True Religion

 

According to their website, "True Religion is a global lifestyle, apparel, and accessories brand that focuses on producing high-quality denim and sportswear for Men, Women, and Kids.  Born from the belief that denim is a universal fabric, our mission is to transcend boundaries of faith, class, ethnicity, and orientation. True Religion is worn by athletes, musicians, and artists globally to express their individual style."

According to the NIV translation of James 1:27, "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."

Or, as stated in the NLT, "Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you."

So you see, both the Scripture and the denim company are correct. True religion transcends boundaries and goes far beyond what anyone wears on their body.

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Truth is...If what I believe doesn't square with how I behave, how can my religion be considered True?

What a Soviet Spy Teaches Us About Worry

 

In the 2015 film Bridge of Spies, Tom Hanks plays an American lawyer recruited to defend an arrested Soviet spy in court. He takes his job seriously and is concerned about his client's apparent lack of concern.

LAWYER

I have a mandate to help you. Nobody else does. Quite frankly, they have a vested interest in sending you to the electric chair....You don't seem alarmed.

SPY

Would it help?

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Truth is...Even without me bringing up any spiritual concepts of trusting in God, this short conversation lays out a bit of street wisdom that deserves attention. It also agrees completely with Jesus when he says in Matthew 6:27, "Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?"

I Changed My Mind About Halloween

 

When our children were young, and I was employed full-time as a youth pastor, Beloved and I never encouraged any kind of celebration of Halloween. We never took our kids trick-or-treating. We never turned on our porch light and distributed candy to the neighborhood kids. I never even organized an alternative "Christian-themed" event at any of the churches I served. I protested against the exaltation of all things spooky and death-related by purposefully ignoring it all.

Well...not completely ignoring it. I DID teach a lesson or two about the pagan and superstitious origins of jack-o-lanterns, gruesome disguises, and the like.

What I also did was inadvertently give credence to the stereotype that Christians are people who are grouchy, hateful, and have no desire to interact with anyone different from them.

Besides, our North American culture has done the same thing with Halloween that it did with Christmas: totally separated the current customs and celebrations from any meaningful connection to their spiritual origins.

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Truth is...As with most things, there is probably a balance between the extremes that should be strived for. I hope my current practice of dressing like Santa Claus to hand out candy canes tonight is somewhere close.

No Need to Fear God's Judgment

 

There's an episode of Calvin & Hobbes that sent me on a search for a spiritual tract from the 1970's...and that ended up helping me appreciate the grace of Jesus.

But first, Calvin explains to his mom how it is that he finished his homework so quickly:

But then, with the specter of accountability looming, fear explodes:

That look of fear and desperation on Calvin's face is what reminded me of a series of cartoon-based tracts from "back in the day" produced by Chick Publications. They were almost all meant to literally scare the "hell" out of people. (I searched "scary tracts" and chick.com was the third item on the results page.)

I was specifically reminded of this panel from a tract titled This Was Your Life which pictures a guy dropping dead and then, before the judgment seat of God, a movie was shown of everything he ever did.

Truth is...for those who confess Jesus as Lord, there is no need to fear the cat being let out of the bag during the final day of judgment. And here's why you can be sure of that"

Micah 7:19 (NIV): "You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea."

Psalm 103:12 (NIV): "As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us."

Advice from the Fifties that Still Hits the Mark

 

I have no idea how old the "Church Etiquette" advice I found in this old newspaper clipping is, but, other than a reference to a worship order "book" being used, the advice and reasoning still stand firm.

1. COME  -  Never miss church unless it is absolutely necessary. George Washington's pastor said of him, "No company ever kept him from church."

2. COME EARLY  -  Rushing into church the last minute is not conducive to true worship.

3. COME WITH YOUR WHOLE FAMILY  -  The church service is not a convention that a family should merely send a delegate.

4. TAKE A PLACE TOWARD THE FRONT OF CHURCH  -  Leave the rear seats for those who may come late and for backsliders and mothers with children.

5. BE DEVOUT  -  The church is not a theater or place of amusement. You come to worship God, not to whisper, lounge, or sleep. God's house deserves our very utmost reverence.

6. HELP STRANGERS TO FIND AND FOLLOW THE SERVICE  -  If they have no book, share yours with them. Sing! Join in the worship! Don't just sit!

7. ALWAYS REMEMBER THAT STRANGERS ARE THE GUESTS OF THE CHURCH MEMBERS  -  Treat them with the same courtesy as you would if they should visit your home.

8. GIVE A GOOD OFFERING TO GOD  -  God loveth a cheerful giver. Freely ye have received.

9. NEVER RUSH FOR THE DOOR after the benediction as though the church were on fire. Speak and be spoken to. Be congenial.

10. NEVER STAY AWAY FROM CHURCH BECAUSE THE CHURCH IS NOT PERFECT  -  How lonesome you would feel in a perfect church.

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Truth is...This list was apparently constructed with the assumption that the purpose of a Sunday morning worship service is not to benefit or entertain those who attend but to honor God and expand his kingdom.

And that's a good thing.

Is OMG AOK?

 

Perhaps the most-heard exclamation of surprise, fear, pain, joy, wonder, and/or sarcastic disbelief is the three-word phrase, "Oh my god."

Those of you who just bristled at even reading those words to yourself probably base your discomfort and disapproval on Exodus 20:7, commonly called the Third Commandment and expressed in the King James Version as "Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain."

The thing is...God's name is not "God".

In our English-language translations of the Bible, when the word "Lord" or "God" is printed in all capital letters, it stands in for God the Father's actual, literal name, expressed in English letters as YHWH and commonly pronounced Yahweh or Jehovah.

So the Third Commandment is actually, "Thou shalt not take the name of Yahweh thy God in vain." Or as The Message paraphrase puts it, "No using the name of Yahweh, your God, in curses or silly banter."

"God" is a title, not a name. It would be like saying, "Oh my President," or "Manager! That hurts!"

Sounds a little silly, doesn't it?

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Truth is...I'm not saying I'm okay with the silly banter of "OMG" and all the other uses of the word "god" that most folks consider to be swearing. Just because it doesn't break the 3rd commandment doesn't make it acceptable. It certainly doesn't express an abundance of respect for Yahweh, who holds that title in a deeper, more meaningful sense than any other entity, real or imagined.

"Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen."

(Ephesians 4:29 NIV)

Let's Get Together in Awe of Jesus: "O Come, Let Us Adore Him" Prosified

 

"O Come, Let Us Adore Him" began life as the chorus of "O Come, All Ye Faithful:" The same phrase sung three times with three words, "Christ the Lord," tagged at the end.

At some point, three more phrases were written and the four-stanza version was able to escape Christmastime and be used throughout the year.

Even the lengthened version is straightforward and simple, and yet, the concepts sung about grow in meaning as a person invests time contemplating their connotations.

O come, let us adore him
This is an urgent plea, like a child tugging on its parent's sleeve: "Come on. Come ON!" According to Luke 2:15, it's almost a quote from the shepherds watching their flocks by night: “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”

It's also a call to collaboration and community. "Let US adore him!" What started with a choir of angels is going to continue with human voices.

We'll praise His name forever
This communal worship is no flash mob. Our expected eternity will be filled with praising the name of Jesus.

We'll give Him all the glory
It's not uncommon to hear people say things like, "When I get to heaven, I can't wait to ask Peter a few things," or "Can you imagine the concerts in heaven with [insert the names of your favorite musical artists here]?" As if Jesus is just one of many celebrities we hope to meet.

I don't think so. All of our attention and worship and focus will appropriately be given to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

For He alone is worthy
There is none other who deserves to be adored without reservation and praised with utter abandon.

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Truth is...God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:9-11 NIV)