Greg Proffit Writing

Category: Spirituality

  • You Are The Salt of The Earth… Not The MSG

    You Are The Salt of The Earth… Not The MSG

    salt of the earth
    Shutterstock Image licensed to Author

    Some Christians believe there is a biblical mandate to be involved in politics because they are to be the salt of the earth. They have not well considered the meaning of the verse or the phrase as used historically.

    “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.”

    ~ Jesus Christ, Matt. 5:13

    Poor fishermen and village folk comprised Jesus’ audience. His words affirmed their worth based upon their virtue. Itself based on the fact they were in the audience faithfully listening to him as a Prophet of God. 

    Salt wasn’t always a seasoning

    Salt, in olden days, was a valuable commodity. Sometimes it was currency. It was far too valuable to be used as a mere seasoning to add taste to food. Perhaps you are familiar with the adage which speaks of a hard worker being “worth their salt.”

    Salt was also a preservative in pre-refrigeration days. The verse does not imply that Christians are to “season” the world, its culture, or its politics. Christianity doesn’t transfer effects by mere presence or proximity. Nor is the aim of a Christian to “preserve” the world’s culture, or politics. For what, to a true Christian, is worth preservation of either worldly culture or worldly politics? Neither impress God.

    Rather, Christians derive value—to God, to one another, and to the world by virtue of their faith. 

    “Saltiness” comes as the result of a life lived by faith in the power of an indwelling Christ. It doesn’t come from infiltrating, influencing, and subverting politics for so-called Christian purposes. As if that could ever be a thing…

    salt of the earth
    Photo by Francesco Alberti on Unsplash

    Which of your laws can impart life and righteousness?

    It is unfortunate that Christians engaged in the effort to drag Jesus into politics forget the admonition of Galatians 3:21.

    “For if a law had been given that could impart life, then righteousness would certainly have come by the law.”

    What policy, ideology, or law will instill spiritual life and righteousness when the 613 commandments enshrined in the Old Testament failed to do so?

    What do Christians (whether preachers, politicians, or parishioners) propose to enact (or strike down) that will grant eternal life or right standing with God? 

    When a greater than Moses appears once more, it will be on the last day. He won’t come seeking political office, or permission from a majority to act. He will not be carrying a party flag, nor running for any office. The King of Kings will bring his title (and His reward) with Him.

    Christians entangle and embroil themselves in politics to the detriment of both politics, and the true understanding of Christianity—which concerns another Kingdom, entirely. They are more like another ubiquitous modern seasoning.

    They are MSG perhaps—artificial, cheap and worthless, with the capacity to poison all it touches. But they aren’t salt.

  • There Is A Grand Canyon Between You and Jesus

    There Is A Grand Canyon Between You and Jesus

    There is a Grand Canyon between you and Jesus
    Photo by Christine Roy on Unsplash

    # 35 on my 99 Life Tips–A List is: There is a Grand Canyon between you on your best day and Jesus on his worst. Being “Christlike” is a fallacy. Genuine Christianity has never been about imitation or method acting.

    A Grand Canyon of Difference

    Take honest inventory of your spiritual life, and you’ll realize there is a Grand Canyon between you and Jesus. Even on your best day, when you’ve dressed up, said your prayers, had a devotional time, listened to Christian music, and meditated on God—you cannot produce the Spiritual resource needed to live the Christian life. That resource is Christ Himself, through the person and power of the Holy Spirit.

    Yes, dear friend, even dear brethren, there is a Grand Canyon between you and Jesus, the gulf formed by the differing sources of power relied upon for life.

    Allow me to introduce Watchman Nee (cover your toes)

    Watchman Nee, a Chinese National and Christian author, in his book Not I, but Christ, stirred controversy when he wrote this:

    “If you can teach a dog to be a Christian, then you can teach a man to be a Christian. There is none who can live the Christian life but Christ.”

    This quote, also from Nee, is like it:

    God is not seeking a display of my Christ-likeness, but a manifestation of His Christ.

    ~ Watchman Nee

    and finally this:

    We think of the Christian life as a ‘changed life’ but it is not that. What God offers us is an ‘exchanged life,’ a ‘substituted life,’ and Christ is our Substitute within.

    ~ Watchman Nee

    Follow the links provided to learn more. His writing will change your view of the Christian life.

    Christianity as strength training

    In my 35 years as a believer, I’ve seen many good-hearted people and many well-meaning preachers speak and act as if being a good Christian is like going to the gym. Through your disciplined efforts; you get stronger and stronger. Soon, you can do more and more reps. Gradually, you get fit; you lose weight. You keep working at it, persevering to put in the effort to get the results, feeling the smile of God, and being congratulated by your fellow-believers for all your dedicated, inspiring work. Work hard enough and your life gets better. But, it’s hard, relentless work. Friend, I’ve been you.

    The gym for Christians is church attendance and prayer and bible study and meetings and maybe tithing or doing some good works. It’s stopping drinking and smoking and cussing and listening to bad music and hanging out with bad people (any non-Christians). It is voting the right way and saying the right things and replacing the magnets on your refrigerator with bible verses.

    Is this as good as it gets until we die and go to Heaven

    But it is also mingled with failure and discouragement. It is struggling with habitual sin, and backsliding and repenting, and keeping up appearances and attending services—but still being defeated. So you grit your teeth and say, “God is Good.” But you can’t escape the gnawing, empty feeling that there has to be more to the Christian life than what you’re experiencing. And all the while, you blame yourself for your lack of “progress”, and feel guilty for letting God down. But you hang in there knowing that Heaven will be worth all the hard work and effort.

    The typical idea suggests that one can become a “strong Christian”. In some circles, you’ll actually hear that term applied to particularly zealous and serious examples. The truth is—when we are weak, then we are strong, for then Christ’s power can rest upon us. God will let us be as strong as we want to be, but God is attracted to weakness.

    That’s why He likes me so much. 😉

    (And will be attracted to you the same way; as soon as you embrace your weakness as I have my own.)

    The Canyon separates Jesus from self-empowered fiasco

    I say, there’s a Grand Canyon between us and Jesus if that’s the extent of it.

    It is either Christ manifesting Himself in and through us, or it is a human fiasco dressed up in church clothes saying churchy things. Many of the things we try to do for God are performed, not by the Spirit, but by self conjured effort, relying on our own “wisdom” and willpower, not on the power of God. Perhaps that’s why we see little of it in our day.

    What God wants done by us, He will do in and through us. Let’s not confuse that into thinking that anything we say or do in the Name of Jesus is done by Jesus. It’s just not.

    Please don’t take offense. If you understand me correctly, and accept my motivation for writing this, you’ll embrace the living Christ to manifest Himself in and through you. The true Christian life has always been about who Jesus is and what He is in us, not about you or me. He’s the only one who can live the life He’s called us to live, let’s trust Him to do just that, shall we? Because there is a Grand Canyon between you and Jesus.

  • No Amount of Navel Gazing Will Make You Spiritual

    beautiful butterfly has completed metamorphosis
    This butterfly has completed metamorphosis. Beautiful, huh?

    # 29 on my, 99 Life Tips – A List is: No amount of navel-gazing, self-reflection, or self-help is Spiritual. That is CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy).

    Let’s begin with a few simple definitions so we can understand each other. That’s tongue-in-cheek because there is actually little agreement about what constitutes spirituality. I use the term spiritual to refer to those realities that are nonmaterial, bodiless, and having no measurable physical substance. I also use the term to refer to those resources, energies, or powers that do not derive from human sources. This is the key point. Navel gazing in the form of self effort cannot generate spiritual life or spirituality. If one wishes to become spiritual, and derive the benefits, one must look outward, and receive spiritual life from outside oneself.

    We humans have a spirit (in the same way we have a mind and a body) and can certainly become spiritual, but the purpose of the spirit is to apprehend the spiritual world, in the same way the purpose of the senses is to apprehend the physical world. Similarly, the purpose of the mind (not to say ”brain”) is to engage in the immaterial, unseen world of reason, emotion, and will. 

    Like communicates with like

    By design, the parts and functions we enjoy and employ communicate and interact within their own respective spheres. Minds communicate with minds. Bodies with bodies, And, likewise, spirit with Spirit. Like always communicates with like. Therefore, one cannot become more spiritual by looking inward, by any physical exercise or activity whatsoever, or by a heightened awareness of mental processes, or emotional states.

    If you accept those statements, it becomes evident that one cannot become spiritual by looking within. For one, with what instrument does one look? With the mind of course, not with the eye or the visual interpretive functions of the brain. And second, what is the object of observation? If it is merely mind observing mind, then once again, we’ve aimed at the wrong target and unfortunately, hit it. Where is one to find Spirituality, if not within?

    If not within oneself, where is Spirituality to be found?

    No, true spirituality is found outside ourselves. One becomes spiritual by contemplation and meditative focus on another Source, another Power, altogether.

    Belonging to the Christian tradition, I find the answer in this verse: 

    ”But we all, with unveiled faces, looking as in a mirror at the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.”

    ~2 Cor. 3:18

    This verse declares that it is by looking at the glory of the Lord, that one is transformed into that same image by the Spirit of the Lord.

    This transformation (which in greek literally means metamorphosis) does not happen by looking at oneself. It does not happen by focusing either on one’s successes or failures. Nor does it  come about by self-diagnosis, self-help, or self-effort. No amount of navel gazing will make you spiritual. A spiritual life comes by a persistent gazing upon the perfections and glories of Jesus Christ himself. 

    And where does one see these glories? Scripture presents a view that is the equivalent of looking in a mirror. The image in a mirror is not the thing itself, but only a replica. But in this case, the replica is sufficient to bring about spiritual change.

    I hope this helps.

  • An Easter Story

    “Why do you seek the Living among the dead?“

    This question is at the heart of the Easter story. Setting aside for now all the technical and theological aspects inherent in the Passion story, the essence boils down to finding and assimilating and celebrating life. Easter focuses the attention on expectation, disappointment, hope, and the kind of certainty that is present in true faith. 

    At the end of this Year Of Death, where now will we find life? Has death overcome it? The disciples came to look for Life in a cemetery, and specifically, in a tomb. They were scolded. They had received enough instruction that they might have known better. But the reality of what they had seen, overcame the reality of what they could not yet see. Being certain of what their eyes and experience told them, they acted as they did. They came to do homage to a dead body.

    It is thankful that their faith wasn’t the cause of God’s acting. Else, Jesus would still be buried behind that stone. Because they had none. No, they had been invited to believe in the Faith that God has in Himself to achieve what He achieves, with or without our believing. Their failure to give credit to what they had been told, more than to what they had seen, did not constrain God in the slightest. 

    But, it did cause them to look in the wrong place. And once there, this reliance upon their own ability to see caused them not to recognize Life in the form of a gardener. I guess if we must see something in order to believe it, then even when it is presented to the eyes, we won’t recognize it for what it is. Where have you been looking for life? What do you have to see to know if you’ve found it? 

    A gardener knows the secret to Life is patience. He is not a day-trader. He knows that there is much more going on beneath the surface than what can be seen above it. He knows better than to trust his eyes for determining truth.

  • Take No Thought

    Yesterday’s post posed the question: would you accept a salary that would meet all of your needs for the rest of your life? I then discussed some pitfalls pursuant to chasing wants.

    My morning ritual involves coffee, a quick run-through of automated reminders about bills due, and a quick check of banking software to assure the resources are available for the bills, lest I should need to move funds.

    I start each day making sure that I have the financial resources on hand for that day’s financial needs.

    But what other resources do I need for today? And can they be stored up? Can they be transferred from account to account?

    I’ll need breaths. Lots of them. Even more if I can squeeze in a walk or bike ride. I dare not try to store them up.

    He’s gonna need a much larger bag, no?

    I’ll need Grace. Lots of it! That can’t be stored either. Grace is deposited via the conduit of Faith on an as-needed basis and must be spent immediately.

    I’ll need my heart to keep beating. I don’t have any way to put the needed beats in an account that I can withdraw from if I start to run low.

    I need all the neurons and axons and dendrites in my neural cortex to fire correctly all day long. No neural storage banks either…

    Anyway…made me think.

    The most valuable things I’ll need for today, I’ll have to receive moment-by-moment as the need arises. Like the manna of old, I’ll have to gather only what I can use today. Attempting to store more than a day’s worth will spoil and breed worms.

    I think maybe that’s what Jesus meant when he said, ”Take no thought for tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”

    The things we take for granted, like breaths, and heartbeats, and mental processes are where the really important things reside. While we spend our energy and our time chasing and storing up, ”bread that does not satisfy.”

    Have a nice day! It’s the only March 29th, Two Thousand and Twenty-One that you’re ever gonna get.

  • Karma

    picture of toppling dominoes in a circle shows that karma is sowing and reaping. What goes around, comes around.
    What goes around, comes around…

    “Karma.”

    “Sowing and Reaping.”

    Call it what you will, there is a universal acknowledgment that not only our actions, but our intentions will have repercussions that in the unfolding and endless cycle (circle) of life will find their way back to us.

    A quick look at the etymology of Karma shows that it derives from a Sanskrit word meaning simply, ”action”. There is no ethical implication attached until much later.

    When it comes, it connotes the familiar western idea, found in the laws of Isaac Newton, father of Physics, that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. The idea of causality mingled with that of reciprocity.

    This is the basic idea hidden in the simple word Karma, but the meaning transcends the merely physical world of Newton’s laws, and suggests that it is an all-encompassing truth, affecting not just bodies at rest, or in motion, but everything, in all worlds, everywhere, in all time (whatever that is).

    The biblical metaphors of sowing and reaping are not talking about agriculture, but about one’s life. The Christian disciple is warned about the inescapability and inevitability of this principle when he is instructed, ”Do not be deceived, God is not mocked, for whatsoever a man sows, that will he also reap.”

    A couple of Grateful Dead lyrics posit the same idea. This from the song, Deal

    Since it costs a lot to win

    And even more to lose

    You and me better spend some time

    Wonderin’ what to choose.

    Goes to show you don’t ever know.

    Watch each card you play and, play it slow.

    Grateful Dead: Deal

    or this from Franklin’s Tower

    “Some come to laugh their past away

    Some come to make it just one more day

    Whichever way your pleasure tends

    If you plant ice you’re gonna harvest wind.”

    Grateful Dead: Franklin’s Tower

    Truth is not limited to be found only in the Bhagavad Gita, or in the Bible, or any other sacred text, or even in Grateful Dead lyrics.

    Truth is found when the seedling erupts from the soil, then it doesn’t matter if you thought you were planting corn. If you planted tomatoes, tomatoes grow for harvest. The truth of what was planted becomes evident.

    In life, it doesn’t matter what you tell yourself to justify the seeds you sow and the actions you take, the harvest, when it comes, will show plainly what you actually planted.