Possessed

Do not love the world or the things that belong to the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in him. Because everything that belongs to the world — the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride in one's lifestyle—is not from the Father, but is from the world. And the world with its lust is passing away, but the one who does God's will remains forever. – 1 John 2:15-17

Don't love the world's ways. Don't love the world's goods. Love of the world squeezes out love for the Father. Practically everything that goes on in the world—wanting your own way, wanting everything for yourself, wanting to appear important—has nothing to do with the Father. It just isolates you from him. The world and all its wanting, wanting, wanting is on the way out—but whoever does what God wants is set for eternity (The Message).

I’ve met a few folks who were not worldly. Some of them were religious, but some were simply wise, having realized that the system does not work as advertised and the rat race doesn’t get you anywhere. Me – I’m bad for liking cool stuff – in particular books, radios, firearms, knives, and some other hand tools are my main weaknesses. At least, it’s not cats or Precious Moments figurines. I do have two utility infielder felines, but they’re kind of like kids -- except they don’t ask for money.

I used to have a rule that I would only have as many firearms as I could shoot or carry – and I’ve done pretty well. I’m about three over at the moment – maybe four – of course, I could get my wife to carry a couple. The grandkids are coming up, too, so I have to have some extras for them. There’s no point in trying to count my knives.

I don’t love the stuff I have – that is, I’m not attached to it, for the most part, but I do appreciate it, and I try to take care of it. When I was a little kid, my parents got me whatever I needed, and my oldest sister, who was already out on her own and working, got me a lot of things I probably didn’t need. While I never thought about it explicitly, my view was that these possessions were valuable – not so much in themselves, but that every toy and trinket was an expression of the love my family had for me. I derived joy from the use of a toy certainly, but I also derived joy from taking good care of what I was given so that the people who had given it to me would know I was grateful to them.

In a sense, I think it is “sinful” not to value and care for what we have been given – whether family, friends, pets or possessions. I accept the fact of wear and tear, and that eventually things wear out and have to be replaced, just as I accept the fact that people and animals pass on. But it is my job, if I possess something, to get the most out of it while keeping it in the best condition possible. I’m not supposed to stress out over equipment that breaks – I’m still working on that. I am, however, supposed to see the effort and skill that went into creating something, see the time I traded in order to possess it, see the grace of God that enabled me to obtain it, and then esteem it appropriately.

I have the utmost respect for a man so spiritual that he refuses to possess a car, but I cannot believe a man is spiritual who, having a car, fails to get the oil changed.

There are probably some who would look at John’s admonition to “love not the world nor the things thereof” as a reason to be careless with property and possessions. I don’t see it that way. Those who suffer most from the disease of worldliness are the ones who never appreciate what they do have. They want more simply to have more, or want it so someone else cannot have it.

God doesn’t care what we have, or how much we have. What He does address is making our own gods out of things, activities, or relationships. He tells us not to adopt the religion of accumulation, or bow down to self.

A simple test is that if the care and feeding of what I call “mine” eats up a significant portion of my free time, then I probably have too much. Any possession, pursuit or person that draws me away from God needs to be examined and put in its proper perspective, perhaps even abandoned. We can be balanced, appreciating the gifts in our lives but always vigilante and ready to dump anything that threatens to take over and control us.

The world is a system and a spirit rather than a place or material. From the world’s perspective, it makes sense to try and have everything our way, to get whatever we want, and to glory in how we live, and especially how clever we are. It is no surprise that as society becomes increasingly post-Christian it also becomes increasingly enamored with that which is from the world.

There is good news, though. Since the Cross, Christ reigns. Yes, I know that’s hard to see sometimes, but the Messiah’s Kingdom has come and is coming right now. In Daniel’s interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream (Daniel 2:34-35), he spoke of the kingdoms of the world. Then he described a stone cut out without hands that struck the worldly kingdoms and shattered them. There will be an end of the world, but of His Kingdom there shall be no end.

Not Many Fathers

I am writing to you, little children, because your sins have been forgiven on account of His name.
I am writing to you, fathers, because you have come to know the One who is from the beginning.
I am writing to you, young men, because you have had victory over the evil one.

I have written to you, children, because you have come to know the Father.
I have written to you, fathers, because you have come to know the One who is from the beginning.
I have written to you, young men, because you are strong, God’s word remains in you, and you have victory over the evil one. – 1 John 2:12-14

Some days I am, at best, a child. With all that goes on, I can do no more than cling to the fact that Jesus had paid it all, and that I have access to the Father, and acceptance in Him. The Christian life begins with the Cross, a once-for-all transformation that turns us right side up in an upside down world. Through the Cross, we are delivered from sin’s bondage, the will is liberated, and we are free to walk in obedience to God. That part is easy for us because Jesus did the hard work, and we have only to believe it.

Christianity doesn’t end there, though. Every moment of every day we face the choice of whether to continue living under the deceptive rule of the soul. Some have compared the soul to a shell that surrounds the spirit man. It must be cracked in order for the spirit to take its proper place of rule in our lives. Our own personal cross must be borne day by day, or hour by hour for that to happen. There is no victory except to put to death the soul’s natural inclinations. Only in dying to self can we overcome. Attempting to defeat the enemy through self-denial either fails or leads to self-righteous pride.

It would seem that John has things out of order. We would think he should have had children then young men, and finally fathers. That is the natural order of things, isn’t it? We are born, we grow, and we become stronger. But we are dealing with the supernatural rather than the natural. In the realm of the spirit, one moves from knowing their sins are forgiven and knowing God as Father -- the position of child, to submitting to the Spirit and becoming a sort of spiritual father to the new nature. We must be fathers in spirit before we can be warriors, overcoming and conquering the soulish self.

It is an impossible move for the natural man. It is hard for me to even contemplate. It makes much more sense that we should clean up as we grow up, working from the bottom up. God appears to be making an unreasonable demand -- that we move from a newborn to a father in one swoop, and only then work out our salvation from the position of walking in the spirit -- top down.

The One who is from the beginning is certainly the Father. Father, though, is relational. God is my Father from the point I was born into the Kingdom, just as my natural father was my father when I was born in this world. But my father had an existence prior to my birth. He had other relationships, other roles – so, too, with our heavenly Father. To know Him only as Father is reassuring. It brings us peace. But to know Him as the One is to know Him beyond all knowing. Thus did the Old Testament saints – the patriarchs, that is, the fathers, know God. Those of old said, “Hear, O, Israel, the LORD your God is One.”

The father knows YHWH – I AM THAT I AM. The child knows the Father through Jesus and His finished work. The youth knows, the Logos, the indwelling Christ. Child, father, young man is not so much a progression as a dance within us. We are child in relation to the Father. We are fathers in relation to the Spirit who must impart to us wisdom, insight and discernment so that we can conquer as brothers with Christ.

The Cross and the Soul

“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me, cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14.26-27). Now Matthew shows us in the matter of affection how believers ought to choose loving the Lord first rather than one’s family; while Luke signifies what attitude must be maintained towards the love which arises from the soul life – we ought to hate it. Strictly speaking, we are not to love just because the objects of our affection are those whom we would naturally love. Dear and near as parents, brothers, sisters, wives and children are to us, they are listed among the forbidden. Such human love flows from soul life which will cling to its heart desires and will call for love in return. The Lord maintains that such soul life needs to be delivered to death. Though we do not see Him, He wants us to love Him. He desires us to deny our natural love. He wishes to rid us of our natural love towards others so that we will not love with our own love. Of course He wills that we should love others, but not with our natural soulical affection. If we love, let it be for the sake of the Lord and not for their sake. A new relationship comes to us in the Lord. We should receive from Him His love so that we may love others. In a word, our love must be governed by the Lord. Should He desire us to, we must love even our enemies; if He does not ask us to, we cannot love even the dearest of our household. He does not want our heart to be attached anywhere because He wants us to serve Him freely. – Watchman Nee The Spiritual Man, Chapter 4 “The Cross and the Soul”, pp. 180, 181

Here’s a little something to think about over the weekend. I think I’ve been on this topic before, but Nee states it well from his perspective of distrusting the impulses built into our old nature.

I doubt that God very often forbids us loving a spouse, child, or parent – in fact, He gives an explicit command in Scripture that husbands should love their wives as Christ loved the church. Yet, even then, it is stated so as to cause us to realize our lives are not merely lives but legends of God’s grace.

I could have done quite well without the trouble

Sooo … we meet again.

Last week my hard drive physically died of the sickness whereof it was sick. This week, just as I was getting on track to wrap some stuff up and take off a couple of days, my software started acting bizarre. Another day was wasted re-imaging my new hard drive, and then I lost more time because, of course, the re-image has less than half the applications that I need to do the things I do. I cancelled my mini-vacation, and, as a consolation, stayed up the next three nights until the small, dark hours rebuilding and recovering while trying to beat the drop-dead delivery dates. By last night I only had to stay up until 11:30. This is progress.

Perhaps I will now be able to get back to my regular schedule of posting and, more importantly, cruising around to read the musings of my fellows posters in the coon-0-sphere. In any case, it is good to be back to more or less normal, at least for today.

Not Better than the Rest

I wait quietly before God,
for my victory comes from him.
He alone is my rock and my salvation,
my fortress where I will never be shaken.

So many enemies against one man—
all of them trying to kill me.
To them I’m just a broken-down wall
or a tottering fence.
They plan to topple me from my high position.
They delight in telling lies about me.
They praise me to my face
but curse me in their hearts.

Let all that I am wait quietly before God,
for my hope is in him.
He alone is my rock and my salvation,
my fortress where I will not be shaken.
My victory and honor come from God alone.
He is my refuge, a rock where no enemy can reach me.
O my people, trust in him at all times.
Pour out your heart to him,
for God is our refuge.

(Psalm 62:1-8, New Living Translation)

I have to leave First John, at least momentarily, to deal with the subject of war. Earlier this week, spiritual warfare was a topic that came to my attention repeatedly. There is no advancement on the road to freedom that does not involve battle. One of the reasons a day of slack or a time of slack every day is so important to us is that it permits us get our feet set for the blows that come at us. The more the enemy assails us, the more we need our rest and refuge.

Weaponry I have. Strength I have most of the time. What I need once in a while is a place to hide. Without some slack, I get shell-shocked. Battle-rattle will cause us to do stupid things, make mistakes, stumble, and leave ourselves unguarded and vulnerable. In the political sphere we can see that this is a favorite tactic of power-hungry politicians. The opponents of political freedom want to keep throwing things at us, keep us back on our heels, on the ropes, covering. The same is true of our spiritual enemies. The prince of the power of the air prefers to keep us from thinking and, certainly, from praying and meditating.

So many enemies against one man -- I’ve said something like that dozens of times lately. A tottering fence is the perfect description of my position the last few days. It seems that any gust of wind would overthrow me. Of course I don’t have a high position in the world, but I am seated in Christ above all, and it is from there the enemy would see me toppled.

But I overcome in quietness. My battle plan is to wait quietly on the Lord. I do have a stronghold wherein I may hide safely and securely. To the world and those who oppose me I may look like I am about to fall, yet, as I trust, falling is impossible. It seems crazy to rest when so many things are happening, when everything seems to be falling apart, when there is so much that needs to be done. To fall into the frenzy of activity, to become one with the fearful words and images that flow toward us in a filthy, unending stream seems a more rational response. It is wrong.

The battle is won by stillness of heart.

Everything Old is New Again

Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which ye had from the beginning. Again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in him and in you; because the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth – 1 John 2:7-8 (KJV)

Well, that makes no sense. Is it an old commandment or a new commandment? Make up your mind.

Let’s see how Wuest thinks it should read –

Divinely loved ones, no commandment new in quality am I writing to you, but a commandment, an old one, which you have had constantly from the beginning. The commandment, the old one, is the Word which you heard. Again, a commandment, one new in quality, I am writing to you, which fact is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is being caused to pass away, and the light, the genuine light is shining.


It almost sounds like the old commandment and the new commandment are the same except they are different.

In fact, God’s message, His Word has been coming to humanity since the beginning – more to the point, it has been coming to us, individually, since the moment we entered this world. We see it; we hear it; some of us even take it to heart and obey it. We don’t know why. It just seems to be the right thing to do. Sometimes we feel like doing something else, shutting down that voice that keeps drawing our attention to odd things, pushing us in a direction that seems contrary to our own animal interests.

Then one day, whether we have been “good” or bad by the standards of the world system, the light comes on. The old commandment, the wisdom of the ages, the insights of seers and prophets and teachers, the mythologies, and the stories of every group on earth – all suddenly becomes a new commandment. The commandment, in a way, has not changed, but, as Rick says, we see it “with eyes made new”. The Word changes in dimension. Rather than lying flat on the page, it stands up and walks around. The page becomes a portal. The stream of vibrations striking the ear drum becomes an earthquake, transforming. The mountains are moved or melt like wax.

What is the difference between the old commandment and the new commandment? In a word: Jesus. John points this out when he says the fact is “true in Him and in you.” Christ changes everything. In some ways, that is the New Testament in one line. Imagine the Pharisee Saul of Tarsus as he rose from his knees on the road and was led into Damascus. He was one of the most erudite men of his day. He knew the Scriptures backward and forward. He knew God’s word so well that he confidently pursued, persecuted, and sought to destroy the followers of the Nazarene. Now he has encountered the living Christ, been struck down and left blind. Christ has changed everything. Confused and helpless, he can do nothing but sit in a room, praying, fasting -- waiting. A man enters the room, prays, and lays hands upon Saul. That quickly, his eyes are opened. The darkness is past, and the true light shines.

All we think we know is subject to change in the light of revelation: from knowledge to gnosis.

In Your light we see light (Psalm 36:9).

How Do You Get To Heaven?

This is how we are sure that we have come to know Him: by keeping His commands. The one who says, "I have come to know Him," without keeping His commands, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word, truly in him the love of God is perfected. This is how we know we are in Him: the one who says he remains in Him should walk just as He walked. – 1 John 2:3-6

Do we know God? Do we want to know God?

The approach is the same in every realm whether spiritual or physical. We must come under the discipline of that which we wish to know. That’s why they are called disciplines: we must make ourselves obedient to them. A doctor must keep the commands of his discipline, so we say they practice medicine. Simply knowing the doctrine without putting it into practice does the patient no good. But when one practices what he believes is correct, he knows the truth of it – seeing it is indeed as he believed.

In the natural world of theory and practice, we know there is room for a growth of understanding. We may find that the theory, though useful, is not entirely correct, or we did not understand some aspect of it. The practitioner refines his understanding in application – whether setting a bone or a fence post. This is true to an extent in the spiritual world as well.

We may tend to think that mystical revelation is enough, and it is true that God’s instructions are perfect from His side. We know this for we know that Jesus put them into practice, tested and verified the truth with His own life, death, and resurrection. We know it from the lives of saints, from those who have gone before us and some who walk with us even now. Yet until I am willing to become a practitioner rather than a professor only, I cannot know how the truth works in me, for me, and through me.

God is inextricably in the truth of His word, and His word cannot be known apart from Him – that is, if we will know His word by doing it, we cannot help but know Him. To know the Scripture as Jesus knew it, we must put it into practice in our lives. To know the Scripture as Jesus knew it is to know the Father and the Son. To do the truth is to see the Truth.

What are the commands of God? Jesus said there were two – to love the Lord and to love one another. Paul agrees saying love is the fulfillment of the law. We love our fellow man by doing right by him. We love God by doing right period, by doing what He says.

“To walk as Jesus walked” – not, obviously, to be a long-haired, sandal-wearing, itinerant preacher as I’m pretty sure Jesus would go for cowboy boots if He were here today. To walk as Jesus walked is not about our appearance, our background, the clothes we wear, our speech patterns, or what we do for a living. Jesus walked a path of complete self-sacrifice. He walked a life of prayer – always, as we said the other day, conversant with the Father. Praying and giving up self isn’t going to make the stupid people around us suddenly not be stupid. Walking as Jesus did is not going to put a sane person in the White House next week or make Kim Jong Il suddenly look at his nuclear arsenal, slap his little chia head and say, “Nukes? What was I thinking? I could have had a V-8!” It is not going to restore a job, make the kids behave, magically clean the house, or cause the wife to lose her voice or the husband to start paying rapturous attention to everything the wife utters.

No, all it will change is me.

How do you get to heaven? The same way you get to Carnegie Hall: Practice, practice, practice.