Wow, its been a while. We've been busy packing, moving to a new apartment, and unpacking.
I heard this phrase from David Jeremiah on one of his broadcasts and thought it was a very fine way of remembering what to focus our time, treasure, and talent on.
This past weekend I lost that focus entirely. I was so determined to get the whole place unpacked before I went back to work on Monday, that I ignored my wife, my kids and God doing my part to get it done. You know what happened? What had started out as a reasonable good intentioned effort that I felt good about turned into a self-centered obsession that left me feeling annoyed and angry, until I realized I was feeling that way and why.
As I write this, what I find interesting is that all too often I take something fine and wreck it, which is quite the opposite of what God does. He often takes something wrecked and broken that was intended for evil and pulls some good out of it in amazing ways.
As a baby Christian, I have seen evidence of this so often many times in my walk with the Lord so far. When I stumble, I don't realize it until I hit the ground. Then I moan and groan for a while. Then I see that He is right there to dust me off and show me the stick that I tripped over. I asked Him to do that (not in those exact words), and He has, proving His faithfulness to me at the same time He helps me in other ways. What an awesome God we have!
This time, what the Lord has shown me is something that, quite truthfully, He has shown me already on more than one occasion -- that the things of this world are just that -- of this world. We shouldn't get wrapped up in them. Rust destroys. Moths eat. Burglars steal. Fire burns.
What's more important? That the pictures on the wall of my family are hung, or that we have such a great close family to take pictures? That the girls' toys are put away neatly in there place, or that we enjoy our time together playing with them? That the books are on their shelves, or that we dig in to the Word of God?
I know what's more important. I just forget it sometimes. I'm glad I have that spirit thing to remind me. We can send heavenly treasure ahead of us, but we can't take earthly treasure with us -- after all, there are no pockets in a shroud.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Ranking Snares
That's an odd title for sure, but bear with me.
I think in my head I have had this notion that some snares are worse than others. For the record, I'm using the word snare here to mean "a lie that pulls us away from God". I.e. a "snare of the devil" as Paul might say.
Let's say there are these things I could find myself doing with all of my free time: A) drinking, gambling, and sleeping with prostitutes B) playing Scrabble and Mario Kart C) playing with my kids and D) protesting against some injustice in another country and trying to get some oppressed people more rights.
I think its a no-brainer that A isn't a "good" thing, but what about the rest of them? B seems kind of neutral -- just something to relax and take my mind off the troubles of the world. C and D seem "good" -- in the former I'd be showing my children love and in the latter I'd be doing something noble to help other people.
However, I think that ALL of these COULD be snares. It all depends on the motivation behind them, doesn't it?
I don't think A requires much explanation.
What about B, a "neutral" one? Am I obsessed with beating other people to show how good I am? Am I so addicted to these games that I don't feel "right" if I don't play them?
What about C, a "good" one? Is it really good? Am I making idols of my own children so that I ignore other relationships in my life, especially the most important one? Am I interested in only appearing to them or others as a good dad? Am I even bothering to tell them about God as we play together? Am I so jaded against the rest of the world that they are the only ones who bring me joy?
What about D, another "good" one? Is it really good? As I fight for social justice, am I bothering to spread the gospel as well? Or am I just trying to do the "social gospel" thing and not tell people about Jesus? What good is that going to do them in the end?
I think in all of these its possible to look for joy in the wrong place. I'm not saying its wrong to drink sometimes and gamble sometimes. I'm not saying we shouldn't take the time to relax and place games sometimes. I'm not saying we shouldn't play with our kids or find joy in them. I'm not saying we shouldn't try to stand up for the rights of others in this world.
However what I am saying is that we shouldn't make false gods of anything or anyone, even though it appears "neutral" or "good" by the world's standards. Just because it appears to be "good" on the surface doesn't mean its not getting between us and God.
After all, we're supposed to do everything to the glory of God. Given that, I ask this -- is it sinful to do something NOT for the glory of God? :-) If there was some tiny fragment of a thought in someone's mind that he could go through life and not sin, the answer to that question alone should shatter it!
On the same note, here's a great post on drinking orange juice to the glory of God (I find it funny I didn't realize it was by John Piper until just a second ago):
http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Articles/ByDate/1986/1489_How_To_Drink_Orange_Juice_to_the_Glory_of_God/
I think in my head I have had this notion that some snares are worse than others. For the record, I'm using the word snare here to mean "a lie that pulls us away from God". I.e. a "snare of the devil" as Paul might say.
Let's say there are these things I could find myself doing with all of my free time: A) drinking, gambling, and sleeping with prostitutes B) playing Scrabble and Mario Kart C) playing with my kids and D) protesting against some injustice in another country and trying to get some oppressed people more rights.
I think its a no-brainer that A isn't a "good" thing, but what about the rest of them? B seems kind of neutral -- just something to relax and take my mind off the troubles of the world. C and D seem "good" -- in the former I'd be showing my children love and in the latter I'd be doing something noble to help other people.
However, I think that ALL of these COULD be snares. It all depends on the motivation behind them, doesn't it?
I don't think A requires much explanation.
What about B, a "neutral" one? Am I obsessed with beating other people to show how good I am? Am I so addicted to these games that I don't feel "right" if I don't play them?
What about C, a "good" one? Is it really good? Am I making idols of my own children so that I ignore other relationships in my life, especially the most important one? Am I interested in only appearing to them or others as a good dad? Am I even bothering to tell them about God as we play together? Am I so jaded against the rest of the world that they are the only ones who bring me joy?
What about D, another "good" one? Is it really good? As I fight for social justice, am I bothering to spread the gospel as well? Or am I just trying to do the "social gospel" thing and not tell people about Jesus? What good is that going to do them in the end?
I think in all of these its possible to look for joy in the wrong place. I'm not saying its wrong to drink sometimes and gamble sometimes. I'm not saying we shouldn't take the time to relax and place games sometimes. I'm not saying we shouldn't play with our kids or find joy in them. I'm not saying we shouldn't try to stand up for the rights of others in this world.
However what I am saying is that we shouldn't make false gods of anything or anyone, even though it appears "neutral" or "good" by the world's standards. Just because it appears to be "good" on the surface doesn't mean its not getting between us and God.
After all, we're supposed to do everything to the glory of God. Given that, I ask this -- is it sinful to do something NOT for the glory of God? :-) If there was some tiny fragment of a thought in someone's mind that he could go through life and not sin, the answer to that question alone should shatter it!
On the same note, here's a great post on drinking orange juice to the glory of God (I find it funny I didn't realize it was by John Piper until just a second ago):
http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Articles/ByDate/1986/1489_How_To_Drink_Orange_Juice_to_the_Glory_of_God/
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
The War Within
I came across these links that I thought were very good at discussing the war between the flesh and the spirit. I thought it was pretty funny that the one by John Piper had the same title as this post (it wasn't intentional!).
1. This discusses the conflict of the two natures and different ideas of who Paul was talking about (I myself thought it was pretty obvious Paul was talking about himself as a normal Christian struggling and didn't realize there were other interpretations -- I'll take some comfort that my assumption agrees with Augustine, Luther, Calvin, Piper, etc):
http://preceptaustin.org/romans_714-25.htm#excursus
2. This discusses flesh in believers (there's more on the page, but that's what I was interested in):
http://preceptaustin.org/romans_85.htm#4b
At least read through what Ray Stedman has to say. I haven't heard of him before, but I was pretty impressed. He apparently has sermons available as podcasts from iTunes, so I'll have to check those out now.
3. This one is from John Piper on parts of Galatians 5 and walking in the Spirit:
http://www.soundofgrace.com/piper83/061983m.htm
If you are going to only read through one of the links, read this last one -- its great!
"Praise God for the war within! Serenity in sin is death. The Spirit has landed to do battle with the flesh. So take heart if your soul feels like a battlefield at times. The sign of whether you are indwelt by the Spirit is not that you have no bad desires, but that you are at war with them!"
1. This discusses the conflict of the two natures and different ideas of who Paul was talking about (I myself thought it was pretty obvious Paul was talking about himself as a normal Christian struggling and didn't realize there were other interpretations -- I'll take some comfort that my assumption agrees with Augustine, Luther, Calvin, Piper, etc):
http://preceptaustin.org/romans_714-25.htm#excursus
2. This discusses flesh in believers (there's more on the page, but that's what I was interested in):
http://preceptaustin.org/romans_85.htm#4b
At least read through what Ray Stedman has to say. I haven't heard of him before, but I was pretty impressed. He apparently has sermons available as podcasts from iTunes, so I'll have to check those out now.
3. This one is from John Piper on parts of Galatians 5 and walking in the Spirit:
http://www.soundofgrace.com/piper83/061983m.htm
If you are going to only read through one of the links, read this last one -- its great!
"Praise God for the war within! Serenity in sin is death. The Spirit has landed to do battle with the flesh. So take heart if your soul feels like a battlefield at times. The sign of whether you are indwelt by the Spirit is not that you have no bad desires, but that you are at war with them!"
Run, Joseph, Run
I get mad at myself sometimes. Its about the same time I also feel guilty about doing something that I know I shouldn't have done -- and knew I shouldn't be doing at the time I was doing it! You may recognize a similar conversation between you and the Holy Spirit (I'd like to think so anyway so that I'm not alone):
Holy Spirit: "Um, dude, I don't think that's a good idea."
Self: "I'm good, there's no problem here."
Holy Spirit: "You're going to do something stupid and regret it later."
Self: "Ssh, be quiet, no problem."
Holy Spirit: "Jesus doesn't want you to do that. I know, I'm pretty tight with Him."
Self: "Sorry, didn't hear you bro."
[a short time passes]
Self: "Crap."
Holy Spirit: "I told you so."
Sometimes its hard to hear the Spirit talking to you; however, when He does and you CAN hear Him...LISTEN! When He tells you to RUN like Joseph did when Potiphar's wife was trying to seduce him, RUN! Don't hang around thinking "maybe I can do this for just a little while longer without getting into a real bind here" or "well [this] isn't so bad, as long as I don't do [that]" or "I'm basically a good person, this isn't THAT bad". Its too easy to turn a situation into "managing sin" or falling into the pit of legalism or using relative morality instead of absolute morality. If you've got that voice telling you there's trouble ahead, just RUN! It certainly is a lot easier to say than to do all the time.
On a related side note, I hope one day to meet Paul in heaven and ask him if he had anything specific in mind when he wrote "For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate." (Romans 7:15) Then again what he has to say about that might just tell me why he has a tri-level mansion while I have a box under the bridge!
"Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin." (Romans 7:25)
Thank you God for forgiveness.
Holy Spirit: "Um, dude, I don't think that's a good idea."
Self: "I'm good, there's no problem here."
Holy Spirit: "You're going to do something stupid and regret it later."
Self: "Ssh, be quiet, no problem."
Holy Spirit: "Jesus doesn't want you to do that. I know, I'm pretty tight with Him."
Self: "Sorry, didn't hear you bro."
[a short time passes]
Self: "Crap."
Holy Spirit: "I told you so."
Sometimes its hard to hear the Spirit talking to you; however, when He does and you CAN hear Him...LISTEN! When He tells you to RUN like Joseph did when Potiphar's wife was trying to seduce him, RUN! Don't hang around thinking "maybe I can do this for just a little while longer without getting into a real bind here" or "well [this] isn't so bad, as long as I don't do [that]" or "I'm basically a good person, this isn't THAT bad". Its too easy to turn a situation into "managing sin" or falling into the pit of legalism or using relative morality instead of absolute morality. If you've got that voice telling you there's trouble ahead, just RUN! It certainly is a lot easier to say than to do all the time.
On a related side note, I hope one day to meet Paul in heaven and ask him if he had anything specific in mind when he wrote "For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate." (Romans 7:15) Then again what he has to say about that might just tell me why he has a tri-level mansion while I have a box under the bridge!
"Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin." (Romans 7:25)
Thank you God for forgiveness.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Idiot's Guide To The Law
I liked the Golden Rule sermon from Duncan here very much:
http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=-3352775746253694898
There's one phrase he used that made it stick in my head more than most. First, let's review the "Golden Rule" from Matthew 7:12: "So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets."
This, put quite simply by Duncan, is the Idiot's Guide To Following The Law. That's right, Jesus took all that Old Testament law and summed it up in this short, sweet, easy to remember phrase.
Note that there's an important point in the way its worded that we all too often ignore. It is not worded "So in everything, don't do to others what you would not have them do to you", but that is very often how we think of it. We think as long as we hold our temper back, or aren't rude to people, or we don't lie to people, or we don't steal from people, we're following this principle.
There's another bit in it. In this golden rule, we're not just told to refrain from doing bad things we don't want people to do to use, but we're also supposed to do good things that we would want people to do for us. That's a lot more difficult to do I think. Consider the following:
- Say there's a beggar on the street who really needs some food. Its pretty easy to not steal the money he's collected so far that day, but it takes a lot more effort to go across the street to the restaurant and get him something to eat.
- Say your boss is yelling at you about not submitting your TPS report on time. Its pretty easy to not slap him upside the head, but it takes a lot more effort to still tune in to what he's saying and legitimately try to understand the problem from his point of view.
- Say there's a kid at school who gets picked on all the time by your kid's friends. Its pretty easy for your kid to keep quiet and not pick on anyone himself, but it takes a lot more effort to stand up for the one getting picked on.
- And so on!
Easy to remember. Easy to understand. Difficult to do!
http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=-3352775746253694898
There's one phrase he used that made it stick in my head more than most. First, let's review the "Golden Rule" from Matthew 7:12: "So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets."
This, put quite simply by Duncan, is the Idiot's Guide To Following The Law. That's right, Jesus took all that Old Testament law and summed it up in this short, sweet, easy to remember phrase.
Note that there's an important point in the way its worded that we all too often ignore. It is not worded "So in everything, don't do to others what you would not have them do to you", but that is very often how we think of it. We think as long as we hold our temper back, or aren't rude to people, or we don't lie to people, or we don't steal from people, we're following this principle.
There's another bit in it. In this golden rule, we're not just told to refrain from doing bad things we don't want people to do to use, but we're also supposed to do good things that we would want people to do for us. That's a lot more difficult to do I think. Consider the following:
- Say there's a beggar on the street who really needs some food. Its pretty easy to not steal the money he's collected so far that day, but it takes a lot more effort to go across the street to the restaurant and get him something to eat.
- Say your boss is yelling at you about not submitting your TPS report on time. Its pretty easy to not slap him upside the head, but it takes a lot more effort to still tune in to what he's saying and legitimately try to understand the problem from his point of view.
- Say there's a kid at school who gets picked on all the time by your kid's friends. Its pretty easy for your kid to keep quiet and not pick on anyone himself, but it takes a lot more effort to stand up for the one getting picked on.
- And so on!
Easy to remember. Easy to understand. Difficult to do!
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Hungry For God?
Tonight I had some old school Ramen Noodles. None of that bogus Top Ramen stuff, either. The real deal. Good old Maruchan Ramen Noodles. Why did I bother to get up off the couch, boil the water, put in the noodles, stir in that powder packet that makes the noodles taste like chicken (or as chicken might taste if obliterated and ground into powder I guess), and wait for them to cool off? I'll tell you why -- I was hungry!
Do we have the same active attitude toward feeding our hunger for God? Or are we generally more passive? I think often -- much too often -- I am the latter. Maybe we often say to the Lord "If you need something, I'm here" or "Just show me the way" or "I'm your servant", but then we don't take any initiative and act on what we've said. Maybe we skip church. Maybe we don't read the Word of God enough, or at all. Maybe we don't go to Bible studies. Maybe we only talk in prayer and fail to listen. Maybe we keep quiet about the gospel when we should speak. Maybe we don't imitate Christ when we interact with others. Maybe we ignore the prodding of the Spirit and stay home from those volunteer opportunities we had.
In short, do our actions reflect a real spiritual hunger?
Now what if we had a passive attitude toward physical hunger? The way Charles Stanley says it "I'll just lay right here with my mouth open, and if someone wants to come along and drop some food in, I'll eat it".
Well, that won't work very will, now will it?!
I for one see a need to increase my hunger for the bread of life and my thirst for living water -- and at the same time do more to fill that hunger and thirst. There are so many more things I could do that I end up blowing off, because I've got a big fat foot still stuck in the world.
Good thing God's got a bigger crowbar and a strong arm.
Do we have the same active attitude toward feeding our hunger for God? Or are we generally more passive? I think often -- much too often -- I am the latter. Maybe we often say to the Lord "If you need something, I'm here" or "Just show me the way" or "I'm your servant", but then we don't take any initiative and act on what we've said. Maybe we skip church. Maybe we don't read the Word of God enough, or at all. Maybe we don't go to Bible studies. Maybe we only talk in prayer and fail to listen. Maybe we keep quiet about the gospel when we should speak. Maybe we don't imitate Christ when we interact with others. Maybe we ignore the prodding of the Spirit and stay home from those volunteer opportunities we had.
In short, do our actions reflect a real spiritual hunger?
Now what if we had a passive attitude toward physical hunger? The way Charles Stanley says it "I'll just lay right here with my mouth open, and if someone wants to come along and drop some food in, I'll eat it".
Well, that won't work very will, now will it?!
I for one see a need to increase my hunger for the bread of life and my thirst for living water -- and at the same time do more to fill that hunger and thirst. There are so many more things I could do that I end up blowing off, because I've got a big fat foot still stuck in the world.
Good thing God's got a bigger crowbar and a strong arm.
Friday, January 2, 2009
Origins
As I write this I'm watching Journey To The Edge Of The Universe on the National Geographic channel. Its an interesting virtual trip from earth to way out in the universe somewhere (we're just at Mars right now).
I'm a bit annoyed at this narrator, or more accurately, the folks who wrote the crap that the narrator is saying.
Mars could be our ancestral home! We could all be martians! No, this organic material on a comet that crashed into a young earth could have brought life to it! And, wait, we in our spacecraft could be carrying the virus of life to distant worlds right now on this journey!
Please.
The guys on these shows toss around evolution and exogensis like they are proven and undisputable scientific facts. There can't be intelligent design, but there also can't be life on earth from non-life, so therefore we must have come from somewhere else in the universe. Aliens. Comets. Flying monkeys. Oh wait, let's not bother to address where THAT life came from!
I am not a martian.
I am not evolved from animals.
I am not the product of a virus.
I am a special creation of God, made in His image, and His child.
Yes, there is extra-terrestrial life out there that was responsible for creating life on earth. I'm not talking about little green men here, but rather our awesome creator who created the heavens and stretched them out.
Thank you Father, God, for creation. Thank you for my existence. Thank you for letting me know where we came from and how special of a creation we are to you. Thank you for giving us the gift of choice. Thank you for your redemptive plan that deals with the poor choices we all make with that gift. Thank you for coming to Earth in the flesh to die for our sins. Thank you for drawing me to you so and opening my eyes and heart to receive Christ by faith. Thank you for adopting me into your family.
I'm a bit annoyed at this narrator, or more accurately, the folks who wrote the crap that the narrator is saying.
Mars could be our ancestral home! We could all be martians! No, this organic material on a comet that crashed into a young earth could have brought life to it! And, wait, we in our spacecraft could be carrying the virus of life to distant worlds right now on this journey!
Please.
The guys on these shows toss around evolution and exogensis like they are proven and undisputable scientific facts. There can't be intelligent design, but there also can't be life on earth from non-life, so therefore we must have come from somewhere else in the universe. Aliens. Comets. Flying monkeys. Oh wait, let's not bother to address where THAT life came from!
I am not a martian.
I am not evolved from animals.
I am not the product of a virus.
I am a special creation of God, made in His image, and His child.
Yes, there is extra-terrestrial life out there that was responsible for creating life on earth. I'm not talking about little green men here, but rather our awesome creator who created the heavens and stretched them out.
Thank you Father, God, for creation. Thank you for my existence. Thank you for letting me know where we came from and how special of a creation we are to you. Thank you for giving us the gift of choice. Thank you for your redemptive plan that deals with the poor choices we all make with that gift. Thank you for coming to Earth in the flesh to die for our sins. Thank you for drawing me to you so and opening my eyes and heart to receive Christ by faith. Thank you for adopting me into your family.
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