The Gold Ring

I ran into a friend at a party one night. I hadn’t seen her in awhile, and a lot had changed in my life since we had last hung out. Mainly, God had fought to regain His position in my life and I was for the first time in my life, truly living for Him. That means different things to different people, but with my previous dependence on alcohol and sex, I had chosen to not drink at this party. My friend, who remembered me from my first semester in college, was a little surprised at my change of heart.

Although nothing was said that night, she contacted me the following day to say that she had noticed the change. What followed could only be from the hand of God. She then proceeded to tell me that she used to be very close to God, but had lost that relationship after coming to college. She didn’t even like to go to church anymore, because she felt like a hypocrite.

A comment she made caught my attention more than anything else. She said that she just felt so lost. It caught my attention because she expressed my exact feelings from not even a full year ago. For some reason, I was reminded of the parable of the lost coin in Luke 15. In it, Christ says,

“Or what woman, if she has ten silver coins and loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin which I had lost!’ In the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” (NASB)

In telling this parable, I actually replaced the coin with a ring. Why? Probably because I have a horrible memory and never do a good job at remembering scripture in its entirety. But, for the rest of this chapter, I will be referring to the gold coin as the gold ring.

My point in sharing this story with my friend was to convey that you don’t lose your value once you are lost. You are simply misplaced, but you are still worth the same amount. Misty May, the recent US volleyball Olympic gold medal winner, lost her wedding band in the sand while playing. Everything for her stopped when she lost that ring and resumed once she had found it. However, if someone else had found it, they would have gained the value of a gold ring. Its value did not change.

This ended the conversation with my friend and I still pray for her. But this did not end the battle over the gold ring. At this time, Satan began to attack my spirit by attacking my self-worth. Although I know the story of the gold ring, there was something more. I felt like a lost ring that has long last its value. Not only is no one searching, but also if I was ever found, I would be worthless. I am made of impure metal.

Kind of throws a kink into the whole thing doesn’t it? Not as much as you would think.

Malachi 3:2-3 proclaims that our God “is like a refiner’s fire and like fuller’s soap. He will sit as a smelter and purifier of silver, and He will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, so that they may present to the LORD offerings in righteousness.” (NASB)

God tells us that He is like a metal worker and will flush out the impurities in us. How does he do this? To answer this question, I think its best to take a look at what the typical process is to refine a choice metal. Although my understand of this process is limited (I am an advertising major after all!) I will offer what I know. The metal is heated to a temperature where it will melt and the impurities rise to the top. Next, these impurities are scraped away and the pure metal is left. Notice how the metal must be heated to the point where molecules break apart from one another before the impurities are released. What does this have to do with making us pure before God’s eyes? How does He make us pure? Through the trials and temptations, and yes, even suffering in our lives. Take a look at Romans 5:3-5.

“We also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character; hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” (NASB)

and Ephesians 2:10

“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.” (NASB, emphasis added)

The LORD sees us not as a ring (or a coin) for whose value isn’t even worth searching. No! He sees us as His workmanship and is resolved to work in our lives (there is enough material to write an entire other study on His process of refining and the pain it may cause in our lives) to remove the impurities and make us pure in His sight. For He is like the prodigal father in Luke 15, who rushes to his son and “gives him the best robe, puts a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet” (15:22). For, as Christians, we “have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created” (Colossians 3:10) just as the Father has put a new robe on His returned son.

I pray that you hear this truth in your life and are assured of the love of the Father.

His,

Dustin L. Taylor

Sandcastles

I get an idea. I get excited. I start planning. I begin to envision how I am going to make it work, and even plan out the details. I see what people are going to think of me, how they’re going to be impressed.

Maybe its how I am going to become better at a sport. How I am going to train and get back in shape, and even eat right. I’ll go research various websites and come up with a training plan and even try it… and then I’ll grow bored and quit when I realize it wasn’t what I was expecting.

Maybe its something to fulfill my desire to be successful. In high school, it was how I was going to go to state in One Act (competitive theater) and track. My best friend and I wrote our own play and pressured everyone to work hard enough to be the best. After rehearsal, I would go run only to get up the next morning and go work out as well. I neglected debate because it wasn’t as glamorous and I didn’t think it had a shot of getting me to state. What happened? I ended up quitting track because I got tired of the workouts, getting knocked out at district in one-act, and making it to state in debate.

Maybe its something more recent. Where I become passionate about advertising and when a friend tells me about a new business, I begin to envision how I will advertise for them an be responsible for their success. How I can know enough right now, have enough experience now, to be able to do by myself what it takes a full agency of people to do. And it isn’t until I get into it, that I sink some money and a lot of time and pride into this fantasy that I realize I am in way over my head and have to swallow all of that and step down.

I hate that taste. The taste of sand. You see, it is in these moments where I get excited and begin to envision what people will think of me… that I lose sight of God. I don’t commit some huge awful sin where I go sleep around, rob a bank, and kill someone, but I did do something worse. I broke the first commandment. In Exodus 20, God is giving Moses the ten commandments and the very first thing He says is, “You shall have no other gods before Me” (NASB.)

In those moments where I am dreaming of being successful and everyone being envious of me, I am taking God down from the center of my life and placing myself there instead. I am building a castle to myself that I think will allow me to reach this place where I will be happy.

I call it a castle, but its called different things by different people. Some people call it what they deserve, others call it hard work, my favorite is calling it the American Dream. It’s all sin. Now I’m not saying that you should slack off and never try for anything. That is being stupid and a bad steward of the gifts God has given you. What I am saying is that when you are in those moments where you are working towards something, take a minute and question why exactly you are working. Is it the LORD your God? Are you working for His glory? Or are you working for your own? Are you working so that others may look at you and say, “look at him” or “look at her,” and “look how successful/beautiful/popular/whatever they are.”

Now you might be thinking that we idolize those things because they work. The American Dream has given hope to millions of people and has made America the leading power that it is today. But my question to you is; has it really? If so, then why are we looking at the American dollar fail against the Euro? Why are we bickering at politics as Americans decide who they wouldn’t mind voting for the least? Why when OPEC says jump, we say how high? Why are our marriages falling apart and our education system declining? Why is our castle taking on water?
Jesus gives us the answer to this question in Matthew 7:

24"Everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25"And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. 26"Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27"The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell--and great was its fall."

But there is hope, even if you have been like me and built so much of your life on the foundation of sand. As I write these words, I have spent the past few hours working on a new dream of mine. I have recently left the Young Life organization and have felt God calling me to do more with advertising and the people in it. I am creating a student organization whose objective will be to connect Christians in the advertising major and profession. When God laid this on my heart, I became excited. My old habits started to take over. I began to imagine how successful this organization could be and how prestigious it could become. And how I could make the same impact by myself as I did with an organization that has been around for years and has thousands of members. It could have easily become about me, and it still easily can. That is why it is my prayer to slow down and even stop. To not get caught up in getting this thing off the ground and instead take time to inspect my foundation, hear the words of Christ, and act on them. After all, Deuteronomy 32:4 calls God, "The Rock!” and says, “His work is perfect, for all His ways are just; a God of faithfulness and without injustice, righteous and upright is He.” And that is something on which I can build.

His,

Dustin L. Taylor

School Analogy

So this is just a short analogy that God gave to me while I was reading Romans chapter 10. Paul is talking about Christ and the fulfillment of the law, making the overall point that the law can never lead to righteousness. Now, a common (and valid) question that comes from this is: If God gave us the law, but the law could never give us righteousness, then why did God give it to us? Is He that cruel?"

But stay with me for a minute. How many of you have gone to college? Or even been through a senior year of high school? Think about all of the years you have spent previously in school, getting you ready for that moment. How absurd would it be to leave you without any formal education until you are 17 or 18, and then throw you into college?! No one would logically agree to that.

Then why would we expect any differently from God? The law was given to us, not to achieve rightousness, but as a study guide. We weren't ready to understand that God could send His son to die as a sacrifice for mankind, we didn't understand the idea of a sacrifice or why it would be necessary. So what did God do? He sent us to primary, middle, and junior high school. We lived for years with the law and understood that when we failed to uphold it, we must offer a sacrifice.

The law was never intended to serve as a path to rightousness. So why treat it like it is?! You wouldn't try to ride a bike into a lake instead of a boat. Then why do you try to live right and play nice, and expect to get into heaven. I promise you; you will sink faster than if you had taken then bike into the lake. Instead, put your faith in the sacrifice for which we have been prepared.

I honestly don’t know what I expected when I sat down to write this. I don’t know why this had been on my heart and didn’t know where I was going to go with it. I originally wanted to write in praise of how the bible is so consistent. Over 40 authors writing 66 books over thousands of years to form a book that despite its diversity, speaks with clear, over-arching messages. I was even going to skip the message of love and speak of another message found from Genesis to Revelations; “thou shalt not judge others.” This command is generally quoted from Matthew 7:1-6 where Jesus instructs his disciples, “do not judge so that you will not be judged. For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?” (v.1-3)
These verses are used by many pastors, youth leaders, teachers, parents, etc. to instruct others not to judge and to be kind. It is used as a defense against criticism that Christians are judgmental and hypocritical. People point to it and say, “the bible commands us not to judge!” I was going to show how God never intended for us to judge others and how throughout the bible, that message was repeated. Its funny how God has a sense of humor though isn’t it? As I researched scripture for this message, I noticed something else. I noticed that every time I typed in “judgment”, “judging,” or “judge” into scripture finders, I would get the verse from Matthew 7 and then a bunch of others that showed instances where man is rebuking and correcting, essentially judging, his fellow man. The entire book of Judges tells of how God called prophets to rebuke and condemn the Israelites. I was a little frustrated to be honest. I didn’t know what to think as I found a basic biblical truth that I had been resting on for years, suddenly contradicted by scripture itself. But as I began to look into the issue more deeply, I realized it wasn’t so much of a contradiction as a subtle distinction. Those same pastors, youth ministers, etc. that use Matthew to teach others not to judge; many of them also use it as an excuse not to do what God has called us to do.
According to biblegateway.com, the word “judge” is found in over 226 verses across the Old and New Testament. The majority of these are found in the Old Testament and an important difference happens in how the word “judge” is used between Genesis and Exodus. In Genesis, judge is usually a reference to God. For example, In Genesis 16:5, Sarah says to Abram, “May the LORD judge between you and me.” However, from Exodus to the rest of the Old Testament, it is man that is more often looked to as the judge. In Exodus 18:13, “Moses sat down to judge the people, and the people stood around Moses from morning to evening,” and in 1 Samuel 8:1, Samuel makes his sons judges over Israel. Why this sudden shift in who plays the role of judge? I believe the answer lies in the book of Exodus, chapter 20. It is here that God gives Moses the Ten Commandments, which become the base for the Jewish law. According to Paul throughout various parts of the New Testament, the law exists to make man conscious of sin. Now that man is more aware of his sin, he is able to better judge how closely someone upholds the law.
I want to chase a rabbit for a moment and clarify something. I don’t believe that God ever intended man to sit as judge over his fellow man. In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve were given abundant life and simply told not to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 2:16-17.) Verse 25 shows the huge difference between the times as “the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.” When the serpent (Satan) came and tempted Eve, he promised that if Eve ate from the tree, “(her) eyes would be opened, and (she) will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (3:5)
What does this mean? Verse 1:27 says “God created man in His own image,” so man and woman were already “like God.” So how then could eating from the tree make us more like God? I think that the true translation comes if we remove the word like. Satan is essentially saying that once man possessed knowledge of good and evil, he will be God. At this time, because man could not discern between good and evil, only God held the power to judge. It is because of this that I believe that man was originally not intended to judge over his fellow man. But when man ate from the tree, he went against God’s desires and his free will changed the earth. “Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.” (3:7.)
Unfortunately, man was never worthy or capable of having this power, and have ever since abused it. This is why Christ instructs us not to judge in Matthew 7. Even the angels do not hold this power as “Michael the archangel, when he disputed with the devil and argued about the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce against him a railing judgment, but said, ‘The Lord rebuke you!’” (Jude 9.) Instead of writing in praise of how consistent God is, I found myself instead writing in praise of how flexible and alive He is. God began with a plan in the garden, and man ruined it. So then, God “parented” us and presided as judge over us, maybe to show us how it was done? I don’t know. Next, He gave us the law as a guide and once again, allowed us to try and rule… but once again, we messed it up. So then, God sent His son to die on the cross for us and to establish a new covenant. How amazing our God is! He could have looked at our first attempt and simply said, “well, that didn’t work… back to the angel thing!” Instead, he has given us His own son so that we could have a second, third, fourth, etc. chance.
I would like to close this message but noting an important distinction and providing some more verses on judging. First of all, simply because we are told not to judge, doesn’t give you an excuse not to call someone out for not living as they should. 2 Timothy 3:16 says, “all scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,” (NIV.) And in chapter 4, verse 1 and 2, Paul reminds us that Christ will judge the living and the dead, and to “preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.” Although Matthew 7 commands Christians not to judge, it does not give us an excuse not to rebuke our brothers and sisters in Christ from living in sin. Just as Paul says in Romans 6, shall we go on sinning simply because we know that God will forgive us? By no means! So should we also avoid our obligation to our brothers to keep them accountable, simply to avoid confrontation? By no means, for we are servants of Christ. To close and put all of this in perspective, I want to leave you with John 12:47, which says, “(Christ) did not come to judge the world, but to save it.”

His,

Dustin L. Taylor




In an attempt to keep these posts semi short, I don’t use all of the verses that I find. But I will try and include them in the end so that anyone that reads this can look them up on their own. Psalm 50:6, John 7:24, Romans 14:1-4, 1 Corinthians 6:1-5, 1 Timothy 5:20, James 4:11-12, John 12:47.

Isaiah 8

This blog is going to contain a new approach for me, and I will not likely do it often. Instead of speaking on a specific topic, I will cover only a grouping of about four verses that I discovered this morning in my quiet time. I want to emphasize the importance of quiet time. It is at these moments that God often reveals the mysteries of Himself. Mysteries that we are supposed to steward (1 Corinthians 4:1-2.) This isn’t to say that if you read the bible, then God is going to make everything clear to you. If it was that easy, then I would just sit and read all day and in about a month, know all of the secrets to life. No, God desires for you to seek Him through His word… but then to go and live it. To go through life with what He has revealed to you and try to apply it to your life. As you do so, the lessons you learn will continue to reveal the mysteries of God. As you live His word, seek Him through prayer. This is a large enough topic for an entire writing, so I don’t want to get into it too much as of now.

Before I begin today, I would also like to thank anyone that has sent me a message telling me how they enjoyed this blog. I wasn’t ever sure anyone even read this thing, it is mainly a way for me to organize my thoughts and watch God reveal Himself to me as I think through various passages of scripture. I’m honestly afraid of writing and voicing my opinion most times. I am relatively new to my faith and am afraid that I don’t have the life experience to put most of God’s Word into perspective. But, I am encouraged by Paul, who immediately after His conversion, began to preach to everyone around the glories of our Savior. God’s Word is filled with stories of men and women who like Paul, could not keep silent about God’s love no matter how long the had been believers.

But on to the reading for today. I am taking this from Isaiah 8:19-22. If anyone is feeling really motivated, I suggest reading Chapter 8 up to this point. Seriously. Do it. I promise, reading outside of class won’t kill you.

Read.

OK, to summarize (and for anyone that didn’t read), this is what is going on in the book of Isaiah to this point. God has seen His people turn from Him and has essentially said, “Everyone I created, I love. But not everyone loves me. The majority of people that I created have chosen to pursue something else and are living immoral lives. They even are worshiping an oak tree instead of worshiping Me! I’m tired of this. If they want to live immoral lives, then I’m going to let them. I’m not going to protect them from the consequences of that style of life anymore. But, if anyone wants to return to Me, I’ll be here waiting for them.” So that may be a bit of an extreme Sparks Notes reading, but I figure I make these things long enough as it is. The point is, God is telling Isaiah to warn the people about what is about to happen.

I think its an important side note to point out that Isaiah was a prophet. A prophet was someone God had given the gift of being able to tell the future. This means two things. One, Isaiah was probably a pretty good poker player. Two, he wasn’t very well liked by all of the people. Maybe these two things are related, but it is also because Isaiah had to tell his family, friends, everyone that if they didn’t turn back to God and stop living how they were, they were all going to die. Not exactly an easy message. I mean, think about telling your parents that because you slept through a class, you had failed out of college. I can’t even tell my parents when I got a C (man, I hope they never read this) much less that their lives would only lead to death and everything they did was wrong.

So lets pick up the message. God has continued into Chapter 8 with the same style of the rest of the book. Now some people think these verses refer to the end of Jerusalem and others think it refers to the end of the world. Honestly, I don’t think it matters. The consequences of the same actions are the same and a good lesson can still be learned. So here is Isaiah, talking to his friends, family, and everyone that lives in his city. He says,

“When they say to you, ‘Consult the mediums and the spiritists who whisper and mutter,’ should not a people consult their God? Should they consult the dead on behalf of the living?” (v.19)

Umm… what? And this is relevant how? Yea, pretty much my same initial thoughts. But keep reading and see what happens. This verse refers to what will happen when God begins to not protect us from our own sins anymore. What does that exactly mean? I think we are beginning to see exactly what it means. Take sexual immorality for instance. God said not to have sex outside of marriage and we said no. Now, we are faced with countless STDs and fatherless children. This is just an example and there are plenty more. But Isaiah is saying that when people begin to be punished for their sins, they will turn to physical objects in their lives and wonder why this is happening. But the truth comes in Isaiah’s next words. “Should they consult the dead on behalf of the living?” You are being punished by God, why do you turn to something else for an answer? That’s like being grounded by your mom for playing too many video games instead of studying, but then going to your video game system and asking it why you are being punished. Umm… “game over” is the only answer you’ll be getting. (Corny, I know.)

So what does this have to do with today? Other than maybe visiting a palm reader, most people don’t have anything to do with mediums or spiritists. Or maybe it has just changed shape. I don’t think my video game analogy was that wrong. Many people are addicted to alcohol. Although the bible doesn’t condemn alcohol, there are several verses that condemn drunkenness (Ephesians 5:18, Proverbs 23:20, Titus 1:7 among others.) I don’t think I need to explain in too much detail how people’s lives have been torn apart by alcoholism. But the sad part is that when someone’s life is falling apart because of alcohol, what do they turn to? They have another drink. There are plenty of other examples, but for time’s sake I’ll go on. Message me if you’d like to talk more about this part of the message.

Isaiah next says, “To the law and to the testimony. If they do not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn.” (v. 20) This is simply a conclusion to the previous thought. Isaiah is saying that if something does not reflect God’s word (such as alcohol, money, etc. that most people turn to in times of trouble) then it will not give an answer (it has no light or dawn.)

So Isaiah says that people will turn to worthless objects with questions that can only be answered by God. Of these people, Isaiah says they will eventually recognize God as having a hand in their life. But not in the way God desires.

“They will pass through the land hard-pressed and famished, and it will turn out that when they are hungry, they will be enraged and curse their king and their God as they face upward.” (v 21.)

So as God’s punishment gets worse, people won’t repent. Instead of realizing that their misery comes from their abusive lifestyle, they will blame their government and God. Sadly, this is often seen. When alcohol consumes a man to the point where he doesn’t show up for work and is laid off, it is because the government is taking away all the hard-working jobs or God is evil. There are more tragic and controversial instances also. A good friend of mine died in a car wreck after drinking and driving. He had just graduated high school. Another close friend was very close to the accident and partly watched our friend die. He was a mess. He blamed God for our friend’s death (remember verse 19,) and turned to alcohol and drugs as a way to cope.

Sadly, the next verse doesn’t offer much more hope. Isaiah says, “then they will look to the earth, and behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish; and they will be driven away into darkness,” (v 22.) This is what happened to my friend. When he experienced the death of our friend, he “looked to the world” for answers and found only distress, anguish, and darkness. What it means to be driven away into darkness, I don’t know. I don’t think I want to. I don’t want anyone who reads this to know either.

Remember what I said about God earlier? How throughout the entire book of Isaiah He was saying that if anyone wanted to come back to Him, He would be there waiting for them. Ready to forgive them and deliver them from their anguish. If you haven’t already, read my message about faith healing.

The simple truth of this is that God loves you. “The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance,” (2 Peter 3:9.) Because of his love, God sent His only son to die on the cross for your sin (paraphrased, John 3:16.) If you want to talk about this anymore, please message me, call me, email me, come see me, anything. From reading this in Isaiah, I hope you can see that turning to anything else doesn’t end well. There is only one Creator of life and therefore only one source of life. Anything else will only lead in death. Its like going to the moon and expecting to find sunlight. The moon reflects the light of the sun, but it doesn’t produce any of its own. Things in this world (a great relationship, a really good job that pays well, etc.) may shine with a light, but it is a light that is reflected from the One source. If you seek life in those things… well, has anyone seen pictures of the moon?


I want to close on a bit of a tangent. This is somewhat related to my beginning words of being new to the faith and taking lessons from life. Although I think that brand new believers can offer an insight into the Lord that maybe those that have believed their entire life cannot (for God chooses whom to reveal Himself through, regardless of our standards; He chose fisherman, tax-collectors, thieves, and prostitutes to begin the message of salvation), I want to emphasize the importance of mentorship. Hebrews 13:7 tells us to “remember those who led you, who spoke the word of God to you; and considering the result of their conduct, imitate their faith.” Think of someone in your life, someone older preferably, that has chosen to follow Christ with all of their heart. To lay down their life, pick up their cross, and follow Christ regardless of any consequences (Mark 8:34.) Personally, I think of Brett Rogers. Anyone that knows Brett knows exactly what I mean. He has chosen to follow God into a job that shouldn’t pay, but somehow does. He is constantly surrounded by sadness and brokenness, but he is always happy and joyful in the Lord. In college, he faced the same decisions that we do today. He was a partier and then one day, chose to follow the Lord. Because of his faith, God has blessed him with amazing friendship, an incredible family, and countless college students who consider him as a second father. He faced the same choices as you, and he chose to follow the same person as you can. For (Hebrews 13:8) “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”

His,

Dustin

A Roman's Faith

Once again, I am straying from my original intent with this blog (which was to provide logical and emotional evidence for Christ that inspires a true relationship with Christ over the comfortable and non-threatening religion that permeates churches today), but God has placed something on my heart that I feel pressed to write about. I was watching late-night TV a couple of weeks ago. I had watched Family Guy and Futurama, and even caught an episode of Robot Chicken and was just channel surfing to avoid going to bed when I saw him. A semi-elderly man in a white suit was praying over an elderly woman who was in a wheelchair. As he finished praying, she amazingly got up and walked around as the man began some sales pitch. After watching for few minutes, I shrugged it off and switched to the history channel for something I could actually believe.

I didn’t give the televangelist faith healer much thought after that night, but the idea of healing by faith has stayed with me. After Spring Break, I went on a brief overnight camping trip both to spend some quiet time with God and to avoid the massive amount of work I had to do for classes. This was an amazing trip and I recommend it for anyone, but that is a whole other tangent. I worshipped (with the aide of an ipod because I have no musical talent whatsoever,) roasted smores, spent sometime in prayer, and just read through the bible as my heart led me. The issue of healing by faith came up once again, in a way that I wasn’t expecting it.
I was reading in Matthew chapter eight about the faith of the Centurion. For those of you that haven’t heard the story, Jesus is in Capernaum and a centurion comes to him asking for help for a servant that “lies at home paralyzed and in terrible suffering.” Jesus’ response was action, and He prepares to go to the home of the Centurion and heal his servant, just as He did for the ruler’s daughter (Matthew 9:18-25) and countless others. But it is the Centurion’s response that “astonished Christ.” “The Centurion replied, ‘Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, Go, and he goes; and that one, Come; and he comes. I say to my servant, Do this, and he does it.’” Jesus is astonished at the man’s faith (there is plenty more to this story than what I am writing, notably the fact that the Centurion was a gentile whose faith surpassed any Jew that Christ had yet met) and replies, “Go! It will be done just as you believed it would.” (NIV)

The rationale for the Centurion’s faith was simple. In verse nine, it tells us that he was a man under authority. Although he was a Centurion and in control of 100 men, he was still part of the larger Roman army and ultimately answered to the Emperor of Rome. To his military mind, a command was to be followed. When the Emperor ordered for troops to be moved, the command was handed down the various levels until it was given to the Centurion, who then gave it to his troops and the action was committed. By this logic, the Centurion knew that if Christ, who spoke on behalf of the God of the universe, gave the command for his servant to be healed, then it would happen. To him, it was just that simple. For some reason, this story stayed with me as I packed up my tent and headed back to my dorm the next day. It stayed with me as I went through my classes and went on with life. The man’s complete faith that Christ would heal his servant ended exactly as he thought it would, the servant was healed. I thought about my own life and if I was modeling this faith, and how it would look in today’s world.

Maybe its because I fought with sexual temptation for so long that I would characterize it more as an addiction than a temptation. Maybe its because I have a close friend who struggles with the lines that have been drawn separating homosexuality and Christianity. Maybe its because my mom is having oral problems that we don’t have the money to treat. Maybe its because that is the normal state of the world, for us to always be surrounded by sickness, pain, and suffering. I don’t know to which aspect of my life I first applied this story, but once I did, I was captured. This previous summer, at a youth camp in Marble Falls, I worked with kids from the age of seven to 17. Before I went to work there, I had a habit of cussing. I had tried to quit before for various reasons, but always on my own ability; I had always failed. But this time, I was just able to stop. No slip ups, no mistakes for an entire summer. Sadly, when I returned to UT, I began to curse again but I know that God will “heal” me of this again.

Most notably in my own life is the healing of my sexual addiction. From junior high I have fought with sexual temptation, masturbation, pornography, and even sexual acts. I was probably at some point proud of this, but as I grew older, I lost control while sex gained control over me. It wasn’t until a little over a year ago that Christ spoke into my heart and told me that I was free of this addiction. I was able to enter into a relationship that was free of any sexual acts and grow closer to God with this barrier removed. As the idiot that I am, I didn’t see God’s hand in this and thought it to be my own self-will that had changed my actions. Of course, under the power of my own self-will, I failed again in the following year and it wasn’t until a good friend of mine told me that he was thankful for God freeing me from sexual addiction that I realized whose hand was truly in control of the situation. Earlier this year, at a bible study, a group of men (some of whom I am close friends with, others I barely know) laid hands on me and prayed for me to be free and to be able to fully live in Christ. Right then, any of the last chords of bondage snapped and all of the emotional baggage from my addiction was taken from me. For the first time since junior high, I felt free. When I got home that night, I discovered that the STD tests I had taken the previous week had come back negative, I was completely free of my previous life. Faith in Christ, both mine and others (which also served to inspire mine, because you are much more confident in your own if you know that others also believe with you) had healed me of my sexual addiction.

I don’t know if I had the faith of the Roman Centurion while this was happening… I doubt that I did. But I have seen God’s faithfulness, and know that His commands will be obeyed. I’m sure you’re saying, “that’s nice and all… but what if God doesn’t decide he wants to heal me?” Well, on some level, that is something you may have no control over (and I am being completely honest here, I thought about leaving this part out and skipping to the part where you do have control, but I intend this blog to be a completely honest source for people who want the truth, not just something they would hear in church.) God has His own plan and if our healing is not in it for some reason, then it will not happen. But remember that the same God also loves us enough to send His own son to suffer in our place (John 3:16) so why would it make sense that he would allow us to suffer with no end in sight? Hope is found in the first chapter of James, Jesus’ brother, who writes, “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” (NASB) In these three verses (2-4), suffering is understood. We face trials and temptations so that we may develop endurance. Why do we need endurance? Because the ultimate goal of endurance is to make us “perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” Romans 5:3-5 tells us the same thing; “We also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us.” (NIV)

Once again, I read this and thought… “that’s great… but so what?” I get that endurance produces completeness and even get the point that we should be happy when we have problems in our lives because it allows us to develop hope and endurance… but what if we stink at the whole endurance thing? What if we are so controlled by our addictions and desires that endurance to us is maybe lasting one week before plunging back into immorality? What if, we don’t even want to change? (That last one hit me for a while, as I believed that I enjoyed a lot of the immorality I had immersed myself in. But that brings up the issue of freedom in Christ and His will versus our own, all of which will be discussed in a later chapter.) The next verse of James gives us the answer to the last problem. “But if any of you lacks wisdom (wisdom being the ability to choose to endure) let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But he must ask in faith without and doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind.” (NASB.)

The answer lies in the faith of the Roman Centurion. A man who knew that with Christ’s words, the action would be completed. It didn’t say that it would be completed immediately, and we don’t know if the Centurion returned to find his servant still sick but as the month went on, to find him improving. But, in the gospel of Luke (shortly following the same story of the Roman Centurion,) it does tell us to “ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.” (11:9-10, NIV.) When we ask without doubting that our request will be given to us, it will be given. Christ tells us this again in Matthew 21:22, “If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.”

I know that this is a long post, and I am surprised that any of you have continued to read to this point. I promise that I am almost finished (which the little scroll bar on your computer could also tell you) but I want to include the story of a man I met at a Young Life camp. He told us that he used to be a pastor and all of his pastor-friends used to use this demonstration where the would put their child on a high surface and have them jump into their dad’s arms. When they did it, they would ask the child why, to which the child would respond, “I knew you would catch me daddy.” They would then go on to say, “this is how our relationship with Christ should be.” After he heard this story, he had to try it. So one day, when his wife wasn’t home, he placed his three-year old daughter on the kitchen counter top and told her to jump. She stared at him, and sat down. Humiliated, he tried again to the same result. It wasn’t until after ten attempts that she finally jumped into his arms. When she realized how much fun this was, she kept doing it over and over again until he took her from the counter top and placed her on the refrigerator with the same request. “Jump!” he said. She sat down and the process was repeated. This is truly how our relationship with Christ is. There was never a point where the father was not going to catch his child. Instead, it was fear and doubt that kept the child from trusting and jumping. Once the risk was taken, he proved faithful and it became easier to do… until it was a larger jump.

Think of this story and everything else in this blog that is quickly becoming a short novel. Remember the faith of the Roman Centurion and his complete confidence in Christ’s words to be carried to action. Remember the words of Romans and James that speak of suffering and to rejoice in it. Remember the following words of James that require the absence of doubt and the promises of Christ in Luke and Matthew. At this moment, I am praying constantly for my mom and her oral problems. She isn’t a believer and I pray for a miracle of healing that will show her of God’s presence. And God is faithful. He has already begun to work. My mom recently told me that a doctor’s second opinion didn’t show the majority of the problems the first dentist had seen and the work has become largely less expensive. Remember her in your prayers.


In Christ, the Risen Lord,

-Dustin L. Taylor

No wonder the housing market sucks...

I recently heard a story that happened in a city near my hometown. A man owned a piece of land that he had plans of building on later. For years and years, he never built anything on this land and it just sat there unused. It wasn’t long before a group of squatters came and seized the land and constructed a house on the property. The goal of the squatters was to set up a scam with a fake real estate property. They built the house to where it looked beautiful on the outside and even furnished a few “show rooms.” When potential clients came to look at the house, they were impressed with the building company and gave them their business. The scam worked and soon the entire neighborhood had been sold. However, as beautiful as the house was, it was very poorly built and most of the rooms were not even finished, much less furnished. The men had to continually remodel the show rooms to stay with the latest trends and the old materials were simply discarded in the spare rooms, creating a lot of junk. The idea of building on someone else’s land was simple. If the men’s scam was ever found out, all of the legal property papers traced back to the true owner and he looked responsible. Well one day, the man decided it was finally time to build on his property but when he drove out, he saw that someone else had built on his own land! As outraged as the man was, he was surprisingly level headed about the whole ordeal. He posed as a client that was interested in giving this “real estate company” his business. When he had made contact and seen the condition of the house, he sprang the truth of whom he really was. Instead of threatening to call the police, he offered to re-buy his own property! Apparently, the property itself meant a lot to him because it had originally belonged to his father and he simply wanted it back. Although the exact value he paid was unknown, it is reported as extremely high. With the men gone, the man was left with his property and a poorly constructed house. The story gets even weirder. Instead of contracting a company to demolish and rebuild on his property, the man does it all himself. He spends months going through the rooms and assessing the damage that was done. He never broke down a door, but instead waited patiently as keys were finally shipped to him. Once he had access to the room, he cleaned it out entirely. It was an insane Spring-cleaning project. Once he had finished with this, he tore down the entire house to the foundation. But he didn’t stop there. He even brought some materials in and tore of the foundation, which of course had been poorly laid. Once he was finally left with his original property, he spent even more resources on building the house that he had always wanted. He laid a firm foundation, built solid walls, carefully designed each room for a purpose, landscaped the entire yard to match the beauty of the house, and sealed the entire house to try and prevent damage. Once he had spent the years demolishing and restoring his property, he didn’t move back from where he had come but instead stayed in the house and did on-site maintenance whenever it was needed. His eventual goal was to purchase the entire neighborhood, which had originally belonged to his family as well, and build similar houses on each property to present it as a gift to his father. He is still working on this project, and as remarkable as the story is, the people that own the property in his neighborhood are unwilling to sell and give up their poorly constructed houses.

This is a story that many of you have heard before, just in a different context. Originally, we all belonged to God. He has had plans for us from the beginning but Satan has been attempting to steal us from Him. Satan has built poor constructed lives out of each of us that while may seem happy, are simply show rooms that are constantly seeking true fulfillment. But, God has not forgotten us and He came to us Himself and paid the price for us, which is something more than we will ever be able to conceive… the blood of his Own. Satan’s plan if his poor craftsmanship is ever discovered is essentially the same. He points back to the fact that God is the true owner of us and our crimes are a reflection of Him and His church. Once God has repurchased our lives, His work does not end. He goes through and assesses the damage that we have done to His work. He doesn’t break down doors, but instead stands outside and knocks until we let Him in. Once He has repaired what was broken, he replaces our foundation with Him and builds from there. His ultimate goal is to build this type of life for every one of us, yet we still hold to the poorly constructed lives of our own and maintain ownership. Some of the neighborhood names may change and each may not have the same view, but the stories are essentially the same.

Just something to think about.

"Therefore, everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against hat house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rain fell , and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell --and great was its fall."
-Matthew 7:24-27