Don't Eat the Apple

It seems to be in the nature of man to be impatient with the process of God. Man is rarely satisfied with where he is in life and he certainly does not like the word "wait." In man's mind the interpretation of the word "wait" is never.

The first sign of impatience was evident in the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve. Impatience seems to be the result of misdirected ambition. God gave us the anointing to be ambitious when He told us to rule the earth. There is nothing wrong with being ambitious in the context of wanting to please God. That lines up with 2Corinthins 5:9 where it says "Wherefore also we make it our aim, whether at home or absent, to be well-pleasing unto him".

However, Satan came along and saw an opportunity to invert our Godly ambition into impatience. Impatience usually has to do with self will as well as the judging of God's timing. There has always been this idea in man that if he could get to the next level (whatever that is), he could be more useful to God.

Eating the apple seemed to be a good idea in order to take man to that next level, so he ate the apple. Mankind was of course deceived by Satan. The root of impatience is to attain something without paying the price. Consequently mankind is prone to fall for the old 'apple' trick.

I remember seeing a For Sale sign on this beautiful farm in East Texas which had a gorgeous one hundred year old two-story house. I really wanted that farm. Somehow I justified in my mind that I could serve God better if I could add a retreat center to my ministry and this would fit the bill. I began to pray and God said "No, not now". I reluctantly said, "Okay Lord I am willing to wait". However a few days later the banker called and said that he would do the deal for me with nothing down and no payment for a year. I thought maybe God changed His mind-so I bought the farm. I began to pour thousands of dollars into restoring the farm and property and preparing it to live in for my dream ministry. However, it wasn't long before the bottom fell out of the market and money was short and the value of the farm dropped by a third. I ended up selling the farm for much less than I paid for it and lost thousands and thousands of dollars in the process.

My repentance for the sin of presumption and impatience was deep and sincere. Even to this day I am still sorry for letting myself be deceived like Adam and Eve.

It took years to financially recover from my act of impatience even though my forgiveness was instant.

Since that time I've tried to be a good father example of wait to the impatient ones who are following me. However after having said that, the lesson of waiting seems to be a life journey rather than a destination.

Father,

I thank you for teaching me that all my reasoning and jumping ahead of You is an inverted ambition and is the outworking of impatience. Forgive me for this sin and help me to be a better example to those who follow me who are also tempted by Satan to eat the apple. Help us all to be God led and ambitious for Your will.

Amen!

You Are Not That Good

(Ecclesiastes 7:20 Message Bible) There's not one totally good person on earth, Not one who is truly pure and sinless.

No matter how hard one tries to be righteous, Romans 3:10 tells us, "There is none righteous, no, not one." Isaiah 64:6 even goes so far as to say that "all our righteousness are as filthy rags." When you stop and think about this you may even wonder...why bother to try if your righteousness is no better than "filthy rags."

Apparently we have a different view of righteousness than the Lord has. Our view of righteousness often has to do with all the things we avoid doing. Whereas the Lord's view of righteousness has to do with what He did for us that we could not do for ourselves. This concept puts a different slant on righteousness.

There is something in mankind that makes him prone to base his righteousness on the "law of do's and don'ts." No matter how much he understands the effect of the cross he still wants to help God out by his good works.

The interesting thing in most cases is that man is not even aware of his religious actions. According to Matthew 23:5, he just wraps his "righteous robes" around himself and "broadens the phylacteries" on his forehead. For those who are not familiar with the term "phylacteries"...it is a little box full of scriptures that the Pharisees tied to their foreheads.

As a young preacher, I had an experience that still remains fresh in my mind today. There was probably no one who tried harder to live a more disciplined life before the Lord than me. I was a part of a holiness denomination that had a long list of things you must avoid doing if you were going to be holy. I followed that list to the letter of the law as far as I knew. My desire was do everything in my power to fulfill Romans 12:1 where it says "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service."

One day while having coffee with a good friend, he told me how much he and his wife appreciated me. He said I had always been there for them when they needed prayer and counsel. However, he proceeded to tell me that he was somewhat perplexed as to why I did not think as much of our friendship as they did. He said we have always told you all of our problems and you have never told us any of yours. He then followed that with the statement that still rings in my ears to this day and that is, "You are not all that good."

My loving the Lord was never in question but perhaps my 'Holiness List' was. Perhaps my friend understood the above scriptures more than I realized.

It has been many years since that day at the coffee shop with my friend, but our conversation is as fresh in my mind as if it happened this morning.

I am sure I never had a "Phariseeistic attitude" with a "phylactery" on my forehead, but if that was what came across to my friend then it was a reminder to me to be aware of a self-righteous spirit. After all "There is none righteous, no, not one."

Father,

My prayer is for those who try hard to be righteous and to walk in Your favor. Help all of us Lord to relax and enjoy the journey in life as we follow You. Thank you Lord for what You did for us that we could not do for ourselves.

Amen

Keeping Score

(John 4:1-3 Message Bible) Jesus realized that the Pharisees were keeping count of the baptisms that he and John performed

(although his disciples, not Jesus, did the actual baptizing). They had posted the score that Jesus was ahead, turning him and John into rivals in the eyes of the people.

So Jesus left the Judean countryside and went back to Galilee.

Keeping score is one of the most divisive acts I know of. In the case of our text the Pharisees were actually keeping score of who had baptized the most people-Jesus or John. One would think it would not make any difference as long as people were being baptized. However, that is not the way score keepers look at things.

Score keepers look at things differently than most people. As a matter of fact I have never seen a score keeper who actually confessed to being a score keeper. Their confession is that they only want things to be right and see that nobody else is being taken advantage of.

Every family seems to have a score keeper and that usually means that they are the self appointed ones to police the rest of the family's actions.

There seems to be certain characteristics of a score keeper that are unique to them. For example, you never seem to win an argument with them…because they are usually more relentless than everyone else in the family. If a family decision needs to be made-their opinion is usually the one you go with. It is not worth all the "I told you so" comments for years to come.

My own siblings have all gone on to be with the Lord, so I now feel free to use one of my sisters as an example of a score keeper. Otherwise I would be getting into a heap of trouble. Speaking of trouble-the last thing you ever want to do is to get in trouble with the family score keeper. My sister had the rest of us so well trained (or scared) that it got to the point that she did not even have to say anything. All she had to do was just show up and the rest of us would straighten up and start smiling and doing what we could to please her. When she was around we were always on our best behavior. No liberties were taken and her opinion was always asked and usually agreed upon. We even seemed to sit up a little straighter in our chairs when she was around.

I do not remember any of us ever saying anything derogatory about her while she was around. We would always wait until she left before saying all of those derogatory remarks about her. We even sort a whispered while saying all of those nasty things for fear she might hear us. I am sure it was fear that made all the rest of us smiling hypocrites.

In God's eyes I wonder whose sins are the worst, the score keeper Pharisees or the smiling hypocrites who gossip behind the score keeper's back.

Perhaps this is what Paul meant when he said in Romans 3:10…"There is none righteous, no, not one."

Father,

Forgive us for the sins that we commit against one another in the disguise of being righteous. Help us to see more clearly that our own peculiarities are many times an offence to others as well as to You. Help us to seek Your righteousness and honesty as we deal with others in love and humility.

Amen.

Ma

And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God.

For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.

Mark 11:22-23 KJV

This scripture is very interesting because it speaks of a level of faith that is attainable by everyone. Jesus made a point of saying to stop doubting when we pray. The moment we start doubting when we pray that is the moment our faith vanishes and our prayers become just empty words. Faith calls for an action on our part. As a matter of fact James 2:26 says "For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also".

I knew an extraordinary couple that lived in such agreement that their thoughts were inseparable. They were commonly known by most folks in that neck of the woods as Ma and Pa. As a matter of fact I do not think I ever knew their first names. They have both gone home to be with the Lord, but I think of them often. Pa was a very quiet deep thinking type of fellow who talked very little. Whereas Ma was very open and enjoyed talking. Not only were they extremely dedicated to each other, they were especially dedicated to the Lord. Their faith in the Lord always amazed me because it seemed that their prayers were answered quicker than most folks.

As a young stray teenager running around the countryside in the late '40s and early '50s I had the privilege of living with many people who wanted to be mom and dad to me. This was one of those couples who loved me for what I was, and through the eyes of faith saw potential in my scattered life. Perhaps my life is made up of bits and pieces of all those fine people who were willing to be my parents for a season.

I learned many things from all of them, but the thing I learned from Ma and Pa that would help me in later life was how to trust God and live by faith. I do not believe there is any greater lesson to learn than that of trusting God and living by faith.

One day I left Ma's home as I had left all the other homes, but Ma never left me. She always considered me to be her boy and by faith she would never turn loose of what she felt God had given to her.

As the years passed I would see Ma less and less. I might show up every two or three years to check on her and Pa but that was about it. During one of those absences from Ma I came to know the Lord. It could have been because of Ma's prayers and deep level of faith…not to mention her persistence that caused heaven to move on my behalf.

The moment I came to the Lord I was so on fire for God that I immediately went into the ministry as an evangelist and was getting people saved everywhere. One day I began to realize that maybe I had the Ma type of faith. Perhaps my inheritance from Ma was her faith and fire. Because Ma had something to do with my faith and fire, I am forever grateful.

I seldom saw Ma and Pa anymore because I lived several hours away from them. However, one day while going about my business in Houston, Texas-all of a sudden the Lord spoke to me and said, "Ma needs you." I filled up my car and headed down the road to Ma's house. A couple of hours later I pulled up in front of her modest little house and there she was waiting for me at the screen door. I got out of my car and said, "Hi Ma, how are you doing?" She did not respond by saying hi back, (as I expected). She only said, "What took you so long?" Then she said, "Well come on in, and we will talk about that later."

The reason the Lord sent me to see Ma that day was because she was ministering to a lady who had a problem which Ma did not know how to handle. Ma stopped ministering to the lady and told her, "I do not know how to handle things like this but I have a boy who does." The lady asked, "Where is he?" Ma said, "I don't know but I will pray and the Lord will send him." The lady asked, "But how does that work?" Ma said, "God hears me when I pray and John knows how to hear the Lord so he will come." Her simple faith filled prayer was "Lord I need for You to send John, in Jesus name, amen!" The lady said, "You mean that is all there is to it?" Ma said, "Yep, that is all there is to it." After she prayed she walked over to the screen door and waited for me to show up. That is the epitome of faith.

Everyone should have a Ma in their life to teach them how to trust God and to live by faith. These types of mothers are rare and are sprinkled throughout the kingdom as salt.

Father,

I cannot thank you enough for allowing Ma in my life. Even though she has been with you many years I continue to learn from her home spun theology, which to me is more accurate than all the seminary training in the world. Ma truly did walk with you in the cool of the day as Adam did. She really did talk to you "mouth to mouth" as Moses did. I pray I will have the kind of impact on others that Ma had on my life. Lord, her ministry will never end because I carry her message of trusting in God and living by faith to people around the world. Ma's faith was a true example of "mountain-moving faith".

Amen.