Monday, December 31, 2012

"Do Not Fear. Only Believe."

Luke 8:49-50, While he was still speaking, someone from the ruler's house came and said, “Your daughter is dead; do not trouble the Teacher any more.” But Jesus on hearing this answered him, “Do not fear; only believe, and she will be well.”

“Do not fear, only believe…” Our Savior is so tender to those whose worlds have collapsed. These words were all Jairus had to cling to in the whirling chaos of fear and grief. Yet they proved true because He who spoke them is true. His word never fails because He has the necessary power to perform whatever He declares.

The Lord's timing is perfect, though in his flood of anguish Jairus no doubt wondered why Jesus had delayed so. However, this ruler of the synagogue had just witnessed the Lord heal a woman with a disease no physician could cure. Jairus's daughter too had succumbed to a fate from which no man could relieve her. The men who came to Jairus had given up hope, thinking Jesus was only of use to the living. Yet it was God’s plan that the girl should die so that the world would know of the power of Christ even on behalf of the dead. So perhaps it was a gracious act of God that this woman with the flow of blood interrupted the progression to Jairus's home for whether they had arrived earlier or later, the girl would have been dead. But through seeing what Christ had accomplished for this poor woman beyond the aid of any man but Jesus, Jairus had reason to hope this Man before him was the only One who could avail for his daughter, now beyond the help of any human.

We fear so readily. We fear the future and uncertainty. Yet the God who led Jairus through his greatest moments of uncertainty also leads us. Lord, remove our fear by teaching us to believe and by reminding us how capable You are. Oh God, help us believe!

Saturday, December 29, 2012

Oh for Zeal and an Open Mouth

Luke 8:38b-39, But Jesus sent him away saying, "Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you." And he went away, proclaiming throughout the whole city how much Jesus had done.

What an example the Gerasene is to us of an unabashed witness of God’s great power at work in his life. The delivered demoniac knew the glorious heights of salvation having first been drawn into the darkest recesses of hell, and he could not keep silent! He proclaimed the work of God not only in his city, as Jesus instructed him in Luke, but throughout the ten Grecian cities in his around his home, according to Mark 5:20.

Herein lies the beauty of our call as witnesses of God's redeeming power at work in human lives: God does not expect every Christian to defend His existence with sophisticated arguments but He does instruct us to proclaim what He has done in our lives. I am not slighting apologetics and very much believe in its importance. However, I am persuaded that what catches the attention of today's pluralistic world isn't reasoned arguments in favor of God but testimony's of lives renewed by the power of God. People can find scores of objections to counter Christian thinking but they cannot ultimately dispute a transformed life. Throughout Scripture and the Church's history, the gospel appears to have spread best when Christ-followers unabashedly celebrated God's work of redemption and daily deliverance in their lives. And the best part of it is this: You don't need a MDiv to tell your testimony.

May we repent that we are not ecstatic about God's great work in our life. May our Lord grant us an ever growing awareness of the perilousness of the foul pit from which He has saved us and the pricelessness of the precious kingdom to which He has saved us. And may He open our mouths like He did that of our Gerasene brother so all who hear of Jesus' doings may marvel as they did at the former demoniac's testimony (Mark 5:20).

Friday, December 28, 2012

I Would Follow Jesus: The Testimony of a Demoniac

Luke 8:38, The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with him, but Jesus sent him away...

The Gerasene demoniac knew what liberation in Christ meant and he would not return to his enslavement. Having known the sweetness of Christ’s work within him, he refused to be separated from his mighty Deliverer.

Such should be our attitude, we who have known salvation from our cruel master, the devil, who sought only our harm. How we return so readily to our old ways is unfathomable. Unlike the delivered demoniac, we are called to follow Christ with unswerving devotion yet we are too readily waylaid by the pretty trinkets the devil places along the heavenly highway. Our eyes too quickly lose their wonder with Jesus and are led astray after Satan’s shiny bobbles.

The saved Gerasene would never have understood why we so easily abandon the same Savior he was desperate to follow to the end. He stands as a testimony against our whoring hearts: “I would have followed him to the ends of the earth, for He was my mighty Deliverer. Yet I was told to remain behind. But you! You are called to plant your feet in His footsteps, yet you scamper after the fleeting vapors that once so blinded and bound me! Come to your senses, Christ-follower! Cling to the King who has ransomed you and claims lordship of your life!”

Thursday, December 27, 2012

If It Doesn't Change You, It Didn't Save You

Luke 8:16, No one after lighting a lamp covers it with a jar or puts it under a bed, but puts it on a stand, so that those who enter may see the light.

Those in whom the good word has taken root (see preceding verses on the Parable of the Sower) cannot hide it. Who would dare hide the wonderful work God is doing in his life? If the faith is genuine, it will work its way outward for “there is nothing covered that will not be revealed” (v. 17). Those who hear and take God’s word to heart, living out what they know of His revelation, will receive more illumination while those who ignore the heart of the Father revealed them by the person of Christ through the illumination of the Spirit will lose even the little revelation they have received (v. 18). Such was God's judgment of the Pharisees, the best biblical scholars of their day.

There are many who insist they have a branch in God's family tree, but only those who hear God’s word and live it out, or bear fruit, can claim a genuine connection with the life-giving Vine of John 15. For how could one who claims to have been grafted into the tree of life Himself fail to produce the fruit that naturally comes from fusion with such potent power? Any who have been joined to Christ will bear fruit and live as He lived (I John 2:4-6).

All who call themselves Christians should take Paul's advice in II Corinthians 13:5 and look for evidence of Christ in our lives. Christians are not simply those who choose to bear Christ name; rather they are those who resemble the God-man after whom they are named. Is Christ's light shining in us? If so, it should be visible to those around us just like Jesus' was.

Monday, December 24, 2012

The Widow of Nain: Compassion's Gifts

Luke 7:11-15, As he drew near to the gate of the town, behold, a man who had died was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow, and a considerable crowd from the town was with her. And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her and said to her, “Do not weep.” Then he came up and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. And he said, “Young man, I say to you, arise.” And the dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother.

How I love Your tenderness here, Lord. You felt the anguish of this one lowly widow who had none to provide for her now that her only son had died. She was alone in the world and terrified. No one would have given her much thought, but You did. And You not only pitied her, You acted on Your compassion and became her Champion, giving her what no other human could––the life of her son!

Thank You, Jesus, that this is Your heart, Your nature! You alone give us those gifts we do not deserve yet need so desperately. I wonder if, as You returned this young man to his grieving mother, if Your thoughts turned to the fast approaching day when Your Father would see His own Son stretched out to die––and none would be there to restore the unity of the Trinity and return the Son to His own grieving Father. Yet though You, my Triune God, knew the anguish in store for You, You were not deterred for You knew that only through giving Yourself (even to the point of death) on our behalf could we humans know redemption.

Savior, You are He who wept so You could say to us "Do not weep." You are He whose tears wipe away our own. You are He whose death overcomes our death. You are He whose life restores us from our spiritual and physical graves. You are He who gave Himself to give us back to our Father.

Thank You for Your birth, Lord, though for You it was the first step to Your death. Thank You for acting in Your compassion, for becoming our Champion when we had no other, and for giving as no other can.

Saturday, December 22, 2012

Tolerance, Judgmentalism, and the Christian Balance

Luke 6:37, Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven.

Wow, this would be the verse for the pluralistic society we live in: “Hey bro, don’t judge! Haters gonna hate.” Today, the only sin is judgmentalism. There is a sense in which all of this is true and has a Christian ring to it, but as usual the world has missed the train of truth and boarded another at the right station but headed in the wrong direction.

Our world tells us not to judge another’s sin, unless it directly violates our own rights. This is completely backwards to the ways of God! As Christ-followers and Sonseekers, we are called to stand up against unrighteousness (for God hates sin), but we are not to judge others for offense committed against us for we have been forgiven and are therefore called to forgive in turn. Our task isn't "not judging" or "condemning" but rather judging appropriately; for examples, see passages like John 7:24 and Matthew 7:15-20 where we are instructed to exercise proper discernment.

We too often judge people according to our standards (what they wear, what they listen to, etc.) and not God's (why they where what they wear and why they listen to what they listen to). We stand ready to condemn those who commit offenses against us yet are lenient when people sin against those we're not particularly fond of. Even worse we are far more ready to take offense at a slight to us and are far less grieved when we see people disrespecting or "hating on" God, the kinds of things that led Jesus to His most violent actions committed on earth (see John 2:13-17).

American society promotes a strange synthesis: toleration of people's life choices and murderous vindictiveness when these choices affect us negatively. These are evident in the entertainment industry where, for example, homosexual couples are increasingly promoted as normal or at least funny (as in ABC's Modern Family) yet "BA" characters like John McClane in the Die Hard movies or Jack Bauer in 24 feel justified taking the lives of those who have crossed them and their loved ones. These trends in American culture are hardly biblical and Christians must beware lest the same attitudes seep into the church and make it as morally reprobate as the Corinthian church that prided itself in its toleration of sexual immorality among its members yet sanctioned vicious protection of individual rights in secular courts (see I Corinthians 5 and 6)––all things Paul bemoaned as tarnishing to the name of Christ we all bear as Christians.

Friday, December 21, 2012

Schaeffer's Final Apologetic

Since Christian love seems to be the theme of the last few posts...

For class I read a biography on Francis Schaeffer, the man most known for putting forth a reasoned, coherent Christian worldview as an alternative to the existentialism of the 1960s and 70s. Many thousands of Christians have since been influence by him and persuaded to pursue a more intellectual form of Christianity that engages culture around them and speaks its language in an attempt to show that Christians do have something to say about cultural trends and can offer reasoned justifications for God's way of living life.

I've seen Schaeffer's philosophy play out particularly in the Christian circles I form part of, and I agree that Christians need to take their God-given responsibility as culture-shapers seriously and not dishonor our faith by treating it as anti-intellectual or something that can only be felt and not thought through seriously. However, I would also call us Christian scholars back from our deep preoccupation with being taken seriously by a world that denies the very presuppositions we must embrace if we are to live Christianly. After all the reasoned arguments have been proffered by Christians, ultimately we must return to Schaeffer's final apologetic––Christian love.

In his book Francis Schaeffer and the Shaping of Evangelical America, Barry Hankins makes the observation that for all the intellectual answers Schaeffer provided for nihilistic and despairing college students, they were less convinced by his arguments than they were by the love they felt at L'Abri where Schaeffer and his wife welcomed all with Christlike hospitality. They could see the love Christians had for each other, God, and outsiders and this tenderness stood in stark contrast to both the existentialism and the "free love" advocated in the Cold War decades.

Let us not forget, in our intellectual Christianity, to keep as our highest priority the love Christ calls us to, love for God, love for our brethren, and especially love for the unloveable. Not everyone can debate the merits of Christianity in a reasoned fashion, but all of us can love––and this is what God calls us to. The world cannot be reasoned into heaven, especially because many today are abandoning reason and making their peace with a universe they cannot comprehend. People become convinced of the effectiveness of God's way when they see Christians living in love as God has called us to. Our love for God gives us a foundation. Our love for other Christians gives us a family. Our love for the lost gives us a function (or mission for life). The final apologetic for the Christian faith is God-given love.

Thursday, December 20, 2012

The Challenge of/to Love

Luke 6:35-36, But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.

I would be a son of the Most High. But that means learning to show kindness toward the ungrateful (so hard!) and evil (even harder!). Mercy–the withholding of a judgment rightfully due–is so unnatural to human beings who engage in tits for tats all in the name of fairness! How mean and lowly we are! If God Himself could be merciful to us and spare us our rightful place in hellfire, how shall we not show mercy to a brother who offends us even in the most unspeakable ways? Sons of the Most High know just how much they have been forgiven and, living in the constant reality of God’s never ending mercy, must themselves relinquish their claims to the pounds of flesh due them. And not only do they forgive, they give as God does!

This Christian life is impossible to live if we do not have our eyes fixed on Christ who only demands of us that which He Himself first demonstrated toward us. Only by keeping in mind Jesus and His kindness to us do we find the impetus to live out this example before others who are not naturally lovable.

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Love and Acceptance

Luke 6:22-23, 26, Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man! Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets... Woe to you, when all people speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets.

An important and easily forgotten principle here. We humans so crave acceptance. To be cast out is for many of us worse than death. This is natural because in the perfect world, we were made for intimate communion with each other and God, so that’s just the way our bodies are wired. But in a fallen world, such deep heart-connections are hard to find and often must endure the roughest of sin-storms that sunder fellowship. It is almost a law in the relationship game–the closer you are to someone, the more their sin jabs its painful spines under your skin, the more you must learn forgiveness and the greater your selfless love must grow if your friendship is to survive.

But what to do with a world that spurns us, for as a slave to the devil it cannot accept a friend of God? How does Jesus expect us to “rejoice and leap for joy” when rejection is incredibly painful? Those shunned on this earth for proclaiming the unpopular truth will find their acceptance in heaven, while those accepted on earth (like the false prophets) have failed to live as witnesses to an offensive gospel but have tried to present others with a word that pleased them in order to remain accepted and even popular.

May our love of God be such that we crave His smile more than the embrace of the world. May we strive to "present ourselves to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed" (II Timothy 2:15) though those around us ridicule our devotion to "fantasies" and passé morals.

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Those Who Laugh Last

6:21b, 25b, "Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh... Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep."

Just as our longings shall be met one day, so too shall our tears be dried, and we will no longer mourn for persecution, for opposition, for this world’s self-destructive sinfulness, for family and friends who do not believe, for personal sinfulness and perfection that is never attained. One day, we shall trade our tears for joyful laughter when we see our Bridegroom and enter His bountiful, beautiful kingdom. But those who laugh now, whose delight is aroused by sin and the transient pleasures it offers, who rejoice in the suffering of others and the breaking of God’s law–these will know mourning deeper than any human to this day has experienced. They who laughed for a lifetime (and that with its own shares of misery) will weep for an eternity. What a horrible fate!

Monday, December 3, 2012

Heaven Will Taste the Sweeter

Luke 6:21a, 25a, "Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you shall be satisfied... Woe to you who are full now, for you shall be hungry."

Those who believe themselves to have all they need in life today will only find out in the end that they missed “the one thing necessary” (Luke 10:42). Those who yearn in this world, those who long for restoration, vindication, and Christ’s exaltation will be filled one day with the sweet and full presence of God. These will look upon their enemies in triumph, as the psalmists insist, and will see the restoration of the earth. We who hunger and thirst may feel our misery now most painfully, but one day heaven will taste the sweeter for our near starvation on earth. One day, we shall know the full bliss of a word we use on earth but will never experience while here–satisfaction. We will never again have longing but know endless, soul-filling delight, bathed in the light of our Savior's smiling countenance.

Friday, November 30, 2012

Man's Law and the Father's Heart

Luke 6:9, And Jesus said to them, “I ask you, is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to destroy?
*See Luke 6:6-11 for the full story about Christ's healing of the man with the withered hand.*

From Luke 5:33-39 through the first eleven verses of chapter six, Jesus seemed to make it a point to show observers that man’s law meant nothing when it contradicted the good that God desired to come from His law. This story of the man with the withered hand is a case in point.

The Pharisees had become so consumed with their own stipulations they neglected to do the good to others God demands from His people. Instead, they actually schemed for the death of Jesus who had done nothing but work kindness and righteousness––so far had they slipped from conformity to the will of God.

I love that in verse eleven Luke mentions how furious the religious leaders were with Christ’s act of compassion that broke their religious mandates while Mark 3:5 records Christ’s grief and anger at the Pharisees hardheartedness and despising of the mercy God required of men. Such different standards each set for the other, yet both were angry, one group over a breach in the dictates of man and the other over a violation of the desires of the Father’s heart!

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

On Being Sick...

You know how when you're sick, your mind sometimes drifts to the strangest topics? A couple of nights ago as I lay in bed with a 103 degree fever, the particularly American mantra of self-trust kept playing around in my brain: "You can't count on anyone but yourself." It struck me, given my current situation at the time, just how ridiculous this statement is. I couldn't even trust my body to function properly or to keep me from death left to itself! I had counted on my body successfully getting me through finals week at my college, yet like a vindictive motorized vehicle, it chose to break down on me when I needed it most. If I can't count on anyone and I can't count on myself, what is left? Honestly, I don't know how the individualist atheist would respond. I know I have God, the only One I dare count on.

My doctor is a wonderful man who has worked as a missionary physician overseas but has returned to practice in the United States. He prayed for me over the phone. And as he prayed, this man of science, intimate with the human "machine" we call our bodies, reminded me how our fragile lives rest so completely in God's hands. Our blood itself is so perfectly designed to flow or clot when it should. And this is merely one aspect of many systems in our bodies that must simultaneously function without variance or failure. We live our every moment walking the tightrope of life and don't even think of how cavernously the mouth of death yawns below us and how, if God should loose His hand from ours, we would plunge into its hungry maw.

I'm thankful I have an all-powerful God to count on, One who governs the astral and the atomic, the celestial and the cellular. Knowing the depths of my heart, the last person I would trust is myself. However, knowing simply the surface of Jesus' heart, I trust Him with what He already owned before I gave it––my life.

Monday, November 26, 2012

Even Christ Needed Devotional Time

Luke 5:15-16, But now even more the report about him went abroad, and great crowds gathered to hear him and to be healed of their infirmities. But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray.

With so many making heavy demands of Him, Jesus regularly withdrew to isolated places to pray. We must not forget this, especially those in ministerial positions! You may have more work to do for those who depend on you than you can find time for, but even Jesus Himself considered nothing more valuable than His time with the Father. Yes, there are countless hurting souls and many ills to alleviate but time spent alone with God (in word and quiet fellowship) supersedes them all even as God Himself is more important than all.

If Christ Himself, the One capable of healing and feeding multitudes in hours, the exemplar of effectual service to the needy, as a man had to recharge His spiritual batteries, we must imagine ourselves ultra-divine humans when we refuse to make time in a busy day to seek our Father's face. If God Himself needed God's fellowship to get through a day on earth, how much more do we humans, created to depend upon and seek the Lord, need to allocate time to commune with our Creator, lest we become completely overwhelmed. Sonseekers, pray!

Saturday, November 24, 2012

He Is Willing and Able

Luke 5:12-13, While he was in one of the cities, there came a man full of leprosy. And when he saw Jesus, he fell on his face and begged him, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.”And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I will; be clean.” And immediately the leprosy left him.

How like our Savior, so willing to cleanse those who come to Him with rotting flesh! He does not turn away any who understand their dependence on Him and humbly admit it is only His good pleasure that can render them whole. He does not turn His back on us in revulsion when we come to Him full of fetid sin-sores that so readily offend even our best of human friends. Rather Purity Himself reaches out to us and drives away our uncleanness by His touch. Such is the power of Christ's virtue that though He touch the foul, He does not come away defiled (as happens with every other human) but rather the putrid comes away pure!

Thank You, Savior, that You not only have the power to restore (as the leper understood: “You can make me clean”), You are more than willing to cleanse the foul and heal the broken. How horrific would be our state had we either a God with the power to heal us but no will to or a God who longed to restore us yet lacked the ability. But no, restoration is such a part of Your nature, my dear saving God. You have proven Yourself throughout history as an omnipotent God who delights in binding the broken, redeeming the captive, and reclaiming the lost. And for this, we, the objects of Your willing power at work, praise You!

Friday, November 23, 2012

At Your Word

Luke 5:5, And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.”

This is what made the all difference: Christ's word! The men had garnered nothing for all their effort in the night. But now the Lord had commanded, and His is the word that does not return empty without accomplishing what He desires (Isaiah 55:10-11). When the Lord declares something it happens–and happens in fulness (see vv. 6-7, where the nets were near to breaking and the boats to sinking!). Do we truly believe this, as Peter did? How much we miss when we do not take God up at His word.

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

The Greatest Catch in the World

Luke 5:11, And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him.

See Luke 5:1-11 for the full story.

Why this miracle? Especially if Simon and his brethren were just going to let the fish rot in the boats as they left everything behind to follow Christ? This miracle shows the superior worth of Christ to everything else in the world. The fishermen when left to themselves spent a long and lonely night on the barren waters. But Peter’s act of faith, heading to sea when a carpenter-turned-rabbi told him to, marked the end of such barrenness. (Note, Christ took the initiative to find Peter’s boat and give him directives.) It was worth messing up the nets again for Christ’s sake; the inconvenience Jesus cost them was more than bountifully repaid when they took Him at His word and obeyed without thought of how this was messing up their plans (and nets) for the day.

After making perhaps the greatest catch in their entire career as fishermen, the men knew they had found something far more precious than everything they had spent their lives working for up to that point. They left everything to follow this wonderful Man named Jesus, and they did so without remorse because in Him they had found all the treasures in the heavenly places. Who needed fish anymore when they had just discovered the greatest catch in the world?

Monday, November 19, 2012

Every Tongue Shall Confess

Luke 4:33-34, And in the synagogue there was a man who had the spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out with a loud voice,“What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God.”

This is the first miracle recorded by Luke. Thus far we have had a heavenly messenger announcing the birth of Immanuel (1:32-33), a priest foretelling the greatness of a coming Newborn (1:78-79), the angels testifying of arrival of the God-man (2:11), the shepherds witnessing to the message they’d heard regarding the most unlikely of Messiah-candidates–a Babe in a trough (2:17), an old man of God filled with the Spirit and excited to see an eight-day old Child (2:29-32), a godly widow proclaiming the arrival of God’s salvation (2:38), a powerful desert preacher announcing that the Kingdom had come and it’s Prince was Jesus (3:16-17), and a Voice from heaven claiming a soaking Man in the river as His Son (3:22).

And now to this chorus of witnesses that spans the spectrums of human and heavenly, priestly and peasantry, aged and agile, respected and reviled, Luke adds yet another voice: demonic (4:34, 41). All the powers of heaven, hell, and the earth in between have in the presence of human witnesses acknowledged Jesus as Messiah and God!

Monday, November 12, 2012

The Perfect Israel

Luke 4:1-2, And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the devil.

In this temptation Jesus was perfectly fulfilling everything Israel failed to do correctly during their forty years in the desert. Unlike Israel demanding bread and longing for the meat of Egypt, Jesus understood that man did not live solely on food but instead delighted Himself in the presence of God. Where Israel failed the Lord by worshiping golden calves and joining itself to Baal of Peor, Jesus held fast to the LORD and wasn’t tempted to use the devil’s means to get the rewards God had promised to give in His own time. And finally, where Israel, God's son, had constantly put the LORD to the test in the desert, Jesus refused to engage in such activities. Jesus is the perfect Israel, everything Israel was called to be but failed in miserably. Whereas Israel failed in constant faithlessness as the son of God, Jesus proved Himself the faithful and true Son and therefore the legitimate heir of God's promises. And it is through being grafted into the Perfect Israel that we too become inheritors of the blessings He won through His faithfulness! Praise the Lord for a perfect Savior, the true and faultless Son.

Saturday, November 10, 2012

Temptation as God's Tool for Sanctification

A break from the reading in Luke. This was something we talked about at Youth Group on Wednesday.
*-*-*-*-*
Matthew 6:13, And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.

First thing to note: God is the One who leads the believer to temptation, not the devil as we so often claim. It was the Holy Spirit who led Christ into the wilderness to be tempted for forty days. God Himself never tempts us for He is removed from evil (James 1:13). However, He does allow the devil to afflict us in ways that could make us stumble (Job 1:8-12), and our own passions too often send us tumbling into sin. Still, we know that God uses temptation as a way of teaching us to cling desperately to Him.

Why then would Christ tell us to pray that God not lead us into temptation if, as one might accuse me of saying, "temptation is a good thing?" Because the man who prays earnestly for protection from the seduction of sin has already learned reliance upon God and distrust of himself.

Our faithful God introduces temptation into our lives to expose us to our weaknesses, weaknesses we are often blind to, and to create in us a reliance upon God. He who clings to God in fear of his own great sinfulness need not enter into temptation for he already knows the flesh is weak, and to such a one the Lord will give His strength (Isaiah 40:31 and Matthew 26:41). As John Bunyan put it, “He that is down need fear no fall.” That we might learn such self-doubt and absolute, desperate dependence on Christ alone!

Thursday, November 8, 2012

Dare to be a John

Luke 3:16, John answered them all, saying, “I baptize you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

Such is the attitude of the true messenger of the Savior. Though many flocked to John thinking he was the Messiah, the prophet from the wilderness pointed them away from himself and to the true Savior of souls. John wasn’t pretentious and didn’t pretend to be anything other than he was. Though a great prophet and preacher who could gather a crowd and in whom the Spirit of God was mightily at work, John only used his God-given powers and abilities to perform his task of heralding the coming Messiah. He didn’t use the stage given him to become the center of the show and attract men to himself.

Understanding the true preciousness of the Christ, John consequently understood his own unworthiness when compared to the value of Jesus. John’s own mission of baptism, repentance, and Christ-pointing meant little without Jesus’ all-important task of redemption. A great man of God, John grasped that his person and preaching had meaning only as they focused on the One who gives all creatures meaning and proclaimed Him whose work gives us something to publish abroad.

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Sin Defined by God, Not Us

Luke 3:12-13, Tax collectors also came to be baptized and said to him, “Teacher, what shall we do?” And he said to them, “Collect no more than you are authorized to do.”

Note that John didn’t tell the tax collectors to give up their jobs as employees of the Romans. While most of the Jews thought of such employment as traitorous, John didn’t imply that the work itself was sinful as most Jews thought who saw it as siding with the enemy. Rather he condemned the true sin–abuse of power and using others for one’s own gain. We need to make sure our definitions of sin match up with God’s rather than labeling as sin anything that we personally don’t like (a very human tendency).

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Repentance and Its Fruits

Luke 3:8, Bear fruits in keeping with repentance.

The true children of God bear fruit in keeping with the repentance they claim is theirs. Why is this principle overlooked in the contemporary church? We err on either of two sides. On the one hand, we preach liberty in Christ and don’t mention the fruit that must (not might or should) accompany salvation. On the other, we preach legalism and don’t stress the repentance that springs from the heart. Without these two elements, our Christianity is worthless and the preaching we sit under avails us nothing, for it does not drive us to heartfelt, unfeigned conviction of sin nor to a zealous pursuit of holiness as our God is holy (I Peter 1:16).

Saturday, November 3, 2012

Collecting God?

Luke 2:51, But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart.

We humans are pack rats, each in our own way. There's no question we accumulate; we only differ in what we amass for ourselves. Stamps, collector's figurines, limited edition DVD sets, money, fame, and power... You name it and there is likely a market somewhere out there for it. Just think, we even collect trash! In fact, maybe most of what we collect is trash for none of it will last...

Oh to be like Mary who stored in her heart every wondrous story of her interactions with God. How readily do I forget the sweet times, the marvelous salvations, the hard lessons my Father has taught me as I have walked with Him. Oh give us tender hearts that treasure every interaction with You, Lord, for what better thing is there in this world to collect than nuggets from God?

Friday, November 2, 2012

My Heart Has Stopped...

Another prayer. I'm sure you can relate.
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Father, my heart right now feels as weak as my flesh. The past few days have seen me physically aching and spiritually destitute. Why do we go through such cycles, Lord? Why can we not enjoy unending fellowship with You and ever-growing oneness with our Savior? Why must life be marked by these periods of barrenness when it is all we can do to maintain our tenuous hold on the unshakeable rock? Why does Eternal Significance Himself become a forgotten pastime to us and the honey-dripping Word taste like dust on our tongues?

Father, I pray more to You for relief from apathy than I do about anything else! I would “walk with You” as Enoch did, leaving far behind the trails of Lot’s wife. I would spend my days with David in Your temple contemplating the beauty of the Lord, yet I fear perhaps I know not how to do this. Thank You that this dryness and feeling of abandonment isn’t unique to me, that I can be comforted knowing David, Elijah, and even Christ Himself knew what it felt like to be abandoned and all alone. Thank You that our human eyes lie to us for they cannot see the spiritual reality–that You are always there and have never left Your people. Far from it, You surround them with flaming chariots and legions of mighty seraphim.

But Lord, I don’t want seraphim tonight; I want You. Come please and meet me and be the Breaker of bread to my soul in these moments. Guard my thoughts, for like a distracted child, I pursue every whim of my imagination and dishonor the presence of my Lover by chasing down squirrelly fancies rather than sitting quietly in my adoration of You. Come be the Center and Life-pulse tonight. I need defibrillation.

Thursday, November 1, 2012

Celebrating Revelation

Luke 2:20, And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

Would that this were our attitude more often. The shepherds delighted in the little they knew and worshipped, no doubt in ways that would put last week's church service to shame. How much has been revealed to us yet how little we praise the Lord for all He has given us to know of Himself and His truth.

Create in me a grateful heart, Father, that delights in Your revelation and wonders when my weak and unworthy human eyes have caught a glimpse of You. Teach me to celebrate revelation, especially the Fulness of Revelation Himself.

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

"You Shall Be My Witnesses..."

Luke 2:17And when they [the shepherds] saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child.

Oh that such evangelistic fervor would seize us! The shepherds knew only the beginning of the tale yet they could not keep silent about the little the Lord had revealed to them. We, on the other hand, know the story in its fulness yet how loath we often are to spread the joyful news to those around us. True, people may not listen to us and may scorn us, but that didn’t stop these common shepherds who were probably despised as simpletons who wanted to create a big story. Note that it doesn’t seem like the shepherds’ testimonies had much of an impact for the Bible doesn’t record that anyone did anything other than wonder at their tale (v. 18). And "wonder" doesn't necessarily imply something positive. Even so, this did not stop the shepherds for their excitement over what God had revealed to them could not be contained! They just had to tell others!

And we who claim to actually have a relationship with God Himself and know the price our Messiah had to pay to bring about this reconciliation–where is our  excitement? Why are we so silent when we have seen far more than angels singing in the sky or an infant in a manger? We have seen with the eyes of faith the Lamb, broken upon the altar of redemption. We have seen the glorious, risen Lord. We have seen the crowned Son Himself who is the fullness of revelation! And how can we keep such news to ourselves? Oh that our joy in the Savior and His proclamation of good news would not be contained by either self-conciousness or "political correctness."

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

The Sonrise of Peace

Luke 1:78-79, "...because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace."

This is Zechariah, John the Baptist's father, speaking in praise and prophecy of Jesus and his ministry. What beautiful imagery! Jesus is the sunrise from on high that has visited us to give us light and lead us in the way of peace. Such gifts to humankind! We walk in darkness and confusion in this world. We do not understand our place in the created order, and the best of our philosophy and scientific discoveries serve only to increase our spiritual bewilderment. Jesus comes as our Light to show us truth and our Guide to lead us in the ways of God. Though we yearn for it, we humans have no peace; Jesus, the Prince of Peace, brings rest to our souls and declares an end to the great war man wages with God and stills the conflict between man and man! Do we not have a wonderful Savior? What more could we ask for, for in Him we have received all the spiritual blessings in the heavenly places (Ephesians 1:3-4)!

Monday, October 29, 2012

The Bondservant

Luke 1:38, And Mary said, “Behold, I am the bondservant* of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.”

*or love-slave. See Deuteronomy 15:16-17 for further definition of the word.

In this passage the angel didn’t say anything about how things were going to turn out for Mary. He didn’t assure her that God would take care of her in the “reproach” she was about to take on. As is typical of messages from God, this announcement focused on God and the great worthiness of His plan. As far as assurance of her own personal well-being, Mary got nothing.

Yet still, believing that God is a good God who takes care of His people and having faith that this was a blessing not to be missed for all the inconvenience it brought her (see her magnificat in Luke 1:46-55), Mary submitted to the will of God. And her response seems to indicate she wasn’t even thinking of herself at all! She recognized herself as God’s “bondservant” created for Him and His purposes. She willingly gave herself up to God’s plans without setting up stipulations and conditions (“Well, okay, You can do this but don’t do that!”) as we seem prone to do in our interactions with God. In humility, Mary yielded herself entirely–her body, her honor, her future, her dreams–to God to do as He would.

What an amazing example of a love-slave! An example the rest of us should follow. Too often in my life I have set conditions for God and have lost sight of the beauty of His master plan because I've been too focused on my role it (often smaller and more tedious than my diva complex is willing to accept). When we accept that we aren't the free beings that Western philosophy would claim we are, when we embrace our glorious role as servants of the Living God who follow in the footsteps of the Servant-King, then and only then will we see the beauty of God's plan and in submission to it find we were made for this satisfying role. After all, our Creator knows best what He created us for, and our bountiful God knows how to restore in fullest measure all that we surrender to Him.

Oh that we might be such willing bondservants as Mary and like her find fulfillment in His plan for us!

Thursday, October 25, 2012

An Old Theme Replayed: Dependence

Youth group last night was wonderful–and it was all of God. I never know what results to expect from each meeting and lately they've been mixed. Sometimes we have mind-blowing discussions that leave all of us tingling with the power of God's Word and the beauty of our Savior. At other times, our dialogue is dry and the Spirit seems absent. And I've wondered if the "success" of the night has anything to do with how much I prepare for our gatherings.

I've often felt guilty that I usually don't make any provision at all for these meetings. With my class load and work schedule, I simply don't have time to plan out lessons for the young people the way I have with the other youth groups I've led in the past. I used to sweat over my Bible and computer for a whole day trying to hear the the Lord's words for His kids that evening. Now, thanks to mandatory meetings I attend that only end seconds before my mad dash to the car, I'm often flying down our steep, mountainous road with no plan for the evening except tackling the next verse in Matthew 6 (the chapter we're currently reading through). I arrive at our meeting place a couple of minutes after our usual time for Bible study and just hop right into the word of God with barely a prayer for God's guidance.

Again, I've been tempted to blame lack of preparation when our "God-talk" falls flat. If I only had more time to whip together something that might feed souls...

I relearned a lesson last night, one the Lord has frequently had me write on the board a hundred times after everyone else has long since left the class. Dependence... Dependence... Dependence...You'd think every contour of every letter in that arrangement would have been burned into my memory by now but this is still the word that trips me up during the spiritual spelling bee.

Perhaps my attitude is the product of being raised a believer in a Bible-saturated home, but I am so prone to forgetting God in spiritual matters and thinking I can "rightly divide the word of truth" on my own. My Father has frequently sent me through dry spells in my Christian walk to remind me that my self-reliance so quickly leads me, not by green pastures and still waters, but through the throat-burning misery of desert paths. Only when I am reminded that the LORD is my Shepherd do I discover I no longer want. When I approach my Christian living (Bible reading, prayer, fellowship, etc.) with humble dependence on God to show me His thoughts and lead me in His ways, only then do I feel like the Shulammite led to her lover's banqueting table to feast to her fill on his love.

It's an old lesson, I know, yet one I am realizing will take me all of my life to learn fully. Dependence on God...in everything.

Last night as my little car sped down the mountain, I recited to myself the next line of the Lord's prayer, "Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors." Perfect! I thought. There's a lot I can say about this! And that's when I felt the Spirit's chiding hand touch my arrogant heart. Sure, there was plenty I could say about this passage but it wouldn't be God talking tonight, just me pretending to be God. I could work myself into a passion, I could wax eloquent, I could thump the Bible and even quote lots of Scripture, but with my self-assured attitude doing the theatrics, the real Star of the show would never show His face on stage. There would be no fireworks celebrating God's performance tonight.

So I stopped the pre-production preparations immediately, went to the Director's room, and had a heart to heart. I cried out to God admitting I could bring nothing to this time and embracing my place as a mere spotlight-shiner among the ropes and rafters of the Father's theater. All I could do was aim my beam on stage and pray that Jesus would step from the curtains and steal the hearts of the audience. And He did...and it was beautiful to watch.

There is so much I think I bring to the spiritual table: my personality, my ability with words, my passion, my long exposure to solid Biblical teaching. Really, none of this amounts to anything especially because I have an inflated view of my own abilities. God works best through stutterers like Moses and frightened youths like Daniel; I've no place to think that my skills add anything to His message. As I Corinthians 1:26-29 reminds us, God uses those we'd least expect and why? Because those who know they have nothing to offer to the Lord don't pretend they can come up with better schemes for His master plan but rather lean in utter dependence on Him feeling the weight of their own incompetence to perform the tasks He has given them.

I'm sure we'd see much less spiritual dryness and ineffectiveness in ministry if we learned the lesson Christ illustrated to His disciples in Matthew 18: childlike dependence on God.

Monday, October 22, 2012

Confession of Unbelief

Hope this doesn't make y'all uncomfortable but I often include prayers in my notes on the Bible. I hope that these don't come across as self-preoccupied but that they can be sentiments echoed by you–kind of like a corporate prayer.
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Luke 1:18-20, And Zechariah said to the angel, “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.” And the angel answered him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. And behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time.”

Today we doubt and disbelieve so readily, never thinking of the consequences. Father, I have failed a hundred thousand times more than Zachariah and in worse forms of unbelief. Yet You have been so gracious to me, understanding of my unfaithful doubt. Lord, teach me to trust You and to fear questioning Your promises and Your ability to do as You have declared You would. I just don’t respect You as You deserve; and Zachariah was struck mute for less than I have done! How dare I spit at You in angry suspicion of Your goodness when I look upon Your ways and do not understand them because they are far higher than mine (Isaiah 55:8-9)? Do not let me take Your long-suffering for granted but rather praise You that You are so patient with my faith-failings. Increase my trust that I may bring pleasure to You as did the centurion in Matthew 8:10, 13.

(How fitting that today in chapel we should sing "'Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus.")

Saturday, October 20, 2012

...and Peter

Mark 16:7, Go tell His disciples and Peter

The women at the tomb stood trembling before the messenger of God who had brought them special word from Christ Himself. Yes, He was risen! Yes, He would meet with His people soon! "Sorrow forgot, love's purest joys restored!" (From the hymn "Be Still My Soul.")

But this wasn't all. The angel made a reference especially to Peter, the poor and no doubt very troubled saint. What thoughts of self-accusation were coursing through this anguished disciple's mind? While all the other disciples may well have greeted the news of Jesus' resurrection with great joy, Peter had plenty of reason to doubt Christ would have much to say to him other than words of condemnation and damnation. He, like Judas, had betrayed his dear Master in His darkest hour. Peter's eyes probably burned every time he thought back to his loud oaths disowning Jesus and the cock crowing just as his dear bloodied, battered Friend looked across the fire-lit courtyard straight through to Peter's shriveled, frightened soul (Luke 22:61).

Perhaps that look reminded Peter of the time he, ever the blustering fisherman, had attempted to walk on water. He had been terror-stricken, flailing his limbs uncontrollably and screaming for Jesus as the hungry waves drew him close to Sheol, perhaps the same feeling of panicked helplessness Peter felt on that dark night of Jesus' arrest. But Christ had been there, His strong arm lifting Peter above the seething waters. Perhaps Peter had looked into those eyes as he blinked back the sea-water from his own, and perhaps it was that same look Peter later saw when he stood before the fire pit screaming Jesus' name again but this time in oath and disavowal.

How the "little rock" had crumbled! Peter's bitter tears must have flowed ceaselessly for not only had he lost his best Friend to death's dark hand, he had lost Him while He still lived by turning his back on Jesus though Christ had never yet shunned Peter in spite of all Peter's blundering errors and his foot-hungry mouth.

Jesus must have known what agony His beloved disciple suffered, which is why, when He sent a messenger to His disciples, He made sure Peter was mentioned specifically. What a comforting thing to be assured by God’s own herald that Christ had not cast Peter out but wanted him to meet the Master along with the rest of the disciples! The same arm that had restored his life from the Galilean waves lifted him once more from the dark billows of doubt devouring his soul! Peter had failed his Master so many times, yet the Savior had never failed Peter. Just like every time before, Jesus stood ready to save...and forgive. "The waves and winds still know His voice who ruled them while He dwelt below!" (From "Be Still My Soul.")

Simon Peter never forgot Jesus' message that singled him out for encouragement, his message of salvation. Years later, when Mark wrote his gospel under Peter's influence, Mark would include this little phrase not found in any of the other resurrection accounts: "Go tell His disciples and Peter..."

Friday, October 19, 2012

They Will Look Upon Him Whom They Have Pierced...

Mark 15:17-19, And they clothed him in a purple cloak, and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on him. And they began to salute him, “Hail, King of the Jews!” And they were striking his head with a reed and spitting on him and kneeling down in homage to him.

Thus you Romans treat Him now whom you suppose nothing more than another of the Jewish rabble. But one day, before every living being, the King of the Universe Himself will place a glittering crown on His Son’s brow. One day, every creature will see the bloody Man of the Cross robed not in purple but in eye-burning brilliance. And then you will fall, not upon a mocking knee, but on your face in terror, for you will see the one thing you recognize about this Glorious Man: not His crown, His robe, or His glory, but the wound-marks you scornful soldiers placed upon His body. And you will bury your face in the dust, for you will look upon Him whom you have pierced and see Him no more as the humble carpenter-turned-rabbi but as God, your Maker and your Judge.

Thus you, hard heart, treat Him now whom you suppose nothing more than another moralistic teacher. But one day…

Thursday, October 18, 2012

God of the Small Things

Mark 15:11, But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have him release for them Barabbas instead.

I love the thousands of minor details God, as the master Story-crafter, worked out long before the actual climax of the Crucifixion took place, things not necessarily essential to the story but that add so much more depth to it.

Pilate “was accustomed” to releasing for the people a prisoner, on the day of Passover no less (who knows why he picked this day). But all the times he had done this before at previous Passovers were only preparatory for this day. This custom of Pilate’s served to condemn not only the chief priests but the people of Israel and their Roman overlords, none of whom would stand up for a Man everyone knew was innocent.

Moreover, Barabbas had to have been incarcerated long before this to serve as a comparison to Christ. The former was a violent man who took life and led rebellions, the perfect figurehead for all of humanity. And when Pilate “randomly” selected the murderous rebel as a contrast to Jesus, he could not have guessed that Jesus would take this man’s place on the cross, symbolizing the substitutionary role Christ plays for sinful men who do not deserve to live. After all, Pilate was hoping the crowd would pick Jesus rather than, as he saw it, the objectionable Barabbas.

However, the Author of the Human Story was at work penning the tale of redemption into thousands of lesser vignettes that serve as mirrors reflecting back on the great work of salvation Christ accomplished on the cross that day.

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Why the Fatal Words?

Mark 14:59, 62, Yet even about this their testimony did not agree... And Jesus said, “I am, and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.”

It almost seemed like Jesus had a death wish. With those words, He gave Himself over in to the hands of His killers. They couldn’t find anything worthy of death to charge Him on, not even lies they concocted themselves. And just when all their efforts to condemn Him seemed to fail, Christ gave them what they wanted. Why?

Here's what I think is the point of this passage. These men weren’t going to take Jesus’ life from Him; He was going to give it. Therefore when all men’s efforts to find fault with Him met with laughable results (for who can find fault with a perfect God), Jesus spoke up and proclaimed the truth, truth He knew would give these men all the excuse they thought they needed to kill Him.

Jesus wasn’t being foolish here. He could have remained silent; after all, He is God and doesn’t have to respond when any human commands Him to speak. However, Jesus knew He had come as the sacrifice and He also knew sons of the father of lies hate truth (John 8:44-45). So He spoke truth and let men act according to their evil nature.

This was Christ showing that He was in control of the situation and He was allowing Himself to be the Passover Lamb. Men weren't forcing Him to the cross (much as they wanted to hang Him there); He was taking the road to Calvary Himself.

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Leading Away the Passover Lamb

Mark 14:37, 41, And he came and found them sleeping, and he said to Peter, "Simon, are you asleep? Could you not watch one hour?" And he came the third time and said to them, "Are you still sleeping and taking your rest?"

It had begun. Even in the Garden of Gethsemane, surround by those who claimed to love Him best and who had spent the better part of three years with Him as their beloved Teacher and Leader, even here with them the Savior was being separated as the lamb for the sacrifice. The desertion, the isolation from God and men, began not on the cross but in the garden. None of His best friends could keep Christ company as He agonized in prayer. He “wrestled lone with fears. E’en that disciple whom He loves heeds not his Master’s grief and tears.” The Lamb for the Passover was being carried away from the rest of the flock that should have been chosen instead; this One, this chosen holocaust, would die alone, allowing the rest to live.

How this should wound our hearts for do we not so fear being alone? We humans were made for each other, for community. How could Christ have endured this utter loneliness, especially in death? Oh, how our hearts should be filled with teary gratefulness that He endured rending of fellowship with God and men so that we can be brought back into true union with our Father and our brothers and sisters!

Monday, October 15, 2012

"They were glad..."?

Mark 14:11, Then Judas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve, went to the chief priests in order to betray him to them. And when they heard it, they were glad and promised to give him money.

What a curious insight into the hearts of the religious leaders. When they heard one of Jesus’ own followers was willing to betray Him, “they were glad and promised him money.” Had these men never read the Psalms which are full of imprecations against those who betray friends and those who lie in wait for innocent men? Had they never read the Law which prohibited such underhanded dealings?

Of course they had! These men made it their life purpose to study and guard the precepts of the Torah. Why then did they readily rejoice in evil without giving a second thought to how God’s Word condemned such actions? Because for all of their reading and knowledge of God’s ways, their hearts were closed to the heart of the Father revealed in Scripture. They knew much but the much they knew did not penetrate any deeper than their human intellect.

Makes me wonder about us. How guilty are we of such “understanding” of God? Can we sit in church, attend Bible studies, read the Word, and yet unthinkingly live lives so far from the boundaries of God’s Word, so far from the heart of the Father revealed in the very pages we pore over? Such is hardly the attitude of a Son-seeker.

Selflessness in the Widow's Gift | Measuring Value

I'm writing in large part for you, siblings. I miss getting to talk God with y'all. So here's one way to try to compensate for this. Hope y'all talk back. So here are some thoughts on my reading of a couple days ago in Mark. They are hardly exhaustive, just touching on some themes I found interesting.
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Mark 12:41-44, And he sat down opposite the treasury and watched the people putting money into the offering box. Many rich people put in large sums. And a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which make a penny. And he called his disciples to him and said to them, “Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.”

Now here is a beautiful example of one who did not put on a show, since I referred to putting on a spiritual shows in the last post. This widow hardly organized a fanfare when she offered her bits; people would probably have laughed if she had organized a parade only to drop into the box a 64th of a day’s wage. But she wasn’t giving her money to win the approbation of the crowd; she gave silently, and only Jesus noted. But only Jesus matters for it is He who judges these actions in the final day, not men. And Jesus knew what she was doing–giving her all to God.

God’s scale of value is so different from ours for, in our finiteness, we can only measure quantitatively; our qualitative measures are entirely relative because they are subjective and our subjectivity is riddled with sin. Only God can accurately measure quality for He has at His disposal all knowledge about everything to do with what He is currently examining. Therefore, while we humans most often resort to quantitative measures to define one’s devotion or worth, only God who knows the heart determines the true value, the qualitative value, of what we bring before Him.

This should both terrify and relieve us. Presenting to God a right heart is much harder than bringing Him massive quantities of valuable things (wealth, time, service, etc.) and this is terrifying. However, it should relieve us because we don’t have to invest a particular number of hours or amount of money before our service “becomes acceptable” to Him. God isn’t a rationalist who regards us as “good works” factories made to crank out the most number of good in the least amount of time with the least amount of input. What God values most is a Son-seeking heart, for His heart seeks the same thing ("He who loves Me shall be loved by my Father," John 14:21).

Sunday, October 14, 2012

Selfish Ambition vs. Son-Seeking

For a long time now, I've toyed with the idea of starting a blog where I could bless the world with my thoughts and improve Christianity with my voice. Well, I didn't actually think of it in those terms but so often that was the state of my heart when I considered blogging. Even though family and friends encouraged me to get my thoughts on the web for the benefit of others, my first reaction was usually less about others, still less about Christ, and more about being known and respected as a biblical thinker (vain human that I am).

Over the last two years, God has knocked me all over the boxing ring of spiritual training. He began uncovering the true depths of my sinfulness, showing me that I am nearly always guilty of using Him for my own personal advancement. Now, we're all used to humans using each other for selfish ends; after all, isn't this what business and politics are all about? And, if we're honest, we must admit we all have used others for economic ends, status or goal achievement, emotional and physical needs...the list goes on. But there's still something that sickens us when friends use friends and family members prey on each other. We all recognize that this just isn't how you treat people you care about, and we are deeply hurt when someone we love uses us as a dispensable commodity.

Why then do we treat God any different than we would treat a loved one, seeing that we claim Him as our heavenly Bridegroom? I've realized in my own life I have a horrible habit of using my prayers and verses I've memorized and nuggets of truth given me by the Spirit to, in an underhanded way, act like I'm doing something for God by serving others with these gifts when I'm really striving after the praise of those I serve. I use God to advance myself! I use His gifts to achieve my own ends.

 So lately I've had to question every "spiritual" activity of mine. Am I really praying with this brother to lift him up before God, or am I really praying to him and not God? Am I writing notes during my Bible reading so that I can look back and wonder at all God has taught me, or am I really hoping someone will find these notes, read them, and think what a wonderfully spiritual guy I am? Am I teaching my Youth Group because I want them to seek the Son with all their hearts because He is beautiful and infinitely worthy, or am I putting on a spiritual show so they will wonder at the passionate "godliness" of their youth leader and want to be like him?

And this is why I've hesitated to start a blog. I fear that though I may say I'm writing for the glory of God and the good of others, I might really be using this as yet another medium to put myself on a pedestal. So it is with great fear and trembling that I pen (well, I guess "type" would be accurate) this first entry.

It is my goal to seek the Son through this blog and to do so without shadow of selfish ambition. Like John the Baptist stated so beautifully in John 3:30, He (Jesus) must increase and I must decrease. Such is my hope not only for myself but also for you who read these posts and thoughts on the Scriptures. May we, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, find ourselves transformed into the same image, from glory to glory (II Cor. 3:18). This is the exciting wonder of Son-seeking: In searching hard for Him we become like Him! And as we discover what is truly Beautiful, I pray we will be less inclined to turn our gaze back on ourselves and wallow again in our smallness, our vileness.

Come! Away from our sin, our self-preoccupation, our spiritual sluggishness... Let us seek the Son!