Job CCCLVII

 I’m old enough to remember life before GPS and turn-by-turn instructions with real-time satellite imaging of congestion, traffic jams, and accidents. Having the world in the palm of your hand is convenient, to be sure, as is estimating your time of arrival within a five-minute window, but convenience comes at a cost, and one of the things we’ve lost along the way is the sense of adventure inherent in guessing which way you should turn, what highway you should take, and how exactly you ended up on the Polish border when you were expecting to cross into Austria.

I traveled a lot when I was younger, put on enough miles to rival an over-the-road, long-haul truck driver, and have enough stories to last me a lifetime. If the journey was more than a ten-hour drive, whenever the individual you were supposed to visit asked when you thought you were arriving, your best estimate was Tuesday rather than before six pm, but not after seven.

One of the multitude of graces we take for granted today, when we consider the time Job lived in, is that we have turn-by-turn instructions, a roadmap laid out in the Word, that all we need do is adhere to in order to reach our destination. Even so, none of us can say with any degree of certainty when we will reach it.

Job thought he was days away from ending his journey, and given his condition, that was a reasonable assumption; yet he lived another hundred and forty years beyond what he thought would surely be his end. There is an end point for all of us. Whether in a year, ten, or fifty, we will all, at one point, shake off this mortal coil, see a sunset for the last time, hug our loved ones for the last time, enjoy fellowship for the last time, then eternity.

Some of us get so caught up with wondering when our exit is coming up that we fail to cherish the journey. We death-grip the steering wheel and become obsessed with when the off-ramp will be, living in a constant state of stress regarding something we have no control over. God’s got it. He always has. Follow the instructions, and enjoy the ride.

Yes, sometimes the road may get bumpy, at other times so winding that your stomach might start to protest, but as long as you’re headed in the right direction, toward God and not away from Him, keep going. My duty is not to entertain the thoughts of when it all might end, but to ensure that when it does, I’ve finished well.

The destination is the destination. There is no place between now and then that is a viable option to pitch our tents and proceed no further. Nor is turning back to revisit the past something healthy for our spiritual man. We press ever onward, not looking back, not being distracted by shiny things off in the distance, but faithfully following after the One who promised he was going to prepare a place for us.

God knows the plans He has for you. For most of us, He does not disclose those plans, so trying to gauge what we can accomplish in five years, ten years, or even five days is foolhardy at best. This moment is all we have, and our duty before God is to redeem this moment for His glory and honor.

Some who think they have decades left will never see another moon cycle, while others who believe that death is knocking at their door and will soon kick it in will live for years still. When is God’s territory, and it is within His purview to determine such things. When we try to control things we have no way of controlling while simultaneously ignoring and putting off the things we have agency over, things we can control and do, we are wasting the most precious resource we’ve been given, which is time.

You have agency over whether you read your Bible today or not. You have agency over whether you spend time in prayer today or not. You have agency over whether you buy a hot meal for someone who is hungry today or not. These are things that you and I can control. When you close your eyes for the last time is not something you can control, so why fret about it?

We all want to move mountains, but it begins with the first pebble. It begins with the first shovelful of dirt, the first wheelbarrow, and given enough time, given enough consistency, that pebble will turn into a mound, which will turn into a hill, which will turn into a mountain that has been moved. It would be nice to see it happen in a breath or the blink of an eye, and sometimes, in His grace, God does just that, wherein He remedies a situation that seemed insurmountable to human intellect, but more often than not it’s a matter of degrees and forward momentum, and being diligent in the doing of the work required.

Did you spend more time today in God’s presence than you did yesterday? If the answer is yes, that is forward momentum, and it is a good thing. Have you spent more time in prayer today than yesterday, and has your prayer life grown month to month and year to year? If the answer is yes, that is forward momentum, and it is a good thing.

You know yourself well enough to know if you’re making progress, if you’re growing, maturing, and building up your faith, or spinning your wheels going from one distraction to another, grasping at straws and fanciful fables. If you can be honest enough with yourself to acknowledge the lack of progress, and take steps to rectify it, all you need do is knock, and He will open. All you need do is ask, and He will give. Desire fellowship with God and you will have it. Desire understanding, and you will glean it, not by osmosis, but by diligently studying the word of God, and seeing His truth revealed to you.

Time is running out for all of us. The gray hair, the achy joints, attest to the reality that we are getting older, and even if we’ve squandered more time than we would like to admit up until this point, today is the day it can all change, turn around, and we can double our efforts in redeeming the time and growing in God.

I can’t tell you how much time you have left; I’m not God. All I know is that as long as you draw breath, you have the ability to deepen your relationship with Him, and growing in God is never wasted time, for it pays dividends now and into eternity.      

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr. 

Job CCCLVI

 Job 42:12-17, “Now the Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning; for he had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, one thousand yoke of oxen, and one thousand female donkeys. He also had seven sons and three daughters. And he called the name of the first Jemimah, the name of the second Keziah, and the name of the third Keren-Happuch. In all the land were found no women so beautiful as the daughters of Job; and their father gave them an inheritance among their brothers. After this Job lived one hundred and forty years, and saw his children and grandchildren for four generations. So Job died, old and full of days.”

Job had endured; he had persevered; he had clung to his faith, resisted the whispers to curse God and die, rejected the ideas of his friends when they insisted he’d committed wickedness, and pressed on. As the adage goes, when you’re in it, the only way out of it is through it, and one way or another, Job knew there was a terminus to his pain, grief, struggle, and hardship. He could neither know nor control how that end would manifest, but he trusted the God he served. He would have liked an explanation; he would have liked to know why, and even how it would end, but to make demands of God is to place oneself on equal footing, and that Job would not do.  

It’s one thing to ask, petition, and request something of God; it’s quite another to demand it. When we ask or request, we submit to His will in that particular matter. When we demand, we insinuate that our will supersedes His, and He must do as we demand.

We get so caught up in the nonsense, so enamored with the idea that we can decree a thing, no matter what it is, and regardless of God’s will on the matter, that we forget even Jesus formulated His prayer in such a way wherein the will of the Father superseded His, and the final decision would be left to God alone.

Matthew 26:39, “He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, ‘O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.”’

This was not some trivial matter Jesus was praying about. It was a matter of life and death, yet Jesus acquiesced to the will of the Father, insisting that though He would prefer that this cup pass from Him, if it were possible, the Father’s will is all that mattered.

Some of us want what we want and will not let something as tertiary as God’s will interfere with it or change our minds on the matter. This is what I have decided; this is what I have decreed; this is how I see my life in five years, ten years, and it matters not if it’s in harmony with God’s will or if God desires for me what I desire for myself. When men adopt such a mindset, every step is drudgery, because rather than walking with God, they pull against Him, dragging their feet, stopping in the middle of their journey, deciding things they have no authority to decide because, in the moment, to their intellect, it seems the better way than what God has set before them.

What ought to have taken forty days for the people of Israel ended up taking forty years. Oftentimes, the trial, testing, and hardship we must overcome and endure take much longer than they ought to because of our unwillingness to submit to the plan and purpose of God.

He will have His way, eventually. His will is supreme, and He does as He wills, and the fastest way to get through it is to pray for strength and endurance, faith and resilience, rather than constantly insisting we’re being treated unfairly, asking to know how it ends, or attempting to get God to change His mind on the matter.

For Job, death had become a foregone conclusion. Never in his wildest imaginings did he consider the possibility that everything he’d lost would be restored to him, and doubly so. He felt death so near for so long that it had become a constant companion, and the best he hoped for was an end to the misery, but God had other plans.

Whatever it is in your life that seems impossible, never allow yourself to consider the lie that God can’t fix it, restore it, heal it, or make it whole. “God can’t do that” should never pass the lips of any one of His sons or daughters, because they would be speaking a lie. God can do anything as long as it is in His will to do it, not because He is miserly or His powers get depleted, but because what you believe will be the remedy would make it that much worse, and He knows it.

Job asked to die, but God didn’t let him. It wasn’t because He was cruel and wanted to see him suffer just a little more, but because His plan for Job was to restore him, bless him beyond what he had been, and give him another hundred and forty years of life where he saw his children and grandchildren for four generations grow and flourish.

To think you were at death’s door only to be given another hundred and forty years on this earth is no small thing. To have been the greatest of the people of the East, lost it all, having nothing save for a potsherd with which to scratch yourself, and a pile of ashes upon which to rest, only to be given double what you lost, is not an insignificant matter.

Trust God. Even when things look grim, and your logical mind can’t see a way to remedy the situation you find yourself in, trust God! He sees a way even if you don’t, and He will make a way even if none is visible at the outset.

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.  

Job CCCLV

Once the dust settles, everyone comes out of the woodwork insisting they were by your side all along. When you’re in the midst of being battered and bruised, radio silence is the expectation du jour, with those only pretending to be your friends or fellow soldiers of the cross giving you a wide berth as though you were toxic, or your hardship was somehow contagious, but once you get through it, they reappear like mushrooms after a summer rain, as if out of nowhere.

Those who strive for honesty will proffer an apology of some sort, unwilling to meet your eyes for fear that the guilt they feel is too plainly written therein, while those who don’t will insist they were always there, holding your hand, but you were just too busy to notice.

The only one you need standing beside you to get through the fire and out the other side is God. If God stands with you, all is well, will end well, and there’s nothing the devil can do to change the course that God has established if you remain faithful to Him.

Where were all of Job’s brothers, sisters, and those who had been his acquaintances while he sat on an ash heap scratching at himself with a potsherd? Unhelpful as they had been in the final analysis, at least Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar had shown up. At least they’d traveled from afar to try and comfort their friend. Other than Job’s wife, nothing was mentioned of his surviving extended family or acquaintances until the last chapter of the book. Once they’d learned of his downfall, they were nowhere to be found, yet now that he had been restored, and doubly so, they were quick to make amends.

“Then all his brothers, all his sisters, and all those who had been acquaintances before, came to him and ate food with him in his house; and they consoled him and comforted him for all the adversity the Lord had brought upon him.”

There are always bound to be men highlighting their bravery after a battle is won, and more often than not the loudest ones were never on the front line. The boisterous, self-aggrandizing, and those insisting that without them the battle would have been lost usually never saw the whites of the enemy’s eyes, nor did they go toe-to-toe in a life-or-death struggle. Those that do are usually quiet, reserved, unwilling to revisit the horrors of battle, grateful to be alive, and looking forward to returning to their loved ones.

The household of faith is overflowing with what amounts to stolen valor, and it’s those who’ve never seen a day of spiritual warfare that are the loudest, insisting that they are the warriors Jeremiah, Isaiah, Moses, and Job wished they’d been.

The problem is that boasts and theatrics will only get you so far. At the end of the day, you will have to answer for pretending to be something you weren’t, not to men, but to God. You will be called to account for having pretended to be a warrior without possessing armor, or insisting you were on the battlefield without the scars to show for it, when all you were was a teller of fables, regurgitating the lives others have lived, pretending as though it was your own.

The real ones know that the victory was not of their own making, design, or due to their knowledge of battle stratagem. They understand that victory was had by the power of God residing in them, and they are but servants, soldiers, vessels who could do nothing if they remained empty and were not filled with His presence.

The funny thing is that some of the most powerfully used men of God that I have been honored to know throughout the years never boasted of themselves, never attempted to stand in the spotlight, or insisted they were spiritually superior to anyone else. To the last, they were humble men who humbled themselves, picked up their crosses, and followed after Jesus every day, like everyone else.

Beware the man who elevates himself above the station of servant, or thinks himself special in his own eyes. Beware the individual for whom being known by a particular title is more important than being known for their humility.

Yes, Job’s brothers, sisters, and acquaintances had wronged him, just as Joseph’s brothers would later wrong him, yet the reaction of both men is almost identical in that they did not resent, browbeat, or hold it over their heads, but forgave. Job did not turn them away, but ate food with them in his house, and even at this late hour, although Job understood God’s plan, his brothers and sisters did not.

They still assumed that the adversity that had come upon him was brought upon him by the Lord. They still viewed God as a cruel taskmaster who took joy in seeing his servants suffer, rather than understanding that although God had allowed Satan to sift Job, it was not God doing the sifting Himself.

This distinction matters because it shapes the lens through which we view God. Yes, God allowed Job’s testing, and the devil went as far as he could go in attempting to sway Job into abandoning his hope, but even then there were guardrails and limitations placed on the devil by which he had to abide. Understand that were Satan allowed to run loose and do as he willed, there would be nothing of this world but ash and ruin. There is no sympathy, empathy, kindness, gentleness, or mercy when it comes to the enemy of our souls. He takes delight in suffering; nothing makes him squeamish or think he’s gone too far, and any armistice the church thinks it has with him is no less than an illusion.

If God desired to crush Job, it would have been done on day one, so utterly and completely that though he had once been the greatest of all the people of the East, his name would have been a long-forgotten byword within a generation. God allowed Job’s testing, not his destruction. Job proved faithful, and now all that had been lost during his testing was restored, and doubly so.

Mark 10:29-30, “So Jesus answered and said, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My sake and the gospel’s, who shall not receive a hundredfold now in this time – houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions – and in the age to come, eternal life.”’

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.  

Job CCCLIV

 When Job’s life began to unravel, and everything that could go wrong went wrong and then some, he made an often-quoted statement that, at the time, had no proof of concept beyond his current lot. He summarized what had occurred in his life thus far, acknowledging the reality of it without bitterness, resentment, or animosity. He had no way of knowing how it would turn out, or that the Lord would give him twice as much as he had before, but was at peace with the reality that the Lord is sovereign; He does as He wills, and whether He gives or takes, His name is blessed in equal measure. “The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.”

Yes, the Lord had given, and He had taken away, and even in the taking, Job was resolute in blessing the name of the Lord, wholly unaware of how the drama would unfold, how it would play out, and how it would eventually end.

Job never saw himself as the star of his own show, the nexus of his universe, or the linchpin of this narrative. Job saw himself as a servant, one whose desire was intimacy with his Master, and whatever his Master deemed the best course, whether in the valley or on the mountaintop, He was deserving of praise.

Did he at times grow weary? Most assuredly, any man would, but through it all Job did not sin nor charge God with wrong. There is a reason beyond our understanding when our best-laid plans go sidewise, seemingly in an instant, and if our faith is not cemented in the truth of who God is, and we are serving a projection of who we would like God to be, despondency, gloom, and hopelessness are sure to pay us a visit and stay for a while.

The same God who took away can restore, and doubly so, just as easily as He took away. That’s His purview; it’s under His control, and the only thing we have agency over is how we react to the trials, the hardships, the setbacks, and the valleys. What is my attitude in the valley? Is it the same as it would be on the mountaintop? How do I react to failure? Is it with the same words of blessing and praise to the Lord on my lips as would have been had I succeeded?

If your praise, adoration, worship, obedience, and faithfulness are contingent on outcome, if you only praise Him when things are going well, or serve Him when you have not a care in the world, that’s not true and abiding faith. It is a reaction to a perceived favor, and the continuation of that fealty is not rooted in love, but fear that the favor you’ve been shown would be removed were you to reveal your true self. God already knows your true self. He knows if you serve Him out of love or obligation. He knows whether your loyalty is dependent on anything other than what He’s already done to save you from the mire and reconcile you to Him.

God knew Job. He knew his heart; He knew his intentions; He knew his innermost desire, and the sincerity with which he yearned to be in His presence. God knew that Job’s fealty wasn’t feigned, that he wasn’t faking it until he made it, or pretending to desire more of God, hoping He wouldn’t see through his charade and bless him even more. His desire for more of God superseded all else in His life, and as long as God’s presence was evident, he could abide anything.

Even with all that he’d been through, the one thing that Job insisted he could not abide was God’s silence and the absence of His presence. He’d endured the loss of all his material possessions, had borne the pain of burying his children, had gritted his teeth in the face of the pain he was in, but the one thing that was too much for him to contend with was God’s silence.

Testing and trial reveal one’s innermost heart. If the heart is singularly focused on being pleasing in the sight of the Lord, on growing in Him and knowing Him more fully, then nothing that life may bring will detour you from that singular purpose.

It answers the ever-present question of why some men can stand in the midst of the tempest, while others get bowled over by the softest breeze. Those who endure and manage to stand, coming through fire all the stronger for it, not only have a right understanding of what the purpose of this life is, but pursue God and Him alone. They don’t chase after fortune nor fame; they don’t desire to be known or leave their mark on the world, but simply to serve, follow, and obey.

The idea that coming to Jesus is a guarantee of ease and comfort for the rest of one’s life, or that life will be lived on easy mode for the rest of your days, isn’t just unbiblical but contrary to the words of Jesus Himself. If that’s the Jesus you’ve been sold, if that’s the pitch that stirred you to respond in the affirmative to the call, you will be shaken at the first wave that barrels into your boat, or the first unexpected trial that surfaces seemingly out of nowhere.

If Job’s hope rested in the things he possessed rather than in God, his story would have ended very differently. If he’d equated health, wealth, prosperity, and favor with being in right standing with the Almighty, he too would have questioned his uprightness just as his friends had. If Job served God only in the good times, he would have turned his back on God after the second or third wave that came to wash away everything he’d spent a lifetime building. But Job was a blameless and upright man, who feared God, and shunned evil. Try as he might, there was nothing the devil could do to dampen his resolve or cause him to charge God with wrong. He had a right understanding of who God was, the right attitude when facing adversity, and the right heart, desiring nothing more than the presence of God. Oh, that we would have the wisdom of Job.

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.  

Job CCCLIII

 There is a profundity to the second sentence in this passage that many overlook, or seem not to notice, but that nevertheless applies to everyone who has ever had to forgive, let go, and unburden themselves of resentments, past wrongs done to them, and the individuals responsible: “And the Lord restored Job’s losses when he prayed for his friends.”

The only ones to receive instruction regarding Job praying for them were his three friends. We are never told that God also went to Job to instruct him to pray for them, nor that He commanded Job to do so. God left it up to Job whether he would pray for his three friends, but by the same token, God restored Job’s losses only when he prayed for his friends. That reality is deeper than many perceive or understand.

Forgiveness was Job’s final test. I’ve looked at this passage, pondered it, meditated upon it, and it’s the only conclusion I can come to. Before everything could be restored to him, Job had one final hurdle, one last action he must undertake, and that was to forgive.

Like all his other testing, God was silent on the matter. He didn’t hint at what Job should do; He just sent his friends to be prayed for, and waited to see what would come of it. Job already knew what the right thing was; now he just had to follow through and release any latent bitterness that might still be present in his heart.

It’s far easier to tell someone else they must forgive than to go through the process of forgiveness yourself. Not merely saying you’ve forgiven someone, not simply speaking words, but actually doing it in your heart, when no resentment or bitterness remains for the way you were treated, or the things that were falsely said about you.

Unless you’ve lived in a bubble all your life, or aren’t old enough to ride in a car without a car seat, we’ve all been mistreated, spoken evil of, or mischaracterized at some point. Doubly so if you happen to be in the public eye, are in some type of ministry, or have a large circle of acquaintances you interact with regularly.

To many, especially in our hyper-sensitive day and age when we’ve invented terms such as microaggression and unconscious bias, what Job’s friends did would be unforgivable. This wasn’t an arched eyebrow or some perceived slight. They came out and accused him of wickedness deserving of his loss, pain, and situation, and concluded that he wasn’t suffering enough. He should be grateful that after losing all his worldly possessions, his children, his health, the respect of his spouse, and the abandonment of those he once deemed loyal, he still wasn’t getting what he deserved; for had he been, it would have been far worse. How could it have been worse? His friends never elaborated, but they were certain that it would have been.

All this while Job knew himself to be innocent, and more importantly, God knew him to be innocent. It wasn’t making a mountain out of a molehill; there was no molehill to begin with. Every accusation brought against him had been wholly fabricated; everything hinged on the theory of causation, wherein, since Job was suffering, he must have been guilty of wickedness because he was suffering.

Anyone believing this was an easy thing to forgive or get over has never gone through something similar, but as one who has, let me assure you, it’s not as easy as one might think. Even so, unless you enjoy the weight of a mountain pressing down on you, you must do your utmost to forgive those who have wronged you because only then will the peace and light of joy burn away the bitterness, frustration, anger, angst, and resentment.

I can speak on this because I’ve lived it. Not once, but multiple times, and every time, true peace came about only when I determined in my heart to forgive those who had wronged me. No, I didn’t show up to their door informing them that they’d been forgiven; they never asked for forgiveness, but it wasn’t about them and me; it was about me and God, my relationship with Him, and the attitude I knew I must exhibit as one of His children.

The issue was not about whether Job could ever restore his relationship with his three friends; it was about the attitude of his heart toward the God he served. When God sent the three to ask Job to pray for them, it wasn’t so much a test of their obedience as a test of Job’s heart.

Why do I say this? Because if God ever spoke to me and said His wrath had been stirred against me, and I must go and ask another whom I’d judged wrongly for prayer lest I be dealt according to my folly, it wouldn’t really be a choice. It wouldn’t be about doing the right thing, but about doing what I needed to do to ensure that I did not incur God’s wrath.

Job, on the other hand, had no vested interest in praying for his three friends, other than the rightness of his heart and the awareness that it would be pleasing in the sight of the Lord. He did the right thing because it was the right thing to do, even if in light of what had transpired they were undeserving of his kindness or prayer.

Matthew 6:14-15, “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”

We do not forgive only when we deem someone was apologetic enough, humble enough, or when they’ve asked for forgiveness enough times. We forgive knowing that when we do, we are likewise forgiven by our heavenly Father.

If you deem yourself so righteous as to never require forgiveness, then by all means, don’t forgive, ever, no matter how small or insignificant the matter. But if you know yourself to be in need of forgiveness from your heavenly Father, then be quick to forgive, without delay or recrimination.

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr. 

Job CCCLII

 Job 42:9-11, “So Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite went and did as the Lord commanded them; for the Lord had accepted Job. And the Lord restored Job’s losses when he prayed for his friends. Indeed the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before. Then all his brothers, all his sisters, and all those who had been his acquaintances before, came to him and ate food with him in his house; and they consoled him and comforted him for all the adversity the Lord had brought upon him. Each one gave him a piece of silver and each a ring of gold.”

There are two important takeaways in the first two sentences of this passage, one more obvious than the other if one is not meditating upon the passage and simply skimming it. The obvious takeaway is that all three of Job’s friends did as the Lord commanded, without delay or grumbling, because God had spoken it. They did not attempt to justify their actions, nor did they deem what God had asked of them too humbling; they did as they were commanded.

Give credit where credit is due: they did far more than many are willing to do today, because where they obeyed without delay, men spend years, if not decades, attempting to convince God that it’s better for them in the grand scheme if they didn’t obey, if they didn’t do as they were commanded, and followed their own urgings rather than the voice of God.

Some have even gone so far as to manufacture entire denominations just to keep from obeying the voice of God, thinking the denomination serves as a shield against God’s wrath, or will change His mind on what He previously commanded. God is not impressed by incorporation papers. Just because the state of Delaware recognizes you as a legal entity, it does nothing to countermand what God established in His word as the way in which we must follow.

We keep looking for false christs, thinking that since there’s no one of renown walking around in a robe and sandals claiming to be him, we still have time to drag our feet, stare at our navels, and take up whittling as a hobby. What many fail to realize is that a false Christ is nothing more than a counterfeit, a fake, a fugazy, something pretending to be authentic. The false christs are here, and multiplying; the false prophets, too, have made themselves known. Counterfeit gospels and those who peddle them seem to outnumber the true gospel at every turn. Yet, there we sit trying to convince ourselves that the hour is not so late, that we still have time, and that those insisting that we are in the endgame are no more than alarmists who feed off the fear of others.

If the preacher behind the pulpit is preaching a Jesus that is not mirrored in the Bible, if the Jesus they present is not in harmony with the Jesus of Scripture, then by definition they are preaching a false Christ. Anyone who’s ever gone through an ID check knows the process. You present your ID, the individual looks at the picture, then at you, then at the picture, then at you, to determine that it’s one and the same person. If, perchance, you present someone else’s ID, and the pictures don’t match, no matter how fervently you insist it’s you, you’re not getting on the flight. Scripture is Christ’s ID card. In it, we are presented with the reality of who He is, so clearly that even someone with a stigmatism can discern when what is said about Him doesn’t match what Scripture declares Him to be.

If the Christ presented to you doesn’t match up with the Christ presented in the Word, no matter how appealing, permissive, lax, non-judgmental, or accommodating he may seem, it’s not the real Christ!

If the Christ men present requires no repentance, sanctification, rebirth, obedience, and the daily picking up of one’s cross, it’s a false Christ, and one who has nothing in common with the true Christ.

Matthew 7:13-14, “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate, and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.”

If the self-appointed prophet insists that they received revelation contrary to what the Word says, or if, perchance, they attribute qualities to the One True God that He never claimed, then by definition they are a false prophet. We can try to split hairs, but that’s the reality of it, and many are being deceived. It’s no longer a future-time proposition; it’s happening in real time, and has been for years now.

We’ve lived through countless episodes of tomorrow’s rapture, and no matter how many times the predictions have failed, people still believe it, get amped up, put their pets in long-term care, tell everyone about it, only to suffer through the disappointment and deflation of not seeing it come to pass.      

It’s one thing to hear the voice of the Lord; it’s another to follow through and do as He commands. Jesus said, “Don’t go,” but we do. Jesus said, “Don’t believe them,” but we can’t help ourselves. We do the opposite of what He commanded, yet somehow manage to find a way to blame Him for not keeping to the words men spoke about Him, to the schedule they insisted He should abide by, and grow resentful toward Him, rather than rejecting the words of fools and their foolishness.

Deception gains traction because there is a demand for it. The devil does what he’s always done, but the appetite for far-flung theories, aberrant theology, and the twisting of Scripture has reached its zenith. Those with no fear of God, those whose only interest is the bottom line and the dollar amount attached to whatever bandwagon they get on, are more than happy to give the people what they want, to offer the supply for the endless demand of anything but Jesus.

Aliens? Sure, double helping please. Stargates? Absolutely! Hybrid humans, alien breeding cults, lizard people, playing hopscotch with God Himself as the twenty-four elders watch on and cheer? By all means, that sounds scrumptious. Jesus? Walking humbly with your Lord, denying yourself, picking up your cross? I think I’ll pass; I’m so full from all the other stuff, I don’t think I could manage another morsel.    

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr. 

Job CCCLI

 A few years back, when I was still traveling a lot more than I am today, I’d gotten to my destination a little before midnight, ready to check in and get some much-needed sleep. Even as I walked through the sliding double doors, I could hear raised voices coming from the check-in counter, but since I needed a bed, and the only way to get to it was to go through the process, I shuffled closer to the counter to see what the hubbub was all about.

An incensed woman was almost screaming and gesturing at a young lady who couldn’t have been more than twenty about how she wanted her room comped because although she’d requested two queen beds, she’d gotten a king, and that just wouldn’t do.

To her credit, the young lady did not reciprocate in raising her voice, but in a calm tone said, “I don’t have the authority to do that, ma’am. The manager will be here in the morning, and you can speak to him.”

Although that did nothing to lighten the mood or calm the yelling woman’s anger, the terms of the conversation had been established, and no matter how much she pointed, waived, yelled, threatened, and insisted that she was about to call her lawyer- which, since it was almost midnight, was absurd on its face, never mind that it was a La Quinta, and people who stay at La Quinta rarely, if ever, have a lawyer on retainer that they can wake up in the middle of the night- the young lady just stood there, a passive, serene look on her face.

Eventually, she asked the screaming woman to move aside so she could help the next customer, which happened to be me, also the only other customer. When I got up to the counter, after giving her a credit card for incidentals and a form of ID, and watching her chicken peck something into her computer, she looked up and said, “Your reservation is for a king bed, but unfortunately we’re sold out for the night. I can give you two queens if that’s okay.”

I shrugged, told her a bed was a bed and I just needed some sleep, and after asking how many keys I needed and gesturing with my index finger, I was in my room in less than five minutes.

I never did find out whether the screaming woman got comped for her room, but the point of the story is one we would do well to heed: know the limits of our authority, and do not exceed them!

The young lady knew she couldn’t accommodate the screaming woman because she didn't have the authority to hand out free rooms to every irate customer. It wasn't in her job description, and if she had done as the woman demanded and the manager found out the next morning, it would have either come out of her paycheck or she would have been fired for the presumption.

When men assume the mantle of God’s authority without His express permission, when they presume that their word is law and God must accede to their judgment, there will always be consequences, whether that entails a rebuke or, if it persists, punishment.

It’s neither sinful nor wrong, but wisdom itself to say I do not have the authority to make a judgment on this matter! It may not be what the other parties want to hear, and it will do nothing to balloon your pride; then again, you won’t be courting God’s wrath being aroused against you either.

Between trying to play at being Solomon and remaining humble enough to acknowledge that God’s authority on any given matter far exceeds yours, choose the latter over the former every time.

It’s one thing to call out a consistent, unrepentant pattern of sin; it’s another to assume that the individual has sinned because they are going through a trial, a hardship, or a testing. One is provable, demonstrable, and something that must be dealt with; the other is an assumption of causality that has no basis in fact.

It must have been a tough pill to swallow, being told that the man you tried to convince was guilty of wickedness was the selfsame man who was now supposed to pray and intercede on your behalf before God, lest God deal with you according to your folly. If Job’s friends had the right of it as they’d assumed, then it would have been they that would have been called upon to go and pray for Job, and perhaps lay hands on him. If their presumptions had proven true, this story would not have ended with them having to humble themselves and go to Job entreating him to pray for them.

Once God speaks, nothing else matters. Neither Eliphaz nor his two friends attempted to justify their behavior or debate God on the merits of their conclusions. They neither tried to mitigate their actions, nor did they insist that God was asking too much of them, since they were well-intentioned in attempting to get Job to see the error of their ways.

God told them what they needed to do so that they would not be dealt with according to their folly, and they did it: no backpedaling, no whining, no justifying, just obedience to the prescribed remedy.      

Psalm 96:10-13, “Say among the nations, ‘The Lord reigns; the world also is firmly established; it shall not be moved; He shall judge the peoples righteously.’ Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad; let the sea roar, and all its fullness; let the field be joyful, and all that is in it. Then all the trees of the woods will rejoice before the Lord. For He is coming, for He is coming to judge the earth. He shall judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with His truth.”

When God speaks, we either obey or go the way of rebellion. When He calls us out and identifies what we must repent of, we either follow through and do as He commands, or continue pursuing the things He’s told us we ought not to pursue.

It’s not that God doesn’t offer us a remedy, a means of reconciliation and restoration; it’s that many are too stubborn and stiff-necked to humble themselves in the sight of the Lord, do as He instructs, and receive forgiveness.  

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr. 

Job CCCL

 The prospect of one’s words arousing God's wrath is terrifying. More specifically, the words men speak regarding God. God made it clear as to why He was angry with Eliphaz, and there was no ambiguity about the reason: “My wrath is aroused against you and your two friends, for you have not spoken of me what is right.”

We’ve all witnessed the flippant way some individuals speak of God, the lack of reverence, the absence of godly fear, and every time you can’t help but wince and cringe and wonder if they truly understand what they’re doing, or if their desire for an audience overrides the reality that God does not take words spoken of Him that are untrue lightly.

When we attribute anything to God that He does not Himself declare to be true, we do what Eliphaz and his two friends did. We are speaking of God what is not right; we are projecting upon Him attributes He never claimed, and given His reaction to Eliphaz, we cannot conclude that He waves it off, or is indifferent toward them.

Yes, God gets wrathful. Yes, His wrath is aroused. Even the idea that God is a cheerful, grandfatherly sort who’s never cross with anyone, who does not judge sin, who does not punish the wicked, or is stirred in His wrath, is a projection by individuals, words they spoke about Him, that are not right, and for which they will one day have to answer.

My wrath is aroused against you and your two friends, for you have not spoken of Me what is right, as My servant Job has. Nothing in the world can make a man wilt faster than hearing that he has aroused God’s wrath against him. God does not make baseless threats. He does not declare a thing without the ability to follow through. God is not in the empty words business. He spoke the universe into existence; He fashioned man from the dust of the earth and breathed life into him, so if God says his wrath is aroused, whether against an individual or a nation, He has the wherewithal to punish the transgressor for their transgression.

Even in His wrath, God was not absent mercy. This was not blind rage; God is not dictated by emotion as some men are, so He didn’t feel compelled to lash out, but offered Eliphaz and his two friends an opportunity to make it right, to repent, and what that entailed was seven bulls and seven rams to be offered as a burnt offering, and the prayer of the man they’d judged, mistreated, disheartened, and accosted, on their behalf.

The time had come for Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar to account for the words they spoke about God that were not right. They weren’t words of denial, nor were they words of irreverence; some of the things they’d said were noble and complimentary, yet they were not right.

You can say nice things about God and still be wrong. Saying something complimentary doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the right thing, as Eliphaz just discovered. Just because they were nice words, they were not right words, because they assigned qualities to God that He never claimed.

Some people get so caught up in being praised that, even though they know the words being spoken about them fall short of the truth, they accept them and revel in them. This is how we get the inflated numbers we hear once in a while about how, at one crusade, more people gave their lives to Christ than the entire population of the country they were in, even though the largest space the crusade could have taken place in wouldn’t accommodate a tenth of the total number.

If we were to do a quick tally of some of the claims men have made regarding revival meetings and add them all together, every man, woman, and child within these United States ought to, by now, be saved and sanctified believers. Millions upon millions, they say, or someone says about them, and they never correct them, because, well, it is more impactful to hear that a million people gave their hearts to Jesus in one night at their altar call than twenty-three.

Notice, God’s wrath was not aroused against Eliphaz and his two friends because of what they’d spoken about Job that was not right, but what they’d spoken about Him that was not right. It’s not a distinction without a difference. Yes, they had misjudged Job; they had spoken things that were not right about him, but that was something they could have hashed out between themselves. They could have repented and apologized; Job would have graciously accepted their apology, and there was a chance that it could have been water under the bridge, forgiven and forgotten.

The three, however, had taken it upon themselves to speak things of God, to assume that they knew His thoughts and ways, His plan and purpose, and that was something God would not abide.

Not only did God reveal His displeasure at Eliphaz and his two friends for speaking things of Him that were not right, but He also justified Job in the same breath by declaring that what Job had said was right.

God picked a winner, and it ended the matter. Between Eliphaz and his two friends, and Job, one had spoken what was right regarding God, and the other three had not. Make certain you are on the side of right, because if God has to step in and clear up the matter, you may not like the outcome.

The same individuals who insist they would never be as myopic as Job’s three friends have no reservations about who they think will make it into heaven and who will be cast out. They can’t help themselves; it’s empowering. To sit in your moomoo on a given weekday and unequivocally decide who gets to walk through the pearly gates and who will find the doors barred is euphoric. While the euphoria passes, the words you spoke remain, and one day God will declare whether what you spoke was right or not, and be certain, consequences will follow. God is not mocked; it is one of those absolute realities that will not bend for anyone.     

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr. 

Job CCCXLIX

 None of Job’s three friends hesitated in passing their judgments. None of them had any hesitation when it came to declaring who God was, how He operated, what His will was, and what the ultimate reason for Job’s suffering stemmed from. They were certain. They would not be swayed, yet they were wrong. So wrong, in fact, that unless Job interceded on their behalf, unless he prayed for them, God would deal with them according to their folly.

God didn’t say they’d gotten it half right, or that there were some things they said about Him and about Job that made sense. He didn’t give them a pass, or insist that they’d spoken out of ignorance, but that what they’d spoken of Him was not right.

Men have varied opinions about God. Nowadays, it seems such opinions have little to no Scriptural basis, more a reflection of how they would like God to be if they could fashion Him for themselves. It is the same snare Job’s friends fell into, wherein they did not perceive God as He is, but as they would have preferred Him to be. They assigned attributes of their own design to His nature, they insisted that because they willed it to be so, God must be as they described Him, and all of it was folly, so off the mark that God had to step in and say, what you have spoken of me was not right; it wasn’t true; that’s not who I am, and you were wholly ignorant of my plan and purpose for my servant Job.

If your view and understanding of who God is contradicts who Scripture unequivocally declares that He is, it is not God who must change to suit your understanding, but you who must change to be in harmony with Scripture. If man’s will alone is sufficient to compel God to become something other than what He is, then Job’s three friends wouldn’t have found themselves in the position they were in.

God would not have rebuked them, nor demanded sacrifice, nor commanded that they go and entreat Job to pray and intercede on their behalf. Well, that’s how you see Me, so that’s who I’ll be, wasn’t God’s reply or attitude to their folly.

Idols are malleable. Gods of man’s own making upon which he can project the attributes and characteristics he desires are inconsistent and ever-changing depending on man's mood, wants, needs, desires, and peccadillos. They may be more permissive, tolerant, less demanding, and easily swayed, but they are not real. They are imagined, created, and shaped by the minds and hands of men, with no inherent power, identity, or will.

My god does as I will! Then he is no God. The Creator will never be subservient to His creation, nor His will inferior to their will. Job’s friends tried to paint a picture of the One True God, and God said, that looks nothing like me. You may have painted something to be sure, but as far as any likeness or resemblance, you missed the mark so thoroughly that unless my servant Job prays on your behalf, I will deal with you according to your folly.

God doesn’t change at man’s whims. He’s not looking to capture an audience, pander to a certain demographic, or ingratiate himself to a particular class. He is God! His will is supreme, He is sovereign, and history proves that everyone who has attempted to stand against Him, or demand that He change for their sake, has failed utterly.

You thought you knew Me, but you didn’t. You thought you knew My will and purpose, but your conclusions were flawed and limited to your anecdotal understanding. You could have said, this is beyond us to comprehend. You could have humbled yourselves and admitted that this was beyond your capacity to perceive, but instead you took it upon yourselves to pass judgment, to draw conclusions, to insist that the way you saw the situation was the only way it could be, and that there could be no other explanation for what was happening to My servant Job than that which you surmised.

If you labor under the misconception that God will eventually see it your way, or that you’re so special that He will change His mind on things He has declared in His Word, you are in for a rude awakening. God doesn’t give in to peer pressure, because He has no peers. God does not side with the majority opinion, because He’s not looking to win an election. Once again, even at the risk of belaboring the point, He is God! He does as He wills, and there is nothing in heaven, on earth, or beyond the galaxy that can stand against Him. If God declared a thing, it is so, no matter how many rant and rage against it.

Our duty as sons and daughters of God is to humble ourselves, deny ourselves, pick up our crosses, and follow after Jesus. Those who insist that those steps can be circumvented will one day stand before Him and be told that although they did many wonders in His name, including prophesying and casting out demons, He never knew them. It’s no small thing. It’s not negligible. Eternity hangs in the balance.

Does He know you? Not your title, not your bona fides, not how many churches you’ve planted or built, not how many sermons you’ve preached, not how many books you’ve authored, or how many hungry you’ve fed, but does He know you as one of His own, one who has been reborn, transformed, and sanctified by the power of His blood?

Do you know of Him, or do you have a relationship with Him? Do you serve out of fear or out of love? Is fellowship with Him your preeminent desire, or do you approach Him only when you’re stuck between a rock and a hard place with no way out of the situation you find yourself in? Does He know you?

Job’s three friends believed wholeheartedly that they had a handle on the situation, knew the mind of God, understood His ways, and were unabashed in declaring it. Only when God rebuked them and called out the folly of their judgments did they come to understand that His ways are not their ways, and His thought are not their thoughts. The same can be said of many today who insist God is something He never declared Himself to be. Rather than submit to the authority of Scripture, they double down on their conclusions, because to do otherwise would be to admit that they were wrong all along, and that is something they cannot abide.    

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr. 

Job CCCXXLVIII

 Job 42:7-8, “And so it was, after the Lord had spoken these words to Job that the Lord said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My wrath is aroused against you and your two friends, for you have not spoken of Me what is right, as My servant Job has. Now therefore, take for yourselves seven bulls and seven rams, go to My servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering; and My servant Job shall pray for you. For I will accept him, lest I deal with you according to your folly; because you have not spoken of Me what is right, as My servant Job has.’”

When the dust has settled, the only thing that matters in this life is how God views you. How does God see you? What is His assessment of you? Not your friends, strangers, family, or the guy behind the deli counter trying to sell you expired bologna, but God and God alone.

Both Elihu and Job’s three friends had judged Job to be a wicked man deserving of punishment, a man who, although he had lost everything and was sitting in a pile of ashes scratching at himself with a potsherd they deemed wasn’t suffering commensurate with his sin. Yet, within the span of two verses, God called the selfsame man whom others believed to be a wicked hypocrite of the worst kind His servant no less than four times.

He made no such distinction regarding Elihu, Eliphaz, Bildad, or Zophar. He had not called them His servants; rather, He rebuked them, informing them that His wrath was aroused against them for having spoken of God things that were not right, in contrast to Job, who had.

It’s a heady thing having your entire worldview, the way you perceive God, and what you understand of Him be turned on its head in a heartbeat. Unlike His interaction with Job, God did not attempt to show the three friends where they had erred, or where they may have made assumptions that did not align with God’s wisdom, because the true intent and desire of their hearts was not to know the truth, but to bring Job low and get him to admit to wickedness he had never committed.

Some men God corrects lovingly, showing them areas in their lives that must be pruned, repented of, and realigned with His purpose, while others He stands before, arm outstretched like a crossing guard, and says, “Stop! Proceed no further; turn around, because this is not the path you should be walking, and if you insist on proceeding further, it will not end well for you.”

Within God’s rebuke of Job’s three friends, there is a twist that some may miss if their goal was simply to get done with the book and be on to the next, given that we’re so close to the finish line, and only a handful of verses remain before this forty-two-chapter journey is complete. Upon speaking directly to Eliphaz, God commanded that he and his two friends take for themselves seven bulls and seven rams, go to Job, and offer up for themselves a burnt offering. That was not the twist, but it came on the heels of this command: have Job pray for you, because Job’s prayer is the only prayer I will accept.

Could you imagine having to go to the person you’ve been judging and maligning for days on end, the person you’ve accused of being wicked beyond measure, the one you insisted knew nothing of God, or His purpose, and ask that they pray for you? This isn’t having to eat a slice of humble pie; it’s the pie in its entirety, crumbs and all.

It’s also in this that we see Job's true heart. God never wondered whether Job would pray for them; He knew that Job would, because though they had berated, maligned, and judged him harshly, Job’s heart was still pure, and serving God remained his singular desire.

A lesser man would have likely taken the opportunity to exact his revenge. A lesser man would have likely turned Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar away, showering them with platitudes and clichés such as you get what you deserve, or who’s the wicked one now, but Job didn’t.

Practical as it might be, the lesson is nevertheless profound: even when people hurt you, malign you, speak ill of you, judge you wrongly, despise you, and eagerly await your destruction, forgive them. I know, it’s easier said than done. I’ve had occasions where supposed friends and brothers did things so egregious that I had to force myself not to give in to bitterness and resentment. I had to pray not once or twice, but for extended periods, for God to search my heart and make sure there were no seeds of hatred or animosity waiting to sprout in the soil of my heart.

Even when they don’t ask for forgiveness, forgive. Even when they won’t admit wrong or fault, forgive. This doesn’t mean that the relationship will be as it was, or even that it can be repaired and restored, but what it does mean is that you don’t have the weight of unforgiveness pressing you into the dust of the earth every moment of every day.

If you believe it was no small thing for Job to now pray for the same three men who had been certain of his wickedness no more than a handful of minutes prior, try to put yourself in his shoes and be honest with yourself about how easy it would really be. They’d spent a considerable amount of time not trying to encourage, uplift, or comfort him, but trying to convince him that his entire life had been spent in ignorance, that his wickedness far surpassed that of the most reprobate men in society, and that his suffering wasn’t just deserved, but was less than he deserved.

They looked down on him, belittled him, made him question things he was certain of before they began their insistent diatribes, and now they were asking him to intercede with God on their behalf and pray for them, for it was only his prayer that God would acknowledge and accept.     

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr. 

Job CCCXLVII

 You may need grace and mercy, but I surely don’t. I’m spiritually superior, don’t you see? I’m the apple of God’s eye, as a once-famous alcoholic televangelist was fond of saying. Sure, the Bible says there is no partiality with God; yes, we’re all equal, but come on, you and I both know that some are more equal than others. Unscrupulous men have created a caste system within the household of faith, and we’ve allowed it.

And yet, as we get a glimpse of the lives of those who came before us, the man whom God declared to be blameless and upright said, “I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes, because I have seen your glory with my eyes.”

The man to whom Christ said, “You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it,” fell at His feet and declared, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!”

Is it just me, or do you get the sense that the modern crop of those who deem themselves spiritual leaders are needlessly and undeservingly arrogant? Is it just me, or is the pride, haughtiness, and conceit off-putting and unpalatable?

But you don’t get it; the figurehead of a ministry or a church has to have presence and charisma. They have to have swagger and flash; they have to look the part! Show that to me in the Bible, though. If you can, then sure, grab a Patek or Piguet off the shelf, and for the middle tier, perhaps a Rolex, or a TAG Heuer. Array yourself in fine linens, and do your best to look like some Arab sheik fresh off of signing a billion-dollar oil deal, but if those are not attributes to which the Bible says we should aspire, then cut it out.

At this point, the gullible and those who tend to idolize individuals rather than worship God and serve Jesus will angrily begin to shout ‘touch not God’s anointed’, even though that passage is taken out of context, and by the sheer absence of fruit, it’s questionable whether some of those who think so highly of themselves are God’s anointed to begin with. It’s an easy way to ensure there’s never any pushback, and that no one questions their lack of Christian living, isn’t it?

I’m God’s anointed, so you can’t touch me! But if your life does not reflect what you claim to be, is there any danger in challenging your view of yourself as one of God’s anointed? No, there isn’t, and it is our duty as believers, and those who comprise the body of Christ, to admonish and correct those who’ve taken it upon themselves to twist, mutilate, and distort the Word of God for their own selfish gain.

Yes, there are noble pastors, shepherds, preachers, and evangelists, but more often than not they’re not the flashy sort. It’s far easier to wrap a piece of coal with a shiny piece of foil that draws the eye than endure the pressure required for the coal to become a diamond. Diamonds don’t need wrapping. They don’t need fancy boxes. They stand out all on their own. It is because of what they are that they are exposed to the light, so all can behold their brilliance. Nobody buys a diamond sight unseen. Nobody purchases the box hoping there’s a diamond inside.

Unlike Beanie Babies, or any of a hundred other flash-in-the-pan must-have things that came and went, a diamond retains its value without influencers shilling it, insisting you click their link for an extra-special discount.

Scripture is truth. It is the diamond. It retains its value and relevance from generation to generation, and those who strive to discover it are never disappointed, let down, or feel as though they were underwhelmed by the treasures contained therein. It has the power to enlighten, transform, challenge, correct, and instruct, without decreasing in its potency, because it is the Word of God, and remains constant and unchanging as God Himself is.

Ephesians 3:14-19, “For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height – to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”

This was Paul’s heartfelt desire for the church at Ephesus: not to form cliques, castes, or hierarchies, but that together, as one, they would comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height of God. To know the love of Christ which passes knowledge, and be filled with all the fullness of God. How can one know God without knowing His word? How can one follow God when men are all they seem to want to follow?

Does Christ dwell in your heart through faith? Are you being strengthened with might through His Spirit? These are the relevant questions we must ask ourselves consistently, not whether this denomination is better than that, or who the next luminary that the world will foist upon a pedestal will be. Let nothing distract you from intimacy with God. Not men, not denominations, not fringe ideologies, or tertiary doctrinal issues. The goal is to be filled with the fullness of God, and know the love of Christ which passes knowledge, not shill for a particular individual and defend them even when their actions become indefensible.

Man is flawed; God is not. If your desire is to know God, go directly to the source. Go to Scripture, and devour it like a starving man who's been out to sea for a month with no food would devour the first meal after his rescue. Do you think such a man cares whether he uses the proper fork, or if his napkin should be on his lap or tucked under his shirt collar? No. He’s starving, and all pretense of propriety flies out the window at the sight and smell of food.

Read your Bible as often as you can, wherever you can, even if it’s for fifteen minutes on your lunch break, or waiting in the lobby for your dentist appointment. There is no place or time more special than the other; you don’t need to be sitting in an atrium, accompanied by a symphony, in a leather-backed chair to read Scripture; the cab of your pickup will do just as well. Food is food, whether it comes in a wrapper, from a food truck, a greasy spoon, or a Michelin-starred restaurant. And, unlike the food we eat, whose ingredients may be suspect, the Word of God is never spoiled, rotten, or of unknown origins. It is always pure and nourishing to the spiritual man.

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.  

Job CCCXLVI

Little is said of obedience nowadays. It goes against the grain of modern thinking, wherein everyone is right in their own eyes, everyone’s opinion is the only opinion that matters, and, twisting Scripture as some are fond of doing, many have concluded that if they must still obey the will of God, submit to the plan and purpose of God, and deny themselves, then their freedom is an illusion.

You’re a little god, baby. Your will is supreme, your plans are what matter most, and even if they stand in stark opposition to the plan of God, all you need do is set your jaw and, by sheer will alone, push against the mountainside until the mountain itself gives way.

Why take the time to ask God what His will is when you already know what your will is? Why take the time to listen for His voice, His direction, His unction, His instruction, when you can make it up on the fly, and be zip codes further along your preplanned route at the end of the day?

We have so elevated ourselves in our eyes that some deem it perfectly acceptable to set themselves against the will of God, thinking they know better, or that their will countermands God’s own will. Even while doing it, even while setting ourselves in diametrical opposition to God’s will, we come up with the oddest excuses for our rebellion, because the outcome, as far as we’re concerned, is already a foregone conclusion: we are right, we will always be right, and nothing can change our minds about the reality of our own rightness.

We are seeing the effects of this type of hubris in the physical, which mirrors the spiritual. It’s largely why people hesitate to hire the younger generation for any task, because they’re simply unwilling to follow instructions and do as they’re told. They think they know better, and even though they’ve gone through the training program, and told what they need to do, and the tasks they need to perform to remain gainfully employed, they still do as they will, causing issue and disruption so regularly that those in charge of productivity or the smooth continuity of whatever business they’re in have no choice but to let them go.

Even when the reason for their dismissal is plainly presented to them, they still create their own narrative insisting that the boss felt threatened, was jealous, or couldn’t see the genius of their approach in revamping a business that has been operating for nearing on a century, and successfully so.

We’ve become enamored with the idea of change for change’s sake, trying to fix what isn’t broken while ignoring the things that are, because it’s easier by far to lament what could have been had everything worked out the way we thought it would than roll up one’s sleeves and actually try to fix a problem.

This morning I was in Luke chapter 5 during my quiet time, and for those without perfect recall, it’s the story of the first miracle Simon Peter ever witnessed, one that was relatable to him since he was a fisherman by trade.

Jesus stood by the lake of Gennesaret, teaching the word of God, and the crowd began to press in. Seeing two boats by the lakeshore, He got into one of them and asked the man whose boat it was to put out a little from the land.

From the onset, there were two boats, but Jesus picked Simon’s boat to get into. Do you believe for an instant that this was coincidence? Did Jesus flip a coin when deciding whose boat he would get into?

God’s plan for your life started long before you were aware of it. God’s plan and purpose for you began while you were still in your mother’s womb. Jesus knew whose boat it was. He did not pick it randomly or by accident, and after speaking to the crowd, he told Simon to launch out into the deep and let his nets out for a catch.

Luke 5:5, “But Simon answered and said to Him, “Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net.”

Ask any avid fisherman, and they can tell you they know when the fish are biting and when they aren’t. They know where to cast, what bait to use, each having their favorite spot from where to fish, anchored by the memories of past outings when the catch was plentiful. Peter knew his business. He knew when the time was right to go fishing, and when it would have been nothing more than wasted effort on his part.

His reasoning mind, his logical side, had concluded that launching into the deep and letting his nets out for a catch wouldn’t amount to much, and even said as such, his hesitation plain. Yet, his desire to be obedient overshadowed his doubt, and he said, “nevertheless, at Your word I will let down the net.”

I’ve tried this thing on my own already, and it didn’t pan out. I did everything you’re supposed to do to ensure a bountiful catch, and nothing came of it. We’ve toiled all night and caught nothing, but because You say to do it again, I will.

Anecdotal evidence and past experiences inevitably shape our future actions. We’ve even coined a term for it: insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. The difference between Simon toiling all night and having no success, and doing it anew, is that this time Jesus told him to do it.

Peter likely thought nothing would come of this endeavor, but because Jesus had said it, he nevertheless relented and did as he was asked.

Luke 5:6-8, “And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their net was breaking. So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!”’

Had he not obeyed, Peter would have never seen the miracle with his own eyes. Had he not done what Jesus asked him to do, all he’d have is an empty boat and a story he could tell his friends about how Jesus had asked him to launch out into the deep and let down his nets for a catch, which only meant that Jesus didn’t know much about fishing.

Men have come up with the wildest theories regarding what it takes to have a breakthrough in one’s life. They’ve complicated it to the point that they put on weeklong seminars, sell instruction manuals, and pen endless books, when all it takes is simple obedience. Do what God tells you to, even if it seems counterintuitive. Obey, even when you think nothing will come of it, because this time it’s different than all the other times, not because you’re older and wiser, not because you’ve been training for it, but because the One who spoke the universe into being commanded you to do it.

Then, having obeyed, seeing that your nets are full to bursting, and your boat is about to sink for all the fish you’ve caught, have the humility to acknowledge that it wasn’t you, your wisdom, your ingenuity, or ability, or your tenacity, but that it was all Him.

The pattern is undeniable. Whether Simon Peter or Job, once they saw the wondrous hand of God, once His plan and purpose were revealed to them, they could not help but be humbled into the dust and acknowledge the power, holiness, and omnipotence of God.  

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.  

Job CCCXLV

 Good intentions without follow-through are nothing more than wishful thinking. I know it may sound harsh, but it is nevertheless the truth. You know it, I know it; we just have to admit it to ourselves and do something about it. We can tell ourselves otherwise, trying to mollify our burdened conscience, but if we know what we ought to be doing and delay doing it, it risks becoming chronic procrastination.

Timing matters. If I know I have to pay my electric bill by the 27^th of the month, but I only get around to doing it on the fifteenth of next month, it should come as no surprise that I get hit with a late payment fee, and if it goes on for much longer than that, then dinner by candlelight and spoiling food in the now dormant refrigerator is not outside the realm of possibility.

Not only is procrastination counterproductive, but it is also dangerous to our spiritual progress. Tomorrow becomes next week, next week becomes next month, and by the time we know it, years have passed, and that Bible we had planned on reading from cover to cover, even having bought the multi-color highlighter pens to underline the passages that stood out, has an inch-thick layer of dust, and if we had to find it, we would be hard pressed to remember what room we left it in.

You can’t get back wasted time. Once it’s gone, it’s gone, and you’re one year older, a little grayer, the wrinkles more pronounced, and the only thing you can do is break the cycle and set about doing what you’ve determined to do without delay. Even wallowing in regret, thinking of how far along we could have been had we started when we’d purposed to, is in itself a form of procrastination.

If I’d started my diet last year, I would be at my goal weight today, but I didn’t, and I’m not, and rather than dwelling on it for another year, there’s no better time than the present. There will never be a perfect time to start doing something that requires exertion on our part, or demands that we stretch ourselves beyond our comfort zone. Rather than focus on the difficulty of the task itself, focus on the results and understand what the end of the journey will look like instead of the beginning; that can, in and of itself, motivate you to focus, press in, take that first step, and keep moving forward.

Every moment spent with God will deepen your understanding of Him. Every moment spent in Scripture will more firmly establish your foundation and stretch your faith. It is inevitable that there will be growth; it is inevitable that there will be forward momentum; it is inevitable that you will graduate past the milk stage to the meat stage, the more you devote yourself to the things of God.

Those who insist that they’ve plateaued, or feel like they’re spinning their wheels when it comes to spiritual growth, just aren’t putting in enough time and effort to get alone with the Word, study it for themselves, and meditate on the profundity of what it reveals.

Although up until this point Job confesses that he’d only heard of God by the hearing of the ear, it did nothing to dampen his desire to know God more fully, spend time in His presence, and devote himself to being pleasing in His sight. All his years of devotion, prayer, supplication, and striving to be an upright and blameless man had brought him to this, wherein he was no longer hearing of God by the hearing of his ear, but seeing Him with his eye.

Does this mean God appeared bodily to Job and his three friends? No. What it does mean is that Job’s understanding of God was stretched beyond the point of a conceptual deity, some formless omnipotent, omnipresent power that did as it willed, to seeing Him fleshed out, and understanding His character, His love, His compassion, and His mercy. He saw the righteousness of God on full display and could come to no other conclusion than to abhor himself and repent in dust and ashes.

It’s the difference between hearing about God and having a personal experience with Him. Men hear about God every day, and some are so stiff-necked and brittle that they don’t give Him a second thought. Others may even acknowledge that there is something greater than them in this great big universe of ours, but they fall short of understanding who He is, thereby refusing to humble themselves and repent.

Job had heard, but now he saw the glory, majesty, and holiness of the God he served, and though God deemed him blameless, though he was one of one in his generation as far as uprightness is concerned, in contrast to God’s holiness, Job abhorred himself.

Men have a tendency to compare themselves to those with different flaws than their own, and deem themselves more righteous because they do not share them. That’s not to say they don’t have their own flaws, but while their flaws are permissible to themselves, the flaws they do not exhibit that others do are the ones they tend to focus on because it makes them righteous in their own eyes. We can play that game, especially given the ego boost that’s likely to occur at seeing ourselves superior in some way, but to what end?

A man whom God deemed blameless abhorred himself when he beheld the holiness of God. A man whom God deemed upright repented in dust and ashes, not because he wasn’t what God deemed him to be, but because even he fell short of the holiness of God, and knew it to be the case.

Unlike the Pharisee, Job did not see another man’s shortcoming or sin as evidence of his own worthiness, nor did he point to his friends and insist he was not like them. He humbled himself before the righteousness of God and repented in dust and ashes. It is one of the many worthwhile lessons we can glean from the life of Job, one that will serve us throughout our lives here on earth if only we would apply it to ourselves. Tend to your own garden, pluck your own weeds, focus on your relationship with the God and Creator of all that is, because when you stand before Him on that day of days, you will be held accountable for you, and I will be held accountable for me.             

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.