Hab 3:3-4

Breastplate of Righteousness, Part 2

We are continuing to examine Eph 6:13-18, and in particular the Breastplate of Righteousness. The last post concluded with the following:  The first part of our breastplate of righteousness must be our faith, since it says in both the Old and New Testaments that “the righteous will live by faith.”¹

Faith is essential to our righteousness, but the Bible gives several descriptions of the life of the righteous.

• prayer The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective (James 5:16b).
• caring for the poor and needy:

The righteous care about justice for the poor, but the wicked have no such concern. (Pr29:7)

Then the righteous will answer him, “Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you?’ The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me. (Mt 25:37-40)

• impacting others for Christ:

The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he who wins souls is wise. (Pr 11:30)

The wicked man flees though no one pursues, but the righteous are bold as a lion. (Pr 28:1)

• obedience to God’s Word (Ro 2:13) The way of the Lord is a refuge for the righteous, but it is the ruin of those who do evil. (Pr 10:29)
• living for God instead of for self: And you will again see a distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not. (Mal 3:18)
• perseverance through trials and repentance: for though a righteous man falls seven times, he rises again, but the wicked are brought down by calamity. (Pr 24:16)
• encouraging others: The lips of the righteous nourish many, but fools die for lack of judgement. (Pr 10:21)
• give generously: The wicked borrow and do not repay, but the righteous give generously. (Ps 37:21)
• appropriate speech:

The heart of the righteous weighs its answers, but the mouth of the wicked gushes evil. (Pr 15:28)

The mouth of the righteous brings forth wisdom, but a perverse tongue will be cut out. The lips of the righteous know what is fitting, but the mouth of the wicked only what is perverse. (Pr 10:31-32)

That list is pretty challenging!  Don't panic!  Remember from the previous post that 

righteousness does not mean perfection!

Recall the Apostle Paul’s words in Gal 2:21.

“I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!”

Christ died to make us righteous, so where does the list above fit in? Since we can never perfectly maintain all the righteous acts listed above, how can we know if we are being righteous?

It all boils down to our hearts. The desire of the righteous ends only in good, but the hope of the wicked only in wrath. (Pr11:23).

For a moment forget about how well you have performed the righteous acts above. Consider these questions at a very deep level.

• Do you desire God’s will for your life?
• Do you desire to please God?
• Do you get upset when you fail because you know it hurt God?

If you can honestly answer those questions with a “YES”, then you are on the right track.

Now remember that “faith without deeds is dead” (Js 2:26). When we do fail, we can’t just claim God’s grace and continue to sin away. Lets take a look at a few descriptions of the righteous person that come into play when we fall short on the ones listed above.

• The righteous detest the dishonest (Pr 29:27a)

The righteous hate what is false, but the wicked bring shame and disgrace. (Pr 13:5)

Do you hate falsehood in your life? We need to be radically open about our sin and our temptation so that Satan will not get a foothold in our lives.

• repentance: And if I say to the wicked man, ‘You will surely die,’ but he then turns away from his sin and does what is just and right -- if he gives back what he took in pledge for a loan, returns what he has stolen, follows the decrees that give life, and does no evil, he will surely live; he will not die. None of the sins he has committed will be remembered against him. He has done what is just and right; he will surely live. (Eze 33:14-16)
• take responsibility for your sin: the righteous man leads a blameless life. (Pr 20:7a)

from the dictionary: “blame: to find fault with, to hold responsible or responsible for²”,

Blameless does not mean perfect. Rather, one who is blameless is someone who is not hiding from responsibility or fault. Being blameless requires openness, confession and repentance which includes owning responsibility for your sin.

The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining ever brighter till the full light of day. But the way of the wicked is like deep darkness; they do not know what makes them stumble. My son, pay close attentions to what I say; listen closely to my words. Do not let them out of your sight, keep them within your heart; for they are life to those who find them and health to a man’s whole body. Above all else guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life. (Pr 4:18-23)

This openness, confession, and repentance is crucial to being righteous before God.

1 Hab 2:4, Heb 10:38

2 The New Merriam-Webster Dictionary

Breatplate of Righteousness, part 1

Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground and after you have done everything, to stand.  Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.  In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.  Take up the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.  And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.  With this in mind, be alert and always keep praying for all the saints.  (Eph 6:13-18)

I'd like to continue the study of Ephesians 5:13-18 from my unpublished work Depression, Demons and Discipleship.  This study is relevant to most of us, not just those who deal with depression.  (I did not include the entire chapter on the Belt of Truth as it needs further editing.)

Chapter 6     The Breastplate of Righteousness

            One lie of Satan that I often buy into is that righteousness means perfection.  With this lie in my head, I read God’s promises to the righteous and get discouraged believing they can’t apply to me.  However, righteousness does not mean perfection!!  The definition of righteous found in the Merriam-Webster dictionary is:

acting or being in accordance with what is just, honorable, and free from guilt or wrong.[1]

I want to focus on the last phrase -- “free from guilt or wrong”.  Perfection would be one way to meet this part of the definition, but then no human could ever be considered righteous.  Our freedom from guilt and wrong comes from our faith in the power of the cross! God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might have the righteousness of God. (2Cor 5:21)  Without Christ in our life we cannot be righteous.  However, just claiming that I am a Christian does not automatically mean I am righteous and free from guilt. “Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray.  He who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous.  He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. (1John 3:7)  If we are still living to please our sinful nature, we are not righteous, but rather children of the devil.  Also, we must DO what is righteous.  The mere absence of major sinful acts in our lives does not make us righteous.

You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless?  Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar?  You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. (Js 2:20-22)

Abraham’s faith and actions together revealed his righteous character.

               

                The first part of our breastplate of righteousness must be our faith, since it says in both the Old and New Testaments that “the righteous will live by faith.”[2] 

To be continued... 

---

[1] The New Merriam-Webster Dictionary

[2] Hab 2:4, Heb 10:38

New Life

I took these photos this morning of a duckling hatching from the egg.  It was a precious miracle to witness.  I have had ducks for a few years, but I have never had the privilege to watch any hatch. 

There were about 13 eggs in the nest. The mother only lays one egg a day, leaving them to sit.  When she is ready, she sits on the eggs with barely a break to eat and get water.  It takes about 35 days.  All the ducklings hatch the same day! 

I can't figure out how evolution would ever explain how the ducklings get out of the egg in the first place. If they didn't have the beak strong enough to break the shell, and the instinct to do so, the duckling would never hatch.  Too many things have to "change" simultaneously to ever explain a duck successfully hatching from its shell.


 In university I was a science major.   The Second Law of Thermodynamics tells us that everything tends towards maximum randomness.  It other words everything gets messier and less organized with time.  The entire process involved in that new life emerging from his egg has so many essential steps.  If one step is missing -- no duckling. Evolution contradicts the Second Law of Thermodynamics and it falls far short in   explaining the full miracle I witnessed this morning.

The Belt of Truth

 Here is another post from my book on depression.  It is relevant to all of us, as we live in a culture that has completely abandoned truth.

Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground and after you have done everything, to stand.  Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.  In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.  Take up the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.  And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.  With this in mind, be alert and always keep praying for all the saints.  (Eph 6:13-18)

The Belt of Truth

            A belt is used to hold on the rest of your clothing (or in this case armor).  Without the belt, the remaining armor could fall off, becoming useless.  With this in mind, the truth holds up the rest of your spiritual armor. If you don’t cling to the truth, the remaining spiritual armor no longer holds its power to withstand Satan’s attacks.  Jesus knows that we must face the attacks of Satan and his demons.  He prayed for his disciples that they would be sanctified, or freed from sin, through the truth of God’s Word.  “My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.  They are not of the world, even as I am not of it.  Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. “ (Jn 17:17-18) We must cling to the truth, as found in the Bible.  We cannot cling to our feelings, our traditions, or our society norms.  Only in the Bible can we find the truths that will enable us to be victorious over Satan in each battle, and ultimately for eternity.

            One definition of true that I have found very helpful reads “reality apart from and transcending perceived experience.”  In other words, the truth of the Bible remains constant even though our feelings, or perception may not see that truth. With this in mind, when you are up, you must strengthen your convictions about what is true.  While you are down make use of what you have prepared ahead of time.  Also, listen to those around you who can remind you of these truths!  This is one area that the enemy always attacks in a depression. Satan’s first attack on Eve in the garden was to challenge her to doubt what God had told her. 

                [The serpent] said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” 

The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say,        ‘You  must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”

          “You will not surely die, “ the serpent said to the woman.

 (Gen 3:1b-4)

Because Eve gave in to Satan’s lies, she and Adam were forced to leave the Garden of Eden.  They did die, and now every one of us is subject to the law of sin and death.  Losing sight of the truth can have serious consequences!  If we let go of the truth, Satan can convince us to believe several lies -- “There is no point in trying to be a Christian.”  “We don’t need the church to have a relationship with God.”  “Our depression is a valid excuse for our sin.”  “We don’t need to repent.”  “Jesus is fed up with you.”      

            In a depression, Satan doesn’t even bother with being subtle.  He just attacks every spiritual conviction I have ever gained.  I doubt everything.  I doubt people’s love and friendship.  I doubt God's love for me.  I doubt God's desire to forgive me, thinking "He must be so disappointed and fed up with me."  I doubt that God answers prayer.   I doubt my ability to change.  I doubt people's love for me.  I doubt God's promises.  etc.  

            Even if you don’t suffer from depression, Satan will still attack you with lies.  You must cling to the truth of God’s Word or you will  not know what is from Satan and what is from God.

            To prepare for these attacks from the Father of Lies, create in a notebook two lists that can help you answer Satan’s attempts to make you doubt:  a list of answered prayers and a list of fulfilled promises.  Your convictions must be developed and deepened while you are up -- or at least on an even keel.

            Above all else, you must cling to the truth of God’s Word!  It is true regardless of how you feel -- regardless of what your friends or family may think --  regardless of the lies Satan is pouring into your head.

The Bible is the ultimate truth in this world! 

Bringing the Sunshine

Today I have another guest author.

Last week I posted this image on my Facebook page.  It is from a blog called  Bringing the Sunshine 
It was featured last week on the website IDSC for Life

I got a response from my step-sister.  Her daughter had written a speech on people with special needs.  Ahsby Morkunas' speech follows.

Have you ever walked into a store and seen a disabled or disfigured person?

What was your reaction when you saw him?

Were you uncomfortable and did you avert your eyes?

Did you look upon him in sympathy, thinking what a misfortune had befallen him?

Were you awkward and nervous around him?

Did you feel sorry for his parents?

Or did you pay no attention to him in an attempt to pretend you didn’t see?

I have a friend whose name is Ben. He is 15 and, like most boys his age, he gets loud and animated. He loves to play laser-tag and build with Lego’s. He laughs and welcomes a good joke. He adores his dog. He becomes engaged in his favorite books. The movies he most enjoys are noisy and action-packed. He is confident, outgoing, and excited to connect with any new person he meets.

However, while Ben is similar to other boys, he is also very different…

He has a protruding chest, slanting and sunken eyes, a flattened nose, tubes sticking out of his stomach, an awkward gait, hearing aids, a strong lisp, and a severe under-bite.

Down’s syndrome, cleft lip and pallet, and major heart problems are only a few of the innumerable challenges he has faced over the years.

The greatest mental age level he is ever anticipated to reach is nine.

Before the age of two Ben had undergone approximately twenty surgeries, two of which were open-heart. Today, his mother has lost count, though she is certain his surgeries are well over fifty.

When his mother was pregnant with him, a woman at church approached her and asked: “So, are you going to keep it?”

Local Universities knowing of his condition told his parents that is was their responsibility and civil duty to abort him and they “charitably” offered their services for free.

In public, people would see this child’s face and recoil as they murmured amongst themselves.

Despite all this, when his mother was asked what was wrong with him, she would simply smile and reply, “Nothing.”

Being diagnosed with “unusual” or “different” symptoms, such as those that Ben has, is a virtual death sentence to nine out of ten fetuses in America.

But do any of these unique qualities make him less valued by God?
Wrongfully, we frequently think that a person’s value is in his or her ability to “do”—to accomplish something; to contribute. But this is not so in God’s economy where a person’s value lies in their ability to love, and to be loved.

How did Christ treat the disabled?

Generally, when we see a disabled person, we unconsciously tend to do the opposite of what Jesus did. While we might be uncomfortable, critical, repulsed, saddened, and nervous, Christ did not respond in this way. He healed, loved, encouraged, and spoke with them as he did everyone.

Like us, disabled people are created in the image of God. We are called to love them. We should not shun them. Rather, we should treat them as we do everyone else: as human beings, for that is what they are. Moreover, there are many important things we can learn from them.

As Ben’s older brother states: [quote] “In reality, Ben’s disabilities are that which empower him. Persons with mental handicaps are not disadvantaged, but in many ways are stronger and happier than so-called ‘normal’ people.

The simplicity of the mentally handicapped allows them to be happier. They live in the moment, and do not anticipate the future, nor do they dwell on the failures of the past. My brother indiscriminately loves anyone who will give him the time of day. He does not care if you are talented, important, well dressed, or popular. Whether you are handsome or hunchbacked, nine or ninety. If you smile at him, he will smile back and give you a hug.” [end quote]

I cannot say for certain, but it often seems to me that Ben is not plagued by our arch-nemesis: pride.

These attributes, I would add, are a gift, and a great gift at that.

In John’s Gospel, Jesus saw a blind man and his disciples asked him: “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him.”

Likewise, it is through my friend Ben that God is glorified.

In today’s society we are taught that disabled people are a burden, that they are worthless, that they have nothing to offer; that they are somehow inhuman.

But are they really so unlike you and me?

Regarding the basic commonality of all humanity, Shylock in Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice makes an eloquent plea for ‘understanding.’ Doesn’t the same sense carry over to another type of bias?

“Hath not a disabled person eyes? Hath not a disabled person hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions; fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, healed by the same means, warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer as a healthy person is? If you prick them, do they not bleed? If you tickle them, do they not laugh?”

And so, I would like to close with this challenge, both to you and to myself: The next time you encounter a handicapped person, remember the words that God spoke to his prophet, Samuel:

“Have no regard for his outward appearance, nor for the maturity of his stature…for man does not see as God sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord sees into the heart.”

Thank you. J

Point of View

             My oldest son is about to turn 18.  His peers are busy with graduation and prom celebrations.  They are excited about their plans to go to college or university in the fall.  Those things are not part of Caleb’s world.  He hasn’t finished high school.  As a matter of fact, he hasn’t been to school this year since the first day way back in September.  Why?  Because he has Asperger’s and finds it very difficult to interact with people.  He doesn’t know why people act the way they do and he doesn’t know how to initiate or even respond to people.

            Over 13 years ago, we didn’t have any idea why he would get so upset over what seemed like trivial things.  He was frequently in trouble at school.  His story never matched the one from school personnel or other students.  Actually, his story never matched that of his younger brother either.  We had read an excellent parenting book that really encouraged parents to strongly deal with lying from a young age.  So, we disciplined Caleb for lying.

            I don’t know how long it took, but several years later we understood something:  Caleb wasn’t lying, rather his perspective was just very different from others’.  He saw the world through a mask of anxiety and paranoia.  If someone bumped into him in the hall at school, he understood that he was pushed.  He felt threatened and would push back.  His story was the truth – as he perceived it. 

            It was very difficult to place ourselves in his mind to try to understand things from his perspective. His hierarchy of rules was different from most people.  Rules were very important to him.  If he was told he was not allowed out of the classroom without permission, yet was about to explode with anxiety, he would stay and explode, rather than break the rule to leave the room to calm down in a safe place.

            He would try to “help” a student obey those rules that were so important to him, and would end up getting in trouble for pestering the other student.  He would try to make friends, and would get teased or bullied because he tried to makes friends based on his interests and understanding of reality.  When he reacted to the bullying, the other kids would lie and Caleb would get in trouble.  He actually didn’t know how to lie.  It is a “milestone” that most kids on the autism spectrum don’t reach until many many years after their peers have mastered it.

            Caleb also has trouble understanding anything from another person’s point of view.  Someone with autism thinks that everyone thinks the same way as they do – that there cannot be another way to think about something. There is no flexibility in their thinking. They often think that you have the exact same knowledge and understanding of things as they do.  Caleb’s brother Christopher, also on the autism spectrum, used to get very upset when I didn’t respond to something he expected me to know, even when there was no way that I would have known the information. If he knew the information, then I had to know the same information.

           

            So, where am I going with all this about Caleb?  I believe that all of us, like Caleb, have “distorted” perspectives of reality.  They just are not so obviously different. We often expect (or demand) that people have the same understanding of things that we do. God calls us to unity – but we are often so concerned with who is “right” and who is “wrong,” that we don’t care about what God wants.   Or, someone says something, and we hear and understand something completely different than what was intended and respond in anger or hurt, rather than making the effort to understand.

As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.  Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.  Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. (Eph 4:1-3)

            The apostle Paul urges us to live in unity with our fellow Christians. That takes humility, gentleness, and patience.  It takes love and it takes effort.  For my boys andothers on the autism spectrum, great care and effort is involved in teaching them the skills to be flexible and to realize that other people may think differently about such things.  They are being taught how to live in unity with others.  Most of us don't receive that kind of instruction, even though it is Biblical.  As a result, churches divide over the style of worship music, the method of sharing in the Lord’s supper, or because someone popular gets hurt by someone in leadership.  Unity is sacrificed for pride, self-righteousness, and unforgiveness. 

            Jesus prayed shortly before going to the Garden of Gethsemane to wait for his betrayal and crucifixion:

My prayer is not for them alone.  I also pray for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you.  May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.  I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one.  I in them and you in me.  May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. (Jn 17:20-23)

What will show the world that God sent Jesus to love the world?  Our unity. 

            How are you doing at being unified with other believers.  Is your church divided into cliques or “camps.”  Do you harbor resentment against one of the leaders?  Do you think your way to worship God is “the right way,” and that any other way is wrong?  Do you demand that certain “rules” be observed that others do not see as wrong.  Do you simply leave a church when there are problems without making the effort to be united? Are you and your misperceptions and/or sin in the way of the answer to this prayer by our Lord and Saviour?

            I close with a repeat of the Apostle Paul’s appeal to the Church in Ephesus.

As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.  Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.  Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. (Eph 4:1-3)

Psalm 66

Shout with joy to God, all the earth!

Sing the glory of his name;

make his praise glorious!

Say to God: "How awesome are your deeds!"

(Psalm 66:1-3)