How to be One of God’s Favorite Kids

“Be followers of God as dear children” (Ephesians 5:1).

That’s an amazing verse.

Be followers of God.

How does one do that?

Joshua 14 says people “wholly followed the Lord God.” In each instance the people did exactly what God said.

In contrast, Judges 2 says people “followed other gods.” That means they did idolatry, which is not at all what following God is!

In 1 Samuel 12:14, Samuel tells Israel and their king to “follow the Lord your God.” How should they do that? By doing what Samuel said in the first half of 1 Samuel 12:14, “If ye will fear the Lord, and serve him, and obey his voice, and not rebel against the commandment of the Lord.”

Following God means obeying Him, doing what He says. It’s not that complicated really.

We follow God as “dear children.”

That’s amazing too, especially if you’ve seen how today’s children follow.

My wife and I run a bookstore. Most days there are kids in the store at some point. Very few of these children listen to anyone. Many mope around wishing they were home playing video games. There’s no following going on, except occasionally the parents following the creepy kids.

Jesus Christ speaks highly of children, perhaps because He never had any of His own. I kid, I kid.

OK, that was probably blasphemous and terrible. Still funny though.

Anyway, He says true believers have the faith of a child. There is nothing more refreshing than a cooperative child. They are rare indeed. Especially ones who cooperate out of trust and love, not from being blasted into terrified submission.

Perhaps that’s why Paul uses the term “dear” in front of children! The Greek word means beloved, esteemed, worthy of love, favorite. I like that! Be one of God’s favorite kids!

Ephesians 5:2 says following God looks like following Christ. What does that mean?

It means sacrificially loving others, just as Christ did for us. Next (Ephesians 5:3-5) we avoid a list of sins: fornication, uncleanness, covetousness, filthiness, foolish talking, or jesting (like making jokes about Jesus not having any kids probably),

Following God is straight forward. There’s nothing floaty or ethereal about it. You don’t need an inner guide or invisible, spooky force pushing you along.

Followers of God will simply read the Book He wrote and then go do that, as one of His favorite kids would.

Follow God. Be one of His favorite kids.

What’s Most Important: Correcting Fools or Dying for Fools?

Christ laid down His life for sinners. We are told to follow His steps (1 Peter 2:21). Husbands should lay down their lives for their wives (Ephesians 5:25). Christians should lay down their lives for fellow believers (1 John 3:16). Christians should love their enemies and turn the other cheek.

We are to take up our cross and follow Jesus. We are to see ourselves as already dead in Christ, no longer I who lives but Christ who lives in me.

This isn’t a floaty, spiritual notion, but a real, concrete way of life, a primary principle upon which to make decisions.

Boy howdy, that doesn’t sound like fun.

I don’t mind dying; I’ll be upfront about that. Absent from the body is present with the Lord. I have a desire to depart. This world drives me nuts and I can’t wait to be done with it.

I’m willing to die, but on my schedule, in my preferred way, for my preferred reasons.

Jesus Christ came to earth primarily to die. He had a bit of a death wish. He purposely pushed the buttons of religious leaders hastening His death.

If we follow His steps and lay down our lives, should we die on every hill out there?

From what I’ve seen in Christianity, it sure seems like it. Lots of fired up people out there yelling and screaming and confronting and being belligerent. People who are more than willing to die on any old hill.

Should we be willing to die for any old reason, or for one specific reason?

Notice that when the Bible says to die for something, it’s always for people. We aren’t told to die for truth, or doctrine, or lofty principles.

We’re told to die for lowly, sinful people, even those who hate us.

We should not be looking for hills to die on; we should be looking for people to die for.

What can I give up for the benefit of others? What parts of me can I let go to help one in need?

There seems very little excitement for Christians in this direction.

But bring up speaking in tongues, or predestination, or women in ministry, or divorce, or King James Onlyism, or any number of doctrines and Christians will appear out of the woodwork to die on those hills.

They won’t die for those who oppose them, but they will die for their doctrines.

Christ gave Himself for sinners. Christ was perfect yet He submitted to this plan of the Father’s.

How can we, who are fellow sinners with humans, think we are above dying for other sinners? Why would we rather die correcting sinners than dying for them?

Don’t get this wrong, Jesus corrected lots of sinners! But He also showed lots of compassion and did the correcting for their benefit, not for His own ego gratification. Truth is still important, but if we have all knowledge and have not love, it profits us nothing.

Perhaps the idea is this: if you aren’t willing to die for them, then don’t bother correcting them. If you correct without loving, you’re probably doing it for your benefit, not theirs and you’ll mess up big time.

How do we love people and die for others? Sacrifice, self-denial, giving up your rights, giving away your money to meet their needs, bless those who curse you, feed your enemy when they are hungry and give them drink when they are thirsty.

It’s not complicated; it’s just hard. We complicate the issue because we’d rather not do it. We’d rather die with self-righteous assurance in our brilliance than humble ourselves and die for a fool.

We are fools indeed. And Christ died for us even when we were sinners and very, very wrong. Go and do likewise.

The Escapades of Pope Benedict IX

Pope Benedict IX has a few claims to fame, both of which are pretty impressive and give total confidence in the notion of Papal Infallibility and Apostolic Succession.

First, Pope Ben The Ninth became pope when he was 12-years old. Want to know what I was doing when I was 12? Not having a dad putting me in the office of Pope, that’s what.

Benedict later sold his pope position. That’s right, he let someone else be pope after selling the job to him. Ben later changed his mind though and became pope again.

A painting of the selling of Benedict’s Papal Office

This brings us to the second infamous claims to fame: he was pope a total of three times. Apparently he was quite the creepy guy and his licentious behavior upset many people.

Supposedly Benedict spent his final years as a penitent in a monastery. Who knows, maybe the old boy came around.

One thing I do know, his church didn’t.

The Apostolic Succession of Popes is a Joke

Although many claim that the Pope has a clean path back to apostolic authority, a brief scan of Church History will prove otherwise!

First off, proving that Peter was ever in Rome is difficult, mostly because Peter was never in Rome and he certainly never ruled its church.

Secondly, the early years of the papacy were pretty wild. The office of Pope was up for grabs and much silliness ensued.

One particularly silly episode is called The Cadaver Synod.

It is exactly what it says it is.

Formosa was a pope whose opponents, led by Pope Stephen VI, needed to officially accuse him of holding the office of bishop in more than one place, thus making his Roman Bishopric (being pope) unofficial and all his papal decisions illegitimate.

Only problem to putting him on trial is that he was dead. So here’s what they did, I kid you not, you can look it up: they dug up his body and put his rotting corpse in papal robes and placed it on a throne and had a lovely little trial.

To everyone’s amazement, he was found guilty! Guilty of stinking up the joint, amI’right?

On top of that, they added injury to insult by removing the three fingers he once used to cross himself. After reburying him, he was later exhumed once again and cast into the Tiber River. His body was caught by a fisherman and reburied once again.

All seems pretty odd, no? Well, you’ll be relieved to know that the people rioted over this and ended up strangling to death Pope Stephen VI who put the corpse on trial. Lots of Papal Bull going on here.

You should read Church History. It’s fascinating and totally helps you lose all confidence in human authority and in church tradition. Put your trust in Christ and stay humble, my friends.