And...We're back.
8 years ago
Thursday, December 10, 2009
My Photography
I really enjoy photography and photo editing. God is creative, so I do think it's possible to worship through creative pursuits as well.
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Jesus is not cool…and neither is following Him.
Jesus is not cool…and neither is following Him.
(read this in an Irish accent or listen to this quote here: http://www.sermonindex.net
“And there's no room for [Jesus] in the inn.
He got a bit older, there was no room in His family, His family turned on Him.
He went to the temple, no room in the temple, the temple turned on Him.
And when He died there was no room to bury Him, He died outside of the city.
Well why in God's Name do you expect to be accepted everywhere?
How is it that the world couldn't get on with the holiest Man that ever lived and can get on with you and me?
Are we compromised? Are we compromised?
Have we no spiritual stature?
Have we no righteousness that reflects on their corruption?”
-Leonard Ravenhill
I am a female. Females seek attention. God wired us that way, but our sinful nature has transformed a beautiful need for Him into a desperate quest for popularity. Pursuing popularity (or doing whatever it takes to get people to like me) poses a problem, a contradiction to the lifestyle of the Jesus to whom I surrendered.
I’ve spent nearly my entire high school career trying to get people to like me. I’d laugh at the nasty jokes. I’d talk junk about the friends and teachers to whose faces I’d talk sweetly. But where in the Bible does it say this kind of compromise is okay? Jesus has promised that the world will hate me because it hated Him. Only one of His disciples died a natural death, friends, and even then John the Beloved was exiled and endured much suffering.
Read Matthew 10:16-39. Seriously, right now get your Bible out or go on Biblegateway.com and read it. Soak in each word. The context is Jesus was sending out His disciples to share the gospel with the Jews (though later they would also share with the Gentiles.)
This passage was at first scary, but once I thought about it more it became empowering. If we are living in obedience to God and sharing the offensive Gospel, we are guaranteed difficulties. We are not promised health and safety, but we can delight in knowing that nothing escapes our sovereign LORD’s sight. If it’s His will for a sparrow to die, the sparrow will die. If it’s His will for us to complete our stay on this world, then we will complete our stay here. If we are obedient to Him we don’t have to worry about a thing because we know that nothing bad will happen apart from His will. That’s more comforting than anything.
We as humans are so…humanistic. Everything we do revolves around us, even evangelism. We rely on ourselves so much, wanting to be “culturally relevant” so we can relate to everyone. We never take a stand on anything so we don’t “encroach on anyone’s beliefs” or “step on anyone’s toes.” This way of thinking/preaching is so flawed. Have you read Paul’s letters? 1 Corinthians 2:1-5 says that he didn’t come with superiority of speech or wisdom, but he was determined to know nothing but Jesus Christ, and Him crucified, so when he was preaching he was relying not on persuasive words but on the power of God. If what he was saying penetrated the hearts of the Corinthians, that meant that they were putting in their faith in Jesus Christ rather than in the communicative ability of the messenger. Paul didn’t learn funny jokes or hip slang; he learned Jesus. This leaves no room for justifying your approval of sin so you can “relate” with the lost. It’s not your job to speak to their hearts; it’s your job to plant and water but God gives growth. (1 Corinthians 3:5-9)
Today I read 1 Corinthians 4:11-13. Check this out.
“To the present hour we hunger and thirst, we are poorly dressed and buffeted and homeless, and we labour, working with our own hands. When reviled, we bless. When persecuted, we endure; when slandered, we entreat. We have become, and are still, like the scum of the world, the refuse of all things.”
Scum of the world, eh? To the unbeliever this does not seem appetizing. (So thank God for intervening and giving the unbeliever understanding!) But though we as Christians will be oppressed and afflicted, the rewards are so much greater, not only in this kingdom but in the Kingdom to come! We have inherited salvation through the suffering of Jesus Christ. We can fellowship with a holy God. He gives us a peace that passes all understanding. How beautiful is the tortured life of the believer!
Philippians 4:11-13 is one of my favourite passages, but verse 13 is constantly taken out of context and deemed as a “life verse” for athletes. “…for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through [Christ] who strengthens me.” Paul was content with his condition because he had Christ. He knew that Christ likewise suffered much, so by also suffering for His Name’s sake Paul was able to share in His sufferings. That’s an exciting thing to have in common with Jesus.
How did Jesus survive the forty days of fasting? When the devil tempted him, He said “Man does not live on bread alone.” Jesus’ source of strength was the LORD. May we rely on Him to sustain us as well! We need not comfort or wealth or popularity. We need Christ.
Though in high school I do not have to face prison or beheading, but I do have to face people who will make fun of me or get annoyed with me for being passionate about Jesus (and I go to a Christian school, so I'm sure the rest of you have it way worse.) But it's not my job to stir up revival or get a million saved; it's my job to be obedient to Him (no matter the cost!) and let Him do as He pleases. And if I see fruit for my labour, yay. But if I don't see how He used me until I'm with Him, that's okay too. But He is so worth any kind of suffering.
You only have one life, friends. Will you pursue coolness or will you pursue Christ?
(read this in an Irish accent or listen to this quote here: http://www.sermonindex.net
“And there's no room for [Jesus] in the inn.
He got a bit older, there was no room in His family, His family turned on Him.
He went to the temple, no room in the temple, the temple turned on Him.
And when He died there was no room to bury Him, He died outside of the city.
Well why in God's Name do you expect to be accepted everywhere?
How is it that the world couldn't get on with the holiest Man that ever lived and can get on with you and me?
Are we compromised? Are we compromised?
Have we no spiritual stature?
Have we no righteousness that reflects on their corruption?”
-Leonard Ravenhill
I am a female. Females seek attention. God wired us that way, but our sinful nature has transformed a beautiful need for Him into a desperate quest for popularity. Pursuing popularity (or doing whatever it takes to get people to like me) poses a problem, a contradiction to the lifestyle of the Jesus to whom I surrendered.
I’ve spent nearly my entire high school career trying to get people to like me. I’d laugh at the nasty jokes. I’d talk junk about the friends and teachers to whose faces I’d talk sweetly. But where in the Bible does it say this kind of compromise is okay? Jesus has promised that the world will hate me because it hated Him. Only one of His disciples died a natural death, friends, and even then John the Beloved was exiled and endured much suffering.
Read Matthew 10:16-39. Seriously, right now get your Bible out or go on Biblegateway.com and read it. Soak in each word. The context is Jesus was sending out His disciples to share the gospel with the Jews (though later they would also share with the Gentiles.)
This passage was at first scary, but once I thought about it more it became empowering. If we are living in obedience to God and sharing the offensive Gospel, we are guaranteed difficulties. We are not promised health and safety, but we can delight in knowing that nothing escapes our sovereign LORD’s sight. If it’s His will for a sparrow to die, the sparrow will die. If it’s His will for us to complete our stay on this world, then we will complete our stay here. If we are obedient to Him we don’t have to worry about a thing because we know that nothing bad will happen apart from His will. That’s more comforting than anything.
We as humans are so…humanistic. Everything we do revolves around us, even evangelism. We rely on ourselves so much, wanting to be “culturally relevant” so we can relate to everyone. We never take a stand on anything so we don’t “encroach on anyone’s beliefs” or “step on anyone’s toes.” This way of thinking/preaching is so flawed. Have you read Paul’s letters? 1 Corinthians 2:1-5 says that he didn’t come with superiority of speech or wisdom, but he was determined to know nothing but Jesus Christ, and Him crucified, so when he was preaching he was relying not on persuasive words but on the power of God. If what he was saying penetrated the hearts of the Corinthians, that meant that they were putting in their faith in Jesus Christ rather than in the communicative ability of the messenger. Paul didn’t learn funny jokes or hip slang; he learned Jesus. This leaves no room for justifying your approval of sin so you can “relate” with the lost. It’s not your job to speak to their hearts; it’s your job to plant and water but God gives growth. (1 Corinthians 3:5-9)
Today I read 1 Corinthians 4:11-13. Check this out.
“To the present hour we hunger and thirst, we are poorly dressed and buffeted and homeless, and we labour, working with our own hands. When reviled, we bless. When persecuted, we endure; when slandered, we entreat. We have become, and are still, like the scum of the world, the refuse of all things.”
Scum of the world, eh? To the unbeliever this does not seem appetizing. (So thank God for intervening and giving the unbeliever understanding!) But though we as Christians will be oppressed and afflicted, the rewards are so much greater, not only in this kingdom but in the Kingdom to come! We have inherited salvation through the suffering of Jesus Christ. We can fellowship with a holy God. He gives us a peace that passes all understanding. How beautiful is the tortured life of the believer!
Philippians 4:11-13 is one of my favourite passages, but verse 13 is constantly taken out of context and deemed as a “life verse” for athletes. “…for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through [Christ] who strengthens me.” Paul was content with his condition because he had Christ. He knew that Christ likewise suffered much, so by also suffering for His Name’s sake Paul was able to share in His sufferings. That’s an exciting thing to have in common with Jesus.
How did Jesus survive the forty days of fasting? When the devil tempted him, He said “Man does not live on bread alone.” Jesus’ source of strength was the LORD. May we rely on Him to sustain us as well! We need not comfort or wealth or popularity. We need Christ.
Though in high school I do not have to face prison or beheading, but I do have to face people who will make fun of me or get annoyed with me for being passionate about Jesus (and I go to a Christian school, so I'm sure the rest of you have it way worse.) But it's not my job to stir up revival or get a million saved; it's my job to be obedient to Him (no matter the cost!) and let Him do as He pleases. And if I see fruit for my labour, yay. But if I don't see how He used me until I'm with Him, that's okay too. But He is so worth any kind of suffering.
You only have one life, friends. Will you pursue coolness or will you pursue Christ?
The Glory of God (part 2: God's Pursuit of His Own Glory)
In my last note (The Glory of God Through Believers), I hopefully established that God's greatest passion is His glory: the acknowledgement of His splendour and majesty. Our every deed and thought and motive should be geared towards this purpose because God's every deed and thought and motive is bent upon His renown as well. God pursues His glory in an infinite amount of ways, but for this Note I hope to shed some light on what that looks like.
God will tear down idols.
An idol is anything we put before Him, and nearly anything can be turned into one; a great theologian once said "The human heart is a factory of idols…Every one of us is, from his mother’s womb, expert in inventing idols.” But God will not take this. And let me tell you, friends, one of the most wonderfully dangerous things that you can pray for yourself or others is that God will tear down whatever is keeping you from Him.
Isaiah 42:8
I am the LORD; that is My Name; My glory I give to no other, nor My praise to carved idols.
In the first few chapters of Isaiah, the prophet speaks of Judah's wickedness and rebellion, and how God isn't impressed with their numerous sacrifices or offerings because their hearts are all wrong. Then in chapter 3 Isaiah says that God will take away their esteemed leaders and their treasured supplies and their fine goods. When God takes things away (today it might be money, a sweet car, an intense relationship, etc.), He does this for at least two reasons:
1) His throne is not to be shared with idols (what fools we are to treasure the created more than the Creator!)
2) He loves us too much to withhold from us the greatest pleasure of Himself!
C.S. Lewis, in Mere Christianity, said this:
God made us: invented us as a man invents an engine. A car is made to run on petrol, and it would not run properly on anything else. Now God designed the human machine to run on Himself. He Himself is the fuel our spirits were designed to burn, or the food our spirits were designed to feed on. There is no other. That is why it is just no good asking God to make us happy in our own way without bothering about religion. God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing."
Yes! God's passion for His glory benefits us as a byproduct! If God's first priority was to benefit us in everything He did, He would be putting something of infinitely less worth over Himself, and that is idolatry and FAILURE. So if something sad or even devastating happens in your life, don't immediately blame satan (we tend to overestimate the Enemy's power) but, rather, seek God!
Never say something like "A good God won't let your mom die" or "The LORD is in control, and you won't lose your house"; it is because God is good and in control that such things might happen. Besides, if you hold onto this false hope of "a good blessed life" it'll make God look like a liar when the cancer returns or your financial plight worsens. I'm not saying that we shouldn't pray for God to fix our problems or heal the sick, but I do hope that we all get our thoughts of Him out of a humanistic box and acknowledge that His sovereignty is always best.
One day I was really upset because I felt like God would never provide this one thing I was waiting desperately for, and I was just sitting in my room bawling and really upset about it, drowning in self-pity. Then one of my dear friends texted me and reminded that this life isn't all about me; it's about God. Even if the thing I wanted was a good thing, if I think God's plan is bent around providing me what I want when I want it, that's as foolish as thinking that the sun revolves around the earth instead of the other way around.
By now I've probably given you the impression that God is horrible and unloving and doesn't care about His people. By no means! It would be unloving of Him to put anything before Himself. If He provided us with things to find pleasure in other than Himself, I wouldn't consider those "Blessings" at all because anything found on this earth is just a cheap substitute for the presence of the Holy One! May we find all that we need in Him! Ephesians 1 says that God has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing...that's more than enough!
God will tear down idols.
An idol is anything we put before Him, and nearly anything can be turned into one; a great theologian once said "The human heart is a factory of idols…Every one of us is, from his mother’s womb, expert in inventing idols.” But God will not take this. And let me tell you, friends, one of the most wonderfully dangerous things that you can pray for yourself or others is that God will tear down whatever is keeping you from Him.
Isaiah 42:8
I am the LORD; that is My Name; My glory I give to no other, nor My praise to carved idols.
In the first few chapters of Isaiah, the prophet speaks of Judah's wickedness and rebellion, and how God isn't impressed with their numerous sacrifices or offerings because their hearts are all wrong. Then in chapter 3 Isaiah says that God will take away their esteemed leaders and their treasured supplies and their fine goods. When God takes things away (today it might be money, a sweet car, an intense relationship, etc.), He does this for at least two reasons:
1) His throne is not to be shared with idols (what fools we are to treasure the created more than the Creator!)
2) He loves us too much to withhold from us the greatest pleasure of Himself!
C.S. Lewis, in Mere Christianity, said this:
God made us: invented us as a man invents an engine. A car is made to run on petrol, and it would not run properly on anything else. Now God designed the human machine to run on Himself. He Himself is the fuel our spirits were designed to burn, or the food our spirits were designed to feed on. There is no other. That is why it is just no good asking God to make us happy in our own way without bothering about religion. God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing."
Yes! God's passion for His glory benefits us as a byproduct! If God's first priority was to benefit us in everything He did, He would be putting something of infinitely less worth over Himself, and that is idolatry and FAILURE. So if something sad or even devastating happens in your life, don't immediately blame satan (we tend to overestimate the Enemy's power) but, rather, seek God!
Never say something like "A good God won't let your mom die" or "The LORD is in control, and you won't lose your house"; it is because God is good and in control that such things might happen. Besides, if you hold onto this false hope of "a good blessed life" it'll make God look like a liar when the cancer returns or your financial plight worsens. I'm not saying that we shouldn't pray for God to fix our problems or heal the sick, but I do hope that we all get our thoughts of Him out of a humanistic box and acknowledge that His sovereignty is always best.
One day I was really upset because I felt like God would never provide this one thing I was waiting desperately for, and I was just sitting in my room bawling and really upset about it, drowning in self-pity. Then one of my dear friends texted me and reminded that this life isn't all about me; it's about God. Even if the thing I wanted was a good thing, if I think God's plan is bent around providing me what I want when I want it, that's as foolish as thinking that the sun revolves around the earth instead of the other way around.
By now I've probably given you the impression that God is horrible and unloving and doesn't care about His people. By no means! It would be unloving of Him to put anything before Himself. If He provided us with things to find pleasure in other than Himself, I wouldn't consider those "Blessings" at all because anything found on this earth is just a cheap substitute for the presence of the Holy One! May we find all that we need in Him! Ephesians 1 says that God has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing...that's more than enough!
Thoughts on Grace/Judging Others/There's A Good Chance You're Not Really Saved
One thing that is on my mind a lot is how judgmental we are of people who commit the “big sins” like drugs, homosexuality, alcoholism, and premarital sex. I’m pretty sure that Jesus didn’t rank sins like we “Christians” do, and though some vices bring forth more harmful consequences than lying or gossip, they are all equally worthy of the full wrath of God. The wages---or reward/punishment---of sin is death! (Romans 6:23.) That’s some serious bidness, and regardless of what you do, you cannot help yourself out of this mess. If you are not in Christ, you are just as chained to sin and spiritually dead as Marilyn Manson or Hitler. So don’t brag that you have never done the “big ones”; every sin is a “big one” to a holy God, and before you are covered in Christ’s righteousness you are extremely evil and wicked and disgusting (read Romans 3!) So if you are His now, remember how far He has brought you, and never consider yourself better than anyone else…because you’re not.
Romans 8:5 says “For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.” Homosexuality, drugs, profanity…Christians constantly make a big deal and “take a stand” against these topics, and it has given us the reputation of being anti-gay, legalistic, hypocritical haters of Obama. This reputation in no way glorifies God. Sinners are going to sin; it’s their nature, what do you expect? We don’t need to protest allowing gay marriages or gossip about girls who sleep around. Jesus did not do this. The people that He harshly rebuked were, on the contrary, the religious people that were harshly rebuking the “morally repugnant!” Jesus realized that sinners sin! Criticizing lost people for their morals does no good at all; if they are not spurred by the Holy Spirit, they are not going to truly change.
If anything, we as Christians should love homosexuals and drug addicts, and show them that we are equally needy of mercy, no better than them, and that Jesus satisfies! If we’re going to rebuke people, let’s rebuke the Church! In 1 Corinthians 5, Paul is telling Christians to not even associate with people who call themselves “a brother” but is guilty of sexual immorality, greed, idolatry, drunkenness, or swindling.) He says, “For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? God judges those outside. ‘Purge the evil person from among you.’”
We must remember our own neediness! Regardless of social status or income or race or gender or physical appearance or spiritual background, we all must be covered in Jesus’ blood or we are absolutely worthless. Donald Trump is in need of Jesus exactly as much as a homeless guy is. Ellen Degeneres is in need of Jesus just as much as Billy Graham is. You are in need of Jesus just as much as I am. The only difference is some of us have received grace, and some of us have not. But you must remember that just because you have received grace does not mean that you did the right thing or made the right choice; “For who sees anything different in you? What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?” (1 Corinthians 4:7.) This leaves no room for bragging about anything other than the LORD! That is freeing! God does not owe us mercy, Jesus does not have to save us, the Holy Spirit does not have to take over; but it is by His grace we are saved!
One thing I must note, however, is that just because sinners sin does not mean that we should support what they do. Murderers should go to jail, alcoholics should go to rehab, and abstinence programs should be established. I don’t think we need to make war against homosexual marriages (nor should we support them.) However, I am all for making a stand against abortion and for life, because that really is a matter of life or death.
Now that I have hopefully established that we should quit being so insensitive to hurting people who find solace in vices that we consider despicable, I must rebuke you who claim to be His but are truly enemies. Read 1 John, seriously. Here are some chunks from that book that should convict all of us, but hopefully it will especially convict you fake Christians that are bringing destruction to the Church and, ultimately, to yourselves.
This is the message we have heard from Him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. And by this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. Whoever says “I know Him” but does not keep His commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps His word, in Him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in Him: whoever says he abides in Him ought to walk in the same way in which He walked.
We have the victory because of Christ! If He has freed you, you are no longer a slave to sin but a slave to righteousness. So claim this victory and walk in the light…yet don’t look down on the broken. Read Romans and 1 John and let’s talk about them. ☺
Romans 8:5 says “For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.” Homosexuality, drugs, profanity…Christians constantly make a big deal and “take a stand” against these topics, and it has given us the reputation of being anti-gay, legalistic, hypocritical haters of Obama. This reputation in no way glorifies God. Sinners are going to sin; it’s their nature, what do you expect? We don’t need to protest allowing gay marriages or gossip about girls who sleep around. Jesus did not do this. The people that He harshly rebuked were, on the contrary, the religious people that were harshly rebuking the “morally repugnant!” Jesus realized that sinners sin! Criticizing lost people for their morals does no good at all; if they are not spurred by the Holy Spirit, they are not going to truly change.
If anything, we as Christians should love homosexuals and drug addicts, and show them that we are equally needy of mercy, no better than them, and that Jesus satisfies! If we’re going to rebuke people, let’s rebuke the Church! In 1 Corinthians 5, Paul is telling Christians to not even associate with people who call themselves “a brother” but is guilty of sexual immorality, greed, idolatry, drunkenness, or swindling.) He says, “For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? God judges those outside. ‘Purge the evil person from among you.’”
We must remember our own neediness! Regardless of social status or income or race or gender or physical appearance or spiritual background, we all must be covered in Jesus’ blood or we are absolutely worthless. Donald Trump is in need of Jesus exactly as much as a homeless guy is. Ellen Degeneres is in need of Jesus just as much as Billy Graham is. You are in need of Jesus just as much as I am. The only difference is some of us have received grace, and some of us have not. But you must remember that just because you have received grace does not mean that you did the right thing or made the right choice; “For who sees anything different in you? What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?” (1 Corinthians 4:7.) This leaves no room for bragging about anything other than the LORD! That is freeing! God does not owe us mercy, Jesus does not have to save us, the Holy Spirit does not have to take over; but it is by His grace we are saved!
One thing I must note, however, is that just because sinners sin does not mean that we should support what they do. Murderers should go to jail, alcoholics should go to rehab, and abstinence programs should be established. I don’t think we need to make war against homosexual marriages (nor should we support them.) However, I am all for making a stand against abortion and for life, because that really is a matter of life or death.
Now that I have hopefully established that we should quit being so insensitive to hurting people who find solace in vices that we consider despicable, I must rebuke you who claim to be His but are truly enemies. Read 1 John, seriously. Here are some chunks from that book that should convict all of us, but hopefully it will especially convict you fake Christians that are bringing destruction to the Church and, ultimately, to yourselves.
This is the message we have heard from Him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. And by this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. Whoever says “I know Him” but does not keep His commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps His word, in Him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in Him: whoever says he abides in Him ought to walk in the same way in which He walked.
We have the victory because of Christ! If He has freed you, you are no longer a slave to sin but a slave to righteousness. So claim this victory and walk in the light…yet don’t look down on the broken. Read Romans and 1 John and let’s talk about them. ☺
The Glory of God, Pt. 1 (The Glory of God As Seen Through Believers)
Part 1 (The Glory of God Through Believers)
I think I now sort of know why God made everything.
I certainly don’t comprehend His ways in their fullness (not even close!), but recently I think God has revealed to me His purpose, His will, and all that other stuff that we have questions about…They have sort of come together to make sense and it all boils down to one thing: His glory. This Note is how it applies to us as Christians.
Isaiah 43:5-7
Fear not, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east, and from the west I will gather you. I will say to the north, give up, and to the south, do not withhold; bring My sons from afar and My daughters from the ends of the earth, everyone who is called by My Name, whom I created for My glory, whom I formed and made.
God gathered, is gathering, and will continue to gather a people for Himself from every corner of the earth for the primary purpose of His glory. We as His adopted children have been called to lead the world in the worship of the Almighty God…(that is why missions exists, by the way: because worship doesn’t.) God did not make us to climb the corporate ladder or to become famous or to live the American dream. He made us fro the same reason He made the trees, the sky, the birds, the flowers, the universe: for His glory.
So what is God’s glory? To be honest, I went for a very long time pretending to know what that word meant. I would talk about it often, listen to sermons about it, but I didn’t really comprehend what the Bible means when it talks about God’s glory. A close friend of mine found a great definition from the dictionary (haha):
The glory of God is His magnificence and splendour.
Okay, that’s good. So what does it mean to “glorify” God or to “give” Him glory? Surely we cannot make Him any more awesome than He is…He’s already infinitely awesome; addition and subtraction don’t work with infinity. So…(also from the dictionary)
Giving God glory is acknowledging the fact that He is magnificent and splendid.
1 Corinthians 10:31
So, whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
To be honest, every time someone talks about this verse they seem to give the impression that all it means is to point to the sky after a soccer victory or a good singing performance…that apparently is what it means to give glory to God. But the implications of “do[ing] all to the glory of God” are much deeper than that.
In chapel, I hear about sin a lot. A friend of mine sarcastically took “notes” one day that consisted of writing “don’t sin” about fifty times…Jesus is often never even mentioned. We hear how destructive sin is and that it’ll ruin your life (which is true) but we are never given a good motivation to not sin. This style of teaching might guilt us into about five seconds of “repentance”, but brings about no real change. But let me tell you right now why living for God is so much better than living for self: His worth.
In the 1700’s, there were two young men who found out about an atheist slave owner who was keeping about 3,000 slaves on an island and boasted that no preacher or clergyman would stay there. If a missionary was shipwrecked, they’d get him a separate house until he is able to leave but he would never talk to anyone about God…so all these slaves from Africa would be brought to this island in the West Indies and will have lived and died without ever hearing of Christ. The two young men, upon finding this out, sold themselves to the slave owner for as much as he would pay for any slave (and he wouldn’t even provide their transportation.) Remember that this wasn’t a three-month or fifteen-year mission trip. This was for life; it couldn’t be “undid.” As these men in their early twenties were on a ship leaving their home in Hamburg about to spend the rest of their lives in inescapable slavery for the sake of the Gospel, their friends and family gathered at the docks to see them off. They were weeping, wondering why these promising and capable young men were making such a “foolish” decision…then one of the young men cried out from the boat as it was leaving the dock, “May the Lamb who was slain receive the reward of His suffering!” Christ’s worth is so great that it motivated these two men to willingly become slaves to an otherwise unreachable people. This also should be our motivation for everything.
We must show the world that we acknowledge God’s majesty, and as a result He has taken the highest worth in our lives. So in everything we do, whether it’s by eating or drinking or anything, let us do it all to show His greatness, to show His glory…any other motivation is simply a waste.
So examine your life. Look at your pursuits and look at your words. Are you leading all to worship, are you acknowledging to the world the worth of Christ? Let me tell you, there is no way of living that is more satisfying, challenging, and exciting than a life that is wholly devoted to the God who is worthy.
“It’s not about what you’re going to get out God; it’s about what God is going to get out of you.” –Paris Reidhead
“God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.” –John Piper, The Blazing Center
“Worthy are You, our LORD and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for You created all things, and by Your will they existed and were created.” –Revelation 4:11
I think I now sort of know why God made everything.
I certainly don’t comprehend His ways in their fullness (not even close!), but recently I think God has revealed to me His purpose, His will, and all that other stuff that we have questions about…They have sort of come together to make sense and it all boils down to one thing: His glory. This Note is how it applies to us as Christians.
Isaiah 43:5-7
Fear not, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east, and from the west I will gather you. I will say to the north, give up, and to the south, do not withhold; bring My sons from afar and My daughters from the ends of the earth, everyone who is called by My Name, whom I created for My glory, whom I formed and made.
God gathered, is gathering, and will continue to gather a people for Himself from every corner of the earth for the primary purpose of His glory. We as His adopted children have been called to lead the world in the worship of the Almighty God…(that is why missions exists, by the way: because worship doesn’t.) God did not make us to climb the corporate ladder or to become famous or to live the American dream. He made us fro the same reason He made the trees, the sky, the birds, the flowers, the universe: for His glory.
So what is God’s glory? To be honest, I went for a very long time pretending to know what that word meant. I would talk about it often, listen to sermons about it, but I didn’t really comprehend what the Bible means when it talks about God’s glory. A close friend of mine found a great definition from the dictionary (haha):
The glory of God is His magnificence and splendour.
Okay, that’s good. So what does it mean to “glorify” God or to “give” Him glory? Surely we cannot make Him any more awesome than He is…He’s already infinitely awesome; addition and subtraction don’t work with infinity. So…(also from the dictionary)
Giving God glory is acknowledging the fact that He is magnificent and splendid.
1 Corinthians 10:31
So, whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
To be honest, every time someone talks about this verse they seem to give the impression that all it means is to point to the sky after a soccer victory or a good singing performance…that apparently is what it means to give glory to God. But the implications of “do[ing] all to the glory of God” are much deeper than that.
In chapel, I hear about sin a lot. A friend of mine sarcastically took “notes” one day that consisted of writing “don’t sin” about fifty times…Jesus is often never even mentioned. We hear how destructive sin is and that it’ll ruin your life (which is true) but we are never given a good motivation to not sin. This style of teaching might guilt us into about five seconds of “repentance”, but brings about no real change. But let me tell you right now why living for God is so much better than living for self: His worth.
In the 1700’s, there were two young men who found out about an atheist slave owner who was keeping about 3,000 slaves on an island and boasted that no preacher or clergyman would stay there. If a missionary was shipwrecked, they’d get him a separate house until he is able to leave but he would never talk to anyone about God…so all these slaves from Africa would be brought to this island in the West Indies and will have lived and died without ever hearing of Christ. The two young men, upon finding this out, sold themselves to the slave owner for as much as he would pay for any slave (and he wouldn’t even provide their transportation.) Remember that this wasn’t a three-month or fifteen-year mission trip. This was for life; it couldn’t be “undid.” As these men in their early twenties were on a ship leaving their home in Hamburg about to spend the rest of their lives in inescapable slavery for the sake of the Gospel, their friends and family gathered at the docks to see them off. They were weeping, wondering why these promising and capable young men were making such a “foolish” decision…then one of the young men cried out from the boat as it was leaving the dock, “May the Lamb who was slain receive the reward of His suffering!” Christ’s worth is so great that it motivated these two men to willingly become slaves to an otherwise unreachable people. This also should be our motivation for everything.
We must show the world that we acknowledge God’s majesty, and as a result He has taken the highest worth in our lives. So in everything we do, whether it’s by eating or drinking or anything, let us do it all to show His greatness, to show His glory…any other motivation is simply a waste.
So examine your life. Look at your pursuits and look at your words. Are you leading all to worship, are you acknowledging to the world the worth of Christ? Let me tell you, there is no way of living that is more satisfying, challenging, and exciting than a life that is wholly devoted to the God who is worthy.
“It’s not about what you’re going to get out God; it’s about what God is going to get out of you.” –Paris Reidhead
“God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.” –John Piper, The Blazing Center
“Worthy are You, our LORD and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for You created all things, and by Your will they existed and were created.” –Revelation 4:11
Top 10 Reasons for Reading the Bible Instead of Devotional Books, Which Are Usually Full of FAIL
If you know me, you know that a lot of things about American "Christianity" peeves me greatly. Such offenders are "the sinner's prayer", nonrepentant but emotional altar calls, selfish "praise" songs, and many more things that I go way overboard with criticizing. However, one of the most destructive things to the Church today is being fed a devotional-only diet. When I ask people what God has been showing them, so many people (at school especially) tell me about this devotional book that they are reading and how it has a verse, a story, and then a thought for the day. To people who read devotional books only: YOU ARE MISSING OUT. Seriously. God's Word has much better things for you than human "inspiration" that you can get from the Christian book store.
I must preface this with saying that not all Christian books are bad, and I am certainly not claiming that anything said about God by humans is wrong (since I am a human and I am writing about God right here.) I read stuff by John Piper and Jonathan Edwards, and I use a study Bible...but we should never listen to humans talking about God more than we should listen to God talking about Himself, directly through His Word. If devotional books or "religious literature" is all that you are reading, they are getting in the way of what God wants to say to you directly. Here is why Devo over Divinity is full of fail:
1. Devotional books usually have very little Bible in them. If something is not pouring with truth, it does not deserve your attention. You will never be a true student of the Word if all that you're getting from it each day is one verse that someone else picked out.
2. People interpret scripture wrongly...humans are selfish, so devotionals tend to preach the Bible humanistically. But friends, the Bible is not a "manual for life" but rather the story of God, and who can tell the story of God better than God Himself? We always try to take scripture and try to tie it into how it can apply to us, or how it can make us feel better about ourselves. That brings no true repentance. Austin and I were talking about this and we concluded that a better question than "What Would Jesus Do?" is "WHY Would Jesus Do?"
3. It's hard to rely on the insights of someone else for divine revelation from God. It's like if someone gave me a chocolate chip cookie, I ate it, threw it up, gave it to you, and then you ate the regurgitated stuff. You'd still salvage some of the chocolate chips and everything, but it definitely wouldn't taste as good as if you would have eaten the cookie fresh and straight from the source. Regurgitated inspiration is neveras piercing as the real thing.
4. Devotional books cost money! My ESV Bible cost $5 from Family Christian and I have learned so much from it. I can use this book that cost me less than a meal at Arby's for the rest of my life, and even if I use it for the rest of my life, I will still not harvest every treasure to be found therein. Bibles are a much smarter study choice economically!
5. If you rely on the devo book for your Bible reading, you will not know the context of the scripture. An example is Philippians 4:13...everyone teaches that this verse can be applied to winning a soccer game or getting an A, but if you read Chapter 4 and actually the whole book of Philippians, you will find that this verse (in context) is so richly speaking about contentment in Christ alone, even when you are suffering for His Name's sake. The humanistic approach that devotional books take towards verses like Philippians 4:13 cheapens the meaning for moldable minds like Americans today.
6. Devotional books are shallow. Hebrews 5 says by now you should be teachers, but you're still drinking milk. Get on meat, you guys! Quit settling for shallow teachings when God has much deeper things in store for you to learn!
7. The Bible is universal. Discussing scripture with others is easier since the Bible is used all across the world by every Christian of every age, race, language, and background; you don't have to be limited to talking about what happened in your devotional book, since not every Christian owns Joyce Meyer or whatever else you're reading.
8. God is much better at making sense of His Word than humans are. Reading the Bible is hard, and there are definitely some parts that seem to contradict. But His Word is perfect, and He will give you insight if you ask for it. If you're confused about something, don't see what another human has to say about it before you see what GOD (who wrote the Bible so definitely knows what it means) has to say about it.
9. If you spend your whole life taking what others say as truth, you will be very quickly confused. I learned this first-hand recently, and it was awful...You have got to study the Bible for yourself. Not everyone is right, but the Bible is always right.
10. Human insight will be one-sided. A few years ago, I went through a phase where I thoroughly studied what one author had to say about God, so my view of God was solely love love love, and I would totally ignore any verses about His wrath (even though the Bible definitely portrays that characteristic of His.) Then this summer, I went through a phase where I thoroughly studied what one preacher had to say about God, so my view of God was solely justice justice justice, and I felt uncomfortable when reading verses about His love. God is loving and just; the Bible paints the full picture of Him. Don't rely on human insight to accurately portray His character.
So read the Bible. Journaling is definitely important (or "man-booking", if you're a boy and think journaling is only for girls.) If you do not have a journal or somewhere to write down what God is showing you, tell me and I will get you one. If you are reading the Bible and not remembering what you learn, what good is it? So get in the Bible. Every day. Throw away your devotional books if they are taking the place of God's Word. Let's keep each other accountable about this; I want to be able to talk about the Bible; it is much more exciting than talking about movies or TV.
If you don't know where to start, some great books of the Bible that I recommend are:
-Ecclesiastes (this world has nothing for us)
-John (what Jesus was like)
-Matthew (what Jesus said to do)
-Romans (very difficult, but excellent for studying about our faith)
-Ephesians (what God did for us when He saved us)
-1 John (the marks of a true Christian)
-Psalms (God is awesome)
-Isaiah has gems of amazingness all throughout, but it's easy to take things out of context with that book so be careful. Isaiah 53 is all about Jesus. It's great.
If you have any questions or would like to talk about what God is showing you, please let me know! I love you so much!
Legalism is Dangerous!
“R-rated movies are of the devil.” “Drinking alcohol will give you a first-class ticket to hell.” “Christian rock is from satan.” "NEVER say damn, but dang is just fine."
My emotions towards such sayings can be best summed up in the following: Blechhh.
Before I say more I would like to preface this with saying that I in no way claim to be perfect, and my heart is dirtier than anyone on this planet will ever know, and my motives are sick too. I am by no means claiming to “have it down”, but I have thought about this subject a lot recently and would like to share what I believe the Bible says about it. I know that I come across as a little goodie-two-shoes and that is so offensive to me…but please listen to what I’m going to say before making a rash judgment. I’m not judging you and I don’t want you to judge me either.
An epidemic that I see raging rampantly throughout America is a severe case of legalism. For this Note I will define legalism as “the judging of conduct in terms of adherence to precise laws”…or in other words, a legalistic person would have the mindset of “you’re a bad person if you approve of the things I don’t approve of.” It is very dangerous to give certain people control of what’s good or bad, because I don’t know if you’ve noticed or not, but humans are stupid, so if some person is set up as the standard for “how to live right”, we’re in trouble.
Here is what our standard for living righteously should be: Jesus Christ.
Hmm. Since Jesus was perfect and we certainly are not (Romans 3:23), that makes it difficult to meet the standard that He has set before us. So some loud-mouthed elders in your church might change the standard for how to live to what they think is okay. Usually in legalistic surroundings, people either follow and are careful to abide by those rules as long as it's comfortable for them (“it’s definitely not okay to watch R-rated movies, but PG-13 is fine as long as there isn’t nudity”) or they give up on trying to be like Jesus altogether and do their own thing.
But instead of asking “Is this a sin?” or “Would this be considered okay?” I think we need to forget everything we’ve been taught all our lives and consider our motives for living “morally.”
Jesus did not come into this world to condemn us, but to save us. And that He did. So I want to ask you (“you” being the redeemed, if you have surrendered your life to Him.) …what did He save us from? Once you think back to the cross and what He did for us there, maybe your thoughts on “how to live” will change:
1.Jesus saves us from hell. I am not going to say what the Bible says hell contains (I want you to research the gruesome details for yourself) but I will say that it’s worse than our little human brains can imagine. So why do we pursue things that glorify such a hell?
2. Jesus saves us from satan’s control. Colossians 1 talks about how He rescued us from the dominion of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. So why do we pursue things that glorify such a jerk as satan? (I could have used stronger language here but some parents might not like it.)
3. Jesus saves us from separation from the Father. Since God is perfect and we are not, He hates to see sin so much that He hates to see us. Actually, He would hate to see us if One that He loved hadn’t died in our place…So now we can commune with the holy God because His holy Son died in the place of unholy us! Do you realize how much He hates sin? It took Adam and Eve one sin to get kicked out of the Garden. That’s serious business. So why do we pursue things that glorify what God hates?
4. Jesus saves us from sin. Romans 6 talks a lot about how we used to be dead in sin, but since Jesus gave us life we are now dead to sin. “’O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?’ The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Corinthians 15:55-57.) Sin doesn’t have power over us anymore; Jesus beat it once and for all when He rose from the grave. We still sin, yes, but it does not have power over us like it used to, and we must realize this victory that we have in Jesus! Never call yourself a sinner; Jesus has changed your identity!So why do we pursue things that no longer have power over us?
5. Jesus saves us from a boring life. Something that we don’t get taught in church very often is that God created us to enjoy Him. God knows all of our needs (He gave them to us from birth!) and He made us to long for love, adventure, wonder, and excitement…so that we would seek Him to fulfill them all! Is He not the giver of every good thing? The reason I don’t really pursue “entertainment” (TV, movies, etc.) anymore is because I don’t need it…the God who created the whole universe is quite “entertaining” enough. If you're seeking the LORD, you're not missing out on anything. So why do we get bored!?
After thinking about all that was accomplished on the cross, I feel empowered more than limited. I have been freed from sin, so why would I want any traces of it still on me? Romans 1:32 puts those who approve of sin in the same category as idolaters and murderers and adulterers. 1 Thessalonians 4:3 says “For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality.” Most people at my school aren’t having sex, but pretty much everyone sees no problem with joking about it. “That’s what she said” and “ITB” are all over the place…but Jesus died for premarital sex! He doesn’t want to hear us joking about something that He died for! How serious is His death to us?How precious is His blood?
Jesus died!
Have you ever really thought about that?
He DIED.
For us!
For undeserving little wimps who daily choose the empty temporal fleeting worldly pleasures over the only truly satisfying source of delight out there…Himself.
Have you thought about that today? Do you think about that every day? I promise that if you truly consider His precious blood, you won’t want to chase after the very things that His blood was shed for.
I'll close with this verse:
James 1:16 "Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world." When I get to Heaven, I don't want to be able to say that I used my time on earth to "go to church every Sunday and I never drank a sip of wine!" (That's legalism in case you didn't catch that.) I want to be as unstained from this yucky world as much I can, so that God will be pleased with my purity...I want Him to say "Well done, you loved Me and you loved others, and that was all that mattered to you." Is there no higher calling than following Him daily??
So, friends, I plead with you…stop listening to people who preach morals apart from the Gospel. If you want to know what’s right or wrong, consider the cross. The Holy Spirit (the same one that raised Christ from the dead!) now resides in us. No longer are our souls crying out for freedom from slavery, but rather they are crying out praises to the Father. (Romans 8:15) Do you want to grieve that Spirit inside of you? Flee from morals detached from the Gospel. Stop looking for loopholes in the law and start thinking about what would make God happy…because His opinion is all that matters.
Check out the words to this song: Make War
My emotions towards such sayings can be best summed up in the following: Blechhh.
Before I say more I would like to preface this with saying that I in no way claim to be perfect, and my heart is dirtier than anyone on this planet will ever know, and my motives are sick too. I am by no means claiming to “have it down”, but I have thought about this subject a lot recently and would like to share what I believe the Bible says about it. I know that I come across as a little goodie-two-shoes and that is so offensive to me…but please listen to what I’m going to say before making a rash judgment. I’m not judging you and I don’t want you to judge me either.
An epidemic that I see raging rampantly throughout America is a severe case of legalism. For this Note I will define legalism as “the judging of conduct in terms of adherence to precise laws”…or in other words, a legalistic person would have the mindset of “you’re a bad person if you approve of the things I don’t approve of.” It is very dangerous to give certain people control of what’s good or bad, because I don’t know if you’ve noticed or not, but humans are stupid, so if some person is set up as the standard for “how to live right”, we’re in trouble.
Here is what our standard for living righteously should be: Jesus Christ.
Hmm. Since Jesus was perfect and we certainly are not (Romans 3:23), that makes it difficult to meet the standard that He has set before us. So some loud-mouthed elders in your church might change the standard for how to live to what they think is okay. Usually in legalistic surroundings, people either follow and are careful to abide by those rules as long as it's comfortable for them (“it’s definitely not okay to watch R-rated movies, but PG-13 is fine as long as there isn’t nudity”) or they give up on trying to be like Jesus altogether and do their own thing.
But instead of asking “Is this a sin?” or “Would this be considered okay?” I think we need to forget everything we’ve been taught all our lives and consider our motives for living “morally.”
Jesus did not come into this world to condemn us, but to save us. And that He did. So I want to ask you (“you” being the redeemed, if you have surrendered your life to Him.) …what did He save us from? Once you think back to the cross and what He did for us there, maybe your thoughts on “how to live” will change:
1.Jesus saves us from hell. I am not going to say what the Bible says hell contains (I want you to research the gruesome details for yourself) but I will say that it’s worse than our little human brains can imagine. So why do we pursue things that glorify such a hell?
2. Jesus saves us from satan’s control. Colossians 1 talks about how He rescued us from the dominion of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. So why do we pursue things that glorify such a jerk as satan? (I could have used stronger language here but some parents might not like it.)
3. Jesus saves us from separation from the Father. Since God is perfect and we are not, He hates to see sin so much that He hates to see us. Actually, He would hate to see us if One that He loved hadn’t died in our place…So now we can commune with the holy God because His holy Son died in the place of unholy us! Do you realize how much He hates sin? It took Adam and Eve one sin to get kicked out of the Garden. That’s serious business. So why do we pursue things that glorify what God hates?
4. Jesus saves us from sin. Romans 6 talks a lot about how we used to be dead in sin, but since Jesus gave us life we are now dead to sin. “’O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?’ The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Corinthians 15:55-57.) Sin doesn’t have power over us anymore; Jesus beat it once and for all when He rose from the grave. We still sin, yes, but it does not have power over us like it used to, and we must realize this victory that we have in Jesus! Never call yourself a sinner; Jesus has changed your identity!So why do we pursue things that no longer have power over us?
5. Jesus saves us from a boring life. Something that we don’t get taught in church very often is that God created us to enjoy Him. God knows all of our needs (He gave them to us from birth!) and He made us to long for love, adventure, wonder, and excitement…so that we would seek Him to fulfill them all! Is He not the giver of every good thing? The reason I don’t really pursue “entertainment” (TV, movies, etc.) anymore is because I don’t need it…the God who created the whole universe is quite “entertaining” enough. If you're seeking the LORD, you're not missing out on anything. So why do we get bored!?
After thinking about all that was accomplished on the cross, I feel empowered more than limited. I have been freed from sin, so why would I want any traces of it still on me? Romans 1:32 puts those who approve of sin in the same category as idolaters and murderers and adulterers. 1 Thessalonians 4:3 says “For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality.” Most people at my school aren’t having sex, but pretty much everyone sees no problem with joking about it. “That’s what she said” and “ITB” are all over the place…but Jesus died for premarital sex! He doesn’t want to hear us joking about something that He died for! How serious is His death to us?How precious is His blood?
Jesus died!
Have you ever really thought about that?
He DIED.
For us!
For undeserving little wimps who daily choose the empty temporal fleeting worldly pleasures over the only truly satisfying source of delight out there…Himself.
Have you thought about that today? Do you think about that every day? I promise that if you truly consider His precious blood, you won’t want to chase after the very things that His blood was shed for.
I'll close with this verse:
James 1:16 "Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world." When I get to Heaven, I don't want to be able to say that I used my time on earth to "go to church every Sunday and I never drank a sip of wine!" (That's legalism in case you didn't catch that.) I want to be as unstained from this yucky world as much I can, so that God will be pleased with my purity...I want Him to say "Well done, you loved Me and you loved others, and that was all that mattered to you." Is there no higher calling than following Him daily??
So, friends, I plead with you…stop listening to people who preach morals apart from the Gospel. If you want to know what’s right or wrong, consider the cross. The Holy Spirit (the same one that raised Christ from the dead!) now resides in us. No longer are our souls crying out for freedom from slavery, but rather they are crying out praises to the Father. (Romans 8:15) Do you want to grieve that Spirit inside of you? Flee from morals detached from the Gospel. Stop looking for loopholes in the law and start thinking about what would make God happy…because His opinion is all that matters.
Check out the words to this song: Make War
Freedom.
Lately, God has been showing me a bounty of beautiful truths, but one that has been particularly applicable is the freedom I have found in Christ...a phrase which I can no longer say lightly.
For a few weeks this May, my thoughts were almost completely consumed with my appearance and I felt so terribly, hopelessly ugly. (I am not saying this for you to reply "Don't say that! You're lovely!" or anything...I'm just saying how I felt at the time.) However, in a short amount of time, God gave me a much deeper understanding of the weight of my sin, His wrath, Jesus' sacrifice, and the beautiful justice and mercy displayed there. And the more I fell in love with the Gospel, God was slowly chipping away my insecurities until one day it totally hit me that I didn't care much at all about my appearance anymore. I suddenly realized that my thoughts were now (mostly) bent towards what looked good to JESUS...and God doesn't really care if my eyes are green or not since He made them and deemed them perfect the way they are! He didn't mess up when He made the majestic universe, so obviously He didn't mess up when He made me...
Anyways, I soon realized that satisfaction in the Gospel is a FREEDOM that I had not really previously known.
Friends, listen to the awesomeness of Psalm 34 verses 8-10:
O taste and see that the LORD is good;
How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!
O fear the LORD, you His saints;
For to those who fear Him there is no want.
The young lions do lack and suffer hunger;
But they who seek the LORD shall not be in want of any good thing.
Those who find satisfaction in God alone don't feel like they're missing out on things like money or good looks or popularity or boyfriends or anything like that. A friend once bluntly stated, "If Jesus doesn't supply it, you don't need it!" He has supplied Himself, and He is more than sufficient. The more that Christ consumes us, the less we care about anything except what makes Him happy! It's refreshing to find that kind of freedom.
Do you want to know what else is pretty crazy about finding freedom in Christ? Romans 8:15 says that before we came to salvation, our souls were crying out in pain, begging for freedom from this slavery to sin. Though the world can try to tell us that freedom is found in doing what makes you happy, I think we all from experience can testify that sin is truly suffocating. (And do not think that I am just talking about drugs and premarital sex; I'm referring to everyday struggles like disrespect or laziness or gossip or Facebook addiction...) But now, for those of us who are in Christ, God has REPLACED that helpless spirit with one of adoption, which is now instead crying out praises to our Father!
Have you ever really thought about this? We were like an orphan child, hopeless and hurting...then Jesus chose us by paying the highest price (namely, Himself!) for us. Have we done anything to deserve this? NO! One of my friends always says that if salvation was 99.99% God and .01% us, every single person on this earth would still be condemned to hell, for all have sinned and fallen short of God's prefect standard! (Romans 3:23)
There is no way we could pay our debt on our own, so Jesus, in all His glory, had to come to this earth to die for the sins of those didn't even know Him---much less love Him---yet. He did live 33 years sin-free, but He did not live 33 years temptation-free. He can empathize with our strugggles, which we often forget (Hebrews 4:15), except the difference between His response to temptations and ours is that He never failed!
The Gospel is so powerful. Christ unites in ways that no motivational book or speaker or any kind of counseling could ever unite. In a marriage, if the husband and wife have polar opposite interests and personalities, their relationship will still be strong if the Gospel is their center. Something I so fear about my senior class at church is that we are falsely united, getting along when we have to but completely leaving God out of the equation. (Plus we shouldn't just be united as a class, but rather as a body of believers regardless of the grade we are in.) We must be united in the Gospel, and even if Jesus is the only thing we have in common, that is more than enough to have in common.
So I encourage you, if your spirit is still crying out for freedom from sin, cry out to the LORD and repent! (That does not mean apologize; that means CHANGE.) And if you are already a child of God, I really want to encourage you to find the freedom found in considering God "enough." You do this by earnestly seeking Him, as it says in the Psalms...by valuing Him more than the things that we once held dear. He is all that is good.
For a few weeks this May, my thoughts were almost completely consumed with my appearance and I felt so terribly, hopelessly ugly. (I am not saying this for you to reply "Don't say that! You're lovely!" or anything...I'm just saying how I felt at the time.) However, in a short amount of time, God gave me a much deeper understanding of the weight of my sin, His wrath, Jesus' sacrifice, and the beautiful justice and mercy displayed there. And the more I fell in love with the Gospel, God was slowly chipping away my insecurities until one day it totally hit me that I didn't care much at all about my appearance anymore. I suddenly realized that my thoughts were now (mostly) bent towards what looked good to JESUS...and God doesn't really care if my eyes are green or not since He made them and deemed them perfect the way they are! He didn't mess up when He made the majestic universe, so obviously He didn't mess up when He made me...
Anyways, I soon realized that satisfaction in the Gospel is a FREEDOM that I had not really previously known.
Friends, listen to the awesomeness of Psalm 34 verses 8-10:
O taste and see that the LORD is good;
How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!
O fear the LORD, you His saints;
For to those who fear Him there is no want.
The young lions do lack and suffer hunger;
But they who seek the LORD shall not be in want of any good thing.
Those who find satisfaction in God alone don't feel like they're missing out on things like money or good looks or popularity or boyfriends or anything like that. A friend once bluntly stated, "If Jesus doesn't supply it, you don't need it!" He has supplied Himself, and He is more than sufficient. The more that Christ consumes us, the less we care about anything except what makes Him happy! It's refreshing to find that kind of freedom.
Do you want to know what else is pretty crazy about finding freedom in Christ? Romans 8:15 says that before we came to salvation, our souls were crying out in pain, begging for freedom from this slavery to sin. Though the world can try to tell us that freedom is found in doing what makes you happy, I think we all from experience can testify that sin is truly suffocating. (And do not think that I am just talking about drugs and premarital sex; I'm referring to everyday struggles like disrespect or laziness or gossip or Facebook addiction...) But now, for those of us who are in Christ, God has REPLACED that helpless spirit with one of adoption, which is now instead crying out praises to our Father!
Have you ever really thought about this? We were like an orphan child, hopeless and hurting...then Jesus chose us by paying the highest price (namely, Himself!) for us. Have we done anything to deserve this? NO! One of my friends always says that if salvation was 99.99% God and .01% us, every single person on this earth would still be condemned to hell, for all have sinned and fallen short of God's prefect standard! (Romans 3:23)
There is no way we could pay our debt on our own, so Jesus, in all His glory, had to come to this earth to die for the sins of those didn't even know Him---much less love Him---yet. He did live 33 years sin-free, but He did not live 33 years temptation-free. He can empathize with our strugggles, which we often forget (Hebrews 4:15), except the difference between His response to temptations and ours is that He never failed!
The Gospel is so powerful. Christ unites in ways that no motivational book or speaker or any kind of counseling could ever unite. In a marriage, if the husband and wife have polar opposite interests and personalities, their relationship will still be strong if the Gospel is their center. Something I so fear about my senior class at church is that we are falsely united, getting along when we have to but completely leaving God out of the equation. (Plus we shouldn't just be united as a class, but rather as a body of believers regardless of the grade we are in.) We must be united in the Gospel, and even if Jesus is the only thing we have in common, that is more than enough to have in common.
So I encourage you, if your spirit is still crying out for freedom from sin, cry out to the LORD and repent! (That does not mean apologize; that means CHANGE.) And if you are already a child of God, I really want to encourage you to find the freedom found in considering God "enough." You do this by earnestly seeking Him, as it says in the Psalms...by valuing Him more than the things that we once held dear. He is all that is good.
Sunday, May 10, 2009
American Dream? Sounds like a nightmare to me.
kay. Lately I've been feeling unsatisfied with my lifestyle, unsatisfied with my priorities, and unsatisfied with how I feel about the importance of living a life sold-out for God. Now I know that what I'm about to say might be kinda extreme, I certainly will offend you, and you'll probably disagree with me, but if I can accomplish anything with this Note I would at least like you to think and re-evaluate how you feel about where you are right now. May I not get in God's way.
So. Here's the thing.
I am raised in a Christian home and I love my parents so very deeply. I am not allowed to watch most movies and TV shows, raunchy music has never even been an option, and I'm not even allowed to go to some birthday parties or sleepovers. I am so thankful for this and I will certainly implement these restrictions on my own children. Using my parents, God has saved me from so many things that would still affect me today.
However (and I know I'll offend people when I say this, so please don't be mad at me), I am living the American dream. And I don't like it. I live in a nice house in the suburbs and I have nice things in my room and I watch my nice TV shows every Monday and it's been ingrained in my head to vote republican and to have a certain theology. My parents' dream for me (and what used to be mine) is to go to a certain schnazzy Christian university, find a husband there, get married, and basically repeat the lifestyle that I have now.
However, lately God's been kind of breaking everything that I thought that He wanted for me...and I thought this solely because it's what I'm told He wants for me. I seriously do not feel led to go to that fancy university (though this may change as God may want me there but He hasn't revealed it yet) and go to a nice college where I dine in a luxurious cafeteria and go to the movies with my boyfriend and maybe once a year go on a mission trip. There's got to be more, right??
I'm not satisfied with "living comfortably." Isaiah 55:2 (I realllly like this verse) says "Why are you spending your money on what is not bread and your wages on what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good. And delight yourself in abundance." I honestly can't look at a pack of earrings---of ANY value---and say "Okay, this will satisfy me. This will edify the Body. This will make God happy." Nor can I say that with a Starbucks, a Wii game, the latest Weird Al CD, or anything else like that.
We live in such a materialistic world where hedonistic spending of time and money is not only tolerated, but it's EXPECTED. And this is disgusting.
I KNOW I'm going to step on toes here, but what do you think Jesus would do with $10? Would he go with the disciples to see the Dark Knight? Doubt it. Would He buy a Celine Dion CD (even if it was clean and there was nothing bad in it?) I honestly don't think so. I think He would buy groceries for a struggling low-income family, or buy a homeless guy some socks or something. Or maybe He would take a lost friend to Burger King just to encourage them and let them know that He loves them. Or he would spend the money on stationery and make a card for a Brother or Sister that He knows is struggling...
Luke 16:13 says that “you cannot serve both God and money.” 1 Timothy 6:10 bluntly states that “the love of money is the root of all evil.” So is it wrong for a Christian to have lots of money? . I believe that we should buy what we need, that Christians should not be wealthy if they want to honour God, and that the Bible clearly spells out how we’re supposed to spend our time and money.
Throughout the Bible, there are numerous examples of good, Godly people being very wealthy. Abraham, the father of many nations, had great wealth (Genesis 13:2.) Job had a tremendous amount of material possessions (Job 42:12.) King Solomon is the richest man that has ever lived, and he got his wealth by means of God-given wisdom (2 Chronicles 1:11-12.) In fact, Solomon himself said in Ecclesiastes 5:19 that “when God gives any man wealth and possessions, and enables him to enjoy them, to accept his lot and be happy in his work---this is a gift of God.” So with a verse like that, we are led to believe that if God gives you money, spend it on whatever you want because He would want you to be happy. Well, earlier in Ecclesiastes, Solomon had just been talking about how even all the wealth in the world cannot bring happiness; only God can satisfy!
In Isaiah 55:2, God is saying that He is all that’s good; everything else just leaves you empty and wanting more. The LORD created everything in the earth, so it would just be silly to devote one’s life to the creation rather than the Creator! You cannot take your bank account with you to Heaven. What matters to God is not your extensive collection of CD’s or how many times you’ve seen a certain movie or how many friends you had or how "hot" all the guys thought you were, but God cares about what you did for Him while you lived those few years on the earth.
Many people justify their mass riches, though each excuse can be refuted with Biblical truth. They claim that the more money they get, the more money they can give away. Though this makes sense on the surface, these people ignore the fact that God doesn’t need our money; it’s all His anyways! (Psalm 24:1) In Mark 12:41-44, Jesus commends the woman who gave two little coins for offering, and says she has put more in than those who could fill the treasury to the ceiling. For they gave money out of their abundance, yet she gave all she had. We are not to give money out of abundance but out of a desire to please Him and of reliance that God is going to provide, no matter what. They also say that God gives good gifts, so we must enjoy them. This is true, but it is a far great blessing to give to someone who can’t pay you back on this earth, rather than to enjoy something that can give you momentary joy! (Luke 14:13-14.)
The ultimate question is what actions one can take to spend their money the way God would want them to. John Piper calls us to live a wartime lifestyle; to live simply and be free of the American dream. (2:06 on "A Wartime Lifestyle"...you can watch it on Youtube.) With the money that one would spend on a designer bag or a mocha latte, they ought to give to those who cannot earn their own. (Emphasis on CANNOT, not "choose not to.") This would include giving money to a struggling family who wants to go on a mission trip but cannot afford the plane ticket, or buying food to donate to a food bank, or buying Bibles to be sent across the globe to those who cannot even read the Word for themselves because it is not available there. But even doing something close to home, like the examples I mentioned earlier. Yes, there are scammers out there and people who pretend to be homeless…but people ought to do their research and instead of just giving money to a homeless man, buy them lunch or a new pair of socks. They can’t trade that in for drugs or other addictions.
Jesus said more about money than He did about Heaven and hell combined (That's in 0:50 of "A Wartime Lifestyle".) In Matthew 19:24 Jesus said that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. The reason we have money is to show the world that money is not our treasure, but Christ is our treasure; this shows the great value of the LORD. ("A Wartime Lifestyle", 1:47.) He is worth it! He is so worth it! Moses understood this. He could have lived as a prince, but “he chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time. He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward.” (Hebrews 11:25-26.) His treasure was not in an earthly city, but in the lasting City to come. May this be our mindset also, and not buy mansions or sportscars or $200 pants, even if we have the means to afford it. We can't take those to Heaven!!! (That's what the Egyptians would do...they'd bury their jewels and gold and money and even servants with them because they thought that all those things would go with them in the afterlife. What a tragedy to see all those things still here in the pyramids! Also, no matter how many riches they had or how popular they were, they were not putting their trust in Jesus Christ for salvation and consequently they are burning in hell right now!!! How tragic!)
It's okay to be uncomfortable. For example, my friend Brian (he's suuuuper skinny) was sharing with me one time about how he gave blood...I don't exactly remember what happened, but he got all weird-feeling and he went through some moments of extreme discomfort. When I heard this, I was like "Oh no. This will happen to me too...I don't think I can ever give blood." And Brian was like "But it's so worth it to have a few moments of discomfort in order to possibly save someone's life!" And that's true...people who are dying because of a lack of blood are probably way more uncomfortable than I would be if I got shaky and fainted from giving a bit of my blood. The same can be said with our time and money and possessions...and what others think about us. Invite the unpopular kid to your house just to hang out...even if they are annoying or they're super shy and no fun at all, this will mean the world to them! A few hours of boredom will bring you more blessing than hanging with the most popular kid in your school. Once you're made uncomfortable, that means you'll have to tap into another Source for comfort---and God is the giver of comfort...rest in Him!
So basically, if our hearts are SOLD OUT for Christ, that wouldn't leave any room for anything else, right? I'm trying to have a child-like faith here but I could be wrong in my thinking. I mean, of course we must spend time with the "seeking" but just because we should be relevant to them doesn't mean that we should have everything in common with them! How are we supposed to be different if we look exactly like them? Please tell me if you disagree with me and why. And if I'm coming across as arrogant or pious, I am so sorry and I am trying to speak in love as much as possible.
Something I've learned is that the applause of God is greater than the approval of man. In "Don't Waste Your Life", John Piper was talking about a huge tragedy of this couple who was retiring to Florida to live on the beach and collect shells for the rest of their life. What a waste!!! When they meet God on Judgment Day and He says "Why should I let you into my Heaven?", they will show them their shells and say "We had a great, relaxed couple of years!!!!" That just doesn't do it! And even if they had trusted in Christ for their salvation and they were already let into Heaven, what if God said "What did you do for Me for the 80 years I gave you on earth?" A collection of sea shells is not pleasing to the LORD! As Victor said a few years ago, "One thing that there won't be in Heaven is lost people." If we're going to be witnesses, if we're going to love on the unloveable, we'd better do it now! This is nearly impossible if we're tied down by the things of this world.
But an important thing to note is that it's not necessarily what you DON'T do (or what ungodly things you abstain from), but what you DO. In James 1, it says "Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained from the world." Make sure that you're not just keeping "unstained"; make sure that you yourself are staining the world with the love of God!! Visit the orphans and widows. Love the unloveable. Do it. I dare you.
So. Here's the thing.
I am raised in a Christian home and I love my parents so very deeply. I am not allowed to watch most movies and TV shows, raunchy music has never even been an option, and I'm not even allowed to go to some birthday parties or sleepovers. I am so thankful for this and I will certainly implement these restrictions on my own children. Using my parents, God has saved me from so many things that would still affect me today.
However (and I know I'll offend people when I say this, so please don't be mad at me), I am living the American dream. And I don't like it. I live in a nice house in the suburbs and I have nice things in my room and I watch my nice TV shows every Monday and it's been ingrained in my head to vote republican and to have a certain theology. My parents' dream for me (and what used to be mine) is to go to a certain schnazzy Christian university, find a husband there, get married, and basically repeat the lifestyle that I have now.
However, lately God's been kind of breaking everything that I thought that He wanted for me...and I thought this solely because it's what I'm told He wants for me. I seriously do not feel led to go to that fancy university (though this may change as God may want me there but He hasn't revealed it yet) and go to a nice college where I dine in a luxurious cafeteria and go to the movies with my boyfriend and maybe once a year go on a mission trip. There's got to be more, right??
I'm not satisfied with "living comfortably." Isaiah 55:2 (I realllly like this verse) says "Why are you spending your money on what is not bread and your wages on what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good. And delight yourself in abundance." I honestly can't look at a pack of earrings---of ANY value---and say "Okay, this will satisfy me. This will edify the Body. This will make God happy." Nor can I say that with a Starbucks, a Wii game, the latest Weird Al CD, or anything else like that.
We live in such a materialistic world where hedonistic spending of time and money is not only tolerated, but it's EXPECTED. And this is disgusting.
I KNOW I'm going to step on toes here, but what do you think Jesus would do with $10? Would he go with the disciples to see the Dark Knight? Doubt it. Would He buy a Celine Dion CD (even if it was clean and there was nothing bad in it?) I honestly don't think so. I think He would buy groceries for a struggling low-income family, or buy a homeless guy some socks or something. Or maybe He would take a lost friend to Burger King just to encourage them and let them know that He loves them. Or he would spend the money on stationery and make a card for a Brother or Sister that He knows is struggling...
Luke 16:13 says that “you cannot serve both God and money.” 1 Timothy 6:10 bluntly states that “the love of money is the root of all evil.” So is it wrong for a Christian to have lots of money? . I believe that we should buy what we need, that Christians should not be wealthy if they want to honour God, and that the Bible clearly spells out how we’re supposed to spend our time and money.
Throughout the Bible, there are numerous examples of good, Godly people being very wealthy. Abraham, the father of many nations, had great wealth (Genesis 13:2.) Job had a tremendous amount of material possessions (Job 42:12.) King Solomon is the richest man that has ever lived, and he got his wealth by means of God-given wisdom (2 Chronicles 1:11-12.) In fact, Solomon himself said in Ecclesiastes 5:19 that “when God gives any man wealth and possessions, and enables him to enjoy them, to accept his lot and be happy in his work---this is a gift of God.” So with a verse like that, we are led to believe that if God gives you money, spend it on whatever you want because He would want you to be happy. Well, earlier in Ecclesiastes, Solomon had just been talking about how even all the wealth in the world cannot bring happiness; only God can satisfy!
In Isaiah 55:2, God is saying that He is all that’s good; everything else just leaves you empty and wanting more. The LORD created everything in the earth, so it would just be silly to devote one’s life to the creation rather than the Creator! You cannot take your bank account with you to Heaven. What matters to God is not your extensive collection of CD’s or how many times you’ve seen a certain movie or how many friends you had or how "hot" all the guys thought you were, but God cares about what you did for Him while you lived those few years on the earth.
Many people justify their mass riches, though each excuse can be refuted with Biblical truth. They claim that the more money they get, the more money they can give away. Though this makes sense on the surface, these people ignore the fact that God doesn’t need our money; it’s all His anyways! (Psalm 24:1) In Mark 12:41-44, Jesus commends the woman who gave two little coins for offering, and says she has put more in than those who could fill the treasury to the ceiling. For they gave money out of their abundance, yet she gave all she had. We are not to give money out of abundance but out of a desire to please Him and of reliance that God is going to provide, no matter what. They also say that God gives good gifts, so we must enjoy them. This is true, but it is a far great blessing to give to someone who can’t pay you back on this earth, rather than to enjoy something that can give you momentary joy! (Luke 14:13-14.)
The ultimate question is what actions one can take to spend their money the way God would want them to. John Piper calls us to live a wartime lifestyle; to live simply and be free of the American dream. (2:06 on "A Wartime Lifestyle"...you can watch it on Youtube.) With the money that one would spend on a designer bag or a mocha latte, they ought to give to those who cannot earn their own. (Emphasis on CANNOT, not "choose not to.") This would include giving money to a struggling family who wants to go on a mission trip but cannot afford the plane ticket, or buying food to donate to a food bank, or buying Bibles to be sent across the globe to those who cannot even read the Word for themselves because it is not available there. But even doing something close to home, like the examples I mentioned earlier. Yes, there are scammers out there and people who pretend to be homeless…but people ought to do their research and instead of just giving money to a homeless man, buy them lunch or a new pair of socks. They can’t trade that in for drugs or other addictions.
Jesus said more about money than He did about Heaven and hell combined (That's in 0:50 of "A Wartime Lifestyle".) In Matthew 19:24 Jesus said that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. The reason we have money is to show the world that money is not our treasure, but Christ is our treasure; this shows the great value of the LORD. ("A Wartime Lifestyle", 1:47.) He is worth it! He is so worth it! Moses understood this. He could have lived as a prince, but “he chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time. He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward.” (Hebrews 11:25-26.) His treasure was not in an earthly city, but in the lasting City to come. May this be our mindset also, and not buy mansions or sportscars or $200 pants, even if we have the means to afford it. We can't take those to Heaven!!! (That's what the Egyptians would do...they'd bury their jewels and gold and money and even servants with them because they thought that all those things would go with them in the afterlife. What a tragedy to see all those things still here in the pyramids! Also, no matter how many riches they had or how popular they were, they were not putting their trust in Jesus Christ for salvation and consequently they are burning in hell right now!!! How tragic!)
It's okay to be uncomfortable. For example, my friend Brian (he's suuuuper skinny) was sharing with me one time about how he gave blood...I don't exactly remember what happened, but he got all weird-feeling and he went through some moments of extreme discomfort. When I heard this, I was like "Oh no. This will happen to me too...I don't think I can ever give blood." And Brian was like "But it's so worth it to have a few moments of discomfort in order to possibly save someone's life!" And that's true...people who are dying because of a lack of blood are probably way more uncomfortable than I would be if I got shaky and fainted from giving a bit of my blood. The same can be said with our time and money and possessions...and what others think about us. Invite the unpopular kid to your house just to hang out...even if they are annoying or they're super shy and no fun at all, this will mean the world to them! A few hours of boredom will bring you more blessing than hanging with the most popular kid in your school. Once you're made uncomfortable, that means you'll have to tap into another Source for comfort---and God is the giver of comfort...rest in Him!
So basically, if our hearts are SOLD OUT for Christ, that wouldn't leave any room for anything else, right? I'm trying to have a child-like faith here but I could be wrong in my thinking. I mean, of course we must spend time with the "seeking" but just because we should be relevant to them doesn't mean that we should have everything in common with them! How are we supposed to be different if we look exactly like them? Please tell me if you disagree with me and why. And if I'm coming across as arrogant or pious, I am so sorry and I am trying to speak in love as much as possible.
Something I've learned is that the applause of God is greater than the approval of man. In "Don't Waste Your Life", John Piper was talking about a huge tragedy of this couple who was retiring to Florida to live on the beach and collect shells for the rest of their life. What a waste!!! When they meet God on Judgment Day and He says "Why should I let you into my Heaven?", they will show them their shells and say "We had a great, relaxed couple of years!!!!" That just doesn't do it! And even if they had trusted in Christ for their salvation and they were already let into Heaven, what if God said "What did you do for Me for the 80 years I gave you on earth?" A collection of sea shells is not pleasing to the LORD! As Victor said a few years ago, "One thing that there won't be in Heaven is lost people." If we're going to be witnesses, if we're going to love on the unloveable, we'd better do it now! This is nearly impossible if we're tied down by the things of this world.
But an important thing to note is that it's not necessarily what you DON'T do (or what ungodly things you abstain from), but what you DO. In James 1, it says "Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained from the world." Make sure that you're not just keeping "unstained"; make sure that you yourself are staining the world with the love of God!! Visit the orphans and widows. Love the unloveable. Do it. I dare you.
Quit Yer Complainin'
The other morning as I was getting ready for school, I was listening to the Desperation podcast, and the speaker mentioned Acts 13:36a, which says that “David had served God's purpose for him in his generation.” So I was like “Wow, okay, I need to serve God's purpose for me in my generation.” So I said, “Show me Your ways, LORD, teach me your paths! Please, Father, show me how to serve!” and in that moment God seemed to be saying “I already did: My Son.” So I thought, “Okay…Jesus…” and I went to Isaiah 53, where I know Jesus described best.
So I read about all these awful ways He was scourged (pronounced "skerged"; it means kind of beaten up viciously), then in verse 7 it says "He was opposed and He was afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth." I cross-referenced and found some other verses that said "But Jesus kept silent." (Matthew 26:63a) "And He did not answer him with regard to a single charge, so [Pilate] was quite amazed." (Matthew 27:14) Jesus had an awesome trait, very rarely round in people of that time and especially today: silence. Even Pilate, who had seen everything since he was governor and all, was amazed. Jesus wasn't complaining or grumbling about the excruciating pain or injustice. He was silent, like a lamb led to the slaughter (also in Isaiah 53.) The world notices silence. Yes, actions speak louder than words, but sometimes the lack of words speaks louder than words as well. Philippians 2:15 says we'll shine like stars in this crooked and depraved generation.
I tend to complain a lot, about things a lot less painful than scourgings or dying for someone else. I complain that I owe Mom 12 bucks for something that I thought she should buy. I complain that I’ve had 5 tests this week. I complain that I'm lonely (which isn't even true. I am so blessed.) I complain about my mac 'n' cheese being cooked too long or my water smelling fishy. Was I spat upon? Were my clothes gambled for? Um, no. Not even close. I think I finally see a perfect example of "do everything without complaining or grumbling" (Philippians 2:14): Jesus, who came to the world as the Ultimate Example for us.
So in this season of exams and stress, I challenge you: do not complain. (And hold me accountable! If a not-necessary word even creeps upon my tongue, slap me upside da head.) Complaining has a domino effect; if you bring out the bad in something, not only will people join in on the negativity, but they’ll also dwell on it! There’s a big drama going on at my school right now, and everyone’s vicious words are ripping some reputations to shreds and it breaks my heart to see it. Truly, friends, God is so much bigger. Cast your anxieties on Him, because He cares for you! (1 Peter 5:7)
Be like Jesus. Don’t complain. I dare you.
So I read about all these awful ways He was scourged (pronounced "skerged"; it means kind of beaten up viciously), then in verse 7 it says "He was opposed and He was afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth." I cross-referenced and found some other verses that said "But Jesus kept silent." (Matthew 26:63a) "And He did not answer him with regard to a single charge, so [Pilate] was quite amazed." (Matthew 27:14) Jesus had an awesome trait, very rarely round in people of that time and especially today: silence. Even Pilate, who had seen everything since he was governor and all, was amazed. Jesus wasn't complaining or grumbling about the excruciating pain or injustice. He was silent, like a lamb led to the slaughter (also in Isaiah 53.) The world notices silence. Yes, actions speak louder than words, but sometimes the lack of words speaks louder than words as well. Philippians 2:15 says we'll shine like stars in this crooked and depraved generation.
I tend to complain a lot, about things a lot less painful than scourgings or dying for someone else. I complain that I owe Mom 12 bucks for something that I thought she should buy. I complain that I’ve had 5 tests this week. I complain that I'm lonely (which isn't even true. I am so blessed.) I complain about my mac 'n' cheese being cooked too long or my water smelling fishy. Was I spat upon? Were my clothes gambled for? Um, no. Not even close. I think I finally see a perfect example of "do everything without complaining or grumbling" (Philippians 2:14): Jesus, who came to the world as the Ultimate Example for us.
So in this season of exams and stress, I challenge you: do not complain. (And hold me accountable! If a not-necessary word even creeps upon my tongue, slap me upside da head.) Complaining has a domino effect; if you bring out the bad in something, not only will people join in on the negativity, but they’ll also dwell on it! There’s a big drama going on at my school right now, and everyone’s vicious words are ripping some reputations to shreds and it breaks my heart to see it. Truly, friends, God is so much bigger. Cast your anxieties on Him, because He cares for you! (1 Peter 5:7)
Be like Jesus. Don’t complain. I dare you.
Taking Up Your Cross...DAILY. Yipes!
And He said to them all, “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.” Luke 9:23
I know we have all heard this verse zillions of times, but God has shown me some stuff about it and in this Note I would like to especially emphasize the importance of making a “daily” commitment to Christ.
Being a Christian is more than just walking down the aisle when you’re in second grade, repeating a prayer, and getting baptized. It is a daily commitment, where you "re-sign" up every single morning. I think a lot of us don’t truly understand what Jesus was calling us to do, because it’s a big deal and our lives should look a whole lot different. (Now let me say up front that salvation is found by grace through faith alone, and when I say re-sign up, I don’t mean your salvation “expires” every night so you have to renew it every morning; I’m saying that we must realize every single day the importance of following Christ.) Jonathan Edwards made 70 resolutions (they’re really good; read them here http://www.reformed.org/documents/Edwards/index.html?mainframe=/documents/Edwards/j_edwards_resolutions.html) and one of my favorites is:
“Resolved, frequently to renew the dedication of myself to God, which was made at my baptism; which I solemnly renewed, when I was received into the communion of the church; and which I have solemnly re-made this twelfth day of January, 1722.” This is what we should be doing!!!
Galatians 2:20 says “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.” CRUCIFIED!? That’s certainly not a weak way of putting it. We Americans don’t fully understand this precious concept of crucifixion since it doesn’t really happen all the time, but the crucifixion was totally humiliating, painful beyond words, and you looked a whole lot different by the time it was over.
Do you understand, friends, that we must give up the world to follow Christ? You cannot serve both God and man. You cannot live in both light and darkness. Famous poet Emily Dickinson understood the kind of commitment it takes when you sign up to follow after Christ, but unfortunately she could not give up the world.
She said this when she was FIFTEEN years old to a friend after a Christian revival came to her hometown: “The world allured me and in an unguarded moment I listened to her siren voice. From that moment I seemed to lose interest in heavenly things. Friends reasoned with me and told me of the danger I was in. I felt my danger and was alarmed, but I had rambled too far to return and ever since my heart has been growing harder.” The world beckoned, and she liked it. Later in that letter, she said “I do not feel I could give up all for Christ, were I called to die.” So she didn’t. She was unwilling to surrender.
Surrendering all to Christ is a big deal. The song that made me want to learn sign language was “I Surrender All”, because as it was being interpreted, I almost cried upon seeing the powerful meaning of the words. “Surrender” in ASL is putting your hands up, like when the police come up to you and they’re like “HANDS UP!” so you throw down your loot and you’re like “Ahhh I surrender!” (You can see the sign at http://www.signingsavvy.com/search.php?search=surrender&submitSearch.x=0&submitSearch.y=0) Then “all” (in this context, at least) is motioning head-to-toe all of me, like “allllll o’ dis.” (I’m bad at explaining stuff, sorry hehe.) But anyways, the sign language interpretation so beautifully portrays what we need to do: say “I drop everything, God, and give every bit of me to You.” Jesus died for you (then rose again!); that’s an amazing example of a life commitment. He was born to die (and rise again!), and He realized that. May we die to our sin and take hold of the new life that Jesus offers us. I mean it.
We as humans were made to love adventure, to want to do big exciting things. One particular week I was feeling kind of down and like God wasn’t using me in the big ways I wanted Him to. So at youth group one Wednesday, we were singing “Devotion”, and I was kind of just mindlessly singing along until it got to the part that says “I will take up my cross and follow, LORD, where You lead me.” At that moment, if ever I have heard God’s voice (though not audible) it was then, and He so clearly seemed to say to me, “That is no small calling.” Waking up every morning, denying myself, and choosing to follow Christ no matter the cost is an adventure, and it’s not easy by any means. And I fail a very large majority of the time.
So my challenge to you is this: wake up each morning and re-sign up. If ever you received salvation, you have it and no one can snatch that away from you. But you need to re-DEDICATE your life every single morning. Preach the gospel to yourself every single day, and do not let it become stale to you.
Do it. I dare you.
I know we have all heard this verse zillions of times, but God has shown me some stuff about it and in this Note I would like to especially emphasize the importance of making a “daily” commitment to Christ.
Being a Christian is more than just walking down the aisle when you’re in second grade, repeating a prayer, and getting baptized. It is a daily commitment, where you "re-sign" up every single morning. I think a lot of us don’t truly understand what Jesus was calling us to do, because it’s a big deal and our lives should look a whole lot different. (Now let me say up front that salvation is found by grace through faith alone, and when I say re-sign up, I don’t mean your salvation “expires” every night so you have to renew it every morning; I’m saying that we must realize every single day the importance of following Christ.) Jonathan Edwards made 70 resolutions (they’re really good; read them here http://www.reformed.org/do
“Resolved, frequently to renew the dedication of myself to God, which was made at my baptism; which I solemnly renewed, when I was received into the communion of the church; and which I have solemnly re-made this twelfth day of January, 1722.” This is what we should be doing!!!
Galatians 2:20 says “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.” CRUCIFIED!? That’s certainly not a weak way of putting it. We Americans don’t fully understand this precious concept of crucifixion since it doesn’t really happen all the time, but the crucifixion was totally humiliating, painful beyond words, and you looked a whole lot different by the time it was over.
Do you understand, friends, that we must give up the world to follow Christ? You cannot serve both God and man. You cannot live in both light and darkness. Famous poet Emily Dickinson understood the kind of commitment it takes when you sign up to follow after Christ, but unfortunately she could not give up the world.
She said this when she was FIFTEEN years old to a friend after a Christian revival came to her hometown: “The world allured me and in an unguarded moment I listened to her siren voice. From that moment I seemed to lose interest in heavenly things. Friends reasoned with me and told me of the danger I was in. I felt my danger and was alarmed, but I had rambled too far to return and ever since my heart has been growing harder.” The world beckoned, and she liked it. Later in that letter, she said “I do not feel I could give up all for Christ, were I called to die.” So she didn’t. She was unwilling to surrender.
Surrendering all to Christ is a big deal. The song that made me want to learn sign language was “I Surrender All”, because as it was being interpreted, I almost cried upon seeing the powerful meaning of the words. “Surrender” in ASL is putting your hands up, like when the police come up to you and they’re like “HANDS UP!” so you throw down your loot and you’re like “Ahhh I surrender!” (You can see the sign at http://www.signingsavvy.co
We as humans were made to love adventure, to want to do big exciting things. One particular week I was feeling kind of down and like God wasn’t using me in the big ways I wanted Him to. So at youth group one Wednesday, we were singing “Devotion”, and I was kind of just mindlessly singing along until it got to the part that says “I will take up my cross and follow, LORD, where You lead me.” At that moment, if ever I have heard God’s voice (though not audible) it was then, and He so clearly seemed to say to me, “That is no small calling.” Waking up every morning, denying myself, and choosing to follow Christ no matter the cost is an adventure, and it’s not easy by any means. And I fail a very large majority of the time.
So my challenge to you is this: wake up each morning and re-sign up. If ever you received salvation, you have it and no one can snatch that away from you. But you need to re-DEDICATE your life every single morning. Preach the gospel to yourself every single day, and do not let it become stale to you.
Do it. I dare you.
Loving the Unlovely.
What you say and do has a bigger influence than you think.
I just finished reading an email from a friend of mine who used to go to my school (which is a CHRSTIAN school, staunch Baptist.) He left last year because he had gone there since preschool, and he still felt that he didn't fit in. I don't know when the rumours started, but some guys started telling everyone that he was bisexual, and then gay...and I know he wasn't always this way because he liked my friend (who was a girl) when we were in ninth grade and last year he asked me to homecoming. These guys thought it'd be funny to creep out one of their friends, a "homophobic", so they told this friend of mine to go in the bathroom and corner the guy to creep him out. And he did. Nearly everyone made fun of him...and he wasn't unaware of this.
A little while before he left the school, he wrote me a letter confessing all kinds of hurts in his life, and I won't expose those but I will say that he was hurting. A LOT. He felt used. Situations at home were far from perfect, and he contemplated suicide all the time.
In the email I got tonight, he said "What bothers me the most about [your school] is that they make fun of people for being different, I became so stressed, I almost killed myself, then I found a friend in something that didn't judge me, didn't bother me, didn't put me down, it was music. It opened my mind to the ideals that being different scares people and that can mean being superior." Marilyn Manson understood his hurts, Marilyn Manson's lyrics applied to him. His gay friends understood him, his gay friends accepted him. His boyfriend cares about him. And as for everybody else: if you can't make them love you, make them fear you. So he spread some death threat rumours, told people he was communist, etc. etc. And mission accomplished: everyone feared him.
My friends, we failed at showing this guy the love of Christ. When he was telling me about his new school, he even said "there are a lot more nice people there than there are at my school (which is sad, cause many would think the opposite.)" 2 Corinthians 5:20 says "Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us..." We've done a pretty bad job representing the love that Jesus has shown us. How is he to know that a Saviour loves him? He's heard the gospel a zillion times, but he hasn't SEEN the gospel, if that makes sense. The Marilyn Manson song he told me about that really had lyrics that applied to him has a part that says "I never really hated a one true god but the God of the people I hated." If God acts anything like "His people" do, then he's not interested. OUCH.
Do know that I'm not trying to preach to you guys and hate on everyone, because I have done a cruddy job loving others too, but man...how far will we go for a joke? He mentioned that another thing he didn't like about my school was that some find it humorous that they think some people are going to burn in hell. You guys, hell isn't a joke. Hell is for real. It is a sick nasty place worse than anything we can ever imagine; it is eternal separation from God and that is sickening. Yet we joke "haha you're gonna go to hell for that", etc. etc. Is it really worth it? (And while I'm on that note, I just want to remind you guys, especially those of you who have been walking in Christian circles for a long time: don't get so comfortable with the things of God that you no longer fear Him. And when I say fear I mean revere Him...a lot of times it's very easy to make jokes about Him or to so casually mention the name of Jesus, and we don't realize the power that is in the Name and we obviously don't have a good picture of how truly awesome our LORD is. Just a reminder.)
Is it worth it, friends, to joke about gay people? Their lifestyle is wrong, yessir, and homosexuality is a choice they have to make for themselves, but most of the time it's our fault for leading them on that path anyways. If they're told constantly "haha you're gay" or "go away, faggot" then it might enter their brains that maybe they are. It's like eating disorders...if a perfectly normal-sized girl hears some people snickering about her weight, she'll think "Oh my goodness I'm fat" and she might develop an eating disorder...was she really "fat"? No. But others' heartless words led her to believe that. And she acted upon it.
I just want to challenge you guys: watch your tongue. Watch your facial expressions. People notice if you exchange judgmental glances with a friend after someone said something a little odd. We're ripping people apart with our words. What we may see as harmless leads the harmed to go home and long for dying!
It's far better to be known for being silent than to be known for tearing down others. And the latter is far easier to do; I think those who don't talk that much have a lot more wisdom than the rest of us.
So, my friends, I'm asking you to love people. Yeah, they might say or do strange things and it might be really easy to make fun of them (even behind their backs), but right now what they're not getting from Christians is love, and they're not getting the gospel. I beg of you, please...love the "unlovely."
I just finished reading an email from a friend of mine who used to go to my school (which is a CHRSTIAN school, staunch Baptist.) He left last year because he had gone there since preschool, and he still felt that he didn't fit in. I don't know when the rumours started, but some guys started telling everyone that he was bisexual, and then gay...and I know he wasn't always this way because he liked my friend (who was a girl) when we were in ninth grade and last year he asked me to homecoming. These guys thought it'd be funny to creep out one of their friends, a "homophobic", so they told this friend of mine to go in the bathroom and corner the guy to creep him out. And he did. Nearly everyone made fun of him...and he wasn't unaware of this.
A little while before he left the school, he wrote me a letter confessing all kinds of hurts in his life, and I won't expose those but I will say that he was hurting. A LOT. He felt used. Situations at home were far from perfect, and he contemplated suicide all the time.
In the email I got tonight, he said "What bothers me the most about [your school] is that they make fun of people for being different, I became so stressed, I almost killed myself, then I found a friend in something that didn't judge me, didn't bother me, didn't put me down, it was music. It opened my mind to the ideals that being different scares people and that can mean being superior." Marilyn Manson understood his hurts, Marilyn Manson's lyrics applied to him. His gay friends understood him, his gay friends accepted him. His boyfriend cares about him. And as for everybody else: if you can't make them love you, make them fear you. So he spread some death threat rumours, told people he was communist, etc. etc. And mission accomplished: everyone feared him.
My friends, we failed at showing this guy the love of Christ. When he was telling me about his new school, he even said "there are a lot more nice people there than there are at my school (which is sad, cause many would think the opposite.)" 2 Corinthians 5:20 says "Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us..." We've done a pretty bad job representing the love that Jesus has shown us. How is he to know that a Saviour loves him? He's heard the gospel a zillion times, but he hasn't SEEN the gospel, if that makes sense. The Marilyn Manson song he told me about that really had lyrics that applied to him has a part that says "I never really hated a one true god but the God of the people I hated." If God acts anything like "His people" do, then he's not interested. OUCH.
Do know that I'm not trying to preach to you guys and hate on everyone, because I have done a cruddy job loving others too, but man...how far will we go for a joke? He mentioned that another thing he didn't like about my school was that some find it humorous that they think some people are going to burn in hell. You guys, hell isn't a joke. Hell is for real. It is a sick nasty place worse than anything we can ever imagine; it is eternal separation from God and that is sickening. Yet we joke "haha you're gonna go to hell for that", etc. etc. Is it really worth it? (And while I'm on that note, I just want to remind you guys, especially those of you who have been walking in Christian circles for a long time: don't get so comfortable with the things of God that you no longer fear Him. And when I say fear I mean revere Him...a lot of times it's very easy to make jokes about Him or to so casually mention the name of Jesus, and we don't realize the power that is in the Name and we obviously don't have a good picture of how truly awesome our LORD is. Just a reminder.)
Is it worth it, friends, to joke about gay people? Their lifestyle is wrong, yessir, and homosexuality is a choice they have to make for themselves, but most of the time it's our fault for leading them on that path anyways. If they're told constantly "haha you're gay" or "go away, faggot" then it might enter their brains that maybe they are. It's like eating disorders...if a perfectly normal-sized girl hears some people snickering about her weight, she'll think "Oh my goodness I'm fat" and she might develop an eating disorder...was she really "fat"? No. But others' heartless words led her to believe that. And she acted upon it.
I just want to challenge you guys: watch your tongue. Watch your facial expressions. People notice if you exchange judgmental glances with a friend after someone said something a little odd. We're ripping people apart with our words. What we may see as harmless leads the harmed to go home and long for dying!
It's far better to be known for being silent than to be known for tearing down others. And the latter is far easier to do; I think those who don't talk that much have a lot more wisdom than the rest of us.
So, my friends, I'm asking you to love people. Yeah, they might say or do strange things and it might be really easy to make fun of them (even behind their backs), but right now what they're not getting from Christians is love, and they're not getting the gospel. I beg of you, please...love the "unlovely."
Eaten Up.
God totally shook me this week, and it seems like everything I’ve been learning lately at church, in my quiet times, through books I’m reading, and through my music has culminated and been summed up by Psalm 69:9:
“Because zeal for Your house has eaten me up, and the reproaches of those who reproach You have fallen on me.”
I learned this verse while reading in John 2 (this is the NKJV)...
“Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. And He found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers doing business. When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers’ money and overturned the tables. And He said to those who sold doves, ‘Take these things away! Do not make My Father’s house a house of merchandise!’ Then His disciples remembered that it was written, ‘Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up.’”
Jesus was so “eaten up” (in Hebrew it means ‘destroyed’ and ‘consumed’) with passion for God that He absolutely hated the things that God hates, and absolutely loved the things that God loves. A few weeks ago one of my friends was teaching my Sunday School class about the holiness of God, and how since He is such a holy perfect God, He hates sin more than we ever could understand. (And let me clarify what I mean by sin; sin is not “drugs, sex, and rap music.” When I talk about sin I mean doing stuff that makes God sad, or failing to do stuff that makes God happy…basically sin is rebellion against God...and every single one of us is very very guilty of that, even if you don’t do the “typical” stuff that the “moral” people look down upon.) So since God is so holy and just, when He sees us giving in to the flesh rather than surrendering to Him, it’s like we’re drinking someone else’s vomit, which is absolutely disgusting, but still not an adequate portrayal of how God sees sin. So in order for us who sin to be able to have a relationship with such a holy God, Jesus (the sinless one) came to die for us sinners before we even knew Him. (Romans 5!) What a beautiful way for both God’s love and His justice to be satisfied!
So anyways, Jesus saw sin like God saw it…so when He saw people making a mockery of the temple, He was angry. And He did something about it. May we be so consumed by God that we love the things He loves and hates the things He hates too. This should radically change the way we live our lives. In Isaiah 6, upon encountering God, Isaiah said “Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.” In this verse, “ruined” also means to be destroyed. So God, upon us seeing Him, will ruin who we are and rebuild us to who He wants us to be…so what a beautiful destruction!
Lately I’ve read some awesome books by people who have been “ruined” by God. Gary Witherall wrote a book called “Total Abandon” that talks about how he and his wife Bonnie were serving as missionaries in Lebanon. They were “souled out” to God; forsaking all that they were to be used by God in a country that was very closed to Christians. Bonnie was killed on November 21, 2002, by a Muslim extremist…and Gary, through his pain, forgave her murderer and continued serving God. Gary Witherall was ruined.
On Tuesday I started reading “Through Gates of Splendor” by Elisabeth Elliot. (She is the wife of Jim Elliot, one of the men speared by the Auca Indians while trying to show the love of Christ.) I haven't even really gotten to the part where he's a missionary yet; just his journal entries from his early life are so insightful.
After trying to lead Gospel meetings for youths that turned out very unsuccessful, he wrote "This problem of meeting a culture with truth from God is the most difficult kind of thing. One comes as a renovator, a conditioner of society, and society is in no mood to be conditioned. The fixedness of the human mind is the wall of Jericho to Gospel preaching. GOD must shake, or there will be no shaking." Wow! What a beautiful picture of salvation! Jericho, like the lost soul, is closed to Him and is perfectly content with the wickedness going on inside. And He commands us Christians to "walk around the walls" to pray for these people and proclaim to them the gospel, and when the time is right, if He so chooses, Jesus tears the walls of their stony hearts down, and He enters. He alone is capable of this beautiful destruction. Praise God for destroying the walls of Jericho around my own heart, so that He may enter in!
Another thing Jim said that I thought was totally cool was in a letter he wrote to his parents regarding his numerous awards and achievements for academics, wrestling, popularity, the whole gamut. But in spite of this, he said, "The LORD has given me a hunger for righteousness and piety that alone can be of Himself. Such hungering He alone can satisfy, yet satan would delude and cast up all sorts of baubles, social life, a name renowned, a position of importance, scholastic attainment. What are these but the objects of the 'desire of the Gentiles' whose cravings are warped perverted. Surely they can mean nothing to to the soul who has seen the beauty of Jesus Christ...life is not here, but hid above with Christ in God, and therein I rejoice and sing as I think on such high exaltation." I think we all can look at our own lives or our little trophy closet and see all the accomplishments we’ve made and, even if we don’t say it out loud, we take great pride in them. Truly, in light of the Kingdom of God, these things mean nothing! When I get to Heaven God won't say "Good job being homecoming representative in tenth grade, Hope. I always wanted you to be kinda popular." NO NO NO NO! If I were truly unashamed of the gospel (Romans 1:16 yay!) I would have a great deal less friends. I have abused the gift of encouragement that God has given me to make friends and increase social status...life is such a vapor, and all these things are vapors too, vapors in which I once and delighted and of now am ashamed. (In case you can’t tell, striving for popularity is one of my biggest struggles haha.)
Jim’s friend Ed McCully said this as God was working on his heart to come to Ecuador: "I have one desire now: to live a life of reckless abandon for the LORD, putting all my energy and strength into it. Maybe He'll send me someplace where the name of Jesus Christ is unknown...I'm taking the LORD at His word, and I'm trusting Him to prove His Word. It's kind of like putting all your eggs in one basket, but we've already put our trust in Him for salvation, so why not do it as far as our life is concerned? If there's nothing to this business of eternal life we might as well lose everything in one crack and throw our present life away with our life hereafter. But if there IS something to it; then everything else the LORD says must hold true likewise."
What a good point! If we trust Jesus for salvation (which is a biggie) why don't we trust Him for His direction in our lives? Why don’t we trust Him to abolish who we are and recreate us to who He wants us to be? One time a girl named Lauren was being introduced to speak to our youth group, and my youth pastor described her as “There’s not much of Lauren left.” WOW! God shines so brightly through her that (for the most part) her personality is not her own, her words are not her own; her every thought is geared towards pleasing God. Such is a life that has been “eaten up” by zeal for His house.
I’ll close with this example that I heard on Wednesday: Sometimes in forestry it’s necessary to make something called a “prescribed burn” where the forest is set on fire, but it’s controlled in such a way that it doesn’t destroy any more than what’s needed. By setting the forest on fire, the old is destroyed and new life begins. Some seeds (such as sequoia) are actually dormant until fire breaks down the seed coating. We need God to destroy who we are and replace us with who He is; it might be painful to let go of things we always loved or start doing things we always hated, but we must remember that God’s ways are always best, no exceptions.
So surrender yourself to Him.
Ask to be consumed with passion for Him.
Love Him.
Live for Him.
Be ruined by Him.
Do it.
I dare you.
“Because zeal for Your house has eaten me up, and the reproaches of those who reproach You have fallen on me.”
I learned this verse while reading in John 2 (this is the NKJV)...
“Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. And He found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers doing business. When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers’ money and overturned the tables. And He said to those who sold doves, ‘Take these things away! Do not make My Father’s house a house of merchandise!’ Then His disciples remembered that it was written, ‘Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up.’”
Jesus was so “eaten up” (in Hebrew it means ‘destroyed’ and ‘consumed’) with passion for God that He absolutely hated the things that God hates, and absolutely loved the things that God loves. A few weeks ago one of my friends was teaching my Sunday School class about the holiness of God, and how since He is such a holy perfect God, He hates sin more than we ever could understand. (And let me clarify what I mean by sin; sin is not “drugs, sex, and rap music.” When I talk about sin I mean doing stuff that makes God sad, or failing to do stuff that makes God happy…basically sin is rebellion against God...and every single one of us is very very guilty of that, even if you don’t do the “typical” stuff that the “moral” people look down upon.) So since God is so holy and just, when He sees us giving in to the flesh rather than surrendering to Him, it’s like we’re drinking someone else’s vomit, which is absolutely disgusting, but still not an adequate portrayal of how God sees sin. So in order for us who sin to be able to have a relationship with such a holy God, Jesus (the sinless one) came to die for us sinners before we even knew Him. (Romans 5!) What a beautiful way for both God’s love and His justice to be satisfied!
So anyways, Jesus saw sin like God saw it…so when He saw people making a mockery of the temple, He was angry. And He did something about it. May we be so consumed by God that we love the things He loves and hates the things He hates too. This should radically change the way we live our lives. In Isaiah 6, upon encountering God, Isaiah said “Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.” In this verse, “ruined” also means to be destroyed. So God, upon us seeing Him, will ruin who we are and rebuild us to who He wants us to be…so what a beautiful destruction!
Lately I’ve read some awesome books by people who have been “ruined” by God. Gary Witherall wrote a book called “Total Abandon” that talks about how he and his wife Bonnie were serving as missionaries in Lebanon. They were “souled out” to God; forsaking all that they were to be used by God in a country that was very closed to Christians. Bonnie was killed on November 21, 2002, by a Muslim extremist…and Gary, through his pain, forgave her murderer and continued serving God. Gary Witherall was ruined.
On Tuesday I started reading “Through Gates of Splendor” by Elisabeth Elliot. (She is the wife of Jim Elliot, one of the men speared by the Auca Indians while trying to show the love of Christ.) I haven't even really gotten to the part where he's a missionary yet; just his journal entries from his early life are so insightful.
After trying to lead Gospel meetings for youths that turned out very unsuccessful, he wrote "This problem of meeting a culture with truth from God is the most difficult kind of thing. One comes as a renovator, a conditioner of society, and society is in no mood to be conditioned. The fixedness of the human mind is the wall of Jericho to Gospel preaching. GOD must shake, or there will be no shaking." Wow! What a beautiful picture of salvation! Jericho, like the lost soul, is closed to Him and is perfectly content with the wickedness going on inside. And He commands us Christians to "walk around the walls" to pray for these people and proclaim to them the gospel, and when the time is right, if He so chooses, Jesus tears the walls of their stony hearts down, and He enters. He alone is capable of this beautiful destruction. Praise God for destroying the walls of Jericho around my own heart, so that He may enter in!
Another thing Jim said that I thought was totally cool was in a letter he wrote to his parents regarding his numerous awards and achievements for academics, wrestling, popularity, the whole gamut. But in spite of this, he said, "The LORD has given me a hunger for righteousness and piety that alone can be of Himself. Such hungering He alone can satisfy, yet satan would delude and cast up all sorts of baubles, social life, a name renowned, a position of importance, scholastic attainment. What are these but the objects of the 'desire of the Gentiles' whose cravings are warped perverted. Surely they can mean nothing to to the soul who has seen the beauty of Jesus Christ...life is not here, but hid above with Christ in God, and therein I rejoice and sing as I think on such high exaltation." I think we all can look at our own lives or our little trophy closet and see all the accomplishments we’ve made and, even if we don’t say it out loud, we take great pride in them. Truly, in light of the Kingdom of God, these things mean nothing! When I get to Heaven God won't say "Good job being homecoming representative in tenth grade, Hope. I always wanted you to be kinda popular." NO NO NO NO! If I were truly unashamed of the gospel (Romans 1:16 yay!) I would have a great deal less friends. I have abused the gift of encouragement that God has given me to make friends and increase social status...life is such a vapor, and all these things are vapors too, vapors in which I once and delighted and of now am ashamed. (In case you can’t tell, striving for popularity is one of my biggest struggles haha.)
Jim’s friend Ed McCully said this as God was working on his heart to come to Ecuador: "I have one desire now: to live a life of reckless abandon for the LORD, putting all my energy and strength into it. Maybe He'll send me someplace where the name of Jesus Christ is unknown...I'm taking the LORD at His word, and I'm trusting Him to prove His Word. It's kind of like putting all your eggs in one basket, but we've already put our trust in Him for salvation, so why not do it as far as our life is concerned? If there's nothing to this business of eternal life we might as well lose everything in one crack and throw our present life away with our life hereafter. But if there IS something to it; then everything else the LORD says must hold true likewise."
What a good point! If we trust Jesus for salvation (which is a biggie) why don't we trust Him for His direction in our lives? Why don’t we trust Him to abolish who we are and recreate us to who He wants us to be? One time a girl named Lauren was being introduced to speak to our youth group, and my youth pastor described her as “There’s not much of Lauren left.” WOW! God shines so brightly through her that (for the most part) her personality is not her own, her words are not her own; her every thought is geared towards pleasing God. Such is a life that has been “eaten up” by zeal for His house.
I’ll close with this example that I heard on Wednesday: Sometimes in forestry it’s necessary to make something called a “prescribed burn” where the forest is set on fire, but it’s controlled in such a way that it doesn’t destroy any more than what’s needed. By setting the forest on fire, the old is destroyed and new life begins. Some seeds (such as sequoia) are actually dormant until fire breaks down the seed coating. We need God to destroy who we are and replace us with who He is; it might be painful to let go of things we always loved or start doing things we always hated, but we must remember that God’s ways are always best, no exceptions.
So surrender yourself to Him.
Ask to be consumed with passion for Him.
Love Him.
Live for Him.
Be ruined by Him.
Do it.
I dare you.
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