Archbishop Gregory Holley

Anatomy of an Argument

"The beginning of strife is like the releasing of water,  therefore stop a contention before a quarrel starts. (Proverbs 17:14)" 

There has come to this office a realization.  Pride is the source of all major arguments. Contentious and stressful actions begin with someone feeling treated badly.  We are the center of our universe.

As the world turns offense takes place.  Our self centered position drifts us into a bunker type mentality that awaits for someone to challenge us.  Then the fight is on.  Truth is simply better.

When the writer spoke out that strife is released it is like water.  It goes to the lowest place and pools up.  Unfortunately our self will dams up this pooled strife and when we are offended the dam breaks.  Woe unto the one who has stumbled into this pool of pent up hurts and pain.

No one will be able to please that person until the strife is gone, the argument pass and the season turns.  But the damage is done. The apologies flow. But the damage is done.  The promises that it will never happen again flow. But the damage is done.

Jesus said in Luke 17 to beware of offenses because they will happen to each and everyone of humanity.  They may be a bulldozer which pushes through the dam and releases the pool of strife within.  It may be as simple as a pin prick that allows the erosion of the dam to begin and then break into a river of released pent up emotions and stress. It is guaranteed to happen. You will be the focal point of offense.

But will you be offended?  Now, that's the question.  The writer is suggesting to us that should the pool of strife in our life be empty then there will be no release or torrent of pride driven emotions.  This will stop a quarrel before it starts.

Now that the answer is presented and the cause verified we probe our humanity.  Is not fear the host of pride that results in strife?  Our inferiority or weakness in a situation is bolstered by argumentative and loud voices.  Our blood pressure goes through the roof.  We act in ways that surprise.  We are hurt.

So let's look at it again....and again...and again...

"The beginning of strife is like the releasing of water,  therefore stop a contention before a quarrel starts. (Proverbs 17:14)" 

Breaking Free...Into the Principles of Spiritual Progress

Material advance is great! Advance in science, in mechanism, in the art of subduing the forces of Nature to the service of mankind, we acknowledge this to be great! But unless there be something more to show than shiny cars, comfortable homes, model schools, well lighted neighborhoods, we have insufficient evidence for so priding ourselves in progress. How, then, may the spiritual development of character which is the essence of all true progress, most readily be effected? By conforming to what laws or by obeying what conditions may earnest men and women rise to the summits of human life? Today we will explore three principles that are necessary to breaking free into spiritual progress in our day of physical advancement.

The first necessity for spiritual progress, according to the Apostle Paul, seems to be purpose that is definite. One once said, " Great souls are not those which have fewer passions and more virtue than common ones, but those only which have greater aims." Continually the Apostle Paul emphasizes the need of a noble aim. He knows how prone mankind is to dissipate their powers, to fritter away their energy in frivolous, futile activities, and both in himself and others he seeks to counteract the tendency. Get an object in life, he cries! Have a purpose! Find out what it is that is best in all the world and bend your whole living to that!

It is not easy see God's purpose in every experience of spiritual progress. There are times when we may imagine He has not concern for us. But through faith we can see things in perspective and feel that a loving hand has been at work where we least expect it. It must have taken Joseph of Biblical fame many years of discipline to bury his resentment and to realize that the jealousy of his brothers was not the final word in regard to his sojourn in Egypt. It was not his intention to relieve them of their responsibility, but he wanted them to know that over and above their treachery there was a wise and beneficial purpose at work. God can overrule the sinful ways of men and make them fulfill His own gracious designs. It is with this that the second principle comes into view.

The second necessity for progress, according to Apostle Paul, is independence of the past. He dismisses the awkwardness of the past, he forgets it. The rule for the Apostle Paul, a most progressive man, is not the rule of that which is, but the rule of that which is to be. For the better part of our wisdom we are indebted to our past.

It is not against the discriminating use of the past that the Apostle would protest. It is only against the abuse of it. He warns us to be on our guard against the deadening influence of the past. For the sake of present life and present action, it is needful again and again to forget the things, which are behind. Nietzsche, the great writer, ponders, "Forgetfulness, is a property of all action...life in any true sense is absolutely impossible without forgetting."

There is yet a third principle for spiritual progress outlined by the Apostle Paul in his letter to the Philippian church. It is effort, ceaseless effort, calculated effort. Often, no doubt, we crave challenge, for abatement, at least, of this vehemence of exertion. But it may not be. We cannot evade the great condition of our life or disclaim our responsibility. The race must needs be run! The path is clear before us and we are unfaithful to ourselves and to our future if we do not pursue it to the glorious end of our spiritual progress!  Joseph, answering his brothers questions of his indeterminable wealth and position, who spoke the epitome of breaking free! " So now it was not you who sent me hither to this far country, but God and he had made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land!"  Break Free!

Breaking Free...Into Spiritual Memories

"Forgetting those things which are behind..." (Apostle Paul to the Philippians)

In one sharp and decisive sentence we are shown how the believer deals with the legacy of personal past. Here is the figure of a great man confronted with the spirit of living in the past. He also has great and terrible experiences behind him on which the memory loves to dwell. Life is as a race in which the tension is never relaxed - a contest in which the backward glance cannot bring the prize. The race is not over. He will not think of the steps that have been taken because of the course yet to be covered. We see the force of the figure - the forward bent body of the runner, every muscle strained to reach the goal, the mind intent on what is in the front, nothing in his thoughts which would hinder or distract him in the effort which has yet to be made.

The phrase, "forgetting those things which are behind," has an increasing wonder when we think of the man who wrote it and some of the things in his past experience which he seems willing to forget. It is easy to understand that Paul was not only willing, but even anxious, to forget some of the things which memory recalled. How often must the memory of Stephen's face have haunted him, and the thought of his own part in the tragedy burdened his mind? Must not the great Apostle have doubted again and again his fitness for the work, just because of the memory of what happened on that day?

We must not misunderstand the meaning of the phrase. The word 'forget' does not mean that Paul wanted to wipe the past out the mind altogether.  To erase the past in that complete sense would be to lose all of God's ways. And that is certainly the spirit of these words and of the man who wrote them.

The memory of the past overwhelmed his soul with thankfulness to God who had led him and used him in such wondrous ways. To him, forgetting the past did not imply the thankless spirit. But his resolve to forget what had been was part of a determination not to rest or relax any effort. He would feel room for no memory of failure, which left depression in its train, nor for the remembrance of victories, which might unduly exalt.  His should be the tense mind of the athlete, with eyes and thought fixed on the goal. This is the illustration of the Christian spirit, the past behind and the future in front.

God wishes no child of His to go through life with the backward look. Whatever the past may have been, it is not God's will that it should hinder us. There are those that cannot help recalling memories of downfall. And in consequence they are depressed. At times it seems life has left a mark so deep on the soul that it cannot be erased. It is not his will that any one of His children be held in bondage to the past. For the very first of His dealings with the soul is to set it free.

We are an amazing work in progress because we are his workmanship. The word workmanship is an old Greek word for poem. The poem is a dream set to words. God's dream for His children is the realization of divine preface, " Let us make man in our image. after our likeness..."  He is at work doing that very thing in the workshop of our memories. It is the obsession of His heart. The very same power by which He raised Jesus Christ from the grave is at work achieving His purpose and pleasure within us. The ultimate glory in the making of spiritual memories is found that in the midst of the ruins of our own experiences He is building a temple to His glory and delight, " working within us that which is well pleasing in His sight!"

Tomorrow...Breaking Free Into the Principles of Spiritual Progress!

Breaking Free...Into the Grasp of Christ

"but I am striving (grasping) that I may reach (apprehend) that for which Jesus Christ appointed me..." ( Apostle Paul to the Philippians)

The primary meaning of the word apprehend is to seize, to lay hold of.  Except in the case of the arrest of a prisoner, the word nowadays scarcely ever refers to a physical seizure. It has come to have the specialized meaning of seizing with the mind or understanding. The Greek word in this passage refers not to the intellectual but physical prowess. Paul is literally saying , ' I press on, striving to grasp that for which also I was grasped by Christ!

Whether our religious life begins with a great and sudden convulsion of soul, or whether it is the result of a quiet process of growth, the real start of salvation comes when the Christ presents Himself real and living to the soul and lays hold upon us. The initiative is on His part, not on ours. It is not so much a case of our seeking Christ as of His seeking us.

There is a purpose in the grasp of Christ. Conversion is always purposeful. The very word suggests as much as that. Scientists talk about the transformation of energy and this is exactly what conversion is. It is a transformation of energy. When a man lives for the carnal and self he is applying his energies - his affections, his emotions, his manifold powers - in wrong directions. He is applying them, misusing them. When Christ grasps mankind,  it is with the definite object of turning those energies into their true channels, not of suppressing them, but of transforming them. Paul the most furious of persecution, turned into its right channel, would make him the prince of missionaries.

Christ grasped Paul in order to bring him peace of heart. From the time he had come to years of discretion he had carried within his breast a divided and distracted heart. What harassed and tortured Paul was his sense of sin. He tried to gain righteousness, that is to say he tried to live as to be able to challenge God and demand before Heaven's throne a certificate of 'not guilty', but the more he tried the more he failed. He had been trying to set himself right with God on the score of his own merits. But Christ showed him a more excellent way. He revealed to him the infinite love and grace of God, bearing in the Cross of His Son the pain and punishment of sin.

Christ grasped Paul in order to make a saint of him. Not simply to bring peace of heart but to make a new man of him. Paul was a religious Pharisee Jew and these constituted the pious party of Palestine. But there is all the difference in the world of the Pharisee and the saint. The Pharisee lived in a region of the mechanical and external, the saint has his home in God. The Pharisee is known by his scrupulous observance of rite and ceremony, the saint is recognized by his loving and obedient heart. And that was what Christ did for Paul  - - He turned this Pharisee into a saint. Christ turns men from sin to sainthood.

Christ grasped Paul for a certain definite purpose but Christ's grasp would have been in vain if Paul's grasp had not answered His. Paul strove to make actual the ideals Christ cherished for him.  He appropriated to himself the forgiveness given to him and made it the one business of his life to attain the saintly character. Paul carried out his missionary work with the determination to know nothing among men, save Christ and Him crucified. It is impossible to measure what a few men, who, catching a vision of a world evangelized might have done and yield themselves to God to be used by Him to realize that vision. As Paul, break free today into Christ's grasp!

Tomorrow... Break Free... Into Spiritual Memories!

Breaking Free...Into Single Focus

"My brethren, I do not consider that I have reached the goal, but one thing I do know, forgetting those things which are behind, I strive for those things which are before me..." ( Apostle Paul writing the Philippian letter)

The words of the Apostle Paul, one thing, are not long words in English but are shorter still in the original Greek where two words of two letters each make and epigram which has been the motto of every successful life in history. One thing -- no limping between two opinions, no good natured open-mindedness which leaves convictions to strenuous souls who do not understand how to say 'yes' or 'no' in the same breath. One thing - no frittering away of life's energies on a dozen objects, all, perhaps, good in themselves, but all of them demanding the first place in interest of those who would pursue them with success. Concentration is the secret of strength in politics, in war, in trade and in all management of human affairs. The one evil of life is dissipation; its one prudence is concentration.

Focus demands your mastery. So anything that keeps your attention has mastered you. It determines your energy and functions requiring every focus. New focus will energize old functions that have drained your energy. "One think I do ..." is the principle that produces success in so preponderant a proportion of cases that we may fairly set it down as a universal rule. What you gaze at for the longest period of time becomes the strongest drive of your life. Breaking your focus will create fear, insecurity and instability in all that you do.

What is the one thing we are to do, if we are to make the very most of our life? All of us are specializing in one way or other under the operation of the law which ordains that, if a man will not work, neither ought he to eat. Only your focused faith will produce miracles from the hand of God. And he who at last will present himself before God as  a workman needing not to be ashamed must see to it that, whatever his hands find to do, he does it with all of his strength.

What you see or read affects what you desire. Word pictures, video, television, Internet or whatever the source you keep looking upon, you will eventually pursue. Focusing upon the great stories and instructions of your Bible daily is an instruction from God for the maintenance of our focus. "One thing I do..." must be our motto when we are engaged on the humblest of activities, that our great Father's eye may ever behold that wholehearted endeavor which is the highest that He demands from the believer.

Jesus had single minded energy and refused to break focus as He knew that it had its reward. He knew that what he kept before His mind's eye determined His focus. His life was never aimless as He tells  us in parables how to fix an unswerving gaze upon the end of the course, where the wreath of victory shines in fade less beauty - how past triumphs were forgotten as He sped forward, with but one thought within Him, the Kingdom of God!

There are six keys Mike Murdoch teaches that will protect your focus: (1) Recognize that broken focus will destroy your dreams. (2) Take personal responsibility. (3) Control the music and teaching that enters your ears. (4) Keep continuous praise on your lips and music throughout your home and auto. (5) Starve wrong friendships. (6) Pursue and permit only those relationships that increase your focus.

Breaking free into single focus is superseded only by your desires. Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, will settle issues of permanence in your life!

Tomorrow...Breaking Free...Into the Grasp of Christ