I Vote for an Unchanging God

Over the past year, and especially the last few weeks, the blogosphere seems to be buzzing with politics. The favorite political word in the U.S. this year is change. Yes, it's true that something is going to change. I can't predict who will be elected or what the world political scene will look like in a few years. I won't endorse any candidate or party on this blog because politics are neither my calling nor my job, and I don't want to step outside of God's purpose for my life. I don't want to get too involved because I can't honestly believe any human being is the next Savior of mankind.

I can tell you that as Christians in the free United States, we shouldn't hide out. We should go to the polls and vote, because if we all stay home on November 4, only people who don't share our values will be making decisions that affect our and our children's futures. Beyond that, I can't tell you if any of the candidates are good, moral people because I don't know any of them personally. Really, only God can look at their hearts.

The best thing we average Christians can do to stay involved in politics after the election is to pray for our government. Pray that God can work in the hearts and lives of our political figures, teaching them to rule with justice and mercy and righteousness.

The problem with taking politics too seriously beyond that is that the people we elect are just as fallible as we are. The Bible tells us that all humankind is inherently evil and can fall into sin.

When we need hope and stability, we should look for a leader who is infallible and unchanging. We need someone whose future behavior can accurately be predicted by past and present behavior, and who we can know, personally, to be good. We need the Holy and Almighty God to lead us.

God Doesn't Change

I read Psalm 93 the other day and suddenly realized that the Bible has something to say about politics, too. Let's put the entire text of the Psalm here (it's really short) and analyze it.

The Lord reigns, he is robed in majesty; the Lord is robed in majesty and is armed with strength. The world is firmly established; it cannot be moved. Your throne was established long ago; you are from all eternity. The seas have lifted up, O Lord, the seas have lifted up their voice; the seas have lifted up their pounding waves. Mightier than the thunder of the great waters, mightier than the breakers of the sea--the Lord on high is mighty. Your statutes stand firm; holiness adorns your house for endless days, O Lord. (Psalm 93 NIV)

How can the world be 'firmly established' when everything in it changes constantly? People are like grass, and their comings and goings are so short. I was thinking about all of that, and realized that this is a promise that only God can truly change the world. He is the ruler who's throne (His power over all creation) cannot be challenged successfully--it never has. We can't do anything to change things without His permission.

The discussion of ocean waves sounds like a discussion of one of the most powerful natural forces the Psalmist was familiar with, but I think it could also be a poetic description of human beings. At least, that's what I've heard before. Think about it. Ocean waves pound the shore relentlessly, tearing through rock and dashing mighty warships to pieces. Nations rage constantly against the set rules and boundaries that God has established for our lives. Either one is a powerful force that can destroy land and lives. We are reassured by the Psalmist that we needn't truly fear either one, because their strength is nothing compared to God's.

What a declaration! The Psalmist ends it with a more blatant statement of his meaning, for anyone who is still struggling with the promise. God's "statutes stand firm." No one can change what God has ruled as wrong or right--not even with government action or universal acceptance of the new truth.

I wanted to leave my readers with that promise. Nothing is really going to change. God still loves us and will not relent in doing right or serving us with justice. You can trust Him, because He isn't just giving His word. He's done it. He sent His son, Jesus Christ, to rescue us from the "ocean waves." Now isn't that reassuring?

A "Sheep," on "Wolves"

What do I mean when I speak of "sheep" and "wolves" or use the expression, "wolves in sheep's clothing"?

I don't mean "wolf" in the sense of a Don Juan or Casanova type person. There may be some "wolves in sheep's clothing" that fit that description, but the Bible uses the imagery of sheep and wolves in a more general sense.

The Sheep Label

In the modern sense, a "sheep" is a person who follows blindly. This isn't exactly accurate. Sheep blindly follow instinct, and part of that is to stay with the group and run when something doesn't seem right. Humans are more intelligent, so nothing they do is completely blind or thoughtless.

"Sheep," used in the symbolic sense in the Bible, are followers of God, but this isn't a thoughtless decision, either. Christians consciously choose to obey God and let Him make the major decisions in their lives. Like sheep, Christians trust the Shepherd, but unlike sheep, humans have a choice to disobey.

In contrast to the world, God isn't calling us stupid (lacking in intelligence) by comparing us to sheep. Agreeing to follow someone who knows the future and is capable of doing anything to ensure your safety seems, well, pretty smart. No, the Bible doesn't call people stupid, but it does call some people fools. Foolishness is not a lack of intelligence. Foolishness, in the sense the Bible uses, is someone who refuses to respond to sound advice and discipline. It's a conscious decision, and fools can help being fools. Fools don't act like sheep because they refuse to follow the Shepherd; instead, they act like lone wolves.

The Wolf Label

It's pretty clear what wolves mean to sheep. Wolves are vicious, attacking some unsuspecting prey animal in the night and shredding it to pieces with their teeth. Unlike human wolves, however, they are just doing this to eat.

The Bible refers to certain people as wolves because they aggressively destroy people who obey God. Their wolf-ish behavior, believe it or not, is motivated by either a fear of giving up their hostile ways, or a hatred of God and goodness. Maybe they hurt others so their peers will approve of their toughness. Maybe someone claiming to be a Christian was mean to them, so they think God is mean and they want to protect themselves from this false perception of God. Whatever their reasoning, these wolves have set themselves up to be the enemies of Christians, just as much as wolves are the natural enemies of sheep.

Wolves in the wild would have a great advantage if they could disguise themselves and hide among the sheep, but that can't happen. People can pretend to be something they are not, because other people can't see inside their hearts and read their motives.

Recognizing a Wolf

There are still ways to sniff out the wolves. Occasionally, the people around us let slip what they are really thinking. If you want to be a Savvy Sheep, you have to watch for these glimpses and learn to spot a wolf. If someone acts like a wolf once, he or she may just be a sheep that made a mistake. If this person makes a pattern of it, however, watch out! Even if it's your best friend, a wolf is a wolf. If you don't run away, you'll end up sharing space with lettuce, tomato, and two slices of bread.

Spotting the Fangs Beneath the Wool

Malicious Gossiping

malicious gossiping is a clear sign that this person doesn't respect the feelings of the person he or she is talking about. A gossip doesn't care if he or she brings the blood, in other words. If this person is talking about someone else this way, what makes you think you aren't getting the same treatment when you aren't around?

Lying

"Jesus said, 'I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me" (John 14: 6, emphasis mine). Jesus' very nature is truthful. If this person has rejected truth and gone a different way, he or she has rejected the example of the Shepherd. This person isn't obeying, and isn't following. What is this person?

Rejection of Advice

"The way of a fool seems right to him, but a wise man listens to advice" (Proverbs 12: 15). We've already gone over the Biblical definition of a fool. If this person can't even listen to you, a friend, how can he follow God and listen to Him? *I will qualify this by saying that anyone can (and should) reject advice if it will cause chaos, contradicts Scripture, or could get someone hurt.*

Unforgivenness

"We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, 'I love God,' yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother" (1 John 4:19-21). The Bible promises us that people who hurt us will be punished for what they did. Since God has forgiven us for many things, why can't we forgive those who hurt us, too? A sheep lets God be angry for him, but don't have anything on his conscience concerning this other person. A wolf wages war on his own.

I could make the list longer, but this post is already huge. Do you want me to discuss any of this further? Just leave me a comment and I'll do my best to answer your questions.

A Christian's New Definition of Healing

For those of you who don't know me personally, my aunt passed away this week from a brief battle with multiple myeloma (a cancer that affects bone marrow). The experience took me back to memories of my granddad's battle with mesothelioma (asbestos-linked lung cancer), and a conversation that kept coming up during his 8 month battle with the disease before it took his life in May of 2005.

Close relatives and well-meaning friends prayed for my granddad's complete, miraculous healing, right up until the day he died. They based their faith in his healing in scripture. One of the main verses I heard was Isaiah 53: 4, 5, emphasizing the part I'll put in bold for you:

Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows .... But he was pierced for our transgressions,he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,and by his wounds we are healed. (NIV)

People told me that this verse meant that because Jesus died for our sins, if we claimed that healing in Him, we Christians don't have to suffer and die from traumatic illnesses.

I want to make it clear that I don't believe anyone who said this to me had evil motives in insisting that my granddad was going to be healed completely of his cancer. However,I think what they said could destroy people, because when it didn't come true, it seemed to prove that the Bible lies. My granddad's death must have come as a shock to them!

This actually drove me to examine the scripture they cited a little more closely, and I realized that the verse does promise healing, but not necessarily physical healing. If they were right, that means the apostles should still be walking the earth, because nothing kills Christians!

So here's what I think the scripture actually says. My granddad, and lately, my aunt, were healed, even though they died. I believe the healing the verse promises is a spiritual healing--their souls were healed and rescued from the spiritual death that sin brings.

Do you agree? Does this mean that Christians cannot ever ask God to miraculously heal them from a terminal diagnosis?