Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Christians are Called to Do Something

All Christians should have a healthy habit of prayer and reading the bible, so I do not intend to knock those practices in anyway. They are not only important, but they are also essential to growing in Christ. Nevertheless, as Christians, we are called to do more than just pray and read the bible.

Life is full of confusion, suffering, injustice, and evil begetting more and more evil. That's why just about everyone desires to see God reveal Himself. I think that no matter what a person believes about God, whether Christian, Buddhist, Muslim, or even atheist or agnostic, everyone will at some point recognize that the world desperately needs God. Nevertheless, a variety of different responses result from this recognition.

Some people see all of the confusion, sadness and evil and conclude that life is incompatible with the existence of a perfect God. I disagree, but I'm not trying to prove them wrong in this article. They might do everything they can to help the world in order to make up for the lack of God. I sometimes feel embarrassed for Christians because of these people, and I hope that they will continue in their good works (but that they may also believe in God). Sadly, some who do not believe in God may just fend for themselves and forget about everyone else; or they may just give up on life completely.

Then there are people who believe in God. We might also accept that life is full of problems while choosing to do nothing about it. It's easier to just let someone else handle it- perhaps we are thinking, "preferably God Himself in some mysterious way that does not involve me." Realistically, we'll admit, God will most likely just use someone else. Or we might even try to come up with excuses- "Maybe everyone is just getting what they deserve... it's not my problem... I've got my own problems... I've got a different calling in life... it'll all work out for the best in the end according to the bible anyway, so I'm just letting God carry out His will."

Other believers long for God even more. They pray for God to reveal Himself and they open up the bible to find answers. Hopefully after praying and reading, we will all find out that praying and reading is not the only thing that Christians are called to do.

God reveals Himself to mankind through the actions of believers.
A number of scriptures support this conclusion:

Called to Preach the Gospel
"How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without preaching? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things!" - Romans 10

"Of this gospel I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given to me by the effectual working of His power." - Ephesians 3"

Called to Administer God's Grace, Mercy, and Compassion in Many Ways
Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ." - 1 Peter Ch. 4

By Giving to Those Who are in Need
"If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth." - 1 John Ch. 3

"Then the King shall say to those on His right hand, Come, blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave me food; I was thirsty, and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger, and you took Me in; I was naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me. Then the righteous shall answer Him, saying, Lord, when did we see You hungry, and fed You? Or thirsty, and gave You drink? When did we see You a stranger, and took You in? Or naked, and clothed You? Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and came to You? And the King shall answer and say to them, Truly I say to you, Inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brothers, you have done it to Me." - Matthew Ch. 25

"The Spirit of the Lord Jehovah is on Me; because Jehovah has anointed Me to preach the Gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to preach the acceptable year of Jehovah and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; to appoint to those who mourn in Zion, to give to them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the mantle of praise for the spirit of heaviness; so that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of Jehovah, that He might be glorified." - Isaiah Ch. 61

Some ways that aren't so popular among many Christians... but are still a reflection of God:

God Manifests Himself Through Government
"Let every soul be subject to the higher authorities. For there is no authority but of God; the authorities that exist are ordained by God. So that the one resisting the authority resists the ordinance of God; and the ones who resist will receive judgment to themselves. For the rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the bad. And do you desire to be not afraid of the authority? Do the good, and you shall have praise from it. For it is a servant of God to you for good. For if you practice evil, be afraid, for it does not bear the sword in vain; for it is a servant of God, a revenger for wrath on him who does evil. Therefore you must be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience' sake. For because of this you also pay taxes. For they are God's servants, always giving attention to this very thing." - Romans 13

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Perseverance

Perseverance: steady persistence in a course of action, a purpose, a state, etc., esp. in spite of difficulties, obstacles, or discouragement.

This past Sunday I had the opportunity to listen to a message on perseverance and I have been reflecting on it the past couple days. On of the major points of the message was that perseverance is something that is lacking in our society today. We now live in a world were so many things can be obtained with so little effort that we can begin to believe that everything should be that way. However, this mindset can be misleading and also damaging to a relationship with Christ. I often find myself wishing that I could instantly jump into a stronger relationship with Christ and skip all of the work that is required to get there but this is not how the Christian life works. It is a life that requires a steady persistence in growing closer to Christ.

An example that I can relate this concept to in my life has to do with working out. If you ever go into a gym in January it will most likely be packed with all the people who have decided that this is the year they will lose weight. However, after a couple days or maybe a couple weeks you will never see these people again (well at least for another year). Why? The answer is most likely that they did not have perseverance. When results did not show up instantly they got discouraged and gave up, which is the opposite of what it says in the definition of perseverance. There are things in life like working out where the results are NOT going to show up instantly. I am almost done with a workout program called P90X and there were multiple times that I got discouraged and wanted to give up when the results were not showing up instantly. However, over time it got easier and easier and the results kept getting better and better. It is that persistence to stay on course through all the trials that will lead to the most growth.

So what does this mean for our Christian life. The Bible makes it clear that it is not going to be easy. Paul writes to Timothy, "
But join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God." Paul tells him to join him in the SUFFERING. He says right there that you will have hardships and trials in your walk with God. The important thing is how we react to these obstacles. Do we give up the minute something becomes difficult or uncomfortable or do we push through with a steady persistence in spite it. The greatest results will come to those who choose to persist.

An example in the Bible that relates to this topic is found in the book of Nehemiah. In the book, Nehemiah travels back to Jerusalem to lead the people in the rebuilding of the wall around the city. It starts out well but opposition quickly arises. There are people in the area who will do anything to prevent the wall from being rebuilt. They attempt to discourage the people at first and eventually attack them to stop them from building. But this does not stop the people from building. They continue building with a sword in one hand to protect themselves while working with the other and their persistence pays off. They finish the wall despite all the obstacles that were in their way. This story gives me a lot of encouragement in my life today. The people in this story could have been killed any day but they did not let that affect them. They kept building and got the results they wanted. When I look at what these people had to overcome to achieve success it makes the obstacles that I have in my life look a lot less threatening and gives me encouragement to follow their example of perseverance.

Monday, March 22, 2010

Incorruptible, Undefiled, and Unfading

I am so glad to have something waiting on me in Heaven that I can't mess up. Right now I'm in my second semester of law school, and I was pretty surprised by how well I did during the first semester. Nevertheless, as crazy as this sounds, I almost wish I hadn't done so well because now I know there will be a lot of pressure on me to maintain my good grades. Law school can take a very heavy toll on the morale of law students, and the burden only gets heavier as they move on to the second year, the third year, and the bar exam. And don't even get me started about the legal career.

This summer I'll be doing a six week internship at Baker Hostetler, one of Columbus' larger law firms. While doing some background research on the firm, I learned that one of the partners at the Houston branch recently committed suicide. Let me make this clear- making Partner at a large law firm basically means you've made it in your legal career. I don't know why John Mings decided to take his life. I don't know if he struggled with depression or alcoholism, or if the pressure of success was too much for him to handle. But what I can tell from reading about him online is that he was only 45, he had a family, he went to church, and he was a very successful attorney. John Mings affected many people in a positive way, and I pray that God would comfort all of those who grew close to him during his time on this earth.

Let's be honest- no matter how much you earn and achieve in life, it won't last forever. Even if you don't mess it up anytime soon, it'll eventually disappear. That's why I'm glad to have an inheritance in Heaven through Christ.

1 Peter Chapter One speaks of an inheritance reserved in Heaven for those who have received Christ:
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has regenerated us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and unfading, reserved in Heaven for you by the power of God, having been kept through faith to a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time..."

Just as a child may inherit something from his or her parents or grandparents without ever having done a thing to deserve it, we also receive an inheritance from God without having earned it. Moreover, we have been adopted into this Heavenly family, so we don't even inherit because of who we are. It is because of who Christ is and what He does for us. We can't ruin it! We inherit because of the mercy of God, and the inheritance is reserved by God's mighty power.

The power of God is the only reason why we will ever have anything that has real value. Everything else that we spend our lives chasing after will only have value for a nanosecond compared to what God has in store for His children. The things of this world are all like grass and flowers, as they will wither away and die. Our material possessions- clothes, cars, and homes; and anything else that brings us glory- our skills, talent and educations, and our good grades, good jobs and good reputations- these things are all temporary. Even the relationships we have with our loved ones will only last for so long.

Our inheritance in the Kingdom of God is the one thing that will never disappear. I do not mean to say that we shouldn't enjoy what God has given us today. Just don't grow so attached to anything that you forget how much it pales in comparison to the inheritance you will receive as one of God's children.

Monday, March 15, 2010

Motivation

"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." -Matthew 22: 36-40
After going through a group study by Bill Hybels called 'Just Walk Across the Room,'  it became clearer to me what the point of sharing God with others was.

It's easy to get wrapped up in having the wrong motive while your speaking to someone who does not believe in God.  If you love church and the wonderful environment that comes with it, you could very easily think that, when telling someone about God, you just want them to join your little 'club' by believing in Christ.  Isn't it more than that, though?  Isn't God more than just "Club Founder and President of the Christian Club?" Of course!  Behind every motive in sharing God's word is.... Love!  The verse above even says that "All the law and prophets hang on these two commandments" (emphasis mine).  In other words, behind everything that God has ever been a part of is love.

My interactions with others should have a foundation of love.  I am sure that God's work will flourish through me if I always have love as my motive.  I am also sure that if club recruitment is my motive, my work for God's kingdom will be crippled by my selfishness.  But I'm not looking for brownie points at the next club meeting.  I'm looking to introduce others to a loving God.

Friday, March 12, 2010

Hungry?

"Jesus answered, 'It is written: "Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God. " ' "Matthew 4:4

After listening to a recent message given by Seth Evans titled, "Faithful Men," I spent some time reflecting on my life. I have been a lot busier this quarter than I have been in the past and the last couple of weeks I have been feeling a little burned out. At first, I thought the reason for this was simply my busy lifestyle and lack of sleep but looking back I realized it was something much more than that. The real reason I was feeling burned out was because of a significant decrease in the time I had spent reading the Bible during that time. I didn't think it would matter if I missed a couple days of reading because I told myself I had the rest of my life to read the Bible. However, I realized that having this type of mindset was damaging my relationship with Christ. Without a daily intake of the word of God my relationship with Him was withering.

Jesus says in the above verse that we live on "every word that comes from the mouth of God." As a Christian you need these words to survive and all you have to do to find these words is open your Bible. That is where God will speak to you. Think about how much time you spend eating each day and how uncomfortable you get when you miss a meal. The same thing happens when you miss your intake of the word of God. You have probably seen pictures of people who are starving in countries less fortunate than the US. If you are not reading God's word then that is what you could look like spiritually. I encourage you to set a goal for yourself in reading the Bible. Set a time that you will read and than plan the rest of your life around that. Make it one of the things in your life that you do everyday, just like eating. If you do this, you will see your relationship with the Lord grow stronger and stronger everyday and you will live a more fulfilled life than you ever have before.

Monday, March 8, 2010

“What Does God Want Me to Do with My Life?” – Part II

According to the first chapter of 1 John, three things are inseparably connected- God, eternal life, and light. As much as I hate hearing about bundling from cable companies, even I have to admit that God loves packages.

Too often, Christians fall into the trap of acting as if life has no purpose except for what we make it. Incidentally, we may have just stumbled onto the Christian idea of God because we like the ideas of morality and eternal life, but we can’t quite understand the significance of “this Jesus guy.” So we wouldn’t dare try to convince anyone else that they need him. In fact, we might even be ashamed of the gospel.

Or perhaps we like to be good people and we’re even cool with Jesus, but we love our lives so much that we never take time to appreciate eternal life. Like the rich man who spoke with Jesus in the gospels, we’d be very sorrowful if God told us we needed to give up everything we have to follow Him and have eternal life.

Then there’s a third category- similar to people in the second category, we think Jesus is our “homeboy,” but there’s something else we don’t want to give up. Maybe we look forward to an eternity spent with God, but we do not want anyone interfering with our morals. We might try to convince ourselves that God can just go along with us and pretend like everything we do is moral; and we’ll just ignore anyone or anything that tries to convince us otherwise.

Eternal life comes to us from God. God is light, and in Him, there is no darkness.
These two aspects are central to our purpose in God. The first aspect deals with God’s desire for you to receive His eternal life. That doesn’t mean he will simply extend your current life. When you receive God’s eternal life, you receive a new life that you never had before. Your old life, full of darkness, and misguided by your arbitrary search for a purpose, is no good because it wasn’t in God. That’s why “born-again” is more than just a phrase to describe judgmental, bible-thumping Christians with big hats and big hair. No one receives God’s eternal life without being born again- by putting off the old, sinful man, and putting on the new man. The new man walks in the light of God, so Jesus Christ is THE ONE and ONLY model for this new man.

No one walking in darkness, in sin and according to his or her own purpose, can truly have fellowship with God. God is not in this darkness. He is only in the light. We should not be deceived into thinking God is somehow fine with our walking in sin and immorality. If we walk in darkness, according to our own sinful purposes, we allow darkness to blind our eyes. So how could we possibly expect God to answer life’s big questions if we are so blinded by the darkness of sin that we can’t see any of His answers? We must first allow God to deal with our sins. A man who never accepts this truth cannot understand God’s purpose for his life.

One who never receives the truth- specifically, one who never accepts Christ into his life, must inevitably come to one of two conclusions, depending on how pessimistic or optimistic he is- 1) that his life is meaningless, and therefore wasted since he has no real purpose in life; or 2) that his life means whatever he wants it to mean. Either conclusion places him outside of God’s purpose for mankind.

Fortunately, if you have received Christ, better things are in store for you because the power of God is working in you. You can keep your salvation, but still choose to live a lie and walk in darkness by cutting off fellowship with God, causing you to miss out on much of His joy. But a better choice would be to walk in the light of God, which will allow you to experience the completeness of Christ’s joy through fellowship with God and other believers. To walk in the light of God, one must have fellowship with Christians, and one must not neglect to ask God for forgiveness of sins. If you walk in the light, you are walking according to truth, rather than according to blindness, confusion and deception. Thus, you are walking according to God’s purpose.

I believe that if you have chosen to follow God- to receive his eternal life, and to walk in the light, you won’t need to worry too much about everything else. God will make sure that things work out in the way that they need to be worked out. Romans 8:28 says, “all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” This verse doesn’t say that the rest of your life on this earth will be easy, nor does it say that you’ll get everything you want- it means everything will work together for good in the big picture. God’s mind is on eternity.

To make things a bit more practical now- If you face a big question in life, and one of the potential answers looks like it clearly falls outside of God’s purpose, it’s the wrong answer. So don’t choose that path! Don’t try to stretch God to make Him fit into the answer, because He won’t be going along with it. Too much stretching might make you wonder if you’ve even met God in the first place. But if it seems like an answer to one of life’s big questions is really within God’s purpose, just trust Him to work it out. Go ahead and live the life that God has given you. Just make sure that the life you are living is the life that God has given you according to God’s purpose, spelled out in His Word, and fueled by His mighty power; and not a life of darkness, located outside of God.

It is worth repeating- God, eternal life, and walking in the light are INSEPARABLE. Each one of us will, at times, neglect at least one of these aspects of the faith. But my hope is that you will experience the completeness of the joy of Christ by choosing to get back on track by reading the bible, fellowshipping with Christians, asking God for the forgiveness of sins, and enjoying eternal life in God. While it is true that life raises new questions about your purpose everyday, you won’t even be able to begin to get the answers you need from God unless you study his Holy word and take advantage His fellowship.

Saturday, March 6, 2010

“What Does God Want Me to Do with My Life?” – Part I

Do you constantly find yourself asking God if you’ve chosen the right career path, or if a career is even part of God’s plan for your life? Have you ever wondered who God wants you to marry, in the hope that marriage will suddenly give your life the right “purpose?” Well, as Christ-followers, I think we have to be very careful in developing a clear understanding of the “purpose” God has given us.

First, ask yourself a question- “Am I finding my purpose in God, or am I trying to find God in my purpose?”

I hope every Christian is finding his or her purpose in God. I say “finding” because this is obviously a lifelong journey. At the same time, I hope to make it crystal clear that this journey should not simply be a sham. We shouldn’t just run around frantically and ignorantly, constantly trying to reassure ourselves that everything that happens, and everything we really, really want to happen, is somehow proof that we have a purpose in God.

To understand the purpose God has given you as a Christian, you must look to the bible. That sounds pretty simple, right? But how often do we actually do this? Think about how much time you’ve spent asking God for a sign that you are on the right track. Maybe you’ve wondered if he could just put the right person in your path so you know who to marry; or if he could give you a crazy dream that somehow answers a question that just won’t go away. Perhaps he could make the stars align, magically causing you to become extremely fluent in some difficult foreign language, which would clearly help you realize that he wants you to move overseas to do mission work. I’ve been silly enough to ask God to give me an answer, and then open up the bible to a random page, hoping he’ll reveal something meaningful.

Well, the bible will reveal something meaningful if you read it with the right state of mind. The problem is that you won’t receive what you need from God unless you are asking the right questions. Whether we realize it or not, we often ask God, “How will you fit into my purpose?” Instead, try asking, “What is my purpose in you, God?” Don’t get me wrong- there’s nothing wrong with asking God to confirm things or answer questions. But the first place you should look to understand God's purpose for you is the bible. Don’t try to come up with a purpose first, and then try to explain it using the bible. You might end up having to explain away the bible.

God has a plan to deal with the unknown, but you can’t understand his plan for your Christian journey until you start reading His Word with an open heart and an open mind. Otherwise, you risk being blown around like a feather in the wind because of every person and event in your life, whether significant or insignificant to God’s purpose for you.

A good place to start is 1 John chapter one. It talks about Jesus as the Word of life, and it brings up walking in the light, a key aspect of God’s purpose.

Thursday, March 4, 2010

THE Plan

I am sorry about the post being a little long but I felt it was necessary. I also need to say beforehand that this post was influenced by a recent discussion I had with some friends(including the other authors of this blog) as well as a message given by Seth Evans and Tim Lin, which you can find on the Oasis Christian Community web site.


With the Winter Olympics now over it is inevitable that nearly everyone will stop paying any attention to the sports or people involved for another four years. However, when they come around in four years again almost everyone will be excited about them once again. I found myself asking the question, "Why." Why does everyone care so much about the sports and people involved for 20 days when they completely disregard them for the four years leading up to them. It is obviously not a matter of the athletes competing because most people do not follow the careers of any of them. It also cannot be about the sports because no one pays attention to them either in the four years in between the Games. This left me with the conclusion that people must really enjoy what these athletes are representing; their country, which is something a lot greater than themselves as an individual. This has to be at least part of the reason that people enjoy the watching the Olympics so much. It allows the individual watching to elevate himself/herself to a much higher level because they are now part of something that is much larger or greater than anything they could ever attain on their own. They can find a greater sense of happiness and worth for their lives just by being part of something greater than themselves.

What if I told you that there was something out there so much greater than the Olympics that it would not even be worth the comparison. Something out there greater than anything you have seen or heard about and that YOU can be a part of it. How can you be a part of it? 2 Timothy 1:9-10 has the answer:


“He saved us and called us to a holy life, not according to our works but according to his own design and the grace bestowed on us in Christ Jesus before time began, but now made manifest through the appearance of our savior Christ Jesus, who destroyed death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel…”


As you can see God had his own design, his own plan, BEFORE time began. This design of his was in place before any human being ever existed. Do you want to be a part of something bigger than yourself? Then look no further. It does not get any bigger than this. It says in the verse that this plan had nothing to do with us and “our works” but everything to do with God and His grace. This isn’t about you and what you have done, it is about God and what He has done. The only thing that you have to do is become a part of this great plan and this verse tells you how. It says that Jesus Christ has revealed this plan to all of us. So look to Jesus Christ, believe in him, and become a part of something greater than anything else you will ever experience. Right now I encourage you to look to Christ for the fulfillment in life that you cannot receive anywhere else. If you are a Christian and reading this I encourage you to keep this in your mind. Think about how excited you get about the Olympics, or if not that whatever else in your life that provides you with the satisfaction of being a part of something greater than yourself. Now think back to being a part of God’s plan that has been in place before you existed. Are you more excited about that? You should be.