"Each of us is an innkeeper who decides if there is room for Jesus." -Neal A. Maxwell
This time of year, the story of Jesus Christ seems to get more attention than it does throughout the year. Families all over the world here the story of the birth of Jesus, beginning with the census all the way to the wise men and everything in between. Most everyone is familiar with the story of the innkeeper and how he told Mary and Joseph there was no room in the inn. So now we have turned this story outward, and each of us now decides if there is room for Jesus. But that isn't how it really works.
Each of us does not decide if there is room for Jesus. There IS room for Jesus. In fact, Blaise Pascal said, "There is a God shaped vacuum in the heart
of every man which cannot be filled by any created thing, but only by
God, the Creator, made known through Jesus." A vacancy in the heart is not optional or dependent upon anything. Each of us has a God-shaped hole inside of us. Our role then is not to decide if there is room for Jesus, but to boldly proclaim that there IS room for Jesus in every heart and in every place, and nothing else can fill it.
This Christmas, as you open your gifts and spend time with family and friends, keep in mind that the conflict that led to the coming of Jesus was not the lack of vacancy in the inn, but the vacancy in our hearts that we have attempted to fill with sin. Bear also in mind that Jesus didn't come to earth and fill just any vacancy. He filled the vacancy on the cross as the atoning sacrifice for the sins we commit attempting to fill the God-shaped hole with other things. This Christmas, celebrate that there is room for Jesus, and as a believer, celebrate that the hole in your heart is filled.
If the empty space in your heart is not filled, I implore you to look nowhere else. This season, we are reminded that a baby boy came down to earth, but we often neglect the purpose. He came for us, so someday we can stand before our Creator and no longer have a space in our heart. Because of the baby boy we celebrate this time of year, we will one day stand before the throne of the king of the universe pure and whole. That's the true reason we celebrate Christmas.
Wednesday, December 24, 2014
Thursday, November 27, 2014
Thanksgiving Challenge 2014
As you scroll through your Twitter timeline, it's highly likely that you can separate the tweets you see into categories as follows:
1) Countdown to Christmas
2) Black Friday advertisements
3) Complaints about school
4) Complaints about work
5) Complaints about the government
6) Complaints about the constant complaining
There are undoubtedly a few other categories depending on who you are, where you are from, and who you follow, but if you were to pull, say, the 20 most recent tweets from your timeline, a heavy majority of them would fall into one the aforementioned categories.
Wherever you are, whoever you are, whatever you are doing, I have a challenge for you this Thanksgiving. Let's start a trend so big people all over the world can add a new category to the list. On Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and whatever else the kids are using these days, take a few seconds to post what you are thankful for this year. Spread the word. Tell your friends, family, and co-workers. Share this blog or summarize it. Do whatever you can to get out the message that we are content right here, right now with all that God has given us. We don't need to complain or count down to a better time because in this moment each one of us is blessed beyond belief.
Will you accept the challenge? Tweet, post, and share right now. Let's make God's provision a trend.
1) Countdown to Christmas
2) Black Friday advertisements
3) Complaints about school
4) Complaints about work
5) Complaints about the government
6) Complaints about the constant complaining
There are undoubtedly a few other categories depending on who you are, where you are from, and who you follow, but if you were to pull, say, the 20 most recent tweets from your timeline, a heavy majority of them would fall into one the aforementioned categories.
Wherever you are, whoever you are, whatever you are doing, I have a challenge for you this Thanksgiving. Let's start a trend so big people all over the world can add a new category to the list. On Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and whatever else the kids are using these days, take a few seconds to post what you are thankful for this year. Spread the word. Tell your friends, family, and co-workers. Share this blog or summarize it. Do whatever you can to get out the message that we are content right here, right now with all that God has given us. We don't need to complain or count down to a better time because in this moment each one of us is blessed beyond belief.
Will you accept the challenge? Tweet, post, and share right now. Let's make God's provision a trend.
Friday, October 24, 2014
Where Sin Runs Deep
The internet is a scary place. Now, you have accessed this blog through the internet, and hopefully you don't view that as a bad thing... But let's use this blog as an example. These are my words, but I have put them on the internet. Now you and everyone else in the world can read them. I can delete them, but they won't really go away. You will have read them, and they will be permanently stored somewhere in cyberspace.
Words are a scary concept. Various arrangements of the same twenty-six letters build us up and tear us down so quickly and easily. Word vomit happens, and you can't take it back, and you may have just destroyed a life with those words. You can crush self esteem, end friendships, break hearts, and totally lay waste to lives.
The internet is just a big cloud of these words, sitting here saying things to us and about us. The words on the internet can criticize our race, our gender, our politics, our actions, our faith. That's what everything comes down to: our faith. We all believe in something, and none of us wants anything said to hit close to home. But one of the scary things about the internet is that it always does.
Right now, people everywhere are hurting because of today's tweets, posts, and headlines. Right now, people everywhere are confused, angry, sad, and even apathetic. Right now, that might be you. If that is you, dear reader, I pray that you will hear what I am about to say.
From the national television to the lunch table at school, Christianity takes a lot of heat these days. Someone makes a mistake and naturally, a lot of unanswerable questions arise. Is there a God? If so, why did he let this happen? How could a Christian do that?
We could have a walk-through on apologetics, but I will be honest with you and say you might not find the answer to your questions there. You might not find them anywhere. But I can guarantee that if you are looking for answers in a person here on Earth, you aren't going to find them. Because here on Earth, we are not free from the presence of sin. Romans 3:23 says that all have sinned. That exempts a sum total of one: God himself. That, dear reader, is the gospel. That we couldn't be perfect. We couldn't attain righteousness. And Romans 6:23 says that the consequence of that is death- permanent death. Separation from God. But Ephesians 2:4-9 says that God sent Jesus and only through him are we saved. Only by faith are we made righteous.
That said, it is obvious that we still sin. We still mess up. There are two responses when that happens: we can run from God, or we can run to him. We can say that God must be angry or that he is too confusing or lofty or that we just flat out don't love him, and we can run. Hear me when I say to you that this will never satisfy. The farther we run, the emptier we will feel because we were made to love something greater than ourselves. Our only other option then, is to run to Jesus. Oh, I pray that you would today.
The simple fact of the matter is that there are some things we just cannot understand. I promise you that there is nothing more comforting than to throw your hands up and acknowledge it. It's okay to be honest with God, because he knows your heart right now. It's okay to tell him you are angry or confused or hurt, because he knows. He isn't surprised or angry. He loves you. He came down to Earth to die on the cross for you. He didn't come with the promise that things would be easy or fun; in fact he promised that they wouldn't be. And that's obvious in our lives today. But oh how he loves you in the midst of that. Romans 8:28 says that he is working all things together for your good, and you need to understand that he means that in the eternal sense because he is eternal and he loves you eternally.
Words can still hurt. Tweets, posts, and headlines can still shock and destroy. To say that it shouldn't affect you would be cliche and false. But when you are shocked, confused, hurt... When you don't know where else to go or what else to do, run to Jesus. You may not find answers, but you will find peace.
"And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you." --Psalm 9:10
Words are a scary concept. Various arrangements of the same twenty-six letters build us up and tear us down so quickly and easily. Word vomit happens, and you can't take it back, and you may have just destroyed a life with those words. You can crush self esteem, end friendships, break hearts, and totally lay waste to lives.
The internet is just a big cloud of these words, sitting here saying things to us and about us. The words on the internet can criticize our race, our gender, our politics, our actions, our faith. That's what everything comes down to: our faith. We all believe in something, and none of us wants anything said to hit close to home. But one of the scary things about the internet is that it always does.
Right now, people everywhere are hurting because of today's tweets, posts, and headlines. Right now, people everywhere are confused, angry, sad, and even apathetic. Right now, that might be you. If that is you, dear reader, I pray that you will hear what I am about to say.
From the national television to the lunch table at school, Christianity takes a lot of heat these days. Someone makes a mistake and naturally, a lot of unanswerable questions arise. Is there a God? If so, why did he let this happen? How could a Christian do that?
We could have a walk-through on apologetics, but I will be honest with you and say you might not find the answer to your questions there. You might not find them anywhere. But I can guarantee that if you are looking for answers in a person here on Earth, you aren't going to find them. Because here on Earth, we are not free from the presence of sin. Romans 3:23 says that all have sinned. That exempts a sum total of one: God himself. That, dear reader, is the gospel. That we couldn't be perfect. We couldn't attain righteousness. And Romans 6:23 says that the consequence of that is death- permanent death. Separation from God. But Ephesians 2:4-9 says that God sent Jesus and only through him are we saved. Only by faith are we made righteous.
That said, it is obvious that we still sin. We still mess up. There are two responses when that happens: we can run from God, or we can run to him. We can say that God must be angry or that he is too confusing or lofty or that we just flat out don't love him, and we can run. Hear me when I say to you that this will never satisfy. The farther we run, the emptier we will feel because we were made to love something greater than ourselves. Our only other option then, is to run to Jesus. Oh, I pray that you would today.
The simple fact of the matter is that there are some things we just cannot understand. I promise you that there is nothing more comforting than to throw your hands up and acknowledge it. It's okay to be honest with God, because he knows your heart right now. It's okay to tell him you are angry or confused or hurt, because he knows. He isn't surprised or angry. He loves you. He came down to Earth to die on the cross for you. He didn't come with the promise that things would be easy or fun; in fact he promised that they wouldn't be. And that's obvious in our lives today. But oh how he loves you in the midst of that. Romans 8:28 says that he is working all things together for your good, and you need to understand that he means that in the eternal sense because he is eternal and he loves you eternally.
Words can still hurt. Tweets, posts, and headlines can still shock and destroy. To say that it shouldn't affect you would be cliche and false. But when you are shocked, confused, hurt... When you don't know where else to go or what else to do, run to Jesus. You may not find answers, but you will find peace.
"And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you." --Psalm 9:10
Tuesday, October 21, 2014
Come Together
Imagine for a moment, if you will, your favorite song. It is probably your favorite for a reason. It probably speaks to you in some way. If you were asked to describe the significance of that song to someone, you could probably talk for a fairly long time about it. You could probably talk about it until the rest of the world tuned you out. That's probably how my friend feels when she talks about the Beatles, which is pretty much always.
If I were to introduce this friend to you, I wouldn't even tell you her name before I told you she is passionate about music. That's really all you need to know about her, because it's all she ever wants to talk about. You would probably think that gets old really fast, but with her, it doesn't. Everything she says is either a Beatles reference or a potential song idea for her own future career. Though I can't complain about the Beatles, I'm hardly a fan, and though I love music passionately, I certainly have no future career in it. Yet, I never tire of hearing about it from her. Why? Because it is her passion. She eats, sleeps, breathes it, and finds it in everything she does. But why is that special?
The unique thing about my friend is that she isn't satisfied simply to love music. One day, she could go deaf; the music she listens to would be silenced. One day, she could grow too weak to play guitar or sing; the music she creates would be gone. So she doesn't obsess over what she hears or creates. Rather, she relishes it and is in turn thankful, because the music came from somewhere- moreover, from someone. She uses her music to give back to and pursue the heart of it and reason for it: God.
1 Corinthians 12:4-11 talks of spiritual gifts, and it says that there is a vast variety of gifts, but that they are all from the same spirit. I can carry a tune, but I can't draw people in with my music the way my aforementioned friend can. Some people can create beauty in the form of art; others words. Some have been gifted with minds for science and math; others sports. Some are given wisdom, some knowledge, some faith.. But all these gifts are from the same Spirit- the same God.
So I ask you, dear reader: What is your heart pursuing? When you reach that double bar line, when the end credits roll, when the last line of your last page is full, your pen is out of ink, and your mind is out of fuel, where do you turn? God has given us each such an incredibly unique gift, and each of them is worth celebrating. But in the end, the common center of all our gifts is the God who gives them. So, regardless of our gifts, let us use them for the common cause of pursing Him.
"Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit." --1 Corinthians 12:4
If I were to introduce this friend to you, I wouldn't even tell you her name before I told you she is passionate about music. That's really all you need to know about her, because it's all she ever wants to talk about. You would probably think that gets old really fast, but with her, it doesn't. Everything she says is either a Beatles reference or a potential song idea for her own future career. Though I can't complain about the Beatles, I'm hardly a fan, and though I love music passionately, I certainly have no future career in it. Yet, I never tire of hearing about it from her. Why? Because it is her passion. She eats, sleeps, breathes it, and finds it in everything she does. But why is that special?
The unique thing about my friend is that she isn't satisfied simply to love music. One day, she could go deaf; the music she listens to would be silenced. One day, she could grow too weak to play guitar or sing; the music she creates would be gone. So she doesn't obsess over what she hears or creates. Rather, she relishes it and is in turn thankful, because the music came from somewhere- moreover, from someone. She uses her music to give back to and pursue the heart of it and reason for it: God.
1 Corinthians 12:4-11 talks of spiritual gifts, and it says that there is a vast variety of gifts, but that they are all from the same spirit. I can carry a tune, but I can't draw people in with my music the way my aforementioned friend can. Some people can create beauty in the form of art; others words. Some have been gifted with minds for science and math; others sports. Some are given wisdom, some knowledge, some faith.. But all these gifts are from the same Spirit- the same God.
So I ask you, dear reader: What is your heart pursuing? When you reach that double bar line, when the end credits roll, when the last line of your last page is full, your pen is out of ink, and your mind is out of fuel, where do you turn? God has given us each such an incredibly unique gift, and each of them is worth celebrating. But in the end, the common center of all our gifts is the God who gives them. So, regardless of our gifts, let us use them for the common cause of pursing Him.
"Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit." --1 Corinthians 12:4
Saturday, October 11, 2014
What Makes You Beautiful
Beautiful is a very powerful word. It is used to refer to such a wide variety of things; there are beautiful songs, beautiful art, beautiful culture, beautiful clothing... Beautiful people. Naturally, such a strong word has an opposite. Music can be called unappealing. Art can be called unpleasing. Culture can be called grotesque. Clothing can be called unattractive. And people can be called ugly. Words can profoundly affect people, but none are more potent in today's society than these two antonyms: beautiful and ugly.
As a girl in a public high school, I have some personal experiences with these words. Beautiful. It builds people up. It lifts shoulders and corners of the mouth. It inspires people. Ugly. It tears people down. It crushes confidence and lessens laughter. It motivates people to be more or less of certain qualities they have. This doesn't seem so terrible, but consider this: What constitutes true beauty, and who decides?
Girls years younger than I am are dealing with self-esteem problems because they don't think they are beautiful in society's eyes. By the time they reach my age, some girls have given up. Boys and girls alike try to change their identities to fit in with this mold society has for them. If that's you, I say to you: Break the mold. Society's definition of beauty is so drastically twisted and wrong, and you will never be satisfied while you pursue it. There is a better beauty to pursue.
The beauty of the gospel is that society has one thing right: we aren't good enough. We aren't flawless. But the gospel refers to flaws in God's eyes. God is not looking at how well we can apply makeup or what clothes we wear; God sees the flaws on the inside: the insecurity and the idolatry of this concept of beauty that we pursue. The Bible says that we were created in the image of God, but the history of mankind up to the life of Christ is us pursuing God in all the wrong ways, and running completely the wrong direction. But then Jesus came. He lived a righteous life, and he died on the cross, trading the sin of those who are in him for his righteousness. So now God looks at us and doesn't see flaws. Instead he sees the righteousness of Christ, which is true beauty by definition because it is flawless.
God himself came down to earth for each of you. Still feel like you aren't worth it? If yes, you're still looking in the wrong place. Proverbs 31 says that charm is deceptive and beauty is fleeting. So rather than looking to be some molded plastic thing created by people's standards, look to Jesus. True beauty is found in Christ alone. So if you are in Christ, know this: You are covered with Jesus' righteousness, and therefore you are beautiful.
As a girl in a public high school, I have some personal experiences with these words. Beautiful. It builds people up. It lifts shoulders and corners of the mouth. It inspires people. Ugly. It tears people down. It crushes confidence and lessens laughter. It motivates people to be more or less of certain qualities they have. This doesn't seem so terrible, but consider this: What constitutes true beauty, and who decides?
Girls years younger than I am are dealing with self-esteem problems because they don't think they are beautiful in society's eyes. By the time they reach my age, some girls have given up. Boys and girls alike try to change their identities to fit in with this mold society has for them. If that's you, I say to you: Break the mold. Society's definition of beauty is so drastically twisted and wrong, and you will never be satisfied while you pursue it. There is a better beauty to pursue.
The beauty of the gospel is that society has one thing right: we aren't good enough. We aren't flawless. But the gospel refers to flaws in God's eyes. God is not looking at how well we can apply makeup or what clothes we wear; God sees the flaws on the inside: the insecurity and the idolatry of this concept of beauty that we pursue. The Bible says that we were created in the image of God, but the history of mankind up to the life of Christ is us pursuing God in all the wrong ways, and running completely the wrong direction. But then Jesus came. He lived a righteous life, and he died on the cross, trading the sin of those who are in him for his righteousness. So now God looks at us and doesn't see flaws. Instead he sees the righteousness of Christ, which is true beauty by definition because it is flawless.
God himself came down to earth for each of you. Still feel like you aren't worth it? If yes, you're still looking in the wrong place. Proverbs 31 says that charm is deceptive and beauty is fleeting. So rather than looking to be some molded plastic thing created by people's standards, look to Jesus. True beauty is found in Christ alone. So if you are in Christ, know this: You are covered with Jesus' righteousness, and therefore you are beautiful.
Friday, August 8, 2014
In This World...
Where is the line?
As Christians in a broken world, many would say it is completely impossible to be in the world and not of it. And besides, what difference does it make that we try to avoid submerging in sin if we are knee deep in it anyway? Some book makes a mockery of my worldview, but it doesn't change it. Why shouldn't I read it? Some movie is completely inappropriate, but I know what is right and what is wrong, so why shouldn't I watch it? When it seems that no one else in the world cares about holiness, where else can you turn? And why does it matter?
When Jesus first called his disciples, he didn't immediately demand perfection. His first call was for proximity. "Come follow me," he said. It was that simple. Naturally, as we follow Jesus, we should become more like him. But even at the cross, Jesus's message was not that we should be perfect and therefore we might be accepted. The message of the cross is that we are accepted, and therefore we can be perfect. If acceptance required perfection of our own accord, there would be no need for the cross. Jesus willingly went to the cross because we cannot be perfect on our own, and he went knowing even before taking on all of our sin that we would sin anyway, and that the world will not be completely sin-free until he returns for the formation of the new heaven and new earth
In this world we are not free of sin. That has been established through scripture, through common sense, and through day-to-day struggles with sin. We are not free of sin, but in Christ we are free from it. That is a purpose of the death and resurrection of Jesus, and it is the hope we have in him. From the moment Christ said, "It is finished," we have been free from both the power and the penalty of sin. The only thing we are not free from is the presence of sin. This explains the phrase made famous by Martin Luther, Simil iustus et peccator, which, simply put in English, means that we can be simultaneously righteous and sinners. In Christ, we have been made righteous, but we still live in a world full of sin.
So what's the point? If we can't be perfect, why should we try? That's where the fault is. We are free from the power of sin because of Jesus, and he can tell us to go therefore and sin no more. Jesus's first call is for proximity, but he doesn't call us to him so we can live a life of sin. He calls us to him so we can learn from him and truly live out our calling on the earth.
The best example there is for how this ties in to the line is alcohol, of all things. Many people drink without getting drunk. There is nothing wrong with that. But how do they do it? There are only two ways. The either stay far away from their limit, or they know their limit because they have exceeded it before. In the same way, how far can we go with sin before we have gone too far? The only way to find out is to go too far. It is simply wiser to avoid the risk entirely.
Regardless of what you are struggling with, it is important to know that Jesus lived the perfect life we were incapable of living and died the death we deserved. Your sins have been paid for. Don't take that news as an excuse to run from Jesus. The first call, after all, is proximity. To deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Jesus. Not because you have not sinned, but because you have been drawn near, you may go therefore and sin no more.
"And he said to all, 'If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.'" --Luke 9:23
As Christians in a broken world, many would say it is completely impossible to be in the world and not of it. And besides, what difference does it make that we try to avoid submerging in sin if we are knee deep in it anyway? Some book makes a mockery of my worldview, but it doesn't change it. Why shouldn't I read it? Some movie is completely inappropriate, but I know what is right and what is wrong, so why shouldn't I watch it? When it seems that no one else in the world cares about holiness, where else can you turn? And why does it matter?
When Jesus first called his disciples, he didn't immediately demand perfection. His first call was for proximity. "Come follow me," he said. It was that simple. Naturally, as we follow Jesus, we should become more like him. But even at the cross, Jesus's message was not that we should be perfect and therefore we might be accepted. The message of the cross is that we are accepted, and therefore we can be perfect. If acceptance required perfection of our own accord, there would be no need for the cross. Jesus willingly went to the cross because we cannot be perfect on our own, and he went knowing even before taking on all of our sin that we would sin anyway, and that the world will not be completely sin-free until he returns for the formation of the new heaven and new earth
In this world we are not free of sin. That has been established through scripture, through common sense, and through day-to-day struggles with sin. We are not free of sin, but in Christ we are free from it. That is a purpose of the death and resurrection of Jesus, and it is the hope we have in him. From the moment Christ said, "It is finished," we have been free from both the power and the penalty of sin. The only thing we are not free from is the presence of sin. This explains the phrase made famous by Martin Luther, Simil iustus et peccator, which, simply put in English, means that we can be simultaneously righteous and sinners. In Christ, we have been made righteous, but we still live in a world full of sin.
So what's the point? If we can't be perfect, why should we try? That's where the fault is. We are free from the power of sin because of Jesus, and he can tell us to go therefore and sin no more. Jesus's first call is for proximity, but he doesn't call us to him so we can live a life of sin. He calls us to him so we can learn from him and truly live out our calling on the earth.
The best example there is for how this ties in to the line is alcohol, of all things. Many people drink without getting drunk. There is nothing wrong with that. But how do they do it? There are only two ways. The either stay far away from their limit, or they know their limit because they have exceeded it before. In the same way, how far can we go with sin before we have gone too far? The only way to find out is to go too far. It is simply wiser to avoid the risk entirely.
Regardless of what you are struggling with, it is important to know that Jesus lived the perfect life we were incapable of living and died the death we deserved. Your sins have been paid for. Don't take that news as an excuse to run from Jesus. The first call, after all, is proximity. To deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Jesus. Not because you have not sinned, but because you have been drawn near, you may go therefore and sin no more.
"And he said to all, 'If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.'" --Luke 9:23
Tuesday, June 10, 2014
A Review of The Fault In Our Stars
The following may contain spoilers, okay? Okay.
The Fault In Our Stars is, as you well know, a popular novel and recent film adaptation about two young cancer patients who fall in love, only to find that love extinguished by an untimely, yet predictable death. So why do people love this story so much? What makes it stand out from other stories of cancer and shattered love?
One of the most common answers to such questions is the basic idea that the story is appealing because it's "real life." Whereas most novels portray cancer as a walk in the park, The Fault In Our Stars describes cancer patients as a side effect of a mutation that was supposed to make humans, who happened by chance, more diverse. Excuse me for arguing that neither of those portrayals are correct. I am not speaking from experience because I don't have cancer. But I know from friends and family members who have experienced it that it isn't pretty or easy. This book describes that portrayal as "sugarcoating," which is probably a fair description. But although TFIOS most definitely doesn't sugarcoat anything, I simply don't understand how you could call it honesty. This book incorrectly conveys normal teenagers, cancer patients, and life in general. No such thing should be praised for its reality.
Another aspect of the book I have found to be popular is the narrator, Hazel, and her outlook on life, death, and the world. Some of the most quoted lines of the book are about inevitable oblivion, vanity of life, and the question of afterlife. Everything she says is out of an agnostic point of view. Readers find this appealing because it changes the ideas of living, dying, and life after that. But I don't find this healthy for Christians, or for anyone else. I would not encourage anyone to read a book about how life is pointless, worthless, and insignificant, because that simply isn't true. If a book or film started out by saying, "The following content is largely negative and largely false," no one would waste time reading it. But this book claims to be telling the truth about the fact that life means nothing, death is all we amount to, and the world is just a chance happening that will one day end in oblivion. The intended audience of this book (that is to say, teenaged fanatics of emotional roller coaster novels) go into it believing they are reading a variation of the truth, when in fact Romans 1 says it is the opposite of the truth; a suppressing of the truth. Teens are being lied to, as they often are, about the truth in theology. In this book, teens are also being lied to about being lied to. How can one make a positive spin on that?
The Fault In Our Stars was incredibly well-written and dripping with emotional appeal. Isn't that what you want in a good book? Perhaps, but a book this extreme in its worldview and incomplete truth is not healthy for young readers, or for any readers at all. Scripture contradicts this book, and so does every positive moral in the world. Humans are NOT insignificant, cancer patients are NOT side effects, and oblivion is NOT inevitable. Any book that claims otherwise shouldn't be read, recommended, and definitely not praised in the way The Fault In Our Stars has been these past few months.
The Fault In Our Stars is, as you well know, a popular novel and recent film adaptation about two young cancer patients who fall in love, only to find that love extinguished by an untimely, yet predictable death. So why do people love this story so much? What makes it stand out from other stories of cancer and shattered love?
One of the most common answers to such questions is the basic idea that the story is appealing because it's "real life." Whereas most novels portray cancer as a walk in the park, The Fault In Our Stars describes cancer patients as a side effect of a mutation that was supposed to make humans, who happened by chance, more diverse. Excuse me for arguing that neither of those portrayals are correct. I am not speaking from experience because I don't have cancer. But I know from friends and family members who have experienced it that it isn't pretty or easy. This book describes that portrayal as "sugarcoating," which is probably a fair description. But although TFIOS most definitely doesn't sugarcoat anything, I simply don't understand how you could call it honesty. This book incorrectly conveys normal teenagers, cancer patients, and life in general. No such thing should be praised for its reality.
Another aspect of the book I have found to be popular is the narrator, Hazel, and her outlook on life, death, and the world. Some of the most quoted lines of the book are about inevitable oblivion, vanity of life, and the question of afterlife. Everything she says is out of an agnostic point of view. Readers find this appealing because it changes the ideas of living, dying, and life after that. But I don't find this healthy for Christians, or for anyone else. I would not encourage anyone to read a book about how life is pointless, worthless, and insignificant, because that simply isn't true. If a book or film started out by saying, "The following content is largely negative and largely false," no one would waste time reading it. But this book claims to be telling the truth about the fact that life means nothing, death is all we amount to, and the world is just a chance happening that will one day end in oblivion. The intended audience of this book (that is to say, teenaged fanatics of emotional roller coaster novels) go into it believing they are reading a variation of the truth, when in fact Romans 1 says it is the opposite of the truth; a suppressing of the truth. Teens are being lied to, as they often are, about the truth in theology. In this book, teens are also being lied to about being lied to. How can one make a positive spin on that?
The Fault In Our Stars was incredibly well-written and dripping with emotional appeal. Isn't that what you want in a good book? Perhaps, but a book this extreme in its worldview and incomplete truth is not healthy for young readers, or for any readers at all. Scripture contradicts this book, and so does every positive moral in the world. Humans are NOT insignificant, cancer patients are NOT side effects, and oblivion is NOT inevitable. Any book that claims otherwise shouldn't be read, recommended, and definitely not praised in the way The Fault In Our Stars has been these past few months.
Saturday, May 31, 2014
Trust Exercises
As 319 purple graduation caps flew threw the air, time seemed to slow down and several thoughts occurred to me. The first: "Wow, I really hope everyone pays attention and no one gets hit by a falling hat. Those things look sharp." The second was a simple question. "Now what?"
I have only just finished my freshman year of high school, but I attended graduation this year because my older twin brothers, among several other close friends, finished high school this year. Throughout this year I have had mixed emotions about "the g-word," both dreading it and anticipating it. So as it finally hit me that it was actually happening last night, I knew there were some things I wanted to say, both to the graduates and to everyone else.
First, to the graduates at Canyon: I want to say thank you on behalf of myself and all the other underclassmen this past year. You have all impacted all of us in so many ways. Each of you has set such a phenomenal example of what it means to represent the C and what it means to be a leader. Your class, as was stated so many times last night, has left behind a legacy that will help all classes in the future to better themselves. We may not ever be able to accomplish all that you have again, but because of the CHS class of 2014, we have reason to try. All of the things Canyon High has accomplished this year in choir, band, basketball, baseball, football, volleyball, soccer, tennis, UIL academics, journalism, and so many other areas were possible mostly if not entirely because of you. Thank you for your talent, your hard work, and your investment in our school and in each of us individually. Canyon High will never be the same, and neither will we, thanks to you. Oh, and congratulations!!
Secondly, to graduates nationwide: Congratulations! You have received a diploma. You now have a choice. You can use that diploma not at all, if that's what you want to do. However, every dream you've had from as far back as you can remember has begun with a high school diploma. You have the option to take that diploma and make it into a college degree, get a job, and pursue your passions and dreams. No doubt with a lot of hard work, there's a lot you can accomplish. But though your own goals are important, the document you now possess gives you an opportunity to accomplish something so much greater. Your walk across the stage didn't end when you returned to your seat. You may now go out into the world and change it. It all starts with that diploma, but graduation isn't an end to anything. Is it not called a commencement ceremony? You've finished high school. Go out into the world and used what you've learned to make a difference. The end of high school is your chance to look at the world and say, "Where do I want to go now, and what do I want to do?" But I guarantee that if you answer those questions with just four simple words, there's nothing you won't be able to do. These four words: "Your will be done." Proverbs 3:5-6 and Isaiah 26:4 both have a very simple message. They say "Trust in the Lord." If you trust in the Father and his plans for your life, it may not be easy and it may not be where you thought you were going to go. But Proverbs 16:9 says that though you may have plans, the Lord establishes your steps. Trust that God is in control and know he is constantly at work in your life. And his plans are better than we can dare to dream.
Finally, to parents, siblings, family and friends: This may be as much a transition time for you as it is for your graduate. Life will undoubtedly be different as they move on from high school. However, it's important for you to know that God is just as much in control in your life as he is in the lives of each of these graduates. So no matter what stage of your life is coming next, trust in the Lord. You won't regret it.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. --Proverbs 3:5,6
I have only just finished my freshman year of high school, but I attended graduation this year because my older twin brothers, among several other close friends, finished high school this year. Throughout this year I have had mixed emotions about "the g-word," both dreading it and anticipating it. So as it finally hit me that it was actually happening last night, I knew there were some things I wanted to say, both to the graduates and to everyone else.
First, to the graduates at Canyon: I want to say thank you on behalf of myself and all the other underclassmen this past year. You have all impacted all of us in so many ways. Each of you has set such a phenomenal example of what it means to represent the C and what it means to be a leader. Your class, as was stated so many times last night, has left behind a legacy that will help all classes in the future to better themselves. We may not ever be able to accomplish all that you have again, but because of the CHS class of 2014, we have reason to try. All of the things Canyon High has accomplished this year in choir, band, basketball, baseball, football, volleyball, soccer, tennis, UIL academics, journalism, and so many other areas were possible mostly if not entirely because of you. Thank you for your talent, your hard work, and your investment in our school and in each of us individually. Canyon High will never be the same, and neither will we, thanks to you. Oh, and congratulations!!
Secondly, to graduates nationwide: Congratulations! You have received a diploma. You now have a choice. You can use that diploma not at all, if that's what you want to do. However, every dream you've had from as far back as you can remember has begun with a high school diploma. You have the option to take that diploma and make it into a college degree, get a job, and pursue your passions and dreams. No doubt with a lot of hard work, there's a lot you can accomplish. But though your own goals are important, the document you now possess gives you an opportunity to accomplish something so much greater. Your walk across the stage didn't end when you returned to your seat. You may now go out into the world and change it. It all starts with that diploma, but graduation isn't an end to anything. Is it not called a commencement ceremony? You've finished high school. Go out into the world and used what you've learned to make a difference. The end of high school is your chance to look at the world and say, "Where do I want to go now, and what do I want to do?" But I guarantee that if you answer those questions with just four simple words, there's nothing you won't be able to do. These four words: "Your will be done." Proverbs 3:5-6 and Isaiah 26:4 both have a very simple message. They say "Trust in the Lord." If you trust in the Father and his plans for your life, it may not be easy and it may not be where you thought you were going to go. But Proverbs 16:9 says that though you may have plans, the Lord establishes your steps. Trust that God is in control and know he is constantly at work in your life. And his plans are better than we can dare to dream.
Finally, to parents, siblings, family and friends: This may be as much a transition time for you as it is for your graduate. Life will undoubtedly be different as they move on from high school. However, it's important for you to know that God is just as much in control in your life as he is in the lives of each of these graduates. So no matter what stage of your life is coming next, trust in the Lord. You won't regret it.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. --Proverbs 3:5,6
Friday, March 14, 2014
A Whole New World
It happened on one of those
zip-a-dee-doo-dah days. Now that’s the kind of day when you can’t open your
mouth without a song jumping right out of it. That’s exactly what I was doing
most of the way to Orlando, Florida for the trip of a lifetime; I was singing
every Disney song I knew. One of my favorite things about this trip was that I
was with my choir, so some of them were singing too.
At the beginning of this school
year I was informed that our choir would be taking a spring break trip to Walt
Disney World in Florida, and every moment after that was spent anxiously
awaiting said expedition. So on Friday, March 7, I sat in the choir room
attempting to convince myself of the reality all around me. It seemed much more
like a dream (and there may have been some dreaming; it was very late by the
time the bus arrived). This feeling continued for the length of the ride to
Dallas and as we boarded our plane.
After copious amounts of sleeping,
waiting, singing, and traveling, we arrived at Disney’s Animal Kingdom around
noon on Saturday. At this point most of us were visibly exhausted, but nobody
seemed to care. We all went to Expedition Everest first, and then broke off
into smaller groups. We explored every inch of the park, taking thousands of
pictures and making thousands of memories. I ate at a cleverly named, dinosaur
themed restaurant with the other members of my group that day, which was
fantastic. But the greatest feature of Animal Kingdom was without a doubt the
Tree of Life. No pictures or words can accurately describe seeing the baobab
live and in person. I could tell it wasn’t a real tree, but it was so intricate
and beautiful and full of life that it didn’t matter. It was the pinnacle of
the park.
The following morning, we rose
fairly early in order to prepare for the Magic Kingdom. It was Sunday morning,
and I am proud to say that it did not go unrecognized amongst our group. One of
our seniors led a devotional that morning. She did an outstanding job and it
fit perfectly into the trip. She shared the end of 1 Thessalonians 5 and
encouraged us to be thankful in all circumstances, as in 1 Thessalonians 5:18.
I love being a part of a group that is about the word of God and doing what it
says, and I’m so glad it was shown that being at Disney World doesn’t exempt
you from that.
After breakfast and our devotional,
we were off to the Magic Kingdom, which may have been my favorite park. My
small group started in Main Street, U.S.A. and made a circle around the park
the first half of the day. Space Mountain was a crowd favorite, so we rode it
several times. Around 5 my group decided they wanted to go shopping, but thankfully several members of a different group came to my rescue. I made another
circle around the park with them before the parade, which was phenomenal. Finally
we made our way back to Main Street for the show at the castle, which was by
far the best event at the park. A beautiful arrangement of Disney clips and
moments were displayed on the castle to the soundtrack of Disney through the
years. It was stunningly beautiful, and I know there were tears in my group.
Following that was a fireworks show narrated by Jiminy Cricket about wishes and
dreams coming true, and it was so fitting because the beauty of the scene was a
dream come true.
Monday morning we departed for
Epcot. Throughout the day I met several characters such as Elsa, Anna, Belle,
Mary Poppins, Mickey, Minnie, Goofy… The list goes on. Among the favorite rides
were Mission Space (though it’s not for those with claustrophobia or motion
sickness) and Soarin’. My group wandered around the park until the time came
for our Disney Sings workshop, which was undoubtedly my favorite part of the
entire trip, during which we learned two songs from the Lion King, made some
fairly bizarre sound effects, and learned some choreography, which I also
learned is not my strongest point. It was amazing to be a part of such a
talented group. Following the workshop we went back out to the park and made
another loop before the Illuminations show. We made the mistake of sitting
right next to a speaker, and hearing is not my forte (no pun intended), but the
show was still outstanding, a combination of fireworks, lasers, and music to
stir the emotions and illuminate the night, both literally and metaphorically.
Tuesday was spent at Universal
Studios, and it was magical, not merely because I spent a large portion of my
day at Hogwarts. That is where I started, and I must say I enjoyed my few hours
drinking butterbeer, riding dragons, and exploring the castle. Eventually we
left Hogsmeade and made a loop all around the park, riding various rides that
looked interesting and snacking on the widest variety of food possible from
kebabs to dippin’ dots. I spent the latter part of the day watching as the
group rode a roller coaster that looked a little too intense for me, and then
we ate at the Hard Rock Café. The park was fairly large, and by the end of the
night I felt as though I had really walked the universe.
Wednesday morning we went to
Hollywood Studios. We rode the Tower of Terror and The Rock’n Roller Coaster.
Thankfully my friend thought to bring some headphones, because we rode it three
times and it was certainly the loudest experience. We ate at Pizza Planet,
where I enjoyed the Toy Story references to infinity and beyond. Then we walked
around the park one more time before regrouping and heading to the airport. The
ride home was long and mostly unexciting, but you could practically feel the
Disney World atmosphere still around us as we sang our Disney songs and talked
about our favorite parts of the trip. We arrived at home with mixed emotions of
relief to be back and longing to go again.
This was truly the trip of a
lifetime, and it was the best adventure I’ve yet to go on. I am so thankful to
have gotten to go, especially with this particular group. It truly would not
have been the same if I had gone with anyone else, so to those of you out there
who had a part in that, thank you so much for the pictures, the stories, the
memories, and for joining me on this adventure to a whole new world. I had the
time of my life, and dreams really did come true. I hope the same is true for
you.
Wednesday, March 5, 2014
A Reason for Hope
From Phil Robertson to Pope Francis to an average day in high school, confrontation is a very controversial issue. So what is an appropriate response for a Christian to the controversial trends of the modern world? For example, how do you respond to the unit in biology that directly states that God does not exist? What is your reaction to pressing moral issues such as abortion, homosexuality, drug abuse, and everything else? Where is the line?
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. --Ephesians 2:1-7
* Tolerance in the classical sense means that all ideas and values may be expressed; tolerance in the postmodern sense is that all these are equally valid and must be celebrated by all.
In the words of C. S. Lewis, "Jesus Christ did not say, 'Go into all the world and tell the world that it is quite right.'" As Christians in the world today, it is our job according to the great commission to go therefore and make disciples of all nations. But in order to do that, we need to understand where the lines are. Some people say that the majority of Christians are intolerant and unloving. This reputation comes from those who choose to say that in every aspect, "I am right and you are wrong." And they do so more often than not in a rather harsh way. As Christians we are not supposed to be tolerant, in the postmodern sense*, because tolerance is the least loving thing we could possibly do.
Imagine this: You are a doctor. A patient comes to see you and it is evident that he is deathly sick. You have the cure for his sickness, but you don't want him to be upset, so you choose not to even tell him he is sick. What is the consequence of this choice? The patient dies. That choice makes no sense. In the same way, seeing that someone you know is in desperate need of a savior (because we all are) and choosing to ignore that for the sake of not hurting feelings and staying good friends, you're missing the point of loving your neighbor.
So now say you're in the same scenario, but this time you realize your patient needs to know he is sick, so you tell him he is sick. That's all. There is no hope in that. You can make a sign with Romans 3:23 on it, and people will know they are sinners. But odds are they probably already knew that, and telling them so probably only offends them. If someone openly claims they don't believe in God, you can say they're wrong and that they will end up in Hell, but the only thing that might convince them of is that they want nothing to do with you or your faith, because saying something like that is malicious and hateful.
In this doctor scenario, the only right thing to do is to tell the patient he is sick, and to offer him the only cure. The same is true of making disciples. You are not accomplishing anything by convincing someone he or she is wrong unless you include the message of hope that is the gospel of Jesus Christ. You have to convey that, "Yes, you are a sinner. I am a sinner. Neither of us is worse than the other, and we are both so bad that Jesus had to die for each of our sins. So that's what he did. Our sins are paid for, Jesus has defeated sin and the grave, and by grace we have been saved!" You can't just give a part of the message. The message of the fall is desperate and dark, but the gospel gives us a reason for hope.
This is a decent illustration for what we need to do, but it isn't the best. Ephesians 2 does not tell us that we are deathly sick in sin; rather, it tells us that we are dead in sin. That is not something you or I can cure, and it's not something any of us can choose to fix. It's only in Christ that we are alive, and that is a point that needs to be made. I couldn't save myself, and I can't save anyone else. If people are dead in sin, only God can save them. All we can do is follow God's commandment and share the gospel. God will has rescued us, and will rescue in his perfect timing in accordance with his perfect plan.
* Tolerance in the classical sense means that all ideas and values may be expressed; tolerance in the postmodern sense is that all these are equally valid and must be celebrated by all.
Sunday, January 26, 2014
Before the Throne of God Above
Before you read the rest of this post, take a moment to finish this sentence on paper or in your head:
"The God I believe in would never..."
Think about that for a moment. The omniscient, omnipotent, sovereign God of the universe would never... do what? Our God is in the heavens; He does all that he pleases. What can we say he would never do? Yet many people have an answer to that question, and it often comes in the form of another question:
"How can a loving, merciful God send people to Hell?"
When people ask themselves this question, they are leaving out several important attributes of God and some important background information that answers itself.
The first thing we need to understand is that God is holy, and we are not. Holiness is perfect, spotless righteousness. If God came into contact with sin, He would no longer be holy. Since every single person is a sinner, we must therefore be eternally separated from the holy God. The physical place where God is not found is Hell. People don't choose whether or not they are going to Hell, but rather we all have no choice aside from Hell due to our unholiness.
Okay, so God is holy. But He is still loving, so how can He send people to Hell?
A second important attribute of God is that he is just. People often confuse 'just' with 'fair.' We must realize that they are not the same thing. Fairness means everyone gets the same thing. Justice means everyone gets what they deserve. In this case they would originally result in the same thing: everyone would go to Hell. In fact, everyone is born headed straight there. However, we must remember the attribute we are more comfortable with: God is merciful. While justice means everyone gets what they deserve, mercy means everyone gets more than what they deserve. Therefore God sent His son Jesus, who lived a righteous life and took on all of our sin, and died on the cross as punishment for them. The illustration my youth pastor used today was that we are all in a river to Hell. God is not sending to Hell, but we are making our own way there. This is not merely due to rejecting the gospel. We are making our own way to Hell because of all of our sins, that sin included. But God, being rich in mercy, rescues us by pulling us out of the river of our sins.
If we were comparing this to a court of law, we would see it in this way: God is the judge. He looks at us and says, "You are guilty, and you deserve death, but I forgive you." That explanation makes sense. But that's really not the best explanation of what happens when those in Christ are judged. A better illustration would be God the judge looking at us and saying, "You are NOT guilty." It has to be this way because if we were guilty, it wouldn't matter if we were forgiven. We would still not be holy and therefore would still be unable to stand in the presence of God. The only way to stand in the presence of God is to be holy; to have no guilt. And only through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ can we say that our sins are dead, and we are hidden in Christ's life, and therefore not guilty.
The best way I have heard it worded is in the song, Before the Throne of God Above:
Before the throne of God above
I have a strong and perfect plea:
A great High Priest, whose name is Love,
Who ever lives and pleads for me.
My name is graven on His hands,
My name is written on His heart;
I know that while in heaven He stands
No tongue can bid me thence depart
No tongue can bid me thence depart.
When Satan tempts me to despair,
And tells me of the guilt within,
Upward I look, and see Him there
Who made an end to all my sin.
Because the sinless Savior died,
My sinful soul is counted free;
For God the just is satisfied
To look on Him and pardon me
To look on Him and pardon me
Behold Him there, the Risen Lamb
My perfect, spotless righteousness,
The great unchangeable I am,
The King of glory and of grace!
One with Himself I cannot die
My soul is purchased by His blood
My life is hid with Christ on high,
With Christ, my Savior and my God
With Christ, my Savior and my God
We will never be able to fathom the depth Christ's love for us. How can we even try to understand God's grace? We could never count the vast amount of sin in our own individual lives. Yet Jesus paid for all of it, and we have been given the gift of salvation. One day we will inhabit the New Heaven and the New Earth and our creator, the one, true, holy God will dwell among us. That is not something that ought to be taken for granted.
The final attribute of God that is important to answering this question is that God is sovereign. He is in complete control, and He does whatever pleases Him. We struggle to understand this sometimes, and I think we probably always will. We simply need to understand that God does whatever he wants to do, and he doesn't have to explain it to us. The illustration in Romans 9:20 puts it into perspective nicely. God is the potter and we are the clay, and we have no right or reason to ask God why He does something. We should always remember Romans 8:28. No matter what the situation is, God is working it together for our good on the eternal scale because we love Him, even if we cannot see it.
So we should not be asking ourselves how a loving, merciful God could send people to Hell. We should be in awestruck wonder that the holy, just, sovereign God rescued us from Hell. And we should more importantly be sharing it with others and glorify God in everything we do because He has rescued us.
"For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ." -1 Thessalonians 5:9
"The God I believe in would never..."
Think about that for a moment. The omniscient, omnipotent, sovereign God of the universe would never... do what? Our God is in the heavens; He does all that he pleases. What can we say he would never do? Yet many people have an answer to that question, and it often comes in the form of another question:
"How can a loving, merciful God send people to Hell?"
When people ask themselves this question, they are leaving out several important attributes of God and some important background information that answers itself.
The first thing we need to understand is that God is holy, and we are not. Holiness is perfect, spotless righteousness. If God came into contact with sin, He would no longer be holy. Since every single person is a sinner, we must therefore be eternally separated from the holy God. The physical place where God is not found is Hell. People don't choose whether or not they are going to Hell, but rather we all have no choice aside from Hell due to our unholiness.
Okay, so God is holy. But He is still loving, so how can He send people to Hell?
A second important attribute of God is that he is just. People often confuse 'just' with 'fair.' We must realize that they are not the same thing. Fairness means everyone gets the same thing. Justice means everyone gets what they deserve. In this case they would originally result in the same thing: everyone would go to Hell. In fact, everyone is born headed straight there. However, we must remember the attribute we are more comfortable with: God is merciful. While justice means everyone gets what they deserve, mercy means everyone gets more than what they deserve. Therefore God sent His son Jesus, who lived a righteous life and took on all of our sin, and died on the cross as punishment for them. The illustration my youth pastor used today was that we are all in a river to Hell. God is not sending to Hell, but we are making our own way there. This is not merely due to rejecting the gospel. We are making our own way to Hell because of all of our sins, that sin included. But God, being rich in mercy, rescues us by pulling us out of the river of our sins.
If we were comparing this to a court of law, we would see it in this way: God is the judge. He looks at us and says, "You are guilty, and you deserve death, but I forgive you." That explanation makes sense. But that's really not the best explanation of what happens when those in Christ are judged. A better illustration would be God the judge looking at us and saying, "You are NOT guilty." It has to be this way because if we were guilty, it wouldn't matter if we were forgiven. We would still not be holy and therefore would still be unable to stand in the presence of God. The only way to stand in the presence of God is to be holy; to have no guilt. And only through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ can we say that our sins are dead, and we are hidden in Christ's life, and therefore not guilty.
The best way I have heard it worded is in the song, Before the Throne of God Above:
Before the throne of God above
I have a strong and perfect plea:
A great High Priest, whose name is Love,
Who ever lives and pleads for me.
My name is graven on His hands,
My name is written on His heart;
I know that while in heaven He stands
No tongue can bid me thence depart
No tongue can bid me thence depart.
When Satan tempts me to despair,
And tells me of the guilt within,
Upward I look, and see Him there
Who made an end to all my sin.
Because the sinless Savior died,
My sinful soul is counted free;
For God the just is satisfied
To look on Him and pardon me
To look on Him and pardon me
Behold Him there, the Risen Lamb
My perfect, spotless righteousness,
The great unchangeable I am,
The King of glory and of grace!
One with Himself I cannot die
My soul is purchased by His blood
My life is hid with Christ on high,
With Christ, my Savior and my God
With Christ, my Savior and my God
We will never be able to fathom the depth Christ's love for us. How can we even try to understand God's grace? We could never count the vast amount of sin in our own individual lives. Yet Jesus paid for all of it, and we have been given the gift of salvation. One day we will inhabit the New Heaven and the New Earth and our creator, the one, true, holy God will dwell among us. That is not something that ought to be taken for granted.
The final attribute of God that is important to answering this question is that God is sovereign. He is in complete control, and He does whatever pleases Him. We struggle to understand this sometimes, and I think we probably always will. We simply need to understand that God does whatever he wants to do, and he doesn't have to explain it to us. The illustration in Romans 9:20 puts it into perspective nicely. God is the potter and we are the clay, and we have no right or reason to ask God why He does something. We should always remember Romans 8:28. No matter what the situation is, God is working it together for our good on the eternal scale because we love Him, even if we cannot see it.
So we should not be asking ourselves how a loving, merciful God could send people to Hell. We should be in awestruck wonder that the holy, just, sovereign God rescued us from Hell. And we should more importantly be sharing it with others and glorify God in everything we do because He has rescued us.
"For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ." -1 Thessalonians 5:9
Sunday, January 19, 2014
Sanctity of Human Life Sunday
Today, January 19, 2014, is the day this year that the Southern Baptist Convention recognizes as Sanctity of Human Life Sunday. This day is recognized on the third Sunday in January every year.
So what is the meaning of this day? Why do we need to take a day to recognize the sanctity of human life? The cause is, perhaps, the vast destruction of human life that is taking place today and every day everywhere in the world. What, are we having a purge? A genocide? Well, in a way we are. Twenty-two percent of all pregnancies (excluding miscarriages) end in abortion. Those numbers don't seem so harmful, do they? 22 out of a hundred isn't so bad.
Keep in mind that the most recent data shows that the approximate population of the U.S. is 313.9 million people. If we killed 22 percent of the population of America, around 69,058,000 people would die. That's a pretty large number of people. Of that number, the question becomes, "How many of those people can we afford to lose?" The answer? Zero. Say one of those people was the president of the United States. That would be a huge loss for our country. Odds are that some of them would be celebrities of sorts, musicians, artists, athletes, political leaders. That still leaves a lot of people left that only and handful of people knew. And yet, they were here. They were on this earth. And one cannot say that anyone is ever placed here without a purpose for his or her life.
Genesis 1:27 says that God created man in his own image. That means everyone. Everyone is created in the image of our Creator. We are all given a name, a body, a personality. A soul. And our creator knows us all better than we know ourselves. Have we really become convinced that that doesn't include people who aren't born yet? We hear a heartbeat. We give these people an age, even from one week. Loving parents begin to choose names and clothes. People plan their lives around these new, young people months before they are born. It's a part of life: new life.
The argument has been made that maybe this new life was unintended. Say you had a three year old child, and you were raising him or her on your own, and you just didn't plan on having this child. Does that justify murdering the child? By no means! Why should that change just because that child is only three weeks old? Just because you haven't seen the child, that doesn't make him or her any less a child.
Another argument made is that the mother can't provide for a child properly, or that it impedes the future of one or both of the parents. There are an estimated 3,000 adoption agencies in the United States, where couples who desperately want a child but for various reasons can't have one go to adopt a child. Where do you think these agencies get these children? Young parents with bright futures who have the courage put their children up for adoption, knowing that this is best for the child, the parents, and the couple who are prepared to raise the child, caring for and providing for him or her. The argument that abortion is the best solution is invalid for this very reason. Abortion kills one baby, but that is not the only life affected. There are physical, and always emotional consequences for the mother. Abortion is not the best solution for anyone involved.
Abortion is murder, and murder is a sin. If I am speaking to someone who has experienced this personally, you ought to know that fact. However, there's a whole lot more to it. Much the same way as a newborn baby, ill-equipped to care for ourselves, in Christ we are adopted as sons and daughters of God. Ephesians 1:3-10 tells us this much. Ephesians 1:7-10 tells us that it has been God's will to unite all things in Him in the fullness of time from the beginning. He does this through redemption and through forgiveness. Jesus died for every one of everyone's sins. That includes abortion. In Christ you are forgiven and adopted as a child of God.
If you haven't gone through this, understand the impossibility of understanding. It is not our place to ultimately judge anyone. Are we not all sinners? The importance of this day and all that it encompasses is that abortion is wrong. But the fact that abortion is so widespread doesn't change the fact that all sin is widespread, and it especially does not change the truth or the power of the gospel.
Today, we raise awareness of the consequences of abortion. Every day, we raise awareness of the consequences of sin. As we witness the war that Satan is waging against us, especially in this way, the mass destruction of human life, I pray that we would understand the power of the gospel, of Jesus. I pray that we would understand the infinite love of our Father, and most of all, I pray that we would see the sanctity of human life. Because every person has a purpose here and is created in the image of God. Therefore, every life is valuable beyond measure.
"In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth." -Ephesians 1:7-10
So what is the meaning of this day? Why do we need to take a day to recognize the sanctity of human life? The cause is, perhaps, the vast destruction of human life that is taking place today and every day everywhere in the world. What, are we having a purge? A genocide? Well, in a way we are. Twenty-two percent of all pregnancies (excluding miscarriages) end in abortion. Those numbers don't seem so harmful, do they? 22 out of a hundred isn't so bad.
Keep in mind that the most recent data shows that the approximate population of the U.S. is 313.9 million people. If we killed 22 percent of the population of America, around 69,058,000 people would die. That's a pretty large number of people. Of that number, the question becomes, "How many of those people can we afford to lose?" The answer? Zero. Say one of those people was the president of the United States. That would be a huge loss for our country. Odds are that some of them would be celebrities of sorts, musicians, artists, athletes, political leaders. That still leaves a lot of people left that only and handful of people knew. And yet, they were here. They were on this earth. And one cannot say that anyone is ever placed here without a purpose for his or her life.
Genesis 1:27 says that God created man in his own image. That means everyone. Everyone is created in the image of our Creator. We are all given a name, a body, a personality. A soul. And our creator knows us all better than we know ourselves. Have we really become convinced that that doesn't include people who aren't born yet? We hear a heartbeat. We give these people an age, even from one week. Loving parents begin to choose names and clothes. People plan their lives around these new, young people months before they are born. It's a part of life: new life.
The argument has been made that maybe this new life was unintended. Say you had a three year old child, and you were raising him or her on your own, and you just didn't plan on having this child. Does that justify murdering the child? By no means! Why should that change just because that child is only three weeks old? Just because you haven't seen the child, that doesn't make him or her any less a child.
Another argument made is that the mother can't provide for a child properly, or that it impedes the future of one or both of the parents. There are an estimated 3,000 adoption agencies in the United States, where couples who desperately want a child but for various reasons can't have one go to adopt a child. Where do you think these agencies get these children? Young parents with bright futures who have the courage put their children up for adoption, knowing that this is best for the child, the parents, and the couple who are prepared to raise the child, caring for and providing for him or her. The argument that abortion is the best solution is invalid for this very reason. Abortion kills one baby, but that is not the only life affected. There are physical, and always emotional consequences for the mother. Abortion is not the best solution for anyone involved.
Abortion is murder, and murder is a sin. If I am speaking to someone who has experienced this personally, you ought to know that fact. However, there's a whole lot more to it. Much the same way as a newborn baby, ill-equipped to care for ourselves, in Christ we are adopted as sons and daughters of God. Ephesians 1:3-10 tells us this much. Ephesians 1:7-10 tells us that it has been God's will to unite all things in Him in the fullness of time from the beginning. He does this through redemption and through forgiveness. Jesus died for every one of everyone's sins. That includes abortion. In Christ you are forgiven and adopted as a child of God.
If you haven't gone through this, understand the impossibility of understanding. It is not our place to ultimately judge anyone. Are we not all sinners? The importance of this day and all that it encompasses is that abortion is wrong. But the fact that abortion is so widespread doesn't change the fact that all sin is widespread, and it especially does not change the truth or the power of the gospel.
Today, we raise awareness of the consequences of abortion. Every day, we raise awareness of the consequences of sin. As we witness the war that Satan is waging against us, especially in this way, the mass destruction of human life, I pray that we would understand the power of the gospel, of Jesus. I pray that we would understand the infinite love of our Father, and most of all, I pray that we would see the sanctity of human life. Because every person has a purpose here and is created in the image of God. Therefore, every life is valuable beyond measure.
"In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth." -Ephesians 1:7-10
Tuesday, January 14, 2014
The Other Emancipation Proclamation: The Gospel
"It's a free country."
That's what people often say when told to do or not to do
something. It is a way of saying that one refuses to comply with rules or
expectations. America is a free country, so people don't tell other people how
to live their lives and everyone is okay. But is that what freedom really is?
Many people would define freedom as living under absolutely no authority. People believe freedom is the right to do whatever we want with no consequences and no dissent. If one is truly free than there are no rules and expectations that have to be met; we can run wild and do as we please whenever and wherever we feel like we want to.
In 1863 with the establishment of the Emancipation Proclamation, slaves in the south were declared free. By no means did that mean they had the right to do whatever they wanted to do without justification or consequence. The opposite was true in reality. For a century after that, people of African-American descent were considered less than what they were- people, that is to say.
This is, in many ways, an accurate analogy to freedom as it stands today. To
me, freedom is exactly the opposite of having no authority. Freedom is the act
of submitting to God’s authority. Much like the slaves in the 1860s, freedom is
being released from slavery. In Christ we are free from sin, death, and hell.
We are free from God’s wrath, which is what we deserve. We are free to live in
such a way that glorifies the only one who truly deserves the glory: our one,
true, living God. Before we have Christ in our lives, sin owns us. We are under
the control of sin, and that is how we live. We don’t know any better because
we are in darkness, and we do not know light. Through God’s grace Jesus came
into the world and not only gave us light, but taught us how to be lights and
to walk in the light.
In the Civil War era, slaves very rarely knew how to read. If you put a sign in front of them that said, "You are free," they wouldn't know what to do or how to respond. Sometimes Christianity works the same way. We know we are free from sin, but we don't know what the next step is. One solution I can think of is to thank the one who freed us. Our job when we are freed is to glorify God in everything we do. If the only thing we ever received from God was salvation, we have to understand that what we have been given is more than we deserve.That alone should always be enough to tell us what the freedom we have been given should be used for.
In the Civil War era, slaves very rarely knew how to read. If you put a sign in front of them that said, "You are free," they wouldn't know what to do or how to respond. Sometimes Christianity works the same way. We know we are free from sin, but we don't know what the next step is. One solution I can think of is to thank the one who freed us. Our job when we are freed is to glorify God in everything we do. If the only thing we ever received from God was salvation, we have to understand that what we have been given is more than we deserve.That alone should always be enough to tell us what the freedom we have been given should be used for.
The answer is not in being free to do whatever suits us in the flesh. When one understands the depth of the love of the Father, what they want most is to please Him. Because sin is still a part of the world we live in, sometimes our "want to" seems broken. It is hard to admit the fact that we don't always do the best job of honoring God, but we need to understand that we have been forgiven and we are free. Though on this earth we will never be perfect, we become more like Christ as our faith in him grows, and we are always free from the power of sin even though we aren't always free from the presence of sin. Through this process we become more and more free from the presence of sin until the day of glorification when we will stand before God in Christ's righteousness alone. That is true freedom, and it comes not when we rebel against authority, but when we submit to the authority of God.
"Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God." -1 Peter 2:16
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