I think sometimes we believe that we can manipulate God, or so our actions seem to indicate. Well, if we don’t like something He has commanded we can get away with it if we reinterpret a few choice words in the bible; or if we can convince enough of our friends of our viewpoint. Or we think if we pray a prayer of forgiveness that our actions won’t hurt us. We get what we want and then we are reconciled to God with no real consequence. The truth is that each of our sins does have real consequences. Not only does each sin require the death of Jesus on a crucifix in order to reconcile us to God, each sin has a consequence for us personally. Every time we choose to willingly disobey God it sears our conscience and skews our view of morality. Each time we disobey God we willingly walk away from the only one who loves us unconditionally. And rather than growing in fellowship with Christ we drive our lives into more discord and folly. God does not change in all of this, however. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. His will is accomplished through our sin or through our obedience. It’s only our lives that are the worse for the former. God will not be manipulated.
We can grow in knowledge, understanding, and faith when we look to fulfill God’s will in our lives. He works through the lives of His followers to produce fruit. But He will also bring about His will in spite of the evil that transpires in the world. Our understanding is so trivial amidst the backdrop of an eternal God who has infinite, unsearchable understanding. If we think God is limited in His capacity to accomplish anything we are foolish. God is to be feared, for He is all powerful and He will not be mocked. He turned Lot’s wife into a pillar of salt for simply looking back on Sodom and Gomorrah. He took the lives of Judah’s sons because they were immoral. He flooded the whole earth because there was only one righteous man who was seeking God. This is not a God who can be tricked. This is not a God who can be tamed. This is an all-powerful, mighty God whose wisdom and glory are to be praised. To lack a relationship with the God of all the earth is to miss out on the infinite beauty of His design. God did not have a flawed plan. He is not on the back-up plan. This has always been the plan. The view that God did not know that man would sin and had to alter his plan to save us is the same place where someone might arrive at the idea that they could trick God.
Here’s the rub. God is omniscient. He knows all your thoughts and deeds. You cannot do enough good to cover up the bad. You can’t manipulate God into thinking you are a better person than you are. He doesn’t love you because of who you are, He loves you because of who He is. He wants to bring you into relationship with Him so that you can understand that love, but He doesn’t need your help to do that. You have free will to walk away because He gave that to you. He won’t take that free will away because the intent of His design is unchanging and it allows for man to choose to sin. Don’t think for one minute that that means God is not in absolute control or does not have complete authority over all things. He has all the power, but He has chosen to extend us free will. Also beware believing that God does not see all sin as vile. There is no such thing as an acceptable sin. Just because God loves us despite our sin does not mean that He tolerates it. The ONLY reason we can be reconciled to God is that He sent His son to be the propitiation for our sin. We can’t manipulate Him into believing we are good. He knows all our sin, but it is cleansed by the blood of Jesus. You can’t manipulate God into giving you anything. He has already extended a free gift, and if you don’t accept it He won’t make you.
Accepting that gift isn’t as easy as saying a prayer and then walking away from the relationship either. You must be in fellowship with Christ to accept His saving grace. It doesn’t mean you will walk a perfectly sinless life, but it does mean that you will work to grow in relationship with Him. The bible is not something to be read for its highlights. We don’t get to pick and choose the parts we want to believe. If we want to walk in fellowship with Christ we’ve got to read it with an open heart and mind. Allowing the Holy Spirit to work in us and teach us as we study. Bringing our own worldview to the table is not helpful, it only hinders our interpretation of scripture as we try to prove our own viewpoints right. We can make any point we want, but if it’s not the view God holds it’s wrong. Therefore, even if we can convince ourselves that scripture will support a view, it does not change God’s view on that issue. We only hurt ourselves with such thinking. Therefore it is wise to take God at His word, being careful to neither add nor take away. This is the only way to live a life in pursuit of Christ. Otherwise we are looking to fulfill our own vain idols. So lest we risk becoming our own gods, let us not try to manipulate God, for He is unchangeable.
Wednesday, April 26, 2017
Tuesday, April 11, 2017
A God Focus
Lately I have been challenged by God to really focus on the character and nature of God. To draw close to Him because of who He is, because of His faithfulness in spite of my unfaithfulness, because of His goodness in spite of my wickedness, and because of His mercy when I should receive His wrath. It's funny, the bible is a book about God, and yet so often in reading and interpreting it, we make the message about fallen man, about what we should and shouldn't do, about how we should live so that we can be moral people, about how to turn our lives around so that we can be successful. We end up focusing on the faith of sinful men, and look to be more like them.
The prosperity gospel is pervasive in society. Whether it's material gains we desire or societal acceptance, when we read the bible in order to better ourselves we are reading it for the wrong reason. Yes, we will be 'better' people for following God's commands. Yes, we will improve our understanding of truth and how the world works. Yes, we may even build relationship with God. However, the whole purpose of the bible is relationship with God. The book is designed to reveal His character. How can one have relationship with someone you don't know? To build relationship with God is to study scripture. This is where we discover the nature of the Holy God. And if you've ever heard it said we become like those we spend time with, you will understand that in spending time with God you will become like Him. It is impossible to make yourself holy, but in spending time with the Holy God, one has no option but to become more holy. It's the natural response to dwelling in His presence.
So it's not up to us to become willfully better. Self-improvement on our own terms will lead to improvement in one area with increased failure in another. It is up to us to pursue God, the natural consequence of which is a better self. But don't expect that better means easy. God does not call us to a life without suffering. In fact, God often uses suffering in the lives of His people to keep us focused on Him. Consider the life of Joseph: God took him away from his family, into the land of Egypt, where he was alone and imprisoned. There God taught Joseph to rely on Him and Him alone. It wasn't the easy life, but it was better for Joseph to be with God in exile than without God in the land of promise.
So the idea is this: stop focusing on improving yourself, working by your own strength to overcome bad habits or depression. It is of no use. It is absolutely futile. You do not have enough strength or enough will. There is a false sense of security in maintaining power over your life. We feel as if we are capable of keeping our head above water. The truth is, every breath we take is granted by God. We can do nothing apart from His allowing us to do so.
The point is to focus on God, love God, trust God, understand the nature of God! If you truly have your focus on Him, other things (like your value) will fall into perspective because you will begin to see yourself, and everyone around you, as God sees. God is the source of love. Without Him there is no love. So if we are looking to love others or even ourselves without His presence we will fail. It will just be a shadow of a thing. God is not a shadow, and He doesn't want you to be satisfied with that. He wants us to experience true love and it is only found in true relationship with Him. We find this when we focus on Him instead of ourselves.
There is a spirit of pride in seeking to improve oneself or become righteous. And often we are blind to its existence. It's an easy trap to fall into. I find that it's easier to grasp the brokenness of one's fallen state when you are continually looking into the face of Jesus. In His light all my sins are exposed. But He loves me anyway. In that relationship I can learn to love myself and others in the way that God loves. Not loving my own virtues (which are non-existent), but loving the sanctified child of God that He is working in me to create.
The prosperity gospel is pervasive in society. Whether it's material gains we desire or societal acceptance, when we read the bible in order to better ourselves we are reading it for the wrong reason. Yes, we will be 'better' people for following God's commands. Yes, we will improve our understanding of truth and how the world works. Yes, we may even build relationship with God. However, the whole purpose of the bible is relationship with God. The book is designed to reveal His character. How can one have relationship with someone you don't know? To build relationship with God is to study scripture. This is where we discover the nature of the Holy God. And if you've ever heard it said we become like those we spend time with, you will understand that in spending time with God you will become like Him. It is impossible to make yourself holy, but in spending time with the Holy God, one has no option but to become more holy. It's the natural response to dwelling in His presence.
So it's not up to us to become willfully better. Self-improvement on our own terms will lead to improvement in one area with increased failure in another. It is up to us to pursue God, the natural consequence of which is a better self. But don't expect that better means easy. God does not call us to a life without suffering. In fact, God often uses suffering in the lives of His people to keep us focused on Him. Consider the life of Joseph: God took him away from his family, into the land of Egypt, where he was alone and imprisoned. There God taught Joseph to rely on Him and Him alone. It wasn't the easy life, but it was better for Joseph to be with God in exile than without God in the land of promise.
So the idea is this: stop focusing on improving yourself, working by your own strength to overcome bad habits or depression. It is of no use. It is absolutely futile. You do not have enough strength or enough will. There is a false sense of security in maintaining power over your life. We feel as if we are capable of keeping our head above water. The truth is, every breath we take is granted by God. We can do nothing apart from His allowing us to do so.
The point is to focus on God, love God, trust God, understand the nature of God! If you truly have your focus on Him, other things (like your value) will fall into perspective because you will begin to see yourself, and everyone around you, as God sees. God is the source of love. Without Him there is no love. So if we are looking to love others or even ourselves without His presence we will fail. It will just be a shadow of a thing. God is not a shadow, and He doesn't want you to be satisfied with that. He wants us to experience true love and it is only found in true relationship with Him. We find this when we focus on Him instead of ourselves.
There is a spirit of pride in seeking to improve oneself or become righteous. And often we are blind to its existence. It's an easy trap to fall into. I find that it's easier to grasp the brokenness of one's fallen state when you are continually looking into the face of Jesus. In His light all my sins are exposed. But He loves me anyway. In that relationship I can learn to love myself and others in the way that God loves. Not loving my own virtues (which are non-existent), but loving the sanctified child of God that He is working in me to create.
Wednesday, April 05, 2017
Dating verses Singleness
There is a difference between being single and being intentionally single, but I’m not sure it would look much different in my life. All the time I have been single I have spent working out what a relationship that would be glorifying to Christ would look like. Additionally, I haven’t spent most of my adult years yearning for a relationship to fill me. I’ve known the importance of, and hopefully been working towards, a relationship in Christ that fills the longings of my soul. So, a dating/marital relationship would be more for companionship and pushing me more toward sanctification than anything else. I think one thing that may be challenging for me is actually allowing myself to let someone into my life. I’ve got no experience doing that on a romantic level, and so it’s probably something that I have some level of fear and anxiety about. I suppose I could work on that from a place of being single, but I also think that sometimes you have to risk getting hurt in order to grow. The problem is I don’t want that to lead to anyone else getting hurt- a catch 22 situation. Risk is inherent in any relationship, but there are some pretty big differences between friends and romantic relationships in what compromises can and should be made. Clear communication is important in both, but usually you can overlook a lot more in a friendship than in someone you plan to commit to for life.
Learning where to compromise and where to draw lines is important. Sometimes people are just going to walk away from conflict, and sometimes that is a good thing because it’s not constructive. However, I think we have a culture of 'I want it my way,' which leads to an unwillingness to engage on tough subjects. We’re not always going to agree with a significant other on all points, but that is where discussion and communication comes into play. The hyper individualism in our culture makes avoidance of this type of interaction more prevalent. Honestly, the blog I wrote on autologous man and the human view that we have authority over ourselves is pretty pertinent to this discussion. It's really a ridiculous stance and erodes moral values because there is no absolute source of morals if man is his own god. You can’t find absolute morals outside of God. But back to the discussion at hand…
A culture's view of sex affects communities and morality. A biblical view of sex is one that celebrates sex within the marriage covenant, but also warns of its grossly negative affects outside of that God ordained relationship. For Christians singleness is not something to be condemned, but celebrated in its own way. Recently I read an article entitled “The Gospel and Sex.” In it I found the line “There can be no more radical act than this [remaining single], as it is the clearest institutional expression that one’s future is not guaranteed by the family, but by the church.” That idea is super weighty, profound, and true. It made me think of what I was recently studying in Philemon with the youth pastor and other youth leaders. In the passage Paul appeals to a fellow Christian to welcome back his escaped slave as a brother in Christ, Paul seeing Onesimus as his own son. In the body of Christ we are to be true brothers and sisters, with even stronger bonds than one’s own blood relatives. We are all the children of God if we, by faith, accept Christ. In this new family there is eternal purpose. God has ordained marriage for important functions within the body of Christ, such as the training up of children in the way they should go. However, God’s purposes for our lives need to come first, even before a spouse.
I do have a pretty good idea of what I’d want from a marriage relationship (If you’re interested I wrote a blogpost on marriage that sums up my views based on a discussion I was having). For me I think it’s just a matter of breaking down some emotional walls that have developed. I’m not a super emotional person- I’m much more a logical/rational person- so developing emotional connection may be tough. At this point, significant displays of emotion scare me. I certainly would not limit God in His capacity to use any means to bring about His will, but I find building deep relationship is difficult for me. However, it's often the route that we least expect something to happen that God chooses to use. I was listening to a sermon in Genesis on the birth of Isaac. God choose to reveal to Abram that he would have a son who would be the child of promise. However, He did not initially reveal how He would bring about this miracle. Foolishly thinking that they could 'help' God, Sarai and Abram decided that they should use Sarai's servant to bring about this child. What an error. Anyway, this is to say that I really don't pretend to know through what means God may bring about a spouse for me, or if He even will. So, it's worth engaging opportunities, but I think caution is warranted.
There also needs to be some realization that not everyone is compatible. Like we all have different purposes in the body of Christ, we each have personalities that are drawn to certain qualities. Just because we develop an emotional connection to another person does not mean they are obligated to return the same level of affection. You will never find a perfect person in a spouse, but we should definitely not settle on someone we are less than taken with just because they will dote on us. This leads to an unequal stake in the relationship. Anger and resentment tend to be par for the course in those relationships, and it's totally unhealthy. Good marriage relationships should lead to sanctification of one another. If that is not occurring then the relationship does not have its foundation in Christ. It’s better to be unwed than wed to the wrong person. So if I don’t find a person who is seeking Christ first, and who is wholly devoted to Him, then I’d rather remain single and develop my personal relationship with Christ more on my own. Someone who distracts me from my focus on Christ is not someone I need in my life, no matter how much I may want companionship.
Learning where to compromise and where to draw lines is important. Sometimes people are just going to walk away from conflict, and sometimes that is a good thing because it’s not constructive. However, I think we have a culture of 'I want it my way,' which leads to an unwillingness to engage on tough subjects. We’re not always going to agree with a significant other on all points, but that is where discussion and communication comes into play. The hyper individualism in our culture makes avoidance of this type of interaction more prevalent. Honestly, the blog I wrote on autologous man and the human view that we have authority over ourselves is pretty pertinent to this discussion. It's really a ridiculous stance and erodes moral values because there is no absolute source of morals if man is his own god. You can’t find absolute morals outside of God. But back to the discussion at hand…
A culture's view of sex affects communities and morality. A biblical view of sex is one that celebrates sex within the marriage covenant, but also warns of its grossly negative affects outside of that God ordained relationship. For Christians singleness is not something to be condemned, but celebrated in its own way. Recently I read an article entitled “The Gospel and Sex.” In it I found the line “There can be no more radical act than this [remaining single], as it is the clearest institutional expression that one’s future is not guaranteed by the family, but by the church.” That idea is super weighty, profound, and true. It made me think of what I was recently studying in Philemon with the youth pastor and other youth leaders. In the passage Paul appeals to a fellow Christian to welcome back his escaped slave as a brother in Christ, Paul seeing Onesimus as his own son. In the body of Christ we are to be true brothers and sisters, with even stronger bonds than one’s own blood relatives. We are all the children of God if we, by faith, accept Christ. In this new family there is eternal purpose. God has ordained marriage for important functions within the body of Christ, such as the training up of children in the way they should go. However, God’s purposes for our lives need to come first, even before a spouse.
I do have a pretty good idea of what I’d want from a marriage relationship (If you’re interested I wrote a blogpost on marriage that sums up my views based on a discussion I was having). For me I think it’s just a matter of breaking down some emotional walls that have developed. I’m not a super emotional person- I’m much more a logical/rational person- so developing emotional connection may be tough. At this point, significant displays of emotion scare me. I certainly would not limit God in His capacity to use any means to bring about His will, but I find building deep relationship is difficult for me. However, it's often the route that we least expect something to happen that God chooses to use. I was listening to a sermon in Genesis on the birth of Isaac. God choose to reveal to Abram that he would have a son who would be the child of promise. However, He did not initially reveal how He would bring about this miracle. Foolishly thinking that they could 'help' God, Sarai and Abram decided that they should use Sarai's servant to bring about this child. What an error. Anyway, this is to say that I really don't pretend to know through what means God may bring about a spouse for me, or if He even will. So, it's worth engaging opportunities, but I think caution is warranted.
There also needs to be some realization that not everyone is compatible. Like we all have different purposes in the body of Christ, we each have personalities that are drawn to certain qualities. Just because we develop an emotional connection to another person does not mean they are obligated to return the same level of affection. You will never find a perfect person in a spouse, but we should definitely not settle on someone we are less than taken with just because they will dote on us. This leads to an unequal stake in the relationship. Anger and resentment tend to be par for the course in those relationships, and it's totally unhealthy. Good marriage relationships should lead to sanctification of one another. If that is not occurring then the relationship does not have its foundation in Christ. It’s better to be unwed than wed to the wrong person. So if I don’t find a person who is seeking Christ first, and who is wholly devoted to Him, then I’d rather remain single and develop my personal relationship with Christ more on my own. Someone who distracts me from my focus on Christ is not someone I need in my life, no matter how much I may want companionship.
Saving Faith
I've struggled with what it means to know you are saved at times. What is it that the men of the Bible who were considered faithful possessed? What does it look like to have a saving faith? Looking at the patriarchs, they all had a faith in God's promise- even though they hadn't seen it, and the revelation was incomplete. They trusted God to be faithful. Our faith also needs to be in God's promise- though we have seen the fulfillment of that promise. However, it's not just belief that there is a God and He has sent His son as a sacrifice and atonement for our sins. It is a belief that He, and He alone is worthy of our worship and adoration. A belief that were were created for the purpose of glorifying God. A belief that we are totally reliant on Him for every breath we take. There has got to be an understanding of the God we acknowledge, not just a flimsy belief in something greater than ourselves.
I see a lot of people confess Christ with their lips and then go on trusting in their own power. I'm not saying that as Christians we won't have times where our faith wanes and we trust in our own understanding, but saving faith is a reliance on Christ. Just saying you believe in Christ or confessing Him during an alter call at 5 and then going about your life with no visible fruit is a big red flag to me that someone isn't saved and they are trusting in themselves. It's easy to have faith in one's self, it's far harder to trust in something outside yourself. However, God is absolutely faithful and He loves us even more than we can love ourselves. Therefore trusting Him isn't really a risk at all, but it's hard to give up control of your life.
I think the biggest evidence that someone it truly saved is a visible pursuit of God. Works do not produce faith, but they are certainly evidence of faith. If someone's life is not reflective of an understanding that God is the only thing worth pursuing, and that otherwise our lives are forfeit, then they really don't have a grasp on who God is. Relationships take time to grow and develop, so I wouldn't expect a child's faith to look anything like that of an 80 year old man who had walked with God from childhood. However, relationships require that we invest time and energy, they don't get stronger if we don't nurture them. And one sided relationships are not very strong. The more I read about God and His character, and grow in understanding of who He is, the more I realize my need for Him and my complete emptiness apart from Him.
Think about other relationships: If you trust another person with your life it is probably because you know them (and their character) well, and you expect that they will look out for your best interest. So, transfer that idea over to a relationship with God. You must know who He is, and what His character is in order to bring yourself to a place of trust. Only then will you believe that you should surrender your life to His will. Without spending time in His word and continued prayer one is unlikely to get to this place. Self-reliance is an easy default, but it is ultimately self-destructive.
I've started memorizing a verse this week: Isaiah 40:28 "Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable." The meat of this verse gives us a small glimpse at the nature of God, His unchanging and everlasting presence, His complete and utter understanding of all things -including our own feeble thoughts. That's the God I have FAITH in; it's the God I will choose to serve because He is deserving.
I see a lot of people confess Christ with their lips and then go on trusting in their own power. I'm not saying that as Christians we won't have times where our faith wanes and we trust in our own understanding, but saving faith is a reliance on Christ. Just saying you believe in Christ or confessing Him during an alter call at 5 and then going about your life with no visible fruit is a big red flag to me that someone isn't saved and they are trusting in themselves. It's easy to have faith in one's self, it's far harder to trust in something outside yourself. However, God is absolutely faithful and He loves us even more than we can love ourselves. Therefore trusting Him isn't really a risk at all, but it's hard to give up control of your life.
I think the biggest evidence that someone it truly saved is a visible pursuit of God. Works do not produce faith, but they are certainly evidence of faith. If someone's life is not reflective of an understanding that God is the only thing worth pursuing, and that otherwise our lives are forfeit, then they really don't have a grasp on who God is. Relationships take time to grow and develop, so I wouldn't expect a child's faith to look anything like that of an 80 year old man who had walked with God from childhood. However, relationships require that we invest time and energy, they don't get stronger if we don't nurture them. And one sided relationships are not very strong. The more I read about God and His character, and grow in understanding of who He is, the more I realize my need for Him and my complete emptiness apart from Him.
Think about other relationships: If you trust another person with your life it is probably because you know them (and their character) well, and you expect that they will look out for your best interest. So, transfer that idea over to a relationship with God. You must know who He is, and what His character is in order to bring yourself to a place of trust. Only then will you believe that you should surrender your life to His will. Without spending time in His word and continued prayer one is unlikely to get to this place. Self-reliance is an easy default, but it is ultimately self-destructive.
I've started memorizing a verse this week: Isaiah 40:28 "Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable." The meat of this verse gives us a small glimpse at the nature of God, His unchanging and everlasting presence, His complete and utter understanding of all things -including our own feeble thoughts. That's the God I have FAITH in; it's the God I will choose to serve because He is deserving.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
