Pruning: "Though He Slay Me, Yet I Will Trust Him"

"I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit... Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned."  -John 15:1-2,4-6

One thing that makes it difficult for nonbelievers to acknowledge their need for a Savior is found within this passage of John: dependence. We are nothing apart from Christ—believers and nonbelievers alike! We cannot bring forth the fruits of righteousness that God desires if we are not rooted and grounded in the Son. Salvation is all about our dependence upon God. There is nothing we can do that will earn us the right to enter into His presence. Our efforts to please God are feeble at best. We are completely dependent on His outstretched love and mercy, and unless we humbly recognize our desperate need, we will be sentenced to an eternity of separation from God. 

However, since I have already accepted the blood of Christ as the atonement for my sin, does Jesus’ lesson have anything to do with me? Absolutely! The Father is the vinedresser who cuts away the dead branches (nonbelievers)—but He is also the vinedresser who prunes the good branches in order to prepare the way for more abundant fruit! Does a plant protest against the pruning of its gardener? No, of course not. Neither should I grouse and grumble when I undergo the pain that pruning brings. 

What happens to the pieces that are pruned from me? They die, because they are no longer connected to the life-giving vine. Am I willing to give myself completely into the hands of God so that He can take and slay the pieces of me—my desires, my hopes, my plans, my purposes—that are hindering my growth in Him? May my answer be a quiet, trusting “Yes, Lord—not my will, but Thine”!

God's Sanctuary

When my heart was embittered and I was pierced within, then I was senseless and ignorant; I was like a beast before You. Nevertheless I am continually with You; You have taken hold of my right hand. With Your counsel You will guide me, and afterward receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but You? And besides You, I desire nothing on earth. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. For, behold, those who are far from You will perish; You have destroyed all those who are unfaithful to You. But as for me, the nearness of God is my good; I have made the Lord God my refuge, that I may tell of all Your works. (Psalm 73:21-28)

At the beginning of Psalm 73, the psalmist says about himself, "My feet came close to stumbling, my steps had almost slipped." Why? "For I was envious of the arrogant as I saw the prosperity of the wicked." He had an unrighteous anger against the wicked and, it seems, began to to desire what they had even as he protested against it!

He became bitter and confused -- "senseless and ignorant," "like a beast" before God. That is what bitterness does...it blinds and deceives us until we are as beasts -- ugly, stupid animals who have not the presence of mind to come before God.

But nevertheless! Nevertheless -- in spite of the psalmist's own senselessness and pride -- God had his right hand firmly in His grip. "Nevertheless I am continually with You," he writes.

This brings to my mind a picture of a busy parking lot, in which my father and my three-year-old self are walking. He holds my hand. I see other three-year-olds skipping ahead of their fathers and mothers, unrestrained, and no harm seems to come to them. In anger and embarrassment and pride, I twist and squirm in a weak attempt to break loose from my father's warm grip. He doesn't let go. I cross my arms (as best as I can while holding his hand), scowl, and stomp my foot. Bitterness begins to take root. When my heart become upset, my actions were senseless and ignorant in my father's eyes -- and, years later, in my own when I understood the danger of a child running free in a busy parking lot. But in spite of my unruly resistance, my father did not push me away from him; he brought me closer. He took hold of my hand and made sure that I was continually with him, because he loved me.

"With Your counsel You will guide me, and afterward receive me to glory." 

How necessary is the Lord's counsel to His children! And how undeserved is His goodness and mercy, that He would receive me, His oft-confused and bitter child, and say, "I will keep you safe; you will walk beside Me; I will be your guide -- only receive My counsel! And I will receive you to glory! See, all these things I will do for My child whom I love."

"Whom have I in heaven but You? And besides You, I desire nothing on earth. My flesh and my heart may fail" -- and oh, how often they have already! -- "but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever." Hallelujah!

But here a question must be asked. The psalmist was "envious of the arrogant" and "his heart was embittered" until he was "senseless and ignorant". How then did he arrive at "I desire nothing on earth besides You"?

I believe that the answer can be found in verses 16 and 17, and 27 and 28. "When I pondered to understand this [the prosperity of the wicked], it was troublesome in my sight until I came into the sanctuary of God; then I perceived their end... For behold, those who are far from You will perish; You have destroyed all those who are unfaithful to You. But as for me, the nearness of God is my good; I have made the Lord God my refuge, that I may tell of all Your works." 

The sanctuary of God -- the nearness of God.

How shall we grow in love if we try to live apart from our God? How shall I learn to "trust in the Lord with all my heart, and lean not on my own understanding" if I am not growing in His wisdom and understanding? How can we separate the clamor of the world from the still small voice of the Holy Spirit when we are not drawing near to Him?

God does His part perfectly -- holding us in His strong hand, remaining continually with us, disciplining us when we stray -- but we too have a part. We must come into His sanctuary; we must embrace His nearness as our good; we must make Him, and Him alone, our refuge.

Why?

Here is at least one reason: "That I may tell of all Your works."

We try to make salvation and our walk with the Lord all about us, but this should not be! May GOD be glorified through our union! May GOD'S great works be praised, and none of mine! Let us come into God's presence -- His sanctuary! -- desiring to lift Him up and make Him our only focus! May we run the race before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, throwing aside the world and opening our arms to Him alone!

The Danger of the Crutch

You know, in the past few months, I have been convicted over and over again how much I need Jesus. I have begun to wonder how on earth people get along without Him.

Some people say, "Oh, religion is just a crutch. Christianity is just a crutch. JESUS is just a crutch."

If anyone ever says this to me again, I think I'll ask them this question: "So, what IS a crutch anyway?"

A crutch is a tool that is separate from our bodies. We use it when we are hurting and can't walk by ourselves. We use it for a period of time -- sometimes a month or two, sometimes longer -- and then when we have "graduated" to walking by ourselves, we put the crutch away in a dark, dusty closet corner and forget that it ever existed...unless, of course, the day comes when we need it again. But we would rather leave it in that dark corner if at all possible.

Is Christianity a crutch for you? Is it something that is not usually part of your lifestyle unless there is no other option? Is it something that you pull out of a dark corner, dust off, and use for a short period of time until you can "safely" put it back away out of sight?

Is Jesus a crutch for you? Do you use Him only when it is to your advantage (i.e., on Sunday morning when you are supposed to look like a Christian)? Do you pull Him out only when you're hurting and need some Divine help for a little while until you're back on your own two feet? Are you working towards a day when you will finally "graduate" from needing Him? Is He something you are ashamed of, something that you want to hide because He shows your weaknesses? Is He something that is in your way, that you can't wait to be rid of?

If Jesus Christ is your crutch, my dear friend, then perhaps you do not know Him. Perhaps He is not really "yours." Perhaps (do I dare even say it?) you don't understand the message of salvation.

When you say that you are saved, what are you believing you are saved from? Hell? To most people, that is what salvation means..."If I pray and ask Jesus to come into my heart, then I won't go to hell. I'm saved from pain and death."

It is true that Jesus Christ, the perfect Son of God, bore the wrath of His Father on the cross and took the punishment of every believer on Himself -- and that one of the results of His sacrifice is that we will not have to spend eternity in hell, separated from God. Yes, what a beautiful, terrifying truth!

But your motivation is misplaced if you come to Jesus asking only for salvation from pain and death, and if you are under no conviction of the terrible sins you've committed against God, the very sins that sent Jesus Christ to the cross!

For you [believers] have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps, who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in His mouth; and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously; and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed. (1 Peter 2:21-24)

Jesus went through the agony of the cross for a bigger purpose than most of us realize: to bring glory to His Father! Jesus Himself said, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work." Accomplishing God's work is what brought Him strength; obedience to His Father's will is the very reason He came to earth to die! Yes, He loves us! But He didn't die just to save us, He died because He loved His Father.

And?

And He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, SO THAT we might die to sin and live to righteousness!

Enough with the crutch! Enough with the dark, dusty closet! Enough!

Jesus died to glorify God; we are saved to glorify God!

What a tremendous work He has done! He has redeemed the Believer's life! He has justified them, called them out of darkness, given them a reason to hope and a purpose to live! Jesus Christ is our substitute -- He has ransomed us with His own blood! What a precious gift!

When God offered this gift to me and I accepted it, what did I receive? A crutch?! No! I received new life in Christ -- behold, I am a new creature!

When I finally understood that I needed Christ, did He become a temporary sacrifice for me until I could pull up my bootstraps enough to walk on alone? No, never! Nothing I am now or ever will be in the future has anything to do with what I have done (or will do!), but what Christ has done in and through me! "Walk on alone"?! What pride, what arrogance must blind my heart whenever I dare to think such a thing!

I have been justified! Not only has God "wiped the slate clean" of all my past deeds and thoughts, of all of my works that were as filthy rags, but He has written a new story on it! Christ's story! Justified: "Just as if I'd never sinned and just as if I'd always obeyed." Christ took on my sin and gave me His righteousness, as though I had always lived just as He Himself lived!

He [God] made Him [Jesus] who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. (2 Corinthians 5:21)

In Christ, we are a new creation. In Christ, we have His righteousness, and this is how God sees us. In Christ, we have forgiveness of sins. In Christ, we have a purpose: to glorify the God who chose us before the foundation of the world that we might be holy and blameless before Him.

A crutch, brothers and sisters?

No. A Lover, a King, a High Priest, a Sacrifice, a Creator, a Saviour. A new lifestyle, my friends!

Why the Boy Threw the Clock Out the Window

Why did the boy throw the clock out the window?

So he could see time fly!

Well, my friends, I do not have to throw my clock out the window to see time fly...it is already flying by far too fast as it is. I was astonished this morning when I realized that it has been six whole months since I first set foot in Zambia, Africa on a one-month-long missions trip.

Six months.

Sometimes it seems like six years, and other times it seems like yesterday.

Not a day goes by that I don't think about this strange, special place that has so occupied my mind, and the wonderful, beautiful people who have so occupied my very heart.

The day I arrived home, my thoughts were so full of Africa that I could not sleep without dreaming Zambia, could not speak without telling about Zambia, could not eat without recalling the Zambian food that had sustained me for a whole month, could not think without remembering Zambia, could not even walk down the street without seeing something that brought back memories of Zambia like a flash. Every taste, every sight, every smell, every sound startled me, either because of its similarity to my beautiful Zambia or because of its stark opposition.

I welcomed the memories. I held on to the dreams.

I thought, "Soon the day will come when you won't think about Zambia every waking hour, so enjoy it while you can." Well, "that day" still hasn't arrived. I still think of Zambia every day, although thankfully with a little less intensity than in the beginning.

When I was preparing to go to Zambia, so completely unaware of what my future held there, I thought, "When a place really grabs ahold of someone's heart, sometimes after they return they'll sob uncontrollably into their pillows at night because of their longing to be back in that special place. I wonder if I'll be like that."

You'd think. At least, you would if you knew how emotional I can be.

I was wrong. After I returned, I would clutch at my pillow, wishing I could tear it to shreds or punch it or throw it through the window, because I couldn't cry even when I tried to make myself. I wondered why. I still do. Only now I know, as I could not have guessed before I went to Zambia, that my desire to cry, the steady ache in my heart, the overwhelming parade of thoughts that came every single day and night...now I know that these did not come because of the beautiful, special place I was in. I was not longing for the scrubby trees or the red dirt or even the vast display of stars that shone overhead each night.

I was longing for the people.

In Zambia, a very wise person told me this: "It's not the places you go, it's the people you're with."

I can't think of a single thing in that statement that I could possibly argue with in this case.

Sure, I miss the scenery. Sure, I miss the beautiful stars. Okay, and sure, I even miss the pet cat that sat outside of my cabin door and squalled at me. I could cry for those things. (Well, maybe not for the cat...)

It is the relationships, the new friends, the new family that God gave to me. Somehow I had never realized that after meeting all of these people, after blessing them and being so blessed in return, that a day would come when I would have to say goodbye.

It is the prayers, the tears, and the laughter that tug at my heartstrings. It is the spiritual conversations, the lively debates, the beautiful fellowship, the singing and dancing that make me so happy, and yet so full of longing. It is the joy I saw written on so many faces, the chorus of "Amen, and praise the Lord!" that spilled from their lips, the eagerness of young men and women to share the gospel that both inspires me and causes me to miss these people very deeply.

I was so convicted, so challenged, so broken by God there. I was uplifted and renewed. I was changed. I was taught a great many things that, without this trip to Zambia, would have likely taken years to learn in some other not-so-challenge-ridden environment.

I am so blessed.

The pain of being separated from the Africans and the American missionaries I met there is bittersweet, my friends. Bittersweet. There is pain, yes. There are moments of "I-wish-I-could-just-let-it-all-out," yes. But in the midst of those moments, there is yet a Hallelujah chorus playing in my ears.

Without my Lord and Savior, my life would only have the bitter and none of the sweet. Without bitter, there is no sweet. My life is richer having spent one month serving in Africa -- if only I could explain to you how much richer! And my life after serving in Africa has been richer and fuller than I would have thought possible the day I stepped back into the United States of America. Since I have returned, God has presented to me opportunities to make His name -- and His glorious salvation! -- known to others, opportunities that I can clearly see that He prepared ME for while I was in Zambia.

Even as I think of my dear brothers- and sisters-in-Christ who are in Africa and am filled with the desire to return there someday, I know full well that I am blessed in my pain. To be filled with such good memories -- so good that my heart still aches when I think of them -- is a blessing indeed.

Many of the Psalmists who begin their songs with lamentation and cries to the Lord for help will often conclude with a praise to the Lord. From their sorrow and anger they will do an about-face, sometimes so abruptly that it is almost startling, and begin to bless the Lord for His lovingkindness and faithfulness in the midst of their hurting.

As I close here, I want you to know that I am doing the same in my heart. I began with a measure of confusion and frustration, but it is with gladness that I think of what God has done through my trip to Africa and what He is doing still.

Bless the Lord, O my soul!
Praise the Lord!

Falling in Love

Once upon a time, there was a young girl. She was too young to know what love was.

Once upon a time, there was a also a man. He knew what love was, and when he saw that young woman, love is what he had for her.

At first the girl was too young to think of him as a love interest. But as she grew older, she heard his name mentioned more and more often. Her parents spoke of him with loving smiles, and her friends with shining eyes. This man was kind and unselfish, continually sacrificing his own desires so that he could serve others. What was not to like?

Finally the girl admitted it. She was interested in him. He sounded quite...extraordinary. But of course he would never notice her. It was impossible!

But he did notice her. He prompted her parents to ask her if she would consider getting to know him better.

With joy, the girl listened attentively to the offer. She spoke with her parents late into the night. They talked of how this decision would affect her life; how getting to know this man would have its difficult and rewarding moments; how she would have to either accept or deny his proposal.

She decided excitedly that she was willing, even eager, to get to know him. With tears in her eyes, she said, "I accept..."

Her life was never the same after that.

She fairly floated up the stairs to bed that night, shivers of excitement coursing up and down her arms.

As you may have already guessed, this girl was me.

The man?

Jesus Christ my Lord.

He saw my sin and my mess and, unfathomably, loved me in spite of it. I accepted His prompting and acknowledged Him as my Lord and Savior...the only One who could save me from my sin. Just as my parents told me, my life was forever changed. I've had very challenging times in my walk with Him, as well as incredibly fulfilling ones. He has never failed me yet.

But I think perhaps this aforementioned young woman still doesn't know as much about love as one would think. So a short while later, as she was wondering what on earth it would be like to have a husband and to be in love, she got out a notebook and wrote down some things:

When I am in love...

I will want...

-to be with my man all the time, day or night;
-to talk to him about anything, exciting and mundane alike;
-to serve him;
-to show him how much I love him by doing nice things for him;
-to work beside him, play beside him, laugh and cry beside him;
-to give him good gifts;
-to simply watch him and learn about him. There will never be an end to the things I will find out about him;
-to do his will--whatever he asks--with a cheerful smile;
-to find out what he thinks about certain things;
-to read our texts and emails over and over again;
-to go out of my way to do things that please him;
-to treasure his gifts to me, and not allow them to get ruined by someone else;
-to tell others about how amazing he is.

I will...

-think back to the time when I didn't know him and wonder how I survived;
-feel warmth and a sense of pride when I hear someone praise him, as though they were praising me;
-draw comfort and courage from him when he is with me.

When he goes away I will long for his safe return, for the time when we will be together again.

I want to KNOW him inside and out.

 When the list was halfway completed, tears began to spill out of this young woman's eyes as she realized suddenly that the way she desired to love her husband was the same way she wanted to love her Savior. What would it be like to long to speak with God, to pore over His word the way one would pore over a love letter, to treasure His gifts, to continually serve Him with cheerfulness?

That's the way a girl should be in love with her God.

That's the way I want to be in love with my God.

Annual Hide-Everything-In-The-Closet Day

November 23, 2015. For some people, this date signified "it's-only-three-days-before-Thanksgiving" day.

November 23, 2015, for others, signified Labor Thanksgiving Day. If you're Japanese, that is.

You know what November 23, 2015 was for me?

My annual Hide-Everything-In-The-Closet Day.

In other words, time for me to clean up my room. Now, as Mary Poppins would say, in every job that must be done, there is an element of fun. For me, the element of fun I find in cleaning my room is when I write blog posts in my head. Very educational, I assure you. Even more educational than snapping my fingers and letting the bed make itself. (I've tried that, by the way. Doesn't work.)

I don't know if any of you have this problem, but often when there is a mess in my room (papers all over my desk, books piled at the foot of my bed, laundry scattered across the floor, and earrings and bobby-pins on my nightstand) for an extended period of time, I soon learn to ignore it. I work around it. After a while, I don't even see the piles of junk and laundry anymore. Yes, it hurts when I trip over an object that has blended into my carpet (and kind of looks like my old pair of rollerblades from two years ago), but I ignore the pain and keep going. Admirable of me, I know. I'm quite proficient at overcoming the obstacles dusty rollerblades in my path.

However, in spite of my blindness to my messy room, my eyes can be opened...especially when a friend stops by and wants to talk in my room. Oops. Excuse the mess. Here's a shovel; you can help me dig a path to my chair so we can sit down and have a chat. Want coffee? There's some in my room from two months ago, if you'd like.

Okay, so that's a huge exaggeration. But still! Once a minor problem, like books all over your bed, has been in your life long enough, you learn to "un-see" it.

On November 23, 2015, after I was finished with my room, I looked around and dusted off my hands with a satisfied sigh. All finished.

I was surprised when I came back upstairs later that night to find, right smack in the middle of my floor, a pair of old rollerskates that I sometimes used for decoration. How had they gotten there? I was shocked when I remembered that, several weeks before, I had decided to put the skates away for the winter since they seemed like too summery of a decoration. I had set them in the middle of the floor to "put away later"...and lo and behold, I'd forgotten all about them. But they were right in the middle of the floor! I stepped on them every night on my way to bed, and yet I'd never thought to put them away!

As I scooped up the skates and put them away (in my closet!), I thought of several other areas in my life that often get messy and neglected. The junk that infiltrates these areas is ignored until at last I can no longer clearly see the damage that is being done.

These areas are my emotions, my heart, and my mind.

When I hear nasty words and I don't immediately root them out, they stay in my head and repeat themselves over and over. When I allow unhealthy emotions in, they wreak havoc with my thoughts. When I let the desires of my heart be consumed with this world, and my heart is no longer focused purely and wholly on Jesus Christ my Savior, I become selfish and hateful. When I care about what people think of me more than I care about what God thinks, I get caught up in jealousy, pride, vanity, and covetousness.

A great passage about seeking Christ instead of this world is Colossians 3. "Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory. Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil, desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry." (Colossians 3:1-5)

How much better is our life in Christ than the old one we used to have! But, with our sinful nature being what it is, how can there be victory over evil desires unless those desires are rooted out? And how can our sin be rooted out until we stop ignoring it?! Sin must be dealt with. It is impossible to have a healthy relationship with God when we make light of our sin and try to brush it under the rug.

You know what? It sure is a lot easier to keep up with your room if you just take care of the mess right away, without letting it escalate into a junkyard. Same with sin. When you meet it head-on and nip it in the bud (as Barney Fife would say), it becomes far less time consuming than a junkyard-level sin mess. Sin is addicting. It seems easy to just let it slide in the beginning. But that sliding turns into an avalanche, and before you know it, you're trapped!!

Instead of dwelling on the impurity and the lust and the vanity that is so rampant in this world, focus on a Bible verse that directs you back to Jesus! Have a person in mind to pray for every time you are confronted by sin. Run from it, don't stay and think, "It'll be okay. It's not really that bad."

Harmless snowflakes turn into snowballs, and snowballs turn into raging, destructive avalanches!!

Turn your eyes upon Jesus!
Look full in his wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of his glorious grace.

On Ketchup and Gay Rights

Some people ask the question, “Are people born gay? Or is it a choice?”

Many Christians would reply, “Well, of course they weren’t born that way! They made the choice to become gay.”

But when faced with the question, “How do you know? Why do you think that?” most don’t know what to say. Some might retort, “In the garden, God made Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve.” And while that’s true, how does it help the situation?

So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh. Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.

The man said,

“This is now bone of my bones
    and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called ‘woman,’
    for she was taken out of man.”

That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.

-Genesis 2:21-25

In the Garden of Eden, God created woman out of man—and when a man and a woman are married, when they “become one flesh,” it pleases God because that is how He made us from the beginning. When a man and a man are together, or a woman and a woman, it is directly defiant to the way God created us to be.

But think of it in terms of ketchup and cantaloupe.

In 1876, Henry J. Heinz created ketchup. And when Henry J. Heinz created ketchup, what do you suppose it was for? It was made to be used as a “table sauce” for hot foods such as hamburgers, fries, sandwiches, hot dogs, French toast, and eggs. (Ketchup is very good on eggs, by the way).

So the creator had a specific purpose for his creation and how it would be used.

But what happens when that creation was used in ways it was not created for?

When my brother and I were little, we mixed ketchup and mustard and dipped cantaloupe in it. It was definitely not a natural taste (it was extremely disgusting, actually), but we eventually grew to like it. In fact, every time we saw cantaloupe on the table, we ran to the fridge for ketchup and mustard.

Ketchup was not invented as a dip for cantaloupe. In fact, if poor Henry J. Heinz knew how I had used his yummy invention, he probably would’ve wrinkled his nose in disgust. In fact, I might even go as far as to say that it would tarnish Heinz’s reputation as a successful businessman if people knew what disgusting concoctions my brother and I made with the ingredient he created.

So.

God created men and woman to glorify Him. That is the purpose of our existence—to glorify our Creator. He created man to go with woman and woman to go with man. And then God’s creation rebelled and decided to use what God had given them in ways that are utterly disgusting. They went against God’s plan and took matters into their own hands. I can guarantee you that God is doing more than wrinkling His nose at the way we have tarnished His reputation as a creator.

The consequence for mixing ketchup, mustard and cantaloupe was a horrendous stomachache.

The consequence for homosexuality is far worse. The wrath of God will fall on those who reject the truth and follow evil. He will repay each person according to what they have done. (Romans 2:5-8)

Henry J. Heniz is dead and can do nothing about the way I have misused his product.

God is most certainly not dead, and He will do something about the way we have misused what He has given us.