He Is

 If someone on the interwebs tells you God wouldn’t do that, but the Bible says He will, might I suggest you err on the side of caution and believe the Word of God? I realize it’s not a popular position nowadays, but popular and right don’t usually intersect, and I’m perfectly content with being unpopular. It isn’t a popularity contest, anyway. Some people think it is. They make it about themselves, their ego, and their aspirations and are willing to sacrifice everything, including the truth, on the altar of self. They tell themselves it will all have been worth it once they get the power and influence because then they can do some good, but even when they get all the influence they could ever want, they don’t ever get around to doing good.

It’s no longer about the will of God, His nature, His character, or His commands; it’s about market research and poll testing and making sure that the things we say have majority support; otherwise, we change our position as surely as some greasy politician who just got promised a hefty campaign contribution.

It’s not as though Jude is coming out of left field when he writes about the righteousness of God and His righteous judgment. It’s not as though the notion of a just God who judges justly was foreign to those of the Way until Jude came along. Paul did a fine job in both Romans and Hebrews in distilling the multi-dimensionality of God, balancing His goodness and His severity, and outlining which is reserved for whom.

Romans 11:22, “Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off.”

All I have to do is quote scripture to stir up a hornet’s nest. Do I do so intentionally? Not particularly. I have no desire to enter into internet beefs, but we can’t be selective about the scripture passages we acknowledge, pretending as though the others are inferior or they don’t exist just because they poke holes in our theories.

God is capable of goodness, but He is likewise capable of severity. Toward those who fell, severity. Toward those who continue in His goodness, goodness. If you continue in His goodness. That’s a big if. You can’t have come in contact with His goodness once, long ago, in a church far away; you must remain in it perpetually that His goodness might likewise remain.

You choose to remain in His goodness. You choose to remain faithful. You choose to remain obedient. You choose to remain pure. But you don’t understand brother, the devil’s been after me, one temptation after another, it’s relentless.

1 Corinthians 10:13 “No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.”

No one said it would be easy, but that doesn’t mean it’s impossible. Trust that God is faithful, as His word says, and He will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able. That said, only a fool will repeatedly place himself in a situation or position where he is sure to be tempted.

Don’t go looking to get burned and expect God to put out the fire. It’s like going to the store, buying the box of Twinkies, bringing it home, and scarfing them down, then being angry with God for not stopping you. There were a lot of opportunities for you to stop yourself along the way. You could have not gone to the store, or you could have bought rice cakes instead; you could have done one of a dozen things that would have prevented you from going into a sugar coma. Why lay the blame at God’s doorstep?

The answer is obvious enough, so much so that the question borders on being rhetorical. We’d rather blame God for the things we do than take personal responsibility for our actions and admit it’s our own shortcomings, failures, and duplicity that kept us from following through. We chose half measures rather than the full monty. We tried to resist the devil without submitting to God, and that’s like trying to row across the ocean with just one oar.

To submit isn’t to think of ourselves as equal to God; it’s to yield to His authority and will. It’s to defer to Him on all matters and do as He commands even when the flesh bristles. Sorry to break it to you, but you’re not a little god, and neither am I. We are created beings who ought not to be haughty but fear.

Well, that’s just ludicrous. I mean, I’ve never. We are princes and priests ruling nations with rods of iron. What’s with all this fear talk? Now you’re just making stuff up, brother.

Romans 11:20-21, “Do not be haughty, but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either.”

But that’s not what brother Joel, sister Joyce, and sister Beth teach….and that’s the exact point Jude was trying to make. Just because it glitters, it doesn’t mean it’s gold. Think of the Bible as a gold testing kit. You take the nugget of shiny stuff and rub it up against the Bible. The Bible will tell you whether it’s real or not, and if it’s not real because the Bible told you it’s not, then if you treasure that piece of rock that isn’t real as though it were, that’s on you.

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.