This and That Fancies 101512

Beg of God a mortified fancy.   Flavel, John (2010-08-03). Keeping the Heart (Kindle Location 816).  . Kindle Edition.

If imaginations be not first cast down, it is impossible that every thought of the heart should be brought into obedience to Christ. The fancy is naturally the wildest and most untameable power of the soul.   Flavel, John (2010-08-03). Keeping the Heart (Kindle Locations 819-820).  . Kindle Edition.

“fancy”:
to believe mistakenly or without evidence
to believe without being certain

“fanciful”:
marked by fancy or unrestrained imagination rather than by reason and experience
existing in fancy only <a fanciful notion
marked by or as if by fancy or whim <gave their children fanciful names.

The fancy is naturally the wildest and most untameable power of the soul.
We dream.  We imagine how it might be.  In desperation or ignorance we grasp at straws.  We build castles in the air – out of air.  We live in an “if only,” world.

If only this and if only that and our lives would be good.

We harbor fears, terrifying fears.

This is “fancy,” the imagination running amuck, the imagination not captive to the Word and the Spirit.

If imaginations be not first cast down, it is impossible that every thought of the heart should be brought into obedience to Christ.   Flavel, John (2010-08-03). Keeping the Heart (Kindle Locations 819-820).  . Kindle Edition.

Godly hope is perverted by fancy.  Fancy looks to the flesh for solutions.  Fancy is an idolater.  Fancy robs us of our ability to comprehend the Word, yield to the Spirit and submit to God.  We run here and there looking for something or someone to provide for our needs and bring us contentment, and we find it not.

Jer 2:12-13  Be appalled, O heavens, at this; be shocked, be utterly desolate, declares the LORD,  (13)  for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.

This is the power of fancy, of ungodly imaginations.

The object can be a person, a group, a gadget, luck, or even a misunderstanding of the Word or the leading of the Spirit.  When the imagination is not fenced in by the truth, by the sovereignty, providence and truth of God, it is deadly.

There is little in our world as deadly to our fancy/imaginations as is the entertainment we select for ourselves.  TV, movies, books, etc. are, for the most part, fiction.  Even the “reality” shows we watch are hardly “real.”  Oh, maybe they’re not scripted but “real”?  I don’t think so.

We watch, read or listen to the offerings of the world so we might relax and be entertained and, yet, how often do we really reflect on what we are watching in the light of God’s truth?  The old quip, “If Jesus came to your home would you watch, read, or listen to what you now engage in while He was there”? is not without merit.

Patti and I used to watch a show called The Gilmore Girls.  It was cute and relatively clean but over time we realized how dysfunctional almost every character on the show was.  As we looked at the show in light of the truth, I actually got to where I was nauseous whenever it came on.  We realized that we were being entertained by one of the clearest demonstrations of man’s hopelessness we had ever seen – and we had found it – “entertaining.”  It was poison – plain and simple.

Then there are the Real Housewives of . . . . . shows.  Really?  These are housewives?

There is no God in their world – only self and yet we watch these shows as though they were entertaining.  If we must watch. it should be to identify men and women who are willing to expose their godless and hopeless lives to the whole world – so we can pray for them – by name and need.    [WHY MUST WE WATCH???]

**Patti's comments:
"I still don't see a need to expose our minds and hearts to these shows as opposed to any other type of programs- promoting-glamorizing-endorsing ungodli-unrighteus behavior.  they are not exactly documentaries of some aberrant society or sect.  these shows bring fame to the people and draw many into unhealthy fantasies about that lifestyle.  Yes, the actual desperation and hopelessness can be seen-but reality is only seen by those who already know it is there - not to those who are still aspiring to obtain that status.  Certainly, a steady diet of these shows is not necessary to determine the need and lostness of the people in them, any more than it is needed to determine the depravity portrayed in "fictional" shows.  So much for my soap-box!"

Oh, let’s not forget the “rehab” shows where we get to see how well a godless person can overcome an addiction.  Yeah, Dr. Drew is a sweet and caring guy – but why do so many of his patients show up again and again and again?

All of this manure gets in our minds.  It contradicts the truth and seduces us into some vague middle ground where the truth is not.  Just like arsenic, it is cumulative and over time it will poison our godliy thinking to death.  It weaves itself into our thought patterns whether we realize it or not.  Ultimately, it will win – unless we cut it off, repent and turn to that fountain of living water.

Soli Deo Gloria: Means essentially that everything that is done is for God's glory to the exclusion of humankind's self-glorification and pride. Christians are to be motivated and inspired by God's glory and not their own.

We have to ask if our fancies and imaginings are for the glory of God.  But without the tools and effort, how can we tell?  Ignorance and apathy are boon companions.

How ignorant are you of how to glorify God?  How apathetic are you concerning your Christian disciplines and duties?  One will always feed the other.

We are far from where He would have us and though He has promised to see us through to the end, the quality of the journey has a good deal to do with our exercise of the graces, duties and disciplines He has laid out for our benefit.

Though the context is not parallel to this discussion, the statement is nonetheless applicable when Paul proclaims:
1Co 2:2  For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.

I think we are safe in taking this proclamation as our motto, our battle cry in the world – everyday – in our labor and in our leisure.  I see no danger in praying that in our labor and our leisure we be enabled and convicted to know nothing except Christ, and Him crucified.

Such a fence around our fancies and imaginings will serve us well in mortifying (killing) them so that they cease to poison our minds, hearts and actions.

This and That: Contentment 092412

But contentment does not come in that way, it does not come, I say, by adding to what you want, but by subtracting from your desires. It is all one to a Christian, whether I get up to what I would have, or get my desires down to what I have, either to attain what I do desire, or to bring down my desires to what I have already attained. 

Burroughs, Jeremiah (2010-07-05). The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment (Kindle Locations 504-506).  . Kindle Edition.

Having entered the fray with covetousness it seemed good to add a dash of contentment to the mix.  In Burroughs’ work you will find much to guide you, challenge you and comfort you.

The above quote, I take as guidance, challenge and comfort.  Since it is my mis-guided or mis-motivated desires that so plague me in the area of covetousness it makes sense that addressing them is part of the way to contentment.

BUT – I would have you know that just knowing how to learn (and it must be learned) to be content is not enough.  We must attend the class, study the material and take the test.  Contentment comes through learning.

Paul writes:

Php 4:11-13  Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.  (12)  I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.  (13)  I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

Whatever part of the course in contentment I am in (as we do not all start at the same point or progress at the same rate) the absolute key to the learning is Christ.  It is only His strength that keeps me in the course.  It is only His Word that helps me learn the lessons.  It is only His wisdom that enables me to rightly apply His cure to the condition.  It is not only, “all of /Christ,” it is “only of Christ.”

Contentment is having what I want or wanting what I have in absolute submission to the will and providence of God.  A crumb from our King is as glorious a gift as a coronet.  This we must labor to understand and implant in our hearts.  But that only comes through Him, our strength.

In this early stage of moving out of covetousness and into contentment the most difficult thing is to accept the depth of the corruption of the heart.  The ways, means and measure of the covetousness that lives in the flesh is terrifyingly large.  You cut one root only to find another and another and yet another still.  You cease to covet X and you find half the victory is wrapped up in coveting Y and Z is lurking just out of sight.

I was once told that there were really only 9 individual commandments because the 10^th, “thou shalt not covet,” simply meant that we would not even want to do the preceding 9. 

We are caught up in the world’s expectation of more, bigger and better and the shame of it is that we serve the One to whom it all belongs.  If one gets what they covet from a thief (Satan) it is not the same as getting it from the true owner.  Satan will give you what you want especially if it draws you away from God.  God will not give you what you cannot benefit from.  To whom would you go for a cure?  Patient “0” or the best doctor you could find – or the One who controls every disease and comfort?

If you would be content you must get to heaven for only there will we find absolute contentment?  Here, in this veil of tears, we must constantly and consistently, in the strength of our Savior, strive after it; one time laying hold of it another missing.

Heb 13:5-6  Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you."  (6)  So we can confidently say, "The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?"

Here is the bottom line of contentment.  He has promised to never leave of FORSAKE us.

Forsake:  By implication, to leave in the lurch, desert, abandon.

1Ch 28:20  Then David said to Solomon his son, "Be strong and courageous and do it. Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed, for the LORD God, even my God, is with you. He will not leave you or forsake you, until all the work for the service of the house of the LORD is finished.

In the end, it all goes back to the heart:

If the heart of a man is fashioned to his circumstances, he may have as much contentment as if his circumstances were fashioned to his heart.

Burroughs, Jeremiah (2010-07-05). The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment (Kindle Locations 510-511).  . Kindle Edition.

God can, and will, change my heart and/or my circumstances.  I can really do neither – at least not if I am submitted to Him.  That I am never without my Redeemer and that he will never “leave me in a lurch,” is the truth upon which I must place my feet and the truth I must work into my heart.

Learning contentment does not come easy. The flesh, finding covetousness a most useful tool, fights tooth and talon to keep it alive and active.  It will not go peacefully and so, in dealing with it, we will have to accept the tribulation, the fight, and the blows.  The object is not to tame it or to convert it but to kill it.  It is a fight to the death – its death - for all being said, it cannot kill us.  It can cripple and maim but it can never kill.

Isa 35:4  Say to those who have an anxious heart, "Be strong; fear not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you."

The world is infinitely deceived in thinking that contentment lies in having more than we already have. Here lies the bottom and root of all contentment, when there is an evenness and proportion between our hearts and our circumstances.

Burroughs, Jeremiah (2010-07-05). The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment (Kindle Locations 514-515).  . Kindle Edition.

You gotta hate Your sin !! 040512

You’ve gotta HATE sin, YOUR sin !!!!!!  040512

It seems today that we have a much different view of sin than that of the Apostles.  For us sin is something “they” do and we have to battle against their doing it.

Now granted, Abortion, Sexual Preference, and criminal activity are sins we need to stand apart from but I’m afraid that we been distracted from the most important area of sin –  OURS

It is soooooo easy to look at our world and see sinful things and to work up a real head of steam about them.  BUT if this outwardness distracts us from our own sinfulness, the real battle, we are failing in a very serious way.

The writers of the epistles have a lot to say about the sinfulness of the world and about our being apart from it.  But where, pray tell me, are we directed to attack it?  Certainly we must deal with it inside the Body of Christ but outside????  Not so much!

The “world” is synonymous with “sin.”  We have to accept that.  We don’t and shouldn’t like it.  We shouldn’t support it.  We shouldn’t ignore it.  But our response to sin/world has got to be first and foremost the Gospel.  Only here and not in protests, petitions, etc. is the true power of God for righteousness found.

When, dear friend was the last time you enumerated all your sins for which God’s grace has provided redemption and forgiveness?  Not your “before Jesus” sins – those were normal.  Rather I speak of those sins that still hound you. 

Paul says to us:

Romans 7:15 For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. 16 Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. 17 So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. 18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.  

Hellooooo?  Did you read that slowly?  Note: “sin that dwells within me.”   Now, are we better, more committed, more faithful, more “spiritual” than Paul?  I think not.  And yet he makes it very clear that sin – sin in him – is still active and strongly so.

He goes on:

5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit 6 For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace 7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot.] 8 Those that are in the flesh cannot please God. 

 9 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. 10 But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.

And

13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

Why do we refuse to focus on that struggle that is so central to our being faithful?  We have the Flesh and the Spirit which contend within us for our submission, our obedience.  Why, oh why do we focus on sin “out there,” when there is plenty “in me?”  How can we expect to be light in the world when we neglect the light within?

John Owen said that if we are not about the business of killing sin (in us) then sin will be killing us.  He was not speaking in terms of salvation but rather in terms of faithful effect.  If we, individually and collectively are not killing sin in our lives our witness is dead.

Jesus calls us on this.  We see the speck and ignore the log.  But He Himself commands us to be about the business of removing our log – never are we told to remove their specks.

I challenge you to find the scripture that mandates the hateful bullying we see so called believers taking part in.  I challenge you to find the scripture that mandates political action, civil disobedience, picketing and protests.  “Jesus loves you,” and “Baby Killer,” are not statements that should ever considered mutually edifying or glorifying to God.

Who are we to vilify anyONE?  Yes, we may state that this and that is a sin, wrong, whatever, according to our faith.  But where did we ever get the idea that we had the right to expect or demand Christian behavior from non-Christians?

Do you really think that we have any role in redeeming the world?  What pride!!  We are merely messengers of hope – of grace – of redemption.  We are not like the OT prophets who called out to God’s chosen nation to repent – that was then – this is us.  We are prophets of the Gospel – the promise.

Certainly we need to communicate Holy God vs. Sinful Men – God’s Judgment / God’s Grace.  But, we are never never never called to enact either His judgment or His wrath.  And yet we do – Oh we don’t  take the sinner out and stone them – but I know some believers who’d like to.

It seems that we want two things in an enemy.  We want an enemy with skin and we want an enemy who is “them.”  We want to be their enemy.

Well folks – I have an enemy with skin – “me.”

I wonder if what appears to be the weakness of the Gospel today isn’t in direct proportion to the failure of the Body of Christ to provide the world with a clear picture of what holiness and righteousness look like.  The “church” is known for benevolence, charity, etc. – but curiously she isn’t known for holiness and righteousness.  Oh, she is known for vilifying and condemning others – but not for holiness and righteousness.

As I close I just want to point out one thing.  When Paul writes:

(Rom 8:18) For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

He’s not right in the middle of a treatise on persecution.  He is right in the middle of calling us to battle – to battle with the flesh – with the sin dwelling in us.   

Later – this is really on my heart and mind –

Copyright, Michael Sanders, 2012

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