Set Apart

Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts: “I am the first and I am the last; besides me there is no god. - Isaiah 44:6

Originally, I was going to look up historical "gods" for why our God is different from every other "god." I may still do that another day. However, today, I needed to just write my personal reasons why God is different from anyone and anything else as I've experienced Him.

First, anytime He asks something from me, it's only ever something to help me or others, not Him. God doesn't ask me to follow a set of rules just to appease Him or task me to do rituals simply to calm down His wrath. His laws are to make the world a safer and happier place, even when it seems like it's about Him. For example, the commandment to put no other "gods" before Him is because 1) He loves us and gets jealous when we give our attention and desires to an imaginary figure when He's there open arms waiting for us. Everything else is emptiness. 2) Following other "gods" means following their possibly contrary rules, chaining ourselves as slaves to another master, and confusing ourselves and others in who we really are as Children of the One True God of love.

And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. - Revelation 21:6

The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the work of human hands. They have mouths, but do not speak; they have eyes, but do not see; they have ears, but do not hear, nor is there any breath in their mouths. Those who make them become like them, so do all who trust in them! - Psalm 78:58

Bel bows down; Nebo stoops; their idols are on beasts and livestock; these things you carry are borne as burdens on weary beasts. - Isaiah 46:1

He has limitless patience, love, and forgiveness. He does get upset if we purposely fall into pits of destruction, causing harm to ourselves and others, for obvious reasons. However, that doesn't mean He doesn't want us anymore. We are never so far away from Him that we're unreachable. We just have to be willing to accept Him and His forgiveness. He loves us no matter what and will seek us out individually just to save us from ourselves if need be.

There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. - 1 John 4:18

No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it. - 1 Corinthians 10:13

He's an individualistic AND community-minded God. Following on the heels of my last point, He looks at the good of the whole without sacrificing the good of the individual. We aren't just ants to His eyes or numbers to His heart. He breathes into our bodies to make us living souls, and His heart beats for each one of us, with all our unique quirks. He would have died for you if you were the only person in existence. YOU.

"What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off?" - Matthew 18:12

He's always present. He doesn't exist only in a figure to bow down to, and He doesn't leave us when we seek Him. He lies even within the deepest recesses of our being, settling down as the Holy Spirit to guide us through every day. When you speak to Him, you don't have to follow certain requirements, rituals, or formalities. You could be lying in a ditch with only the outpourings of wordless emotions thrumming through you, and God will understand more than you understand yourself.

"Can a man hide himself in hiding places So I do not see him?" declares the LORD "Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?" declares the LORD. "Am I a God who is near," declares the LORD, "And not a God far off? - Jeremiah 23:23-24

God doesn't live up to our expectations. He exceeds them. He isn't human-like as the Greek, Roman, Scandinavian, etc. gods were, with petty revenges, weaknesses, and the ability to be tricked or permanently killed. He isn't a live-action soap opera on the mountains with magical powers. When He loves, He loves beyond what you are capable of. When He overpowers, He can't be matched. When He protects, He can't be foiled. There is none like Him but Him. I guess that's why He calls Himself I AM.

God is not human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill? - Numbers 23:19

He's a God with a servant heart. Although He is King above all Kings, He would sit and wash others' feet. He could've continued to exist as comfortably as He wants, but He came to Earth to travel through hot lands, heal the ill and broken, and eat with the least of us. Then, He suffered a criminal's punishment and death before a crowd of mocking Jews, the very ones He came to save first! Yet, to the very end, He still forgave and still continued to save.

Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; 4 so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.- John 13:3-5

Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." - Luke 23:34

Our God is a God of love, patience, forgiveness, with a heart of servitude, a God who walks amongst and lives within His people, peering into our very souls for our wordless murmurings and our hearts for our pleas, and looking at each one of His children as individuals with our many unique characteristics and personalities that He loves. There is none like our God. What have you found sets apart Yahweh from the rest?

How & When to Stand Up

There has always been and always will be (until a new heaven and earth) tension and conflict between Judeo-Christian beliefs and those of the rest of the world. Sometimes, the difference between the two are gods worshipped, other times morality issues, and yet other times it's political. One thing's for certain: if you're a Child of God, you're gonna face down the world at some point whether that's with unbelievers or fellow Christians swayed by worldly ways.

Be heartened because, no matter how surrounded and put on the spot you may feel in that moment, you're not alone. There are millions of us facing down the world in that same moment just as you are and probably feeling just as lost in how to proceed. Part of the reason I write this blog is to invite you in my own search for answers, and you're about to learn with me.

Determine who:

There's a way to speak to our brothers and sisters and a way to speak to unbelievers.

Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood. - Acts 20:28

We're meant to call out, correct, and guide fellow Christians. In fact, although everything is to be done in love and gentleness, these are the only people you can truly call out on their behavior. I'll go more into that in a minute. But, you MUST be humble and understand you are not speaking from a place of perfection but a place of love, using the Word of God as a basis.

First take the beam out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye. - Matthew 7:6

"If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother. "But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that BY THE MOUTH OF TWO OR THREE WITNESSES EVERY FACT MAY BE CONFIRMED. "If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector." - Matthew 18:15-17

All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. - 2 Timothy 3:16-17

Okay, so say this is an unbeliever who's asking questions or, alternatively, trying to argue with you. Not everyone who disagrees with you hates you. However, some DO hate our beliefs or seek to demean you in order to feel better about themselves.

“If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the one who sent me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin. Whoever hates me hates my Father as well. If I had not done among them the works no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. As it is, they have seen, and yet they have hated both me and my Father. But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: ‘They hated me without reason.’ - John 15:18-25

No matter whether they're speaking out of hate and anger or simple curiosity and joy, remember that you should be prepared for this. I mean, you do know you'll be called out on your beliefs at some point, right? You do regularly study the Bible, right? (See, I'm calling you out in love, fellow Child!)

But in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. - 1 Peter 3:15-16

Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone - Colossians 4:5-6

Remember, that although you're defending yourself, you have no need to defend God, who has no need for defense. The truth stands on its own. So, if someone is an unbeliever, you do not call them out on their behaviors and beliefs. I'm not talking about legal punishments or natural consequences here. I'm talking about calling them out. Let me repeat this.

DO NOT CORRECT AN UNBELIEVER'S BEHAVIORS AND BELIEFS.

Why would you expect an unbeliever to act or think like a believer? They are awash in an ocean without an anchor. You're calling from your place on the Rock yelling at them to be still. That's folly. After they find the Rock, expect them to stand firm, not before. It's impossible. Not only that, but it's potentially harmful to them and YOU.

Do not give dogs what is holy; do not throw your pearls before swine. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and then turn and tear you to pieces. - Matthew 7:6

Determine how:

When faced with questions or being opposed, simply answer the questions to the best of your knowledge. If you don't know, say so and offer to find out with them. Truth stands on its own. However, for those who simply want to demean or fight, you don't need to argue. Sometimes, it's good to stay silent and maybe even walk away.

Whoever guards his mouth preserves his life; he who opens wide his lips comes to ruin. - Proverbs 13:3

A time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; - Ecclesiastes 3:7

Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. - Ephesians 4:29

Be kind (respectful), build others up, speak in love or not at all.

As a caveat, Jesus was sarcastic and caustic with some people (particularly the Pharisees) when He corrected them. That is to say, He was respectful with regular people, but He could definitely be searing when speaking of or to powerful oppressors.

Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil. Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. - Ephesians 4:25-32

Did you know most communication is non-verbal? You can stand up for your beliefs, defend yourself, and correct others simply by walking the walk.

Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing. If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless. Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world. - James 1:19-27

Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, for anything that becomes visible is light. - Ephesians 5:8-14

Determine when:

There are situations when it doesn't matter who you're speaking with, who is listening in, or why they're confronting you. When you must defend others' rights, lift the downtrodden, and illuminate the darkness of corruption, you just do it.

Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. - Ephesians 5:11

Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy. - Proverbs 31:9

Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute. - Proverbs 31:8

You should always remember to follow God's example. Jesus showed us how to face the world, correct others, lift the broken, and speak so others will hear all without being dragged down into the darkness of the world and its anger. Don't be afraid to speak up when necessary: when building up fellow believers, answering the curious minds of unbelievers, or lifting up the downtrodden and vulnerable. Don't be afraid to stay silent: when speaking would do more harm or would be in vain (arguing with the close-minded). Be bold with both your words and your silence. You're standing up and speaking up either way.

"...But in order that it may spread no further among the people, let us warn them to speak no more to anyone in this name.” So they called them and charged them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.” - Acts 4:17-20

Do you Believe in Magic?

“I am the LORD, the God of all mankind. Is anything too hard for me?" - Jeremiah 32:27

The world likes to dismiss magical situations and miracles as happy coincidences or only the product of mundane happenings. I'd like to suggest that real magic isn't Harry Potter, wands, cauldrons, and werewolves gathering with vampires to defeat ancient evils. (Side note: As you can tell, I read too many fantasy novels.)

The fact of the matter is, pre-enlightenment (fairly recent history, started around 1700's) people viewed magic and miracles as commonplace and expected. Part of this is obviously because science, as we know it today, didn't exist, and most common people filled in the gaps of their knowledge with superstition.

Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness; - 1 Timothy 4:7

Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind, and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God. - Colossians 2:18-23

If over-belief in magic and mundane were on two separate ends of a pendulum, the world would've seen a significant swing from magic to mundane during the enlightenment. In my opinion, the truth lies somewhere in the middle. Although we have a brain, given by God Himself, to use and experience the world around you, we have a spirit which sees the unseen, not yet perceptible by scientific means.

So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. - 2 Corinthians 4:18

The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. - 1 Corinthians 2:14

The unseen forces of God move around us always, and we as Children of God, can sometimes see them if God wants. It's unlikely we'll have such a dramatic eye-opening miracle as Elisha's servant:

When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early in the morning, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. So he asked Elisha, “Oh, my master, what are we to do?”

“Do not be afraid,” Elisha answered, “for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”

Then Elisha prayed, “O LORD, please open his eyes that he may see.”

And the LORD opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw that the hills were full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. - 2 Kings 6:15-17

Angels and their chariots were there to defend them against the Arameans, who surrounded their city by night and outnumbered them. Almost every book of the Bible speaks of miracles and magical or nearly-magical situations. Yet, do you see them nowadays?

I'll venture to say that few people saw the dramatic miracles that occurred in the Bible, and if anyone saw something like that today, they would dismiss it as either made up or explain it away with hypothetical reasoning.

As an aside, science has explained so much that would have been otherwise feared and cured diseases and injuries that would have otherwise killed millions. There's too much good in science to not see it as a manifestation of God using man to bless the world.

However, it is, like humanity, limited in its abilities to see and explain God and all He does. A few things science is still trying to figure out: The purpose of dreams, the possibility of life on other planets, the human brain, the depths of the oceans and the life that teems there, the true beginning (like pre-big bang) of life as we know it, time itself, and they're still working on discovering and cataloging all the living species of Earth (they made good progress on mammals, though). In reality, science is in it's infancy, and as it advances, we will understand more and more.

However, it will never explain everything concerning God, and it can only reveal what God wants revealed.

Do you know what science has revealed about God, though? Have you ever seen atoms that make up the world? They are like mini-solar systems, complete with a center star composed of protons and neutrons and swirling, circling planets called electrons. We are made of innumerable atoms. They hold small charges of negative and positive, an act of balance and order in the smallest known particle. Have you seen new-born stars or the death of suns? Have you experienced the birth of a child, a small human complete with toes and fingers, a heart, a brain, a soul tucked behind glittering eyes? I need to add something from Job that is beautiful about God's magic.

Then the Lord spoke to Job out of the storm. He said:

“Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?
Tell me, if you understand.
Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know!
Who stretched a measuring line across it?
On what were its footings set,
or who laid its cornerstone—
while the morning stars sang together
and all the angels shouted for joy?

“Who shut up the sea behind doors
when it burst forth from the womb,
when I made the clouds its garment
and wrapped it in thick darkness,
when I fixed limits for it
and set its doors and bars in place,
when I said, ‘This far you may come and no farther;
here is where your proud waves halt’?

“Have you ever given orders to the morning,
or shown the dawn its place,
that it might take the earth by the edges
and shake the wicked out of it?
The earth takes shape like clay under a seal;
its features stand out like those of a garment.
The wicked are denied their light,
and their upraised arm is broken.

“Have you journeyed to the springs of the sea
or walked in the recesses of the deep?
Have the gates of death been shown to you?
Have you seen the gates of the deepest darkness?
Have you comprehended the vast expanses of the earth?
Tell me, if you know all this.

“What is the way to the abode of light?
And where does darkness reside?
Can you take them to their places?
Do you know the paths to their dwellings?
Surely you know, for you were already born!
You have lived so many years!

“Have you entered the storehouses of the snow
or seen the storehouses of the hail,
which I reserve for times of trouble,
for days of war and battle?
What is the way to the place where the lightning is dispersed,
or the place where the east winds are scattered over the earth?
Who cuts a channel for the torrents of rain,
and a path for the thunderstorm,
to water a land where no one lives,
an uninhabited desert,
to satisfy a desolate wasteland
and make it sprout with grass?
Does the rain have a father?
Who fathers the drops of dew?
From whose womb comes the ice?
Who gives birth to the frost from the heavens
when the waters become hard as stone,
when the surface of the deep is frozen?

“Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades?
Can you loosen Orion’s belt?
Can you bring forth the constellations in their seasons
or lead out the Bear with its cubs?
Do you know the laws of the heavens?
Can you set up God’s dominion over the earth?

“Can you raise your voice to the clouds
and cover yourself with a flood of water?
Do you send the lightning bolts on their way?
Do they report to you, ‘Here we are’?
Who gives the ibis wisdom
or gives the rooster understanding?
Who has the wisdom to count the clouds?
Who can tip over the water jars of the heavens
when the dust becomes hard
and the clods of earth stick together? - Job 38-41

Understand that He exists beyond our imaginations and senses. Equally, understand that He is also your Father and the Spirit within you. Now, understand that you are made limitless through Him.

He is the one you praise; he is your God, who performed for you those great and awesome wonders you saw with your own eyes. - Deuteronomy 10:21

Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” - Matthew 19:26

Do you believe in a God of infinite possibilities, or do you limit Him to only what our human minds can understand?

“But if I were you, I would appeal to God; I would lay my cause before him. He performs wonders that cannot be fathomed, miracles that cannot be counted. - Job 5:8-9

"‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for one who believes.” - Mark 9:23

He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” - Matthew 17:20

A lot of what science explains away as rational is also magical and a miracle in and of itself. God is very real. He's not just some puff of smoke that floats above the cloud tops. He sent His son to show us that He can be touched, heard, and smelled. He is more real than we are.

If you know me, you know our large Hackberry tree fell in our yard a week ago. It's been leaning toward the house for awhile, since it grew that way. On the day it fell, there was only a 15 minute period when no one was home and when most of our vehicles were out of the yard, and this is when the tree decided to fall. Somehow, it fell mostly away from the house, only causing minor damage to part of the porch, falling around the car that was there, only denting a grill almost underneath it. The only real damage it caused was tearing down a portion of the electric and cable lines, which was all back up within the next day.

I've been worrying about that tree falling for awhile, but it never was the "right" time to get it cut down. Now, I won't have to worry about that tree anymore, and we'll have more firewood for the winter.

Does this seem like a miracle? Does it seem magical? Does it look like an act of God? To many unbelievers, absolutely not. It was lucky, they might say, that it worked out that way, but pure chance. Yet, the Holy Spirit points out to me the maze of "coincidences" that occurred to make this work out so well. It whispers that although I need to take care of risks in the future, I never need to worry about anything because God holds us all in His hands.

Sometimes, miracles don't look like happy circumstances from the outside.

When Lot and his family were pressured to leave Sodom, they probably weren't overjoyed. This was there life, their livelihood, friends, and they had to leave it all behind. Yet, there was a reason God needed to destroy it, and He saved their lives despite His plans.

Sometimes, miracles don't look dramatic.

It's the slow but steady healing of an ill person, it's a hug when you need it most, and sometimes, it's something so minute, that we don't see the end result that was ordained.

Then Jesus told him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." - John 20:29

Magic is simply the unexplainable. Miracles are when the unexplainable works out in our favor. God is the unexplainable.

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. - Ephesians 3:20-21