Have You Tasted Heaven?
I have tasted the fruit of a distant land and have within me a growing longing to taste it again, to taste it all the more, to leave this land and settle in that place of such delights, of such wonder. For though I do not know exactly where that place is, and though I cannot yet reach it, I see undeniable evidence that it exists.
A touching story from long ago tells of a young boy who lived in the distant reaches of the vast Canadian prairies. His family was impoverished, and parents and children alike had to labor day and night to prove their homestead claim. There was little time for anything beyond work, little money for anything beyond the barest essentials. They lived a harsh, rugged, hand-to-mouth existence.
A day came when that boy’s father dispatched him to town to fetch supplies, so he dutifully saddled up a pony and made the long journey toward the newly-founded settlement and the railway depot that stood at its center. It was there, alongside the fresh tracks that stretched from horizon to horizon, that he had a chance encounter with a businessman who was traveling from east to west and who came bearing a few exotic gifts—oranges he had brought from far in the southern climes.
When the businessman saw that poor dusty boy in his ragged clothes, he felt pity, and in an act of generosity offered him a piece of his fruit. The boy tasted that orange and his eyes immediately brightened, his face immediately lit up, for he was certain he had never tasted anything so sweet, so wonderful, so delicious. And from that day forward he dreamed of visiting the land where oranges grow. He did not know quite where that land was, he did not know quite the direction it laid, but he was certain it existed for he had tasted its fruit—the fruit of a land far beyond his own.
This is a harsh and rugged world we live in, and one inhabited by harsh and rugged people. The Bible exaggerates nothing when it says there are none who are righteous, none who understand, none who seek after God. It claims only what is most patently obvious when it insists that all have turned aside, that all have become worthless, that all do what is evil when judged by the standards of the God who created us.
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What’s Love Got To Do With It?
A believer’s conscience represents his or her understanding of God’s will and Word, and what he or she believes to be right or wrong based upon their understanding of God’s Word. To go against the conscience then, is to willingly do what you believe to be sinful. Therefore, to go against one’s conscience is to sin against God (Romans 14:14, 23).
Vaccine mandates are real. As a Pastor, I’ve had too many conversations with faithful church members facing perhaps the biggest decisions of their lifetime. God promises to give wisdom to those who ask (James 1:5). I’ve been asking. I’ve been encouraging those faithful church members to ask as well. I’ve also been going to the Scriptures, a faithful storeroom of God’s wisdom for answers to help the brethren God has called me to serve.
Of course, I have also been speaking to faithful Pastors I trust and reading up on the latest offerings from faithful Pastors I trust, but do not know personally. That pursuit has opened my eyes to a troubling reality. In short, politicians pushing the mandates have been appealing to the Christian virtue of love to convince hesitant Christians to get vaccinated and shockingly, many of the so-called leading evangelicals of our day have been carrying their eisegetical water.
It recalls perhaps the most famous question of the mid—80’s: What’s love got to do with it? The average Baptist church could wallpaper the fellowship hall with the sheer volume of articles written in defense of the mandates reminding Christians they must love others as Jesus taught, and therefore take the jab. It seems a curious use of the term. You see, while the Bible does command us to “love thy neighbor”, that command cuts both ways. Simply stated, I can’t say I love my neighbor while forcing him to sin and truly love him at the same time. What most people invoking love mean in this discussion is really the opposite of biblical love.
Let me explain. Consider 1 Corinthians chapter eight. Paul introduces a solution to a similar problem in Corinth. The church in Corinth was divided and unloving, with members filled with pride and in conflict with each other. There were two groups of people in this church. Those who knew food sacrificed to idols could be eaten freely because there is only one true God, and those who knew there was only one true God, but still believed it to be sinful to eat those foods given their prominent place in pagan worship. One group was pro-food, and one group was anti-food. One group had a weak conscience, and one group had a strong conscience. The chapter is about the way Paul responded to the weaker conscience of those who believed it to be sinful to eat food sacrificed to idols. This is where we should be going to learn how to love one another in the face of sharp, personal, and meaningful disagreements like we face today.
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The Insolent Smear Me with Lies | Psalm 119:69
Persecution does not need to be purely physical in nature; rather, much persecution comes by way of slander and false witness. Even so, we must follow the pattern of the psalmist and ultimately of our Lord Himself. Regardless of the lies that are hurled upon us, we must commit ourselves to faithfully keep God’s precepts with our whole heart.
The insolent smear me with lies,but with my whole heart I keep your precepts;
Psalm 119:69 ESVThe insolent in this verse are those who lord themselves over God’s Word. Like scoffers, they mock and belittle the testimonies of the Most High, rejecting His authority over them as their Creator. Indeed, like the fools that they are, they have likely convinced themselves that there is no God. We should not be surprised that those who lie to themselves also smear God’s people with lies. Rightly did Jesus speak of them, saying,
You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
John 8:44
This played out vividly during Jesus’ trial before the Sanhedrin.
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But That is Unfair!
God can do as he pleases. He is sovereign and we are not. He can choose to give certain gifts to some people, but not to others. He can allow one Christian to go through all sorts of hardships and trials, while another might seem to go through life relatively unscathed in this regard.
While driving home today from a speaking engagement, I was stuck at a traffic light. I noticed a billboard ad for some legal firm. The wording on it was something like: “We can challenge an unfair will.” It got me thinking (as most things do). Just what is an unfair will exactly?
I am no legal expert so I may stand to be corrected here, but if the main beef is you do not like what was left to you – or not left to you – in someone’s will, then that is one thing. If a will was made fraudulently or under duress, that might be another matter. But if the main concern is the first option, then it seems a bit off.
After all, does not a person have the right to make out a will as he or she sees fit? It is their property or money or assets, etc., that they are deciding on as to where it all ends up. Maybe some old woman has three sons. She makes a will, and when she passes on, the three discover that two of them each got 40 per cent of the goods, while the third only got 20 per cent.
Obliviously the third son might well think this is unfair: ‘Should we each not have gotten 33 1/3 per cent?’ Well, the woman is entitled to do as she wishes here – it is her stuff that she is passing on. She might have left it all to some charity and left the sons nothing.
Or she might have given each son ten per cent, and left the rest to others, or to other causes. That is her prerogative. It is her stuff after all. And there might be good reasons why she did the 40/40/20 split. Perhaps the third son was a real rascal who never helped the mother, while the other two did.
So why am I writing about all this? Well, as is so often the case, I find it very easy to turn the stuff I come upon into sermon material. I find it quite easy to translate something I have seen or read or heard into a spiritual discussion.
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