The Preacher's Diary, Author at The Preacher's Diary

Beyond Holiness (Part 5 of 6)

December 8, 2023 by The Preacher's Diary

Baseless Blames

Everybody will not sing your praise, but it should also be a cause for concern if everybody inputs to you a blame. Woe unto those whom all men praise, Jesus said (Luke 6:26), but woe unto those also whom all men blame. It does not matter what you do, some folks will still find a fault. Some blames are baseless, true, but never give occasion for them. Miriam and Aaron (the ‘church board’) blamed Moses for marrying whom he did, but God defended him. Why? They were imputing to him a false and malicious blame borne out of their personal pride and jealousy.

Beyond Holiness (Part 6 of 6)

December 5, 2023 by The Preacher's Diary

My Story

Have you ever been severely blamed for what you never did? Put on your seat belt. I have had my share of bad names, very bad names at that, and they came from such unctuous lips that you were bound to believe. I was called an adulterer, a wicked man, an idol worshipper, a pornographer, a violent person, and everything that should make you pluck a holy microphone from my filthy hands. Some actually did, lest I should stain them with my unholy names. The names went far and wide, sometimes ahead of me on an international or local trip.

Beyond Holiness (Part 4 of 6)

December 3, 2023 by The Preacher's Diary

Besetting Excuses

We bother often about being holy but do not give as much attention to being blameless, to say nothing of being righteous. The Chosen of the Lord cannot carry the name of Wickedness. In Hebrews 12:1, Paul makes a distinction between “the sin” which everybody knows is S-I-N; sin which “doth so easily beset,” and the “weight” which is no sin but slows down the runner on the heavenly highway. The weight is no sin per se. It could pass as that ‘little’ weakness of character for which we often find excuses. To bother only about The Sin but ignore The Weight is risky on the way.

Beyond Holiness (Part 3 of 6)

December 3, 2023 by The Preacher's Diary

Righteousness and Wickedness

Holiness has a cousin called Righteousness which, on the horizontal axis, describes a just relationship between humans; that is, how rightly and kindly we treat one another, rather than how purely we relate to God vertically – without idolatry, honouring His name, honouring His Day. The opposite of righteousness, as commonly seen in scriptures, is wickedness, describing cruelness in relating with other humans.

Beyond Holiness (Part 2 of 6)

December 1, 2023 by The Preacher's Diary

Holy and Blameless

Writing to the Ephesians, Paul noted that we were “chosen … before the foundation of the world” for two purposes: to “be holy and without blame before him in love” (Ephesians 1:4). According to Paul in that passage, two important qualities should mark the life of the Christian, especially the chosen: holiness and blamelessness. Holiness is something that every godly person seeks, but not so has everyone also pursued blamelessness. But what do those words mean?

Beyond Holiness (Part 1 of 6)

December 1, 2023November 30, 2023 by The Preacher's Diary

This Might Shock You

I am about to say something that you probably have never heard; something apparently contradictory to common theology; but something you might remember ever that this preacher said once upon a time. Put on your seat belt for the ride.

TITLES DON’T GIVE BREAKFASTS

November 29, 2023 by The Preacher's Diary

Titles don’t give breakfasts always. Masters there are that are hungrier than servants in name. The Prodigal Son learned that lesson in a hard way. Severely punished by his impetuous haste for independence in a Far Country from home, he confessed his shame. His father’s “many” servants had “bread enough and to spare,” whereas he, master of his own means in a Far Country, cried, “I perish with hunger!” (Luke 15:17). Titles don’t give breakfast. He would rather be a fed and happy servant at home than a hungry and haggard heir and master begging pigs for a bite . His senses had returned.

We should measure some boasts not so much by their flamboyant titles as by how much bread they have and to spare. Mind titles that give no bread, especially titles that take your bread.

From The Preacher’s diary,
January 8, 2019.

THE SINGULAR HAND OF PLURAL ENEMIES

November 30, 2023November 25, 2023 by The Preacher's Diary

That he would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear.

Luke 1:74.

Something Strange

There’s something strange about this verse; something that I never saw until now. Every proper person has two hands, and when we speak of multiple people, we speak also of multiple hands. However, this verse speaks of the singular “hand” of plural “enemies.” If that ‘natural error’ were only in this verse, one might have ignored it, but it occurs also in a previous verse, verse 71: “That we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us” (Luke 1:74).

“All” means more than one, and that is plural, so is “enemies.” According to this prophecy, however (for this prayer is called a prophecy in verse 67), “all” the “enemies” have a singular “hand” – one “hand” that holds down all of “us,” many as we are. That takes me to another concern: can an entire community of goodly priests, according to Zechariah, be under captivity to a single wicked “hand”?

Sometimes, the one “hand” against which we strongly contend could be merely the one visible agency of many invisible “enemies.” In other words, some of the battles we face transcend the singular “hand” that we see, feel, touch, hear. To focus on that singular hand could sometimes be a tragic distraction.

Destiny Disconnections and Connections

November 9, 2023 by The Preacher's Diary

Opportunity Costs

There are certain connections in life that you will never find until you disconnect from other connections. There are some nobler doors you will never find until you have stepped out of certain spaces. Many stories in the Bible say this, but the life of Judah the son of Jacob is profound in its illustration of the point.

WASTED CONNECTIONS (2)

October 30, 2023 by The Preacher's Diary

21 Give my greetings to each of God’s holy people – all who belong to Christ Jesus. The brothers who are with me send you their greetings. 22 And all the rest of God’s people send you greetings, too, especially those in Caesar’s household.

Philippians 4:21-22, New International Version.

1. The Distance of Love

You have just read some of the closing lines from St. Paul’s letter to the Philippians, greetings from the many “brothers” who were with him in Rome; among them, “especially those in Caesar’s household.” Paul wrote that letter from prison in the capital city of the Roman Empire. At the time of writing that epistle in AD 62, Paul had already spent two years there.