# 13 – Losing the Standard and Fanning the Flames

2) help others do the works of faith



photo credit: Dean Williams 2012

Do biblical standards serve Christians well on uncomfortable issues like abortion and GLBT rights? When these issues come up, do we behave defensively, guiltily, and apologetically; or, are we offensive, harsh, and just plain mean? Any one of these behaviors signals we’ve lost a very important biblical standard.

Christians are not defined by whether we are for or against “the issues”. Instead, what defines us is LOVE!

 

Love suffers long, is kind, is not puffed up or rude, and thinks no evil (1 Cor. 13: 4-7). If we fail to love according to this standard, then we are undefined Christians and breakers of the law. “The entire law is summed up in a single command: Love your neighbor as yourself” (Gal. 5:14, NIV).

Besides, at one time or other, members of our family, friends, or neighbors will become “the issue”. When they do, we are under command to love them—not more or less—but in the same way we love ourselves. Love binds us to one other as we are bound to our selves. After all, love is about balanced scales. Therein is justice satisfied.

As community issues continue to impinge upon our faith, let us remember that the standard God set for us is the same one he set for himself (John 3:16). Thus, if we lose the standard, then we’ve lost our connection to the Vine, Jesus.

In that case, we are useless branches, left to wither until we become fuel for the flames (John 15:6, NKJV).

 

 

Scripture quotations from the King James Version (KJV) of the bible unless otherwise indicated.

# 12 – Different Levels of Growth

2) help others do the works of faith

photo courtesy Dean Williams 2012

Our journey as Christians begins and ends in Christ Jesus. That journey starts where we are—in the flesh; and ends where we should be—in the spirit. Let’s review some basics.

• We received Jesus as Lord and Savior. We’ve confessed with our mouths, believed with our hearts, and are saved (Rom. 10:9, 10).

 

• Yet all who are saved do not submerge themselves into John’s baptism by water. Water-baptism displays our repentance over past offenses, and establishes our commitment to change for the better. Otherwise, we’re just a brood of saved vipers (Luke 3: 7, 8). 

• Jesus stressed the importance of being “born again” (John 3:3). If we don’t experience this re- birth, then we cannot “see”, ĕidō, know or perceive the kingdom of God because the kingdom is spiritually discerned. Moreover, if we are birthed by water and the Spirit, then not only do we “see” the kingdom of God, we can also “enter”, ĕisĕrchŏmai, into it spiritually. And this is where most Christians, out of fear, begin to “dis” the spirit-workings of the Holy Spirit. 

• Jesus baptizes us with the Holy Spirit and fire. This baptism burns up the chaff in us—our corrupt nature—so he can gather to himself the wheat-part of us (Luke 3:16, 17). Once we’ve identified with his death, burial, and resurrection, we are transformed into his image—and are born of Christ (Rom. 6:3, 4; 2 Cor. 3:18; 1 John 2:29; Col. 1:27, 28). 

• Christians who are born of Christ are also born of God and do not sin (1 John 3:2). We have learned to participate in the divine nature through the incorruptible seed that has been planted in us (2 Peter 1:4). 

• We are also born of the Spirit. If the Spirit births us, then we display other-worldly abilities. One of them is to come and go like the “wind”, pnĕuma, current of air, or spirit (John 3: 8). 

Yet, no matter what stage of the journey we are at, spiritual expressions will often occur in our lives by virtue of our births. Fear will not help us here. Only faith in Jesus—and support from the household of faith—will help make our journey a faith-filling one.

The kingdom of God is spirit. We are meant to be spirit. Isn’t it about time we put our fears away, and get acquainted with the spiritual kingdom he’s given us?

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References: Scripture quotations from New King James Version (NKJV). Greek definitions from Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible; and Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words (1981).

# 11 – Faith to Recognize God’s Care

2) help others do the works of faith


Diamond Head hike 2012 - photo credit: Dean Williams

Recently, I read a post on a social network site where a young Christian woman claimed she heard the sound of an approaching “manapua” truck. This sound is familiar to all who grew up in the Hawaiian Islands. Every kid of elementary-school age recognizes this sound.

So, the experience would not have been an unusual one—except that this young woman was not in Hawaii—she was in Massachusetts! She knew no manapua truck was going to come around the corner (indeed, none came); and yet she also could not deny the reality of her experience.

So, she shared it online. Sadly, none of her age-group validated her experience. Instead, many ignored it. In the end, she too began to “dis” the experience, calling it “creepy”. However, she had enough reasons to accept her “creepy” experience as a gift from God. College had uprooted her from her culture. So she was missing home. Missing ‘ohana. Missing the local food.

Had she been able to receive her “manapua” experience by faith, she would have discovered the reality of an extraordinary God in her extremely ordinary life. He knew her yearning, her heart, and her homesickness—and showed he cared by sending her a blessing to comfort her—the familiar sound of the manapua truck.

We mistakenly reserve faith for “Godly things”. And when we do, we miss out on the only “Godly thing” God truly cares about—us!

I’d say that “us” would always be the right "time" when to apply faith.