DayBreaks for the Week of 8/14/22 – No Other God

Exodus 20:1-3 (NLT) – Then God gave the people all these instructions: “I am the LORD your God, who rescued you from the land of Egypt, the place of your slavery. You must not have any other god but me.”

I have recently been reading a very thought-provoking book titled Discipling Nations by Darrow L. Miller.  It is fascinating as it dissects prevailing world views (secularism, animism, Christianity, and Islam being the major ones dealt with).  The more I work with Medical Ambassadors International the more aware I become of the vast differences in worldview and how they affect nearly everything in our lives…not the least of which is religion and ethics. 

For example, the modern mantra is a call for tolerance.  This was largely promulgated by those holding a post-modern worldview that says tolerance means showing equal respect to all moral and metaphysical ideas.  They hold that being tolerant towards people who disagree with us is a virtue.  Is it always that case, though?  Is tolerating false ideas and evil social practices that lead to wickedness, cruelty, injustice, and oppression really a virtue?  Would we really think it a virtue to tolerate those who propagated Nazism and the Holocaust, communism, and socialism?  Even the World Bank has conceded that not all moral ideas and practices have the same consequences.  Typically, the poorest nations are the most corrupt nations.

It is worth noting what Plato (a pretty smart guy, all things considered) observed in Republic, when he told his fellow Greeks that it is impossible to even begin to build a just society without getting rid of the foul stories of their gods and goddesses.  A people cannot be better than their gods.

This is why, perhaps, God said what He did in Exodus 20:1-3.  Is what God said popular?  No.  It isn’t very tolerant, right?  It is not a question, however, of tolerance, but of truth.  Why did God say what He did?  Because He knows that people cannot be better than their gods and goddesses.  If their gods, like those of the Greeks, engaged in revels and orgies and the like, people will tend to imitate their gods.  If their gods are materialistic in nature, we will be given to materialism ourselves.  But if our God is GOD, we will be a holy and righteous people and society.

What is your God like?  It’s an important question because it will determine what you are like!

PRAYER: Lord, how many substitute gods have I\e placed before You?  How many lies of world view have Your people surrendered to?  Clear our minds of the foolishness that we have come to believe that we may believe only the Truth that proceeds from Your mouth!  In Your name, Amen.

Copyright 2022 by Galen C. Dalrymple.

DayBreaks for 3/15/21 – Because We Do Not Speak

Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should. – Ephesians 6:19-20

In the context of Ephesians, Paul is in prison for the faith and his refusal to be silent and to stop preaching the word and sharing the mind of God.  Thus, he is led to ask the faithful to pray for him and for the courage to fearlessly speak the word. 

Try to put yourself in Paul’s place: if you were already in prison for preaching the gospel, would you be looking for chances to keep on speaking, or would you be silent as you heard of people being led to their beheading on a daily basis?  Perhaps Paul even had the struggle going on inside of himself, leading to this prayer, and the use of the word “fearlessly” twice in the two verses quoted above. 

There is much frustration and anger in our country today about all sorts of things.  Much of the frustration involves so-called “social issues.”  I find that term interesting, because it is used as a way of saying “This isn’t a moral or ethical issue, it is a social issue.”  I don’t find such distinctions to be Biblical.  To the Jewish mind frame, everything was spiritual.  In the OT, fathers were encouraged to teach their children when they were walking, sitting, sleeping…at all times.  Why?  Because everything in life has spiritual, moral and ethical reality connected to it.  And our culture has made “tolerance” perhaps the highest virtue…again, not a Biblical perspective.

We, as believers, speak a lot about love and somehow, we’ve connected the concept of loving someone with the idea of tolerance…that we won’t speak out when something is wrong.  Why?  Because we’ve become convinced it is the loving thing to do to keep our mouths shut.  Not so. 

“Anger is not the opposite of love; often it is love’s clearest expression. How can we love people and stand by while they are wounded and exploited by selfish (people)…One of the most lamentable weaknesses of our generation lies in the lukewarmness of its love–the feebleness of its protests growing out of its lukewarmness. Monstrous evils thrive right under our noses, become entrenched in politics and custom, grow brazenly insolent to every plea for decency and justice because we who are Christians do not speak.” – J. Wallace Hamilton, Ride The Wild Horses!, Westwood: Fleming H. Revell Co., 1952, p. 121.   

Do you love the people in your life who surround you at work, at home, in your play?  Then truly love them.  Speak the truth in love.  You can truly love if you don’t love enough to speak the truth.

PRAYER: Fill our hearts with love enough to lovingly speak the truth into a culture that may not care to hear.  And we invite You to speak the truth into our own hearts and minds, Lord.  In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Copyright 2021, Galen C. Dalrymple. ><}}}”>

DayBreaks for 03/13/12 – Because We Do Not Speak

DayBreaks for 03/13/12 – Because We Do Not Speak

What happens if we stay silent?

Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, ²⁰ for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should. – Ephesians 6:19-20

In the context of Ephesians, Paul is in prison for the faith and his refusal to be silent and to stop preaching the word and sharing the mind of God.  Thus, he is led to ask the faithful to pray for him and for the courage to fearlessly speak the word.

Try to put yourself in Paul’s place: if you were already in prison for preaching the gospel, would you be looking for chances to keep on speaking, or would you be silent as you heard people being led to their beheading on a daily basis?  Perhaps Paul even had the struggle going on inside of himself, leading to this prayer, and the use of the word “fearlessly” twice in the two verses quoted above.

There is much frustration and anger in our country today about all sorts of things.  Much of the frustration involves so-called “social issues.”  I find that term interesting, because it is used as a way of saying “This isn’t a moral or ethical issue, it is a social issue.”  I don’t find such distinctions to be Biblical.  To the Jewish mind frame, everything was spiritual.  In the OT, fathers were encouraged to teach their children when they were walking, sitting, sleeping…at all times.  Why?  Because everything in life has spiritual, moral and ethical reality connected to it.  And our culture has made “tolerance” perhaps the highest virtue…again, not a Biblical perspective.

We, as believers, speak a lot about love and somehow, we’ve connected the concept of loving someone with the idea of tolerance…that we won’t speak out when something is wrong.  Why?  Because we’ve become convinced it is the loving thing to do to keep our mouths shut.  Not so.

“Anger is not the opposite of love; often it is love’s clearest expression. How can we love people and stand by while they are wounded and exploited by selfish (people)…One of the most lamentable weaknesses of our generation lies in the lukewarmness of its love–the feebleness of its protests growing out of its lukewarmness. Monstrous evils thrive right under our noses, become entrenched in politics and custom, grow brazenly insolent to every plea for decency and justice because we who are Christians do not speak.” – J. Wallace Hamilton, Ride The Wild Horses!, Westwood: Fleming H. Revell Co., 1952, p. 121.

Do you love the people in your life who surround you at work, at home, in your play?  Then truly love them.  Speak the truth in love.  You can truly love if you don’t love enough to speak the truth.

PRAYER: Fill our hearts with love enough to lovingly speak the truth into a culture that may not care to hear.  And we invite You to speak the truth into our own hearts and minds, Lord.  In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Copyright 2012 by Galen C. Dalrymple.

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