The Slavery of Sin

Take a moment and think about what John Maxwell and Jim Dornan wrote in their book Becoming a Person of Influence; “Slaves is the right term to describe people who lack integrity because they often find themselves at the whim of their own and others’ changing desires” (p. 32)

The movie version of The Lord of the Rings has made J. R. R. Tolkien’s story accessible to thousands of people who would never bother with actually reading the story. One of the characters that people seem to identify with is the character Gollum. Gollum is a pitiful creature because he has been corrupted by the power of the One Ring. The Ring consumes Gollum’s life, and there is nothing he can do to break free from its power.

This is how Colin Duriez describes Gollum in The J.R.R. Tolkien Handbook:

“In The Lord of the Rings a once-hobbit who bore the marks of long centuries underground guarding yet possessed by the One Ring which he called ‚ ‘my precious’, and which he had deluded himself into thinking was a birthday present to him” (p. 106).

The possession of the Ring had changed Smeagol to Gollum, from a Stoor Hobbit to a pitiful creature. The Ring may have granted Gollum unnatural long life, but it also physically changed him. Worse than the physical change was the control the Ring had on Gollum’s desires and dreams. They were twisted and corrupted so much that all Gollum could think about was to regain possession of his “precious”.

See more at Paul's Ponderings : Freedom from the Slavery of Sin 

Follow @PaulBSteele
Like Paul's Ponderings on Facebook

A World at War

Theoden: I will not risk open war.

Aragorn: Open war is upon you whether you would risk it or not.

We have a tendency to forget that we live in a world that is at war. I am not talking about the war against terror, but the spiritual war that rages all around us. We may choose to ignore its reality, but it is there none the less.

Our modern western mindset which sees science as the ultimate way understanding reality has really turned us off to talking about the supernatural. It is easier to think that the supernatural is only for the ignorant and superstitious rather than the educated and intelligent. In other words we are willing to accept that Jesus had good ideas for living a moral life, but the talk of Satan, demons, and even miracles are best left in the first century.

We do this to our determent. By living as if we are not at war we become very vulnerable to Satan's attack. Just because we choose to ignore the spiritual reality around us doesn’t make it disappear. The Enemy is taking shots at us and we don’t have the sense to take cover.

When we come to accept that war is the context of our days life itself will begin to make more sense. The pesence of strife, tragedy, death, and every other form of evil can be traced back to the reality of a world in rebellion against God.

See more at Paul's Ponderings: Living in a World at War 


Follow @PaulBSteele
Like Paul's Ponderings on Facebook

An Encouraging Thought

Take a moment and think about your life.  Do you like you life right now?  Are you  hoping for a change?  Is there something that is missing?  Think about what you life is like and how that compares to your dreams.

Have you done it?  If you have not thought about your life, I will give you a few more moments to think.  You can’t go on until you have until you have finished the little exercise. 
    
Finished?  Good, now you have my permission to continue.
    
I know for many of us our lives are not quite where we would like them to be.  We find our current life a little boring, and we constantly complain that there is nothing to do.  Sometimes we are just plain lonely.  We see other people with all these friends or with a companion of the opposite sex and we become a little jealous. We perceive that our lives don’t measure up to theirs.  Other times we desire to have this amazing relationship with God, but our lives lack the promised peace and hope which comes from a relationship with God.  We get down and begin doubting whether or not God has really saved us.
    
Regardless of how you feel about your life right now, you are in the right place.  God has put you in this place so that you will see Him.  For those who don’t know Jesus, God has put them into a place so if they would only open their hearts and seek Him they will find Him.  For us who do know Jesus, we are in just the right place to be used by God.  God has placed into our lives experiences, knowledge, and the salvation we need to make a difference.  We might think it is a small and insignificant difference, but it will the difference that God desires.

Take the example of Esther.  If you have never read the book of Esther I challenge you to do so. It is a book that shows how God works through history.  Esther was a Jewish girl that became queen because of her great beauty.  A plot to kill all the Jews in the Persian Empire became law after she became queen.  Esther had an uncle by the name of Modecai, and he pleads to her to intervene on the behalf of her people.  Esther was reluctant  since it could mean death if the King did not want to see her.  Yet it was entirely possible that God allowed her to become Queen just for this very moment.  God put her just where she needed to be.  This is what Uncle Modecai told Esther:

If you keep quiet at a time like this, deliverance for the Jews will arise from some other place, but you and your relatives will die.  What’s more, who can say but that you have been elevated to the palace for just such a time as this? (Esther 4:14; NLT)

We may not have to save an entire race of people, but God has put us just where He needs us to be.  Obeying God and taking that step of faith means that we will experience God in a new way.  Our relationship with the Creator will become better, and our life will look a whole lot more appealing.
   
Consider what Dave Stone in I’d Rather See A Sermon; “God is counting on you to be open to His leading.  You may be the only person who can reach a certain individual or group of people.  God has planted you in that environment to accomplish His purpose for eternity.”

Instead of complaining about your life and wishing things would change, look around you and discover what needs to be done.  My bet is that God put you there for just such a time.
    
In the movie The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring there is one scene that I absolutely love because of the way it stirs my heart.  The Fellowship has been forced to go through the mines of Moria.  They come to a place where the tunnel splits and Gandalf does not know which way to go.  The group sits to rest and think about their options.  Gandalf and Frodo begin to talk about their task.  Frodo confides in Gandalf and says, “I wish the Ring would never have come to me.  I wish none of this would have happened.” 
    
Gandalf replies, “So do all who live to see such times, but that is not for them to decide.  All we have to do is decide what to do with the time given to us.  There are other forces at work in this world besides the one of evil.  Bilbo was meant to find the Ring.  In which case you also were meant to have it, and that is an encouraging thought.”

Erwin McManus wrote something similar in his book An Unstoppable Force; “God chooses not only the places but also the times in which we live.  He has privileged us to live not only in the greatest expansion of human population but also with the greatest opportunity for the spread of the gospel.”
    
Jesus has given us a command to go. “Go to the people of all nations and make them my disciples.” (Matthew 28:19; CEV).  That command has corporate significance, for it is the mission of the entire church, and it has personal significance, for each Christian is responsible to that command.  We all have a mission in our lives.  How we carry out this mission is our purpose. 
    
Truth is often times this mission can feel overwhelming.  There are so many people who have not even heard the name of Jesus, and millions more who have heard and have rejected Him.  The sheer numbers make this mission seem impossible.  There are the people whom we encounter everyday of our lives, and despite our efforts they do not seem to be changed.  The lack of response makes this mission to seem pointless.
    
When you are feeling like that I want to encourage you, just as Gandalf encouraged Frodo.  God has placed you where you are, for a reason.  There is a purpose to your life, right now, exactly where you are at.  If you remain faithful to God, by committing yourself to obedience and worship, you will experience the purpose of God in your life.  Yes, things will not go as you would like them to, but regardless of what happens God will use it to change lives, most likely yours.

The Apostle Paul wrote:

For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them (Ephesians 2:8-10; NASB).

God has created us, and then saved us, for a reason.  Before we were born, God had a plan for our lives.  As we are faithful to God, that purpose takes shape in our lives, and that is when we begin to experience the life God intends all people to live.  The good life of God is discovered in living out our divine purpose.
    
I hope that you see your life right now as a privilege.  God has created us and placed us here, during this time, so we can impact our corner of the world for Him.  We are perfectly suited for this task, because He has created us for this.  When we grasp this truth our lives will have meaning and hope.  God is at work in the world, He wants us to join Him, and that is a very encouraging thought.

Walk the Difficult Road

Originally posted Thursday March 24, 2005

It is no secret that I love The Lord of the Rings.  It has many themes woven into the story that apply to our lives as Disciples of Christ.  One of those themes is the theme of the dangerous and difficult road.  We would like for our lives to be a bed of roses, but reality tells us a different story.  Jesus doesn’t allows lead us by the safest road, but He does lead us to where we need to be.


“None here can do so,” said Elrond gravely.  “At least none can foretell what will come to pass, if we take this road or that.  But it seems to me now clear which is the road we must take.  The westward road seems easiest.  Therefore it must be shunned.  It will be watched.  Too often the Elves have fled that way.  Now at this last we must take a hard road, a road unforeseen.  There lies our hope, if hope it be.  To walk into peril—to Mordor.  We must send the Ring to the Fire.” (The Fellowship of the Ring, p. 299)

In life the best road to take is not always the easiest road, often we must take is the hard road in order to live the life God created us to live.  Regardless of the peril that road may have, it is the road we must travel if it is the road Jesus picked for us to walk.  We can no longer be content to seek the easy way, for Christ is beckoning us to rise up to the challenge of following Him.

In Rivendell, at the Council of Elrond, the free people of Middle Earth had to decide what to do with the Ring of Power.  One suggestion was to take the Ring to the Ocean and cast it into the deep so it would be lost forever.  The other option was to take the Ring to Mordor and to cast it into the fires of Mount Doom.  To go west seemed easy and the road to Mordor was filled with dangers, but the only way to make sure the Ring is gone forever was to go towards the enemy, rather than away from him.  The road to Mount Doom was the hard road, but it alone was the path to victory.

Jesus told His disciples; “When the world hates you, remember it hated me before it hated you.  The world would love you if you belonged to it, but you don’t.  I chose you to come out of the world, and so it hates you” (John 15:18-19; NLT)

Jesus just told His disciples to live lives of obedience, to produce fruit, and to love each other, for then the world would know they were His disciples.  It is that context that Jesus reminded them that this road He called them to travel would not be easy.  People would hate them for how they lived and what they how they served people.  For the disciples to follow Jesus meant to travel a hard road: the road of hatred and persecution.  Yet, it was by traveling this road that they were able to discover the life God has called them to live.

It is easy to remain part of the world, to offer up nice ideas instead of the truth, to be ”tolerant” rather than remain steadfast in our convictions, and to be nice rather than to love.  The easy thing is to live a life that will make people like us, but for that to happen we have to be like them.  The way of Jesus leads us away from the world and towards God, which shines a light upon all those around us.  We are hated because people don’t like their lives exposed by the light of God’s truth and love.

Christianity is not easy.  It is not the easy way to live life nor is it the easy way to heaven.  Jesus, as well as the rest of the New Testament,  taught that the Christian life would be filled with hardship and trouble.  Christians have not been promised an easy life.

Though it is not easy, following Jesus is the way we must travel if we are going to have a relationship with God.  It is The Way God has provided for us to have an eternal relationship with Him.  There is no other way to God except through the person of Jesus Christ.

Just like Frodo we are called to travel the difficult way, for it is through this journey that we able to become our true selves. 

There is one difference between the word we are called to travel and the journey Frodo took to destroy the Ring.  The road Frodo was to travel no one could see the outcome, they did not know if it would end with the destruction of the Ring.  While we may not know every twist and turn that of the journey we do know that they journey will end successfully, because of Jesus we can know that one day we will be able to spend eternity with God.  What better motivation can there be to keep moving forward?

Value People

Originally posted Friday December 10, 2004

"Anytime you devalue people, you question God's creation of them." ~ Coach Bill McCartney, founder of Promise Keepers

Samwise Gamgee is the constant companion of Frodo in The Lord of the Rings. Sam chooses to follow his friend and master, Frodo, into the dangers of Mordor. From Sam's behavior we know that there is a lot of good to be found in him: friendship, courage, being prepared, and even simplicity. J.R.R. Tolkien, the author of The Lord of the Rings found Sam to be the Hobbit which he liked the most. In many aspects Sam would be a character worth imitating.

I am afraid that instead of telling you how you should be like Sam, I am going to remind you not to be like him. J.R.R. Tolkien, as he wrote the famous trilogy, would write letters and send manuscripts to his son Christopher who was serving in the Royal Air Force during World War II. In one of these letters Tolkien wrote, 'For myself, I was probably most moved by...and the tragedy of Gollum who at that moment came within a hair of repentance -- but for one rough word from Sam."

Though the scene that Tolkien refers to in the letter doesn't appear in the movie, at least to my recollection, the thought was still there. In the movie version Sam continually calls Gollum names like Stinker and never wanted to trust him. Frodo on the other hand, reached out to the former Ring holder Gollum, and even questioned Sam's treatment of the wretched creature.

I am afraid that we often treat people struggling with sin the same way Sam treated Gollum. Sam could see that Gollum had been corrupted by the power of the Ring and therefore that Gollum couldn't be trusted. Sam also made sure Gollum knew exactly what he thought about him by calling Gollum names. In other words, Sam put labels on Gollum in order to deal with the creature.

When we behave like Sam, we became a hindrance to people who want to repent and change. That is precisely one of the sins Jesus condemned the Pharisees, the religious leaders of his day, for doing.

{42} But how terrible it will be for you Pharisees! For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest part of your income, but you completely forget about justice and the love of God. You should tithe, yes, but you should not leave undone the more important things.

{46} Yes how terrible it will be for you experts in religious law! For you crush people beneath impossible religious demands, and you never lift a finger to help ease the burden. (Luke 11:42 and 46; NLT)

In Luke 11:37-52 Jesus criticizes the religious leaders of the day. They may have been good religious people, but they never lifted a finger to help those in need, especially those struggling with sin. They were passionate about theology but not compassionate towards people. The Pharisees would name call and blame before they would help. That is exactly what Sam does with Gollum, and sadly that is what we do to people who need our help as well.

Here is the bottom line: When we discover sin in someone else our first reaction should be, needs to be, to reach out to them in love. It doesn't do them any good for us to call them names or even give them new rules to follow, which does nothing to relieve the guilt and shame they have. Let compassion be your guide and always remember the forgiveness and compassion God has given to you through Christ Jesus.

In Possession of Sin

Originally posted on Friday, September 24, 2004

Take a moment and think about what John Maxwell and Jim Dornan wrote in their book Becoming a Person of Influence; “Slaves is the right term to describe people who lack integrity because they often find themselves at the whim of their own and others’ changing desires” (p. 32)

The movie version of The Lord of the Rings has made J. R. R. Tolkien’s story accessible to thousands of people who would never bother with actually reading the story. One of the characters that people seem to identify with is the character Gollum. Gollum is a pitiful creature because he has been corrupted by the power of the One Ring. The Ring consumes Gollum’s life, and there is nothing he can do to break free from its power. Colin Duriez in The J.R.R. Tolkien Handbook describes Gollum like this: “In The Lord of the Rings a once-hobbit who bore the marks of long centuries underground guarding yet possessed by the One Ring which he called ‚ ‘my precious’, and which he had deluded himself into thinking was a birthday present to him” (p. 106). The possession of the Ring had changed Smeagol to Gollum, from a Stoor Hobit to a pitiful creature. The Ring may have granted Gollum unnatural long life, but it also physically changed him. Worse than the physical change was the control the Ring had on Gollum’s desires and dreams. They were twisted and corrupted so much that all Gollum could think about was to regain possession of his “precious”.

I think sin has very similar effect on us. Unlike the Ring sin will not prolong our lives, in fact God promises us that sin brings about death. It will also not physically change us from human into something less human, but sin will cause us to behave less than human (true humanity is found in Jesus). It will twist our desires and dreams into things that are evil and wicked. Sin will make us think that the only thing that will make us happy is the evil behavior that we are involved in. Sin consumes and corrupts us, which keeps us from becoming the people that God created us to be.

Consider what the apostle Paul wrote about the effect of sin on the lives of people:

Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. (Romans 1:24, 25; ESV)

The apostle Paul in Romans 1:18-32 is very clear about the corruption that takes place because of sin’s presence in our lives. When we are in the possession of sin it is impossible for us to be who God created us to be. The reality is that sin twists our hearts and souls making us corrupted forms of the people God created us to be.

I want you to understand the vile effect that sin has on our lives. Sin not only corrupts us, but it also controls us. It makes us long for the things that not only will not make us happy and content, but will ultimately lead to our destruction. Sin is not something to mess with; because it will take control of our lives, and in the end destroy us.

I know that this sounds dark and depressing, so I will not end on that note. Instead I want to give you a glimpse at light at the end of the tunnel. The apostle Paul wrote this about the power of Jesus’ resurrection in our lives: Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come (2 Corinthians 5:17; ESV).

The Good News is this: Jesus has the power to restore! He can breathe life back to the dead. He can heal the twisted and evil soul that we have. We don’t have to be possessed by sin because Jesus, through His death and resurrection, has rescued us from sin and death. This Good News is for all who are chained by the power of sin. We need to remember that freedom is found in Jesus!