Author Archive: Revraney

Pets Over People

Isn’t it just so cute when someone puts a little sweater on their dog?  And what an industry is growing in the care of pets.  You can drop your cat or dog off at a daycare center much like you can your child.  Just the other day I heard that congress was actually considering a tax credit for pets similar to the tax credit for dependents.  How long will it be before you purchase health insurance for your pet?

People become increasingly emotional and upset when they hear about cruelty to an animal.  I too find intentional acts of cruelty to animals as inexcusable.  An act of cruelty to an animal gets news headlines more and more each day, while abused children and abortion become increasingly passe’.  I have heard people, including professing Christians, make statements that they like, no make that love, their pets more than they do people. 

Now, when we get to this point something has gotten out of balance.  Pets are increasingly becoming the companions of people – in place of other people.  Is this how God intended it?  Take a look at Genesis chqpter 2, verses 18 through 20.  It reads like this, “The LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”  19 Now the LORD God had formed out of the ground all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. 20 So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds of the air and all the beasts of the field.
      But for Adam [g] no suitable helper was found. ”

Amongst the animals no suitable helper, or companion was found for Adam.  Instead God created a companion for him from his own flesh.  Someone who was like him in very nature.  This became his suitable companion and people remain the suitable companions for people today.  This is not limited to a spouse, but is indicative of a higher level relationship that is only possible between people; higher than that which is possible between people and their pets.

So why do we see a growing trend of people preferring pets and what are the real problems with this?  As mentioned, relationship with other people is a higher level relationship so there is a connection at a higher or deeper level.  These relationships take more effort and attention.  Certainly we care for our pets by feeding them, etc. and this requires effort, but it is a different kind of effort. 

To build and maintain a human to human relationship that is not merely superficial, but rather is meaningful, requires acceptance and patience; much more-so than with a pet.   People often talk about their pets giving them unconditional love.  Think about that term for a minute, ‘unconditional love’.   We find it so endearing from our pets yet we are unwilling to extend it to other people.  Unconditional love means we love someone without conditions.  There are not expectations of something in return.  There is simply love given.  Are animals really capable of such love?

Our relationship with our pets can only go so deep.  Our dog cannot understand what we are feeling and they certainly cannot empathize with us.  Our cat’s purring may be soothing but it won’t do much for us in the way of helping us know how to handle that situation at work better.  Our relationships overall are becoming more superficial, that’s why our society is becoming increasingly more dependent upon their relationships with their pets rather than with people.

Pets do not disappoint us as much because we do not expect as much from them.  We do not have to really open up to our pets or make real emotional sacrifices in our relationship with them.   They cannot sin so therefore we do not have to forgicve them.  That may sound great, but the same thing that keeps them from being able to sin is the same thing that keeps them from being able to forgive.  They cannot do extreme wrongs, but that which limits them from doing great wrongs also limits them from doing great good.

Our ever-growing dependence on our pets as our ‘companions’ is a symptom of our dilution of real, sincere, meaningful relationships in our lives.  It takes a lot to love other people deeply and it comes with risk, but it also comes with reward.  Where there is little risk there is little reward and likewise where there is great risk there is great reward.  How much risk did God take in loving us the way He did?

Act Happy and Then Be Happy

Do you believe that if you act happy it will lead you to be happy?  How about if I told you about a Bible story that validated that idea?  Now certainly I would not state this as a perfect formula for happiness, but rather an important piece of the puzzle to being happy. 

In Acts chapter 16 Paul is thrown in prison for proclaining the news of Christ.  That sure doesn’t sound like something that would produce being in a good mood, and chances are Paul probably wasn’t happy about the turn of events.  Yet we read starting in verse 25 the following, “About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. 26Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everybody’s chains came loose.

Why were they singing and praising God?  They had been unjustly thrown in prison for serving God.  Unless you are crazy that does not make you happy.  But Paul and Silas decided to praise the Lord in spite of their circumstances.  I seriously doubt they were actually happy when they started singing.  Instead they acted happy.  This is different that “putting on an act”.  It is intentionally, willingly choosing to act happy even when you are not happy.

The result was that the prison was shaken and the doors and chains that were keeping them captive were opened.  You can draw your own analogy from that one pretty easily.  The further result was that when the prison guard was going to kill himself out of fear of what would happen to him when it was discovered his prisoners all escaped Paul and Silas were able to witness to him.  An even greater miracle then occurred when the prison guard and all his family weer saved that day.  Now, Paul and Silas had a reason to be happy.

Acting happy will not always function as cause and effect to be happy but it is very much an important part in actually being happy.  Don’t wait until you are happy to act happy.  Act happy first and let it lead to being happy.

Word Notes – Joshua 3:1-4

To read this passage click here

In the previous chapter in verse 24, the spies that Joshua had sent before the people brought back their report which ended with the statement, “The LORD has surely given the whole land into our hands; all the people are melting in fear because of us.”  Such confidence and boldness should be a trademark of God’s people.  Notice though, the key phrase that provides this confidence, “The LORD has surely given…”.   The confidence of a Christian is not to be found in themselves, but rather in their God.

In chapter 3, Joshua and the people set out from where they were and went to the Jordan and camped.   Wait a minute.  What about the Jordan?  This great river, which at this time of year had swollen to exceed her banks posed a real barrier to success.  How would they all get across?  Its one thing for a couple of spies to cross a flooded river, but for a large populous to do so is a daunting and perilous task at best. 

The people pressed on to the river without a plan of how to cross it.  They had not yet been told how they would cross the river, yet they proceeded on in faith.  This is how we, who seek to follow the Lord should proceed.  Matthew Henry writes in his commentary on this passage, “We must go on the way of our duty though we foresee difficulties, trusting God to help us through them when we come to them.”

After waiting on the Lord for three days they were given the orders to proceed.  The orders were specific.  The officers said, “”When you see the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, and the priests, who are Levites, carrying it, you are to move out from your positions and follow it.”  The result was the parting of the waters much like the Red Sea had done a generation earlier.  The order was given to to move before the waters had stopped flowing from upstream. 

Are you confident?  Is your confidence in God?  The ark of the covenant represented the promise and presence of God.  When you recognize the presence and the promise of God you should follow in confidence.  He will deliver you.

Where’s Your Name Mentioned?

Its not important how many people know your name, but rather who knows your name.  Many throughout the ages have pursued fame and notoriety and forsaken what really matters, a relationship with Christ.   Having your name mentioned by thousands or even millions may bring a smile to your face, but it will not bring joy to your heart, especially eternal joy.

Rest assured, God knows your name.  Is it written in the Lambs book of life?  If you’d like to know more about how your name can be written in the Lambs Book of Life, please feel free to ask.

Word Notes – Romans 8:28

Read Romans 8:28 here  

What is good?  It is the ultimate spiritual good for each of us who believe.  It must be for those who believe for the verse says for those who love the Lord and are called according to His purpose.  In order to really see and experience the good we must believe and operate in faith.

Good is not defined by what we want. In our immaturity we often want that which is not good. That is not limited to those things that are obviously immoral, but includes anything that we desire out of self-centeredness. To a three year old the shiny object on the table looks like something fun to play with, but as parents we do not give in to their cries when we tell them they cannot have the knife.

Sometimes God brings the things our way and sometimes we bring them on ourselves through our disobedience, selfishness, and\or immaturity.

God will work in all things to bring about good, His good, which is ultimately our good and what we should desire the most. God can even work through things that seem bad. Even more incredible is that He can actually work through things that are bad. God doesn’t cause the bad, but in His unlimited power and grace He can take the bad that we so often give Him and blend it in with His grace and produce a good result.

God specializes in growing flowers in the dunghills of our lives. He takes the ingredients that we provide Him, both good and bad and is able to produce something genuinely good out of them.

Word Notes – Imitating Christ

Philippians 2:1-4 (Read the passage here)
Being united with Christ is the ultimate goal God has for us as Christians. This union with Christ brings great blessings and joy through a fellowship with the Spirit. Through this union we experience the tenderness and compassion of Christ toward us. Christ recognizes us for who we are, sinners, yet He has tenderness, love and compassion toward us anyway. This is the blessed gift of God.

The real result of being united with Christ, allowing the Spirit of Christ to work in us as we are united with Him, will be like-mindedness and low-mindedness (humility). If we expect or experience the benefit of God’s love and compassion to ourselves we must be loving and compassionate to others. We will care about others as we care about ourselves. That is the result of being united with Christ and allowing that relationship to operate in us. In order to do that effectively we must get the self out of the way.

Imagine Being Noah

Imagine Being Noah
A Lighthearted, but Serious Message

Genesis chapter 6 and 7

Noah was selected by God to carry out a critical task. The gist of that task is captured in Genesis 7:23 …Only Noah was left, and those with him in the ark.

How did it all start?
Noah was born the son of Lamech, who died just five years before the flood occurred. Noah’s grandfather Methuselah, it appears, died in the flood.

Noah was born into hard times and what seems to be a neighborhood gone bad. The church folk of the day began to seriously backslide (Gen. 6:2-8). They compromised their values. Those who were raised in the church began to date and hang out with those who didn’t believe. Eventually, because the men liked these good-looking women, they married them.   Thus the compromise is complete and the backsliding continues.

Now Noah was different. He walked with God and God found favor with him (Gen.6:8-9). This means he probably didn’t hang out with the rest of the gang very often. To the crowd that has every inclination of the thoughts of their heart being evil (Gen. 6:5), someone like Noah can be a real downer. Noah probably was not the most popular of guys growing up and it just got worse. He wouldn’t have made the football or basketball team. After all they had the Nephilim in the neighborhood in those days and those guys were men of renown (Gen 6:4). Nobody likes a blameless guy unless he can jump really high or throw a ball really far and even then some folks are still not going to like him. Just ask Tim Tebow.

Now this lack of popularity probably came in handy later in a few different ways. For one, since Noah wasn’t on the football or basketball team, and wasn’t necessarily real popular, he was probably a good student. Those math skills are about to become useful. Maybe too, he took woodworking and that’s going to be handy someday as well.

Somehow Noah found a girl that would marry him in spite of his unpopularity and they had three sons named Shem, Ham, and Japheth. This part works out real well for us since Shem is the father of the Jewish people (think Semites – just drop the h) and the Jewish people were the people from which Jesus came and that’s a good thing for us as we really need Jesus to keep us from having a fate even worse than the folks in the story of Noah.

Now God had become displeased with man and his rebellion and evil ways; so much so that His solution was to wipe mankind from the face of the earth. So God came to Noah with a task.

The conversation went something like this. “Noah”, says God. First of all, let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves. Let’s not act all nonchalant and cool regarding the fact that God is talking to Noah. How often do you hear God calling your name? God says, “Noah, I am going to put an end to all people.” Noah thinks, “well that can’t be good since I’m a people.” God says, “I’m going to destroy both them and the earth. So build yourself an ark.” Noah says, “ok…what’s an ark?” “Noah, build it out of cypress wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out. Make it 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high.” “That’s a lot of wood, God. Where am I going to get all that wood and where am I going to build it? You know, my neighborhood organization has zoning laws and with all the ‘green’ stuff going on these days folks are not going to be too happy with me clearing out all those trees.”

God continues, “I am going to bring floodwaters on the earth and to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has the breath of life in it.” Noah says, “alright, who is this really? Am I on Candid Camera?” God goes on to assure Noah that he and his family will be spared, which undoubtedly makes Noah a little bit relieved and glad.

So what kind of thoughts did Noah deal with in the upcoming days? “Man, God is really mad. I mean to destroy the entire world, wow.” “I must be pretty special for God to spare only me. Now who’s the one that’s too cool for school?” “Those guys that ignored me and picked on me in school are in for it now. Hey, they deserve it.” “Wow God, the whole world? Seriously? Doesn’t that seem a little harsh?”

You see, we always battle with thinking we know better than God. Sure, destroying the whole world seems harsh. It is harsh. But we do not know the hearts of men. We know the heart of an evil man who is not going to repent no better than we do the heart of a sinful man who will eventually repent and turn to God.

Some other things Noah probably dealt with – “God this is a lot of work for an old man. Can’t you help me out here? I mean I just get started this morning and my saw blade breaks. I’m just trying to do your work. You could have kept that blade from breaking.” “How am I supposed to get all those animals? And how do I know which one is male and female for all of them?” There’s no way this is going to work.” “How am I supposed to keep the lions from eating all the rabbits?” Don’t worry they’ll multiply.

Yet in spite of whatever doubts he had, “Noah did everything just as God commanded Him.” (Gen 6:22) The time came. The animals started to come. Imagine if one couple came and both were males. “Noah, I told you one of each, male and female;” “Why can’t you just change one of them God?” Actually, an interesting miracle that is sometimes overlooked is found in Genesis 7:8. It states that the animals came to Noah and entered the ark – God drew them.

What an incredible amount of faith was required for Noah to build that ark. He undertook a giant task with nothing more than what he thought God was saying to him. When God speaks to us how do we respond? We probably question whether it is really God speaking. Don’t you think Noah must have done the same? I’ve heard the question, “how do I know it is God speaking?”, so many times. How did Noah know? That would have been quite an investment for him to undertake without knowing it was God speaking. Perhaps we can find a clue in the verse that says, “Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God.” (Gen 6:9)

We might also question and debate with God regarding what He is saying. I don’t believe this is a bad thing to do. God is willing to work with us to get it to sink in. Noah may have very well done the same thing. Moses questioned God’s orders and things worked out well there. He didn’t see himself as the one to talk to Pharoah. It is hard for us in these vessels to comprehend and absorb what God has for us. The problem is not in the questioning but rather when the questioning becomes permanent or turns into rebellion. Quite often when God first speaks to us it doesn’t make sense, but He will patiently persevere and if we do as well it can become clear.

Notice in the story that Noah never questions why. I don’t mean why build the ark. The reason for that was that it was going to flood. I’m referring to the “why destroy the world?” Now we do not know for certainty that the question did not enter Noah’s mind, but it would certainly seem plausible that if he had asked God such a question it would have been included because of its significance. We don’t need to know the ‘why’ in order to obey. Our obedience is not conditional upon knowing the why. That implies that we are withholding our acceptance and obedience based on our opinion of the merits of God’s motives.

God found Noah trustworthy enough to give this enormous task to him. How trustworthy does God find you? What task can he give you?