The Saint Must Walk Alone

MOST OF THE WORLD'S GREAT SOULS have been lonely. Loneliness seems to be one price the saint must pay for his saintliness.

In the morning of the world (or should we say, in that strange darkness that came soon after the dawn of man's creation) that pious soul, Enoch, walked with God and was not, for God took him; and while it is not stated in so many words, a fair inference is that Enoch walked a path quite apart from his contemporaries.

Another lonely man was Noah who, of all the antediluvians, found grace in the sight of God; and every shred of evidence points to the aloneness of his life even while surrounded by his people.

Again, Abraham had Sarah and Lot, as well as many servants and herdmen, but who can read his story and the apostolic comment upon it without sensing instantly that he was a man "whose soul was alike a star and dwelt apart"? As far as we know not one word did God ever speak to him in the company of men. Face down he communed with his God, and the innate dignity of the man forbade that he assume this posture in the presence of others. How sweet and solemn was the scene that night of the sacrifice when he saw the lamps of fire moving between the pieces of offering. There alone with a horror of great darkness upon him he heard the voice of God and knew that he was a man marked for divine favor.

Moses also was a man apart. While yet attached to the court of Pharaoh he took long walks alone, and during one of these walks while far removed from the crowds he saw an Egyptian and a Hebrew fighting and came to the rescue of his countryman. After the resultant break with Egypt he dwelt in almost complete seclusion in the desert. There while he watched his sheep alone the wonder of the burning bush appeared to him, and later on the peak of Sinai he crouched alone to gaze in fascinated awe at the Presence, partly hidden, partly disclosed, within the cloud and fire.

The prophets of pre-Christian times differed widely from each other, but one mark they bore in common was their enforced loneliness. They loved their people and gloried in the religion of the fathers, but their loyalty to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and their zeal for the welfare of the nation of Israel drove them away from the crowd and into long periods of heaviness. "I am become a stranger unto my brethren, and an alien unto my mother's children," cried one and unwittingly spoke for all the rest.

Most revealing of all is the sight of that One of whom Moses and all the prophets did write treading His lonely way to the cross, His deep loneliness unrelieved by the presence of the multitudes.

'Tis midnight, and on Olive's brow

The star is dimmed that lately shone;

'Tis midnight; in the garden now,

The suffering Saviour prays alone.

'Tis midnight, and from all removed

The Saviour wrestles lone with fears,

E'en the disciple whom He loved

Heeds not his Master's grief and tears.

-WILLIAM B. TAPPAN

He died alone in the darkness hidden from the sight of mortal man and no one saw Him when He arose triumphant and walked out of the tomb, though many saw Him afterward and bore witness to what they saw.

There are some things too sacred for any eye but God's to look upon. The curiosity, the clamor, the well-meant but blundering effort to help can only hinder the waiting soul and make unlikely if not impossible the communication of the secret message of God to the worshiping heart.

Sometimes we react by a kind of religious reflex and repeat dutifully the proper words and phrases even though they fail to express our real feelings and lack the authenticity of personal experience. Right now is such a time. A certain conventional loyalty may lead some who hear this unfamiliar truth expressed for the first time to say brightly, "Oh, I am never lonely. Christ said, `I will never leave you nor forsake you,' and, `Lo, I am with you alway.' How can I be lonely when Jesus is with me?"

Now I do not want to reflect on the sincerity of any Christian soul, but this stock testimony is too neat to be real. It is obviously what the speaker thinks should be true rather than what he has proved to be true by the test of experience. This cheerful denial of loneliness proves only that the speaker has never walked with God without the support and encouragement afforded him by society. The sense of companionship which he mistakenly attributes to the presence of Christ may and probably does arise from the presence of friendly people. Always remember: you cannot carry a cross in company. Though a man were surrounded by a vast crowd, his cross is his alone and his carrying of it marks him as a man apart. Society has turned against him; otherwise he would have no cross. No one is a friend to the man with a cross. "They all forsook him, and fled."

The pain of loneliness arises from the constitution of our nature. God made us for each other. The desire for human companionship is completely natural and right. The loneliness of the Christian results from his walk with God in an ungodly world, a walk that must often take him away from the fellowship of good Christians as well as from that of the unregenerate world. His Godgiven instincts cry out for companionship with others of his kind, others who can understand his longings, his aspirations, his absorption in the love of Christ; and because within his circle of friends there are so few who share his inner experiences he is forced to walk alone. The unsatisfied longings of the prophets for human understanding caused them to cry out in their complaint, and even our Lord Himself suffered in the same way.

The man who has passed on into the divine Presence in actual inner experience will not find many who understand him. A certain amount of social fellowship will of course be his as he mingles with religious persons in the regular activities of the church, but true spiritual fellowship will be hard to find. But he should not expect things to be otherwise. After all, he is a stranger and a pilgrim, and the journey he takes is not on his feet but in his heart. He walks with God in the garden of his own souland who but God can walk there with him? He is of another spirit from the multitudes that tread the courts of the Lord's house. He has seen that of which they have only heard, and he walks among them somewhat as Zacharias walked after his return from the altar when the people whispered, "He has seen a vision."

The truly spiritual man is indeed something of an oddity. He lives not for himself but to promote the interests of Another. He seeks to persuade people to give all to his Lord and asks no portion or share for himself. He delights not to be honored but to see his Saviour glorified in the eyes of men. His joy is to see his Lord promoted and himself neglected. He finds few who care to talk about that which is the supreme object of his interest, so he is often silent and preoccupied in the midst of noisy religious shoptalk. For this he earns the reputation of being dull and overserious, so he is avoided and the gulf between him and society widens. He searches for friends upon whose garments he can detect the smell of myrrh and aloes and cassia out of the ivory palaces, and finding few or none he, like Mary of old, keeps these things in his heart.

It is this very loneliness that throws him back upon God. "When my father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up." His inability to find human companionship drives him to seek in God what he can find nowhere else. He learns in inner solitude what he could not have learned in the crowd that Christ is All in All, that He is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption, that in Him we have and possess life's summum bonum.

Two things remain to be said. One, that the lonely man of whom we speak is not a haughty man, nor is he the holier-than-thou, austere saint so bitterly satirized in popular literature. He is likely to feel that he is the least of all men and is sure to blame himself for his very loneliness. He wants to share his feelings with others and to open his heart to some like-minded soul who will understand him, but the spiritual climate around him does not encourage it, so he remains silent and tells his griefs to God alone.

The second thing is that the lonely saint is not the withdrawn man who hardens himself against human suffering and spends his days contemplating the heavens. Just the opposite is true. His loneliness makes him sympathetic to the approach of the broken-hearted and the fallen and the sin-bruised. Because he is detached from the world he is all the more able to help it. Meister Eckhart taught his followers that if they should find themselves in prayer as it were caught up to the third heavens and happen to remember that a poor widow needed food, they should break off the prayer instantly and go care for the widow. "God will not suffer you to lose anything by it," he told them. "You can take up again in prayer where you left off and the Lord will make it up to you." This is typical of the great mystics and masters of the interior life from Paul to the present day.

The weakness of so many modern Christians is that they feel too much at home in the world. In their effort to achieve restful "adjustment" to unregenerate society they have lost their pilgrim character and become an essential part of the very moral order against which they are sent to protest. The world recognizes them and accepts them for what they are. And this is the saddest thing that can be said about them. They are not lonely, but neither are they saints.

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Premarital Sex

Dating Advice #1:

I now know that sex isn't all it's cracked up to be.

When I was in college, I remember having an experience that I referred to as a "love hangover." After being with a girl, the next morning I always felt an emptiness. That's something you won't see on TV or in the movies, but it happens a lot. There was emptiness, even regret, afterwards.

The "love hangover" was a strange occurrence for me. Mainly because when I was in college, sex was my "god." As a male, it's what I thought about morning, noon and night. So you would imagine that having sex would have been completely fulfilling -- the crowning achievement in the worship of my "god." And yet, there was often a lack of fulfillment afterwards.

Has that been your experience, too? Have you ever had a "love hangover"? If you have, you should stop and consider, "Why is that? Why is it that sex, if it's so important to me, leaves me with an empty feeling?"

I remember being confused by this emptiness. I then concluded: "I just need more [sex], that's all." (We often think this way about stuff we hope will fulfill us, then doesn't. For example, we get the car we've always wanted, but then it's just "okay" after awhile. Instead of realizing that a car can't really satisfy us, we usually make the error of thinking, "Well, I guess that wasn't the right car. A different one will give me lasting fulfillment.")

But the emptiness continued. So, finally, I came to the conclusion that premarital sex wasn't all it's cracked up to be. It gets too much hype. It's not what the movies make it out to be. If it were, it would be completely fulfilling. There wouldn't be any "emptiness."

Dating Advice #2:

I now want to be more honorable toward women.

I've found that girls often don't fully understand what's going on when it comes to sex. That is, their perspective on the whole thing is very different from a guy's. Often a girl will justify sex by saying, "But I love him," even if she doesn't really want to go through with it. Why does that happen? It's been said that, "Girls use sex to get love; guys use love to get sex."

This is how it works: the girl is picturing marrying the guy some day; the guy is picturing everything he wants to do with the girl before he goes back to tell his buddies about it. And while something inside her is telling her it's the right thing to do, something inside the guy is telling him just the opposite, yet he proceeds. Why? For the physical pleasure no doubt, but also, I think, for another reason: it makes him feel like a man. But there is a great irony in that, for what is manly about deceiving a woman?

Something I've discovered is that, when you honor a woman, you are honoring yourself. Why? Because someday you will have regret, and the regret will last much longer than the pleasure. In the movie Rob Roy, the main character says, "Honor is a gift a man gives himself." When you honor a woman by doing what you know to be right in your heart (that is, what's in her best interest), you honor yourself and insure that you will have no long-lasting regrets to live with.

Dating Advice #3:

That's somebody else's wife.

Here's what I mean: most of the girls I've been with are now married to other men. When I put myself in the shoes of those men, I wish that I hadn't done what I've done. In fact, I might even like to punch myself in the nose for it.

And so it goes without saying that when I get married, I'm not going to like the idea that someone else has had his way with my wife. What about you? Do you like the idea of someone else being with your wife? If you have a girlfriend now and feel that way, think of how much stronger that feeling will be with your wife someday.

You can even take it a step further. That girl is someone's daughter. What if she were my daughter? Or what if she were my sister? Would I want some guy like me taking advantage of her? I now see girls from a different perspective. They're someone else's future wife, someone else's daughter, sister, etc.

Dating Advice #4:

Sex has killed my best relationships.

For example, I had a college sweetheart, the girl of my dreams. With her, there was never a dull moment. We totally "clicked." We waited for awhile, then, through my initiation, we started having sex.

Sex soon became the focus of our relationship. I stopped wanting to get to know her on any other level. And so, instead of growing closer together, we actually started drifting apart. That's what I mean by "sex killed my best relationships." People can relate on many different levels -- emotionally, mentally, physically, spiritually. But when my girlfriend and I started relating mostly physically, it short-circuited the other parts of our relationship. As a result, the relationship as a whole started to go south. We might still be together today if we (I) had waited.

I've seen this happen with countless relationships, not just others of my own, but those of many other people. And I think there's a reason for this, which I'll explain next.

Dating Advice #5:

Sex before marriage ruins the other parts of the relationship.

For me, two things happened once I had sex with a girl. As I look back on it, I can say that they happened literally every time, although I was unaware of these dynamics at the time. The two things were this: 1) I lost respect for the girl (even though I didn't want to); and 2) she began to mistrust me (even though she didn't want to).

I don't know why this happened, I just know that it did. Maybe it's just built into "the system." But one thing's for sure: I'm not alone. I've seen it happen over and over again. I know many people having marital problems because they engaged in premarital sex. They go into the marriage with lack of respect and lack of trust, two absolute necessities for the health of any marriage.

I know a newlywed couple who have sex less than once a month because of this -- he doesn't respect her, she knows it, and she doesn't trust him, so she doesn't want to give herself to him. It's very sad, and more common than you might think. But nobody talks about this kind of thing in public. And the movie and TV portrayals of couples having sex before marriage never present it either. It's like no one wants to acknowledge that it's happening, even though it is.

Dating Advice #6:

Waiting to have sex with my wife will mean better sex in my marriage.

Why? Because we'll go into the marriage with me having more respect for her and her having more trust in me. One thing I've learned: if a girl doesn't trust a guy, she doesn't want to give herself wholly to him. Deep down, she doesn't really enjoy being with him.

This is how it works. Since "girls use sex to get love, and guys use love to get sex," a couple will have sex before marriage. The girl does this to hold on to the relationship. The guy does it because he wants it even more than the relationship itself. Then, after the marriage, the woman has what she wants: a commitment from the man. So she doesn't need to use sex to get him anymore. And, because she may be harboring resentment because he had sex with her before they were married, she is now not interested in sex. And the guy -- who doesn't treasure his wife because of the sex before marriage -- still wants sex but not as a total bonding experience with his wife. It's just sex, which she figures out. So, there is a lousy sex life in the marriage.

I'm not making this stuff up. Now that I'm out of college and many people around me are getting married, I'm seeing it happen all the time. The antidote: waiting for marriage to have sex will give the man a greater respect for his wife and the woman a greater respect for her husband. And consequently they'll have better and more frequent sex because they respect each other more and love each other more deeply.

Dating Advice #7:

Not having sex with other women will mean better sex in my marriage.

Sex is a mysterious thing that causes a deep bond between people, even if we call it "casual." The problem is this: the more I bond with other girls, the less I'll be able to bond with my future wife. It's like a piece of scotch tape -- the more you use it on different surfaces, the less it sticks to things. After awhile, it won't stick to anything.

If I bond with other girls before I get married, I won't be able to bond as well with my wife someday. I won't cherish her as much as I could have, and consequently I won't love her as much as I could have. Each day that passes that I've remained faithful to my future wife means that my relationship with her will be better.

It's a funny thing: our culture decries adultery, yet it freely condones premarital sex, even with multiple partners. That's ironic. Because, if you take the element of time out of the equation, premarital sex is adultery. We can imagine how adultery would greatly injure a marriage relationship, maybe premarital sex actually has nearly the same result. It injures the potential bond between a man and a woman.

Dating Advice #8:

I don't have to sleep with a woman to know if we're "sexually compatible."

Sex is meant to compliment a relationship, not be the most important aspect of it. That's what I've found out. It's supposed to be the icing on the cake when all the other aspects of your relationship are working well. I've come to understand that the sex will be good if the rest of the relationship is good. That's why I know I don't have to sleep with my wife to find out if we're sexually compatible. If we get along in every other area, the sex will be fine.

Something else needs to be said here. Another thing I think I've "discovered" is this: when you place sex as the determining factor of the relationship, it will probably result in poor sex. Think about it. If you put your sexual relationship under a microscope, always judging it and judging the relationship by it, it's doomed to fail. It's like being in prison. You're locked in to something that is supposed to be freeing, not incapacitating.

But, when you focus on the other parts of the relationship, and the sex isn't the focus, then you're freed up to have a more enjoyable sex life, with no pressure of having to make it always spectacular. (Because it won't be.) And yet, I don't think that as a college-age adult I was capable of not focusing on sex, that is, unless it wasn't present at all. That's why I think it's best to wait altogether.

Dating Advice #9:

I have found something more satisfying than sex.

I know what you're thinking: "Yeh, right." But it's true. And in fact, in a way sex helped me to discover the something that outdoes it. And that something is not really a something, it's a someone. It's God.

Just hear me out on this one, I know it sounds far-fetched, but the whole thing makes sense. God has created us in such a way that we can't be ultimately satisfied by anything except Him. He built that into the human system, and into each one of our individual systems. As one man put it, "Inside every person is a God-shaped vacuum that only God can fill."

That's why we see people change careers, mates, fashions, and more -- because in our search for ultimate fulfillment, we get frustrated with the things (and people) that have not achieved it for us. So we discard them and move on to something (or someone) else, hoping that in them we will find the kind of fulfillment we are all really looking for. But the problem is, we never find it unless we come to God for it, because only He can provide it.

God loves us too much to see us truly satisfied by anything other than Himself. He wants the best for us, and that means Himself. Nothing or no one is more important than God. I know that's true because I found it out for myself. The emptiness I had -- after buying this and buying that, after sexual escapades, after all my efforts to be fulfilled in life -- the emptiness came to an end when I asked God into my life. More specifically, when I asked Jesus Christ into my life. Jesus Christ said, "He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty" (John 6:35). Those words came true in my life. When I entered into a relationship with God, the God-shaped vacuum inside me was finally filled. I didn't feel empty anymore. Consequently, knowing God has given me a deeper satisfaction than sex ever did.

Dating Advice #10:

God has given me the strength to wait.

It's been years since I've had sex. I wish I could say that I totally waited for marriage, but I can't. I do have regrets (and, as I said before, they have lasted much longer than any momentary pleasures). I have regrets about the way I've treated girls. I have concerns about the stability of my future marriage (if and when I get married). But God has helped me to deal with my past acts and with my concerns for the future. He is in the process of changing me, and has changed me a lot already.

Also, God has given me the ability to wait for marriage to have sex again. Sure, it's been a struggle at times, but God has been big enough to get me through it. All things are possible with Him. And each day, week, year that goes by, I know I'll have a better and stronger marriage someday because I've waited. Too, I have a stronger relationship with God, today, as a result of depending on Him in this vital area of my life as a man.

Where to Start

If you want to be successful in relationships someday -- as a husband and a father -- the best place to start is with yourself. The trick is not in finding the right wife, or having the right children. The key is to start with you. And the most important relationship you can have -- one that will make you a better husband and father -- is a relationship with God.

God is the author of sex, love and relationships in general. He created these things for us to enjoy. And we can enjoy them fully if we follow His design for them. I've come to discover that God is not a "moralizer." He doesn't say, "Do this" or "Don't do this" for no reason. When He says, "Don't do this" (for example, wait for marriage to have sex), He's not saying that to show me who's boss, He's saying it because it's in my best interest. He's saying it because He knows how He's built me as a man, what is best for me, and what will bring me the most fulfillment.

Knowing God Personally

The Bible says that Jesus Christ was God who became man -- "The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us." He was "the exact representation of His [God's] being." In short, Jesus Christ revealed exactly what God is like. So how do we begin a relationship with Him?

God has a genuine love for us and wants us to know Him...but there is a problem. Currently, what stands in the way of us connecting with God is our sin (our failure to love God and others perfectly).

So Jesus Christ ("God in the flesh") took all of our sin on His shoulders while He willingly died on a cross. He did this so we could be completely forgiven, completely acceptable to Him. He made the great sacrifice of being beaten, humiliated, whipped and crucified on our behalf. Then, after three days, He rose from the dead. He now asks us to respond to His sacrifice by inviting Him into our lives.

Jesus Christ was the most masculine man who ever lived. People don't often give Him much credit for that, but it's true. So, when you ask Him to come into your life, you are asking the one Person who knows more about being a man than any other man. He will help you to become a real man -- not the Hollywood version -- but someone far more fulfilled in life and far more valuable to the lives of others.

What does that real man look like? He doesn't look like a wolf (someone who looks out only for himself). Instead, he looks more like a shepherd -- someone who looks out for the well-being of others. As you grow in your relationship with Christ, you will discover more and more what it means to be a real man. And Christ will change the way you think about women and consequently the way you treat them.

You can begin a relationship with Christ that lasts forever. "For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that those who believe in Him shall not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16). Belief means trust. When you trust or rely on Christ's sacrifice on your behalf, you can receive eternal life -- a relationship with God that begins now, that you maintain for the rest of your life. If this is now the desire of your heart, the following is a guideline for the kinds of things you might want to say to God in sincerity:

Dear God, I confess that I have sinned against You. Thank You for taking all of my sin upon Yourself on the cross. I want to receive Your forgiveness. I want to enter into a relationship with You. I ask You to come into my life as my Savior and Lord. Please make me into the man You want me to be.

How to Study the Bible

As Christians we believe God speaks to us through the holy Scripture of the Bible. It is our duty, then, to do our best to understand what the Bible says to us. Since the Bible was written a long time ago, many of the cultural references and literary styles used are unfamiliar to us today. To truly understand the Bible, we need to understand the background of life and literature 2000 to 3000 years ago as the Bible was being written.

Bible Interpretation

There are four keywords to understanding any Bible passage - observation, interpretation, evaluation, and application.

Observation: What are the facts? What do the words mean? What comes before and after to put the passage in context? Who is speaking? And to whom?

Interpretation: What did the passage mean to the original audience two or three thousand years ago? Are we making the mistake of interpreting the passage through our own experiences rather than those of the original audience? Is the passage using literary techniques like allegory, hyperbole, metaphor or parable to make its point?

Evaluation: What does the passage mean to us today? Can it be applied directly today, or do we need to apply the underlying principle to conditions very different than when it was originally written?

Application: How should I apply what I learn from this passage to live a more godly life? Do I need to change my attitudes or actions as a result?

(Adapted from Nelson's Illustrated Bible Dictionary (c)1986, Thomas Nelson Publishers)

As an example, we can try using this method to understand Exodus 20:3-5.

Observation: Looking back to Exodus 19, we see that the Hebrew people had escaped from slavery in Egypt three months before and were traveling to the Promised Land. This is the first of the Ten Commandments that God gave to Moses on Mount Sinai. The passage forbids making or worshipping idols or worshipping any other gods. Idols are images or symbols of false gods that are worshipped. Most of the Hebrews' neighbors were pagans at that time in history, and idol worship and worship of multiple gods was very common.

Interpretation: When the ancient Hebrews got discouraged, they often lapsed into worshipping the idols and multiple gods of the pagan peoples they came in contact with instead of worshipping God. This Commandment said that, even in hard times, they must put their trust in God alone.

Evaluation: Paganism has virtually disappeared from Western culture today. So, does this Commandment mean anything to us? What are we tempted to substitute for God in our lives? Do we put our trust in wealth more than in God? Do we seek power over others instead of seeking God? Do we look for fulfillment in pleasure instead of in God? Many people believe these things are the idols and false gods of today's world.

Application: We may need to honestly and prayerfully examine our priorities to see if God is really more important to us than anything else in our lives.

The Observation and Interpretation steps are fairly objective, and Bible commentaries and other study materials are very helpful. The Evaluation and Application steps are very individual. It is in honestly and prayerfully considering these steps that we can deepen our understanding and faith.

Literary Forms of the Bible

It is helpful to understand the styles of writing used in the Bible, especially since some of those styles are no longer commonly used.

A parable is a simple story that helps us understand a spiritual or moral concept. Jesus was the master of the parable, and a large part of His teachings come to us in the form of the parables he told to his disciples and other people. The plain facts of a parable story are usually meaningless in themselves. It is by analogy or similarity with the story that we gain an understanding of the spiritual or moral lesson of the parable. In the Parable of the Sower (Luke 8:4-8) Jesus tells a story about a man who sowed seed on a farm. Some of the seed fell on rocks or pathways or among thorns where it could not grow. Other seed fell on good ground where it produced a bountiful crop. However, the point of this story has nothing to do with farming techniques. As Jesus explained in Luke 8:11-15, the seed represents the Word of God, which is offered to all people. Like the seed that fell in bad places, the Word of God does not produce good results in people who reject it for one reason or another. But, like the seed that fell on good ground, the Word of God grows strong within people who are receptive and it bears good (spiritual) fruit.

A simile uses "like" or "as" to give us a mental picture of something by comparing it to something else. "As the deer pants for water, so I long for you, O God." (Psalms 42:1) and "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness." (Matthew 23:27) are examples of similes.

A metaphor is just a simile with the "like" or "as" left out. "I am the good shepherd" (John 10:11) does not mean Jesus herds sheep. It is a metaphor meaning Jesus is our master and protector in the same way as a shepherd is master and protector of his sheep. "You are the light of the world" (Matthew 5:14) does not mean we glow in the dark. It is a metaphor meaning our good example can show others the way to Christ like a lamp shows us the way in the dark.

Hyperbole is deliberate exaggeration to make a point and is very common in the Bible. Examples include "Rivers of water run down from my eyes, Because men do not keep Your law." (Psalms 119:136) and "And there are also many other things that Jesus did, which if they were written one by one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written." (John 21:25).

An Anthropomorphism attributes human characteristics or experiences to God. Examples include "The eyes of the Lord move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His". (2 Chronicles 16:9), and "For the eyes of the LORD are on the righteous, And His ears are open to their prayers; But the face of the LORD is against those who do evil. (1 Peter 3:12). These verses do not mean that God, who is Spirit, has eyes, ears and a face like us. Instead, they tell us that God is always seeking righteousness among us and opposing evil.

Irony is saying one thing but meaning the opposite. Paul's tongue-in-cheek praise of the vain false teachers in 1 Corinthians 4:8 is an example of irony in the Bible.

Apocalypse comes from a Greek word meaning "uncovering" or "revealing." Apocalyptic literature uses elaborate visions, powerful symbols and numbers to reveal heavenly secrets. The New Testament book of Revelation and parts of the Old Testament books of Daniel, Isaiah, Ezekiel and Zechariah are written in apocalyptic form.

Most of the apocalyptic works were written during times of severe persecution. The symbols were clearly understood by the initiated but not by the persecutors. In Revelation, "Babylon" is used as a code word for Rome and the Roman Empire (Revelation 14:8, 16:19, 17:5,18:2, 10, 21). Hebrew letters were also used for numbers, and the beast whose number is 666 (Revelation 13:18) is often assumed to be a reference to the Roman emperor Nero because of the similarity of "Nero Caesar" and "666" when written in Hebrew.

Context

The Bible is not a collection of "one-liners." All verses must be interpreted in the context of the verses that come before and after them, the whole passage, the chapter, the book and even the whole Bible. It is the nature of language that it takes many sentences or even paragraphs to convey a complex concept. A single Bible verse or passage often tells us only one aspect of a topic. We must look at allthe Bible passages on a particular topic to get the true picture. If we look at just one or a few verses, we can get an incomplete view or even a totally wrong view of the Bible's teachings.

Paul writes to the Thessalonians:

For you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. (NIV, 1 Thessalonians 5:2)

Taken by itself, it would be difficult to even guess what this verse means; it could be interpreted many different ways. But in the context of1 Thessalonians 5:1-6 as well as Matthew 24:42-44, Mark 13:33-37 and Luke 12:40, it clearly means the second coming of Jesus will be sudden and unexpected.

John 3:16 is one of the best known and most loved verses in the Bible and is an excellent one-sentence summary of the Christian faith:

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (NIV, John 3:16)

Some people think this means that all we have to do is believe in Jesus as God's Son to assure our salvation. But in the context of John 3:16-21 as well as many other New Testament passages (e.g., Matthew 7:21-23, 25:31-46, Luke 10:25-37, John 14:21-23, Romans 2:6-10, Hebrews 10:26-31, James 2:20-24), it is clear that the word "believes" in John 3:16 also implies repentance and obedience to God's commandments.

Progressive Revelation

Around 1250 B.C., the Jews escaped from slavery in Egypt and spent 40 years wandering in the desert before coming to their new homeland. God gave the original Old Testament Law to Moses at that time. As the Jews developed a stable civilization, God sent numerous prophets to correct their errors and to refine their understanding of Him and His intentions for His chosen people. Finally, God sent His Son, Jesus, to accomplish His plan of salvation.

Jesus and His disciples radically reinterpreted the Old Testament Law; they brought a new era of the rule of love and spiritual truth instead of rule by law (Luke 10:25-28, John 1:16-17, 13:34-35, Romans 8:1-4, 1 Corinthians 9:20-21, Ephesians 2:14-18).

If we are looking for guidance on a topic, we must consider which Bible teaching reflects the most recent revelation from God. The Bible's teachings about retaliation and revenge are a good example of progressive revelation. First, at the time of Abraham, unlimited revenge for a wrong done was considered normal and proper (Genesis 34:1-2, 25-29). Later, the Law of Moses limited revenge to an equal injury for any injury done:

If anyone injures his neighbor, whatever he has done must be done to him: fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth. As he has injured the other, so he is to be injured. (NIV, Leviticus 24:18-20)

Finally, when Jesus came, He said we should not take any revenge at all:

You have heard that it was said, 'Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.' But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you. (NIV, Matthew 5:38-42)

Exegesis vs. Eisegesis

Exegesis means drawing out the true meaning of a Bible passage, and it should be the goal of all Bible study. It means understanding the meaning of all the words in a passage. It means putting the passage in the proper historical and textual context to determine what it meant to its original audience. Finally, it involves thought and prayer to determine how it applies to today's world and to our own lives.

Eisegesis means reading one's own ideas into interpretation of the Bible. We all have our own beliefs, world view and biases, and letting them influence our interpretation of the Bible is an ever-present danger! Sometimes we think we understand a passage and unintentionally read our own meaning into it without going through the steps required for proper exegesis. Emotionally charged topics like abortion, sex, salvation and church doctrine pose a great temptation to prove a point by quoting a verse out of context or quoting selected verses while ignoring other relevant passages. But we must let God speak to us through the Bible and not try to make it say what we would like to hear.

In some ways the Bible is like a jigsaw puzzle. We cannot discover its true meaning until we are able to put the pieces together the right way. Prayer, study, group discussions, knowledge of Bible history and an understanding of the life and literary styles of Biblical times are things that help us put that puzzle together.

Where to Start?

Logically, we should read the Old Testament first since it serves as the background for the New Testament, but the life and teachings of Jesus and His apostles are most important for Christians to understand. So, for understanding the most important lessons of the Bible, we recommend reading in this order:

Luke is possibly the most complete story of Jesus' life and teachings. Matthew and Mark are similar.

Matthew Chapters 5, 6 and 7 contain Jesus' famous Sermon on the Mount - the heart of Jesus' ethical and moral teachings and the basis of Christian living.

John is a very different Gospel from Matthew, Mark and Luke. Its theological perspective gives us a view into the spiritual meanings of Jesus' life and ministry.

Genesis contains the earliest recorded history of the Jewish people and tells their beliefs about God and their relationship with Him. Christianity had its beginnings with the Jews, so our understanding of Christianity cannot be complete without an understanding of the roots of Judaism.

Exodus tells of the Jews' escape from captivity under the leadership of Moses. It contains the essence of the Jewish laws, including the Ten Commandments. Like Genesis, it serves as important background for Christianity.

Romans is the best summary of the teachings of the apostle Paul, the first and most influential interpreter of Jesus' life and works.

After reading these six books, you should know enough about the Bible to decide what to explore in greater depth.

Should the Bible be interpreted literally?

The Bible is a book that contains many expressions that are not to be taken literally. The New Testament calls Jesus "a door," but we would never take that literally. It is very clear that there are different literary genres in the Bible. While there is a literal meaning for every statement of the Bible, the literal meaning is not necessarily the literalistic meaning of the words themselves.

This does not mean that “the Bible is not literally true.” It is literally true where it is intended to be literally true, figurative where it is intended to be figurative, poetic where is meant to be poetic, etc. Therefore, we must examine the wide diversity of biblical writing using logic and contextual analysis.

The Old Testament was a shadow of what was to come. The Law was given to show us our need for a savior.

"The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves." - Hebrews 10:1

"Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the substance, however, is of Christ." - Colossians 2:16-17

Commentary on Ezekiel 23:20

In Ezekiel 23:18-22, We read ‎"When she carried on her prostitution openly and exposed her nakedness, I turned away from her in disgust, just as I had turned away from her sister. Yet she became more and more promiscuous as she recalled the days of her youth, when she was a prostitute in Egypt. There she lusted after her lovers, whose genitals were like those of donkeys and whose emission was like that of horses. So you longed for the lewdness of your youth, when in Egypt your bosom was caressed and your young breasts fondled."Therefore, Oholibah, this is what the Sovereign LORD says: I will send your lovers against you from every direction--those very nations from which you turned away in disgust."

First we should understand any scripture by studying the context and related Bible passages. All verses must be interpreted in the context of the verses that come before and after them, the whole passage, the chapter, the book and even the whole Bible. If we look at just one or a few verses, we can get an incomplete view or even a totally wrong view of the Bible's teachings.

All the things in the Old Testament were a shadow or pattern of things to come...Much of the Old Testament is symbolic to point to what would be fulfilled. The truth is that God has always used these symbolic foreshadows in order to reveal the foreordination of His plan. Reading the old testament with new testament glasses is very very important key to understand old testament scriptures.

Eisegesis means reading one's own ideas into interpretation of the Bible. We all have our own beliefs, world view and biases, and letting them influence our interpretation of the Bible is an ever-present danger! Sometimes we think we understand a passage and unintentionally read our own meaning into it without going through the steps required for proper exegesis. Emotionally charged topics like abortion, sex, salvation and church doctrine pose a great temptation to prove a point by quoting a verse out of context or quoting selected verses while ignoring other relevant passages. But we must let God speak to us through the Bible and not try to make it say what we would like to hear.

It's important to know if the passage is using literary techniques like allegory, hyperbole, metaphor or parable to make its point....Here Ezekiel 23:20 is Hyperbole which is deliberate exaggeration to express the eagerness of the people of the Jews after idolatry. Hyperbole is very common in the Bible.....Example includes "Rivers of water run down from my eyes, Because men do not keep Your law." (Psalms 119:136). It is also a simile which uses "like" to give us a mental picture of something by comparing it to something else. "As the deer pants for water, so I long for you, O God." (Psalms 42:1) is also an example of similes.

God created us and the animals and our biological make-up comes from all-mighty God. In Ezekiel 23:20, The stress on the lustful character of the search for a partner and the switching back and forth are not presented as they would be today, as insight into the way basically healthy human desires are corrupted by a passion for excitation apart from commitment. Instead the focus throughout is on the rebuke of israel's desire to secure her political existence by appropriate political activity rather than seeing in her religion a relationship of such an exclusive and absolute sort that any attempt at self-achieved security could only be inherently an utter betrayal of her heritage.

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Music Stimulates the Pleasure Centers in the Brain

Have you been searching for an alternative remedy to help you feel good? Well, here is some health news guaranteed to up your "pleasure quotient:" a recent study from researchers at the Montreal Neurological Institute has shown that music stimulates the same pleasure center of your brain as a good meal or a first crush.

According to the researchers, music can stimulate the release of dopamine in the brain - the same pleasure-generating neurotransmitter associated with love-making, a good meal, and certain drugs, but without the prescription side effects.

Study participants were asked to bring a piece of music that consistently gave them a strong emotional response. To ensure it was the music causing the effect, recordings with lyrics or with a specific association to the listener's past were eliminated by the research team. Participants were observed first with a PET and then an MRI scanner to see what their brains were doing while they listened to the music.

The researchers found that PET scans showed clearly that dopamine was released in direct correspondence to the music-induced "chills." Meanwhile, the MRI scanner showed something even more interesting: the brain appeared to be registering the pleasure about 15 seconds before the climax of the music. As with love-making and chocolate cake, the researchers say, it appears the listeners were craving the next part of the music.

Now, the next time you are looking for a boost emotionally and mentally, turn on some music. It might just stimulate that pleasure center in your brain.

"If you are looking for a resource that clearly and effectively identifies the deceptively powerful and destructive force of pornography/Drugs, Then Christian Music and Songs can be powerful tool.

The struggle of porn has become so pervasive, so far-reaching in both exposure and stronghold that it sometimes feels like we're trying to attack a fighter jet with a pea shooter. I sense that this tool provides a quantum leap forward in destroying the hold of secrecy and assisting men towards God.

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Jesus Loves Sinners

If I were a person outside of the church, I might think that Jesus hates me. To an outsider, it appears that Jesus is angry with me, because the church is angry with me. I have habits they reject; I have different values; and I don't share their political leanings. I am confused. The church judges me, but seems very tolerant of its own hypocrisy. I am genuinely interested in Jesus. But, I don't fit the culture of church. What am I to do? What would Jesus do? How did Jesus deal with sinners?

Notice Jesus� interaction with sinners in Luke 5:27-32, "After this he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth. And he said to him, "Follow me." And leaving everything, he rose and followed him. And Levi made him a great feast in his house, and there was a large company of tax collectors and others reclining at table with them. And the Pharisees and their scribes grumbled at his disciples, saying, "Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?" And Jesus answered them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance."

Jesus is not afraid to call sinners to become followers. Christians are also known as Christ followers or disciples. A disciple is a learner or one who follows after a certain leader. We are Christ followers. We learn from him. The church must have a great love for sinner, because our leader does. Jesus purposefully mixed with sinners. He was not afraid of them. He did not treat them as enemies. He sought their company, and called them to become his followers.

Jesus spent enough time with sinners that the religious establishment accused him of sinful activity. About Jesus they said in Matthew 11:19, "He came eating and drinking, and they say, 'Look at him!' A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!" In John 9:24 they said, "We know this man is a sinner." If the church starts loving sinners like Jesus did, they will say the same about us!

In John 8 the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery and threw her down at Jesus' feet. They questioned Jesus as to whether he agreed with them that she should be stoned to death, as according to Moses' law required. Jesus said to them, "Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her."All the accusers walked away on shame. Jesus said to the woman, "Where are your accusers, does no one condemn you?" She said, "No one, Lord." Jesus answered her with the most amazing words, "Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more."

Like Jesus, the church must adopt a non-condemning attitude toward sinners. A loving attitude will win sinners toward repentance. God loved the world so much that he sent his son to us. Romans 2:4, "Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?" Jesus loves sinners. The church must love them also.

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Is Our Copy of the Bible a Reliable Copy of the Original?

Introduction

Many skeptics believe that the Bible has been drastically changed over the centuries. In reality, the Bible has been translated into a number of different languages (first Latin, then English and other languages). However, the ancient manuscripts (written in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek) have been reliably copied over the centuries - with very few alterations.

Old Testament

How do we know the Bible has been kept in tact for over 2,000 years of copying? Before the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, our earliest Hebrew copy of the Old Testament was the Masoretic text, dating around 800 A.D. The Dead Sea Scrolls date to the time of Jesus and were copied by the Qumran community, a Jewish sect living around the Dead Sea. We also have the Septuagint which is a Greek translation of the Old Testament dating in the second century B.C. When we compare these texts which have an 800-1000 years gap between them we are amazed that 95% of the texts are identical with only minor variations and a few discrepancies.

New Testament

There are tens of thousands of manuscripts from the New Testament, in part or in whole, dating from the second century A.D. to the late fifteenth century, when the printing press was invented. These manuscripts have been found in Egypt, Palestine, Syria, Turkey, Greece, and Italy, making collusion unlikely. The oldest manuscript, the John Rylands manuscript, has been dated to 125 A.D. and was found in Egypt, some distance from where the New Testament was originally composed in Asia Minor. Many early Christian papyri, discovered in 1935, have been dated to 150 A.D., and include the four gospels. The Papyrus Bodmer II, discovered in 1956, has been dated to 200 A.D., and contains 14 chapters and portions of the last seven chapters of the gospel of John. The Chester Beatty biblical papyri, discovered in 1931, has been dated to 200-250 A.D. and contains the Gospels, Acts, Paul's Epistles, and Revelation. The number of manuscripts is extensive compared to other ancient historical writings, such as Caesar's "Gallic Wars" (10 Greek manuscripts, the earliest 950 years after the original), the "Annals" of Tacitus (2 manuscripts, the earliest 950 years after the original), Livy (20 manuscripts, the earliest 350 years after the original), and Plato (7 manuscripts).

Manuscript Evidence for Ancient Writings

Author	Written	Earliest Copy	Time Span	# Mss.
Caesar	100-44 B.C.	900 A.D.	1,000 yrs	10
Plato	427-347 B.C.	900 A.D.	1,200 yrs	7
Thucydides	460-400 B.C.	900 A.D.	1,300 yrs	8
Tacitus	100 A.D.	1100 A.D.	1,000 yrs	20
Suetonius	75-160 A.D.	950 A.D.	800 yrs	8
Homer (Iliad)	900 B.C.	400 B.C.	500 yrs	643
New Testament	40-100 A.D.	125 A.D.	25-50 yrs	24,000

Thousands of early Christian writings and lexionaries (first and second century) cite verses from the New Testament. In fact, it is nearly possible to put together the entire New Testament just from early Christian writings. For example, the Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians (dated 95 A.D.) cites verses from the Gospels, Acts, Romans, 1 Corinthians, Ephesians, Titus, Hebrews, and 1 Peter. The letters of Ignatius (dated 115 A.D.) were written to several churches in Asia Minor and cites verses from Matthew, John, Romans, 1 & 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, 1 & 2 Timothy and Titus. These letters indicate that the entire New Testament was written in the first century A.D. In addition, there is internal evidence for a first century date for the writing of the New Testament. The book of Acts ends abruptly with Paul in prison, awaiting trial (Acts 28:30-31 (1)). It is likely that Luke wrote Acts during this time, before Paul finally appeared before Nero. This would be about 62-63 A.D., meaning that Acts and Luke were written within thirty years of ministry and death of Jesus. Another internal evidence is that there is no mention of the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. Although Matthew, Mark and Luke record Jesus' prophecy that the temple and city would be destroyed within that generation (Matthew 24:1-2 (2),Mark 13:1-2 (3), Luke 21:5-9,20-24,32(4)), no New Testament book refers to this event as having happened. If they had been written after 70 A.D., it is likely that letters written after 70 A.D. would have mentioned the fulfillment of Jesus' prophecy. As stated by Nelson Glueck, former president of the Jewish Theological Seminary in the Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati, and renowned Jewish archaeologist, "In my opinion, every book of the New Testament was written between the forties and eighties of the first century A.D."

Conclusion

With all of the massive manuscript evidence you would think there would be massive discrepancies - just the opposite is true. New Testament manuscripts agree in 99.5% (5) of the text (compared to only 95% for the Iliad). Most of the discrepancies are in spelling and word order. A few words have been changed or added. There are two passages that are disputed but no discrepancy is of any doctrinal significance (i.e., none would alter basic Christian doctrine). Most Bibles include the options as footnotes when there are discrepancies. How could there be such accuracy over a period of 1,400 years of copying? Two reasons: The scribes that did the copying had meticulous methods for checking their copies for errors. 2) The Holy Spirit made sure we would have an accurate copy of God's word so we would not be deceived. The Mormons, theological liberals as well as other cults and false religions such as Islam that claim the Bible has been tampered with are completely proven false by the extensive, historical manuscript evidence.

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Is Moral Relativism compatible with Christianity?

Ethical relativism is the position that there are no moral absolutes, no moral right and wrongs. Instead, right and wrong are based on social norms. Some have heard of the term "situational ethics," which is a category of ethical relativism. At any rate, ethical relativism would mean that our morals have evolved, that they have changed over time, and that they are not absolute.

One advantage of ethical relativism is that it allows for a wide variety of cultures and practices. It also allows people to adapt ethically as the culture, knowledge, and technology change in society. This is a good and valid form of relativism.

The disadvantage of ethical relativism is that truth, right and wrong, and justice are all relative. Just because a group of people think that something is right does not make it so. Slavery is a good example of this. Two hundred years ago in America, slavery was the norm and morally acceptable. Now it is not.

Relativism also does not allow for the existence of an absolute set of ethics. Logically, if there are not absolute ethics, then there can be no Divine Absolute Ethics Giver. Requiring an absolute set of ethics implies an Absolute Ethics Giver, which can easily be extrapolated as being God. This would be opposed to ethical relativism. Therefore, ethical relativism would not support the idea of an absolute God, and it would exclude religious systems based upon absolute morals; that is, it would be absolute in its condemnation of absolute ethics. In this, relativism would be inconsistent, since it would deny beliefs of absolute values.

Furthermore, if ethics have changed over time, there is the problem of self-contradiction within the relativistic perspective. 200 years ago slavery was socially acceptable and correct. Now it is not. There has been a change in social ethics in America regarding this issue. The problem is that if slavery becomes acceptable again in the next 200 years, who is to say if it is right or wrong? We would have a contradictory set of right and wrong regarding the same issue. To this I ask the question, does truth contradict itself?

Within ethical relativism, right and wrong are not absolute and must be determined in society by a combination of observation, logic, social preferences and patterns, experience, emotions, and "rules" that seem to bring the most benefit. Of course, it goes without saying that a society involved in constant moral conflict would not be able to survive for very long. Morality is the glue that holds a society together. There must be a consensus of right and wrong for a society to function well. Ethical relativism undermines that glue.

It seems to be universal among cultures that it is wrong to murder, to steal, and to lie. We see that when individuals practice these counterproductive ethics, they are soon in prison and/or punished. Since ethics are conceptual in nature, and there are some ethics that seem to transcend all cultures (be true for all societies), I conclude that there is a transcendent God who has authored these ethics -- but that is another discussion.

I do not believe that the best ethical patterns discovered by which societies operate (honesty, fidelity, truth, no theft, no murder, etc.) are the product of our biological makeup or trial and error. As a Christian, I see them as a reflection of God's very character. They are a discovery of the rules God has established by which people best interact with people, because He knows how He has designed them. The 10 commandments are a perfect example of moral absolutes and have yet to be improved upon. They are transcendent; that is, they transcend social norms and are always true.

I was once challenged to prove that there were moral absolutes. I took up the challenge with the following argument. I asked the gentleman whether or not there were logical absolutes. For example, I asked if it was a logical absolute that something could exist and also not exist at the same time. He said no, that it was not possible. Another example is that something cannot bring itself into existence. To this he agreed that there were indeed logical absolutes. I then asked him to explain how logical absolutes can exist if there is no God. I questioned him further by asking him to tell me how in a purely physical universe logical absolutes, which are by nature conceptual, can exist. I told him they cannot be measured, put in a test tube, weighed, nor captured; yet, they exist. So, I asked him to please tell me how these conceptual absolute truths can exist in a purely physical universe... without a God. He could not answer me. I then went on to say that these conceptual absolutes logically must exist in the mind of an absolute God, because they cannot merely reside in the properties of matter in a purely naturalistic universe. And since the logical absolutes are true everywhere all the time and they are conceptual, it would seem logical that they exist within a transcendent, omnipresent being. If there is an absolute God with an absolute mind, then he is the standard of all things as well as morals. Therefore, there would be moral absolutes. To this argument the gentleman chuckled, said he had never heard it before, and conceded that it may be possible for moral absolutes to exist.

Of course as a Christian, as one who believes in the authority and inspiration of the Bible, I consider moral absolutes to be very real because they come from God and not because they somehow reside in a naturalistic universe.

How to experience God's love

In the early 1930s, a very poor family of a mother, father and a young son were crossing the Atlantic from Europe to live in the United States. Since they only had money to pay for third-class passage on the ship and virtually nothing with which to buy food on the ten-day voyage, they made enough cheese sandwiches to provide for their meals. However, on the morning of the last day of the crossing, the boy cried out in desperation, “I can’t eat any more cheese sandwiches! I’ve got to have something else to eat!”

Hoping their son might be able to purchase an apple or an orange on the ship, the mother and father finally decided to give the boy a quarter. Immediately he rushed out of their small cabin, and several hours later had not returned. As the anguished parents were expressing their concern, the son burst into their cabin and shouted, “You should have seen what I had to eat! I had steak, fish, pie, cake, ice cream…!

The startled parents exclaimed, “How are we going to pay for it?! How are we going to pay for it?!”

“Pay for it?! Pay for it?! All of the food is free! It came with the price of the tickets!”

If any person is determined to journey through this world expecting to be nourished on the love of another human being, he or she may end up starving to death, or at best having to survive on what is comparable to a diet of cheese sandwiches.

But God’s unconditional, transforming love is free, and it comes with our ticket to life. We simply have to know how to receive it. “All have sinned and are deprived of the glory of God. They are justified freely by his grace through the redemption in Christ Jesus” (Rm 3:23,24). God loves us 100% just as we are; we do not have to achieve, nor are we able to achieve, a certain degree of goodness before he loves us. Again, we are reminded in John’s First Letter that we are only able to love God, ourself and our neighbor because God Has first loved us (cf. 1 Jn 4:19).

A young man who became a monk in a very strict religious community did more penance than the other monks because he believed he was the worst of sinners. But convinced he was not doing enough penance to make reparation for his past sins, he determined to become a hermit. Taking a large crucifix, he went into the wilderness and began to live in a cave. Having placed the crucifix in a corner of the cave, daily he spent hours praying as he knelt before the crucifix.

One day during prayer he thought he heard Jesus say to him, “Do you see this wound in my side? That’s for you. Do you see these wounds in my hands and feet? They are for you. Do you see this blood and filth all over my body? I allowed that for you.”

Suddenly the young monk leaped to his feet, shook his fist at the crucifix and shouted, “God, you are crazy to have died for a sinner like me! And at that moment, the Holy Spirit finally managed to convince him of the truth that set him free. For he was able to internalize what an elderly monk had said to him shortly after he had entered the monastery: “Young man, when you accept the fact that God loves you just as you are, then you will begin to experience God’s infinite love and mercy.”

How, then, are you able to receive God’s transforming love into your life? If I offer you a glass of water and say it is yours, it is not really yours just because I say so. It is only truly yours if you have faith in me that it is a good glass of water, and you take it from me and drink it. Only then will it free you from your thirst.

In John’s Gospel the person referred to on at least three occasions as the one whom Jesus loved is generally thought to be the Apostle John. But since God is love and offers the same love to every person, why is John apparently loved more than the others?

Who was the only Apostle at the foot of the cross? John. Who was the first Apostle at the tomb after Jesus’ resurrection? John. Who was the only Apostle in the boat to recognize Jesus on the shore after the resurrection? John. Because of John’s steadfast faith in Jesus, he was the most open to God’s transforming love especially to be recognized as the Apostle whom Jesus loved.

A shy, young girl attends her first singles’ dance. Sitting fairly hidden in a corner of the dance floor, she is hoping against hope that a certain young man will seek her out and ask her for a dance.

Let’s suppose the young man who has been looking for her finally sees her in the corner. With some apprehension he slowly approaches her and says, “Will you dance with me?”

Only if she says “Yes!” will she begin to blossom and become more of who she is called to be.

Through his unconditional, transforming love for you, God will enable you to become all of who you are called to be if only you are open in steadfast faith to say “Yes” to him–to his love and strength for you to overcome your daily trials and temptations in order to live the GOD, the Good Orderly Direction, that will set you free.

To further illustrate what is meant to be open in faith: When I was four, five and six years old, I used to go hiking with my dad in the woods. When we were deep in the woods I was lost, but dad was the reason I was never afraid; I was certain he knew the way out of the woods. And all he had to say was “Come, follow me,” and in childlike faith I would follow him back to the car. He was the way, the truth and the life–the way to the truth of getting out of the woods to a life of freedom to enjoy a good lunch.

And even if I had known the way out of the woods apart from my dad, it would have not done me any good. As a little child I was not able to get over the barbed-wire fences or across the streams without faith in my dad; only because I had faith in him was I open to his protective love and strength that enabled me to enjoy my journey through the woods with total assurance that all would turn out well. I was sure of things hoped for and certain of things not yet seen because I had childlike faith in my father.

And so Jesus says the same to you: “Have no less faith in me because I love you much more than any earthly father is able to love you.”

In our lack of faith we are not crowding God as he would like. Jesus wept over Jerusalem because we fail to let him love us as much as he desires; that is, too often in times of temptation and trial, we fail immediately to retreat in faith–as do little children to a loving parent when they encounter danger–to Jesus to be open to his protective love and strength to experience the refuge and freedom he affords us. Accordingly, we must program ourselves to live the Faith-Love Principle.

A very easy way to be open to God’s transforming love even when not being tried and tempted is simply to breathe “Jesus;” that is, just silently to the rhythm of your breathing breathe in the first syllable and breathe out the second syllable. Since Jesus means Savior and Healer, your exercise of faith opens you to his ongoing salvation and healing.

Also, “… thus says the lord, … I have called you by name: you are mine” (Is 43:1b). Again, silently to the rhythm of your breathing, breathe in your first name and breathe out the words “I love you,” and in faith know that Jesus is saying that to you. “There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear because fear has to do with punishment…” (1 Jn 4:18a). “Thus we may say with confidence: ‘The Lord is my helper, and I will not be afraid. What can anyone do to me’” (Heb 13:6).

God wants to love you through others, but if they can’t or won’t co-operate, or if you have no human friendships, you can become independent in the Lord. Jesus is not only your God, Savior and Brother, but he is also your very best Friend. And because he is love and the source of all love, he has more than enough love to fulfill anyone who in faith accepts him as their Lord and Savior.

Finally, since God is always offering his love to us, even when we are sinning, the easiest prayer to pray is, “God, grant that I may be open to your love; grant that all people may be open to your love.” “Draw near to God; and he will draw near to you^“ (Jm 4:8a). Jesus is the YES Person–Your Eternal Savior. Say yes in childlike faith to YES, Your Eternal Savior, that you may become all you are called to be by following GOD–Good Orderly Direction that will enable you to say, “I am happy and free! I live the FLP!

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