“to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”
Col. 1:27

Traveling, I hear many stories. Many choose not to believe them. Well, I don’t believe all of them either, but I am just reporting the story. I am not asking any to believe them. Here is a report.

I know a man who says that he was caught up into heaven. While standing before the Father’s throne, he was asked if he had a question. The man said, “What is it in me that makes me carnal?” At that the Father leaned over, held the man’s head between his hands and kissed him on the forehead. He said that next the Father began to gently shake him. As he was being shook, it was as though the shaking was making what appeared to be little drawers all over his body open and spill their contents. All that came out was junk, useless little things. He thought to himself this must be all the useless little things I keep and hold dear that make me carnal. The Father stopped when all the drawers were empty and closed again.

Next, the Father reached toward his heart and opened a secret drawer and took from it a little box. The man said that he became frightened, just knowing that little box held the thing that made him carnal. He watched as the Father took out of the box a grand jewel! It was the most beautiful jewel. The Father didn’t put it back in the box but put the grand jewel back into the drawer and closed it. The man was quite confused when the Father spoke to him. “Yes, there are little things that make all men carnal. That is known. I am not interested in what makes you carnal, I am interested in the grand Jewel that has remained hidden in you. My Son is in you. You must not look for the carnal any longer but examine and discover the Son who is in you.” At that he was sent away.

Believe it or not, I like the story. I believe that too much time is spent in self-absorption and not enough time examining the grand Jewel that is in every child of God.

“Pride {goes} before destruction, And a haughty spirit before stumbling.”
Prov 16:18

The other day I was watching a boxing interview. One of the boxers inadvertently threw the flag of the country of the opposing boxer to the ground. It was an accident. However, he had to flee in the midst of bodyguards. The people were in a rage.

I remember doing a radio interview in Ukraine. I was asked by the interviewer what I thought of Ukrainians. I said, “Oh, I grew up hating them. They were the frontline troops for the Russians. We hated the Ukrainians and the Russians. We wanted them all dead!” She looked quite surprised. I continued, “But, then I came to Ukraine. They gave me their food and went without. They gave me their bed and slept on the floor. They heated water for me and went without. They loved and didn’t even know me! I am broken, and I will never allow a government to tell me who my enemy is again.”

We are to love our enemies. That is true. It is also true that we are often told about enemies that don’t exist. In traveling in over 100 countries and staying in the homes, I have discovered that all families worry about the same things.

Governments count on our pride to take attention off their actions and put it onto another. We are angered at the Chinese who stole our military secrets. Is it possible without our government allowing it? We are mad at the Japanese for the trade deficit. Is it possible without our government allowing it? We don’t like illegal immigration. Is it possible without our government? Our foreign aid is being wasted. Is that possible without our government?

Often, I am in a country where the people are so frustrated with the damage that the US has done to their country that it can’t help but come up in the discussion. I feel a defensiveness swelling up in me. First, it isn’t our government; it is their government that allows the abuse.

Second, and most importantly, I must check my pride. It is insidious! Every believer belongs to the Kingdom of God. We have a holy leader. Everything in His kingdom is righteous. We must lay aside the pride of earthly kingdoms and unite in His. I refuse to defend the wicked, and wicked rule the world. I must love my brother and let no one, or any bit of pride, make another my enemy. As believers we have no enemies because we have no enemies. The wicked are nearly genius in getting us to hate each other to avoid thinking about their behaviors.

“and he had his dwelling among the tombs. And no one was able to bind him anymore, even with a chain; because he had often been bound with shackles and chains, and the chains had been torn apart by him, and the shackles broken in pieces, and no one was strong enough to subdue him. And constantly night and day, among the tombs and in the mountains, he was crying out and gashing himself with stones.” Mark 5:3-5

Have you ever wondered what the day-by-day life of a demon is like? We often read the story of the demoniac in Mark 5 and relate it to the demons recognizing Jesus, the miraculous deliverance, or the hardhearted people who would rather have illegal pigs than Jesus.

However, there is something else to be gleaned from the story. There is insight into the life of a demon. They were many and therefore “strong”, yet they were confined to living in tombs, among the dead. They didn’t have a dwelling place among the living. Also, we learn that day and night they cry and gash themselves. Obviously, they are in constant pain.

I think they are somewhat like a fish out of water. They were made for heaven but chose a pit. They hate the pit and yet that is all they are suited for now. Therefore they surface into an environment (earth) that is held together by Jesus. That makes the whole world hostile to them. Earth is not comfortable for a demon. This is why we find them among the rocks, less of creation, less of Jesus to witness to them.

Why would they choose to be here? Suffering on earth, with their sworn enemy Jesus, is better than being with their leader in hell.

“But these men revile the things which they do not understand; and the things which they know by instinct, like unreasoning animals, by these things they are destroyed.” Jude 10

I looked out the window to watch a huge black bear, sitting up, paws in the air, sniffing and watching as two little cubs ate out of the deer feeder. The cubs ate until stuffed and spent until 3:00 AM rolling around on the deck chasing each other. So cute! But I remembered my grandfather’s words. No way was I going out. I don’t believe that you can reason with a wild animal. Instinct would kick in and she would protect, actually protecting the cubs from nothing for I would mean no harm.

When someone is being carnal, they are being animal. They are living by instinct. You can’t reason with them, nor do you know what they will do next. My advice, just avoid them in words, actions, and interaction. It is amazing how quickly you can be pushed into a carnal state yourself. At that point, there are two unreasoning people in the room.

However, if there is pride in me, it will well up within, I will move into instinct self-protection and give a defense. Then, he reacts, I, him, I, him, and so on. The only thing that is accomplished is that where there was one carnal man, now stands two!

The next morning I think, “I didn’t even care what the man thought! Why in the world did I spend that much time arguing?” When we are making excuses, defending self, defending our creditability, clarifying our position, getting another on our side, or trying to gain approval, we are carnal and unreasoning beasts!

Think about it for just a minute. The contentious relative, the neighbors, the teacher, or leader that you made a defense to, what you really wanted was for them to understand your position, and you wanted them to know your real motive. Do you really want them to think so well of you that they stay around all the time judging you? I promise you: fix one issue with the carnal and another will arise.

When someone finishes chewing (harsh, critical, condemning, judgmental) me up I often say, “Given that, you would be well advised to stay as far away from me as you can! If you see me coming you should turn and run!” If I won that person as a friend, what would I have won? Don’t enter into their carnality; let it work for you to push them away.

Jesus didn’t try to reason with the carnal,

(John 13:27): And after the morsel, Satan then entered into him. Jesus, therefore, said to him, “What you do, do quickly.”

I am not begging people to let Christ live through them. It is a privilege!

What does it mean to live for Jesus? That is a good question. I don’t sit here as someone who knows all the answers, but I can give you my own experience. I find that to live for Him is just simply enjoy Him. It’s not about what I do, or don’t do. He wants to simply enjoy me, and allow me to enjoy Him.

When God revealed to me that He was not interested in changing me, but all He wanted to do was love me, the response this generated in me was amazing. I have come to see that His love for me has absolutely NO agenda. 1 John 4:8 says that God is Love. Because I know that God is Love, then I can look to 1st Corinthians 13 where God tells me what Love is. God equals love, so: God is patient, God is kind, God is not envious, God is not self seeking. As I read through that list of what God is, I have to ask myself, “Is this the God that I know?” My answers are often, “No!” Now, at that point I have a choice. I can stick with my false idea of who God is, or I can take God at His word and believe what He says about Himself.

But for me to enjoy Him, I first must know Him. The more I know Him, the more I love Him. The more I love Him, the more I want to know Him.

There is a difference between attraction and respect. Respect will leave the heart of the person with God. Attraction wants some of that heart for one’s self. When we respect another, true Godly respect will send us to Jesus, so we can experience what we see, what we like, in another.

Lust is attraction of any kind. Attraction wants to experience some of the persons heart and attributes for themselves. You see this all the time in congregations. The men or women are listening to a male or female speaker and thinking “It would really be great to be married to them.” That is attraction, not respect. That is lust, not respect. To look at someone and say, “If I were younger and unattached, there would be no question,” is attraction/lust.

What does that statement have to do with respect? Respect is gender neutral and, generally, attraction, is gender specific. So what is the point in understanding the difference? How do we confess if we don’t know what to confess? What if attraction to the spirituality of another is lust? Then, the solution would be easy. Confess it and move into respect.

The lack of distinction between attraction and respect has led to much spiritual abuse. Believers are listening too much to men and not to God. Believers are following too many men and not Jesus. Respect will never let us go where attraction allows us to go. Respect keeps us following Jesus.

Again, this idea is thinking outside the box, but it helps me understand why some get sidetracked.