it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person.” Then the disciples came and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?” He answered, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted up. Let them alone; they are blind guides. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.” But Peter said to him, “Explain the parable to us.” And he said, “Are you also still without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled? But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone.” (v. 10-20)

 That's puts a great weight on words. Even still, it does not denote cussing specifically. This is rather towards instruction and teachings; every plant that God has not planted will be rooted up (every teaching not from God will be destroyed); and if the blind lead the blind then both fall into the pit. Whatever instruction we subject ourselves to is the same way; it will be rooted up if it's not from God, and those we let ourselves be led by, if blind they be, will lead us into the same pit. Whatever instruction you receive extra-Biblically, be careful that it does not enter the heart without first being subjected to the Word of God.

 Here in Romans, Paul mentions the great importance on the tongue;

...if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. (Romans 10:9-10)

 With the mouth, there is a matter of  confession made unto salvation. It's not simply words that come from the mouth, but the extension of the heart. If our heart is driven by God, our words will be from God and, therefore, good (we will share the Gospel -literally Good News- with our mouth). If our heart is evil (or not of God), we can still lie about being righteous but even the profession of righteousness is unholy. The very saving power of Christ works in our heart, but it is not brought to fruition until it reaches our lips as confession.
 We may confess without coming to salvation, but we cannot come to salvation without confession.

 James has some of the stronger depictions of the importance of what we say;

If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless. Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world. (James 1:26-27)

 The essence of this is (along with the following passages), if we do not control our tongue, it will control us. Our belief system, our faith and our hope, is worthless if we do not "bridle [our] tongue[s]." Living in the world but not being of it is the only way we can be unstained from the world. We must wear the armor of God if we're to keep our inner-man from dirt, filth, bruising and beatings. Part of that armor, the shield of faith, mandates works in order to remain. These works, which reinforce our protection from the proverbial elements, are those such as visiting orphans and widows in their affliction; the works of faith which include consoling the mourning, giving to the needy, listening to the heavy-hearted, speaking to the empty, and the like. Of course, there are more works than these, these are but simple examples we may start with in everyday life.

For we all stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body. If we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well. Look at the ships also: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. (James 3:2-5)

 James, the same fellow who stated that religion without temperance is worthless, says that the tongue is boastful, and that if we do what we say we are perfect in our ability to control our every action.
 The imagery of the ships' rudders is one that strikes me quite profoundly; even if the winds are blowing eastwardly, a skilled sailor may use the sails and rudder to direct a ship westwardly. Likewise, if we are living a way of righteousness, the rudder must be controlled correctly; we must not allow this small member to turn us off-course.

How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell. For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. (v. 5-8)

 This is the specific direction the tongue would try to set us; Hell. The Truth shall set us free, we often hear, but how much easier a lie is to tell. Not only that, we don't have to keep track of what story has been told when only the truth is. It's our nature to lie, to blaspheme, to spew wrath or poison, because we have a tongue that craves it. Our throats are an open grave, and the venom of asps is under our lips; what comes from us is deadly unless we are able to control it. Antibodies come from venom. Fire burns forests, but a clean fire purifies. The tongue is a great weapon or a great tool, never to be underestimated, and the natural inclination is evil because it is "set on fire by hell."

With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so. Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water? Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water. (v. 9-12)

 This, the final passage i'll use, says that we inevitably do one of two things with the mouth; bless or curse. It is impossible to genuinely praise God with holy lips (see Isaiah 6 for reference) if we use them to curse. These curses are perpetuated by the same whose prayers are detestable to God. If we sing a shout of Hallelujah praise, or if we join the chorus of the Seraphim in a reverent, "Holy, holy, holy," or if we go into the closet and pray in silence, it churns the heart of God with repulsion if we spew venom outside of these scenarios. Sadly, i've watched people who commonly and unabashedly make vile remarks about people based on appearance or accent or vocabulary six days a week raise their hands in praise to their Maker within the walls of the church on Sunday, but it pains me to consider that their worship is met with detestation by God. They have cursed the image and likeness of God; how can they bless that from which these people were formed? It would be a lie to say i've never done this same thing, and it's shameful to admit, but it is growing less common with help from the experienced Pilot.

 The first reaction to a frightening or disastrous scenario is perhaps the greatest insight to what the heart is filled with.
 This is precisely why taming the tongue, be it against lies or slander or blasphemy (or, though unmentioned, cussing), is so important. And this is impossible by our own work. It can only be done with the help of God.

The Purpose of "Rules"

We must consecrate ourselves.
That's a term we often misunderstand, but it's one that is crucial in this modern world.
The definition is, according to Merriam-Webster, "dedicated to a sacred purpose."
With television, internet, video games, movies, commercials, sports, and all sorts of hollow pleasures being shoved in our faces, we forget what consecration is. We think we've consecrated ourselves if we don't cuss, don't smoke, don't drink, and we get to church on Sunday. I want to address true consecration, and it will seem extremist in current relation.
There is no bend like on a graph where it follows the social norm. It is a straight line. In fact, it is that very line that the social norm bends away from or towards. It is the standard by which all else is measured.

In Exodus 19, Moses was told to consecrate people and a mountain (Sinai, to be specific). It was so that people were not to eve touch the mountain lest they be executed. This is consecration, and there wasn't even a television set for him to tell people to turn off. This is setting aside something (ourselves) as being so given over to God's purpose that if any worldly thing touches it, we are to sever it.
This doesn't mean to kill people, this means to kill relationships that are drawing us away from God, to rid ourselves of distractions, to cease anything and everything that does not draw us and others into a closer relationship with our Creator. When we give up our earthly identity to find identity in Christ, when we stop seeking anything of this world as a goal and set instead Christ as our sole focus, we have consecrated ourselves. We have dedicated ourselves to a sacred purpose, and this purpose is being like Christ.
In this place of consecration, sanctification is offered to us.

"to make (something) holy."
"to give official acceptance or approval to (something)."

Those are two of the definitions of sanctification. These are the fulfillment of consecration. When we set something apart for sacred use (as we should our everyday lives), we are setting it apart to be holy. This is impossible for man, yet what is impossible for man is possible with God. God brings it to fruition by meeting us in our flawed but striving state, and He puts something wholly righteous within us; His Spirit.
We will never achieve righteousness, holiness, or even something as general as "good" on our own. No one is good except for God. And, for the sake of contrast, i want to point out that what's not good is bad. God created the Heavens and the earth, He made man, and all the things He made, He saw that it was good. Because it resonated with His image and His Word and His Spirit. But when we disobeyed, even the ground was cursed, and there was nothing good on earth any longer. Without His Spirit, we are, simply put, miserable and pitiable beings.
When God meets us and finalizes our act of consecration by sanctifying us, we are still just as flawed of people, we simply have something good living within us.

Here's my point in all of this; we hate rules, we hate boundaries, and we hate restrictions. We hate them because they get in our way of doing what we want. However, when we love God, we don't see these things as hindrances because our goal is to be like Him, and our actions and attitude must change if we are to be more like Him. Rules are very profitable, but not of themselves. I've gone so far as to ask God to increase my convictions so that i may give more of my self to Him, and i would encourage others to consider the same.
If your goal when you wake up in the morning is to not smoke, cuss, drink, have sex, or just sin in general, you're missing it. If your goal when you wake up is to please God, then all these evasions of sin will come as natural as that first yawn. There will be struggles, there will be failures, but trying to please God is the only way out.

To go one step further, living in God's righteousness is a trial, of sorts.
If someone asks to borrow your car and they have a dozen speeding tickets to their name and have had multiple wrecks, are you going to let them borrow it? Probably not. If they have never been stopped nor have they committed any serious traffic violation, you'd be more likely to lend them your keys.
If we are flippant with the life God has given us (in other words, if we are reckless in our convictions, giving way to sin every time a demon rears its head or if we continually feed the 'self'), then God is probably not going to give us the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven, nor will He give us the greater gifts of the Spirit. The grace is there, but He wants radicals willing to give up anything or to do anything for Him.

If we don't prove ourselves trustworthy to safeguard and to multiply one gift, or to even nourish it, why would He give us two or five talents when we so miserably failed with the one?
He wants us to try for righteousness. If we don't make the attempt to live as holy beings, He will not entrust us with holy things.

The Cornerstone

There is a theme in American politics about the First Amendment's "freedom of religion," though i find it interesting that the secular culture has tweaked it to mean "freedom from religion." However, freedom of speech is not freedom of speech and, therefore, Christians can not be quieted by the government, nor can any other belief or religious system.

Many think this country should be wholly secular, but that is impossible. The closest thing we could achieve, you might say, is an atheist culture, yet even atheism is a theist belief.
Theism is a belief in a deity (divine being). Divine meaning something with divinity. When we say there is no god, we are saying there are no morals. When we say we have morals, we are saying someone or something at some time reached some point of divination in which a standard behavior was realized. If we say this came from "evolution," then our would-be ancestors were divine. If we say this is ourselves in our own instincts (perhaps the most common), we say that self is divine. If we say it came from society, either as a whole or through some aristocratic group of intellects, we say that society is divine.
But we can not say that it came from evolution, a theory in which barbaric creatures became barbaric man. We can not say it comes naturally, lest we require taught how to kill, steal, lie, and betray (on the contrary, we have to be taught how not to). We can not say it comes from a society or a group of "enlightened" individuals that scratch and claw their way to the top without remorse or thought of others.
Sure, we have individuals that may clarify or even refine certain aspects of behavior, such as, speaking only of Eastern mystics, Mahatma Gandhi, Gautama Buddha, and some of the Dalai Lamas. And these so-called "wise men" are now deified. And they brought nothing that we didn't already know, they merely brought a new sense of accessibility to it. They were breaking no ground; they were, unknowingly, working with what had already been put in place; the preset Cornerstone.
If i widened the field beyond the mystics of far-east religions, it would be by vast majority Christians, most of whom were martyred. With that said, one person above all others refined our sense of coexistence, and that was Jesus Christ. And He brought no new law, either. He fulfilled it. He was and is the Cornerstone that all the other "greats" of morality didn't even realize they were basing their ideas on.

To try and bring this back to the introductory paragraph, Christianity is not political. There is no theocracy in it except that which is in the individual, in which case Christ governs everything in the individual (or at least He should), and then proceeds from said person.
There is theocracy in other religions; Islam, Hinduism, even Buddhism and atheism offer theocracy, yet because there is no change of heart within that comes from these religions, this god-governance must come from without and work its way inwardly. But it can't heal the heart any more than, as the all-too-common phrase goes, "a Band-Aid can cure a cold."
Any true change, any true "goodness" -as we can achieve goodness through Christ alone- must start within and work its way out and not vice-versa.

It is not a Christian idea to oppose moral deficiencies. It may be a Godly one, but it is not inherently Christian in nature. As said, mystics can understand things about God without understanding that it came from God.
Any man or woman can oppose, say, abortion. But it's only a God-fearing person that understands the baby's value from "before [He] formed [it]."
It doesn't take a follower of Christ nor even someone who believes in God to find it a vile, murderous ideal. But it does take a follower of Christ to know that we must "suffer the little children" so that they may come unto Him.
It doesn't take a wise man to know that stealing is wrong and that charity is "good". But only a man who knows God can fully act upon that greatest commandment which is to love God, and the second which is to love our neighbor as ourselves.
It doesn't take Christ in the heart of a person to know what's right and what's wrong. It takes Christ in the heart of a person to fulfill what's right and what's wrong. And though many say they're looking for Christ, little do we realize that He is looking for us as well; He stands at the door and knocks, He is the Voice saying, "Come up here!" He is the One waiting for us to open our hearts to Him. We don't have to look, we just have to open the door and say, "Hello, I made a room for You, please, come on in, make Yourself a home."

Lesser Than, Greater Than

This is a very "out there" kind of post, and it has little practicality as far as application and usefulness go, but with it comes the hope that some may see the Word of God in a slightly more enveloping light. And to make it all the more enveloping, i must try to describe time and matter.

Since atoms convert into energy, they must end (the second law of thermodynamics, also known as entropy states this). Energy runs out, new atoms do not spawn. The universe is running out of matter and energy, and has been since "the beginning." So with that said, matter could not have existed for eternity. It requires a moment in which it began. This moment is also the moment that time was brought forth. So we are left with the idea that there was no time, and at some point time will again cease to be. There is a moment in between which we call the universe. And without time, there would be no start-point. There is a great paradox in this universe and it is answered only by matter being introduced from somewhere else, a place without time, a place where "forever to forever" is now and yesterday and will be tomorrow without distinction.
Hopefully that made some bit of sense. This was something incredibly difficult to try and expound before reading C.S. Lewis' Mere Christianity, but has since only become clearer in mind, not in word (and the chapter, "Is Theology Poetry?" from The Weight of Glory played no small part in the exposition of this idea).
In other words, the realm of God is more substantial and more real than this existence because it existed before this universe was born and already exists after this universe has died out.
Not to say that this existence isn't real, only that the existence that will be is more real. If this life is indeed a vapor, then what comes next must be something greater, thicker, and more present; a fluid. And just as a mist is easily passed through and an ocean much less, so this life is less substantial than the life that will be. Both are real, one just happens to have much greater substance to it.

And we are now presented with the Bible, the Word of God. I will call it our Anchor for various reasons to be explained.

The Bible is, obviously, paper and ink and binding, sometimes electrons forming letters on a screen, depending on the medium you choose to read it from. But despite that, the ideas, concepts, stories, chroniclings, poems, and the like within Scripture are considered "God-breathed" (2 Timothy 3:16).
To take that as literal, to see the entirety of Scripture as being born of the thoughts of God, formed by His breath, we are then faced with the Anchorhood of the Bible.
God is eternal, without beginning and without ending. And though this paper that will decompose in its due time is the Bible, the substance of the Bible itself will not fade. It will not fade because it is from God, from a place that already exists tomorrow and existed before this universe was set in motion. The Bible, or at least the nourishment of it, is our Anchor to that place.
If it is from there, it is, in its message, preeminent of all things in this universe. It is our tie to God's existence. The stories were known and chronicled before time began, and set to paper only after these things took place. It is a drop of water in the vapor of our lives. It is a bit of substance in a fog. It is more real than this life because it is from another that surpasses it.

It may seem vague in its description of Heaven and the hosts therein, God, and the physical implications of anything Spiritual, but only because it would be as trying to describe a three-dimensional world in a two-dimensional one where the word "depth" has no meaning. We could draw a cube, a facsimile, but it is in fact still two-dimensional there. This is why Jesus didn't say exactly what Heaven is, but rather what it is like. This is why Jesus spoke in parables; we can't grasp the literalism (or literalness if we're going by the dictionary) of it because this is a step away, a dimension down, seeing through a mirror darkly. To word it in its entirety, He would've used terms that have no meaning here, perhaps made noises we could not understand--perhaps like that of those individuals so under the influence of the Holy Spirit that they cease to speak in earthly dialects. Could this be merely the spirit of the man meeting the Spirit of God and not being able to say or describe, to or through its mortal vehicle, what is going on, what is being said, or what is being exchanged?

The Bible is not just a collection of words; it is our Anchor to an existence that was and is and is to come because it was and is and is to come because it is from the One who was and is and is to come.

Water And Oil

This post is intended to ruffle feathers, to step on some toes. Maybe it'll hurt. Maybe not.

Sin is so comfortable . . .

We take sin lightly in today's culture. We think that, maybe if we just love these people a little better they'll turn to God, or maybe if we are more inviting to them they'll come into the fold. If we accept their sin, they'll be more apt to accept us or will be more open to consider our religion (yes, i am calling it religion at this point, and not in a glamorous light).
We're sinners, too. Keep that always in mind.

Christianity is a stated fact from God. The reality of it is Heaven and, just as real, Hell. The possibility of achieving righteousness is as far away from us as it was for Cain the moment He killed his brother out of jealousy. We are Cain. We are murderers and adulterers, according to Scripture, if we have hated our brother or lusted after a woman. Guys, let's not sugar-coat it, you're an adulterer, i'm an adulterer; you're a murderer, i'm a murderer, even if we've never so much as touched a woman or held a weapon. In pre-Christ times, a man guilty of physically committing either of those sins would probably be put to death or else castrated, yet Christ and John tell us there's no distinguishing features from the emotion and the committed act. This is because God knows that, if not for His law and man's law, if there were no repercussions, no accountability, no shame, mankind would kill and fornicate profusely (as many in this world do regardless), and therefore puts our hearts in such a stalemate that if we were without law or penalty of any sort, we still would not commit such acts.. He knows the heart's intent. And He judges by it.

But here we have the majority of the world denying or unknowing of Christ. But it's not a matter of belief in existence. It's a matter of believing who He is, and not only that but believing Him unto repentance (do Satan and those under his unholy dominion not also declare that He is, "Jesus, Son of the Most High God?"--belief in His existence and identity serve no good without taking up the charge to follow Him) As a fact, it has to be denied or accepted as it is, unaltered and unopposable, just like any other fact.

"We as believers should so back people into a corner with the word of our testimony that they have to say one of three things: Either you are a liar, you are completely out of your mind, or what you're saying is true. People shouldn't be able to say, 'Well, that's what you're into, but it's not really my thing--but no! It is either for everyone, or it is completely false. Christianity is not an opinion, it is the truth of the universe in which we live." *

When Jesus was approaching Jerusalem, the Bible says that when He saw the city, He wept over it.
This is not just some, "Oh, this makes me sad" kind of cry. This is weeping, this is a Brother clinging to His beloved sibling who is dying of lung cancer from smoking, saying, "If you had only listened!"
And here is where we are to step into Jesus' shoes and look at not just the state of the nation or the world, but the state of the Church, and say, weeping for them, "Listen while you still can!"
We take sin so lightly in today's Church that we don't condemn it, but rather invite it in as a part of the sinner (as opposed to being apart of the sinner). Sin is a catalyst for death, and Christ the catalyst for life, and these two go together like water and oil. And i know what you're thinking; under certain conditions, water and oil can mix. They did on the cross, and never will again.

Sin will lead nowhere but Hell, and it leads there as an interstate; straight and fast. And here, we are letting sin run rampant in our lives because we're too afraid of offending people. We put up with it from others, saying, "Well, I'm not contributing," but are we actually opposing?
Here's another analogy for it; picture your closest friend who is not a Christian, or else is a Christian in title but not in deed ("Sunday Christians"). It seems alright to leave well enough alone so long as they're not doing anything that will harm them, but go a little deeper into it with me. Sin leads to Hell; it leads to death. Picture them now holding a gun that they think is unloaded but actually has a bullet chambered. They're playing with it, taking it lightly, and they put it to their head. Do you stand idly by, saying, "Well, maybe it won't kill them"? Do you hope they pull it away before firing? Or do you do whatever it takes to stop them from splattering their gray matter across the sidewalk (perhaps a rough bit of imagery, but perhaps necessary).
This is a more real situation than if they had a real gun in their hand. This is the rest of eternity, not just the rest of a 65-70 year lifespan, a vapor.

If you're of the sort that says that we have authority over sin and we need to just keep praying for our country, i want to point out a few things real quick.
The first being that you're right, we do have authority over sin. We have authority to eat healthy, we have authority to abstain from sex, we have authority to pluck our eyes from our faces rather than to gaze upon something unholy or to cut off our hand if it causes us to sin. But how many actually exercise this authority? Faith . . . Action . . . Get the picture? They are married; they mandate other or they're pointless.
Another thing i want to mention is that suicide is at the highest rate in recorded history. Sex-related crimes such as rape and pedophilia and incest are also at all-time highs. Abortion, other forms of murder, alcoholism (in the form of drunkenness), recreational use of drugs; all these things are either at all-time highs or else on the rise. Your prayer life may be perfect, but if your faith (as married to and inseparable from action) life is complacent and careless, your prayers are nothing. There are even prayers that God sees as an abomination--but don't tell anyone in church that. It might offend them out of the pews. Better they offend God than for us to offend them, right?
The practicing of homosexuality is no longer seen as filthy and amoral, but is now celebrated as some sort of boldness.
Now look at these facts and tell me that we have authority over sin and that we just need to keep praying. We do have the authority, and we do need to keep praying, but until we exercise authority in our own lives and encourage it in the lives of those around us, there will never be a change--at least not one for the better.

I'm not claiming to be perfect, but i am claiming to be exercising authority over certain areas of my life that i have in the past given over to sin. I'm not acting as if my faith or prayer lives were perfect, but i am practicing them in the name of Jesus Christ, the Perfector** of our faith. I'm not saying i'm holy because, as said, we are impossibly distant from achieving righteousness, but i am saying i follow the only Righteous One.

In all this condemnation of flesh and sin, it is necessary to close this by mentioning that Jesus Christ died in your sin so you wouldn't have to die in it. He was resurrected on the third day by God, and the invitation to live in Christ's grace is available to you. All you have to do is ask, and then let Him work in you any way He will. It might hurt, it might require cessations of things you want to perpetuate, it might mean losing much of your life, but these things are not worth comparing to the glory of following Christ.
He is hope, peace, mercy, grace, and above all He is love.

* Mattie Montgomery, from his sermon, "The Blood Of The Lamb And The Word Of Their Testimony," February, 2012

** It is my opinion that perfector is a more logical spelling than the accepted form, perfecter

Cliché Jesus

There was an interesting image that came to mind earlier at work. It was like a very short scene played out in front of me, and it seems that it could make others think about their own personal idea of Christ.

There were two men before me, and there was a choice that had to be made; follow one, or follow the other.
The first one was the idea i all-too-often have of Christ: handsome face, chiseled jaw, groomed facial hair, you name it. His hair was immaculate, long and tangle-free, wavy and smooth. He was quite muscular, wearing a royal purple sash, a brilliant crown on his head, and he had thousands of followers in nice clothes, preachers and well-to-do people all rather urbanely dressed, and he told me that he was Christ. From his voice and manner, it seemed wasn't a decision for me to make, he simply was the Messiah, and he said it with authority.
The second man was really ragged looking. He was skinny, like a homeless man. His hands were cut up, scabbed, scarred, blistered and calloused, with split fingernails to top them off. His face was weak and feeble, covered mostly by a muddy and matted beard, His face had all manner of sun-damage and weariness. His clothes were torn and stained like a mechanic's favorite t-shirt, His hair was shaggy, and He somewhat ugly in the way that you'd walk around this person while purposefully avoiding eye-contact. His followers were few, but looked much like Him. He asked me who i believed He was.

I've actually thought of this quite a bit and always figured Jesus was of the more lowly type, but until this came to mind, it never struck me just how lowly.
He was a carpenter, which results in lots of cuts and scrapes, many callouses, splinters, and the like. Foxes (these are wild scavengers, mind you), have holes, but the King has no place for His head; He was homeless. When the disciples asked what there was for Him to eat, He said doing the will of His Father was His food. He walked from town to town, not always on a donkey. He was without money, and so most likely without clean water the majority of the time.
We glamorize Jesus, even when we attempt to portray Him as a "nobody" from that time--clean (or at least without tear) clothes, clean face, soft beard, flowing hair. These things were for those in the houses of royalty of that era, not workers, carpenters, wanderers.

The thing that hit me most about that little image was that the one stated He was Christ, the other asked who I said He was.
After all, it doesn't matter to the non-believer whether or not Jesus was the Christ; it matters to those who call Him the Son of God. It matters who I say He is. It matters who you say He is. He could walk around proclaiming to be the Christ all day long, and yet it wouldn't matter if nobody else said He was the Christ.
In the same way, we can proclaim to be Christians day in and day out, bumper stickers plastered on our cars, t-shirts with "edgy" Christian slogans or Bible verse, cross and fish jewelry adorning our necks and fingers, and it won't matter. It won't matter one bit.
If someone can't look at our lives and tell who we follow, are we actually following Him? Does His light really shine from us, or are we just perpetuating the Christianity Machine?

Here's a question i am asking, paraphrasing a question Christ presented His disciples, and i implore each and every one of you to ask it to a close friend, preferably a non-believing one; aside from my shouting, aside from my claims, aside from my apparel, who do you say that i follow?

Too Busy . . .

So, brainstorming last night, after a time in which such an occurrence would've been most advantageous, even healthy, i came across an interesting verse. In all actuality, what brought me to this particular verse was an 'extra-reading prompt' in a book.
The verse that has becmoe the object of my attention and fascination is Psalm 37:3.

"Trust in the Lord, and do good;
dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness."

I love that. There are various types of poetry in the Bible, and this verse is of a particular type where the first line is supplemented by the second without furthering degrees.
That's focusing on the technical, and nothing technical is ever quite as beautiful as the poetic, so i want to bring out something especially poetic about this verse.

A friend is someone you enjoy the company of, someone you trust, converse with, observe, and admire.
It's not the person you think, "Oh, well maybe this would be better without them."
No, a friend is the person who makes things more pleasant just by having them around, someone you discuss things with and have room in your mind and schedule for. Anything else is not true friendship.
And here, in this verse, the Bible says to befriend faithfulness as if it were an incarnate being, tangible and living.

Wisdom, likewise, is given imagery as a woman crying out in the streets.
Wisdom is the person we all glance at as we walk past, avoid eye contact, and say we wish her the best, all the while secretly having some sort of pity for her.

"Wisdom cries aloud in the street,
in the markets she raises her voice;
at the head of the noisy streets she cries out;
at the entrance of the city gates she speaks..."

That's Proverbs 1:20-21.
To make a correlation, here's a verse from Psalm 24:

"Lift up your heads, O gates!
And be lifted up, O ancient doors,
that the King of glory may come in."

Lift up your heads, O gates! You are the gate, lift up your head so that God may enter. We are the visible Body of Christ to the world; it's through us that His glory makes entrance into this world.
Now, at the city gates, wisdom speaks and beckons you to hear her words so that you may be prosperous and safe. For your good, and at the entrance of the city gates no less.

She cries aloud in the street; she is on the street where you walk, where you live, the path on which you travel daily.
Where you carry out errands, work, shop, she is shouting, here at the markets.
At the head of the noisy streets she cries out; wherever we are, she is at the center of it, trying to be noticed, crying out for your attention, but it's a loud street.
She is trying to speak to every thought that comes into your head by being stationed at the entrance of the city gates, the head of the street, the markets . . .
In everything, Wisdom is trying to make herself known to you.

Here we have two virtues, wisdom and faithfulness, being presented as embodied and living, and with intent.
Two qualities of God that are either offering friendship or else screaming at you to just give mind to her words.
And yet, the streets stay busy and loud, the gates are still being told to lift up their heads, we are still being told to befriend faithfulness, as though these were not commonplace and already accepted among all. On the contrary, Wisdom would not have to raise her voice nor cry out. If we gave due mind, she could whisper and we would listen.
But our streets are yet still noisy.