Desire to have our own way

Jesus, the Great Shepherd, leads only one flock. And he is our only Shepherd.

Jesus is our only Shepherd, gives his life for the sheep, and has only one flock. He assigns us to where he wants, when he wants.

Jesús, el Gran Pastor, guía un solo rebaño. Y él es nuestro único Pastor.

Jesús es nuestro único Pastor, quien da su vida por las ovejas, y él guía un solo rebaño. Él asigna sus ovejas a los lugares que quiere, cuando quiere.

And I think I have problems?

God’s people had been ruled by God as their King. But they had forgotten him. Still, Samuel said to them, “And as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you.”

You Are Not the One to Build, Part 6B: Spiritual Gifts: God Works through us for His Purpose

The modern emphasis on first identifying my “gift” so that I may then “help” God develop it gets the matter exactly backwards. The important thing isn’t identifying my gift, it is offering my body as a living sacrifice so that the Spirit may exercise any gift He chooses through me. Then any gift I am observed to be actually exercising can be identified as my gift, and its exercise will be genuine and have God’s power.

Anger

I write this post to myself. I was once a very angry man. But I believed I now had anger under control. More recently, I’m not so sure. Manipulative people and manipulative institutions both deliberately goad the anger of those they want to control–anger is a great motivator. The media, celebrities, politicians, organizations and advertisers do the same thing. Other people, though, habitually but unconsciously manipulate by continually rehearsing their angry reveries for others to hear, wishing either to bring their hearers into their angry world or to intimidate by fear of what they might do in anger. And I am weak to all of these ploys. So I present the following study, which consists only of quotations from Scripture about human anger, its causes and antidote.

Paul’s Mourning over those who have Not Repented, 2 Corinthians 12:21

When Paul wrote his second letter to the Corinthians, he feared he would later come to them and find that they had not repented of their underlying mixed motives and attitudes of self-centered worship and sensual focus. The result would be the same strife and disorder he had reproved in his first letter.

Eli, the High Priest, Talking when Action was Required

True repentance would have required high priest Eli to act to remove his sons Hophni and Phinehas from office. Hophni and Phinehas were using God and their offices as a magical charm and using others, as many in the Church do today. The people also learned to do these things from their example. Instead of removing them, Eli just nagged them, and he and all Israel paid the penalty.

Simon Magus told to Repent of His Attempt to Buy the Power of God: Acts 8:9-22

Simon Magus was told to repent of his attempt to buy the Holy Spirit. We should also repent of our modern forms of claiming we can possess God for our own use or profit.

Judas Iscariot: Remorse Too Late in Matthew 27:3-5

Judas demonstrates the difference between worldly remorse and true repentance. Judas was truly remorseful after he saw Jesus would die because of his betrayal, and he tried to fix things himself. When that failed, he hanged himself. He was remorseful, but never repented of doing things his own way.

CONCLUSION: THE SELFISH FOCUS OF HERETICS

Even a very respectable denomination’s or church organization’s determination that a teaching is “heresy” cannot be taken, without examination, as absolute truth for two reasons. First, a deliberately divisive person’s–a true “heretic’s”– motives are selfish rather than doctrinal and usually well-hidden behind doctrine. Second, such people sometimes take control of even respectable denominations.