Subtlety

Subtlety – the state or quality of being subtle.

Subtle - fine or delicate in meaning or intent; difficult to perceive or understand:

Matthew 10:16 – 20

Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Beware of men…

We live in a fallen world. Many distractions vie for our attention. Politics, sports, movies, TV. There is so much pulling us in different directions. Satan has been good at slowly changing people’s views on many issues. The use of subtlety and cunning can slowly make one change their views on subjects.

1 Peter 5:8, 9

Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kind of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. (ESV)

We must be grounded in God’s Word or we’ll be swayed by whims of various fads of the day.

We are constantly told to “pick a side.” If you don’t pick a side, you will usually get hit from both sides. I sometimes feel like I’m told I have to “pick” between being a Pharisee or a Sadducee. I’m constantly trying to find that middle ground where Jesus is, between self-righteousness and worldliness.

I had a conversation with someone one time over the “most spiritual person” he had ever met. Some Buddhist monk had gone up on a hill side when he was 16 and was still there at 60. I told him, “I could be the most spiritual person in the world if I didn’t have to deal with people. But that’s not what Jesus called us to do.”

We are called to be “In the world, but not of the world.”

John 17:1 – 26 Jesus prayer for his disciples.

We are to keep God’s word in our hearts.

1 John 4:20, 21

If you say you love God and hate your brother, you’re a liar.

But God wants us to love even beyond our brothers and sisters.

Luke 6:32-34

If you love only those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them.

Luke 20:9-19

I’ll send my son, they’ll listen to him.

People like their power, or prestige, or position that all else fall to the wayside. We want to be right or liked or popular.

Sometimes we trip over our egos. “My team is better than your team. My politics are better than your politics.” We are so eager to WIN we forget to LOVE.

Subtlety can be deceptive. Consider in the garden when the serpent was messing with Eve by casting doubt on God’s word. Eve added to God’s word by adding, “…not to even touch it.”

When we start adding to what God asks of us, we start thinking that we “know good and evil” and miss the simplicity of just having faith in Christ. Faith in Christ saves us. That means we believe what He says. Doing what He says doesn’t save us it just means we believe in Him.

Just because you do good works doesn’t mean you’re saved, but if you’re saved you will do good works.

NOTE: I am not advocating Taoism, but wanted to let you know where I got the concept of Wu-wei from.  It is said that a broken clock is right twice a day.

Wu-wei (from Taoism)…to do without doing. This could be the explanation of Love in action. It just “does.” When it is rules and regulations that you follow, it could be without love, and in the eyes of God it means nothing. But, when one just does, because it is a natural flow of who you are, then you are ‘doing unto Jesus as you do unto the least of these.’

Jesus accused the Pharisees of “Knowing the letter of the law, but not the Spirit behind the law.” He accused the Sadducees of “Not knowing scripture.”

Matthew 7:21-23 Not everyone who says to me…

Jesus said there were those who declare, did we not do “many wonders in Your name?” He told them to “depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.”

Matthew 7:24 “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them…”

Matthew 25:31-46 Sheep and Goats.

Well done my good and faithful servant. When I was hungry, thirsty, naked, homeless, in prison…etc. “When did we do these things?”

I Timothy 1:8-9 Laws were not made for the righteous…

Following Christ isn’t about rules and regulations, nor is it about who is worthy of our help or not worthy. Consider the parable about the good Samaritan. Consider the story about the woman at the well. Consider the story of Zacchaeus the tax collector (Luke 19).

Consider the two men praying in the temple. One a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. One bragged on himself. The other humbled himself. (Luke 3: 12-)

What does any of this have to do with subtlety? Subtle changes in attitudes can affect how we see others. It can affect how we treat others. It can justify hatred for one group of people because you don’t agree with them. It can justify violence and hatred.

How do you think Hitler was able to do what he did to the Jewish community without a great uproar of the people? The news media of the time would print anti-Semitic articles and comics. So when they came for the Jews people didn’t worry too much because of what the media said about them.

Look at the attitude that took place the other day after the Las Vegas shooting. A person in the media tweeted that she “had no sympathy for the victims because they were Trump supporting, gun-loving, country music fans.”

One of my favorite bands, Daniel Amos, has a song that says, “You told them exactly what I didn’t say, exactly how I didn’t say it.”

2 Corinthians 11:3

But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from the pure devotion to Christ.

Devotion to Christ means devotion to God which leads to devotion to each other.

We lose sight of Christ when we are concerned about our egos, about being right, about keeping our position, prestige or power.

It’s so easy to get caught up in “our sides” and end up straying away from the Word of God. Just because you don’t agree with one thing doesn’t necessarily mean you agree with the exact opposite. Example: Capitalism not tempered and guided by God is no better than Communism. Just because someone’s not a supporter of unions, doesn’t mean they are supporters of unbridled capitalism.

When did we lose sight of “love of money is the root of evil?” We spend so much time and effort trying to keep “what is mine,” or maximizing our profit margin, we forget the “least of these.”

Really consider your motives for why you fight any fight.

On the other hand there are those who are so busy demanding that others fork over their money, that they forget God doesn’t want us to make others do what we should be doing ourselves.

Consider Judas. He complained to Jesus about the woman who poured oil on Jesus’ feet because “that money could be used for the poor.” Scripture points out that he really wasn’t concerned about the poor. John 12:4-8.

So many people are tossed about by waves of confusion because they don’t have a good relationship with God and His Word.

We constantly told by God, “For they that have ears to hear, let them hear.” Do we listen – listen to God, or listen to those who don’t agree with us? Do we try to take the time to understand?

1 Corinthians 13 is the love chapter. Love really doesn’t care what you “feel like.”

Greatest Commandment.

Matthew 22: 34-40

Love God, Love your neighbor. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

Just because someone disagrees with you, lies about you, slanders you, or spitefully use you doesn’t give you the right to do the same.

Matthew 5: 43-45

Love your enemy, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you.

Love Jesus, listen to Pink Floyd, eat cheesecake...

Happy Thanksgiving...

DJ Glen

Why?

     That is the question. This started because some entertainer was being brought up on blasphemy charges in Ireland because he answered the question “What would you ask God?” and he replied, "How dare you create a world in which there is such misery that is not our fault? It's not right."

    We like to think it’s not our fault. We like to think because we don’t behave the way some people do that we don’t deserve whatever befalls us.

    I once heard a story about a slave owner who was riding in his fields watching over the slaves when he heard one muttering to himself, “That dumb old Adam. If it weren’t for Adam I wouldn’t be out in this field working.” 

    The owner looks down at him and asks, “What are you muttering about?”

“If Adam hadn’t disobeyed God in the garden, I wouldn’t have to be here working in this field.”

    The slave owner thinks about it for a minute and says, “Come with me back to the house.” So the slave follows him back to the house.

    The owner tells him to wait in the front room for a moment. A few minutes later the owner comes back out with an envelope and sets it down on a table. He turns to the slave and says, “You are welcome to do whatever you want. You have the run of the house. You can go where you want, you can eat what you want, you can do what you want. You don’t have to work in the fields any more. Only one condition.”

    The slave looks on in disbelieve and asks, “What’s the condition?”

    “You can’t read what’s in this envelope,” and he points and touches the envelope on the table.

    For a while the slave enjoyed what the home had to offer. But one day, while sitting and enjoying a glass of tea, he saw the envelope sitting on the table. Looking around to make sure no one is around, he goes to the envelope. Unable to resist, he opens it and reads, “Now quit blaming Adam and get back in the field.”

    It’s easy to blame others for the state we find ourselves in and in some instances that is true. Consider Joseph. But was Joseph really completely blameless? Did his own pride over his dreams get him in hot water with his brothers?

    I sometimes have to ask myself, “Are the problems that I’ve incurred punishment from God, or rather consequences of my not listening to God?”

     My son has a remark he likes to playfully make when people say, “Have a nice day.”

     He will usually respond by saying, “Don’t tell me what to do.” I think it’s funny, but it is also a symptom of why I believe the world is in the state that it is. We, prideful, sinful, arrogant man, don’t want to hear what God has to say to us. We feel we can make our own way, so we create our own religious path. We take our own way and say, “No God,” instead of trusting Him in the midst of the trials of this life.

    When our “religious, righteous” path doesn’t work to our liking we get mad at God and turn away from Him. We think, “Well I did this and that and the other thing, but God didn’t do a thing for me.”

    I think (just my opinion) that most people who are mad at God and ultimately reject Him are those who couldn’t get God to bend to their will. These were formerly “religious” people who were not operating in faith that works by love. They were thinking, “If I do this, then God must do that.” We get mad at God because He didn’t do what we wanted. We keep lists of all the “righteous” things we’ve done and expect, no, demand we be rewarded for them. We think we can manipulate God like some gullible friend or relation who can’t see our deep down motives.

Matthew 7:21-23

    “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’”

    We are a people driven by pride and self-service. So many people have so much stuff, but they have no relationships or love. In our rise to the top we step on people. As man declares, “No God,” he foolishly builds on sand that will one day crumble. We build our little earthly kingdoms not realizing that they won’t last.

    We look at the rich and powerful and wish we had what they have. Why not? We like being comfortable. We like nice things. We even convince ourselves that God wants us to have nice things. We can even find scripture verses to back up that God wants us to have nice thing, so why shouldn’t we live high on the hog?

    

    John 6:29 Jesus, when asked what could we do, that we could do the works of God? He replied, “This is the work of God that you believe in Him whom He sent.”

    Believe in Him whom He sent. Hmm? Believing means trusting. Trusting means taking Him at His word. Does that mean we’ll live the good life? Depends on what you think the “good life” is.

Luke 13:2-5

    Jesus asks his disciples if they thought people who came to tragic ends were worse sinners than anyone else. He answers them, “No.” We all are guilty. “The rain falls on the just and the unjust.” Do you think because someone is living an extravagant lifestyle that they are loved more by God? Do you think because a “ministry” has a big congregation, large buildings, and huge budgets they are faithful to the Lord?

    Why do the innocent suffer? Why is there pain? Why do evil people prosper? Why are atrocities committed in the name of God? These are not new questions. The psalmists asked them. Job asked them. Habakkuk asked them.

Habakkuk 1:13 “You are of purer eyes than to behold evil, and cannot look on wickedness. Why do You look on those who deal treacherously, and hold Your tongue when the wicked devours a person more righteous that he?”

Habakkuk, like most of us, wants to know “WHY?”

Luke 9:51-56

    Jesus disciples wanted to call down fire from heaven because a city didn’t want them coming to visit. Jesus rebuked them and suggested they go someplace else.

    How many of us, today, right now, have a reason that we think is valid for calling fire from heaven and destroying people? How many of us have complained about someone else because they didn’t agree with us? Get on the internet sometime and just read some of the junk people post on just about anything. We want to respond in anger because someone misrepresented our opinion or they made us mad.

     Standing up for yourself doesn’t mean lying about someone else.

   Some people want to just protect their family. Others accuse them of bigotry and hatred and wanting to hurt those they want to protect their families from.

    In so much that it is within your power, seek peace with others. Sometimes there are those who don’t want peace from you or with you. Best to just withdraw, be prepare to protect and defend. “Do not be overcome with evil, but overcome evil with good.”

    Calling fire from heaven…why? Were your feelings hurt? Do you disagree with someone?

    We believe we must “feel” good. We chase feelings like they are some sort of prize.  Feelings are fleeting. What you wanted one day may sit unused in a closet somewhere. If someone hurts our feelings we want to sue them, slander them, or drag them through the mud.

1 John 2:15 – 17

    “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world – the lust of the flesh (pleasures, feelings, lust), the lust of the eyes (covetousness, greed), and the pride of life (ego) – is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.”

    Mike Roe of the 77s penned a song called The Lust, The Flesh, The Eyes, The Pride of Life. It talks about feelings, greed and ego. The chorus declares, “The lust, the flesh, the eyes, the pride of life/drain the life right out of me.”

    What are we pursuing? Because what we pursue will have an effect on those around us.

    “Seek you first the kingdom of God…”

   I have this theory. I believe that capitalism without God is no better than communism without God.

    “Why?” We may ask.

Habakkuk 2:2, 4  and Habakkuk 3:17-19

    When Habakkuk asked his question of God and waited in a tower, God responded by saying, (I think this is when the billboard was created) “Write the vision and make it plain on tablets, that he may run who reads it (remember he was in a tower so it had to be pretty big)…Behold the proud, his soul is not upright in him; but THE JUST SHALL LIVE BY HIS FAITH.”

    After God declares all that will happen to the proud, and Habakkuk realized the state of himself and man he declares, “though the fig tree may not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines; though the labor of the olive may fail, and the fields yield no food; though the flock may be cut off from the fold, and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation. The Lord is my strength; He will make my feet like deer’s feet, and He will make me walk on high hills.”

     Do I have an answer for “WHY”? Nope. I just know that in the midst of the storms of life I will live by my faith in Jesus. Is my faith in how ‘religious’ I am? No. My faith is in the One that lived, died and rose again. 

Love Jesus, Eat cheesecake, listen to Pink Floyd

DJ Glen

    It has been so long since I’ve been in these pages. My blog must feel so neglected. So much has happened around me that I don’t know where to begin.

    Let’s begin with the big one. A Bible teacher that I had a lot of respect for and sat under his teaching for a number of years was discovered to be living in a polygamous relationship and recently confessed to killing his second wife. Without getting into the issue, a lot of people were affected. Was my faith shaken? Nope. Do I still believe that Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life? Yes. Was I hurt, sad, disappointed, surprised, shocked, and ticked off? Yes. Did I lose my faith in God? No.

    Years ago, another flawed Christian stated in a newsletter after the Jim and Tammy Baker incident, said basically, and I paraphrase, “if your faith is shaken because another human proved to be ‘human,’ then your faith is in the wrong place.”

    I have so many people that I have respect for that have stopped going to church because of what has happened. I know people that have become bitter or are hurting because of what happened.

I have a quote on my work computer that states, “I would rather live my life free from bitterness, than live whining about being a victim. Forgiveness is the key.”

    I do find myself frustrated at the way some people act or things they have done. I find myself frustrated with myself because of things that I do or things that I’m not doing, or all the time I waste.

Do I believe you have to go to church to be saved? No. I believe that being a part of the body of Christ, whether in a home church, or an organized building helps one to keep their hope alive. But, being a part of a body also has its own issues. Why? Because we are all flawed humans in need of the Savior.

    I’ve encountered people that are so unaware of their own selfishness or so unaware of their insensitivity that they get offended if you point it out or they blame the person pointing out their flaw for the issue in the first place. They don’t change. They don’t repent. They are the “I’m sorry but…” or “I sorry you took it that way…” people. They justify their behavior.

     Where is all this going? Nowhere really. Just rambling a bit.

     Here’s another thing that is going on in my life. I am currently in a band. If you are interested you can check us out at https://www.facebook.com/thos3guys

Love Jesus, Listen to Pink Floyd, Eat Cheesecake,

DJ Glen