So those who rely on faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith. For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, as it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.”  ––Galatians 3: 9-10

Do we have a clear understanding of Christianity or have we missed the mark throughout the ages in what God is communicating?

In the last part of this scripture we see that without being completely delivered from the works of the law we are all doomed. In our mind’s eye, “completely delivered” should mean this: unless we have accepted the fact that we can’t deliver ourselves from any sin and the sinful condition we’re wired to, we are doomed.

From a Christian Evangelical radio station I heard these words recently: “Enough of this hyper grace preaching and back to sincere repentance.” Am I missing the motivation of this statement?

We can certainly agree motivation is different for different people. Some are motivated by the Nike slogan, “Just Do It.” No forethought, just do it. Others are motivated by forethought.

We ask ourselves, after reading the New Testament, what kind of heart is God motivated by as we live our lives before Him? As a father, if your child brought your shoes to you all cleaned and polished without you asking them to, which motivation is most rewarding: because the child was commanded to do this, or because they wanted to? Is the Christian life all about me and my failure to keep the law, or about God and His deliverance of us from it?

That’s the essence of the word deliverance: We cannot deliver ourselves into spiritual correctness. Only God makes the crooked paths straight and takes the broken hearts—yours, mine, every man’s—and makes them whole and healed. It’s a sum-everything game: Jesus plus nothing equals deliverance. Not Jesus plus our good works … not Jesus minus our faults. Ask yourself the same question Jesus asked the paralytic man at the Pool of Bethesda: “Do you want to be healed?”

If your answer is yes, then pick up your proverbial pallet and go. Choose Him and you choose healing. Where there’s a “want” there’s a Way.

Father, thank You for Your complete deliverance. Wow!

Every Man Ministries

They will act religious, but they will reject the power that could make them godly. Stay away from people like that!  ––2 Timothy 3:5 NLT

The last thing God’s man wants is to wake up one day and realize that he’s the one demanding “less straw, more bricks” from other people. We all want to be more like Moses and less like Pharoah.

The reality is that the one scenario in which we have the most control is our own. The hard truth: if the motions are right but the motivation is out of alignment, you might as well drop the charade. Playing church is playing with fire. It really gets down to the word “authority.” Are we attempting to do this “Christian thing” in our own authority or are we filled with the Spirit and doing this out of a gratitude response? Is this a God thing or is it a me thing? Is this still a religion thing, me trying to impress God and others or is it surrendering full authority to God?

Here’s what speaking spiritual words but doing religious actions looks like:

There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God—having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.

––2 Timothy 3:1-5

Of course, none of us want to become what Paul warns his protégé, Timothy, to avoid. It starts with each of us acknowledging the cold, hard reality of the situation: it goes way back to the beginning DNA of the human being. The only way that DNA thing can be changed is by a supernatural action stripping us of all authority by the surrender of our will to His. That is the only way that we can step into a “more straw (provision), more bricks (fruit of the Spirit)” lifestyle. It’s also how we avoid being a person who has a form of godliness but who denies its power.

You may have discovered this is not only a one-time decision; it is a daily thing. How much straw are you giving to those around you—at work, at home, or in your friendships? In other words, do your actions match your words? Are you putting your money where your mouth is—financially yes, but also emotionally, spiritually, and relationally?

The word practice comes back up at this time. What are you practicing or putting into action on a daily basis that is going to pound God’s perception into your existence? I have found, and God has pointed it out over and over, that you have to practice an intimate relationship with Him.

There is no other way! Spend time with God; make him your FIRST appointment of the day, every day.  Get out of bed, plant your feet on the ground and walk over to your appointment room, pour yourself a cup of coffee and open His message to you and stick your head in it. Then journal your prayer of gratitude for the relationship He has ordained for the two of you to “PRACTICE.” That’s how we get more straw, and that’s how we give it.

Thank You, Father, for desiring an intimate relationship with me and for giving me the tools I need to do Your will.

Every Man Ministries

You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you: “These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.”   ––Matthew 15:7-8

My friend KC spent more than 35 years in the corporate world. He talks about his experience of working for one Christian company: “The company was, shall we say, very careful with raises, but talked a lot about how we were doing God’s work. Unfortunately, their words often didn’t line up with my understanding of biblical stewardship. The owners and executives all drove very nice cars while the worker bees rode the bus or drove beater cars. But, they’d constantly tell us that what we were doing was ministry, thus low salaries. It was, essentially, a ‘less straw, more bricks’ scenario.”

KC’s reference is found in Exodus, where the Egyptian pharaoh who honored Joseph is dead, and Moses is now in the limelight.

That same day Pharaoh gave this order to the slave drivers and overseers in charge of the people: “You are no longer to supply the people with straw for making bricks; let them go and gather their own straw. But require them to make the same number of bricks as before; don’t reduce the quota. ––Exodus 5:6-8

Can you relate? Maybe you’ve been in a one-sided relationship where you felt you were the one doing all the work; or perhaps, like KC, you’ve worked for an employer who drove you really hard but rewarded poorly. They said the right things, but the actions didn’t produce. Whatever your “less straw, more bricks” situation, here’s the common denominator: it’s no fun, and it’s discouraging.

In my own personal “less straw” work situation, I finally had to leave that organization. It was a tough decision, but eventually the Lord made it clear that he had a new chapter for me. My prayer is that if you are currently in this type of situation, that God would make your next move crystal clear, and knock down any barriers for you to do His will in your next chapter.

In the key verse for today’s reading, Jesus quotes Isaiah to drive home the point that hypocrisy—saying one thing and doing another—is nothing new. For you and me in our twenty-first century world, it seems that this type of hypocrisy is only getting worse, not better. The danger for God’s man, when caught in a “less straw” scenario, is to become bitter and offended. That’s how our emotions typically flow when people say one thing but do another. But we are not called to flow the way the world flows—we are called to flow against the grain, so to speak, as God’s kingdom looks nothing like the world’s.

So in those situations where “less straw” is being given to you to produce the same amount of bricks, keen discernment is needed. What is your role in the situation? What are the controllables vs. the uncontrollables? This is a very good time to invoke the opinions of trusted, godly friends, and to turn to the Holy Spirit for precise direction.

Bad things are going to happen to us, and it’s up to us how we will react. It doesn’t mean we pretend that negative things aren’t happening, but that we deal with them through a Kingdom lens light on offense and heavy on thoughtful discernment.

Father, help me walk through my negative circumstances and also, may my words always match my actions, and vice versa.

Every Man Ministries