Random Thoughts

Superior intelligence isn't an advantage for discerning ultimate Truth, because our greatest abilities are also our greatest liabilities. The greater our skills at manipulating people, the greater our ability for self deception. People with high emotional intelligence, often have the most emotional baggage. Thankfully, you don't have to be smart or psychologically whole to know God.

Jesus reduced us all to little children when he said, “Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it.” (1) Children are guileless, simple-minded and accessible. For an adult to reach that child-like state you must have “A broken and a contrite heart.” (2)

The tragedies of life will either break and humble you, or you will proudly refuse to admit your spiritual bankruptcy, and self-delusion will consume you. We are all in a time warped metamorphosis, and our choices in this dark cocoon seal our eternal destiny.

It's easy for prisoners on death row to seek and find God. But, we are all on death row! Seek Him with brutal honesty and desperation, and you will know with unmitigated assurance that Jesus doesn't merely represent the way, the truth and the life, but He literally IS the only Way, Truth and Life. (3)

This is not intellectual suicide. It's amazing enlightenment that satisfies reason at every level of our being. “God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life." (4) Please don't remain a zombie!

References:

1. Mark 10:15; Luke 18:17

2. Psalm 51:17

3. John 14:6

4. 1 John 5:11-12

Copyright 2015 Hayden Humphrey

Aborting Abortion

The pro-life position derives its logic from the knowledge that absolute immutable truth exists, while the logic of pro-choice is founded on unsustainable relativism. The two sides are not even speaking the same language. I cannot intellectually prove to a skeptic that abortion is murder, with eternal consequences, because moral reasoning is limited to the scope of one's spiritual revelation. Nevertheless, I must try.

Abortion intuitively and profoundly transcends the heartless perception of science. How else can you explain the emotional trauma that abortion wreaks in mothers? “Pro-choice” flagrantly contradicts every fiber of maternal instincts. Even wild beasts naturally sacrifice their own lives to protect their young. The inevitable fallout of remorse and shame following an abortion is one of the industry's dirty secrets. Nevertheless, I assure you that if you've participated in an abortion, forgiveness and restoration are available through Jesus Christ.

It's scientifically irrefutable that the baby in the womb is not the Mother's body. Therefore, the euphemistic term “pro-choice” is invalid. The unique human in the womb, and the mother, are genetically diverse and antagonistic    Every unborn child expresses antigens incompatible with the mother, and yet miraculously it's not rejected by the maternal immune system! This blatantly contradicts the absurdity of evolution. How could evolution anticipate and resolve such a reproduction incongruity? Human reproduction is a pantheon of similar miracles that all point to God.

It's easy to understand the passionate pro-life stance, if you realize that murder is the issue. But how do you explain such aggressive resistance by the pro-abortion mentality? "The lady doth protest too much, methinks.” There's something occult and diabolical here. The pro-abortion camp refuses, with uncanny determination, to admit that abortion is murder because that would imply personal accountability, and jeopardize their libertarian illusion.

Those hypothetical extreme cases used to justify abortion laws, are simply an indictment of man's inability to solve complex moral dilemmas without God. To justify the taking of innocent life because of rape, incest or birth defects, requires the same diabolical self-deification that motivated Nazism. It's called eugenics. The combined wisdom of humanity is incapable of resolving these ethical dilemmas that haunt our degenerating culture. You cannot remedy one evil by applying a greater evil – infanticide!

The ultimate evil is the shedding of innocent blood, which the Bible warns, brings a curse upon a nation.(1) What is more innocent than an unborn child? Every year, Americans slaughter innocent children by the millions. This is a true Holocaust, making ISIS and MS13 look like wimps. It's been said that the most dangerous place for an American to be is in the womb.

Abortion is not some sanitized scientific dogma, it's unmitigated murder, and therefore, it's a spiritual matter. This is an epic battle between good and evil. It is, like all wars, inescapably religious. Just because abortion is obfuscated with psychobabble, doesn't negate the fact that it's actually satanic child sacrifice. “For everything that is hidden will eventually be brought into the open, and every secret will be brought to light. If anyone has ears to hear, let them hear."(2)   There are only two kinds of people in the earth: Those who can hear Jesus Christ and those who refuse.

You cannot contemplate abortion without coming face to face with God. You may refuse or be unable to recognize Him, but I guarantee He's speaking. If you are brutally honest, you will hear Him in your conscience. Think about it. If I were actively opposing God, I'd sure want to know. It's a sobering fact that the first person to recognize Jesus was an unborn child! (3)

Copyright 2015 by Hayden Humphrey

Footnotes:

1. Psalm 106:38-40

2. Mark 4:22-23

3. Luke 1:41

Gay Marriage License

To my Christian friends: This will incite lots of vitriol, but I have my flak vest on. I'm troubled by the glorification of the Kentucky clerk's violation of the gay marriage law. Yes, we are to obey God rather than man. But when? The only report of New Testament believers rebelling against bureaucrats was when they were forbidden to preach the Kingdom of God. Was she really preaching (embodying) the Gospel?

If this clerk risked jail to avoid any appearance of endorsing gay marriage, why didn't she also take a lesser risk, and refuse to give licenses to couples who were fornicators, chronically angry, drug addicts, liars, Muslims or atheists? Why are homosexuals so excoriated by Christians? All humans are in the same boat before we come to Christ, and Christians are not superior. We are just receivers of Jesus' pardon, with access to God's transforming love.

Our role as Christians is to manifest and proclaim Jesus, not to condemn unbelievers. The Bible says: “It is not my business to judge those who are not part of the church. God will judge them. But you must judge the people who are part of the church.” “God...alone has the power to save or to destroy. So what right do you have to judge your neighbor?”

History sadly confirms that forcing your morality on someone is anti-Christ. You cannot manifest Jesus without love and mercy. Jesus treated unbelievers with compassion and tenderness, but he was harsh toward religious bigots, not because he hated them, but because religious arrogance is the greatest deception.

The government has no right to legislate religious preferences. Therefore, they had to eliminate God from their definition of marriage, defaulting to a mere civil union. However, if you believe that marriage is a covenant with God and not the state, then the government's approval of all marriages is morally inert. What does a marriage license have to do with God? Nothing! Then, why are you so freaked out over this? Why despise and fear someone whose definition of marriage is different than yours?

The reason America has morally disintegrated, is not the government's fault, it's the church's lack of love. Neither legislation nor insurrection will resolve America's moral cataclysm. Only an awakening to Jesus Christ can transform this nation, person by person. If someone's life style offends you, look inside and repent of cold-hearted pride. We aren't allowed to hate anyone.

Choose your battles carefully! Are you motivated by prejudice (pre-condemnation) or the Holy Spirit who is Love? We aren't fighting against flesh and blood, but against spiritual powers. Persecution is inevitable for all who walk the love walk, but there is also persecution for religious pretense that will reap profound regret. Civil disobedience is valid when the Holy Spirit directs it, but be prepared to pay the price.

The only Biblical definition of the church is a “house of prayer for all nations.” That's it. It's that simple! Our bodies are now the temple of God and prayer is the main event. The church's primal mission is not to legislate morality or impose a fascist agenda, but to pray! If prayer is marginalized, and we keep poking the government in the eye, the persecution will become so horrific that desperate intercession will flow like a wild river. It doesn't have to get that bad if we passionately pray now, motivated by love for others.

Our nation aches to see Christ's redemptive love, not condemnation and hatred.

Copyright 2015 by Hayden Humphrey

"Believe in Yourself" ??

I often see Face Book posts that capsulize this generation's religion: “Believe in yourself.” “Your imagination creates your reality.” “If you can dream it, you can do it.” “Think and grow rich.”..etc.   It all sounds virtuous, but such optimistic buzzwords are really tentacles of an insidious veiled philosophy.

As the world's turmoil escalates, it's going to become shockingly clear that everything in life can be reduced to two incompatible realities: light or darkness, truth or deception, life or death, heaven or hell, Jesus Christ or evil. Accordingly, there are two sources of thoughts in the universe by which our innate ability to BELIEVE can operate: The wisdom from above or the wisdom from below, the Holy Spirit or the demonic. (1)

It's blindness to assume that all reality is unified, and therefore all spiritual powers represent God. “See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.” -  Or the “teachings handed down by human beings and from the ruling spirits of the universe.”(2)

To believe that you can initiate and empower your own destiny is an illusion. Humans are not autonomous. We are intrinsically dependent. “Do you not know, that to whom you yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants you are to whom you obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?” (3) That's a universal Law. “You are not your own; you were bought with a price.” (4) Anyone not submitted to Jesus Christ is by default a legal slave of Satan, regardless of your elevated thoughts and wonderful life.

Jesus revealed that there are only two kinds of people on the planet: those who hear Him and those who won't. (5) Many assume that God will endorse their intentional and noble believing when in fact He may not. We see this at the infamous Tower of Babel where man's unified purpose, language and self confidence prompted God to reveal this astonishing fact: “Nothing shall be restrained from them which they have imagined to do.”(6) This stunning potential of focused imagination is an innate God given ability, but it can operate without God's sanction or power.

The saga of the Tower of Babel may seem infantile to our modern conceit, but its motive of self-exaltation is alive and well. "Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves.” (7) That is the delusional deification of man!

The seduction of human-potential principles is their ability to function without God, even in a “Christian” context. Jesus said, "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”(8) We can freely imagine and initiate, but without a literal interchange with Christ it's a malignant exercise. "I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; He can do only what He sees His Father doing.”(9) If Jesus in his humanity, restricted His thinking and believing to God's input, isn't that a model for us? “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God."(10) That's the key to true fulfillment and achievement!

Believing in yourself, quantum physics or the life force, is NOT Biblical faith. Even though all humans have a natural capacity for faith, the Bible says that not everyone actually has faith.(11) This is a vital distinction that many fail to grasp, and it's not just semantics. Trusting and believing are fundamental qualities of human nature. However, neither trusting nor believing is faith, they are actions. Faith is a noun, not some capricious leap in the dark initiated by our imagination.

The reason that not all have faith is that it's a divine virtue alien to corrupt flesh, and it must be imparted, because “in my flesh, dwells no good thing.” (12) The Bible describes faith as “substance” and “evidence.” (13) Faith has actual existence that transcends our three dimensional world. There is nothing comparable to faith. The Bible calls it a fruit of the Holy Spirit and a gift that is found only in Jesus Christ. (14) Believing is our mental response to faith. Trusting is our emotional response to faith. But without this divine gift of faith, my believing and trusting will automatically revert to some futile false security or bewitching power.

You were created to passionately participate in God's eternal love and creativity, and it can only happen by 'hearing' the word of God. (15) It's not merely a printed word on a page, but a spiritual exchange with the Living Word of God, that produces faith. “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.”(16)

 

Footnotes:

1. James 3:15
2. Colossians 2:8 NIV and GNT
3. Romans 6:16
4. 1 Corinthians 6:19
5. Matthew 11:15, 13:9; Mark 4:9, 23 etc...
6. Genesis 11:6 KJV
7. Genesis 11:4
8. John 15:5
9. John 5:19
10. Matthew 4:4; Luke 4:4
11. 2 Thessalonians 3:2 NIV
12. Romans 7:18
13. Hebrews 11:1 KJV
14. 1 Timothy 1:14; 2 Timothy 1:13; Galatians 2:20, 3:23-25, 5:22; Ephesians 2:8; 1 Peter 1:21 KJV
15. Romans 10:17 KJV
16. John 15:7 KJV

Copyright 2015 by Hayden Humphrey

The Illusion of Self Righteousness

Have you considered the possibility that humanity has been captivated by a colossal deception? Disease, suffering, fear, war and death constantly stalk mankind. Psychological, intellectual and spiritual darkness is pandemic. Something is tragically wrong.

Jesus, “The Light of the World,” was sent to a planet defined as the “region and shadow of death.”  He revealed that “reality” as advertised on earth, is in fact darkness and destruction. We deftly evade our own mortality, and our inner duplicity taunts us. Thoreau said it well, “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.” Yet, how obsessively we repress it. Without an encounter with God, “Life is but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more. It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” (Macbeth)

Humanity has been seduced and enslaved by a counterfeit reality that breeds intractable selfishness, pride, fear, anger and deceit. “Truly the hearts of the sons of men are full of evil; and madness is in their hearts while they live.” “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can fathom it?” (Ecc 9:3; Jer 17:9)

No one is exempt. You cannot understand the “Jesus thing” until you see the brutal reality of your own heart, and honestly admit that you are morally bankrupt.   Our innate depravity cannot be surmounted by talent, intelligence or positive thinking. Regardless of how we adorn ourselves with noble deeds or religious buzz words, we are all congenital hypocrites.

The Bible's shocking indictment that, “there is no one who does good, not even one," cannot be understood without a glimpse of God's pure and holy love. Such love cannot be earned or duplicated.

A happy-face charade of moral superiority cannot not absolve your sin. The Bible makes the alarming statement that self-righteousness is as “filthy rags” in God's sight, and “verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity.” (Isa 64:6; Ps 39:5) Does that imply God is unloving?  No.  It implies that we need a Savior.

There is nothing we can do to bridge the chasm between us and God. If I give all I possess to the poor, perform miracles and become a martyr, I am still nothing . . unless I receive a divine infusion of Holiness and Love. (Eph 4:24; Phil 3:9)

Christians are not superior to unbelievers. They are just receivers of Jesus' pardon, and frail containers of His Spirit, which offers intimate access to God, and radically alters their perspective.

When we see the gospel misrepresented and perverted by apparent “losers,” we feel justified in rejecting Christ's message. But there is no excuse. Imperfect people may violate Truth but we can never invalidate or alter it.

"God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble." (Jas 4:6; 1 Pet 5:5) Pride is your greatest antagonist. “Dysfunctional” people fill churches because humiliation is required to see Truth. “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart.” (Ps 51:17) How desperate are you to know Him?

If you will approach God in child like simplicity and trust, you will discover that He is not like you feared. He reveals Himself to your heart, not your head, and that requires vulnerability. He will never violate your free will, but He offers unspeakable joy, peace and love.

This is not about intellectual suicide or blindly following dogma. It's about an awakening through a literal encounter with Jesus Christ. Seek God with honesty and diligence and you won't be disappointed. Jesus said, "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you..” (Mat 7:7; Lk 11:9)   Millions and millions worldwide from every culture can attest to the validity of that statement.

“There is a way which seems right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.” (Prov 14:12; 16:25) The temporary reality of this world is deceit, decay and death masquerading as light. That's why Jesus warned, “If the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!” (Mat 6:23) If you create god in the image of your wounded angry heart you open yourself to false “light”.

Absolute Truth is self evident and needs no human verification.  Don't settle for anything less than unmitigated assurance. True enlightenment requires a grave and profound respect for the Creator of the universe. Your eternal destiny is at stake.   The ball is in your court.    Indecision is a choice.

Copyright 2012 by Hayden Humphrey

Letter to an Atheist

Common logic concludes that God exists, but it's incapable of knowing Him. Our five senses can detect intelligent design, but “knowing” God personally involves our spiritual intuitive nature. If we view the world only through the five senses we become our own god, isolated, narcissistic and confined to meaningless relativity. True understanding is a state of the heart, not an achievement of the mind. Atheists and agnostics cannot perceive the obvious because anger and fear sabotage their heart.

Humans receive information from three “voices.” Physical sensation is the voice of the body. Reasoning is the voice of the mind. Intuition is the voice of the human spirit, and it's defined as “direct perception of truth or fact independent of any reasoning process; immediate apprehension... pure, untaught, noninferential knowledge.” 
 

If your logic processes data only from the five physical senses and disregards conscience and intuition you will remain imprisoned in spiritual darkness, creating God in your own marred image. God is not illogical, but our logic is restricted by the scope of our vision and the condition of our heart.

Even empirical science cannot escape intuition. Physicians, selected from the best and most balanced minds are in a continual state of disagreement over medicine, because pure unbiased objectivity is a myth. Einstein understood this. It wasn't detached logic that led him to deep scientific discoveries, they were birthed from subjective experience. “A new idea comes suddenly and in a rather intuitive way. That means it is not reached by conscious logical conclusions.” (Albert Einstein) If that's true of science, how much truer is it of God.

Love, evil, goodness, beauty, perfection, consciousness, impressions of immortality and our ability to have this discussion, confound “objectivity” because such abstractions reveal a reality beyond mere physiology. If you don't sense a sublime inner longing for God it's because your logic has become a fortress to avoid some fear. When we've been offended by the counterfeit, we instinctively fear the truth. What are you afraid of and why are you so angry? If your beliefs are based on what seems reasonable to your five senses you've been seduced. “There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.” (Proverbs 14:12; 16:25)

Faith is often misunderstood as an intellectual leap in the dark. But biblical faith is anything but darkness. Faith is a noun, not some capricious leap in the dark initiated by imagination. It's supernatural light with actual existence that transcends space and time. It supersedes emotions and enlightens reason. Faith is not an abstraction, but it's defined as “substance” and “evidence” (Hebrews 11:1) This incomparable knowledge is not natural to humans but is imparted by God. (2 Thess 3:2) It is a gift found only in Jesus Christ, through whom “All things were created …and in Him all things consist.” (1 Tim 1:14; 2 Tim 1:13; Eph 2:8; Col 1:16-17)

Believing is our mental response to faith. Trusting is our emotional response to faith. Without this divine gift, our natural ability to believe and trust will automatically revert to some futile false security, like our notoriously devious minds. 

Einstein interpreted his intuitive experience by logic, but he could never impart it to anyone. He could only offer dead equations. Christians have a similar dilemma. Words are meaningless symbols until you know the reality behind them. Therefore, I will not waste time trying to convince you that Christ is the only Truth, the only Way, and the only source of Life, because it cannot be done. 

I couldn't trust the Bible or anyone's story, and I know you can't either. Nevertheless, in spite of my flaws, like millions from every culture, I too have experienced the literal presence of Jesus Christ and the impact was so sensational that it was like awakening from a dream. Now that I'm awake I can understand the illusion of the dream. That experience has continued to unfold within me confirming the Bible, and transforming my life.

This is not about intellectual suicide, it's about true enlightenment and satisfaction. It's available to anyone who treasures truth and is willing to admit their own brokenness and spiritual bankruptcy. Pride is the only thing that God's grace cannot penetrate, and atheism is pride's most arrogant fantasy.

Copyright 2012 by Hayden Humphrey

FALSE GRACE

I have been rather naive about the false grace teaching that has infected the church for centuries. I'd assumed that salvation by grace alone, and not by works was so obvious and fundamental that it was not worthy of debate. I'd also assumed that walking the narrow path of purity was clear and irrefutable. However, I'm seeing a disturbing trend that views separation from the world and conformity the the Holy Spirit as dead legalism.

Many Christians, including myself, abhor the hypocrisy of legalism. But if we react to it out of hurt and anger we risk becoming the very pharisee we despise. Legalism elevates doctrine above love, and without God's supernatural love, any doctrine is legalistic regardless of its accuracy or cultural relevance. This reaction to "hypocrisy" and "bigotry" breeds moral compromise masquerading as liberty, and a doctrine of grace that's an impotent religious icon. Sadly, legalism has become a condemning buzz word for denying the flesh.

"For certain men... have slipped in unnoticed...who change the grace of God into a license for immorality." (Jude 4) If false grace crept into the church "unnoticed" then it must have been camouflaged in truth. It's politically correct to tolerate distortions of grace, but such compromise originates in hell and maligns the very foundation of Christ's doctrine, which is repentance. (Heb 6:1) Such error may seem innocent, but it ultimately leads to defeat. Simply inviting Jesus into your heart without true repentance violates scripture and imperils souls.

Grace is required for salvation (Eph 5:5, 8) but it's also true that "Unless you repent you will perish." (Lk 13:3,5) Repentance is to turn away from sin. There is joy in heaven over one sinner who repents, not merely believes. (Lk 15:7, 10) Jesus began his ministry with a universal call to repentance. "I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." The great commission of the church is to preach "repentance and remission of sins..." (Lk 24:47) Without this foundation of repentance, Christ's victory will elude you.

God's grace is neither forgiveness nor an insurance policy to cover sin. Grace is not some mystical revelation that nullifies our obligation to pursue death to self. Leniency toward sin under the pretense of justice and mercy is also not grace, it's self-righteousness.

Grace is the multifaceted influence of God's presence in us. Grace is not merely a doctrine, it's literally Jesus Christ (Jn 1:17) Paul didn't say "I know what I believe," he said "I know whom I have believed." (2 Tim 1:12) It's all about God's presence, and His unmerited favor enables us to abide in His presence. (Jn 15:6-7) Grace is supernatural endowment to overcome sin, and it's released through humility, faith and diligence.

“For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age.” (Titus 2:11-12) True grace teaches and enables us to walk the narrow path of self denial

“For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.” (Rom 6:14) That's not a loophole for irresponsibility, it's an affirmation that grace has liberated us from the law, so we can choose to let God reign in us. Grace imparts holiness and righteousness into our re-born spirit, but the heart needs a progressive transformation and the body a resurrection before we are complete in God. Being led by the Holy Spirit is the definition of a true child of God, and “if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.” (Rom 8:13-14)

Grace and free will are not mutually exclusive, they're mutually essential. Just as faith without works is dead, likewise grace without repentance is fruitless. (Rom 6:10-18) “Therefore let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.” (Heb 12:1)

It's folly to assume that grace is irresistible, and mental assent is all that's required to receive it. Beware of the leaven of Calvinism. The bible clearly warns that we can “fail the grace of God,” (Heb 12:15) receive it “in vain,” (2 Cor 6:1) “fall from grace,” (Gal 5:4) and “pervert grace.”(Jude 4)

The new testament actually lists more commandments than the old, and dismissing them as legalism will not exempt you from obedience. It's hazardous to fear legalism more than God. Without grace our works are independent and futile, but grace without obedience is also futile. (Heb 12:28; Jn 15:5) Where sin abounds, grace much more abounds . . .not to excuse sin but to empower us to conquer it!

James defines this marriage of grace and works: “Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. . . "God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble." Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.” (James 4)

Those verses may seem like pious religiosity, but such mandates are legalistic only if you attempt them without drawing near to God. Anguish and brokenness over our spiritual bankruptcy is the portal to amazing grace!

This is not about sinless perfection or self righteousness. It's simply a call to humility and purity, so the Lord can have full access to us. If you embark on the narrow path, Satan will accuse you of cultural irrelevancy, whispering “Did God really say?” And well meaning friends may label you as legalistic and super spiritual. But, “Do not let anyone deceive you, He who does what is right is righteous. . . Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God.” (1 Jn 3:7-10) LOVE epitomizes “what is right,” and only a pure heart can authentically express it. (1 Jn 2:15-10)

The biblical remedy for self-condemnation is not a doctrine of grace or “looking to the cross,” it's growing in love, (1 Jn 18-23) which is the purpose of repentance. “The goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart.” (1 Tim 1:5) A pure heart can do nothing to earn salvation or increase God's love, but it pleases God because it positions us to receive his transforming grace. Repentance can be sincere while it's still weak and fragile, and God is pleased from the moment we haltingly set our hearts to fully obey. Every time we choose love over evil the Lord is delighted because he knows the eternal result, “And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself.” (1 Jn 3:3)

Therefore, “Be diligent to present yourself approved of God. . . rightly dividing the word of truth. . . The solid foundation of God stands, having this seal . . "Let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity." (2 Tim 2:15-19) Amazingly the seal of authentic doctrine is to “depart from iniquity.” Think about that. If your doctrine of grace is not founded on repentance from sin it does not have God's seal of approval.

Copyright 2011 by Hayden Humphrey