July 31, 2006

Everyday Complications

Joel Akin

 Where do I begin. If we want to deal with the roots in our life how do we get to the one root most of us agonize over in some form or another?

1Timothy 6:10 For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

Money is not the source of our joy. That source is referred to in this scripture. Faith. Faith is the substance of things hoped for but in that we have to find a basis of truth. For example if I want things in my life I have to find out what the obstacles to obtaining those things are. If I have the means its okay for me to work and in fact works are an essential component of growth. We grow because we work and we work because we must. But the question of things then becomes the question of need. And need is like a tree that is in full blown growth but a season of drought comes. Now a strong tree will have deep roots but a tree that we plant around our homes often is provided all of its needs so it doesn't develop deep roots. Thus if the home ceases to be of value and the home is abandoned those trees will have to find their growth from nature or they will die. Finding abandoned homesteads on the prairies gives us the concept of trees that have died because there was no one there to provide the one thing they needed that they never obtained. Water.

Yet are we like the trees on an old homestead? And if so how? I think to answer this question we have to find the source of our strength. Faith is something one obtains by trusting in God whom one cannot see. Its not like walking in the dark because those of us who have done so have stubbed and broken many toes this way. Walking in faith means trusting when there seems no natural reason to trust. Its like believing for rain when the sky is clear day after day. It is the hope, the trust for things that cannot be met by 'natural' selection or season. For example I believe that in most cases the rain will come on the just and the unjust yet it is the unjust who walk by sight and not by faith. Their trust is in their own strength and their root is in 'money'.

That seems like a whitewash in a way. How can we know that their first love is money? I suppose in a way we can't because everyone has a choice to make for their own life. Yet if someone is unjust it speaks of ownership. For ownership is the ability to own something that belongs to another in a fashion that is unjust. And justice refers to a balance, an equation of equality. So if I were an unjust man then it might be because I was angry or jealous or lustful for the things or over the things of others. That root is often built on the love of money or the love of things.

Yet we go into a complexity with God that is not easy to explain. I call it an amusement center. Why? Because he has written a puzzle called Hebrews 11:1 through the Pauline words and phrases. This puzzle is one that few understand and when they do it becomes a measure of record that they find instances in the scripture that seem to negate it.

It deals with the heart of money. Lets make it clear that God is rich. Lets make it also clear that Jesus was often angry with those who misused money. He didn't hate money and the only time he spoke against it was generally ill use or when people put things first.

But why? There are several reasons for this. He understood that the heart of men and women was wicked because of sin. But there was also the question of time.

Time is a mystery to us because it moves forward. But think of there being two major types of time. First is Gods time which is based on a freedom and goodness where time is not as we see it or understand it yet is pure, perfection and beautiful to behold. Now add an equation call Sin and a twisting of space and time, and voila, you have a realm we live in. We call it men's time. Men's time is the essence of time that is twisted by a deep root called the love of money. Because it is based on men's time and is covered by sin it doesn't have the eternal qualities of things made by God. It is affected and infected by things that cause the degradation of knowledge.

Thus we have an ongoing degradation of knowledge that leads us as humans to forget because we do not have the means to store information in a way that gives us ongoing freedom. We perish day by day because of twisted time. Now this dark 'time' destroys us as well. We forget, we become aged and old and we are twisted and bent by the river of time. There isn't one of us that doesn't have that deep root in us and it affects us in all stages of our life. The end result is we die because times root grows into every crevasse of our cells and we are broken and stripped of value.

But study the scripture wisely and you will see that God has another method open for us. It is called the love of God leads to a love of things, people and places. The only time it doesn't work is when our first love, God, is replaced by those other things. But just as we work daily for things so must we work daily on our relationship with God. As we do we develop interest and savings in eternal matters.

Now how rich are we in heaven? That depends on how rich we are with God and our relationship with Him. Few take this to heart that God wants us to be rich in heaven but we are caught up in the growth of riches based on this world. This worlds riches are not eternal yet. As in this realm is still touched by time and time will be around at least for another 1,000 years. Time has to be no more so that Gods time or equity of passage can come to pass. Gods time is pure and holy and not based on things created by or for men. Gods time lasts an eternity and is meant to last so that corruption is not part of it.

 So if we desire to understand this we need to remember some basics. First we are admonished not to lay up for ourselves riches on earth where rust and moths corrupt. Why? Its because God is showing us that Time destroys these things we treasure. Think of it as building the best cruise ship in the world and you spend a billion dollars doing so. You take it out for a cruise and live on it and invite all your friends over. Everything is fine for five, then ten, then fifteen, then twenty years. But one day the engineers come to you and say "Salt has gotten into the metal and it will take one hundred million to fix the damage." You think, well, I spent a billion on it what's ten percent? So you get it rebuilt but five years later the engineers come to you and say "All the pipes are wore out and the wiring also. It has to be torn apart and it will cost you Two hundred million." And so you invest more in the ship and every five years it seems that corruption finds something until finally it is caught in an unexpected storm and lost at sea with all your wealth on board.

This constant spending of money is often because we do not use wisdom. For example we live in a world where the majority of us survive by eating food at restaurants and buying everything at grocery stores. We obtain our water from a community and our power from a power station. Everything in our society is rooted in the passage of money from our hands to theirs. Even if we try to be self sufficient we still need others to make it happen these days. Laws are passed to make sure that people without money are people who don't belong. And we end up with nothing in many cases.

So where are the prophets like of old? Who knows except God. All I know is that its not as easy to live without money these days especially in a world where living by what we call 'faith' a misunderstanding.

Now if that offends its because we have taken Faith and added to it so much that it has begun to lose its meaning. Faith does not mean taking advantage of people. I can't say to someone "I'm walking in faith so will you support me financially..." Now we think that is faith but its not. Nor is our demanding or asking others to support us in our 'faith' by having us live with them. That isn't the question of faith but of presumption of faith.

True faith can be said to be this. I have a relationship with God. As I grow in my relationship with God he plants a seed in heaven not necessarily on earth. That seed in heaven is called our beginnings of faith but it won't grow without nourishment. So it requires us to spend time talking with God. And again we get confused. We think working for God, reading Gods word, listening to sermons, preaching, teaching etc are the main components to faith. Think of them as the proof of our walk but not the proof of our faith. Faith does come by hearing and hearing by the Word of God but the living God. Don't think for a second that the scripture "My Sheep hear my voice" is false. The reason we don't hear clearly is because of sin and sin is like the interference on the radio who attempts to thwart the clarity in our walk with God.

Now is it possible to have faith with God? Think of it this way. You want faith but it is God who gives us faith but that faith is so He can work miracles in our life and in our world and in our ministry. In other word God takes it like a seed, grows it, nurtures it, and protects it in heaven where rust or moth do not corrupt. On earth we show works or the works of faith but our faith is based in heaven where God has authority over it.

So then Luke 18:8 I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?

If Jesus wanted to know if he would find faith on earth then what does this mean? Does it mean that there is no one who will have faith on earth? Or does it mean that all the Christians will be removed and Jesus shows up after that to look for faith? Or is it possible that there is a way for faith to show up when God shows up with a gift of your faith. For if you have a relationship with God that leads to the growth of faith in heaven and He takes that faith and uses it for His glory. Then the time will come when 'our' faith is used to help heal the heavens and then help heal the earth. Now some might call that a theory but I think its a good one. For the healing of the spiritual comes first and then a healing of the natural.

So the natural healing will then deliver mankind, or men, or those at least who love God, from the ravages of the curses that have held us in bondage to sin for generations. For Faith is the substance of things hoped for so those things are all things that God desires to do by faith. And since faith can do anything then anything and everything is what God will accomplish with faith.

So look for it. That faith will be found on earth when the Son of man comes back to earth. For God will make sure that faith is found and we as Christians need not be totally ashamed at Christ's return.