Recording

We live in an interesting world. Tragic things happen around the globe daily. When it comes to malicious incidents that one person commits against another (or many others for that matter), it becomes a thing to try and trace back and look for evidences that point to a possible forewarning of the incident.
This has placed our social media and personal electronic device tech companies in an interesting spot. I remember Apple being a bit resistant to the FBIs request to unlock a device belonging to a terrorist who’d killed over a dozen people. It’s a dilemma that has valid points on both sides. Privacy versus Security.

If you walked into an office building and saw posters indicating that your every move was being watched and recorded, you may feel a little weird. Maybe just a little. But what if you walked into a coffee shop, or grocery store? What if you were simply looking for a parking spot at your local ice cream parlor and saw that you were being watched and recorded?

Feels a little invasive right? But why? Where do we get our expectation of autonomy or freedom from being watched? Maybe it’s that connection we inevitably make – being watched somehow lends to the idea of being controlled.

However, this is not true. You’re being watched and recorded, but in no way are you being controlled.

Here’s the Word:

Matthew 12:36 But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.

1 Timothy 5:24 Some men's sins are open beforehand, going before to judgment; and some men they follow after.

John 5:22 For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son:

2 Corinthians 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.

Revelation 20:12 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.

We usually interpret the phrase “This is a recording” as if to say that what you’re experiencing now is a playback. Everything you’re seeing has already happened and you’re watching its repeated broadcast. In this case, I don’t mean that.
I mean that you’re actively living in a situation that’s being meticulously written down, recorded. It’s not for the reason of tracing back, it’s not for controlling your actions. However this recording does have a scheduled date to air - judgement. At the judgement which we will all experience, your recording will be played back and you will be either condemned or rewarded based on one particular decision: To follow Christ or not. After that initial identification; as Christians, identified with Christ, you will either be blessed with rewards or you’ll suffer loss. So remember, you’re not being controlled, but you are indeed being watched. This is a recording.

In Him,
Cros

Shine

It’s regrettably, dangerously easy to buddy up to the world and desire to be impressive. Easy to identify with the common desire to feel relevant, to prove that your existence isn’t a big waste of time. All you have to do is start at the bottom and touch that exposed nerve. The one that wants to matter, have impact….you know, leave some kind of mark that you were here.
Next, you come up with a pithy catch phrase – “Live your best life now”, “Your success is yours for the taking.” Or something like that.
Here’s one that I think captures the idea well; "Find your shine!"
Lastly, you make it necessary. You have to shine, or show relevance or whatever because this world will take advantage of you. It will use you up and spit you out with ZERO gratitude. You can’t let that happen.

All of these ideas are tied together and arranged to motivate you to go after a life that you can be proud of.

That’s where the real, yet subliminal misdirection takes place. These ideas shuffle the cards across the table fast and furiously into convincing you that your pride is a right motivation against an unapologetically, unappreciative world.

How can I say this?

Just look at the expected results. If you start pursuing the idea of your best life now, what do you expect to walk away with?
A life that appreciates your importance . Fulfilling employment (based on your happiness). Healthier friendships with a better class of people. Less personal stress. Money in the bank, the ability to travel, maybe not extensively, but every once in a while to fun places with friends.

You want a better you because you want better results for you…just like we all do.

Here's The Word:

Numbers 6:25 the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you;

Psalm 4:6 Many, Lord, are asking, “Who will bring us prosperity?” Let the light of your face shine on us.

Psalm 80:3 Restore us, O God; make your face shine on us, that we may be saved.

Psalm 119:135 Make your face shine on your servant and teach me your decrees.

The world uses pithy catch phrases all day that encourage you to be all that you can be; It will tell you that love wins, so you don't really have anything to worry about. It will tell you things about the universe and the power of self to motivate you to establish yourself and your direction. To find your shine. I guess I can't argue that it is a profitable endeavor... to find your shine. The bigger question is
Where are you looking for your shine?
Are you looking to establish, create or any other thing that equates to producing it out of yourself? Or do you realize the truth of the matter - that your shine at its absolute best is a reflection. A reflection of TRUE shine.
Some may have a problem with this. They'll look at people who press forward with a steadfast fortitude and made big things happen in this world. But I would say - For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? (Mark 8:36).

We all want to hold our heads high like we've got it all together. But what lengths will we go to in order to promote that perception? This world is fallen and sick with sin, and the simple fact is that we don't have it all together. We struggle and we experience setbacks. However, this doesn't disqualify us from shining. God is the only One who can bring real shine to our otherwise pathetic situation. Don't think that you're okay without Him, you're not. And don't think that He couldn't possibly give you His shine, It glorifies Him to do so.

Ephesians 5:14 This is why it is said: “Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”

In Him,
Cros

Recipe

Happy Thanksgiving!

You know, it’s not uncommon throughout the year that you hear reports on the most “searched” thing on the Internet. Celebrity gossip, International scandal, politics, violence and such. As the holiday season approaches, I’d be interested to know how much more search engine attention is given to online recipes than at other times. Do you have a favorite recipe? Possibly something handed down from generations past?
I love the idea of recipes. The whole process of take & make: Take this stuff, do these particular things with it, and voilà, you get something wonderful.
This of course, made me think of The Scriptures and God’s plan for people. When you think about it, God also does recipes.

Recipe for Rest

Matthew 11:29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. (Take His easy and light yolk, learn Him, and receive rest, peace.)

Recipe for Reward

Matthew 6:1 Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven. (Take heed, which is informed and intentional thought), value discretion and get Heavenly rewards.)

Recipe for Righteousness

Matthew 16:24 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. (Take your cross, deny yourself and get Jesus)

Recipe for Reciprocity

Mark 4:24 And he said unto them, Take heed what ye hear: with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you: and unto you that hear shall more be given. (Take consideration; the level of concern you show, is the measure of concern you’ll receive)

Recipe to avoid Greed

Luke 12:15 And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.

Maybe it’s an oversimplification, but it doesn’t totally miss the mark.
Except of course, for the secret ingredient.
We all know that most people can whip up your basic things; Salad, mashed potatoes, maybe even fried chicken. Most people can muddle through box directions and produce something edible. But then there’s those special dishes. Those dishes that make you take note and say “Wow! What’s in this!?!?” I remember a certain real-life example that involved banana pudding. The lady who made it, also made sure to hold the secret, special ingredient away from me for years before telling me in confidence that I wouldn’t divulge it. My closest friends know but it’s a good thing that God doesn’t withhold His special ingredient that way. It’s The Holy Spirit. Without the Holy Spirit, our best efforts can only produce an impressive, yet short-lived morality. God’s recipes give us good now, as well as preparing us for an eternal ‘even better’. It’s impossible to recreate His recipes without Him.

The Bible is packed full of recipes for everything that pertains to life. As I thought of this idea of "taking", I thought of one final recipe. The recipe for the meal that Christ alone is preparing.
What did He take?
He took our sin.
What did He do with it?
He paid for it, nailed it to His cross and remembers it no more and in doing so, (by the same secret ingredient, The Spirit) gave us His righteousness and even now, continues to sanctify us in it.
And what is He making? -
Titus 2:14 Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.

This is God's recipe for reconciliation.

In Him,
Cros

Confess

The topics I pick are partly reflection.
Meditations I have as I press to progression.
Read between the lines, get a sense of my mess then.
I write to inspire, but it’s also confession.

Like shining a light, to proclaim my profession.
Showing we’re alike, and we all have these questions.
Yea, God’s word is TRUTH, it frees from oppression.
Aside of salvation, our most valued possession.

We’ve all made mistakes. We know that depression.
Transparently humble is the proper expression
To embrace God’s grace, and even correction.
This is the high road to eventual perfection.

Confessing without excuses, lest we forfeit the lesson.
Cast all our cares, seeking times of refreshing.
Not just in receiving, but in releasing there’s blessing.
No wonder The Bible makes much of confession.

The enemy seeks to stifle, rekindlin’ our transgression.
Saying we’re unworthy of reconciliation.
Christ advocates for us, He is our intercession.
Expose that thing! He forgives without question.

With people we don’t know, walk with discretion.
Trust is rightfully earned; often better not to mention
Gossip and back-biting, some have an obsession
Pray for their empathy. Pray they’d learn affection.

Look for a safe place and an opportune session.
Where you can be open, without fear of rejection.
With a friend who’ll encourage, not foster dejection.
Who knows how to pray, in your times of confession.

Ultimately a beautiful thing, it aids in our ascension.
Seating us in Heavenly places, no fear of ejection.
The enemy says “don’t expose”. Resist his deception.
Don’t hold things inside, be free with confession.

Here’s The Word;

Proverbs 28:13 He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.

James 5:16 Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Romans 10:10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.


In Him,
Cros

Dark Side

Warning. I’m about to beat you up a little bit. So if this is not a good day to push you any lower than you already are, stop now. Take some time to feel better about things, then come back. However, if you feel that you’re up to it now, I promise, this ends way better than it starts.

As much as we strive to embody righteousness, we’re still very familiar with a part of us that has to be brought into submission. Sometimes this commonality, this familiarity is beneficial to explain things.

1 Corinthians 13 is called “The Love Chapter” (…love is patient, kind, etc) and if you’ve been in church for any length of time, you’ve probably been challenged to replace the word “love” with your name (Cros is patient, Cros is kind, etc). This shows us the scope of the transformation we’re supposed to be giving ourselves to. Only God can replace His name with love and still have it all be absolutely true. God is love (1 John 4:8). That’s not true for us. No, we have another verse that knows us just as intimately as 1 Corinthians 13 knows God.

Here’s The Word:

John 3:19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.

And there’s that familiar punch to my gut (and possibly yours). I have more familiarity replacing my name with “men” in this verse than I do with “love” in the other verse. Good thing that my purpose here isn’t to go on and on about our evil as much as it is to help us get a more clear understanding of love.
If you look at the idea of love in both verses, you see that love is a thing that seizes opportunity - and because we don’t have benevolence in us the way God does, it simply does us better to understand this thing at a point common to us all. Evil. And here’s where our “love” to seize opportunity is unquestionably expressed: Have you ever been pre-notified that you were going to be afforded an opportunity to be removed from under the usual "onlookers" of your life? Parents going away to leave you alone for the weekend, an out of town business trip without the wife(or husband) and kids, a sleepover for your kids that finds you home alone, guys night out, girls night out, etc. Basically, an opportunity for you to be alone in a place where no one knows you or you don’t have to answer to anyone for what you’ll do. What opportunities does your mind conjure up to seize after? Bible study? Meditation time? A visit to a homeless shelter? Maybe for some, but if you’re honest, most of us come up with very different ideas than those. Most of us seek to seize after selfish pleasures.

So now, look at that desire to seize – that’s love! That feeling of expectation and the promise of its fulfilment.
As natural men (and women) we desire to seize under the cover of darkness, because what we want is not benevolent, it’s selfish. I know, this has been a twisted mental exercise. But I don’t think was a waste of time, to touch the familiar and then elevate it to the transcendent, I can appreciate it. So now I know exactly how God feels when I see that He’s motivated to seize opportunity for our good as we see in John 3:16 “For God so LOVED the world”. His love is benevolent and desires good and He seizes opportunity to produce it. Not only that. Remember, I said that this ends way better than it starts. There is abundant, effectual hope.

Here's the Word:

Romans 5:5 And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.

Ephesians 3:17 That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,

2 Thessalonians 3:5 And the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ.

So the next time you're anticipating being alone, and that feeling arises. That desire to seize an opportunity, remember, that's love. You just have to answer the question, is my love looking to produce good, or is that my dark side loving evil deeds? God has an answer for our dark side. It’s His light, which is not a side of Him, it’s the totality of His being. God is light. (1 John 1:5).
This should affect our approach to love and our desire to let it become to us, what it is to God as expressed in The Love Chapter. A benevolent motivation. God IS love, and His love is a precious gift to us that changes us. It changes our desires from evil to good so when no one’s watching, we no longer see an opportunity to seize to fulfill selfish desires. Whether anyone is watching or not, we’re in the light and we look to seize opportunity to produce and provide good.


In Him,
Cros

Picking Sides

Seems like today more than ever, you could boil things down and say that you’re either one of two types of people; those completely engulfed in political arguments or those completely oblivious to them.
As for myself, I probably lean more middle: I don’t argue and I’m not oblivious.
You may be thinking to yourself, “How can this be, Cros?” Well, I’ll tell ya.
As much as I see the issues playing out and as often as I have feelings about such things, my number one priority isn’t governance and the issues that pit opposing viewpoints to fever-pitched diatribes against each other.

You may not know Exodus 32 by name, but it recounts the story of the Israelites and the golden calf. It goes like this: As Moses had been long conversating with God on Mt. Sinai, the people below felt that they were without a leader. They approached Aaron with this concern already deciding that he needed to cosign with them on building a ‘god’ for them. You get a sense of Aaron’s frustration in asking for all the gold earrings. He makes the golden calf and says ‘These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt’.
The LORD, seeing this gets very angry and tells Moses what’s going on in the camp. God says, I’m about to let my anger have its way with these people and I’ll just start over. Moses pleads their case to God’s mercy and the idea that the Egyptians will mock the deliverance of His people. He also appealed to God to remember His promise.
God repents and Moses heads down the mountain with the 10 commandment tablets in hand. They hear the party going on, see the golden calf and Moses gets very angry. He throws the tablets down and burns the golden calf into powder, adds that powder to the water and makes the people drink it. Still angry, he asks Aaron to explain what happened. Arron tries to calm Moses. Moses says “Who is on the LORD’s side?” The Levites step up. Moses tells them to arm themselves and go throughout the camp, slaying the calf worshippers. Moses ends this tragic day with a proclamation – “Consecrate yourselves today to the LORD, even every man upon his son, and upon his brother; that he may bestow upon you a blessing this day.”
The next day Moses goes back up to God to plead for forgiveness for the people. The LORD tells Moses to go and lead the people toward the Promised Land, but promises that this day’s sin will not go unaccounted for. He plagued the people because of the calf.

Here’s The Word:

Exodus 32:26 Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, Who is on the LORD's side?

We’re in a day where the arguments are ceaseless. People aren’t listening as much as they’re just hurling provocative rhetoric. I’m okay with the idea that we disagree on points of how we feel we’re best served by government, but when it comes to Christians, I often get the feeling that we’ve involved ourselves too closely into the expectations of the masses, denying the real and present influence of God in our lives. Yes, there are a few topics that make apparent sense that Christians weigh in on, but I’m hearing many other issues being elevated to “God would want this” just because someone started a rallying cry. I love the excitement and fervency, but I’d love to hear more Gospel added to the commentary, rather than more “Us” vs “Them”. As Christians, we need to show a special love for those in The Body, and we need to keep repeating the rallying cries that make Christianity, Christianity.

Acts 2:38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

Colossians 1:28 (GOD) Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus:

2 Corinthians 6:2 (For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.)

Joshua 24:15 (snippet) choose you this day whom ye will serve

Deuteronomy 30:19 I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live.

2 Timothy 4:2 Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine.

I try and keep it simple. I also try to keep my affections apparent and my pledged allegiance undeniable. So of course, get out and vote. Make your voice heard in the process whereby we influence how we’re governed as a nation. But as a Christian, wake up daily and pick sides – choose to promote Christ and His will for your life and those in need, those who don’t know Him.

1 Corinthians 2: 2-5 For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.

In Him,
Cros