Author: DwightClough

In the New Testament Gospel of John, chapter 9, we find something very relevant to our culture today. Jesus is walking along with His entourage, and they come across a man who has been blind since day one, never able to see. Jesus’ followers immediately ask:

“Whose fault is this? Did the Democrats do this? Or the Republicans? Is this his own fault? Or did this happen because of some evil corporation? Is this a result of moral decline or climate change? Is this the result of racism, sexism, homophobia, Islamophobia? Or is this the result of laziness or media bias? Did this happen because of his socio-economic status or because he had no access to adequate health care?”

“Please, Jesus, tell us who to blame. We must know in order to feel okay about ourselves.”

What did Jesus reply?

He said, “Whoa! Wait! Stop! You’re asking the wrong question. The question is NOT, ‘Who do we blame?’ The question is, ‘What opportunity does this present? How can we take this bad thing and turn it into something good?’”

Hmm…

Dwight

Tennyson wrote, “Our little systems have their day.”

I like that way of putting it. It reminds me that, yes, we are free to do what we want within reason, but, in the end, we answer to God.

I believe Jesus will return to this earth to take charge of the creation that belongs to Him. I believe in the final judgment. I believe we will answer for how we lived our lives. I believe in heaven and hell.

All of these things are clearly taught in the Bible, if you just let the Bible say what it says. And it makes sense. A just and loving God will hold people accountable for the decisions they make—good or evil.

We all will stand before God. Compared to that, everything else shrinks into insignificance.

Dwight

I believe in miracles because, hey, God by definition is supernatural, so why wouldn’t supernatural things happen when He is present? Not believing in miracles seems like a way of back peddling on my belief in God, and I’m not about to do that. What I don’t believe in is miracles on demand, miracles for my own entertainment, vending machine miracles, cheap miracles. God will not allow His power to be misused like that.

Chief among those miracles I DO believe in: I believe Jesus rose from the dead. Many reasons; here’s one. Christianity has had opponents from Day One. Many have wanted to shut it down, even from the outset. And that would have been very easy to do. Just produce the body. Come up with the corpse. Show the world that Jesus was dead. They didn’t do it. They couldn’t do it. Even though they tried. And here’s a bonus reason. Nearly all the disciples paid with their lives for their claim that they had encountered the resurrected Jesus. People aren’t going to do that for a conspiracy. At least some of them will crack. None of them did.

Dwight

God created us. God owns us. God cares about us. God is good.

All of that gives God the right to make the rules, and us the obligation to follow them. And I’m glad He does make rules because our choices have consequences. Our words and our actions heal or harm, help or hurt, restore or destroy.

How we live matters.

I’m not one of those Christians who thinks you just need to pray a magic prayer and then you’re set. God cares deeply about how we live, and our decisions can bring eternal good or eternal harm to ourselves and others.

We live in a moral universe. We answer to a moral God. We have been given the power to bring good or evil into the lives of the people God loves. How we live matters.

Dwight

PS. On 10/12/2019, our Inner Wealth topic will be overcoming a painful past. Many people want to forget the past, but don’t understand how and why the past still affects them or what you can do to get free.

Some read the Bible and find in it a malevolent, vindictive God.

I do not.

Rather I find a God who hurts when we hurt, a God who fixes things that are broken, a God who keeps on loving us even when we slander Him, ignore Him, marginalize Him. I find a God who is fiercely protective of His children, who seeks out those who have lost their way, who heals hurts and repairs relationships.

It’s no surprise to me that followers of God have started clinics, hospitals, food pantries, schools, and universities. In the name of Jesus, people have worked to end slavery and human trafficking throughout the world, to end poverty, to stop racism, to end child labor, to repair broken relationships, to heal hurts of all kinds.

All of this rings true on my own experience. Throughout my life God has been kind to me, and even though I’ve experienced hard times, He has always turned those things around for good.

I believe what the world doubts: God is good.

Dwight

PS. On 10/12/2019, our Inner Wealth topic will be overcoming a painful past. Many people want to forget the past, but don’t understand how and why the past still affects them or what you can do to get free.

There are many sacred texts, but the Bible stands out to me for these reasons.

(1) It has stood the test of time.

(2) It is an incredibly diverse set of books by a diverse set of authors, but all point to the same God.

(3) The Bible is event-oriented. This is important. It isn’t merely a collection of opinions. It bases its authority on historical events like the resurrection of Jesus that took place in time and space in front of witnesses who could easily discredit the message if these events did not take place.

(4) The Bible has been embraced by people from nearly every nation and people group. Its message is universal.

(5) There has been an irrational hatred for the Bible throughout the ages. Even today, in some countries, people are imprisoned, tortured, or executed just for owning a Bible.

(6) Even though I’ve read through the Bible many times, I still find new depth of meaning in old familiar passages. Others report experiencing the same thing.

(7) The Bible offers hope and a connection with God I find nowhere else.

Dwight

PS. On 10/12/2019, our Inner Wealth topic will be overcoming a painful past. Many people want to forget the past, but don’t understand how and why the past still affects them or what you can do to get free.

Nothing created everything?

I don’t think so.

Big bang or not, everything came from something. There is a first cause, and that first cause is, by definition, supernatural—or beyond the natural, able to do what the natural cannot do.

Then there’s life. Do the math. Time and chance cannot arrange a trillion atoms into a single self-replicating cell—I don’t care how many times lightning strikes the mud puddle. It can’t be done.

And then God is supposed to be absent when hundreds of base pairs magically rearrange themselves in DNA not just in one organism, but also in another of the opposite sex. This needs to happen at the same time. The two need to find each other, mate, produce offspring before they both get eaten. And this is supposed to take place not just once, but millions of times.

Really?

In my mind it takes a whole lot LESS faith to simply embrace Genesis 1:1. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

Dwight

PS. On 10/12/2019, our Inner Wealth topic will be overcoming a painful past. Many people want to forget the past, but don’t understand how and why the past still affects them or what you can do to get free.

 

…consider what great things He has done for you. 1 Samuel 12:24

 

God brings order from chaos. That’s how He created the heavens and the earth. And that’s what He does with our lives. He takes the turbulence of our lives, together with the dull drudgery of day after day existence, throws in our dysfunctional past and somehow creates something beautiful from it.

Eternal life has begun inside us. It will grow and eclipse all that we have known. Eternal life, Jesus said, is knowing God and knowing the Messiah God sent. Even today, we are walking into that experience.

Dwight

PS. Our Inner Wealth topic for October 5, 2019 will be “Little known secrets for mind renewal”—an explanation of how we life-transforming paradigm shifts from God. (See Romans 12:2.)

 

But you have now rejected your God, who saves you out of all your calamities and distresses. And you have said, “No, set a king over us.” 1 Samuel 10:19

 

As far as God was concerned, getting a king was a step backwards, not forwards, for Israel. God wanted a direct relationship with His people. He wanted to be their King. He wanted to be their Savior—that is, the one who rescued them when they were in trouble.

God still wants a direct relationship with His people. He doesn’t want our spiritual lives to be funneled through the pastor, the worship leader, or some other Christian “king.” He wants us to go to Him, to look to Him, to relate directly to Him.

Don’t get me wrong. Leaders have their place, and worship services have their place. But they were never meant to be a substitute for God.

Dwight

PS. Our Inner Wealth topic for October 5, 2019 will be “Little known secrets for mind renewal”—an explanation of how we life-transforming paradigm shifts from God. (See Romans 12:2.)

 

The Spirit of the LORD will come upon you in power, and you will prophesy with them; and you will be changed into a different person. 1 Samuel 10:6 (emphasis mine)

 

Samuel is telling Saul how his life is about to turn upside down. God gave Saul a big job, but He never expected him to do it on his own. God was ready to partner with him. God wanted to turn Saul into a great leader.

God gives us gifts and God gives us power for a purpose. He is changing us into the people He wants us to be.

The phrase “you will be changed” is one of the most significant in all the Bible. God is constantly looking for opportunities to transform us. Most of the trials we have in life are merely God’s attempts to maneuver us into a position where we face the truth about where we’re at so that God can tell us the transforming truth about who we are.

Dwight

PS. Our Inner Wealth topic for October 5, 2019 will be “Little known secrets for mind renewal”—an explanation of how we life-transforming paradigm shifts from God. (See Romans 12:2.)