Every day he was teaching at the temple. But the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the leaders among the people were trying to kill him.
Yet they could not find any way to do it, because all the people hung on his words.”
Luke 19:47-48 NIV
Jesus’ teaching was captivating.
It illustrated a God who reaches down to his people.
No longer was it necessary for us to plead up to the skies to experience heaven.
God was with them.
God is with us.
The freedom from binding laws, freedom to enjoy a personal relationship, freedom from sin not dependent upon our own works, Jesus was refreshing, releasing, and radical.
What was captivating then is captivating now.
They hung on his words and in doing so they erected a spiritual block against the naysayers who wanted to kill him over the very words spoken that enraptured his believers.
All scripture is God-breathed and worthy of getting hung up on.
The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.
Romans 15:3 NIV
Take a stand on something and the haters are gonna hate.
Choose one side over another and be prepared for vigorous arguments from those actually seeking truth and nasty personal insults from those who aren’t.
I urge you, brothers and sisters, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned.
Keep away from them. For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites.
By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the minds of naive people.”
Romans 16:17-18 NIV
Be ready for spins and half-truths, put downs and shut downs, and a relentless perseverance of their fight to be right over your path to knowledge and understanding.
And most of all, take peace in knowing the battle is not with you but with the One who sent you.
Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you.” Romans 12:3 NIV
America has an ego problem.
We see it represented in social media, politics, workplaces and if we’re totally honest, in ourselves.
Overrating our strengths is as inaccurate a self assessment as is underrating them.
To avoid being prideful we engage humility, but in overcorrecting on our pride we’re dishonest with ourselves about our strengths that genuinely can and should build a healthy confidence.
Like most things, the key is striking a balance
Comparison to others serves no legitimate purpose and has no place in development of a healthy ego but conversely, comparison of ourselves to others highlights attributes of our deepest and most heartbreaking insecurities.
God is a fixer both of egos and insecurities and wants us in His kingdom with all our broken parts and all our broken hearts.
For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted. Luke 14:11 NIV
My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” 2Cor 12:9
Concerning Israel he says, “All day long I have held out my hands to you, a disobedient and obstinate people.
Romans 10:21 NIV
How Long?—the title of a Chris Rice ballad about the long suffering nature of God:
How long until You defend Your name and set the record right?
How far will You allow the human race to run and hide?
And how much can You tolerate our weaknesses before You step into our sky blue and say, “That’s quite enough” and our time is up.
I tremble knowing one day sooner than later this collective resistant humanity will run out of arguments and options and hope.
Paul Little first wrote “Truth is still truth regardless who believes it.”
Yet this first amendment nation will argue to death almost anything as truth without convincing evidence or a credible backstory.
Current events suggest our time is almost up.
The arguments are clearly separating sheep from goats and setting the Armageddon stage.
Disobedient and obstinate people will discover themselves out of time and arguments sooner than later.
All history has awaited this day of reckoning and it will not disappoint.
Time may no longer on our side but the last will be first to hear ‘Good and faithful servant, enter your rest.’
The time for arguments is over and the time for a decision has arrived.
“There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. What you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the roofs.”
Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?
Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use?
Romans 9:20-21 NIV
As a younger man, I thought my life would be very different at 65.
I’d dreamed of greatness a little beyond landing the role of just an average Joe who at retirement age is still discovering his life purpose.
I’d dreamed to be special in some ways, but common in most others.
I never desired fame nor riches but early on set my own bar much lower, settling for what was more easily attainable.
I wasn’t coached early on to aspire for much more, but I reflect back on my life story as significant in many respects.
Since then I’ve learned to be content and satisfied with who I’ve become and to understand the critical questions of life that will bring a peaceful rest at my death.
‘Well done good and faithful servant’ (Matthew 25) is no heavenly consolation prize awarded at the pearly gates.
It’s the exact same E ticket presented for admission by every believer after this wild ride we call life.
Be proud of all the right things and those that genuinely matter.
[Last time I posted this, a friend commented “I am going on 2 years of celibacy. The thoughts expressed in this post are similar to mine. First time I’ve seen anyone write something along the same line. Thanks for sharing.”
I believe others who have chosen a celibate existence need to know they aren’t alone.]
I’ve been celibate since 2011, and the further I get from sex, the better I understand love.
It was a choice I made when I got off drugs and a choice I make still today, “celibating” my 14th year.
Not much is written about celibacy. In this sexually-slathered world, it’s not a very popular subject. It alienates, labels and renders one less than desirable by many who still regard sex as a plaything —an inalienable right to exercise freely, frequently, and with anyone they choose without much regard for its significance or consequence beyond being a driven, primal, self-indulgent pleasure.
To be honest, I’ve had more sexual partners in my lifetime than I care to remember. Many I choose not to, most I can’t, and in hindsight, all I regret except for the union of love that produced my three wonderful children. And that was many, many years ago.
There’s a huge difference between resisting sexual temptation and a conscious choice of celibacy.
The first one spends hours fending off urges while the other refuses to wage the war.
One is a choice to be in constant turmoil while the other is a constant choice of dignity and self preservation.
No engagement. No frustration. Little preoccupation with opportunity for momentary pleasure.
Most men find it an incomprehensible option to be celibate.
Culture has made great strides over recent decades not only to make open, multi-partnered sexuality the “normal” way of life but to banish those who believe and choose differently.
Imagine, if you can, the amount of sitcom time spent on the subject of sex and sexual innuendo.
Imagine the number of stories and exposés about the sexual foibles of otherwise good men and women.
Imagine the amount of time, the countless pages, the vastness of entire industries spent on sexual pursuits and libido-lifting messages, telling us it’s just as healthy a way to stay in shape as aerobic exercise.
No, it’s not your imagination. Since the 60s, it’s reality.
Truth is, sex has become the replacement of an important need by an urgent one.
I don’t watch much TV, largely because of its stupidifying effect on the masses. I do watch movies though. Lots of movies. And even there, I see how unentertaining most plot lines might be without the sex factor.
The general malaise about and lack of creativity within media is largely due to the potency of the sex factor’s ability to arouse and stimulate single-minded misled people climaxing in applause for an on screen violation of what might have otherwise been a potentially creative story.
But with sex shoved down the throats of the masses (pun partially intended) as if we were all malnourished hookers, we’re trained to hunger for it like I once did for the rush of a hot, smoking bowl of meth.
As a social consolation, those who promote free sexuality have successfully fended off attacks by seasoning their stimulating appeals with “love, romance and intimacy” as if to give added value to what they are really selling.
Eroticism is now much wider in its appeal, equating being sexual with someone—or anyone for that matter—quite the “special” thing. Special with this one, special with that one, and each special encounter so meaningful in its own way.
But sex is not the highest form of love. Not by a long shot.
Humanity’s lie has been to suggest that sexual union with another is the most intimate expression of love in the world.
As a celibate man, I believe nothing could be further from the truth.
To obey the greatest commandment to love one another is a far cry from indulging in a roll in the hay with them.
Loving acts have staying power while sex quickly goes…well…flaccid.
Celibacy creates a vacuum for eminently more important things.
These years I have spent without losing small pieces of my soul to random sexual partners has opened my eyes to greater forms of love I might have otherwise never known existed.
When I stopped seeking sexual pleasure, a vacuum was created inside of me and I began seeking to fill it with love. Not a person. Not another. Actual love.
Big difference.
Storge, philia, agape. Go ahead. Look them up. They mean affection, friendship, and unconditional love.
These alternate kinds of love often get the shaft from sex promoters, yet they are the kinds of love expressions that make you cry at commercials, weep at songs and experience the joy of spirit in a sporting event with an incredibly moving back story.
They are the kinds of loves you remember over and over again, long after that casual fling left your bed for home.
Perhaps one day I’ll rediscover that eros kind of love again and my celibate days will be over.
St Augustine taught that we are most fundamentally shaped not as much by what we believe, or think, or even do, but by what we love.
Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. Romans 8:5 NIV
I have found that my freed mind is now capable of deep thought that births deeper experiences of love and compassion and a preoccupation with things that last much longer than an orgasmic minute.
And if and when I ever do return, I’ll have learned to respect it with much more dignity than I ever did before.
And if I never do, I will nonetheless have learned to love as a celibate man, and I figure by then I should be a pretty good at it.
Because the further I get from sex, the better I understand love.
Driving around listening to inspiring podcasts, it became apparent that I need an alignment.
My tires are fine, but listening to the various accumulated wisdom of some well-informed podcasters indicated that some of my critical life trajectories are off, slowly dragging me out of my own lane and into directions and places I shouldn’t be traveling at my age and maturity.
Interesting how we can sense an unrelenting tug in one direction or another and find things aren’t rolling along as ideally as they could.
Diet, money, sleep, friendships, how I spend my time, they can veer off course right or left of center enough to make an undesirable difference which I fear, without a realignment, could send me off roading on paths for which I am not designed, well-suited, nor intended.
For some, it may sound like a labored metaphor of a hair-splitting perfectionist, but living by much higher-than-average standards was something I was taught from an early age.
Moreover, living life now in pursuit of a singular guiding mission alerts you to such ever so slight variations demands that you make occasional corrections to keep you on course.
So, I got home and had a quiet chat with my Mechanic.
You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.
Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die.
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Romans 5:6-8 NIV
I’d give my own life in exchange for the lives of my kids and grandkids.
Let’s hope I never have to prove it, but their feelings for me at the time would be of zero consideration.
I’ve no desire to be a martyr or to be so pretentious to prove my love, but the fact is, when you create a living, breathing human being the bond is inextricable.
So much so that you long to save it from harm and forces both within or without at any cost, including your own life.
Here we see a perfect Father sending a sinless Son as His own incarnation and with an end game of dying to Himself as payment made for us to live forgiven.
You know the story. It’s a painful but brilliant plan to demonstrate the depth of His love in a way we can all humanly comprehend.
And to seal the deal, all that’s required in turn is for us to evaluate the evidence and believe in His plan.
A complex example made for simple minds like us to understand.
It’s like a divine sign, date, and return enclosed deal that parents and grandparents uniquely understand and agree to in return for the title.
But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.
It may be the most difficult act of self care you’ll ever attempt.
Loving and forgiving your enemies is the model Jesus left to us. Not only to preserve peace and relationships with others but to keep intact our own experience and witness of God’s love.
While the self may want justice and punishment, parking your mind and heart in that lot waiting for judgment is at best, a waste of precious time.
Do to others as you would have them do to you.
Luke 6:27-31 NIV
Being good to others is being good to yourself.
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”” Luke 10:27 NIV
