I'm pretty thankful for my blatantly sinful past, and I'm pretty thankful for the "good life" I had (by the world's standards) when I was rescued by Jesus Christ. I know that sounds weird. That's probably because I'm a little weird. But allow me to explain.
I'm thankful for my blatantly sinful past, because it allows for a grand marker to be placed right in the middle of my life. If you drew my life out on a timeline, the first part would be labelled the hell bound old man and the second part would be labelled the heaven bound new man. I do not remember the date I cried out to Jesus Christ to save me, but I remember the day. I remember that before that day that I wanted to just fill my life with more pornography (the kind that makes Playboy look like the Conservative Amish Dress Catalog) and Mario Kart (5 hours a day at times) and was proud of all the time and money I was able to waste on absolutely nothing. I remember that after that day I wanted to just know about God more and more, and then I wanted to serve God more and more, and I'm in the spot where I want to know God more and more. I can without a doubt say that I was born again of the Spirit of God and am a new creation.
What could my life have looked like if I had been going to church since I was much younger? I might learn "moral deism" -- I'd know all the "right stuff" and stay away from the "bad stuff" and think I'm saved. I would learn how to speak "Christianese" and do the "Christian church stuff" and think I'm so awesome. How terrible! I would then unwittingly put salvation in my own hands and crap on the cross of Christ. I'm not saying that happens to everyone, but it happens to a lot of people -- people who may have good doctrine, may look like they live moral lives, may memorize a ton of scripture, may go to the Bible study, and so on -- but have no clue about the amazing grace of the gospel. I pass no judgment on the poor man or woman in this situation -- I say it so that you may check yourself and see if that's you. If it is, get out and run straight for the cross! The truth is, we're all a mess, even if we don't see it.
I'm also thankful for the "good life" I had (by the world's standards), because it took away my excuse for turning away when things "got better". Let's say I was in serious debt, or had lost my job, or my kid died, or some other terrible thing happened to me that I needed God to help me with. Say he did and I threw up a "yay God!" I might follow God for a while, sort of, doing the "Christianese" thing, and then fall away. Why? Because I might care more about the temporal gift than the eternal gift. I'd be happy God saved me from my debt, or got me a job, or eased my pain -- but I'd fail to realize what I really needed him to save me from was my sin. The fact that I had it "good" by the world's standards left no opportunity for that -- Jesus came in and ripped me away from sin and from sin alone.
Don't get me wrong on these. God works in amazing and different ways in everyone's life. Someone else could easily be in my "what if" and come out just fine in Christ, with their own marker standing on something I have just put to the side. Praise God for that! Being able to look at my incredible brokenness and lack of worldly need work well for me to mark the time of my transformation -- your story may be very different.
Friday, September 30, 2011
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Connected
I've said before what an awesome thing it is to have the ear of God who created the universe. But you know how things go sometimes. Sometimes you start to doubt yourself or doubt God. Sometimes you're not sure if you're being led by the Spirit or just making something up in your head. Sometimes you're not sure that you believe some of the things you say.
So check this out.
Last week I got this push from the Spirit to give the "I Dare You To Pray This" post I printed out to this woman at work. I thought that was kind of weird and tried to ignore it. Not really a good idea. I said to God, "Look, that seems weird; I don't have a Bible with my story like I like to give out and so on." Trying to get off the hook you see. "Go get one out of your office." Oh bother.
Turns out I did have one Bible left sitting in my office. So I brought the Bible, my printed out story, and the "Dare Prayer" to this woman and shared a little bit with her, stumbling and bumbling through it per usual. I found it difficult to talk to girls in high school and not much has changed. She thought that was nice and thanked me and I left for home.
On the way home, something I listened to the man Francis Chan talking about -- related to what I said up at the top -- just how awesome it was to see answered prayers, and not just pie in the sky could be anything answered prayers, but specific answers to specific prayers. With that going in my head, and some doubts running around as well, I went to God. I said something like "If this is really from you, would you please show me something real out of it? Just give me something from this woman that it wasn't all in my head."
Fast forward to the next day. When I walked into her building she told me that she hadn't read the Bible for some time and she started reading it again and that it was very nice of me to share that with her. I thought "Thanks, God, you did it!" I went home and bragged about my God to Jamie, as if she didn't get already what takes me a good thwomping in the head.
I thought that was it and was happy with the answer. I didn't ask for much, but I did ask for something specific.
Now fast forward to this morning. I walked into her building again. You know what she told me? One of her friends passed away over the weekend, and that the reading in the Bible she had been doing prepared her for it, as she never lost someone close and young like that before. And not only that. She told me that she wanted to share that with me to confirm that what I felt was real and that it was the right thing to do.
Holy Spirit, Batman. Don't you tell me my God isn't real or doesn't speak to me or doesn't listen to me. I'll take the ever increasing pile of evidence in my own life over whatever you've got.
So check this out.
Last week I got this push from the Spirit to give the "I Dare You To Pray This" post I printed out to this woman at work. I thought that was kind of weird and tried to ignore it. Not really a good idea. I said to God, "Look, that seems weird; I don't have a Bible with my story like I like to give out and so on." Trying to get off the hook you see. "Go get one out of your office." Oh bother.
Turns out I did have one Bible left sitting in my office. So I brought the Bible, my printed out story, and the "Dare Prayer" to this woman and shared a little bit with her, stumbling and bumbling through it per usual. I found it difficult to talk to girls in high school and not much has changed. She thought that was nice and thanked me and I left for home.
On the way home, something I listened to the man Francis Chan talking about -- related to what I said up at the top -- just how awesome it was to see answered prayers, and not just pie in the sky could be anything answered prayers, but specific answers to specific prayers. With that going in my head, and some doubts running around as well, I went to God. I said something like "If this is really from you, would you please show me something real out of it? Just give me something from this woman that it wasn't all in my head."
Fast forward to the next day. When I walked into her building she told me that she hadn't read the Bible for some time and she started reading it again and that it was very nice of me to share that with her. I thought "Thanks, God, you did it!" I went home and bragged about my God to Jamie, as if she didn't get already what takes me a good thwomping in the head.
I thought that was it and was happy with the answer. I didn't ask for much, but I did ask for something specific.
Now fast forward to this morning. I walked into her building again. You know what she told me? One of her friends passed away over the weekend, and that the reading in the Bible she had been doing prepared her for it, as she never lost someone close and young like that before. And not only that. She told me that she wanted to share that with me to confirm that what I felt was real and that it was the right thing to do.
Holy Spirit, Batman. Don't you tell me my God isn't real or doesn't speak to me or doesn't listen to me. I'll take the ever increasing pile of evidence in my own life over whatever you've got.
Saturday, September 24, 2011
Joe Dude's Bible Thoughts: Genesis 12 Through 14
Abram, later Abraham, great man of faith in God. What's the first thing recorded that God said to him? "Go." He didn't even tell Abram where to go, he just said to "a land that I will show you." How often do we want God's plan laid out before us? And how often is that totally not God's way?
Close to my temporary home here we've got the earthly birthplaces of Calvary Chapel and Cornerstone church. You think God showed Chuck Smith or Francis Chan the whole plan up front? Ask them. The answer is a resounding no. Great works of God don't start with some well thought out plan and system to make it happen, but godly men and women following the prompting of Spirit and stepping out in faith. Our command is not "know", but "go."
Next verse. Look at why God says he blesses Abram -- so that he will be a blessing. When we think "there's no harm in enjoying the blessings of God," we're right -- unless. Unless our enjoyment of God's blessings becomes a hindrance, something that comes between us and him. Remember how Jesus said things like "What's greater, the gold on the temple or the temple that makes the gold sacred?" So what's greater? The blessings of God or God who gives them? The more we think the former, the more we hoard and keep for ourselves, building up our own little kingdoms. The more we think the latter, the more we give and share with others, building up God's universal kingdom.
God told Abram that through him all the families of the earth shall be blessed. I just noticed something I never paid attention to before -- the inclusion of the word families. I get that. I am definitely blessed myself through Abram, for through his line came my savior Jesus Christ. But my wife and children are also blessed, through their own faith in Christ, but also through mine -- as much of the crap in my sinful past that beat down my wife and kept the light of God from my kids is gone. Sure I'm a huge work in progress still, but I'm going in the right direction. Likewise, I am also blessed through my wife's own faith and shared purpose, as she encourages me, inspires me, and is used to show me my own sinful failings and directions for improvement. The way I see it when God saves an adult in the family, either the family is going to get fairly screwed up and possibly split apart, or the family as a whole is going to move closer to Christ. Maybe that's not true, but it sure seems like it, especially in light of verses like "believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, you and your whole household." The salvation of one person in the family doesn't mean the others are automatically saved, but it sure provides a good opportunity for the others to have the light of Christ and turn to him.
I like how when Abram gets to his promised land, there are people in it. How often do we expect God's plan to be completely free of obstacles? What a great opportunity to exercise more faith in God! What? You raise an eyebrow and that and don't believe it? If that's the case, I know why. It's because you're like me. When I run into this sort of thing, I typically I cry out to God, complain to God, argue with God, counsel God, reason with God, and so on, rather than just trust God.
Do you like how Abram lies? I do. This great hall-of-faither fails to trust that God has his back and comes up with his own plan. I love it. I love it because it encourages me. If Abram had this lack of trust at times, yet is spoken of so well in the Word, it gives me some peace -- as Abram, like Elijah, was a man just like me.
Refer to what I said about about God's blessings and then look at Abram and Lot. These two had a lot of material blessings from God -- they had so much stuff they had to split up. Look at what we can see of Abram and Lot's hearts -- Abram gave up the decision to Lot because he didn't want there to be any trouble, but Lot went in the direction that would give him best land and opportunity for profit for himself.
Let's also be careful when we look to biblical heroes like Abram and use them to justify statements like "God wants me to be rich." Balance the riches God gave to people with Jesus' words "How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!" There's nothing wrong with riches, unless. And we have a very, very, difficult time seeing that we're in the "unless" side of it.
Remember that Lot's greedy decision brought him closer to the sinful city of Sodom, even though he himself did not engage in the wicked practices of the city. Even so, when the battle came, he was swept away with the rest. Let that be a lesson to us about flirting with sin -- if we try to get so close to it, yet not do it, we're just going to get taken away by it also. So often we try to draw this line in the sand and ask "how close can I get to the line and still be good with God" when the right attitude we should have is found in our hero Joseph, who ran away from sin.
Melchizedek popping into the picture is a bit interesting. There's some speculation about Melchizedek, but a big take away from this I think is that Abram and his family were not the only people worshiping the LORD at this time in history. What we have recorded in the Bible is the path from Adam to Christ; details of other believers frankly are not relevant for telling that story. In the same way, in the New Testament, we have some accounts of the gospel spreading like wildfire through parts of the ancient world -- but those accounts are only a sliver of the big picture of the spread of the gospel. I think that indicates an important question to ask might be "why these particular accounts?"
I love how Abram rejects the king of Sodom's offer to take some of the spoils -- so that there is no way anyone else could say Abram's success was their doing. It reminds me of the story of Gideon, where God helped Gideon to win a battle with so few men that the victory could only come from God. It's the same thing all throughout the Bible -- God using weak and ordinary people to do crazy things that the people could in no way do own their own. It may be a bit cliche by now, but "God doesn't call the equipped, but rather he equips the called" still applies!
Grace and peace friends.
Close to my temporary home here we've got the earthly birthplaces of Calvary Chapel and Cornerstone church. You think God showed Chuck Smith or Francis Chan the whole plan up front? Ask them. The answer is a resounding no. Great works of God don't start with some well thought out plan and system to make it happen, but godly men and women following the prompting of Spirit and stepping out in faith. Our command is not "know", but "go."
Next verse. Look at why God says he blesses Abram -- so that he will be a blessing. When we think "there's no harm in enjoying the blessings of God," we're right -- unless. Unless our enjoyment of God's blessings becomes a hindrance, something that comes between us and him. Remember how Jesus said things like "What's greater, the gold on the temple or the temple that makes the gold sacred?" So what's greater? The blessings of God or God who gives them? The more we think the former, the more we hoard and keep for ourselves, building up our own little kingdoms. The more we think the latter, the more we give and share with others, building up God's universal kingdom.
God told Abram that through him all the families of the earth shall be blessed. I just noticed something I never paid attention to before -- the inclusion of the word families. I get that. I am definitely blessed myself through Abram, for through his line came my savior Jesus Christ. But my wife and children are also blessed, through their own faith in Christ, but also through mine -- as much of the crap in my sinful past that beat down my wife and kept the light of God from my kids is gone. Sure I'm a huge work in progress still, but I'm going in the right direction. Likewise, I am also blessed through my wife's own faith and shared purpose, as she encourages me, inspires me, and is used to show me my own sinful failings and directions for improvement. The way I see it when God saves an adult in the family, either the family is going to get fairly screwed up and possibly split apart, or the family as a whole is going to move closer to Christ. Maybe that's not true, but it sure seems like it, especially in light of verses like "believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, you and your whole household." The salvation of one person in the family doesn't mean the others are automatically saved, but it sure provides a good opportunity for the others to have the light of Christ and turn to him.
I like how when Abram gets to his promised land, there are people in it. How often do we expect God's plan to be completely free of obstacles? What a great opportunity to exercise more faith in God! What? You raise an eyebrow and that and don't believe it? If that's the case, I know why. It's because you're like me. When I run into this sort of thing, I typically I cry out to God, complain to God, argue with God, counsel God, reason with God, and so on, rather than just trust God.
Do you like how Abram lies? I do. This great hall-of-faither fails to trust that God has his back and comes up with his own plan. I love it. I love it because it encourages me. If Abram had this lack of trust at times, yet is spoken of so well in the Word, it gives me some peace -- as Abram, like Elijah, was a man just like me.
Refer to what I said about about God's blessings and then look at Abram and Lot. These two had a lot of material blessings from God -- they had so much stuff they had to split up. Look at what we can see of Abram and Lot's hearts -- Abram gave up the decision to Lot because he didn't want there to be any trouble, but Lot went in the direction that would give him best land and opportunity for profit for himself.
Let's also be careful when we look to biblical heroes like Abram and use them to justify statements like "God wants me to be rich." Balance the riches God gave to people with Jesus' words "How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!" There's nothing wrong with riches, unless. And we have a very, very, difficult time seeing that we're in the "unless" side of it.
Remember that Lot's greedy decision brought him closer to the sinful city of Sodom, even though he himself did not engage in the wicked practices of the city. Even so, when the battle came, he was swept away with the rest. Let that be a lesson to us about flirting with sin -- if we try to get so close to it, yet not do it, we're just going to get taken away by it also. So often we try to draw this line in the sand and ask "how close can I get to the line and still be good with God" when the right attitude we should have is found in our hero Joseph, who ran away from sin.
Melchizedek popping into the picture is a bit interesting. There's some speculation about Melchizedek, but a big take away from this I think is that Abram and his family were not the only people worshiping the LORD at this time in history. What we have recorded in the Bible is the path from Adam to Christ; details of other believers frankly are not relevant for telling that story. In the same way, in the New Testament, we have some accounts of the gospel spreading like wildfire through parts of the ancient world -- but those accounts are only a sliver of the big picture of the spread of the gospel. I think that indicates an important question to ask might be "why these particular accounts?"
I love how Abram rejects the king of Sodom's offer to take some of the spoils -- so that there is no way anyone else could say Abram's success was their doing. It reminds me of the story of Gideon, where God helped Gideon to win a battle with so few men that the victory could only come from God. It's the same thing all throughout the Bible -- God using weak and ordinary people to do crazy things that the people could in no way do own their own. It may be a bit cliche by now, but "God doesn't call the equipped, but rather he equips the called" still applies!
Grace and peace friends.
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Joe Dude's Bible Thoughts: Genesis 10 And 11
That's a lot of sons. Gomer sticks out, but only because of that "Well surprise surprise surprise!" guy. Tarshish sticks out because of where Jonah ran off too. Cush, Egypt, and Canaan stand out because of the same named land areas. Havilah sticks out because of some bars we sold in the Jewish style deli. Nimrod sticks out, but the connotation I am used to doesn't mean "mighty man". :-)
I never really noticed 10:5 before -- "From these the coastland peoples spread in their lands, each with his own language, by their clans, in their nations." The part that got me was "each with his own language", and it got me because of the account in chapter 11 where God confused the language and disperses the people. At first it seems to be conflicting and out of place, but that's because I incorrectly expect the Bible to read chronologically as I go through. Much of chapter 10 and 11 are in parallel, talking about the same time period. We have a more general account of the people and division in 10, and then we zoom into God's hand in it and the line leading to Abraham in 11.
I think that's pretty cool that God's sovereignty in dividing the people and the path to Abram are grouped together. That probably means something more significant than I get.
"In his days the earth was divided" (10:25) also sticks out. If you go with the whole Pangaea theory, then this could refer to the time there was some massive continental movement. That's bringing extra stuff back into the text though; really, I just don't know. I don't think we can be sure on what that means, but that's okay.
Since my first reading of it after being pulled in and flipped around by Jesus Christ, the account of the Tower of Babel was, and still is, the weirdest part of the Bible for me. It's surely no coincidence that it is one of the stories my dear brother I turned to with questions mentioned this one off the cuff when I was a baby Christian like it was nothing strange at all. And that's absolutely true -- God working in miraculous ways is not strange or abnormal -- it is the norm of the day, and, really, everything is a miracle. It just strikes me as odd anyway, much more so than pillars of salt or fire, big fish, floating axe heads, talking animals, and so on. It's God's creation; he can operate in and on it however he wants!
I had to look up some commentary for 11:6 because I just didn't get it. But then again I wasn't paying attention to the context (a common, but bad, mistake). The people have just had a taste of the product of pride and ambition, and they liked it -- thus preparing them for all kinds of crazy selfish sin. God in his wisdom and mercy stepped in to save people from themselves, as he so often does -- like in my own life!
And now we're caught up to the father of many!
I never really noticed 10:5 before -- "From these the coastland peoples spread in their lands, each with his own language, by their clans, in their nations." The part that got me was "each with his own language", and it got me because of the account in chapter 11 where God confused the language and disperses the people. At first it seems to be conflicting and out of place, but that's because I incorrectly expect the Bible to read chronologically as I go through. Much of chapter 10 and 11 are in parallel, talking about the same time period. We have a more general account of the people and division in 10, and then we zoom into God's hand in it and the line leading to Abraham in 11.
I think that's pretty cool that God's sovereignty in dividing the people and the path to Abram are grouped together. That probably means something more significant than I get.
"In his days the earth was divided" (10:25) also sticks out. If you go with the whole Pangaea theory, then this could refer to the time there was some massive continental movement. That's bringing extra stuff back into the text though; really, I just don't know. I don't think we can be sure on what that means, but that's okay.
Since my first reading of it after being pulled in and flipped around by Jesus Christ, the account of the Tower of Babel was, and still is, the weirdest part of the Bible for me. It's surely no coincidence that it is one of the stories my dear brother I turned to with questions mentioned this one off the cuff when I was a baby Christian like it was nothing strange at all. And that's absolutely true -- God working in miraculous ways is not strange or abnormal -- it is the norm of the day, and, really, everything is a miracle. It just strikes me as odd anyway, much more so than pillars of salt or fire, big fish, floating axe heads, talking animals, and so on. It's God's creation; he can operate in and on it however he wants!
I had to look up some commentary for 11:6 because I just didn't get it. But then again I wasn't paying attention to the context (a common, but bad, mistake). The people have just had a taste of the product of pride and ambition, and they liked it -- thus preparing them for all kinds of crazy selfish sin. God in his wisdom and mercy stepped in to save people from themselves, as he so often does -- like in my own life!
And now we're caught up to the father of many!
Joe Dude's Bible Thoughts: Genesis 9
There's that whole "fruitful and multiply" thing again, just like before.
But now we have something new -- there's no happy relationship between man and animal any longer. The fear of man is now in them, which goes along with the other new thing -- man is now permitted to eat the animals, but not their blood. I've heard it put this way -- "why bother with finer commands like 'don't eat the animals' when man is still having trouble with weightier moral concepts like 'don't murder each other'". I don't find direct support for that, but it's an interesting thought.
I think it's interesting that God does not permit the eating of animals with the blood still in them. I take that to mean "don't eat them raw" though I suppose you could still drain the blood out and not cook the meat. I don't know why the command was given. Raw meat really could cause a person some internal trouble, so perhaps there is a dietary motive behind it from a compassionate God who knows that people don't know a thing about bacteria and other really small things yet.
The next part is one of the places people jump to when drumming up support for the death penalty -- "whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image." One could spin this a couple of ways, but the straightforward reading to me seems that we're talking about justice here -- though it also seems to me that God is more saying how it is going to be rather than issuing a hard command. I.e. "Because you are made in my image, you have this sense of justice inside, and will therefore dole out punishments that fit the crime." I could be off the mark, but it seems reasonable.
God's promise that the earth will not be destroyed by flood makes me at ease about the polar ice caps melting. Not really, that was just a bad joke. :-) It however seems to say something about God when he makes a promise with "all flesh" -- not just man, but every living creature. God does care about his creation.
The whole "Ham saw his dad naked" thing puzzles me. There's a lot of theories, but if I just start with what I read and try to draw solid conclusions from that, I come up a fair bit short. Ham did something he shouldn't have and Noah cursed his kid for it. I started to read some detailed commentary on this, and my head hurt. But I did notice this -- the Bible doesn't say that God cursed anybody here, only that Noah did. Could it be possible that we read too much into the account, and what we have here is a drunk guy waking up and getting ticked off at his kid for doing something stupid or outright sinful? I don't know, but it seems there is an awful lot of speculation around these parts in scripture.
Really I think God just puts up with a lot of our silly ideas (including my own) and just lets them be as he works on more important things in our lives. Just flip ahead and look at the way Jesus speaks to various groups, including his own disciples and the religious leaders -- the way they ask some things speaks to "weird" ideas about God, and Jesus just kind of glosses over it and tells it like it is9
But now we have something new -- there's no happy relationship between man and animal any longer. The fear of man is now in them, which goes along with the other new thing -- man is now permitted to eat the animals, but not their blood. I've heard it put this way -- "why bother with finer commands like 'don't eat the animals' when man is still having trouble with weightier moral concepts like 'don't murder each other'". I don't find direct support for that, but it's an interesting thought.
I think it's interesting that God does not permit the eating of animals with the blood still in them. I take that to mean "don't eat them raw" though I suppose you could still drain the blood out and not cook the meat. I don't know why the command was given. Raw meat really could cause a person some internal trouble, so perhaps there is a dietary motive behind it from a compassionate God who knows that people don't know a thing about bacteria and other really small things yet.
The next part is one of the places people jump to when drumming up support for the death penalty -- "whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image." One could spin this a couple of ways, but the straightforward reading to me seems that we're talking about justice here -- though it also seems to me that God is more saying how it is going to be rather than issuing a hard command. I.e. "Because you are made in my image, you have this sense of justice inside, and will therefore dole out punishments that fit the crime." I could be off the mark, but it seems reasonable.
God's promise that the earth will not be destroyed by flood makes me at ease about the polar ice caps melting. Not really, that was just a bad joke. :-) It however seems to say something about God when he makes a promise with "all flesh" -- not just man, but every living creature. God does care about his creation.
The whole "Ham saw his dad naked" thing puzzles me. There's a lot of theories, but if I just start with what I read and try to draw solid conclusions from that, I come up a fair bit short. Ham did something he shouldn't have and Noah cursed his kid for it. I started to read some detailed commentary on this, and my head hurt. But I did notice this -- the Bible doesn't say that God cursed anybody here, only that Noah did. Could it be possible that we read too much into the account, and what we have here is a drunk guy waking up and getting ticked off at his kid for doing something stupid or outright sinful? I don't know, but it seems there is an awful lot of speculation around these parts in scripture.
Really I think God just puts up with a lot of our silly ideas (including my own) and just lets them be as he works on more important things in our lives. Just flip ahead and look at the way Jesus speaks to various groups, including his own disciples and the religious leaders -- the way they ask some things speaks to "weird" ideas about God, and Jesus just kind of glosses over it and tells it like it is9
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Joe Dude's Bible Thoughts: Genesis 8
"God remembered Noah" seems to be more of that human language barrier thing going on. Since God made Noah, I'm pretty sure he didn't forget him.
And of course there is some barrier, look at the power of God again. He made a wind to blow on the earth to dry up all this water. "Okay, wind, so what?" No no no. He MADE WIND to blow on the earth that HE MADE -- the earth that sits in a pile of billions of stars in a universe that HE MADE. What's the best we can do? Make a wind to blow out our birthday candles or to clear the room after we eat beans? And the only reason we can do that? God allows it, because he is sovereign and in control. That's crazy, but that's God. We often make him seem smaller than he is, but we could never make him seem bigger than he is.
Did you get the location of the ark? Ready to search for it? Have fun, send me a post card. It's probably best we don't find it. As a friend and brother guesses, a bunch of people would probably start worshiping it.
I'm sure there is some significance to sending out the raven before the dove. I don't know what it is.
I don't know the origins (maybe here!) but I recall the olive branch being a symbol of peace. Is this an indicating that Noah now has peace with God through the symbolic new birth he had? Maybe.
This isn't the first time I've read the phrase "be fruitful and multiply". I've only thought of it as "go, have a bunch of kids and fill up the place". I'm not saying here it means anything more, but it does remind me of a story Jesus told -- this dude gives three servants 10 talents, 5 talents, and 1 talents. The first two multiply their money and are rewarded. The last doesn't do anything worthwhile and is punished. What did Jesus say? "By your fruits you will know them". What are we supposed to do as God's children? Be fruitful and multiply, making more of God's children -- i.e., disciples of all nations.
More offerings to the LORD. It seems from early on, in many other cultures as well, this notion of sacrifice was prevalent. It's like it's wired in us or something!
"The intention of man's heart is evil from his youth" -- a very early statement of our big problem, our own sinful nature that we're born with. We're not sinners because we sin; we sin because we're sinners.
I don't remember ever noticing the last verse before today. I think we gloss over it a lot.
And of course there is some barrier, look at the power of God again. He made a wind to blow on the earth to dry up all this water. "Okay, wind, so what?" No no no. He MADE WIND to blow on the earth that HE MADE -- the earth that sits in a pile of billions of stars in a universe that HE MADE. What's the best we can do? Make a wind to blow out our birthday candles or to clear the room after we eat beans? And the only reason we can do that? God allows it, because he is sovereign and in control. That's crazy, but that's God. We often make him seem smaller than he is, but we could never make him seem bigger than he is.
Did you get the location of the ark? Ready to search for it? Have fun, send me a post card. It's probably best we don't find it. As a friend and brother guesses, a bunch of people would probably start worshiping it.
I'm sure there is some significance to sending out the raven before the dove. I don't know what it is.
I don't know the origins (maybe here!) but I recall the olive branch being a symbol of peace. Is this an indicating that Noah now has peace with God through the symbolic new birth he had? Maybe.
This isn't the first time I've read the phrase "be fruitful and multiply". I've only thought of it as "go, have a bunch of kids and fill up the place". I'm not saying here it means anything more, but it does remind me of a story Jesus told -- this dude gives three servants 10 talents, 5 talents, and 1 talents. The first two multiply their money and are rewarded. The last doesn't do anything worthwhile and is punished. What did Jesus say? "By your fruits you will know them". What are we supposed to do as God's children? Be fruitful and multiply, making more of God's children -- i.e., disciples of all nations.
More offerings to the LORD. It seems from early on, in many other cultures as well, this notion of sacrifice was prevalent. It's like it's wired in us or something!
"The intention of man's heart is evil from his youth" -- a very early statement of our big problem, our own sinful nature that we're born with. We're not sinners because we sin; we sin because we're sinners.
I don't remember ever noticing the last verse before today. I think we gloss over it a lot.
Thursday, September 15, 2011
I Dare You
I dare you to pray one or more of these. If you take the dare, it should probably be ended with "Please help me to really mean what I just said." I know I have to do that quite often. Lips are cheap, but hearts are priceless.
1) Take away ANYTHING in my life that is keeping me from growing closer to you and experiencing the full joy I could be in our relationship.
2) Show me the sin in my life and do WHATEVER IT TAKES to remove it.
3) Always keep me humble before you, NO MATTER WHAT.
4) If it brings you greater glory with it than without it, BRING SUFFERING into my life.
5) Help me to always both boldly speak the truth, and speak it in love, NO MATTER WHAT HAPPENS.
6) Give me the desire to go ANYWHERE you want, ANYTIME you want, to do ANYTHING you want.
7) Help me to be more and more like Jesus, AT ANY COST.
8) Help me to ALWAYS be a witness for you, NO MATTER WHAT PEOPLE THINK.
9) Help me to see the world through your eyes, NO MATTER HOW IT CHANGES ME.
10) Help me to love ALL people like you love them, NO MATTER WHAT THEY'VE DONE.
For the record, I have foolishly been too chicken (read selfish and sinful, among other things) to pray these as written. It's pretty easy to figure out which words I change or omit. Yet, I know in my mind that this is the kind of attitude we should have, and it is the one that brings God the most glory and us the most joy.
Grace and peace brothers, sisters, and friends.
1) Take away ANYTHING in my life that is keeping me from growing closer to you and experiencing the full joy I could be in our relationship.
2) Show me the sin in my life and do WHATEVER IT TAKES to remove it.
3) Always keep me humble before you, NO MATTER WHAT.
4) If it brings you greater glory with it than without it, BRING SUFFERING into my life.
5) Help me to always both boldly speak the truth, and speak it in love, NO MATTER WHAT HAPPENS.
6) Give me the desire to go ANYWHERE you want, ANYTIME you want, to do ANYTHING you want.
7) Help me to be more and more like Jesus, AT ANY COST.
8) Help me to ALWAYS be a witness for you, NO MATTER WHAT PEOPLE THINK.
9) Help me to see the world through your eyes, NO MATTER HOW IT CHANGES ME.
10) Help me to love ALL people like you love them, NO MATTER WHAT THEY'VE DONE.
For the record, I have foolishly been too chicken (read selfish and sinful, among other things) to pray these as written. It's pretty easy to figure out which words I change or omit. Yet, I know in my mind that this is the kind of attitude we should have, and it is the one that brings God the most glory and us the most joy.
Grace and peace brothers, sisters, and friends.
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