God With Us

God is determined to Dwell with us. In the Garden, in Eden, He walked with Mankind in the cool of the day. But man rejected Him and separation was the result. God brought into being a Nation, and in their midst He Tabernacled with them. Eventually they built a Temple and the Glory of God filled it and rested there in the midst of His people. But they insisted on sin, idolatry and rebellion, and separation was required; His Glory departed. (Ezekiel 10)  If God is to live with His people, something must be done in His people, because we are such sinners and fallen from His glory. 

God sent His own Son, who became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory… the great I Am.  He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, but the world did not know him.  He came to His own, and his own people did not receive Him. They did not know the time of their visitation and so they crucified Him. He rose again, and ascended into heaven—the Glory of God departed once again.

And yet God is determined to dwell with His people. Through Christ's substitutionary death—He took what we deserve—a radical relationship and change is offered to us. For God to dwell with us forever, and we with Him, He must dwell in us, cleansing us from sin.  God invites us to respond to His Son in faith for the forgiveness of our sins. He invites us to leave our sins, and our efforts of self-improvement, and to claim the Blood of Christ shed on the cross for our sins, as the sacrifice made in our place. All who receive Him by faith He makes one of His own people. For then we are washed, made whiter than snow, and can be in His presence without shame or fear.

And so, He changes us inside, He makes us new creatures, He gives us a new heart and abides in us by His Spirit. He is in us, we are now the temple; He has knocked and we have opened the door. Christ dwells in our hearts by faith. We are a dwelling in which God lives by His Spirit. And one day, past the millennium of Christ's rule, past the judgment of the lost, past the New Heaven and New Earth, in Eternity and the fullness of the Kingdom of God:

  “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. (Revelation 21:3 ESV)

Is God welcome in you? Or will you go it alone in your sin, with separation the inevitable result?  Jesus said of Himself— “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” (Matthew 8:20 ESV)  Has He no home in you? If you will receive Him into your life, if your desire is for you to live with God eternally and He with you then know this-- something must be done in you. You are a sinner. Repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. He will change you and dwell in you. “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. (John 14:23 ESV) 

© Kevin Mahon

http://www.beforecaesar.blogspot.com

Bait and Switch

It is very true we all need “a Pause”, as our lives are busy, our schedules relentless, and our responsibilities diverse. To take a few moments or hours for ourselves, from time to time, is healthy and refreshing. Whether it is to watch a movie, to read a book or to go fishing, a pause in our day, even for ‘Jeopardy’, can be as good as a nap!

So when I am told I need ‘a pause’, I tend to agree with gusto—finally someone cares! And when I am told I need a ‘Pause with God’, I am even more compliant. To take a Pause with God, to spend some time with our Creator and Father in relationship through His Son Jesus Christ, is precious and very much like a cool breeze on a hot day. The need for this Pause speaks to my spirit and we say with the Psalmist, “ ¹ O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you,  as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.” Psalm 63:1 (ESV)

I like that Bait and will strike on it like a Pickerel on a spoon. But here is where the Switch comes. Suddenly I am told, the Pause is about creating a sacred space, it is about Silence, and emptying my mind, it is about repeating words and phrases in vain repetition, it is about breathing and all sorts of other techniques that turn me so inwards I am likely to get lost in self. There, deep in my bubble I am supposed to hear from God, or join with Him or something like that. I am told it is all very okay because the Bible says, “Be still and know that I am God.” Ps. 46:10

Well the Bible does say that, but God is not speaking to an individual, but to the nations. He is not advocating a personal me time, but a worldwide repentance and acknowledgement of His majesty. He is not calling for a personal meeting, but for a global cessation of rebellion against His glory. To turn this wonderful word of our Lord into a narcissistic, individualized, therapeutic exercise is to Bait with the lovely spoon, but offer a worm instead.

For your ‘Pause with God’, hear from Him through His word, thoughtfully think, and let prayer be about communication with the Almighty, not a repetitive mantra to take you inward. Stay with what is mandated in Scripture for your safety and for your blessing.  Strike on the Spoon not the worm.

© Kevin Mahon

http://www.beforecaesar.blogspot.com

Strange Fire from Hell

     I assume we would all agree that there is no worship of God in Hell. But can those in Hell really teach us how to worship God?

     Recently, I sat before an enthusiastic woman teaching a ‘Contemplative Prayer’ template. Now, this is pretty controversial stuff, and yet she talked like it was main-stream in evangelical circles. First, she helped us to feel pretty despondent and in need of personal therapy; then, she offered her solutions: centering prayer, breath prayers, lectio devina, creating ‘sacred space’ around you, silence, and the ‘present now’. All very therapeutic it seems. She used every buzz word in the bag. When I asked her to give me any Biblical mandate, anywhere in any Scripture, for such techniques, she was quite flummoxed. After 20 minutes of trying to justify the unjustifiable, she offered Thomas Keating, the Catholic monk and mystic as her authority. Since he taught it, apparently it must be good.

     Well, Thomas Keating (1923) certainly embraced and taught the mystic practices of a content-free mind and the benefit of finding and uniting one’s self with deity, and so on! However, our teacher avoided Psalm 1 which clearly says:

²     but his delight is in the law of the Lord,

and on his law he meditates day and night. 

     The Scriptures never call us to empty our mind, but instead, to fill our mind with His Word. The Scriptures call us to be thoughtful about God not thoughtless and zombie like. The Scriptures present prayer as communication and relationship with God, not a path for personal therapy and stress release.  Many of us cannot see the difference between these contemplative prayer techniques and the Yogic mantras and New Age musings; but it must be okay if you slap on some Christian lingo and use the name of Jesus as your mantra?  

     In my mind, as one who was born a Catholic and then converted to Jesus Christ, I find it discouraging to see how quickly we lay aside our evangelical fervor to embrace the teachings of lost Catholics who are in Hell. They are in Hell because they trusted in the sacraments—their own efforts—rather than the work of Jesus Christ. Lost Catholic mystics, who played around with some Eastern mysticism and New Age practices, don’t seem to be an adequate authority for the prayer and worship practices of disciples of Jesus Christ. Do we not, as always, need to worship in truth, as well as in spirit? 

     This Contemplative Prayer is not a Christianity I recognize, as it is foreign to the Scriptures but at home with the pagan religions. It is strange fire. Yes, many Bible schools now teach it in their ‘spiritual formation’ classes. Yes, we are finding labyrinths in our church gyms, and ‘spiritual disciplines’ in our small groups. Fundamentally though, these practices are self- absorbed and even dangerous, informed not from the scriptures but from occultic expressions of those who rejected God.

 © Kevin Mahon

http://www.beforecaesar.blogspot.com/

Take a Time-release Tylenol

Captain Janeway of the Starship Voyageur always complained about time conundrums claiming they gave her a headache. So if this is your problem too, take a Tylenol and come back in a few minutes of time.

We are Creatures of Time but God is not, it seems. We typically say that God lives 'outside of time' and so we are recognizing His Infinite nature; He is the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End. God is not I Was, or I Will Be, but I AM. He is the Eternal Existent One where concepts of past, present and future do not apply. This is why a day is like a thousand years to God and a thousand years are like a day. Augustine, in Book 11 Time and Eternity, speaks of God being in the Ever Present-Present. Try and think that one through. How is that headache doing?

As Creatures of time it is impossible for us to project our minds outside of time or its rules; we quickly revert to thinking in measurements and times methodical progress. Now our minds rebel at the thought of Eternity past. We are constructed in such a way as to believe that all things had a beginning. We ourselves were created on a date in time and this beginning is wired into our DNA. And so we ask questions like, "Where did God come from?" or "Who made God?" Our finite minds, locked in time, can't imagine never starting, never beginning and we impose our experience upon God. However, it is interesting that it is easy for us to imagine an eternity future in time—a never ending future. Though created at a point in time, we were created to be immortal (Gen. 2), created for Eternity future. Thus it is impossible for mankind to imagine its own non-existence—try it yourself and you will find you can't imagine a time of Not Being ahead. Eternity is in our minds and our hearts (Ecc. 3). We can't look back in Eternity because we were created—it just doesn't make sense to us. But we can look forward to Eternity as we were created to be forever.

It's fascinating to notice that when the New Jerusalem intersects with the New Earth (Rev. 20-22) that our time markers are gone. The sun and moon are not needed, there is no night, God is our Light. However, there is yet a measure of time as the 'fruit' of the Tree of Life comes forth each month, though it is always 'day'. We seem to be presented with a picture of the Ever Present Present intersecting with Time and that for the people of God, both realities are in view and are to be experienced!

Now take two aspirins and call me in the morning.


© Kevin Mahon
http://www.beforecaesar.blogspot.com/

Ode to Abi

And now she’s gone, my life my song, to another…

Place.

She left for books for film for shutter. I shudder!

Think what harm can fall and who will bear the load?

Not I, too far, too close, too old, there is another…

Boy.

She’s smart and wise and loves her God. I love her!

Think what time will pass and who will walk her road?

 

I sit and text again ‘All Well?’  Then wait a day, a month, another…

Year.

She has blue eyes, bright smile, kind deeds. I miss her!

Think to pray, “my little girl to keep’, and I will sing her ode.

Daddy

Hit and Run

The bird I saw once sang, once flew, but now lays dead the fender slew.

The cars pass by his feathers move, I am his friend brief moments few.

       If I could help I would I say, if I could heal I should that day,

       If I could lift his head I'd lay, upon a gathered bed of hay.

Forget him now for death is lewd, forgive the one who struck and hewed,

My flame is for the Ford in view, that pressed flat my friend with Firestones two.

Kevin Mahon

http://www.beforecaesar.blogspot.com/
 

 

Men in Tights

Superheroes are Super Stars these days. They have leaped from the comic book page to become Box Office Bonanzas. Whether it's Superman or Superteen, Batman Begins Again and Again, or a Spiderman Broadway Musical, it seems a sure fire hit to put a man in tights and give him super powers. Like mythological figures of old, or the false gods of Roman and Greek hubris, they adorn our screens, saving our world and fighting back the forces of evil with style and amazing abdominal muscles.

There is within mankind a powerful desire to be more than we are. What child hasn't hoped for the stars, tried to leap a roof in one bound, or pretended the 'see through glasses' he ordered actually work. We desire to be special, to stand out from the crowd, to be something better than 'me', something other than normal. In adulthood we put away fairy tales and comics, but we still yearn, sensing the years slipping away and wondering when will it be our turn to get bit by a mutant spider, get an alien green ring, or get our chance to pull Thor's hammer from the ground? Slowly it dawns on us that we will never have super powers. Just getting up in the morning becomes a victory and trying to manage real life and relationships leaves no time or energy to wander the fields looking for a strange meteorite to irradiate our flesh.

The thing is, mankind was more than we are now. We used to be innocent and 'walked with God'. We used to have a godly reign and dominion over this planet. We used to have immortality in our grasp, freely given and free to receive. But all that was then; all that was lost. Mankind fell into sin with our very natures fractured and bent, our wisdom crooked and frail, and our immortality withered and shorn. We are not what we were and that is desperately sad. Deep within our humanity we sense this loss and long for what we threw away. And the sadness is compounded when we look anywhere for help—except to God. We will concoct aliens, portals and star gates, chemical concoctions and wormholes, federations and super beings, electing the few to save humanity as stand-ins for our hopes and dreams and visions of grandeur. To live vicariously through their powers and nobility is intoxicating but before God, embarrassing. Men in Tights are not a pretty sight and seem no more than fig leaves to hide our nakedness.

The Psalmist felt his fallenness and loss deeply. As he gazed into the starry night, observing the moon and cosmos and the awesome immense expanse of the heavens, he felt his own insignificance. He sensed his smallness and weakness. And he asked God a question: "What is man that You are mindful of him?" (Psalm 8) Why do you care about us? Why do you focus on us and love us? We are nothing! And then the Psalmist remembers: we are created in the image of God, with a purpose and plan and so have incredible significance and value to God! We have so much value that he sent His Son to bear the justice due our own sins—to pay our fine with His life, to redeem us with His blood. God gives His underserved favour (Grace) to all who will trust in His Son. He makes them a New Creature and one day will resurrect them granting them immortality and eternal life! The old things are passed away says the Scripture, we are not what we were, but we are not yet what we will be!

When your spouse calls you to kill a spider, there is no need to look for a red and blue mark before you step on it. No need to wish for some super power, some gadget that would mark you as special, some mutation to move you beyond the normal routine of living and dying. No superman will save us, no alien or ring, no other dimension or DNA manipulation. That is comic book stuff embarrassing for an adult to have in his possession. As mature men and woman we admit our fallenness and look to our God alone who can rescue us, and grant what we lost so long ago.

© Kevin Mahon

http://www.beforecaesar.blogspot.com/

Common Sense

Common Cause seems to trump Common Faith these days. Religious leaders like to gather from all faiths and unfaiths to present united fronts on issues of the day. Perhaps a strength in numbers sort of reasoning? Certainly it is a coup for some rising evangelical star to be on the same stage as a Buddhist, Muslim or Hindu scholar. We Christians are expected to view it all with pleasure, relishing how very significant and relevant we appear. It is nice to be popular and cause little offense. It is all very trendy and if our man wears jeans and designer glasses all the better! Throw in a tattoo and an earring and we are ready to follow him over any cliff.

It is astonishing to many to encounter some Christians who actually have standards, faith with non-negotiable content, and boundaries beyond which they will not go. This inflexible confidence is incomprehensible to the world, and even some of the faith-- to think that Common Faith might trump Common Cause!

As King Jehoshaphat of Judah went to ally in war with Israel, the prophet said, "Should you help the wicked and love those who hate the Lord? " (2 Chronicles 19:2) Hmmmm… that is different than we are used to. When Ezra began the temple rebuilding they were approached by false men who said, "Let us build with you, for we worship your God as you do…" ( Ezra 4:2) Well the Jewish leaders knew all was not kosher and said, "You have nothing to do with us in building a house to our God…" (vs. 3). How peculiar and insensible to modern citizens who imagine all religions are the same anyway and can't we all just lay aside what separates us and simply agree with them? Hmmmm…

    Scripture instead seems to say the end does not justify the means, the cause does not demand strange bedfellows, and unity of purpose is not more important than unity of belief.

We know the Bible says not to be 'unequally yoked' (2 Cor. 6:14); and we know the Word says, "Can two walk together unless they are agreed?" (Amos 3:3)
Common Faith is the basis of true unity, and out of this foundation Common Cause is deep and lasting. This is all Common Sense.


 Kevin Mahon
http://www.beforecaesar.blogspot.com/

Sacrifice

I see at Wal-Mart there are whole product lines to care for men's skin. Apparently we men are to be pampered and moisturized, de-lined and de-odoured, exfoliated and enriched- just like the fairer sex. I had to get my dictionary out to understand what 'microdermabrasion', 'oxidants' and 'concealer agents' meant. Who knew our skin was dull and dusty and that a deep "Cleansing Masque" was available to lift my skin and make my "face as soft as a baby's bottom". We can relax now that Anti-Shine Powder is in stock in 4 skin-tone shades just for men. The Dirty Harry Cosmetic Line will make our day soon at a store near you! Yikes! 

Perhaps the marketer's sense we live at a time when the self-indulgent side of man is in the open to see and smell. Rather than something to be ashamed of, our selfish, self-absorbed nature is encouraged and held up as a societal value. Yet it is not a pretty sight. Ever since Adam offered up Eve for death to save his own skin (Genesis 3), we men are prone to want what's best for us, to get things our way, and to arrange things in our relationships to ensure our personal benefit and ease. Through our anger, our laziness, our procrastination, relaxation and entertainment we express our one-sided opportunism.

Sacrifice is something we men need stirred up by God. Our nature is to manage and impose what is convenient for ourselves, yet God's heart is so far different. He gave His Son to die for us. Jesus died for our sins. That is sacrifice. In his death we have life—if we would put self aside and humbly admit our need for a Saviour. And in faith He calls us to live a sacrificial life. This is why he tells us men to "love our wives as Christ loved the church and gave Himself for her…" (Eph. 5) Christ died for the church—and we men are to die to self and live for our wives. I don't much like doing the dishes but I love my wife and so I do the dishes whenever I can. You get the idea—now that's a pretty picture!

I am not the standard, nor the best example, but I have sought to incubate a habitual thought and action in my daily life. When I am presented with a need, a thought to help, or a distraction from my own pursuits, I measure the inconvenience. I don't trust my heart and so if doing something is inconvenient, it is usually the right thing to do. 

Don't try and save your own skin. Jesus the Saviour died for us. Trust in Him and live for Him and others.

Watch this video for a powerful example of sacrifice: The-Amazing-Story-of-Chris-Medina-Through-his-Song

  Kevin Mahon
http://beforecaesar.blogspot.com/

Certitude

It is "Roll up the Rim to Win" time in Canada once again. For you foreigners, this is our national, annual game of chance and a great coffee. I am 15 rims and 0 wins. You think I would be certain to expect the dreaded words "please play again' on all my cups. But they are so polite and who knows, I may win—life is full of uncertainties they say.

We are familiar with chance and uncertainty in our daily lives. We understand accidents can befall us, a police officer might ticket us, a calamity might strike us, and a debt might overwhelm us. Recently the horrible news of disasters and lost life has shaken the world with earthquakes, volcanoes or tsunamis now a regular part of our vocabulary. Uncertainty is all around us and in us and through us—it's hard for us to keep our word; we say to our kids, "maybe' because we don't want to commit and break a promise; we do our taxes hopeful we didn't mess something, miss something, or mix something up.

Uncertainty is part of the human condition and at its root is our inherent powerlessness to control the variables of life and creation. And yet we are a proud people who are reluctant to concede this point. We don't like this truth—our uncertainty is not a popular reality for a culture that is told to "believe in themselves and they can do anything "-- and so we often pretend otherwise. It's not easy to admit we are a weak and dependant people particularly in a wealthy, materialistic society where individualism is admired and independence is a value and goal.

As a consequence of our pride, our population likes to impose the human condition upon God! It irritates and scandalizes our fellow citizens to have any certainty about the Almighty and what He has done. To speak with certitude about His Word and salvation frustrates the crowds. To repeat His absolutes or His definitive statements is to make a social blunder and to repeat His certainty is to convince many that we are certainly bonkers.

What a game we play! We are taught we can be certain about our potential, our abilities and our sway over our little dominions despite all the contrary evidence; we are taught that it is God who is powerless, uncertain and risky. Now that is upside down and a sad game of chance that you or I will never win. To exchange the glory of God-- make Him like us and we like Him --is folly! (Romans 1:18 ff) 

The truth of our powerlessness confronts us constantly in our lives and in our own person. Our powerlessness is so obvious and also so meaningful if embraced. It's a truth that is even life changing. What a blessing to have stripped away any sense of invulnerability or control, to have filed off an independent spirit or an invincibility of attitude, to have sanded down the deceit of arrogance and conceit of personal power. Such things don't really exist. It's not that we yield to fatalism or chaos, not that we give in to chance and imagine a random universe—rather, we recognize the humbling truth we are powerless, but there is One who is all powerful-- ¹³ Come now, you who say, ^s"Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit"— ¹⁴ yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For ^tyou are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. ¹⁵ Instead you ought to say, ^u"If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that."^{James 4}
 

We are powerless in life, death and powerless to deal with our sins. We need a powerful God and Saviour. Be certain about your weakness, be certain about His Power and Grace—certitude about the right things and in the right Person is no game of chance.
¹³ I write ^fthese things to you who ^gbelieve in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life. 1 John 5:13
 
Kevin Mahon      http://beforecaesar.blogspot.com/