Rom 8:38-39:  For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

For the past few weeks, it seems as though I was wandering in the desert.  I was hungry for those times of peace that surpass understanding, but it was illusive. When these times happen, which they occasionally do, I begin wondering what I am doing wrong.  I long for the relationship with Jesus that seems to have gone astray - and I can’t seem to find it again.  I try writing, but end up trashing page after page because I feel like none of it is what I would like to publish.  I begin to doubt whether or not those times of peace were even real - or whether or not they just figments of my imagination.  I am not like Job who never doubted, rather, I begin to wonder why I bother trying to believe.  Sometimes, I begin to think I would be better off if I could simply forget about all of this God stuff.  However, even in these times of what seems to be separation from God, I know that God is real and these fleeting thoughts and feelings will pass.  I wish I could say that I am the person who never wavers and remains steadfast in their beliefs, but I would be lying if I did.  I am the person who needs to rely on God to give me everything I need to believe in Him - to do what I cannot do for myself.  I am definitely amongst the people Jesus came to save.

I believe the enemy who takes me to this place is named complacency.  I become so comfortable in this love relationship that I subconsciously start taking God for granted - and start resting on my laurels - “as if” I had some.  I begin thinking about who I used to be versus who I am today.  How I am no longer the practicing alcoholic, committing all of the sins that alcoholics commit while enjoying every minute of it.  Now I’ve have cleaned up my act.  Surely, God loves me more now than when I was being so openly defiant and rebellious.  I can understand why He wouldn’t like me then - but look at me now.  I’m a new and different person - the latest improved version of software.  I still have my faults, but I am certainly an improvement from what I previously was.  Surely, He notices the improvement. 

This may appear to be off the subject, but please bear with me.  My wife and I celebrated 30 years of marriage yesterday.  She gave me a card that read: “Do you how special it makes me feel when you reach out and take my hand in yours.”  There was many other “Do you know how special it makes me feel when” - each followed by describing a very simple act.  I marveled at how little it takes to make her feel “special” yet I knew that the words on the card are true according to what is in her heart.  We spent part of the day holding hands as we walked on Stearn’s Wharf and the surrounding area in Santa Barbara - after having a nice lunch at a beachside restaurant.  Since this is where we live, we have done this numerous times, but this time was more meaningful simply because of the significance of holding hands.  I was “doing something” that made me more loveable.

I have neglected to do many of these things mentioned in the card simply because of complacency.  Rather than doing simple things to show my love for her, it too often becomes something along the lines of; “I love her and she knows that.”  But, when my attention is drawn to what I haven’t been doing, I then start to feel guilty and begin thinking about things I should be doing.  Next, is the resolution to do better in the future.  Then, I started thinking about how our actions apply to every part of our lives.  It seems as though every part of our lives is based on what we do and don’t do.  We not only judge ourselves on how well we perform but are likewise judged by others according to our actions.  Plus, very early in life we learn that love, approval and acceptance are based on what we do and don’t do - so it seems inevitable that we would apply that to our thoughts regarding God. 

I mentioned our anniversary because 30 years of togetherness was/is actually “conditional.”  If I hadn’t stopped drinking, she would have left.  That’s an indisputable fact.  However, she never threatened to leave me if I didn’t quit  - but has since told me how close she was to leaving..  In that sense, her love was conditional - just as mine would have been if the situation had been reversed.  Eventually, I quit and she continues to love me because I am supposedly now a better person.  She pats me on the back - I pat me on the back - and I somehow start believing that God pats me on the back.  But the ongoing love and pats on the back are conditional because I cannot go back to drinking and living the way I was expecting her to continue to love me.  Nor, from the human perspective, would I expect God to continue to love me if I reverted back to my old lifestyle - as if I had somehow earned His love by changing it.  However, that’s human logic and I cannot apply human logic to God’s Love.

Romans 8:38-39 mentions external things that cannot stop God’s love for us.  However, what we really need to understand that NOTHING “WE” as individuals do can separate us from God’s love for us.  I was a practicing alcoholic who committed one sin after another and took great pleasure in committing them.  I was rebellious and didn’t like God.  For many years, I was afraid to admit some of these things, but today I know that God loved me as much then as He does now.  Absolutely NOTHING I did in the past or will do in the future can or will make Him love me one iota more or less than He already does.  There are no conditions to be met.  His love is UNCONDITIONAL.  NOTHING you or I do can change that one way or the other.  You and I have already been accepted because of His love.  Yes, Jesus does want us to live more perfect lives, but we need to understand that we cannot achieve this on our own.  We are all broken and in need of His grace - and it is this brokenness that makes us eligible.  Self-righteousness is the only thing that excludes us from receiving God’s grace - but we will never be fully whole in terms of righteousness while living her on earth, so we all stand in need.  Grace, the divine influence - His influence - is the only thing that will allow us to become more like Christ. 

It is so easy to fall into the trap of complacency, especially when one receives some special spiritual insights.  There is a tendency to start thinking that God must really love me because He is providing new revelations.  There may even be a tendency to start thinking that I am a little more special than some others in God’s eyes.  I can even start thinking that now I have the “key” and really don’t need to know anything else.  I can conclude that I have “arrived.”  These are a few of the problems associated with complacency. 

However, the peace that surpasses all understanding is never found in the desert of complacency.  When I realize I am no longer experiencing this peace the biggest temptation is to then start thinking of ways to prove to God that I love Him. However, I cannot love Him without His help - His grace - His divine influence upon my heart, so I am totally dependant upon Him.  The good news is that I can make this same stupid mistake over and over again, knowing I am not being separated from His love for me.  It’s not like I set out to do it intentionally - it just happens.  What would really be scary is the thought that He would stop loving me and leave me if I did it again - because, as much as I would like to say I won’t, I know I more than likely will.

Nothing that any of us will ever say, think or do will ever separate us from the love God has for each and every one of us.  Because of this, we can trust that God is ready and willing to provide His grace to any and all who are willing to receive it.  If we become willing, He will never withhold.  In the meantime and in-between time, He just keeps loving us.

Blessings,

Jer

 I have been struggling with whether or not I should write what you will be reading next, but thoughts regarding the following never seem to stop while sitting down to write another blog for this site.  Maybe the Holy Spirit is prompting me to write about it for reasons completely unknown to me.

An area of importance to me has been the ability to come to an understanding of some of the things that influenced me to become who I became - and why I had so many problems with God and “religion.”

In the previous post, I wrote about my rebellious nature.  How I became that way is what I would like to address in this post.  Explaining it requires that I write some unkind things about my Father and that is what has been preventing me from writing on this subject.  Doing this isn’t something I take lightly.

Dad was a very powerful, muscular man who ruled with an iron hand - or fist, board, belt, razor strap or whatever else happened to be available.  “Talking back” meant you may end up getting knocked into the next county - and voicing any opinion other than his was considered talking back, which often led to him going into blind rage.  He was literally a walking and talking time bomb.  We never knew what would set off an explosion, but could rest assured that there would always be another one sometime in the future.  His word was “Law” and you best never forget it.  He was the “God” of our family and everyone answered to him.

Now, in hindsight, it is easy to see how my earthy father influenced my beliefs about “God the Father.”  My family attended a church that taught more hellfire and damnation than it did the love of God - the God who laid down the law and demanded obedience just like Dad did.  If you violated any of his laws you suffered severe consequences.  It was the God of the Old Testament who rewarded perfect obedience, but maimed or killed when people were disobedient. So, because of my youthful Old Testament religious indoctrination and because of my earthy father, when someone made reference to “God the Father,” I knew exactly what they meant.

Up until the 7^th grade, I was an honor roll student at the Christian School my siblings and I attended.  However, around the time of the 7^th grade, something within me told me I needed to rid my life of fear.  I could no longer tolerate living with it because it was destroying me. At this age, children don’t have the option of moving into another family, so they must find a way to live within the structure of their immediate family and that is what I began to do.  The only options was to become the “perfect” child - or begin to rebel against the powers that be.  Since I knew I couldn’t be perfect, the only other option was to rebel, and even more so, resist domination.  (These weren’t conscious thoughts at this age, but 20/20 hindsight, reflection and revelation makes this more than a little obvious.)

It didn’t take long to learn that physical pain was much easier to endure than the psychological pain of constant fear.  Physical wounds suffered as a result of a beating also healed much quicker than the psychological wounds caused by living in constant fear.  It didn’t happen in an instant, but over time, I vowed that even though my Dad could still physically beat me, he would never make me cry again, nor would I ever show him that I was afraid of him.  If I had something to say, even though I knew it would be considered “talking back” and lead to a beating, I would say what I had to say and suffer the consequences.

In retrospect, in the beginning, it wasn’t a conscious choice to be rebellious; rather, it was finding a means of survival in a rather hostile environment.  Survival meant I needed to learn how to live defensively and I needed to find a means of doing this without help at this early age.  The words “authority” and “domination” became synonymous - and true domination can only be accomplished through fear, so rebellion against authority came naturally.  I saw the power my Dad held by being dominate, so it was dominate or be dominated.  Compromise resolution was non-existent within my family and there was no middle of the road.  It was rule or be ruled.

God was the ultimate authority.  Well, I already knew about “God the Father” who dominates and punishes disobedience.  I also knew that this domination led to repression and I was fully aware of the pain and debilitating effects of psychological repression, which can only happen as a result of fear.  The only means of overcoming this fear was to eliminate it just as I did with my earthly father.  I could not allow God to dominate me - and I saw that as God’s only desire.  God would love me if I allowed Him to dominate me, but, at the same time, knew He didn’t love me because I couldn’t allow myself to be dominated.

The above may sound like I blame my father for many of the problems I experienced in life, which extend far beyond what I am writing here.  Truthfully, I did blame him for a number of years, but finally came to understand that blame doesn’t provide a solution. 

Later in life, I spoke to my brother and sister about our father to determine if they had any of the same feelings regarding my father as I did.  I needed to know if it was just me and my imagination, or did something really happen within our family. The result of doing this was an outpouring of repressed feelings that may have been better off left repressed without professional help.  The end result was devastating and I then began to feel guilty for opening this can of worms.

All of the above resulted in a warped sense of love because love and acceptance was based on obedience, yet being obedient translated into being dominated.  This was a vicious merry-go-round that I couldn’t seem to get off of.  It was what I learned as a child and it was how I learned to live life.  My philosophy was: Be strong, show no fear because if you do someone will take advantage of you - and there are plenty of people waiting to do just that.

I offer the following not as bragging because there is nothing to brag about, rather it is offered only to show just how proficient I had become in this lifestyle. My third wife and I have been together for over 30 years.  After we had been together for some time she told me that the thing that most attracted her to me was the fact that I was not afraid of anyone or anything.   She knew I didn’t back down to anyone and felt safe with me because she knew I would protect her.  While these words were flattering, it also promoted living this way.  If that is what attracted her, I’d better not change. It wasn’t until much later in life that I learned this fearlessness was also a lie because it was fear of domination that caused me to live the way I was living.  While there were no visible signs of fear, my life was actually fear based.  However, I didn’t recognize it as fear because any and all subconscious fears simply triggered whatever amount of anger was needed to displace or overcome the fear.  Furthermore, I became the person I had the most problems with - and lived mostly this way until I was into my mid fifties.

Now, how does a person who goes to the extreme to avoid domination accept a God who demands us to be subjective by maintaining perfect obedience?  In my mind, He was asking for the impossible, yet He had no qualms about punishing us for anything less.  In my mind, God and my father were simply too much alike.  Furthermore, He commanded us to love Him even though I perceived Him as a bigot who sat somewhere called Heaven keeping tabs on every little thing we did wrong.  The biggest problem was that I knew I could not love someone who did this so I knew I was on the outs with God.  If I didn’t believe in God, that wouldn’t be a problem - but I did believe in His existence.

Imagine the consequences if I went to a “church” and began telling them my true feelings regarding God, but there didn’t seem to be any other place to go.  After many years of not attending, my wife and I did started going back regularly.  Although never admitted, my hope was that I would hear something that would ultimately change this attitude, but it didn’t happen.  God was still God the Father and the feelings of love that I knew I was supposed to have for Him weren’t there.  Church affiliation became the same as it was before, which was to talk the talk so you could socialize with others.

Finally, all of my problems regarding God began to bother me enough for me to begin typing a list of questions I had regarding the doctrines I learned.  This was followed by writing some very cynical answers according to my perception of how Christianity answers them.  What I learned, in my opinion, is that Christianity doesn’t answer many of them.  However, I had been taught that expressing my true feelings regarding God was nothing less than blasphemy, which then meant I was also guilty of this sin.  Finally, believing I had nothing to lose since He didn’t like me to begin with, I simply told God how I felt about what I knew about Him by writing about it, which enabled me to sort through all of my thoughts and feelings. 

For a number of years I did blame my father for what I learned from him even though I knew blaming someone doesn’t solve anything.  Being an adult, I knew that I, and no one else, was responsible for my actions.  Yet, a part of me couldn’t seem to let go of the fact that I was doing what I knew how to do according to what I had been taught - and the facts were that my father was responsible for teaching me many things that caused many problems.  However, I was the one who was accountable - and I knew that.

Oscar Wilde stated that skepticism is the beginning of faith and that has been so true for me.  Skepticism is what caused me to search for answers.  As I began to study the New Testament, I truly believe the Holy Spirit began to reveal what I needed to know to finally find my peace with God. Rather than punish me for blasphemy, God began to remove my skepticism and replace it with proof of His love.

As I exited the bathroom of our home on morning, I saw a picture of my mother and father hanging on the wall directly opposite the bathroom door.  The words, “I love you Dad” came out of my mouth from seemingly nowhere.  I stood and gazed at the picture for a while and said, “Yes, I really do.”  There I stood Mr. Toughguy, with tears that were washing away a life of hurt and pain streaming down my face.  That was my most memorable moment of healing, although there have been many more.

It is now my belief that God wants us to understand that “Love is the only cure for evil” more than anything else.  Jesus’ command to love is “an authoritative prescription” that covers all of our actions.  If we all loved to the degree that Jesus loved, evil would be none existent, therefore there wouldn’t be any need for laws.  Because He knew of our inability to love, He sent Jesus to teach us what Love is, and forgive us when we commit unloving acts, followed by sending the Holy Spirit in Jesus’ place for the purpose of making this love available to us after He was crucified and ascended to Heaven.  God is truly a God of Love - in fact God is Love, just as the Bible states.  He did what I was totally incapable of doing.

God wants us all to live peaceably - one with each other - each and every one of us - and the only means of accomplishing this is through love.  Evil only happens when love is absent.  It is such a simple message, yet one that is constantly and consistently overlooked.  I believe it would highly beneficial if we all began to be more conscious of Love by weighing each and every one of our actions on the “Love Scale” versus “The Law” scale - because sin is a violation of Love.  How many times a day do we violate Love without violating The Law?

To this day, I am far less loving than I should be.  Because the majority of my life was based on living defensively far too many of my reactions are defense reactions and I act inappropriately.  My only hope is that the Holy Spirit will fill me with more love because I am so incapable of doing it on my own.  Today, “My Father” understands this and forgives me when I commit unloving acts.

May you all be blessed with His gift of Love.

Jer

 Mark 12:30-31 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first COMMANDMENT. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other COMMANDMENT greater than these.

John 13:34-35 A new COMMANDMENT I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

As a child and even as an adult, I believed the word commandment as used in the Bible meant that we are demanded to perform a specific act, with the “You’d better do it or else” attachment. You know, the addition that says, “Do it - or you’re in deep trouble. This was troublesome for me personally because the best way to get me to do something was to tell me I couldn’t, or wasn’t allowed to do it.  It was just my rebellious nature - the one that said no one is going to control me. 

The word commandment just isn’t a very friendly word.  Very few people enjoy having another person demanding they perform some specific act.  Most people would rather have a person ask them to do it rather than showing dominance by demanding they do it. 

To place this into a human perspective, assume that I demand my wife to love me, or you demand your husband or wife to love you.  How about commanding our children to love us? Commanding or demanding someone to love you is undoubtedly the least likely of all ways to get another person to love you.  Since love is often perceived as a feeling, we must also consider the fact that it’s preposterous to believe we can command anyone to “feel” a certain way.

If we view Jesus’ commandments as described above, it doesn’t take long to understand we are in a hopeless situation because Jesus “demands” us to do the impossible - or does He?

The word commandment in the New Testament has been translated from the Greek wordentole (en-tol-ay’) which means: an authoritative prescription.  Learning that Jesus is prescribing a manner of living from his position of authority is far different from demanding that we do it.  Doctors are authorities in medicine and they write prescriptions for people for the purpose of healing people from whatever their particular ailment happens to be.  This is what Jesus is doing for us when He writes the prescription for us to love Him and love one another.  Again, proof of our love for God is provided by how well we love others - and choosing for the highest good of another, or love, is the only cure for evil.

I don’t know about you, but, for me, understanding that the word commandment means prescription rather than an edict or a demand is a far easier pill to swallow.

As you can probably tell, the thoughts weren’t flowing like I would have preferred, but I hope enough has been written to cover the basics.

Jer

 On the Sunday before Christmas, I watched a well known televangelist whose home is in the South.  Now, let me add that I don’t know why I even watch any televangelist anymore.  It’s not because what some of them say is untrue, rather it is because they do not complete their messages.  By the time they finish, I am left wondering why they exclude one very important fact.

Being it was Christmas, this televangelist was naturally teaching on the birth of Jesus and the significance of it.  In the very beginning of this message he stated that the main reason Jesus came was for the forgiveness of our sins.  This was followed by stating we all sin because we all violate The Law.  The minister then began a very long dissertation on the lineage or genealogy of Jesus, adding that this was very interesting.  I say to myself: “Okay, it’s interesting, but how does it being interesting help me today?”  “Am I supposed to know the genealogy of Jesus to be a mature Christian?”  As the camera pans the audience, people are taking notes right and left.  Are people going to leave the church believing they need to go home and study their Bibles to learn the genealogy of Jesus themselves, believing it will make them a better Christian?  It may help them know more about the Bible, but knowing more about the Bible doesn’t necessarily make one a better Christian.  Here again, I must refer to the Scribes and Pharisees because they knew the Old Testament far better than anyone else, yet Jesus chastised them more harshly than any other group. 

Yes, we all need to be reminded of the importance of Jesus birth because society has turned it into a commercial event and materialism rather than focusing on the true meaning.

While I do agree that Jesus did come for the forgiveness of our sins, I no longer agree that this is the single most important reason - even though it is directly linked with the equally important reason of showing us what Love is.  Jesus is the ONLY person who showed the world what it means to love and His Holy Spirit is the only thing that can instill this love within each and every one of us.  Jesus came to show us what love is, followed by providing a means of instilling this love within ourselves, plus forgiving us when we fail to love as He wants us to.

Again and again and again, Sin is a violation of Love before it is a violation of the law.  It is lack of love that causes us to violate the law.  This very simple message is the one that always seems to be excluded.  If we need to be forgiven for sinning we first need to know what sin is - and cannot be freed from the law as Jesus and Paul stated we are if we only see sin as a violation of the law.

Now, if I study the Bible searching for the genealogy of Jesus without understanding what sin is, how does this help me live as Christ wants me to live today - in the present moment of each and every day?  Will I learn that Jesus wants us to Love all others by studying His genealogy?  Guess what I am really trying to say is that far too many sermons only serve to distract from what we really need to know by capturing too many people’s attention because they are interesting.

Blessings,

Jer

Ah, how good it is to be able to write again. Without going into detail, my desktop was sick and it took over a month for someone to make it well again. I asked Dr. Yang if she would write a prescription to fight the virus, but …………………………………..

Before going further, let me add that I have come to a point where I really dislike religion because all religions are man’s invention.  Jesus chastised the Scribes and Pharisees because if their religious beliefs, which is precisely what allowed them to think they were superior to others.  They followed religious doctrines rather than following what Jesus taught, which is to Love all others.

It is religion that has caused me to think about the following for the last few weeks and it regards something that happened in a church my wife and I attended about 10 - 12 years ago.  It is not intended as an attack on the church, but is written only to explain how some religious send the wrong message.  The one that says, Be like us – conform to our standards – or be “less than.”  Isn’t that exactly what the Scribes and Pharisees did?

The church was quite large, we thought the minister taught well and we were basically enthused about the church.  All church attendees were encouraged to attend what they called Discipleship Training Classes, which my wife and I did.  At the end of the last class, the teacher/minister produced a paper with various circles on it, like a bulls eye, explaining what each of the areas inside each circle represented.  While I don’t remember all of the various representations, I distinctly remember the smallest circle – the one that represents the bulls eye, which was referred to as the “Inner Core.”

It was mandatory to attend these Discipleship Training Classes before one could reach the Inner Core, which meant one would then be allowed to become a member of the church.  If one chose not to attend these classes, they were considered attendees or mere parishioners – not members.  There was one more stipulation attached to reaching the Inner Core and that was to sign a Pledge Card, which is the same as taking an oath, stating we would continue to support the church, which definitely included tithing.  So, there we were, sitting with a bunch of other people who had also just finished taking the class, when we were asked to sign these Pledge Cards.  Do you sign because you really accept what they are asking, or do you sign to avoid embarrassment, or do you refuse to sign?  What are the odds that most people will sign to avoid embarrassment – especially with the minister teaching the classes and asking people to sign?  I was probably the only one who didn’t sign and it wasn’t due to rebellion, even though I felt an attempt was being made to manipulate or coerce me into doing something I believed was questionable – and the reason for being questionable can be found a couple of paragraphs later.  However, it was duly noted that I didn’t sign by the minister as well as many others.

At first glance, asking the people to sign may seem innocent enough. After all, a church doesn’t want people attending who aren’t going to support it – they only want people who are willing to conform to what they teach. If you don’t conform, you are pretty much ostracized. The flip side of that is: If you really don’t believe what they teach, why would you want to attendFurthermore, almost all of the churches and denominations in America claim that their teachings are Bible based, yet there are multitudes of religions, each believing differently from the next.

We are taught that if we REALLY believe in God, we must choose a particular religion, find a church we like, and attend regularly – although, many of us had our religion chosen for us by our parents long before we were aware that this was happening.  Unfortunately, the underlying message of most religions and churches is that proof of our love for God is provided by how dedicated or devoted we are to whatever church we happen to be attending.  First, become devoted to the church, get involved because this proves you love God.Each religion makes the claim that their members are the ones who are saved while people of different religions aren’t, which really interprets into we are better than you.  Each religion makes the same claim, so people are left arguing over who is most favored in the sight of God. Again, this is what the Scribes and Pharisees did and it only causes division.  If I believe I am saved because I practice some particular religion and adhere to their beliefs, but you don’t, therefore you aren’t saved, the only conclusion that can be drawn is that I am better than you in God’s eyes.  This is less than a healthy attitude.  

Before I get further off track, let’s return to the subject of the Inner Core of the church my wife and I attended.  Just like almost any other church, this church claimed to be Bible based.  However, and there always seems to be another “however,” have you ever noticed what the Bible states regarding swearing to do something or taking an oath.  The following are Jesus’ words on this subject followed by James 5:12

Matt 5:34-37 But I say unto you, Swear not at all; neither by heaven; for it is God’s throne: Nor by the earth; for it is his footstool: neither by Jerusalem; for it is the city of the great King.Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black. But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.

James 5:12  But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath: but let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay; lest ye fall into condemnation.

It just so happened that a month or two prior to being asked to sign these cards, a close friend told me he was having a problem.  He and his wife had been attending a church where he signed a card pledging to support the church financially.  Now, he wanted to change churches, but felt he had to continue to support the first church because he had taken an oath to do so – and, of course there was no time limit on the card.  He asked what I would do if placed in the same situation.  This caused me to go to the Bible again to search for an answer.  The answer was found in the verses above and is the sole the reasons I wouldn’t sign the card. It is not uncommon for many churches to ask the parishioners to sign pledge cards, but signing is taking an oath and there is no getting around it.  If you sign it, you are expected to perform according to what you pledged, which is just another way of saying you took an oath – or you swear to do something.  Many lending institutions will even accept these pledges when churches apply for a loan.  While I do understand their motivation, at the same time, it makes me question the churches claim of being Bible based.  It also makes me question how strong “their” belief is if they feel they have to go to men, asking them to take oaths that the Bible says they are not to take, rather than trusting God to affect the hearts of men and women, causing them to do whatever is necessary.

Now, this may seem petty to many, but, again, I cannot help but ask why it is okay to ask parishioners to do something the Bible states we are not to do.  Jesus said we are not to take any oaths or swear to do something.  Just because I didn’t sign didn’t mean I wouldn’t support the church, but, because I didn’t sign, my opportunities to do so were diminished because in “their” eyes I was less than one of them.

This is just one small example of what religion does.  I am one hundred per cent for believing in God and Jesus, but I am becoming increasingly opposed to religion – because religion is truly man’s invention.  If it wasn’t, how could there possibly be so many?  I am one hundred per cent confident Jesus didn’t present all of them, followed by telling us to pick and choose one we are comfortable with.

Understanding that Jesus’ message to all of us is based on Love rather than doctrines and theologies presented by religions has freed me from the bonds of religion and religious doctrine.

Blessings to all,

Jer

Have you ever had the privilege of meeting and becoming friends with someone who you later realize God used to speak to you in ways no one, other than your spouse, has been able to accomplish?  This is the story of that one person in my life.  Although many years my junior, God used this person in ways she cannot imagine.

My wife Sharon and I are very blessed to have Therese Yang, M.D. as one our dearest and most cherished friends.  This lady has shown us what it means to love ALL others by observing what she does and how she lives life.

At age ten, Terry, for short, read The Lady with the Lamp about Florence Nightingale and knew that providing medical care for others was her calling.  From that time forward, she never wavered from her goal.  After high school and college she attended and graduated from med school, married a radiologist and had four beautiful children.  In 1997, she and her husband used their personal funds to start a non-profit clinic for the sole purpose of providing medical treatment for patients who were unable to receive treatment due to finances.  Many of her patients also consist of those who other doctors don’t want to treat because of the complexity of their cases, which ends up requiring too much of their time.

On October 15^th of this month, the clinic is having their 10 year anniversary celebration party.  What makes her and this clinic extraordinary is the fact that for these past 10 years Dr. Yang has donated ALL of her time, effort, experience, knowledge and expertise without personal financial compensation.  A donation of this magnitude is nothing short of amazing when one considers the time, effort and expense required to become a medical doctor.  Her husband is to be equally commended because of his willingness to support the family, which enables her to do what she is doing.  They are both truly humble, unpretentious people.

In 1998, my wife and I met Dr. Yang because my sister had Lyme disease and Terry was one of only two doctors in Southern California who treated this disease aggressively.  When we learned she was donating all of her time, Sharon and I decided we would like to do some volunteer work for the clinic.  Initially, Sharon and I went to her office to meet with her and a few others on Monday evenings.  We usually left her clinic around 10 p.m.  Later, we learned that Dr. Yang would stay until around 1 or 2 in the morning, reviewing and making entries into patient charts, followed by working on the clinics books.  Then, it was back to the office at 9 a.m. the following morning to treat patients again.

Because of my business experience, and because my wife is an excellent bookkeeper, we volunteered to do the clinic’s books, and Dr. Yang accepted.  Sharon and I then became privy to a great deal of personal information as well as the business operations.  What a revelation that was.  It didn’t take long to learn that not only was she donating all of her time, but she was constantly struggling to keep the doors of the clinic open due to financial difficulties.  “Ordinary” people would have folded under the pressure, but she never did.  From a business perspective, at times, stating that disaster was imminent seemed like the understatement of the year.  Without going into detail, there were times when I actually encouraged her to close the doors before she became buried in debt.  Her reply, without condescension was; “If God wants the doors closed, He will have to close them.  Until then, I need to keep praying and doing what I can do.”  Ten years later, the doors are still open and she is still donating her time.

Before I understood what motivated her, I would often think to myself that she was the stubbornest person I had ever met. - adding that nobody in their right mind would continue with those kind of odds stacked against them.  But, at the same time, Terry had that magnetic personality that attracts rather than repels.

Channel 10, San Diego’s ABC affiliate television station presents what in known as “Leadership Awards” to individuals who exhibit outstanding leadership roles in the community.  Dr. Yang was nominated, followed by being a recipient of one of these awards.  At the end of 1998, they reviewed all of the recipients for that particular year and in an unprecedented move on the stations part, they decided to broadcast a telethon for her clinic.  She and her clinic were on every morning, noon and evening news broadcast for a period of one week.  The telethon raised a substantial amount of money, which turned out to be mixed blessing because the telethon also created a huge influx of new patients who needed treatment but had little or no insurance.  Because of all of the new patients, Dr. Yang had to increase her staff to treat these patients, which increased the clinics costs.  Again, unprecedented, Channel 10 did this the following year with the same results.  The funds generated from these telethons were quickly depleted due to the increased costs created by the increased patient load.  While doctor Yang donates all of her time, she still needs an office, paid staff, medical malpractice insurance, liability insurance, Workers Comp insurance, supplies and everything else that is required to run a medical office.  Yet, she never lost hope even though she often operated deeply in the red.

The number of obstacles placed in Dr. Yang’s path was nothing short of unbelievable - you can’t even begin to imagine.  Dealing with these required as much, if not more of her time than treating patients.  Yet, her belief in God prevailed.  She kept doing what she knew how to do, which was donating her time providing excellent medical treatment and dealing with the obstacles - and God always somehow provided.  I cannot help but consider how many of us would remain content while enduring these trials and tribulations - just so we could continue donating our time.

When a person places themselves in the position Dr. Yang is in, there are always a few people who will take advantage of her.  I once commented that I felt a particular person was doing just that.  Her immediate reply was: “Concerning myself with what one does with the gift removes the joy of giving.“  There was no hesitation - like I need time to think of an appropriate response.  Rather, the response was immediate, meaning it came directly from what is in her heart.  I was left speechless because there is simply no response anyone can make to that statement.  To this day, those words resonate and all I can say is: “What a remarkable attitude.”  Yet, she takes no credit for what she is doing.

I have never heard her be unkind to anyone or say anything bad about another person.  Sometimes, being as foolish as I am, I thought it was my place to say it for her simply because I knew she wouldn’t - and these people were so deserving of it.  She would listen, but her only comment would usually be: “Then, we need to pray for him/her/them.”

Patients walking into her office are greeted with a smile and a hug.  She is more than willing to spend time praying with them if they are willing, but she never forces prayer if it makes the patient uncomfortable.  Dr. Yang also often spends a half hour to an hour with patients if this is what is required for them to receive adequate treatment. 

I often joked with her, stating; “The only reason I keep hanging around is because I want to figure out what makes you tick.”  The response was always the smile that never seems to leave her face, followed by a hug.  Eventually, I understood.  It is Love - the choosing for the highest good of another that God has instilled in her heart.  She is the first to state it is God, not her. She never changes and is consistently the best example of the expression of God’s Love working through a human I have ever seen.

I love my wife and she loves me, but that is more of the normal or “expected” type of love - which is too often taken for granted.  I needed to see a living example of what love means apart from the love one has for family.  God provided this “human” example through Dr Yang.

A couple of years ago, Sharon and I moved from San Diego to Santa Barbara due to her Mother’s Alzheimer’s disease.  Sharon wanted to be close to her Mom.  Although we remain in close contact with Dr. Yang via email and phone calls, we sure miss “seeing” her.  Some of the emails I sent her pertained to things I posted in JTOL.  When I stopped for a while, with her great sense of humor, she asked if I was taking a “God vacation.”  Always the right words at the right time.

And I end with this: To know Dr. Yang is to Love her - and I thank God for placing her in our lives.  She personifies Love as God wants us to understand it.  Seeing how Love is manifested in this one “human” proves it is possible if we simply get “ourselves” out of the way and allow God to do what we cannot do for ourselves.

Jer

I believe it can safely be said that most people interpret faith to mean we “must believe.”  As Christians, we are told to have faith.  If a prayer appears to go unanswered, people are often told it’s because they don’t have enough faith, which is really sad.  However, this definition of faith requires an act of self will - like we must somehow force ourselves to believe something.  This was particularly bothersome to me for many years because I totally incapable of forcing myself to believe everything I was told I needed to believe.  This led to many self doubts. And, for far too many years, I just accepted that as my “fate,” but, by no means did that mean it didn’t bother me inwardly, where no one was able to see. 

Because our salvation is dependant upon faith, it is crucial that we understand the definition of faith as used in the New Testament. A big part of this lack of understanding lies in the fact that we must first have knowledge of the true meaning of Love, the connection that Love and sin have to The Law and the true definition of Grace to understand faith.  Because all of these topics, including Faith, are directly connected to Love, we must learn about each subject individually because each has a profound effect on the other as well as on the end result.  Therefore, the words “by extension” need to be added to the definition of faith in most cases because faith not only involves action, it also involves a process.  Therein lays the complexity.

Rather than repeating many of Dan’s written explanations on the subject of faith, I encourage you to go to http://pheugo.com/faithmatters/index.html and read some of his excellent posts - particularly “faith is a verb.”   I would however like to borrow the following portion of one of his paragraphs.

“Another important thing to note here is that “faith” includes in it the core meaning from the Indo-European root, “bhidh”. That is the source of our words “bide” and “abide” and it carries the connotation of something firm, and of a binding together of two things. The Latin “fide” the English “faith” and the Greek “pistis” all have this same origin. To “have faith” is to firmly bind yourself to something.”

How does this “binding together” take place?  Hopefully, this “process” will be explained in the following.

According to Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of New Testament words, faith means reliance upon Christ for salvation.  This definition has two parts.  Our part of this equation is that we rely on Him for salvation.  The other half requires an act of Jesus. Abbreviated, it becomes: We rely, Jesus saves. 

A quick note: Translated from Greek, the word salvation means rescue - we rely on Christ to rescue us.  The word “salvation” always triggered the thought that “salvation” meant that Jesus saves us from Hell - period.  However, I now see “salvation” (rescue) as more of a means to an end.  He “rescues” us from our old ways, which leads to peace with Him.

Jesus saves us by forgiving our sins is the first thought that came to mind when the words, “Jesus saves” were typed.  However, this thought came from old school knowledge rather than current knowledge.  While this statement is true, it is far from complete left as is.  If Jesus forgives our sins, we shouldn’t be too concerned about sinning - after all, we will be forgiven. This is the point where the sermons regarding changing what we do comes into play.  In other words, WE need to put a little more effort into sinning less - then God will like us more - but if we still do sin - not to worry because we are forgiven.  The other scenario is that we try to sin less to prove we love God more - and if we love Him more, He will love us more.  Isn’t the real motivation in our attempts to sin less to win more favor in God’s sight?  How do we sin less?  WE try to not to sin.  Hate to say it, but that is some really flawed thinking because we cannot sin less left to our own devices, nor is it possible for God to love us any more than He already does.  However, we always seem to be left with the thought that we need to do SOMETHING.

Got a little sidetracked, but the above shows how our “religious” indoctrination affects our thought processes. 

Okay, back to faith meaning reliance upon Christ for salvation.  If we need to rely on Jesus, it must be for something we are incapable of doing on our own.  I need to rely on my wife to prepare meals because, as much as I hate to admit it, I don’t know the first thing about cooking.  However, if the situation arose where I could no longer rely on her, I could learn to cook.  This perception of relying on someone and learning is far too often viewed in the same manner in Christianity.  People go to church to have the minister, pastor, priest or whoever teach them what they need to believe and what they need to do - with emphasis on the last part.  And, this is the reason most people attend church.  The end result is that it leaves the impression that we only need to rely on Jesus for is the forgiveness of sins because that is one thing we cannot do for ourselves - but we can learn to do the rest - and we have a multitude of people telling us what we need to do to accomplish this.

Yes, we do need to rely on Jesus for the forgiveness of our sins, but sin needs to be defined in order for those words to have meaning.  The majority of Christians define sin as a violation of The Law, and more specifically a violation of God’s Laws.  However, and again, sin is a violation of Love, which, in turn, causes us to violate The Law.  Therefore, saying that Jesus forgives us for violations of Love is more appropriate than simply saying Jesus forgives us for sinning.  If we fail to understand this, then the following definition of faith isn’t going to make much sense.

We need to rely on Christ to provide us with Love - the ability to choose for the highest good of ALL others - within ourselves.  This is one thing we cannot do on our own and we cannot fake it till we make it.  If we had the ability to Love we wouldn’t sin and there would be no need for our sins to be forgiven.  Everything Jesus did was an act of Love and He never violated it, therefore He never needed to be forgiven.  We are told to be Christ like.  The only way we can possibly accomplish this is by Jesus making a provision for us to receive the same type of Love He has.

Based on how the word faith is used and in what context, Dan explains how the word has different meanings.  If we return to the paragraph I borrowed from one of Dan’s posts, you will find that the origin of the word faith means “bide or “abide,” which can also be translated into “binding together.” Love is the only thing that “binds” us to Christ and Love is the only thing that “binds” people together - everything else separates.  Therefore, I would like to add that faith, “by extension,” in many instances means: “the provision of Love made available to us through Jesus Christ. 

I believe the inserts in the verses below reveal how these verses should be translated.  The inserts also address the topics of Love, The Law, Grace which were covered in previous posts.  I have come to believe that in many cases the concept of Love needs to be read into faith “by extension.”   

Gal 3:23-25  But before faith came, {Before the provision of love through Jesus Christ was made available to us} we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith {The provision of love made available to us through Jesus Christ} which should afterwards be revealed.  Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster {Teacher - teaching us we do not have love in our hearts} to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. {The provision of love made available to us through Jesus Christ}  But after that faith {The provision of love through Jesus Christ} is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. {We no longer need The Law.}

Gal 2:16  Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, {Because the law, in and by itself cannot make us Love} but by the faith of Jesus Christ, {The provision of love made available to us through Jesus Christ} even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, {The provision of love made available to us through Jesus Christ} and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.  {Because the law cannot make us love}

Gal 3:2  This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?  {Learning about the provision of love made available to us through Jesus Christ and His Spirit}

Gal 3:5  He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you, doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? {Learning about the provision of love made available to us through Jesus Christ}

Gal 5:5  For we through the Spirit wait for the hope {expectation; confidence} of righteousness by faith. {By the provision of love made available to us through Christ}

Rom 5:1-2  Therefore being justified by faith, {By the provision of love made available to us through Jesus Christ} we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:  By whom also we have access by faith {By the provision of love made available to us through Christ} into this grace {The divine influence upon our hearts} wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 

Faith, the “binding together,” is the process of Jesus instilling Love into individuals through the means He has made available to us.  Allowing Jesus to do it is freedom, but trying to do it on our own is bondage, so why would we want to continue trying to do it all on our own? 

Blessings till we meet again.

Jer

 For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. John 1:17 

For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. Rom 6:14

I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain. Gal 2:21

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Eph 2:8

We are saved by the Grace of God” - or - “God’s grace is what saves us.”  How many times haven’t we heard those words?  Because unmerited or unwarranted favor is the most common English language definition of the word grace, it’s so easy to assume that this means we are saved as a result of God’s unmerited or unwarranted favor.  However, we saw that the English language hasn’t done us any favors in defining and translating the word Love.  Neither has it done us any favors defining and translating the word grace.  Yes, God does extend His unmerited and unwarranted favor toward us, but that is not what the word grace means in the New Testament.

According to Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of New Testament words, the word grace means: “The divine influence upon the heart and it’s reflection in the life.”  If we continue to think of grace in terms of unmerited or unwarranted favor, we miss the act of Jesus sending a divine influence upon our hearts.  If we miss this act, we are left trying to do everything ourselves and we wouldn’t need Jesus. 

This meditation doesn’t require much in the way of explanation as the verses below speak for themselves.

For the law was given by Moses, but grace {the divine influence upon our heart} and truth came by Jesus Christ. John 1:17 

For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. {a divine influence upon our hearts} Rom 6:14

I do not frustrate the grace {the divine influence} of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain. Gal 2:21

For by grace {divine influence} are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Eph 2:8

And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace {divine influence} was upon them all. Acts 4:33

Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, {the divine influence upon the heart} but of debt. Rom 4:4

But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace {the divine influence} of God, and the gift by grace, {the divine influence upon the heart} which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. Rom 5:15

And if by grace, {divine influence} then is it no more of works: otherwise grace {divine influence} is no more grace. {divine influence} But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: {divine influence} otherwise work is no more work. Rom 11:6

Having then gifts differing according to the grace {divine influence} that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith; Rom 12:6

Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.  Gal 5:4 {If you believe that obedience to the law helps save you, Christ becomes of no effect to you and you render yourself ineligible for divine influence}

This world programs us to believe that what we do is what really matters.  Our successes and failures are directly proportional to what we do. We need to do this and that - and we have these endless lists of things we need to do to prove we are “Christians” - and this differs with each religion and denomination.  However, with God, it is not about what we do; rather it is the desire of our heart that matters.  This is the direct opposite of what the world teaches, which is, if we want something we need to do whatever it takes to achieve our goal - and waiting for someone else to do it for you just ain’t gonna happen.  However, when it comes to God, we never can and never will succeed in “living righteously” using our will power.  For many years that led me to the defeatist attitude of “Why should I then bother trying?”  Now, I understand that it isn’t about what I do, rather, it is about what Jesus does for me through grace - the divine influence upon my heart.  I no longer feel defeated because I know God is faithful to His promises and He will do what I cannot do for myself.  I find much more comfort in spending time thinking about what God will do for me rather than thinking about everything “I” think “I” should be doing - knowing full well I will fail if “I” try.  Does this mean I do nothing?  No, it means spending more time in my relationship with Him.

“What we do and don’t do” is a complex issue that requires a far more detailed explanation than I am able to provide here and now, so this will be addressed at a later time.  For now, I will only add that as long as we believe “anything” we do contributes to our salvation, the door to God’s grace remains closed.  If we were able to “live righteously,” using will power, we wouldn’t need Him - and our salvation is dependant upon us needing Him.

The next and last meditation in this “series” will be on the subject of Faith. 

Until then, God Bless You,

Jer

  ”For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.”  (James 2:10)  

According to The Law, shoplifting isn’t as serious a crime as murder, which seems to be verified by the punishment attached to each.  Murder someone and you will be going away for a long time, but you may only get a slap on the wrist for shoplifting.  Is this verse saying the guilt attached to shoplifting is equal to the guilt of murder?  Seems a little preposterous, doesn’t it.  However, if we shoplift we are violating Love because we are causing financial injury to someone, be it the stockholders of a large corporation or the owners of a Mom and Pop operation.  If we murder someone, we injure them to the point of death, plus we cause their relatives to suffer.  Regardless of the seriousness of the offense according to The Law, we violate Love in either of the above cases.  We either violate Love or we don’t - and there is no differentiation in seriousness if we do.  A violation of Love is a violation of Love - period.

Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. Matt 23:23

Jesus didn’t mince many words when He chastised the Scribes and Pharisees.  These guys pretty much had perfection of The Law down to a science.  They carried books of The Law with them just in case there was a question of whether or not something was legal.  When it came to obedience to The Law, these guys excelled above all others.  Jesus knew this, yet he chastised them more harshly than anyone else in the New Testament.  So why was Jesus so upset with them?  The explanation if found in the second part of the verse - they missed the connection between Love and The Law.

The Jews answered him, We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, John 19:7

Let’s put The Law and the Scribes and Pharisees legalistic views to the ultimate test.  Why did they want to kill Jesus?  Because He violated Jewish Law.  Yep, He broke The Law so they wanted to kill Him, but He most certainly didn’t do anything to violate Love.  The connection between Love and The Law was non-existent in the minds of the Scribes and Pharisees and they succeeded in having Jesus put to death as a result.  Nothing describes the devastating effects of failing to understand that sin is a violation of Love rather than The Law better than the circumstances that ultimately led to Jesus’ death.

I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come(s) by the law, then Christ is dead in vain. Gal 2:21

More often than not, when someone attempts to explain what Christians need to do they will say they need to obey The Laws.  When I hear this explanation, I cringe inwardly - the reason being that I know what they mean when they make that statement.  What they are really saying is that we need to obey The Law as an act of our will.  The Law then has the exact same meaning as it did to the Scribes and Pharisees.  But, if our self willed obedience to The Law makes us righteous, then Jesus really did die for nothing because we wouldn’t NEED Him for anything. 

Love is the only thing that will make us righteous and Jesus died so we would have a means of receiving this Love within ourselves.  If we see The Law only as something that needs to be obeyed, we become totally distracted from what we really need.  Again, sin is a violation of Love far more than it is violation of The Law.  The Law provides the only proof we have - proving that we do not have Love in our hearts.  If we did, there would be no need for The Law.  So, should our focus be on Love or should it be on The Law?

Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words states the following: “The ostensible aim of the law is to restrain the evil tendencies natural to man in his fallen estate, yet in experience law finds itself not merely ineffective, it actually provokes those tendencies to greater activity.”  

The above verse is self-explanatory.

Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin, but now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested  Rom 3:20-21

It is so easy to misinterpret the words “for by the law is the knowledge of sin” in the above verse. To interpret correctly, we must first realize that sin is a violation of Love far more than it is a violation of The Law.  Lack of Love is the root cause for violating any and all parts of The Law.  How do we know when Love is being violated?  The Law gives us list after list of ways we are able to violate Love.  We have nothing but The Law to tell us this.  The fact that we consistently do, or even desire to violate anything contained in these lists provides the only proof we have that we do not have Love in our hearts.  How else would we know?

Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. Rom 3:28 

When we accept the provision of Love made available to us through Jesus Christ, The Law becomes a moot point.

Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; Rom 7:4 

For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth. Rom 10:4 

For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Gal 5:14

But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. Gal 5:18

John 1:17 For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.

Again, if we accept the provision of Love made available to us through Jesus Christ, we no longer have to concern ourselves with The Law.

Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, for whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine; 1 Tim 1:9-10

Those who have accepted the provision of Love made available to us through Jesus Christ no longer need The Law.   It is however, needed for all who haven’t accepted it.

The following is not intended to be facetious; rather, it is a point to ponder.  If someone who professes to be a Christian makes the statement that they need to be obedient to The Law, what are they telling you about themselves?  According to 1 Tim 1:9-10 above, are they then the unrighteous?  Consider how the Scribes and Pharisees succeeded in killing Jesus as a result of obedience to The Law.  Failing to understand the connection between Love and The law not only has devastating and even deadly consequences, it also distracts us from Love.

Basically, we have two means of methods of judging ourselves.  One of these methods pertains to how obedient we are to The Law, which can lead to the false conclusion that we are fairly good or righteous people.  The other means of judging ourselves pertains to how well we Love ALL others, which normally renders a much different verdict.

Is it time for us to begin focusing more on Love and how it is made available rather than focusing on obedience to The Law?

The next meditation will be on Grace.

Continued Blessing to all,

Jer

 I wanted to get to the heart of the matter in this meditation, so it ends up being rather abrupt and a little chopped up.  I hope it is at least enough to show the connection between Love and The Law.

The Law was something I never spent a much time thinking about - other than what I had been taught about punishment for disobedience of God’s laws.  Laws, rules and regulations are imprinted on our brains at a very young age, beginning with our parents.  As we grew older, we learned that laws and rules were attached to every part of our lives.  They’re just here, they have been part of our lives since our earliest memories, and they are here to stay.  So, what’s to think about?  We need them and thank God we have them because imagining a world without them is inconceivable. Right?

Yet, if there isn’t any need for us to learn something about The Law, why is The Law mentioned 223 times in the New Testament - and why did Jesus spend so much time talking about it and why did Paul write so much about it?  Again, are we missing something?  (A few of the 223 times are in reference to in-laws, but none-the-less…………..)

The easiest way to explain The Law is by dividing it into four separate categories, and these are:

• The Letter of The Law
• The Works or Deeds of The Law
• The Intent of The Law
• Punishment

The Letter of the Law is nothing more than tremendously long lists of things we’re are not allowed to legally do.  Every city, county, state and the federal government write thousands of new laws each year to try to meet the needs of the overall population.  These laws are written very carefully, with the intent of closing every loophole.

The Works or Deeds of The Law simply pertains to obedience and/or disobedience of all of the laws, be it God’s or man’s.

The Intent of The Law ” is to prevent an individual, group of individuals; even one’s self, from injuring a person, or persons, physically, financially or by any other means.  Ideally, the “intent of the law” is to have us treat others as if we loved them, but the weakness of any part of the law is that it cannot make us love.

Punishment:  Where there is no law, there can be no punishment.  Punishment is a word that is used only in conjunction with The Law.

Okay, with that said, it’s time to jump in and consider a few of the points Paul was trying to make with all of his reference to The Law.

Romans 7:6 But now we are delivered from the law

The words, “are delivered” have been translated from the Greek word “katargeo,” which means: to render entirely useless, without effect, fail, bring to nought, make void.  Considering the definition, these words have significant meaning.  Paul is making a very powerful statement by saying The Law is useless, made void, etc.  If this is true, we shouldn’t need to be concerned about whether or not we obey them.  Doesn’t Paul’s statement make you want to ask Paul if his elevator stops at all floors?  As a society we have all of these laws and God gave us the Ten Commandments.  Is Paul now saying they have been voided? 

To “be delivered” from something means we were either in bondage to it, or obligated to it.  Yeah, well, we are obligated to obey The Law.  We can’t just do whatever we want.  If you believe you can, just try it - but have fun in court.  Just plain common sense seems to tell us that we are never going to escape the law.

In verse 7, Paul writes, What shall we say then?  Is the law sin?  God forbid.  Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law.

In the previous verse, Paul states that The Law has been rendered entirely useless, it’s void, then, he turns right around and says he wouldn’t have known what sin was without The Law.  If The Law defined sin for you, Paul, then it isn’t useless.  Sounds like you’re a pretty confused guy Paul - you can’t have it both ways.

1 John 3:4  whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.

This verse and Romans 7:7 above also seem to verify that we wouldn’t know what sin was without The Law.  It also implicitly states that sin is a violation of The Law.  HOWEVER, we need to consider the following verse.

Gal 3:19  Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions. 

The word “serveth” in the verse above is an “inserted” word, so we cannot be confident of an exact translation.  Considering the last part of the verse, I believe the intended question in the first part of this verse is: “Why did The Law come into existence if the first place?”  The answer is provided in the last half of the verse - and it’s a very simple answer.  The Law came into existence because SOMETHING WAS ALREADY BEING TRANSGRESSED.  The Law is an after-the-fact addition as result of transgression already occurring.  Now, if we exclude The Law, while accepting the fact that transgression was already happening, doesn’t it make perfect sense that we need to look somewhere other than the The Law to determine what that SOMETHING is?

What else could that SOMETHING be other than Love?  Love is the only thing left!!  So, plainly and clearly stated, SIN IS A VIOLATION OF LOVE.  (Of course, if we don’t know the true definition of Love, this answer isn’t very meaningful.  This is the reason the first meditations were on the subject of Love.)

Let’s return to the following verse for a minute.  1 John 3:4  whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.  How many of you caught the four letter word ALSO in this verse?  It’s a very important word, but easy to miss.  But, it clearly indicates that something other than The Law is being violated.

Do we sin when we violate The Law?  Yes, because violating The Law causes injury to another person, so sin is a violation of the The Law.  However, the root cause of the violation is lack of Love.  First, we violate Love, which leads to a violation of The Law.  Said differently, it is impossible to violate The Law without violating Love.  Proof of this is provided by the simple fact that we wouldn’t need The Law if everyone Loved as God wants us to Love.

Matt 5:17  Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.

Rom 13:10 Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

Rom 13:8  Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.

Gal 5:14  For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

All of the above verses contain the words fulfill, fulfilled or fulfilling.  Anything having the capability of being full-filled means it is partially empty, or it isn’t filled to capacity.  Without Love, The Law is lacking, it isn’t full-filled because The Law cannot make us Love.  (See below)

Rom 8:3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh

Obedience to The Law is a natural function of Love, but Love is not a product of obedience to The Law.

The end result is that Jesus’ words and Paul’s writings pertaining to The Law and Love make perfect sense when we understand that sin is a violation of Love.

One more quick comment.  The letter of the Law is really nothing more than a tremendously long list of things that prove we do not have Love in our hearts, so The Law is useful in this respect.  Without The Law, we would have no knowledge or verification of anything being wrong with us. Gal 3:24-25 Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster {teaching us we do not have Love in our hearts} to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. (More on this verse in the subject of Faith, which will be covered later.)

The next meditation will be on past and present detrimental and sometimes devastating effects of missing the connection between Love and The Law.

Blessings til then,

Jer

To God be the Glory.