Selfless Faith

God’s Nightmare

American Dream: a widespread determination by Americans to provide their children with a better upbringing than their parents were able to provide for them; a philosophy that with hard work, courage and determination, anyone can prosper and achieve success.

What happened? How did we get here? Is that what our forefathers had in mind? We have been working so hard with this lie the devil puts in our heart that we do all of this for our children or our families. It is so easy to fall into this trap. The enemy whether being the devil, the world, or our flesh is not leading us to provide a better life for our children, but for us to labor in vain trying to get more useless stuff. We fill so many landfills and then we burn it. That is not God’s idea of a burnt offering. There is no sweet smell in that! We should consider why garbage smells so bad. God hates the garbage we fill our lives with. He makes us smell how much He hates it. Somehow, the smell does not seem to bother us anymore. That is a bit disturbing that we can actually sit around and enjoy the smell of our own waste.

How did a dream so quickly turn into a nightmare? Honestly, it was a nightmare from the beginning. The “American Dream” seems to be God’s nightmare. The strong family values we used to have, have now been replaced for video games, cell phones, internet, etc. How did we fall victim to this living nightmare? O, my beloved, the devil is a liar.

In John 8:44, Jesus says to the Pharisees “You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.” I believe Jesus is also referring to our flesh and the mindset the world lives by. We look around and see what the world has and it looks nice; that second glance is what destroys us completely.

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In Matthew 15:7-9, Jesus quotes the prophet Isaiah saying “Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying: ‘These people draw near to Me with their mouth, And honor Me with their lips, But their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.‘”

O God, please protect us from becoming hypocrites. If we already are, please heal us quickly and remove it far away from us. Do we see a pattern developing from the last few verses? If it started with the judgmental exalted attitude, which then led to compromise to satisfy our fleshly desires, it naturally ends with being hypocrites in the eyes of God and those around us. O how the Lord despises the hypocrite, but loves and rejoices at the sight of the humble, lowly, and meek at heart. We have to ask ourselves these questions. It is a spiritual check-up. Are we only drawing near to God with our mouths? Are we only honoring Him with our lips? Are our hearts far from Him? Are we worshiping in vain? Are we teaching our brothers and sisters man-made commandments? We can so easily fall into these traps leading the lost away from the true and living God. Let’s pray that God keeps us from falling into these wicked ways. We pray not because we think God can’t, but because we know He can and that we can’t do it on our own ability and strength. We need to continue to be filled with the Holy Spirit on a daily basis. In Jesus name. Amen.

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In Matthew 15:4-6, Jesus continues speaking sharply to the Pharisees saying “God clearly says, ‘Respect your father and mother,’ and, ‘Anyone denouncing father or mother should be killed.’ But you weasel around that by saying, ‘Whoever wants to, can say to father and mother, What I owed to you I’ve given to God.’ That can hardly be called respecting a parent. You cancel God’s command by your rules.” (The Message)

Do we ever find ourselves compromising with God’s commandments and/or His will? Of course the answer is yes. God hates compromise. We often put ourselves in a position to compromise with God’s word, but we refuse to compromise with our fellow brothers and sisters. We have it in reverse. Why do we compromise with God though? We are weak to our fleshly wants and desires. We just seem to fail over and over. We feel like we are letting God down. We get to the point where we feel so lost and apart from God. We are slowly fading away and dying in our own compromise. What are we to do? Can we save ourselves? Surely we can’t. However, Jesus saves! I don’t know where we got this mindset that we can let God down. We were never holding Him up. In fact, He is the one who lifts us up and holds us in place. As we draw closer to God with open hearts, He heals us, changes us, purifies our hearts, and takes the compromise out of our lives slowly but surely. Let’s be more open to our brothers and sisters working together with knowing that we are all different, but are still part of the same body, the body of Christ. Our hands never fight with our feet, and our elbows with our knees, and our eyes with our ears; we should not fight with our brothers and sisters either.

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After the Pharisees asked Jesus why His disciples didn’t follow the traditions of the elders, in Matthew 15:3, Jesus sharply responds “Why do you use your rules to play fast and loose with God’s commands?” (The Message)

Jesus shines His light and His mirror upon us! I thank God He does not play petty games with us as we try to play with Him and with each other. He cuts directly to the heart of the matter. God brings us back to reality. When we try to approach God all puffed up and exalted above everyone else, even above Him, He cuts us down to grown zero. We fall flat on our faces. However, when we approach God lowly and humble at heart, He lifts us up. Reflect for a minute. What stumbling block have we placed in front of our brothers and sisters? Have we told our brethren they cannot eat a certain food or listen to certain genres of music, or even dress a certain way? We seem to focus so much on the physical and outward appearance that we constantly hinder God’s work. Change can only start from the inside. Only God has the ability to bring forth true change. We need to stop getting in His way. How about ourselves? Are questioning and calling out the physical and outward appearance of others while in our hearts we are filled with deceit and hypocrisy? Do we lust after the flesh and hateful thoughts? We really need to ask God to work in our lives instead of nitpicking at how other people live. Honestly, we create our own set of standards that we can’t live up to ourselves. We should really be praising God for working in the lives of others and open ourselves to be worked on as well.

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In Matthew 15:1-2, the scribes and Pharisees who were from Jerusalem came to Jesus, saying,  ”Why do Your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? They do not wash their hands when they eat bread.”

Let’s consider our ways. Have we exalted ourselves above God’s ways and standards? Do we often question God on why He works in certain ways? I know I’ve surely done it plenty of times. We think in our little minds know just so much. The weight of our brain is an average of 1300 to 1400 grams (2.87 to 3.1 pounds). It would cost about $4.95 to ship it in the United States. Yet, we know so much. We can get so wrapped up in our traditions that we turn people away from Jesus. God never appointed us to be His advisors on how people should trust Him, follow Him, and love Him. Imagine that! God following the counsel of sinners. Just the thought is hilarious, and a bit scary. So what traditions are we to follow? Is it the way of the Catholic, the Baptist, or the Pentecostal? Do we eat meat? Or is it only pork we can’t eat? Can women wear pants or jewelry or even make-up? Just listing these rules and regulations gives me a headache. By putting ourselves under these restrictions, we negate Christ’s death on the cross. It is as if the law was not fulfilled by Christ. If the law was not been fulfilled, then Christ’s death was in vain, our belief in Him is useless, and we are still sinners dead in our ways. God forbid! We must follow the ways God. We must have a personal one-on-one relationship initiated from our hearts with God through Jesus Christ who died on the cross for our sins, our transgressions, and our man-made traditions that hold down our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. So, what way are we to follow? Follow Christ and everything else will come into place. Seek the kingdom of God and everything else will be added on to us. How do we seek the kingdom? Believe in Jesus whole-heartedly letting go of useless “good old traditions.”

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