My Pledge Will Stand

I pledge allegiance to the flag,
Of the United States of America,
And to the Republic for which it stands,
One Nation under God,
Indivisible,
With liberty and justice for all.

I don't know how many times I've repeated that pledge, but it's a lot. Sadly, not as many times in the last half of my life as the first. I do, however, consider that pledge to be binding. I have pledged my allegiance, my loyalty, to this flag and the nation represented.

This election will not change that. Nor will the next. I am an American. I may not like all that is going on in her right now, but America is my country. She is my homeland, the piece of earth God has granted me to enjoy. I am invested in her, and united with her. 'Til God calls me to my true home, or directs that I should move elsewhere, this is where I stand firm.

I made a promise. A pledge. And I intend to keep it.

You don't bail out when life gets hard.

Do we have our problems? Absolutely. Our nation is not perfect. It cannot be. It is ruled and inhabited by us, meaning failed and fallen men and women. We are not perfect (refer to Romans 3:23 if you doubt that), and therefore the nation we make up cannot be perfect. We've made some bad decisions, committed some horrendous errors, and done some stupid things.

That pretty much sums up my life, too. If you only want to look at the dark side. On the other hand, we as a nation have done some incredibly wonderful things, made the right decisions in hard times, and shown wisdom in many ways. That's why we are worth standing with, fighting for, and believing in.

You see, you don't give up when life gets hard. Frighteningly, that is the all-too-common attitude anymore. If my job gets hard, I quit. If church gets uncomfortable, I walk away. If marriage isn't one long honeymoon, I bail out. If this country isn't what I think it should be, I bash it and break my pledge.

Here's the reality folks: The grass isn't any greener on the other side of the fence. A whole bunch of people have learned that lesson the hard way.

I choose a different path.

I choose to stand firm. That's what God says over and over in His Word. Stand firm. Keep your word. Honor your pledge and your oath. You can disagree, and that's OK--I've disagreed with people before--but that's how I see it. I've given my word; now it's time to prove it.

Whatever comes of this election, I will remain loyal to this country. My first allegiance is to my God. I am pledged to my wife. And I am bound by my word to the United States of America. Men and women may turn her in a direction she was never meant to go, but that will not change my pledge to stand with this One Nation under God. I may have to distance myself from her leaders, but I will not abandon her.

Because America is bigger than a president. She's bigger than Congress. She's even more than the consensus of her constituents in any given generation. She's a nation founded on a belief in God and deference to His rule, and it is to that ideal to which I pledge my allegiance.

As I've said in other vows I've taken,
For better or for worse,
For richer or for poorer,
In sickness and in health:

I pledge allegiance to the flag,
Of the United States of America,
And to the Republic for which it stands,
One Nation under God,
Indivisible,
With liberty and justice for all. 
  

Here Is The Answer

There is so much going on in the world. 

I don't just mean the usual, busyness of life type of stuff. I mean big things. Life-altering, world changing events. Paradigm shifts. Decisions are being made that will affect the lives, and deaths, of millions--perhaps even billions--of individuals for years and even decades to come.

Take our upcoming presidential election. Hanging in the balance of this process is the direction of our nation not only on fiscal matters, but matters of morals and ethics, faith and freedom, security and survival. This is being called by some as the most important election in our lifetimes. That's a big responsibility.

We are also a nation at war. We've been at war for so long, many don't even realize it anymore. That reality slapped me in the face this past week when I received news of a young man from our church being killed while serving our country in Afghanistan. Please pray for his wife, two young children, and family.

Disease and famine. Global terrorism. International internet hackers taking out huge sections of the net. Earthquakes and cataclysmic storms. Uprisings and rebellions. Nations ripped apart by divisions and dissensions.

It would be easy to lose hope. It would be easy to think there is no answer.

But there is.

God.

God is the answer. I say that neither casually nor flippantly. It is not a pat answer just thrown out there to satisfy my title as a Christian. I say that with all seriousness and gravity. God is not an answer, He is the answer.

Whether the question be about our nation, our families, our individual decisions and struggles, it is to God that we should look. Need strength? God is the answer. Comfort? He is there. Provision? All comes from God. Courage. Perseverance. Patience. Hope.

God. God. God, and God.

Him. Only Him.

He is the answer.

Always and forever.

God Will Decide--He Always Has

In 20 days, God will decide.

Just as He did in 1788, and 1860. No different than 1960, or 1984. As it was in 2000 and 2012, so shall it be in 2016. 56 times God has decided our president. This one will be no different.

God has a plan. It has not changed. It is not subject to interference or subterfuge. From before the beginning, God has known the answer. Whoever wins will be whom God intended to win, as said in Daniel 2:21.

God will not react to the results of this election. He has planned this, and whatever is to come next. He is never caught off guard. He guides. He directs. He causes. He acts, but He has no need to react. As this part of His plan is completed, He will follow through til the end.

There is nothing new here. This is God at work. As He was yesterday, so He is tomorrow. In control. Sovereign. Holy. Just. Right.

In 20 days, God will still be God.

Kings and rulers come and go--presidents, congressmen, judges, and their appointees included. Some are good, other are not. They succeed, or they fail. They may be righteous or they may be evil, but what they all have in common is that they rule only until replaced, and live only until they die.

Not God. He is. Forevermore. He never fails. His will never fails. Ever. We may not--do not--understand His plan, but it will come to fruition. God is eternal. His rule is forever.

In 20 days, 20 weeks, 20 years, and 20 millennia, God will be God. The Almighty. His Son will be King of Kings and Lord of Lords. They have not been replaced, nor will they ever. They stand, firmly enthroned.

In 20 days, we will be in God's hands.

We were yesterday, we are today, and we will be tomorrow in the care of our loving, providing Father. It is He who cares for us, protects us, provides for us. It is to no man nor woman to whom we should look for our answers, but to God, and God alone.

He alone numbers the hairs on our head. He alone knows all things. He alone created. He alone sustains. Only God. Why would we look anywhere else?

To say, "It is in God's hands," is to speak nothing but truth. All things are in God's hands. Including our elections. Including our lives. Including our next breath. No person can change that, for they, also, are in His hands.

There is not, nor will there ever be, a greater comfort than to know, believe, and trust that we are in the hands of the Master. Strong and secure, they will never fail. Steady and sure, they will never falter. Faithful and willing, they will never let go.

In 20 days, what will be will be.

 According to His will and purpose, what is to happen will happen. For all we know, Christ may call any one of us, or even all of us who believe, home to Him before that day comes.

And all the saints say, "Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!" 

 

Where Am I In God's Plan?

I wonder, from time to time . . .

Just where am I in God's plan? I don't mean to say that I feel left out, or that I wonder where God is in my life (those are musings for another time). What I mean is, am I where God wants me to be? How do I know? If I'm not content, is that God calling me, or the Enemy?

Contentment is a tricky thing. There is a fine line between contentment and complacency. We are to learn to be content whatever our circumstances, as Paul says in Philippians 4:11, and are to realize there is great gain in contentment, as he told Timothy in I Timothy 6:6. On the other hand, he wrote in I Corinthians chapter 9 about how life is like running a race, or a boxing match (with ourselves), a contest in which we strive for a prize. That's anything but complacency.

So if I'm not sure I'm where God wants me to be, if I don't know if I'm doing what God wants me to do, am I to be content with that? I don't think so. Hebrews 3:7 says, "Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts." In other words, if God's talking to you, LISTEN!  

How do I know God's plan for me?

I don't. Jeremiah 29:11 reads, "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." God knows His plan. We don't.

Romans 12:2 says that we are to be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--His good, pleasing, and perfect will. So somewhere in there is the key. Paul doesn't tell the Romans that they will be able to know God's plan, but he does tell them they will be able to test and approve God's will. In other words, if we have our heads on straight, we'll be able to know if we're doing what God wants us to do.

How do we do that? How do we get our heads on straight? If we go up to Romans 12:1, we see that we offer ourselves as living sacrifices to God. We do everything, and give everything, as an offering to Him. Verse 2 says that we should not conform any longer to the pattern of this world . . . but be transformed by the renewing of our minds. Give everything to God. Don't do what the world says you should do. Listen to the One who matters.

At that point, we test and approve where we are and what we are doing against the idea of offering our entire life as a sacrifice to God. If they match, we've got a winner! If not, we better start listening, and stop hardening our hearts.

I wonder how the 12 Apostles felt.
 
James and John had an apparently successful fishing business (successful enough to have at least two hired men), and they walked away from it to follow Jesus. Matthew (Levi) was doing well as a tax collector (even if people hated him), and he left it all to follow Christ. We don't know what all of the disciples did for a living, but we do know they all left their former lives behind and followed what mattered.

What was it, other than the voice of Jesus, that convinced them? Honestly, I think that was it. Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. How many did Jesus call to who didn't listen? That number is still growing today.

I don't want my name added to that list. I want to be like James and John who, though they were good and successful at what they were doing, knew when something better came along. Not something better only in this world, but for eternity.

Whatever God's plan is for me, I know this: It has a lot more to do with eternity than it does with tomorrow.

The Church Must Serve--Or Else

The Church exists to serve Christ.

Whether you take your cue from the Great Commission or the first and second Greatest Commandments, the duty of the Church is to serve. We are to make disciples, love God, and love our neighbors. All of those are action words, words of service.

We as individuals, and the church body as a whole are not simply called, but commanded to serve. You can reference I John 4:10, Romans 12:4-8, James 1:22 and many others to see this. Serving is not optional. It's not a matter of choice or convenience. It is our duty. We are servants, and our Master expects us to serve.

What happens to a servant who fails to serve their master?

They are punished. Our God is no different. This is a side of God the modern Church doesn't like to talk about, but it is as undeniable as His mercy and His grace. God expects obedience, and while He is patient and merciful, His patience does have limits.

Do you not want to believe that our God has limited patience? Read Revelation 2:20-23. The woman Jezebel was given time to repent, and she refused. God's patience ran out, and she was punished. No endless warnings, no more red lines in the sand. She had her chance to repent, and missed it. Her punishment was exact, and brutal.

As for the rest of her church in Thyatira? They faced the same penalty if they failed to turn themselves around. Repent, or suffer the same fate as that adulterous false prophet. Christ said they must serve Him, or pay the price.

All churches face the same danger.

In the second and third chapters of the book of Revelation, Christ dictated 7 letters to 7 seven churches. In 5 of those letters He repeated this phrase:  "I know your deeds." In 4 of them, that was not a good thing. Only the church in Philadelphia was told to keep doing what they were doing. Only their deeds, their service, was sufficient in the eyes of Christ, and then only if they continued on.

As for the other four? Ephesus was warned unless their service once again reflected their first love (what is the Greatest Commandment?--love God), He would come and remove their lampstand from its place. Thyatira, we already said, was threatened with severe punishment if they did not repent. Sardis was told to "wake up," or else Christ would come to them like a thief in the night. And Laodicea was warned they were about to be vomited out of the mouth of Christ.

If Christ comes to your church like a thief in the night, removes your lampstand from its place, or vomits you out of His mouth, its over. That it. A church that doesn't serve Christ is of no use to Him, and He will not tolerate it. That's a lesson we learn from the seven churches in Revelation.

To him who overcomes, there is a reward. To him who doesn't . . . 

Whether it be to eat from the tree of life, to be free from fear of the second death, to be written in the Book of Life, or any of the other promises made in those seven letters, he who overcomes by serving faithfully will be rewarded. He who doesn't, on the other hand . . . I don't want to know what happens.

What I do know is that, according to what we've seen above, if a church as a whole isn't serving Christ faithfully, the outcome is boarded up windows and weeds overgrowing the parking lot. It's done. Empty. Lights out forevermore.

I don't want to see that happen to my church. Not to my local church, or the larger Church of my country. That second, I am afraid, may indeed be in danger. We need to do something. Now.

Christ is patient.

He gave those churches a warning, a chance to repent. I believe we have the same.

I pray we respond to His warnings quickly enough.  

All For The Glory Of God

My salvation isn't about me.

Nor is your salvation about you. Have you ever asked why God saved us? Yes, yes--John 3:16. For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. So it's all about me, right?

Wrong.

Paul speaks to this in Ephesians 1:11-14. This is a long passage, so I'm going to highlight the main points. Paul says, "In him we were also chosen . . . in order that we . . . might be for the praise of his glory. And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal . . . a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance . . . to the praise of his glory.

Asaph, one of the authors of the Psalms, understood this. Psalm 79:9 reads: Help us, O God our Savior, for the glory of your name; deliver us and forgive our sins for your name's sake.

We are here for the glory of God.

Our purpose to exist is to make known the glory of God. In fact, that's the purpose of all creation. Psalm 19:1 says, The heavens declare the glory of God. Romans 11:36 reads, For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen. John heard this testified to in heaven in Revelation 5:13, Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing: "To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!"

Whoever you are, wherever you are, you do not exist for your own glory. You exist to make known the glory of God Almighty. The fact that you exist brings Him glory, whether you admit that or not. Who else could have made you? No one. Who else could have created all that is created, sustained all that is sustained? No one. Refer to Romans 11:36 again. From him, through him, and to (or for) him are all things.

It's not about us. It's about Him.

We are saved to demonstrate God's glory.

 Everything that is, and was, and will be--including our immortal souls--was created and is sustained to, through, and for God's glory. By saving pitiful sinners--those who were created for His glory but fell short (Romans 3:23)--God demonstrates His glory even more. Our salvation reflects that glory, just as the heavens themselves reflect the glory of the Creator.

For His glory. For His name's sake. To His praise and honor. That is why we are saved.

This life, and our eternal lives to come, are not about you and me. It's all about God.

Let's start living that way.