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"Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path." Psalm 119:105
Having grown up in the 50's and 60's, I've learned that something is either right or it is wrong. Take the old western series "The Rifleman", where Lucas McCain teaches his son Mark, by word and deed, that something is either right or wrong and sometimes quotes scripture. In one episode, to encourage Mark after thugs working for a preditory land grabber burned down the McCain ranch, Lucas recited a cowboy rendition of the story of Job.
Fast forward to the early 80's. When I worked seasonally for the Forest Service in New Hampshire, on Sundays, I used to visit a man and his family who was our pastor when I was a kid. He had left to go north about the time I approached adolesence. When I mentioned that I had read the writings of Herman Hess, he immediately mentioned Hess's advocation of Abraxis, an ancient god endorced by gnostics where good and evil are equal. This is relativism. Bruce, a solid Bible believing born again pastor, mentioned Abraxis in a negative way.
To help me deal with the recent loss of a loved one, I started reading "you'll get through this: Hope And Help For Your Turbulent Times" by Max Lucado. Max interweaves the story in Genesis of Joseph about how Joseph overcame the hurt from his brothers throwing him down a cistern, selling him into slavery, and callously walking away. Doing things God's way didn't come easily or quickly, but Joseph ultimately obeyed God. The lesson we should learn from the story, Max writes, is "do what pleases God." Simple as that!
"For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11
How to Help People Change, by father of the Biblical Counseling movement Jay E Adams, echoes the absolute principle that we are best off, made whole, when we follow God's rules for our lives.
"The wise of heart will receive commandments, but a babbling fool will come to ruin." Proverbs 10:8
On our own, we scramble about, thinking we have the answers. A friend, whose wife had run around on him, drove him into bankrupcy, and aborted their child has been going to the bottle, thinking he'd find the answer to the problem. Wrong! He recently was arrested and thrown in jail after trying to strangle his girlfriend with a charger cord and making terroristic threats. He hates just about everything (except booze and cigarettes) - churches, shared meals for the homeless, his former roommates, you name it!
Modern psychiatry, writes Dr. Adams, is full of confusion and conflict, a ball of confusion (that's what the world is today). All the King's horses and all the King's men try to put people together apart of Jesus Christ. They can't! God made us and knows what is best for us. Through Christ, we are redeemed and restored to the image of God, the perfect way he made us.
With God, there are absolutes. We get into trouble when we try to rationalize our behavior or just come up with a plan outside of God. Using the more recent psycho method, cognitive behavioral therapy, we think about what to do, impliment it, and analyize the outcomes, and if it doesn't work, get a new plan, Stan!
One way modern psychiatry deals with problems is through "medication", drugs, which just mask the pain; it doesn't resolve the cause of the problem. Really no different than street drugs!
How do we become whole and right with God? "Do what is right as a sacrifice to the Lord and trust the Lord." Psalm 4:5
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I enjoyed reading your article, Jeff. I like how you used the analogy of all the king's horses and all the king's men can't put it back together apart from Jesus. Surely, without Him, we fall utterly short. When we follow His plan we become better thus avoid living with regrets. Happy Victorious New Year!
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