Sin: Beyond the Commandments

I’m going to venture into an area that will probably make you uncomfortable. How do I know that? Because it made me very uncomfortable just pondering this subject...but I felt it needed to be addressed in my own life and I share it with you now.

We have all grown up in different circumstances, had different parenting, have different church experiences...and approach life with our own uniqueness. That said, there is an inherent knowing of right and wrong regardless of what morals, ethics or formal teachings we’ve encountered.

Many of us regard the Ten Commandments as the foundational platform for our behavior. Some may dismiss them as “guidelines” yet many keep them as core values and then go way beyond them to include many of the traits and teachings found throughout Scripture.

There are many Biblical words of wisdom, advice and experiences to be found...but there is one passage of Scripture that shook me—and still does—to the core. One simple verse found in the fourth chapter of James that states, “Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.” NKJV

Yes, there is such a thing as sin of omission. Generally we all equate sin to some conduct that we need to turn away from, but this 17th verse gives us much more to consider...that we may be sinning by doing something contrary or simply by doing nothing at all. Now that is a heavy concept to absorb.

The context of the passage in James 4 is reminding us that we should always..always...be making our plans based on what God’s will is and not making them simply because our actions may impress people about how ‘devoted’ or ‘selfless’ we appear. Our plans, even with the best of intentions, may not be what God wants and we can enter into a very slippery area of falling into self-righteousness without even realizing it.

I recently had the opportunity to travel to Uganda to observe (and partly participate) in a missions trip with my pastor and his father. It would be very easy for me to return to that place with grand designs of starting a music ministry and I’m sure people would take notice and say, “Wow, he’s really stepping out in faith to follow God’s plan.” In truth, it may not be God’s plan at all but I might, even subconsciously, want to pursue that path knowing how people would react. Yet...what if it really is God’s will for me to return to Uganda and I don’t go? According to James this, too, is a sin. This is the admonition that James is giving.

This part of the passage is all summed up in verse 17 and gives us a very blunt reality check. If we do know what God’s plan is and don’t do it, we are sinning just as much as if we were acting out any other sin. Anything—and without equivocation I do mean anything—that separates us from God is sin...plain and simple. Not doing the right thing can separate us from God just as much as slipping down a path of debauchery.

Kind of scary, isn’t it? It scares me every day...but that, too, is a very healthy thing for me. We all struggle on a daily basis with what God’s will is and whether we are following it or not. Sometimes it is clear, often times it can be vague. The important thing is that we continue to pray, evaluate, pray some more, seek advice from trusted friends...and pray some more.

God is always faithful to reveal His plans if we can allow ourselves to truly listen. We can all hope for the day that Isaiah spoke of to the people of Zion, “Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.”

Greg Morton
Copyright © November, 2015
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Deciduous Christianity

Deciduous means "falling off at maturity" and is typically used to refer to trees or shrubs that lose their leaves or drop fruit seasonally. In a more general sense, deciduous means "the dropping of a part that is no longer needed" or "falling away after its purpose is finished".

You probably already know where I’m going with this. Can you honestly say that your Christianity doesn’t--or won’t--fall into the deciduous category? Oh, what a shame it would be if we let our spiritual life lose its countenance like an autumn tree.

There are numerous biblical metaphors that relate to nature--gardening and agriculture in particular--and compare it to the spiritual health of individuals and of the Christian church. When I came across this word of “deciduous” it seemed to have struck a chord in me.

As I was pruning my fruit trees a while back these metaphors kept tapping me in the psyche and I marveled at the manner in which nature proliferates. I cut and prune and appear to mangle the poor things...only to find them budding new life a few short months later. If only my spiritual life could be so prolific. Although it’s hard, I realize why God prunes me back to what feels like stubs...only to have a new branch spring forth when the timing is right.

The falling leaves may be a natural process for trees just as a natural shedding of old habits, selfish desires, or a thousand other things should be shed from our lives. That said, we must be very careful not to shed that which is core to our lives. Those things that keep us spiritually alive; praise, kindness, music, selflessness, prayer, friendship and countless other traits and gifts which God has provided us for living in accordance to His purpose. These are the things which must not be shed like the autumn leaves.

When God spoke about being the vine and His followers being the branches, He knew full well this metaphor would hit home with the disciples. It certainly hit home with me.

“Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.” John 15:4

Greg Morton
Copyright © October, 2015

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Trust Your Gauges!

Back when I was a student pilot I got to experience a very unnerving phenomena that translates quite well to a spiritual application.

The morning I was to take my first solo flight the entire San Gabriel Valley was socked in with a thick fog. Seeing the disappointment in me, my instructor simply said, “Don’t worry about… we’ll just head up to the high desert and you can solo out there.” Since we obviously couldn’t fly under the Visual Flight Rules my instructor saw it as a wonderful opportunity to introduce me to flying with only instruments.

We headed out of El Monte airport and shortly after takeoff we hit the base of the clouds (fog is nothing more than clouds on the ground, you know) around 500 feet AGL and it was as if someone threw a white blanket on top of the windshield. “Cool”, I thought. Then something strange happened. I was convinced we had started into a roll. I began to make a correction and the instructor said, “Uh. uh, buddy...trust your gauges. Your horizon indicator says you’re flying level.” It was one of the most surreal and disorienting things I’d experienced. Had I made the correction I thought was needed...disaster was certainly around the corner.

God is very much like those gauges on the instrument panel. He guides you, directs you, lets you know when you’re going on the intended path...and He’s always correct. During those times in life of feeling disoriented and things don’t seem to make much sense, you have to trust your gauges...you have to trust God. What we may think is a logical correction to our circumstances may very well turn to disaster.

We certainly don’t know all the answers and God isn’t inclined to always give us specific answers. Sometimes we just have to trust the indications we get from God are correct and will lead us through to safety even if it feel like we’re completely blinded.

As a follow up to that morning...once we broke through the tops of the clouds it was a magnificent sunny flight. The clouds that had blinded me just moments before now looked like a soft, pillowy blanket below me and our heading was backdropped by the incredible San Gabriel Valley mountains. The solo went flawless as I made a few touch-and-gos around Apple Valley airport and promptly got my shirttail cut off...that’s tradition. Trusting the gauges brought me to that place, just as trusting God will get you to where He wants you to go.

What a perfect plan...what a perfect God.

Blessings!

Greg Morton
Copyright © September, 2015

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The Parallax View

The apparent change of an object’s direction caused by a change in the viewer’s position. This is, by definition, a parallax view. For example, if you were on a boat traveling along at 30mph and tossed a ball up in the air and caught it...it would appear to you that it went straight up and straight down. A person on shore, however, watching you toss the ball would see it arc as you traveled across the water.

It is always interesting to me that Christianity can be viewed by so many people in the world with just as many different perspectives as to what it’s all about. The fundamental truths never change, never waiver... yet as a religion, or a dogma, or simply a lifestyle... Christianity has thousands of similar– yet disparate– belief systems.

It’s no wonder there has been a wave of ‘rethinking’ when it comes to the Christian church and its direction. The emphasis has now become– as well it should be– focused on the relationship with God rather than the ceremony and liturgy.

Personal prayers are now beginning to supersede rote recitations. Generic petitions from the pulpit have given way to individual and specific intercessions. Intimate individual healings take place where there once was only general acknowledgement. These are the changes that core Christian believers are gravitating towards and I, for one, believe it to be a wonderful thing.

As you well know, you can listen to televangelists, pastors and religious authorities all across the country and hear not only inconsistencies among them... but outright contradictions. Yet each of them– in their heart of hearts– believes they are speaking the truth. This, then, is why discernment on the listener’s part is paramount. It is clear we must all be very careful as to what we profess to be unequivocal truth.

As Christians we understand that there is only one God, one truth, one absolute distinction between right and wrong in the eyes of the Lord; yet there is clearly a parallax view when it comes to the Christian faith and how we exercise that faith. As we develop our beliefs we may find ourselves changing perspectives on certain aspects of the Church which, in turn, may change how we see our faith. This should not, however, mitigate our efforts to see every aspect of our lives through the eyes of Jesus. God’s perspective is unwavering, unchanging, and undeniably correct.

How we choose to implement what we know to be true is the crux of what makes up our belief system. Clearly there are varied and numerous ways to exercise our beliefs and this, then, is where all the diversification of Christian denominations and sects were born.

Is there one true belief system for Christians? Absolutely: believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. Everything else is simply religion.

Greg Morton
Copyright © August, 2015

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Always Beware!

Although it doesn’t air any longer, several years ago my wife and I enjoyed a show called “Secret Millionaire”. The premise was pretty simple…a successful millionaire visits a down-trodden area of the country and assimilates their self into the community as a person looking to volunteer his or her services for a needy cause. As would be expected the organizations were always grateful to have a volunteer and gladly put them to work. At the end of the show the millionaire decides to honor these people by donating large sums of money to their cause. Although initially deceived…I have yet to see anyone put off since the reward certainly outweighed the deception.

It brings to mind a scripture found in Hebrews 13:2 “Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.” Most likely Paul was making a reference to Abraham, found in Genesis 18, where he was approached by three visitors…who turned out to be the Lord himself along with two of His angels.

We may not have the incarnate Christ visiting at our doorstep but, truly, He is standing where you are standing right now. Our actions should always reflect the proverbial “what would Jesus do” mindset and give of ourselves selflessly...daily...without thought or deviation. Like many of those millionaires on the show, we should remember the scriptures wise counsel: Psalm 62:10 “...though your riches increase, do not set your heart on them.”

Just as in the show, we can have help in our daily lives and not even realize where exactly that help is coming from or from whom. We’re all so accustomed to bringing our troubles to the Lord that it’s pretty easy to see God’s grace when things turn out better. What we all tend to forget, however, is to bring all our blessings daily to the Lord as well and thank Him for His intervention and provision.

Although God may be the ultimate Secret Millionaire in our lives, He is anything but secret. He has boldly given us the tools we need to affect change in the world around us and we are all called to give Him the praise and glory in all we do. Once this happens...we begin to know the true meaning of our gift of Christianity.

Greg Morton
Copyright © July, 2015

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Flip Me, Lord

Although I don’t do it near as often as when the kids were younger, I still like to make me up a batch of pancakes on Sunday morning. There’s something fun, and perhaps an evocative memory trigger, of being a kid and enjoying the simple goodness that a stack of warm flapjacks bring.

If you’ve ever made them, or even simply seen them made, then you know that the batter is plopped onto a hot grill which browns the one side. At the perfect moment (which is where part of the fun is…) you flip it over to cook the other side. But what if…..you simply left it on the griddle and didn’t flip it? It would most certainly burn on one side and be left undone on the other.

What if God put us into some trial and left us to simmer….but failed to flip us. We, too, would end up burnt on one side and undone on the other. Christians all too often, though, seem to want this unfinished task. They go to church…wear their good face and religious attire…then go back to the “same ‘ol-same ‘ol” throughout the rest of the week. This is nothing more than being an unflipped pancake. Hot on one side and undone on the other.

God even used this metaphor when speaking through Hosea as he was chastising the nation of Israel. In chapter 7 he states, “Ephraim mixes with the nations; Ephraim is a flat loaf not turned over.”

I trust God as the perfect cook—flipping me just at the right time so I won’t burn and continuing to perfect me so I become an appealing creation. Even better, He continues that process over and over so that I can become a whole stack of pancakes—spiritually speaking—providing nutrition as I’m placed on a platter and presented before a hungry world.

Greg Morton
Copyright © June, 2015

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Fear

“Fear doesn’t shut you down; it wakes you up.”

I quote the great Divergent philosopher Four...ok, maybe not a great philosopher, but a darn cute guy according to my wife. In any case, what he tells his new recruit Tris is a very important truth about who she is.

Fear, in and of itself, is not a bad thing but rather an innate survival response. Throughout scripture when angels appeared before man they always prefaced their announcement by “Fear not…” even good things can be prefaced by fear.

Also, we are told to fear our God...to hold such a reverence for Him that we can only shudder in awe at His majesty and sovereignty. The Psalms and Proverbs are rife with numerous applications of this type of fear.

Living in fear, however, is a whole different ballgame. Allowing fear to control and take over a situation is when we must begin to reassess our faith in God. Fear initially heightens our senses to the circumstance in front of us and we must take full advantage of that. It can generate motivation that can literally save your life. That said, we must not allow it to direct our thoughts and reactions to “play it safe” or run from the reality that is beckoning us. With our faith in God on firm ground we can boldly move towards that which frightens us and allow Him to do His work; to believe with all our heart that all things really do work together for good when Christ is at the controls.

In Psalm 139 David makes a beautiful statement, “I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” This is the fear that is appropriate in our lives. To accept that many things in life will frighten us, yet also embrace the knowledge that we don’t have to answer to the fear but, rather, to our Lord and Savior.

I can’t think of a better way to travel through this life.

Blessing!

Greg Morton
Copyright © May, 2015

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