"Do not love sleep, lest you come to poverty"

One of my favorite Proverbs.  This is why I have tried to always have the attitude that I can sleep when I am dead.  Life is meant to be lived!!! 

Proverbs 20:13(NKJV)

    Do not love sleep, lest you come to poverty;      Open your eyes, and you will be satisfied with bread.

Pastors and Wealth

I sometimes see articles on Yahoo about how celebrities net worth's are disgusting.  And I've seen articles about Pastors with titles like that as well.  Is their criticism justified Scripturally?

Proverbs 8:20-21(NKJV)

    I traverse the way of righteousness,     In the midst of the paths of justice,

    That I may cause those who love me to inherit wealth,     That I may fill their treasuries.

Notice that not only does God say he will fill the treasuries of those who love Him but He ties it in to the previous verse regarding righteousness and justice.  Interesting isn't it? 

God, who is Holy, says He will fill their treasuries.  Secular man tries to use wealth as a means to call someone unholy.  Who you going to believe, secular man or God? 

Seems to me God must really be asking Himself this today!

Psalms 4:2(NKJV)

    How long, O you sons of men,      Will you turn my glory to shame?     How long will you love worthlessness     And seek falsehood? Selah

Psalms 52:3(NKJV)

    You love evil more than good,     Lying rather than speaking righteousness. Selah

Would you be able to pass the test?

Here in Deuteronomy it describes a test we may face.  Would you be able to pass it?  Many Christians today have already failed it.

Deuteronomy 13:1-4(NKJV)

“If there arises among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams, and he gives you a sign or a wonder, 

and the sign or the wonder comes to pass, of which he spoke to you, saying, ‘Let us go after other gods’—which you have not known—‘and let us serve them,’ 

you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams, for the Lord your God is testing you to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. 

You shall walk after the Lord your God and fear Him, and keep His commandments and obey His voice; you shall serve Him and hold fast to Him. 

What I am specifically referring to here are all of the "Christians" who think it is a good idea to take "the best of all religions" and combine them into their own.  They think it is a way to demonstrate how "open minded" they are.  They still think of themselves as Christians while adhering to bits and pieces of other ideologies.  Doesn't that sound similar to what is described above?

Make no mistake!  I've pointed this out before.  Scripture tells us that we will be held accountable if we allow ourselves to be led astray!

Wow, I never knew this was actually from the OT!

Jesus said that we must love our neighbor as ourselves.  How many knew this was actually from the Old Testament?  I didn't realize it until I read it today. 

Leviticus 19:17-18(NKJV)

‘You shall not hate your brother in your heart. You shall surely rebuke your neighbor, and not bear sin because of him. 

You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.

God is….Pure

So as I wrap up the 3rd word in the study of Words used to describe God a thought comes to mind. 

Purity of heart or purity of action? 

As I studied the word Pure in Scripture I found that almost all of the references have been to pure gold or pure oil or pure frankensense; things like that.  There were a handful of verses that more directly related to what I was looking for, the word pure in reference to God.  Take a look and then I will circle around to the question above.

Job 4:17(NKJV)

    ‘Can a mortal be more righteous than God?     Can a man be more pure than his Maker?

Matthew 5:8(NKJV)

    Blessed are the pure in heart,      For they shall see God.

Matthew 5:8(NKJV)

    Blessed are the pure in heart,      For they shall see God.

1 John 3:1-3(NKJV)

Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. 

Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. 

And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.

To purify gold it has to be heated or smelted.  In other words it has to undergo a stressful process to get it to purity.  The above verse tells us that if we believe in Jesus, that alone purifies us.  Does that mean we get to bypass the stressful part?  Not at all.  Scripture clearly tells us that we will go through trials and tribulations for Christ.  I guess the difference is that we get purity before the stress instead of the other way around. 

Revelation 22:1(NKJV)

And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. 

Alright so back to the question.  Based on what I know of Scripture, purity of heart is the more important of the two.  My reason for believing that are twofold.  First all of the references that Jesus Himself made to "where a person's heart is".  Secondly I refer to the passages where Paul has said things like "the spirit is wiling but the body is weak" indicating that no matter how pure our hearts, physically we are doomed to failing over and over again. 

Make sense?

Now that doesn't give one free rein to do impure things because that would come back to the heart issue.  And make no doubt about it, you can't fool Jesus about where the heart is.

A group beating sanctioned by God? LOL!

This is an example of why I so love studying Scripture.  Some times I read stuff, things I have read before, but the Holy Spirit shows them to me in a new light.  And sometimes those new slants on things make me laugh right out loud.  Today was such a day.  :)

Acts 18:14-21(NKJV)

And when Paul was about to open his mouth, Gallio said to the Jews, “If it were a matter of wrongdoing or wicked crimes, O Jews, there would be reason why I should bear with you. 

But if it is a question of words and names and your own law, look to it yourselves; for I do not want to be a judge of such matters.” 

And he drove them from the judgment seat. 

Then all the Greeks took Sosthenes, the ruler of the synagogue, and beat him before the judgment seat. But Gallio took no notice of these things.

So Paul still remained a good while. Then he took leave of the brethren and sailed for Syria, and Priscilla and Aquila were with him. He had his hair cut off at Cenchrea, for he had taken a vow. 

And he came to Ephesus, and left them there; but he himself entered the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews. 

When they asked him to stay a longer time with them, he did not consent, 

but took leave of them, saying, “I must by all means keep this coming feast in Jerusalem; but I will return again to you, God willing.” And he sailed from Ephesus.

OK here is what made me really chuckle.  Let me recap what happened.  Paul has been witnessing to the Jews and Greeks.  Many Jews and Greeks believe.  However some Jews don't and not only don't they believe but they want to actively harm Paul and stop him for convincing others to believe. 

Some of the Jews who had declared themselves enemies of God by rejecting Christ bring Paul before the Roman judgement seat and are trying to get Paul put in prison or whipped or whatever.  The Roman says "hey not my deal.  Your religion.  You deal with it."

With me so far?

Here is what cracked me up.  After the Roman refuses to get involved, the believing Greeks take the ruler of the synagogue, who presumably was leading the effort to harm Paul, and they whip his butt!!!  They give him a mass beating!   LOL!!!

Not only do they kick his tail but do you see anywhere that Paul or God condemn their actions?  What happened to turn the other cheek?  :)