The Christian Difference

"...Christianity is not just pious talk. It is neither a collection of religious ideas nor a catalogue of rules. It is a ‘gospel’ (i.e. good news) – in the apostle Paul’s words ‘the gospel of God…regarding his Son…Jesus Christ our Lord’. It is not primarily an invitation for us to do anything; it is supremely a declaration of what God has done"

~John Stott~

Give to Caesar

Voting Day 2016...

Here's to giving to Caesar, that which belongs to Caesar, and giving to God that which belongs to God! Voting for a president, and praying like crazy!!

19The scribes and the chief priests sought to lay hands on him at that very hour, for they perceived that he had told this parable against them, but they feared the people. 20So they watched him and sent spies, who pretended to be sincere, that they might catch him in something he said, so as to deliver him up to the authority and jurisdiction of the governor. 21So they asked him, “Teacher, we know that you speak and teach rightly, and show no partiality,^d but truly teach the way of God.22Is it lawful for us to give tribute to Caesar, or not?” 23But he perceived their craftiness, and said to them, 24“Show me a denarius.^e Whose likeness and inscription does it have?” They said, “Caesar’s.” 25He said to them, “Then render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” 26And they were not able in the presence of the people to catch him in what he said, but marveling at his answer they became silent.  - Gospel of Luke 20:19-26



Then I saw another angel kflying directly overhead, with an eternal gospel to proclaim to lthose who dwell on earth, to every nation and tribe and language and people. 7 And he said with a loud voice, m“Fear God and ngive him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come, and oworship him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the psprings of water.”   Revelation 14:6-7

Political Unrest?

When the options have you scared...

Try and remember His words… When asked if we should pay taxes to Caesar, He said “Give me a coin. Whose image is on this Coin?” And of course it was Caesars face on the coin.

“…Give to Caesar, that which belongs Caesar’s, and give to God that which belongs to God.”

I’ve heard it suggested that the man who asked Jesus that question… ought to have had a follow up Question… “What belongs to God?” And Jesus might have said… “Whose Image is on you?” 

Just this morning on my drive in to work… I saw a license plate that had a prefix of “FTB”  And I said to myself “Face The Book”  Instead of doing FB (FaceBook), we should put it down, and FTB (Face The Book). Give to God that which belongs to God! "All of your heart, soul, mind, and strength." 

"Seek the Lord, while He may be found."

Science ...limited?

Quotes for today...

“Science cannot deal with the simplest questions of a child… ‘why am I here? What is the meaning of my life?” - Sir Peter Medawar 1915-1987  Awarded the Nobel Prize in 1960 for ‘Physiology of Medicine’ and  his work on how the immune system rejects or accepts organ transplants.

“It was my science that drove me to the conclusion that the world is much more complicated than can be explained by science. It’s only through the supernatural that I can understand the mystery of existence.” - Allan Sandidge.   

Allan Rex Sandage was an American astronomer. He was Staff Member Emeritus with the Carnegie Observatories in Pasadena, California. He determined the first reasonably accurate values for the Hubble constant and the age of the universe.

Quotes on reaching the end of yourself...

“Meaninglessness, does not come from being weary of pain, meaninglessness comes from being weary of pleasure.”

- G.K. Chesterton.

“It is difficult to resist the conclusion that twentieth century man has decided to abolish himself.  Tired of the struggle to be himself, he has created boredom out of his own affluence, impotence out of his own erotomania, and vulnerability out of his own strength.  He himself blows the trumpet that brings the walls of his own cities crashing down, until at last, having educated himself into imbecility, having drugged and polluted himself into stupefaction, he keels over, a weary, battered old brontosaurus, and becomes extinct.”

– Malcolm Muggeridge.

“the worst effect of sin, is not manifested in pain, and suffering, and bodily defacement, but in the dis-crowned faculties, the unworthy loves, the low ideals, the brutalized, and the enslaved spirit.”

- Edwin Hubble Chapin (1814 - 1880)

"A day's march..."

Here in the body pent,

Absent from Him I roam,

Yet nightly pitch my moving tent

A day's march nearer home.

- James Montgomery (1771-1854)

We're all facing a final destiny. This is just another undeniable "empirically verifiable fact"  And as Samuel Johnson has said... "No rational man can die without uneasy apprehension." . It would be a good idea to find out to the best of your ability, where you will end up on the other side. 

We all must face the fact, that some day our bodies will no longer be living, but will indeed die. My challenge to anyone reading this, is to ponder that. Ask yourself, what will happen to me when I die? Some people believe that we don't have souls. However I agree with our good friend, the late C.S. Lewis who said while in conversation with a non-believer. 
"I agree, you don't have a soul.... You ARE a soul, you HAVE a body."  

As the Apostle Paul wrote. "To be absent from the body, is to be present with the Lord." 
When we look at the Cross of Christ, The Resurrection of Christ, we see that He, not only paved the away for us to be with him in Eternity, but we also see that by the Cross, all men have been "drawn unto" Him. And the end result is that through the work of the Cross and Resurrection of our Lord ...death is not the end. Your soul (and mine) will go on for eternity. That is a sobering thought, for "the rational man" at least. 

The simplicity and the beauty of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, is this "...to Believe.." in the Lord Jesus. To take Him at His word. 

Like the Hymn states. 

1. Oh, how sweet to trust in Jesus,
   Just to trust His cleansing blood;
   And in simple faith to plunge me
   ’Neath the healing, cleansing flood!

Yes, ’tis sweet to trust in Jesus,

Just from sin and self to cease;

Just from Jesus simply taking

Life and rest, and joy and peace.

1. I’m so glad I learned to trust Thee,
   Precious Jesus, Savior, Friend;
   And I know that Thou art with me,
   Wilt be with me to the end.

Depravity of man...

It’s a timely quote to remember, from the late British Journalist Malcolm Muggeridge, who was himself a late comer to Christ.. In response to the common, and modern idea that is generally accepted in our society that ‘man is getting better and better, and that we are intrinsically all good, deep within.’  He wrote of the duplicitous nature of the human mind, and heart. Saying…

“The depravity of man is at once, the most empirically verifiable fact, and at the same time the most intellectually resisted.”

The heart is deceitful above all things,
    and desperately sick;
    who can understand it?

-          Jeremiah 17:9

But we have Hope in Christ, Thanks be to God!

³ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

⁴ to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you,

⁵ who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 

⁶ In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved byvarious trials, 

⁷ so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 

⁸ Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, 

⁹ obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

-          1 Peter 1:3-9