Christian Family Law Association

This Month - Under New Authority

By Lloyd Kelso, Gaston County, NC Bar 

Matthew 22:37: "Love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind."

In Herman Wouk's World War II novel The Caine Mutiny, a young man from an influential family enlists in the United States Navy. On the day he is to report to duty, the young man arrives in a fancy new car driven by his mother. As he enters the building, his mother kisses him goodbye, and after shaking the hand of the guard, the door closes behind him. His mother, becomes worried that he might not have enough money so she rushes back to the closed door. As she is stopped by the guard, who refuses to allow her to enter, she can still see her son standing inside the door. In a fit of desperation, she says to the guard, "He's my son!" The guard replies politely, "I know, Ma'am, but he belongs to Uncle Sam now. He's a sailor."

I often think of this story when I see a new person accept Jesus Christ and decide to live under His authority. Converting to become a family law attorny under Jesus' authority, is somewhat like that sailor. By becoming a follower of Jesus, we, like the sailor who had once been under the authority of his mother, have a new Authority to report to for our conduct. We have new commands. No longer are we subject only to the rules of court, the statutes, or some bar organization that governs our conduct. But now we belong to Jesus. All of our conduct must now conform to His direction. The things that were once important to us, like money, lose their significance. Other people, like the mother in the story, may still think we have a need for such things, but now we are fully in the care of Jesus. Our new focus, like the sailor, is to be a good family law attorney for Jesus. By serving others we are serving God. We learn to love and to serve Him with all of our heart. Want you join His ranks today?

Led by the Holy Spirit? 

By Lloyd Kelso, Gaston County, NC Bar  

Matthew 23:23: "Woe to you, experts in the law and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You give a tenth of mint, dill, and cumin, yet you neglect what is more important in the law– justice, mercy, and faithfulness! You should have done these things without neglecting the others."

When I graduated from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in May 2006, my publisher, Thomson-West, sent me a gift that I continue to display in my home. It is a small hinged box, made of wood. When you open it, on the right side is a small clock, and on the left side is a quote by Earl Warren, former Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, which says, "It is the spirit and not the form of law that keeps justice alive." Since receiving the gift, I have often pondered just what the implications are of Justice Warren's admonition. I believe Justice Warren opposed elevating form over substance. Cases are decided justly when they are decided on the merits, and not when they are decided based upon legal technicalities that have little to do with justice. Over my 34 years of law practice  I have concluded that many lawyers do follow the spirit of the law in conducting their practices, but there are some lawyers who try to hold others to the form of every rule and statute and ignore the spirit of the law. It is the latter group that tend to make life miserable for the rest of us. They often insist on using every obscure rule as a sword to avoid cases being decided on the merits. When judges accept their insistence on the form of law it often results in a miscarriage of justice.

Matthew 23:23 provides us one of seven woes that Matthew records Jesus saying about the Pharisees, also known as the teachers of the law. The Pharisees gave a tenth in accordance with Old Testament law, but they ignored the more important concepts that Jesus felt were more important -- justice, mercy, and faithfulness. This passage is evidence of Jesus' disdain for those who insist on following the form of the law yet ignore the spirit of the law.

Jesus provides us with a guide -- The Holy Spirit -- to help us know when we are doing the wrong thing. Indeed, the Holy Spirit comes to guide Christians in all their activities. Under God's inspiration, Jeremiah describes the new covenant, saying: 

Jeremiah 31:33 "But I will make a new covenant with the whole nation of Israel after I plant them back in the land," says the LORD. "I will put my law within them and write it on their hearts and minds. I will be their God and they will be my people."

So, how do we know if we are just following legalisms and fleshly desires, or whether we are truly being led (directed) by the Holy Spirit? I believe the answer lies in how we answer the following questions:

1. Are you receiving direct witness from the Holy Spirit?

2. Is the conduct consistent with the directions of Scripture?

3. Is the conduct glorifying to God?

4. Will the conduct make you more like Christ is character and action?

When God gives us the Holy Spirit, it does not change our personality. As human beings we operate on multiple levels. For instance, prior to his conversion, Paul was a type A personality who was persecuting Christians. After his conversion, he was still a type A personality, except that now he is a type A personality for Christ.

When you received the Holy Spirit, what did God annoint you to do? It may be a constellation of things. God calls each of us to yield to the will of the Holy Spirit. We must first search to see how we are gifted. It often seems that each of us wants a gift from the Holy Spirit that we do not possess. When we try something that we are not gifted to do, we often fail. Such conduct is simply outside God's will for us. But when we act in accordance with our giftedness, we act within God's will, and success is much more probable. Let me ask, as an attorney, are you already doing what you have been gifted to do? To act within the Holy Spirit's will, we must be totally surrendered - yielding - and praying for direction. If we ask anything in Jesus' name that is the Spirit's will, his promise is to do it? Our mistake is that often we try to bend the Holy Spirit's will to our will. We must be led by the Spirit of discernment. However, not everyone is gifted with discernment. To know whether our will is of God, and therefore directed by the Holy Spirit, ask:

1. Is it consistent with Scripture?

2. Is it consistent with God’s character?

3. Does it glorify God?

4. Does the conduct result in bearing of fruit for God?

5. Does the conduct witness to our heart?

It is possible to be sincerely wrong. That is why it is so important to align ourselves with the Holy Spirit's will, rather than trying to align the Holy Spirit with our will. We must get with God’s program instead of God getting with our program. If we are led by the Holy Spirit, not just the legal rules of the Bible, I believe God will help us to do His will and spread the Gospel to all the world.  Through the Holy Spirit, we are Jesus' arms, legs, and voice in the world. We are filled with the Holy Spirit so that we can give it out to others. After being filled, we should not become stagnant. The Dead Sea is dead (stagnant) because there is no outlet. It is the lowest place on the surface of the earth. We must not be spiritually stagnant. We must overflow with the Spirit. We receive that we might give to others. The spiritual gifts we receive are for God's glory, not for our own glory. God’s gifts are for God’s plan. The Holy Spirit can enable us to do whatever God has called us to do. Any glory we receive should be attributed to God. He is always the winner.

So in conducting your family law practice this year, resolve to be guided by the Holy Spirit. Ministering to broken families is a high calling and requires giftedness, not just in the rule of law, but in God's principles of justice, mercy, and faithfulness. Allow the Holy Spirit to help you counsel and reconcile those you can, and be a beacon of justice and mercy to every person.

DECEMBER "CHRISTMAS" DEVOTIONAL 

By Lloyd Kelso, Gaston County, NC Bar 

We find in the New Testament many references to the fact that the people who came in contact with Jesus, even his disciples, did not recognize who Jesus was. During this Christmas Season it is important that we remember who Jesus is! I ask you: Do you truly know who Jesus is? To help you know Him better, I decided to go through my Holman Christian Standard Bible and find all the references I could find to Jesus and outline them for you. So this Christmas Season you should not miss:

WHO JESUS TRULY IS:

He is Jesus (Matthew 1:21),

He is a Baby in a manger (Luke 2:12, 16),

He is a Child (Isaiah 9:6),

He is the Holy Child (Luke 1:35),

He is Immanuel, God with us (Matthew 1:23),

He is the Messiah (Matthew 1:16, 2:4, 16:20; Mark 8:29, 14:61; John 1:41, 4:25),

He is a Brother (Mark 3:35; Hebrews 2:11),

He is the First Born among many brothers (Romans 8:29),

He is the Son of Mary (Mark 6:3),

He is the Carpenter’s Son (Matthew 13:55),

He is the Beloved Son (Matthew 3:17; Mark 1:11; 2 Peter 1:17),

He is the One and only Son (John 1:14, 3:16; 1 John 4:9),

He is the Son of David (Matthew 9:27, 12:23; Mark 10:47-48; Luke 18:38),

He is the Son of Man (Daniel 7:13; Matthew 8:20),

He is the Son of the gods (Daniel 3:25),

He is the Son of the Blessed One (Mark 14:61),

He is the Son of the Father (2 John 3),

He is the Son of God (Matthew 4:3, 8:29),

He is the Heir of all things (Hebrews 1:2),

He is the Second Adam (1 Corinthians 15:45),

He is an Angel of God (Judges 13:18; Zachariah 1:12),

He is an Angel of the covenant (Malachi 3:1),

He is the Apostle of our confession (Hebrews 3:1),

He is our Advocate (1 John 2:1),

He is the Almighty (Revelation 1:8),

He anointed more than His companions (Psalms 45:7),

He is the Head (Ephesians 4:15; Colossians 2:19),

He is the Head of every man (1 Corinthians 11:3),

He is the Head of the Church (Ephesians 5:23; Colossians 1:18),

He is the Head over everything (Ephesians 1:22),

He is the Propitiation for our sins (1 John 2:2, 4:10),

He is the Ransom for us all (1 Timothy 2:6),

He is Redemption, and Sanctification for us (1 Corinthians 1:30),

He is our Savior (Isaiah 19:20; Luke 2:11; Acts 5:31, 13:23; Philippians 3:20),

He is God our Savior (1 Timothy 2:3),

He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life (John 14:6),

He is the Good Shepherd (John 10:11),

He is the Great Shepherd of the sheep (Hebrews 13:20),

He is the Door for His sheep (John 10:7),

He is the Shepherd of souls (1 Peter 2:25),

He is King of Zion (Psalms 2:6; Zachariah 9:9; John 12:15),

He is King of the Jews (Matthew 2:2, 27:37; Mark 15:26; Luke 23:38),

He is King of Israel (John 1:49),

He is King of the nations (Revelation 15:3),

He is King over all the earth (Zachariah 14:9),

He is King of kings (Revelation 17:14, 19:16),

He is King of glory (Psalms 24:7-10),

He is our King (Matthew 21:5),

He is the First and the Last (Revelation 2:8, 22:13),

He is the Alpha and the Omega (Revelation 1:8, 22:13),

He is the beginning and the end, He is God (John 1:1; Romans 9:5; 2 Peter 1:1; 1 John 5:20)

He is the Amen (Revelation 3:14).

NOVEMBER 2009 DEVOTIONAL

Courtesy of Rik Lovett, Wake County, NC Bar 

 "From the first day that you set your heart to understand, and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard." Daniel 10:12

Ego, ego, pride, pride. Why is it that lawyers seem to be so filled with both? Stop and think about this for a moment – Even if we are "Super Lawyers" or "Board Certified Specialists" or members of "American Academy of this" or American Academy of that" or Martindale Hubbel rates us AAA – what did we really do to merit this? Sure, we could say we work hard, we learn the law, we put in long hours, a lot of blood, sweat, and tears… BUT – If we have the brain power, the health, the emotional intelligence, the eloquence, and the wisdom to perform our jobs well, who gave that to us? Is it of ourselves or is it from God? As Christians we know that without God’s grace, mercy, and blessing, we are nothing. But how come we are so quick to forget that? Why are we so quick to take credit for all our seeming accomplishments?

Do we really want to understand the heart of God? Do we want our prayers to be heard before God? This passage from Daniel tells us that we need to humble ourselves before God before he will hear our words. Remember the Pharisee who prayed to God: "Thank you God that I am not like that sinner (Samaritan) over there. I tithe, I pray, I do x, y, and z." But the Samaritan only looked down and uttered: "Lord – Please have mercy on me the sinner." The Samaritan was forgiven, not the Pharisee. Who are we more like? Whose prayer did God hear?

I watched the old Al Pacino movie Devil’s Advocate this past week end. Pacino plays a seasoned veteran criminal defense attorney in a N.Y. firm. He has never lost a case. He takes a young attorney under his wing (who also goes on a win streak). Towards the end of the movie, the young attorney withdraws from a murder case (in the middle of the trial) because he knows that his client’s story is false and to obtain an acquittal, the attorney will have to adopt the false story. Just when it appears that he has done the right thing (a criminal defense attorney actually has a soul?), the movie ends with the devil (Pacino turns out to be the devil) laughing as the reporters flock around the young attorney, anxious to tout him as a paragon of virtue. The devil still got his way because either way, the young attorney succumbed to the siren song of pride.

"The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart – these, O God, You will not despise." Psalm 51:17.

"Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time." I Peter 5:6

Prayer: Dear Lord – In a profession filled with pride and ego, I pray that we would not be lead astray by this powerful temptation. May we constantly remind ourselves that you greatly value humility. May we seek opportunities this day to place others above ourselves. When we win a case or do something that brings human praise, please help us to be mindful that everything we have is a blessing from You. May we get our eyes off ourselves and on you. In Jesus Name, Amen.

If you have an idea for a devotional, or a devotional that you would like to see on the CFLA web site, let us know.

lloyd@christianfamilylawassociation.org