December 13, 1994
In a MacLean’s article about unifying Canada, a movie director said, “The power to change what people think no longer derives from telling people the truth but from being able to tell your lies... If the hype gets strong enough, people will believe it.”
Experiments prove that peer pressure determines opinions, even on issues that can be objectively evaluated. For instance, an entire classroom except for one student is told to vote that the second shortest line is really the shortest. The one student who was not filled in on the deception will invariably change his correct vote to an incorrect one after he sees that he alone holds up his hand for the right answer.
Children and students are not the only ones affected by peer pressure and strong “hype.” Advertising is aimed largely toward adult consumers. Some of it borders on deception. For instance, how can a dozen stores that sell the same things all claim to have the lowest prices?
Determining what is true and what is a lie is easy when it involves measurements and dollars. What about discerning true religion? Literally thousands of spiritual claims, denominations, sects, and cults all declare they have the truth. Deciding which is valid is obviously much more difficult than deciding the shortest line on a classroom blackboard.
Try thinking of God as the person who draws those lines, even as the One who made the tape measure. Because He is truth, He knows what is genuine and what is not. He measures everything but also authored the criteria by which He wants us to measure all things. While His Word does not include everything there is to know about everything, it does tell us about Him and ourselves and about spiritual matters.
If truth comes from God, where then do lies regarding God and spirituality come from? Do people just make up things? Sometimes. However, the Bible reveals that the original lie occurred in Eden. God placed the first man and woman there and told them they could enjoy their home and eat whatever they wanted. However, one tree and its fruit was forbidden to them.
Satan came along. By skillfully twisting the truth, he tried to make Eve doubt that God had commanded anything, then convinced her that what God did say was not an expression of His love. God was only trying to keep them from becoming like Him.
Interesting line! She and Adam may have needed to mature in their expression of godliness (something they could not do by disobedience), but God had already made them in His likeness. According to Satan’s lie, they had absolutely nothing to gain by eating the forbidden fruit, but eat it, they did. Their disobedience plunged the world into self-centered sin.
That same lie, in various versions, continues to cast doubt on God. As long as we do not believe or obey Him, we cannot reflect Godlikeness as we were created to do. Instead, we sin, lie and get ourselves and others into situations of hatred and rejection.
Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father but by me.” Truth is the way to God. He will not accept lies. They keep us separated from Him.
If lies separate and cause hatred, what can truth do? According to Jesus, it has tremendous power. He said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth and the truth shall set you free.”
Current thinking aside, real freedom is never found in believing hype. It is only found in knowing and believing truth.
Showing posts with label concept of God. Show all posts
Showing posts with label concept of God. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 29, 2016
Monday, May 26, 2014
Concept of God ........................ Parables 122
When I was five, my mom could do the most amazing things. She could hold a hot hard-boiled egg in her bare hands or knit a sweater. I couldn’t do that. And my father could repair my bridle reins or make a sling shot. I couldn’t do that. I thought those things were impossible.
But I changed. When I was twenty-five, my small children looked on with open mouths when I picked up hot hard-boiled eggs, knit sweaters, made them a sling shot or even mended harness. And now they have changed - they can do things they once thought only dad or mom could do.
What seems so far beyond a child’s mind changes when they have an adult’s perspective. It’s the same in the family of God. When I was a new Christian, a babe in my faith, I read that my Heavenly Father could “do exceeding abundantly above all that we could ask or even think . . . ” (Eph. 3:20).
This verse had about the same impact on me as a five-year-old watching dad do the impossible. I thought God would answer my little prayers with big answers, blowing me away with His skill, wisdom, and especially His generosity. I believed He would take my dreams and expand them in glorious technicolor on a giant screen. So I began praying for many things that a typical spoiled child might pray for . . . and God graciously responded - sometimes.
After a while, I realized that He was not the “genie” that I thought; I didn’t pull His strings. There were many things I wanted that He would not let me have. I even thought for a time that God, instead of being able to do more than I could ask, didn’t even care about my requests.
Then I began to grow up. From His Word, I saw that He never changes - but He wanted me to change. He is all-powerful; there is nothing too hard for Him; nothing o no one can stop whatever he determines to do - but there were many things I couldn’t do. Now that I belonged to Him, He could and did stop me, especially when I tried to thwart His purposes in childish rebellion. Like pushing on a mountain, I couldn’t budge Him an inch.
The Bible also says that God knows everything - the number of hairs on my head, my every move, my thoughts and my words before I even say them, and all my needs. The palmist says, “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me!” I agree, and now I see that his knowledge is part of what it is that enables Him to do abundantly above what I ask or think.
God wasn’t about to reward my selfish view of Him as an indulgent Father. He didn’t say “no” to my grand schemes because He wasn’t able to fulfill them, nor had He changed His style since the bible was written. He can still do whatever He likes. It was just that he knows what I don’t know. So often what I requested was simply not good for me.
I learned that “doing abundantly above all that I ask or think” means more than bigger and better answers to my small prayers. God doesn’t simply add on to my ideas and expand them. Instead, He gives the very best answers. His responses promote inner peace, lasting joy, Christ-likeness, and my greatest eternal good. My childish ideas would not do those things.
I also had to learn that His answers bring Him glory. They are not designed primarily to give me temporary personal pleasure but to reveal His nature and to draw me to Him in praise and worship. My childish ideas may have brought me some glory, but not the Lord.
As I grew, the Lord did not change. Instead, He has altered my perspective and motivation. I will never be able to do what he can do, but my prayers are different from they used to be. Besides, His ideas work “abundantly above all I can ask or think” anyway.
But I changed. When I was twenty-five, my small children looked on with open mouths when I picked up hot hard-boiled eggs, knit sweaters, made them a sling shot or even mended harness. And now they have changed - they can do things they once thought only dad or mom could do.
What seems so far beyond a child’s mind changes when they have an adult’s perspective. It’s the same in the family of God. When I was a new Christian, a babe in my faith, I read that my Heavenly Father could “do exceeding abundantly above all that we could ask or even think . . . ” (Eph. 3:20).
This verse had about the same impact on me as a five-year-old watching dad do the impossible. I thought God would answer my little prayers with big answers, blowing me away with His skill, wisdom, and especially His generosity. I believed He would take my dreams and expand them in glorious technicolor on a giant screen. So I began praying for many things that a typical spoiled child might pray for . . . and God graciously responded - sometimes.
After a while, I realized that He was not the “genie” that I thought; I didn’t pull His strings. There were many things I wanted that He would not let me have. I even thought for a time that God, instead of being able to do more than I could ask, didn’t even care about my requests.
Then I began to grow up. From His Word, I saw that He never changes - but He wanted me to change. He is all-powerful; there is nothing too hard for Him; nothing o no one can stop whatever he determines to do - but there were many things I couldn’t do. Now that I belonged to Him, He could and did stop me, especially when I tried to thwart His purposes in childish rebellion. Like pushing on a mountain, I couldn’t budge Him an inch.
The Bible also says that God knows everything - the number of hairs on my head, my every move, my thoughts and my words before I even say them, and all my needs. The palmist says, “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me!” I agree, and now I see that his knowledge is part of what it is that enables Him to do abundantly above what I ask or think.
God wasn’t about to reward my selfish view of Him as an indulgent Father. He didn’t say “no” to my grand schemes because He wasn’t able to fulfill them, nor had He changed His style since the bible was written. He can still do whatever He likes. It was just that he knows what I don’t know. So often what I requested was simply not good for me.
I learned that “doing abundantly above all that I ask or think” means more than bigger and better answers to my small prayers. God doesn’t simply add on to my ideas and expand them. Instead, He gives the very best answers. His responses promote inner peace, lasting joy, Christ-likeness, and my greatest eternal good. My childish ideas would not do those things.
I also had to learn that His answers bring Him glory. They are not designed primarily to give me temporary personal pleasure but to reveal His nature and to draw me to Him in praise and worship. My childish ideas may have brought me some glory, but not the Lord.
As I grew, the Lord did not change. Instead, He has altered my perspective and motivation. I will never be able to do what he can do, but my prayers are different from they used to be. Besides, His ideas work “abundantly above all I can ask or think” anyway.
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