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? ;)
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
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.
Sunday, June 13, 2010
A Light in the Darkness
I'm kind of at a low point right now. I've felt much worse, been less able to focus on things, and far, far more emotional, but I'm not feeling all that great right now. And yet...
The difference between me feeling this way now and me feeling this way a couple years ago, or even eight months ago, is that there is a light in the darkness. There is hope still. There is something to look forward to. In short, there is still God, and He still loves me.
That alone should make me start singing and dancing. (Those who know me know how happy I'd have to be to do either of those, since I generally don't, save for torturing those unfortunate enough to stand near me with my singing in church on Sunday.) Yet I'm not. I'm sitting here writing this, pondering what to do with the rest of my evening, and hoping to find a way to stop thinking about the situation I find myself in.
And that brings me back to God. He is so patient that, even knowing I don't view Him as all I need, He is still here for me, taking me by the hand, and leading me through the darkness.
He is the Way, the Truth, and the Light: the Way out of this darkness, the Truth that shall set me free, and the Light to guide my steps when my future seems so dim.
The difference between me feeling this way now and me feeling this way a couple years ago, or even eight months ago, is that there is a light in the darkness. There is hope still. There is something to look forward to. In short, there is still God, and He still loves me.
That alone should make me start singing and dancing. (Those who know me know how happy I'd have to be to do either of those, since I generally don't, save for torturing those unfortunate enough to stand near me with my singing in church on Sunday.) Yet I'm not. I'm sitting here writing this, pondering what to do with the rest of my evening, and hoping to find a way to stop thinking about the situation I find myself in.
And that brings me back to God. He is so patient that, even knowing I don't view Him as all I need, He is still here for me, taking me by the hand, and leading me through the darkness.
He is the Way, the Truth, and the Light: the Way out of this darkness, the Truth that shall set me free, and the Light to guide my steps when my future seems so dim.
Monday, June 7, 2010
Prayer - This Week's Challenge
My brother recently sent me a packet of 10 birthday cards from my father's side of the family, the side I haven't spoken to for at least 10 years and most of them for 13 or more. I don't want to have contact with my father because of all that he's done to my family. I honestly haven't forgiven him yet. The others I don't want to have contact with simply because we were never all that close to begin with and because that path would lead toward him in some way.
So this week's challenge is to find someone in your life you haven't yet forgiven and pray for them, as I will pray for my father for the first time since I can remember. I have found before that it is hard to stay mad at someone you are praying for, so, while this may take a good long while for me, I have to try praying for him so that I can eventually forgive him.
So this week's challenge is to find someone in your life you haven't yet forgiven and pray for them, as I will pray for my father for the first time since I can remember. I have found before that it is hard to stay mad at someone you are praying for, so, while this may take a good long while for me, I have to try praying for him so that I can eventually forgive him.
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Jesus is Coming, Look Busy.
The title of this post was a bumper sticker I have seen a few times and is also used to comedic effect in Johnny English. And though the general impression one gets is that one can fool God as easily as one fools one's bosses (or as easily as one can overuse one in a sentence), there is still a good moral point to it.
That moral point is that God is watching us. Every last second of every last day. He doesn't see just your actions, but your heart. What's more, He knows in advance exactly what you're going to do.
Jesus tells a story of women wanting to go into a wedding and waiting with their lamps. Some of them run out of oil and beg the ones that haven't run out of oil to give them some. The ones with oil refuse, lest they also run out of oil before the bridegroom comes and passes them by, so the ones without go to buy some, miss the bridegroom, and are locked out of the wedding feast. The ones who had oil had their vigilance rewarded. Jesus tells another story in which he asks what will happen to wicked servants who have hurt their master's other servants and killed his sons. He is answered that the wicked servants will be killed and better servants chosen, and Jesus tells that man he has answered rightly. In a third story, Jesus tells of men given five talents, three, and one. The first two doubled their master's money, and the latter buried it because he was lazy and afraid to lose it. He was cast out and his talent given to the one who had ten.
No, we cannot get to Heaven by our works, and thank God we can't, for if we could, Jesus' sacrifice and love would mean nothing. Yet we are clearly called to be doing something for God. Moreover, we are called to do before we are blessed.
Too many Christians, however, seem to have this attitude of, "Why should I work for God? He hasn't given me what I want yet." These same people go to work, knowing that they won't be paid today for their work today. I've worked at a place that paid one week after each two week pay period ended, so it was three weeks after I worked some hours before I got paid for them. It was four years after I started college that I got the reward I had gone there for (though, it must be admitted, I received an entirely different and at least as valuable education along the way). Why should God be different? He is the One Who dictated that the seed is planted before the harvest is gathered. He is the One Who gave different harvest times for different things. Corn and wheat may come up during a year and the harvest is just half a year after the sowing, but apples and oranges take years before the seed yields a harvest. We do not question these, yet we expect God's law of the harvest to somehow not apply to us, that we can be given some sort of advance for the value of our future services.
Here's what it boils down to: God instituted and still uses the law of the harvest. Our works are worthless, so far as they go in enhancing His glory or making Him richer. He blesses us for our hearts, our willingness to give what little we can to Him. And He blesses us after He has proven that we are after more than just His blessing.
So...what are you doing for God's kingdom while you wait for His blessing? Jesus is watching, look busy. Be busy. And, most importantly, focus on Christ and not what is in His hands.
That moral point is that God is watching us. Every last second of every last day. He doesn't see just your actions, but your heart. What's more, He knows in advance exactly what you're going to do.
Jesus tells a story of women wanting to go into a wedding and waiting with their lamps. Some of them run out of oil and beg the ones that haven't run out of oil to give them some. The ones with oil refuse, lest they also run out of oil before the bridegroom comes and passes them by, so the ones without go to buy some, miss the bridegroom, and are locked out of the wedding feast. The ones who had oil had their vigilance rewarded. Jesus tells another story in which he asks what will happen to wicked servants who have hurt their master's other servants and killed his sons. He is answered that the wicked servants will be killed and better servants chosen, and Jesus tells that man he has answered rightly. In a third story, Jesus tells of men given five talents, three, and one. The first two doubled their master's money, and the latter buried it because he was lazy and afraid to lose it. He was cast out and his talent given to the one who had ten.
No, we cannot get to Heaven by our works, and thank God we can't, for if we could, Jesus' sacrifice and love would mean nothing. Yet we are clearly called to be doing something for God. Moreover, we are called to do before we are blessed.
Too many Christians, however, seem to have this attitude of, "Why should I work for God? He hasn't given me what I want yet." These same people go to work, knowing that they won't be paid today for their work today. I've worked at a place that paid one week after each two week pay period ended, so it was three weeks after I worked some hours before I got paid for them. It was four years after I started college that I got the reward I had gone there for (though, it must be admitted, I received an entirely different and at least as valuable education along the way). Why should God be different? He is the One Who dictated that the seed is planted before the harvest is gathered. He is the One Who gave different harvest times for different things. Corn and wheat may come up during a year and the harvest is just half a year after the sowing, but apples and oranges take years before the seed yields a harvest. We do not question these, yet we expect God's law of the harvest to somehow not apply to us, that we can be given some sort of advance for the value of our future services.
Here's what it boils down to: God instituted and still uses the law of the harvest. Our works are worthless, so far as they go in enhancing His glory or making Him richer. He blesses us for our hearts, our willingness to give what little we can to Him. And He blesses us after He has proven that we are after more than just His blessing.
So...what are you doing for God's kingdom while you wait for His blessing? Jesus is watching, look busy. Be busy. And, most importantly, focus on Christ and not what is in His hands.
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
This Week's Challenge
Your challenge for this week is to find an area of sin in your life and give it up to God. I don't expect that you will immediately and forever stop committing this sin, but take it to God and ask for His help on it, and then let Him work in you to get rid of it. Remember that no amount of willpower will be able to make you overcome what is in your heart. The only way to successfully combat sin is to have a higher desire than that sin, which must be Christ.
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Concussion and Bruises
On Saturday, I returned from a trip to Roanoke to help repair/renovate houses for low-income families. On this trip, I received a mild concussion, my fair share of scratches, and about a dozen bruises, most of which I have no idea how I got them.
And it was, without question, absolutely worth it.
It wasn't the smiling six-year-old running up to us and giving us each a card and a "Thank you" for roofing his family's house. It wasn't the old man whose porch we cleaned out and then braced telling us his story. It wasn't the camaraderie developed with those who went with me from my church nor the new friendships with those from other churches. All of those were nice and appreciated, but there's something innately wonderful about simply helping someone who cannot help themselves.
Perhaps it is because we were meant to love each other. Perhaps because, being made in the image of God, we inherit a fraction of His generosity and desire to see others happy. Perhaps it is that our irony-loving God put it in our hearts to never be satisfied when seeking ourselves, but only seeking Him and the welfare of others.
Whatever it may be, I am still amazed that I am not only willing, but eager to go back next year, and perhaps in the interim to a proposed trip to Nashville to help clean up after the massive flood the city had. The injuries don't matter to me.
And it's good that they don't, because God never promises that walking in His will is going to be easy. He actually promises hardships. Look at Paul's life. Beaten, imprisoned, his life often threatened, and once even stoned and left for dead. He was eventually killed for what he preached. He did not lead an easy life after his salvation, whereas his life was nearly perfect before it, as far as his comfort was concerned. He was fairly well-to-do, respected, powerful, and considered as holy as man could be. All of that he considered as rubbish compared to what Christ offered him and he gladly suffered all the things that came to him in order to remain in God's will.
I'll be honest: I'm not at that point yet. I hope to one day be, but I don't know if it will ever happen. My trip was worth the bumps and bruises, but if someone were to threaten me with imprisonment, scourging, and stoning for going, I know I would stay happily home in the comfort of the room I rent, blogging about how we should trust in God to protect us. In that regard, I am both hypocrite and coward. Worse, I am idolizing myself over God.
The greatest wonder in the universe is not the galaxies incomprehensible distances away nor the love between a man and woman that so often goes beyond all reason nor life nor unfathomable complexity of each atom and how God's rules govern each tiny particle. No, the greatest wonder is that God can love us. It's not like we love each other, keeping our skeletons in our closets, putting our masks on to hide our true faces, and turning away from each other when a certain standard is not met or reciprocity of love fails. God loves us, knowing all of our skeletons, even the ones we refuse to admit to ourselves, knowing our true faces as their Designer, and He will never turn away, even though we can't offer Him anything that makes Him greater or hurt Him by refusing Him.
With such a love, we should be throwing ourselves at His feet, praising Him all day, and resting in Him at night. And yet we don't, because we're injured and won't let Him heal us, sometimes by Himself, but more often through others. We have concussions and bruises on more than just our bodies. Our hearts and souls are bleeding and broken, too.
There is an old adage that says, "If you want to have friends, show yourself friendly." I would coin it to say, "If you want to be blessed, make yourself a blessing." If you are hurting, give your hurt to God, and then help others. Nothing clears up a few bumps and bruises like doing what God made you to do.
And it was, without question, absolutely worth it.
It wasn't the smiling six-year-old running up to us and giving us each a card and a "Thank you" for roofing his family's house. It wasn't the old man whose porch we cleaned out and then braced telling us his story. It wasn't the camaraderie developed with those who went with me from my church nor the new friendships with those from other churches. All of those were nice and appreciated, but there's something innately wonderful about simply helping someone who cannot help themselves.
Perhaps it is because we were meant to love each other. Perhaps because, being made in the image of God, we inherit a fraction of His generosity and desire to see others happy. Perhaps it is that our irony-loving God put it in our hearts to never be satisfied when seeking ourselves, but only seeking Him and the welfare of others.
Whatever it may be, I am still amazed that I am not only willing, but eager to go back next year, and perhaps in the interim to a proposed trip to Nashville to help clean up after the massive flood the city had. The injuries don't matter to me.
And it's good that they don't, because God never promises that walking in His will is going to be easy. He actually promises hardships. Look at Paul's life. Beaten, imprisoned, his life often threatened, and once even stoned and left for dead. He was eventually killed for what he preached. He did not lead an easy life after his salvation, whereas his life was nearly perfect before it, as far as his comfort was concerned. He was fairly well-to-do, respected, powerful, and considered as holy as man could be. All of that he considered as rubbish compared to what Christ offered him and he gladly suffered all the things that came to him in order to remain in God's will.
I'll be honest: I'm not at that point yet. I hope to one day be, but I don't know if it will ever happen. My trip was worth the bumps and bruises, but if someone were to threaten me with imprisonment, scourging, and stoning for going, I know I would stay happily home in the comfort of the room I rent, blogging about how we should trust in God to protect us. In that regard, I am both hypocrite and coward. Worse, I am idolizing myself over God.
The greatest wonder in the universe is not the galaxies incomprehensible distances away nor the love between a man and woman that so often goes beyond all reason nor life nor unfathomable complexity of each atom and how God's rules govern each tiny particle. No, the greatest wonder is that God can love us. It's not like we love each other, keeping our skeletons in our closets, putting our masks on to hide our true faces, and turning away from each other when a certain standard is not met or reciprocity of love fails. God loves us, knowing all of our skeletons, even the ones we refuse to admit to ourselves, knowing our true faces as their Designer, and He will never turn away, even though we can't offer Him anything that makes Him greater or hurt Him by refusing Him.
With such a love, we should be throwing ourselves at His feet, praising Him all day, and resting in Him at night. And yet we don't, because we're injured and won't let Him heal us, sometimes by Himself, but more often through others. We have concussions and bruises on more than just our bodies. Our hearts and souls are bleeding and broken, too.
There is an old adage that says, "If you want to have friends, show yourself friendly." I would coin it to say, "If you want to be blessed, make yourself a blessing." If you are hurting, give your hurt to God, and then help others. Nothing clears up a few bumps and bruises like doing what God made you to do.
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