Habits Eat Willpower for Breakfast

“When [Jesus] had finished speaking, he said to Simon, ‘Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.’ Simon answered, ‘Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.’” (Luke 5:4-5)

"Habits eat willpower for breakfast," is a quote by John Ortberg in his book "Soul Keeping: Caring for the Best Part Of You." We often think that we can do it ourselves. I have enough willpower to overcome this (whatever it is). Sometimes though, our best is not  enough and situations arise that are out of our control. This is especially true with those sinful habits that plague us. Even the apostle Paul fought with this (Rom.7:23), and admitted that he was not strong enough.  Yet, he did not resign himself to his sin or his habits.  He understood and taught that it is only when we surrender ourselves to Christ that we can find freedom from the compulsion and habits that plague us.  

It is a humbling and embarrassing thing to admit that I can't do something.The Bible calls it confession, and it can be tough. In the quote at the beginning of the article, think about how hard it must have been for Simon Peter to admit failure to Jesus. He was a professional fisherman, and good at it. It was how he made his living, yet, his way wasn't working. It wasn't until he gave up and admitted that the Lord was right (even though it didn't make sense to him) that he caught the fish. What causes us to be like this?

• PRIDE gets in the way. We don’t want anybody to think that we  can’t handle something. You’re in charge. You've got it all together. 
• Stubbornness. You’re unwilling to change the way you’re doing things because you're right and everyone else is wrong. You'll prove it...or die trying!
• Fear.  You think that people will think less of you. You’re afraid to get Jesus into your boat because he’ll steer it in a direction YOU don’t want to go or aren't ready to give up.

How have you let pride, stubbornness, or fear keep you from admitting  that you NEED  God to be at the center of your life?  Do you have a war going on inside yourself like Paul? To quote the modern music artist Big Daddy Weave, "Stop fighting a fight that has already been won!" God will show you the way if YOU will LET HIM! 

Jim

FRACTURED

Jas.1:7,8 A person who has doubts shouldn't expect to receive anything from the Lord. A person who has doubts is double minded and unstable in all of his ways

Word studies are interesting, especially when we often take things for granted. Words convey pictures and sometimes we paint the pictures too softly. Such is the case with Jas.1:8 where it talks about the "double minded man" which we often take as a hypocrite. Yet, there is more to this picture that James paints with this word.  The English rendition of this has multiple meanings whereas the original Greek is more precise. The word for "double minded" is "dispsuche (pronounced dis-soo-keh)" and literally translated is "dis-spirited" or "double spirited or double souled." James is describing a person possessed of two souls - one that says it follows God and the other following after something or someone else. They shouldn't expect anything from God because they do not love God with all of their heart. Their heart or soul is split, or to be more blunt - FRACTURED.  We use this term to describe the state of bones, while not broken all the way through they have a line or fracture that prevents the bone from being whole. As such, it cannot stand the rigors and use of a fully intact bone in the skeletal structure and as a result render a person lame. This is the way that James is describing the soul or spirit that is of two minds. Jesus stated it this way, "the eye is the lamp of the body. Therefore, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how terrible that darkness will be! No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be loyal to the one and have contempt for the other. You cannot serve God and wealth. (Mt.6:22-24)"

The point of the above is that you cannot serve God with a fractured soul. Either God has to mend the soul by taking away the fracture to make the person whole, or the fracture makes us useless for God.  This said, if I am fractured, the only way to be made whole is, "They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. (Mk.2:17)"  If I am whole, I dJimo not need mending so consider what Paul states in Gal.6:1 "Brothers and sisters, if a person gets trapped by wrongdoing, those of you who are spiritual should help that person turn away from doing wrong. Do it in a gentle way. At the same time watch yourself so that you also are not tempted."  Have you ever stopped to consider that those who are in need of Christ, those who trapped in wrongdoing, hypocrisy, etc. are FRACTURED souls? Broken and in need of mending?   This is an interesting thing because it also tells us not only their condition, but also how they may react. Just as in life, you have those that understand that something is broken, it hurts, so you get it repaired or fixed before it causes you even more problems.  Then, there are those who have fractures but never go to the physician to have it looked at because they are in denial. They don't need a doctor because "ain't nothin' wrong."  Then you have those that have fractures, that know that they have a fracture but believe they can tough it out and survive with a broken limb until they realize that it is too late. These do not realize that infection, deformity and further damage can be caused by leaving it untreated. 

When I see a person with a fracture or break, my own body reacts with a twinge of pain because I know how it feels. I was glad when someone took me to the doctor so that I could get treatment, mending, and be made whole again. Do you react with pain when you see a FRACTURED soul? Do we try to or offer help?  When you see yourself (Jas.1:25) is your own soul whole? Or do you find yourself fractured - saying you are serving God but in actuality giving yourself to something else?

Maybe it's time to look into the mirror? Maybe it is time to see the world for what it is. Fractured!

Jim

DIRT!

God is not defined by words. God IS the Word itself. Infinite - without beginning or end. Gen.2:7 states, "Then the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the earth and blew the breath of life into his nostrils. The man became a living soul." The word used or "soul" is the word "nephesh" which can be translated a number of ways - living being, soul, etc. We are living, but a living what? This is a difficult thing for us to wrap our minds around, because we process things through words and descriptions. Yet, how do you define the undefinable? God can be seen in all things if you look hard enough for Him. On our trip this past week, we met an interesting man who was a tour guide for us, that I think gave one of the best pictures of what we are as stated in Gen.2:7. It was just Ann, myself, and him. We engaged in a lot of conversation regarding the historical Bahamas. In our conversations he drove us by some of the oldest churches there and we began talking about spiritual things. It was an enlightening discussion - I think for all of us. In the conversation we started talking about what matters, and he made a comparison that I had not heard before, yet - was so true. He told us about how as a younger man he had gone off track as most do until he came to a point where he realized things had to change. He could not continue the path that he was on and could see where the road was leading him. In his own terms he stated, “I came to realize that dis was a bad place to be. So I asked, Father God please show me de truth. So, I picked up my Bible and as I was meditatin' on de word of God, Father God show me that all dis is nothin' but dirt. Dis world, these buildings, even de money in your pocket is all dirt. We are but dirt. De drugs and stuff that people put in their bodies to try to escape from life – it just passes through the body and guess what! It become dirt! All these fancy clothes...all made from dirt and all they do is cover your nakedness. An' then...they go back to dirt. So, Father God say to me, Why you living for DIRT? Wake up your spirit man – you are better than dirt! Let me show you how to live longer than the dirt!”

Such a profound discussion and story from this man whom we had never met, yet we talked to in such spiritual intimacy. Ann and I felt blessed that God had granted us such an adventure.

What about you? Have you considered this? Everything we are in this world, everything we have, everything there is in this world – came from and will again become DIRT! Pick it up in your hand. People who have been before us, and even those who will come after us, many of them will live, breathe, eat and die for dirt. Not much of an investment is it? Eccl.3:20 states, “All life goes to the same place. All life comes from the ground, and all of it goes back to the ground.” It begs the question, what are you living for? Are you living for dirt only to become dirt? Eccl.12:7 states, “Then the dust of mortals goes back to the ground as it was before, and the spirit goes back to God who gave it.” The better question is the one Mr. Anderson observed, “Wake up your spirit man – you are better than dirt! Let me show you how to live longer than the dirt!” Dirt, has a beginning and an end. Only the spirit is eternal. God created us out of the dirt of the earth, but made us to be much better! Are we letting God show us how to live better than and longer than Dirt? 

Jim

BOOK REVIEW: Soul Keeping Caring For the Most Important Part of You by John Ortberg

The title above is a book I have been reviewing written by John Ortberg. I have had this book for a while, simply not having time to review it.  My wife and I went on a trip to the Bahamas and I knew that we would be on a plane for a while. So, I decided that this would be a good time to catch up. I wish I had done this sooner. I'm not writing this to simply laud a book. I honestly was blown away and am still blown away by this book. My first impression of the book was that it would be a sleepy ho-hum read. The introduction was as I expected and the first couple of chapters along with the title had me believing that this was going to be the typical "sermon" type stuff that I have read countless times. But then, I noticed several comments being made that I highlighted. Nice...I thought, I'll have to remember that.  Then I noticed that my highlights were becoming more and more, and I noticed myself going back and re-reading things again. This was the first time that I had ever seen anyone go outside of a clinical definition of the soul and get to the root. It was becoming very eye opening and is one of the best expose on the human eternal spirit that I have seen. I found myself searching out my own soul and discovering that I have not been the best keeper of one of the most precious gifts that God had offered. I discovered that my "crutches" were toothpicks and found myself jarred out of the nestled complacency that I had allowed myself to get used to. 

I have not found a negative in this book. What I thought was going to be blah-blah became a tsunami of soul searching. I heartily recommend this book for personal reading. Churches need to teach this for a curriculum. Preachers and church leaders need to read this book for personal investigation. You need this book!

Mr, Ortberg - Well done and well written.

Jim

Happiness - God: Not an Empty Thing

Happiness. This is an emotion associated with peace of mind, contentment, satisfaction, or just the ability to be at ease with life itself. When we can't find it, we try all sorts of things to get it. The writer of Ecclesiastes recorded a journal of observations on things he sought to try to find happiness and though he was able to find accomplishment, pride and other things, happiness was always a fleeting thing. He phrased many things as empty and trying to grasp wind.  Often that is how we feel about happiness. Will I ever be happy? Will I ever be content and just be able to enjoy life? Why can't I feel happy all the time?  In the journal of Ecclesiastes, in chapter three, he tells us that there is a time and place for things, and everything has a season. What people fail to understand a lot of times, is that happiness is not something that you can have all the time. Life has its cycles and so do emotions. There isn't a pill for it, we can't find it in a bottle, its not something we can eat. 

Perhaps one of the reasons that happiness is so fleeting in our lives, is that we are inwardly seeking the one thing that is inside of us that can't be put there by human means. Eccl.3:11 states, "He has put a sense of eternity in people's minds." What does this mean? It means that  there is nothing on this earth that can give us peace within our souls and spirits - without God.  At best, everything in life is temporary and does not last. It is only with God, that we can find true happiness and come to know the  "peace that passes all understanding (Ph'p.4:7)."  We can spit at this, we can get mad and throw a tantrum. Yet, the truth of it is self evident just by looking at people and life around you. The news abundant with stories of people that maim, kill and destroy - all over bits of land, money, mineral rights, oil, and other things. They do this because they believe that getting these will bring peace of mind and happiness. Yet, they do not. Another comes along and takes away what one fights for. It is an empty struggle. We see people chasing money on a daily basis, some making thousands - even millions of dollars in a day. Yet, there is no happiness, and life for them is always a fight about who is going to get what they have. People try to find happiness in getting high, drunk, inebriated in some way, yet the altered state of reality it offers is only fleeting and the problems are always there when we come back to reality. There is no satisfaction because the one thing that we have in our hearts (Eccl.3:11) that we seek is not there --- God!  Why do you think the writer of Ecclesiastes comes to the conclusion he does in the end of his journal? 

We all want that state of happiness, and we all want to be trusted in life. Yet, we pursue the things in life that make us unstable, unreliable and not able to be trusted. Proverbs 25:13 says, “Reliable friends who do what they say are like cool drinks in sweltering heat — refreshing!”  Learning to live in integrity and keeping your promises will show others that you can be trusted and will in turn make you a much happier person. And when God is in your life - and you're not chasing after things that make life empty, you don't have to lie to yourself and others about your life, and trustworthiness is something that becomes part of you. Why? Because you are no long chasing after fleeting things and you learn that life with godliness brings contentment that many cannot understand. Why can't they understand? Maybe it is because they haven't found the one thing in their life that is missing --- God!

Jim

Spiritual Gifts - Not What You Think :-)

“Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are varieties of service, but the same Lord and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone.”

1 Cor.12:4-6

What is a spiritual gift? Everyone wants to ooohhh and ahhhhhh over mystical and flashy abilities. This was true even in the day of the apostles. In Acts 8, this is why Simon sought to by the gifts of God, because he wanted to use them to attract attention to himself. Have you ever considered that this is why when the scriptures were completed, that we do not see the more amazing gifts that the apostles had? They could be entrusted with them, but others coming after would abuse them for their own purposes. Yet, God has not left us bereft of the things that we need in order to accomplish His will. We have the written word of God, that supplies the majority of what we need. And, He will endow us with the spiritual gifts and the equipment to do what he asks you to do. God will never have you to do something He doesn’t give you the ability to do.

The minute we obey the gospel (Acts 2:38) we receive the gift of God's spirit, salvation, and the abilities to accomplish what God wants us to do. Some of these will take time, some will take learning, some will require failure and the need to start over again. At some point someone will be brought into our lives, that need the special something that we have to encourage them onto God. Sometimes, people are brought into our lives to awaken a gift within us, so that we can use it for God's purpose. The interesting thing is that the ability God uses, is often not the ability that we think we have. You don’t earn your gift, and it is not a right of passage. It’s also not for your benefit. Your spiritual gifts are given to you to help other people. And other people in God's kingdom are given their gifts to help you. We have and are given the abilities that we have so that we can be a blessing to others, helping them on their path on and to God. When you use your spiritual gift, the people you encounter get blessed. It’s like a puzzle. If you have one jigsaw piece missing, what’s the first thing you notice? The one missing piece.

The challenge here is that if you don’t develop and use your spiritual gifts, then we all get cheated. So someone asks, “Well, what is my gift?” Answer – I don't know...I didn't give it to you. God does, ask Him! All I can encourage you to think about is to not look for the flashy, attention getting stuff. Study God's word, ask God to show you what you can do, ask yourself how YOU can glorify God in and by your life. Then....let God work. Don't hasten it, rush it, poke it or prod it. Let it come naturally and in the time and place that God wants. Then...it is truly God working in you. Become active, encourage, inspire, be the one to do. It's not just song leading, praying, announcing, preaching that is needed. Many times we need simply someone to lean on. We need people who are willing to understand that others need to be taught and someone needs to teach them. We need MEN willing to teach and share experiences with younger men on issues of life. We need WOMEN who are willing to help and teach the younger women about motherhood, serving God and more. We need young men and women who are willing to teach teens about issues of life that they will face. We need people who are willing to make mistakes so that they can learn how to serve God better.

In short – WE NEED YOU!!!

Jim

Shema‘ Yisrael: Monotheistic Jewish Amulet Discovered Near Carnuntum – Biblical Archaeology Society

Shema‘ Yisrael: Monotheistic Jewish Amulet Discovered Near Carnuntum – Biblical Archaeology Society: "The Shema‘ Yisrael

Monotheistic Jewish Amulet Discovered Near Carnuntum

Noah Wiener   •  04/12/2013


According to a recent article in Biblical Archaeology Review, the Shema‘ Yisrael on this Jewish amulet discovered near Carnuntum is one of the earliest monotheistic readings of Deuteronomy.
The Shema‘ Yisrael from Deuteronomy 6:4 (“Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one”) is Judaism’s holiest confession. Today, we understand the passage as a monotheistic declaration. However, in the Second Temple period, the Shema‘ Yisrael text in Deuteronomy would have been read “Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone.” The Shema‘ Yisrael was originally a monolatric statement; it stated that Israel had an exclusive relationship with its God, but it did not deny the existence of other national deities for other peoples.

When did Deuteronomy’s Shema‘ Yisrael become a monotheistic statement? When did Jews begin to recognize their deity as the only deity existing in the universe? In the May/June 2013 issue of Biblical Archaeology Review, Armin Lange and Esther Eshel discuss the discovery of a Jewish amulet near the city of Carnuntum that “marks an early pinnacle of this monotheistic interpretation of the Shema‘ Yisrael in Deuteronomy 6:4.”

The Jewish amulet was discovered in a third-century C.E. child’s grave near the Roman frontier city Carnuntum (close to modern Halbturn, Austria). The amulet is formed out of a silver capsule and small gold leaf, inscribed with a Hebrew Shema‘ Yisrael written in Greek letters. Lange and Eshel state that “the Jewish amulet reads the last clause of the Shema‘ Yisrael as ΑΔΩΝ Α ‘the Lord is 1.’ That is, it replaces the Hebrew word אחד, which meant originally ‘alone,’ with ‘one’ (a Greek A). The letter in ancient Greek represents the numeral 1.”
 
 
In the groundbreaking book The Birth of Monotheism: The Rise and Disappearance of Yahwism, André Lemaire, a world-renowned expert on the ancient world, explores the development of perhaps the most important idea in the history of mankind: the concept of a single, universal God.
 
 
What is an early monotheistic Shema‘ Yisrael doing near Carnuntum? Lange and Eshel illustrate that Carnuntum had a well-integrated Jewish population that stated their religion openly. The Jewish population would have known how to recite the Shema‘ Yisrael, but most likely did not know how to write in Hebrew.
Lange and Eshel conclude that

To our knowledge the Halbturn amulet is the first text that renders the Hebrew word ehad (אחד) with the number “1.” This numerical representation of the final word of the Shema‘leaves no doubt about how the Jewish craftsman who made the Halbturn amulet understood the Shema‘ Yisrael —as a monotheistic statement! Only the Lord is God; there is no other God. Though the Jews of Carnuntum were open to the multi-religious culture of their city, this openness clearly had defined limits. For them, no other god existed but the Lord.

Armin Lange and Esther Eshel’s full article “The Lord Is One”: How Its Meaning Changed explores the Jewish amulet and its Shema‘ Yisrael inscription in light of ancient Jewish magic, the evolution of monotheism and the local Jewish population.
 
 



BAS Library Members: Read the full article “The Lord Is One”: How Its Meaning Changed as it appears in the May/June 2013 issue of BAR.
Not a BAS Library member yet? Sign up today.
 
 
Related Content in the BAS Library

Fredricksen, Paula. Gods and the One God. Bible Review, Feb 2003.

The BAS Library now includes the full book Aspects of Monotheism: How God Is One, edited by Hershel Shanks and Jack Meinhardt, featuring chapters written by Donald B. Redford, William G. Dever, P. Kyle McCarter Jr. and John J. Collins.

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