God's laws are not man's laws.

Alright, so I’m back, and I have chosen Isaiah 50 for my scripture this morning. “Thus saith the Lord, Where is the bill of your mother’s divorcement, whom I have put away? Or which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you? Behold for your iniquities have ye sold yourselves, and for your transgressions is your mother put away”

In simple words, the Lord is saying, I did not kick you out. I didn’t divorce you, or sell you. You did it to yourself. I have given you the law, and you choose to ignore it.

God’s laws are not man’s laws. They are facts that existed before the foundation of the earth. In fact it is by knowledge of these laws that the earth was created. Genesis tells us that it was done. It does not tell us how it was done either with a big bang or other, but God having knowledge of the laws of the universe brought together the materials that were needed to create a place for his children to learn.

Gravity for example is a law that can help us or hinder us depending on our situation. It can be our enemy if we are falling out of an airplane without a parachute or from a cliff or a house top or etc. The law of gravity is neither good nor bad, but a fact and it is our compliance with that law that keeps us safe.

The law of chastity is likewise just as binding. Now the Lord knew that, being children, we were going to make poor choices. So he sent his Son to break the chains of hell and create a path, or a way for us that we might return to our home in heaven. It is entirely up to us, which brings up another law, the law of agency.

Except we have agency, the right to make wrong choices we may as well have stayed in Heaven. If we were forced to make the right choice, it wouldn’t be a choice, we would learn nothing and we would not progress. In fact we would become angry and bitter at being forced to follow the law. We do that anyway, but it’s not God’s fault and sometimes it’s not our fault either. Sometimes things are done to us that put us on the wrong side of the law. We are pushed out of the airplane without a parachute so to speak. As a result we hit the ground and die or we may be saved through a miracle or it may be our lot to be seriously wounded and to go through life that way. It gets really complicated but God understands and has prepared a way for each of us to return to him.    

  

This is not something you have never heard before. That's why I write to you.

As John continues in his letter he says, I'm not telling you anything you haven't heard before. He says, this is an, " old commandment which ye had from the beginning."  Later he says "But ye have an unction (anointing) from the Holy One and ye know all things. I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it."

Or in other words because you do have the truth I can talk about these thing because you understand. It does a missionary no good to argue with someone who has not the Spirit with them. Oh, they may be as Saul, out to rid the earth of those no good Christians or in a brawl in some, bar but if they are at a point in their life where they are searching and ready to open up to the Holy Spirit they are golden. It may not be that a light comes down from Heaven and blinds them as happened with Saul, but they will listen and find the truth if and when they are ready.
  
John also talks about the antichrist. There is only one antichrist and that is Lucifer, but he has many assistance or followers who are among us and John indicates that they also join the church(s), but they don't stay. He says, "they went out from us." Now the problem here is that we might start judging people and stop praying for them. Remember the Lord has said, "I will forgive who I will, but unto you it is given to forgive all men." If that individual is indeed an antichrist the Lord knows, but we are to forgive, them and continue praying for them as it says in 2 Timothy 2: 24 -26. "And the servant of the Lord must not strive but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach patient, in meekness instructing them that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth, and that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will."  

God is Light and in him is no darkness at all.

I love the words of John. There is something about his words that brings peace and comfort to my soul. 1 John 1:5 "God is light: and in him is no darkness at all." Doesn't that just take away all the anxiety and worry? Of course I suppose that if one loved darkness it would bring fear to them. But for those of us who love our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ it brings peace. John goes on to say that if we say we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness we lie.I'm not judging here because I know how easy it is to dabble and think, "I'm all right. I can do this and still believe" but it makes it easier to go further into the darkness. "There's the light," we say, "I still believe." Then one day we wake up and wonder how we got so far away. So we aren't just lying to others but to ourselves as well.

John goes on to say, "But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus  Christ his son cleansesth us, from all sin." So if we follow Christ, stay close to him, do the things he did. we can have fellowship with other believers -- with the organized church -- and I believe that we also have fellowship with the angels and eventually with others who have likewise gone on ahead. When I get to heaven (If I don't mess up and not make it) I want to see my Daddy, and Grandma Stearns and all the rest of them like Grandpa Penrod who I never met on this earth, I want to meet Elijah.and the apostle John and Peter. To do that, I must see to it that I walk in the light.
    
A strange thought just hit me. Christ had the option to walk away from the Father and not stay "in the Spirit,"  He too could have dabbled and gotten lost in the dark, but he didn't. It was never a sure thing. Even with all the prophecies in the old Testament had Christ failed, Father would have raised up another, like John for example. We are all children of the Father after all. But he did it. He kept the promise he made to us and to Heavenly Father. 

       

Have a Good Day. What does that mean?

There is much wisdom in Peter's General Epistle when he says."For he that will love life, and see good days let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that speak no guile."
Let me ask you, when people say to you, "Have a good day," what do you think they mean? Do you take it that they are wishing you to have a good day? I think that is probably the general concept. Let's look at it in a slightly different way. Look at it as a command. Look at it as if they are telling you. I command you to have a good day. It's really up to you.

"Hey," you say, "It's not my fault my boss is a jerk." And such and such and so on and so on. It's true that you have no control over what other people do. Woop! Wait a second. maybe you do. So if you refrain your tongue from evil, or shouting back at people, is that going to change their reaction to you? Somewhat. What if you tried to figure out where that person is coming from. What if you showed compassion for their problem? It won't change the problem most likely, but it will change your attitude and maybe their attitude. Maybe then you will indeed have a good day.

Above all when you refrain from speaking evil don't not say it but think it. Keeping it inside is almost as bad as saying it. It's still there and it will still ruin your day. So how do you get rid of it aside from showing compassion for the problem? Prayer works. Ask for understanding, ask for the other individual to have understanding and ask for guidance. Sometimes it's so bad I have to even ask what to pray for. Sometimes I have to say look Father, (this particular individual)  is a Child of God. I give (him/her) to you until I can know what to ask for. Always try to find something good no matter how bad things are.

I challenge you to have a good day every day, that you will love life and see good days. It's up to you. Yeah, I know about clinical depression. I suffered 13 years with my husband when he had it. Maybe a positive outlook won't cure it, but it helps,

Following Christ is not easy

Peter's general epistle to all, warns us that it will not be easy for us to follow the steps of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. In 1 Peter 2 he says, "Ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people .. " He goes on to say that many will "speak against you as evildoers ..." 1 Peter 2:9) "For what glory is it if when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? But if when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God. For even hereunto were ye called. because Christ also suffered for us, leaving  us an example, that ye should follow his steps." (1 Peter 2:20-21)

Christ did not deserve the terrible things he endured for us.Likewise we will be asked to endure many things, but here in is the test, the building of our characters to see if we can overcome the world and return home to Heaven.
I recently read an article in which the individual said she had a bubblegum machine mentality. She described this as you put in a quarter and out pops a bubblegum. She thought that if you said your prayers, read your scriptures, went to church on Sunday, etc, etc, etc, your righteous desires would be granted in short order. (Beyond the Bubblegum Machine by Amy Schauers, April Ensign) How disappointed she was to learn it doesn't work that way.
 The way I look at it personally is that if it were that easy we may as well have stayed in Heaven and basked in God's goodness forever. Because without trials we wouldn't learn anything. Basically we have to want to get back to Heaven enough to sacrifice for it. It has to be that important to us. We have to obey because we want to, because we understand why we're here and because we are a chosen generation in these latter days.        

Repent daily

In the seventh chapter of Hebrews Paul instructs the church on the order of the priesthood. As he has done in other letters, he makes it known that Christ came up through the ranks despite being the literal Son of God. Jesus could have said, I have a right to hold the priesthood because of who I am, but he showed obedience, and respect to the organization of the church, the rules, laws and ordinances God had set in place before the foundation of the earth.
We, mankind have been extremely hard headed, stiff necked and disobedient. The old testament is full of our mistakes and carnal mindedness. It is quite depressing actually. So much so in fact that as a child I wondered if they were talking about the same God in the New Testament as in the Old.Testament. As an adult I see that it is the same God but a different people in a different span of time. There was a time when the Temple was taken away from the people in the Old Testament. How long after Christ resurrection did we lose the Temple again?
Christ was born at a time when the Temple, and the priesthood had been restored to the earth so that he could operate within the law. When he comes again the Temple and the priesthood will also be upon the earth. We are there. That time is here when the chasm between righteous and unrighteous grows wider. But there is no need to worry about the exact day when Christ shall come that second time. It doesn't matter. As my wonderful, wise dad used to say, "The world ends every day for someone."
Just as we do not know the day and time of Christ return we do not know the day of our own death. For some it comes in childhood, for one of my sons it came at the age of twenty-eight. I am quickly approaching the age when my parents passed to the other side. Whatever, good or bad was done is done. We don't have time to go back and say, "I'm sorry, I didn't know," or whatever. I'm not trying to put anyone on a guilt trip here because I don't do guilt. I confess, repent and try to keep the slate clean daily. Notice I said I try. I am far from perfect and I have made some big mistakes (sins) and will most likely make a lot more before my time comes. But I try not to carry them around with me. Get rid of them. I feel better, my health is better, I am happier and life is good when I'm not carrying a load of past mistakes with me.
Paul says,"Who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice first for his own sins, and then for the people's:" We no longer sacrifice animals for our sins but instead offer up a broken heart and a contrite soul which is repentance. Repentance is godly sorrow and forgiveness. Sometimes our sorrow is that we got caught more than for what we did, I want to stress here how important it is to be honest with yourself and forgive yourself. As Paul says we offer up sacrifice (forgives) first for ourselves and then for those we have offended.
And then Paul reminds us that, "this he (Christ) did when he offered up himself." Christ could not have taken upon him our sins and released them except there was nothing for them to stick to -- except he was clean and pure. None of us are going to be perfect in this life, but we can be operational if we daily cleanse  ourselves.        

Obedience and choice

Paul tells us "Christ learned obedience by the things he suffered." (Hebrews 5:8) Christ walked on the earth, He felt hunger, fatigue, loneliness, physical and emotional pain the same as we do. He experienced kindness, and understanding, but he was also mocked and spit upon. He saw others who were cast out, that were mocked and spit upon. That empathy of emotional, and spiritual pain is every bit as painful as scourging -- maybe even worse. Before he even got to the garden he had compassion on the lame, the blind, the leper, the poor in spirit, but also on those who did the spiting and mocking. On the cross he said, "Father forgive them for they know what they do."
In the garden of Gethsemane he not only suffered the pains and ills of those in his day and place but for each of us. Feeling our imperfections, our physical, emotional, and spiritual pain; and having compassion on us as a fellow human, and  knowing and loving us individually (he also being God) he could not turn away from the task at hand. Theoretically, he could even as Lucifer chose to rebel in heaven, but being compassionate, loyal and true, Christ had to go through with it and take the bitter pill. He understood that without him we could not return to our heavenly home and he chose to made it possible for us to choose. Do we understand? 

Because he went through with the plan and finished the work he was given to do he was obedient. Some of us  rebel at the word obedient. I think that just as there is something called Christ like love there is also Christ like obedience. Christ like obedience is not forced obedience, out of fear of punishment, or blind obedience. It is intelligent obedience with understanding and love. It is a choice.