Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Without apology
I do not believe the lie that the Church or the world are better served by Christians who lack a reverence for God, spend their time watching shows and movies and listening to music that God hates, and joke about the things that God hates. It's popular today to recount one's experience during the musical worship on Sunday, often with colored lights and stunning sound systems and emotional “worship faces” from the leaders as a great time “in the presence of God”. We don't know what the presence of God IS today. I know this because the presence of God frightens us and convicts us of our sin. Look at Isaiah's experience. Look at Peter's experience. If more people were entering the presence of God, they would stop dressing immodestly, stop joking irreverently, and stop living flippantly. They would have something more amazing to talk about than American Idol. They would pursue something greater than looking stylish. The popular claim to have been in the presence of God is in many cases either blasphemous, or nonsense, or both.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Brokenness, Part 2
I figured that since I had made a certain statement about God ordaining our brokenness which goes against what many Christians and churches teach, I ought to defend my statement. Some are quite uncomfortable with certain aspects of God's exercising His sovereignty, even though Scripture assumes God's total authority and righteousness in it. First off, does God ordain my pain?
Example 1: Joseph. What does he say when he reveals to his identity to his brothers, after years and years of slavery, imprisonment?
Example 2: Paul. I referred to him as an example. Here is the text:
7So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. 9But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
Example 1: Joseph. What does he say when he reveals to his identity to his brothers, after years and years of slavery, imprisonment?
4So Joseph said to his brothers, "Come near to me, please." And they came near. And he said, "I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. 5And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life. 6For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there are yet five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest. 7And God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. 8So it was not you who sent me here, but God. He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt. (Genesis 45:4-8, ESV)
Example 2: Paul. I referred to him as an example. Here is the text:
7So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. 9But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
Monday, July 20, 2009
Brokenness
We hate it. To lose a loved one. To be less attractive, strong, smart, funny, or musical than other people. To be different. Of course we hate it. But if you are a Christian and this is all you see, you are missing something huge.
The fact is that God ordains and uses our brokenness for His greater purposes. When we accept and celebrate this, we finally realize that we are not missing out, in the big scheme of things. With God's purposes as our joy, we can finally face the pain. Yes, it remains painfully real and really painful. But those areas of pain are not meaningless pockets of God's neglect or absent-mindedness, but rather they are part of God's purposes. Furthermore, the pain actually works to our ultimate good (Romans 8:28).
Paul was given some kind of physical and/or mental anguish in order to keep Him humble in light of the increasingly great revelations he was experiencing. As God's power in Paul's life grew, Paul's sense of self-reliance and self-sufficiency had to be done away with. Paul understood. He begged for it not to be that way, but he understood.
Where do YOU stand?
You can embrace God in and through the pain or you can become a depressed, self-centered, worldly Christian. He designs our pain so that our affections would go to Him rather than to this world and this life. I have learned this is the only way. I didn't ask for my brokenness and I've tried to fight off my brokenness. But I see as clear as day the greater advantage of it. I gain something of eternal value; I lose something of temporary value. I am enabled to identify myself in no way other than as Christ's. I have less of a “me” to present to people and more of a Christ to present to people.
The fact is that God ordains and uses our brokenness for His greater purposes. When we accept and celebrate this, we finally realize that we are not missing out, in the big scheme of things. With God's purposes as our joy, we can finally face the pain. Yes, it remains painfully real and really painful. But those areas of pain are not meaningless pockets of God's neglect or absent-mindedness, but rather they are part of God's purposes. Furthermore, the pain actually works to our ultimate good (Romans 8:28).
Paul was given some kind of physical and/or mental anguish in order to keep Him humble in light of the increasingly great revelations he was experiencing. As God's power in Paul's life grew, Paul's sense of self-reliance and self-sufficiency had to be done away with. Paul understood. He begged for it not to be that way, but he understood.
Where do YOU stand?
You can embrace God in and through the pain or you can become a depressed, self-centered, worldly Christian. He designs our pain so that our affections would go to Him rather than to this world and this life. I have learned this is the only way. I didn't ask for my brokenness and I've tried to fight off my brokenness. But I see as clear as day the greater advantage of it. I gain something of eternal value; I lose something of temporary value. I am enabled to identify myself in no way other than as Christ's. I have less of a “me” to present to people and more of a Christ to present to people.
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Passion for Truth
Whatever quirks, strengths and weaknesses I have, passion for truth is perhaps my defining characteristic regarding the contribution I burn to make for the good of the Church. My heart and soul and mind are burning to bring the Word of God. I have not yet had that opportunity since moving to Arizona.