God Forbid

"But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world." Galatians 6:14

"But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ (ἐμοὶ δὲ μὴ γένοιτο καυχᾶσθαι εἰ μὴ ἐν but as for me, God forbid, etc. For the construction of the dative ἐμοὶ with γένοιτο, Alford cites Acts 20:16, Οπως μὴ γένητα αὐτῷ χρονοτριβῆσαι, and Meyer Xenophon, 'Cyrop.' 6:3. 11, Ω Ζεῦ μέγιστε λαβεῖν μοι γένοιτο αὐτόν. But neither passage matches the tone of abhorrence which attaches to the phrase, μὴ γένοιτο, on which see note on Galatians 2:17. Here only in the New Testament does it form a syntactical part of a sentence. But in the Septuagint this construction is of repeated occurrence, following the Hebrew construction of chali'lah with a dative and an infinitive verb with min. Thus Genesis 44:7, Μὴ γένοιτο τοῖς παισί σου ποιῆσαι κ.τ.λ..; id., 17. So Joshua 24:16. The pronoun ἐμοὶ is strongly emphasized both in this first clause of the verse and in that which follows. The apostle is vividly contrasting his own feeling and behaviour in relation to the cross of Christ with those of the leaders of the circumcision party whom he has been denouncing. They would fain put the cross as far as possible out of sight, not to offend the Jews they were so anxious to conciliate - that "obnoxious object" (σκάνδαλον, 1 Corinthians 1:25) itself, as well as the inferences which the apostle taught them to draw from it in relation to the ceremonial law: their καύχημα, that whereof they would glory, should be in preference the mutilated flesh of their misled Galatian brethren; his boast, rejoicing, glory, was, and God helping him should ever be, the cross of Christ - that, and that alone. It quite emasculates the energy of his utterance to paraphrase "the cross" as being "the doctrine of the cross or of Christ's atonement." Rather, it is the cross itself which rivets his admiring view; sneered at by Gentile, abhorred by Jew, but to his eye resplendent with a multiplicity of truths radiating from it to his soul of infinite preciousness. Among those truths, one group, which to us is apt to appear of but small interest, was to the apostle's heart and conscience productive of profoundest relief. In former days he had experienced the burden and the chafing or benumbing effect of the Law, both as a ceremonial institute and as a "letter" of merely imperative command. It was the cross which released him, as from the guilt and servitude of sin, so also from all the worry and distress of bondage to ceremonial prescriptions. And this group of truths, as well as those relating to man's reconciliation with God, he felt it to be his mission, even perhaps his own most especial mission, boldly and frankly to proclaim; not only to rejoice in them on his own behalf, but to hold them forth to the view of others, as replete with blessing to all mankind; to glorify and vaunt them. His motive at present in thus vehemently protesting his own rejoicing in the cross of Christ was doubtless to rouse into fresh activity the slumbering sympathy with those feelings which had probably in some degree once animated his Galatian converts. Therefore it is that he writes, "the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ," instead of "the cross of my Lord," which it would else have been in this case natural to him to say, as he does in Philippians 3:8, "for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord," and according to the tone of Galatians 2:20 of this Epistle. This "our" hints to the Galatians that they have as much reason as he has to glory in the cross as redeeming God's people alike from sin and from the Law. By whom (or, whereby) the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world (δἰ οῦ ἑμοὶ κόσμος ἐσταύρωται, κἀγώ κόσμῳ [Receptus, τῷ κόσμῳ]); through which the world has been crucified unto me, and I unto the world. The omission of τῷ before κόσμῳ, which is now generally agreed in, adds to the terseness of the sentence. The article is wanting before κόσμος elsewhere, as 2 Corinthians 5:19; Philippians 2:15; Colossians 2:20; 1 Timothy 3:16. The construing of the passage which takes the relative οῦ as reciting "our Lord Jesus Christ," loses sight of the image which is now the one most prominent to the apostle's view: this surely is not Christ himself, but his cross; as in 1 Corinthians 2:2 the apostle determines the more general term, "Jesus Christ," by the more specific one, "and him crucified." The reference of the relative is to be determined, here as often elsewhere, not by the mere propinquity of words in the sentence, but by the nearness of objects to the writer's mind at the moment. In language of singular intensity the apostle bespeaks the all-involving transformation which, through the cross of Christ, his own life had undergone. The world, he says, had become to him a thing crucified: not only a dead thing, ceasing to interest or attract him, but also a vile, accursed thing, something he loathed and despised. And conversely, he himself had become a crucified thing unto the world; not only had he ceased to present to the world ought that could interest or attract it, but also become to it a thing scorned and abhorred; as he says 1 Corinthians 4:13, "We have been made as the filth of the world, the offscouring of all things." The whole context of those words in the Corinthians (vers. 9-13) is here compressed into the single clause, "I have been crucified unto the world." "The world;" the term denotes unregenerate mankind taken in connection with that entire system of habits of life and of feeling in which man, as un-quickened by the Spirit of God, finds his sphere and home. As the apostle is speaking of his own personal experience, we must understand him as referring in particular to all those circumstances of civil, social, and religious being which had once surrounded him, the honoured Jew and Pharisee. These he enumerates at length in Philippians 3:5, 6. To these we might add, though it would, perhaps, have hardly occurred to Paul's own mind to add it, the ordinary possession of worldly comforts and immunity from want and suffering. All, he proceeds in that passage to say, he had "forfeited" (ἐζημιώθην Philippians 3:8). Nor did he look back upon his loss with regret: "I do count them as dung (σκύβαλα)." This twofold description, "I forfeited all things," and "I do count them all as dung," is here summarized in the phrase, "the world is a crucified object to me." The world, further, thus described as crucified to him, included in particular the entire system of Jewish ceremonialism, so far as it existed apart from the vitalizing influence of the Spirit of God. The "natural man (ψυχικὸς ἄνθρωπος)" sets great store by religious ceremonialism; it is to him, in fact, his religion. The apostle has himself felt it to be so. But his sentiment now is the very opposite: he accounts it a dead, lifeless thing; nay, even loathsome and abhorred, whenever in the smallest degree placed even by a Christian Jew in the category of Christianly obedience. That he did regard such religious ceremonialism as belonging to the "world," from which as in Christ he had become dissevered, is plain, both from Galatians 4:3, "in bondage under the rudiments of the world," and from Colossians 2:20, "why, as though living in the world, do ye subject yourself to ordinances, Handle not," etc. That this particular ingredient in the whole system recited as "the world" was at this moment present to the apostle's mind, appears from his singling out circumcision for mention in the next verse. While, however, this was a part of the "crucified world" just now prominent to his view, this term comprised to his consciousness much beside; namely, the entire mass of ungodliness and vice which appertains to "the course, or age, of this world" (αἰὼν τοῦ κόσμου τούτου, Ephesians 2:2), from which αἰὼν, the Christian is by the daily transforming of his character to be removed (Romans 12:2). (See above, Galatians 1:4, and note.) "Through which;" in various ways was the cress of Christ the means of effecting this mutual crucifixion between the apostle and the world. It is apparent, from the whole tenor of his Epistles, that Christ crucified, as manifesting both Christ's love to sinful men in general, and to his own self in particular, "the chief of sinners," and likewise the love of God his Father, wrought with so mighty an attraction upon his whole soul - intellect, conscience, affections - that all other objects which were only not connected with this one lost to him their whole zest and interest, while all other objects which clashed with the moral and spiritual influence of this became absolutely distasteful and repulsive. And, on the other hand, the world at large met the man who was animated with this absorbing devotion to God as manifested in a crucified Christ, with just that estrangedness and aversion which might have been anticipated. The influence exercised by the cross in crucifying the world and the apostle to each other was intensified by the especial bearing which, in the apostle's view, the cross had towards Jewish ceremonialism (see Galatians 2:19, 20, and notes). The vivid, intense manner in which the apostle proclaimed such sentiments alienated from him the adherents and champions of Judaism, and made him of all Christians the one who was to them the most obnoxious. And how this affected his standing, even in the Gentile world, there have been above repeated occasions for noting." Pulpit Commentary, http://biblehub.com/commentaries/pulpit/galatians/6.htm

The most obnoxious? I'm sure others would disagree. They'd likely call me that.

Midnight Prayer

"Esau sold his birthright for a bowl of stew. Samson sold his secret for a one night stand. Judas sold his soul for thirty pieces of silver.

What were they thinking? The answer is, they weren't. Nothing is more illogical than sin. It's the epitome of poor judgement. It's temporary insanity with eternal consequences. And we have no alibi, save the cross of Jesus Christ." Mark Batterson, All In, pg. 149

Lord, forgive me everything I've sold. Restore Your blessings. Reconcile my soul. Reference Psalm 51. Amen.

"May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world." Galatians 6:14. Amen.

"Just Saying" Chivalry Isn't Dead

Re: http://elitedaily.com/dating/sex/why-chivalry-is-dead-from-a-mans-perspective/

"Chivalry is dead." John Picciuto

Chivalry isn't dead.

For the sake of manhood, can we men stop looking like winy girlfriendless sex depraved babies? Man up. The woman that God's designed for you will make herself known. Man up and find her. Man up and give her a reason to appear. Man up and pray for her. Stop blaming women for your own issues. "The real problem here is that women" .... is nonsense. A man wrote this article. He needs to own his own weight. Women can write this. Men need to write "The real problem here is that men" ....

"Where did we lose the chivalrous touch? When did it become acceptable to just text a girl, inviting her to come bang? Don’t get me wrong. I’m not complaining about those instances, I’m just saying," .... He's just saying? He's just saying what? He's just saying he's jealous. He's not getting these texts? "Where did we lose the chivalrous touch?" Where did this guy lose his? "I'm not complaining about those instances." Where's the "chivalrous touch" in that? He's not complaining? Sure he is. "Where did we lose the chivalrous touch?" He answered his own question. He's just not man enough to look inward for the answer. He would be better off looking inward and addressing his own need for chivalry.

I know chivalry is damaged. It's not dead, but it's damaged. It's damaged in most men. It's damaged in me, seriously damaged, damaged to the point of near wreckage at times, but ... I'd rather look inward and in Christ for answers and restoration rather than ... rather than entertain the idea that it's just dead and it's the responsibility of women to resurrect it.

Jesus Christ is Lord and when He walked amongst us, He was a Man amongst men, the Manliest of men, the most chivalrous of us all. He conquered death for us. 2nd Corinthians 5:21. The least we men could do is honor His conquering by conquering ourselves, Galatians 2:20, and taking responsibility for our own mess. Amen? I'll say it. Amen.

"Just saying."

"Four Score and seven years ago" The 150th anniversary of the Gettysburg address

"Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate, we can not consecrate, we can not hallow, this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us, that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion, that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

Abraham Lincoln

November 19th, 1863 (http://www.abrahamlincolnonline.org/lincoln/speeches/gettysburg.htm)

#somethingtothinkabout

Lincoln ushered in the Emancipation Proclamation and the 13th Amendment, as a compassionate and courageous man, not as a Republican or Democrat, though he was a Republican and proud of his station, but as an American of Americans, a man called by God to fight for others, for their freedom, for their lives and for their equal rights.

Might you ask yourself these questions?

• Would Lincoln have fought for the Emancipation of Innocent Men locked away in our nations prisons?
• In the case of guilty men on death row, would Lincoln have fought for the Proclamation of Life?
• In the case of unborn children, would Lincoln have fought for the Emancipation of Children in Their Womb?
• Would Lincoln have considered Innocent Americans, Guilty Americans, Unborn Americans deserving of equal rights, deserving of 13th Amendment rights?
• Yes

Lincoln was an extraordinary man and leader of men. We ought to follow his lead. He knew the nobility of blood, the value of life. We ought to know as well. 

"It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us, that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion, that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

To slap or not to slap? There's no question! Is there?

"The slap of a friend can be trusted to help you, but the kisses of an enemy are nothing but lies." Proverbs 27:6 

See!!!! The scripture agrees with my approach, but people ... people just don't seem to get it. Prison didn't set me back. It set me up to slap others around ... according to the scripture. #feelinghumorous #ooorrramI #hhhhmmmm

"There was no stopping Smith Wigglesworth. He was a flame for God, and the fire fell wherever he went. He said: "I believe God's ministers are to be flames of fire. Nothing less than flames. Nothing less than mighty instruments, with burning messages, with hearts full of love. They must have a depth of consecration, that God has taken full charge of the body, and it exists only that it may manifest the Glory of God." 

He was certainly possessor of an audacity, a daring, a boldness the like of which has rarely been seen in Christendom in modern times. It was not uncommon for him to announce in his meetings: "Every sermon that Christ preached was prefaced by a model miracle. We are going to follow His example. The first person in this large audience that stands up, whatever his or her sickness, I'll pray for that one and God will deliver him or her." And the first person to stand, even if they were the most deformed cripple, would be healed!

On one typical occasion, a man came forward for prayer for stomach pain, and, commanding the pain to be gone, Wigglesworth punched the man in the stomach so hard that he was sent half way across the room, completely healed! This kind of thing happened more than once. Wigglesworth believed in commanding the sick to be healed in Jesus' name. His was an aggressive, holy faith. He was a "violent" man, taking ground from the devil by force. And yet he was also a man of great compassion ... The devil certainly felt it when Smith Wigglesworth hit town!" Andrew Strom #keepingitreal #sometimesbeatingthehelloutofpeopleislovingthehelloutofpeople #justsaying

Disclaimer. This is meant for humor. I haven't prophesied that thou shouldest slap thine neighbors. Love your neighbor.

Continuing

I will continue getting stronger physically, mentally and spiritually. I will continue drawing closer to God. I will continue to become a mentor. I will continue the process of authoring the first of two, possibly three, books. I will continue to build productive relationships in Christ for Christ. I will continue to develop into a man worthy of His calling. When blessed with the opportunity, I will continue living for Him as a boyfriend, as a fiancé, as a husband, as a father and grandfather. I will be the man God has destined me to be. I will continue in the faith. I will continue in the hope of the gospel. I will continue in Christ. I will continue to die to myself and live for Him. #verse23 #continuing 

... "walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness; giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son: in Whom we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins: Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: for by Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by Him, and for Him: and He is before all things, and by Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body, the church: Who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things He might have the preeminence.

For it pleased the Father that in Him should all fulness dwell; and, having made peace through the blood of His cross, by Him to reconcile all things unto Himself; by Him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.

And you, that were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath He reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, unblameable and unreproveable in His sight: if ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, firmly established and steadfast and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard" ... Colossians 1:10-23