The Bible, As It Turns Out, Isn't Really Hostile to Gays

Prepared by Reverend Durell Watkins of Sunshine Cathedral Miami (LGBT open church)

Scriptures to discuss/ponder:

Genesis 2-3 - a myth of origins, no wedding, no instruction of what romance must look like
Adam and Eve actually mean “soil and life”
They are metaphors, not historic persons, and certainly not an argument against same-gender love and attraction!

Genesis 19 – a myth of origins for the Moabites and Ammonites (an ethnic slur…the story is racist, not homophobic!). Love or attraction is never even mentioned in the tale of Sodom and Gomorrah.

Judges 19 – almost identical to Gen 19 with its violence and disregard for women

Leviticus 18.22 and 20.13 discourage male to male copulation, but it is in the context of prohibitions to keep the Jewish community from mimicking or being assimilated by Egyptian and Canaanite cultures. Are the two and only two (and only related to men) prohibitions against same-sex activity actually calling on people to not rape those they defeat in battle, or not use slaves as sex objects, or not have any kind of sex that couldn’t help in nation building (that is, producing future farmers, caregivers, parents, and warriors)?

There are many possibilities but what is clear is that they aren’t being told to not be gay, they are being told to not engage in practices common to larger geographic neighbours. The prohibitions fall among many other prohibitions that people who invoke Leviticus to justify homophobia routinely ignore, e.g.:

18.19 – Don’t sleep with a menstruating woman
19.19 – Don’t cross breed animals (which would make mules sinful!)
19.20 – Don’t have sex with another man’s slave (not a rejection of slavery, but don’t “trespass” on another man’s “property”…this fits nowhere in our 21st century western ethics!)
19.26 – Do not eat rare meat (sorry red, cool center steak lovers)
19.27 – Do not trim your beard (and presumably, that certainly includes don’t shave it completely off…sorry smooth skinned fellows)
19.28 – Do not get tattoos (body art enthusiasts that’s bad news for you)
19.31 – Do not consult fortune tellers (Long Island Medium? Newspaper Horoscope? Prophets of Doom predicting the end of the world?)
19.33 – Do not be unkind or unwelcoming to foreigners (Almost no one quotes Leviticus to combat xenophobia)
20.9 – Do no curse your parents (under penalty of DEATH!)

Before these prohibitions there are others (often ignored by those quoting Leviticus to feel good about their homophobia):
You may eat beef (11.3), but you may not eat
Camel (11.4), Badger (11.5), Rabbit (11.6), PORK (11.6)…not only are you forbidden from having rabbit stew or a ham sandwich, but you can’t even touch these animals once they are dead.

Also, you may eat fish with scales and fins (11.9), but you may not eat
Seafood that lacks scales or fin (no crab, no lobster, no shrimp, etc., 11.12).
Long John Silvers may be okay, but Red Lobster poses a real problem!

And, just in case you are wondering, crows, sea gulls, vultures, eagles, falcons, ostriches, hawks, owls, storks, and bats are also on the forbidden menu (small sacrifice for most of us).

BUT…what you may eat if you are hankering for a snack includes locusts and grasshoppers (yum, 11.22).

Beyond diet and grooming and body art and animal breeding, there is also behavioral rules about women who have recently had children. If a woman gives birth to a boy, she can’t show up for worship for 33 days, and if she gives birth to a girl she can’t show up for worship for 66 days. Anyone coming to church less than two months after having a baby girl is not Leviticus compliant! (12.2-5).

And, amid the prohibitions, there are also commands, like the one outlining the Scape Goat ritual that the community is meant to observe!

With so much of Leviticus being ignored, it is disingenuous to pretend that Lev. 18.22 and 20.13 are authoritative for 21st century dwellers!

1 & 2 Samuel show a warrior love story between Jonathan and David
Isaiah 56 advocates for people who are sexually different
Jeremiah 38 has a sexually ambiguous person as an unlikely hero

Jesus never condemns same-gender love or attraction

Romans 1 – has God making people gay for committing idolatry (what?!)…what a strange understanding of how sexuality works (Paul had issues). But love and caring relationships are not condemned (in fact, Paul in the same passage argues against judging people). And Paul talks about the sex acts as going against their natures…with that logic, it is unhealthy for gay people to go against their natures to try to be heterosexual!

I Corinthians 6.9 and 1 Timothy 1.10 (Paul didn’t actually write the letters to Timothy) forbid exploitation, not love or mutual attraction.

Luke 7 and Matthew 8 show Jesus affirming a same-sex couple (without condemning slavery, that’s one that Jesus and Paul both dropped the ball on!).
Matthew 19 has Jesus saying that some people are born different and that’s OK.

Mark 14 shows Jesus alone with a naked man after dark (and earlier in Mark, Jesus looks on a young man and “loves” him)

Paul prays for a “thorn” to be removed from his “flesh” but it never is (some believe he is referring to same-sex attraction)

Acts 8 shows a sexually different person asking what should keep him from being baptized, and the answer is NOTHING.

Jesus’ overwhelming love for Lazarus suggests a special, possibly romantic bond.
Mary, Martha, and Lazarus could well have been a “family of choice” or “alternative family”…a gay man and a lesbian couple choosing to live together as a family for safety.

Paul visited Lesbos! (Acts 20) and was friends with a woman who led a women’s community (Acts 16)

So, not only can the few verses that have been used to terrorize LesBiGay people be de-constructed and understood in positive ways, but there are more than a few hints that same-gender love was known and in some instances even embraced in biblical communities of faith.

And we know what no one in the bible did anyway…Since the 40s we’ve known scientists have been saying that same-gender love and attraction are normative for a significant minority of people in every culture and society. Since the 70s homosexuality has been removed from mental illness diagnoses. The word “homosexual” was coined in Europe in the 19th century (it was never used in bible days). And, as the bible does say very clearly, “God is love and WHOEVER lives in love lives in God and God lives in them.” Love, not body parts, is what makes life holy. This is the good news!

Don't Blame Homophobia on God (Kweerspirit)

(a rant by Durrell Watkins, M.A., M.Div., D.Min. of MCC Florida)

A fundamentalist defender of homophobia recently quoted the bible verses below and added the rhetorical question, “How much clearer could the bible be?”

“Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.” – 1 Corinthians 6.9-10 (NIV)

1. 1 Corinthians 6.9-10 is not “the bible.” It is a statement, made by the Apostle Paul in mid-first century in a letter he wrote to a particular church about particular issues in that community. That letter, MUCH later, was included in the bible. We are talking about one sentence from an ancient letter from a man who assumed the world was flat to a community other than one any of us find ourselves today. This is hardly a council of the gods of Olympus voting unanimously to dehumanize all same-gender loving people for all time!

2. Regardless of what Paul believed, are we not (even as faithful people) free to disagree with him? We (surely!) disagree with the biblical statement, “slaves obey your masters.” Many (though sadly not all) disagree with the statements, “women remain silent in church” and “wives submit to your husbands.” One of the commandments (about which the bible could not be much clearer) is to avoid idolatry. I won’t make an idol of Paul or of the bible or of homophobia.

I won’t confuse Paul’s culturally shaped opinions with God’s own prejudices! To do so would be to try to limit God to the words of Paul, and that would be idolatry (and by the way, idolaters are in the list that someone believed to be so “clear”).

3. The passage, or rather the fragment from a much larger missive, in question was written in an ancient language that has been translated (after being hand copied many times). Translations always involve the choices and even biases of the translator (which isn’t a criticism; it’s just how it works). For example, the translators of the version of the bible quoted above chose to use the words “homosexual offenders” to translate the ancient Greek word in the text.
However, the world “homosexual” is rather new (coined in the 19th century), so it would not have been Paul’s choice in any language!

Moreover, even given the translation used above, the text doesn’t say “same gender loving people.” It doesn’t even say, “those who experience same-gender attraction.” It definitely doesn’t say, “those who find themselves in consensual, adult relationships.” It says, “homosexual offenders”. What is an “offender”?

Does that mean “rapist”? Does it mean a heterosexual person who “offends” his wife by cheating on her with a man? Or, given the context of the passage (“male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders”), does it mean male prostitutes and those men who pay for their services? The passage is ambiguous, not clear. There are many possible understandings other than blanket condemnation of LBGT people.

There are only about 6 biblical proof-texts (which prove almost nothing) to which homophobic religionists cling to justify their fear of same-gender love and attraction. And yet, fear (and the hatred that results) seems so inconsistent with the God that is said to be “Love.”

In fact, even St. Paul said, “Those who love their fellow human-beings have fulfilled the law” (Romans 13). Judging, condemning, hating, vilifying in the name of God…that seems to me to be using God’s name in vain (whoops! There goes another commandment).

In the end, I suppose everyone has a right to his or her prejudices. But own them; don’t try to blame them on God.

--Durrell Watkins
www.kweerspirit.com

'Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?' And he said 'Who art Thou, Lord?' And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest."

'Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?' And he said 'Who art Thou, Lord?' And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest."



"And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, 'Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?' And he said 'Who art Thou, Lord?' And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest."(Acts 9:4,5)


Just as He said to Saul,



"Why persecutest thou Me?" He felt Himself one with His afflicted members on earth. Just as He will say at the last day, "In as much as ye did it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto Me." (Matthew 25:40).



We are all God's children. Yes gays and straights alike. The Lord loves us all despite our imperfections.



He reckons believers a part of Himself; what is done to them is done to Him. So when He carries them to His Father, this is all His argument: "Thou lovedst Me." If Thou lovest Me, love them, for they are part of Me.


See how surely Christ's prayer will be answered for you. He does not plead that you are good and holy; He does not plead that you are worthy; He only pleads His own loveliness in the eyes of the Father. 'Look not on them, He says, but look on Me'.

"Thou lovedst Me before the foundations of the world" (John 17:24).

God saw everything that He had made, and behold it was very good

"God saw everything that He had made, and behold it was very good." (Genesis 1:31)

"O Lord, how manifold are Thy works! In wisdom hast Thou made them all: the earth is full of Thy riches." (Psalm 104:24)

All the living things in creation are here described by God as being very good. We can still see how true that was in areas where the changes produced by man are minimal.

God created nature in balance - everything is recycled! But man has disturbed that balance - Yellow Stone National Park in the USA had that balance - it was created by setting aside an area larger than some nations to preserve nature as it was.

Then something happened! The abundant willow trees and aspen trees stopped regenerating, beavers disappeared, food for scavenger birds like eagles and ravens became extremely scarce, and so on.
What had happened? Man had decided that he could improve on Yellowstone as God had originally created it - he killed all the wolves! What was good about the wolves? Their predation had kept the elk population in check.

But now the elk were eating all the young trees and the vegetation needed by the other species of animals. The balance had been destroyed! Finally the Park Service decide that letting "nature take its course" in what was a decidedly unnatural situation should not be allowed to continue. Wolves were good! Wolves were reintroduced from Canada and we are now seeing changes that seem to indicate that the reintroduction is achieving its objective.
What is the lesson in all this?

Man in his arrogance should not think that he can improve on what God has pronounced "very good"! Man also, to his destruction, tries to "improve" on the Scriptures! God says, "All the day long they wrest My words" (Psalm 56:5) and they also "wrest . . . the Scriptures to their own destruction" (2 Peter 3:16).

In whom (Him) we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins

"In whom (Him) we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins." (Ephesians 1:7)

A missionary in West Africa was trying to convey the meaning of the word redeem in the Bambara language. So he asked his African assistant to express it in his native tongue. "We say," the assistant replied, "That God took our heads out." But how does that explain redemption?" the perplexed missionary asked.

The man told him that many years ago some of his ancestors had been captured by slave-traders, chained together, and driven to the seacoast. Each prisoner had a heavy iron collar around his neck. As the slaves passed through a village, a chief might notice a friend of his among the captives and offer to pay the slave-traders in gold, ivory, silver, or brass.

The prisoner would be redeemed by the payment. His head then would be taken out of his iron collar.

What an unusual and graphic illustration of the word redeem! Ephesians 1:7 states. "In whom (Jesus) we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace." Jesus died on the cross to purchase our freedom from the bondage of sin.

Have you put your trust in Jesus as your Redeemer? Let Him take your head our of the enslaving collar of sin and set you free. (VCG)

Redeemed - how I love to proclaim it!
Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb;
Redeemed through His infinite mercy -
His child, and forever I am.
(Crosby)

Look from the top

"Look from the top." (Song of Solomon 4:8)

This is a splendid word for a busy day with its crush of work of all sorts. If we get caught in the crush and pushed down, so to speak, the next thing we know is that we are groveling in the dust. Things are on the top of us, we are not on the top of anything. So the word comes, "Look from the top". Come with Me from all that, come up the mountain with Me, "look from the top". In every-day life this simply means, look from everything up to the Lord Jesus, Who is our Peace, our Victory and our Joy, for we are where we look.

From below, things feel impossible, people seem impossible (some people at least), and we ourselves feel most impossible of all. From the top we see as our Lord sees; He sees not what is only, but what shall be. He is not discouraged, and as we look with Him, our discouragement vanishes, and we can sing a new song. (Amy Carmichael - Edges of His Ways)



But when from mountain top,

My Lord, I look with Thee,

My cares and burdens drop

Like pebbles in the sea.

The air is clear,

I fear no fear,

In this far view

All things are new.

Therefore we labour (make it our aim)...

"Therefore we labour (make it our aim)... that we may be accepted (well pleasing to) of HIM." (2 Corinthians 5:9)


A brilliant young concert pianist was performing for the first time in public. The audience sat enthralled as beautiful music flowed from his disciplined fingers. The people could hardly take their eyes off this young virtuoso. As the final note faded, the audience burst into applause. Everyone was standing - except one old man up front. The pianist walked off the stage crestfallen. The stage manager praised the performance, but the young man said, "I was no good, it was a failure." The manager replied, "Look out there, everyone is on his feet except one old man!" "Yes," said the youth dejectedly, "but that one old man is my teacher."

Do we have the same desire for God's approval as that pianist had for his teacher's praise? Our Lord's approving smile is what really matters. But what is it that delights His heart? First, there is faith (Hebrews 11:6). Then, there are two special sacrifices: "the sacrifice of praise," and remembering "to do good and to communicate (share)" (Hebrews 13:15,16). Such sacrifices please God.

Let's make it our goal as we enter each day to please the heavenly Father as Jesus did (John 8:29). Whether we work in the limelight or labor unnoticed behind the scenes, when we do our task with faith, diligence, thankfulness, and caring, God is pleased. But more wonderful still, He helps us by "Working in you that which is well pleasing in HIS sight, through Jesus Christ" (Hebrews 13:21). (D.J.D.)



Just live your life before your Lord,

Rise to that higher, nobler plane -

With single eye His glory seek,

And you shall His approval gain. (Rae)



When you do what you please, does what you do please God?

Sowing and Reaping

Sowing and Reaping
“…One will reap only what one sows.” [St. Paul, Galatians 6.7]
Every gardener knows that what you plant and nurture is what will reproduce for you. It works in consciousness, too, doesn’t it? To focus on what is good, hopeful, loving, or healing means that we will experience more of that Good in our lives. The more aware of and grateful for the Good in our lives we become, the more joyous we will tend to be.

When we plant and nurture seeds of joy, joy is what will reproduce in our experience. We can’t sow negativity, gossip, untruths, or insults and expect to get anything back other than what we’ve been spreading. However, if the seeds we spread are hope, goodwill, praise, and friendship, we’ll be sure to reap a bumper crop of blessings.
Today I sow seeds of joy and goodwill and I know that wonderful blessings are on their way to me.

Today’s devotional prepared by Durrell Watkins

"Surely I come quickly, AMEN."

(Revelation 22:21)
How sweetly solemn is the addition of that "AMEN." There is no mistake about it. The response from the heart of the Church comes at once, "Even so, come, Lord Jesus." Meanwhile, be the time short or long, circumstances easy or difficult - and surely they will be difficult - "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. AMEN" (verse 21) is sufficient for each fainting heart.
Surely the coming of the Lord draws very nigh. An earnest spirit of expectation is upon the hearts of His people. Events in the world, happening with bewildering rapidity, proclaim the fact that the events narrated in The Revelation from chapter 4, are soon to begin. How happy it is that before that time arrives Christ will come for His Church. "A little while, and He that shall come will come and will not tarry" (Hebrews 10:37). How sweet and happy is our prospect. (A.J. Pollock - Things Which Must Shortly Come to Pass - 1918)

"EVEN SO, COME, LORD JESUS."

"Now is the accepted time behold, now is the day of salvation."

"It's unsinkable!" That was the proud boast made by the builders of the Titanic, the magnificent ocean liner that on April 14, 1912, went down during its maiden voyage. Most of the 2,100 passengers were sent to their deaths. In an article for the Danish magazine Evangelisten, Ingvald Andersen told about one of the passengers, John Harper, who was a fervent witness for Christ. According to a survivor, on the evening of the disaster John had led a young Englishman to faith in the Saviour.

Soon afterward, John went for a walk on the deck with his daughter and a niece. As they were admiring the spectacular sunset, Harper said, "It is going to be beautiful in the morning." For him and any other Christian who died that night, the next morning was beautiful.

Theirs was sunrise on their first day in heaven. Andersen, as he related all of this, urged his readers to be certain of their own relationship to Jesus. No matter how safe and serene your life may be, it can end in shipwreck at any moment. So if you have never done so, you need to do as that young Englishman did - accept Christ as your Saviour NOW.

Then regardless of when or how you die, yours will be sunrise in heaven. (VCG)

When life is over and daylight is past,
In heaven's harbour my anchor is cast,
When I see Jesus my Saviour at last,
Oh, that will be sunrise for me!(Poole)
Salvation deferred too long
Becomes the tragedy of too late.

Too Busy to Keep a Solemn Charge?

"Thy servant went out into the midst of the battle; and, behold, a man turned aside, and brought a man unto me, and said, keep this man . . . And as thy servant was busy HERE AND THERE, he was gone . . ." (1 Kings 20:39,40)

What a sobering moral principle quoted above. A man was charged with the keeping of another. Other responsibilities, however, intruded taking his valuable time from guarding his charge - "Thy servant was busy here and there." It was then, in the midst of the busy 'heres and theres' that the one to be kept was found to be gone. The ruinous press of other activities allowed that most important service to go unheeded. With each child God gives parents He also gives a most solemn charge to keep that child. ". . . Take this child away, and nurse him for me. . . ."
(Exodus 2:7).

Be careful dear parents that your lives do not become so busy with all those "heres and theres" that you morally lose your children in the press of the constant demands made for your time. If you lose your children because of the care of other matters and they are as it were, gone, then gone too are the priceless opportunities to mold them in faith and love for your Lord Jesus.
(The Christian Shepherd - June 2008)

"I call to remembrance my song in the night." (Psalm 77:6)

I have read somewhere of a little bird that will never sing the melody his master wishes while his cage is full of light. He learns a snatch of this, a bar of that, but never an entire song of its own until the cage is covered and the morning beams shut out.

A good many people never learn to sing until the darkening shadows fall. The fabled nightingale carols with his breast against a thorn. It was in the night that the voice of the angels was heard. It was at midnight that they cry came, "Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet Him." Indeed it is extremely doubtful if a soul can really know the love of God in its richness and in its comforting, satisfying completeness until the skies are black and lowering.

Light comes out of darkness, morning out of the womb of the night. James Creelmam, in one of his letters, describes his trip through the Balkan States in search of Natalie, the exiled Queen of Serbia. "In that memorable journey," he says,"I learned for the first time that the world's supply of attar (fragrant oils) of roses comes from the Balkan Mountains.

And the thing that interested me most, "he goes on, "is that the roses must be gathered in the darkest hours. The pickers start out at one o'clock and finish picking them at two. "At first it seemed to me a relic of superstition; but I investigated the picturesque mystery, and learned that actual scientific tests had proven that fully forty percent of the fragrance of roses disappeared in the light of day."

And in human life and human culture that is not a playful fanciful conceit; it is a real veritable fact. (Malcolm J. McLeod - Streams in the Desert)

Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures

"Jesus answered and said unto them (Sadducees), Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God." (Matthew 22:29)

Do you know what the Scripture says about Jesus Christ, you and eternity? Jesus told the "religious" of His day, "Ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures." Hundreds of years before Jesus was born, the Scriptures - the prophets - spoke of His coming. The world should have known and welcomed Him, but their ignorance and blindness concerning the teaching of Scripture led them to fail to recognize who He was. The world was and is without excuse. Look what the Scriptures revealed about Christ long before He came: -

He would be of the tribe of Judah. (Genesis 49:9,10)-
He would be born in Bethlehem. (Micah 5:2) -
He would be born of a virgin. (Isaiah 7:14)-
He would be called out of Egypt. (Hosea 11:1)-
He would come as a prophet. (Deuteronomy 18:18,19)-
His own people would reject Him. (Isaiah 53:3)-
He would make a triumphal entry into Jerusalem. (Zechariah 9:9)-
He would be sold for 30 pieces of silver. (Zechariah 11:12,13)-
He would be put to death by crucifixion. (Psalm 22)-
His hands and His feet would be pierced. (Psalm 22:16)-
Soldiers would cast lots for His clothing. (Psalm 22:18)-
He would be raised from the dead. (Psalm 16:9)-
He would ascend into heaven. (Psalm 68:18)(TCS - January 1993)

Looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God

"But he (Stephen) . . . looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God . . . and they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep." (Acts 7:55,59,60)

Looking at past failure, you will constantly find that it arose from settling things according to circumstances. I cannot settle anything myself; if I am in His presence, I get my guidance from the Lord in His circumstances - from the Son of God up there. It is a blessed fact that there is a Man in heaven, in the highest possible glory on the throne of God, and that Man has a heart to enter into everything, where His people would not be able to move for themselves. Is His heart less occupied, His eye less fixed on me than it was on Stephen? No; the curtain was drawn back for him, and I never expect that, but it is equally true to faith. (Gleanings From the Teaching of G.V Wigram)

Evening, and morning, and at noon

"Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: and He shall hear my voice." (Psalm 55:17)

TIME TO PRAY

I got up early one morning

And rushed right into the day;

I had so much to accomplish,

That I didn't take time to pray.

Problems just tumbled about me

And heavier came each task;

Why doesn't God help me I wondered?

He answered, "YOU DIDN'T ASK."

I wanted to see joy and beauty,

But the day toiled on gray and bleak;

I wondered why God didn't show me.

He said, "BUT YOU DIDN'T SEEK".

I woke up early this morning,

and paused before entering the day;

I had so much to accomplish.

That I had to take time to pray.

(Submitted by a reader (T.R.)of the "Gems.")

All scripture is given by inspiration of God

"All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works." (2 Timothy 3:16)

If the Bible had been written by one individual, or even two, the argument we are about to adduce would not be so powerful, but when we reflect that the Bible is not one consecutive Book, but is composed of sixty-six books, and that in spite of that fact it is indeed one Book, each contribution fitting like stones shaped and polished into a symmetrical whole, each contribution complementary of the rest, we are obliged to believe that there is a Master mind behind it, in short that the Bible is God-breathed, inspired, that God Himself is its Author. Bind together sixty-six medical works, or political works, or even theological works, and you would find one writer affirming what another denies; one writer praising what another blames; one writer stating what he believes to be exalted truth, another denouncing it as utter folly. (Why I Believe the Bible - A.J Pollock)

Trust in the Lord with all thine heart;

"Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths." (Proverbs 3:5,6) -

It is one thing to rest in God's blessings, and another thing to rest in Himself.- It is one thing to trust God, when I have before my eyes the channel through which the blessing is to flow; and quite another thing to trust Him when that channel is entirely stopped up.- God looks for reality, and honours it where He sees it.- Without trial we can be but theorists, and God would not have us such; He would have us entering into the living depths that are in Himself.- Faith can do without every one and everything but God.(Food for the Desert)

For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received

"For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures." (1 Corinthians 15:3)

"Christ died for out sins." That is the brief record of the greatest and most wonderful event in God's moral universe. The patriot dies for his country; the martyr dies for his faith; the loving and devoted mother would willingly die for her suffering child; and "peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die." (Romans 5:7)

Self-sacrifice is common enough, and it is noble, beautiful. But, the self-sacrifice of Christ! Is there anything to compare with it? Comparison is impossible. It has no parallel, and can have none. It is altogether exceptional and unique. "Christ died for OUR SINS." Of no one else can that be said in the sense in which it is it said of Him. Of no one is it said. Of no other being in the universe could it be said. And it could not have been said of Him if He had not been God as well as man. And now, "Through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: and by Him all that believe are justified." (Acts 13:38)

Ye shall do my judgments, and keep Mine ordinances

"Ye shall do my judgments, and keep Mine ordinances, to walk therein: I am the Lord your God." (Leviticus 18:4)

The Word of God must settle every question and govern every conscience. There must be no appeal from its solemn and weighty decision. When God speaks, every heart must bow. Men may form and hold their opinions; they may adopt and defend their practices; but one of the finest traits in the character of "the Israel of God" is profound reverence for, and implicit subjection to, "every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord."

The exhibition of this valuable feature may, perhaps, lay them open to the charge of dogmatism (positive or arrogant assertions, as of belief, without proof), superciliousness (haughty, contempt or indifference), and self-sufficiency, on the part of those who have never duly weighed the matter; but, in truth, nothing can be more unlike dogmatism than simple subjection to the plain truth of God; nothing more unlike superciliousness than reverence for the statements of inspiration; nothing more unlike self-sufficiency than subjection to the divine authority of Holy Scripture. (C.H. Mackintosh - Notes on Leviticus)

New Hearts Need Careful Tongues

New Hearts Need Careful Tongues "If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain." (James 1:26)

We know that the heart is deceitful (Jeremiah 17:9) but here, it is deceived. A true believer with a new heart can deceive that heart by not being careful with his tongue. How often we speak unseemly things about others, even passing false reports about friends or brethren which we may not even realize we are doing. Sadly often this happens when preceded by these words, "We need to pray for..." and then we repeat an unkind or even untrue thing about that person.

Thus an unruly tongue is cloaked in the guise of religion and care for that person, when in reality we have but deceived our own hearts. May we earnestly pray to the Lord "Set a watch, O LORD, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips." (Psalm 141:30)

Do we not often have to hang our heads in shame for what we unwisely, unkindly, and unguardedly have spoken against someone. May the Lord help us to judge a careless tongue that presents itself in a "religious" form, but in reality is an unjudged tongue. How much pain, sorrow and tears an unruly tongue can cause to others and ourselves.