The Joy of Loss - Edition #5

Saturday, March 4th, 2006

The Joy of Loss – Edition #5

So, today my wife gets her hair cut, and then we head to search for a strange, cool, unusual, and manly gift for my brother’s wedding present. Tonight, we head off to White Rock Lake to see the closing of a friend of mine’s Art Show. It’s at the Bath House Cultural Center… we will hit there early and leave early since Mr. Mack will be with.

2nd Peter 2:1-22
1 But there were also false prophets among the people. In the same way there will be false teachers among you. In secret they will bring in teachings that will destroy you. They will even turn against the Lord and Master who died to save them. His death paid for their sins. They will quickly destroy themselves. 2 Many people will follow their shameful ways. They will give the way of truth a bad name.

3 Those teachers are never satisfied. They want to get something out of you. So they make up stories to take advantage of you. They have been under a sentence of death for a long time. The One who will destroy them has not been sleeping.

4 God did not spare angels when they sinned. Instead, he sent them to hell. He put them in dark prisons. He will keep them there until he judges them. 5 God did not spare the world's ungodly people long ago. He brought the flood on them. But Noah preached about the right way to live. God kept him safe. He also saved seven others. 6 God judged the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. He burned them to ashes. He made them an example of what is going to happen to ungodly people.

7 God saved Lot. He was a man who did what was right. He was shocked by the dirty, sinful lives of people who didn't obey God's laws. 8 That good man lived among them day after day. He saw and heard the evil things they were doing. They were breaking God's laws. And his godly spirit was deeply troubled.

9 So the Lord knows how to keep godly people safe in times of testing. He also knows how to keep ungodly people under guard until the day they will be judged. In the meantime, he continues to punish them. 10 Most of all, this is true of people who follow the evil longings of their sinful natures. They hate to be under authority.

Those false prophets are bold and proud. They aren't afraid to speak evil things against heavenly beings. 11 Angels are stronger and more powerful than those people. But even angels don't bring to the Lord evil charges against heavenly beings.

12 Those people speak evil about things they don't understand. They are like wild animals. They do what comes naturally to them. They are born only to be caught and destroyed. Just like animals, they too will die.

13 They will be paid back with harm for the harm they have done. Their idea of pleasure is to have wild parties in the middle of the day. They are like spots and stains. They enjoy their sinful pleasures while they eat with you. 14 They stare at women who are not their wives. They want to have sex with them. They never stop sinning. They trap those who are not firm in their faith. They have mastered the art of getting what they want. God has placed them under his curse.

15 They have left God's way. They have wandered off. They follow the way of Balaam, son of Beor. He loved to get paid for doing his evil work. 16 But a donkey corrected him for the wrong he did. Animals don't speak. But the donkey spoke with a human voice. It tried to stop the prophet from doing a very dumb thing.

17 Those false prophets are like springs without water. They are like mists driven by a storm. The blackest darkness is reserved for them.

18 They speak empty, bragging words. They make their appeal to the earthly longings of people's sinful nature. They tempt new believers who are just escaping from the company of sinful people. 19 They promise to give freedom to the new believers. But they themselves are slaves to sinful living. A person is a slave to anything that controls him.

20 They may have escaped the sin of the world. They may have come to know our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. But what if they are once again caught up in sin? And what if it has become their master? Then they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning.

21 What if they had not known the way of godliness? That would have been better than to have known it and then to have turned their backs on it. The way of godliness is the sacred command that was passed on to them.

22 What the proverbs say about them is true. "A dog returns to where it has thrown up." And, "A pig that is washed goes back to rolling in the mud."

Now, I am an artist… not practicing much these days, but I will be painting the inside of my fence soon to look like that of a baseball field. I figure since I will be here for a couple of more years, might as well. And tonight, as I go to the art show, I thought I would check out the word art in the bible. It would seem I have lost the joy of doing art over the years, and it is starting to come back to me, to want to paint and draw and create pictures pleasing to the eye. I don’t see that becoming a master artist with the paint brush is wrong as even the slightest… but mastering the art of getting what I want… well it doesn’t look good in the eyes of God. Verse 14 scares me… lusting after women, staring them down into submission within their mind. And the word “never” is a long, long time. They squish the will of weak Christians… and use words and speech to get their desires… and because they do these things, God places them under a curse. How far am I from this? This is what is scary: I don’t see myself far from at all. I sometimes check my tongue in the morning to see if it is forked. I can wonder off and still be here… and I wonder if my cat is going to talk and correct me someday. You see, in verse 19 it says “a person is a slave to anything that controls him.” And the word control means to exercise authoritative or dominating influence over; direct. And if the sinful nature is in control, then it has the dominating influence over me. It directs me in the way I go… and not God. I don’t think I have shared this, but my anger is trying to take this control. I have been short tempered of late and it is by simple frustration over the “little things” in life. And I have found unusual things to bring me at ease… taking walks, driving down 360 and watch people pass me as I go the speed limit (which is weird because I used to be so angry at everyone else for passing me), and checking out sports (fantasy sports of all things). But something caught me weird a few weeks ago. I was coming home from midweek and on 360, the Ten Commandments passed me by… zipping on down the highway, speeding of all things. I don’t know who was driving that vehicle… but something should be said to them. Anyway, please pray for my anger, temper, and frustrations, that they may be eased in a righteous fashion. Have a great weekend, Johnny Out.