TRUST AND OBEY

When we think of love, the picture that comes to mind is that of the latest celebrity couple kissing each other at some party at some exotic locale. Then when they finally speak to the press about their relationship they talk about “how much in love” they are. Therefore when we think about the word love, we somehow seem to associate the word love with the word sex. And that’s why we somehow find it hard to understand the love of God. It’s hard to make a sexual association with someone you can’t see. However God’s love (and love generally) has nothing to do with sex but it is a deep and abiding commitment to our welfare and our well-being. God’s love is predicated on his deep desire to have fellowship with his creation and he understands that his creation cannot have a meaningful life without fellowship with him. Therefore, the reason for the fact that he seeks fellowship with his creation is not so much that he is looking for someone to worship him, it’s because God desires the best for us. Therefore the relationship that he seeks is not for him but for us because he realises that we cannot be all that we can be without him.

In his word, God is constantly telling us of his love but it seems we are either hard of hearing that we can’t hear him or we just don’t believe him. In the end God gave us the ultimate proof of his love. He sent his one and only son to die for us so as to rekindle the relationship that we had let die. He was so heartbroken at the separation that sin brought about between us and him that he sent Jesus to show us the way back. Jesus said unless we exercised faith like little children we would not see the kingdom of God. The Bible tells us that God is so concerned about his word that he watches over it jealously to bring it to pass. He even has more respect for his word than his name. We need to take him at his word about his love. Trust him. And lean on him.

JC Cruz is the author of DECEPTIO published by WestBowPress, a division of Thomas Nelson publishers.http://bookstore.westbowpress.com/Products/SKU000194087/Deceptio.aspx and LOST, BUT FOUND available at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DPLLEUQ/.

The Internet and Us

Hebrews 11:3 Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.

The “world” referred to is not the Greek word kosmos which refers to the order or arrangement of things or more literally translated to mean the earth. The word “world” there is the Greek word aion which means an age or a period of time. This tells us that the different ages, times and dispensations are all created by the word of God. That tells me that the different times, dispensations and ages and the things we see in these different ages; the internet or the plane for example, were all created or brought into existence by the Word. I believe that God allows those things to exist in the time he wants them to exist.

On August 19, Anne Marie-Miller posted an article on her blog titled “Three Things You Don’t Know About Your Children And Sex (Here’s the link  http://www.annemariemiller.com/2013/08/19/three-things-you-dont-know-about-your-children-and-sex/. Forgive me, I’m not that techie to shorten the link. Hope to learn though). One thing that occurred to me was the danger that the internet posed to children and the Christian faith. Children are going to the internet to find out about things they learnt from their peers which they are too afraid to ask their parents. And Google or the internet does not discriminate. It doesn’t ask whether you’re supposed to be Christian or not. Typing an innocent word like “sex” into the search engine and Google will lead you down paths you never intended to walk. If you start young enough, by the time you’re an adult, it will be a struggle to leave those paths. I know a lot about that. Even when you’re on the straight and narrow, there’s something about the crooked path that calls out to you. There’s a lure about the path that we know we shouldn’t be on.

The internet on its own is like most things in the world, it doesn’t take sides. It’s passive. Forgive the analogy but the internet is like a gun. Michael Moore, the well known and award winning film and documentary maker recently said “Guns don’t kill people, Americans do.” He was referencing the fact that most violent crimes committed with guns leading to someone’s death are committed in America. I agree with Mr. Moore. Guns kill people. But the fact is that someone needs to hold that gun for it to be effective. Therefore I believe that more should be done to stop guns from getting into the hands of those who would use them to commit violent crimes. And the people who say they don’t want to use the guns to commit violent crimes should also be ready to suffer some inconvenience to ensure that it’s hard for the violent ones to lay hold of the guns and not just say it’s their right to bear arms.

I therefore believe that there is a responsibility on every person of the Christian faith to be conversant with the internet and social media to be able to engage with them in a responsible manner. I believe that not only should we engage with them but make use of them and post things on them that are relevant to our faith, especially on the internet. If our children go to the internet on a subject, wouldn’t we feel more comfortable to know that they were going to find something edifying rather than something that would lead to an unwholesome addiction? Addictions do not show on the surface. They simmer underground for years until they show up at the most inopportune times and destroy lives and relationships.

Someone recently pointed out that a lot of Bible verses are short enough to tweet. There’s nothing wrong with posting a chapter of the Bible on our Facebook pages. We are not of this world but we do live in it. I believe we have a responsibility not to run from the bad but to drop our own little bit of goodness and love into the oceans around us for the benefit of those we love.

JC Cruz is the author of DECEPTIO published by WestBowPress, a division of Thomas Nelson publishers.http://bookstore.westbowpress.com/Products/SKU000194087/Deceptio.aspx and LOST, BUT FOUND available at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DPLLEUQ/. You can follow him on Twitter @Cruz_JCReal

Love Christ, Not the World

“A dead thing can go with the stream, but only a living thing can go against it.” – G. K. Chesterton, The Everlasting Man, 1925

“Fallacies do not cease to be fallacies because they become fashions.” – G. K. Chesterton, ILN, 4/19/30

“There are those who hate Christianity and call their hatred an all-embracing love for all religions.” - G. K. Chesterton,

As man deems to progress, cultures change. And as cultures change, men ditch moral values even as they make up new ones as they go along. A few centuries ago, it was frowned upon to break another person’s home and steal their wife or husband. However as society “progresses”, it has become quite acceptable especially in America to set your sights on another person’s wife or husband and break the home up. It doesn't even matter if there are children involved. After all, if you break the home up, the children are going to have a new mother or father in the person who contributed to the break up. I say contribute because I understand that it takes two people to engage in adultery. However it would help if the person who isn't a part of the couple had more discipline. But the current refrain is “We couldn't help ourselves, we were in love” and people are told not “to judge”. The person who was part of the initial couple also claimed to love their wife or husband. I was watching a programme on television the other day where a well known singer who contributed to the breakup of her present husband’s first marriage was being interviewed. She and the former wife have been engaged in an acrimonious battle on both social and publicity media. According to the singer, she found it amusing to be called a “home wrecker”. She seemed to take the whole thing with levity and seemed to find the fact that she contributed to the breakup of a home. All I have to say is there’s a saying that says: “The mistress who ends up marrying her married lover should recognise that the post of mistress has just become available.”

There are those who think Christianity is old fashioned and should be dragged, kicking and screaming into the 21^st century. Therefore, according to them Christianity should be more tolerant of new social developments, even if they are against the teachings of Christ and the Apostles as revealed to us in the Bible by the Holy Spirit and especially against the natural order of things. When Christians talk about how things should be, these people scoff and mock and talk about how we want everybody to be the same and it’s not possible. However they get angry and resort to name calling when we refuse to agree with them on other issues. They have found willing allies in governments and politicians who want votes. I am not so much concerned about the politicians as I am about the people who claim to be Christians but would rather support those who are against Christianity than Christ. They believe that Christ’s teachings should be subjected to culture and the feelings of our flesh. They talk about how Christ loved everybody. They fail to realise that Christ’s definition of love is different from that the world has put on it. Christ loved everyone yet never condoned what they did wrong. Love is a decision which is shown through acts of selflessness. Love is not sex. Cultures might change but truth will always remain the same. Cultures change everyday like quicksand but Christ is the only thing that will remain the same. He will never change. The saying goes, “Show me your friends and I’ll tell you who you are”. Especially when those friends hate Christ. The Apostle Paul talked about how all sins are either those of the "lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes or the pride of life." That is still true today.

The tide is turning and a time is coming where in the name of reasonableness and equality, laws are going to be passed by governments in the West that would make even China, Cuba and North Korea seem tame. However, those laws are going to make those who say they are Christians decide on whose side they are going to be, Christ (the Truth) or the world. Which side are you going to choose?

JC Cruz is the author of DECEPTIO, published by WestBow Press, a division of Thomas Nelson Publishers available here http://bookstore.westbowpress.com/Products/SKU-000194087/Deceptio.aspx. He is also the author of LOST, BUT FOUND, http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DPLLEUQ/ a story of love and redemption.

Love vs. Law

This is my first post on my new blog and I want to use the blog to share about things I feel strongly about. I understand that a lot of people will probably disagree with my views but that’s life. I don’t expect everyone to agree with me. But the fact is that, it’s my blog and I get to write what I want to write.

I remember watching Tyler Perry’s “Why Did I Get Married?” and feeling disturbed. It wasn’t that the film wasn’t nice, it was. What made me feel disturbed was the part where Tyler Perry’s character and his wife were arguing over having children and she blurted out the usual phrase that women all over America are familiar with, “It’s my body.” Every female of child bearing age (between the ages of 9 and 60) with those words, asserts her rights to control the reproductive processes of her body and thereby decide whether or not to have sex with her husband or boyfriend or abort or keep any baby that might be conceived as a result of the sex. And before the females think I’m about to go on an anti-female rant, I’m not. The thought came to me one day that even with all the rights that we as human beings have, the world is still full of pain, murder and people hurting each other. Then another thought came, that the rights we hold on to with a passion are just a substandard version God’s laws and of the ultimate law of God, the law of love.

Before I go on, I would like to state what love is NOT. Hollywood and the world around has made us believe that love is about sex and a lot of Christians have bought into that lie. You all know that movie, where the teenage male lead tells the girl he “loves” that she should have sex with him to prove that she loves him? We all sigh and go mushy inside even as we reach for our handkerchiefs’ when she says a tremulous “Yes”. We murmur about what a beautiful relationship it is. That is NOT love. That’s just sex. If he loved her, he wouldn’t ask her to prove her love in the first place. Love is not a mushy feeling that we get when we look at someone of the opposite sex whom we feel we love. The mushy feeling is just an emotion and like most, if not all emotions, it will disappear. The thing with emotions is that they are dependent upon the happening of an event and if a negative event were to happen, it would wipe out the former earlier positive emotion. Love is not an emotion as it is not dependent upon the happening of any event. Also, if you’re in an abusive relationship that you don’t want to leave because you think he or she loves you, sorry to break your bubble. Love is not about abuse. He or she doesn’t love you. He or she is just using you and you are obsessed with them. That is not love. Love does not intentionally hurt.

If all those things are not what love is all about, then, what is love? Forget about all those definitions that talk about eros, philio and all that. Love is much simpler than all that. Love doesn’t need to be broken up into all that. Simply put, you know you love someone when you want the best the best for them, even when what is best for them might be to your own detriment. I know a lot of people will probably not agree with that but the Bible is full of people who because they loved, helped the person they loved achieve what was best for that person even to their own detriment.

The Bible tells us that God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten son ….” we all know the rest. God gave up Jesus to die for you and me so that he could redeem us back to Him. Have we ever wondered that maybe God harboured a little fear that might Jesus human nature might cause him to sin and cause them to be separated forever? Yet, He still gave him up. He suffered loss (albeit temporarily) so that you and I could have a relationship with him again.

Jesus also suffered the loss of his life so that you and I could find a way back to the father. He died so that you and I could inherit all the benefits of being sons and daughters of God. I know, some of you’ll say “Well JC, that is basically God.” Then what about Abraham? Abraham and Lot both became so prosperous that there were quarrels between their servants while they were both together in Genesis 13. In verse 9, Abraham gave Lot the chance to choose first, where he wanted to go. Even though Abraham was the one with the promise and Lot was only tagging along, Abraham gave Lot the chance to chose the good part of the land first, even though he would be left with the bad part rejected by lot. Abraham gave Lot the chance to choose first, because he loved him. Loving someone therefore means being ready to give up something so that the one we love can enjoy a benefit. This can be any situation in the home, with friends or the office. If I were to ask the men if they loved their office assistant, a lot would probably recoil in horror, stammering about how they didn’t think of the office assistant in that way. Like I said earlier, the love I am talking about has nothing whatsoever to do with sex, so relax. Put another way, even though she’s just an office assistant, would you be willing to do anything to help her get ahead in life, even if she became your boss? If you are afraid of her being your boss, then it’s probably because you have been a bad boss. The essence of love is that you think of yourself last. It might not be a conscious effort, going around saying that you’re thinking of everyone first. But life is about decisions. When the time for decisions come, then we will truly know whether or how much we have loved.

I know that thanks to Oprah and a lot of TV gurus, the usual thing is to think of yourself first. I have heard a lot of them say that you’re the first person you should think of when it comes to the issue of happiness. That if you’re in a marriage and you’re feeling unhappy and you’ve found someone else you think you love, the first person that deserves to be happy is you. What your children or spouse thinks or feels doesn’t matter because you’re the only one who deserves to be happy. That is not love. I know that in an era of self love where everyone is trying to get ahead regardless of the other person that is not popular. But that is the way God intended it.

When I went to Max Lucado’s HisIsMine project website to put down my story, I came across the story of a woman (whose name is Judy I think) who’s husband had cheated on her. They weren’t Christians at the time and while the husband confessed to other infidelities and wanted them to go to counseling, she just wanted to end the marriage. She collected as much information as she could and she found out that it would cost less for her to get a divorce than for her to go to counseling. In the end, someone introduced her to a pastor who would counsel her and her husband for free. That was what saved her marriage and caused her to come to the knowledge of Christ.

That got me thinking. We live in a world today that tells us we have rights. But the thrust of my thought is that when we accept those rights instead of walking in love, we fall short of what God wants for us. We think that when we allow. Like I said earlier, it’s interesting that we have so many rights that we guard jealously, yet it has not put an end to wars, murder and other forms of strife. Judy was well within her rights to invoke the law and ask for a divorce. But in the end, she chose to walk in love (albeit unknowingly) and allow her husband to have the counseling he wanted. In the end, she saved her marriage and her soul.

It’s very baffling to me how two people can say that they are in love, get married and then the moment one the man says he wants children, the woman replies with Roe vs. Wade. I find it especially strange when Christian women do it. I’m not saying it’s not their body or their right to choose when to have children. But my view is that it is selfish for her to unilaterally invoke the law and choose for both of them. The least she should do is at least talk with him so that they can both come to an agreement. It’s funny how two people get married and during the marriage ceremony before God and the congregation, pledge their bodies to each other and promise to honour each other with their bodies. Then the moment something comes up, she throws away her marriage vows and invokes the law. Yet, Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 7:4 tells us that spouses have no power over their own bodies. He goes on further at verse 5 to tell us that married couples should agree about when to have sex or not.

It really got me thinking. When we invoke the law one with another, not only do we negate love, we settle for something less than we would have attained with love. And even though I have used the example of a married couple, it doesn’t have to be a marriage. It could be a friendship, a business or working relationship. The law is not soft like love. It has sharp edges that are meant and used to inflict hurt on the other person. In the end, we hurt ourselves even though we are not aware of it. The law is a form of attack. Love on the other hand is a hand extended in fellowship and goodwill. It might be rejected or it might be trampled upon. But that is no reason not to show love. God has commanded us to be like Him, to represent him here on earth. God is love. We have no reason to be anything else.  

(J C Cruz is the author of DECEPTIO which is available now from http://www.westbowpress.com/store and from http://www.amazon.com and from other Christian bookstores)