There are a lot of people who love to wear their religion on their sleeves, rather than in their hearts. You meet them more often than not. They make a big deal of dressing up, carrying Bibles, and presenting themselves at their house of worship at the prescribed time...and then...more often than not -- they return to the real world and show no change, no influence, no impact from the diety to whom they offered their show of reverence and piety.
Oh, yes, they can conjure up a self-righteous attitude in a
twinkling: they are loud and profuse at times in proclaiming how certain they are of their eternal destiny and their function as saint in allegiance to their God. And like the Pharisees that Jesus chided in His days on earth, these folks have deluded themselves into thinking that by their fancy show and much speaking, they can fool everyone into thinking what divine and wonderful people they are. Unfortunately, friends, most holy books
-- including the Bible -- say it quite plainly: God is not mocked; whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
There certainly has to be a day of reckoning coming for everyone, whether self-assigned saint or sinner, when the Creator and Perceiver of all hearts shall take account of our souls. I have news for you. There shall be preachers, deacons, elders, priests, choir members, ushers, healers, witnesses, and many, many other people whom the world esteems as so wonderful -- who will never see heaven because what they did on earth was nothing but
a show. Why? Because they didn't know the God they were
supposed to be serving. And God himself will look down on
that judgement day and say: "Depart from me, I never
knew you."
If we serve our God, we must recognize that He makes the rules, and our duty is to obey. We do not create our own god, and make up our own rules. Indeed, the Jewish religion holds The Torah as sacred, and the Moslems honor The Koran. And Christians claim The Bible as their guidebook. But you demean the diety you serve if you look at commandments and doctrines as mere suggestions that you can pick and choose over. And Christians, if Jesus said there is only one way to heaven, then
I believe you had better count on it, because you
can't get to heaven like you like.
Your dear HartKeeper is no saint, nor is he faultless. I,
like most enlightened spiritual believers, recognize that
achieving sainthood is a process that begins here...and is achieved in heaven. As Jesus looked at a woman who was adjudged for her adulterous ways (St. John, chapter 8), he forgave her, but he also put her on notice: "Go and sin no more."
I have no right to judge you any more than you have the right to judge me...but I am warned to "mark" and "shun" and "avoid" those people who are not true blue as they say one thing and do another. Even people who read my columns here and meet me in chat think a variety of things about me. If anything, I am
happy to be rendered as "peculiar." I do not follow the
mainstream. Sometimes, I don't even look like I am doing
saintly things. But then Jesus was scorned and ridiculed for hanging with publicans and sinners and women of ill-repute at times as well. So why should I feel like a lone-ranger? I think, sir and lady, you should do a mirror-check on yourself.
"Who are thou that judgest another man's servant? To his
own master he standeth or falleth. Yea he shall be holden
up: for God is able to make him stand." -- (KJV)
"They are God's servants, not yours. They are responsible to
Him, not to you. Let Him tell them whether they are right
or wrong. And God is able to make them do as they should."
-- (Living Bible)(Double Translation of Romans 14: 4)
As a minister, husband, father or chatfriend, my role is NOT
to judge you. My role is to spread the table of God's goodness
before you and invite you to eat, but I cannot make you do it.
And neither will God. And through feeble people like me,
whether in a pulpit -- or in a chatroom -- God is working in
mysterious ways. He is often misunderstood. I expect the very
same for myself, for as long as I live. He promised it would
not always be easy, but there would be a reward for all those
who will overcome and hold fast until the end. My hope is
built -- on nothing less. For me, or for you. -- The HartKeeper
November 25, 1999 -- In the midst of holiday celebrations,
it is often possible to see a lot of lonely, sad, and often
disturbed people. These are the ones who find holidays
depressing for any number of reasons, oftentimes due to
circumstances beyond their control. They are unable to find
peace or share joy, because they feel doomed to be misfits in
a situation that they would dream of changing.
Once upon a time, there was an entire nation in exile in a
foreign land. When people asked them to talk about home and
sing their songs and tell their stories, they were so sad and
homesick that they could not. Indeed, they responded: "We
have hung our harps upon the willows...how can we sing our songs
in a strange land?"
If the coming holiday season means that you have set yourself
up for another massive pity party...you are certainly headed for
a bummer. I like how the Eagles said it in a song in the
1960s or so...when they wrote: "If you can't be with the one
you want...love the one you're with." When we get out of our
own sadface melancholy, and look toward others and give them
some of the very same love for which we crave ourselves, we
indeed prove over and over again that biblical principle that
"it is more blessed to give than to receive."
Buried deep in the Old Testament is a tiny book of Lamentations,
written by the Hebrew prophet Jeremiah. It makes for very
depressing reading because he was feeling the pain of a people
who had done wrong and were detained in exile as a result.
However, in the midst of Jeremiah's "pity party journal" is a
ray of hope -- the light at the end of any tunnel that seems to
go through the "black holes" of our life experiences. It is
there, that I find hope and comfort for everyone who feels like
a misfit today.
"O, Lord, all peace and all prosperity have long since gone,
for you have taken them away. I have forgotten what enjoyment is.
All hope is gone, my strength has turned to water, for the Lord
has left me. For I can never forget these awful years;
always my soul will live in utter shame. (Living Bible -Translation)
"Yet there is one ray of hope: It is of the Lord's mercies
that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not.
They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.
"The Lord is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I
hope in Him. The Lord is good unto them that wait kfor him, to
the soul that seeketh him.
"It is good that a man [or woman] should both hope and quietly wait
for the salvation of the Lord." (King James Version) -- Lamentations 3: 17-26.
Seek God -- however you view him, no matter what age, sex, creed,
religion or national origin. Our God does not discriminate
in dispensing grace to anyone who asks. And He wants to
richly bless you -- today! And when He does -- be sure to
thank Him! -- The HartKeeper
The HartKeeper 
