Psalms 115:4-8
“ 4Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands.

5They have mouths, but they speak not: eyes have they, but they see not:

6They have ears, but they hear not: noses have they, but they smell not:

7They have hands, but they handle not: feet have they, but they walk not: neither speak they through their throat.

8They that make them are like unto them; so is every one that trusteth in them.”

We don’t have graven images of stone, metal or wood that we bow to as a society, but we certainly bow to ideas of mankind and those ideas, while verbose, do not speak, hear, etc. the words,-while triggering certain emotions
- are void of the Spirit of God, which brings light and life. Like smelling a good perfume may trigger good emotions and stimulate certain pleasure centers compared to essential oils that not only produce a feeling of pleasure, but actually bring healing and wellness we can invest time and money into philosophies that stimulate certain self- gratifying feelings but are void of that which sanctifies and blesses us.

Part of the problem with the transgender ideology is it reduces womanhood to mannerisms, clothing, and secondary sexual characteristics. Womanhood is inseparable from motherhood, it necessarily includes being a true nurturer. It reduces manhood the same way: to mannerisms and secondary sexual characteristics. The divinely feminine and masculine goes deeper than those things. I’m still working on the articulation of this message, but it means so much more that what society has reduced it to.

Men are that they might have joy. Happiness is the object and design of our existence and will be the end thereof if we follow the path that leads to it. Bring those together with “take up your cross and follow me” and the demonstrated fact that doing what is right can and does lead to mortal suffering because we live in a fallen world of people who want to be lied to- even by the way we live. The world wants our lives and words to validate their sin in an effort to shut up the voice of consciences that cries out inside them against their lies in action and in word and attitude and because they are enslaved to their own bodies instead of being the master of them. So, what- then- is joy?

Joy is being in the presence of God, to be in intimacy with Him. Joy is the knowledge that whatever the situation or outcome we are in, we are in it for goodness sake and not evil. It’s knowing that despite whatever difficulty we face we have done all in our power to make things right and are then in the company of God and are in His grace. In a way, it is what it means to be in the world, but not if it; to be in this fallen place but simultaneously in Heaven because Heaven is in our hearts as we’ve trained our hearts to rest in God and Heaven is where God prevails.
Letting God prevail brings Heaven into the earth. When every knee bows and every tongue confesses Jesus is the Christ the earth is on the road to being a Heaven. His kingdom come, His will be done on Earth- as it IS in Heaven. As we consider laws- because as free citizens the law is each and all of our responsibility- we should consider if that law says “thy kingdom come”. Does it bring God’s standards more into the Earth or does it support satan and the world and deny Him? Does it reflect a willing obedience, that we are willing to enact and live by the laws that are specifically corresponding to His standards?
His kingdom come. His will be done, in our nation as it is in Heaven. Our laws either declare us to be one with Him or not. Joy and happiness will come only when we seek to imitate His laws with our own. He seeks our willingness to submit ourselves to His authority. Each of us must cast a vote for Him or against Him in the laws we support. Indeed- al laws reflect and align with righteousness (morality) or go against it and we do need our legislation to reflect our loyalty to Him.
Never- in all of scripture- did God advocate tolerance for sin. He, instead, said that if the heathen would obey His laws they could be among His people. Our inclusion has always been predicated on our willingness to submit our desires to His righteousness. He is inclusive when we seek Him and His righteousness, but he cannot incorporate wickedness into Heaven or Heaven becomes no different than this fallen world.
How do we survive this world and it’s suffering and wickedness and not be wrecked by it? We submit to Him and have His spirit to be with us. His kingdom come, His will be done in our hearts- then on the Earth as it IS in Heaven.
How do we be in this world and belong to it? Tolerate sin in our lives, in our minds and hearts and be concerned with how the world views us. Seek to fit in with it and coexist peacefully with evil instead of seeking to eliminate it from our lives, families and communities. Seek to preserve relationships with fellow- persons instead of seeking to preserve the Goodness of God in the earth.

What do you think the concerns of those in the city of Enoch were? We’re they concerned that they might be considered extreme by the world? Certainly to the world they were extreme, they were taken to Heaven because Heaven is where they came to belong because they had become extremely different from the world. I don’t think they were concerned about being too diligent in choosing good, I don’t think they worried they were imbalanced in good and evil.
The idea that we should have balance in that way is a pernicious lie that keeps us from letting go of everything and anything that is not of Heaven and keeps us from the joy of fully embracing God. Can we FULLY embrace God, who IS good, if we are holding on to some sin? If we saw Him, would we drop everything in our hands to embrace Him or hold on to some of it for the sake of balance? God wants us to have righteousness and wisdom in how we act on the responsibilities He’s given us, He wants us to do all things in wisdom and order to be moderated by Him in the way we apply the truth and standards of righteousness to our lives. Ever considered that balance applies to a road that is so narrow it is a tightrope and the balance required is His spirit guiding us and the net is His grace and redeeming power? It’s to live all His laws without robbing one by leaning too far into another. He died to allow God to be fully just and fully merciful. He fulfilled the law so that mercy could be applied to us without denying justice.

Joy comes into our lives and dwells in us as we submit more and more of ourselves to righteousness and fully abandon sin and worldly perspectives. Joy could be described as what it feels like when God is in us, as He replaces in us everything we’ve tolerated or permitted that is outside His righteousness. Our lives need to be out of synchronization with the world in order to synchronized with Him. Men are that they might have joy, we exist to fully accept, allow, embrace, and fully absorb all the goodness of God and allow Him to sanctify and exalt us. We exist to stand out among the world, not to be embraced by it or to coexist harmoniously with it. Our walk should be distinctly dissonant from the rhythm and tone of the world. God has always led His people out of the wickedness of the world, and they were only taken captive when they had already been captivated by it in their hearts. Suffering at the world’s hands has sometimes served to bring awareness and rejection of the evil. We reject joy sometimes by accepting the world’s counterfeits of it, by defining the world in worldly terms instead of with truth. How do we find joy? By finding and embracing The Truth. We are that we might have joy because joy is accepting God completely. We have joy to the degree we submit ourselves to Him.

God lives and loves us. He wants us to rely on Him. He wants us to seek His will and do it. While we live on this earth we need Him as a baby needs their mother. He wants our hearts soft and open to Him, but closed hard against sin. He wants us to be firm and steadfast to Him. He wants us open to Him, closed to the world- inviting them to come to Him. Loving one another is how we show Him love too- but the relationship He wants us oriented to is our relationship to Him. When we focus on Him we interact appropriately with others. It’s focus on others and on self that leads us to act amiss. Turning the other cheek, going the extra mile, and all the other commandments he gave in the sermon on the mount do put us in a hard place when we live in a Babylon world, but He led the way and submitted himself to all the punishment and suffering the world has to offer and said “take up your cross” and “follow, me”. He showed us that doing the right things can lead to suffering, but they are still right. It is also in suffering for his sake that we often meet Him. We can submit to Him in ALL things- and this is the process of discipleship and be with Him. That is joy.

He’s pretty logical.

God says that we will be forgiven according to how we forgive others, He says it will be done to us as we have done to others. Therefore: the aim is not to do unto others as we would have them do to us- though that’s a good place to start- the aim is to do to others as we would have God do to us.

“I am enough. “ might be one of the most damming statements we use because it keeps us from seeking the help and growth we need. “I am beloved of God. “ is far more useful.

Suffering, joy, growth, pain, progress, goodness, …… everything all put together that we call life comes together to show one thing, to mean one thing: God exists and He exists to love us. Everything he does and everything he plans and everything he refrains from is motivated by one thing: our true happiness, our manifesting what’s best in and for us and each other. True authenticity comes from adhering to His guidance and true love is acted out in how we serve each other. Love is felt most deeply through forgiveness that can’t be explained and healing beyond our comprehension and acts of creation beyond our ability to fathom. The meaning of life is that God lives and loves us.