We are all to follow Christ. That is our call. That is our life. It is nothing other than a single-minded devotion to follow, love, be discipled to, and become like Jesus. It is nothing other than to please him.
All the things of this life are material for obedience to our Lord. Nothing is an end in itself, except for Christ. Everything exists for him. He does not exist for the sake of anything else. He simply is... he says, I am.
Therefore, all of our relationships and all our stages of life are meant to draw us closer into this most important relationship. My time as a child is meant to bring him glory. My time as a student is meant to bring him glory. My time as a married man is meant to bring him glory. My time as a teacher is meant to bring him glory. My time as a retired man is meant to bring him glory. All for his glory.
My relationship with my wife is meant to bring him glory. My relationship with my boss is meant to bring him glory. My relationship with my parents is meant to bring him glory. My relationship with the lost around me is meant to bring him glory.
I cannot add to God's glory. He is infinite and in no way dependent on man. My attempt to add to his glory would be like a lunatic shining a flashlight up to the full moon, thinking that it will shine brighter than the sun has already made it shine. I am puny.
While I cannot add to God's glory, I can enjoy him by reflecting it. God created us to be mirrors. The events and people and circumstances of my life each serve to clear or to muddy up my mirror. God wants a world ablaze with his light, reflecting all over the place. I want to be a part of that. By his grace, I get to be a part of that.
Friday, March 1, 2013
Friday, February 15, 2013
Thickness
Have you ever had the sensation of looking at a word and being struck by its oddness? You spell it, and it doesn't sound right and it doesn't look right, even though you have spelled it correctly. It is like you are seeing for the first time and it strikes you as weird. (Try meditating for ten seconds on the word "thing" by just staring at it. If you don't just flow over it like you would when you are reading normally, it starts to look out of place, weird.)
Have you ever done this with your own face? You think, I could have looked any number of ways, but I happen to look this way. How odd. This might be more likely to happen to someone like me than to someone who pays a lot of attention to what they look like daily. I pretty much get dressed in the dark and stumble to school... I mean, first of all, human beings are such strange animals anyway. And then you turn out to be you, specifically you, no one else. Of all the faces you could have had, you have yours.
I probably sound high, but I am grasping for language to describe a fleeting feeling. You can't bottle or keep this feeling. It's a little like deja vu, but you stop feeling deja vu once you settle your attention on it. Like when you stop to dissect your joy or your peace, you lessen those feelings.
I had this feeling about my wife the other day. I started to write her a love poem. I put a picture of her in my mind. And I had an odd feeling like she was unfamiliar. Not that I suddenly forgot all about her or that I had been neglecting her or anything bad like that. Just that I subconsciously transported back to high school, before college and everything, and I saw her - in a manner - for the first time. Of all the people that I might have ended up with, I ended up with her. Specifically. And that feeling that I sometimes have about my own face, I had about my wife. And just as I turned to examine that feeling, it went away because, like I said, this sort of thing is fleeting.
It is like walking up to the edge of what might possibly have been different, being struck by the strangeness of how things actually are, and feeling a little light-headed next to the cliff of possibility, and that reality has been threaded to be what it actually is. Dude, what if I had a different face? It could've happened. What if "thing" were spelled differently? Could've happened. What if I had chosen to go to Covenant College instead of Georgia Tech and never met Nicole? That could have happened.
These pieces are like pointers to a bigger question I sometimes have. Creation itself. What if there were nothing? What if history had never gotten started? What if the universe were not here? Imagine a great gulf of nothingness. Sit on that for a minute. And then let reality with its waterfalls, poems, pavement, babies, sunsets, holidays, insects, and thunderstorms come storming back into that gulf, the thickness of reality pressing its way back in.
All of this stuff didn't have to be here. None of this is necessary. But it is here. I didn't have to exist. There was a time when I didn't exist. But I do now. So what will I do with that? What a huge cliff of thought to step up to.
My moments of doubting are sometimes like this. My mind might wonder, what if God didn't exist? I see before me the cliff, and this doubt pushing me into that antithesis of a great gulf of nothingness, and the thickness of reality pressing into the gulf of nothingness.
I don't think I could ever be an atheist. I know that sometimes I live like one. I mean that sometimes my sin shows that I am ignoring the reality of God. But I don't think I could ever believe the proposition "God doesn't exist." I think this because I have a relationship with him, for one thing. But in those times when I have neglected that relationship, when I have shut my ears, when I am ignoring him, the thickness of reality still pulls me back from the cliff.
God is sovereign. I have faith, but I believe that even my faith is a gift from God. I cannot boast about coming to him because I am smart, humble, especially repentant, or perceptive. I believe that in his grace he breathed life into me. And I believe that with the love in which he saved me, he is also keeping me. I think the thing that pulls me back from the cliff of unbelief when my dark heart leads me astray is his gentle, loving Hand. His hand has woven the thickness of created reality, and it testifies so powerfully to his goodness within my heart. I cannot ignore or escape it.
I do not keep myself a Christian. God does.
What a weird post. You probably should shut off your computer and read about ten for fifteen chapters of Scripture to flush all this craziness out of your mind.
Have you ever done this with your own face? You think, I could have looked any number of ways, but I happen to look this way. How odd. This might be more likely to happen to someone like me than to someone who pays a lot of attention to what they look like daily. I pretty much get dressed in the dark and stumble to school... I mean, first of all, human beings are such strange animals anyway. And then you turn out to be you, specifically you, no one else. Of all the faces you could have had, you have yours.
I probably sound high, but I am grasping for language to describe a fleeting feeling. You can't bottle or keep this feeling. It's a little like deja vu, but you stop feeling deja vu once you settle your attention on it. Like when you stop to dissect your joy or your peace, you lessen those feelings.
I had this feeling about my wife the other day. I started to write her a love poem. I put a picture of her in my mind. And I had an odd feeling like she was unfamiliar. Not that I suddenly forgot all about her or that I had been neglecting her or anything bad like that. Just that I subconsciously transported back to high school, before college and everything, and I saw her - in a manner - for the first time. Of all the people that I might have ended up with, I ended up with her. Specifically. And that feeling that I sometimes have about my own face, I had about my wife. And just as I turned to examine that feeling, it went away because, like I said, this sort of thing is fleeting.
It is like walking up to the edge of what might possibly have been different, being struck by the strangeness of how things actually are, and feeling a little light-headed next to the cliff of possibility, and that reality has been threaded to be what it actually is. Dude, what if I had a different face? It could've happened. What if "thing" were spelled differently? Could've happened. What if I had chosen to go to Covenant College instead of Georgia Tech and never met Nicole? That could have happened.
These pieces are like pointers to a bigger question I sometimes have. Creation itself. What if there were nothing? What if history had never gotten started? What if the universe were not here? Imagine a great gulf of nothingness. Sit on that for a minute. And then let reality with its waterfalls, poems, pavement, babies, sunsets, holidays, insects, and thunderstorms come storming back into that gulf, the thickness of reality pressing its way back in.
All of this stuff didn't have to be here. None of this is necessary. But it is here. I didn't have to exist. There was a time when I didn't exist. But I do now. So what will I do with that? What a huge cliff of thought to step up to.
My moments of doubting are sometimes like this. My mind might wonder, what if God didn't exist? I see before me the cliff, and this doubt pushing me into that antithesis of a great gulf of nothingness, and the thickness of reality pressing into the gulf of nothingness.
I don't think I could ever be an atheist. I know that sometimes I live like one. I mean that sometimes my sin shows that I am ignoring the reality of God. But I don't think I could ever believe the proposition "God doesn't exist." I think this because I have a relationship with him, for one thing. But in those times when I have neglected that relationship, when I have shut my ears, when I am ignoring him, the thickness of reality still pulls me back from the cliff.
God is sovereign. I have faith, but I believe that even my faith is a gift from God. I cannot boast about coming to him because I am smart, humble, especially repentant, or perceptive. I believe that in his grace he breathed life into me. And I believe that with the love in which he saved me, he is also keeping me. I think the thing that pulls me back from the cliff of unbelief when my dark heart leads me astray is his gentle, loving Hand. His hand has woven the thickness of created reality, and it testifies so powerfully to his goodness within my heart. I cannot ignore or escape it.
I do not keep myself a Christian. God does.
What a weird post. You probably should shut off your computer and read about ten for fifteen chapters of Scripture to flush all this craziness out of your mind.
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Seek
God said to the Israelites through Amos in Chapter 5,
“Seek Me and live”, “Seek the Lord and live”, “Seek good and not evil, that you
may live”. This was spoken to people who were bringing sacrifices, offerings,
and having solemn assemblies; a “religious” people by outward appearance.
However, God looks deeper than our actions into the
motives of our hearts and what we love and truly “seek”. God called them to
repentance for hearts that were callous or indifferent to the weaker or
downcast people in society, their Israelite brothers and sisters. They had
placed their trust in themselves, their perceived relationship with God, their
worship “style”, and their material “strongholds”.
They had become fixated on enjoying life to the spiritual
exclusion of the Giver of life! In Chapter 6, God pronounces “woe” on those
that are “at ease in Zion”, those that “lie on beds of ivory” and “stretch
themselves out on their couches”, that crave a rich diet, that sing “idle”
songs that sound beautiful to the natural ear, that enjoy wine to excess by the
“bowl”, and that enjoy the pleasures of being anointed with oils.
What they did not have was a “grief” over the moral “ruin”
of God’s chosen people. Their “pride” in themselves reflected what they were
“seeking”; self-pleasure, self-satisfaction, self, self, self! God said, “I
abhor your pride” and “I hate” the things you have placed your trust in
(“Strongholds”).
God said to “Seek” Him. How? Isaiah 55:3, 6-7 gives some
direction. “Incline your ear” (listen to God), “come to Me” (change your
direction. Repent.), “hear” (obey), “call upon Him” (confess your need for
Him.), “forsake” your wicked ways and unrighteous thoughts, and “return to the
Lord” (forsake the ways of the world).
God says, “Seek My face” in Psalm 27:8. Seek Him fully.
Not seeking just parts of Him such as peace, power, or grace. If we are seeking
Him face to face in humble love and obedience, the relationship is beyond
articulation. Are we settling for so little? Are we worshipping in style rather
than in truth.
David’s heart was to “dwell” in the house of the Lord
forever. Does that desire consume us as well? Or do we find our heart satisfied
with far less?
“Seek” Him and He will be found (1 Chronicles 28:9).
“Seek” His face and He will hear and
heal (2 Chronicles 7:14). “Seek” Him that
your ways may be “pure” (Psalm 119:9-16). God calls us to “seek” Him “if you
have been raised with Christ” (Colossians 3:1-4), and finally God “rewards”
those who “seek” Him (Hebrews 11:6).
May we in absolute honesty search our hearts and have God
reveal the purity and depth of our “seeking”. May we be found as good and
faithful stewards recognizing the price paid by our Lord and Savior for the
privilege to “seek”!
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
Encouragement
Every single one of us is rich. We are filthy stinking rich. We are loaded. And we don't know it...
But here's the deal. Our currency is not something we can spend on ourselves. If we try to keep it, we lose it. It goes bad. It's gone. The only way to make this currency count is to give it away.
We want it badly and try to get it from other people. But we are stingy with it ourselves. The only way to lose this game is not to play.
What in the world am I talking about? I am talking about our words. We all have the ability to speak into the life of someone else. The times when you are feeling best is when you feel affirmed by those who matter most to you. We long for this affirmation, but we are so slow to give it.
I picture myself like a liberated Scrooge, walking about giving away all I own for the joy of others. Even if I am dirt poor, I can give my words. I can encourage. I can spread a bit of joy and happiness that might not have otherwise been. I gain nothing by sitting in silence. There is not a quota or a limit on how much I am allowed to love another.
I am a sinner. I know that I am not perfect. I know that I need help and saving and to be changed. Precisely because of this, I feel unlovable sometimes. God, can you still love me? I have done this thing a thousand times? Are you really taking me back again?
It is sometimes very hard to believe God's love for me when I am in a pit of despair. We don't generally hear God audibly - at least I never have - and those times when I am in a pit are often the times I least feel like listening to Scripture. The time when I most need to hear his voice of forgiveness and love are those times when I am least equipped to hear it.
I am not God and cannot speak for him. Amen? Amen. And yet while I may not be able to convince someone else that God still loves them, I can do my best to love them myself. To convince them of my love. To help them see that they are indeed loved and appreciated and accepted. God may get to their hearts through the love that I can give to them. I do not speak as God, yet God may still speak through me.
To some this may sound vague and wishy-washy and light on adherence to truth. No. God loves those whom he disciplines. Tough love is love, and "love" without tough love is not. But in the midst of words of correction or disapproval, there ought to be a strong undercurrent, a strong context of, "You are my friend and I am with you and we are going to get through this."
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. How difficult it is to believe this, to believe in grace. God saves us, not because we're awesome, but because he loves us and is up to something with us. Having saved us, he will keep us. I know, at least, that I need to be encouraged by my brothers and sisters with this truth. Let's give it liberally to each other.
If there is an imbalance in our world, it is most often toward criticism. And I don't mean to tip the balance toward vacuous and empty comments. But I do mean that you have the ability to show someone with your life and words that it is indeed a good thing that they exist. That they have a friend. When they know that you will not give up on them, they may be more likely to believe that God won't either. When they feel that you like them, they will be more inclined to think that God does, too.
Let us love each other to the praise of the glory of Jesus, who brought truth and love and shed his blood to secure our salvation.
But here's the deal. Our currency is not something we can spend on ourselves. If we try to keep it, we lose it. It goes bad. It's gone. The only way to make this currency count is to give it away.
We want it badly and try to get it from other people. But we are stingy with it ourselves. The only way to lose this game is not to play.
What in the world am I talking about? I am talking about our words. We all have the ability to speak into the life of someone else. The times when you are feeling best is when you feel affirmed by those who matter most to you. We long for this affirmation, but we are so slow to give it.
I picture myself like a liberated Scrooge, walking about giving away all I own for the joy of others. Even if I am dirt poor, I can give my words. I can encourage. I can spread a bit of joy and happiness that might not have otherwise been. I gain nothing by sitting in silence. There is not a quota or a limit on how much I am allowed to love another.
I am a sinner. I know that I am not perfect. I know that I need help and saving and to be changed. Precisely because of this, I feel unlovable sometimes. God, can you still love me? I have done this thing a thousand times? Are you really taking me back again?
It is sometimes very hard to believe God's love for me when I am in a pit of despair. We don't generally hear God audibly - at least I never have - and those times when I am in a pit are often the times I least feel like listening to Scripture. The time when I most need to hear his voice of forgiveness and love are those times when I am least equipped to hear it.
I am not God and cannot speak for him. Amen? Amen. And yet while I may not be able to convince someone else that God still loves them, I can do my best to love them myself. To convince them of my love. To help them see that they are indeed loved and appreciated and accepted. God may get to their hearts through the love that I can give to them. I do not speak as God, yet God may still speak through me.
To some this may sound vague and wishy-washy and light on adherence to truth. No. God loves those whom he disciplines. Tough love is love, and "love" without tough love is not. But in the midst of words of correction or disapproval, there ought to be a strong undercurrent, a strong context of, "You are my friend and I am with you and we are going to get through this."
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. How difficult it is to believe this, to believe in grace. God saves us, not because we're awesome, but because he loves us and is up to something with us. Having saved us, he will keep us. I know, at least, that I need to be encouraged by my brothers and sisters with this truth. Let's give it liberally to each other.
If there is an imbalance in our world, it is most often toward criticism. And I don't mean to tip the balance toward vacuous and empty comments. But I do mean that you have the ability to show someone with your life and words that it is indeed a good thing that they exist. That they have a friend. When they know that you will not give up on them, they may be more likely to believe that God won't either. When they feel that you like them, they will be more inclined to think that God does, too.
Let us love each other to the praise of the glory of Jesus, who brought truth and love and shed his blood to secure our salvation.
Repentance
Our class has been in a study
of Hosea over the last few weeks. God, in His love, sent messengers (prophets)
to the Israelites to warn them of their apostasy and to seek their return to
Him (the one true God). This return involved more than just a mental assent to
their waywardness from God and asking for His forgiveness.
Repenting is a “change of
mind” (a change of direction). As sinners, we are pointed away from God in our
thoughts, our actions, and our deeds……. we are slaves to sin. In Hebrew, the
“mind” has a number of translations that include our heart, our soul, our
spirit, our imagination, and our mouth (speech). So a “change of mind” is
radical and complete. The “mind” is who you are and God wants all of us! Have
you surrendered? Is God the most important fact of your existence? Does God’s
saving grace consume you?
In John 8, Jesus was in the
Temple area and announced He was the “Light” of the world and those that follow
him will not “walk in darkness”. The religious lost (Pharisees) called him a
liar and a dialogue of His “testimony” ensued with Jesus claiming its validity
by the Father and Himself. He told them that He was “not of this world” and
that they would die “in your sins” unless you believe in Him. And the scripture
says in 8:30, “many believed in Him”.
Is believing “repentance”?
Jesus followed with a statement to the “believers” in 8:31 “ If you abide
in My word, you are truly My disciples, and you will know the Truth and the Truth
will set you free.” To “abide” means to accept, to act in accordance, and to
continue without fading. Does that characterize our salvation (deliverance)?
God is the author and perfecter of our faith. Are we a new creation? Does the
world sense and know that the things of this world do not hold our affections?
Jesus dealt with at least 3
different groups that day (and probably every day) in the Temple; the religious
lost (Pharisees), believers that would not abide (not changed), and believers
that would abide (and become disciples of the Truth). Are you in one of these
groups? Jesus has gone to “prepare a place” for His disciples and He will come
again to receive them.
The demons “believe” and
shudder (James 2:19). Have you given God more than the fruit of your lips? Do
you desire to abide with Him today? He desires to dwell with you today! Will
you accept the most important “invitation” of your life or will you stumble in
darkness separated from the eternal God!
Monday, January 14, 2013
God's Creation (A Post from Wayne)
At a recent Life Action Summit
at our church, one of the sermons included a description of the immensity of
the heavens (Psalm 19:1 “The heavens declare the glory of God…”). As an
example, light travels at 186,000 miles per second! In the snap of your
fingers, light could travel around the earth seven times. Light could travel
between the earth and the moon in a little over a second.
If you peer into the heavens at
night and look at the stars, the nearest star is 4.3 light years away (how far
light will travel per year at 186,000 miles per second). The nearest galaxy to
ours is (Andromeda) 2.5 million light years away! By the Hubble telescope, the
furthest galaxy known to man is 13 billion
light years from earth!
It is estimated that the Milky
Way alone contains 150 – 200 billion stars (Psalm 147:4 “He determines the
number of the stars; He gives to all of them their names.”).
The sun is 333,000 times the
size of the earth. A star (Eta Carinae) in our galaxy is 120 times the size of
the sun. Astronomers have found beyond our galaxy an object somewhere between
40 – 200 billion times the sun!
Isaiah 40:12 “Who has measured
the waters in the hollow of His hand and marked off the heavens with a span.”
Of the definitions of a “span”, one is the distance between the tip of the
thumb and the tip of the little finger (9 inches approximately).
Our God has measured out the
heavens in nine-inch increments and named all the stars! Wow! And He calls us
to pray without ceasing (1 Thess. 5:17). He stepped off His throne and took on
flesh to reconcile those that would trust in Him.
Our, beyond our comprehension,
powerful God cares for the helpless……… the widow, the orphan, the alien, the
child. Jesus rebuked the disciples for their lack of sensitivity to the parents
and adults bringing the children to Jesus to be touched by Him (Mark 10:13-16).
“Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the
kingdom of God. Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God
like a child shall not enter it.”
God used the prophet Hosea to
witness to the Israelites of their sin (transgressing the Law) and particularly
their abuses to the poor and downcast in society.
God has named the stars to the
furthest reaches of the heavens and He is also concerned about you and me! How
can we not be humbled! How can we not place Him in the rightful place on the
throne of our hearts! How can we not be consumed with His Word and His
presence! How can we not fully trust Him with our lives! How can we not rejoice
in our deliverance (salvation)!
God (Father, Son, and Spirit)
is worthy of our praise!
Monday, January 7, 2013
Putting it Together - Passion 2013
It will probably take me a little while to process all that was Passion 2013. It was a four day experience crammed with so much... My mom, who does read my blog, has warned me that I have gone against my promise to keep blog entries short. So I hereby resolve to fix that, at least for now.
What did I learn?
First, I must start with the issue of justice and slavery. There are more slaves in the world today than at any time in history. We do not want to be the generation that lets this slide. We want to be able to tell our grandchildren that we fought for the things worth fighting for.
Fighting slavery is a no-brainer. Jesus teaches us to do to others what we want done to us. If I was a slave, I would definitely want someone to come help me find freedom.
How can the world believe that God exists if there are 27 million slaves? Does God care? Yes, he does care. And his people is the means he has chosen to use. He saved us, not so that we could sit fat, happy, rich and religious, but so that we might do good.
He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? (Micah 6:8)
Second, I was reminded of the trustworthiness of God's Word. We can lean on it. Because it is God who has spoken we can trust it as true. As his people, we should tune our ears to listen to him, and we should base our life on his Word. He has guaranteed these promises with his blood. I want to build my house on the Rock.
Third, I was encouraged to pursue justice uniquely in the freedom that comes from trusting God's promises. What holds me back from fully loving others? It is fear and selfishness. It is fear that I will die or that I will lose my comfortable future or that my life will be ruined in some unspeakable way.
But God's Word, which is trustworthy, tells me of a future and reward to look forward to. I am going to be in heaven with Jesus, and I will be given a new resurrected body like his, and I will worship in ways higher and better than I ever have, and the God who created the worlds will lead me into new mysteries, and there will be things to do and people to rejoice with. There will be no more tears, sorrow, pain, boredom, or death. And at the center of it all will be the lion-like lamb who purchased it all with his blood because he is worthy. These are promises I can bank on. These are the promises that free me.
When I really believe these promises, the puny things I live for and trust in pale in comparison. This is faith! I begin to count fellowship with Christ as worth far more than any other imagined gain. Trusting in the promises of God by the power of the Spirit is what sanctifies and frees me from sin. And as I experience freedom from sin and doubt and despair, I become more available and usable in the pursuit of justice and the world-wide sharing of the Gospel. My community group leaders said that the most powerful version of someone is that person fully convinced that God loves them.
Fourth, I do not simply want to do good things. And I don't simply want to know the Bible better. And I don't simply want to aim at believing the Bible. All of these are essential and good. But God is at the center of things. How can I really experience Christ in my life? How can I experience his presence? How can I find my prayer life invigorated and real?
Jesus said, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.
It is in the context of going and making disciples that Jesus promises his presence. If we do not feel close to God, we are probably not trying very hard to make disciples. Making disciples places us outside of our comfort zone so that we must depend on God to show up. And that is good.
Finally, this is not to be done alone. Community is at the heart of reality because God is a community. God is three-in-one, both unity and diversity, neither overtaking the other. What mystery! The purpose of reality as we know it is to make God known in his goodness and glory. We were created to glorify God. He has made us his image bearers, so that we, in a unique way, show forth God's glory to creation. If God is a community and we are made in his image, community is at the heart of our very purpose and identity - to make his glory known in a Triune and communal way.
Practically, I have found that community also happens best when we have something to do, something to get us going. I am close to people that I have experienced things with. I am close to people I would not have anticipated being friends with simply because we have worked to accomplish something together. Mission creates authentic community. Community as a means of encouragement helps us in the mission. For Christians this makes sense, because we find in the other person the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, so we have a unique power to encourage each other if we will allow it. Especially as we allow the trustworthy promises of God to be what is resting on our hearts and leaving our tongues.
Set free by the blood of Christ, we are a community who has been sent on mission, resting together on God's promises and the reward to come, to proclaim with our lives the Good News of God's Kingdom in all that it means, which includes freedom for those who have been enslaved - both physically and spiritually. Let us live worthy of the Gospel.
Most of those thoughts came from Passion, some from connections in my own head, but I hope you are challenged and edified.
What did I learn?
First, I must start with the issue of justice and slavery. There are more slaves in the world today than at any time in history. We do not want to be the generation that lets this slide. We want to be able to tell our grandchildren that we fought for the things worth fighting for.
Fighting slavery is a no-brainer. Jesus teaches us to do to others what we want done to us. If I was a slave, I would definitely want someone to come help me find freedom.
How can the world believe that God exists if there are 27 million slaves? Does God care? Yes, he does care. And his people is the means he has chosen to use. He saved us, not so that we could sit fat, happy, rich and religious, but so that we might do good.
He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? (Micah 6:8)
Second, I was reminded of the trustworthiness of God's Word. We can lean on it. Because it is God who has spoken we can trust it as true. As his people, we should tune our ears to listen to him, and we should base our life on his Word. He has guaranteed these promises with his blood. I want to build my house on the Rock.
Third, I was encouraged to pursue justice uniquely in the freedom that comes from trusting God's promises. What holds me back from fully loving others? It is fear and selfishness. It is fear that I will die or that I will lose my comfortable future or that my life will be ruined in some unspeakable way.
But God's Word, which is trustworthy, tells me of a future and reward to look forward to. I am going to be in heaven with Jesus, and I will be given a new resurrected body like his, and I will worship in ways higher and better than I ever have, and the God who created the worlds will lead me into new mysteries, and there will be things to do and people to rejoice with. There will be no more tears, sorrow, pain, boredom, or death. And at the center of it all will be the lion-like lamb who purchased it all with his blood because he is worthy. These are promises I can bank on. These are the promises that free me.
When I really believe these promises, the puny things I live for and trust in pale in comparison. This is faith! I begin to count fellowship with Christ as worth far more than any other imagined gain. Trusting in the promises of God by the power of the Spirit is what sanctifies and frees me from sin. And as I experience freedom from sin and doubt and despair, I become more available and usable in the pursuit of justice and the world-wide sharing of the Gospel. My community group leaders said that the most powerful version of someone is that person fully convinced that God loves them.
Fourth, I do not simply want to do good things. And I don't simply want to know the Bible better. And I don't simply want to aim at believing the Bible. All of these are essential and good. But God is at the center of things. How can I really experience Christ in my life? How can I experience his presence? How can I find my prayer life invigorated and real?
Jesus said, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.
It is in the context of going and making disciples that Jesus promises his presence. If we do not feel close to God, we are probably not trying very hard to make disciples. Making disciples places us outside of our comfort zone so that we must depend on God to show up. And that is good.
Finally, this is not to be done alone. Community is at the heart of reality because God is a community. God is three-in-one, both unity and diversity, neither overtaking the other. What mystery! The purpose of reality as we know it is to make God known in his goodness and glory. We were created to glorify God. He has made us his image bearers, so that we, in a unique way, show forth God's glory to creation. If God is a community and we are made in his image, community is at the heart of our very purpose and identity - to make his glory known in a Triune and communal way.
Practically, I have found that community also happens best when we have something to do, something to get us going. I am close to people that I have experienced things with. I am close to people I would not have anticipated being friends with simply because we have worked to accomplish something together. Mission creates authentic community. Community as a means of encouragement helps us in the mission. For Christians this makes sense, because we find in the other person the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, so we have a unique power to encourage each other if we will allow it. Especially as we allow the trustworthy promises of God to be what is resting on our hearts and leaving our tongues.
Set free by the blood of Christ, we are a community who has been sent on mission, resting together on God's promises and the reward to come, to proclaim with our lives the Good News of God's Kingdom in all that it means, which includes freedom for those who have been enslaved - both physically and spiritually. Let us live worthy of the Gospel.
Most of those thoughts came from Passion, some from connections in my own head, but I hope you are challenged and edified.
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