The End of the Age: Part 5–The Trouble with Tribulation

For those will be days of tribulation, the kind that hasn’t been from the beginning of the world, which God created, until now and never will be again! (Mark 13:19 HCSB)

Time to step on some more toes. A common theology in the modern Church is a pre-tribulation “Rapture,” the concept being that Christians don’t have to worry about any of this scary stuff, because before it all begins, we’re all going to get whooshed up to heaven and sit out the Tribulation.

Sounds great to me! Just one problem. The word “rapture” does not appear anywhere in the Bible. Neither is there any prophecy that specifically describes such an event. There are a few bits and pieces that have been strung together out of context, along with the odd mistranslation, upon which many people have constructed this wishful thinking. However, if the Rapture were something that we could be certain of, the Bible would have said so plainly.

And it doesn’t. Not anywhere.

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For the sake of the elect

Remember the very first thing that Jesus said when he started this speech to His inner circle? “Watch out that no one deceives you.”

(Now, “no one” includes me, so I’m not asking you to take my word for any of this. Anyone reading these words has access to a Bible. Look it up yourself and ask God to explain it to you. He may give you a different answer. I could be totally wrong about this. I hope I am, actually, because the Rapture is a much better deal than the one it appears we have coming.)

In Mark 13:20, Jesus speaks of the Tribulation:

If the Lord had not cut short those days, no one would survive. But for the sake of the elect, whom he has chosen, he has shortened them. (NIV)

Now, if the elect (i.e., followers of Christ) have already been tractor beamed up to heaven before the Tribulation starts, then why would it matter to us if the days were shortened or not? If we’re already with Jesus enjoying our eternal life, we wouldn’t need to worry about surviving.

Yet, that’s the word Jesus uses, echoing Daniel 12:12, “Blessed is the one who waits for and reaches the end of the 1,335 days.” (NIV) Patience, perseverance and endurance are fruits of the Holy Spirit that all true Christians display. Scripture is clearly stating that we will need these qualities all the way to the end of the Tribulation.

Jesus goes on in verses 21-23 to warn his disciples that there will be false messiahs and false prophets in the end times who will do fake miracles that will appear convincing enough even to deceive the elect. Again, how can we be potentially deceived if we are not still on earth?

Next, Jesus goes full-on apocalyptic, quoting Isaiah regarding signs and wonders in the sky:

As Isaiah said in the days after that great suffering,
The sun will refuse to shine,
and the moon will hold back its light.
The stars in heaven will fall,
and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. (Mark 13:24-25 VOICE)

This is the verse that causes false prophets in our current age to blow a nut every time there’s a solar eclipse. But Judgment Day is a whole lot more than a natural astronomical phenomenon. ALL light will be blocked out—no sun, no moon, and no stars. This is the part where God lays the final smack down on His enemies.

This prophecy is reiterated later in Revelation 6:

I watched as he opened the sixth seal. There was a great earthquake. The sun turned black like sackcloth made of goat hair, the whole moon turned blood red, and the stars in the sky fell to earth, as late figs drop from a fig tree when shaken by a strong wind. The sky receded like a scroll, rolling up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place. (Rev 6:12-14 NIV)

Heck of a day. I’m not looking forward to that. I get that the elect will have their victory and live and reign with Jesus forever and ever, but THAT day. . .I really don’t want to be around for that one. Can you blame people for coming up with the concept of a Rapture? Sure beats unprecedented natural disaster any day of the week!

At that time…

Back to Mark now. As Jesus quotes these prophecies, He then says (emphasis mine):

At that time men will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. And he will send his angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of the heavens. (Mark 13:26-27 NIV)

At. That. Time. Not before. The elect will not be gathered until Judgment Day itself, which happens at the END of the Tribulation, not the beginning.

So, how do we balance our awareness of The End of the Age with our mission and calling in the present? Well fortunately, Jesus gave us instructions for that too, in verses 34-37:

It’s like a man going away: He leaves his house and puts his servants in charge, each with his assigned task, and tells the one at the door to keep watch. Therefore, keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back—whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or at dawn. If he comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping. What I say to you, I say to everyone: “Watch!” (NIV)

We are not to be lazy or complacent about Christ’s return. Yes, it has been 2000 years, but what of that? God is eternal. He doesn’t mark time like we do. Maybe He’s waiting for us to reach the whole world, or maybe He has a day marked on His celestial calendar that we haven’t arrived at yet. It’s enough to know that He is coming back, and He expects to find us ready to meet Him when He does.

Even so, Jesus’ illustration also mentions that the servants were left in charge, each with an assigned task. We are charged with taking care of this world and everyone in it until Christ returns. We can no more be slack about that duty than we can about watching for His return.

The End of the Age: Part 4–Stand Firm

“Everyone will hate you because of my name. But whoever stands firm until the end will be saved.” (Mark 13:13 CEB)

The world can be a depressing place. It can seem to us that God isn’t actively involved in our situation. We might even begin to wonder if He’s even real, or if He is, does He even care about us? Jesus saw this coming, of course. This is why He admonishes us, “All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.”

The notion of “standing firm” reminds me of a statue or rock that can not be moved, no matter what happens around it. It should be noted, however, that in this case, “standing firm” does not mean “standing still.”

Rather, this is more a picture of perseverance. It is more about being undeterred than being unmoved. It is about steadily plodding toward a goal in the face of opposition. Doing this requires laser focus on that goal. Again, as we said before, the goal is to spread the Gospel to the whole world, not to monitor the signs of the times so that we can set our Apple watches for the apocalypse.

Jesus also mentions that the reward for standing firm to the end is salvation. Now theologically speaking, we are “saved” when we first put our trust in Christ. However, we “work out our salvation” by obediently doing the work that Jesus planned for us in the building of His kingdom. Standing firm to the end is the evidence that our faith is, and always has been, genuine. This is what ensures our salvation. Those who fall away because of shallow faith have always had shallow faith, although they may have denied it.

The Abomination of Desolation

Jesus gets more specific about the end when He starts quoting Daniel in verse 14:

“But when you see the abomination of desolation standing where it should not be” (let the reader understand), “then those in Judea must flee to the mountains. (Mark 13:14 NET)

Mark even cuts in on Jesus with a “let the reader understand.” Both Jesus and Mark wanted us to be very sure to understand that he was referring to the “abomination of desolation” Daniel wrote of in 538 BC:

He will make a firm covenant with many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and offering. And the abomination of desolation will be on a wing of the temple until the decreed destruction is poured out on the desolator.” (Daniel 9:27 HCSB)

So, what is that exactly?

Well, simply put, we don’t know. This may have been a specific warning to Jews 2000 years ago, but its meaning has been lost to history. Also, the trouble with mystical prophecies like this is that they don’t make sense until they’re fulfilled. Then you can look back on the events and say, “Oh, yeah. I see it now.”

Even so, Mark was careful to interject “let the reader understand,” so I’m going to do my best here. The Hebrew can be broken down several different ways. My best paraphrase would be, “An idolatry will spread that will be so abominable that it will leave us horrified and speechless.” One theory that seems reasonable is that this abomination is an idol of some sort raised in, or on top of, the temple. It is unclear if the word “wing” is literal or figurative in this verse. However, in Daniel 11:31, it appears that this abomination is going to be literally set up in the temple as a sign of desecration.

One thing is a bit perplexing regarding the timing, though. Daniel repeatedly states that the abomination will be set up at the same time the daily sacrifice is abolished at the temple. There hasn’t been a daily sacrifice going on since 70AD when Rome destroyed Jerusalem and the temple. So, is this really a prophecy of the end times, or is this something that has already happened?

Or could it be both?

The Antichrist

And the beast was given a mouth (the power of speech), uttering great things and arrogant and blasphemous words, and he was given freedom and authority to act and to do as he pleased for forty-two months (three and a half years). And he opened his mouth to speak blasphemies (abusive speech, slander) against God, to blaspheme His name and His tabernacle, and those who live in heaven. (Revelation 13:5-6 AMP)

Both Daniel 9:27 and this passage in Revelation clearly reference the Antichrist, that is, the one who will come in the last days to oppose God and His people. Daniel speaks of “weeks,” which we commonly understand to be a period of seven years. The final “week” Daniel references is often referred to as “the Tribulation.” This is the seven-year period in which the Antichrist will reign on earth. The “abomination of desolation” is to be established in the temple when the sacrifices are abolished, halfway through the seven years. Then, according to Daniel 12:11, the tribulation will last 1,290 more days. These are the 42 months that Revelation 13 references.

So, when were these days supposed to start?

Prophecies or cycles?

If you apply Daniel’s prophecy to his own time, then the events of this prophecy line up with the rise of Antiochus IV. Antiochus persecuted the Jews and desecrated the temple by sacrificing a pig on the altar. He was put down in the revolt of Judas Maccabaeus in 164 BC. This account makes the prophecy more literal. And yet. . .

Those events happened nearly two centuries before Jesus spoke this prophecy to Peter, John, James, and Andrew. And Jesus was speaking about the future. So, it appears that with prophecy everything old becomes new again.

But is this so weird? All throughout scripture, God shows his people on earth copies of things in heaven to give them a taste. The tabernacle was a copy of the tabernacle in heaven. Jerusalem was a forerunner of the Holy City in Revelation. Jesus’ resurrection foreshadowed our own.

The purpose of prophecy, then, seems to be not so much to tell us exactly what is going to happen and when. It’s more to give us enough faith to realize that more is going on in the world than we can even comprehend, much less control. When it does come to pass, it will all end well.

Daniel himself did not understand what the prophecies meant when he wrote them down. He was over 90 years old when he received this final prophecy. Even then, he still didn’t understand exactly what it meant or when it would be fulfilled. God simply gave him the vision to pass on, then said to him:

“As for you, go your way till the end. You will rest, and then at the end of the days you will rise to receive your allotted inheritance.” (Daniel 12:13 NIV)

In other words, God gave Daniel the message and told him to pass it on. It’s not for him to worry about what it all means or when the deal will finally go down. He has just the one mission—record the prophecy. Or to be more general, to obey in faith.

God’s instructions to us are the same. He gives us each work to do in and for His kingdom. He also equips us with the spiritual gifts we need to complete that work. We have access to Daniel’s prophecies along with all the others. Rather than worrying over which of these prophecies might occur in our lifetimes, we should instead focus on what we are supposed to do with our lives. Whatever our individual calling may be, interpreting scripture to try to calculate the end of days is not it.

Even Jesus didn’t know when these events would take place. In Mark 13:18, he says, “Pray that this will not take place in winter,” which implies that even Jesus isn’t sure. He actually confirms this later in verse 32, saying, “No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.”

Bottom line—if Jesus didn’t know, you and I aren’t going to be the ones to figure it out.

(To be concluded in Part 5: The Trouble with Tribulation)

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The End of the Age: Part 3–On Your Guard

Be on your guard! For they will repeatedly hand you over to the ruling councils, and you will be beaten in public gatherings. And you will stand trial before kings and high-ranking governmental leaders as an opportunity to testify to them on my behalf. But prior to the end of the age, the hope of the gospel must first be preached to all nations. (Mark 13:9-10 TPT)

In verse 9, Jesus gives another warning, this one more personal. “Be on your guard!” He then tells His inner circle of the personal persecutions they will face in His name, and the purposes thereof.

But He is not warning them to be on guard against their persecutors. He is warning them against looking for big-picture signs of The End. This practice would take their focus from their individual missions. They need to be ready to witness to the authorities before whom they will be brought. They will need to remember the Great Commission that Jesus will give them to preach the Gospel to all nations. Most of all, they need to prepare their spirits to receive wisdom and comfort from the Holy Spirit amid their persecution. It is their faith that will see them through what is coming, not their ability to read the signs of the times.

This warning is for us as well. Most of us Americans have not faced the danger of arrest or public beatings for professing our faith, but this does happen daily in many areas of the world. I doubt that many of the people who are persecuted find themselves in that situation for interpreting the signs of the times. They are jailed, tortured, and martyred for the Name of Jesus.

But since, as Americans we have not previously faced these troubles, we tend to get spiritually lazy. We lose our sense of urgency about preaching the gospel and instead turn our attentions to the news, fake or otherwise, about the state of our nation. We look at the spreading degeneracy of our culture, in our media, our schools, our government, etc., and say something religious-sounding like, “Come Lord Jesus.” But what are we doing to prepare for that coming?

More importantly, what are we saying or doing to get the world ready?

Until the Whole World Hears

In verse 10, Jesus says that the Gospel must first be preached to all nations before The End comes. I have often wondered if that’s why it has been 2000 years and we’re still waiting? I can’t know this for certain, but it seems to make sense for this reason. (I’m going to lose some of the Calvinists on this one.)

God offers salvation from Sin and Death as a free gift. The way to receive this gift is to believe that Jesus is who the Bible says He is, did what the Bible says He did, and to trust and rely completely on that Truth, following Christ in obedience. In other words, a person must exercise a conscious and deliberate act of the will.

But a choice can not be made where there is no awareness of the choice that needs to be made. This is what the preaching is for:

For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. How are they to call on one they have not believed in? And how are they to believe in one they have not heard of? And how are they to hear without someone preaching to them? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How timely is the arrival of those who proclaim the good news.” But not all have obeyed the good news, for Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our report?” Consequently, faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the preached word of Christ. (Romans 10:13-17 NET)

For this reason, I do not believe that anyone who has never heard of Jesus could be condemned for not choosing Him. Some theologians would disagree with me on that, but it’s the story I’m going with, because if God would send some lost African tribe to hell because they didn’t make a decision for Christ, then all those who die in infancy would go along with them. Therefore, I call shenanigans on that theology.

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Every tribe, tongue and nation…

So, about those lost African tribes (or wherever they may be). I believe that Jesus hasn’t come back yet because we haven’t reached everyone with the Gospel yet. Whether it’s because the Church has been lazy about missions, or the world’s population is simply growing at a rate that the Church can’t keep up with, they haven’t all had a chance to make their choice yet.

Therefore, the point is to stop looking at the sky and to start looking for opportunities to share the Good News, both near and far, until the whole world hears. Because until we reach the whole world with the Gospel, it doesn’t matter what ELSE is going on in the world.

(To be continued in Part 4—Stand Firm)

Antichrist

Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world. 1 John 4:1-3 (NIV)

2020 has been a rough year for everybody so far, but especially for Truthseekers. The media has degenerated from fake news to absolute lunacy. A pandemic, or at least the fear of one, has gripped the world, but the scientists can’t seem to get their stories straight. Worst of all, opportunists of the lowest caliber have used fear and racial prejudice to turn us against each other.

Why do I say that one is worst of all? Because if we create enemies for ourselves along the lines of racial differences, we will forget that we have a common enemy. Which is exactly what our real enemy wants.

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So, what does John mean when he talks about “testing the spirits?” Some people get a little froke out by this, but it’s not all that weird.

Three years ago, we covered this extensively in the Overcoming the World series. In Part 8, we discussed that when a thought “pops into your head,” it is likely a message from God if it is in line with scripture, illuminates the solution to a problem and leads to a good result for all concerned. If this out-of-the-blue thought does not meet those criteria, it did not come from God. So where did it come from?

The passage above makes clear that deceptive messages are from the spirit of the antichrist. Now this is the spirit of antichrist with a lower-case A, not the big baddie of Revelation (more on that later). John uses this term literally to mean a spirit that opposes Jesus. You can see from this passage that this is the spirit that controls false prophets.

However, the wording above appears at first to be too simplistic. Every spirit that acknowledges Jesus has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that doesn’t, isn’t. If discerning the spirits were that easy, then why would we need to test them?

Well, have you seen what’s going on in the Church lately? It mirrors what’s going on in our country. Just as America’s greatest enemy has proven to be from within, so it is with the Church. Atheists are the least of our problems, annoying though they may be. They are a mosquito bite compared to the cancer that is eating away at the Body of Christ from within.

In the Flesh

To understand what it truly means to test the spirits, it is important to know that John snuck a coded message into verse 2 above. “Every spirit that acknowledges Jesus Christ has come in the flesh.” Pretty much every church identifying as Christian acknowledges that Jesus was an actual human born into this world. Yet sharp division remains on what the Church’s role in the world ought to be. So, there must be something more to it than that.

There is. It’s hiding in plain sight at the beginning of John’s Gospel:

In the beginning [before all time] was the Word (Christ), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God Himself.

And the Word (Christ) became flesh, and lived among us; and we [actually] saw His glory, glory as belongs to the [One and] only begotten Son of the Father, [the Son who is truly unique, the only One of His kind, who is] full of grace and truth (absolutely free of deception). John 1:1, 14 (AMP)

Jesus is the Word of God in human form. He is one with God Himself, which means that the Word is one with God Himself. Jesus is absolutely free of deception, which means the Word is absolutely free of deception.

Are you seeing where I’m going with this? Remember, the first criteria to judge whether a message is from God is if it lines up with scripture, logos, THE WORD, God Himself. Therefore, anyone who claims to speak on behalf of God but says something different than what God has already said—this is the spirit of the antichrist at work.

And we let it right in the front door. Because we didn’t want to be “judgmental.”

God’s righteous judgment

Wake up Truthseekers! Put on the armor of God and report for duty. John has already told us what comes next:

Next I saw heaven opened, and there before me was a white horse. Sitting on it was the one called Faithful and True, and it is in righteousness that he passes judgment and goes to battle. His eyes were like a fiery flame, and on his head were many royal crowns. And he had a name written which no one knew but himself. He was wearing a robe that had been soaked in blood, and the name by which he is called is, “THE WORD OF GOD.” The armies of heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. And out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down nations — “He will rule them with a staff of iron.” It is he who treads the winepress from which flows the wine of the furious rage of Adonai, God of heaven’s armies. And on his robe and on his thigh he has a name written:

KING OF KINGS

AND

LORD OF LORDS.

Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and he cried out in a loud voice to all the birds that fly about in mid-heaven, “Come, gather together for the great feast God is giving, to eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of generals, the flesh of important men, the flesh of horses and their riders and the flesh of all kinds of people, free and slave, small and great!” I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to do battle with the rider of the horse and his army. But the beast was taken captive, and with it the false prophet who, in its presence, had done the miracles which he had used to deceive those who had received the mark of the beast and those who had worshipped his image. The beast and the false prophet were both thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur. The rest were killed with the sword that goes out of the mouth of the rider on the horse, and all the birds gorged themselves on their flesh. Revelation 19:11-21 (CJB)

Can you see now why the spirit of antichrist is so intent on dividing us in terms of race? Because the devil knows well that when The Word Made Flesh returns, there will only be two kinds of people. The Army of Heaven, and Bird Food.

Now, I promised that I would get back to the Capital-A Antichrist.

What I did not promise was to reveal who I think it might be, because that is pointless speculation. Just as trying to figure out when Jesus is going to return is a distraction, trying to make news headlines line up with Biblical prophecy is also disruptive to the work we are supposed to be doing.

Trust God and His Word this much—when the Antichrist reveals himself, if you’re still here to see it, you’ll know.

Reasonable: Part 4–The Best of Your Ability

(Originally published 5/10/2020 during the lockdown)

If possible, to the best of your ability, live at peace with all people. (Romans 12:18 CEB)

Back in Part 3, we gave some examples of the characteristics we ought to be manifesting as we cling to what is good. Here are some more practical tips from Romans 12 on how to walk this out.

14 Bless people who harass you—bless and don’t curse them.

Most people know that Jesus commanded us to love our enemies. That notion was just as counter-intuitive 2,000 years ago as it is today. If we have the capacity for hatred, who better to bear the brunt of it but our enemies? Isn’t that what enemies are for?

Not so much, as it turns out. Even as Jesus was hanging on the cross, He forgave the people that put Him there.

Christians all around the world experience persecution at many levels. Since Truth Mission has readers all over the world, what you are going through as you read this could be quite different than my experience.

Some of you may be harassed on social media. Some of you may be feeling heat from the government. Some of you may actually have been beaten, fired from a job, or had loved ones tortured and killed for their faith.

There are two things we need to remember though. The first is that the people who persecute us are not our real enemies. We have one Enemy who seeks our destruction.

The second thing is that we have no control whatsoever over how other people respond to the promptings of the Enemy. We do, however have control over how we respond to the promptings of the Holy Spirit.

Therefore, to the best of our ability, we need to follow the example set in Proverbs 25:21-22:

If your enemies are starving, feed them some bread; if they are thirsty, give them water to drink. By doing this, you will heap burning coals on their heads, and the Lord will reward you.

The “burning coals” bit may refer to an Egyptian custom where people would carry a pan of hot coals on their heads as a sign of repentance. So the idea here is that if someone is harassing you, and you respond with a blessing instead of a curse, they may take note of that and see you, and God THROUGH you, in a different way.

Now will that happen every time? No, of course not. But if it doesn’t, that’s not your problem. To the best of your ability, you have followed Christ’s command. By your actions, you have shared the Gospel and offered a tacit invitation for your “enemies” to turn from their ways and join in the freedom that you enjoy. But it is up to them to RSVP to your invitation.

15 Be happy with those who are happy, and cry with those who are crying.

A healthy church functions as a family, so we always need to be aware of and involved with one another’s lives.

We celebrate together at weddings, graduations and baby showers. We also walk alongside each other at funerals, during illnesses, or when children go astray.

This unity has never been more important than it is right now. As I type this, we have been on COVID-19 lockdown for about eight weeks. The Enemy has used this “pandemic” as an opportunity to scatter the body of Christ by influencing our State government to keep the churches closed for far longer than necessary.

However, to the best of our ability, we must rise up inside this. We need to get over our technophobia and learn how to do Zoom meetings and participate in online church. Yes, it’s not the same as meeting in person, but a connection is a connection. We can’t afford to just float away from each other just because meeting virtually is inconvenient.

We must stay in the habit of gathering, not just for our own sakes, but for the sakes of those who do not have a church community. Think about it. If you are feeling lonely and disconnected right now, and you HAVE a church family, how do you think the people feel who have no one to do life with? These are the people we need to be reaching out to. They are more open than ever right now for conversations. So have some.

*16 Consider everyone as equal, and don’t think that you’re better than anyone else. Instead, associate with people who have no status. Don’t think that you’re so smart.***

And while you’re planning those conversations, which may be out of your comfort zone anyway, I would like to challenge you further to have conversations with people who aren’t like you. If God’s invitation is open to everyone, and he uses us to extend that invitation, then we should be doing this anyway.

By all means, we should talk to the people we’re around every day. However, we must also remember that someone who doesn’t live in our neighborhood or work in our office or walk in our social circle also has a gift and a passion that God gave them to build His Church. We need that person just as much as he or she needs us.

Are you educated? Think of the uneducated people you know. Do you see how hard many of them work, because they haven’t had the occupational privileges that come with a college degree? Don’t you think your church needs someone with that work ethic using spiritual gifts they may not even be aware of until you invite them in?

Are you financially well-off? Try walking your Labradoodle on the other side of the tracks today and wave to everybody you see. (Or go shake hands once we’re done with social distancing.) That act by itself won’t save many souls, but you have to start somewhere.

Are you well-versed in scripture? Instead of correcting people who misinterpret the Bible in your Facebook feed, maybe you could start an online Bible study group with them and ask them to invite friends that have questions.

Bottom line—if we are all equal in the eyes of God, then we should be all equal in one another’s eyes as well.

17 Never pay back evil with more evil. Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honorable. (NLT)

This one is a challenge for all of us. Our first instinct when someone wrongs us is to get even with our harasser. Some people just repress that instinct better than others.

Nevertheless, repress it we must. To the best of our ability, we must leave room for God to deal with our accusers.

Revenge is a control issue. When we are wronged, we feel that we must take control of the situation by restoring balance to the equation. If we take an eye for an eye or a tooth for a tooth, then we feel that we are restoring the equilibrium of justice.

But if that were our job, then what would be the purpose of Judgment Day?

A reasonable assumption for those who have put their trust in Jesus is that God is in control. And if God is in control, then the only control we need to be concerned with is self-control.

Therefore, to the best of our ability, we use this self-control to resist conforming to the pattern of this world. We use it to restrain ourselves from following our own understanding when discerning what is evil from what is good. Finally, we exercise our self-control to avoid being conquered by evil, but rather to conquer evil by doing good.

That sounds reasonable, right?

Reasonable: Part 3–What is Good

Love must be honest and true. Hate what is evil. Hold on to what is good. (Romans 12:9 NIRV)

Back in Part 2, we discussed how God gives various spiritual gifts to individuals, so that we can build up the Church, with each member doing its part, just like the parts of our body.

So what does it look like when the Church is functioning this way? It’s a lot more detailed than making sure the Wednesday night potluck goes off without a hitch!

First, we must remember that these are SPIRITUAL gifts, which means that there must have been a spiritual transformation that has taken place already. The greatest evidence of this is love.

Not feelings, but actions. There is no room in the body of Christ for hypocrisy or two-faced gossiping. We have to get this part right before we can move on with the rest of verse 9.

Hate what is evil

If this sounds familiar, it is because we covered this verse thoroughly in the Necessity of Being Intolerant series.

I feel like I should reiterate, though, that the Bible clearly states to hate WHAT is evil, not WHO. There are still too many people misinterpreting this verse to justify judgmentalism. We are not talking about hating people here. We are talking about behaviors and habits.

For more details regarding “what is evil,” I would encourage you to review the Necessity of Being Intolerant series, especially part 1. But for now, I want to focus on the rest of Romans 12:9.

Hold on to What is Good

Verses 10-12 contain several examples of what is good, the things that we should hold on to. Let’s break this down verse by verse.

10 Love one another deeply. Honor others more than yourselves.

What is good in this verse is humility. C.S. Lewis once said that humility is not so much about thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less. When the members of the Church body are focused where they should be, they don’t just use “brother” and “sister” as honorary titles, but truly do treat everyone else in the Church as family.

Remember, false humility makes a show of itself to build up the person showing it, but real humility builds up others, and is not self-seeking.

11 Stay excited about your faith as you serve the Lord.

When you know your calling, your work should be a joy, not a grind. God’s part is to prepare the work for us and equip us to do it. Our part is to have a zeal to meet God where He’s already working and join Him in that work.

12 When you hope, be joyful. When you suffer, be patient. When you pray, be faithful.

Hope does not mean the kind of hope that is desperation mixed with doubt. This is a joyful expectation. You’re not wishing that something might happen; you’re eagerly awaiting something good that you are certain is coming.

Yet while we are hoping and waiting, sometimes we are suffering. When I first wrote this on 12/12/2020, many were suffering from the financial fallout of COVID-19. Many still are today.

Regardless of our gifts, one of the fruits of the Spirit that all believers receive is patience. Some older English translations actually use the word “longsuffering.” If we have joyful hope that what is good is on the way, this helps us to endure what is not so good.

And we endure these things by being faithful in prayer. No matter how grim our circumstances get, we always have the ability to exercise this discipline. God can handle our anger and our disappointment, but He also wants us to remember that what is good comes from Him, and always at exactly the right time.

(For more of what is good, come back for Part 4—The Best of Your Ability)

Reasonable: Part 2–Our Own Understanding

Because of the grace that God gave me, I can say to each one of you: don’t think of yourself more highly than you ought to think. Instead, be reasonable since God has measured out a portion of faith to each one of you. (Romans 12:3 CEB)

Back in Part 1, we talked about how the best way of finding our calling is to trust in the Lord and not to lean on our own understanding. But why is that significant?

It is perfectly reasonable to expect that the One who prepared the path for us knows where it leads. Sometimes, that’s not where we thought we were going. A lot of times, actually. So if the end of the path we’re preparing for ourselves isn’t in the same place as the end of the path that God is preparing for us, then all of our careful planning is just a recipe for disappointment.

Have you experienced this in your own life? I know I have, in big and small ways. When I was 18, I was going to be a famous novelist. I’m 52 now, and that hasn’t happened. When I got my foot in the door with State Government, I was going to fly through the system to the upper echelon and be a major player in state policy. All it takes is one change in the Governor’s Mansion to derail that plan.

Do I even need to mention my family life? I already have before, if you need a reminder of all the things I’ve done according to the pattern of this world that I’d rather forget.

Follow the Leader

The point is that you can’t follow God if you don’t know He’s there to follow. And even if you do know, you WON’T follow God, unless you believe you can trust Him. And that trust only comes from taking your faith to the spiritual gym and giving it a workout, through study, prayer and meditation.

What I have found is that exercising spiritual discipline doesn’t just help me see God more clearly. It also helps me see myself more clearly.

Spiritual Gifts

We all have different gifts. Each gift came because of the grace that God gave us. If one has the gift of prophecy, he should use that gift with the faith he has. If one has the gift of serving, he should serve. If one has the gift of teaching, he should teach. If one has the gift of encouraging others, he should encourage. If one has the gift of giving to others, he should give freely. If one has the gift of being a leader, he should try hard when he leads. If one has the gift of showing kindness to others, that person should do so with joy. (Romans 12:6-8 ICB)

The Church is often referred to as the Body of Christ. Just as every part of your physical body has a specific function, so every member of the Church has a role to play in building it up.

So as God transforms our minds, and we lean less on our own understanding, He starts to illuminate our path by making us aware of the spiritual gifts he has given us. We are then more able to discern His will by discovering what He has wired us to do.

Sometimes a spiritual gift is a divine enablement that enhances the effectiveness of a talent or skill we already have. Sometimes it’s something totally new. Basically, whatever work God has for us to do, He gives us the tools we need to get it done. The more we stay out of His way and just go with it, the more things start to happen.

The list in the passage above is not all-inclusive, but does illustrate some of the gifts God gives His Church.

Some people receive messages from the Lord. They don’t always make sense to the one receiving them. But if they exercise faith, and not their own understanding, and deliver the message anyway, then the person or people meant to hear it will know what it means.

The same goes for serving, teaching, encouraging, giving, leading and showing mercy. The members of the Church can be somewhat effective in trying to figure out with their own understanding how to serve strategically with their gifts. But where the rubber really meets the road is when we submit to the leading of Holy Spirit, who brought us the gifts in the first place, and see where that leads us. It’s usually somewhere we didn’t plan on being around people we never would have thought of being in the midst of.

(So what does it look like when the Church is functioning in this way? Come back for Part 3: What is Good.)

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Reasonable: Part 1–The Pattern of this World

Also, do not continue to conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, so that you test and approve what is the will of God—what is good, pleasing, and perfect. (Romans 12:2 EHV)**

This is my second favorite verse in the entire Bible (I’ll get to the most favorite one a little later), because it is the essence of the Christian walk summed up in a single verse.

We were saved from sin so that we would stop sinning. We are set apart from the world that either has no interest in Truthseeking or wants to define Truth on its own terms.

However, the life that we were saved from is the one that encompasses the habits we have developed. The later in life that we accept Jesus as Lord, the harder it is to overcome these habits.

We can’t do this without God’s help. We can’t change our own nature. But we can trust in God to do it for us. True worship is recognizing this reality and acting on it. That is why the verse immediately before this one reads:

I appeal to you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God—this is a reasonable act of worship for you. (Romans 12:1 MOUNCE)

Reasonable

Romans 12 begins with an exhortation to respond to God’s saving mercy by presenting our bodies, and all that we do with them, as a living sacrifice to God. This means that we should stop doing whatever we want or whatever feels good in the moment and instead go to God for guidance about what we should do and what decisions we should make. Approaching God in this way keeps him on the throne of our hearts, where He belongs.

Paul describes our having this posture of submission toward God as a “reasonable” act of worship, but that word in English fails to convey his full meaning.

The Greek word Paul uses here is logikos. I probably don’t even have to tell you what English word comes from that. It means “logical” or “rational.” It can also be interpreted as “intelligent,” “true,” “appropriate,” “sensible,” “only right,” “authentic,” “fitting,” “not too much to ask,” “proper,” “genuine,” “essential,” “spiritual “ and “in line with God’s mind.”

It is only by being spiritually mindful of the fact that we are sinners, incapable of saving ourselves, and yet chosen by God for redemption when we exercise the faith that is a gift from God, that we can find ourselves in a place where true transformation can begin. We are chosen, but we also make an informed choice.

True worship, therefore, happens where faith and logic meet. Faith and reason are not opposites. Indeed, they must be used together for us to do the work that God saved us to do.

God’s Part and Our Part

This is why both the active and passive voice are used in verse 2. I know that drives English teachers and the Microsoft Word grammar checker nuts, but it’s essential here so that we can understand just how this process of offering ourselves as living sacrifices works. Let’s break verse 2 down.

Do not continue to conform to the pattern of this world.

The implication here is that we have been conforming to the pattern of this world, which is true. As Christians, we always need to remember where we came from. To be set apart from the world, we had to first be a part of it. But what is “the pattern of this world?”

The pattern is the superficial values and customs of our culture. Throughout the ages, it has always been about keeping up appearances. The world judges people and situations by what they can see. Since faith involves believing, THEN seeing, it doesn’t fit the pattern. Therefore, the pattern rejects faith.

In doing so, the people that do conform to the pattern develop standards (for lack of a better word) that are not based on faith and its outcome. The pattern molds and shapes them into a hive mind that is opposed to anything that would challenge it.

So why is that a problem for Truthseekers? Because there’s a good chance that a lot of our friends and family are conforming to that pattern. Sometimes being set apart feels more like being left out. We are tempted to compromise our faith and convictions to have a sense of belonging that we are comfortable with.

This is why God warns us that we have to do our part to resist the pattern. But while we are doing that, God is doing this…

Be transformed by the renewal of your mind.

When we make the decision not to follow the lemmings of our culture, we open the door for God to do His transforming work in our lives. Our minds are renewed through prayer and the study of God’s Word.

Have you noticed that the more time you spend with somebody, the more you start to become like them? You pick up their mannerisms, their accent, maybe even some of their habits.

It works the same way with Jesus. Religion can form habitual rituals, but a relationship with Jesus changes you from the inside out. Once you have made the decision to follow Jesus, AND made the effort to spend time with Him in prayer and meditation, you start to see your life and the world in a different way.

But what is the purpose of this transformation?

So that you test and approve what is the will of God.

Back to our part. We choose to not follow the culture so that God can transform our minds so that we can use our own logic and reason, in accordance with our faith, to find out God’s will for our lives.

This is the process of figuring out the path that has been prepared for us. If we try to figure it out ourselves without yielding to the Holy Spirit, it won’t work. This is why it says in Proverbs 3:5-6 (my most favorite verse):

Trust in the Lord with all your heart. And do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight. (NASB)

(We shall expound upon this in Part 2—Our Own Understanding)

Thorns

“Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain.” (Mark 4:7 NIV)

It’s all too easy for believers to read the Parable of the Sower and assume that we are the seed that fell on good soil. But it’s even easier for us to get complacent with our faith and let the thorns creep in.

There can be many reasons for this. One might be that we turn our Christian walk into a to-do list with boxes to check. Bible study—done! Tithe check—written! Once through the prayer list in the church’s weekly newsletter and I’m good to go till Sunday!

If we treat our walk with Christ like that, one of two things is bound to happen. One is that the relationship will become stale and perfunctory.

Even worse, though is the possibility that we might get burned out trying to keep up with our spiritual checklist. Then our spiritual disciplines become burdens rather than blessings.

But people don’t usually burn out like this all at once. It’s usually a gradual fade. Instead of putting God first, He becomes an IGTIWIGTI level priority (I’ll Get To It When I Get To It). And other things in our lives start to crowd Him out.

The thorns.

When Jesus was explaining this parable to His disciples, He described the process of the thorns this way:

Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. (Mark 4:18-19 NIV)

Thorns, when we become aware of them, take the form of excuses. These excuses usually begin with, “I don’t have time.”

Now we all know that everyone has the same 24 hours in a day. So when we say we don’t have time, what we are really saying is, “This other thing is more important to me.” Most likely, we are not aware we are doing that in the moment, but that doesn’t matter. What matters is this.

Thorns are idols.

The thorns in our lives are what we choose to put on the throne where God ought to be. Our reaction to that concept is usually to blameshift. It can’t be our fault; we can’t control our circumstances.

It is true that we can’t control our circumstances. But we can control how we respond to them.

“I can’t do my Bible study this morning, because I woke up too late.” So wake up earlier. This may mean going to bed earlier. Which may mean one less TV show the night before. Do you think God really buys the excuse that you don’t have 15-30 minutes for him in the morning when you spent two hours last night watching something that has no positive lasting value in your life whatsoever?

“You don’t understand. I’m tired. Life wears me out. You have no idea what I have to go through, and I never get any help.” Yes, life does make us tired. Many are the days when all I want to do after a day at work is just to check out and shut down.

However, I believe that this is where trust comes in. Where did God ever say that this life was to be lived under our own strength? Do we really believe that God displays His strength in and through our weakness? Are we willing to trust Him to work things out, even when we can’t see what He’s up to?

Or are we afraid to let go? To give up control? To accept that the all-knowing God just MIGHT have a better plan in mind than the one we came up with?

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I turned 50 this month. This is the part of life where it’s really easy to look back and get depressed about all the things I had hoped to accomplish by now—in my career, in my personal life, or whatever. I am finding it especially difficult dealing with the reality that those ships have sailed, and those dreams will never come true.

Guess what? Life wasn’t supposed to be lived like that. The American Dream is an illusion. Walking the path with God is a day-to-day thing. He’s the one with the big plans. If there’s one thing I’ve learned after a half-century, it’s that the greatest blessings in my life have happened when I least expected them. When I was just focusing on the moment.

Because here’s the thing. Moments add up. What seems like random, boring, day-to-day life is leading somewhere, if you have the sense to keep your eyes open for it.

So many times, I have asked God to let me in on what He is planning so that I can prepare for it and know what to do next. That’s not how it works. God wants us to simply report for duty. The only thing we need to know is that He is always at work, and He always has a place for us to join Him in that work.

But to do that, we have to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, and not on the thorns.

Called to CARE

Way back in 2012, before Truth Mission was even a thing, I was approached by Jimmy Rousey, a friend and former employer. Jimmy has always had a heart for helping people make the most of their lives by finding their calling and learning how to relate rightly to each other. He had always wanted to write a book about this, but didn’t know quite how to go about it.

Jimmy and I spent the next 4+ years getting together whenever he was up from Kentucky to kick ideas back and forth. We started and stopped on more than one occasion, even completely scrapping the manuscript and starting over at one point. Finally, we finished it. And now, it’s available for you.

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Called to CARE is a book designed to help you:

Find your Calling
Develop a life-giving Attitude and put it into action
Build authentic relationships founded on Respect
Live a life of Excellence

Calling, Attitude, Respect, Excellence–>CARE. See what we did there?

Jimmy and I don’t make a penny off of this book. All proceeds from the sale of Called to CARE go to the River Foundation, a private charitable foundation started by First Southern Bancorp in Stanford, Kentucky, where Jimmy has served on the Board of Directors.

I would love for you to have a copy of this book. Writing it with Jimmy changed my life, and I believe reading it could very well change yours too.

Blessings,

M. Scott

Update–January 15, 2022

My experience writing Called to CARE with Jimmy has led to other ghostwriting and editing opportunities, such as editing God and a Man for Tim Brown.

As such, I am announcing today the launching of my new writing and editing business, A Clever Turn of Phrase by M. Scott. I am available for all shapes and sizes of editing and/or writing projects. Please click on the link to request a quote for your project, or contact me at

ms***********@gm***.com

.

Cheers,

M. Scott

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