Not all talk that may lead us away from the richness of our faith is crazy and unrealistic. I love the way the ESV puts Colossians 2:4:

I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments.

The sense of that word ‘plausible’ is something like ‘persuasive’. In other words, arguments that delude us in our thinking by making persuasive arguments. But no argument is made persuasive without also being, or at least seeming plausible.

It seems that many Christians, myself at times, feel a sense of false security, thinking the apologists of the World don’t have a logical argument to stand on. But this simply isn’t true. There are plenty of plausible ideas that would lead us away from trusting the Lord.

Christians should realize that knowing and being confident in their theology (know what they believe and why), is a paramount duty. We cannot expect that we are impervious to good arguments of the disagreeing party. But, rather, expect their arguments are plausible and be prepared by knowing and believing our own plausible Truth in the Gospel.

(Can’t see the video? Watch it on Youtube!)

Quoted in this video:

Ephesians 4:8-9:

Therefore it says,

    "When he ascended on high he led a host of captives,
   and he gave gifts to men."

(In saying, "He ascended," what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth?

And, Psalm 68:18:

You ascended on high,
    leading a host of captives in your train
   and receiving gifts among men,
even among the rebellious, that the LORD God may dwell there.

About two years ago, I wrote this prayer in a journal:

“O God! You have whet my appetite in the desire for your joy. But I cannot obtain it! Please, God, grant me true joy in you!”

I found this interesting, even a bit convicting—though it came from my own expression.

Joy in the Lord is an abstract thing. I’ve heard more than a few attempts to sum things up succinctly, but it never quite works. Joy isn’t the same as happiness, or excitement, or even contentedness. It isn’t these things. But It’s not less than those things either. It’s not quite an emotion, nor quite a mental state.

It’s something else altogether and this post isn’t going to sum it up.

I believe all true Christians have an appetite, whet by God, for this true Joy. But as human beings, we seem to be prone to attempting to gain that joy by quasi-spiritual means. By systems, structures, rules. And, in a vacuum, it simply isn’t ever going to work.

Reading the bible doesn’t equal joy. Going to church doesn’t equal joy. Listening to worship music and singing along, it doesn’t equal joy. Telling lost people about Jesus doesn’t equal joy. Yet most Christians, me included sometimes, seem to try and make the equation work. Then when it doesn’t, discouragement sets in.

The concept of joy, in a spiritual sense, is complicated. But its explanation isn’t actually all that important. I don’t think the roadmap to it is even all that important. The reason being, when we seek the scriptures and follow it’s prescription to seek the Lord, then we find Joy.

If Joy is hidden in God, then we have to seek God to find it.

At least a couple of times during my first couple years as a Christian, my beliefs over certain theological things were shaken dramatically. I was forced to reassess my stance.  Both times that I can remember clearly, I resisted changing my belief because doing so would be a shot to my pride and I would have to own that.

Reading in Galatians this morning, it occurred to me that if anyone else had experienced this kind of thing, it was probably Paul. Galatians 1:22-23:

And I was still unknown in person to the churches of Judea that are in Christ. They only were hearing it said, "He who used to persecute us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy."

There’s a reason people use the term ‘Pauline Conversion’ when talking about people’s dramatic changes in opinion. It’s because scarcely was there ever a person who made a more spectacular 180 degree turn.

Paul was actually a violent opponent to the Gospel. After God struck him on the road, the greater portion of his theological belief was turned on its head. He stopped persecuting the church and instead, became a part of it and preached the Gospel with more vigor than nearly all of his contemporaries in the Church.

Thank God the Holy Spirit convicted him with the potency that he did and that he didn’t tarry, resisting the discovery of this truth, since he eventually became the author of most of the New Testament.

When our convictions are shaken and changed, we should not to give our pride space to stop us. If we discover we are mistaken in our belief, we should humbly accept that we were wrong and move into what we have discovered. Not like I have, sitting, resisting, insisting that somehow our original belief was right—just for the sake of saving face.

Friedrich Nietzsche said a lot of thought provoking, stupid things. And his writings still stand to challenge people’s thinking—which is good. I came across this quote on StumbleUpon:

“People who have given us their complete confidence believe that they have a right to ours. The inference is false, a gift confers no rights.”

He is right. Has someone ever shared something extremely personal with you and then shortly after turned around and expected that you would match their vulnerability? I have. In fact, I’ve probably done it. Giving a ‘gift’ doesn’t give a person room to expect something in return. That would nullify the original gift.

As we all know, our relationship with God is no different. We do not give our lives to Christ and expect that he will give us the things we want in return. And likewise, God doesn’t give us the gift life and expect a life of gratitude and sanctification in return, as if for payment (though that is just what happens). That would nullify the notion of a ‘gift’.

Thanks Friedrich. Good reminder.

The concept that all sins are equal is a common misconception in the Church. All sins are not equal. The remedy for all sins is equal. And, our acceptance of that remedy is always equal. There is no prescribed ‘penance’, so to speak. But sins themselves are not equal.

This is easily evidenced by the Old Testament. There are plenty of sins in the Old Testament which demanded physical death. And many which did not. Why would this be so unless some sins were weightier, in a sense, than others? Or, moreover, if all sins were equal, then what could be said about the ultimate sin of unbelief?  There must be a sense in which some sins are greater than others.

In Mark, Jesus tells a scribe of the greatest commandment. Mark 12:29-30:

Jesus answered, "The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’

If there is such a thing as  the greatest commandment, then in would follow that the greatest sin would be to violate that commandment. And Jesus indirectly explains what that is.

Idolatry!

“The Lord is one”. In other words, there is one God. And we must love him with “all our heart and with all our soul and with all our mind and with all our strength”. But the funny thing is, virtually all sins are a violation of this commandment.

I believe that if we strip away the outer layers of virtually any sin, we discover idolatry under almost all of them. We lie because our success or esteem is valued more highly than God. We steal because we value that thing more than God. See the trend?

While most people don’t take seriously the sin of idolatry—or just consider it strictly in the literal sense—I think we should recognize that any time we find greater value in something other than God, we violate God’s highest law. When we realize this, it should become a source to praise God even louder for his grace and patience with us. And, become a motivator to look for and embrace the sanctification God is working in each of his children.