Wow…and I almost thought that this thread had gotten lost in the flood of all the other ones :) I am glad many of you have been blessed by this poem in the same way that it encouraged me.But, I guess it’s time to clarify some things here and share with you (a little bit of) my heart. At this very moment I am completely broken. The meeting at my Church took place yesterday and I definitely need this weekend to recover from what has been said. One of the things I wrote down to share with the people at Church was this (translated from Dutch :-)):“A lack of faith in the reality of the existence, faithfulness and love of God results in an inclination to make adjustments to His words whenever we think it to be necessary. Trying to make a deal. Trying to compromise. Giving way to our feelings. As long as God's will corresponds to the social and accepted opinion of men and it doesn’t contradict our own feelings, we are willing to obey Him unconditionally.”…but not beyond that…1. The need of Biblical foundation (especially meant for my brother Greenquality :-))I thank you for your concern, Greenquality. And I share this concern. Maybe I expressed myself not that clear, but Dorcas was right when she said: He didn't say it was 'the best he can do'. He said he 'came across a poem'.Though I believe this poem to be scriptural and though I believe that this poem reveals some great truths, I didn’t base my thoughts on it. The poem definitely encouraged me (on a personal level)...and that was my reason for posting it. It brought peace to my soul during my study on this topic. It brought joy to my heart to read it. The essence of these few lines is simple yet profound: if you want to love your wife, husband, girlfriend, boyfriend, friend, family best…then love God more than that you love them! Honour and treasure Christ more than anyone or anything else. That’s something I desire to learn in my life. Something to bear in mind constantly. Trusting Him completely and loving Him wholeheartedly. Against all odds we need to trust Jesus and what He says in the Bible. We must not value the creation above the Creator. Even though some decisions are very difficult to make, we should never question the goodness and wisdom of God (and I know...that's not always easy). We should never try to overrule Him, even though the decision that has to be made seems to be so “cruel”. Greenquality wrote:he was looking for SOILD BIBICAL MATERIAL! does a poem written by men fit as Bibical or solid Material? or does the word of God? I'm not being Judgmental! if you thrist you drink from the spring! Right! so call me what you will, for telling him to read the Living Water the Holy Bible.Don't worry, brother ;-) To me, my Bible is tremendously precious. I treasure it. Tozer, Spurgeon or Piper don't come even close!God speaks a lot about marriage through the letters of Paul, but there are lots of other places in the Bible where He reveals his thoughts about marriage. What He recognizes as “a marriage”. What He considers to be so important about and within marriage. The fact that God Himself compares His relationship between Him and Israel as a marriage, the fact that Christ Himself compares His relationship between Him and the Church with a marriage…reveals to me the preciousness of it.In all of this, I don't want to be a Pharisee, pointing fingers...I want to stay true to the Bible and the heart of Jesus. Those who do so, however, will most of the time be accused of being a Pharisee. But…the problems with the Pharisees wasn't that they applied the Law, but that they made their own laws for their own benefit (Mark 7:8-13), wanted praise from men (Matthew 6:2) and had no heart for God and men whatsoever (Mat 15:8).Tozer pointed out:“My own experience has taught me…that the most stubborn dogmatism is found not among those who quote the Bible to support their convictions, but among those who quote no one and claim for their spiritual authority nothing higher than their own opinions.”I think Spurgeon was very right when he said:"Do not say of such-and-such an error, “Oh, it is a mere matter of opinion.” If it be a matter of opinion to-day, it will be a matter of practice to-morrow. No man has an error of judgment, without sooner or later having an error in practice."2. God’s passion with regard to marriageMarriage is described in the Bible as a covenant, not simply a contract. A contracts engages the services of people; covenants engage the persons. God Himself is Witness (Proverbs 2:17; Maleachi 2:14). I don’t intend to make this post too long…but one thing that I desire to share with all of you and what Jesus really has put on my heart is this:GOD’S PASSION WITH REGARD TO MARRIAGE IS INTENSE! “Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.” (Hebrews 13:4)The word “honor” is in many cases also translated with the word “precious” (1 Peter 1:19). God considers marriage (as an institution and covenant) as very, very precious! Wow! God treasures it. I wrote in my letter: “Do we still realize this, or are we so concerned about the feelings of others – and the feelings of ourselves – that the deep feelings of God leave us completely cold?”Boy, I am 21 years of age...have no marriage plans at all. But boy...how beautiful it must be :-) To honor God, love my wife and in some way reflect Christ's relationship towards His Church in this marriage. Wow...is marriage a holy, beautiful, glorious thing, or what?! 3. Let God be true…Why we should not avoid the Cross in our lives and the lives of those around us“Let God be true…”. That should be my attitude…always. He is worthy! Trying to compromise for the sake of others, is not loving at all…it’s killing. God is the One who has said (and is capable of saying that):“Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you. Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands…” (Isaiah 49:15)He will take care of us. We nice, compassionate human beings as we are…we always try to take the cross of the shoulders of our friends and loved ones. We don’t want them to suffer. Jesus says that we have to take up our cross. That’s the way to glory and the way to a clear identification and intimate relationship with Him. He says: “Come to Me”. As Tozer once wrote: “You cannot carry a cross in company.” We share in Christ’s suffering for several purposes, three of them being:1. To share abundantly in His comfort (2 Cor 1:5)2. To be able to comfort those who are in any affliction (2 Cor 1:4)3. To make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead (2 Cor 1:9)We cannot carry a cross in company. Those who adhere to the truth that the cross is part of our Christian life and that we shouldn't avoid it, will at times be called “harsh, heartless and callous”. Have you aver been accused of this? We always need to check our own hearts and motives first, because you don't want to suffer as an evildoer! But if we are sincere and true to the Bible and are still being accused...take courage brother/sister…they don't accuse you of being harsh and heartless and callous but God Himself. Didn’t the crowd say of the things that Jesus taught: “this is a hard saying; who can listen to it?" (John 6:60). But the truth is: “He must increase, but I must decrease”…and we, by nature, don’t like that. It is painful. Yet if we will: no eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him! Hallelujah! Though we cannot carry a cross in company, we can share in some (not all!) of the burdens of people around us and bear with them. Yes, God even commands us to do so…and what a testimony it is when we do!“Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” (Gal 6:2)Ok, I will end this post (I hope you didn’t fall asleep :-P)…I realize that the last few lines don’t seem to have much in common with the topic. Well, not really maybe, but in some way they do have something to do with it. Why? Because all things have to do with the glory and honour of God. Coincedently I read a chapter from a book by John Piper when I got home that really fits in. I will end this post with his words. It’s about the fullness of joy that can be found in God’s presence. The abudance of joy, even in the midst of suffering and having to make hard and difficult choices, or, in my case, to stand up and share some difficult and seemingly “harsh” truths from God’s heart. Here is an excerpt of it:4. The indestructible joy that is not superficial“There is a pasted smile that has never known pain. And it does not make for a good pastor or a great Savior. But Christ is a great Savior. Therefore, this man of indestructible joy was “a man ofsorrows, and acquainted with grief” (Isaiah 53:3).Indomitable joy does not mean that there is only joy. Was he then divided, torn between joy and sorrow? Can an infinitely glorious soul be troubled? Yes, troubled, but not torn and disunited. Christ was complex, but he was not confused. There were divergent notes in the music of his soul, but the result was a symphony.Through the agonies of Gethsemane and Golgotha, Jesus was sustained by indestructible joy. “For the joy that was set before him [he] endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:2)Is there a lesson here for how we should suffer? Have you ever noticed that we are not only to imitate the Lord’s suffering, but the Lord’s joy in it? Paul said to the Thessalonians, “You became imitators . . . of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit” (1 Thessalonians 1:6). It was the joy of the Lord in affliction that filled this young church.This is a call to us now in our day. Will we embrace suffering for the cause of Christ? Not joylessness, but suffering. Will we heed the call in Hebrews 13:13, “Let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured”? The answer is going to hang on whether the city of God is more desirable to us than the city of man. Will we answer, “Here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is tocome” (Hebrews 13:14)? Or will we cling to the fleeting pleasures of Egypt (Hebrews 11:25-26)?For those who have tasted the joy of Jesus, surely nothing is more compelling than the all-surpassing hope of hearing his final word, “Well done, good and faithful servant. . . . Enter into the joy of your master” (Matthew 25:21). The city of God is a city of joy. And that joy is the indestructible joy of Christ.”Seeing and Savoring Jesus ChristMany blessings to all of you in the God alone who gives us worth!Shalom,Paul
