Everything from the Lord is Good

16 Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge.
² I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord;
    I have no good apart from you.”

³ As for the saints in the land, they are the excellent ones,
    in whom is all my delight.^[b]

⁴ The sorrows of those who run after^[c] another god shall multiply;
    their drink offerings of blood I will not pour out
    or take their names on my lips.

⁵ The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup;
    you hold my lot.
⁶ The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
    indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.

⁷ I bless the Lord who gives me counsel;
    in the night also my heart instructs me.^[d]
8 I have set the Lord always before me;
    because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.

⁹ Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being^[e] rejoices;
    my flesh also dwells secure.
¹⁰ For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol,
    or let your holy one see corruption.^[f]

¹¹ You make known to me the path of life;
    in your presence there is fullness of joy;
    at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

This Psalm is a great one to meditate on. It makes me see how that when even things don't make sense, what the Lord commands us is always in our best interest.

It reminds me of an experience I had as a child. We were at the beach and I was probably 7 or 8 years old. My dad told us we were going to swim out to the sand bar. As my dad, brother, some friends, and I drifted further and further out it began to hit me that there are some dangers in what we are doing. First of all, I couldn't touch and didn't trust my swimming skills all that much. Secondly, in my mind this was the area where the giant sharks liked to snack on little kids. Despite all these fears, I looked to my dad and he could touch and I knew he had me. He didn't seem worried about the sharks at all and in my eyes my dad was strong enough to protect me anyway. Ultimately, despite me fearing the decision that had been made, I knew it was okay because I trusted my dad. He loved me so much that I knew he wouldn't tell me to do anything if he thought I was in any sort of danger.

Well let me tell you something you already know. Your Heavenly Father desires nothing more than for you to dwell with Him for eternity. Why you ask? Because you are a child of God. You think parents sacrifice a lot of things for their children? God gave up His only Son for His children! Are you afraid of evil? Evil cannot even be in the presence of your God. Are you afraid of Satan? Satan and his demons cower and flee even at the mention of His name. That is the authority your God has. So quit doubting Him every single time one of your comforts gets upended. I understand that some things in life are hard to understand and can be very difficult. But He is to be our refuge. How badly does the Father want to comfort their children in time of need. And you need Him badly. So run to Him and trust Him. It may not make sense to you all the time, but it will definitely be the best decision you could ever make. Commit to no matter what happens in life you are going to stand for Christ, and I assure you that despite many hardships that peace, joy, grace, and love will flow abundantly. Spend some time reading the words of this Psalm and just praise what a mighty God we serve.

Preserve Life at all Costs

I just wanted to share my thoughts on a simple passage we all have read.

Matthew 5:30 states, "And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell."

Everyone who I have ever heard speak of this passage always talks about how it doesn't mean to literally cut off your hand. It is hyperbole. While I don't wish to see Christian amputees running around everywhere, I don't think we should be toning down the significance of this passage.

Let me put it in the medical light. When a disease is discovered in a specific body part, lets say the hand, it potentially will destroy the hand and then spread to the rest of the body. Doctors will attempt to isolate the disease in the hand until it can be cured, but if there is no way that the disease can be isolated, the decision is made to remove the hand. Why? Because it is better to live without a hand then to not live at all.

The problem is people love their hand to much. They think of all the conveniences they would have to miss out on if they didn't have their hand. Writing, picking up things, and simple tasks would be much more difficult. It would be hard to play catch with your children, or even pick them up for that matter. When you focus on these comforts it causes you to lose sight of the fact that these are easy sacrifices to make when keeping the hand means death. Your children would rather have handless you then not have you at all. 

Same thing with sin. It can enter one area of life and eventually it will devour your whole body and bring you to death if you don't rid yourself of it. Say you struggle with sexual sin. It may start isolated and seem harmless, but the truth is if it isn't dealt with it will lead to death. Why you ask? Because you begin to love that sin more then you love God. It becomes an idol in your life. I'm not saying that if you struggle it will lead to death, I am saying if you don't repent and battle to rid yourself of it, it will lead to death. Well how do you cut out sexual sin? Maybe it has to do with media and technology. Maybe you need to spend time away from the opposite sex and just spend time praying about it. Maybe you need someone in your life who knows every move you make so that you can't sin in secret anymore. You know what sparks that sin in your life.

Here is where you probably are thinking about how much you love your "hand". How could you live with no computer or television? How bad would life be if you had no contact with the opposite sex? The problem is that we love our sins, which again is a terrible form of idolatry. But it is better to rid yourself of all these comforts  then to be thrown into hell. We are so near sighted it is hard to see. It is time we start believing in the promises that God has given to us, promises of eternal life. We need to believe that He alone is good and can preserve our lives, and cut out everything that prevents us from being near to Him. If we don't cut things out, we will die. 

So I hope that you don't take the words of Jesus lightly. They are not too extreme. If you do see a place where your right hand is keeping you from God, I pray that you would realize that it is so much better to lop the hand off right then and there. Same with anything else in life. It is better to sacrifice a hand in order to save the soul.