Do You Have the Original?

It doesn't even need to be said that I'm a huge fan of the Monster Energy Drink. The stuff is so good, I try not to have any more than one every other day (and I might add that I fail miserably on certain days...).

When I first has a can of Monster, I was impressed by its power, though not so much its taste. Considering the price, I thought I'd keep it in mind for emergencies when I just needed that serious kick. About a month later, I tried another one...this time I thought it tasted better, though I still wasn't convinced it was worth it for such a high price. But that's when I found it! A no-name brand of the same product--for a third of the price! This stuff tasted exactly the same, and I started to become a regular customer. (I know you're probably confused where I'm going with this, so just hold on...) But one day, in a rush, I grabbed a Monster. I immediately noticed the taste was a tad bit more real than the no-name brand product...but the price still just wasn't completely worth it to me, so I stuck with the other product.

Fast-forward a bit, and I found a great deal on a large pack of Monster, so I splurged. A few weeks later, and half-way through the pack, I was given the mimic product. My complexion changed instantly after the first sip. "This stuff tasts like CARDBOARD!" I reluctantly finished the can, because it was all I had for energy. I realized that Monster tasted a LOT different, and that product was just an unconvincing mimic.

How true that is for us as Christians! We have our own perception of who we think God is, we read a little about Him occasionally, and we fill in the details with our own reasoning. Yes, we acknowledge the power of God, but we see Him through our fleshly-minded lens. We often wonder if knowing Him fully is worth the price to be paid--to be holy as He is holy. We save God for our emergencies, those times "when we need Him." Then we fall for the alternative products, religion of our own making. To us it tastes the same, looks the same, and is easier to come by. But until we taste the true presence of God, and until we find out who God really is, we will think our religion is gospel-truth since it is the very lens with which we view God.

II Corinthians 13:5 says, "Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? --unless indeed you are disqualified." The only way we can be sure we are in the faith is to compare our perception of reality with reality itself--the Word of God. Most often we will find our perception of the original to be nothing more than a cardboard-tasting mimic. If we are rooted in the truth, we will notice the other products for what they are--counterfeits and impostors, demonic spirits masquerading as spirits of light. I John 4:1 says, "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets [impostors] have gone out into the world."

The Parable of the Talents

I recently was asked to write a short devotional for a good friend, and I wanted to share a version of it with you all.

Forgiveness isn't something that our weak flesh finds itself doing automatically. We would rather see justice done in the situation before we let off our hard feelings toward the person who wronged us. In Matthew 18, Peter asked Jesus a question that we all have wondered: How many times must we forgive? Part of Jesus' answer was the parable of a servant who couldn't repay his master 10,000 talents, and was about to be sold until he could repay the debt. I am always intrigued by the amounts used in parables, since they are representative of reality. According to People's New Testament Commentary, 10,000 talents is worth 7.5 million dollars in today's money! Not only that, but 10,000 talents is (according to Adam Clarke's Commentary) the "highest number known in Greek arithmetical notation"! Even working for his entire life as a slave with his whole family, he wouldn't be able to begin paying that back, since the average worker made the equivalent of about 14 cents a day! (Source: Albert Barnes NT Commentary) Still think he could have paid that back? Yet, the master forgave him the entire debt, which caused the would-be slave to be free. But when the servant saw one of his fellow servants, he remembered that he owed him some money, 14 dollars to be exact (or 100 days wages), and had failed to repay. So he sent him to prison, until he could pay him back, regardless of the servant's plea for mercy.

Remember also, that it is true that the man owed him 14 dollars and he hadn't paid him back. This to any person would seem like a legitimate reason for punishment or at least unforgiveness. However, when the master heard of this, he put that servant in prison until he should repay the enormous sum of money. Christ ends the parable with these words: "So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses" (Matthew 18:35). It is interesting that Jesus applied the highest number known in Greek arithmetical notation to our debt that we owe God for breaking His law. Every person has broken God's law in one part or another, and we are to be given the highest punishment for it--eternal death. Yet, Jesus already paid this debt for us, if we only believe! But when we see one who did us wrong, it only seems justifiable to hold it against them. But God looks at this as holding 14 dollars against someone, since He already forgave us the largest debt that we could have. If we hold this against our brother, God will hold against us our sin as well. We must be willing to forgive always no matter how many times we have been wronged so that we can experience Christ's forgiveness for our enormous debt of sin.

Complete Obedience

You ever find yourself reading the Bible and applying it to everyone else but you? Who doesn't find themselves doing that at one time or another? Check out this verse:

"For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope." Romans 15:4

Notice that it says for "our" learning...not "their" learning. It is each of our responsibility to compare ourselves with the mirror of God's Word. Now that you know where I'm coming from, check out this passage:

Then the scribes and Pharisees who were from Jerusalem came to Jesus, saying, "Why do Your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread." He answered and said to them, "Why do you also transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition? For God commanded, saying, 'Honor your father and your mother'; and, 'He who curses father or mother, let him be put to death.' But you say, 'Whoever says to his father or mother, "Whatever profit you might have received from me is a gift to God" --'then he need not honor his father or mother.' Thus you have made the commandment of God of no effect by your tradition. Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying: 'These people draw near to Me with their mouth, And honor Me with their lips, But their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.'" Matthew 15:1-9

When I would read this passage so many times over, the first thing that came to mind was, "Yup, the Pharisees were doing something wrong again..." But, since we know that it was written for OUR learning, we must find out what God is telling US through this passage.

You probably see it as a big deal for the Pharisees to make up an exception to God's command, and rightly so. But do you ever check to make sure you aren't making exceptions to God's Word? For example, the Bible says that all liars will be cast into the lake of fire and brimstone. But, sometimes we think that if we are telling the truth in just a slightly deceptive way, then it's somehow ok. Or even the example presented in the text itself: "Honor your father and your mother." We think that if they aren't treating us the way they should, then it's justifiable to dishonor or disobey them (although, if a command is directly contrary to God's Word, that is the one exception based on God's Word). Or what about if we "borrow" something, and don't return it. We don't always believe that is as bad of an action as outright stealing. Yet, that is merely OUR exception to God's rule--not one He gave to us.

Check out that last part of the Scripture: "These people draw near to Me with their mouth, and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me..." That's a strong statement! Doesn't that sound a whole lot like the average American Christian? God's telling us that is useless to worship Him in word but not in deed--such as by making your own exceptions to His law. How can you really believe something if you don't fully act on it?

Beginning to see how this passage pertains to you? Just because something is the way you, or even your church, has always done it doesn't make it right. Jesus is warning us (not just the people of the past) that we can't let tradition get in our way of obeying His Word. If something goes against the word of God--even if it's tradition--we must adjust OURSELVES so we can daily look more and more like Christ as we look into the mirror of His Word.

Your Opinion on Tolerance?

So what's your opinion of tolerance? I've come across many Christians who equate showing Christ's love to being tolerant of everyone else's beliefs. Is that really the case, though? What can we learn from the love of Christ? It doesn't take much reading of God's Word to see that He isn't tolerant of sin. For example, when Jesus saw the Jews buying and selling in the temple, what did He do?

John 2:15 When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers' money and overturned the tables.

That doesn't sound to me like Jesus was being tolerant of their view, does it?! And we know that Jesus was acting in love, because He is one with the Father, and "God is love" (I John 4:8). Check out Christ's tolerance of the Pharisees' sin in this Scripture:

John 8:44 You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.

Wait a minute! Jesus just told the Pharisees that they are just like their murderous father! Shouldn't He be tolerant of their beliefs even though they are wrong?

Ephesians 5:11-13 And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret. But all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light.

God is telling us that He wants us to expose the darkness of this world. How do we do that while being tolerant of others' beliefs and without stepping on people's toes? Others use the excuse that we need to be tolerant of others because everyone is right. However, Jesus said:

John 14:6 "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me."

If you ask me, that doesn't leave a whole lot of room for anyone else, does it? We need to be careful to make sure our opinion of any topic lines up with the truth of God's Word (Jesus, while praying to the Father, said, "Your word is truth." John 17:17).

I realize that I didn't go into a whole lot of detail, but I wanted to make that point.