No Foolin'

I was raised to believe that it's a sin for a Christian to call a fellow believer a fool; because "The fool has said in his heart, 'There is no God'" (Psalm 14:1). A fool is a person who doesn't know God. So if one has a saving faith in Jesus Christ than they are no fool, even if in some way or another they might act like one. A person may think or act foolishly and not be a fool.

Jesus Himself warned His followers not to call a brother a fool. He said, "But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca!’ shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be in danger of hell fire." (Matthew 5:22).

The Good Legacy of Samson

Samson had some very obvious spiritual flaws and glaring moral failures. He preferred the company of pagan prostitutes like Delilah over the love of any faithful daughter of the one true God.

His sinful tendencies came with heavy consequences. He was betrayed by  Delilah. He became a prisoner of the Philistines. His eyes were plucked out. He died a violent death at a young age.

Yet the author of the book of Hebrews counts Samson in with the righteous heroes of faith:

"who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouthes of lions, quenched the violence of fire, out of weakness were made strong, became valient in battle, turned to flight the armies of the aliens (Hebrews 11:32-34).

By grace, through faith, Samson's legacy is something more, and better than his flaws and failures. His affairs - yeah, that happened. His capture, his humiliation, his death - yeah, that happened.

But his legacy is that he was a servant of the Most High God. And God took him, with all his weaknesses, and did powerful things through him.

This makes me glad because, like Samson, I am not perfect. I'm not going to be perfect in this life. And neither will you, or anyone else. We are going to be imperfect. We are going to have failures. It's going to happen.

But thank God that by grace He can give us a legacy that is greater than ourselves!

Ancient Rednecks

"Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus. And seeing the man who had been healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it." (Acts 4:13-14).

It gives my heart a thrill of joy to know that Jesus Christ chose to use a couple of simple, uneducated commercial fishermen to spearhead the establishment of His Church in Jerusalem. Peter and John were basically two ancient Israeli rednecks. God's enemies, the Pharisees and Sadducees, must have been like "Man! These guys should just go back to their smelly fishnets!"

A formal education is not a bad thing. It's not necessarily a good thing either. It's just a thing - period. You can do good or evil with a formal education. You can do good or evil without one too. Having or not having a formal education has nothing whatsoever to do with following Christ. It doesn't make anyone a better or worse person, or Christian. The only thing that really matters is whether or not you've (as the above Scripture says) "been with Jesus".

Keith Green and Legalism

Keith Green is held in high regard by many Christian music listeners; and I, too, have been blessed by his songs, which have inspired so many people to love the Lord.

But the man struggled with over-zealousness, and what church people refer to as "legalism" (an excessive emphasis on following religious rules and regulations that often times aren't even from God but human beings).

In "The Keith Green Story - Your Love Broke Through", a documentary narrated by Toby "Mac" Mackeehan; Keith's widow, Melody, talks about the time Keith first became a Christian. "He even, you know, went back to Randy (Stonehill), who had initially invited us to the Bible study, and started telling Randy how 'Well you need to live your life like this. And the Bible says this."

In the same documentary, Randy Stonehill, similarly describes Keith's newfound zeal for the Lord, saying "It was a wonderful thing, and then some-often times, it could give you an Excedrin headache... He'd wanna say, 'Look man, you know; why don't you, you know, live what you believe?' And I'm going, 'I'm trying! I'm trying! It's not easy being human, you know. I'm glad it's better for you!"

Over the next several years, Keith went through many ups and downs in his journey with the Lord. In her book, "No Compromise - the Life Story of Keith Green; Melody Green relates a conversation that Keith had the year before he died in a plane crash. Christian singer, Annie Herring, said "I'm so grateful that God loves me. That's the first thing I knew about God, and it's gotten me through every bit of misery and every bit of joy."

To that, Keith replied, "Sometimes I'm not sure if God loves me. I know He's right. I know He's God. But as far as really feeling His love for me -  well, I don't know it like you do." 

In the year that followed, Melody describes how Keith began to lighten up and really embrace the kindness and love of the God, before he went to be with Him in heaven. It's a good lesson for many others to learn too.