Job CCXXXVII

There’s a reason we are instructed to flee not just evil itself, but the appearance of evil. It’s not because we’re self-righteous, judgmental, or consider ourselves above it all, but because even when in the orbit of the appearance of evil, there is a chance of getting caught in its wake, being associated with things, situations, and individuals who will drag our names down into the mud as surely as theirs. It’s not judgmental to protect one’s spiritual purity. It’s not judgmental to choose not to validate, celebrate, or cosign for the choices of certain individuals who would use your validation as confirmation that the life they’re living really isn’t all that bad.

If the pastor of a mega church, celebrated and elevated to a position of spiritual authority unseen since Paul the Apostle walked the earth, visits me at my house, takes pictures with me, hugs me, smiling as the cameras are rolling, perhaps the things I thought I should divest myself of, repent of, turn away from aren’t necessarily evil. If they were, surely the preacher man would have called me to repentance and insisted I turn from my wicked ways instead of reserving a front row pew for me and my entourage for Sunday service.

No, accidental, or even sporadic proximity is not evidence of guilt, or evidence of sin for that matter, perhaps the most you can say is that they were unwise in choosing their circle of friends, but it goes beyond all that, and when you’re actively courting individuals not because you want to share the light of the Gospel with them but because of the influence you can exploit or the check they might write, don’t be surprised when the chickens start coming home to roost.

As the old world saying goes, you can’t play in the mud and not expect to get any on you.

If we understand that the wages of sin is death, and that those who die in their sins have no hope for recourse once they breathe their last, we likewise understand that anyone in spiritual authority turning a blind eye to someone’s sin because they fear offending them if they were to call them on it, has no love in their heart for the individual but quite the opposite. If you see someone drowning, you throw them a life preserver; you don’t ask them to write you a check to build a new wing on your already opulent building. Eventually, the intent becomes evident, and the drowning man will grow both embittered and disillusioned upon realizing that the individual who presented himself as a caretaker of men’s souls cares nothing for the souls of men but how many zeros they can write on a check.

When Solomon wrote that a good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, he knew what he was talking about, even though he ended up not following his own advice. When the richest man to ever live talks about great riches, I would wager it’s not a paltry sum of any sort. One cannot separate who said the thing from the thing itself.

If someone whose diet consists of gas station grilled cheeses tells you that the best meal you’ll ever have is from the rusty food truck down the road, you have every right to be suspicious. If the individual who wouldn’t be caught dead in anything less than a one-star Michelin restaurant says the same thing, you’re more likely to give them the benefit of the doubt. It wasn’t a beggar who said that a good name is to be chosen rather than great riches; it was the richest man ever to walk the earth. That should hold some weight, but alas, here we are, thinking nothing of sullying our reputation in exchange for some imagined clout.     

Job 21:22-26, “Can anyone teach God knowledge, since He judges those on high? One dies in his full strength, being wholly at ease and secure; his pails are full of milk, and the marrow of his bones is moist. Another man dies in the bitterness of his soul, never having eaten with pleasure. They lie down alike in the dust, and worms cover them.”

Although Job wasn’t having an existential crisis, he was in the throes of an existential introspection regarding the purpose of man, and trying to make sense of things the human mind could not wrap itself around. We can grapple with it, consider it, question it, but as far as understanding goes, that would mean we understood the mind of God Himself, which the Word clearly states that we cannot.

His ways are not our ways, His thoughts are not our thoughts, and before we think to question, dissent, or otherwise disagree with His sovereign actions or decrees, we must remember He judges those on high.

When those who are tasked with rightly dividing the Word actively attempt to undermine it, twist it, distort it, or outright insist that God was wrong on some topic or another, they are no less attempting to play god as the wicked who believe their rebellion will eventually succeed and God will have to bow to their will rather than them bowing to His will.

Job was a man who went from having everything he’d ever needed to having nothing to his name but a potsherd and some ashes. He’d lived the highest highs and the lowest lows, and with his anecdotal experience as the baseline, concludes that rich or poor, prince or pauper, of great renown or a total unknown, all lie down alike in the dust, and worms cover them. Whether we live to sixty or a hundred, eventually, we all lie down alike in the dust. Whether our pails are full of milk or we’ve never eaten with pleasure, we all share these two things in common: we are all born, and we all die.

It’s as though Job is trying to highlight the absurdity of living for the here and now, for this present life, for this present existence, knowing what the end of all flesh will be. Men build great temples to themselves only to see them torn down and bulldozed to be replaced by fresh temples that will eventually suffer the same fate. There is only one thing we can do in this life that will echo throughout eternity, and that is to be born again, to know Jesus as Lord, King, and Savior, for all else is vanity, folly, and a wasted life.

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.  

Job CCXXXVI

 There is one truth Job hits upon that is worth exploring beyond surface level, and that is one of the hallmarks of the wicked being an all-encompassing obsession with self, the moment, their success, and wellbeing, while treating everyone around them, whether friends, family, or their own progeny, with utter disregard.

Were the wicked to hear that God lays up one’s iniquity for his children, their reaction would be a shoulder shrug, an eye roll, and likely an offhand, “what do I care what happens after I’m gone?”

This is what Job means when he asks, what does the wicked care about his household after him? They are the center of their own universe, and if they are no more, then nothing that happens from the moment they breathe their last matters to them in the least.

This mindset isn’t narcissism, as some misdiagnose the malady, because narcissism has more to do with the excessive admiration of oneself, especially one’s physical appearance. If you’ve ever walked by someone who’s been staring at themselves in the mirror for the better part of five minutes, admiring every angle, puckering their lips, sucking in their gut, while smiling approvingly, you’ve come across a narcissist.

What Job is describing when referencing the wicked goes beyond self-admiration, to the point of having a god complex. They see themselves as the masters of their universe, and every relationship they establish, every thing they do, every avenue they pursue, must be in service to them.

Seeing that some of the most wicked men of our generation were also obsessed with extending their lives, immortality, transfers of consciousness, transhumanism, and other pursuits that had them playing at being little gods, only confirms what Job iterated long before these things were technologically feasible, or theoretically probable, if not currently possible.

A narcissist is easy enough to deal with: refuse to acknowledge or validate their self-image or self-importance, and they’ll slink off in a huff, insisting that it’s your loss for failing to see how amazing they are. If narcissism were a rare occurrence, it wouldn’t be a multi-billion-dollar business. The focus isn’t on feeling better but looking better, and those who have no desire to stand out or be admired for their looks, abs, symmetry, or full head of hair can just ignore the narcissists, give them a wide berth, and go on with their lives, unaffected and unperturbed.

A wicked man won’t leave it at that. It is beyond a wicked man’s ability to accept being denied or acknowledge that he is not a godlike figure, and his wrath will be kindled against anyone who dares to stand in his way or contradict him in any manner. A wicked man is dangerous; a narcissist not so much.

There is no thought of what he leaves behind when it comes to a wicked man. Whether it’s a good name, a legacy, children, a family, or relationships, they are a means to an end, and in and of themselves mean nothing to the wicked. So fixated is the wicked on the moment, themselves, and their pleasure that the thought of eternity doesn’t even cross their minds. They refuse to acknowledge that they have a soul, or that there is anything after it is cleaved from the flesh, and they walk the earth no more.

They tend to be in the camp of the mockers, the scoffers, and those who do not acknowledge the existence of a higher power or authority other than themselves. Because of how they view themselves, they will always look down on everyone else, even those demonstrably wiser than themselves, because in their minds, there could be no one wiser than themselves.

Just because the wicked is indifferent toward God, it does not mean God is indifferent toward the wicked.

Psalm 7:11-13, “God is a just judge, and God is angry with the wicked every day. If he does not turn back, He will sharpen His sword; He bends His bow and makes it ready. He also prepares for Himself instruments of death; He makes His arrows into fiery shafts.”

That should utterly terrify anyone who thinks God has given them a pass or does not notice their wickedness and chooses not to repent and turn back from it. They know right from wrong, good from evil, honorable from dishonorable, noble from ignoble, yet choose the wrong, evil, dishonorable, and ignoble consistently.

Romans 1:28-32, “And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful; who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them.”

Why are the wicked wicked? Because they choose to be. Why do wicked men do wicked things? Because it brings them momentary pleasure, or some perverse fulfillment. It’s not that they don’t know any better. It’s not that they don’t know murder is evil, or marring the innocence of the young is vile, demonic, and deserving of death; they just don’t care. They can’t be bothered, and not only do they practice such evils, but also approve of those who practice them. They surround themselves with those of like mind, with hatred of God as their uniting principle.

Whatever the sin, whatever the vice, whatever the perversion, horror, or aberrant practice, the end goal is the same: an outward manifestation of rebellion against God, a shaking of the impotent fist, a beating of the withered chest, and a feeble cry of “we are as gods” heard by no one but themselves.

If not for the pain they cause and the ruin they leave in their wake, the wicked would be pitiable for their self-aggrandizing delusions. Given what we know of the harm they’ve wrought, however, they are contemptible.

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr. 

Job CCXXXV

 Job 21:17-21, “How often is the lamp of the wicked put out? How often does their destruction come upon them, the sorrows God distributes in His anger? They are like straw before the wind, and like chaff that a storm carries away. They say, ‘God lays up one’s iniquity for his children’; let Him recompense him, that he may know it. Let his eyes see his destruction, and let him drink of the wrath of the Almighty. For what does he care about his household after him, when the number of his months is cut in half?”

Injustice in a fallen world is not a new thing. Wickedness perpetrated by the wicked is likewise not something novel, yet it still manages to stun us into silence or flush our cheeks with anger when the full breadth of it is exposed, and we see the level of depravity to which men will sink.

Likewise, the righteous wrestling with the reality that, for the most part, there seems to be no punishment or negative impact for the wicked is not new. Job found himself contemplating the lives of the wicked, juxtaposed with his own, and while he suffered in ways difficult to comprehend, it seemed as though the lamp of the wicked did not go out, nor had destruction come upon them.

To his eyes, it seemed unfair and unjust, and if all we had to go by was a snapshot of that moment in time, we might tend to agree with his conclusion. If all you see of the Mona Lisa is her disjointed, crooked nose, and you wonder to yourself why it’s considered a masterpiece, you’re too close. Take a few steps back, and see the whole painting for what it is. Then, perhaps, it will make sense.

When we focus on a single moment in time, or see a snapshot without considering the aggregate, the full picture, or the reality that God’s sovereignty and justice extend beyond this present life, we're likely to reach the same conclusion as Job.

Knowing that all men will answer for their choices, and whether here or beyond this life, they will know true justice, however, gives us a certain level of peace. God is not blind, God is not deaf, God is not indifferent. He sees all, knows all, and though we might feel as though justice tarries, in His time God will avenge, punish, and judge with righteous judgment.

Even the heathen has an innate sense of justice, and of right and wrong. Even the godless know the difference between virtue and hedonism. The only ones who no longer possess this innate moral scale are those whose consciences have been seared, who have wholly given themselves over to wickedness, darkness, and debasement, becoming something other than human beings created in God’s image.

After going without food for two weeks, being battered by a storm that Luke describes as no small tempest, having seen neither sun nor stars for many days, and having given up all hope of being saved, a ship of prisoners being transported to Rome, Paul being among them, ran aground off the coast of the island of Malta.

With no other choice but to make for the coast, those who could swim swam to safety, and those who couldn’t floated on pieces of timber that had once been a mighty galleon of the Roman Empire. Paul had prophesied this outcome. He had seen it unfolding and did not hold back from informing those with whom he was being held captive of what they would encounter.

Once they made it to shore, they ran across the natives, who showed unusual kindness, kindling a fire and making the prisoners and Roman soldiers feel welcome. Although the natives had no knowledge or understanding of God’s law or the justice system of the Roman Empire, they nevertheless possessed that inborn awareness of right and wrong to the point that when Paul was bitten by a viper, they concluded he must have been a murderer, since having escaped the sea, justice would not allow him to live.

Acts 28:3-6, “But when Paul gathered a bundle of sticks and laid them on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat, and fastened on his hand. So when the natives saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, “No doubt this man is a murderer, whom, though he has escaped the sea, yet justice does not allow him to live.” But he shook off the creature into the fire and suffered no harm. However, they were expecting that he would swell up or suddenly fall down dead. But after they had looked for a long time and saw no harm come to him, they changed their minds and said that he was a god.”

There’s what men think, then there’s what God knows. We live in an age when men are readily taken in by the image others project, and we’ve gone from being able to fool some of the people some of the time to being able to fool most people most of the time. Even so, it’s for a season. Eventually, the truth will out. While the wicked rest easy believing their wickedness will never be exposed, sooner or later their actions come to light because nothing is secret that will not be revealed, nor anything hidden that will not be known and come to light.

It’s a certainty, so the only unknown variable is the timing of it all. Some hidden things come to light quickly, while others take years, if not decades, to bubble to the surface and be exposed and revealed. Examples of this are numerous and too many to count, but one thing is certain: God is not mocked, for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.

As pendulum swings go, you couldn’t get more extreme than thinking a man guilty of murder, and concluding justice had found him and his life was forfeit, then believing him to be a god because he survived what no other man could. Job’s friends came close enough, though. Seeing his situation, they had likewise concluded he was guilty, convinced that God was dispensing justice in His righteous anger. Thankfully, upon seeing his restoration, they did not deem Job a god.

Just because the wicked seem to prosper for a season, it will not always be thus. Just because justice seems delayed for some, it does not mean it is denied. Our relationship with God is vertical, and not horizontal. It is not dependent on what others are doing, how they’re living, or whether or not they are prospering. It is not a collective endeavor; it is intimate and personal. The soul that sins will die. The righteousness of the righteous will be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked will be upon himself.

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.  

Job CCXXXIV

 Anything that can be obtained in exchange for legal tender is as fleeting as the legal tender itself. Nothing of eternal weight can be purchased with temporal fiat, no matter how much certain televangelists might insist upon it. Giving money to a ministry, a church, or to the poor is not a substitute for spending time in God’s presence. You cannot do one in lieu of the other. This is why priorities matter. When we seek first the kingdom of God, our purpose is to grow in Him and in the knowledge of Him, first and foremost. Everything else takes second place to this all-encompassing, all-consuming purpose.

From the outside looking in, those who have never felt God’s presence, those who do not know the glory of Him, will think us fools, not understanding the fulfillment, peace, and unspeakable joy a relationship with Him brings. They perceive the time you spend in prayer as wasted effort, time you could have put toward career advancement or learning the lineup of your local football team. Little do they know that there is no greater pursuit in this life than the knowledge of the one true God, a sentiment echoed by every individual who has walked with Him throughout history.

Not all knowledge is the same. Not all knowledge is of equal worth or value. There is one knowledge that is superior: the knowledge of God. All other knowledge is inferior and pales in comparison to this, because the knowledge of God is the only knowledge that holds eternal weight and opens the way to fellowship with Him.

Philippians 3:8-11, “Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.”

There is the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, then there is everything else. It stands alone, it stands apart, and for the children of God, it must be the ideal, overshadowing all else, because to be found in Him, to know Him, and to know the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, to be saved, sanctified, and born again is to lay hold of eternity itself.

No other knowledge can offer such a reward. No other pursuit can open the way to intimacy with God, fellowship with Christ, and the blessed assurance that He is ever present via His Spirit, as you journey toward eternity.

When we view this life through the prism of eternity, we soon realize how much of the time we’ve been given is wasted on trivial pursuits and how little of it is spent deepening our relationship with God. Realizing and acknowledging something, however, is not the same as taking steps to remedy the situation and shift our focus or acquire new pursuits. Some people know they are squandering the time they’ve been given, but never take the next step or make the necessary changes to become redeemers of time rather than squanderers.

If we are a new creation in Christ and the old things have passed away, why do we find ourselves bogged down with the old things so often? It’s not an accusation; it’s an honest question. I’ll be the first to admit I still catch myself sometimes, and I have to repent of it. I sit down to spend some quiet time reading the Word, in the middle of it, I get a notice that I have a new message, and thirty minutes later, I find myself engrossed in a story about a deep-sea diver finding a treasure trove of ancient relics sitting at the bottom of the sea, untouched by human hands for thousands of years.

It’s a good story, and it harkens back to what I wanted to pursue when I was younger, but I know that it did nothing to feed my spirit. All you can do when you catch yourself not pursuing the excellence of the knowledge of Christ is commit to making up the time you should have, whether that means waking up an hour earlier or going to bed an hour later.

I realize to some this may sound rigid and legalistic, but it’s not. It’s an issue of discipline, and if I allow myself to miss spending time in the Word today and think nothing of it, it will happen tomorrow, then the day after, becoming a pattern, then a habit, and I promise you, there will always be a new article about some sunken treasure or newly discovered remnants of a long forgotten civilization you’ll run across to distract and leech away the time.

Is having a hobby or enjoying articles on archeological endeavors inherently bad? No, not if viewed in isolation, but it becomes problematic when those things take time you otherwise would have spent in the Word.

Spending time with God is not a chore; it’s a gift and a grace. It’s not like eating your broccoli, doing your homework, or going to the gym because you know you have to. The spiritual man yearns to be in the presence of God, but what remains of the flesh will constantly try to keep you from it, knowing that the stronger you grow spiritually, the weaker its influence will become.

See the distractions for what they are: A means by which one is kept from pursuing that which they know they ought. We can either attempt to justify the lack of time spent in God’s presence and in His Word or acknowledge it for what it is and take steps to remedy it.

Absence does not make the heart grow fonder; it makes the heart grow colder. If we allow it, what once convicted us will become normalized to the point that it no longer convicts, and that is a slippery slope that leads further away from God with each passing day. It’s like those who allow themselves a cheat meal while on a diet, only to find themselves six months later having gained twenty pounds and never returning to the discipline they once had. It is always easier to cut off a weed than it is to cut down a tree. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!    

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr. 

Job CCXXXIII

 Who is the Almighty, that we should serve Him? And what profit do we have if we pray to Him? Perhaps the two most myopic questions ever strung together that reveal the ignorance of the wicked as to who God is, as well as their inability to see beyond this present life. There was no eternal perspective, no consideration for what comes after the handful of years we are given on the earth, because the moment was all that mattered, and for the moment, they were rich and in need of nothing.

To answer the first question, the Almighty is the Almighty. It’s in the name, and had the wicked not been so wrapped up in their wickedness, a moment’s worth of introspection would have solved this riddle for them. Simply defined, almighty means complete power, omnipotence, and sovereignty over all things great and small, physical or intangible, flesh or spirit, of this earth or beyond the stars. The Almighty, therefore, is the omnipotent One, the sovereign One, the all-powerful One, the singularity in the entirety of the universe who possesses complete power and dominion.

The answer to the second question hinges on perspective. What profit do we have if we pray to Him? As far as extra shekels in your coffers, visible on a profit and loss balance sheet, none. If the things of this earth are what your existence revolves around, if every morning upon waking and every night before going to sleep, your only purpose is to increase your possessions, you will inevitably see no profit in forming a relationship with the Almighty.

Sooner or later, though, even the richest among us come to realize that riches are an illusion, that unless you burn it, the green paper with dead men’s faces on it gives no warmth, and all the money in the world, stacked up to the moon and back, will not extend their life by one millisecond. No matter how vast the fortune, no matter how layered the offshore accounts, once you breathe your last, it’s no longer yours, left behind for family and friends to bicker and fight over.

Throughout human history, everyone who thought they could take it with them was wrong. Everyone who tried failed. In the end, all anyone gets is a pine box and a hole in the ground. If they were well known, a few more people may show up to say their farewells, but the one in the box wouldn’t know either way, so what does it matter?

You can’t help but feel sadness and pity for those whose sole focus is the temporal things of this earth, with no time to spare a thought for eternity. It’s as though, millennia later, Jesus was answering the question with a question of his own when He asked, “For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his soul?”

Far too many spend their days obsessing over things they can’t control, or pursuits so irrelevant in the context of eternity as to make one roll their eyes and face palm. This is what you’re consumed by: an extra 2% in your 401 (k)? This is the pinnacle of what you chose to concern yourself with instead of establishing, broadening, and deepening a relationship with the Almighty?

If you want to eat, you have to work. We earn our daily bread with the sweat of our brow, some sweating more than others. That said, whenever it comes to prioritizing and structuring our lives, the kingdom of God must come first. Between an extra hour of overtime and an hour spent in prayer, our inclination must be to choose the time in prayer because we know it will have a greater benefit than the fifteen bucks minus the FICA withholdings.

When we consistently prioritize God over the things of this earth, we soon come to realize that the things we thought we needed and therefore sacrificed our time for, we didn’t really need, for whatever joy, security, peace, or comfort they may have provided, pale in comparison to the presence of God in our lives.

Matthew 6:33-34, “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”

These were the words of Jesus, not taken out of context, not reimagined, not finely chopped and reassembled to make them mean something they were never intended to mean, but as the conclusion of a discourse focused on not worrying about what you will wear, or what you will eat, because your heavenly Father is well aware of your earthly needs and will provide for them.

There is a difference between want and need, and while God will provide for our needs, if He concludes that providing our wants will cripple our spiritual man, stunt our spiritual growth, or cause us to shift our focus from Him to the things of this earth, for our own good, our request for the wants of life will be refused and declined.

As the story goes, a rich man was walking the city with his entourage in tow, and noticed a beggar on the side of the road. In the hope of impressing his friends with his brilliance, he approached the beggar and asked if he believed in God. The beggar answered that he did, and that he prayed to God every day, to which the rich man smirked and said, “Your prayers do not seem to be working, given your current lot. However, I am feeling generous, so if you can answer one question to my satisfaction, I will give you five gold coins for your trouble.”

The beggar nodded his head in agreement, and the rich man posed his question: “I have all I’ll ever need or want. I am rich and will be so for the rest of my days. Name me one thing I do not have that you believe I should pray for, given what I’ve told you.”

Without missing a beat, the beggar looked the rich man in the eyes and said, “Humility.”

The rich man reached into his pocket, pulled out five gold coins, and handed them to the beggar without another word.

Any man who believes he has nothing left to pray and entreat God for is a fool, and those who trust in the arm of the flesh will be brought to ruin.

1 Timothy 6:17-19, “Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy. Let them do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share, storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come, that they may lay hold of eternal life.”

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr. 

Job CCXXXII

 If suffering is to be had, whether great or small, whether momentary or protracted, we know with absolute certainty that it will cease once we shuffle off this mortal coil. It is a temporary thing, and in light of eternity, akin to a drop of water in an endless ocean.

For the saints of God, for the sons and daughters of the Almighty, there is no suffering beyond the veil, there is no weeping or gnashing of teeth, there is no heartbreak, no sorrow, no pain, and God Himself will wipe away every tear.

Though the wicked prosper for the moment, their eternal suffering begins when our eternal glory does. Our suffering is defined and limited to the time we have on this earth. The suffering of those who do not desire to know His ways and perish lost in their sin without having known the salvific power of Jesus has no end or terminus. It’s not a timeout, it’s an eternal punishment.

The Word of God is clear on the reality of hell just as it is clear on the reality of heaven. We cannot preach that there is a heaven without acknowledging that there is a hell, an outer darkness, a lake of fire, into which all who rejected the Son of God will be cast. Try as the godless might to redefine it, reimagine it, or reinterpret it, hell is not the place where the cool kids hang out and make music; it is not an eternal mosh pit, it’s not the place to be once your soul is free, but a place where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched. The reality of hell wouldn’t make for a good poster on its best day, but some part of those who speak of it as just another week at Burning Man must know the reality of it and use the flippancy with which they speak of it as a coping mechanism.  

Hell is a horror beyond imagining, and an eternal one to boot. If you’ve ever wondered how difficult it was for the Father to see the Son expire on the cross, you need only consider the punishment that will be served upon those who reject Him.

Hebrews 10:28-31, “Anyone who has rejected Moses’ law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know Him who said, ‘Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,’ says the Lord. And again, ‘The Lord will judge His people.’ It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”

God sending His Son was not a trivial matter. God watching His Son hang on a cross was not a trivial matter. God hearing the heart cry of His Only Begotten asking why He’d forsaken Him was not a trivial matter!

I’m a dad of two beautiful daughters. It breaks me just thinking about the possibility of watching them suffer in any way, them crying out to me for help, and my not rampaging through entire armies to get to them and help them. God’s love for His Son was no less all-encompassing; He did not love Him less than I do my daughters, yet He witnessed His pain, His tears, His torn body nailed to a tree and restrained Himself from intervening because He knew how important it was for this sacrifice to be carried out in full.

Jeremiah says that it pleased the Lord to bruise Him, not because He enjoyed seeing Him in pain or the throes of death, but because He knew that it was the only way by which you and I could be reconciled to Him.

This is what men reject when they trample the Son of God underfoot. This is what men reject when they insult the Spirit of grace. We speak of God’s love, grace, and forgiveness flippantly, as though it cost Him nothing to facilitate the sanctification of man, when in reality it cost Him His Beloved Son. We repeat certain words so often as to risk diluting, watering down, or losing their meaning altogether. The covenant by which we are sanctified is not a common thing; it was sealed in the blood of the Lamb, it came at a price, and that price was the pouring out of the life of the only perfect Man ever to walk the earth.

But God knew He would rise on the third day! Do you think that made the pain any less real, whether God’s or Christ’s? Do you think knowing He would rise from the dead made Jesus feel any less alone when He no longer sensed the Father's presence and cried out, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani”?

This wasn’t a performative utterance. It wasn’t something Jesus thought would be cool to say. It was the reality of what He was experiencing at the moment of His death, hanging between two thieves, bleeding and broken.

Never forget that you and I were bought with a price, and that price was the life of the Son of God. This realization alone should take us beyond mere humility. This realization alone should compel us to press in, serve Him, praise Him, worship Him, follow Him, love Him, and not simply pay Him lip service whenever it’s convenient. He saved my soul from everlasting darkness. He took my wretchedness and the filthy rags with which I was clothed, bought me, cleansed me, sanctified me, made me His own, and gave me white garments that I might be welcomed into His kingdom and given a seat at the marriage supper of the Lamb.

He took my death and gave me life. He took my blindness and gave me sight. He took my heart of stone and gave me a heart of flesh. He took my will and replaced it with the indwelling of His Spirit, and He did all those things for you as well. When we keep the reality of what Jesus did and what God sacrificed on our behalf at the forefront of our minds, we will evermore walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time.    

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr. 

Job CCXXXI

  Job 21:14-16, “Yet they say to God, ‘Depart from us, for we do not desire the knowledge of Your ways. Who is the Almighty, that we should serve Him? And what profit do we have if we pray to Him?’ Indeed their prosperity is not in their hand; the counsel of the wicked is far from me.”

It’s easy to fall into the snare of envying the wicked who prosper. As was the case in Job’s day, it’s easy to look upon those who want nothing to do with God, who say to God depart from us, for we do not desire the knowledge of your ways, yet they nevertheless prosper, and to conclude that it’s unfair, or that the deck is stacked against the righteous.

If wealth, riches, or prosperity were the pinnacle of what God could offer to His children, we would all be doing backflips into swimming pools filled with cash. If opulence were the best God could offer those who are His, we would all be living in it. When we shift our perspective from seeing the world through the eyes of flesh to seeing it through spiritual eyes, we come to understand that the things men boast in, the wealth they flaunt and revel in, are the leavings, the trash, the detritus, rather than God’s best.

I realize it may not feel like it, or even seem like it at times, but it is nevertheless true. What God offers His children is superior to what the wicked enjoy in every way. Yes, you can be a child of God and have wealth, but you cannot be a child of Satan and feel God’s presence, Spirit, peace, joy, and love.

The defining question is whether we want what the world offers or what God offers. Do we look upon the wicked with envy or with pity? Does the desire of our heart extend to those things exclusive to God’s children, or are we satisfied with earthly scraps and useless trinkets that do nothing to strengthen our spiritual man?

It’s both telling and revelatory that much of what calls itself the church today focuses on the things of this world as though they were the apex of what God can give to His beloved, while dismissing the things that truly matter, that hold eternal weight, and that cannot be bottled, packaged, traded, sold, or bartered for.

No matter the amount of wealth he possesses, a rich man cannot buy eternal life, spiritual gifting, or the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. It’s not as though if they offer a million and God says no, He’ll change His mind if they offer ten. You cannot put a price on intimacy with God. You cannot put a price on the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. No dollar amount will get God’s attention and make Him reconsider. These things are reserved exclusively, unequivocally, and unapologetically for His sons and daughters alone.

The mindset that if you have enough money, you can buy anything is pervasive but false. Perhaps you can buy most things, but not everything, especially when it comes to what truly matters. You can’t buy happiness, you can’t buy contentment, you can’t buy salvation, you can’t buy fulfilment, you can’t buy peace, joy, or true purpose for that matter. When you think about it, there’s a lot that money can’t buy, and some of the most miserably unhappy people I’ve ever met happened to have overflowing coffers. Between acquiring it and figuring out how to keep it, many affluent individuals find themselves in the twilight of their existence with nothing to show for the life they’ve lived but a few zeros on a screen, which is cold comfort indeed.

God is not a salesman. He is not in the business of selling His children’s inheritance for baubles or things that will eventually be burned up. There was a man who tried, early on, when the church was barely getting off the ground and could have used an injection of capital. If everything revolves around money as some would have us believe, and the only reason we give is to get more of it, then Peter should have tried to work out a deal, maybe bargain a bit, or at least see what Simon’s opening gambit was. There were, after all, widows to feed, the poor to tend to, and I’m sure the kitchen could have used an upgrade.

Acts 8:18-20, “And when Simon saw that through the laying on of the apostles’ hands the Holy Spirit was given, he offered them money, saying, ‘Give me this power also, that anyone on whom I lay hands may receive the Holy Spirit.’ But Peter said to him, ‘Your money perish with you, because you thought that the gift of God could be purchased with money! You have neither part nor portion in this matter, for your heart is not right in the sight of God.”’

It never crossed Peter’s mind to entertain the offer. His interest was not piqued; he did not ask what number Simon was thinking of, but in his brutally honest fashion, Peter shut down the possibility of Simon’s request ever being considered. We’ve seen far too many spiritual leaders compromise and prostitute themselves for the sake of clout or the promise of a hefty tithe check. We see the preferential treatment certain people get, and it’s not the poor or downtrodden, but usually someone with prominence, name recognition, and influence.

By all accounts, Simon was a man of influence in Samaria, with some being convinced that he was the great power of God. He was a sorcerer and had been astonishing the people for a long time. Why didn’t Peter consider a collaboration? Why didn’t he ride Simon’s coattails and stand on the stage hand in hand with him, smiling broadly as Simon vouched for him? He was, after all, a known commodity in Samaria, and the people would have responded more positively to Peter had he included Simon in his evangelistic outreach.

The simple answer is that light and darkness do not mix. It is a lesson many pastors, evangelists, bishops, or preachers should have taken to heart, and it would have saved them from having to wipe egg off their faces time after time.

Peter’s answer wasn’t a simple no, or I don’t think so, but he drove the point home to such an extent as to open Simon’s eyes to his sin, his need for repentance, and expose his heart as being poisoned by bitterness and bound by iniquity. There was no glad-handing to be had, no shout-outs from the pulpit, just a rebuke and a call to repentance. Radical, I know, but maybe, just maybe, we should reintroduce the call for repentance to our sermons and insist upon its need resolutely and unapologetically, no matter who’s sitting in the front row, rather than coddling them into hell.

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.