Restitution – 1 : an act of restoring or a condition of being restored: as a : a restoration of something to its rightful owner b : a making good of or giving an equivalent for some injury
2 : a legal action serving to cause restoration of a previous state

17 " ‘If anyone takes the life of a human being, he must be put to death. 18 Anyone who takes the life of someone’s animal must make restitution—life for life. 19 If anyone injures his neighbor, whatever he has done must be done to him: 20 fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth. As he has injured the other, so he is to be injured. 21 Whoever kills an animal must make restitution, but whoever kills a man must be put to death. 22 You are to have the same law for the alien and the native-born. I am the LORD your God.’ " (Leviticus 24:17-22)

Photo by: r_gallant

I have written about this, restitution, in the past, but in a different light.  I’m revisiting it because I’ve been thinking a lot about it.  Thinking about it in a Christian light not in the “alcoholic repairing his past” light.

Maybe this happens more than I realize.  Maybe the lot of us do make restitutions for the wrongs we commit against someone.  I just don’t hear us talking about it very often. 

(Note: the definition of restitution that is sticking in my mind is (a) up there in the definition.)

Sure, we talk a lot about making restitution to God for the sins that we make.  Well, we do more than just talk, I hope we are doing it and not just talking about it.  Why do we do it?   Why do we confess our sins and make restitution to God?  That is what confessing is isn’t it?  At least the start of it. 

“Well, Scott, we do it so we won’t go to hell for our sins.  We do it so that our Father will not be mad at and punish us.  We do it because we are commanded to do it.”

Why else?  I’m interested in your thoughts on that, but I’m not wanting to spend a lot of time here on this aspect of restitution. 

So, let’s say you’ve just sinned.  Maybe you’ve just Gossiped about someone.  Maybe you told that joke that you shouldn’t have told.  Maybe your thievery skills came through and you swapped 20 bucks out of your friends car. 

Let’s do something different.  Let’s say you only got angry at someone at work.  I mean, it’s a piddley sin, right?  On your list of sins that you keep up with, it’s way down toward the bottom, right? I’m trying to pull that sin out that you commit toward someone that only you and God are aware of.  Could be anger I guess.  Could be gossip.

Whatever in your mind you decide that sin is, can we agree that we normally take that sin to God and honestly seek forgiveness from him for that sin?  When we do that do we have a tendency to forget the sin at that point?  I mean, we’ve gotten it off our chest and have been forgiven by the one that matters.  I do that some a lot of times.  Especially something that time can “heal.”

As a Christian, is that where it should stop?  Not just as a Christian, but especially as a Christian, is that where it should stop?  Should it stop at God?

No, I’m fairly confident that we all know it shouldn’t stop there.  You probably even practice going to the person that you’ve sinned against and talk to that person and ask him to forgive you.  I do it more than I used to.  Still not real good at it yet.

So, now, why do we do that?

“We are commanded to.  It’s the right thing to do, Scott.”

Yep. 

For some reason I’ve been dissecting that and trying to figure out why God would command us to do that.  More than just because it’s right, or it get’s our hearts right.  Well, I guess that’s part of the purpose that I’m thinking about.  And maybe I’m just way off comparing confession to restitution.

Here is where my mind is.  The results of restitution should be more than just getting paying someone back for something that we’ve done.  I think God wants us to make restitution, for us.  For our well-being. 

Sure, there is a lot to be said for paying back the 20 bucks, or giving your neighbor one of your cows to replace the one that Fido killed.  As humans, that’s just what we should naturally think of doing because it is right.

But, to make restitution to the one we got angry.  To clear up the gossip that we started about someone.  Especially the wrongs we’ve done that the other party absolutely has no clue about. When we make restitution for those things, it makes us feel so much better.  We can truly heal at that point.

Time never heals a wrong.  A wrong “healed” by time will always be in the back of our minds and when we aren’t expecting it, it will raise it’s ugly head and make us once again think about how sorry a person we were.  The feelings I get a year, two years, after time has “healed” a wrong, are the very same feelings with as much impact as when the wrong was actually committed.

I’ll finish up with this.  A lot of the commands that God commands us to do have a much deeper purpose than what we realize.  He really knows how to take care of us, take care of our hearts, and by commands, keep us happier and in a loving relationship with everyone around us.  More importantly, in a loving relationship with Him.

Really looking for some thoughts.  Comment away.

Because of HIM

SC

Be joyful always;

Yeah, right!  Be joyful always.  What about this back pain I’ve got, huh? Do you know what it’s like to hurt as bad as I do for as long as I have?  Tell me to be joyful always.  Not to mention the bills I’m getting in everyday because of this.  Besides, don’t get me started on my financial issues.  Nothing to be joyful about there.  It’s impossible.  Can’t be done.  I bet anyone in my shoes couldn’t be joyful in those situations.  Be joyful always! HA!  Give me one good reason to be joyful always!

pray continually;

I can’t pray continually.  That’s too much to ask.  My life is so busy and hectic.  There is barely enough time for me to get up, get to work, get home, get my nap in, get supper fixed, watch TV, and go to bed.  I just can’t pray continually.  Oh, I do pray every now and then.  I think that’s good enough.  I’m sure God’s OK with that and understands.  Besides there isn’t really one good reason for me to pray continually.

give thanks in all circumstances,

Yeah. I’m going to be giving thanks when I’ve got some horrible disease.  Sure is something to be thankful about there.  And again nothing to be thankful for in my life right now.  With the previously mentioned back problems, financial problems, I just don’t think I can give thanks in all circumstances.  Tell me one reason why, in those hapless situations, I should be thankful.  I can’t think of one good reason!

for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

Oh.

Because of HIM,

SC

1Thessalonians 5:16-18

Image by 4563_pic via Flickr

Sometimes…ok, most of the time, when I read an account in the Bible, my mind likes to insert it’s own imagery.  I don’t think that’s a bad thing.  In fact, often I remember more when that happens.

Well, it happened again tonight.  I was reading Luke 24 about Jesus appearing to the disciples on the road to Emmaus.  It was already quite humorous in the fact that it took so long for the disciples to realize who it was that was walking with them and joining them for evening.  Jesus was going right along, knowing they had no clue.

I wonder if he was just waiting for that Aha! moment?  I would have liked to have seen the looks in their eyes when they “were opened and they recognized him.”  I’m guessing it was a big relief for Jesus to see that.   Doesn’t say how it affected Jesus, but being as loving as he is, I almost have to believe that.

Then he again appears to them.  I’ll include the text for your convenience.

³⁶While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”³⁷They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost. ³⁸He said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? ³⁹Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.”

⁴⁰When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet. ⁴¹And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, he asked them, “Do you have anything here to eat?” ⁴²They gave him a piece of broiled fish, ⁴³and he took it and ate it in their presence.

⁴⁴He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.”

Starting in verse 37 is when my noggin went bonkers.  Jesus just pops in on them again and says “Peace be with you.” and this scared the disciples.  The way it’s worded, I picture them like Shaggy and Scooby, jumping in each others arms, knees knocking, voices quivering.  Just a funny scene to me.

Of course, had I been there, I’m fairly sure I would have been right there in the middle of them.  Even though Jesus had told them about what all was going to happen, when it happened they were still shocked.  The disciples, I gather, even though they were his followers, had a hard time understanding what all was going on.

There are too many accounts to mention here, but I think of Jesus calming the storm and the disciples reaction…fear.  They didn’t get it even after the water to wine, driving out demons, healing many, bringing the dead back to life.  They still didn’t get it that He was coming back.

Eventually in the account they did get it It took a piece of broiled fish for it to really sink in that he was real, flesh and bone.

Again, I put myself back there and wonder what would it take for me?  Then there are times, here and now, when those brief moments of doubt rumble by.   It makes me wonder if he came back today, riding on the cloud, would I believe it was him?

I really like to think that I would.  I’m going with that anyway.  There are times though that I think I might want to have a piece of broiled fish around, just in case.

Don’t harass me too much about the post.  Just some thoughts I had while reading it.  I am interested in yours as well.  Share.

Because of HIM

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Image by Denis Collette...!!! via Flickr

As most of you already know, during the P.M. service on Sunday 9/27/09, I was given the opportunity to share The Word of God with my church family here in my home town.   That’s exactly right…I preached for the Lord!

I had done this in the past.  Back when I was a teen, 20+ years ago, we were given the opportunity every so often to lead the evening services.  We being the youth group.  I had preached several times but my last sermon that I gave was horrific.  Horrific because I didn’t prepare…at ALL. I was only given a month to prepare too!  Ugh!

Talk about embarrassment.  My talk may..MAY have lasted 3 minutes and the subject that spoke about was “Not Being Prepared.”  I was able to throw that together in about 2 minutes.  The subject was appropriate considering.  I learned from that experience, no doubt.

I felt like such a failure after that and vowed that I wouldn’t preach or even head down that track, period.  How could I ever show my face in the pulpit there again?

Fast-Forward to a Wednesday at beginning of September, 2009 and I receive a phone call from our minister.  He left me a voice-mail which I promptly returned….on Friday.

When I returned his call,  it was then that he asked if I wanted to preach the following Sunday.  We both decided that I wouldn’t have enough time to prepare.  We did, however, set a date of the 27th for me to preach.

I don’t remember hesitating when he asked if I would want to.  See, I’ve been praying for this door to be opened and I didn’t miss it when it was!

I was nervous, but it was an excited nervous.  Not like nervous as a teen before presenting my lesson.

Needless to say,  I had 2 or 3 weeks to prepare and did I ever!  I had been thinking about fear for quite sometime and had even written a post, Faith and/or Fear, about my on-going thoughts on fear.  I was also able to talk about fear and experience fear at the same time, while I was speaking. 

I fulfilled one vow that I had made as a teen.  I didn’t show my face in the pulpit.  Nope.  I preached down on the floor, closer to the folks that were there.

While I was speaking, it didn’t take long for the nerves to settle and this feeling of the Spirit taking over enveloped me.  I had heard it talked about, this Spiritual takeover, but this was the first time I had experienced it to this degree.  It was so amazing, so awesome, so…there are no words to describe it.  Blessed is all I can say.

I felt as comfortable standing up there delivering my message as I have ever felt doing anything.  That was one of, if not the, most rewarding experience of my life.

Oh well.  If I think of anything else I’ll do another post on it.  But what a blessed experience that was!

I’ve included a link to the audio if you are interested.  Just take it easy on me.  Remember, it’s the first time I’d done this in 20 years.  It will take approx 20 minutes of your time.

I welcome comments questions on the post and also on the sermon I presented.

Because of HIM

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Fear

photo by ro_buk

Have you ever thought about a situation you were in, turned to the Bible to make yourself feel better or give you a different, better, more positive outlook on the situation, only to be put pretty much in the same situation you were in before you looked, possibly a tad worse?

I was thinking about me and why I was not quickly pursuing getting my classes scheduled at Liberty University.  I’ve thought about it in the past and during that thought process I questioned my faith in God.  No, not that I had zero faith, but maybe that it wasn’t as strong as I thought it should be.  If I had the faith I thought I should have, then all of the steps through the process should be easy, no-brainer decisions.  Yet, I hesitate.  Why?

So, I turned to God for answers and he led me down a different thought process.  He pretty  much told me to get it together, or else.  Well, maybe not that harsh but it he has put a little pep in my step.

Instead of questioning my faith, I turned to the thought that maybe fear is keeping me in the hold pattern.  Not really wanting to land because I’m not sure the landing will be successful.  Surely fear is a better excuse and less damaging to what I consider to be a wonderful relationship with God.

Well, it didn’t work out that way for me, sort of.  I retrieved my trusty concordance from the bookshelf, searched for fear, and was swallowed up by the number of entries relating to fear.  Now, where to start?

I started out in 1 John.

18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. -1 John 4:18

Well, that didn’t help.  I know I’m not perfect, but that was a little to negative for what I was looking for.  That conversation made me think that not only did I lack the faith I should have, but I also lack the love for God like I should because of my fear. 

I think I’ll look somewhere else.

14 In righteousness you will be established:
Tyranny will be far from you;
you will have nothing to fear.
Terror will be far removed;
it will not come near you.-Isaiah 54:14

Great!  Now he’s telling me that because of fear, I’m not established in righteousness.  Now I’m starting to think of everything else I’ve been afraid of. 

Is it really not OK to have fear?  Well, maybe OK isn’t the correct term.  I mean, I don’t think fear is one of those Heaven or Hell issues.  But, there I go thinking.

So I turned our talk toward determining what we are “allowed” to fear and what we aren’t supposed to fear.

Don’t Fear

• Man – Proverbs 29:25; Matthew 10:28 (those who kill the body)
• Our Faith – John 12:42-50 Good example here of some Jews who were afraid to confess their faith because they might be put out of the synagogue, which to my understanding would pretty much be the end of the world for them.  Jesus in the verses following pretty much said that it will be the end of their world if they don’t confess their faith.
• The Lord – Lamentations 3:57

Fear

• Our Salvation – or how our salvation is working. Philippians 2:12
• Authorities– Romans 13:1-7  Probably more of a fear the consequences of not doing what they tell us to do, because doing so is the same as rebelling against God.
• The Lord – Way to many verses to put here.  I did a search for fear of the Lord in Proverbs alone.  You can see the results here.

Side Story

It’s 5AM the morning after I had written all of what is above.  As luck would have it  As it seems to have been planned, a storm with vivid lightning, crashing thunder that moves the house, and torrential rain, has moved into the area.  I’m sitting in the dark (because I want to, not because the lights are out) and I remember the days of my youth and how fearful I was of storms.  In fact, just the wind itself might have been my biggest fear when I was growing up.

A particular day when I was 13 are in my thoughts. I remember being the only one at home on this day and a fierce storm raced through the area.  Dad and Mom were both at work, each several minutes away.  Mom may have been 20 minutes or more away, I just can’t remember.  They each might as well had been a million miles away.

The wind picked up, the lightning flashed, the trees were bending over to where I sure thought the tops were touching the ground.  Not sure if there was a tornado in the area that day or not. 

I remember standing with the front door open, like you do during a horrible storm.  I was crying, quite possibly screaming.  Not sure about that.  I may have just wanted to scream.

It was a very moving experience.   I’m surprised that things of the wet nature didn’t move into my shorts from my bladder.

But I got over that fear.  At some point I fell in love with storms and would get so excited at the sound of thunder, the sight of lightning, and wind became a friend of mine.

Continue

Flash forward to February 2007. 

My faith in God and my fear of God were non-existent. 

A tornado ravaged the community where I live.  It came so close to my home where I was again, alone, drunk.  But, in the hopes that God was still around somewhere, I managed to pray, beg, live.  I was spared.

Not long after the tornado, I tired of dealing with my alcoholism and sought help.  While on the quest of becoming sober, he was there.  Always was. 

It took God putting the fear back into me that allowed me to see the errors of my way.  While at Cumberland Heights, my faith increased a thousand fold, a million fold, and a relationship was born…re-born.

So what does all of this mean, God? Sum it up for me.  What are you telling me? What does this have to do with classes and fear and faith? 

13 For I am the Lord, your God,
who takes hold of your right hand
and says to you, Do not fear;
I will help you. –Isaiah 41:13  

Oh.  Okay then.  Don’t fear and my faith will increase?  What do you think?  I’m struggling to put the period on this post.  Maybe you can finish it for me….

Because of HIM

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photo by artethgray

though you used to be slaves to sin

The drink had become my master.  I was in total bondage and would do what I could to get that drink.  Rain, sleet, snow, or hail, I would have something to drink no matter how far I had to go to get it.  Getting close to the point where I would do anything to get it I’m afraid.  Seriously, it scares me how far down the dark road I had traveled.

The chains of addiction constantly dragging behind me.  Slowing me down.  Tripping me up.  Causing deep scaring wounds that never seemed to heal and the only way to ease the pain was doing what the master said. 

I ran the gauntlet of death as a slave to sin.  Sin had become just another word with no meaning, no feelings, no fear.  The master of sin had convinced me that nothing significant would happen to me.  He convinced me that there was no better life than the life I was living. 

He led me to believe that God was not.  Yes, I believed him.  After all, look at what God had not done for me.  This evil master had such a way with words, feelings, thoughts, that it was so easy to just let go and live the lie he promised.

I’m sure we’ve all at some point in our lives felt that bondage.  I guess bondage is used two fold in this post.  One being addiction and one being sin.  Wait, is addiction itself a sin?  Well, the good thing is the chains of each are not so strong that they can not be broken.

I don’t want you think that addiction only applies to drugs and alcohol.  You/We can be addicted to anything.  That anything can control our lives.  Food, money, TV, ourselves.  What?  You don’t think someone can be addicted to themselves?  My heart says we sure can.  All of these, and more, could be addictions.  And I do think that they could all be sinful.  Do you have an addiction?  You should probably think about that for a little while.

So, how am I supposed to overcome these addictions?  How are we supposed to overcome these sins?

You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.

Paul said that if you want to be free from the bondage of sin, just change your mind.

⁵Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. ⁶The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; ⁷the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. ⁸Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God. –Romans 8:5-8

How is that changing your mind?  Well before, our minds are set on what nature desires.  Then we change our mind and live with our minds set on what the Spirit desires. 

As many times as I read that chapter preparing for my Sunday morning class, that never dawned on me until one of our ministers spoke of this as a “change your thoughts” passage.  God’s Word is amazing.

Anyway, my mind was set on those sinful things for such a long time.  Then, that one day, I changed my mind.  I was tired of living like that. 

See, God had paid a hefty price for me a long time ago.  Which meant that in reality, I belonged to him.  I should be his servant, his slave.  But, I ran away.  I didn’t like what he was wanting me to do. 

I ran to sin, to satan, who had no rights to me.  He sure didn’t purchase me with anything.  Why should I have to listen to what he says?  God owns me.  I can run back to him and he will gladly take me back and give me shelter from the one who is chasing me.

Being a slave to righteousness also meant that there would be no more sin in my life.  Because if I did sin, well, then that meant that I was still a slave to sin and I can’t serve two masters.  Right? 

Right and Nope.  There will always be sin, thoughts of sin, because the devil still wants us to serve him.  BUT, as long as our minds are on what the Spirit desires and we are not obeying what the devil is wanting us to do, we are still not slaves to sin.  Which means we can, without fear, tell satan to get lost and turn to the Master for help in dealing with this fool, satan! 

How cool is that!?!  That’s kinda what I hear Paul saying in this passage:

11In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. 13Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. 14For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace. -Romans 6:11-14

So, what are you thinking about?  Where are your thoughts?  Who are you serving?  I mean, you are a slave so, the answer to the title, “Are you a slave?” is yes.

The real question should be who do you want to be serving?

Because of HIM

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Looking back on my younger days, I had, probably still have, a really good imagination.  No brothers or sisters to have to worry about so I had plenty of time to really enjoy the many places I could go in my mind.  I also could almost become my toys, especially the really cool ones. 

Speaking of cool, When the Transformers hit the scene back in the 80’s, I got hooked instantly.  The Transformers were perfect for me.  Two toys in one.  I had a robot…and a car, truck, or airplane.  On many occasions I would get lost in my own little world with my little transforming cars and trucks and airplanes and become a part of the world I created.  

Oh, and the joy of getting a new Transformer!  The fun of getting home, opening the packaging, and figuring out how to move parts around to get it from one form into another.  The satisfaction that I got when the transformation was complete.  I had conquered it!  Success!  Now it joined the league ready to take on the evil of my world.

What a great concept, in my opinion.  Being in one form and having the capability of changing into something else, a completely different form. 

Who knew that how ever many years later that I would be writing to tell you that I liked the transformers so much that I invested and have become a Transformer myself.

It started not long after the Transformers came on the scene.  It’s a process that is going to take a lifetime to complete.  But man, when I get done I’m going to be awesome!

Of course the transforming that I’m writing about here is the same thing that Paul was writing to the church at Corinth:

17Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. ~2 Corinthians 3:17-18

I thought that once the transforming started it was going to be easy.  Boy, was I wrong. 

It wasn’t long after I started transforming that I started getting lazy.  I stopped being excited about continuing to let the Lord move me around and continue making me to be what he wanted. 

Then, I just stopped. In a sense, I guess I started reversing the transformation process. Discouragement, selfishness, personal desires and later in life just plain disbelief, pretty much completely stopped it all.

It was at that point that I started worshipping my own gods that I speak about so often on this blog.  I guess, a good summary of my un-transformed life, after I knew what I was supposed to be is found right here:

29They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents;31they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.- Romans 1:29-35

If you know me that might seem a bit harsh. I guess you may think it’s spot on which I hope isn’t the case.  I know that in my heart this is how I want to describe me at my lowest. 

I’m so thankful that God and his Spirit enjoys playing with transformers.  When I was at that lowest I let them grab me back up and start moving my parts around, to transform me again.  This time, though, I’m going to let them finish! 

All the angels in Heaven will be rejoicing when my transformation is complete.  They can be just as excited about my transformation as I was when I brought that toy home for the first time.

There are times I think We are really really close to getting everything lined up just right and something will happen.  Then when I examine myself, I’m a mess or certain things were put in the wrong place.  That’s when it stops being “we“ and becomes just “me” trying to do the transforming.  Just proof that Satan likes to play with transformers too. 

Not sure when I will be finished transforming.  Right now We are working on getting everything in it’s perfect place.  My heart, my mind, my everything is in motion, to be complete, to be….transformed.

Because of HIM

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