All posts by ljmonson

Bible, Culture, Preaching, Theology

Words are important!

I have a facebook account in which you may well call me a lurker. I don’t post much. Once and a while I will be struck by a phrase or an idea that can’t be ignored. Today a post from a wonderful person reposted the phrase, “We need preachers who preach that hell is still hot, that heaven is still real, that sin is still wrong, that the Bible is God’s Word and that Jesus is the only way of Salvation.” What really struck me from that was the seeming lack of any of these things from the pulpit, but even more from those calling themselves Christians. All in the name of being more socially minded and more sensitive, and more politically correct, we (this includes me) have seemed to let the world dictate our speech, our behavior and belief structures.

I believe that we need good strong definitions to the words we use and hold on to. Take for instance the word sin. It does not mean it is all ok if you can get away with it. Or if there are no current prohibitions from in by civil law. For me sin is “any feeling or thought or speech or action coming from the heart which does not treasure God over, under, through, around, and within all other things.” Sin is preference over God. Sin is mainly not what you do, but what you are.

Culture, Life, Motivation, Personal

Take them down!

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Delight only comes with abiding and our desires change as we abide.

I want what I want when I want it.  I want Joy.  That deep inner delight that comes with the assurance of all things working out and working out my way.  I do not want trucks that break down.  I do not want my back to hurt all the time.  I do not want to take pills to survive.  I want that inner relish for life that fills the soul.  John 17:13 says flatly that Jesus came into this world to give me full measure of His joy within me.

If it is mine, if it is promised, if it is my possession, if it is full measure, if it is to be a deep welling joy, where is it?  Driving the streets with my little granddaughter, she is oft to say, “take it down” in response to seeing Christmas decorations still hanging from the eves of homes.  “Christmas is over.”  It is as if the time for joy and peace on earth is now complete and we can get about our dreary lives.

How can I life I Thess 5:16 when it says, “Rejoice evermore,” when all the Christmas lights are gone?  I would suppose it is the difference between happiness and joy.  Happiness is a fleeting thing, if you pursue it blinks at you and it is gone.  I guess I have said this before happiness is not joy.  Happiness is on the outside blinking red and green.  Joy is internal warmth of dwelling in the God of Christmas and the rest of the year.

Ministry, Motivation, Personal, Psycolog

Priorities

Some things are much more important than others.  Choosing between two things or options before you there is an inherent prioritization. Your mind immediately wants to put them into a logical order.

Figuring out what most important is part of life.  Sometimes we even have to say no to one thing in order to say yes to something more important in our lives.  At issue is we want both.  “I want my cake and eat it too.”  To live according to the tenants and teachings of Jesus we must set priorities. 

My first priority is that relationships are more important than things. People are always more important than thing I may accumulate.  Don’t get me wrong here, I have several things in my life, but when given a choice between a relationship and this accumulation of plastic brightly colored stuff, people win.  You see people are ultimately forever.  Wives are more important than what chair I sit in at night.

Second, Intellect over emotion.  I once heard to never make a decision when I am upset, sad, jealous or in love.  Emotions rule the immediate. In my life I must slow down and let emotion subside.  The intellect allows the spirit to speak.  The intellect allows the soul to make a logical decision.

Third, Joy over happiness.  Happiness is short term.  Joy comes in abiding.  Our desires will change the longer we abide in Him.  Joy is beyond a smile.  If you seek happiness it will disappear. Happiness is a good thing but when it is rooted in joy it is the best.  I believe we can’t always have happiness, but we can always have the joy that comes with God.

Fourth and last.  In setting my priorities I must choose the future over the past.  The past is over.  I can’t change that, but I can be forgiven.  The past does not necessarily dictate our future.  Our habits of yesterday can be broken.  The future has its foundation in today’s decisions.

Motivation, Worship

He is here

It is one of the things we cannot live without.  The deepest part of our soul cries out for it.  Without it, we start to shrink moment by moment.  All our efforts seem pointless without the zest of it.  Some have died from the lack of it. 

That thing is hope. Hope that life will turn out.  Hope that someone is standing in our corner.  In all the places you could find yourself this exact moment, there is a truth.  That truth is that Hope is here.  It is not a false hope that makes untrue promises.  It is not a guarantee of an outcome invented by any man or woman.  It is not a fantasy or an illusion or even a make-believe invention.  It is a real and everlasting Hope.

It is a hope based on the truth proclaiming God is still God.  It is a hope that God is really holding it all together.  It is a hope that God has not turned His face away.  It is a hope God can and is involved in our lives.  He is intimately acquainted with every heartache; more that we can ever know.  Hope is here

It is a hope that you are loved in your worst moments.  It is a hope that pursues you even as you turn away.  Make no mistake.  Hope is here.  No matter where you have been.  No matter when you are now.  Hope is here.  Because Hope is a person. His name is Jesus.

Life, Motivation, Personal

Decisions

I am a Christian, I have been made righteous by God’s mercy, I study to show my self approved rightly dividing the word of truth.  I make my decisions according to the will of God as I understand it.  The problem for the day is how do I make decisions. Do I write today, or do I spend the day working on my old truck? As a friend explained yesterday, “Give me two options and I can make the decision but give me three and I am at a loss to choose.”  How do we make decisions in the light of God’s grace?

It is assumed there is a plan for my life.  I may well deviate from the plan.  I can even purposely ignore the plan and go my own way.  But the plan still exists. What are the methodologies, or guidelines for my decisions?  How do I choose between three things, or for that matter hundreds?

Every day we are bombarded with decisions and decisions about decisions, and decisions about the decisions we have decided.  

Every decision we make changes things, people around us, our circumstances and our lives. 

Each of us have ideas, concepts of what is right and wrong.  Most of these value judgements have been nurtured through our lifetimes.  We have allowed peer pressure and societal norms mold us into making decisions that may or may not be the best.  Should society dictate my decision-making process?  Should I conform to the norm?  Do I conform to the commands, principals and examples of others?  I rail against this.  My life is more that conformance to a list of right and wrong set by the community around me.

My ethical compass must have something more that a list.  I have found well over 1,500 commands in the New Testament. They are the revealed will of God.  But what do I do when I must make a decision which the Bible is silent?  I have struggled with this most of my Christian life.  Law verses grace.

At this point of this missive, I don’t really know where I am going with this.  I just decided to tell everyone I found an answer to my decision dilemma. “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and everything else will be added.”

Life, Personal, Uncategorized

Life is like a River

The river flows quickly from its source. Rushing down from high cliffs carving its path as it goes. There is an assumed purpose to it. Pulled ever downward to the ever slowing lowlands. The river moves ever slower and slower to its ultimate end as it joins the ocean and is lost in its vastness.
My life has had its fast times, filled with purpose and decisions. Now as my shell slowly descends from the high mountain it deteriorates and my days of rashness and physicality slowly move to my end I in the totality of God, I must transition from the physical purpose to a more spiritual one. Now is the time for slow recollections and attempts to understand the life I have lived.
I guess Isaac Newton said it well, and I paraphrase. “My worldly usefulness is the last idol I am willing to part with—but the Lord will enable me to give even this up.”

Bible Study, Uncategorized

Contrast

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The world says, “Be first.”                                   God says, “The first will be last.”
The world says, “Get all you can.”                     God says, “Give to the poor.”
The world says, “Grow up fast.”                         God says, “Be like a little child.”
The world says, “Look out for yourself.”          God says, “Consider others first.”
The world says, “Fight for your rights.”            God says, “Blessed are the peacemakers.”
The world says, “Power and prestige.”              God says, “Submission and servanthood.”
The world says, “Say like it is.”                            God says, “Speak the truth in love.”
The world says, “Justice, revenge, hate.”           God says, “Mercy, forgiveness and love.”
The world says, “No justice no peace.”               God says, “With peace come justice.”
The world says, “Image is everything.”              God says, “You are made in His image.”
The world says, “Live like no tomorrow.”          God says, “Live in eternity.”
The world says, “Be the king of your world.”    God says, “Jesus is the king.”
The world says, “Entertain me.”                          God says, “Worship me.”
The world says, “Find your own way.”               God says, “I am the way.”
The world says, “Truth is relative.”                     God says, “I am the truth.”

Culture, Life

Give me Joy

Happiness and Joy
Happiness is changeable
Joy is unchanging
Happiness can be stolen by the smallest thing
Joy safe
Happiness is cosmetic
Joy is character
Happiness is external
Joy is from within
Happiness satisfies the surface
Joy satisfies the deepest needs
Happiness show the temperature
Joy regulates the temperature
Happiness disappears in suffering
Joy frequently increases in suffering
Happiness is a good thing
Joy is better

Happiness is strengthened when you have joy
In bad times it is hard to have happiness
In bad times the joy of God is acutely known
Happiness is not present in the darkness of difficulty
Joy never leaves us without a light

Joy is not an idea
Joy is not a decision
Joy is not an emotion
Joy is an inner assurance

Joy is in the soul and not in the body
Joy can be in tears

Joy comes from a different place than happiness.

Give me joy!

Life, Motivation, Personal

Valuing our Efforts

Even if you look closely, peering into the depths of who we are, we will never know our size. Our perception is always flawed by self-expectations.  You and I are much more marvelous, much more important, much more consistently creative than we will ever know or even admit. We do not credit ourselves with the things and events of which we are the central figure. Our own flawed window keeps us from seeing our own personal worth.  We are blind to our gifts.  We become deaf to our own voice.  We don’t hear our self-magnitude. 

Our blurry image of self is so unrecognizable that we become dependent upon the assessment of others. Assurance of worth seems to be delegated to everyone but ourselves. These others seem only to see our imperfections and our weakness.  Every personal accomplishment is seen as an opportunity for the world to pick it apart. We become so encapsulated in the lint picking opinions of everyone else, we shun any effort that could be construed as being good in the fear of not living up to the expectation of perfection of our detractors.

We must be more than what others see.  We must dig deep into a realistic view of who we are; to allow ourselves to say, “that was good”.   

Being creative is like that.
Writing is like that.  
Life is like that.
Worship is like that.
Relationship is like that.

Life, Personal, Ramblings

Pressing on

Where have the years gone? I sit here in my office. It is a place of study, writing, devotion and occasionally my granddaughter’s computer game room. I contemplate my life and wonder if all the ups and downs of my life really mean much.
Jobs have come and gone: from a janitor to an information technologist, from a meat cutter to a minister and a technical writer to a project manager. Jobs that could well range from a gritty endurance to pure joy.
Travel to special places and not so special are a part of my history. Formal education entitles me to put a few letters after my name. Fifty years of marriage, three kids and now two grandchildren make up my family. I have suffered market crashes and car accidents. I have relocated to Colorado, Idaho, Nevada and now make my home in California. There have been times of laughter, sadness, boredom, excitement, pain, dwindling health, and disappointment.
If there is one constant in my life it has been continual change. But now, here in my office, there seems to be an accepted permanence. It affords me time to write more often in this blog, write my second historical fiction, create Bible studies for men’s ministries, create videos for those who would ask. But change is inevitable.
It has been said there are but two constants in life: death and taxes. Sitting here reflecting on life I must disagree. Looking through my life the only relentless constant is God. It matters little if I have followed him every minute of every day or had some low points, God is still present in those times. I could have done better. I have failed to live up to my own expectations. But through it all God has been there. There has been special standing on the mountaintop type of moments where all is well. Conversely, I have dived the depths of the slough of despond. But God has been there. God has been my constant companion. Even when I did not realize it. His grace covered me and this love has guarded me.
It was Paul who said, “
In all the vicissitudes of life—every mountain-top moment and every lonely valley—God has been my constant helper. His presence has comforted me; His grace has covered me; His love has guarded me.
If I have learned anything, it is that we should live with an eternal perspective. If we seek happiness in this life only, we will miss the eternal prize.
Paul, by inspiration, says it best: “But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.” (‭‭Acts‬ ‭20:24‬ ‭ESV‬‬). Again from Corinthians, “So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.”
In the meantime I plod along doing what I can and pressing toward the mark. I invite you on my journey.
Just Larry.