It lurks in the recesses of a man’s heart and will surely appear when provoked by circumstance, and Job’s stuffing came out a display of abject transparency. We can say that Job’s transparency painted him badly; three acquaintances felt this, but his plight had baffled his sense of justice. “Transparency, as used in science, engineering, business, the humanities and in other social contexts, implies openness, communication, accountability. Transparency is operating in such a way that it is easy for others to see what actions are performed. It has been defined simply as “the perceived quality of intentionally shared information from a sender”.[1] “The thing about transparency is that it shows. Period. When you’re open and direct, it shows; when you’re obtuse or avoidant, it also shows.”Beth Levine writes at http://www.smartmouthcommunications.com/the-thing-about-transparency/ I say, when our junk makes it’s appearance we can’t just display it, but we must be honest about it, but……
Tag: <span>accountability</span>
“You shall put the mercy seat on top of the ark, and in the ark you shall put the Testimony that I will give you. And there I will meet with you, and I will speak with you from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are on the ark of the Testimony…” Exodus 25:21-22 “My foot standeth in an even place: in the congregations will I bless the LORD.” Psalm 26:12 “…And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.” 1John 2:1-2 The mercy-seat of God, the even place, and the propitiation speak of a one-and-the-same place. Here, all that hinders a face to face with God flies away. Things remaining, join us to Him. Sin and sin’s…
People do “soul power” when they exercise undue influence over another person. Many in our society innocently welcome this kind of controlling stimulus, thus making the issue a complex problem. Some of these “well meaning” people bear wrongs in the name of simply being a “good” wife, friend, son or daughter. Others embrace this strong-feelinged thing because it makes for good T.V. and movies. The cina-maniacs project every relationship as a compatibility explosion, a madly in love sex affair, or hyper-meaningful change-the-world type of quest. Dutifully or willfully deceived, lives are permanently manipulated away from their God-given freedom door, which implies a personal responsibility to Him and to His nature; and to Him alone. Candidly, we all, Christian or not, lose our place of true liberty by neglecting willful accountability to Him who has the sole right to it. This lack deepens the deal of life, and creates a world…
A Christian moves. The moves lie in the “from faith to faith,” “from glory to glory,” “from strength to strength” categories and require “grace for grace.” The path of the just shines more and more unto the perfect day, and “in thy light we see (more) light.” Line upon line we learn; and precept upon precept. Job, in chapter 29 was found in a lament. Apparently, he was an amazing man of patience and ministry having a sense of God moving with him at all times. When we read this chapter we are astounded at the level of maturity he had. Nevertheless, it was all ended now; a grief and grieving was all that remained. Job was about to experience an identity crisis though dying was still more on his preferred horizon. It dawned on me while reading this portion how often this very thing occurs for us believers, in…
Sometimes God uses people to test our faith. Circumstances are difficult but nothing like the pure unadulterated face to face, heart to heart, psyche to psyche, flesh to flesh, hair raise. We need some skills, the main ones being; bullet biting, crow eating, cheek turning, appearance avoiding thereof, and downright Biblical longsuffering. Without these our faith shipwrecks quickly, truth fails, equity stands afar off. On the more serious side, it’s the shed blood of Christ, a Lamb without spot, which does the essential cleansing needed. Why needed? That blood cleanses away defilement of sin, sins, and also the mere interaction with “world” as God understands it. This Cosmos, this whole earth, lies in the hands of the wicked one as conveyed in 1John 5:19. For this reason, we find that Jesus, dying for the sins of men, nevertheless, did not put His trust in men, John 2:24 We likewise must not esteem…
And psychometry is the discovery that the mind can act outside the human body and that the ‘psychometric sensitive’ can read the past like an open book. Then came a discovery called ‘statvolism,’ signifying a peculiar condition produced by the will, in which the subject can ‘throw the mind’ to any distant place, and see, hear, smell, and taste, what is going on there. Then came a discovery called” Pathetism” …By this the mind could withdraw itself from the consciousness of pain and cure diseases. Jesse Penn Lewis “Through the Spirit we do mortify the deeds of the body.” This mortifying operation works not through soul-power. “If Christ be in us the body is dead because of sin.” These verses are in Romans 8. See, the impotent soul cannot effect or give life or death, for that matter; without the Spirit, it only retains its inherent life and develops…
God has begun a Project in us, are we available? Yes, God will perform the thing concerning us, no problem. Will we let Him? He’ll work the plan in faithfulness, will we faithfully cooperate? Explain? It’s easier to understand this relationship when we consider God’s ends for us. When we do, our part simply responds, responds, responds. God has marked out boundaries for a believer’s life, did you know that? What kind of boundaries? —boundaries set from God’s foreknowledge. For instance, He already knows beforehand the number of people we will meet in our whole life. He knows how much money we will make. He knows every decision we will encounter and the ultimate outcome of our choices. He knows how many times we will ignore our choices. He knows our thoughts afar off, and yes, He knows our name, and our wife and children too. So, with the advantage…
The judicial system does not separate a person from his past but sees the person’s identity as a consistent whole throughout a lifetime. Thankfully this is so, otherwise it could be argued that the person, five years removed from the deed, has become a new person and so sheds responsibility for past years, ie. Tom at age 18 was a different person from Tom at 27. In a true story, Tom robbed the grocery store when he was young. What do we reckon now that Tom has been found out 10 years later? In most places our legal system says he still pays for the crime, but many folks are of the opinion to release him. What do you say? Well, lets ponder; if an individual could receive a token status of “new identity” in a measure of time lapsed, there most certainly would be criminals running free in our…
Is America becoming a post-Christian society? What does it mean for us Christians? It directly affects believers who try to win lost souls because an unsaved person’s ground of decision making may be skewed or obscured in the river of modern relativism. See, much of contemporary thought leans toward “fate” and “fatalism.” This “higher knowledge” quaintly un-hides itself in the colloquial phrase ” history repeats itself.” People who practice “fate” as a lifestyle live in idolatry and this God-demoting practice has many variations. It starts when some find it convenient to blame other persons, things, and events for their own sins. Adam and Eve originated this trend in Genesis 3. They duck blame and skirt responsibility. They use “wisdom from below.” We fall into the sucking vac hose called stupor. Rolling snowballs accumulate more snow, lies beget more lies, and hell is never satisfied, so says the Bible. God…