Spiritual Laws are as certain as Scientific Principles ............. Parables 395

November 9, 1993

Sometimes the way nations try to govern themselves remind me of trying to fall up a tree, or out of a well. Could communist Russia put water in a pan on a hot stove and produce ice cubes? Could atheist Yugoslavia boil water and make it increase in volume, not evaporate?

Scientific laws are more reliable than that. The sun will rise tomorrow. (To be more correct, the earth should keep turning so our part of it faces the sun sometime in the next 24 hours.) Certain birds will fly south for the winter. Snow will melt in the spring. The force of gravity holds things to the earth. We can even expect mixtures of specific chemicals to explode when heated, or turn into a tasty cake, depending on the combinations.

Our world operates on scientific laws, yet other laws are necessary to our well-being, even to our survival. These are laws related to life-principles and moral values. They are as critical for human life as the law of gravity.

Some examples might include: lazy hands make a man poor; wisdom is found in those who take advice; failure to love others makes a person lonely.

Some people do try to bend them or operate without them. A lazy man may even win a lottery or inherit a fortune, and those who ignore wise advice might succeed for a little while. Even selfish, unloving people could have loyal friends, but for the most part, certain life principles are directly connected to quality of life. They make a difference.

It is the same with morals. The person who insists on an immoral lifestyle eventually finds themselves facing some kind of negative consequences. That is, the thief eventually gets caught (or lives looking over his shoulder). The murderer may lose his own life, or carry the guilt of his crime to his grave. The person who commits adultery, while he or she may not be aware of it, has lost something of their ability to properly relate to their own spouse. Anyone who gossips usually finds themselves either a victim of gossip or the recipient of a negative label.

These moral and life principles are not merely for individuals. Proverbs 14:34 says, “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people.”

In this verse, righteousness is talking about a principle far beyond morals or common sense axioms. Biblically, righteousness includes a right-relationship with God (gained through faith) plus a life that is lived in righteousness or in obedience to Him. Therefore, a nation whose people (in the majority) honor God, trust Him, and obey Him, is exalted. They can expect some kind of recognition and success.

However the opposite is usually more obvious: a nation characterized by sin, by rebellion against God, by lack of faith, by absence of God in the lives of their people, is seldom exalted, at least for long. Disgrace will eventually come.

Some nations receive veneration because they are founded on biblical principles and certain results can be expected. Righteousness does foster peace, happiness and productivity.

On the other hand, some nations have ignored God and godly principles. Their people fight among themselves, are unhappy (thus alcoholism, etc. is a great problem), and there is not enough of the basics like food and clothing to go around. For them, trying to be exalted without godliness is like trying to make the sun rise in the west or expecting rivers run uphill.

Pain has Purpose ................ Parables 304

February 11, 1992

A child is murdered. An arsonist burns a home to the ground. A car accident cripples a newlywed. And we, even we who believe in a sovereign God who controls all things, are at a loss to explain our out-of-control world.

Oh, we Christians say God has His reasons... but our pat answers offer little comfort to the child’s parents, the family who has lost everything, or the couple whose hopes and dreams have turned to perpetual pain and wheelchairs. They cry for a way out and question — how can a sovereign, loving God allow such horrid things to happen?

When in pain, our ability to reason often abandons us, yet reason has shown me some new ideas about pain and suffering. For one thing, I used to think pain was always something to avoid, but isn’t some pain necessary? Without it, no one would go to the doctor to have broken bones set, or yank their hand off a hot iron, or avoid sharp knife blades. All pain is uncomfortable, but not all pain is evil.

Furthermore, I used to consider death as utterly bad, however it does have two very practical purposes. One of them, admittedly heartless but nonetheless true, is that if every man, woman, child, dog, cat, and goldfish that ever lived still lived, there would be no breathing space left.

Our real problem is with UNWANTED pain and the UNAVOIDABLE separation and suffering involved with death. We want God to intervene, to change things so we don’t hurt any more. But reason says for that to happen, God would have to change the nature of the way the world works, more precisely, the principle of cause and effect.

Cause and effect makes life predictable. We flip a switch and a light goes on; drink some water and our thirst is satisfied; sleep all night and wake up refreshed. However, if cause and effect could no longer be relied on, we would never be sure what would happen. They light may go on, but then again, it might not.

Imagine the chaos of a world without this principle. We could never be sure about anything. Would living with unpredictability would more tolerable than living without pain? The pain of consequences at least keeps most of us from inadvertently destroying ourselves.

Our prayers often demand God to change our situation or take away our distresses but we forget one more thing: without pain to keep us in check, we probably would do even worse things to each other than we do. Actually, if we are going to demand anything of God, maybe it should be a solution for sin. After all, sin causes death (“The wages of sin is death...” Romans 6:23) and a large percentage of human pain and suffering.

Actually, God has provided a solution for sin and it relates to this whole issue. Follow this carefully: those who seek His forgiveness receive a changed life and an attitude that desires to alleviate pain rather than inflict it. However, God does not change the cause/effect principle. If we sin, someone suffers, even though God can use that for our good, to draw us closer to Him. Instead, God created another world — His full and final solution to the misery and pain of this world. It is a place where we can live forever in the pain-free environment we wish we could have here. Of it, the Bible says, “God will wipe away every tear... there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying... no more pain, for the former things (including the principle of cause and effect) have passed away.”

That is where the second practical purpose of death comes in. Death is the process by which we enter that perfect, eternal place. Without it, we would be stuck here. So, listen to what Jesus said, “I go and prepare a place for you and will come again and receive you to Myself... I am the way...” the way out...

Reaping what you sow ..............................Parables 109

A four‑year‑old friend of mine found some seeds in the basement of his home. Since the ground was still frozen outside, he decided to plant them inside. A few weeks later, much to mother’s surprise, there along with her umbrella plant, was a six‑inch tall crop of oats!

Those oats remind me of a simple fact learned as a child on the farm: whatever you plant, that is what will grow. He planted oats; oats grew. I he planted tulips; tulips would grow, or if turnips, turnips.

I bought some garden seeds last week. Even if the package was somehow mislabeled, the seeds that germinate will be faithful to produce the same plant from which they were harvested. Can you imagine the chaos if this was not true! We might hope for carrots and get pansies, or find onions in the rock garden where the daffodils were supposed to be. Thank God that according to the Genesis account of creation, He made the plants so they would “yield fruit after their kind.” It is by His decree ‑ oats produce oats.

The principle carries beyond the garden patch. We see it in our families. Children pester one another... eventually a fight results. Parents warn them... “you will suffer for this...” hoping to prevent their minor wars; even thwart more serious consequences. But even adults find it difficult to learn that it is almost impossible to avoid consequences.

The New Testament puts it like this: “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man sows, that she he also reap” (Galatians 6).

God created everything to work according to this cause/effect or reap‑what‑you‑sow principle. He says it is deception and even mockery to think that we can somehow get around it.

But we do try to get around what God says. He says we are like that because of the sin‑marred condition of our hearts. We are creatures bent on our own way, therefore we do not do the things God intended us to do.

In other words, since the seed is sinful, the fruit is also sinful. We cannot do perfect or holy deeds because WE are not perfect or holy. No matter how good our deeds may appear to us, God says they fall short of His standard ‑ they grow out of hearts that “have gone astray, each turned to his own way.” Sinful seed produces a crop of sin ‑ and we reap what we sow

God tells the sinner that it is possible to be changed, to be turned around, to go His way. He said, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out... I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes...” (Ezekiel 36).

Jesus called it being “born from above.” Paul used the terms “a new creation” or “regeneration.” This new life comes through faith in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We need His heart, His nature, before we can produce God‑pleasing righteousness.

Galatians 6 goes on to say, “...for he that sows to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that sows to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.”

Faith may make a person new, but there are still choices to be made so the crop will be the right kind. We can either sow (do) things according to the flesh, which is the sinful human nature; or sow according to the Spirit of God. When He is in our hearts, we can choose to obey Him and to do things that please Him, things that culminate in everlasting life. Again, the crop will depend on the source of the seed.

The little boy’s mother pulled the oats out of her umbrella plant. Like sin, they were producing unwanted growth. Because she took drastic action, those oats will never produce a crop of oats.

But for those who believe in Christ and live by the Spirit, God is able to produce in them a harvest of spiritual fruit. This is a crop that cannot be pulled out, uprooted, or taken away.