One of the jobs I have for the summer involves lots of time sitting. Really I just sit all day and stuff envelopes or do other things. I never realized until I started at this job how taxing sitting all day can be. I feel fine for an hour or two, but then my back starts to hurt. I try to have good posture and to sit properly, but mid-way through the day that just seems impossible. I just want to slouch because I am sure that will make my back feel better.
The conversation in my head usually goes like this:
"Okay so it's been like 3 hours. My back hurts pretty bad. If I just slouch for like a second, though, I will feel so much better. That's what I should do. I mean it's probably not good for my back, but it will just be a second."
I think sin is a lot like that. Sometimes doing things the right way, the good way, is really taxing. We feel as though it is too hard to continue to live uprightly. So we say to ourselves, "I'll just slack off for a little bit. I mean it isn't good to slack off on being good, but it will just be for a little bit. It will make it all better."
This sort of attitude is very attractive, but will eventually lead to suffering, much like slouching. In both instances, you slip from the standard a little bit, but then it just becomes easier and easier to slip. Soon you are incapable of sitting up straight without immensely greater pain, or of living uprightly.
Proverbs 23:17-18 are a good reminder when we feel like spiritually slouching.
"Let not your heart envy sinners,
but continue in the fear of the Lord all the day.
Surely there is a future,
and your hope will not be cut off"
If we can persevere without slouching spiritually, we will be taken care of. Sinning and giving up on being morally upright isn't worth it. It isn't better, and it will lead to bad habits; physically slouching will lead to bad posture and back problems, but spiritually slouching will lead to things that are much worse. Let's try our hardest to keep from slouching, even when doing what's right is difficult.
Friday, May 30, 2014
Monday, May 19, 2014
Catering to the Weaker Brother
I have been thinking a lot lately about catering to the weaker brother and what that should mean for me as a Christian. I have talked to many different people and read many different things on this topic and the disparity between the views on the subject are sort of shocking to me. If we are taking the bible, and we are reading it, and we are doing it, I think we will know where to stand with regards to the weaker brother.
1 Corinthians 8 and Romans 14:1-15:7 are the main places to look at to learn about the Christian attitude toward a weaker brother. In these passages, this weaker brother is one whose conscience is defiled when they partake in certain activities that they think are wrong although they are not. The main example used in both places is food. If a brother cannot eat certain types of acceptable food (both food sacrificed to idols and formerly unclean foods are acceptable under Christ) without believing he is sinning, he is considered to be the weaker brother.
In this post, I'm not interested in telling the weaker brother what to do. I think he should not violate his conscience, and that he should search the scriptures to gain knowledge, as all Christians should. I am, however, very interested in talking about the responsibilities of the stronger brother, who does not abstain, to his weaker brother. I encourage you to read the entirety of the passages mentioned above, but I want to highlight just a couple verses that I think really drive Paul's point home.
Romans 14:19- So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding.
1 Corinthians 8:12, 13- Thus, sinning against your brothers and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ. Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble.
When we interact with someone who thinks something is sinful that we know to be sanctioned, we need to take one for the team and not do that thing. If we do it, we run the risk of encouraging the weaker brother to also partake and to violate his conscience, and that's a sin. Now, 1 Cor 8:8 tells us that we are no worse or better off for eating foods or doing/not doing whatever approved thing, and Romans 14:3 tells both eaters and non-eaters that they should not pass judgement on one another, but we are supposed to be worrying about ourselves and our salvation (Romans 14:12). Stronger brothers cannot force weaker brothers to feel okay about their actions, but they can abstain from doing the things that offend the weaker brother. If stronger brothers are working for peace and mutual upbuilding, they will abstain from their liberties if need-be. I think that's what the bible teaches.
Maybe I will have more encouragement for weaker brothers on another day.
1 Corinthians 8 and Romans 14:1-15:7 are the main places to look at to learn about the Christian attitude toward a weaker brother. In these passages, this weaker brother is one whose conscience is defiled when they partake in certain activities that they think are wrong although they are not. The main example used in both places is food. If a brother cannot eat certain types of acceptable food (both food sacrificed to idols and formerly unclean foods are acceptable under Christ) without believing he is sinning, he is considered to be the weaker brother.
In this post, I'm not interested in telling the weaker brother what to do. I think he should not violate his conscience, and that he should search the scriptures to gain knowledge, as all Christians should. I am, however, very interested in talking about the responsibilities of the stronger brother, who does not abstain, to his weaker brother. I encourage you to read the entirety of the passages mentioned above, but I want to highlight just a couple verses that I think really drive Paul's point home.
Romans 14:19- So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding.
1 Corinthians 8:12, 13- Thus, sinning against your brothers and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ. Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble.
When we interact with someone who thinks something is sinful that we know to be sanctioned, we need to take one for the team and not do that thing. If we do it, we run the risk of encouraging the weaker brother to also partake and to violate his conscience, and that's a sin. Now, 1 Cor 8:8 tells us that we are no worse or better off for eating foods or doing/not doing whatever approved thing, and Romans 14:3 tells both eaters and non-eaters that they should not pass judgement on one another, but we are supposed to be worrying about ourselves and our salvation (Romans 14:12). Stronger brothers cannot force weaker brothers to feel okay about their actions, but they can abstain from doing the things that offend the weaker brother. If stronger brothers are working for peace and mutual upbuilding, they will abstain from their liberties if need-be. I think that's what the bible teaches.
Maybe I will have more encouragement for weaker brothers on another day.
Later
Galatians 6:10
"So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith."
James 1:27
"Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction and to keep oneself unstained from the world."
1 Thessalonians 5:15
"See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone."
Hebrews 13:16
"Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God."
Isaiah 1:17
"learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow's cause."
As Christians, we have lots of opportunities to do good. I would say that probably every single day I have the opportunity to be kind to my fellow man, or to help or encourage another person in some way. The problem is that for some reason I don't always take those opportunities. I want to take them, and I want to help other people, but because of one simple rationalization, I do not.
Often when I am confronted with a situation where I can help someone, especially financially, I think to myself, "What if someone else needs this money later, and I've wasted it on this person who needs it less than that person? I better save it up for the next situation." This sort of reasoning happens in other things too. "I should really take the time to encourage this person now, but I can't really give it my best effort right now. I better wait until later when I can devote more time to their problem so I can help them better." For every sort of opportunity we have to do good, there is this kind of "later" excuse.
While I would like to think that I am alone in making these kind of excuses, and that once I change my attitude the problem will be solved, I think this rationalization is probably incipient amongst well-meaning, thoughtful Christian people. It seems reasonable, and it comes from a place of wanting to do the most possible good, but it has to stop.
It has to stop because we are not guaranteed "later". Think of the rich fool from Luke 12:
16 And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully, 17 and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ 18 And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.”’ 20 But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ 21 So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”
This parable doesn't teach us specifically about doing good to others, but I think it gives us valuable insight about how we should approach opportunities to help people. The rich man in this story made these grand plans for later, plans he would never be able to carry out because he died that night. I don't think his plans were necessarily bad (like our plans to help people at some imaginary later date), but they were pointless because he couldn't carry them out. The truth is that we "know neither the day nor the hour" (Matt 25:13) when the Lord will return or when our souls will be required of us. If we pass by an opportunity to do good, that might be it. We may get no other opportunities. And maybe that's really morbid, but I think that we should do good in every situation like it is the only time we have to do good. If we treated every opportunity to help others like the culminating event of our lives, I think we would be more like Christ.
Let's stop making excuses about time or resources and start taking every opportunity to do good to others as if "later" was not an option.
"So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith."
James 1:27
"Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction and to keep oneself unstained from the world."
1 Thessalonians 5:15
"See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone."
Hebrews 13:16
"Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God."
Isaiah 1:17
"learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow's cause."
As Christians, we have lots of opportunities to do good. I would say that probably every single day I have the opportunity to be kind to my fellow man, or to help or encourage another person in some way. The problem is that for some reason I don't always take those opportunities. I want to take them, and I want to help other people, but because of one simple rationalization, I do not.
Often when I am confronted with a situation where I can help someone, especially financially, I think to myself, "What if someone else needs this money later, and I've wasted it on this person who needs it less than that person? I better save it up for the next situation." This sort of reasoning happens in other things too. "I should really take the time to encourage this person now, but I can't really give it my best effort right now. I better wait until later when I can devote more time to their problem so I can help them better." For every sort of opportunity we have to do good, there is this kind of "later" excuse.
While I would like to think that I am alone in making these kind of excuses, and that once I change my attitude the problem will be solved, I think this rationalization is probably incipient amongst well-meaning, thoughtful Christian people. It seems reasonable, and it comes from a place of wanting to do the most possible good, but it has to stop.
It has to stop because we are not guaranteed "later". Think of the rich fool from Luke 12:
16 And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully, 17 and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ 18 And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.”’ 20 But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ 21 So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”
This parable doesn't teach us specifically about doing good to others, but I think it gives us valuable insight about how we should approach opportunities to help people. The rich man in this story made these grand plans for later, plans he would never be able to carry out because he died that night. I don't think his plans were necessarily bad (like our plans to help people at some imaginary later date), but they were pointless because he couldn't carry them out. The truth is that we "know neither the day nor the hour" (Matt 25:13) when the Lord will return or when our souls will be required of us. If we pass by an opportunity to do good, that might be it. We may get no other opportunities. And maybe that's really morbid, but I think that we should do good in every situation like it is the only time we have to do good. If we treated every opportunity to help others like the culminating event of our lives, I think we would be more like Christ.
Let's stop making excuses about time or resources and start taking every opportunity to do good to others as if "later" was not an option.
Sunday, May 11, 2014
Forgiveness
I find it really ironic that I decided mid-week last week to write on forgiveness, and then forgot to post until today--missing my weekly post for the first time this year. So, I'm going to have to forgive myself for that, and ask for your forgiveness for not sticking to my plan.
I got the idea to talk about forgiveness the other day after I said my nighttime prayer. In this prayer, I think I asked forgiveness for not being as diligent in my Bible study as I should be. I think I hadn't read my bible at all that day, and it was probably 2 am, and I just wasn't going to do it and I felt really sorry for that. After I prayed this prayer, I felt so relieved. I don't always feel relieved when I pray for forgiveness (which is likely a mistake), but this time I really contemplated God's forgiving power and his willingness to forgive, and I knew that it was all going to be okay. I knew the Lord heard me, and that he let go of my past. He forgot it. It didn't count anymore. He trusted me to do better.
I knew this to be the case because of these passages (And so many more, of course. Forgiveness is really the message of the Bible):
1 John 1:9- If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Matthew 7:7-8 - Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.
Acts 13:38-39 - Let it be known to you therefore, brothers, that through this man [Jesus] forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, and by him everyone who believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses.
God is definitely forgiving us all the time when we repent of our sins. And that is so powerful!
And here's what I really want to take away from this. We should be forgiving people all the time. We shouldn't spend time not forgiving those who have wronged us. On the cross, Christ forgave not only an unworthy criminal only because he asked to be remembered, but he also asked that God forgive all of the people who were actively killing him.
Jesus did not forgive those people, and does not forgive us, in a way that changes our relationship with him. We certainly don't deserve to be forgiven at all, but that doesn't stop him from forgiving. And our unworthiness also doesn't cause him hesitancy, or cause him to distance himself from us, or care for us any less. We sin. We repent. God forgives us. And it's like it never happened. This doesn't always take away the physical consequences of sin, but it does take away the spiritual consequences. Through forgiveness we avoid separation from God. Though his mercy he saves us from death.
I think that we all need to be more like Christ in our relationships. We know that Christ admonishes us to forgive "seventy times seven" (Matt 18:22), but our attitude about this forgiveness is important. Christ has the kind of forgiveness that lets us back in even though we are guaranteed to hurt him again. His forgiveness forgets previous wrongs, trusting us to make the right decision in the future. His forgiveness comes from perfect love.
We take the easy way out by saying "I forgive them, but things have to change. Our relationship can't be the same. I have to remember what they did to me, so I don't get hurt." What if Christ said that to us? ..."I'm so glad you've turned from that sin and want to do the right thing now, but I actually can't let you back into a relationship with me. You crucify me day by day and that's just too much for me to handle." No. We don't want that. So why would we want that in our relationships? Why would we strive to act differently than our savior? I definitely understand that it is difficult, and I know that there are circumstances, but we have to remember Christ when it comes to forgiving.
Christ absolves us completely of our sins, forgetting our wrongs and giving us infinite chances although we are unworthy. How are we going to treat those who sin against us?
I got the idea to talk about forgiveness the other day after I said my nighttime prayer. In this prayer, I think I asked forgiveness for not being as diligent in my Bible study as I should be. I think I hadn't read my bible at all that day, and it was probably 2 am, and I just wasn't going to do it and I felt really sorry for that. After I prayed this prayer, I felt so relieved. I don't always feel relieved when I pray for forgiveness (which is likely a mistake), but this time I really contemplated God's forgiving power and his willingness to forgive, and I knew that it was all going to be okay. I knew the Lord heard me, and that he let go of my past. He forgot it. It didn't count anymore. He trusted me to do better.
I knew this to be the case because of these passages (And so many more, of course. Forgiveness is really the message of the Bible):
1 John 1:9- If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Matthew 7:7-8 - Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.
Acts 13:38-39 - Let it be known to you therefore, brothers, that through this man [Jesus] forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, and by him everyone who believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses.
God is definitely forgiving us all the time when we repent of our sins. And that is so powerful!
And here's what I really want to take away from this. We should be forgiving people all the time. We shouldn't spend time not forgiving those who have wronged us. On the cross, Christ forgave not only an unworthy criminal only because he asked to be remembered, but he also asked that God forgive all of the people who were actively killing him.
Jesus did not forgive those people, and does not forgive us, in a way that changes our relationship with him. We certainly don't deserve to be forgiven at all, but that doesn't stop him from forgiving. And our unworthiness also doesn't cause him hesitancy, or cause him to distance himself from us, or care for us any less. We sin. We repent. God forgives us. And it's like it never happened. This doesn't always take away the physical consequences of sin, but it does take away the spiritual consequences. Through forgiveness we avoid separation from God. Though his mercy he saves us from death.
I think that we all need to be more like Christ in our relationships. We know that Christ admonishes us to forgive "seventy times seven" (Matt 18:22), but our attitude about this forgiveness is important. Christ has the kind of forgiveness that lets us back in even though we are guaranteed to hurt him again. His forgiveness forgets previous wrongs, trusting us to make the right decision in the future. His forgiveness comes from perfect love.
We take the easy way out by saying "I forgive them, but things have to change. Our relationship can't be the same. I have to remember what they did to me, so I don't get hurt." What if Christ said that to us? ..."I'm so glad you've turned from that sin and want to do the right thing now, but I actually can't let you back into a relationship with me. You crucify me day by day and that's just too much for me to handle." No. We don't want that. So why would we want that in our relationships? Why would we strive to act differently than our savior? I definitely understand that it is difficult, and I know that there are circumstances, but we have to remember Christ when it comes to forgiving.
Christ absolves us completely of our sins, forgetting our wrongs and giving us infinite chances although we are unworthy. How are we going to treat those who sin against us?
Wednesday, April 30, 2014
Consistency
So I have this problem. Whenever I think things are going badly for me, I feel really close to God. I am especially dependent on him because I know that he is the only one who can fix my problems. I know that if I trust in him more and rely on him more fully, things will get better. I pray really diligently that I will be content, but really I hope that God will fix whatever it is that I think is amiss.
That's when the problems start.
God is faithful. He answers our prayers. Even when we pray for contentment when what we really mean is "fix this. change it," he knows what we want and what we need.
So. Things are hard, I get really close to God, and then he makes them less hard because he is so merciful to me. The appropriate reaction in that situation would be to become closer to God, to be more grateful for his impact in my life, and strive to seek such a great and merciful creator more fully.
But I don't do that. I pray and pray and pray and things get better, and then I'll say something like, "Man! I'm such a winner." ....that literally happens.....all the time. And that's embarrassing.
So that's something I am trying to work on--consistency. I think it's great to be close to God when you think things are difficult, or when they are not how you want them to be. But it is also so important to remember him in our prosperity. When we pray for blessings, and God gives us blessings, we can't forget that he was the giver, and that we didn't deserve it.
We see the incorrect attitude toward God's blessings exemplified in the Israelites during the period of the judges. They would forget God, become wicked, be punished and have hardship, cry out to God that he would remove their hardship, receive a deliverer, be really happy that God saved them, and then forget God again. I know that was a foolish and wicked thing for the Israelites to do, but it's high time I realized it is foolish and wicked for me as well.
If you are like the Israelites or like me and you struggle with being consistent in your devotion to God through good and bad times, here are some some passages that can encourage us all to do better:
2 Chronicles 16:9 For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him.
God is consistently watching out for us
James 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.
God is consistent in his blessings
Ephesians 2:4-5 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ--by grace you have been saved
God is merciful toward us. He gave us everything.
Matthew 6:30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the overn, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
God is the source of the things we have. He will provide.
Pslam 121
I lift up my eyes to the hills.
From where does my help come?
My help comes from the Lord,
who made heaven and earth.
That's when the problems start.
God is faithful. He answers our prayers. Even when we pray for contentment when what we really mean is "fix this. change it," he knows what we want and what we need.
So. Things are hard, I get really close to God, and then he makes them less hard because he is so merciful to me. The appropriate reaction in that situation would be to become closer to God, to be more grateful for his impact in my life, and strive to seek such a great and merciful creator more fully.
But I don't do that. I pray and pray and pray and things get better, and then I'll say something like, "Man! I'm such a winner." ....that literally happens.....all the time. And that's embarrassing.
So that's something I am trying to work on--consistency. I think it's great to be close to God when you think things are difficult, or when they are not how you want them to be. But it is also so important to remember him in our prosperity. When we pray for blessings, and God gives us blessings, we can't forget that he was the giver, and that we didn't deserve it.
We see the incorrect attitude toward God's blessings exemplified in the Israelites during the period of the judges. They would forget God, become wicked, be punished and have hardship, cry out to God that he would remove their hardship, receive a deliverer, be really happy that God saved them, and then forget God again. I know that was a foolish and wicked thing for the Israelites to do, but it's high time I realized it is foolish and wicked for me as well.
If you are like the Israelites or like me and you struggle with being consistent in your devotion to God through good and bad times, here are some some passages that can encourage us all to do better:
2 Chronicles 16:9 For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him.
God is consistently watching out for us
James 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.
God is consistent in his blessings
Ephesians 2:4-5 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ--by grace you have been saved
God is merciful toward us. He gave us everything.
Matthew 6:30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the overn, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
God is the source of the things we have. He will provide.
Pslam 121
I lift up my eyes to the hills.
From where does my help come?
My help comes from the Lord,
who made heaven and earth.
He will not let your foot be moved;
he who keeps you will not slumber.
he who keeps you will not slumber.
Behold, he who keeps Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.
will neither slumber nor sleep.
The Lord is your keeper;
the Lord is your shade on your right hand.
the Lord is your shade on your right hand.
The sun shall not strike you by day,
nor the moon by night.
nor the moon by night.
The Lord will keep you from all evil;
he will keep your life.
he will keep your life.
The Lord will keep
your going out and your coming in
from this time forth and forevermore.
your going out and your coming in
from this time forth and forevermore.
God is looking out for you.
So I realize now that these passages are ones that comfort me when I'm in those harder times, when I feel as though I am extra reliant on God. But I think that if I just continually had these passages in my mind and on my heart, I would realize that these are the things that are happening in the good times in my life. I have prosperity because God is diligent in his watching over me. I have blessings because God gives them to me. I always have salvation from God, for which I should be continually thankful. Everything I have is because God is looking after me and giving things to me. And God is watchful over me in the good times in my life, blessing me and keeping me from evil so that I may enjoy his majesty. Those passages aren't just encouragement, they are facts, and I should treat them that way when I feel as though I am particularly blessed.
Wednesday, April 23, 2014
Deciding What to Do
Deciding what to do in any given situation can be really difficult. I know from personal experience that as much as I may prepare for a circumstance, when it comes to a snap decision, I don't always do the right thing. The Bible says a lot about choice-making, but I just want to bring out one thing I've been thinking about from Colossians on this subject.
Colossians 3:17
And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
This passage can help us make more righteous decisions in two ways.
Today's post is short, but hopefully very helpful. Let's look to God's Word to help us make better choices in all situations.
Colossians 3:17
And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
This passage can help us make more righteous decisions in two ways.
- Before you do something, think to yourself, "Can I do this in the name of the Lord Jesus?" Because here's the thing, what you do is a reflection of Christ whether or not you want it to be. People see your actions and associate them with our Lord. If it's uncomfortable to associate the name of Jesus with what you are planning to do, don't do it.
- Before you do something, think to yourself, "Should I be thanking God for this action?" We don't thank God for sins, or at least we shouldn't, because no sin or evil thing comes from Him. If you can't pray after a decision and say "Thank you God for letting me do ______," or "Thank you God for the consequences of _______," don't do it.
Today's post is short, but hopefully very helpful. Let's look to God's Word to help us make better choices in all situations.
Friday, April 18, 2014
Contentment
I think one of the things Satan wants most in our life is for us to be discontent.
If we aren't content with our possessions, maybe we will steal.
If we aren't content being single, maybe we will look for affection in the wrong places.
If we aren't content in our marriage, maybe we will just end it.
If we aren't content with our faith, maybe we will just drop it.
When I decided I was going to write a blog about contentment (a quality that I am really trying to build in myself), I realized that I didn't really know what the bible says about being content. I mean I have a general notion, certainly, but we can't expect ourselves to embody the qualities the bible encourages in us if we don't even know what the bible says. So I looked up the word "content" on an online ESV. It appears about 12 times in that version. I'm just going to go through them here, and we will learn about contentment together.
Exodus 2:21- Moses was content to dwell with Jethro.
Joshua 7:7- After they are defeated at Ai, Joshua wishes the people of Israel would have been content beyond the Jordan.
Judges 17:11- The Levite was content to dwell with Micah.
2 Kings 14:10- Jehoash (king of Israel) tells Amaziah (king of Judah) to be content with the glory he received from defeating the Edomites and to not face the Israelites in battle. Amaziah doesn't listen and is defeated.
Job 20:20- In describing the wicked sufferer to Job, Zophar mentions that the wicked man is not content with what he has, and that he will try to get everything he wants. This is not a good thing.
Luke 3:14- John, in preaching to the multitudes, tells people not to defraud one another, and he specifically tells soldiers to be content with their wages.
2 Corinthians 12:10- Paul is content with weakness, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities, because his weakness is Christ's strength.
Philippians 4:11- Paul has learned to be content in all circumstances because Christ strengthens him.
1 Timothy 6:6-8- Paul tells Timothy that godliness is of great gain if one is content. If one has food and clothing, he should be content, because wanting to be rich causes him to fall into temptation.
Hebrews 13:5- The Hebrew writer exhorts his readers to be content, free from the love of money, because Christ will not forsake them.
3 John 1:10- John tells Gaius that Diotrephes is not content with talking wicked nonsense, so he also refuses to welcome the brothers. This is bad.
There seem to be five main themes in these verses:
I especially like the Old Testament verses about contentment. I have never really looked at them before.
I'm not exactly sure what to make about what Joshua said in Joshua 7. He makes this excalamation before the Lord tells him that they lost at Ai because of sin. I think it does show us something about Joshua's attitude. In his mind, if the people of Israel would have been content beyond the Jordan, these bad things wouldn't have happened to them. Again, not really sure about this one. Something to think about.
The 2 Kings passage is more clear. Jehoash knows he is going to beat Amaziah. He tries to tell him that he just needs to be happy with the battles he has already won. He needs to not get a big head and think he can go up against the Israelites because he can't. Or perhaps it is that he needs to not get greedy for more glory than he has, causing him to make a decision that wasn't going to turn out well.
I think what Zophar says in Job is really great. It probably wasn't what Job needed to hear, but it's definitely what I need to hear. It's the wicked person who isn't content with what he has, and this discontentedness is only going to lead to horrible things. He isn't satisfied, and he won't ever be satisfied, and it will destroy him.
With Moses and the Levite, contentedness was pretty straight forward. They got in these situations living in these places and they said "Okay, I'm willing to do this."
I just think being content is so important, especially seeing the consequences that come from refusing to be content. It's bad news trying to get more than what you've been given, or trying to change the situation that God has given you. There's a reason we are told to be content--it's better. It keeps us from sinning and shows our trust in God. Philippians and Hebrews especially show us the trust aspect of contentedness.
I want to leave you with the words from Proverbs 3:5-6
Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.
God is watching out for us. He gave us the circumstances we are in for His glory. In faith, let us strive to be content.
If we aren't content with our possessions, maybe we will steal.
If we aren't content being single, maybe we will look for affection in the wrong places.
If we aren't content in our marriage, maybe we will just end it.
If we aren't content with our faith, maybe we will just drop it.
When I decided I was going to write a blog about contentment (a quality that I am really trying to build in myself), I realized that I didn't really know what the bible says about being content. I mean I have a general notion, certainly, but we can't expect ourselves to embody the qualities the bible encourages in us if we don't even know what the bible says. So I looked up the word "content" on an online ESV. It appears about 12 times in that version. I'm just going to go through them here, and we will learn about contentment together.
Exodus 2:21- Moses was content to dwell with Jethro.
Joshua 7:7- After they are defeated at Ai, Joshua wishes the people of Israel would have been content beyond the Jordan.
Judges 17:11- The Levite was content to dwell with Micah.
2 Kings 14:10- Jehoash (king of Israel) tells Amaziah (king of Judah) to be content with the glory he received from defeating the Edomites and to not face the Israelites in battle. Amaziah doesn't listen and is defeated.
Job 20:20- In describing the wicked sufferer to Job, Zophar mentions that the wicked man is not content with what he has, and that he will try to get everything he wants. This is not a good thing.
Luke 3:14- John, in preaching to the multitudes, tells people not to defraud one another, and he specifically tells soldiers to be content with their wages.
2 Corinthians 12:10- Paul is content with weakness, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities, because his weakness is Christ's strength.
Philippians 4:11- Paul has learned to be content in all circumstances because Christ strengthens him.
1 Timothy 6:6-8- Paul tells Timothy that godliness is of great gain if one is content. If one has food and clothing, he should be content, because wanting to be rich causes him to fall into temptation.
Hebrews 13:5- The Hebrew writer exhorts his readers to be content, free from the love of money, because Christ will not forsake them.
3 John 1:10- John tells Gaius that Diotrephes is not content with talking wicked nonsense, so he also refuses to welcome the brothers. This is bad.
There seem to be five main themes in these verses:
- Be content with where you are
- Be content with what you have
- Be content with what is happening to you
- Discontentment has consequences
- Contentment is possible--you have Christ for strength and support
I especially like the Old Testament verses about contentment. I have never really looked at them before.
I'm not exactly sure what to make about what Joshua said in Joshua 7. He makes this excalamation before the Lord tells him that they lost at Ai because of sin. I think it does show us something about Joshua's attitude. In his mind, if the people of Israel would have been content beyond the Jordan, these bad things wouldn't have happened to them. Again, not really sure about this one. Something to think about.
The 2 Kings passage is more clear. Jehoash knows he is going to beat Amaziah. He tries to tell him that he just needs to be happy with the battles he has already won. He needs to not get a big head and think he can go up against the Israelites because he can't. Or perhaps it is that he needs to not get greedy for more glory than he has, causing him to make a decision that wasn't going to turn out well.
I think what Zophar says in Job is really great. It probably wasn't what Job needed to hear, but it's definitely what I need to hear. It's the wicked person who isn't content with what he has, and this discontentedness is only going to lead to horrible things. He isn't satisfied, and he won't ever be satisfied, and it will destroy him.
With Moses and the Levite, contentedness was pretty straight forward. They got in these situations living in these places and they said "Okay, I'm willing to do this."
I just think being content is so important, especially seeing the consequences that come from refusing to be content. It's bad news trying to get more than what you've been given, or trying to change the situation that God has given you. There's a reason we are told to be content--it's better. It keeps us from sinning and shows our trust in God. Philippians and Hebrews especially show us the trust aspect of contentedness.
I want to leave you with the words from Proverbs 3:5-6
Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.
God is watching out for us. He gave us the circumstances we are in for His glory. In faith, let us strive to be content.
Thursday, April 10, 2014
Freedom in Christ
I've had other things on my mind this week that have nothing at all to do with freedom in Christ, but I said in my last post that I would write of freedom in Christ so I'm just going to shift gears and do it. Those other thoughts can be blog posts for other days. I really do think this is important.
My friend Ben and I recently finished a study of the book of Galatians. I have to say, I knew very little about the book before we started reading it. The basic plot of Galatians is this: The Galatians are in danger of following after teachers who want Gentile Christians to follow Jewish laws (specifically the law of circumcision). Paul, to convince them that this is a terrible mistake, first explains how he is a true apostle and shows that the message he originally gave to the Galatians came from God. He reminds them that this message centers on faith and Christ and shows them how they are justified by faith and not by works of the law. Paul goes further, telling them that the Jewish Law actually enslaved them. Once Christ came, there was no longer a need for the Jewish law to instruct them and Christians became free. He tells the Galatians that this freedom should not be used for sinning, since sin similarly enslaved them. To go back to the law, or back to a life of sin, would be trading in their freedom for slavery. Those who were trying to make them follow Jewish laws were not trying to help them, but were trying to make themselves look good and were profaning Christ's sacrifice. (I certainly recommend reading the book. It's only 6 chapters and I'm sure my summary isn't satisfactory.)
The major take away for the Galatians was that they should not follow the Judaizing teachers.
There are many applications for us as well, but the one I want to focus on here is the true freedom we have in Christ.
Paul explains this freedom in two ways:
First, we have freedom from impossible rules and regulations. You just couldn't keep the Jewish law perfectly. It served the purpose of showing the Jewish people what sin was, but it couldn't justify them. Under the law, people knew that they were bad, but there was really no way to make themselves good. There were certainly righteous people under the Law, but their righteousness did not come from doing the works of the law, but through faith. We certainly also have things to do in Christ, but we are not justified by doing things, but by having faith in Him (Gal 2:16). Although we are still incapable of doing everything we want to do, or everything we are supposed to do for Christ, doing things is not the metric by which we are judged. This is a lenient system--a gracious system in which God has recognized our imperfection and given us a way to be counted righteous anyway, through the death of his son.
Freedom from impossible standards and regulations.
Second, we have freedom from sin. Let us not deceive ourselves into thinking that the bad things that we want to do are good for us. God sent the Holy Spirit specifically to tell us that those things we want to do are actually not what we should do (Gal 5:17). And it's not because God is just a bad guy who doesn't want us to have fun. Really honestly think of the problems sin causes in your life or in the lives of people around you, and I think you will see the wisdom in abstaining from sin. On top of that, the scriptures tell us that sin brings forth spiritual death (James 1:15). Despite knowing this, we still sin. Why? Because Satan has tricked us into thinking that we must follow our sinful desires. And he doesn't take a passive approach; Satan seeks us out to try to make us do bad things that will lead to our eternal death (1 Peter 5:8). We are very truly enslaved to sin. Satan deceives us into choosing it, and then it kills us. There is really not a worse scenario. However, through Christ, we can give up this bondage (Rom 6:6). Christ, through his perfect example and his precepts, showed us that we don't have to sin. On top of that, he provided us with the means for repentance and a hope of salvation. This means that when we choose sin, it does not have to condemn us to death. We are able to repent, to serve Christ, and to have life.
Freedom from sin. Freedom from death.
We are not oppressed in Christ, we are oppressed outside of him.
My friend Ben and I recently finished a study of the book of Galatians. I have to say, I knew very little about the book before we started reading it. The basic plot of Galatians is this: The Galatians are in danger of following after teachers who want Gentile Christians to follow Jewish laws (specifically the law of circumcision). Paul, to convince them that this is a terrible mistake, first explains how he is a true apostle and shows that the message he originally gave to the Galatians came from God. He reminds them that this message centers on faith and Christ and shows them how they are justified by faith and not by works of the law. Paul goes further, telling them that the Jewish Law actually enslaved them. Once Christ came, there was no longer a need for the Jewish law to instruct them and Christians became free. He tells the Galatians that this freedom should not be used for sinning, since sin similarly enslaved them. To go back to the law, or back to a life of sin, would be trading in their freedom for slavery. Those who were trying to make them follow Jewish laws were not trying to help them, but were trying to make themselves look good and were profaning Christ's sacrifice. (I certainly recommend reading the book. It's only 6 chapters and I'm sure my summary isn't satisfactory.)
The major take away for the Galatians was that they should not follow the Judaizing teachers.
There are many applications for us as well, but the one I want to focus on here is the true freedom we have in Christ.
Paul explains this freedom in two ways:
First, we have freedom from impossible rules and regulations. You just couldn't keep the Jewish law perfectly. It served the purpose of showing the Jewish people what sin was, but it couldn't justify them. Under the law, people knew that they were bad, but there was really no way to make themselves good. There were certainly righteous people under the Law, but their righteousness did not come from doing the works of the law, but through faith. We certainly also have things to do in Christ, but we are not justified by doing things, but by having faith in Him (Gal 2:16). Although we are still incapable of doing everything we want to do, or everything we are supposed to do for Christ, doing things is not the metric by which we are judged. This is a lenient system--a gracious system in which God has recognized our imperfection and given us a way to be counted righteous anyway, through the death of his son.
Freedom from impossible standards and regulations.
Second, we have freedom from sin. Let us not deceive ourselves into thinking that the bad things that we want to do are good for us. God sent the Holy Spirit specifically to tell us that those things we want to do are actually not what we should do (Gal 5:17). And it's not because God is just a bad guy who doesn't want us to have fun. Really honestly think of the problems sin causes in your life or in the lives of people around you, and I think you will see the wisdom in abstaining from sin. On top of that, the scriptures tell us that sin brings forth spiritual death (James 1:15). Despite knowing this, we still sin. Why? Because Satan has tricked us into thinking that we must follow our sinful desires. And he doesn't take a passive approach; Satan seeks us out to try to make us do bad things that will lead to our eternal death (1 Peter 5:8). We are very truly enslaved to sin. Satan deceives us into choosing it, and then it kills us. There is really not a worse scenario. However, through Christ, we can give up this bondage (Rom 6:6). Christ, through his perfect example and his precepts, showed us that we don't have to sin. On top of that, he provided us with the means for repentance and a hope of salvation. This means that when we choose sin, it does not have to condemn us to death. We are able to repent, to serve Christ, and to have life.
Freedom from sin. Freedom from death.
We are not oppressed in Christ, we are oppressed outside of him.
Friday, April 4, 2014
Non-liberatory Agency
Congratulations! You read the title of my blog post this week and are still reading. Hopefully this post will be much less complicated that the title makes it seem. We will see. [edit: I don't think its any less complicated. You can bail out now.]
In my "Figurative Painting in Islam" class yesterday, we were discussing the role of the veil in the Muslim religion and culture. I am by no means an expert on this subject, even after the discussion yesterday.
There were many differing views about veiling. We discussed Quranic passages, the Bible, the hadith, colonialism, feminism--you name it, it came up. Everyone thought different things and we were really unable to reach a consensus besides "probably governments should not regulate veiling or not veiling in any way." Who knows if we were even right about that.
The class was the most strongly divided about whether or not the veil is a sign of oppression. Many thought that it definitely was in most, if not all, scenarios. Far fewer thought that, at least in some circumstances, the veil was not oppressive at all.
This is where the idea of non-liberatory agency (and the connection to Christian faith) comes in. One of the authors we read, Adair Rounthwaite, discussed the veil and the situation for Muslim women. She argued that Muslim women could gain agency by conforming to the religious or cultural standard set for them by others.
If my readers aren't familiar with the idea of "agency," it has a lot to do with personhood and voice. The more agency you have, the more you matter. If a person has agency, they are allowed to choose, and others in society recognize and allow their choices. (For example: it could be argued that an artist who does not sign their work has no agency, because no one can recognize his work as being his).
Anyway, this particular author argued that women who took the veil because they believed it would help them become closer to an ideal had more agency than we would typically ascribe to them. A woman who took the veil was able to take personal action to fulfill her desire to conform to a standard. Instead of the standard oppressing her, or taking away her agency because it caused her to conform, it actually enabled her to have agency. In this way, the agency was non-liberatory. The woman did not have to break free from this religious tradition to in some way reclaim her agency.
I liked that a lot, because it challenged the prevalent assumption that rules necessarily oppress. People think that if someone tells you to do something that you don't want to do (or that is uncomfortable, or seems to you to be irrational), and you comply, that they are somehow forcing you or squelching yourability "right" to choose, and thus your agency is denied. People seem to especially think that with regards to religion--Christianity as much as Islam.
The problem with that logic is that actually Christianity gives us the ultimate choice. The Bible absolutely gives us standards, but then God gives us the ability to work toward these standards. He asks us to choose him bydoing certain things being certain kinds of people, so that we can in turn be chosen by him. If I want to choose God and be chosen by him, I am absolutely allowed to. Part of choosing him is submitting to his standards and requirements. If I don't want to submit to his standards, I absolutely don't have to--nobody is forcing anybody to choose God. If, however, I want to choose God and be chosen by him, God isn't suddenly oppressing me. He is allowing me to become the type of person that can be chosen by him through the standards he has set out for me. Maybe some of his requirements are hard or uncomfortable, is it oppression then? Still no. We still have choice, and if we are going to choose to conform to his standards, we have to choose that.
I could spend pages going through every hypothetical question that could arise when I assert that God's rules aren't oppressive, but I don't think that I really need to. By following God's regulations for my life, I am choosing to act in a certain way. That's basically the definition of agency. Even if something seems oppressive to modern sensibilities (submit to your husband, for example), it doesn't mean that I lose agency if I do that. I'm still choosing. I'm still acting. I still have free will. I have learned that a certain way of living is right, and that God chooses a certain type of person, so I live and try to become that type of person. It's not oppressive. Nobody makes me--I can reject God if I want. But I don't, because he is alive and he reigns. I don't want this "freedom" that people think is offered by liberatory agency. If I break free from Christianity, not only will I have chosen to my own destruction, but I will also have no more agency than I did when I chose Christ in the first place.
(I think I will maybe turn this into a series about oppression. I think I've addressed here how Christianity is not oppressive in that it does not take away agency, but I think that there are other ways in which people could find it oppressive that I have not yet addressed. I've been meaning to write a post on freedom in Christ anyway.)
In my "Figurative Painting in Islam" class yesterday, we were discussing the role of the veil in the Muslim religion and culture. I am by no means an expert on this subject, even after the discussion yesterday.
There were many differing views about veiling. We discussed Quranic passages, the Bible, the hadith, colonialism, feminism--you name it, it came up. Everyone thought different things and we were really unable to reach a consensus besides "probably governments should not regulate veiling or not veiling in any way." Who knows if we were even right about that.
The class was the most strongly divided about whether or not the veil is a sign of oppression. Many thought that it definitely was in most, if not all, scenarios. Far fewer thought that, at least in some circumstances, the veil was not oppressive at all.
This is where the idea of non-liberatory agency (and the connection to Christian faith) comes in. One of the authors we read, Adair Rounthwaite, discussed the veil and the situation for Muslim women. She argued that Muslim women could gain agency by conforming to the religious or cultural standard set for them by others.
If my readers aren't familiar with the idea of "agency," it has a lot to do with personhood and voice. The more agency you have, the more you matter. If a person has agency, they are allowed to choose, and others in society recognize and allow their choices. (For example: it could be argued that an artist who does not sign their work has no agency, because no one can recognize his work as being his).
Anyway, this particular author argued that women who took the veil because they believed it would help them become closer to an ideal had more agency than we would typically ascribe to them. A woman who took the veil was able to take personal action to fulfill her desire to conform to a standard. Instead of the standard oppressing her, or taking away her agency because it caused her to conform, it actually enabled her to have agency. In this way, the agency was non-liberatory. The woman did not have to break free from this religious tradition to in some way reclaim her agency.
I liked that a lot, because it challenged the prevalent assumption that rules necessarily oppress. People think that if someone tells you to do something that you don't want to do (or that is uncomfortable, or seems to you to be irrational), and you comply, that they are somehow forcing you or squelching your
The problem with that logic is that actually Christianity gives us the ultimate choice. The Bible absolutely gives us standards, but then God gives us the ability to work toward these standards. He asks us to choose him by
I could spend pages going through every hypothetical question that could arise when I assert that God's rules aren't oppressive, but I don't think that I really need to. By following God's regulations for my life, I am choosing to act in a certain way. That's basically the definition of agency. Even if something seems oppressive to modern sensibilities (submit to your husband, for example), it doesn't mean that I lose agency if I do that. I'm still choosing. I'm still acting. I still have free will. I have learned that a certain way of living is right, and that God chooses a certain type of person, so I live and try to become that type of person. It's not oppressive. Nobody makes me--I can reject God if I want. But I don't, because he is alive and he reigns. I don't want this "freedom" that people think is offered by liberatory agency. If I break free from Christianity, not only will I have chosen to my own destruction, but I will also have no more agency than I did when I chose Christ in the first place.
(I think I will maybe turn this into a series about oppression. I think I've addressed here how Christianity is not oppressive in that it does not take away agency, but I think that there are other ways in which people could find it oppressive that I have not yet addressed. I've been meaning to write a post on freedom in Christ anyway.)
Thursday, March 27, 2014
Worry
One thing that has always been difficult for me is not worrying. It seems to be naturally engrained within me to want to fret about every little thing. Despite my knowledge that worrying does me absolutely no good, I really try to worry my way into solutions to problems. Over time I've really tried to worry less, and to have a more accepting attitude of things that are happening in my life.
Sometimes I feel as though I have conquered my penchant for worrying. However, every once in a while I understand much more clearly that the battle against worrying is something I am still fighting.
Monday was one such occasion. I realized seemingly all at once that I wasn't going to get all of my assignments done this semester, that I had nowhere to live come August, and that I certainly was not going to graduate on time. All of this uncertainty sent me into a panic of worry. Suddenly I needed to know the answers to all of these things. And I needed to have a plan to get everything accomplished. And I needed to know how everything was going to play out. And I didn't know any of those things and it made me scared, and sad, and stressed. I cried and cried and cried about the fact that there were all these things that were outside of my control and that I didn't know what was going on and that I felt unprepared for the mystery that was my future.
Lucky for me, I have a great mom and a great friend who can help me get it together by encouraging me from God's word.
Here are some of the passages which they encouraged me with, and some that I thought of as I was trying to overcome my worry:
Matthew 6:
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? 28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
34 “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble."
God is going to take care of you. And whatever sort of way that he takes care of you is going to be way better than what you think you need.
Jeremiah 29:
4 “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5 Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. 6 Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. 7 But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare. 8 For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let your prophets and your diviners who are among you deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams that they dream, 9 for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you in my name; I did not send them, declares the Lord.
10 “For thus says the Lord: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. 11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. 12 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. 13 You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.
Things might be pretty bad right now. Well guess what: they might stay bad for a good long time, so you need to make the best of the situation you are in and do the best you can. God isn't going to forget about you--he has a plan for you even during this hard time. It's going to turn out okay.
Ephesians 3:
20 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
His plan for you is better than you could possibly imagine. You can't even ask for things to be as good as he is going to make them be for you. If nothing else, God is using hardship to prepare you for eternal glory and that's much better than him granting you relief from any trial.
These aren't necessarily always easy sayings. We can see them and we can know them, but maybe its hard to be fully confident of them in the heat of worry or hardship. But let's just remember the example of the father of the demon possessed boy in Mark 9:
20 And they brought the boy to him. And when the spirit saw him, immediately it convulsed the boy, and he fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth. 21 And Jesus asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. 22 And it has often cast him into fire and into water, to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” 23 And Jesus said to him, “‘If you can’! All things are possible for one who believes.” 24 Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!”
This mad had doubts about Jesus' ability to help his son. Clearly no one had successfully cast out this demon in the past, and this man didn't really understand how one would even do such a thing. He didn't fully believe in Christ's power. But instead of being content with a measure of unbelief, he asked the Lord to strengthen him.
When we are faced with trials and we are prone to worry, let us remember that the Lord is our helper and our greatest asset. He wants to strengthen our faith and ease our worrying. It's all going to be okay.
Sometimes I feel as though I have conquered my penchant for worrying. However, every once in a while I understand much more clearly that the battle against worrying is something I am still fighting.
Monday was one such occasion. I realized seemingly all at once that I wasn't going to get all of my assignments done this semester, that I had nowhere to live come August, and that I certainly was not going to graduate on time. All of this uncertainty sent me into a panic of worry. Suddenly I needed to know the answers to all of these things. And I needed to have a plan to get everything accomplished. And I needed to know how everything was going to play out. And I didn't know any of those things and it made me scared, and sad, and stressed. I cried and cried and cried about the fact that there were all these things that were outside of my control and that I didn't know what was going on and that I felt unprepared for the mystery that was my future.
Lucky for me, I have a great mom and a great friend who can help me get it together by encouraging me from God's word.
Here are some of the passages which they encouraged me with, and some that I thought of as I was trying to overcome my worry:
Matthew 6:
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? 28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
34 “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble."
God is going to take care of you. And whatever sort of way that he takes care of you is going to be way better than what you think you need.
Jeremiah 29:
4 “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5 Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. 6 Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. 7 But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare. 8 For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let your prophets and your diviners who are among you deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams that they dream, 9 for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you in my name; I did not send them, declares the Lord.
10 “For thus says the Lord: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. 11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. 12 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. 13 You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.
Things might be pretty bad right now. Well guess what: they might stay bad for a good long time, so you need to make the best of the situation you are in and do the best you can. God isn't going to forget about you--he has a plan for you even during this hard time. It's going to turn out okay.
Ephesians 3:
20 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
His plan for you is better than you could possibly imagine. You can't even ask for things to be as good as he is going to make them be for you. If nothing else, God is using hardship to prepare you for eternal glory and that's much better than him granting you relief from any trial.
These aren't necessarily always easy sayings. We can see them and we can know them, but maybe its hard to be fully confident of them in the heat of worry or hardship. But let's just remember the example of the father of the demon possessed boy in Mark 9:
20 And they brought the boy to him. And when the spirit saw him, immediately it convulsed the boy, and he fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth. 21 And Jesus asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. 22 And it has often cast him into fire and into water, to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” 23 And Jesus said to him, “‘If you can’! All things are possible for one who believes.” 24 Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!”
This mad had doubts about Jesus' ability to help his son. Clearly no one had successfully cast out this demon in the past, and this man didn't really understand how one would even do such a thing. He didn't fully believe in Christ's power. But instead of being content with a measure of unbelief, he asked the Lord to strengthen him.
When we are faced with trials and we are prone to worry, let us remember that the Lord is our helper and our greatest asset. He wants to strengthen our faith and ease our worrying. It's all going to be okay.
Thursday, March 20, 2014
Lessons from Road Rage
One of my worst qualities is how I drive. It's just a fact of my life. I'm not really a good driver, nor am I consistently conscientious. I am easily distracted and quickly stress out over normal roadway situations. But, perhaps the worst of my qualities that surfaces when I drive is my road rage. I simply cannot tolerate it when people don't understand what is going on on the road and thus inconvenience me. I can often be seen talking very sternly to screaming at drivers around me, explaining to them exactly what it is that they are doing wrong and why it is that this action makes them a crazy person. This is, admittedly, not the most effective method of getting through to them, but I'm just so frustrated that they can't do what they need to do.
Now with this introduction you are probably thinking that I am writing a blog on patience, or level-headedness, or having a Christlike attitude in all situations.
I'm not.
See, as I was driving home from Dunkin' I had the (not at all rare) occasion to yell at the driver in front of me. We were at a 4 way intersection in which everyone had a stop sign but us. I get it, it's a confusing sort of thing. But, I imagined that the driver in front of me, who was initially confused, would survey the situation, realize that he didn't need to be stopped, and the whole stopping-ordeal would end quickly. I soon realized that this was not the case and flashed my lights at him. When this wasn't enough to encourage him to take the appropriate action I began to yell "We don't have a stop sign! We don't have to stop! Why are you stopping?! No one else is going! Everyone is waiting for you! Go! Go! Go!" Eventually, the confused driver got with the program (but certainly not because he listened to what I said) and we proceeded on our merry way. It wasn't my proudest moment, but when I got to thinking about it I saw that there was a biblical application in this scenario that I had never before considered.
Let's assume for a moment that we are the confused driver holding up the show. Let's also assume that God designed the road and this whole scenario for us, and that he has made sure that the Holy Spirit through the Bible is stuck behind us in traffic.
Here we are just meandering down the road of life, when we get to a situation that we should blow right past without stopping to get involved. It's a place we don't need to be, and it's time to get a move on. God, in his great wisdom, has given us lots of indicators about the appropriate actions in this situation. There are the road signs, that is--our natural sense of morality, telling us what to do and there are tons of Christian cars around us who are all taking the appropriate actions. This should certainly be enough for us to relatively quickly figure out what we should be doing in this situation--namely, getting out of it.
Of course, we are dead-set on doing things our way, or else we aren't even paying attention to what is going on around us, so in his great mercy God has put someone behind us on the road who knows what's going on, and is happy to set us in the right direction. So, when we don't understand the road signs, and we don't pay attention to the cars around us, the Holy Spirit sits behind us and flashes his lights and yells at the top of his lungs "Not that way! That's not the right choice! That won't make you happy! There's a better way! Listen to me!" Now we are even more dense than the people we encounter on physical roads. We simply are not going to ever get with the program unless we listen, otherwise we are just going to make a big mess of things.
Luckily for us, the major difference between my situation on the road today and the situation with us and the Holy Spirit is that we can hear him if we want to. When I'm behind a confused driver on a physical road, he can't be expected to respond to my commands because it's impossible for him to hear me. However, when we are in a situation where we must make choices in life, we only don't hear the Holy Spirit because we choose not to. The Bible is always here for us as a resource, but if we don't pick it up, all of the Holy Spirit's yelling falls on deaf ears. Should we be able to understand what's right to do using road signs and context clues? Yes. But we won't, so we need to be constantly in the word for guidance. We need to tune in, as it were, to the guy behind us in traffic who knows how we should be acting.
The second notable difference in these two situations is that, while I just yell at drivers on the road because I'm selfish and impatient, the Holy Spirit yells at us through God's word because he loves us so much that he wants us to only make good choices. He gave us lots of indications outside of the Bible that should tell us how to behave, and then he went the extra mile to spell it out for us very explicitly because he wants to be with us. If we ignore our conscience, or the good influences around us, but especially if we ignore His word, we aren't going to do the right things, and God cannot tolerate sin.
So really this is just a very weird (and probably convoluted?) way of me encouraging all of us to not ignore God. We need to be reading his word, and looking for his instructions in our lives or else we will be "that guy" who just can't get it together. And in life, not listening makes us more than just an inconvenience to those around us, it causes us to miss out on our reward. Nobody wants to be "that guy" on the road, and we certainly don't want to be him in life. Let us be always more diligent in our study, and more conscientious as we make decisions.
Now with this introduction you are probably thinking that I am writing a blog on patience, or level-headedness, or having a Christlike attitude in all situations.
I'm not.
See, as I was driving home from Dunkin' I had the (not at all rare) occasion to yell at the driver in front of me. We were at a 4 way intersection in which everyone had a stop sign but us. I get it, it's a confusing sort of thing. But, I imagined that the driver in front of me, who was initially confused, would survey the situation, realize that he didn't need to be stopped, and the whole stopping-ordeal would end quickly. I soon realized that this was not the case and flashed my lights at him. When this wasn't enough to encourage him to take the appropriate action I began to yell "We don't have a stop sign! We don't have to stop! Why are you stopping?! No one else is going! Everyone is waiting for you! Go! Go! Go!" Eventually, the confused driver got with the program (but certainly not because he listened to what I said) and we proceeded on our merry way. It wasn't my proudest moment, but when I got to thinking about it I saw that there was a biblical application in this scenario that I had never before considered.
Let's assume for a moment that we are the confused driver holding up the show. Let's also assume that God designed the road and this whole scenario for us, and that he has made sure that the Holy Spirit through the Bible is stuck behind us in traffic.
Here we are just meandering down the road of life, when we get to a situation that we should blow right past without stopping to get involved. It's a place we don't need to be, and it's time to get a move on. God, in his great wisdom, has given us lots of indicators about the appropriate actions in this situation. There are the road signs, that is--our natural sense of morality, telling us what to do and there are tons of Christian cars around us who are all taking the appropriate actions. This should certainly be enough for us to relatively quickly figure out what we should be doing in this situation--namely, getting out of it.
Of course, we are dead-set on doing things our way, or else we aren't even paying attention to what is going on around us, so in his great mercy God has put someone behind us on the road who knows what's going on, and is happy to set us in the right direction. So, when we don't understand the road signs, and we don't pay attention to the cars around us, the Holy Spirit sits behind us and flashes his lights and yells at the top of his lungs "Not that way! That's not the right choice! That won't make you happy! There's a better way! Listen to me!" Now we are even more dense than the people we encounter on physical roads. We simply are not going to ever get with the program unless we listen, otherwise we are just going to make a big mess of things.
Luckily for us, the major difference between my situation on the road today and the situation with us and the Holy Spirit is that we can hear him if we want to. When I'm behind a confused driver on a physical road, he can't be expected to respond to my commands because it's impossible for him to hear me. However, when we are in a situation where we must make choices in life, we only don't hear the Holy Spirit because we choose not to. The Bible is always here for us as a resource, but if we don't pick it up, all of the Holy Spirit's yelling falls on deaf ears. Should we be able to understand what's right to do using road signs and context clues? Yes. But we won't, so we need to be constantly in the word for guidance. We need to tune in, as it were, to the guy behind us in traffic who knows how we should be acting.
The second notable difference in these two situations is that, while I just yell at drivers on the road because I'm selfish and impatient, the Holy Spirit yells at us through God's word because he loves us so much that he wants us to only make good choices. He gave us lots of indications outside of the Bible that should tell us how to behave, and then he went the extra mile to spell it out for us very explicitly because he wants to be with us. If we ignore our conscience, or the good influences around us, but especially if we ignore His word, we aren't going to do the right things, and God cannot tolerate sin.
So really this is just a very weird (and probably convoluted?) way of me encouraging all of us to not ignore God. We need to be reading his word, and looking for his instructions in our lives or else we will be "that guy" who just can't get it together. And in life, not listening makes us more than just an inconvenience to those around us, it causes us to miss out on our reward. Nobody wants to be "that guy" on the road, and we certainly don't want to be him in life. Let us be always more diligent in our study, and more conscientious as we make decisions.
Tuesday, March 11, 2014
Letting Satan Win
For Spring Break this year I have traveled to North Carolina and am staying with my aunt and uncle. Time with them and my two little cousins has provided me with a nice change of pace, but has also provided me with many learning opportunities. One of these opportunities is the topic of my blog today.
My almost-4-year-old cousin had a rough day on Monday. He pushed his friend, and didn't eat nicely, and generally speaking just did not obey. I imagine that little boys just have days like that. We all have days like that.
Anyway, half way through the day he and his momma had to have a heart to heart about his behavior. In this conversation, which I overheard, he told his mom that he had let Satan win that day, but that he was going to make good choices the rest of the day and not let Satan win anymore. Later, at dinner, he prayed to God that we would all do better about making good choices.
And that's what I want to talk about today. So many things about that are just right and good and should be emulated. To spell out the goodness of this situation more clearly for us, I'll make a list as I sometimes like to do. This list represents the chronological order of events in my cousin's day and will hopefully encourage us to make his choices our choices. Here we go:
My almost-4-year-old cousin had a rough day on Monday. He pushed his friend, and didn't eat nicely, and generally speaking just did not obey. I imagine that little boys just have days like that. We all have days like that.
Anyway, half way through the day he and his momma had to have a heart to heart about his behavior. In this conversation, which I overheard, he told his mom that he had let Satan win that day, but that he was going to make good choices the rest of the day and not let Satan win anymore. Later, at dinner, he prayed to God that we would all do better about making good choices.
And that's what I want to talk about today. So many things about that are just right and good and should be emulated. To spell out the goodness of this situation more clearly for us, I'll make a list as I sometimes like to do. This list represents the chronological order of events in my cousin's day and will hopefully encourage us to make his choices our choices. Here we go:
- He made choices that he knew were wrong. (This isn't something that we should do, but it happens to all of us.)
- He recognized that these choices constituted a victory for Satan, but that he was the cause of them. "I let Satan win." (We miss this step in the process a lot, which causes us to continue sinning. This is also a trick of Satan--making us think that our sin isn't sin. Alternatively, when we do recognize our sin, we sometimes fall victim to the trap of thinking that Satan was the only cause and so absolve ourselves of responsibility. We shouldn't do this either. It's somewhat easier for the 4-year-old than for us because someone else is directly telling him that this or that thing is wrong and shouldn't be done. We have the bible for that, which may seem less direct, but it leaves us without excuse. We can still look at our actions, see that they do not align with God's will for us, and realize that through our choices, we let Satan win.)
- He determined to not let Satan win anymore for the rest of the day. When he realized his error he took immediate action to make it better. (This is important, because he moved on. He felt bad about doing wrong, but that didn't stop him from doing better. Often, we do wrong and we wallow and moan and feel bad about ourselves instead of becoming better people who do better things. And it doesn't mean that we will never struggle and do bad again. I'm certain that my cousin will do the wrong thing again. But, we have to determine within ourselves that we are the types of people that will try to do better.)
- He asked God to help him do better. (We certainly can't forget to do this. We can't justify ourselves, nor can we do good, without God's help. When we do bad, God is still there for us and is definitely willing to support us and strengthen us in our fight against Satan.)
Jesus encourages his followers to be like children (Mark 10:14-15) and I think from now on when I think of that principle, I will think of this example. I hope you are all encouraged by this and that you have an uplifting week of serving The Lord.
Saturday, March 8, 2014
The Basics
Sigh. Somehow it became Saturday night and I haven't blogged yet this week. I don't feel as bad about this as I did a couple weeks ago though, because it wasn't for a lack of ideas that I fell down on the job. I've just been busy. I thought about writing about Judas this week, or some of the other things in the book of John because that's where I'm reading right now. Honestly though, I'm really tired and I want to go to bed, so I'm going to just write something really basic that I've been thinking about a lot. That doesn't mean it's not profitable, but I do apologize that I may not be giving it 100% tonight because we should always be giving 100% to spiritual things.
"If you love me, keep my commandments" John 14:15
If I don't try to keep the commandments of The Lord, I don't love him.
"Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself" James 2:17
If my faith doesn't make me do something, I don't have faith.
These verses show us that it's not really a matter of "stop saying and start doing" when it comes to our spiritual lives. (Works, after all, don't make you righteous. God justifies you because he is gracious to those who have faith in him.) It's more of a matter of not being honest with ourselves and realizing that if we aren't following God's commandments, and doing good things because God is God, we don't have the qualities of faith and love that we think we have.
So we need to just stop it right now with the "I love Jesus, but I'm going to get drunk every weekend" or the even more subtle "I love Jesus, but maybe I don't have to try so hard to stop thinking this kind of bad thought...I like this thought." And we certainly have to stop saying things like "Works can't save me so I'm just going to believe in Jesus and live only for myself" or the much more insidious "Faith saves me, so I shouldn't do this or that good thing lest people think I believe justification comes through works."
That's not love and that's not faith. If I have true love for and faith in my Lord, I will do things for him and for his people. It's the natural consequence of those attitudes. I know it's hard because no one can be perfected in love and faith on this earth, but we have to push in that direction. As we work on our hearts, the outward signs of the goodness of the inner man will increase and be perfected along with us.
Friday, February 28, 2014
Evangelism isn't a Cake Walk
We aren't promised an easy life as Christians. We know that. There are all sorts of verses that tell us that. The one verse that seems most clear to me is John 16:33 where Jesus says to his disciples:
"I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
We can't deny that we are guaranteed tribulations in this world. Things are going to be hard--I don't deny that. But I think I've always assumed that there would be SOME THINGS that wouldn't be hard.
One such thing that I assumed wouldn't make my life difficult, that would be straight forward and rewarding, was evangelism. I don't know why in America I thought this would be the thing that wouldn't be hard. But the conversation in my mind literally went, "Sure, people will persecute you for being a Christian, and not sinning will be difficult sometimes, and maybe you won't be a part of some sort of in crowd, but God wants you to evangelize, so that will never be a thorn in your side."
Clearly this perspective came from an ignorance of the Bible, or perhaps some sort of wishful thinking and idealism that I was magically impervious to the struggles of the great men of the Bible. Two occasions that specifically come to mind that prove how wrong I really was are Ezekiel and the 70.
In Ezekiel 2 and 3 God tells Ezekiel that preaching to the Israelites will be like having thorns all over him and sitting on scorpions. To top it off, in 3:7 He tells Ezekiel outright that the Israelites aren't even going to listen to what he has to say. Evangelism wasn't going to be easy for Ezekiel, but God told him to go and to speak.
In Luke 10, Jesus sends 70 (72?) of his followers out to preach the gospel. He says that He is sending them out as lambs among wolves. And then he gives them specific instructions for what to do when people inevitably do not receive their message. Evangelism wasn't going to be easy for the 70, but God told them to go and to speak.
Maybe I was the only crazy person that had this idea that evangelism wouldn't hurt. Maybe I was alone in the view that even if people rejected the gospel (which I know is a constant reality), it wouldn't be so bad for me as a teacher. But if I wasn't alone in that, if you also thought evangelism wasn't one of those trying aspects of the Christian life, you can take comfort along with me by looking back once again to John 16:33.
"I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
Our Lord and Savior has overcome the world. It's going to be okay, and it's going to be worth it. It's going to be hard, and people will reject the gospel which was so graciously given to mankind, and maybe they will reject you, or treat you badly, or you will feel badly because people you try to teach don't believe...but it will be worth it. Christ has overcome the world.
"I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
We can't deny that we are guaranteed tribulations in this world. Things are going to be hard--I don't deny that. But I think I've always assumed that there would be SOME THINGS that wouldn't be hard.
One such thing that I assumed wouldn't make my life difficult, that would be straight forward and rewarding, was evangelism. I don't know why in America I thought this would be the thing that wouldn't be hard. But the conversation in my mind literally went, "Sure, people will persecute you for being a Christian, and not sinning will be difficult sometimes, and maybe you won't be a part of some sort of in crowd, but God wants you to evangelize, so that will never be a thorn in your side."
Clearly this perspective came from an ignorance of the Bible, or perhaps some sort of wishful thinking and idealism that I was magically impervious to the struggles of the great men of the Bible. Two occasions that specifically come to mind that prove how wrong I really was are Ezekiel and the 70.
In Ezekiel 2 and 3 God tells Ezekiel that preaching to the Israelites will be like having thorns all over him and sitting on scorpions. To top it off, in 3:7 He tells Ezekiel outright that the Israelites aren't even going to listen to what he has to say. Evangelism wasn't going to be easy for Ezekiel, but God told him to go and to speak.
In Luke 10, Jesus sends 70 (72?) of his followers out to preach the gospel. He says that He is sending them out as lambs among wolves. And then he gives them specific instructions for what to do when people inevitably do not receive their message. Evangelism wasn't going to be easy for the 70, but God told them to go and to speak.
Maybe I was the only crazy person that had this idea that evangelism wouldn't hurt. Maybe I was alone in the view that even if people rejected the gospel (which I know is a constant reality), it wouldn't be so bad for me as a teacher. But if I wasn't alone in that, if you also thought evangelism wasn't one of those trying aspects of the Christian life, you can take comfort along with me by looking back once again to John 16:33.
"I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
Our Lord and Savior has overcome the world. It's going to be okay, and it's going to be worth it. It's going to be hard, and people will reject the gospel which was so graciously given to mankind, and maybe they will reject you, or treat you badly, or you will feel badly because people you try to teach don't believe...but it will be worth it. Christ has overcome the world.
Saturday, February 22, 2014
Being Prepared
I realized today that I didn't post this week, and that I really didn't have an idea for a new post, but that today was in fact the last day of the week. I knew I had to think of something because I told myself that I would post on here every week in 2014 and so far I have. I can't stop now.
So here I was, racking my brain about what I could possibly talk about. I thought about just posting some verses (which would certainly be beneficial), and then I thought of resurrecting one of my less inspired ideas, and then I came up with the idea that I'm going to share with you now.
Maybe you guessed from the title that I will be very ironically talking about preparedness.
I heard a very insightful sermon recently about the parable of the ten virgins in Matthew 25. After Jesus concludes the story he admonishes his listeners to "Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour." (I'm realizing now that I'm probably just going to plagiarize this sermon right now, so just know that these thoughts are not unique to me)
There are lots of things that we cannot anticipate the time of with any real certainty. Both good things and bad things are going to happen to us with virtually no forewarning. But we can't just let life happen to us. We need to turn good things that happen to us into opportunities for personal growth, and bad things into opportunities to rely more fully on God. The only way to ensure that we use our experiences to their maximum benefit is to be prepared to handle them.
We aren't capable of magically preparing ourselves. That makes me sad because I like to think that I control things and that I can fix them and make them happen and really impact situations. Then again I can take comfort in the fact that God can prepare us for life's challenges through his Word. My best planning outside of his word won't help me handle the highs and lows of life effectively.
So really this post is for the unprepared me more than it is for you. I was really discouraged for a large portion of this week because of things I couldn't control that I wanted to control, but instead of relying on God and going to his word for support, or even thinking diligently about the things I knew from his word that would prepare me for these specific scenarios, I just stayed discouraged. So, when it became the end of the week, I was not prepared with tons of spiritual thoughts I had been thinking during the week because I spent most of it not preparing to be prepared, or perhaps suffering the consequences of being prepared. At the very least I did not spend enough time in the Word this week, which is the key to preparedness for life's situations.
I've been much less discouraged the past couple of days (thanks to some very reliable and encouraging friends, and prayer) but I know I can definitely do a better job letting God prepare me for the situations in my life.
He's here for us and his word is here for us. We cannot forget to utilize those resources.
So here I was, racking my brain about what I could possibly talk about. I thought about just posting some verses (which would certainly be beneficial), and then I thought of resurrecting one of my less inspired ideas, and then I came up with the idea that I'm going to share with you now.
Maybe you guessed from the title that I will be very ironically talking about preparedness.
I heard a very insightful sermon recently about the parable of the ten virgins in Matthew 25. After Jesus concludes the story he admonishes his listeners to "Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour." (I'm realizing now that I'm probably just going to plagiarize this sermon right now, so just know that these thoughts are not unique to me)
There are lots of things that we cannot anticipate the time of with any real certainty. Both good things and bad things are going to happen to us with virtually no forewarning. But we can't just let life happen to us. We need to turn good things that happen to us into opportunities for personal growth, and bad things into opportunities to rely more fully on God. The only way to ensure that we use our experiences to their maximum benefit is to be prepared to handle them.
We aren't capable of magically preparing ourselves. That makes me sad because I like to think that I control things and that I can fix them and make them happen and really impact situations. Then again I can take comfort in the fact that God can prepare us for life's challenges through his Word. My best planning outside of his word won't help me handle the highs and lows of life effectively.
So really this post is for the unprepared me more than it is for you. I was really discouraged for a large portion of this week because of things I couldn't control that I wanted to control, but instead of relying on God and going to his word for support, or even thinking diligently about the things I knew from his word that would prepare me for these specific scenarios, I just stayed discouraged. So, when it became the end of the week, I was not prepared with tons of spiritual thoughts I had been thinking during the week because I spent most of it not preparing to be prepared, or perhaps suffering the consequences of being prepared. At the very least I did not spend enough time in the Word this week, which is the key to preparedness for life's situations.
I've been much less discouraged the past couple of days (thanks to some very reliable and encouraging friends, and prayer) but I know I can definitely do a better job letting God prepare me for the situations in my life.
He's here for us and his word is here for us. We cannot forget to utilize those resources.
Wednesday, February 12, 2014
Run.
What should we do about temptation to sin? That should be a big question in the minds of Christian people. How do we respond when we are confronted with the wrong choice, when we are encouraged to make the wrong choice? We have to have answers for those questions.
When I was thinking about writing this post about how to handle temptations, I immediately thought of Joseph and Potiphar's Wife. He literally flees from the temptation to sin, which is the point I wanted to drive at. But, as I read the story again, something stood out to me that is an equally important way to approach temptation.
Genesis 39:6b-12
Now Joseph was handsome in form and appearance. And after a time his master's wife cast her eyes on Joseph and said, “Lie with me.” But he refused and said to his master's wife, “Behold, because of me my master has no concern about anything in the house, and he has put everything that he has in my charge. He is not greater in this house than I am, nor has he kept back anything from me except you, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?” And as she spoke to Joseph day after day, he would not listen to her, to lie beside her or to be with her.
But one day, when he went into the house to do his work and none of the men of the house was there in the house, she caught him by his garment, saying, “Lie with me.” But he left his garment in her hand and fled and got out of the house.
What I didn't notice before that I noticed on this reading was that Joseph didn't just immediately run away from the problem that was facing him. Potiphar's wife tried to entice him day after day, but his first response wasn't to run. His first response was to refuse her and proclaim his faith. "I can't sin against God this way." He likely had to say these words over and over again to her, having to convince himself to continually deny her, even though she tempted him. I wouldn't claim to know that this was indeed a true temptation for Joseph, except from the evidence we see in the rest of this story.
After he diligently and dutifully spent days and days relying on God and his affirmation of his own faith to resist temptation, the day came when she caught him, tempted him, and he ran away. If he had no desire to sin in this scenario he could have just continued to tell her no. But instead he ran, leaving his responsibilities and his position so that he wouldn't sin.
I think the dual nature of Joseph's approach to this temptation (resisting while remaining/fleeing) can tell us lots of good things.
There should be no length we are unwilling to go to to stop from sinning. Period. If we can resist temptation easily through faith and will-power--great. But if not, let's do whatever we need to do to cut sin out of our lives.
When I was thinking about writing this post about how to handle temptations, I immediately thought of Joseph and Potiphar's Wife. He literally flees from the temptation to sin, which is the point I wanted to drive at. But, as I read the story again, something stood out to me that is an equally important way to approach temptation.
Genesis 39:6b-12
Now Joseph was handsome in form and appearance. And after a time his master's wife cast her eyes on Joseph and said, “Lie with me.” But he refused and said to his master's wife, “Behold, because of me my master has no concern about anything in the house, and he has put everything that he has in my charge. He is not greater in this house than I am, nor has he kept back anything from me except you, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?” And as she spoke to Joseph day after day, he would not listen to her, to lie beside her or to be with her.
But one day, when he went into the house to do his work and none of the men of the house was there in the house, she caught him by his garment, saying, “Lie with me.” But he left his garment in her hand and fled and got out of the house.
What I didn't notice before that I noticed on this reading was that Joseph didn't just immediately run away from the problem that was facing him. Potiphar's wife tried to entice him day after day, but his first response wasn't to run. His first response was to refuse her and proclaim his faith. "I can't sin against God this way." He likely had to say these words over and over again to her, having to convince himself to continually deny her, even though she tempted him. I wouldn't claim to know that this was indeed a true temptation for Joseph, except from the evidence we see in the rest of this story.
After he diligently and dutifully spent days and days relying on God and his affirmation of his own faith to resist temptation, the day came when she caught him, tempted him, and he ran away. If he had no desire to sin in this scenario he could have just continued to tell her no. But instead he ran, leaving his responsibilities and his position so that he wouldn't sin.
I think the dual nature of Joseph's approach to this temptation (resisting while remaining/fleeing) can tell us lots of good things.
- People of faith will be tempted.
- Strong faith will help us through temptations, but it won't make us magically impervious to them or incapable of succumbing to them.
- Reminding ourselves why we shouldn't sin can help us resist temptation.
- Running from the source of our temptation doesn't always have to be our first response (Although I would never lessen the power or importance of verses 2 Timothy 2:22 or 1 Corinthians 6:18. I would say present resistance is a form of fleeing)
- We can teach others about God even when we are tempted (Joseph taught Potiphar's wife about serving God amidst this temptation)
- It's better to run than to give in.
There should be no length we are unwilling to go to to stop from sinning. Period. If we can resist temptation easily through faith and will-power--great. But if not, let's do whatever we need to do to cut sin out of our lives.
Saturday, February 8, 2014
He Set Eternity in our Hearts
Sorry this post is coming so late in the week. For some reason I really had trouble coming up with something to talk about, especially amidst the busyness of lectures, etc.
I decided to talk about something that came up more than once in my week in really subtle ways, but that I think is really interesting and important. Admittedly, I need to think a lot more about this complex subject.
Ecclesiastes 3:10-11
"I have seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end."
Think about that while I tell you these two stories from my week:
One.
I'm very blessed to be able to have lots of conversations about God with people who don't necessarily believe in him or care about what he has to say. In my field, almost everyone is an atheist, but they are generally very interested in my alternative perspective. Recently, during one of these conversations, a colleague of mine asked me a question that she feared was too personal. "Do you really, actually, deep down inside, feel that there is something more?"
That was a weird question for me. People don't usually approach my faith in terms of my feelings about it. I don't usually approach my faith in terms of my feelings about it. But then I realized that the answer to her question was "Absolutely yes, I know there is something more. I can feel it inside of me." I really don't think I had ever said that to a person before, because I focus a lot on intellectually coming to God. But I realized as I answered her, that another way that I believe in God is because I know in my heart that he is the explanation for things. I'm the kind of person who likes to know things only with my brain, but there is something to be said for feeling in your heart that there is something more to life than what you can come up with in your own brain.
After all, that's exactly the premise of Ecc 3:11. God set eternity in our hearts, not so that we can understand all of the things that God has done or what God understands, but so we can understand that there is something more. Like I said, I need to think about that verse and what it means more, but there seemed to be a strong correlation between what my colleague was referencing in my "gut feelings" and the idea of God "setting eternity in our hearts." Whether or not she believed in something more, she was willing to recognize that my belief (especially in life after death) would be something that stemmed at least in part from an internal instinct of some sort.
Now for story number two. This isn't really my story as much as the other one was. I started watching this documentary called "Surviving Progress" on Netflix. I've been busy, so I've only watched about 15 minutes of it. During this fifteen minutes, a evolutionary scientist (I think that was his title) was explaining the differences and similarities between chimps and humans. The major difference he brought out was that when something doesn't work how it is supposed to for a chimp, they just keep trying to do whatever it is and they don't understand why it doesn't work. Alternatively, if something doesn't work in the way that a human expects it to based on prior knowledge, they look for an unobservable factor that could be causing this different outcome.
The scientist, of course, gave no explanation as to why humans, rather than chimps, are capable of understanding that there could be invisible/unobservable things that explain life. Those are his words, not mine. He stated very plainly that humans are looking for unobservable things to explain life, not just individual events.
So here it was again, Ecclesiastes 3:11 from the mouth of a scientist. Humans are seeking explanations that go beyond our senses. What the scientist didn't say, but that I will, is that our Creator gave us that longing to help us search for him.
I don't know if there is anything that one could make of that searching, that longing, or that "gut feeling" without the Creator. If there is just nothing else--no more to this life (or beyond this life)--why is there this pervasive idea that we are looking for something that we naturally perceive inside ourselves?
(Now that I'm reading this, I'm realizing that these ideas are probably also informed in part by C.S. Lewis and his discussion of the Law of Human Nature in Mere Christianity. Regardless, I take comfort and hope in the fact that God gives us tools to help us search for him and find him. And I hope that we can all be aware of those around us who are looking and feeling so that we can help guide them to the true God.)
I decided to talk about something that came up more than once in my week in really subtle ways, but that I think is really interesting and important. Admittedly, I need to think a lot more about this complex subject.
Ecclesiastes 3:10-11
"I have seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end."
Think about that while I tell you these two stories from my week:
One.
I'm very blessed to be able to have lots of conversations about God with people who don't necessarily believe in him or care about what he has to say. In my field, almost everyone is an atheist, but they are generally very interested in my alternative perspective. Recently, during one of these conversations, a colleague of mine asked me a question that she feared was too personal. "Do you really, actually, deep down inside, feel that there is something more?"
That was a weird question for me. People don't usually approach my faith in terms of my feelings about it. I don't usually approach my faith in terms of my feelings about it. But then I realized that the answer to her question was "Absolutely yes, I know there is something more. I can feel it inside of me." I really don't think I had ever said that to a person before, because I focus a lot on intellectually coming to God. But I realized as I answered her, that another way that I believe in God is because I know in my heart that he is the explanation for things. I'm the kind of person who likes to know things only with my brain, but there is something to be said for feeling in your heart that there is something more to life than what you can come up with in your own brain.
After all, that's exactly the premise of Ecc 3:11. God set eternity in our hearts, not so that we can understand all of the things that God has done or what God understands, but so we can understand that there is something more. Like I said, I need to think about that verse and what it means more, but there seemed to be a strong correlation between what my colleague was referencing in my "gut feelings" and the idea of God "setting eternity in our hearts." Whether or not she believed in something more, she was willing to recognize that my belief (especially in life after death) would be something that stemmed at least in part from an internal instinct of some sort.
Now for story number two. This isn't really my story as much as the other one was. I started watching this documentary called "Surviving Progress" on Netflix. I've been busy, so I've only watched about 15 minutes of it. During this fifteen minutes, a evolutionary scientist (I think that was his title) was explaining the differences and similarities between chimps and humans. The major difference he brought out was that when something doesn't work how it is supposed to for a chimp, they just keep trying to do whatever it is and they don't understand why it doesn't work. Alternatively, if something doesn't work in the way that a human expects it to based on prior knowledge, they look for an unobservable factor that could be causing this different outcome.
The scientist, of course, gave no explanation as to why humans, rather than chimps, are capable of understanding that there could be invisible/unobservable things that explain life. Those are his words, not mine. He stated very plainly that humans are looking for unobservable things to explain life, not just individual events.
So here it was again, Ecclesiastes 3:11 from the mouth of a scientist. Humans are seeking explanations that go beyond our senses. What the scientist didn't say, but that I will, is that our Creator gave us that longing to help us search for him.
I don't know if there is anything that one could make of that searching, that longing, or that "gut feeling" without the Creator. If there is just nothing else--no more to this life (or beyond this life)--why is there this pervasive idea that we are looking for something that we naturally perceive inside ourselves?
(Now that I'm reading this, I'm realizing that these ideas are probably also informed in part by C.S. Lewis and his discussion of the Law of Human Nature in Mere Christianity. Regardless, I take comfort and hope in the fact that God gives us tools to help us search for him and find him. And I hope that we can all be aware of those around us who are looking and feeling so that we can help guide them to the true God.)
Wednesday, January 29, 2014
"Being single is sad," "Marriage is dumb," and lots of other things we should never say again.
I am not a big facebooker. In fact, I rarely ever got on Facebook before November of last year. At that point, it became a sort of cathartic place for me to go, where my friends and I could share stories of loved ones and encourage one another in a time of loss. I spent a good portion of November and December checking Facebook pretty regularly to look for these encouraging words, and it became a habit for me. There's nothing wrong with a Facebook habit. In fact, you can learn lots and lots of things on Facebook. Everyone seems to have an opinion there that they feel comfortable expressing, so you learn lots of aspects of lots of issues.
Recently, I have noticed lots of sharers on the subject of singleness and marriage. These people fall into six main categories (maybe there are more, but these sharers are certainly the loudest): people who are single and happy, people who are married and happy, people who are single and upset, people who are single and angry about people who are married, people who are married and scoff at those who are single, and married people who are mad at single people for being mad at married people.
I'm just going to be super honest about this, not many of those groups are thinking the right way about the issue. I don't claim to know everything about being single or being married, but I do know that the bible teaches us about it.
1 Corinthians 7 (Emphasis mine)
Now concerning the matters about which you wrote: “It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.” 2 But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband. 3 The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband. 4 For the wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. Likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. 5 Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by agreement for a limited time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer; but then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.
6 Now as a concession, not a command, I say this. 7 I wish that all were as I myself am. But each has his own gift from God, one of one kind and one of another.
8 To the unmarried and the widows I say that it is good for them to remain single as I am. 9 But if they cannot exercise self-control, they should marry. For it is better to marry than to burn with passion.
10 To the married I give this charge (not I, but the Lord): the wife should not separate from her husband 11 (but if she does, she should remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband), and the husband should not divorce his wife.
12 To the rest I say (I, not the Lord) that if any brother has a wife who is an unbeliever, and she consents to live with him, he should not divorce her. 13 If any woman has a husband who is an unbeliever, and he consents to live with her, she should not divorce him. 14 For the unbelieving husband is made holy because of his wife, and the unbelieving wife is made holy because of her husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy. 15 But if the unbelieving partner separates, let it be so. In such cases the brother or sister is not enslaved. God has called you to peace. 16 For how do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife?
17 Only let each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him, and to which God has called him. This is my rule in all the churches. 18 Was anyone at the time of his call already circumcised? Let him not seek to remove the marks of circumcision. Was anyone at the time of his call uncircumcised? Let him not seek circumcision. 19 For neither circumcision counts for anything nor uncircumcision, but keeping the commandments of God. 20 Each one should remain in the condition in which he was called. 21 Were you a bondservant when called? Do not be concerned about it. (But if you can gain your freedom, avail yourself of the opportunity.) 22 For he who was called in the Lord as a bondservant is a freedman of the Lord. Likewise he who was free when called is a bondservant of Christ. 23 You were bought with a price; do not become bondservants of men. 24 So, brothers, in whatever condition each was called, there let him remain with God.
25 Now concerning the betrothed, I have no command from the Lord, but I give my judgment as one who by the Lord's mercy is trustworthy. 26 I think that in view of the present distress it is good for a person to remain as he is. 27 Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be free. Are you free from a wife? Do not seek a wife. 28 But if you do marry, you have not sinned, and if a betrothed woman marries, she has not sinned. Yet those who marry will have worldly troubles, and I would spare you that. 29 This is what I mean, brothers: the appointed time has grown very short. From now on, let those who have wives live as though they had none, 30 and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no goods, 31 and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the present form of this world is passing away.
32 I want you to be free from anxieties. The unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to please the Lord. 33 But the married man is anxious about worldly things, how to please his wife, 34 and his interests are divided. And the unmarried or betrothed woman is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to be holy in body and spirit. But the married woman is anxious about worldly things, how to please her husband. 35 I say this for your own benefit, not to lay any restraint upon you, but to promote good order and to secure your undivided devotion to the Lord.
36 If anyone thinks that he is not behaving properly toward his betrothed, if his passions are strong, and it has to be, let him do as he wishes: let them marry—it is no sin. 37 But whoever is firmly established in his heart, being under no necessity but having his desire under control, and has determined this in his heart, to keep her as his betrothed, he will do well. 38 So then he who marries his betrothed does well, and he who refrains from marriage will do even better.
39 A wife is bound to her husband as long as he lives. But if her husband dies, she is free to be married to whom she wishes, only in the Lord. 40 Yet in my judgment she is happier if she remains as she is. And I think that I too have the Spirit of God.
In the above passage (it's lengthy, sorry not sorry, it's important) I've keyed in on some things that I think are really important. In red I've emphasized the positive things Paul had to say to single people (it is good for them to remain single, the unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord, etc.). In blue I've emphasized the positive things Paul said to those who wished to marry or were married (they should marry, you have not sinned, etc.). However, the most pertinent points to the discussion here I bolded throughout the text.
But each has his own gift from God
The important thing is not if we are married or if we are single. The important thing is that we are serving God in every circumstance. Some people are married right now and some people aren't. Some people will eventually get married, and some people wont. Their task is not different, only their circumstance.
God gave us marriage, but he also gave us times in our life when we aren't married. Let's make the best use of both circumstances, and be happy for our brothers and sisters who get to serve God in a different way than we do at this particular moment. There is no need to pity ourselves, or the people who are in a different stage in their lives than we are. And there is no reason to be bitter or angry that other people are happy in their circumstances. There is only a need to be fully devoted to the Lord.
So, thinking again about the issue of Facebook that I started with...instead of typing out long diatribes about who is wrong or right or who lives a better life than whom, we could exhort each other in a more productive way:
If right now you are single, that's great! Do God's work.
If right now you are married, that's great too! Do God's work together.
Recently, I have noticed lots of sharers on the subject of singleness and marriage. These people fall into six main categories (maybe there are more, but these sharers are certainly the loudest): people who are single and happy, people who are married and happy, people who are single and upset, people who are single and angry about people who are married, people who are married and scoff at those who are single, and married people who are mad at single people for being mad at married people.
I'm just going to be super honest about this, not many of those groups are thinking the right way about the issue. I don't claim to know everything about being single or being married, but I do know that the bible teaches us about it.
1 Corinthians 7 (Emphasis mine)
Now concerning the matters about which you wrote: “It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.” 2 But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband. 3 The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband. 4 For the wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. Likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. 5 Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by agreement for a limited time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer; but then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.
6 Now as a concession, not a command, I say this. 7 I wish that all were as I myself am. But each has his own gift from God, one of one kind and one of another.
8 To the unmarried and the widows I say that it is good for them to remain single as I am. 9 But if they cannot exercise self-control, they should marry. For it is better to marry than to burn with passion.
10 To the married I give this charge (not I, but the Lord): the wife should not separate from her husband 11 (but if she does, she should remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband), and the husband should not divorce his wife.
12 To the rest I say (I, not the Lord) that if any brother has a wife who is an unbeliever, and she consents to live with him, he should not divorce her. 13 If any woman has a husband who is an unbeliever, and he consents to live with her, she should not divorce him. 14 For the unbelieving husband is made holy because of his wife, and the unbelieving wife is made holy because of her husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy. 15 But if the unbelieving partner separates, let it be so. In such cases the brother or sister is not enslaved. God has called you to peace. 16 For how do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife?
17 Only let each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him, and to which God has called him. This is my rule in all the churches. 18 Was anyone at the time of his call already circumcised? Let him not seek to remove the marks of circumcision. Was anyone at the time of his call uncircumcised? Let him not seek circumcision. 19 For neither circumcision counts for anything nor uncircumcision, but keeping the commandments of God. 20 Each one should remain in the condition in which he was called. 21 Were you a bondservant when called? Do not be concerned about it. (But if you can gain your freedom, avail yourself of the opportunity.) 22 For he who was called in the Lord as a bondservant is a freedman of the Lord. Likewise he who was free when called is a bondservant of Christ. 23 You were bought with a price; do not become bondservants of men. 24 So, brothers, in whatever condition each was called, there let him remain with God.
25 Now concerning the betrothed, I have no command from the Lord, but I give my judgment as one who by the Lord's mercy is trustworthy. 26 I think that in view of the present distress it is good for a person to remain as he is. 27 Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be free. Are you free from a wife? Do not seek a wife. 28 But if you do marry, you have not sinned, and if a betrothed woman marries, she has not sinned. Yet those who marry will have worldly troubles, and I would spare you that. 29 This is what I mean, brothers: the appointed time has grown very short. From now on, let those who have wives live as though they had none, 30 and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no goods, 31 and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the present form of this world is passing away.
32 I want you to be free from anxieties. The unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to please the Lord. 33 But the married man is anxious about worldly things, how to please his wife, 34 and his interests are divided. And the unmarried or betrothed woman is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to be holy in body and spirit. But the married woman is anxious about worldly things, how to please her husband. 35 I say this for your own benefit, not to lay any restraint upon you, but to promote good order and to secure your undivided devotion to the Lord.
36 If anyone thinks that he is not behaving properly toward his betrothed, if his passions are strong, and it has to be, let him do as he wishes: let them marry—it is no sin. 37 But whoever is firmly established in his heart, being under no necessity but having his desire under control, and has determined this in his heart, to keep her as his betrothed, he will do well. 38 So then he who marries his betrothed does well, and he who refrains from marriage will do even better.
39 A wife is bound to her husband as long as he lives. But if her husband dies, she is free to be married to whom she wishes, only in the Lord. 40 Yet in my judgment she is happier if she remains as she is. And I think that I too have the Spirit of God.
In the above passage (it's lengthy, sorry not sorry, it's important) I've keyed in on some things that I think are really important. In red I've emphasized the positive things Paul had to say to single people (it is good for them to remain single, the unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord, etc.). In blue I've emphasized the positive things Paul said to those who wished to marry or were married (they should marry, you have not sinned, etc.). However, the most pertinent points to the discussion here I bolded throughout the text.
But each has his own gift from God
- It's ridiculous to think that we are all the same. We aren't all the same and we aren't all going to be going though the same experiences at the same times or be called by the Lord to do the same things.
- In whatever circumstance you find yourself, live your life. God gave you the life he gave you and he wants you to use it, not be mad about it.
- Keeping God's commandments is of the utmost importance, no matter what your circumstance is.
- Be about the Lord's business, don't worry about the things of the world.
- Christians should want other Christians to be fully devoted to the Lord (married or single, Paul tells us marriage isn't wrong. It's from God)
- The one who marries does well and the one who doesn't marry does well. Paul says that the unmarried will do better only because he can be fully devoted to the Lord. The key to his success is not singleness, it is devotion.
The important thing is not if we are married or if we are single. The important thing is that we are serving God in every circumstance. Some people are married right now and some people aren't. Some people will eventually get married, and some people wont. Their task is not different, only their circumstance.
God gave us marriage, but he also gave us times in our life when we aren't married. Let's make the best use of both circumstances, and be happy for our brothers and sisters who get to serve God in a different way than we do at this particular moment. There is no need to pity ourselves, or the people who are in a different stage in their lives than we are. And there is no reason to be bitter or angry that other people are happy in their circumstances. There is only a need to be fully devoted to the Lord.
So, thinking again about the issue of Facebook that I started with...instead of typing out long diatribes about who is wrong or right or who lives a better life than whom, we could exhort each other in a more productive way:
If right now you are single, that's great! Do God's work.
If right now you are married, that's great too! Do God's work together.
Thursday, January 23, 2014
"Meet me in the church, we're gonna pray. Anywhere you meet me guarantee we're gonna pray"
Some of my friends and I have this habit of changing the words in songs on the radio so that they no longer refer to bad things. I don't know how this practice originated, but it's a pretty fun road trip game. Songs become about marriage, baptism, bible study, or the holy spirit instead of fornication, gang violence, clubbing, or doing drugs. I always thought this was just a fun little thing that we did, but recently I thought of some important lessons that I could draw from this practice. I want to share them with you here:
It's time for us to "make the best use of the time" (Eph 5:16). Let's put effort into thinking about the goodness of God, his law, and his love for us in all circumstances so that we may glorify Him.
- We have to put effort forward to think about good things. In Philippians 4:8 we are encouraged: "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things." But it's not as if the world is just tripping over itself to offer us wholesome things to think about. I believe in monitoring what we subject ourselves to, but sometimes we are going to just have to make the best of things that we can't avoid. I want to return for a moment to the example about songs on the radio. The other day as I was driving to school that song "Dead and Gone" by TI came on the radio. Now I'm pretty certain this song teaches terrible messages, but it was just playing in the background (on the radio station that wasn't playing commercials) while I thought of other things. Suddenly, however, the song came into the forefront of my mind as I heard these lyrics: Oh hey, I've been travelin' on this road too long Just tryin' to find my way back home But the old me's dead and gone Dead and gone... In an otherwise completely unwholesome song, there were messages about repentance and striving for home that could easily apply to the Christian walk. That's when I thought to myself "I need to be looking for these sorts of things!" This brings me to my next point.
- As Christians, we should strive to make everything in our lives about God and Christ Jesus (because it is). This isn't always manifested directly, as it is when you change the words in songs to be about scriptural things. I'm not saying that you should make eating your morning cereal "about" Christ (although if you could think about Christ through eating cereal I think that's great, the more time we spend "thinking on these things," the better), but in some ways everything we do and every situation we encounter is connected to Christ and our Christian faith. I think about Titus 2. In this chapter, Paul tells the brethren how they are supposed to act, and gives them a rationale that explains why they should act this way. I especially like the way the NIV reads about slaves (9-10) "Teach slaves to be subject to their masters in everything, to try to please them, not to talk back to them, and
not to steal from them, but to show that they can be fully trusted, so
that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive." The way they do their jobs is intended to show the greatness of God and the goodness of his revelation. I don't think we should be ignorant of that. Every situation we are in
should showshows other people something about God whether or not we are aware of it. So, let's be aware. We need to be asking ourselves things like "How can I best reflect Christ in this situation?" and "How does this relate to my walk as a Christian, to the Bible, or to moral principles?" I think a good way to train ourselves to think that way and act that way (as I've mentioned above) is to make things about God. Let's relate things on the radio to the bible, things on the news to God, and the things we learn in school to the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
It's time for us to "make the best use of the time" (Eph 5:16). Let's put effort into thinking about the goodness of God, his law, and his love for us in all circumstances so that we may glorify Him.
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