I'm sitting at a terminal in NYC as I write this, quite happy to not be surrounded by Yankees paraphernalia to the extent that I had expected, and waiting to board my flight in an hour and a half for Chicago. Eventually, I will be home. Or what used to be home, anyway.
There is something nostalgic for each of us as we go home, something that makes us remember the bad times and the good ones in slightly skewed lights. The worst experiences may be darkened, and the best glorified still further, but most seem to fade into the average, leaving you with a vast recollection of thoughts and memories, but only a handful of lucid ones.
Christianity is, in a way, like this. We remember the best of God (Jesus coming to die for our sins), as well as the worst (when we feel abandoned, even though at such times, it is invariably we who have strayed), but much of our daily lives fades into the grayness of the past. It is remembered, and yet forgotten.
The children of Israel experienced more miracles in a couple months than most of us will see in a lifetime. The plagues on Egypt, the parting of the Red Sea, water from the rock, manna from heaven: they saw so much...and yet remembered so little. Victor Hugo wrote, "The most sublime poetry is worth less to the stomach than a piece of cheese." It is such a succinct and ringing condemnation of our human nature. Our immediate wants and needs make us forget all else. The very God Who had saved the Hebrews became an enemy Who had dragged them out in the desert to kill them as soon as they became hungry.
I see evidence of it in my life, too. I've had wonderful conversations with my closest friends, gone on terrific dates that leave my lips tingling, and gone to fantastic parties where I laughed until my sides hurt...only to get upset with the first person who does something I really don't care for. I've gotten thousands of dollars in bonuses or stock upswings, then later on cussed out a traffic light for having the nerve to inconvenience me another two or three minutes.
Right now, the airport is bustling with people headed home or on vacation. Christmas carols were heard playing on the radio earlier. One of my favorites is Silver Bells. "It's Christmas time in the city..." And though it is right to celebrate this time (though it is most assuredly not Jesus' actual birthday; that, according to scholars, was almost certainly in the spring sometime), we so often seem to forget Jesus at the other times of the year. We remember Him and know about Him, but where is the real celebration? I'm not suggesting caroling in May and leaving wreaths and Christmas lights up all year, but many of us seem to honestly celebrate Jesus only at this time and Easter.
It's Christmas time now, but we should act like it's Christmas time all the time. His presents are not good only for December, nor even for the next year, or ten years, or even the rest of our lives. They are good for eternity; should we not celebrate more than one month and then another spring weekend?
It's not a matter of trying harder. Trying to celebrate is like an always single person trying to be genuinely happy that their always-dating-someone friend swooped in on the person the first person was interested in and is getting engaged. It has to come from the heart or it will come out flat and insincere, not only making the initial attempt worthless, but poisoning those times when some actual excitement is felt.
It's a matter of the heart. It's a matter of how we see Jesus, of how we view God. Our false images of God paint Him as magnificent, but yet not worth worshiping from the bottom of our hearts year-round. It's as though we knock Him down to our level of understanding because we can't comprehend Him, but with our understanding flawed by our human nature, we add flaws to God. In our heads, He is either not as powerful as He is, or as loving, or as generous, or as...anything good you care to name. Until we view God as something more wonderful than anything else, our heart-felt celebration of His Son's birth will never be more than annual.
Monday, December 20, 2010
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
A God of Miracles
One of the things I hear from non-Christians is that they don't believe in God because they don't see any works or wonders. "If God would only do a miracle, I'd believe in Him." "If He exists, let Him prove it by fixing such-and-such situation in my life." God worked a lot of miracles in the Bible, so many people expect Him to work one in their lives. It's only fair, right?
There are many problems with this request. The first is that God doesn't owe any of us a miracle or even proof of His existence. He's given us Jesus, which is more than we could ever repay, and enough proofs in all the other miracles He's done. What He chooses to do in someone else's life does not mean that He somehow owes us the same.
Second, if God proved Himself through a miracle, there would be no faith. I can tell you that the paint on a given chair is wet and you can believe that I am telling the truth without testing it. That is faith. If you touch the chair and find the paint is wet, there is no faith in me, for you have the evidence on your fingers that the paint is wet. We need to believe in God through faith, not through proof, and so He will not prove Himself to us by fixing everything.
Also, if God just fixed everything for people in order to get them to become Christians, it's highly unlikely that anyone would become a Christian for the right reason. They would seek God for the blessings and not for God. He will not let Himself become a cosmic vending machine for us, especially when the true blessing is greater knowledge of and fellowship with Him.
Fourth, God is still a God of miracles. My mother has more medical issues than I can usually remember, not the least of which was a pancreatic tumor. Pancreatic tumors are among the most dangerous type, for they almost always turn into a malignant cancer, with little chance of survival for the victim. Her chances would be practically nil with her other issues weakening her. She just found out from the most recent scan that the tumor has somehow disappeared entirely. Not gone into recession, but completely gone. She had no operation, no chemo, no radiation therapy. It just disappeared and the doctors don't know how or why.
Her neck had several herniated discs in it; the latest x-rays show only one. Her migraines, which have plagued her for years and were the original reason she became unable to work, have been attacking her less often. Days where she used to have no energy and be pretty much bed-ridden are becoming less common as well. There is still a number of issues, but across the board, she seems to be getting healthier for no apparent reason.
I'll be honest; the main point of this post was to talk about my mother rather than to make some deep theological point about God. I'm just in awe at what He has done and perhaps a little skeptical, like I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop. It is an issue of my faith, not only in God's power, but more so in His goodness and personal love for me and my family. I, too, sometimes need to be reminded that He is, indeed, a God of miracles.
There are many problems with this request. The first is that God doesn't owe any of us a miracle or even proof of His existence. He's given us Jesus, which is more than we could ever repay, and enough proofs in all the other miracles He's done. What He chooses to do in someone else's life does not mean that He somehow owes us the same.
Second, if God proved Himself through a miracle, there would be no faith. I can tell you that the paint on a given chair is wet and you can believe that I am telling the truth without testing it. That is faith. If you touch the chair and find the paint is wet, there is no faith in me, for you have the evidence on your fingers that the paint is wet. We need to believe in God through faith, not through proof, and so He will not prove Himself to us by fixing everything.
Also, if God just fixed everything for people in order to get them to become Christians, it's highly unlikely that anyone would become a Christian for the right reason. They would seek God for the blessings and not for God. He will not let Himself become a cosmic vending machine for us, especially when the true blessing is greater knowledge of and fellowship with Him.
Fourth, God is still a God of miracles. My mother has more medical issues than I can usually remember, not the least of which was a pancreatic tumor. Pancreatic tumors are among the most dangerous type, for they almost always turn into a malignant cancer, with little chance of survival for the victim. Her chances would be practically nil with her other issues weakening her. She just found out from the most recent scan that the tumor has somehow disappeared entirely. Not gone into recession, but completely gone. She had no operation, no chemo, no radiation therapy. It just disappeared and the doctors don't know how or why.
Her neck had several herniated discs in it; the latest x-rays show only one. Her migraines, which have plagued her for years and were the original reason she became unable to work, have been attacking her less often. Days where she used to have no energy and be pretty much bed-ridden are becoming less common as well. There is still a number of issues, but across the board, she seems to be getting healthier for no apparent reason.
I'll be honest; the main point of this post was to talk about my mother rather than to make some deep theological point about God. I'm just in awe at what He has done and perhaps a little skeptical, like I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop. It is an issue of my faith, not only in God's power, but more so in His goodness and personal love for me and my family. I, too, sometimes need to be reminded that He is, indeed, a God of miracles.
Friday, November 26, 2010
Compassion: an Anti-Evolution Argument
In Mere Christianity, C. S. Lewis argues that the fact we have a values system means there is a God. It goes something like this: if you step on my toes accidentally, you probably apologize. Why? Because you violated a right I have to not have my toes stepped on. But where did that right come from? Also, if I am on a bus and have already sat down and you demand my seat, I am upset; but if I get on the bus and you are already in my favorite seat, I have no issue because you were there first. Where did this logic come from? Because it makes no sense in a godless world, there must be a god.
One of the main arguments for Christianity over evolution has sprung from this: where our laws came from. Evolutionists would argue that our laws are in place as safeguards for the populace. No one wants to be murdered, so we deny ourselves the right to murder in exchange for distinctly lowering the possibility we will be murdered. And many animals get upset if you do something that hurts them (an equivalent of stepping on toes), so this is a hereditary trait in most creatures as self-preservation and not indicative of God at all.
My point in this post is not to argue one over the other, since the same laws, more or less, could have come from either viewpoint. No, I'm going to argue that the fact that we have laws at all is against all evolutionary principles. Going even further, the fact that we have compassion is, to me, the key anti-evolutionary argument from our social behavior.
Dealing with the law first, evolution states that it is survival of the fittest. Fittest doesn't necessarily mean strongest, most dangerous, biggest, or fastest. It can mean best disguised, hardest to reach, most virile, most adaptable, or smartest, too. In all cases, though, any creature better suited to survive has the right to prey on lesser suited creature, hunting them to extinction. Even among members of the same species, this law holds true.
Most people know that every wolf pack has an alpha male running it. The way to become the alpha male is by killing the alpha male. An alpha male is rewarded for his strength, cunning, and ferocity by getting his pick of the females, the first right to food, and leadership of the pack. In our society, someone who killed the President would be shot, not rewarded. We have suspended survival of the fittest in our culture. Our laws are not there to reward the strong, but to protect the weak from them. You can't steal from anyone, can't kill anyone, can't rape anyone, can't beat anyone to a pulp because they are simply in your way, and can't force them at gunpoint to do what you want. Our laws help the weak to survive.
I'm not for a second advocating a change in the laws to make them more evolutionary; I'm merely pointing out that the evolutionists are only alive to make their argument for evolution because of laws distinctly anti-evolutionary.
Perhaps what is even more amazing is that there is compassion for those who are weaker. It is not simply that some people who were physically weaker, but had power for whatever reason, decided to protect themselves and then the laws carried down through history; it is that there is a genuine concern in many of us for the poor and mistreated. You don't hear anyone say that a wife who's been beaten deserved it simply because she wasn't as strong as the man. You don't hear anyone say that a terminal cancer patient deserves to die because their DNA isn't cancer-resistant. And if we truly believed in the validity of evolution, we would not consider Hitler one of the greatest war criminals in history.
Our compassion doesn't even extend only to humans. When I was a boy, we found birds with broken wings twice and a couple times, we found nests that had been abandoned by the parents with eggs still in them. We would put the birds or eggs in a shoebox and take them back to the garage, where we would do what we could to nurse them to health. While our efforts were not always successful, we actually cared about these birds that, according to evolutionary principle, should have been left to live or die on their own.
Even animals have some compassion. There is a well-documented case of a dog nursing tiger cubs (and numerous cases where dogs have adopted kittens, ducklings, and other baby animals) and there are many cases of dogs starving to death at their dead masters' feet rather than devour their masters to save themselves. Dolphins have been observed swimming under injured animals for hours at a time and pushing them to the surface so they can breathe. Some termites sacrifice themselves to protect the young from ants by rupturing a gland in their throats, releasing a sticky solution that creates a tar baby effect. In the last case, it may be argued that it is for the survival of the colony overall, but even that is anti-evolutionary as it is the weak surviving rather than the strong. In any event, there is no evolutionary explanation for the first two.
Where the law came from can be explained from either a theological or evolutionary standpoint, but the fact that there are laws is anti-evolutionary by nature. Even more so, the fact that we care about others and even creatures outside our own species is even more so.
As a last parting thought, it is interesting to note that the animals considered higher up on the food chain are generally those more likely to be compassionate for others. Instead of getting "fitter", those creatures who have supposedly fought to the current pinnacle of evolution have gotten nicer. So smile today on someone who is having a rough time; by doing so, you may brighten their day and throw a shadow of doubt across evolution.
One of the main arguments for Christianity over evolution has sprung from this: where our laws came from. Evolutionists would argue that our laws are in place as safeguards for the populace. No one wants to be murdered, so we deny ourselves the right to murder in exchange for distinctly lowering the possibility we will be murdered. And many animals get upset if you do something that hurts them (an equivalent of stepping on toes), so this is a hereditary trait in most creatures as self-preservation and not indicative of God at all.
My point in this post is not to argue one over the other, since the same laws, more or less, could have come from either viewpoint. No, I'm going to argue that the fact that we have laws at all is against all evolutionary principles. Going even further, the fact that we have compassion is, to me, the key anti-evolutionary argument from our social behavior.
Dealing with the law first, evolution states that it is survival of the fittest. Fittest doesn't necessarily mean strongest, most dangerous, biggest, or fastest. It can mean best disguised, hardest to reach, most virile, most adaptable, or smartest, too. In all cases, though, any creature better suited to survive has the right to prey on lesser suited creature, hunting them to extinction. Even among members of the same species, this law holds true.
Most people know that every wolf pack has an alpha male running it. The way to become the alpha male is by killing the alpha male. An alpha male is rewarded for his strength, cunning, and ferocity by getting his pick of the females, the first right to food, and leadership of the pack. In our society, someone who killed the President would be shot, not rewarded. We have suspended survival of the fittest in our culture. Our laws are not there to reward the strong, but to protect the weak from them. You can't steal from anyone, can't kill anyone, can't rape anyone, can't beat anyone to a pulp because they are simply in your way, and can't force them at gunpoint to do what you want. Our laws help the weak to survive.
I'm not for a second advocating a change in the laws to make them more evolutionary; I'm merely pointing out that the evolutionists are only alive to make their argument for evolution because of laws distinctly anti-evolutionary.
Perhaps what is even more amazing is that there is compassion for those who are weaker. It is not simply that some people who were physically weaker, but had power for whatever reason, decided to protect themselves and then the laws carried down through history; it is that there is a genuine concern in many of us for the poor and mistreated. You don't hear anyone say that a wife who's been beaten deserved it simply because she wasn't as strong as the man. You don't hear anyone say that a terminal cancer patient deserves to die because their DNA isn't cancer-resistant. And if we truly believed in the validity of evolution, we would not consider Hitler one of the greatest war criminals in history.
Our compassion doesn't even extend only to humans. When I was a boy, we found birds with broken wings twice and a couple times, we found nests that had been abandoned by the parents with eggs still in them. We would put the birds or eggs in a shoebox and take them back to the garage, where we would do what we could to nurse them to health. While our efforts were not always successful, we actually cared about these birds that, according to evolutionary principle, should have been left to live or die on their own.
Even animals have some compassion. There is a well-documented case of a dog nursing tiger cubs (and numerous cases where dogs have adopted kittens, ducklings, and other baby animals) and there are many cases of dogs starving to death at their dead masters' feet rather than devour their masters to save themselves. Dolphins have been observed swimming under injured animals for hours at a time and pushing them to the surface so they can breathe. Some termites sacrifice themselves to protect the young from ants by rupturing a gland in their throats, releasing a sticky solution that creates a tar baby effect. In the last case, it may be argued that it is for the survival of the colony overall, but even that is anti-evolutionary as it is the weak surviving rather than the strong. In any event, there is no evolutionary explanation for the first two.
Where the law came from can be explained from either a theological or evolutionary standpoint, but the fact that there are laws is anti-evolutionary by nature. Even more so, the fact that we care about others and even creatures outside our own species is even more so.
As a last parting thought, it is interesting to note that the animals considered higher up on the food chain are generally those more likely to be compassionate for others. Instead of getting "fitter", those creatures who have supposedly fought to the current pinnacle of evolution have gotten nicer. So smile today on someone who is having a rough time; by doing so, you may brighten their day and throw a shadow of doubt across evolution.
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
"I Love You This Much."
I once saw a Christian shirt that had Jesus on a cross, with the caption, "I love you this much," as though Jesus were spreading His arms wide to show us. Maybe this sounds terrible to say, but that message has never been as personal to me as it should be. I've heard many people say that if it was just me that Christ had to die for, He'd do it every bit as willingly and go through all that pain just for me. That message has never seemed real to me for whatever reason. I guess I just feel like His death on the cross was more about everyone, that even though it was done in love, it didn't make me feel loved because...well, because it feels like it was for humanity and not me specifically, even if I do get the benefit.
I've had a rough week. Things didn't work out with a woman I was dating, I had to end one friendship, realized two others that had been close never will be again, felt like I almost ended my closest friendship, had it pointed out in two different ways that I've been a failure in leadership at my young adults group, and have been fighting the thought patterns that used to plague me because of all this. At the root of all of them is the same feeling: that I just want to be special to someone, and sometimes, I just don't feel I really matter to anyone other than my mom and maybe one or two friends.
A conversation with the friend today (the one I felt I almost ended things with, thank God for this person's understanding and love) reminded me that I had not been putting God first, that I was seeking other people's acceptance when all I needed was God's, and His I already had. Psalm 56:8 is highlighted in my Bible and I can't help but get emotional every time I read it. What message of love I fail to comprehend from the cross comes through in this verse. I don't know really why or how, but it is this verse more than any other in the Bible that shows me how much God cares about me individually.
"You number my wanderings, put my tears into Your bottle; are they not in Your book?"
Every step I've taken, He has recorded it. Every word I've uttered, He remembers. Every time I've wandered away from Him, He recollects. Every time I haven't been strong enough to handle what life throws at me, every time I haven't trusted Him enough to see me through and have broken down, He makes note of each tear. He does none of this so He has evidence against me, for just one instance of sin in my life would be enough to condemn me if that were His goal. He does it because He cares so much for me. He does this for everyone, I know, but I have my own page in His book. The almighty Creator of the universe is so interested in me and cares for me so much that even when I fail Him, He lovingly writes down all that I do.
Jeremiah 1:5 is another such verse, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations." This verse was specifically meant for Jeremiah, as God knew he was going to be a prophet, but how individual is that? Before our mothers are even pregnant with us, God knows individually what we all will be.
Or Luke 12:6-7, "'Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.'" I can't even comb my hair and have a couple of them fall out without God taking note of it.
The cross is the greatest way God showed He cared for us, but it is the greatest single action, not the only one. All too often, it seems like He came down in the form of a man, died for us, resurrected Himself, and ascended to heaven to not be seen or heard from again for who knows how many years. We know He loves us from that action, but that's where we put our focus on the matter. It makes it so easy to feel unloved in the present, when God hasn't walked the earth in nearly two millennia. But He is still with us, watching everything you do, recording every word you speak, and remembering every tear you cry. He loves you this much.
I've had a rough week. Things didn't work out with a woman I was dating, I had to end one friendship, realized two others that had been close never will be again, felt like I almost ended my closest friendship, had it pointed out in two different ways that I've been a failure in leadership at my young adults group, and have been fighting the thought patterns that used to plague me because of all this. At the root of all of them is the same feeling: that I just want to be special to someone, and sometimes, I just don't feel I really matter to anyone other than my mom and maybe one or two friends.
A conversation with the friend today (the one I felt I almost ended things with, thank God for this person's understanding and love) reminded me that I had not been putting God first, that I was seeking other people's acceptance when all I needed was God's, and His I already had. Psalm 56:8 is highlighted in my Bible and I can't help but get emotional every time I read it. What message of love I fail to comprehend from the cross comes through in this verse. I don't know really why or how, but it is this verse more than any other in the Bible that shows me how much God cares about me individually.
"You number my wanderings, put my tears into Your bottle; are they not in Your book?"
Every step I've taken, He has recorded it. Every word I've uttered, He remembers. Every time I've wandered away from Him, He recollects. Every time I haven't been strong enough to handle what life throws at me, every time I haven't trusted Him enough to see me through and have broken down, He makes note of each tear. He does none of this so He has evidence against me, for just one instance of sin in my life would be enough to condemn me if that were His goal. He does it because He cares so much for me. He does this for everyone, I know, but I have my own page in His book. The almighty Creator of the universe is so interested in me and cares for me so much that even when I fail Him, He lovingly writes down all that I do.
Jeremiah 1:5 is another such verse, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations." This verse was specifically meant for Jeremiah, as God knew he was going to be a prophet, but how individual is that? Before our mothers are even pregnant with us, God knows individually what we all will be.
Or Luke 12:6-7, "'Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.'" I can't even comb my hair and have a couple of them fall out without God taking note of it.
The cross is the greatest way God showed He cared for us, but it is the greatest single action, not the only one. All too often, it seems like He came down in the form of a man, died for us, resurrected Himself, and ascended to heaven to not be seen or heard from again for who knows how many years. We know He loves us from that action, but that's where we put our focus on the matter. It makes it so easy to feel unloved in the present, when God hasn't walked the earth in nearly two millennia. But He is still with us, watching everything you do, recording every word you speak, and remembering every tear you cry. He loves you this much.
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Not My Problem?
I've been labeled a complainer before. I've gotten better - or at least, I like to think I have - but I still catch myself complaining about things sometimes that don't really matter to others. Sometimes, I even complain about other people. I also get so involved with my friends' problems that I lose focus on the work I'm supposed to be doing or the social situation I'm supposed to focus on.
In Numbers 16, some of the Israelites are grumbling against Aaron and the Levites because they believed they were all holy and worthy of being priests. They ignored the fact that God had set Aaron up as the head of the priesthood and set the Levites to serve as priests under him. In verse 11, Moses says, "It is against the LORD that you and all your followers have banded together. Who is Aaron that you should grumble against him?"
The point here is not simply that the people were rebelling against God and not just Aaron. It is that Aaron is nothing but an instrument of God. Aaron is not the people's concern; Aaron is God's concern. Aaron, in and of himself, is a worthless human being, same as the rest of us. Neither his heart nor how he got his position nor anything about him save how well he followed God's laws was any business of the people's.
Try to apply that to your life. Everyone in power in your life is there because God allowed that person to be there. Jesus was being questioned by Pilate in John 19. Verses 10-11 read, "'Do you refuse to speak to me?' Pilate said. 'Don’t you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?' Jesus answered, 'You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.'" Pilate would eventually give the order to hand him over to the Jews for crucifixion. If this is the case even with Jesus, how much more so is it the case with us? Your boss that you don't like, your coworkers that talk bad about you behind your back, your false friends, every last person you know is in your life because God allowed them to be. He may not have sent them, but He allowed them to come and that means there is a purpose for them to be there.
And part of that purpose, I believe, is for you to realize, "Who are they that I should make them my problem?" The message is not simply that you should bite your tongue. Sometimes, if you can do it in love and know it is God's leading you to say something, these leaders and other people may need to be corrected. Jesus corrected the Pharisees and Saduccees at almost every turn. The message is that you realize God allowed them to be where they are and if He allowed it, He can give you the strength to handle it as He would have you to. Other people should not be your problem if you trust in God enough.
I know how difficult this is to practice. I'll be the first to admit to hypocrisy in this. I know it is easy to get too involved in the lives of those we care about or too self-absorbed in our own problems, which are all too often people-based. But the solution is not people-based. We can't look to them to be better or solve our problems. We can only look to God: to correct them, to see us through, to fix what's been done if it's His will, to provide for us, to do all that we need. Who is Aaron, that he can do that? If he can do none of it, then who is he that we should grumble against him?
In Numbers 16, some of the Israelites are grumbling against Aaron and the Levites because they believed they were all holy and worthy of being priests. They ignored the fact that God had set Aaron up as the head of the priesthood and set the Levites to serve as priests under him. In verse 11, Moses says, "It is against the LORD that you and all your followers have banded together. Who is Aaron that you should grumble against him?"
The point here is not simply that the people were rebelling against God and not just Aaron. It is that Aaron is nothing but an instrument of God. Aaron is not the people's concern; Aaron is God's concern. Aaron, in and of himself, is a worthless human being, same as the rest of us. Neither his heart nor how he got his position nor anything about him save how well he followed God's laws was any business of the people's.
Try to apply that to your life. Everyone in power in your life is there because God allowed that person to be there. Jesus was being questioned by Pilate in John 19. Verses 10-11 read, "'Do you refuse to speak to me?' Pilate said. 'Don’t you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?' Jesus answered, 'You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.'" Pilate would eventually give the order to hand him over to the Jews for crucifixion. If this is the case even with Jesus, how much more so is it the case with us? Your boss that you don't like, your coworkers that talk bad about you behind your back, your false friends, every last person you know is in your life because God allowed them to be. He may not have sent them, but He allowed them to come and that means there is a purpose for them to be there.
And part of that purpose, I believe, is for you to realize, "Who are they that I should make them my problem?" The message is not simply that you should bite your tongue. Sometimes, if you can do it in love and know it is God's leading you to say something, these leaders and other people may need to be corrected. Jesus corrected the Pharisees and Saduccees at almost every turn. The message is that you realize God allowed them to be where they are and if He allowed it, He can give you the strength to handle it as He would have you to. Other people should not be your problem if you trust in God enough.
I know how difficult this is to practice. I'll be the first to admit to hypocrisy in this. I know it is easy to get too involved in the lives of those we care about or too self-absorbed in our own problems, which are all too often people-based. But the solution is not people-based. We can't look to them to be better or solve our problems. We can only look to God: to correct them, to see us through, to fix what's been done if it's His will, to provide for us, to do all that we need. Who is Aaron, that he can do that? If he can do none of it, then who is he that we should grumble against him?
Monday, November 8, 2010
The Art of War
Sun Tzu once wrote a book called "The Art of War", in which he outlines the tactics that commanding officers should take in battle. This book has become something of a timeless classic for the way it combines straightforward simplicity with cunning logic. It is still widely read, even today, by both business executives and those in the military.
One of the principles is to strike your enemy where they are weakest. Such simple advice, yet so profound and difficult to detect until it is too late. And it is exactly what the devil tries to do to us.
Before I go further, let me say that I do not believe in the statement, "The devil made me do it." Such a statement says that he has power over your decisions and he doesn't. All he can do is tempt you and provoke you, he cannot force you. He can send things your way as well, as allowed by God, but only you can determine how you respond to trials.
If your weakness is relationships, particularly a feeling of loneliness, he's going to keep bringing up thoughts in your mind of how little you deserve good friendships or relationships. If you struggle with feelings of not being good enough at what you do, he's going to call your abilities into question all the time. If life is pretty good, he's going to tell you that you don't need God or show you all the entertainment options available. No matter what your life situation is, you have a weak point and he has a way to exploit it if you let him.
What is the point in attacking you? Well, that's another principle: do not let your enemy become strong enough to defeat you. The devil's main goal isn't to cause as much pain in your life as possible; it's to get you as far from God as possible. If the surest way to do that is to shower you with money, relationships, and power, he'll do that (if God allows it, of course.) If it's happy thoughts about any number of things, he'll send those by the truckload. Anything to keep your mind on you and off God. Why? Because he knows that God is the only chance you have of defeating him. You're not more cunning or more knowledgeable than the devil. You don't have his ruthlessness. You don't have his power in and of yourself. Your only hope is God.
You're always going to have weak points because you, as a human, are weak. Actually, if you ever got to the point where you had no weaknesses, it would rob you of the need of your one true Strength and, without that Strength, without God, the devil can overcome any of your other stronger points.
Here's another way to consider it. You're out in the wilderness. You have a suit of armor, a sharp sword, and a good shield. But there's this dragon, 100 feet long, nearly impenetrable scales, breathes fire, flies, and is far too smart to be taken in by any tricks you might have. It wouldn't matter if you were the most fearsome warrior on the planet, you don't stand a chance against this beast by yourself.
There's a king who offers to protect you inside his palace. He is so powerful that even the dragon can't attack him. As long as you are in the palace, you are safe. But the dragon knows it, and so he offers you jewels from the treasures he's collected over the years. He has a treasure to appeal to you, no matter what your tastes, and he knows just what you want. All you have to do is leave the palace.
Ok, now we can all agree, it'd be pretty insane to leave the palace under these circumstances. All that means is that we're all insane because that is precisely what we continue to do. Something is in the world that we want, so we foolishly chase it rather than stay where we know we're safe.
And the dragon might not attack immediately. No, he doesn't just want to harm you and sometimes he can't by the king's decree, but the king won't bind you to the palace, either. The dragon will offer you one small thing you want, and you take it, then scurry back to the palace. Then he'll offer it again, and watch you take it. And again. And soon, he has you not running back to the palace - where you have to leave your treasures outside - quite so fast. Then you start staying outside and waiting for something else. Then you eventually forget that you have somewhere to go when a storm comes and the dragon tells you the king is angry with you and you don't have a chance to return. So you stay in the rain...and the dragon watches with glee as you slowly perish among your treasures.
Do not be deceived into thinking this is not real. It is all that is truly real. This world will end, and we will end much sooner, so this struggle over your soul is the only thing of consequence. Even believing it is not real is a powerful tool to keep you away from God, to keep you from discovering just how badly you need to be in the palace with the King. We are at war, and He is our only chance of winning.
One of the principles is to strike your enemy where they are weakest. Such simple advice, yet so profound and difficult to detect until it is too late. And it is exactly what the devil tries to do to us.
Before I go further, let me say that I do not believe in the statement, "The devil made me do it." Such a statement says that he has power over your decisions and he doesn't. All he can do is tempt you and provoke you, he cannot force you. He can send things your way as well, as allowed by God, but only you can determine how you respond to trials.
If your weakness is relationships, particularly a feeling of loneliness, he's going to keep bringing up thoughts in your mind of how little you deserve good friendships or relationships. If you struggle with feelings of not being good enough at what you do, he's going to call your abilities into question all the time. If life is pretty good, he's going to tell you that you don't need God or show you all the entertainment options available. No matter what your life situation is, you have a weak point and he has a way to exploit it if you let him.
What is the point in attacking you? Well, that's another principle: do not let your enemy become strong enough to defeat you. The devil's main goal isn't to cause as much pain in your life as possible; it's to get you as far from God as possible. If the surest way to do that is to shower you with money, relationships, and power, he'll do that (if God allows it, of course.) If it's happy thoughts about any number of things, he'll send those by the truckload. Anything to keep your mind on you and off God. Why? Because he knows that God is the only chance you have of defeating him. You're not more cunning or more knowledgeable than the devil. You don't have his ruthlessness. You don't have his power in and of yourself. Your only hope is God.
You're always going to have weak points because you, as a human, are weak. Actually, if you ever got to the point where you had no weaknesses, it would rob you of the need of your one true Strength and, without that Strength, without God, the devil can overcome any of your other stronger points.
Here's another way to consider it. You're out in the wilderness. You have a suit of armor, a sharp sword, and a good shield. But there's this dragon, 100 feet long, nearly impenetrable scales, breathes fire, flies, and is far too smart to be taken in by any tricks you might have. It wouldn't matter if you were the most fearsome warrior on the planet, you don't stand a chance against this beast by yourself.
There's a king who offers to protect you inside his palace. He is so powerful that even the dragon can't attack him. As long as you are in the palace, you are safe. But the dragon knows it, and so he offers you jewels from the treasures he's collected over the years. He has a treasure to appeal to you, no matter what your tastes, and he knows just what you want. All you have to do is leave the palace.
Ok, now we can all agree, it'd be pretty insane to leave the palace under these circumstances. All that means is that we're all insane because that is precisely what we continue to do. Something is in the world that we want, so we foolishly chase it rather than stay where we know we're safe.
And the dragon might not attack immediately. No, he doesn't just want to harm you and sometimes he can't by the king's decree, but the king won't bind you to the palace, either. The dragon will offer you one small thing you want, and you take it, then scurry back to the palace. Then he'll offer it again, and watch you take it. And again. And soon, he has you not running back to the palace - where you have to leave your treasures outside - quite so fast. Then you start staying outside and waiting for something else. Then you eventually forget that you have somewhere to go when a storm comes and the dragon tells you the king is angry with you and you don't have a chance to return. So you stay in the rain...and the dragon watches with glee as you slowly perish among your treasures.
Do not be deceived into thinking this is not real. It is all that is truly real. This world will end, and we will end much sooner, so this struggle over your soul is the only thing of consequence. Even believing it is not real is a powerful tool to keep you away from God, to keep you from discovering just how badly you need to be in the palace with the King. We are at war, and He is our only chance of winning.
Saturday, November 6, 2010
And Then We'll Get Ice Cream.
When I was a child, I hated going to the doctor. Every visit meant getting a shot or blood drawn, usually both. I developed a fear of shots that was a bit more acute than average and once even got very agitated at one visit. My mom would always promise my brother and I that we could go for ice cream afterward. Actually, he got ice cream and I'd get a bag of Oreos.
Of course, she did this to keep us looking forward to something, to keep us in line and focused on a reward rather than the visit. She and the nurses would sometimes say, "Relax, it will all be over in just a minute."
And it was true. Even tetanus shots didn't really bother me afterward. No shot or blood withdrawal kept hurting for more than a few seconds after the needle was taken out. To be honest, even the needle itself wasn't (usually) that terrible. I had just made it up in my mind that it was.
This morning, it was time to get the oil changed on my car. Already needing some other things, I decided to take it to Wal-Mart and arrived before they had opened the entrance into the Car Maintenance Dept., so I had to walk around the building and into the main entrance. It was pretty cold and a little windy out, and I got about 50 yards from the gate when I thought, "In less than a minute, this cold won't matter. I'll be inside where it's nice and warm and I'll forget all about this."
And yet for the important things in life, we have such a hard time keeping this perspective. That person going ten miles under the speed limit is annoying, but will they really make that big a difference in your day? (Just a thought: consider the difference in drive time going 55 vs. 65 over the course of 30 miles. It's only five minutes and two seconds.) Will the argument you had with someone you work with matter down the road? Will someone insulting you matter even tomorrow?
If we had that perspective on things, we could live much happier lives. Think of how much lower our stress would be if all the petty annoyances were removed from it, or even most of them. And yet, we wouldn't be where God wants us to be. God wants us to consider everything with the perspective that something greater awaits us, that our trials, no matter how brutal and daunting they seem, are temporary, even if they last the rest of our lives. There is heaven awaiting us, eternity with God in all His limitless glory...and we get angry that the traffic light turned yellow just before we could have gone through it.
I am as guilty as anyone of this. Last night, I went to a birthday party for a friend. Most of my friends were there, yet for some reason, I felt ignored by almost everyone. It seemed that they were always engaged in conversation with each other and rarely with me, at least not for more than 30 seconds at a time. I left early, citing exhaustion (which was true and valid considering my week), but secretly wondering whether I really fit in with the group.
I know it's a tactic of the devil to point out things like this to me (next topic will be about war), but at the same time, I'll admit for a part of today, I lost focus on the eternal. I kept thinking how much it mattered to me that I was accepted and liked by my friends.
To be sure, friends have a place, not only in helping us feel loved, but in sharpening us as well. What I was doing, though, was letting them matter more than God. I let the present matter more than my future...my assured future.
Perhaps that is one of the reasons it is so easy to lose sight of the future. It's not just that we can't see it and have to accept it on faith, though that certainly adds to the problem, it's that we don't act like it's assured. I'm not sure we really believe it.
If I fail to write another word in any of my books or if I fail to send them to a publisher or agent, I'll never get published. God knows my future, but He also decreed the law of sowing and reaping. My future as an author is not assured unless I do something. Likewise, if I fail to show warmth and trustworthiness to those that cross my path, my social future is not assured.
My future in heaven, however, is assured no matter what I do. (This doesn't give me the right to do as I please, as Paul discusses in Romans 6, but that's for a different message.) I need not do anything, I can not do anything, to earn this. There is nothing that I can pay God back with, no deed I've done that He owes me for, nothing I can threaten Him with if He doesn't give in to me. There is only a promise He made to me in love: a promise that if I would believe in what Jesus did for me, He forgive me for all the sins I've committed (and continue to commit); that He would never leave me, no matter how hard life gets; that after life here ends, He would take me to heaven...and then we'll get ice cream.
Of course, she did this to keep us looking forward to something, to keep us in line and focused on a reward rather than the visit. She and the nurses would sometimes say, "Relax, it will all be over in just a minute."
And it was true. Even tetanus shots didn't really bother me afterward. No shot or blood withdrawal kept hurting for more than a few seconds after the needle was taken out. To be honest, even the needle itself wasn't (usually) that terrible. I had just made it up in my mind that it was.
This morning, it was time to get the oil changed on my car. Already needing some other things, I decided to take it to Wal-Mart and arrived before they had opened the entrance into the Car Maintenance Dept., so I had to walk around the building and into the main entrance. It was pretty cold and a little windy out, and I got about 50 yards from the gate when I thought, "In less than a minute, this cold won't matter. I'll be inside where it's nice and warm and I'll forget all about this."
And yet for the important things in life, we have such a hard time keeping this perspective. That person going ten miles under the speed limit is annoying, but will they really make that big a difference in your day? (Just a thought: consider the difference in drive time going 55 vs. 65 over the course of 30 miles. It's only five minutes and two seconds.) Will the argument you had with someone you work with matter down the road? Will someone insulting you matter even tomorrow?
If we had that perspective on things, we could live much happier lives. Think of how much lower our stress would be if all the petty annoyances were removed from it, or even most of them. And yet, we wouldn't be where God wants us to be. God wants us to consider everything with the perspective that something greater awaits us, that our trials, no matter how brutal and daunting they seem, are temporary, even if they last the rest of our lives. There is heaven awaiting us, eternity with God in all His limitless glory...and we get angry that the traffic light turned yellow just before we could have gone through it.
I am as guilty as anyone of this. Last night, I went to a birthday party for a friend. Most of my friends were there, yet for some reason, I felt ignored by almost everyone. It seemed that they were always engaged in conversation with each other and rarely with me, at least not for more than 30 seconds at a time. I left early, citing exhaustion (which was true and valid considering my week), but secretly wondering whether I really fit in with the group.
I know it's a tactic of the devil to point out things like this to me (next topic will be about war), but at the same time, I'll admit for a part of today, I lost focus on the eternal. I kept thinking how much it mattered to me that I was accepted and liked by my friends.
To be sure, friends have a place, not only in helping us feel loved, but in sharpening us as well. What I was doing, though, was letting them matter more than God. I let the present matter more than my future...my assured future.
Perhaps that is one of the reasons it is so easy to lose sight of the future. It's not just that we can't see it and have to accept it on faith, though that certainly adds to the problem, it's that we don't act like it's assured. I'm not sure we really believe it.
If I fail to write another word in any of my books or if I fail to send them to a publisher or agent, I'll never get published. God knows my future, but He also decreed the law of sowing and reaping. My future as an author is not assured unless I do something. Likewise, if I fail to show warmth and trustworthiness to those that cross my path, my social future is not assured.
My future in heaven, however, is assured no matter what I do. (This doesn't give me the right to do as I please, as Paul discusses in Romans 6, but that's for a different message.) I need not do anything, I can not do anything, to earn this. There is nothing that I can pay God back with, no deed I've done that He owes me for, nothing I can threaten Him with if He doesn't give in to me. There is only a promise He made to me in love: a promise that if I would believe in what Jesus did for me, He forgive me for all the sins I've committed (and continue to commit); that He would never leave me, no matter how hard life gets; that after life here ends, He would take me to heaven...and then we'll get ice cream.
Friday, October 22, 2010
My Burden
My burden is so heavy,
Yet I carry it alone.
It is best if my problems
Remain to the world unknown.
My burden makes me stumble,
Yet it I cannot share,
For I would rather trip and fall
Than before a friend be bare.
My burden cuts my shoulders,
There's blood dripping down my back,
Better though to suffer silent
Than admit that strength I lack.
My burden is so heavy -
No, please, friend, just let it be.
What are you doing? Put me down!
I don't want you to carry me.
My burden makes me stumble,
How much more will it make you?
I see that you are quite strong
But you are carrying me, too.
My burden cuts my shoulders,
I see yours have already bled
You've carried burdens before,
Though there's a crown on your head.
My burden is so light now
For I don't carry it alone.
I've given it all to the One
Whose death my burden atoned.
Yet I carry it alone.
It is best if my problems
Remain to the world unknown.
My burden makes me stumble,
Yet it I cannot share,
For I would rather trip and fall
Than before a friend be bare.
My burden cuts my shoulders,
There's blood dripping down my back,
Better though to suffer silent
Than admit that strength I lack.
My burden is so heavy -
No, please, friend, just let it be.
What are you doing? Put me down!
I don't want you to carry me.
My burden makes me stumble,
How much more will it make you?
I see that you are quite strong
But you are carrying me, too.
My burden cuts my shoulders,
I see yours have already bled
You've carried burdens before,
Though there's a crown on your head.
My burden is so light now
For I don't carry it alone.
I've given it all to the One
Whose death my burden atoned.
Monday, September 27, 2010
Self-Employed
Earlier today, I was reminded of a bad pun that said, "If God had His own business, would it be a soul proprietorship?" The reason I was reminded of it was that I was editing one of my stories where an angel asks a character whom he works for. The character thinks it's a stupid question because he assumes the angel means his employer. In the angel's sense, the question was really, "Do you work for God or yourself?"
I think it's a good time to ask yourself that question. I know I just did. And my answer wasn't very redeeming. Here I am, typing merrily away at my computer, doing what I suppose to be what God wants me to do, so in this moment (assuming this is His will), yes, I am doing His work. But what of all the hours before this one? What of the movies I've watched in the middle of the day, the games I've played, the naps I've taken, the hiking trips? What of all the books I've leafed through? All of those things are for me and most are just for entertainment. Precious little of the above was done for inspiration or information. When people ask what I do, I sometimes answer that I'm self-employed, and nothing could really be truer.
It comes down to where my treasures are and where my faith is. In a way, they're the same thing. One definition of putting your faith in something, to me, at least, is believing that a given thing or being is more likely than any other to make you happy and/or provide for you. What are our treasures if not things we look to for happiness and security? And my treasure has been the enjoyment of my vast supply of free time.
It's not about resolving to do better for the rest of this week. It's not about me trying harder. It goes back to a heart issue. Why does my heart seek my own enjoyment rather than God's will? Why am I self-employed rather than God-employed?
I think it's a good time to ask yourself that question. I know I just did. And my answer wasn't very redeeming. Here I am, typing merrily away at my computer, doing what I suppose to be what God wants me to do, so in this moment (assuming this is His will), yes, I am doing His work. But what of all the hours before this one? What of the movies I've watched in the middle of the day, the games I've played, the naps I've taken, the hiking trips? What of all the books I've leafed through? All of those things are for me and most are just for entertainment. Precious little of the above was done for inspiration or information. When people ask what I do, I sometimes answer that I'm self-employed, and nothing could really be truer.
It comes down to where my treasures are and where my faith is. In a way, they're the same thing. One definition of putting your faith in something, to me, at least, is believing that a given thing or being is more likely than any other to make you happy and/or provide for you. What are our treasures if not things we look to for happiness and security? And my treasure has been the enjoyment of my vast supply of free time.
It's not about resolving to do better for the rest of this week. It's not about me trying harder. It goes back to a heart issue. Why does my heart seek my own enjoyment rather than God's will? Why am I self-employed rather than God-employed?
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Three Divisions of Humanity, Our Lives, and God
I've heard a good number of people, including pastors, say that the Bible is divided into two parts for a reason: because there are two divisions of humanity and our lives, under law and under grace. There is life under God the Father and then under Jesus the Son. There is a life that you have to live perfectly to get to Heaven and a life where you can get there based on faith.
I understand the division, but I don't think it goes far enough. To me, there is life under the law, life under grace, then life with God actually in us. This third part corresponds with the Holy Spirit and is, unfortunately, a part that few Christians ever seem to reach.
When Jesus promised the disciples the Holy Spirit in John 14:15-17, "If you love me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you," He was promising a new sort of life.
Let's start with the beginning: God creates Adam and Eve and they are without sin. They are able to talk with God in the garden with no sin separating them. Then they eat the fruit and God's justice and purity can't allow sin in His presence, so there is a gulf created between God and man. That gulf is bridged through sacrifice, but sin must be atoned for and laws are enforced rigorously, either by people or by God.
Then Jesus comes and fulfills the law for all of us, the law that we could never fulfill perfectly. No more sacrifices are necessary, no more perfection is required of us, no more works, simply faith. It is a faith that will produce works if it is in earnest, true, but it is not salvation by works as it was under the Old Testament. There is salvation through faith in Jesus alone. We are forgiven and allowed to come before God again. There is restoration and a relationship, but that seems to be where most Christians stop.
In the beginning of Acts, the Holy Spirit comes into the upper room and everyone seems to preach the Gospel in a different tongue. It is not some gibberish tongue, but an actual language and each of the passers by hears the Gospel in their own language. By the Holy Spirit, Stephen, who was an uneducated man, was able to confound the Jews, perform miracles, and forgive those who were stoning him. By the Holy Spirit, Peter, who was an uncouth fisherman and blustering coward, was crucified and the only objection he was known to make was that he did not want to be crucified right-side up because he felt unworthy to die in the same way as his Lord. Paul said, "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me," in Galatians 2:20.
There is more than a faith in God here and adherence to a set of laws here. There is more than a human desire to serve out of gratitude and love. There is a presence, a great power and sense of peace, in these men that fundamentally changed who they were. It took over them in a way that even the disciples had never been taken over when Jesus was with them, which says to me that it is not through Jesus that this power came. Jesus was the restoration, the sacrifice that gave us the right to come before God again without sin in the way; the Holy Spirit takes it one step further and allows God to actually come live in us.
There was still some human nature in these men. The verse in Galatians above is part of Paul's correcting Peter for eating with Gentiles, but spurning them when Jews were in town. Peter was still afraid at that point of what people would think of him. Paul, at least as I read his letters, seemed to have a few lingering pride issues throughout his life. But these men, "count[ed] it all joy...when [they met] trials of various kinds," in James 1:2. Paul sang in prison and even got up after being stoned and left for dead, went to the next town, and taught the very next day. All of the disciples except John the Beloved (and, of course, Judas Iscariot) were eventually killed for their faith. Where they went, miracles happened. Their faith in God's goodness and power isn't questioned. They seem to rarely sin.
It is, to me, the third part of humanity, our lives as Christians, and God. I pray that I am more filled with the Holy Spirit and that each of my fellow Christians are, too. For those who are not Christians, I pray that you become Christians, as much so you can experience a life truly with God as so you can go to Heaven.
I understand the division, but I don't think it goes far enough. To me, there is life under the law, life under grace, then life with God actually in us. This third part corresponds with the Holy Spirit and is, unfortunately, a part that few Christians ever seem to reach.
When Jesus promised the disciples the Holy Spirit in John 14:15-17, "If you love me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you," He was promising a new sort of life.
Let's start with the beginning: God creates Adam and Eve and they are without sin. They are able to talk with God in the garden with no sin separating them. Then they eat the fruit and God's justice and purity can't allow sin in His presence, so there is a gulf created between God and man. That gulf is bridged through sacrifice, but sin must be atoned for and laws are enforced rigorously, either by people or by God.
Then Jesus comes and fulfills the law for all of us, the law that we could never fulfill perfectly. No more sacrifices are necessary, no more perfection is required of us, no more works, simply faith. It is a faith that will produce works if it is in earnest, true, but it is not salvation by works as it was under the Old Testament. There is salvation through faith in Jesus alone. We are forgiven and allowed to come before God again. There is restoration and a relationship, but that seems to be where most Christians stop.
In the beginning of Acts, the Holy Spirit comes into the upper room and everyone seems to preach the Gospel in a different tongue. It is not some gibberish tongue, but an actual language and each of the passers by hears the Gospel in their own language. By the Holy Spirit, Stephen, who was an uneducated man, was able to confound the Jews, perform miracles, and forgive those who were stoning him. By the Holy Spirit, Peter, who was an uncouth fisherman and blustering coward, was crucified and the only objection he was known to make was that he did not want to be crucified right-side up because he felt unworthy to die in the same way as his Lord. Paul said, "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me," in Galatians 2:20.
There is more than a faith in God here and adherence to a set of laws here. There is more than a human desire to serve out of gratitude and love. There is a presence, a great power and sense of peace, in these men that fundamentally changed who they were. It took over them in a way that even the disciples had never been taken over when Jesus was with them, which says to me that it is not through Jesus that this power came. Jesus was the restoration, the sacrifice that gave us the right to come before God again without sin in the way; the Holy Spirit takes it one step further and allows God to actually come live in us.
There was still some human nature in these men. The verse in Galatians above is part of Paul's correcting Peter for eating with Gentiles, but spurning them when Jews were in town. Peter was still afraid at that point of what people would think of him. Paul, at least as I read his letters, seemed to have a few lingering pride issues throughout his life. But these men, "count[ed] it all joy...when [they met] trials of various kinds," in James 1:2. Paul sang in prison and even got up after being stoned and left for dead, went to the next town, and taught the very next day. All of the disciples except John the Beloved (and, of course, Judas Iscariot) were eventually killed for their faith. Where they went, miracles happened. Their faith in God's goodness and power isn't questioned. They seem to rarely sin.
It is, to me, the third part of humanity, our lives as Christians, and God. I pray that I am more filled with the Holy Spirit and that each of my fellow Christians are, too. For those who are not Christians, I pray that you become Christians, as much so you can experience a life truly with God as so you can go to Heaven.
Friday, September 3, 2010
What's in a Name?
When Nehemiah went to rebuild Jerusalem, he went with the authority of King Artaxerxes of Persia. The king gave him letters that allowed him to pass through every territory in the kingdom unharmed. He also gave Nehemiah letters that ensured he would get the supplies he needed to rebuild the temple. Without these letters, it is possible that one of the governors of the provinces would have taxed or imprisoned Nehemiah or turned him away and he would never have gotten to Jerusalem. Had he tried to go in his own name and under his own authority as cupbearer to the king, he may or may not have gotten through. With the king's authority, he was safe from all the governments on the way.
When I had my last job, there were times I would try to convince someone to do something because I wanted them to. Sometimes, they would do it, sometimes not. When Jim (our CEO) told me to do something a certain way and I told others what I needed from them to make it happen, I never got a no. It was usually yes and at worst, a "Let me go to talk to him about it first." I used his authority and others obeyed what I said.
In our daily lives, though, we often don't use the authority given to us through faith. Before I get into that point, though, it must be noted that to walk in this authority, one has to obey the one who has the authority. Had I told my coworkers something Jim hadn't told me, I would have gotten in trouble later, even if I'd gotten away with it at first. If Nehemiah had demanded more than the king's letters had given him authority to demand, he would quite rightly have been rejected. We can only do what we are given authority to do.
Which is why we can't trek on over to the nearest Ferrari dealership and say, "God says you should give me a new car." We have to be in God's will for His authority to benefit us. When we are doing what He wants us to, though, then there is no reason we should try to do it by ourselves. Psalm 127:1 says, "Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain." 1 Corinthians 3:6 says, "I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow."
In other words, it is not only foolish and much harder to try to do things on our own, it is impossible to have any real gain without God. Yes, you might get that promotion, but you can always be let go. Yes, that house is nice and big, but it's one big fire, tornado, or hurricane away from being toothpicks. Yes, you have money, but that can be sucked away in a heartbeat from any of a thousand different directions. Only God's work lasts. That's why the Bible tells us to "store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal," in Matthew 6:20.
When I try to do things on my own, I get frustrated. I also find that I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed. Even at my meager best, I'm not prescient and far from infallible. I can't seem to get much of anything right. Why, then, am I so hell-bent on doing it myself?
When I had my last job, there were times I would try to convince someone to do something because I wanted them to. Sometimes, they would do it, sometimes not. When Jim (our CEO) told me to do something a certain way and I told others what I needed from them to make it happen, I never got a no. It was usually yes and at worst, a "Let me go to talk to him about it first." I used his authority and others obeyed what I said.
In our daily lives, though, we often don't use the authority given to us through faith. Before I get into that point, though, it must be noted that to walk in this authority, one has to obey the one who has the authority. Had I told my coworkers something Jim hadn't told me, I would have gotten in trouble later, even if I'd gotten away with it at first. If Nehemiah had demanded more than the king's letters had given him authority to demand, he would quite rightly have been rejected. We can only do what we are given authority to do.
Which is why we can't trek on over to the nearest Ferrari dealership and say, "God says you should give me a new car." We have to be in God's will for His authority to benefit us. When we are doing what He wants us to, though, then there is no reason we should try to do it by ourselves. Psalm 127:1 says, "Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain." 1 Corinthians 3:6 says, "I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow."
In other words, it is not only foolish and much harder to try to do things on our own, it is impossible to have any real gain without God. Yes, you might get that promotion, but you can always be let go. Yes, that house is nice and big, but it's one big fire, tornado, or hurricane away from being toothpicks. Yes, you have money, but that can be sucked away in a heartbeat from any of a thousand different directions. Only God's work lasts. That's why the Bible tells us to "store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal," in Matthew 6:20.
When I try to do things on my own, I get frustrated. I also find that I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed. Even at my meager best, I'm not prescient and far from infallible. I can't seem to get much of anything right. Why, then, am I so hell-bent on doing it myself?
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Armored
During our young adults group tonight, the conversation at our table turned to why we don't lead each other. From there, it went to why we're not comfortable with each other, with the logical answer being that we fear judgment, which ultimately (my interpretation at least) means we fear being alone. There was agreement that there will always be people you are closer to, but I wonder how much of that is God's will for us as a body.
There was a point made that our schedules often don't allow us time to be close to more than one or two people. That is valid to a certain extent, but to how great an extent? Even if it is valid to be close to that few people, why does it take us so long to be comfortable with them? The reason goes back to our fear of how they will react when we drop our armor and let them know the real us.
I can't control others. I want others to come to me with their issues because I really do enjoy helping them and hearing their stories, but I can't make them do that. All I can do is control how I act - and even that is only by God's grace - and try to be as open as I can be. The reason we're so skittish around others is frankly because we have reason to be. Our love is always conditional, but much more so when there is not a longstanding relationship there already. We're judgmental. It's a part of our fallen human natures.
But what are we doing to make others more comfortable with us? Are we trying to be the kind of person that they feel comfortable around? Or are we so busy holding up our own armor that we can't help them set theirs down?
When I've had arguments with people, it happens that at least one of us starts getting defensive. It leads to a counter-attack more often than not, which makes the other person defensive. Neither side is open to hearing much of anything at that point because they're too busy trying to keep from getting hurt to realize the real issue at hand. On a global scale, this was epitomized in the Cold War. Progress is only made when both sides set down their weapons and armor and talk about things. Fear of being hurt is the prevention of progress with both people and nations.
So how do we help people get rid of their fear of being hurt? By disarming ourselves. This includes both arms and armor. We need to drop the sword of our pride (usually disguised as our tongue), lose the dagger that we've used before to stab others in the back when they hurt us, and break the bows and arrows of gossip that we use to shoot down our would-be friends from afar. We can only do these things by having a heart for people, and we can only have a true heart for people when we have a heart for God, for He has to help us love people like only He can.
For our armor, we need to lay down the shield we keep up that deflects all the jokes and barbs at our expense, take off the helmet of our vanity, loosen and let fall the breastplate of our fears of being pierced through the heart, and remove the gauntlets that protect the works of our hands as fiercely as our hands themselves. And we can only do that when we have put our trust in God to protect us and not ourselves, when we realize that it is His love we truly need and not other peoples', when we can go to Him as naked spiritually and emotionally as we were physically at birth and know that He loves us as we are and that is all the approval we really need.
Where does this start? It starts with you, going to God and asking Him to give you a realization of how much He loves you and how much that matters. It is a pride-destroying, fear-obliterating love that leaves you knowing how weak you are, yet so much stronger because of Whom you trust in. You need no armor when you have nothing to fear, and no weapons when you wish no harm on anyone.
There was a point made that our schedules often don't allow us time to be close to more than one or two people. That is valid to a certain extent, but to how great an extent? Even if it is valid to be close to that few people, why does it take us so long to be comfortable with them? The reason goes back to our fear of how they will react when we drop our armor and let them know the real us.
I can't control others. I want others to come to me with their issues because I really do enjoy helping them and hearing their stories, but I can't make them do that. All I can do is control how I act - and even that is only by God's grace - and try to be as open as I can be. The reason we're so skittish around others is frankly because we have reason to be. Our love is always conditional, but much more so when there is not a longstanding relationship there already. We're judgmental. It's a part of our fallen human natures.
But what are we doing to make others more comfortable with us? Are we trying to be the kind of person that they feel comfortable around? Or are we so busy holding up our own armor that we can't help them set theirs down?
When I've had arguments with people, it happens that at least one of us starts getting defensive. It leads to a counter-attack more often than not, which makes the other person defensive. Neither side is open to hearing much of anything at that point because they're too busy trying to keep from getting hurt to realize the real issue at hand. On a global scale, this was epitomized in the Cold War. Progress is only made when both sides set down their weapons and armor and talk about things. Fear of being hurt is the prevention of progress with both people and nations.
So how do we help people get rid of their fear of being hurt? By disarming ourselves. This includes both arms and armor. We need to drop the sword of our pride (usually disguised as our tongue), lose the dagger that we've used before to stab others in the back when they hurt us, and break the bows and arrows of gossip that we use to shoot down our would-be friends from afar. We can only do these things by having a heart for people, and we can only have a true heart for people when we have a heart for God, for He has to help us love people like only He can.
For our armor, we need to lay down the shield we keep up that deflects all the jokes and barbs at our expense, take off the helmet of our vanity, loosen and let fall the breastplate of our fears of being pierced through the heart, and remove the gauntlets that protect the works of our hands as fiercely as our hands themselves. And we can only do that when we have put our trust in God to protect us and not ourselves, when we realize that it is His love we truly need and not other peoples', when we can go to Him as naked spiritually and emotionally as we were physically at birth and know that He loves us as we are and that is all the approval we really need.
Where does this start? It starts with you, going to God and asking Him to give you a realization of how much He loves you and how much that matters. It is a pride-destroying, fear-obliterating love that leaves you knowing how weak you are, yet so much stronger because of Whom you trust in. You need no armor when you have nothing to fear, and no weapons when you wish no harm on anyone.
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Forget Me Not
Nehemiah is an interesting man. Not much is known about him, save for the name of his father and that he was a cupbearer. He went to Jerusalem to rebuild it after the captivity, but one thing that's striking about him is he keeps reminding God, four times throughout the book, of all the good he's done.
It sounds self-serving, certainly at first glance. After all, why would you remind God of anything unless you feel He'll forget otherwise? Why would you remind Him of the good you've done even though all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags?
There's a Bible study we had last night that casts a different light on it, though. What if Nehemiah was giving God a status report, much like some of us have to do in our jobs or for other projects? I don't know about you, but there have been times when, for whatever reason, I've had to say that I've made absolutely no progress in the last week on what was requested of me. It stinks. People have asked me from one week to the next how writing is going and I hate when I have to say that I've written little, regardless of whether it's because I have writer's block or other things have gotten my attention or I've been down or have been just lazy.
What if Nehemiah was calling out to God to say, "Look at what I've done for You in this past month. Are You pleased?" It still (to me, at least) sounds a little self-serving, until you consider the purpose of a status report. A good boss is, generally speaking, going to know more or less where a project is. God, being omniscient, knows where it is, was, will be, when, and how well it will be done. So the status report seems to be more for us rather than our bosses, because no one likes to show up empty-handed.
To practically apply that: would you rather that God remembered or forgot what you did this week? Don't take the cop-out answer of, "I'd rather He remembered some things and forgot some things." If you had to pick one or the other, which would you choose? Have you done a significant amount of good this past week? Have you tried to help someone? Make him or her feel better? Corrected them in love? Helped the needy? Served the church? Shared the Gospel, both verbally and through your conduct? Been honest, even to your own detriment? Turned down temptations because God is more important to you?
Or what about the bad? Have you been complaining too much? Focused on yourself and your problems, especially to the extent that you hurt others or are insensitive to their needs and feelings? Gotten into any addictions, like drugs, alcohol, or pornography? Just been lazy and not done anything? Tried finding answers in your friends, family, and relationships rather than in God and His Word? Lost your temper?
We've all probably done some things from both lists, but which list would you say describes your last week more closely? Would you want God to take this last week as a snapshot of your life? Would you want others to know that this is a fairly typical week for you? If so, pray that God gives you the strength to live like this as much as you can and that you can continue to improve where you need to. If not, pray that God will help you with your struggles and guide you in living more as He wants you to live.
Remember that this is not about judgment. If it was, our only option would be to have God forget every week because we sin every week and just one makes us unworthy of Him. It's not about getting benefits from God, for He owes us nothing. We can never repay what He's done for us already. This is about living a life pleasing to Him because it's not about our works, because we love Him for how good He already has been to us, because we worship Him just for Who He is, regardless of what He does for us.
This next week, give a status report to God, whether it's good or bad (better yet, try to do it daily), and ask Him to help you make the next one better. Sometimes it will be, sometimes it will be worse, but asking for His help and praying often will help you be able to give a good one, full of God's strength and blessings and love.
It sounds self-serving, certainly at first glance. After all, why would you remind God of anything unless you feel He'll forget otherwise? Why would you remind Him of the good you've done even though all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags?
There's a Bible study we had last night that casts a different light on it, though. What if Nehemiah was giving God a status report, much like some of us have to do in our jobs or for other projects? I don't know about you, but there have been times when, for whatever reason, I've had to say that I've made absolutely no progress in the last week on what was requested of me. It stinks. People have asked me from one week to the next how writing is going and I hate when I have to say that I've written little, regardless of whether it's because I have writer's block or other things have gotten my attention or I've been down or have been just lazy.
What if Nehemiah was calling out to God to say, "Look at what I've done for You in this past month. Are You pleased?" It still (to me, at least) sounds a little self-serving, until you consider the purpose of a status report. A good boss is, generally speaking, going to know more or less where a project is. God, being omniscient, knows where it is, was, will be, when, and how well it will be done. So the status report seems to be more for us rather than our bosses, because no one likes to show up empty-handed.
To practically apply that: would you rather that God remembered or forgot what you did this week? Don't take the cop-out answer of, "I'd rather He remembered some things and forgot some things." If you had to pick one or the other, which would you choose? Have you done a significant amount of good this past week? Have you tried to help someone? Make him or her feel better? Corrected them in love? Helped the needy? Served the church? Shared the Gospel, both verbally and through your conduct? Been honest, even to your own detriment? Turned down temptations because God is more important to you?
Or what about the bad? Have you been complaining too much? Focused on yourself and your problems, especially to the extent that you hurt others or are insensitive to their needs and feelings? Gotten into any addictions, like drugs, alcohol, or pornography? Just been lazy and not done anything? Tried finding answers in your friends, family, and relationships rather than in God and His Word? Lost your temper?
We've all probably done some things from both lists, but which list would you say describes your last week more closely? Would you want God to take this last week as a snapshot of your life? Would you want others to know that this is a fairly typical week for you? If so, pray that God gives you the strength to live like this as much as you can and that you can continue to improve where you need to. If not, pray that God will help you with your struggles and guide you in living more as He wants you to live.
Remember that this is not about judgment. If it was, our only option would be to have God forget every week because we sin every week and just one makes us unworthy of Him. It's not about getting benefits from God, for He owes us nothing. We can never repay what He's done for us already. This is about living a life pleasing to Him because it's not about our works, because we love Him for how good He already has been to us, because we worship Him just for Who He is, regardless of what He does for us.
This next week, give a status report to God, whether it's good or bad (better yet, try to do it daily), and ask Him to help you make the next one better. Sometimes it will be, sometimes it will be worse, but asking for His help and praying often will help you be able to give a good one, full of God's strength and blessings and love.
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
The Universe in a Nutshell
That used to be about the size of the universe, if you ask most scientists. For the tiniest fragment of a second, all of the matter and energy we see today was supposedly small enough to be skewered by a pin. I personally find the Big Bang Theory ridiculous for several reasons:
1. There's no explanation for where that matter and energy came from in the first place. The best explanation is that it came from a collapsing universe before it, but that doesn't explain where it came from originally; it just pushes the question back another 30 billion years.
2. The nucleus of an atom is extremely small, something akin to a marble on the pitcher's mound inside a major league stadium, with the electrons running laps around the seats in the upper deck. Even if you were to scale this up (WARNING: This is where I pull out math), it doesn't work. If the nucleus is a basketball, the electrons are about 20 miles away. How many basketballs could fit in a sphere with a 20 mile radius? A lot: about 19.66 quadrillion (assuming all space was filled; actual capacity would be less). Seems like it might work if you had no space in the individual atoms, doesn't it?
Not so fast. Astronomers have discovered a star called VY Canis Majoris, which is about 1.7 billion, yes, billion, miles across. If you were to use the same ratio to condense it, it would still be nearly 6,300 miles across. Not exactly pea-sized. And that's just one star, not the countless stars and planets and nebulae and everything else we see.
3. The Big Bang Theory doesn't explain the red shift we see. Red shift is a phenomenon where stars traveling away from earth appear redder based on how quickly they're moving away relative to us. The universe is actually accelerating, causing an increase in red shifts. Scientists don't know why and have posited that there must be "dark matter" and "dark energy" out there. The dark matter is supposed to explain why light behaves in unexpected ways and the dark energy explains how the universe is speeding up, but both of these are supposedly being created at a fantastic rate, particularly the dark energy, which violates the law conservation of matter and energy.
There is a new theory out there (http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/arxiv/25492/) that suggests the universe has no beginning and no end and just expands and contracts. It accurately predicts what happens with the red shift, and wiggles out of 2, but still doesn't explain where everything came from in the first place. It also doesn't explain how the universe knows when to shift from expansion to contraction, how that happens, or how it overcomes gravity at the point of maximum contraction (or conversely, how gravity or another attractive force somehow increase at maximum expansion). Also, if the universe were infinitely old, we'd have practically no radioactive minerals anywhere because of half-lives.
Ok, now that we've gone over some of the basic science of it, it's time to ask an important question or two. First, why is it that people in science continue to laugh at the Bible when all the answers are in it? The Bible is actually one of the most scientifically accurate books out there, insofar as it mentions science. It told us that worker ants were female (most versions of Proverbs 6:6 say "learn her ways". Both when the Bible was written and when it was translated were male-dominated societies that would have tended to call animals as hes or its if the gender was unknown.
It says the stars are innumerable in Genesis 15:5. Before the telescope, though, many men tried and the counts usually came up at about 1,000, which is easily countable. It has only been since the invention of the telescope that we've seen the Bible proven right.
Isaiah states that the earth is round in Isaiah 40:22, referring to the "circle of the earth", over 200 years before Pythagoras first theorized that the earth was round and over 400 years before Aristotle accepted it on empirical grounds.
Job 26:7 says God hung the earth on nothing. Other cultures believed it rested on the back of some great beast or Titan. It wasn't until Copernicus in about 1500 that we have a scientist realizing the earth has nothing under it.
Acts 17:26 says we are all of one blood. Until recently, scientists thought there were vast differences between races. We know the opposite to be true now.
Job 38:16 talks of springs in the sea. Scientists have now found hot springs at the bottom of the ocean.
Can these all be lucky guesses? Blind rhetoric that turned out true? It's quite possible that the writers themselves did not understand what was being said, particularly not in its entirety, but the odds of all of these being true are remarkably small if you assume blind guesses, particularly when other surrounding cultures held directly opposing beliefs or were completely ignorant.
No, it's that man wants to be separate from God. We want to live our lives apart from His rules and believe somehow that if we can reason Him out of our lives, He doesn't exist. Psalm 19:1 reads, "The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands." As scientists run out of answers and start breaking their own accepted laws to wedge their theories in, maybe a few of them will realize that the answers have been in the church and not the observatory or the lab. Maybe they will finally realize that their telescopes are not the real windows to the beginning of Creation. But if they are true scientists and consider all the evidence, don't they have to at least allow for the possibility of a Creator?
1. There's no explanation for where that matter and energy came from in the first place. The best explanation is that it came from a collapsing universe before it, but that doesn't explain where it came from originally; it just pushes the question back another 30 billion years.
2. The nucleus of an atom is extremely small, something akin to a marble on the pitcher's mound inside a major league stadium, with the electrons running laps around the seats in the upper deck. Even if you were to scale this up (WARNING: This is where I pull out math), it doesn't work. If the nucleus is a basketball, the electrons are about 20 miles away. How many basketballs could fit in a sphere with a 20 mile radius? A lot: about 19.66 quadrillion (assuming all space was filled; actual capacity would be less). Seems like it might work if you had no space in the individual atoms, doesn't it?
Not so fast. Astronomers have discovered a star called VY Canis Majoris, which is about 1.7 billion, yes, billion, miles across. If you were to use the same ratio to condense it, it would still be nearly 6,300 miles across. Not exactly pea-sized. And that's just one star, not the countless stars and planets and nebulae and everything else we see.
3. The Big Bang Theory doesn't explain the red shift we see. Red shift is a phenomenon where stars traveling away from earth appear redder based on how quickly they're moving away relative to us. The universe is actually accelerating, causing an increase in red shifts. Scientists don't know why and have posited that there must be "dark matter" and "dark energy" out there. The dark matter is supposed to explain why light behaves in unexpected ways and the dark energy explains how the universe is speeding up, but both of these are supposedly being created at a fantastic rate, particularly the dark energy, which violates the law conservation of matter and energy.
There is a new theory out there (http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/arxiv/25492/) that suggests the universe has no beginning and no end and just expands and contracts. It accurately predicts what happens with the red shift, and wiggles out of 2, but still doesn't explain where everything came from in the first place. It also doesn't explain how the universe knows when to shift from expansion to contraction, how that happens, or how it overcomes gravity at the point of maximum contraction (or conversely, how gravity or another attractive force somehow increase at maximum expansion). Also, if the universe were infinitely old, we'd have practically no radioactive minerals anywhere because of half-lives.
Ok, now that we've gone over some of the basic science of it, it's time to ask an important question or two. First, why is it that people in science continue to laugh at the Bible when all the answers are in it? The Bible is actually one of the most scientifically accurate books out there, insofar as it mentions science. It told us that worker ants were female (most versions of Proverbs 6:6 say "learn her ways". Both when the Bible was written and when it was translated were male-dominated societies that would have tended to call animals as hes or its if the gender was unknown.
It says the stars are innumerable in Genesis 15:5. Before the telescope, though, many men tried and the counts usually came up at about 1,000, which is easily countable. It has only been since the invention of the telescope that we've seen the Bible proven right.
Isaiah states that the earth is round in Isaiah 40:22, referring to the "circle of the earth", over 200 years before Pythagoras first theorized that the earth was round and over 400 years before Aristotle accepted it on empirical grounds.
Job 26:7 says God hung the earth on nothing. Other cultures believed it rested on the back of some great beast or Titan. It wasn't until Copernicus in about 1500 that we have a scientist realizing the earth has nothing under it.
Acts 17:26 says we are all of one blood. Until recently, scientists thought there were vast differences between races. We know the opposite to be true now.
Job 38:16 talks of springs in the sea. Scientists have now found hot springs at the bottom of the ocean.
Can these all be lucky guesses? Blind rhetoric that turned out true? It's quite possible that the writers themselves did not understand what was being said, particularly not in its entirety, but the odds of all of these being true are remarkably small if you assume blind guesses, particularly when other surrounding cultures held directly opposing beliefs or were completely ignorant.
No, it's that man wants to be separate from God. We want to live our lives apart from His rules and believe somehow that if we can reason Him out of our lives, He doesn't exist. Psalm 19:1 reads, "The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands." As scientists run out of answers and start breaking their own accepted laws to wedge their theories in, maybe a few of them will realize that the answers have been in the church and not the observatory or the lab. Maybe they will finally realize that their telescopes are not the real windows to the beginning of Creation. But if they are true scientists and consider all the evidence, don't they have to at least allow for the possibility of a Creator?
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
I'm Fine, Thanks.
I hear that answer a lot when I ask how people are. When I ask again, I here it repeated or insisted upon. It may be true sometimes, but in a number of cases, I know it isn't.
We went out to dinner at IHOP after our young adults service. One topic of discussion was what some of the people were going through and one guy, who always seems happy, shared how he often wasn't. He then said, "It's funny: some of the people who seem the happiest are those who struggle the most with it, because they have no one to really ask them how they are doing."
It's true. We solve problems if we can and tend to ignore what isn't broken. With machines or animals, there are obvious clues that they aren't right, but with humans, many of us try to hide what's going on. There are several reasons for it, but I think most of us want to let someone in on what we're going through on some level.
Challenge for the week (yes, I know it's been a while since the last one and I'm not going to promise it will become something I try to do weekly again): Find someone who seems pretty happy overall and ask them how they're doing. Do this with someone you know reasonably well and not a complete stranger, but ask what's going on and don't be thrown off by the first answer or two you get back. Get to know what is really going on in their lives. Be there for someone who usually doesn't have someone there for them because they seem fine most of the time.
We went out to dinner at IHOP after our young adults service. One topic of discussion was what some of the people were going through and one guy, who always seems happy, shared how he often wasn't. He then said, "It's funny: some of the people who seem the happiest are those who struggle the most with it, because they have no one to really ask them how they are doing."
It's true. We solve problems if we can and tend to ignore what isn't broken. With machines or animals, there are obvious clues that they aren't right, but with humans, many of us try to hide what's going on. There are several reasons for it, but I think most of us want to let someone in on what we're going through on some level.
Challenge for the week (yes, I know it's been a while since the last one and I'm not going to promise it will become something I try to do weekly again): Find someone who seems pretty happy overall and ask them how they're doing. Do this with someone you know reasonably well and not a complete stranger, but ask what's going on and don't be thrown off by the first answer or two you get back. Get to know what is really going on in their lives. Be there for someone who usually doesn't have someone there for them because they seem fine most of the time.
Sunday, August 8, 2010
"How much will it cost?"
As someone who is usually careful with his money, that's a question I ask a lot when someone proposes a new restaurant, new activity, or a trip. There's no such thing as something for nothing...and in a number of instances, the something you give can get you a lot less in return - in either quantity or quality or even both - than you expected. I reason that I can only spend the money I have once, so I had better get a good value out of it.
Things would be different if everything in the world was free. I'd have been to Europe and toured the old castles and the museums there. I'd go to all the sporting events I wanted. I'd have a nice house with great furniture and a beautiful golden retriever to play tug-of-war with. But other people expect things from me in return for all of this, namely, money.
For the other things that I want, I pay in different currency. If I want friends, I have to pay in kindness and humor. If I want love, I have to learn what her love languages are and speak them to her. If I want a promotion, I pay for it with hard and intelligent work. For everything in this world, there is a price...
...Except for the thing we want the most: unconditional love. We all want...no, need...to be loved, to feel that someone cares about us more than we even care about ourselves. Someone who knows every last one of our faults, sins, and weaknesses and doesn't sweep them under the rug or deny them, but loves us in spite of them. Someone we can be our true selves around, broken and bleeding when we're hurt, exuberant, dependent, in need - anything.
Sometimes, though, it's so hard for us to accept when it's offered to us.
Here's what I mean: God loves us, more than we love each other, ourselves, or could even imagine loving ourselves. His love is pure and without ulterior motive because - and this is important - we have nothing He needs. He wants our love, but even that helps us more than it helps Him. But we don't accept it, probably because we can't even believe it.
Most Christians seem to do ok with this concept in their minds. "Yeah, God loves me no matter what. How amazing!", they sing a song, listen to a sermon, and go on their way. Get this concept in your heart, though, or at least try to comprehend it on a fuller level. It could go something like this:
You: God, I have some confessions. Today, some guy cut me off on the freeway and I cussed at him.
God: I love you.
You: I also stole some office supplies and then looked at porn when I got home from work.
God: I still love you.
You: But I started shooting heroine.
God: I love you.
You: And I think I might be gay or at least bisexual.
God: I love you.
You: I got into a fight at the bar last night and beat someone so severely they're breathing through a mask right now in ICU. His knee may never heal and I've just changed his life forever.
God: I love you anyway.
You: I hate myself!
God: But I love you.
You: I hate You, too! You do nothing for me and it feels like You hate me and my entire family! Give me one good reason why I should listen to anything You have to say!
God: I will always love you.
Nothing, not a single thing, can make God stop loving us. He may punish us as a good father punishes his children, but even that is done because He loves us and not because He doesn't, as we so often assume.
And He wants to help us in our struggles. I think our problem is that we simply don't believe He loves us. We can't fathom a love that deep and free. "God can help me in this, but will He? I'm just me. I'm no Moses or Abraham or David. I have no kingdom to run. I'll just have to figure it out on my own." I've said something similar to myself before. I've believed God doesn't love me because He didn't answer my prayers the way I wanted Him to and that He never would care about a single request (read: demand) I made of Him.
The Bible, though, says that without faith, it is impossible to please God, that we first must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. Hebrews 11, where the above is found, goes on to list some of the giants of faith in the Old Testament. Why do we believe that God loves them more than He loves us? These people listed weren't perfect. Jacob was a conniving little jerk, swindling his brother out of both birthright and blessing. Noah got so drunk after building the Ark that he passed out naked. Abraham took matters into his own hand and had Ishmael outside of God's will. Moses killed a man and was a coward when God first called him. And Rahab was a prostitute. They were sinners, just like we are. But they believed in God, not just that He existed, but that He truly and deeply loved them. They accepted that love and He showed Himself mighty with miracles that we still discuss today, some 3,000+ years later.
The Bible says, "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever." Hebrews 13:8. The same God Who loved and cared for His people then is alive and well today and loves you every bit as much as He loved them.
He sent His Son to die for you. Why do you keep thinking that He doesn't love you enough to help you with your current struggles and trials? He may not answer them the way you want, but He will be there, day by day, giving you strength and hope and encouragement and, most importantly, His infinite and free love.
Things would be different if everything in the world was free. I'd have been to Europe and toured the old castles and the museums there. I'd go to all the sporting events I wanted. I'd have a nice house with great furniture and a beautiful golden retriever to play tug-of-war with. But other people expect things from me in return for all of this, namely, money.
For the other things that I want, I pay in different currency. If I want friends, I have to pay in kindness and humor. If I want love, I have to learn what her love languages are and speak them to her. If I want a promotion, I pay for it with hard and intelligent work. For everything in this world, there is a price...
...Except for the thing we want the most: unconditional love. We all want...no, need...to be loved, to feel that someone cares about us more than we even care about ourselves. Someone who knows every last one of our faults, sins, and weaknesses and doesn't sweep them under the rug or deny them, but loves us in spite of them. Someone we can be our true selves around, broken and bleeding when we're hurt, exuberant, dependent, in need - anything.
Sometimes, though, it's so hard for us to accept when it's offered to us.
Here's what I mean: God loves us, more than we love each other, ourselves, or could even imagine loving ourselves. His love is pure and without ulterior motive because - and this is important - we have nothing He needs. He wants our love, but even that helps us more than it helps Him. But we don't accept it, probably because we can't even believe it.
Most Christians seem to do ok with this concept in their minds. "Yeah, God loves me no matter what. How amazing!", they sing a song, listen to a sermon, and go on their way. Get this concept in your heart, though, or at least try to comprehend it on a fuller level. It could go something like this:
You: God, I have some confessions. Today, some guy cut me off on the freeway and I cussed at him.
God: I love you.
You: I also stole some office supplies and then looked at porn when I got home from work.
God: I still love you.
You: But I started shooting heroine.
God: I love you.
You: And I think I might be gay or at least bisexual.
God: I love you.
You: I got into a fight at the bar last night and beat someone so severely they're breathing through a mask right now in ICU. His knee may never heal and I've just changed his life forever.
God: I love you anyway.
You: I hate myself!
God: But I love you.
You: I hate You, too! You do nothing for me and it feels like You hate me and my entire family! Give me one good reason why I should listen to anything You have to say!
God: I will always love you.
Nothing, not a single thing, can make God stop loving us. He may punish us as a good father punishes his children, but even that is done because He loves us and not because He doesn't, as we so often assume.
And He wants to help us in our struggles. I think our problem is that we simply don't believe He loves us. We can't fathom a love that deep and free. "God can help me in this, but will He? I'm just me. I'm no Moses or Abraham or David. I have no kingdom to run. I'll just have to figure it out on my own." I've said something similar to myself before. I've believed God doesn't love me because He didn't answer my prayers the way I wanted Him to and that He never would care about a single request (read: demand) I made of Him.
The Bible, though, says that without faith, it is impossible to please God, that we first must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. Hebrews 11, where the above is found, goes on to list some of the giants of faith in the Old Testament. Why do we believe that God loves them more than He loves us? These people listed weren't perfect. Jacob was a conniving little jerk, swindling his brother out of both birthright and blessing. Noah got so drunk after building the Ark that he passed out naked. Abraham took matters into his own hand and had Ishmael outside of God's will. Moses killed a man and was a coward when God first called him. And Rahab was a prostitute. They were sinners, just like we are. But they believed in God, not just that He existed, but that He truly and deeply loved them. They accepted that love and He showed Himself mighty with miracles that we still discuss today, some 3,000+ years later.
The Bible says, "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever." Hebrews 13:8. The same God Who loved and cared for His people then is alive and well today and loves you every bit as much as He loved them.
He sent His Son to die for you. Why do you keep thinking that He doesn't love you enough to help you with your current struggles and trials? He may not answer them the way you want, but He will be there, day by day, giving you strength and hope and encouragement and, most importantly, His infinite and free love.
Friday, July 30, 2010
Ants, ants, and more ants!
I don't know how well any of you remember MacGyver, but I grew up loving that show. One of my favorite episodes was when he went to South America and had to fight billions of soldier ants. These ants had formed a supercolony that was destroying everything in a two-mile wide swath. Villages, horses, the forest, all animals that got in their way - everything they came to, they obliterated.
MacGyver stuck around to defend a plantation with a guy he'd just met. He tried getting water into the irrigation ditches to make little moats. The ants, completely undeterred, chewed the leaves off trees and used them as rafts. He tried burning them, but the rest of them simply waited out the fire. It was only by blowing the dam and flooding the whole plantation that MacGyver was able to get rid of them.
I saw another episode of a show I can't remember where these ants formed bridges out of their bodies. Ants would literally march to their deaths in the ditches and pile up their corpses until the pile was above the water level.
I don't know how much of all this is real or not. In MacGyver, they showed the ants cutting down leaves and floating across the ditches on them, but I don't know about the other feats. Also, so far as I know, these ants don't live in colonies that massive, though the soldier ants really do live in colonies of millions.
The point, though, is that this is the kind of single-mindedness of purpose that is lacking in people in general and the church in particular. The church used to have it. When it started, the people would literally pool all their resources together and do all the good they could with that money. They would support missionaries, feed the poor, and support each other. Many withheld nothing. Many knew they would die one day for sharing their faith, yet continued to do it. There was even a story I heard that as James was being led away to be beheaded, the man who had accused him came up to him, pleaded for forgiveness, accepted Christ, and insisted that it was not right that James should die alone. They were beheaded together. What a testimony that must have been to those who witnessed it! A man who has but to say nothing to save his life instead goes and dies willingly for a faith in God. And the man whom he accused forgives him willingly and leads him to Christ.
Where is that kind of single-mindedness now? Where is that self-sacrifice? Why is it so hard for us to even stop and talk to our brothers and sisters in Christ when they are going through a trial? Why is it so hard for us to confront them in order to help them? Why do we worry about where money will come from if we know we're spending it how God wants us to? Why is it so rare that we help each other out beyond moving furniture? Where is our colony mindset? We should be one big happy family, ruled by one big happy God. Little Christian ants, willing to do whatever He bids us to do to advance His kingdom. How many of us would walk through fire for Him, though? How many of us would even walk through a humiliation for Him?
MacGyver stuck around to defend a plantation with a guy he'd just met. He tried getting water into the irrigation ditches to make little moats. The ants, completely undeterred, chewed the leaves off trees and used them as rafts. He tried burning them, but the rest of them simply waited out the fire. It was only by blowing the dam and flooding the whole plantation that MacGyver was able to get rid of them.
I saw another episode of a show I can't remember where these ants formed bridges out of their bodies. Ants would literally march to their deaths in the ditches and pile up their corpses until the pile was above the water level.
I don't know how much of all this is real or not. In MacGyver, they showed the ants cutting down leaves and floating across the ditches on them, but I don't know about the other feats. Also, so far as I know, these ants don't live in colonies that massive, though the soldier ants really do live in colonies of millions.
The point, though, is that this is the kind of single-mindedness of purpose that is lacking in people in general and the church in particular. The church used to have it. When it started, the people would literally pool all their resources together and do all the good they could with that money. They would support missionaries, feed the poor, and support each other. Many withheld nothing. Many knew they would die one day for sharing their faith, yet continued to do it. There was even a story I heard that as James was being led away to be beheaded, the man who had accused him came up to him, pleaded for forgiveness, accepted Christ, and insisted that it was not right that James should die alone. They were beheaded together. What a testimony that must have been to those who witnessed it! A man who has but to say nothing to save his life instead goes and dies willingly for a faith in God. And the man whom he accused forgives him willingly and leads him to Christ.
Where is that kind of single-mindedness now? Where is that self-sacrifice? Why is it so hard for us to even stop and talk to our brothers and sisters in Christ when they are going through a trial? Why is it so hard for us to confront them in order to help them? Why do we worry about where money will come from if we know we're spending it how God wants us to? Why is it so rare that we help each other out beyond moving furniture? Where is our colony mindset? We should be one big happy family, ruled by one big happy God. Little Christian ants, willing to do whatever He bids us to do to advance His kingdom. How many of us would walk through fire for Him, though? How many of us would even walk through a humiliation for Him?
Next!
I remember when there used to be a line for each teller. Now there's not even a single line at some grocery stores when they have the self-checkout lanes. Airports, movie theaters, baseball stadium ticket windows - pretty much everywhere has started using the one-line approach, which makes all the people at the windows have to shout "Next!" when they get done with a customer.
It's ironic that such a common and necessary word in work like that also seems to be they cry of our hearts in this generation. Those of you who are at least mid-20s may remember hours and hours spent on Nintendo, with the little pixelated Mario and his giant head that was big enough to break bricks or Contra, in which these two super-tough Marines shot bubbles out of their guns. Then there was Sega and SNes, Playstation, PS2, Gamecube, Xbox, PS3, and Wii (along with probably half a dozen others that I'm forgetting). Every generation is a massive improvement on the previous one.
Same with computers, cell phones, and, to a lesser extent, cars. We always want what's next, the latest and therefore, the greatest.
With electronics, it's fine. But we do that with almost everything. We get out of a relationship and we focus on who's next more than why that one fell apart. We lose a job and get the next one rather than ask what we really want to be doing 10 years from now. We go out to a party and then the very next night get bored because there's nothing to do. We're always on the lookout for that next thrill or high, even if it's not an improvement over where we just were. Few people seem to be willing to sit back and really think about what is going to make them happy long-term.
I get into that mode more often than I'd like to admit. What am I thinking? I'm thinking, "What do I want to do right now?" or "I'll never have what I really want, so I might as well get what I can." Almost always one of those two thoughts. So short-sighted.
There's a story of a little boy walking around Paris when they were building the Notre Dame Cathedral. He asked one worker what he was doing. The man replied, "I'm earning a living." He asked a second man, who answered, "I'm laying bricks." He asked a third man and heard, "I'm building a cathedral." Three men, all doing the same thing, but with three very different perspectives.
What is our perspective when we go about our days? Are we just making a living? Are we simply doing what we happen to be doing? Or are we building something that will last and impact other people? Are we looking for the next thrill or our life's purpose?
It's ironic that such a common and necessary word in work like that also seems to be they cry of our hearts in this generation. Those of you who are at least mid-20s may remember hours and hours spent on Nintendo, with the little pixelated Mario and his giant head that was big enough to break bricks or Contra, in which these two super-tough Marines shot bubbles out of their guns. Then there was Sega and SNes, Playstation, PS2, Gamecube, Xbox, PS3, and Wii (along with probably half a dozen others that I'm forgetting). Every generation is a massive improvement on the previous one.
Same with computers, cell phones, and, to a lesser extent, cars. We always want what's next, the latest and therefore, the greatest.
With electronics, it's fine. But we do that with almost everything. We get out of a relationship and we focus on who's next more than why that one fell apart. We lose a job and get the next one rather than ask what we really want to be doing 10 years from now. We go out to a party and then the very next night get bored because there's nothing to do. We're always on the lookout for that next thrill or high, even if it's not an improvement over where we just were. Few people seem to be willing to sit back and really think about what is going to make them happy long-term.
I get into that mode more often than I'd like to admit. What am I thinking? I'm thinking, "What do I want to do right now?" or "I'll never have what I really want, so I might as well get what I can." Almost always one of those two thoughts. So short-sighted.
There's a story of a little boy walking around Paris when they were building the Notre Dame Cathedral. He asked one worker what he was doing. The man replied, "I'm earning a living." He asked a second man, who answered, "I'm laying bricks." He asked a third man and heard, "I'm building a cathedral." Three men, all doing the same thing, but with three very different perspectives.
What is our perspective when we go about our days? Are we just making a living? Are we simply doing what we happen to be doing? Or are we building something that will last and impact other people? Are we looking for the next thrill or our life's purpose?
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Putting It All Together
My little brother is both the most athletic one in our family and the clumsiest. There were many times growing up that he'd come in my room, pick up something that belonged to me, and start tossing it around - behind his back, under his legs, etc. I would tell him to stop because he would either drop it and risk breaking it or somehow hit me with it. I was right most of the time. He also broke a number of vases and figurines our mother kept around the house. He was usually good about telling her and she was often able to put the chipped pieces back together and glue them, sometimes so well that we could only see the cracks if we looked for them.
But sometimes, the vase or statue would be totally destroyed. There would be too many pieces, or some would be missing, or they couldn't be fit together just right, and so whatever it had been would be thrown away. And even the ones she fixed still had those minute cracks, no matter how well she repaired them.
A lot of people have used, or at least heard, the expression "picking up the pieces of my broken heart." They glue it back together, one little piece at a time, trying to make it stronger than it was before, trying to hide the cracks from other people, only to watch helplessly as it gets shattered again. The only way most of them find around that is to take their heart away from everyone, lock it in a safe, and let no one in.
My father was not, by any metric, a good father when I was growing up. There are worse fathers, I know, but the things he did to our family still affect us. And yet God has been working on me to forgive him. When I felt that, I started complaining to God, listing all the various things he had done, trying to justify my hatred of him. Then God shut me up like only he can, "Did anything he did break your life beyond My ability to fix it?"
I can't answer yes to that, even though that's what my heart has been claiming all these years. Focusing on the wreckage of my shattered youth, I cried that it was broken and no one could fix it, and so I had a right to hate the one who had done it.
But Jesus was sent to fix the broken. The sin in our lives that kept us from knowing God - paid for. The eternal death that was supposed to be ours - no more. The pain and suffering we all go through is still there, but He is our strength that gives us peace and guides us through them.
And then our hearts - He quite literally was dying to put them back together for us.
When I hear people wondering why God won't heal them or their hearts, I often think of a quote I once heard, "God can put your heart back together, but He must have all the pieces." What we so often do is complain that it's broken, but then piece it together ourselves or hide it away. When we do the former, there will be cracks in it, and whatever glue we use won't be strong enough to make it as it was before. When we do the latter, we lose all the good that we are meant to enjoy in an effort to avoid the bad.
God, though, can actually put all the pieces back where they were and meld them together again, making the heart brand new and strong. It is your choice: you can have a heart that beats for Him, or pieces of your broken heart that you try to glue back together or hide for the rest of your life.
But sometimes, the vase or statue would be totally destroyed. There would be too many pieces, or some would be missing, or they couldn't be fit together just right, and so whatever it had been would be thrown away. And even the ones she fixed still had those minute cracks, no matter how well she repaired them.
A lot of people have used, or at least heard, the expression "picking up the pieces of my broken heart." They glue it back together, one little piece at a time, trying to make it stronger than it was before, trying to hide the cracks from other people, only to watch helplessly as it gets shattered again. The only way most of them find around that is to take their heart away from everyone, lock it in a safe, and let no one in.
My father was not, by any metric, a good father when I was growing up. There are worse fathers, I know, but the things he did to our family still affect us. And yet God has been working on me to forgive him. When I felt that, I started complaining to God, listing all the various things he had done, trying to justify my hatred of him. Then God shut me up like only he can, "Did anything he did break your life beyond My ability to fix it?"
I can't answer yes to that, even though that's what my heart has been claiming all these years. Focusing on the wreckage of my shattered youth, I cried that it was broken and no one could fix it, and so I had a right to hate the one who had done it.
But Jesus was sent to fix the broken. The sin in our lives that kept us from knowing God - paid for. The eternal death that was supposed to be ours - no more. The pain and suffering we all go through is still there, but He is our strength that gives us peace and guides us through them.
And then our hearts - He quite literally was dying to put them back together for us.
When I hear people wondering why God won't heal them or their hearts, I often think of a quote I once heard, "God can put your heart back together, but He must have all the pieces." What we so often do is complain that it's broken, but then piece it together ourselves or hide it away. When we do the former, there will be cracks in it, and whatever glue we use won't be strong enough to make it as it was before. When we do the latter, we lose all the good that we are meant to enjoy in an effort to avoid the bad.
God, though, can actually put all the pieces back where they were and meld them together again, making the heart brand new and strong. It is your choice: you can have a heart that beats for Him, or pieces of your broken heart that you try to glue back together or hide for the rest of your life.
Monday, July 12, 2010
Looking in the Mirror
I just got back from a week long trip to the beach...ok, it was supposed to be a week long, but I came back early. Why? A vision problem. My eyesight is fine, or as fine as it usually is anyway, but I wasn't seeing me as I really was and was risking causing vision problems for others.
I know the above is a bit vague, and I don't want to get too deeply into it because it's not the point of this post. Suffice it to say that I was worried about something and not projecting the image I should be projecting.
When you are hired at a company, you no longer represent yourself alone. You represent the company, be that company McDonald's or Apple or a little mom-and-pop shop. Your demeanor while you're at work reflects on the company, whether it's positive or negative. You have to control how you come across because your attitude influences others' opinions of whom you're working for.
Yet with Christianity, we don't seem to consider this. I know I didn't last week. This is not about being real with our struggles with each other. We're humans, so we're going to want to have certain things or do certain things that we shouldn't and becoming a Christian isn't going to magically change that. But what I'm talking about is I didn't consider that when I was so worried about this particular issue and so caught up in it, I was sending a message loud and clear to everyone who saw me that God wasn't good enough. I was announcing that I didn't think God could pull me through this or change my situation or that He didn't care enough about me to help me.
Fortunately, I was on the trip with other Christians. How bad would it have been if I had been with those who didn't know Christ for themselves? What kind of message would I have been sending about God's power and love? "Come to Christ, because He isn't powerful enough to help you and doesn't care enough to help even if He could."
We don't always have to be happy, but we should always have a peace if we trust in God. People want a life without tears and pain, but that's naive and everyone who has any maturity will recognize that. What they really want, then, is to know they'll get through their situation, that it won't overcome them.
Gandhi once said, "There is nothing that wastes the body like worry, and one who has any faith in God should be ashamed to worry about anything whatsoever." Worry, in other words, is a statement of a lack of faith in God.
What makes you worry? Step back for a second and consider the following two questions: 1. Is God, the Creator of the universe, more powerful than your situation, or not? 2. Do you believe He loves you? If you answer yes to both of those, how can you not have peace?
I know the above is a bit vague, and I don't want to get too deeply into it because it's not the point of this post. Suffice it to say that I was worried about something and not projecting the image I should be projecting.
When you are hired at a company, you no longer represent yourself alone. You represent the company, be that company McDonald's or Apple or a little mom-and-pop shop. Your demeanor while you're at work reflects on the company, whether it's positive or negative. You have to control how you come across because your attitude influences others' opinions of whom you're working for.
Yet with Christianity, we don't seem to consider this. I know I didn't last week. This is not about being real with our struggles with each other. We're humans, so we're going to want to have certain things or do certain things that we shouldn't and becoming a Christian isn't going to magically change that. But what I'm talking about is I didn't consider that when I was so worried about this particular issue and so caught up in it, I was sending a message loud and clear to everyone who saw me that God wasn't good enough. I was announcing that I didn't think God could pull me through this or change my situation or that He didn't care enough about me to help me.
Fortunately, I was on the trip with other Christians. How bad would it have been if I had been with those who didn't know Christ for themselves? What kind of message would I have been sending about God's power and love? "Come to Christ, because He isn't powerful enough to help you and doesn't care enough to help even if He could."
We don't always have to be happy, but we should always have a peace if we trust in God. People want a life without tears and pain, but that's naive and everyone who has any maturity will recognize that. What they really want, then, is to know they'll get through their situation, that it won't overcome them.
Gandhi once said, "There is nothing that wastes the body like worry, and one who has any faith in God should be ashamed to worry about anything whatsoever." Worry, in other words, is a statement of a lack of faith in God.
What makes you worry? Step back for a second and consider the following two questions: 1. Is God, the Creator of the universe, more powerful than your situation, or not? 2. Do you believe He loves you? If you answer yes to both of those, how can you not have peace?
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Lessons from sand crabs
I'm here on vacation at Virginia Beach. The house I'm staying at is amazing, the beach is hot, the water cool, the sky perfect. It makes for some beautiful sunrises and great late night walks on the beach.
One of the creatures one encounters on these nocturnal strolls is the sand crab, a small crab that could fit in most people's hands and whose main talent seems to be running away. They remind me a lot of those little RC cars in how quickly they move.
There's a lot to learn from these eight-legged critters. First, they're almost always within 20 feet of where high tide comes in. They know that the source of their food is the ocean. They can't comprehend it anymore than we can comprehend God, but they know it brings them food, and that is good enough for them. They don't waste their time wandering away from the ocean in search for another source of food. They don't argue with each other about how the ocean should supply food or other aspects of the ocean. They just stick near the ocean and let it provide for them.
How I wish we could do that with God! Instead, we're looking at all the other puddles we see around us and wondering what kind of food will come from them. It will either be scant or tainted - usually both - and will leave us wondering what we were thinking by going to that source. Yet, rather than go back to our Ocean, we go to the next puddle or gutter stream or sewage outlet, thinking the food has to be better there.
Second, when there's danger, the crabs usually run toward the ocean. If they're not very close to their little holes, they run at full speed toward the ocean and seek protection there. Sometimes, they run right into my feet, just like we run right into more problems when we try to avoid them, but they right themselves and head toward the ocean.
In several walks on the beach both here and in Wilmington, NC, I've seen only one crab actually hold its ground and threaten us with claws held up in defiance. And if I'd wanted to, I could have stomped on that crab and killed it. The point is that we are too small ourselves to stand up to all the world throws at us. We can shake our claws in defiance at it and hold our ground, but we'll eventually get stepped on and crushed. Our only other option is to run somewhere for protection, yet even here, we run toward another source or a hole or another bunch of crabs who are all trying to look out for themselves rather than run to our Ocean and let Him protect us.
Third, the crabs actually work hard, getting their food and digging their holes. I see them often standing there waiting for me to pass, frozen in the beam of my flashlight, but more often, I see them moving around, hunting for the shells the ocean has thrown up and checking them for food or throwing out little bits of sand from their holes. They seem tireless. They're also always checking to see if it's dark out yet. Even in the middle of the day, if their holes are in the shade at all, they will come out and check to see if it's night yet.
I think we default into one of two modes: either wanting God to provide everything for us without us lifting a finger or not trusting God to provide anything for us. Neither is a proper view of God or how He works. Look back at Scripture. In the Old Testament, God often delivers the enemy into the Israelites' hands, but in all cases (that I can think of, at least), there is some action required of someone. Joshua or King David have to lead their troops into battle, Gideon has to blow the horn and smash the pot holding the torch, Naaman has to go bathe in the Jordan seven times, and so on. Always an action. In the New Testament, there is not a single case where Jesus just went to someone's house because He knew there was a sick person there. The family either had to send someone to Him to bid him to come or bring their sick to Him. "Faith without works is dead."
The other situation is probably even worse, since God seems to respond in the Bible only when He's asked to. If we're not depending on Him, then why would He provide miraculously for us? Does the ocean throw it's food into every lake and puddle inland? No, a crab must go to the ocean to find it. Why would we expect God to treat us differently?
One of the creatures one encounters on these nocturnal strolls is the sand crab, a small crab that could fit in most people's hands and whose main talent seems to be running away. They remind me a lot of those little RC cars in how quickly they move.
There's a lot to learn from these eight-legged critters. First, they're almost always within 20 feet of where high tide comes in. They know that the source of their food is the ocean. They can't comprehend it anymore than we can comprehend God, but they know it brings them food, and that is good enough for them. They don't waste their time wandering away from the ocean in search for another source of food. They don't argue with each other about how the ocean should supply food or other aspects of the ocean. They just stick near the ocean and let it provide for them.
How I wish we could do that with God! Instead, we're looking at all the other puddles we see around us and wondering what kind of food will come from them. It will either be scant or tainted - usually both - and will leave us wondering what we were thinking by going to that source. Yet, rather than go back to our Ocean, we go to the next puddle or gutter stream or sewage outlet, thinking the food has to be better there.
Second, when there's danger, the crabs usually run toward the ocean. If they're not very close to their little holes, they run at full speed toward the ocean and seek protection there. Sometimes, they run right into my feet, just like we run right into more problems when we try to avoid them, but they right themselves and head toward the ocean.
In several walks on the beach both here and in Wilmington, NC, I've seen only one crab actually hold its ground and threaten us with claws held up in defiance. And if I'd wanted to, I could have stomped on that crab and killed it. The point is that we are too small ourselves to stand up to all the world throws at us. We can shake our claws in defiance at it and hold our ground, but we'll eventually get stepped on and crushed. Our only other option is to run somewhere for protection, yet even here, we run toward another source or a hole or another bunch of crabs who are all trying to look out for themselves rather than run to our Ocean and let Him protect us.
Third, the crabs actually work hard, getting their food and digging their holes. I see them often standing there waiting for me to pass, frozen in the beam of my flashlight, but more often, I see them moving around, hunting for the shells the ocean has thrown up and checking them for food or throwing out little bits of sand from their holes. They seem tireless. They're also always checking to see if it's dark out yet. Even in the middle of the day, if their holes are in the shade at all, they will come out and check to see if it's night yet.
I think we default into one of two modes: either wanting God to provide everything for us without us lifting a finger or not trusting God to provide anything for us. Neither is a proper view of God or how He works. Look back at Scripture. In the Old Testament, God often delivers the enemy into the Israelites' hands, but in all cases (that I can think of, at least), there is some action required of someone. Joshua or King David have to lead their troops into battle, Gideon has to blow the horn and smash the pot holding the torch, Naaman has to go bathe in the Jordan seven times, and so on. Always an action. In the New Testament, there is not a single case where Jesus just went to someone's house because He knew there was a sick person there. The family either had to send someone to Him to bid him to come or bring their sick to Him. "Faith without works is dead."
The other situation is probably even worse, since God seems to respond in the Bible only when He's asked to. If we're not depending on Him, then why would He provide miraculously for us? Does the ocean throw it's food into every lake and puddle inland? No, a crab must go to the ocean to find it. Why would we expect God to treat us differently?
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Questions on Evolution
Recently, a big story was that a team of scientists had "created life." What really happened was they took a strand of DNA, replicated it with computers and machines, then changed a few pieces here and there, then inserted the modified strand into the nucleus of a stem cell and the cell lived and was able to reproduce. The scientists claimed it was a triumph and I'm sure many people were touting it as proof of evolution, since it shows life "can come from nothing."
Of course, what they forget is that 3.8 billion years ago, there were no computers and machines to put together all the elements into protein building blocks, match these building blocks to each other, and join them in a long string, and no stem cells to put these new DNA strands in.
Another issue is that if the earth was created 4.5 billion years ago as a mass of liquid hot rock, it's rate of rotation (estimated at 6.5 hours back then) would have produced enough centripetal force to make a huge bulge around the equator and flatten the planet and, some scientists believe, that bulge would have been large enough that the planet would have flung itself apart at the seams.
A third issue is where all the matter and energy came from in the first place. The best explanation I have heard is that it came from the collapse of the universe before it, but that theory has two problems with it: 1. It doesn't explain how the rate of expansion of the universe is actually increasing, which makes contraction and collapse impossible. If the first universe had collapsed, how can the second have enough energy that it doesn't? 2. It doesn't answer the question of where that universe's matter and energy came from, it only pushes the question back another 30 billion years.
To get to evolution itself, there are a host of issues with it:
1. The supposed point of evolution is survival. Survivability is greatly enhanced by being adaptable to different situations. Why then are amphibians considered low on the evolutionary chart? Being able to survive above and below water seems like a huge advantage in getting food. So does being able to fly. I know it sounds ridiculous, but if we were to design the perfect animal, we really couldn't do much better than a dragon, save to make it amphibious. It can fly, has a long life, has very thick scales, and breathes fire. Most legends also have them as being as wise and intelligent as humans. What do we have instead? Creatures with no defense systems to speak of, like the rock hyrax, kiwi, and plankton.
2. How did these creatures come to be in the first place? The simplest cell has about 582,000 base pairs of proteins that need to be matched up, each protein of which is made up of several atoms that have to bond together in the right way, as well as sugars to bind the pairs and make the walls of the double helix. The odds of this happening are so astronomically small that it has been compared to a tornado sweeping through an airplane junkyard and creating a fully functional Boeing 747.
3. Going from a single-celled organism to multi-cellular organisms seems impossible, too. I understand the argument behind why there are two genders in animals, but how does that functionality come about? Furthermore, if you had a multi-cellular creature that was asexual, and it produced offspring that were male and female, how would the offspring know what to do to make more of themselves? This functionality slowly developing over millions of years doesn't make much sense, either, for it would be saying that evolution, which is reactionary, had a plan for the future, and it still doesn't explain how they would know what to do to reproduce. Similar arguments could be made for almost all systems, such as digestive, cardiovascular, and pulmonary.
4. One of the ways evolution has attempted to get around this is punctuated evolution. The problem is that 98% of all mutations are harmful and, of those that aren't, few mutations are useful and many of them are sterile. Also, for this theory to work, the parents would have to have multiple children with the same mutation who then mated with each other and had that mutation carry on, or multiple parents had that mutation at the same time. Mating between species (such as would happen if a mutant that is a new species couldn't find a fellow mutant) usually produces sterile offspring as well.
5. On a more humorous note, consider the woodpecker. Here's a bird who bangs its head against a tree every day to get food. If the whole point of evolution is to improve a species, this has to be a step up from what it was doing before. Kind of makes you wonder what it was doing previously, doesn't it? ;)
Of course, what they forget is that 3.8 billion years ago, there were no computers and machines to put together all the elements into protein building blocks, match these building blocks to each other, and join them in a long string, and no stem cells to put these new DNA strands in.
Another issue is that if the earth was created 4.5 billion years ago as a mass of liquid hot rock, it's rate of rotation (estimated at 6.5 hours back then) would have produced enough centripetal force to make a huge bulge around the equator and flatten the planet and, some scientists believe, that bulge would have been large enough that the planet would have flung itself apart at the seams.
A third issue is where all the matter and energy came from in the first place. The best explanation I have heard is that it came from the collapse of the universe before it, but that theory has two problems with it: 1. It doesn't explain how the rate of expansion of the universe is actually increasing, which makes contraction and collapse impossible. If the first universe had collapsed, how can the second have enough energy that it doesn't? 2. It doesn't answer the question of where that universe's matter and energy came from, it only pushes the question back another 30 billion years.
To get to evolution itself, there are a host of issues with it:
1. The supposed point of evolution is survival. Survivability is greatly enhanced by being adaptable to different situations. Why then are amphibians considered low on the evolutionary chart? Being able to survive above and below water seems like a huge advantage in getting food. So does being able to fly. I know it sounds ridiculous, but if we were to design the perfect animal, we really couldn't do much better than a dragon, save to make it amphibious. It can fly, has a long life, has very thick scales, and breathes fire. Most legends also have them as being as wise and intelligent as humans. What do we have instead? Creatures with no defense systems to speak of, like the rock hyrax, kiwi, and plankton.
2. How did these creatures come to be in the first place? The simplest cell has about 582,000 base pairs of proteins that need to be matched up, each protein of which is made up of several atoms that have to bond together in the right way, as well as sugars to bind the pairs and make the walls of the double helix. The odds of this happening are so astronomically small that it has been compared to a tornado sweeping through an airplane junkyard and creating a fully functional Boeing 747.
3. Going from a single-celled organism to multi-cellular organisms seems impossible, too. I understand the argument behind why there are two genders in animals, but how does that functionality come about? Furthermore, if you had a multi-cellular creature that was asexual, and it produced offspring that were male and female, how would the offspring know what to do to make more of themselves? This functionality slowly developing over millions of years doesn't make much sense, either, for it would be saying that evolution, which is reactionary, had a plan for the future, and it still doesn't explain how they would know what to do to reproduce. Similar arguments could be made for almost all systems, such as digestive, cardiovascular, and pulmonary.
4. One of the ways evolution has attempted to get around this is punctuated evolution. The problem is that 98% of all mutations are harmful and, of those that aren't, few mutations are useful and many of them are sterile. Also, for this theory to work, the parents would have to have multiple children with the same mutation who then mated with each other and had that mutation carry on, or multiple parents had that mutation at the same time. Mating between species (such as would happen if a mutant that is a new species couldn't find a fellow mutant) usually produces sterile offspring as well.
5. On a more humorous note, consider the woodpecker. Here's a bird who bangs its head against a tree every day to get food. If the whole point of evolution is to improve a species, this has to be a step up from what it was doing before. Kind of makes you wonder what it was doing previously, doesn't it? ;)
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Work, work, work - that's all I ever do at this job!
Our sermon this past Sunday was about how we view work. We had a substitute speaker, as our pastor is down in the Amazonian rain forest right now, and this guy happens to own a construction company. Construction is something he loves to do and he feels it's what God has called him to do.
I led our young adults discussion group after the sermon and one of the questions I asked was, "What kind of work do you think God has called you to do? If you're not doing it, why not?" The most common answer I got from people is that they don't know what kind of work they're supposed to be doing. It sparked a question in me of: how do we know what God has called us to?
It doesn't necessarily have to be something we enjoy doing. Moses would have much rather remained a shepherd than lead the children of Israel out of Egypt. Solomon was stressed out about the responsibility that came with being a king. Jonah tried running away from his calling. Even Jesus prayed that God had another way.
It doesn't have to be something we're naturally gifted at, either. To use Moses again, he was rather cowardly when God first called him and also admitted to being a stammerer and not the kind of man people would naturally follow. Though the Bible doesn't say this specifically, I can't imagine the Egyptians trained the Israelites in warfare or let them train themselves, yet they won every battle in which they sought God first.
It doesn't have anything to do with our current position, either. David was a humble shepherd. Gideon was the least of his father's house in the least family of Israel. Matthew was a tax collector and Peter was a fisherman.
In the movie Evan Almighty, God calls Evan to build an ark. At one point, Evan is complaining about it and tells God this doesn't fit into his plans. God just laughs at him. It wasn't a mean laugh, but He was almost doubled over laughing. The point is that our plans don't matter. Compared to His plans, what are our plans? Compared to eternity, what are our strategies for improving our tomorrows? Do you think it was in Abraham's plan to sacrifice Isaac?
At another part in the movie, a reporter sneeringly asks Evan, "What makes you think God called you?" One of my favorite parts of the movie is Evan's response, "He's called all of us."
This point is more or less echoed in the Bible, "Many are called, but few are chosen." Also, the Bible talks about all the various callings and how our callings cannot be the same, nor should we be jealous of others whom we think have "higher" callings.
In short, we all have a calling and it doesn't depend on what we like to do, are good at doing, are currently doing, or what our resources currently are. Where does that leave us as far as learning God's will, much less accomplishing it?
If you don't know your calling, it seems there are two likely situations: 1. you haven't actually asked, or 2. you're where God wants you to be right now. For the first one, God says, "Ask and you shall receive; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you." Also, "He who lacks wisdom, let him ask for it of God, who gives unto all men liberally." If you do not know God's will in your life, but get the feeling that where you are isn't it, ask and believe that He will answer you.
If you have asked and believed, yet have gotten no answer, you may also be where God needs you to be. Moses was a shepherd for 40 years before God spoke to him. Jesus was a carpenter from the time he was 13 until he turned 30. Abraham wasn't a father at all, let alone of many nations, until he was over 100.
Either way, it boils down to one question: how much are you willing to trust your life to God? Your calling, whatever it is, will serve two purposes: to draw you closer to God and to love others and, by so doing, point them to God. It won't always be easy or fun, but if you will trust in Him, you will accomplish His will for your life, even if you never know what that purpose is.
I led our young adults discussion group after the sermon and one of the questions I asked was, "What kind of work do you think God has called you to do? If you're not doing it, why not?" The most common answer I got from people is that they don't know what kind of work they're supposed to be doing. It sparked a question in me of: how do we know what God has called us to?
It doesn't necessarily have to be something we enjoy doing. Moses would have much rather remained a shepherd than lead the children of Israel out of Egypt. Solomon was stressed out about the responsibility that came with being a king. Jonah tried running away from his calling. Even Jesus prayed that God had another way.
It doesn't have to be something we're naturally gifted at, either. To use Moses again, he was rather cowardly when God first called him and also admitted to being a stammerer and not the kind of man people would naturally follow. Though the Bible doesn't say this specifically, I can't imagine the Egyptians trained the Israelites in warfare or let them train themselves, yet they won every battle in which they sought God first.
It doesn't have anything to do with our current position, either. David was a humble shepherd. Gideon was the least of his father's house in the least family of Israel. Matthew was a tax collector and Peter was a fisherman.
In the movie Evan Almighty, God calls Evan to build an ark. At one point, Evan is complaining about it and tells God this doesn't fit into his plans. God just laughs at him. It wasn't a mean laugh, but He was almost doubled over laughing. The point is that our plans don't matter. Compared to His plans, what are our plans? Compared to eternity, what are our strategies for improving our tomorrows? Do you think it was in Abraham's plan to sacrifice Isaac?
At another part in the movie, a reporter sneeringly asks Evan, "What makes you think God called you?" One of my favorite parts of the movie is Evan's response, "He's called all of us."
This point is more or less echoed in the Bible, "Many are called, but few are chosen." Also, the Bible talks about all the various callings and how our callings cannot be the same, nor should we be jealous of others whom we think have "higher" callings.
In short, we all have a calling and it doesn't depend on what we like to do, are good at doing, are currently doing, or what our resources currently are. Where does that leave us as far as learning God's will, much less accomplishing it?
If you don't know your calling, it seems there are two likely situations: 1. you haven't actually asked, or 2. you're where God wants you to be right now. For the first one, God says, "Ask and you shall receive; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you." Also, "He who lacks wisdom, let him ask for it of God, who gives unto all men liberally." If you do not know God's will in your life, but get the feeling that where you are isn't it, ask and believe that He will answer you.
If you have asked and believed, yet have gotten no answer, you may also be where God needs you to be. Moses was a shepherd for 40 years before God spoke to him. Jesus was a carpenter from the time he was 13 until he turned 30. Abraham wasn't a father at all, let alone of many nations, until he was over 100.
Either way, it boils down to one question: how much are you willing to trust your life to God? Your calling, whatever it is, will serve two purposes: to draw you closer to God and to love others and, by so doing, point them to God. It won't always be easy or fun, but if you will trust in Him, you will accomplish His will for your life, even if you never know what that purpose is.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Something I'd written a while back...
The following is a short essay I'd written years ago in college. It was about putting together the pieces of our lives into a meaning. Hope you enjoy it.
The Puzzle
Walking in a barren field one day, I found the pieces of a 3-D puzzle on the ground. The pieces had no pictures are parts of a picture on them, simply words and concepts, such as "inner peace" and "purpose." Having a world of time, I began putting the pieces together, trying to make what I could. It was easy at first, as I quickly constructed a statue; tall, strong, intelligent, handsome, and driven my statue looked. But when I had finished, I found I had used up all of my pieces on the outside, leaving little more than a well-made shell of a man.
So I took my statue apart and tried to make a face to fit my desires. So incredibly beautiful was this face, so tender and warm with penetrating eyes that bore through to the deepest part of my soul. I turned away from that captivating countenance, full of shame and anger against myself for not being good enough to return the gaze of that face.
I took the face apart and knew now what I must do; I built a judge's bench and a gavel, that with them I might proclaim myself innocent and judge others according to my own interpretation of the law. With the first pounding of the hammer, though, I knew this creation, too, was not the shape these pieces were supposed to take, for I could never lie in peace if I lied for peace.
One more thing I thought I'd try: I took the pieces and built I knew not what, but it seemed good to me and judged no one else. A strange object was my creation, able to mold itself to suit the tastes of all who saw it and to make them allow for the views of all others. This plan also fell through, for this object had neither form nor shape nor consistency. One push on it would poke a hole in it, a hole easily repaired, but the object would never be quite the same as before.
In my despair, I tore this last creation apart and walked dejectedly away, leaving the pieces of the dove where I found them, for I had not the heart to try again.
Thankfully, I have changed since I wrote this. When it was penned, I knew, as you might guess from the last paragraph, what was the right answer in my head, but my heart was steadfast in its rejection. In a way, even though God has helped me build that dove in my life, I still reject Him at times, opting for the beautiful face most often, but sometimes for the strong statue or the judge, and once in a while for the amorphous shape when I get discouraged.
The problem is that the pieces of our life can build only one thing at a time. We must either be building what God wants us to build or tearing it down to build what we want to build. Fortunately, He is able to help us repair what damage we've done much faster than we ever could, but still, every piece we remove from Him is a piece that is used to a bad purpose and a piece that has to be replaced. And some of that replacing takes a long time if the piece has been broken or if we are fighting Him on where to put it.
What pieces in your life are you withholding from God? Which ones have you broken and need Him to repair?
The Puzzle
Walking in a barren field one day, I found the pieces of a 3-D puzzle on the ground. The pieces had no pictures are parts of a picture on them, simply words and concepts, such as "inner peace" and "purpose." Having a world of time, I began putting the pieces together, trying to make what I could. It was easy at first, as I quickly constructed a statue; tall, strong, intelligent, handsome, and driven my statue looked. But when I had finished, I found I had used up all of my pieces on the outside, leaving little more than a well-made shell of a man.
So I took my statue apart and tried to make a face to fit my desires. So incredibly beautiful was this face, so tender and warm with penetrating eyes that bore through to the deepest part of my soul. I turned away from that captivating countenance, full of shame and anger against myself for not being good enough to return the gaze of that face.
I took the face apart and knew now what I must do; I built a judge's bench and a gavel, that with them I might proclaim myself innocent and judge others according to my own interpretation of the law. With the first pounding of the hammer, though, I knew this creation, too, was not the shape these pieces were supposed to take, for I could never lie in peace if I lied for peace.
One more thing I thought I'd try: I took the pieces and built I knew not what, but it seemed good to me and judged no one else. A strange object was my creation, able to mold itself to suit the tastes of all who saw it and to make them allow for the views of all others. This plan also fell through, for this object had neither form nor shape nor consistency. One push on it would poke a hole in it, a hole easily repaired, but the object would never be quite the same as before.
In my despair, I tore this last creation apart and walked dejectedly away, leaving the pieces of the dove where I found them, for I had not the heart to try again.
Thankfully, I have changed since I wrote this. When it was penned, I knew, as you might guess from the last paragraph, what was the right answer in my head, but my heart was steadfast in its rejection. In a way, even though God has helped me build that dove in my life, I still reject Him at times, opting for the beautiful face most often, but sometimes for the strong statue or the judge, and once in a while for the amorphous shape when I get discouraged.
The problem is that the pieces of our life can build only one thing at a time. We must either be building what God wants us to build or tearing it down to build what we want to build. Fortunately, He is able to help us repair what damage we've done much faster than we ever could, but still, every piece we remove from Him is a piece that is used to a bad purpose and a piece that has to be replaced. And some of that replacing takes a long time if the piece has been broken or if we are fighting Him on where to put it.
What pieces in your life are you withholding from God? Which ones have you broken and need Him to repair?
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Who do you think you are?
When someone asks me who I am, the first and most obvious answer is my name. If they want more, I offer what I do for a living, where I'm from, and other such things that, in my mind, compose whatever public identity I have. So many things are interesting about this harmless exchange, though:
1. I've never introduced myself with my faults. I've never said, "Hi, my name is John and I have issues with forgiving people, including myself." Are not my faults every bit as much a part of who I am as my good points?
2. Come to think of it, I don't really discuss who I am as a person at all. Oh, you can learn a little bit about how someone thinks by knowing what job they're in and a little of their history, but those clues can lead you down a totally false path and, even if you are right, don't tell you whom you're really dealing with, only small things, like having my CPA license means I'm decent with numbers.
3. The strangest thing, though, is that we don't often ask ourselves this question and answer it according to the first two points.
So, who are you? Really? What kind of person are you, deep down? What secrets are you hiding from others lest they see you for who you really are or fear you are? What good points do you have that you are lying to yourself about having for fear that admitting them would mean you'd have to risk using them? How do you feel about what you have become?
Ok, now what does God say about who you are? You can research this question and you can come up with verses that says God remembers we are dust, that all our righteous works are as filthy rags, and that we are like sheep (which is not exactly a compliment, as stupid as sheep are). We're called stiff-necked, hard-hearted, and idol chasers.
But that's not the end of the story. That's merely where we are when Christ comes into our hearts. We are called children of God, His heirs, His friends. God loves us so much He deemed it worth it to send Jesus to die for us. It's still not anything we have done or ever could do to earn it, but that's how He values us.
What right do you have then to call yourself worthless when God has demonstrated so decisively just how He feels about you? What excuse can you offer for feeling bad about yourself because you feel unloved when you could not possibly be more loved than you are by Him?
How you see yourself is not just something to bring a smile to your face or keep the tears and self-pity away. It is, in my opinion, one of the core reasons why we sin.
If we are really honest about it, we'll find two things about true self-confidence: 1. that it is independent of the opinions of others, and 2. ironically, that it seems to be a person's opinion of their ability to get others' love. No one has true self-confidence, and so our confidence will always rest, at least in part, on the opinions of others, with the more confident among us letting only those close to them help determine their worth.
But for this second point of self-confidence, not having it applies to everything and everyone, including God. And if you don't believe God loves you, you won't believe that He wants to do good things for you. If you don't believe that, then you believe that all good things you'll have in this life will come from your own efforts, and, when those methods are outside His will, you sin.
It's a cycle: if you have no confidence, you don't believe God loves you, and not believing that He loves you means you'll never have the self-image He wants you to have. It's not a self-image based on your worthiness. It's actually a self-image that's based in part on your worthlessness and in part on God's love for you despite that.
To break the cycle, you have to realize that God loves you and has made you His son or daughter. He doesn't use those terms lightly, either. He says that whatever we ask in His name, if we believe it, we'll receive it. He says that if we seek, we will find; that if we knock, it shall be opened to us; that if we ask, we'll receive.
A gym owner in Sweden just married a princess. Do you think he's going back to the gym after the honeymoon? No, he's going to the palace. Will he still be a trainer? No, he'll be groomed to be a statesman. His role has changed because his position with the royal family has changed. He has been made a duke and he will now be responsible for representing his country and helping his wife in her role. He has new privileges and new responsibilities.
How much more so for us who are children of God? We accept the responsibilities, but how often do we believe, really believe, that God "will meet all [our] needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus"? We make ourselves slaves and not heirs. We ask, but it's more like begging and not an expectation of receiving good things from Him. We might not get what we ask, but we have been given the right, no, an invitation, to go before Him and ask for what we want. Think about that: the Creator of the Universe loves you and wants what is best for you, and actually invites you to ask Him for stuff.
How do you feel about yourself now? :D
1. I've never introduced myself with my faults. I've never said, "Hi, my name is John and I have issues with forgiving people, including myself." Are not my faults every bit as much a part of who I am as my good points?
2. Come to think of it, I don't really discuss who I am as a person at all. Oh, you can learn a little bit about how someone thinks by knowing what job they're in and a little of their history, but those clues can lead you down a totally false path and, even if you are right, don't tell you whom you're really dealing with, only small things, like having my CPA license means I'm decent with numbers.
3. The strangest thing, though, is that we don't often ask ourselves this question and answer it according to the first two points.
So, who are you? Really? What kind of person are you, deep down? What secrets are you hiding from others lest they see you for who you really are or fear you are? What good points do you have that you are lying to yourself about having for fear that admitting them would mean you'd have to risk using them? How do you feel about what you have become?
Ok, now what does God say about who you are? You can research this question and you can come up with verses that says God remembers we are dust, that all our righteous works are as filthy rags, and that we are like sheep (which is not exactly a compliment, as stupid as sheep are). We're called stiff-necked, hard-hearted, and idol chasers.
But that's not the end of the story. That's merely where we are when Christ comes into our hearts. We are called children of God, His heirs, His friends. God loves us so much He deemed it worth it to send Jesus to die for us. It's still not anything we have done or ever could do to earn it, but that's how He values us.
What right do you have then to call yourself worthless when God has demonstrated so decisively just how He feels about you? What excuse can you offer for feeling bad about yourself because you feel unloved when you could not possibly be more loved than you are by Him?
How you see yourself is not just something to bring a smile to your face or keep the tears and self-pity away. It is, in my opinion, one of the core reasons why we sin.
If we are really honest about it, we'll find two things about true self-confidence: 1. that it is independent of the opinions of others, and 2. ironically, that it seems to be a person's opinion of their ability to get others' love. No one has true self-confidence, and so our confidence will always rest, at least in part, on the opinions of others, with the more confident among us letting only those close to them help determine their worth.
But for this second point of self-confidence, not having it applies to everything and everyone, including God. And if you don't believe God loves you, you won't believe that He wants to do good things for you. If you don't believe that, then you believe that all good things you'll have in this life will come from your own efforts, and, when those methods are outside His will, you sin.
It's a cycle: if you have no confidence, you don't believe God loves you, and not believing that He loves you means you'll never have the self-image He wants you to have. It's not a self-image based on your worthiness. It's actually a self-image that's based in part on your worthlessness and in part on God's love for you despite that.
To break the cycle, you have to realize that God loves you and has made you His son or daughter. He doesn't use those terms lightly, either. He says that whatever we ask in His name, if we believe it, we'll receive it. He says that if we seek, we will find; that if we knock, it shall be opened to us; that if we ask, we'll receive.
A gym owner in Sweden just married a princess. Do you think he's going back to the gym after the honeymoon? No, he's going to the palace. Will he still be a trainer? No, he'll be groomed to be a statesman. His role has changed because his position with the royal family has changed. He has been made a duke and he will now be responsible for representing his country and helping his wife in her role. He has new privileges and new responsibilities.
How much more so for us who are children of God? We accept the responsibilities, but how often do we believe, really believe, that God "will meet all [our] needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus"? We make ourselves slaves and not heirs. We ask, but it's more like begging and not an expectation of receiving good things from Him. We might not get what we ask, but we have been given the right, no, an invitation, to go before Him and ask for what we want. Think about that: the Creator of the Universe loves you and wants what is best for you, and actually invites you to ask Him for stuff.
How do you feel about yourself now? :D
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Because I said so
I'm reading through the Bible in a year. Actually, somewhat less than a year because I can't help but be competitive, even with myself. That aside, I'm in Isaiah right now, and one thing that's struck me about the book is how often you see some variant of one of the following: "I am the Lord your God, there are no other gods besides me," "For My name's sake, I will do it," or, "I have spoken, shall I not I do it?"
Essentially, the message of the book, aside from the prognostications of doom for seemingly everyone who has ever pestered Israel, seems to be that God really wants us to know He is God and praise Him. God calls out idols and idol worshipers, wondering where the idols are who will save those who pray to them and making fun of those who make idols, saying they chop a log in half, use half of it to cook their food, and bow down to the other half as a god.
I had a debate last year with a friend over why God does what He does. She held that it was all for His glory. I maintained it was because He loved us. Both views were biblically supported, her point in Isaiah and mine in John 3:16, with support in other places for both of us. I think now that perhaps those two viewpoints are not as divergent as they once seemed.
When I am praising God, there is a release of all the emotional and psychological garbage in my life. My problems don't all disappear, but they do leave my mind while I am really praising God and focused on Him. It is His glory that causes us to love Him, and our love of Him that opens the door for Him to work in our lives. God can do what He wills to anyone, of course, but why would He bless someone who does not believe in Him, so that they believe they themselves or their gods have done it for them? The one exception was His greatest gift to us, His Son, and that points us only toward Him, because that's nothing we nor any other god can do.
In other words, God needs nothing from us, but He desires our praise. He wants all nations to fall before Him and worship Him. If this added to Him, though, or if the lack of it detracted from Him, He wouldn't be God. This is a desire of His, but it cannot be a need because God needs nothing. When we praise Him, though, we are coming to Him and letting Him do what He wills, and He wills to love us.
Getting back to Isaiah, the children of Israel "are a stiff-necked people." They run to God when they need Him, then turn away as soon as crisis is averted. (Sound familiar in your own life? Be honest.) They didn't deserve His blessing upon them. They actually deserved to be wiped out. God says it is for His name's sake that He forgives all their sins (Isaiah 43:25-26) and blesses them (Isaiah 42:6-9). It adds to His glory that He forgives us.
Consider it this way: if you and I have a contract for me to do your taxes for a given amount, and you pay me and I do them to the best of my ability, where is the glory for either of us? We had an agreement and both of us fulfilled it. We did only what we said we'd do and, while it means we have some sense of honor, it's no more than what should be done.
Conversely, if you don't pay me and I do your taxes anyway because I care about you and know you need it, then I am going above and beyond what I should do. Then I'm not just the guy who did your taxes for a fair price, I'm "the really generous guy who saw [you were] hurting for money" and blah, blah, blah...
And that's just one small service. How much more should God be thanked continually for sending His Son, part of Himself, to die a horribly painful death for us after we've run (and continue to run) to pretty much everything else to fulfill us? He wants us to glorify Him and there is no one and nothing we can even imagine that's nearly as worthy of it.
Essentially, the message of the book, aside from the prognostications of doom for seemingly everyone who has ever pestered Israel, seems to be that God really wants us to know He is God and praise Him. God calls out idols and idol worshipers, wondering where the idols are who will save those who pray to them and making fun of those who make idols, saying they chop a log in half, use half of it to cook their food, and bow down to the other half as a god.
I had a debate last year with a friend over why God does what He does. She held that it was all for His glory. I maintained it was because He loved us. Both views were biblically supported, her point in Isaiah and mine in John 3:16, with support in other places for both of us. I think now that perhaps those two viewpoints are not as divergent as they once seemed.
When I am praising God, there is a release of all the emotional and psychological garbage in my life. My problems don't all disappear, but they do leave my mind while I am really praising God and focused on Him. It is His glory that causes us to love Him, and our love of Him that opens the door for Him to work in our lives. God can do what He wills to anyone, of course, but why would He bless someone who does not believe in Him, so that they believe they themselves or their gods have done it for them? The one exception was His greatest gift to us, His Son, and that points us only toward Him, because that's nothing we nor any other god can do.
In other words, God needs nothing from us, but He desires our praise. He wants all nations to fall before Him and worship Him. If this added to Him, though, or if the lack of it detracted from Him, He wouldn't be God. This is a desire of His, but it cannot be a need because God needs nothing. When we praise Him, though, we are coming to Him and letting Him do what He wills, and He wills to love us.
Getting back to Isaiah, the children of Israel "are a stiff-necked people." They run to God when they need Him, then turn away as soon as crisis is averted. (Sound familiar in your own life? Be honest.) They didn't deserve His blessing upon them. They actually deserved to be wiped out. God says it is for His name's sake that He forgives all their sins (Isaiah 43:25-26) and blesses them (Isaiah 42:6-9). It adds to His glory that He forgives us.
Consider it this way: if you and I have a contract for me to do your taxes for a given amount, and you pay me and I do them to the best of my ability, where is the glory for either of us? We had an agreement and both of us fulfilled it. We did only what we said we'd do and, while it means we have some sense of honor, it's no more than what should be done.
Conversely, if you don't pay me and I do your taxes anyway because I care about you and know you need it, then I am going above and beyond what I should do. Then I'm not just the guy who did your taxes for a fair price, I'm "the really generous guy who saw [you were] hurting for money" and blah, blah, blah...
And that's just one small service. How much more should God be thanked continually for sending His Son, part of Himself, to die a horribly painful death for us after we've run (and continue to run) to pretty much everything else to fulfill us? He wants us to glorify Him and there is no one and nothing we can even imagine that's nearly as worthy of it.
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