Job CCXXXIX

 Job 22:1-5, “Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said: “Can a man be profitable to God, though he who is wise may be profitable to himself? Is it any pleasure to the Almighty that you are righteous? Or is it gain to Him that you make your ways blameless? Is it because of your fear of Him that He corrects you, and enters into judgment with you? Is not your wickedness great, and your iniquity without end?”

A man can wax poetic about his deep wisdom for hours on end, then one slip of the tongue upturns the apple cart. It’s usually when they’re frustrated, vexed, or defensive about some untenable position that the mask slips, and the handful of words they say exposes the reality that they were only wise in their own eyes. The knowledge they claimed to have was nonexistent, and although utterly ignorant regarding the nature and character of the God they took it upon themselves to speak on, their pride will convince them they are in the right.

Something Job had said had gotten under Eliphaz’s skin to the extent that whatever façade of wisdom he was trying to project collapsed, and in its stead, we see a man grasping at straws, insisting that God doesn’t care either way. Is it any pleasure to the Almighty that you are righteous? Or is it a gain to Him that you make your ways blameless? Even if you were the innocent, upright man you claim to be, do you really think God notices or even cares?

Which is it, sir? You can’t have it both ways; you can’t have your cake and eat it too. Either Job was the wicked, unrepentant man you painted him to be, or a righteous man whose righteousness did not move the heart of God, nor affected the way God viewed him. A proverbial ocean separates the righteous from the wicked, the upright from the evil, those who fear the Lord, and those who are indifferent toward Him, and a man can’t be both simultaneously. You have to pick a lane. Either Job was wicked or righteous, but to insist that God didn’t care either way is something so intellectually dishonest as to make us look at Eliphaz in a whole new light.

Perhaps it was due to his status as the eldest among his three friends, the most respected, since he always the first to speak from among them, or the perceived superior wisdom he thought himself to possess over the others, but it seems as though Eliphaz has something to prove, and this last and final speech of his differs in tone and content from all the others we’ve studied thus far.

While the first half of the chapter is brutal in its accusations, assumptions, and innuendos, the second half is far more conciliatory, almost poetic, as though two different streams of thought are vying for control. There is an undeniable duality in Eliphaz. He is a man at odds with himself, struggling between leaning on his own understanding and allowing for the possibility of seeing the situation from a different angle.

Eliphaz is not unique in his struggle between what he can see, touch, intuit, or perceive with his human intellect, and what is beyond his understanding, or ability to reason out on his own. Whatever the situation, whenever we start out believing we know everything there is to know, and there is no new information or evidence that can sway us from this knowledge, or the conclusions we’ve come to in our minds, we’ve shut ourselves off from the possibility that things aren’t as they seem, or that we are not as wise as we thought ourselves to be in our own eyes. I have declared it thusly, and it must be so because I have declared it! And you would be?

Although humility is not a popular virtue nowadays, it is a necessary one for the children of God, because when we walk in humility, we acknowledge that only God is all-knowing, only He is omniscient, and defer to Him on matters that aren’t as clear as we once thought.

Job’s predicament was obvious to everyone. What wasn’t as obvious was why he was in the predicament he was in. Based on what they could see, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar had concluded that the reason for his suffering could be none other than wickedness on his part, some sin heretofore unconfessed that spurned the wrath of God against him.

It’s human nature to try to make sense of what we see and process it in a way that fits neatly into our understanding of the world around us. If I see a bedraggled man on the street, clothes torn and grimy, my first thought is that he must be homeless. If I took a closer look and processed what I was seeing without the filter of my preconception that unkempt, grimy, disheveled individuals are likely homeless, I would have noticed certain details that would contradict my previous conclusions, such as the shoes the man was wearing were higher-end wing tips, the torn suit seemed finely tailored, and based on the new evidence I would have to conclude he’d likely been robbed, beaten bloody, and left in an alley until he came to.

Man judges based on what he can see. God judges based on what is seen, unseen, and what can only be seen by Him. When we appropriate the authority and omniscience of God, and go beyond what we rightly understand, passing judgment on individuals or situations regarding which we do not have complete knowledge, it isn’t a quest for truth that’s egging us on, but our own pride and arrogance.

It’s no sin to abstain from passing judgment. It’s not your place to judge anyway. We cannot infer causality based on probability, then conclude that someone lost a child, a spouse, a parent, or a loved one because they were wicked, or that they’re bedridden because God was punishing them. We’re not talking about sin or wickedness, which, biblically speaking, we have a duty to call out, but rather about assigning guilt for sin or wickedness to someone based on a hardship or trial they are going through.

You are suffering, therefore you have sinned. But I’ve searched my heart, I’ve cried out to God, I’ve asked Him to show me if there is any wickedness in me, and there is nothing. I’m not hiding anything; there is nothing I would not be willing to repent of if He showed me it was contrary to His will because my singular desire is to be pleasing in His sight. Well, that just won’t cut it, because if you hadn’t committed great wickedness, you wouldn’t be suffering; therefore, you must have!

Do not assign purpose to someone’s suffering when no purpose is clear. Only God knows the purpose, and it may be that what we see as punishment for sin is a testing of one’s faith that, once they have endured, will bring about the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. 

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr. 

CCXXXVIII

 Job 21:27-34, “Look, I know your thoughts, and the schemes with which you would wrong me. For you say, ‘Where is the house of the prince? And where is the tent, the dwelling place of the wicked?’ Have you not asked those who travel the road? And do you not know their signs? For the wicked are reserved for the day of doom; they shall be brought out on the day of wrath. Who condemns his way to his face? And who repays him for what he has done? Yet he shall be brought to the grave, and a vigil kept over the tomb. The clods of the valley shall be sweet to him; everyone shall follow him, as countless have gone before him. How then can you comfort me with empty words, since falsehood remains in your answers?”

Job knew his friends well enough to predict what they would say in response to his oratory. Even in the midst of the pain and loss he was suffering, he still had presence of mind, he still heard their words, and was able to formulate a cogent, coherent retort in kind. It’s undeniable that Job was made of sturdy stuff, not only possessing a noble character, a pure heart, but also a steel spine that refused to bend to the onslaught of words and accusations spewed at him by his friends. Job was a man of character who held to his convictions and stood on principle. It would be refreshing to see likewise in much of Christendom today, especially when it comes to the self-titled spiritual elites who boast of little to nothing, then somehow always make their way back to sacrificial giving so they can do more of the same.

When the ratio between those who wilt like a plucked rose every time they are called upon to stand for the truth and defend it, and those who will speak the truth, well aware of the backlash they will likely endure, is ten to one, you no longer have to wonder why the church is in the shape it’s in, or why it seems as though we’re spinning our wheels doing little more than going through the motions hoping for something different to occur.

One of the great lessons of life that many today fail to learn is the ability to be comfortable in uncomfortable situations. We were never called upon to be man pleasers; we were called upon to be God pleasers. If my words or actions are intended to please men, placate them, or compel them to accept me in their clique, rather than be pleasing to God, I have failed in my mission and will be called to answer for my timidity and disloyalty. Yes, it is disloyal when, knowing what the Word of God says, we choose to dilute it, twist it, and reinterpret it for the sake of acceptance.   

The sifting that is coming upon the household of faith, and some might say the sifting that has already begun, is not undeserved. God didn’t suddenly decide to lay down the law or insist upon righteousness among those claiming to be His. His standard has always been clearly defined in His Word; men just thought they could get away with not even striving to live up to it.

Job knew his friends would either try to twist his words or insist upon evidence regarding the wicked and their seemingly prosperous lives. He likewise knew that their reasoning wouldn’t come from an honest desire to understand, but because they saw their interactions with him as a tug of war, a war of wills, and one they were determined to win, even if they had to play dumb and ask for proof of the obvious.

You speak of these things, but where is the house of the prince, and the dwelling place of the wicked? We don’t see them; can you point them out? I’ve been faced with the same reaction when confronting sin in the church, and how far too many choose the flesh over their spiritual man. Where are these sinners you speak of? Where is all this sin you’re insisting exists in the church? My answer is the same as Job’s was to his friends: just open your eyes and look around. It’s not hard to find. It’s not something hidden anymore; it’s prevalent, cross-denominational, and not reserved to the laymen, but to those who are in authority, and who insist they are the shepherds of the flock of God’s people.

This was to be Zophar’s last attempt at convincing Job he was in the wrong, that he had sinned, that he’d committed wickedness of such offense in God’s sight as to deserve what he was getting and more besides. Job’s final words to his friend were honest and heartbreaking all at once because his friend had not set out to cause him to despair, but rather to comfort him. Somewhere along the way, whether knowingly or unknowingly, he’d turned into his accuser, and once he set out upon his path, he never looked back.

I’ve had a counterargument for everything you’ve said. I’ve shown you that it’s not black and white, but that sometimes what occurs doesn’t make sense, and is incongruent with how we view the world, and existence itself. Sometimes the wicked do prosper, sometimes the righteous do suffer, but you’re unwilling to allow for the possibility that you were wrong in your assessment. How then can you comfort me with empty words, since falsehood remains in your answers?

In the end, we all return to the earth. In the end, we will all stand before an omniscient God who judges with righteous judgment, not based on the titles we held, the wealth we amassed, the honor we received from men, or the image we projected. We will stand before God, who does not see as man sees, but who judges the heart and from whom nothing is hidden.

Joel 2:13, “So rend your heart, and not your garments; return to the Lord your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness; and He relents from doing harm.”

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr. 

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.