The Three Step Program

Every day as I come back to this passage I have been soaking in for weeks now, I keep discovering fresh insights in stories I thought long ago were very familiar and mundane. That's the way it is now with almost everything I read in the Word and it has made it extremely difficult to have any time left over for reading other books.

I decided to begin marinating in the book of Luke for the foreseeable future, but after several weeks I still have not gotten past even half of the first chapter. But I don't mind that for I now enjoy gaining a deeper appreciation of these passages over covering a lot of territory like I used to read. Now it matters not how long it takes me to finish anything in the Bible. I would much rather sink my attention much deeper into the Word and have it bring more convictions and blessings to my soul rather than being able to say that I have read the whole Bible through in a certain amount of time. And while I don't discount the importance of reading the Bible as a whole, I feel I may have done that for enough years that I now find the Spirit is eager to begin making connections between its different parts that amplify each other rather than just rehearsing over and over what I have already learned.

This morning I found myself again back in the story of Gabriel and his compelling interaction with Zacharias. Maybe it is because I want to flush out more openly unbelief from my own heart and be free of it myself that I keep finding nuances in this story that apply to myself. I resonate all too readily with the skepticism of Zacharias and sympathize with his mixed feelings when suddenly his years of prayers are given an answer that is so stunning that it throws him completely off balance. What I want to receive from God in this study is a new attitude myself, what Gabriel described as part of what Elijah did and what this new prophet would do – turn the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous.

I find this interesting in that I learned long ago that obedience is much more than on outward issue. I grew up like many others, believing that obedience was all about doing the right thing, i.e. keeping all the rules. Over recent years it has been emerging that true obedience can only come from a heart experience, and that forced obedience, whether that force comes from others or even from within, will only result in fostering a spirit of resistance and eventually rebellion. This should be like a siren of warning for all those with responsibility for raising young children, for typical parenting techniques that rely on force and intimidation always produces similar results inwardly no matter what is accomplished externally.

Getting someone to comply to demands and rules is in sharp contrast to turning the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous. I see this as a parallel to the earlier part of this announcement where Gabriel says that John will turn the hearts of the fathers back to the children. Again the emphasis is all on the internal part of our being rather than on external conformity. And this is the area that I have been the weakest in experiencing, having been brought up to pay far more attention to keeping up proper appearances and behavior, yet without learning how to really receive and give true love and affection.

And he will turn many of the sons of Israel back to the Lord their God. It is he who will go as a forerunner before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, TO TURN THE HEARTS OF THE FATHERS BACK TO THE CHILDREN, and the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous, so as to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. (Luke 1:16-17)

I have often pondered how the ministry of Elijah accomplished what is described here. Maybe I don't yet appreciate enough a true awareness of what Elijah was like. What does come to mind of course, is the most famous story from Elijah's life – that spectacular display of God's power on Mt. Carmel when fire came down out of heaven and wowed the majority of people into returning their allegiance back to the true God. Yet even that story leaves one wondering just how much heart change actually took place in most of those people or how much of their subsequent obedience had to do with simply tracking to the god who displayed the most power. Stories that follow that event seem to give mixed messages in this regard.

As I think back again on that story, it also occurs to me that quite possibly Elijah may have inadvertently 'snatched defeat from the jaws of victory' as an old saying goes. Most Christians today assume without question that the wholesale slaughter of the priests of Baal by Elijah was the righteous thing to do and was ordered by God. But there is no evidence that God instructed Elijah to directly kill these men while on the other hand there seems to be a lot of evidence that this choice led Elijah down a trail that left him soon very vulnerable to threats of a single woman against his own life.

I have commented on this extensively elsewhere and have come to the firm conclusion that this act of violence on the part of Elijah was parallel to the sin of Moses when he struck the rock in disobedience to the command of God that cost him dearly afterwards. One clue that leads me to this conclusion is that when Elijah finally meets God again on Mt. Horeb he is given a rehearsal of the lessons he was supposed to have already learned about how to listen to God properly. And following his own impulses from his aroused passions after such a display of the spectacular was not the correct way to discern God's voice as was made plain during his review time on the mountain with God later on.

I ponder what might have happened if Elijah had made a different choice right after God's fire fell from heaven on his sacrifice to draw the people back to God. I sense that this event could have produced dramatically different results, similar to what could have taken place had Moses chosen to display more accurately the true character of God by not allowing the spirit of anger and bitterness to overcome him when he struck the rock. In both cases it seems very possible that God's Spirit might have had a tremendous breakthrough in the hearts and lives of the vast majority of people if God's servants had been more faithful to their advanced knowledge about Him. I believe history in both cases could have been dramatically altered had God not been robbed of His real glory through the sad choices of His servants in those instances.

This brings me back to the prophecy of Gabriel to Zacharias, and by extension to all of us who believe we have been called to again present a similar message as Elijah and John the Baptist. For many years I have heard it repeated that God's people in the last days are supposed to revive the prophetic ministry of Elijah and John to prepare a people for the coming of Jesus. I don't dispute that truth in the least. However, what has been far more confusing is just what that implies when it comes to both the content of our message and more importantly, the spirit with which we present this message from heaven.

Maybe the original message entrusted to Elijah became distorted by the tragic choice of Elijah himself to take things into his own hands just when God was about to accomplish a great victory in the lives of His people. It appears that John the Baptist was more faithful to his calling than Elijah in that he did not indulge in resorting to violence, even though some of his language seemed rather strong. But warnings have to be strong at times to get the attention of people so jaded and numbed by sin that they cannot hear anything else. I believe God has to do that at times.

But just as Moses was disciplined for misrepresenting God's character before the Children of Israel in the desert, I believe that Elijah was corrected on Mt. Horeb for forgetting how to rightly listen to the quiet promptings of the Spirit. Elijah had allowed his adrenalin to control his choices instead of God's Spirit. So too, we also need to learn the lesson of reflecting more accurately the real truth about God's attitudes towards sinners and learn from their mistakes to avoid repeating them again and again.

Jesus stated something that sounds rather shocking to our way of viewing things, yet makes complete sense when observing things from heaven's perspective. Jesus said that John was the greatest prophet who ever lived, even while he was considered the least – by this world's standards. What did He mean by this seemingly contradictory statement? I believe He was contrasting how heaven's view of things is almost always the very opposite of our assumptions about how things are supposed to look like.

John, the prophet that Gabriel was talking to his father that day, was faithful to the promptings of the Spirit that filled his life from even before birth. If anyone was tempted to resort to using force to accomplish the desires of God, I suspect John faced that intensely early on. Anyone familiar with the political and social climate of that day would know that the injustice and abuse and violence taking place around Palestine under Roman occupation was so severe that many attempted violent insurrections, albeit all unsuccessfully. Most of these insurrections had one thing in common: they all assumed that God's will for His people involved resorting to methods of force when circumstances were too extreme for less violent approaches.

This thinking is extremely prevalent today, both in and out of our church. What is worse is that there is even open hostility among many of the people of God toward anyone even suggesting that God does not need to resort to violence to get His way. This issue is becoming such a controversial topic among Christians today that it is beginning to polarize not only our own church, but the whole world is starting to take sides on this issue. In fact, I have wondered it it may well be one of the main issues that brings about full completion of this polarization resulting is what is described in Revelation 22:11:

"Let the one who does wrong, still do wrong; and the one who is filthy, still be filthy; and let the one who is righteous, still practice righteousness; and the one who is holy, still keep himself holy."

I used to assume that righteousness had to do with what a person does rather than what was inside of their heart. I have been disabused of that lie many years ago, yet I still struggle to experience full freedom from the many lies that cause me to act out in ways that are unlike Christ – lies about how God feels towards me along with lies about myself. I have learned that probably every sin that besets me has at its root some lie or cluster of lies that needs to be exposed and replaced with glorious truth that will banish them from my heart. Jesus said that when we know the truth it will make us free. And the truth He was speaking of definitely was not a list of doctrines to memorize. Jesus said, I am the Truth, the Way and the Life.

Gabriel told Zacharias that the essence of the message that John would bring to God's people would do three things:

1. It would turn many of God's people back to the true God (reflective of Elijah's ministry).
2. It would turn the hearts of fathers toward their children (linking to another prophecy in Malachi 4).
3. It would turn the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous.

Even as I wrote this out it suddenly became obvious to me that there is a natural progression here. The first step can easily be more external in nature. While many in Elijah's day switched their allegiance back to worshiping the God of heaven, there is doubt as to how many of them actually had their hearts transformed significantly, especially after watching Elijah's demonstration of wrath that brought confusion into the truth about God's wrath and His methods.

The second step takes things deeper however, down to the heart level and addresses closer relationships as seen in the family. Not only would this message realign religious allegiance back toward the true God of heaven but it works to repair the damage that sin has brought into our homes and our family relationships at the heart level where the reflection of God has become so distorted.

Yet the last step that must also take place is even more invasive than just a switch of external allegiance or even a turning of the heart. This last step describes a complete attitude change, a transformed disposition, a settling into thinking and feeling and perceiving and relating that is reflective of what is described in Philippians 2 as the mind of Christ.

What is becoming clear to me now is that this is likely the answer I have been seeking for many years about something constantly talked about in my church. There is a lot of talk about getting ready for Jesus to come. Early on the assumption has been that to get ready for the Second Coming of Christ means working very hard to get all sin out of the life. Of course, if one has unclear ideas about what the word sin means to start with they will come up with all sorts of conclusions about what it means to get rid of it. But the deeper problem with this assumption is that the focus is still on the externals, on behavior and fails to effect any real heart change which is where the roots of sin find their nourishment.

According to Gabriel's message here, these three things that John the Baptist was to bring to light are the things needed in order to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. I believe it is safe to assume that the same message is needed today just as much as it was needed for Christ's first coming.

It is not enough to simply switch allegiance back to the right God as important as that is for a first step.

It is not even enough to take it deeper and have our hearts to be affected by the Spirit of God, as important as this step is as well.

What is really needed is a complete conversion, 'the whole enchilada' as it is sometimes described. Without all three steps experienced no one will be truly ready to meet the kind of Jesus that will shock the vast majority of religious people when He shows up with the intensity of His true glory along with His holy angels to receive those who have put their full trust in Him and who reflect His kind of love.

This has powerful implications about the nature of the messages we may be trying to take to those around us. Just what kind of God and what version of the gospel are we embracing that we assume is going to get us ready for Jesus to come? Even those among us who have been thrilled with fresh, new revelations about the true character of God in contrast to the dark views we learned from religion in the past. Have we really taken seriously the last two steps of this Elijah/John message? How accurately does our attitude and spirit towards those around us reflect the true nature of Jesus as He revealed the heart of the Father to a confused universe in the way He related to those who opposed Him? Have we really been turned to the attitude of the righteous? Are we really allowing the mind of Christ be in us as described in Philippians 2, or are we content to hold back a step or two and just be content to talk about these things without fully submitting to the close work that the Holy Spirit must do inside of us to prepare our hearts to not shrink back at His coming?

Now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming. If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone also who practices righteousness is born of Him. (1 John 2:28-29)

Earlier in this chapter it was reported that Zacharias and Elizabeth were righteous in the sight of God. I am not disputing that in the least. But it appears that a deeper work needed to yet take place, especially in Zacharias, given the unbelief and skepticism that emerged when good news was announced to him by an angel from heaven. His attitude was not yet aligned well with the righteous but he reacted in fear and maybe even shame. His skepticism was so dangerous that Gabriel found it necessary to close his vocal chords for a few months to protect others from becoming infected with his doubting spirit.

I find the comment that Zacharias made that elicited this response from the angel very revealing.

Zacharias said to the angel, "How will I know this for certain? For I am an old man and my wife is advanced in years." (Luke 1:18)

How often have I heard this sentiment expressed by those with whom I am seeking to share good news about God. But more disturbing, how often has my own heart resonated with this attitude myself. I want to know things conclusively. I want overwhelming, conclusive evidence to eliminate every last doubt before I am willing to embrace some emerging truth. Many call this approach a 'healthy skepticism' or label it 'critical thinking;' it is even lauded in higher education circles as a virtue. Yet when I read this story it appears that heaven has a very different opinion of this attitude, and it doesn't seem to fit into what Gabriel described as the attitude of the righteous.

Zacharias was not expressing deception or telling lies here. He was simply relating 'facts on the ground' as we would call it. There was nothing false about these statements, for he and his wife really were too old to have children according to normal standards of measurement. But then, so too was Abraham and Sarah, and they had had similar conversations with God that should have served as a lesson for those who knew his story.

As God's people living at the very end of time with all the history of the world at our disposal, we have even less excuse for our unbelief than did Zacharias. It might be safe to say that about every mistake that can be made has been made by this point in time so we have no excuses left for resisting the work of God's Spirit to lead us into the full revelation of truth as it is in Jesus.

What I see happening at this point in the story is a transition by Gabriel from offering incredibly good news to the mode of disciplining someone for resisting belief in good news because there is not yet enough evidence to satisfy demands for more evidence before embracing it. There comes a point in our encounters with God where a line can be crossed that will elicit a similar response in our own lives if we continue to unreasonably resist embracing truth to let it transform our hearts and our attitude.

One thing that is compelling about this warning for me personally is that part of this truth presented to Zacharias includes the announcement that not only were his many years of prayers about to be answered but that there would be a great deal of celebration and joy and rejoicing in the process. Part of me that has been trained for years in the ways of austere religion rises up in religious protest over such notions, insisting that God does not approve of such 'dissipation.' But apparently heaven carries on in many ways that religious people here would not approve of, and that puts many of us crosswise with God's desires for our lives.

Father, continue to cleanse me of the many lies about You and Your ways that continue to inhibit me from simply believing Your amazing good news to the world and celebrating it with more freedom. Help me to fully embrace the glorious truth as revealed in Your Son about what You are really like and what You want to make me look like as Your reflection as well. Take me fully through all three steps of the Elijah/John message and so transform me that I too can become one of Your last-day prophets to proclaim this life-changing good news to darkened minds around this world. Glorify Your name in and through my life and increasingly in the lives of those are influenced by me.

Sign Filtering

Therefore when the people saw the sign which He had performed, they said, "This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world." So Jesus, perceiving that they were intending to come and take Him by force to make Him king, withdrew again to the mountain by Himself alone. (John 6:14-15)

There are so many things I have been learning in this story, but this is one of the clearest lessons I have seen about Jesus' view of force. It has become clear to me over the past few years that any religion that endorses or resorts to force is based on counterfeit principles and is not of God. The kingdom of heaven is never about the use of force, for such methods violate the fundamental principles of love and freedom that define the very essence of God's character and methods.

Jesus spent time in His teachings and dealings with others revealing the principles of the kingdom. Here He had just again demonstrated His care for the hungry people by accepting a little lunch from a child (a person who was much closer in spirit and character to the kind of kingdom He was setting up) and multiplied that lunch to feed thousands of people. But not only did He provide lunch for all those present but He provided them even more than they could eat.

This concept of extravagance on the part of God is one that I have struggled with for much of my life. I grew up in a religion subtly based on the idea of pious poverty, a culture where it feels wrong to have plenty, to be wealthy or even to necessarily feel very satisfied. Yet what I see here flies in the face of much of what my religious culture embedded into my psyche and that still thrives in many places today. At the same time, the opposite and popular religion of 'prosperity theology' is not endorsed here either. Jesus did not strengthen the insinuation suggested by Philip's comment by providing sufficient money with which they could buy bread for all the people. He did something very unexpected.

These hungry people likely were the poor of the land. Though some of them may have been better off than the average, most likely it was the lower classes that had been drawn out into the countryside to feast on the words of Jesus and experience His healing touch. They did not have money to throw around easily and it is doubtful that even if they had that there would have been markets nearby where they might buy food anyway. The circumstances detailed here created a situation where everything seemed impossible and the outcome appeared threatening with no human resolution reasonably available. But these are just the sort of circumstances that God seems to revel in at times.

What is important to glean from this story is that Jesus was trying to display the principles of His kingdom and the way that heaven views reality in contrast with how we usually perceive it. Human perceptions of reality almost always revolve around our counterfeit views of what is necessary to move society forward, the very foundations of a civilization rooted in economics, hierarchy and law. Embedded in these foundational assumptions are the relational adhesives of fear, force and shame that first appeared on this earth in the Garden of Eden immediately after Adam and Eve sinned. These false bonds showed up in the very first conversation they had with God in the garden and have colored the fundamental way we perceive reality ever since.

But Jesus came to show us the true reality of the rest of the universe and that we were originally designed to live within even here. This very different way of relating and perceiving never embraces the false elements of Satan's kingdom and never will, despite all religious teachings to the contrary. God does not employ the methods and spirit of His enemy to govern though in His wisdom and grace He can take what we have chosen to do and weave it back into something useful for our good later on. God is not the author of death or of fear or of condemnation and God does not need to resort to force or intimidation that violates people's will to accomplish His purposes.

I noticed this morning in this passage that two times it mentions the idea of being filled. When Jesus miraculously distributed an abundance of food to the vast crowd of very hungry people from a small lunch, He did so and kept doing so until everyone had eaten to the point of being filled before He quit. I find that detail intriguing, but then it goes on to say that Jesus instructed His disciples to fill up baskets of the leftover food so that nothing should be lost. They then report that twelve baskets are filled, one for each disciple that Jesus.

All throughout this story up to this point there is absolutely no hint of any method or teaching involving force. In fact, if the words of Jesus' previous teachings are carefully considered, it will be plain that Jesus focused on the very opposite.

But I say to you, do not resist an evil person; but whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. If anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, let him have your coat also. Whoever forces you to go one mile, go with him two. (Matthew 5:39-41)

The problem was that like people today, the Jews had a very distorted concept of God and how things should operate in government. While they intensely resented the very suppressive and abusive power that the Romans exercised over them, they still wanted that same kind of power themselves to do similar abusive things to those that they did not like. They wanted vengeance upon those who were oppressing them and they had placed much of their hopes for this in the coming Messiah whom they believed would stand up and fight for them to deliver them from their oppressors and make them great.

But God's government is not based on force and does not employ abusive tactics to accomplish His purposes. God's government does not violate people's free will, for to do so would be to destroy the very foundation of His government – love itself. For true love demands true freedom of the will to choose to respond or to reject love without fear of intimidation. Love can never be produced in the heart through such methods, and without love God's presence cannot function freely within the heart.

Any religion, government or relationship that does not strictly follow the principles of pure freedom and love is of the enemy of righteousness and is operating on counterfeit principles. The people who wanted to make Jesus a king that day were hoping to force Him to be a leader who would help them carry out their own bitter desires on their enemies, not to allow Jesus to govern over them in love. If they had taken seriously the lessons He had been teaching up to this point they would have had to come to terms with their deep hatred and resentment against the Romans and the Samaritans and come to love their enemies as Jesus taught. But their picture of a king over them did not in any way include compassion and love for their enemies; what they wanted was to take advantage of the supernatural powers that Jesus was displaying and subvert them to accomplish their own selfish desires.

They wanted a king who would reflect and advance their own bigoted national interests at the expense of all others in the world. We may at first criticize them for this, but do we think any differently when we mingle national prejudice with religion in our worship, our popular songs and our comments about our political enemies? Really, how ready are we to love our neighbors as ourselves when it starts to become clear that neighbors include enemy soldiers in Iraq, Iran, or government leaders in China or any other place that harbors people who threaten us? Do we pray as sincerely for the welfare of the soldiers and 'terrorists' who fight against our country just the same as we pray for our own soldiers? I fear that our desires for a 'king' are little different than the Jews of Jesus' day who longed for someone to enforce their national pride much more than someone who would reveal a humble, merciful, compassionate Father who refuses to indulge our desires for retribution or revenge.

When the people reacted to the miracle of the feeding by trying to use force to make Jesus a king, it says here that Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by Himself alone. Notice that Jesus did not meet force with force but under the circumstances He simply withdrew from the situation altogether. He defeated their purposes by withdrawing His availability to them instead of arguing with them. Jesus was indeed a King, but He refused to indulge in the temptations of Satan to use false methods and motives to relate to them as a king the way they viewed kings. They believed that to force someone to be a king would be viewed as the highest compliment, an honor like no other. But Jesus viewed life from a very different perspective and saw the dangerous pitfalls intrinsic in it and refused to go there.

This showdown over competing beliefs about the role of a king was very much a temptation for Jesus as well as an expression of unbelief by the people and even the disciples. In His temptations in the wilderness previously Jesus had already faced down the devil directly over this issue, but that was not the last time He was tempted on this point. All throughout His life Satan kept coming back again and again trying from every angle to induce Jesus to use Satan's counterfeit methods to achieve His purposes. These were very real temptations and Jesus constantly faced them repeatedly and had to resist them in favor of God's ways.

This issue of when to resist and when not to resist has made me ponder many times. Jesus says to not resist an evil person but James instructs us to submit to God and resist the devil. There is clearly a place for resistance of evil, but it is not where we often want to resist it. The evil that we are to resist is the internal urges to indulge in the desires of our sinful nature that reflects the counterfeit ideas of God's enemy. This is where we are to put up total resistance while living in complete submission to God's authority in our lives. But where we are not to resist is when evil is being committed against us from the outside by others. This is also where it is most difficult to make sense of God's ways.

Our common sense and even our religious training recoil from this instruction of Jesus. We begin to rationalize and excuse ourselves and come up with very compelling reasons why we should be skirt this instruction. But if we look at the way Jesus related to abusive situations in His interactions with evil people, we see something very different than what most people believe about God today.

What kind of king are we looking for in our lives? Do we desire a king who is going to satisfy our cravings for power over our enemies? Do we want a king who will make us rich, give us the things we want, protect us from enemies who desire to hurt and dominate us, a power God who will give us the upper hand in this world? If so, we are going to become very angry with God sooner or later and will end up embracing the counterfeit god who is ready and eager to fill those roles in our life. The counterfeit god has plenty of power to offer us and will sometimes temporarily bless us magnificently causing us to believe we are in God's will. But too late we will find out that this god that fits our own desires so well is really the enemy of our souls.

There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death. (Proverbs 16:25)

The disciple's of Jesus started down that path and soon began to stare death in the face rather up close as the rest of the story unfolds.

How to Get Authority

And He gave Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man. (John 5:27)

Authority is another one of those very misunderstood topics that keeps most confused as to what it really means, how it should be used and who should have it. Abuse of 'authority' is one of the biggest problems becoming ever more open in our society, and rebellion against authority has always been one of the most difficult issues to address effectively. This likely happens when people in rebellion come to find themselves in positions of authority without knowing how to be subject to authority themselves.

Many times, what is done to supposedly deal with rebellion is to enforce authority by resorting to force, threats, abuse of every kind and the use of fear to try to bring about conformity to the selfish desires of those who claim to have authority. But this is little different than a predator using intimidation and force to suppress the desires of a victim to expose their abuser by threatening to hurt or kill them if they ever tell anyone else what they have experienced. We shudder in horror and are outraged when such situations come into the open, and yet the way we run our government and even the way many raise their children is tainted with this mentality and we too often come to think that it is just normal and even sometimes necessary in order to achieve conformity through control.

No wonder that our internal pictures of God are so horrendously distorted while upcoming generations of children become more and more immoral and disconnected from wanting to have anything to do with religion. Those who have used religion to assert oppressive control over their children when they were young should not at all be surprised to find that their children want to distance themselves as far as possible from the religion of their parents as soon as they are old enough to break away from their control. And if the children do choose to stay within their parents religion the results of that training too often leads them to perpetuate the lifestyle of abuse instead of turning away from it in favor of a relationship-based spiritual encounter with their true Father in heaven.

This issue of authority is a constant theme that keeps emerging over and over as I look at the Gospel of John. The Jews, very much like us, had developed the art of using force, fear, shame and abusive control to demonstrate what they believed God was like and how He related to sinful human beings. In doing so their ideas of what authority was all about morphed into similar veins of thinking that we are so familiar with yet today. They assumed that authority was something you received by grasping for it, by gaining control over the lives of others through the use of force like the Roman empire did. The counterfeit concepts of authority that the world believes in had been integrated into their ideas of religion and so their views of how God exercised authority had become so perverted that they had little appreciation for real authority when they were confronted with it in the life of the Son of God.

When Jesus acted in the full authority of His Father by disrupting the traditions and routines of religion in His day, He was repeatedly accused of acting outside of proper authority. This was a constant and ongoing issue that loomed large in the minds of the leaders of Jesus' day. And it should not be surprising that the very same problem is happening again and creates problems in our day whenever someone chooses to orient their spiritual guidance system to a personal relationship with God. This will happen when one resists taking all of their cues from religious institutions and man-invented systems that try to control the minds and consciences of those within their systems.

I heard an exposition one time on this issue of authority that asserted that authority is not something you impose on others but is something that is given to a person by those who willingly choose to live under that authority. It is a very intriguing idea and I believe there is a lot of important truth in that. But I struggle to see how that fits completely with what I am finding in Scripture here. At this point I wonder if that is only part of the picture of what real authority is all about.

In this passage I find the issue of authority coming to the surface in a very marked way and also being closely linked with the reality about judgment. I can't help but believe that Jesus in these words was addressing far more than just the people standing around listening to Him that day or even all those who would read these words in coming generations. It seems increasingly clear to me that He was also addressing quite directly the supernatural intelligences that were also in attendance and that He was targeting some of the core issues of contention that had emerged early on in the initial rebellion of Lucifer in heaven. Jesus was speaking directly to the fallen angels and to Satan himself and to the questions that Satan had agitated all throughout his career as the accuser of the brethren – and particularly against the Son of God.

Lucifer had contended that Christ did not have inherent eternal life within Himself as the Father said He did. Satan has asserted that Christ did not have proper authority to pass judgment on those who disagreed with God's government and that any such judgment would be an unfair, arbitrary imposition of force just to get His own way. If God did so then the fact could be assumed that God or Christ was operating at least in part from a sense of selfishness which would mean that sin itself would then have valid justification for its very existence.

It was actually Lucifer who first began to distort the meaning of the idea of judgment and authority itself. He claimed early on that if Christ were to judge and impose sentence on those who choose a different path from that outlined by God that it would actually vindicate Lucifer's claims that there was a flaw in God's government that needed repairing. Lucifer claimed, through convoluted but compelling reasoning, that he had the answers to fix the subtle flaws in how God operated His government and that others should trust Lucifer's superior wisdom and intimate knowledge of God's government and join him in creating a 'patch' to repair those flaws.

Lucifer also agitated more and more among the angels that Christ did not really have the right to all the authority and power that He was exercising and that it was unfair that Lucifer was excluded from the intimate counsels of the Godhead while Christ was taken into those secret meetings. Lucifer became jealous of all the privileges that Christ enjoyed and his jealously kept pushing him to make more and more open accusations that Christ was acting outside of His proper role as a high angel who was supposed to work in tandem with Lucifer covering the throne of God and revealing God's will to the universe.

I spoke previously about the fact that in Lucifer's mind and to most others it may have been impossible to externally distinguish between Christ and Lucifer because of God's possible choice to have Christ take on the form of an angel whenever the angels were first created. Since a created being cannot grasp much about reality before their own existence, the angels would have to accept on faith that Christ was not really one of them as far as having an origin in time. Interestingly a number of people still today assert that Jesus must have been created because of some of the terms that God has chosen to use to describe His Son. But this false belief is not a new one but is just a reflection of what was originally conceived in the mind of Lucifer, the first great rebel who accused Jesus of stepping out of bounds.

As Lucifer's rebellion grew in size and influence throughout heaven, he became more bold in his accusations against Christ in particular. He knew he could not get very far by attacking God directly because God was indisputably all-powerful and pre-existent Himself. But Lucifer directed most of His accusations and insinuations against Christ as being one who was not really as equal with God as God said that He was. Thus Lucifer transformed himself from being called Lucifer, which means 'Son of the Morning', to becoming Satan which means 'Accuser of the brethren'.

Satan's campaign of accusations has gone on for millennia, from long before this earth was even created. It has only strengthened in intensity and aggressiveness but is soon to come to a final climax in a showdown called the Great Day of Judgment. But unlike Satan's version of what judgment is all about that most people embrace today, the actual judgment is really going to be conducted God's way and is going to be radically different than how Satan has lead most to believe it will happen.

One reason that this issue of authority was so central in the ministry of Jesus while He was here on earth is that it was precisely during that time that Jesus was actually gaining the rights to legitimate authority that was so crucial in order for Him to effectively carry out the final solution to sin on the last Day of Judgment. I can see in this passage I am looking at right now how it clearly states that Jesus will have authority to execute judgment because He is the Son of Man. This speaks volumes about the true nature of authority and is an important key to unlocking the truth about what true authority really is and how a person receives it.

When I link this passage with the one in Philippians 2:3-11 where Paul talks about Jesus coming to this earth to serve, it becomes much more clear to me how real authority is received as well as why and how it is exercised. These passages are an exposé on the true nature of real authority and how it is to be earned and exercised. It is sharply different than most ideas of authority that we see in this world's systems, but it is vital that we learn the truth about authority so that we can escape the deceptions of the enemy and the deadly consequences of rebellion that will become plain in the final Day of Judgment.

By becoming a human being Jesus gained the credibility with all humanity to be able to relate to what they have to experience in life. But far beyond that, Jesus chose to become a human weakened by 4,000 years of the effects of sin and at a time in history when humanity had sunk to one of its lowest levels both physically and morally. In doing this Jesus gained His credentials through personal experience and earned the right to the respect of everyone who will someday face the final judgment with Jesus acting as the Judge. If Jesus had not condescended to suffer like us and pass through the struggles and painful experiences that we must endure, we would not really ever be able to believe that He had the right to expose our faults or make declarations about our eternal fate.

Only as a person who can identify with our weaknesses, our pain, our sorrows, our struggles can Jesus have the credibility to earn our respect as the final Judge of our lives. And even much more than that, Jesus took upon Himself the last few days of His life on earth, all the consequences internally of all the sins that have ever or will ever be committed in addition to all the other experiences of humanity He had already endured. This was done so that there would be no excuse left whatsoever for anyone to doubt His ability to identify with their problems and temptations and His ability to understand them.

But it is at this point that many get off on a very popular but very dangerous track of thinking. Jesus did NOT come to this earth to appease an angry God by taking upon Himself the arbitrary punishments intended by God for rebellious sinners. Jesus came to reveal the incomprehensible love of the Father, a love that is so foreign to our way of thinking that it actually elicited the greatest resentment, bitterness and hatred and caused humans and demons alike to vent all the wrath produced in sinful hearts against a love that will not let them go. When love is resisted the inevitable result is enormous pain and suffering. So when Jesus died on the cross of a broken heart, it was not because God had gotten angry at Him but it was because the passionate love of the Father came into such close proximity to the rebellious nature of the sins that were laid supernaturally into the mind and heart of Jesus that it killed Him. His agonizing death demonstrated the ultimate consequences of the total incompatibility between sin and righteousness.

Jesus' death was not an exhibition of God's anger toward sinners but was an exposé of the wrath inherent in sin itself against the irresistible love of God. In effect, the actions and attitudes and response of Jesus acting with the Father's presence internally controlling Him fully, while facing sinners and demons doing everything possible to force Him to act defensively or selfishly – all of this cried out, “There is nothing you can ever do, no matter how evil or painful or disgusting or wicked that can ever make Me stop loving you to the very end of my human existence or even for eternity!”

All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. (2 Corinthians 5:18-19 NIV)

Unpacking More From Submission

Submission is one of the effective antidotes provided for eliminating pride from our hearts. Pride is one of the most pernicious, dangerous ingredients of sin that lives like a stubborn cancer in our system and threatens to rob us of life and joy and integration into the family of God. I am seeing that submission is a choice that we can make to counteract the affects of pride and weaken its control over our minds and hearts.

Submission is also an effective means of reversing the deceptions brought into our thinking by what I sometimes call the false trinity. This is composed of (1) Economics – the system based on artificially placing varying degrees of value on things and people, (2) Law – the counterfeit system of arbitrary rules, punishments and the use of force and fear to bring about unity and conformity among people, and (3) Kingship or Hierarchy – the whole arrangement of measuring ourselves in respect to others using artificial methods of determining relative value such as education, wealth, beauty etc.

The choice of submission by a true follower of Jesus will, in effect, level the social standing (in their own mind and heart) of everyone they meet by correctly positioning themselves in a place of service to everyone else. This is the arrangement created by God so that everything in the universe can function smoothly and with fulfillment. Only those caught up in the tragic experiment of sin are out of harmony with this fundamental principle of service above self. To become realigned with the kingdom of heaven – the principles of reality that are unbreakable if one wants to thrive and live in the presence of real Life – we must make decisions that are counter to our natural desires because they are rooted in our sinful, naturally selfish flesh. We learn from the example of Jesus who humbled Himself to the lowest point possible as He chose to relate to everyone else in the role of the ultimate servant, not to earn brownie points with God but because He was revealing the very heart of God and the way reality is designed to function.

I spent some time reviewing some of the key verses about submission and noticed how multi-dimensional it is. Too often we tend to dwell on just the verses that we can use to reinforce our favorite angle, but this is nothing more than pride asserting itself and looking for ways to avoid submission in our own life. But submission is not something we have to force ourselves to do under certain situations; it is a disposition, a whole way of thinking that is to color every relationship that we encounter.

Be subject to one another in the fear of Christ. Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the body. But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything. (Ephesians 5:21-24)

I am starting to see that I must view this issue of submission from a completely different perspective and with radically different emotions. That requires a new birth experience, not just an attitude tune-up. Submission is really the outside symptom of a heart transformed by the servant-spirit that emanated from the atmosphere surrounding Jesus. Submission has to do with respecting others with due honor, not surrendering my will or control of my heart to them. True respect involves seeing them through the eyes of heaven as an individual created in the image of God with intrinsic enormous value, not according to the external trappings of position, beauty, wealth or power they may have achieved.

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless. So husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself; for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church, because we are members of His body. (Ephesians 5:25-30)

The reason God needs to give different commands to us as men and women in these passages is because in general the very thing we are instructed to do is what we are most unlikely to do naturally. Dr. Emerson and Sarah Eggerichs have done an excellent job of unpacking this very subject in their seminars on Love and Respect which have been a great blessing to us and to thousands of others around the world. Emerson explains that women are commanded to respect their husbands (which I am starting to see is in essence synonymous with submission according to the above texts) because it is usually very difficult for a woman to respect a man who does not appear worthy of her respect. Likewise men are commanded to selflessly love their wives because love is not natural to a man who feels disrespected by a woman.

Emerson calls this the “crazy cycle”. Men find it very hard to love their wives unconditionally when they don't feel respected and women find it very hard to respect their husbands when they don't feel loved unconditionally. The triggers amplify the feelings and behaviors and the cycle goes on for months and years intensifying like perpetual motion.

The Eggerichs explain that it is important to recognize what is really going on here in the light of the truth revealed in the Bible and to get off the crazy cycle by getting into the “energizing cycle” as they call it. This is just the opposite from the crazy cycle and it only takes the determined choice of one individual to jump-start this new healing cycle. If the woman feels like she is loved – whether or not she seems lovable – it is much easier for her to respect the man. Likewise a man finds it much easier to love a woman who is treating him respectfully and with honor than when she is treating him with disdain, scorn or rejection. However, the key point is that we avoid following our natural reactions and feelings based on what someone else does to us, but instead choose to be obedient to the instructions God has given to us individually. Choosing to obey the principles in place creates the conditions for experiencing the natural positive consequences of cooperation and harmony. Isn't it amazing how some things make sense and then actually work.

In the same way, you wives, be submissive to your own husbands so that even if any of them are disobedient to the word, they may be won without a word by the behavior of their wives. (1 Peter 3:1)

You husbands in the same way, live with your wives in an understanding way, as with someone weaker, since she is a woman; and show her honor as a fellow heir of the grace of life, so that your prayers will not be hindered. (1 Peter 3:7)

I am seeing more clearly that the ingredient of respect lies at the heart of this issue of submission. Respect is literally an act of evangelism according to these texts. It is a way of winning hearts in the face of abusive treatment whether it is in a marriage or in any other relationship. As I think about the way Jesus demonstrated submission in His life while here on earth I see that it did not involve taking on the spirit or attitudes or even beliefs of those mistreating Him, but was revealed by still relating to them with the utmost respect and love irregardless of what they “deserved”. When seen in this light the commands to respect governing authorities start to take on new meaning for me.

Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God. Therefore whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves. (Romans 13:1-2)

This condemnation is not so much something imposed on us artificially, although that may happen in the counterfeit systems of earth, but the condemnation referred to here primarily, I believe, is the natural consequences of violating the principles of reality, the laws that God has incorporated into the very fabric of the existence of the universe.

Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether to a king as the one in authority, or to governors as sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and the praise of those who do right. For such is the will of God that by doing right you may silence the ignorance of foolish men. Act as free men, and do not use your freedom as a covering for evil, but use it as bondslaves of God. Honor all people, love the brotherhood, fear (respect and awe) God, honor the king. Servants, be submissive to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and gentle, but also to those who are unreasonable. For this finds favor, if for the sake of conscience toward God a person bears up under sorrows when suffering unjustly. For what credit is there if, when you sin and are harshly treated, you endure it with patience? But if when you do what is right and suffer for it you patiently endure it, this finds favor with God. For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps, WHO COMMITTED NO SIN, NOR WAS ANY DECEIT FOUND IN HIS MOUTH; and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously; and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed. (1 Peter 2:13-24)

I am learning so much from looking at the above passage that is helping me resolve my life-long struggle with this trigger with authorities. I am realizing that much of my problem has been misconceptions about what is meant by submission as well as the natural internal affects on my heart in its reactions to abuse of authority. Yes I need healing and a new spirit to replace my spirit of rebellion. But equally important I also need new data in my mental “dictionary of terms” about what real submission means and does not mean. With improved information available many things of the heart accessing my mental database as a reference make far more sense and fit together much more effectively.

Therefore it is necessary to be in subjection, not only because of wrath, but also for conscience' sake. (Romans 13:5)

This alerts me to the fact that my motivation for obedience in this important area of my heart should not remain that of fear but must move far past that to being motivated by a desire to thrive and grow and mature in the presence of God. Conscience, as I discovered recently, means co-perception. And the other perception that is involved besides mine it the revelations provided by the Spirit of God – being able to perceive things through the eyes of heaven, not just the way I naturally perceive them myself. So to be able to successfully submit myself to authorities I must also co-perceive them with God which helps me take on a completely new way of thinking about things.

To sum up, all of you be harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly, kindhearted, and humble in spirit; not returning evil for evil or insult for insult, but giving a blessing instead; for you were called for the very purpose that you might inherit a blessing. (1 Peter 3:8-9)

But even if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness, you are blessed. AND DO NOT FEAR THEIR INTIMIDATION, AND DO NOT BE TROUBLED, but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence; and keep a good conscience so that in the thing in which you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ will be put to shame. (1 Peter 3:14-16)

Therefore, since Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same purpose, because he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for the lusts of men, but for the will of God. (1 Peter 4:1-2)

Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. (Romans 13:8)

(next in series)

Peter's Thoughts on Submission

Submission. I am starting to perceive that the reason I have such a struggle with this notion is because part of my internal definitions for this word are incorrect. As with pretty much all religious words and concepts, this one too has taken on spurious meanings that distort my picture of God and confuse my thinking and emotions to act dysfunctionally.

As I analyze my assumptions about this word I think of things like giving up, surrendering to cooperate with the false principles espoused by those in control, letting the enemy win, giving up everything I have learned and returning to a slave mentality under the control of earthly domination, even reverting to earlier levels of maturity. I also sense a great deal of fear, anger, resentment and hostility whenever I think very long about this subject. To face these deep-seated emotions is actually very helpful for me to find the roots that keep this such a volatile issue in my character development.

I came across a parallel passage to Romans 13 recently in 1 Peter 2 which is really opening up a great deal of resources to unlock the mystery surrounding this subject of submission to authority. It also came to my mind that Peter was very likely a person who had similar triggers to authority that I have, given his track record for the first part of his life as recorded in the gospels. And while I may not outwardly demonstrate the smart mouth that got him into repeated hot water (although I am very capable of doing so), I can certainly identify with his emotions and reactions under pressure and therefore can learn a great deal from his mistakes and the way Jesus related to him.

In the events that transpired in the Garden of Gethsemane, I can see a contrast between what Jesus demonstrated in submission to authorities and the actions and spirit of Peter in resisting authorities. Looking deeper, I believe the real problem was rooted in the fears that filled Peter's mind and that caused him to react in the ways that he did. Jesus had warned all the disciples ahead of time to pray about the upcoming events and Jesus Himself had done exactly what He had told them to do. But since none of them took His warnings seriously and thus failed to receive the strength that would have been given them in answer to their prayers, they ended up with hearts still full of fear which made them vulnerable to acting out the sad behaviors that they all indulged in during this critical time in their life. Clearly one of the things they needed to experience by taking time to pray was to have the fear removed from their hearts and replaced with the peace and presence of heaven.

It was because of false ideas about the kingdom of Jesus that the disciples failed to take many things that Jesus told them seriously. They were certain that they knew what the kingdom was going to look like based on a lifetime of indoctrination from their religious background. So when Jesus said things about the soon coming of His kingdom they failed to perceive that He was talking a completely different language than what they assumed. Because they were so addicted to selfishness and the use of force and control they misinterpreted most of the things Jesus talked about and remained unprepared for the times of trauma that would expose the real condition of their hearts. We are in the very same danger today with many of our misconceptions about the Second Coming of Jesus and our traditional assumptions associated with that event. We are repeating many of the same mistakes that the Jews made at the first coming of the Messiah.

The really good news is that Jesus was not caught by surprise by any of this. He knew that His disciples had not listened with their hearts to what He had been trying to tell them, but He also knew that even deeper in their hearts they really wanted to follow Him even though they were tragically side-tracked by the false notions and beliefs they had failed to relinquish. Jesus consistently worked with every disciple to give them every opportunity possible to catch on to the real perspective and meaning that He wanted them to have about reality. He never even treated Judas, His ultimate betrayer, any differently or with less love at any time even though He knew that Judas' heart would not be changed. Instead, Jesus sometimes showed Judas more favor and trust on many occasions in an attempt to break through the hard shell surrounding his heart in hopes that Judas would accept repentance from being immersed in the kindness of God.

But none of the 12 disciples ever caught on very much to the real meaning of most of Jesus' words until some time after the intense events of the weekend of Calvary. Instead, they continued to cling to their own traditional beliefs about Scripture and their desires for power and control in an earthly kingdom very much like most Christians do yet today. As a result they left open the door of fear giving Satan access to manipulate and sabotage them and cause them to act out in ways more consistent with Satan's methods and principles than with Jesus'. They ended up indulging either in attempts of force or in self-survival by either trying to fight or fleeing in terror. Either way, their actions were motivated by fear instead of following the example of true submission from a position of real authority as demonstrated by Jesus.

So when Peter talks about submitting one's self to every human institution for the Lord's sake (1 Peter 2:13), he is not just spouting off some nice-sounding religious theory but is speaking from very painful and personally humiliating experience. He could just as easily have said, “Don't follow my previous example, don't do as I did but do as I say and as Jesus did.” I see a very close parallel to my own experience here.

Because Peter had failed to pray for strength as Jesus had repeatedly prompted Him to do in the hours leading up to the hour of judgment (revealing what is in the heart), Peter's heart still contained elements that caused him to react in fear and act out the impulses of the flesh instead of responding from a heart at peace. Peter simply fell back on the methods that he had always wanted to use ingrained in him by the desires of his fleshly heart. When the pressure was on he followed the natural instincts of survival instead of responding from a position of authority himself.

You see, earthly power structures depend greatly on intimidation and fear to prop up their flimsy and counterfeit systems of authority. Instead of governing with respect for truth and fairness, many times “authorities” depend on abuse and fear and threats to force compliance to their selfish demands. God allows this to go on for a time apparently unchecked to expose the true nature and consequences of such a system. But in the end those who engage in such perversions of power will themselves suffer unspeakable horrors if they do not repent and turn away from their sins. These consequences will not be because God runs out of patience with them and imposes arbitrary punishments but because consequences are simply designed into the way things are, the true reality that governs all the universe and cannot be violated with impunity.

The way we are to relate to these abuses of power is just as important as understanding the difference between correct exercise of authority and counterfeit methods. Jesus taught that we must not resist an evil person and both Paul and Peter here reveal that the correct way to relate to them is to submit – whatever that means. And that brings me back to the very beginning where I started a few minutes ago. What does true submission look like and what are false assumptions we carry that are not part of true submission?

While I am certain God has much more to teach me and mentor me in answer to this question, I found a number of important clues while looking carefully at this passage in 1 Peter.

The first is the issue of reputation. (1 Peter 2:11, 12) And while it can be hazardous to base my response to authority on looking out for my reputation alone, it is not something I should completely ignore. But when properly understood, the real issue is not really my own reputation that I should be so concerned about nearly as much as God's reputation and how my actions and attitudes affect what other people come to believe about Him. This is where the phrase, “the fear of the Lord” becomes extremely appropriate. While I have been personally wonderfully enlightened over the past few years about many fresh truths about God and my need to not be afraid of Him, at the same time I am becoming increasingly afraid or concerned about the effects of the witness of my life in the way that it affects what other people come to believe about Him.

I have certainly been learning very many wonderful new things about God and about reality in the past few years that have greatly liberated me and allowed me to enjoy a much closer relationship with my Creator and removed many confusing and false ideas about Him from my heart that kept me at a distance from Him. But I can also clearly see that the heart side of me has been much slower at embracing all of these new insights and is still harboring many of the lies and false beliefs about Him that my head has agreed should not be part of my experience. Like Peter in his early experience, I still sense that I have a lot of fears about God that do not line up with the truths that I have been learning with my head. I want to believe them with my heart, but getting the heart to believe things involves a very different path than getting information into the head.

But what the heart believes has much more to do with how I will act when under duress or pressure than what my head has accepted as truth. Like Peter and the rest of the disciples, I need to spend more time in real, interactive prayer to receive the strength and proper perspective that I need at my heart level so that I will not react from fear or selfish instincts when I am caught by surprise by circumstances or when I am faced with abusive situations under corrupt people in positions of power and authority.

The second clue that I find from Peter is that submission is for the Lord's sake. This is repeated in the instruction to servants in verse 18 where he uses the phrase, for the sake of conscience toward God. This is really tied in closely with the last point about reputation but is more specific about it. The way I respond (instead of react) to authorities is a powerful witness as to how much affect God has had on changing the condition of my heart up to that point. This is extremely frightening to me knowing how vulnerable I am in this area to being exploited by Satan in one of the weakest areas of my life. I certainly need an immense amount of God's grace to prepare me for these situations.

The next clue has to do with what other people say about me and about God. I realize these are all so closely related it may seem like nit-picking to separate them, but I do see little differences that make them worth itemizing separately. Verse 15 says that when we do right we may silence the ignorance of foolish men. This goes beyond just concern for reputation but illustrates that when I respond as Jesus would under times of abuse and duress designed to activate my deepest fears, then all the excuses that people use to discredit God – and yes even me – are pulled away and they lose the deceptive coverings they have hidden under to support their false accusations. The lies become exposed that have propped up the false charges against God and those who depend on this covering or foundation of lies can no longer claim to have credibility. This, in fact, is an act of true judgment.

Quite interestingly, the converse of this concept is addressed in the warning in the very next verse. I am instructed to act as a free man – no matter what my external circumstances may appear to be. As a free man of the heart I am not to be enslaved by fear, intimidation, shame or any other chains others try to put on my heart. But I am sternly warned not to allow my flesh to exploit this freedom to indulge in its desires and lusts. I must never allow my selfish heart of flesh – my fallen nature – to use the newfound freedom and joy that I experience to become an excuse to indulge in any desires of my old heart of selfishness. The only way that I can prevent this from happening to to literally place my selfish heart under chains of enslavement to the will and Word of God. I must consider myself a bondslave of God while living in this treacherous world if I want to be safe, because God takes good care of His slaves.

The last clue that I see right now in this passage is the issue of honor and respect. Verses 17 and 18 dwell on this motivation which also has to do with the reputation of God. In fact, everything really, is all about God's reputation in the end. The whole plan of salvation is not primarily designed for our benefit as much as we think it may be, but the plan of salvation was conceived to reveal the truth about God in contrast to the lies and false charges that Satan has invented over thousands of years of deception. Our role is primarily that of witnesses and our lives demonstrate what we really believe in our hearts about what kind of God we serve and worship.

To respond with respect to those who do not deserve respect is a very difficult instruction to live up to without a certain level of maturity. One of the evidences of growth in maturity is the development of respect for others which is really an issue of overcoming selfishness. And while a person can learn to act respectful on the surface while feeling very resentful or even hateful inside, Peter is telling me that I need to have a heart so transformed that I will be able to truly treat my enemies with genuine respect and love just as Jesus demonstrated in His life while here on earth.

I can imagine as Peter wrote these words that the very painful memories of his actions and words during Jesus' trial came back to haunt him intensely. He knew all too well that he had not submitted to authority when he whipped out a sword and began hacking at anyone within reach, only to be rebuked by his Master and warned against resisting these evil men. A little while later he had indulged in the reactive promptings of his flesh to lash out in anger and retaliation with his old sailor expletives when put on the spot repeatedly about being associated with the man currently on trial. He felt very afraid to be openly linked with someone so much out of public favor at the moment. He enjoyed being identified closely with Jesus when the popularity was high and everyone was seeking Him out for miracles and words of wisdom. But when the chips were down and popular opinion was suddenly changed, Peter was intimidated and frightened by the potential dangers that public association might bring and he distanced himself from Jesus just as Jesus predicted he would.

This event in Peter's history became the defining moment of revelation for Peter that riveted his attention for the rest of his life. It was also the turning point in Peter's life when he began to really learn how to live from his heart But as he came to realize the true level of belief that Jesus had in Peter and His confidence in Peter's heart that even Peter could not see, he came to embrace the principles that Jesus had tried to teach him all along and learned to share them with others with great effectiveness. He learned that those who have the most spectacular failures can be uniquely equipped to have the most humility and compassion making them effective to be able to comfort and instruct others who have similar weaknesses.

God, I don't know what this all means in relation to me and I suspect I wouldn't want to know right now. I sense that I have many of the same weaknesses that Peter had but I am also very glad to see the amazing confidence that You showed in Your trust and favors and the grace that You poured on him. I pray for strength for my coming times of testing. I pray that You will bring me into right relationship with You and make my heart a bondslave of Your own heart. I feel very convicted right now by the things You have just shown me and I thank-you for that conviction. Fill my life with Your Spirit and prepare me to respond with true respect when confronted by authorities. Re-wire my heart and mind to reflect the Spirit and disposition of Jesus. And do this all because it is Your reputation on the line far more than it is mine. Demonstrate Your ability to transform a messed up, rebellious life by the miracle of Your grace in me so that others will be amazed and attracted to You as a result.

(next in series)

Subjection Revisited

As I have been forced vicariously to process through many of my emotions of anger and outrage at abuse of authority in the life of a dear friend, I am forced to face my own feelings still entangled in my heart and measure them against the Word that God has been confronting me with over the past few months. My friend has been thrown in prison for a number of months and recently was given many more months to wait for even any hope of a hearing date to then further wait for a legitimate trial. There has been no conviction of anything against him and yet it appears the corrupt judges can use the system to keep him in prison indefinitely to avoid exposure of their own corruption. All the while the extreme conditions and harsh treatment he is receiving in prison is draining away his very life forces while he waits for a corrupt judicial system to play out under the deceptive and manipulative whims of selfish and proud judges.

Does this sound like I am a little bit angry about this situation? This has aroused and ignited many of my own feelings of intense resentment and bitterness that probably resonate strongly with events in my childhood. I was charged with being rebellious, but ironically the spirit in which I was accused did nothing but inflame the very attitudes and spirit that I was being charged with. The punishments I received under those circumstances only served to intensify my hatred of those who seemed to care nothing for me as a person. It looked to me like I was often simply being used to serve as an outlet, a target for their selfish desires to control someone under their authority, a helpless person on which to vent their own frustrations.

These previous circumstances that embedded deep within my heart an intense resentment against nearly all authorities has been a plague in my life ever since and a deep fault line that God is clearly seeking to expose and address in my life now. I realized this as I have spent a considerable amount of time listening to His Spirit address me about these issues from Romans 13. But I also realize that I am not yet restored to where God wants me. That is quite evident by the intensity of my reactions to the injustice being endured by my friend presently.

So I find myself pulled back from Romans 14 temporarily to revisit these issues confronted in my life from the previous chapter. Only this time God has brought to my attention quite a bit of supporting or correlating information from other places in the New Testament that I had not noticed before that sheds a lot of light on Romans 13. I was recently led to 1 Peter 2 where there is a parallel passage very similar in nature to what Paul wrote in Romans 13. Then this morning as I more carefully reviewed this material I also discovered a lot more supporting insights from Ephesians.

Clearly God desires to bring healing to me in this area and He will use whatever it takes to bring this about. That is what I have asked Him to do so this is no surprise. I also appreciate that He starts by giving me opportunity to accept these lessons personally first before I am forced to learn them in much harsher and more public venues. But if I am to have these character flaws repaired fully in this way I must be willing to face my fears and anger head-on and accept everything that God wants to teach me.

I choose to cooperate with His will in this area and to engage again in a time of examination and healing, for I want to get free of this reservoir of anger, hatred and bitterness that lies deeply hidden still in my soul. It is a dangerous liability that my subconscious mind has been able to mask for many years, but I realize it is a potent source of danger that can prove fatal to me if not dealt with very seriously and thoroughly.

Jesus, thank-you for caring about my heart so much that You will not allow me to avoid facing this deeply rooted evil liability in my life. I trust You to take me through this while keeping close to me with Your presence. Please re-parent me and rewire my mind and heart so that I will reflect the way You react to injustice and abuse. Give me the eyes of heaven for those who engage in power plays for their selfish whims. Heal me from the anger and hatred that still poisons my spirit. Thank-you for inviting me to unload on You without getting upset with me but also insisting that I hear Your side of the story and accept Your perspective as well. It is so evident that Your kindness really can lead me to true repentance. Transform my heart to look and respond like Your heart for Your name's sake.

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More on Living as a Butterfly

Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. Do this, knowing the time, that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed. (Romans 13:10-11)

Not long ago I wrote a piece on my other blog about wanting to become a Butterfly. Not literally, you understand, but in many other respects. God has embedded within the many things of nature powerful lessons that can illustrate spiritual truths for us that can be revealed to us by the Spirit who was involved in the original Creation of both nature and our own minds and hearts. Very often things in nature can better unveil deep emotional and spiritual truths and facts much easier than the difficult exercise of translating them into the symbols we call words and language.

This issue of letting go of resistance is very often on my mind since it has been brought to my attention over the past few months in my study of Romans 13. One reason I wrote the piece about the Butterfly was directly related to this very thing. Butterflies are almost the perfect demonstration of living a glorious life and beauty and freedom while exercising an amazingly low amount of resistance to the environment in which they fly. And yet they can travel thousands of miles across land and sea to arrive at very precise destinations which they have never even been to before.

It also occurred to me this morning that a very great percentage of a Butterfly's noticeable makeup is constituted of the beautifully decorated wings designed to utilize the sunlight to dispense loveliness and beauty wherever they go. Their bodies sink into near insignificance to our attention in comparison to the beauty of their wings. This is in contrast to most other insects that have no such large displays of extravagant beauty. It really appears that the main purpose of Butterflies may be to dispense beauty primarily – and maybe in more ways than we thought.

As I reread the above text this morning it came to me that the very process that creates the beautiful Butterfly – metamorphosis – is strikingly parallel to what I read here in this verse as well as in 12:2. And it is also very closely linked with the verses before it which talk about not resisting and being filled with genuine love. What verse eleven seems to be saying is that it is time for me to be born again and emerge from the cocoon of metamorphosis into a totally new creation that doesn't even resemble the body (my internal perception of my identity) and surroundings (the emotional and spiritual atmosphere in which I function) that I have been so familiar with all of my life. And if this parallel is true – and I believe it is – then salvation itself must be something descriptive of beauty and joy and freedom and intimate interaction with the breezes of the Holy Spirit that Jesus talked about in John three.

I suppose that there may be instances where Butterflies may cause damage somewhere, but I am not aware of them. But given the pervasive nature of the effects of sin in this world that is certainly possible. But in most respects I believe that Butterflies live to dispense beauty and inspire gratitude and praise on the part of all who are capable and willing to engage in and be blessed by this exercise.

Along the same line of thinking, verse ten says that Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. This is clearly an indication that the law, far from being done away with or ignored in the life of a true, converted, born-again Christian – the law will be the internal structure now implanted in the heart that has become so much a part of the natural thinking and reactions of a person that that person's life will reflect the light of God's love in unique and startling, even dazzling ways that will enrich the lives of all who are blessed by their influence.

Just as a Butterfly is not generally known for any damage they cause or even being a nuisance, the life of the true, transformed Christian full of real love will never do any wrong to others. And never doing any wrong to others is another way of saying they are perfectly in agreement and alignment with the Law of God. They will not be found dissing the law or complaining about talk of the law or feeling threatened by the law. But like David expressed so many times in the Psalms and particularly Psalm 119, they will love God's laws and guidelines and descriptions of the principles which govern all of His interactions with others.

I was again reminded this morning as I meditated on these thoughts of the passage that I received as something of a prophecy of my future a few years ago. And the spirit of the Lord will come on you with power, and you will be acting like a prophet with them, and will be changed into another man. And when these signs come to you, see that you take the chance which is offered you; for God is with you. (1 Samuel 10:6-7 BBE) You will be changed into another man. That sounds an awful lot like what happens to a caterpillar when it is changed into a beautiful Butterfly.

And the last part of that passage also reminds me of the close interactions that Butterflies have with the wind and the words of Jesus to Nicodemus. "The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit." (John 3:8) Doesn't that sound strikingly similar to the flight of a Butterfly?

But as most people know that have ever learned much about the process of metamorphosis necessary to transform caterpillars into butterflies, the creature itself cannot bring about this amazing transformation. It simply cooperates with the impulses that God implanted into it and then rests quietly and safely inside the cocoon while the power of God mysteriously does its work of total transformation until the day it is ready to emerge in glorious and surprising beauty to live a completely different life.

When you are still living in a cocoon it is very hard to see what is going on in your own transformation process. I feel like I have been in the form of a caterpillar or in a cocoon for most of my life, but all I can do is rest and trust in the transformational work of the Spirit in my life until the day it becomes more obvious that I can learn to really fly. And when that happens I am also certain that the beauty of God's light and love will be so much more clear than it ever has been in my life that it may well be breath-taking – especially to me. But that beauty will not occur because of anything I have accomplished but because God has created yet another new creature, a wonderful experiment of grace to be a glorious reflector of part of His own beauty to attract others to Him with the loveliness that originates in His own heart.

Another thought that was brought to my attention this morning was again about this issue of resistance. I have been praying for some time now for God to remove all resistance from my heart, and I still feel that is very much needed. But in my cursory look through the Bible on the subject of resistance I noticed that a few times we are instructed to resist – but only against the devil himself.

I find this a bit curious and have wondered what this really means. I am specifically instructed not to resist an evil person (Matt. 5:39) while at the same time told that I must resist the devil (James 4:7). I have had a number of discussions about this with others and realized today that I need to pray to be full of resistance to Satan and all his suggestions while at the same time totally devoid of resistance to God and even to the evil that comes my way from others. This is all part of the alignment process very necessary to get me prepared to encounter the power and presence of God safely. Most Christians claim to desire to encounter His presence but they very often fail to see the enormous danger inherent in such a request. I will have to meditate and listen for more on this topic as the Spirit unpacks it more thoroughly for me.

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