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Time = Life

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Psalm 1:1-2 Blessed (happy, fortunate, prosperous, and enviable) is the man who walks and lives not in the counsel of the ungodly [following their advice, their plans and purposes], nor stands [submissive and inactive] in the path where sinners walk, nor sits down [to relax and rest] where the scornful [and the mockers] gather.2 But his delight and desire are in the law of the Lord, and on His law (the precepts, the instructions, the teachings of God) he habitually meditates (ponders and studies) by day and by night.

Julia Neves, in a web article titled, The Top Ten Time Wasters and How to Avoid Them wrote: Time wasters, by definition, are activities or tasks that drain our valuable time without contributing meaningful returns to our productivity, effectiveness, or fulfillment. They represent the errands we run, the habits we engage in, or even the tasks we undertake that, despite consuming time, offer little to no substantial value. Michael Gerber once stated: Time is just another word for life. If time is just another word for life then how would you describe your life? Are you an investor in time and life or are you one who wastes the life you have been given?

In this Psalm those who delight in the Lord, in His teachings and instructions, do not waste their time – their life – walking, standing, and sitting – with mockers, or scorners. Mocking and scorning are seen as actions that are contrary to the character and will of God. The Topical Bible states: These terms refer to the act of ridiculing, deriding, or showing contempt towards others, and they are often associated with pride, arrogance, and a lack of respect for God and His commandments. In the Old Testament these characteristics are associated with the sinful, wicked, and foolish. Proverbs 9:7-8 states: “He who corrects a mocker brings shame on himself; he who rebukes a wicked man taints himself. Do not rebuke a mocker, or he will hate you; rebuke a wise man, and he will love you.” This passage underscores the futility of attempting to correct those who are entrenched in mockery, as they are resistant to wisdom and correction. The Psalms also address the issue of mockery, often in the context of the righteous being scorned by the wicked. We see this attitude emerging powerfully during Jesus’ five governmental trials of the night before the religious leaders, Pilate, and Herod. Jesus is scorned and mocked by the Romans soldiers, by the thieves on the cross, and by the spectators of His crucifixion. They scorned and mocked Him to the bitter, triumphant end. One writer stated that mockery and scorn are seen as manifestations of a heart that is hardened against God. They are often linked with pride, as those who mock others elevate themselves above them, failing to recognize their own need for grace and redemption. And there it is. Grace is the need of every blood washed saint of Jesus. Grace is the empowerment to do the will of God. Grace is the empowerment that exceeds do-it-your-self righteousness. 2 Peter 3:18 states: But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. James 4:6-10 echoes this by stating: But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.” 7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.8 Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

To grow in Grace is to grow in agreement and alignment with God’s Word and Truth. To grow in Grace is a daily surrender of every thought that comes from the Spirit of God, and every reminder from the Word of God. To grow in Grace is to do the opposite of Romans 3:10-12. It is to seek to be rightly related to God and others; it is to seek understanding of the Word; it is to seek to be connected to the manifest Presence of God; it is to seek to bear fruit and be teachable; it is to turn to God – in every way of obedience and faith; and it is to seek to be good. Mockers and scorners are resisted by God. Mockers and scorners are not teachable, nor humble, nor meek. They resist the Truth and in their resisting their resist Jesus Who is the Truth. With all of that in mind what are you investing your life in? Where are you spending your time and life? Are you growing in humility, meekness, and dependence on the Lord? Are you growing in His Grace and see its’ vital need? Mockers, and scorners put out the fires of His Grace and grieve the Spirit of God’s presence in their life. But those who delight in God and His instruction are constantly meditating in and on His Word.

Small Things

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2 Samuel 1:14-15 David said to him, Why were you not afraid to stretch forth your hand to destroy the Lord’s anointed? 15 David called one of the young men and said, Go near and fall upon him. And he smote him so that he died.

Throughout Scripture from the fall of Adam and Eve to the crucifixion of Christ, from the writings of Paul to the end of the Book of Revelation – one fact remains: the wages of sin is death! The Amalekites had proven themselves enemies of God since the Exodus as described by Moses in the Book of Exodus: And the Lord said to Moses, Write this for a memorial in the book and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under the heavens.…And he said, Because [theirs] is a hand against the throne of the Lord, the Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation. (Exodus 17:14,16) On the surface David’s response against this messenger of doom seems to be a little extreme. But underneath this narrative lies a larger monster that hides beneath the shadows lurking along the edges like a ravenous wolf ready to pounce upon its prey. First of all, this Amalekite is lying. He did not slay King Saul. Saul had taken his own life. Secondly, the messenger had looted what belonged to King Saul and the people of Israel – Saul’s kingly crown, and the bracelet on his arm. Thirdly, this man exposed his greed and lust for more. It wasn’t enough that he had plundered the crown jewels. His plot was much more twisted and devious. He had reasoned that there must be an even greater reward for the one who would kill Saul. Rather than taking the crown and bracelet and cashing in on his prize. He chose to up the ante. Finally, this man failed to realize that David was God’s man – God’s anointed – and God’s enemies were his enemies. But there is an even greater story unfolding before our eyes and Exodus 17:14,16 gives us the clue: I will utterly blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under the heavens.…And he said, Because [theirs] is a hand against the throne of the Lord…

Did you catch that last part? The Amalekites had not simply lifted their hand to destroy God’s people. They had actually lifted their hand against God Himself. Against His Throne, Kingdom, and Reign. Consciously or unconsciously, this Amalekite was participating in the sins of his fathers and mothers. Ultimately, he was reflecting the heart of his spiritual father – Satan himself. For you see, the Amalekites, and their descendants could be traced all the way to King Herod himself, an Idumean (a descendant of the Edomites from which Amalek had come). Amalek had come from Esau’s son who had married a descendant of the Horites – and they were descendants of the demonic hybrid of the Nephilim (half-demon, half human. Think Goliath)

King Herod sought to kill Jesus – God’s Anointed King of Israel. Why had God said that He would personally fight against Amalek? Because they represented an Anti-Christ spirit. An anti-Christ agenda.

But how does all of this apply? Romans 8:7 states the carnal mind is at enmity with God. The carnal mind being our soulish mind or our propensity to rely more on our thinking, will, emotions, and personality or temperament to have things our way. This way of doing things is an enemy to God and the things of God because it hearkens back to the Garden of Eden, and you shall be gods. In other words having it our way is not doing it God’s Way. God’s Way obviously being Jesus Himself – The Way. But rest easy: the Lord will have war with (it) from generation to generation.

In Mark 8 Jesus warns of the leaven or yeast of the Pharisees, Herod, and the Herodians. (Matthew 16 adds the Sadducees). Leaven is a small thing – but it’s the small things that lead either to the anti-Christ rising in our lives or Jesus, the Bread of Life. Question is, Are we utilizing the yeast of the Kingdom of God or the yeast of satan himself? Remember it’s the small things that make all the difference in the outcome of what’s reigning in your life. What we sow into will determine the “rain” that falls in our lives.

No King But Caesar?

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In the Book of Exodus 7:10-12 Moses records the following: So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did as the Lord had commanded; Aaron threw down his rod before Pharaoh and his servants, and it became a serpent.11 Then Pharaoh called for the wise men [skilled in magic and divination] and the sorcerers (wizards and jugglers). And they also, these magicians of Egypt, did similar things with their enchantments and secret arts.12 For they cast down every man his rod and they became serpents; but Aaron’s rod swallowed up their rods. Interestingly enough in Exodus 3 Moses’ shepherds rod becomes a serpent. When taking the account regarding Aaron, Pharaohs magicians, and the showdown of the serpent rods one could deduce that the “King Snake” swallowed up all the other snakes. Also, you must add that the Shepherd became a King – this is true regarding Moses and Jesus.

I was curious about the etymology of our English word king and wondered where it all derived. The online etymology dictionary provides the following: a late Old English contraction of cyning “king, ruler” (also used as a title), from Proto-Germanic *kuningaz (source also of Dutch koning, Old Norse konungr, Danish konge, Old Saxon and Old High German kuning, Middle High German künic, German König). It proceeds to state that the word implied a leader of the people, noble birth, a chief, or ruler.

What I found interesting was the late Old English contraction cyning. When I seek to sound it out at first it sounds like I am saying, sinning. Which calls us back to the accounts in Exodus 3, and 7. Were you aware that Pharaoh wore a headdress which bore the symbol of a cobra? Incidentally you will see that symbol on King Tuts burial mask. The cobra symbol is called the uraeus, which is an upright or rearing cobra. It derives from the worship of the goddess Widget – the patroness and protector of the Nile Delta and all of Lower Egypt. Uraeus was a symbol of royalty, divine authority, and sovereignty. Pharaohs wore the uraeus as part of their crown, and it was often depicted with a golden sun-disk on top. The pharaohs thought they were gods and it was only fitting that their “priests” were able to perform supernatural feats.

What many Christians and Jews fail to realize is that Moses and Aaron were sent by God for a showdown with the “so-called” gods of Egypt, and to force all of these idols to bow before the feet of the True Shepherd-King – Jesus! It’s interesting to note that even in Herod’s day (1445 years from the reign of Pharaoh) it was a crime, (whose punishment was immediate death) to say you were a king – as there was no king except Caesar. Which sadly during Jesus’ trial before Pilate the chief priests stated, “We have no king but Caesar” (John 19:15). (The chief priests would not even acknowledge that only God was their King).

In 2025 you need to ask are you “cyning“ “making anything other than Jesus your Leader, King, Ruler, or Chief? Jesus is the King Snake who has come to swallow up all other so-called gods, or rulers and He rewards those who make that distinction with a crown of their own. But His crown will not have the depiction of the serpent, satan. No, Jesus’ crown, will only fit on the heads of those who have made Jesus their Crown. In 2025 why not surrender and bow your thoughts and actions to the King of all kings, and the Lord of all lords? Will He be your King? Will you allow Him to swallow up all that has ruled your life?

Two Faces of Time

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Today marks the beginning of the end – that is for 2024. Around the world, new beginnings from a new year symbolize a fresh start encouraging people to set goals and begin again. But where did all of this originate? As far as we know the first culture to celebrate the new year was Mesopotamia which began around 2000 B.C. – near the end of March. But Emperor Julius Caesars’ solar-based calendar (46 B.C.) helped to introduce our practice of January 1 – as New Years. January 1 being chosen for its dedication to Janus – the god of two faces, the god of gateways and beginnings. It was believed he could go back in time and move forward in the future (January also being named after Janus).

The practice of watching the ball drop at midnight in Times Square (a tradition begun in 1907) actually hearkens back to the tradition of the sailors use of “time balls” or chronometers for setting their timepieces. Through a spyglass, they would navigate the harbor and find balls thrown into the water at specific periods.

Navigating time seems to sum up our practice of looking forward and backward to chart a new direction for our life’s voyage. Which causes another interesting detail from the birth of Jesus to surface. When the Wise Men stopped in Jerusalem to ask for directions Herod sent them in the wrong direction. They would have gone backwards rather than forwards. Two Scriptures point out that when the Wise Men arrived to worship Jesus He was already around 18 months old and living in His own house: Matthew 2:11 And on going into the house, they saw the Child with Mary His mother, and they fell down and worshiped Him. And Matthew 2:16 Then Herod, when he realized that he had been misled by the wise men, was furiously enraged, and he sent and put to death all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that territory who were two years old and under, reckoning according to the date which he had investigated diligently and had learned exactly from the wise men.

The Apostle Paul stated that the goal of his life was to forget what was behind and strain toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the [supreme and heavenly] prize to which God in Christ Jesus is calling us upward. (Php. 3:13-14) From all of these things you could surmise that your goal as a follower of Jesus is to be mindful of not getting lost looking for Jesus in the wrong direction, seeking to be free of being two faced, and charting out a new direction for your life through pursuing Jesus’ call. Ultimately the question begging to be answered is: How can you follow Jesus if your focus is on what’s behind you rather than the One Who is directly in front of you? Could you conclude that since God exists outside of time that the only thing truly two-faced is time – since you were created to exist in eternity – outside of time?