CHRISTIAN JARGON

http://ebook30.com/security/security/11848/encyclopedia-of-cryptology-re-link.htmlFew years ago, I’ve had the “pleasure” of going to church with a sweet old lady who was so spiritual she wouldn’t even go to the market unless the Lord told her to. I’m not exaggerating. She considered her daily routines as divine appointments that a lot of times, she simply sounded out of this world. When you ask her how she was doing, she’d say something like, “Oh hallelujah praise God for His unfailing love that enables me to blah blah blah…” At the end of the conversation, you don’t really know her answer, you just get a mini sermon full of high sounding theological words.

It is good to acknowledge God in our daily lives but it is another thing to hide behind Christian jargon when confronted with daily realities. For most “regular” people, over-spiritualizing everything is weird. How can you keep a conversation with someone who tells you about divine guidance when you were just asking for spaghetti recipe?

When Jesus talked about “deep” theological stuff, He illustrated His point with simple things like rock, salt, birds and mustard seed. For some weird reason, there are people who love to do the exact opposite. When they talk of simple things, they complicate their talk with theological words like propitiation, premillennialism,  or trinitarianism. My journalism professor had a point when he said, “Why write “conflagration” when you can write “fire?” Why indeed!

Megaphone Towards Heaven

It was small group time tonight. Four of us guys gathered around pizza and pasta while we talked about God, our lives, jobs, church and our daily walk with Jesus. As always, it was awesome to just be surrounded by people who make a positive influence in your life, making you want to pursue higher goals for yourself.

Prayer time was simple but powerful. Have you ever tried listening to a person while he prays for you? Didn’t you ever wonder why that person would have the audacity to ask God for things in your behalf?

When a brother prays for you, some spiritual value gets added to your life. It’s as if your faint voice suddenly reverberates loudly in the throne room of God like you used a megaphone because it’s not just you who is asking, you got two or three people rallied behind you to ask God for whatever it is that you need.

God is compelled to listen to a group of people praying the same prayer. You know why? Aside from the fact that He is hearing multiple voices agreeing in unison, He is the one who promised so. “I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven.” Matt. 18: 19

In Broad Daylight

God protected the Israelites by foiling Balaam’s sorcery. The Hebrews had no idea that God saved them while they were sleeping. Frustrated, Balaam packed up his stuff and walked away. We thought the story ended there, that he quit his trade and turned over a new leaf after his encounter with God. Not quite.

In the next chapter, we learned of a massive, large scale adultery going on among Hebrew men and Moabite women. At first glance. it would seem like this is a separate story, totally unrelated to what happened in the previous chapter. However, a closer look reveals that it was Balaam who advised the Moabites to send their women to seduce the Hebrews.

The plan worked, the Israelite men committed shameless adultery in broad daylight even in front of the tabernacle. This roused God’s fierce anger that on that same day, 24,000 Hebrew men died. Moab succeeded in inflicting damage to Israel. Their temple prostitutes succeeded where black magic failed. At the end of that grim day, Israel was left weaker and more vulnerable. God’s divine protection upon them came to nothing when they willfully sinned.

The story tells us one very obvious truth: God’s divine protection works best if we stay within it, if we don’t wander away flirting with sin. The moment we venture outside his will, our security is automatically compromised.

In the end, Balaam got his wealth but he didn’t enjoy it. Numbers 31: 8 tells us that he died when Moses sent his troops to battle with the Midians. He got his just deserts. His love of money was his downfall.

Another obvious truth worth mentioning is that when the devil can’t use pain to destroy us, he uses pleasure. Everyone knows this. Everyone, beware of this.

Death Strike

Something interesting is happening in my corner of the blogosphere. Bridget Chumbley of One Word at a Time, Peter Pollock of Rediscovering the Church and Ginny started this blog carnival where Christian bloggers blog about one particular word for the week. This week, the word is OBEDIENCE. *Sigh.* Not a bad idea, it’s just that the word isn’t catchy at all. You might as well blog about servanthood, martyrdom or how to jump into the lion’s den.

But why does this word compel me to write at 2 in the morning?

Because this is not a popular topic in church nowadays. Many people would rather hear sermons on prosperity, improving one’s self- image, success, and lots of social commentaries in the pulpit than hear about obedience. What they fail to consider is that without obedience, we can never be what God wants us to become, or go wherever God wants us to go.

The story of Moses striking the rock twice in Number 20 is one example worth revisiting. God specifically told Moses to speak to the rock for the water to pour out. The command was explicit but the execution was a little faulty. Moses didn’t obey God. Instead of speaking to the rock, he verbally lashed out on the people and struck the rock with his staff.

The water gushed out all right but his disobedience cost him his ticket to the promised land. Except for Caleb and Joshua, Moses died in the wilderness along with the rest of the stubborn Israelites. What a sad, sad conclusion for a great man’s ministry.

What was his sin? He dishonored God by his disobedience. God must really, really be serious about obedience.