Sacredness

Dr. Mike Life Tools ,
Romans 11:16
If the part of the dough offered as first fruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy; if the root is holy, so are the branches.

What makes something secular or sacred? Holy or unholy?

The culture around us likes to put everything into little boxes. We have religious boxes, government boxes, business boxes, family boxes, internet boxes, and so on and so on. Dependent on how religious or nonreligious we are, we also have boxes for what is secular and what is sacred.

Yet who or what determines if something is sacred or secular?

Is money sacred or secular? Is the beach sacred or secular? Is your automobile sacred or secular? Is your home secular or sacred? Are you secular or sacred?

Some like to think we determine which is which. But is that true? Because the government passes laws or decrees labeling something as sacred or secular, does it make it so? Because your aunt tells you what is sacred, does it make it so?  Or what your uncle believes makes it so?

What if I told you that everything is sacred because of who owns it and made it.

What makes something holy or secular is determined by its author. Whatever the Creator has made is an offshoot of His character. If the Creator is Holy, then His creation is holy.

However, when the original intent of His purpose is changed without His approval, then what is sacred may become polluted. In the eyes of an unbeliever, it becomes secular (separate from God’s purpose). Yet, through God’s eye, it is still redeemable. In God’s eyes it is still holy. But the holiness is lost through man’s eyes by his carnal desire to solely gratify himself.

For example, God created the earth, but mankind abuses the environment for his personal gain.

God created the social institutions of government, business, and education, but mankind disbar His authority for personal ambition and gain.

God created the sacredness of sex, but mankind perverts it for personal gain.

Everything God made and makes is holy and sacred. Whether or not we keep to His purpose and intent will determine whether or not its full purpose is being recognized and experienced.

So, until we stop separating everything between secular and sacred, and acknowledge the Triune God’s authority in everything around us, this wonderful world’s potential will never be fully realized.

O yes, that is why we look forward to when Jesus returns and a new age begins with Him leading world governments to participate in His original plans for his creation. Heaven on earth in its totality is coming!

Rooting For You in Christ!

Dr. Mike

Encourager & Founder of
Vocational Leadership 360
Author of e-Books:

*  Dancing With God: Life-Giving Theology Explained
*  Great Business Emulates a Good God
*  Be Radical…Follow Christ!
*  Simply The Messenger
*  Unequally Married

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Copyright 2013-2018 Abbaco LLC | All Rights Reserved

Truth. Reality. God.

Dr. Mike Life Tools , , , ,
Zechariah 12:1
The Lord, who stretches out the heavens, who lays the foundation of the earth, and who forms the human spirit within a person…

In our sophomore year of college, I registered for a class in Ethics but was denied entrance because not enough students selected it as an elective course. Out of a 35,000-student body only 4 signed up for the class; not enough to justify paying for a teacher. In its place though, I took another philosophical course – Logic.

There we had enough students which allowed the administration to hire a teacher to expose us to the historical and known arts of reasoning, decision-making, and truth-finding. But again, there were less than one dozen students in the class.

I didn’t realize the ramifications of the event until some thirty years later. As we live and experience this post-modern culture, we witness every day the distortion of basic logic. Where truth is relative, decision-making is built upon feelings, and reasoning is sabotage with lies, opinions, and prejudices. How is one to journey through life surrounded by this maze of noise and illusions?

When the foundation of a society is without a compass, any direction will do. If someone is able to accidentally identify North, then their search for home becomes substantially easier. However, without a North directional bias, every direction looks as good as the next. From my early camping days, we would classify that as being lost.

If one is serious to discover the truth of a matter, one needs to have a good grasp of reality. Reality is built upon the foundational order of nature and universal laws that govern existence. Order and law require an order/law giver. In religious circles, this Law Giver is given the title God.

The closer one develops a relationship with this God, the closer one discovers His heart, mind, and character. From this and through various circumstances and situations one travels through life, one comes to know and be known by the Creator of Life. Of all the gods known by 21st century standards, the only one which makes the most logical, yet most misunderstood, is the Triune God: Father, Son, and Spirit. C. S. Lewis himself converted from atheism to Christianity because it made the most logical sense – like the sun rising each morning.

So, if truth of a matter is important to you, then acquire the knowledge of eternal facts, historical lessons, and scientific outcomes built upon the foundation of the Creator of reality. Then you will have a stronger foundation that will help you better withstand the corruption and distortion that will come your way each and every day.

Rooting For You in Christ!

Dr. Mike

Encourager & Founder of
Vocational Leadership 360
Author of e-Books:

*  Dancing With God: Life-Giving Theology Explained
*  Great Business Emulates a Good God
*  Be Radical…Follow Christ!
*  Simply The Messenger
*  Unequally Married

Encourage a Friend…Share Today’s Message!

Copyright 2013-2018 Abbaco LLC | All Rights Reserved

 

Escape or Engagement

Dr. Mike Think About That...
Matthew 6:10
‘Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

escape1

There are those in the faith whose purpose for living is to do as little now as possible and seek to escape from this life into heaven. On the other hand, there are those who understand that their mission now is to colonize earth under the kingdom of God domain. I coin these as either escape or engagement theology.

Under the escape mentality, it’s all about getting off this planet and into heaven as quickly as possible under Biblical scrutiny. The engagement mindset though is to live out kingdom rule now while engaging with the cultural around us until God’s kingdom is fully restored on earth.

I always wondered with Jesus’ prayer model why he emphasized God’s kingdom and will to take charge on earth and not pray for us to escape earth. Later on, he did request we escape from the temptations of evil, but again not from planet earth. Instead his desire was for his disciples to focus on earth as their mission by sharing His teachings with others and be a witness for others of God’s work in their lives. His desire was for his apprentices to engage the culture around them.

So if your desire has been to escape rather than deal with the culture, ask God to change your heart and eyes to find ways for his kingdom to expand in your corner of the world. You will discover a side of the Holy Spirit that will recharge your focus and motivation to serve our great King.

Let’s seek engagement, not escapism as we testify what God is doing in our life today.

Rooting For You in Christ!

Dr. Mike

Encourager & Founder of
Vocational Leadership 360
Author of e-Books:

*  Dancing With God: Life-Giving Theology Explained
*  Great Business Emulates a Good God
*  Be Radical…Follow Christ!
*  Simply The Messenger
*  Unequally Married

Encourage a Friend…Share Today’s Message!

Copyright 2013-2018 Abbaco LLC | All Rights Reserved