What is the Advantage?

Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the benefit of circumcision? Great in every respect. First of all, that they were entrusted with the oracles of God. (Romans 3:1-2 NAS95)

I have been searching around in the context trying to find the answer to this question. It does not seem clear at first just what the real advantages are other than being entrusted with the oracles of God. And even then, why is that an advantage? And then there is that word “first” which doesn't seem to ever have a “second” afterwards. It seems that Paul gets sidetracked permanently and goes off on other subjects without finishing what he started here. But I'm not sure that is the case necessarily. It is more likely that I am not scrutinizing the text carefully enough and thinking broadly enough to capture a clear picture of what he is trying to get across.

So I scanned over the following verses and chapters with the question in mind, “what advantage has the Jew?” I do remember that quite often Paul will mention the sequence “to the Jew first and also to the Greek”. That too has always raised a question in my mind.

I am sure I do not have the complete answer right now but I am starting to see some possibilities. Chapter 3 seems to be a warning that the “advantages” that the Jews thought they had are in fact not the true advantages that God really gave them. They were very much into boasting about their exclusiveness, their ancestry and their supposed “corner on God” mentality. They had become very dependent on their knowledge of religion, the Law and God's requirements while ignoring issues of their heart. They believed, as many of us still do without realizing it, that at least to some extent their salvation depended on some level of performance to leverage God to save them, whatever “save” meant in their minds. So the “advantage” that they thought they had over the rest of the non-Jewish world was that they had the right information as well as the right ancestors and consequently believed that God considered them more valuable than any other people.

The whole book of Romans works to disassemble these assumptions and uncover God's true reasons for using the Jews as His chosen people. The same principles apply to anyone today who mistakenly believes that their church affiliation, their religious upbringing or their extensive knowledge of what they believe to be irrefutable truth from the Bible gives them an advantage over others by impressing God and influencing His view of their value. Of course this is often done at the subconscious level until it becomes so pervasive that it spills into the open as boasting and bigotry toward others.

These are the things that Paul is trying to undo in their minds as “advantages”. But what are the true advantages that the Jews had? We have already seen that the first advantage he lists is the fact that God entrusted them with His oracles. Even here we must be careful to pay attention to what the advantage really is. It is not so much the oracles that are the advantage, though that is part of it, but it is the fact that God entrusted them, that He showed faith in them, that was the real blessing and advantage.

According to verse 4 God is going to be judged as to the wisdom of trusting people, having faith in people who end up not believing the very things that He revealed to them about Himself and responding positively to them. Evidently God's faithfulness is His choice to trust that people He entrusts will respond to His faith in them by believing Him. And when they fail to believe or respond as He had hoped His own credibility is then called into question. His credibility is really what is termed His “righteousness” or His being correct in the choices He makes.

So if their first advantage is that God had faith in them, whether or not they responded positively to His faith by believing and having faith in Him, what else could be seen as an advantage? The “first of all” phrase implies that there is more here than just being entrusted as an advantage.

As I scan over the surrounding passages I think I might be starting to perceive what the real advantage might be. In chapter 4 Paul presents the story of Abraham as a person who understood his advantages correctly and was not sidetracked by the delusions of the current Jews about the nature of their advantages. Abraham also received “oracles” from God, promises and insights and communications directly from God that were not given to others in his day. But Abraham did not respond by boasting in his superior knowledge or his apparent favored position with God by trusting in those things for his inner value or his standing with God. Abraham responded from his heart by acting in faith in response to God's faith in him. Abraham did not believe that the works he did, the obedience that he displayed to do what God asked him to do was the reason for God to bless him. He simply believed in the true character of Who God really is and what He is like and responded by reflecting God's faith and love back to Him. In so doing He received even more blessings and revelations and advantages and his belief in God's goodness, apart from his actions, was declared by God to be “righteousness” in God's eyes.

This is where things can get real tricky. It is very easy to slip into the idea that this “righteousness” of Abraham became the reason God valued him or somehow changed God's view of him. It is very easy to assume that this righteousness somehow contained merit that gave Abraham an advantage over other people. In fact that is the very issue that the Jews were so hung up on because they believed that by merit of genealogy their connection to Abraham gave them an inside track on God's favor. But isn't that true in all ages? We often seem to have this penchant for depending on supposed merit that is somehow transferable through associations or relationships with others that we believe have achieved an inside advantage with God. It is the way we operate in politics and so we assume that it works with God too.

Paul makes a strong case that the advantages of the Jew is not in their connection with Abraham or any other “saint” and their advantage is not because of their ability to perform the requirements of the Law. But again, what is the advantage? What, besides the fact that they were “entrusted”, gave them advantages over the rest of the world? Why did Paul say in 1:16 that the gospel is the power of God for salvation to...the Jew first?

Though I do not see it spelled out explicitly in this passage, I think I may be beginning to perceive what the real advantage might be. It has to do with the primary instruction Jesus gave to His disciples when He commissioned them to take the good news about God to the whole world. Their number one job description and identity was to be witnesses. A witness is a person who reports first-hand information about something or someone that they know and have experienced personally. Since the whole Great Controversy revolves around false charges against God and the eventual vindication of His choices and His character, He has asked His disciples to be witnesses for Him to testify on His behalf as to what they know and have personally experienced in their relationship with Him.

Given that context, who would have the greater advantage and carry more weight as an effective witness, someone who had just come to know about God, about His ways and wisdom and how He relates to His children, or someone who had received extensive knowledge and insights and was much more familiar over a longer period of time with God's dealings with men? Even in our corrupt judicial system we realize that a person who knows very little about someone else and has only recently come to know them personally does not carry nearly as much credibility with a jury as one who is intimately acquainted with the accused and has had a long and close connection with them.

And speaking of advantages, who is the advantage really benefiting anyway? Are our advantages given to us to make us boast about our superior knowledge and our “inside connections” with the God of the universe, or are our advantages really given to us for God's benefit that He may be justified in His words and prevail when He is judged (3:4)?

Thus said Jehovah: Let not the wise boast himself in his wisdom, nor let the mighty boast himself in his might, let not the rich boast himself in his riches, but – in this let the boaster boast himself, in understanding and knowing Me, for I am Jehovah, doing kindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth, for in these I have delighted, an affirmation of Jehovah. (Jeremiah 9:23-24 YLT)

(next in series)

Advantages Don't Create Value

Romans 3. What is the advantage of the Jew?

Of the Christian?

Paul says it is because they have been trusted by God, entrusted with knowing the truth about Him.

God's faithfulness is God being full of faith. He has faith in those He entrusts with truth to accept the truth into their hearts and be transformed by Him.

Does God only trust those who are worthy of being trusted?

Obviously not.

What criteria does He use for who He selects to trust?

I'm not sure.

Do some people fail His trust and make Him look bad, like He made a mistake in trusting them?

Yes.

Have I trusted people been taken advantage of and made out to be a fool?

Yes.

Apparently God will be judged on this very issue. We along with the whole universe will hold Him accountable for all of His decisions and look to see if the outcome of those decisions to have faith in sinful people was a good choice or not. God will not tamper with the evidence or try to intimidate the jury. He has nothing to hide. And He continues to invest faith, lots of it, into the lives of unworthy people.

Paul follows the line of thought that through this choice it becomes evident that both those who have been entrusted by God and those who have not are all exposed to be sinners and all fall short of His glory, of being worthy of His trust and faith. He declares that the advantages He has given them do not make some people better than others.

This goes back to the issue of value and challenging the world's value system. Value or worth in the thinking of humans in general is based on performance, external impressions, and usefulness. If a person contributes more for the benefit of others or manages to leverage the world's system for their own enrichment then they are often considered more valuable than those around them. If they appear weak and unsure of themselves or less productive they are considered less valuable. There are all sorts of criteria for determining value depending on the culture and time, but there is always the underlying assumption of differences of value. This is the kingship model the world has developed and operates fully within a system of hierarchy that is imposed on everyone where some are always considered better than others, more valuable and more important.

One of the most important criteria is ancestry. Look at the blood-line mentality that has been around nearly since creation. People assume that blood relationship to famous ancestors somehow imparts intrinsic value to all the descendants. This is what the Jewish thinking is to this day and is also seen in the royalty mentality of the kings of Europe (blue-blooded) and other places in the world.

In Romans 3 Paul is debunking that belief by taking us higher in perspective to the big picture of the Great Controversy. He declares that even though the Jews were indeed chosen by God as a special group of people all from one family and entrusted with more explicit revelations about God in the Law than were other peoples, that did not make them any better or more valuable than others (3:9), contrary to their assumptions. In fact, the very thing entrusted to them – the Law – was the very thing designed to show the whole world that everyone was equally caught in the trap of sin (v. 9,19). Trying to achieve righteousness by trying to be righteous and keeping the law will not justify anyone, Jew, Christian or unbeliever alike (v. 20). It is almost like the Jews were handed a hot potato and didn't realize that it would burn them if they tried to hoard it to themselves. The law simply exposes how out of sync all of us are with God but it cannot help us do anything about that problem. It simply sets us up to be more hungry for the real gospel.

One question I have this morning is, Why is it OK for God to trust people who are not trustworthy but it is not right for us to do that? If we are to become more God-like and reflect His image and character why is it so dangerous to trust anyone but God when God seems to be trusting all sorts of untrustable characters? The Bible teaches that we should not trust anyone, not even ourselves, but God alone. That somewhat makes sense to me, though I have not learned that lesson very well in my practical life. But the Bible also teaches that God has faith, or trust, in sinners and believes in them to respond to His faith in them and His love for them. This is an area I am not very familiar with and is a new field of thought for me. I suspect it probably has a lot to do both with a better understanding of what the word trust means and also the possibility that there are several different original concepts that have gotten translated into only one or two words in English. This is a subject I have a lot of exploring to do yet but I feel is very important.

I am beginning to realize though, that the faith of Jesus referred tam seeing more clearly that we are really not much more than mirrors with a power of choice to determine what direction to face and focus on which in turn determines what we see and reflect in our lives. As we fill our mirrors with the amazing love, grace and faith of God by seeking His face we more and more begin to reflect and look like what we fill our imagination with.

I realized this a little more last night when I sat down and began to read about the life of Oswald Chambers. I did not get too far into the book but I found myself inspired and encouraged by all sorts of truths about how God uses people and how important family influences are in our life. I very quickly began to see that his mother was probably one of the most shaping influences in his life making him very open to God with a strong, positive child-like faith that become the trademark of his whole life. I am eager to read more and be influenced by the story of his life.

But I also realized that I could have just as easily sat down and filled my mind with shallow TV viewing and never realized what I was missing by not investing in better mind-food. All too often I do that very thing and do not give myself the advantages of choosing something better. That is one reason my own experience is still so shallow, because I too often take the easier path to satisfy an empty feeling inside of me instead of investing in more substantial and life-producing activities and relationships that will bring deeper satisfaction than the momentary pleasures offered by shallow activities.

God, give me more understanding of Your Word that I am pondering here. I want to not just understand the truth about You but I want to reflect much more of Your beauty and grace. But to do that I need to see You more clearly myself, especially with my heart and emotions and feel the inward transformation of Your presence and sweetness and peace. I am Your problem, God – I can't fix myself. I give You unlimited permission to do whatever it takes to capture my heart, my affections, and my loyalty for Your heart. Thank-you for having so much faith in me, for being full of faith – that just boggles my mind. I give myself to You today to be shaped and molded more into the person You created me to be in Your image and likeness.

(next in series)

Examining the Heart of a Legalist

Romans 2:17-29. I keep reading this every day asking God to show me more of how this applies to me personally. It is so much easier to see how it applies to others in my family or church, but then I remind myself that what I see in others that needs urgent correcting is almost always my own issues that I am blind to seeing in myself very easily. I need the Holy Spirit to open my mind and heart with humility to receive the Word and the Spirit in the process of transformation. One thing I noticed this morning in this description is the fact that all of the activity described here about these good, religious people (17-21) is outbound. I have seen this symptom in my own family generationally and have to deduce that I am very susceptible to it myself even though I have tried to avoid it for many years. I have noticed a pattern in some people that it seems they come to a point where subconsciously they believe there is nothing more for them to learn except for maybe more proof formulas to beef up their defenses of “the truth”. I have heard the comment more than once in the back of a church where someone will say, “well, I don't need to hear these sermons anymore because I already know all the doctrines.” The point is that once a person thinks they have learned all the “facts” and learned to repeat the right answers that there is no more learning to do. I believe this assumption is far more widespread and pervasive than most us realize. It also seems that when this conclusion is arrived at that some people feel under strong obligation to continue to “serve God” and they subtly arrive at the idea that now their primary focus is on teaching others “the truth” and convincing others to conform to their view of doctrines and their spin on the Bible, life, God, etc. Oftentimes this also leads over time to a fixation on one point of doctrine that becomes an obsession for them that they feel compelled to convict everyone else over. Some even develop a very unique focal issue not found in general Christianity or at least out of proportion and become fanatical over that one point, finally believing that if others do not agree with them on this one point they cannot be saved in heaven. When this paradigm is boiled down to its core it appears to be based on the assumption that being saved is primarily a matter of the facts one believes and any “relationship” that might be involved is necessarily contingent on believing the “fact” that this person promotes as the critical one for salvation. These people, I have noticed, are no longer open to really learning anything new unless it supports and reinforces their established and entrenched arguments arranged around them like soldiers protecting their one core favorite “doctrine”. They seem to believe, but not openly, that they somehow have transitioned from learning about God to compelling others to view God and religion exactly in agreement with them or they cannot be open to having much of a relationship with them. They will seem to listen to other views for a time but then you come to realize that they were not listening with an open mind willing to learn or examine their previous assumptions but were only listening with attention to formulating how to present an even stronger argument to convince others that they are already right. The words here in Romans 2 are a very good description of what I have observed over the years. It becomes very frustrating to try to relate to this kind of person for sooner or later you realize that they are unwilling to really listen to anything you have to say if it is not already part of their entrenched “catechism” that they have produced in their own study. Conversation with them becomes only a one-way street at the deeper level and there is no easy entrance to enter into their hearts. They claim a name (just like the Jews), their rely on their knowledge of the Bible and either openly or subtly boast in their superior knowledge of God. They are sure they know what His will is and they are very diligent to assemble many texts, authoritative quotations and “foolproof” arguments to establish their position. They are very confident in their intellectual ability to guide those who can't see the doctrines the way they see them and they are sure they have a corner on “the light of truth”. They believe it is their responsibility to correct those who are so foolish as to not agree with their interpretations and that immaturity simply describes those who don't yet see their truth. They have now arrived at the point in their life where teaching is mainly a one-way street and they don't allow themselves to be taught if something goes against what they have already concluded. As I review all these things I am constantly reminded that though this is a major obstacle for this kind of person to accept anything that they disagree with, it is also a counterfeit for a condition which is very important not to avoid – being settled in the truth. If I am always in doubt as to the validity of everything I believe and in my attempt to avoid the condition described in these verses I am afraid to allow myself to be confident about anything, I will end up being tossed about without root or anchor by every wave of doctrine that comes along (James 1:6). These are the two opposites that tend to enforce each other's positions. So how do I find the real way to live in right relationship to God? How do I avoid becoming unidirectional and isolated from new revelations of truth and corrections by God of false underlying assumptions that I have built my religious thinking on all of my life and assume to be truth? If I see this as a major problem in those around me, I have to assume that I may have at least a strong tendency to do the same thing myself. And if so, how could I even address it myself if it involves a blind spot in my own experience? As I mentioned in my last post on Romans, this kind of person will not easily accept the charge that they are doing the very things they condemn in others. Just because Paul says they are doing those things is not enough to sway them to believe they really have the problems that they point out in others. What kind of “proof” is Paul going to produce to enforce his charges? They want facts, events, dates etc. to be able to examine and refute if possible. He claims that they steal, they commit adultery, they rob temples and that they break the Law. Those are strong words and what does Paul expect to base these charges on? What I believe I see here is that Paul is basing it on the fact that the Bible is true and that if it says the name of God is blasphemed because of us then there are reasons behind that declaration. He may have been able to point out specific facts and events, but that would not make his assertions defendable or even effective. God's word applies universally to every generation alive at the time they read it. It is the work of the gentle Spirit of God to bring specific convictions about events and circumstances and conditions of the heart. What Paul is saying in these first 2 chapters is that every one of us sooner or later will discover ourself under the guilt of sin and disobedience and are all equally in need of God's grace and forgiveness. The condition he is unmasking here is that of those of us who don't realize we are actually hiding our true problems under our attempts to be right with God by performance. The harder we try to look good externally and by intellectual religious knowledge, the more neglected our hearts become and it is in our hurting and empty hearts that sin finds fertile ground for hidden growth. So what is Paul's basis for claiming that those who look very good on the outside are actually guilty of all the things they accuse others of doing? (2:1) It is the Word of God and the principles under which we were created that it is unavoidable. When we focus on our religious advantages and give preference to our externals over the condition of our heart; when we tend toward the condition of believing we are a good source of teaching and instruction for others while failing to equally apply it to ourselves, then we can be certain that the sins we see so clearly in others has some kind of deep roots in our own soul even if the outward manifestations may look different than in those we point the finger at. At first this makes one wonder if it might be better not to have any religious advantages, that maybe it would be just better to live sinfully with abandon so that we could better appreciate and respond to grace. I certainly have had this temptation very strongly sometimes especially when I was a teenager. I thought that it might be much easier to understand the gospel if I had a lot more open sins to be forgiven of and regret. But a fear inside of me prevented me from plunging down that path. I was afraid that if I decided to just throw everything overboard and go out and sin hard and fast and loose that before I might have a chance to repent and be converted that Satan would get me killed and I would be lost before I had a chance to return to God. I also was not too keen on all the consequences that would be unavoidable and the negative long-term effects from making all those bad choices in my detoured attempt to find God. So I chose to take what seemed to be the much harder route of trying to slowly unmask the lies about God in my life while staying in the environment of formal religion even though I sensed that it was the source for most of my problems. In essence, I was trying to throw out the dirty bath water without throwing out the baby if you understand that analogy. What I do see Paul trying to bring out here is the dramatic difference between a head religion that is very convincing, especially to the person performing in it, and a heart religion, or spirituality as I prefer to call it (2:25-29). From my own experience through a lifetime of rule-based religion and compulsive conformity to social expectations in a church atmosphere I have come to believe that most of us don't really know the true definition of the word heart. We think we know and we use the term very easily, but when it comes right down to everyday life, we show in our relationships that we are unaware and out of touch with the part of us that is identified as our heart. I say this because it has been a relatively short time since I started getting in touch and getting familiar with that part of me myself, and I don't think I am unique in this problem. This condition of heart-unawareness is inherent and systemic in performance-based religion. So what is the use for having a religious upbringing if it creates such great liabilities to overcome? That question was inherent in my temptations I have had to throw it all away in favor of enjoying the pleasures of sin and coming back in through a different door if possible. In chapter 3 Paul explores the reasons that we should not thumb our nose at our spiritual advantages even though they often come with a lot of baggage that needs to be unpacked and discarded. And those are ponderings for another post. God, make me a Christian from the inside out. Make my heart Your dwelling place, a comfortable place where You can be at home and express Yourself freely. (next in series)

Love/Hate God

I am on my second time through a series of talks that I recently purchased from Clarissa Worley (visit her website at clar.cc) and it is life-changing. Then I opened My Utmost this morning and received confirmation of some of the things I heard last night. I am very excited about the insights and revelations of reality that Clarissa has to share. They are so refreshing and liberating and enlightening to many things that have confused me all of my life. I highly recommend her series to anyone serious about growing in grace and practical knowledge of how to genuinely live as a real Christian. One thing I heard last night as I was driving home that really startled me but that was confirmed this morning was the idea that we can never really love God ourselves. I know this can really raise hackles in the Christian community, but that's OK. I gave up long ago trying too hard to live in conformity to popular Christianity because I realized that most truth will not be found there. The Holy Spirit has to use the Word of God as a filter and guide me in evaluating things I receive from others to see how it fits and is consistent with previous truths that He has revealed to me. Sometimes God has to shake up even the things that constitute my filter and challenge my paradigms. Often it is more than sometimes, it is always up for reevaluation. My paradigms in spiritual things are not to be the standard of truth no matter how long I have believed them or how many proof texts have been used to support them. When the Holy Spirit reveals something to me, the more important element in the revelation is the spirit itself that permeates the message. When the spirit is consistent with what I have come to know as the sweet Spirit of Jesus, then the message can be very challenging, puzzling or even disconcerting for awhile. But if I am willing to be led by the Spirit of God instead of giving preeminence to my intellectual views of religious ideas and constructs, then new truths will soon begin to integrate perfectly with previous insights and the emerging picture of beauty and perfection becomes even more clear. Here is the reading for today from My Utmost. If the closest relationships of life clash with the claims of Jesus Christ, He says it must be instant obedience to Himself. Discipleship means personal, passionate devotion to a Person, our Lord Jesus Christ. There is a difference between devotion to a Person and devotion to principles or to a cause. Our Lord never proclaimed a cause; He proclaimed personal devotion to Himself. To be a disciple is to be a devoted love-slave of the Lord Jesus. Many of us who call ourselves Christians are not devoted to Jesus Christ. No man on earth has this passionate love to the Lord Jesus unless the Holy Ghost has imparted it to him. We may admire Him, we may respect Him and reverence Him, but we cannot love Him. The only Lover of the Lord Jesus is the Holy Ghost, and He sheds abroad the very love of God in our hearts. Whenever the Holy Ghost sees a chance of glorifying Jesus, He will take your heart, your nerves, your whole personality, and simply make you blaze and glow with devotion to Jesus Christ. The Christian life is stamped by “moral spontaneous originality,” consequently the disciple is open to the same charge that Jesus Christ was, viz., that of inconsistency. But Jesus Christ was always consistent to God, and the Christian must be consistent to the life of the Son of God in him, not consistent to hard and fast creeds. Men pour themselves into creeds, and God has to blast them out of their prejudices before they can become devoted to Jesus Christ. (MUHH 7/2) Last night Clarissa made the bold statement that inside we will always hate God. We cannot love God ourselves – that is the work of the Holy Spirit that lives within us. I thought this was a bit shocking and I am still mulling it over, but after reading the above statement from Oswald Chambers I believe God is trying to communicate something very important to me. I choose to keep listening with an open heart and see how this all fits with everything else in the Word. Clarissa based her statement on Romans 7 and 8 which I was studying a couple months ago before I returned to spend much more time in the previous chapters leading up to that. This “new” teaching does make a great deal of sense to explain the last verse of Romans 7, “So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.” I have not fully digested this new idea yet and am still mulling it over in my thinking. But since I am using this blog to simply report what is currently going on in my mind and heart instead of as a platform for convincing anyone of anything, I am sharing in real time here what I am learning before it makes complete sense. I do feel that it has the strong ring of truth to it and is being reinforced by the confirmation of the Holy Spirit's promptings inside of me. This fits perfectly with what I have been seeing in Ezek. 36 which Clarissa also reviewed in her teaching about this. The emphatic emphasis in the promises in the later part of that chapter all point to God doing the work in us and not anything we try to do. That is the burden of all the messages of Clarissa's teachings and I find them to be very full of hope and encouragement. I also know I need to review them a number of times to get them into my thinking since they are so opposite of what I am used to believing, as are many things I have been learning over the past few years. If it is true that I am not capable of really loving God, even though that is what I am commanded to do, then it makes perfect sense that He is going to have to provide some way of that happening inside of me apart from my own efforts. This has been one of my greatest struggles all of my life, an Achilles heel that continues to frustrate me to no end. I am supposed to do or feel something that I am incapable of producing myself. Many people who claim to be authorities in my life insist that I must do this if I am to be saved which only compounds my frustration as it has since I was old enough to begin understanding spiritual things. This is extremely exciting to me because I see potential here for a very major breakthrough in my relationships, not only with God but with everyone. But it is also something that has to take place in my heart and not in my head or it will be just another exercise in futility. God, I look to You to do Your thing in me today. Send Your Holy Spirit to fill me with unexpected love for You and for my family and those around me today. I give You permission to seize every opportunity today to use my heart as a launching pad to surprise others with the love that You produce in me using Your resources of love and grace. I cannot produce love myself, but I ask You and receive from You and rest in assurance of Your desires to use me this way. I look forward to being surprised by joy today.

Heavenly Commerce

“Our petitions to God should not proceed from hearts that are filled with selfish aspirations. God exhorts us to choose those gifts that will redound to His glory... He throws open before us the possibilities and advantages of a heavenly commerce. He gives encouragement to our loftiest aims, security to our choicest treasure.... “They might enter into the palaces of heaven, and associate on terms of freedom and equality with Christ and heavenly angels, and with the princes of God....” (SD 188) I think I caught just a little glimpse for a second of what this “heavenly commerce” really means. Because of my nearly total immersion in the context of worldly-oriented commerce it is extremely difficult to even comprehend how the heavenly commerce operates, especially in motive and incentives. But just a glimpse of the true commerce unleashes a whole raft of insights that have been waiting to take their proper place in relation to each other. The commerce of heaven can only operate effectively and efficiently in the atmosphere of heaven which is absolute, rarified selflessness and love for others. This is not just a nice option that we need to have as an asset to live in heaven, it is an absolute and fundamental prerequisite for survival in the presence of love so pure and passionate that it becomes destructive if experienced with any internal resistance of selfishness left in place. In the above statements I see references to these principles. When our prayers and relationship to God are based on selfish aspirations, we may seem very noble and religious in each others eyes but in heavens view we are still functioning with the wrong fuel that will only explode destructively inside of us when exposed to the fire of heaven. Maybe that is a better analogy than even resistance for what happens in hell. Flammable fuel is created within us from the fermenting process of sin in our heart. That is how we store up wrath for ourselves against the day of Judgment, by allowing the fermentation of sin to create flammable material inside of us. We may think we have it safely hidden or under control, but when our lives are exposed to the white heat of God's unveiled, selfless passionate love the volatile materials still residing in our hearts explode into literal flames of torture that burns painfully until it is all consumed and we are consumed with it. It appears in the above statements that the alternative to the motives of selfish aspirations is to live for the purpose of producing honor and glory for God. Even the gifts offered to us by God have different options that may lead us down different paths. It is implied here that we can choose to accept gifts from God that would seem to benefit ourselves more than would “redound to His glory”. Why would God offer us such gifts? Because He has to start where we are to establish enough of a relationship and trust in Him so that we can be led eventually to mature out of our selfishness and closer to learning the ways of operating in heaven's atmosphere. But we can accelerate that maturing and purifying process by not choosing the gifts for our selfish aspirations but choosing the gifts that will display before others the kindness and attractiveness of God. “He throws open before us the possibilities and advantages of a heavenly commerce. He gives encouragement to our loftiest aims, security to our choicest treasure....” Again, to relate to this correctly and understand its true implications, I must check my motives behind how I interpret what constitutes my loftiest aims and what really is my choice to treasure. These words can be used both in selfish terminology or in heaven's selfless commerce. Implied in these words is that any apparent possibilities and advantages of earthly commerce – that based on selfishness – is very short-lived and self-destructive in the end, whereas operating and living in the realm of heavenly commerce opens up possibilities and advantages of living forever in harmony with all unfallen creation under the principles of eternity. Further elaborated are hints of what these possibilities and advantages constitute. “They might enter into the palaces of heaven, and associate on terms of freedom and equality with Christ and heavenly angels, and with the princes of God....” The principles or motives that must be in place in our hearts are described as freedom and equality as well as unselfishness. The stunning possibilities of living in this atmosphere is to be treated in commerce as an equal, not only with angels and princes of God, but with Christ Himself who is God. The economy of heaven amazingly accomplishes the very thing that Lucifer claimed that he wanted for himself – equality with God. But by trying to employ the motive of selfishness to acquire that end he missed the very thing that he was designed to enjoy. Selfishness so permeates every aspect of our thinking that it is impossible for us to be free of it without massive divine intervention and radical death to self. It filters everything we read or hear about God and heaven or spiritual things and puts a twist, a spin on how we interpret what God is trying to communicate to us. Selfishness is the core of sin and is the most dangerous element in the universe. It is the bacteria in the fermentation process that turns the pure juice of love created by God to be the fuel of choice for our lives into the wine of Babylon that contains not only mind-altering and numbing properties but also fatal volatility when exposed to the fire of God's unprotected presence. This idea of fermentation and the bacteria underlying the fermentation process was illustrated in the Old Testament sanctuary system. This is why God was so urgent that the people preparing to experience His presence in the Day of Atonement purge their lives and their surroundings of all traces of leaven. Selfishness and pride are the main elements that constitute the bacteria that works on all the gifts and blessings we receive from God, turning them into decaying, death-producing, mind-altering drugs that we choose over the energizing, life-giving pure diet required to exist in the presence of God. If any amount of bacteria is left in our system when we tank up with pure fuel, like pure juice exposed to a tiny amount of impure bacteria it will quickly become contaminated, infected and transformed into a bubbling mass of wine that threatens to infect others with its impurity. This all takes place in our spirit being, in our heart. When we think that our head-based religion is all we need to satisfy the requirements of God and earn us a place in heaven, we are actually allowing the bacteria of selfishness to remain in our heart where it continues to thrive and feed on all the good things we are receiving daily from God. Our heart is the real source of our problem and also the place where God needs to accomplish the most radical transformation. We need His white-heat passion of selfless love to sterilize and pasteurize completely our hearts from all selfishness to prepare us to safely interact with others who are likewise made safe in the commerce of heaven. If we resist the pasteurization process and don't allow Him to keep us in the heat long enough to eradicate all the dangerous bacteria in our minds and hearts, we become a liability that makes us a fatal danger to ourselves, the family of God and all of the universe. This, like I said at the beginning, is just a tiny glimpse of what constitutes the atmosphere of heaven in which the commerce of heaven operates. It is frightening and overwhelming to my mind because I begin to see a little bit of how so unqualified and unfit I am right now to live in that atmosphere. It is like a fish who spent his whole life living at the bottom of the lake believing he could climb up on land anytime he wanted and function as a mammal breathing air out of water. He does not understand that he must be born again and take on a whole new way of thinking and living like a tadpole has to become a frog before leaving the water. If the tadpole tries to leave the water before his transformation it would be fatal for him. Likewise, if we believe we are ready to go home with Jesus while entertaining selfish aspirations and motives for wanting that very thing we are asking for something that would, in fact, expose us to the horrors of hell instead of the thrills of heaven. Because hell is simply the drying up of the waters and exposing everyone to the atmosphere of heaven without the proper preparation of receiving the internal equipment necessary to thrive in that atmosphere.

The commerce of heaven is so extremely delicate and sensitive that it is easily obscured by the bluntness of force, the blindness of bitterness or rage, or the numbness of self-pity. It can easily be lost site of in the midst of our seemingly most spectacular moments of spiritual triumph. It thrives on the fuel of humility and is lubricated by the oil of grace. But sugar in the gas tank can feed the bacteria and ruin the works designed to live in harmony with purity and integrity. Elijah got derailed while traveling at high speed on the right track and had to be taken back to his roots to remind him of what was really important in the economy of heaven. He approached Mt. Carmel in the spirit of humility and total dependence on God listening to the quiet inner voice of the Spirit and accelerating higher and higher into the atmosphere of heaven. But he got momentarily distracted by the blazing results of spectacular glory that is inherent in the atmosphere of heaven and became slightly infected with the bacteria of externalism which opened the door for fear to sneak in. He then reacted by running in terror from a threat that before would have not affected him in the slightest. But he ran in the right direction for he ran into the arms of God and received grace and comfort and assurance. After he calmed down enough God took him through the training program once again to remind him of one of the most crucial rules of heaven's commercial system – giving preference to the still small voice over any other modes of communication claiming to represent the voice of God. The apparent fragility required to live successfully in the economy of heaven is confusing because of our addiction to force. But to succeed in heaven requires our complete disavowal of all means of force and becoming familiar with the use of the sensitive ways of love and gentleness. We must get past the lies of religion that paint God with pictures of power, might and control, and realize that His real power lies in His abilities to work everything out for good through non-forceful means, that gentleness makes greatness, that humility is nobility, that surrendering control is to come into victory, that by dying we can enter into real living. I want to learn the ways of gentleness, to become sensitive to hearing more clearly the small voice inside prompting me to know which way to go without the interference of my own preferred emotions or clamorings for pleasure. I want to experience the metamorphosis required to become ready to live and thrive in the rarified, even dangerous atmosphere of heaven. I want to be cleansed of all hidden bacteria that keeps reinfecting and poisoning the good things that God gives me with selfishness. I want a total work of grace and conversion in my life so that God's reputation can be honored and glorified.