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"If you abide in My Word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth and the truth will make you free...So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed!" (John 8:31-32,36)

Archives for January 2013

Myopicism

January 11, 2013 by Beryl Smith 2 Comments

“Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others…For all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ’s.” (Philippians 2:3-4, 21)

Myopia is nearsightedness. It’s defined as “A visual defect in which distant objects appear blurred because their images are focused in front of the retina rather than on it.” It’s also defined metaphorically as “Lack of discernment or short-sightedness in thinking or planning.” Philosophically, myopicism is when one fails to see the big, life-picture and focuses on one’s own little self. Someone has said, “The smallest package in the world is a man wrapped up in himself.”

All of us – the whole lot – think too much of ourselves. Our vision of this world and all things in it is somehow blurred into the perimeter of our view so we can focus on our own needs and desires. That’s human. That’s fleshly. That’s our old and quite alive, Adamic nature. We are afflicted with narcissistic self-love and our vision of life is naturally myopic.

So, what can I do to solve this self-inflicted dilemma? There are several things to consider and to examine.

First, we must study the context from which those verses come. Paul spoke of his constant concern for the Philippian believers. He cared for them because Christ, in His sovereign love, cared for him. It was the great condescension and humbling of Christ to be incarnated as the suffering servant. Christ laid aside prerogatives of His deity to give His life for His people. Christ chose the will of His Father and so must we.

Second, it would do us well to examine ourselves – put ourselves to the test. That’s what the Word of God commands.

“Examine yourselves, whether you be in the faith, prove your own selves. Know you not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except you be reprobates” (2 Corinthians 13.5)

The word “examine” comes from the Greek word “paradzo” (peirazw), which means “to test.”  One might test a theory to see if it is true. One might test an individual applying for a job to see if they are really qualified. The word “prove” comes from the Greek word “dokimadzo” (dokimazw), which means, among other things, to prove reliability or purity, as one might prove the reliability of an ox to pull, or by fire to prove if an ore is really gold.

Paul is exhorting the Corinthians to test whether or not they are true believers whether Christ indwelt them by the Spirit. If Christ is not living His life through them in their daily existence, then they are “reprobates” (“adokimoi,” “adokimoi”). They are ones who are not able to stand the test. They fail to fulfill the very purpose for which Christ has saved His people. Jesus Christ prayed to the Father,

“I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be perfected in unity; that the world may know that Thou didst send Me, and didst love them, even as Thou didst love Me.” (John 17:23)

We must ask ourselves, “Have I ever told someone else about Jesus Christ? Have I been one who faithfully proclaims Christ’s saving good news? Am I thinking of the eternal destiny of my friends, work associates, relatives, and neighbors? Or am I just thinking of myself?

R. C. Sproul spoke honestly when he declared, “We don’t love anyone else in the world like we love ourselves.” We strive when we shouldn’t and vain-gloriously think too much of ourselves. Let’s face it. We have a spiritual failure – unable to stand the test when we myopically keep our attention on ourselves – our needs, our desires.

C. K. Ober succinctly said,

Go, labor on, spend and be spent,

thy joy to do the Father’s will;

it is the way the Master went,

should not the servant tread it still?

Go, labor on, ’tis not for naught,

thy earthly loss is heavenly gain;

men heed thee, love thee, praise thee not.

the Master praises, what are men?

Go, labor on, while yet ’tis day,

the world’s dark night is hastening on;

speed, speed thy work, cast sloth away,

it is not thus that souls are won.

 

May God help us to take a self-vision-test. Whose “things” are we seeking, ours or those of the dead and dying world all around us?

Christian Witness, Culture, Spiritual Growth Tagged: witnessing

Nightmare at Newtown

January 1, 2013 by Beryl Smith Leave a Comment

“The wicked shall be turned into hell and all the nations that forget God. For the needy shall not always be forgotten: the expectation of the poor shall not perish for ever. Arise, O Lord; let not man prevail: let the heathen be judged in Thy sight. Put them in fear, O Lord: that the nations may know themselves to be but men.”  (Psalm 9:17-20)     

 Those are harsh words. We live in harsh times. With all of our affluence and entertainment, our rush to meet the coming Christmas Holiday, tragedy strikes and we are again shocked at the inhumanity of man. On December 14, 2012 the nation was stricken with grief at the horrible murder of 26 people at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.

Bret Baier of Fox News said, “We can’t make sense of this…it doesn’t seem real.” In an interview with former Mayor of New York City, Rudy Giuliani declared, “There’s no simple solution…it’s an incomprehensible act.” The news media crews were “hungry for the details of the slayings,” according to one individual. Broadcasters were eager to grasp an explanation of what had happened.  They stumbled to produce an understanding of why it happened.

In simple words Daniel Malloy, the Governor of Connecticut said, “Evil visited this community today.” In spite of many celebrating the birth of Christ, the Prince of Peace, our attention was turned again to evil and the sin of blatant, indescribable murder.

To find some semblance of an answer I think we need to ask some very pointed answers.

  • Who are we as a nation? Our founding fathers were believers in God. Fifty-three of the fifty-six signers of the Declaration of Independence were professing Christians. Today many of our political leaders are atheists, agnostics, and humanistic elitists who band together to push God out of our public places and the conscience of Americans. We tout multiculturalism, preaching tolerance for the beliefs of pagans who flood our shores, bringing their value systems and belief in gods who do not exist. As a nation, we have forgotten God and the Bible that He gave us to provide the building blocks of a government established on His providence.
  • What was Adam Lanza’s worldview? What were his personal beliefs? The national abandonment of our Judeo/Christian heritage and supplanting it with a philosophy of secular humanism has spawned a generation of individuals who have swallowed the lie of evolution that says we are simply an advanced primate and it’s up to ourselves to set our own values and concepts of truth.
  • What was Lanza’s home life like? A broken home..a missing father..and a culture that ridicules the concept of the Biblical family and glamorizes an immoral lifestyle. Another young life struggling for some form of identity without a father’s influence and a culture saying, “Do it your own way…the hell with tradition!”
  • What was the mental and emotional health of this troubled young man? Who were his heroes? What did he read? With whom was he associating and texting? Did he prescribe to the Goth subculture – to gothic rock, deathrock, post-punk, and darkwave? Did he struggle with concepts of eternity and loneliness? Had he “lost his connection” with the real world? Was he a “gamer,” spending hours immersing himself in the myriads of horror, war, and violent video games? When a nation kicks the Bible and it’s moral code – the Ten Commandments – out of its classrooms, what else will a troubled youth look to?

To attribute this tragedy to evil is to attribute this murderer’s act to his rebellion against the Law of God. His evil acts were sin, which is condemned by God’s Law. What transpired was an expression of the depravity of man. The taking of innocent life is the most heinous of all crimes of violence. Secular humanism, the foundational philosophy of American education, will continue to produce individuals who have no real grasp on reality. They will be guilty sinners in a culture that has turned its back on God.

The future of this nation rests in the hands of God. Without a return to the Christian Religion, this country has no hope of escaping the ravages of evil men. Without men with conviction to speak like this, we have no hope of survival as a civilized people:

“It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ! For this very reason peoples of other faiths have been afforded asylum, prosperity, and freedom of worship here.” (Patrick Henry)

I urge you to pray for a revival of the true Christian Religion in the hearts and minds of ministers who appear too weak and insipid to proclaim the whole counsel of the Word of God. And I would encourage you to consistently pray for your Christian friends who struggle to rear their children in the “discipline and instruction of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4).

Culture, Evil, Hell, Life Struggles, Sin, Worldview Tagged: Christianity, eternity, evil, multiculturalism, murder, sin

Beryl Smith

AvatarBeryl has a great love for studying the Bible and Christian theology. Beryl is a 12th generation descendant of Ralph Blaisdell, an English Puritan who came to America from Bristol, England in August, 1635 on the sailing ship “The Angel Gabriel.”
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