What's Unreasonable to Do is Treasure

"You can't take it with you—
but you can send it on ahead."
~ Dean Stewart

"But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you ..."
~ Matthew 5:44 (NKJV)

Who invites a second slap upon the cheek? What defendant offers the plaintiff double? Without the Holy Spirit, our response to such directives is incredulity rather than compliance.

"Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven ..."
~ Matthew 6:19-20 (NKJV)

Each time we love and bless and do good is a deposit into our stores of heavenly treasure.

Lord, Your wisdom and love defy human logic. Please increase our faith to trust and obey You.


Comments, questions, and respectful disagreement are welcome. Reply to BuildingHisBody.com comments, or e-mail buildingHisbody [plus] @gmail.com
Copyright 2011, Anne Lang Bundy, all rights reserved.

After the Broken

This post is part of a blog carnival hosted by Peter Pollock.
You're invited to visit his site and see what others are saying
about today's theme: Broken.

"... this is My body which is broken for you ..."
~ 1 Corinthians 11:24 (NKJV)

Perhaps, when we are broken, and think it not possible to endure our pain, we forget the utter brokenness of our precious Jesus.

His majesty was broken down when He stepped into flesh and became a Man.

His reputation was broken when His mother became pregnant out of wedlock and He was reckoned a bastard.

His ties to home were broken when He became homeless for the sake of the hopeless.

His heart was broken when His people rejected His message.

His will was broken at Gethsemane when He laid it down before the Father's will.

His flesh was broken with unconscionable abuse that we might be healed.

He was broken by death that we might have life.

Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
~ Romans 6:4 (NKJV)

Perhaps, after we've been broken and have died to what we thought necessary, we will remember that death must precede resurrection and newness of life.

The LORD builds up ...
He gathers together ...
He heals the brokenhearted
And binds up their wounds.
~ Psalms 147:2-3 (NKJV)

Our Father, You are the Potter, we are the clay. Have Your way with us. Melt us, mold us, fill us, use us. Break us as pleases You. Let us fall into Your hand, for Your mercies are great.

"We are to be broken bread and poured-out wine for the lifting up of [others]."
~ Oswald Chambers

Comments, questions, and respectful disagreement are welcome. Reply to BuildingHisBody.com comments, or e-mail buildingHisbody [plus] @gmail.com
Copyright 2011, Anne Lang Bundy, all rights reserved.
Image from the movie Passion of the Christ © 2004 Icon Productions

Question of the Week: Do Christians Sin?

"Good and Evil: The Devil Tempting a Young Woman"
Andre Jacques Victor Orsel 1832
Image source: art.com

Is it true that Christians "can't" sin?
~ Hannah Meyer

This question usually arises from 1 John 3:9-10. Here's the Analytical Literal Translation (ALT) text:

Every one having been begotten from God is not practicing sin, because His seed abides in him, and he is not able to be sinning, because he has been begotten from God. By this are revealed [who are] the children of God and the children of the devil: every one not practicing righteousness is not from God, and the one not loving his brother.

Here is why the child of God, born again in Jesus, does not sin.

God's Word reproduces spiritual life in His children, not sin.
To be "begotten from God," is to be born again through the seed of God. Whether seed is of a plant, human, or God Himself, "seed" implants and reproduces life. God's seed is His Word (logos, Greek for "word"), whether manifest as Jesus, the Word made flesh (John 1:14), or as the living sayings of God from the Bible (Hebrews 4:12). If the Word of God is implanted in a person and takes hold, the spiritual life of God is reproduced in His new child.

God's children gain the legal standing of Jesus—"righteous."
Those who receive God's seed—His Word, Jesus—and allow it to reproduce spiritual life are born as immortal, spiritual beings. God does not call us His children as only an affectionate metaphor. We receive a legal status of child and heir. We receive Jesus' life (sinless) in place of our life (sinful). Our standing before God is changed from "sinner" to "righteous." We are no longer guilty of any sin. No matter what we do, it is not counted against us as sin.

God's children grow in likeness to God, hating sin ...
Though we gain a new spiritual status, we continue to live in sinful flesh, which dies. As we grow in likeness to God, sin is something we will become increasingly aware of (see Romans 7:15-20), continue to repent of, and hate enough to not willfully practice. Paul describes the situation of sinning but hating it as "wretched," and comforts us with the words, "Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me."

... while practicing righteousness and love.
Children of the King are royalty, who are not judged by the law, but are instead members of His court, outside the law. However, the King holds His royal children to a higher standard of character than mere duty to obey the law. We are to behave as royalty, like the King Himself, out of love for our Father. And though we are no longer subject to the death penalty of law, we are subject to the discipline of our Father, Who takes a dim view of His children defaming His name with bad behavior.

A shorter explanation might modify the cancer mantra and simply say, "I may have sin, but sin doesn't have me."

For further information on this topic, readers may be interested in
"Lie of Hell #2: No More Worry About Sin."

: : :

This post originally appeared at Bullets & Butterflies. To see ongoing dialogue in comments posted there click here.

What questions do you have about Christianity or the Bible? You're invited to leave them in the comments below (anonymous questions welcome), or email buildingHisbody [plus] @ gmail.com.

© 2011 Anne Lang Bundy, all rights reserved.

Place of Peace

The name of the LORD [YHWH] is a strong tower;
The righteous run to it and are safe.
~ Proverbs 18:10 (NKJV)

To run to any one of the many names of our God is to call upon it in prayer, to live in accordance with its character, to bless it at every opportunity.

If security and peace are interdependent, then running to the Lord's name in any moment of distress will surely bring peace.

Thank You, dear Jesus Yeshua, for the power and peace and protection in Your precious name, in the name of the LORD—YHWH.

Comments, questions, and respectful disagreement are welcome. Reply to BuildingHisBody.com comments, or e-mail buildingHisbody [plus] @gmail.com
Copyright 2011, Anne Lang Bundy, all rights reserved.

Light for S.A.D.D.

Photo credit: courtesy Bud Ezekiel Hitchcock

Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked ...
~ Genesis 3:7 (NKJV)

It's been suggested that Adam and Eve were clothed with the holy Light of God before they sinned, and their physical nakedness was only manifest in the loss of such spiritual clothing.

Worse than the S.A.D.D. that may threaten with winter's dim skies and short days would be the profound sadness of having full fellowship with the Creator and be clothed with His Light—and then lose it. I sometimes have the audacity to question if the Lord really needed to make mankind’s consequences any worse.

He surely did. We have so many blessings to distract ourselves from fellowship with our Lord. If we felt no more than the loss of that fellowship—if the world was not filled with suffering, to remind us that this really isn’t the way the Lord planned for things to be—we might convince ourselves that we can get along quite nicely without Him.

Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, "I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life."
~ John 8:12 (NKJV)

Certain light bulbs are said to relieve winter S.A.D.D. for some people. The only remedy which seems to help me is The Light—Jesus. But even The Light of the world doesn’t work for me in small doses. I need to bathe in it.

If sunbathing requires a person to strip away as many clothes as is decent and expose plenty of skin to solar light, then Sonbathing is to strip away as many thoughts as are distracting and expose plenty of soul to Holy Light.

What would we do if our God did not love us so much that He pulls back the shade of this world's darkness and beckon us to immerse ourselves in His Word, bathe in His presence by pouring out our hearts to Him, and surround ourselves with His people?

"Let your light shine before others, so that they will see the beauty of your labors and will recognize your Father in Heaven."
~ Matthew 5:16 (author)

If we do not accept His invitation to be infused with Light, what will be the condition of others in darkness, who need to know Him?

Thank You, Lord, for not leaving us in darkness. Thank You for the beauty and strength and comfort of Your Light. Please shine Your love to others through us, even if we don't notice it passing through.

Comments, questions, and respectful disagreement are welcome. Reply to BuildingHisBody.com comments, or e-mail me ~ buildingHisbody [plus] @gmail.com
Copyright 2011, Anne Lang Bundy, all rights reserved.