Lessons from Psalm 1

Psalm 1 begins with the following list of actions that cause a man to be blessed:

Psalm 1:1-2

Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on His law he meditates day and night.

These are instructions on how to “position ourselves for blessings,” as some have said. There are three things a blessed man does not do: if you want to be blessed, then stop taking advice from the wrong people, don’t live your life the same way that sinners live theirs, and don’t mock God with your attitude. Also, there are two things a blessed man does do: delight in the law of God and think about it all the time.

5 Ways to Conduct Yourself Wisely in Tough Situations

No matter what your life is like, you are eventually going to find yourself in a conflict. Two well-meaning people can find themselves on opposite sides of an issue. While they may be sincere, it is often the case that one or both parties are wrong in their approach to the argument. For those of you in the United Church of God, there have been such circumstances recently, but the principles presented here are of such a broad scope that even those who have no idea what I’m talking about will find them helpful. In such cases, we are all obligated to decide who and what to believe and how to react. God’s Word provides many more instructions than those listed here, but I have found these to be especially relevant.

Do You Need the Law?

Some people claim that the law of God that the Israelites were given on Mount Sinai is not the same law of God that applies to Christians today, while still others claim that no law at all is relevant for Christians today. In Romans, Paul writes to a mixed congregation of Jews and Gentiles who have had problems with certain Jews saying that salvation is by the law rather than by faith in Christ. Paul makes it clear that this is not the case, but notice that he simultaneously defends the keeping of the law:

Romans 2:10-12

But glory, honor, and peace go to every man who works good, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For there is no partiality with God. For as many as have sinned without the law will also perish without the law. As many as have sinned under the law will be judged by the law.

Take careful consideration of what it says here: “as many as have sinned without the law will also perish without the law.”

Do You Trust in the Flesh or in the Spirit?

I've been remiss in writing during the Feast of Tabernacles, partly due to lack of internet and partly due to lack of time. Now that I'm back, I should have a fair amount of both, and I'm full of ideas from the Feast, so hang on tight! For today, a subtle point about the following scripture in Jeremiah occurred to me.

Jeremiah 17:5

Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who depends on flesh for his strength and whose heart turns away from the LORD.

When I asked in the title, "Do you trust in the flesh or in the Spirit?" I can't imagine that many people would answer that they trust in the flesh - but the reality is that many people who call themselves Christians trust in the flesh rather than the Spirit!

6 Things Every Christian Should Know About the 1000 Years

Revelation 20 refers to a 1000 year period immediately following Christ's return. This period of time is pictured by the next of God's annual festivals: the Feast of Tabernacles, which is also called the Feast of Ingathering and the Feast of Booths. This feast begins this Wednesday night and lasts for 7 days. Here are some important points about the Millennium that we should be familiar with and keep in mind during this time:

7 Things Every Christian Should Know about the Day of Atonement

Tomorrow at sundown begins the Day of Atonement, the only day in the bible on which God commands His people to fast. This day has great significance for Christians today, and the following list contains just some of the important points that this festival of God represents.

7 Things Every Christian Should Know About Christ's Second Coming

The Feast of Trumpets, referred to as "Rosh Hashanah" by the Jews, begins tonight at sunset and continues until tomorrow at sunset. For the Jews, this day represents the beginning of the civil new year, a time of restoration and repentance leading up to the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur). In truth, this Holy Day pictures the second coming of Jesus Christ to earth, as I explained in a previous article. This Feast is not just for the Jews, and Christians today should be observing this day. Here are 7 important points about Christ's second coming that are pictured by the Feast of Trumpets:

Stephen Hawking Says God is "Not Necessary" for Creation

Today, Fox News published a story about physicist Stephen Hawking crediting the laws of physics for the creation of the universe rather than God. He is quoted as saying:

"Because there is a law such as gravity, the universe can and will create itself from nothing"

From reading this, you might say to yourself that if God created the laws and the laws "created" the universe, then God still created the universe. If that is the case, then the existence of the universe is still dependent on the existence of God. However, to fully complete his denial of God, Dr. Hawking then goes on to exclude even this notion:

"It is not necessary to invoke God to light the blue touch paper and set the universe going."

Really?

God on Globalization

Yet another snack that originated from the food safety conference last month. When the representative from the CDC was speaking, he was talking about all of the difficulty in tracking outbreaks on a national scale. One of the things that he noted was that if 10 people who ordered the same dish in a restaurant in a small town on Tuesday all get sick on either Wednesday or Thursday with the same symptoms, then it’s not hard to trace the source. The difficulty comes in when you have a national outbreak with cases sporadically strewn across the nation. It’s much more difficult to diagnose food-borne illness when the patients have never met each other, their respective doctors don’t know each other, and there is no reason to think that the person is sick from something that they ate rather than from some other source. The curious thing is that these types of nation-wide outbreaks only occur because products are shipped from a single producer to retailers all over the country – so if it’s contaminated when it leaves the packaging plant, it’s contaminated in dozens of stores across several states.

I’m not necessarily advocating that we all buy local, but it does seem that life would be a lot simpler if we did. This lead me to pondering what God thinks of globalization. Globalization is good for consumers because it gives us greater variety and better prices. It's bad for consumers because it causes more pollution, more potential for spreading disease, and fewer local jobs in areas that are not productive enough to attract large-scale businesses. When I put it like that, globalization doesn’t look so great. It's not enough to effect a drastic change in my behavior, but it does make me wonder if this is the sort of thing that God was getting at in these scriptures:

Micah 4:4

Every man will sit under his own vine and under his own fig tree, and no one will make them afraid, for the LORD Almighty has spoken.

O, How Man Goes Wrong: Let Me Count the Ways!

I often think about the two greatest commandments in the law: love God with all of your being, and love your neighbor as yourself. Each of these two commandments encompass an entire list of commandments. Most notably, the first 4 of the Ten Commandments instruct us on how to have love for God, and the last 6 of the Ten Commandments instruct us on how to have love for each other. Furthermore, there are two ways that you can fail to keep any commandment:

1. You can practice it outwardly, but not be sincere in your heart.
2. You can fail to practice it.