But Israel reached out his right hand and put it on Ephraim’s head, though he was the younger, and crossing his arms, he put his left hand on Manasseh’s head, even though Manasseh was the firstborn.

Genesis 48:14

I have often wondered why Jacob chose to do this act of blessing Ephraim before Manasseh. After pondering on this for many years I have, so far,  come to rest on two things.

The first has to do with a blessing. In our day of western Christianity we seem to have convinced ourselves that we have some kind of magic power in our own words. We think we can speak things into being and speak things into not being. We think we can speak a foreshadowing over others through the words of our mouth and from our own thoughts… and well that simply is a lie. Your words have no authority over the sovereign will of God and I don’t care who said that they did.

I can do nothing on My own initiative. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is just, because I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.

John 5:30

***

So Jesus said, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and I do nothing on My own initiative, but I speak these things as the Father taught Me.

John 8:28

***

For I did not speak on My own initiative, but the Father Himself who sent Me has given Me a commandment as to what to say and what to speak.

John 12:49

***

The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative, but the Father abiding in Me does His works.

John 14:10

Jesus, the Son of God, God in the flesh, the King of kings, the Lord of lords, the fullness of Deity dwelling among us, spoke only what was given to Him to speak by the Father. He didn’t proclaim His will, but the Father’s.

Jacob blessed according to God’s purpose… not his own. Jacob’s blessings didn’t set up God’s will. God’s will is already done. Jacob simply stated truth that already was, yet was not because it was still to be.

We live in a day and in a place where a lot of people walk around saying, “The Lord has said…” when the Lord has said no such thing. It’s nothing knew. It’s been happening since the beginning…

Therefore behold, I am against the prophets,” declares the Lord, “who steal My words from each other.  Behold, I am against the prophets,” declares the Lord, “who use their tongues and declare, ‘The Lord declares.’  Behold, I am against those who have prophesied false dreams,” declares the Lord, “and related them and led My people astray by their falsehoods and reckless boasting; yet I did not send them or command them, nor do they furnish this people the slightest benefit,” declares the Lord.

Jeremiah 23:30-32

So be careful beloved. Be very careful what you declare and bless and speak over and to others. Make sure it is God’s will that you are declaring and not your own.

The next thing I see in the choosing of Ephraim over Manasseh is in their names,

Joseph named the firstborn Manasseh, “For,” he said, “God has made me forget all my trouble and all my father’s household.” He named the second Ephraim, “For,” he said, “God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction.”

Genesis 41:51-52

Ephraim comes from the Hebrew root word “apher” and it means bandage or covering. The interesting thing is that the female version of this name means fruitfulness and it is also another name for Bethlehem. Manasseh means to forget the trouble, but Ephraim means to be fruitful IN the trouble.

There are lots of things in this world that we use to try to make us forget our sufferings and afflictions. We don’t like to hurt. We don’t want to experience pain, whether it be mentally, physically, or emotionally. We have shelves and shelves of pain relieving medications. We have a plethora of choices of liquors and beers and wines that can be used to drown our thoughts. We have drive by pick up of homegrown and self developed “this could kill you in a second, but at least you won’t feel it” drugs not far from every street corner in America no matter what side of town you live on. We have clubs, bars, and churches full of people who are trying to numb their pain with deafening music and false affirming words from people who only know who they pretend to be.

But beloved, God has blessed Ephraim over Manasseh. God has chosen Ephraim over Manasseh. God did not make Joseph forget his father’s household. He would instead ask Joseph to forgive his father’s household.

You cannot forget the troubles in this life. There will always be another trouble to come.  You can, however, forgive. You can be fruitful in the trouble, in the affliction.

…for I know that this will turn out for my deliverance through your prayers and the provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, according to my earnest expectation and hope, that I will not be put to shame in anything, but that with all boldness, Christ will even now, as always, be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. But if I am to live on in the flesh, this will mean fruitful labor for me and I do not know which to choose.

Philippians 1:19-22

Choose Ephraim.

God has blessed Ephraim.

We have one day every other week in our house that me and my girls call “the crazy day.” Every other Wednesday I work, come home to grab the girls and their music, and get one to violin and the other to piano in time to get the other from violin to get the other from piano in order to get us all to church before 5pm. In the last leg of our “crazy day” the subject of eternity came up in our car ride.

We laughed as we thought about eternity. My girls, 14 and 11 years old, both shared how the thought of forever made them dizzy. I laughed as I agreed. My 14 year old shared my exact same sentiment of how everything in this life eventually ends, but there is still the next thing. In eternity, there is no next thing. You are in the finality of forever.

However, there is a next thing before we enter what we consider eternity. I reminded my girls about the 1000 year reign.

Then I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received the mark on their forehead and on their hand; and they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection; over these the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years. 

Revelation 20:4-6

My 14 year old exclaimed, “I forgot about that! So we don’t just die and then enter into heaven and float around on the clouds all the time!” (The float around on the clouds was said with sarcasm, she knows the reality of the eternal worship of our Creator God and the Lamb that was slain) 

There is a next thing when we take our last breathe on this earth. Those that have gone before us in the Lord are in His presence. They are waiting with anticipation for the next thing just as we are, but they are no longer suffering from the consequences of this fallen world. They are indeed with Jesus as He waits to hear the Father say, “It is time!” (Matthew 24:27, 1 Corinthians 15:52, 1 Thessalonians 4:16)

I shared with my girls, that this is why what we do here on this earth matters. This life is building our resume for the 1000 year reign. What you do with the life Christ has given you while on this earth is determining how you will serve Him when He comes in all His glory to set up His earthly kingdom. Satan will be defeated and bound for a 1000 years and the King of kings and the Lord of lords will rule the entire world in righteous, and we who love Him and serve Him today will rule with Him in that tomorrow.

This is why Jesus shared the parable of the good and faithful slave…

His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’

Matthew 25:23

It’s not about being in charge of many things in this age… it’s about the age to come. Those that preach a gospel that declares that our best life is now is preaching a lie from the pits of hell, because that is NOT what our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ preached.

You will be hated by all because of My name, but it is the one who has endured to the end who will be saved.

Matthew 10:22

***

Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name.

Matthew 24:9

If you are not willing to obey Him, serve Him, and suffer with Him today, what makes you think He will choose to trust you to rule with Him when He takes His 1000 year world throne?

Think about it.

Now, after that 1000 years Satan will be released from His chains and true to our human nature, even after humanity has lived 1000 years under the rule of God Himself, Satan will STILL be able to mobilize an army to come against Christ and the people of God. However, he and all those who side with him will be defeated. It will be a short fight (Revelation 20:7-10). Satan will be cast into the lake of fire, along with all those who followed him. Then all those who died throughout the ages without repenting from their sin and trusting in the promises of God will be raised and cast in behind them.

Now is when the world as we know it, the entire earth passes away. God will create a new heaven and a new earth (Revelation 21:1) and now we have eternity.

So beloved, there still is a next thing. We don’t die in this age to become angels floating around on the clouds. We don’t enter the pearly gates. We enter the presence of the Lord and we wait with great anticipation for our loved ones in the Lord to join us as we return to rule and reign with the One who redeemed us. It will be our last mighty work with Him to declare His glory for a 1000 years.

So beloved, I ask… How’s your resume?

For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.

Titus 2:11-14

I could easily right this post from a bashing attitude and perspective, but I am going to try to write this in a way of exhortation. The past couple of years have taught me a little bit about what I am calling convenient christianity and Facebook faith. I’ve learned and am still learning as I walk through this valley of the shadow of death and through this life’s sufferings and grief. My prayer in pain is that it will not be wasted.

We blame technology on the loss of real communication, but for me that’s no different than blaming guns for killing people. Technology is amoral.  It is not good or bad. It is not right or wrong. It is what it is according to the one who uses it. Therefore, we can’t blame social media or cell phones for our lack of real communication. We have only ourselves to blame.

The problem is not technology, the problem is us.

At that time many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one another. Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many. Because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end, he will be saved.

Matthew 24:10-13

Liking a post on Facebook (or any other social media venue) and even going so far as to type out “praying” as you scroll through does not make the hurting feel as if you really are praying or even actually care. Running into someone at church and then asking how they are doing is really meaningless to the one who sat there alone and ignored from Sunday at 11:45 am until the next Sunday at 9am… and that is only if they are well enough to make it that day.

In Matthew 24:10-13 Jesus is sitting on the Mount of Olives privately talking to His disciples. The message of Matthew 24 – 25 is given one on one, face to face, in a small group kind of way. This was not preached to the mixed masses of doubters, haters, and seekers. It was privately and powerfully delivered to His disciples just two days before He would face the cross. It was spoken to those who followed Him, but it included the Judas’s as well as the Peter’s, James’, and John’s. Therefore we who profess to believe must read it with the warning that Jesus intended it to be and ask ourselves, “Has my love grown cold?”

Many people have experienced the coldness of a doctor, nurse, or simply the emergency room admittance worker. After years of experiencing tragedy over and over, a wall of desesnsitivity is built up. I believe this same experience of desensitivity often happens to believers in the church…

I am about to begin leading a precept study on the book of Titus. This New Testament book is a letter from Paul to the young man Titus who has been left to head up the church in Crete. There is one main repeated word of instruction from Paul to Titus to give to those who profess to believe. At least five times Paul exhorts Titus to be careful to engage in good deeds. Paul’s last charge to Titus concerns this matter,

Our people must also learn to engage in good deeds to meet pressing needs, so that they will not be unfruitful.

Titus 3:14

I have lost count of how many people have told my family. I didn’t know your Dad was that sick. Why didn’t they know? It’s because they didn’t ask, because if they had, they would have known. It’s because they didn’t visit, because if they had, they would have known. Social media is a great tool to gather information and to reach out to those that are so far away in distance that you cannot be physically present, but it was never intended to replace actual presence when that presence is possible.

Attending church is meant to build a family that is there for you Sunday to Sunday. It was never meant to be a separate group of people that you just see on Sundays. I really don’t think most people join a church because they are looking to have something to do on Sundays. People join a church to have community. People join a church to have others to do life with… because dadgum-it life is hard. Real. Hard.

I reference my husband’s company often in my writing because, well the truth is they do a lot of things right. If more local churches followed the example of this company they would find themselves growing both deep and wide. What is it that my husband’s company does that is so special?

My husband’s company does not focus on just making him a better employee, but they want him to be a better man. They do this by holding company wide fellowships with guest speakers who come and encourage and exhort them concerning life at home. They expect him to choose a mentor within the company that he meets with and consults with on a regular basis. He is expected to sit down with a superior at least once a year and be evaluated on what he does well and could do better, not just at work but in life as a man, a husband, and a father. He in turn does this with all those on his crew. They call it “personal development.”

When a team member is sick he is contacted personally by his lead and if at all possible visited when and if hospitalized. If he is off work for a while, the employees at my husband’s work will take up money on there on initiative… and when it becomes long term, the company is set up to allow automatic drafts out of your paycheck straight into the struggling employees account, but the one who receives never knows who gave what. Does this sound familiar?

And all those who had believed were together and had all things in common; and they began selling their property and possessions and were sharing them with all, as anyone might have need.

Acts 2:44-45

In the book of Titus Paul exhorts Titus to not get caught up in foolish controversies and genealogies and strife and disputes about the Law (Titus 1:9) but to be careful to engage in good deeds (Titus 1:8). I believe it was Theodore Roosevelt who once said that people don’t care about what you know until they know how much you care. Bottom line is this was Paul’s charge to Titus. Let the haters hate, the liars lie, you love. Speak truth yes, but make sure those words are followed with actions.

Be. An. Example. Of. Good. Deeds.

WITH purity of doctrine.

Good Deeds and Sound Doctrine.

Grace and Truth.

And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.

John 1:14

We are still at the beginning of the new year. This is the time that many sit and evaluate themselves. It is also a time that a church should sit and evaluate itself.

Two questions to ask ourselves as individual believers and as a church:

1. Has our love grown cold?
2. Are we engaged in good deeds, meeting pressing needs?

Beloved if all you have is convenient church and Facebook faith with no Sunday to Sunday down and dirty real hard life interactions with other believers, especially those you GO TO church with… then I beg you to stop and head the warnings of our Lord in Matthew 25…

“Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’ Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You?  When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’

 “Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.’ Then they themselves also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?’ Then He will answer them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

Matthew 25:34-46

Phil Waldrep has a great message for the church… I believe our modern American churches have as a whole forgotten our purpose. Not long ago I heard Ravi Zacharias share that sin is a violation of purpose. Think about that… what is sin? It is indeed a violation of purpose.

The ministry of the church was never meant to be about concerts, conferences, and coffee. Programs and prayer requests sheets are not worth the paper they are printed on if people are not priority. If as believers, we are too busy with events to actually minister to the members of our body… that is a violation of our purpose. If we no longer feel the desire to go and share the gospel and meet the pressing needs of others… then our love has grown cold.

Beloved of God, let us not default to convenient christianity and Facebook faith. If you need a reminder in your walk with God about what’s really important then dig into the book of Titus, it’s only three chapters. And may we all become zealous for good deeds and obedient to meet pressing needs.