So it's been quite a while since I last wrote, and it may be quite a while again. Maybe not. I'm getting the itch to write more frequently.
But I'm here today. Because there's a thought that has been going through my mind a lot lately. It's related to some of the struggles I've experienced this year. One of those struggles was leaving Swanton Alliance Church. I wish that our time with these brothers and sisters had gone more smoothly and that we could still be there. And the other has to do with my wife's recent announcement (http://www.simpletruth.me/2011/11/lets-be-honest-folks/), and all the weighty implications of it, too. Between them, there's been a good bit of pain and struggle in my life this year.
And to be honest, I have often felt like blaming people. All kinds of people. Maybe you, if you know me. But that's what I wanted to write about.
As I've watched this year unfold, I've seen reasons to blame my troubles on myself, my wife, my parents, Christy's parents, past churches, friends, etc. I've seen plenty of sins. Now, I can't say for sure that all the struggles I have experienced are the results of the specific sins I've observed. But they could be.
On the other hand, I have seen things happen that seem to justify these sins and choices. I can look back on decisions people made and say, "That was wrong." But then something else happens and it seems to argue in the opposite direction: "Maybe that wasn't such a bad choice after all. Maybe that was done the right way." So which perception is right? Were the things I called sins actually wrong? Or were they right?
I know I'm being rather vague about the things that happened. That's on purpose. I'm not trying to call anyone out or make any public accusations. Instead, I'm grappling with the question, "How can we tell when an action or an attitude is sinful and when it is not?" Or, "How can we prove that we're in the right? How can we justify our actions, even when they don't seem to be good?"
And the conclusion I'm coming to is this: If the Bible says a behavior or attitude is wrong, then it is wrong and sinful. This is true regardless of what future results come about. Future outcomes do not justify past sins. However...
Jesus does. Only Jesus. He is our Justifier. That doesn't mean that He takes all our past sins and makes them right. It means that He takes all our past sins and pays for them by dying for our sins, and at the same time He takes all His righteousness and gives it to us so that we stand before His Father justified. Our sins are not justified. WE are. Because of Jesus.
As I said, I have seen a lot of people's sins pretty clearly this year. My own sins included. And my hope for myself and for all of the other people -- all of the brothers and sisters in Christ whose sins I have seen -- has nothing to do with finding some way to prove that their sins were not actually sins. No such shallow justification provides the hope we all need. My hope for all of us is the justification that came at the price of Jesus' blood. May we all be humble enough to stop trying to justify ourselves in any other way. Let's receive His death- and resurrection-based justification together.
Merry Christmas, everyone. We're receiving quite a gift.
Monday, December 12, 2011
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Prove It…Again
Today’s Reading:
Verse(s) to Ponder:
Thoughts:
In the face of Jesus’ goodness, in the face of the wisdom and morality of His teachings, opponents still came and demanded that He perform a miracle to convince them that He was genuinely here as God’s representative.
It’s not as if they hadn’t been able to witness any of His other miracles already. And they had certainly heard His teachings. He wasn’t hiding anything.
No wonder Jesus called them out. No wonder he said that their hearts were evil and adulterous—that their inclination was to be unfaithful to their God.
And yet He still gave them a sign. The sign of Jonah—that is, the sign of His own death and resurrection.
How many of them responded to His sign? How many of us are just the same as they were, rejecting Jesus despite everything He’s done and demanding another sign?
Note: I have obviously been less than consistent about posting devotional thoughts for a while now, so I’m not going to claim that I’ll be consistent for the next few months, or that the blog will be centered around a certain theme (it was supposed to deal with faith-stretching verses this year). I just hope that these thoughts are still an encouragement to you, whenever they come your way.
- Luke 8:1-3; Mark 3:20-30; Matthew 12:22-45; Mark 3:31-35; Matthew 12:46-50; Luke 8:19-21; Mark 4:1-9; Matthew 13:1-9; Luke 8:4-8; Mark 4:10-20
Verse(s) to Ponder:
- One day some teachers of religious law and Pharisees came to Jesus and said, “Teacher, we want you to show us a miraculous sign to prove your authority.” But Jesus replied, “Only an evil, adulterous generation would demand a miraculous sign; but the only sign I will give them is the sign of the prophet Jonah.” – Matthew 12:38-39, New Living Translation
Thoughts:
In the face of Jesus’ goodness, in the face of the wisdom and morality of His teachings, opponents still came and demanded that He perform a miracle to convince them that He was genuinely here as God’s representative.
It’s not as if they hadn’t been able to witness any of His other miracles already. And they had certainly heard His teachings. He wasn’t hiding anything.
No wonder Jesus called them out. No wonder he said that their hearts were evil and adulterous—that their inclination was to be unfaithful to their God.
And yet He still gave them a sign. The sign of Jonah—that is, the sign of His own death and resurrection.
How many of them responded to His sign? How many of us are just the same as they were, rejecting Jesus despite everything He’s done and demanding another sign?
Note: I have obviously been less than consistent about posting devotional thoughts for a while now, so I’m not going to claim that I’ll be consistent for the next few months, or that the blog will be centered around a certain theme (it was supposed to deal with faith-stretching verses this year). I just hope that these thoughts are still an encouragement to you, whenever they come your way.
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Hope on Judgment Day
Today’s Reading:
Verse(s) to Ponder:
Thoughts:
Is God unfair?
Some people are born into Christian communities and hear God’s Word from a young age; others are born into communities that worship false gods. When Judgment Day comes, will God punish the people who had little to no chance to hear about Him just because of their circumstances?
All around the world, some people get to experience God’s miracles and some see visions sent from heaven; others feel like they would like to believe in God, but because they have never experienced this kind of evidence, they aren’t convinced that any of the stories about miracles and visions are true. No one they know has ever seen anything truly miraculous. When Judgment Day comes, will God judge the people who never saw a miracle on the same standards as those who did, as though they had the same opportunity to understand His wonderful nature?
No. Not according to what Jesus says in Matthew 11:20-22.
Jesus performed a number of miracles in some places, and yet many of the people who experienced His miracles did not renounce their sins and turn to God. I can’t even comprehend why they would not have responded to Jesus after seeing His miracles, but they didn’t (which is a sobering reminder that our hearts are more rebellious than we would like to admit, and that even those of us who claim that we would believe in Jesus if He would only give us more evidence may be deceiving ourselves). And Jesus compares them to others, essentially saying that they have been given an advantage and have done nothing with it.
But what about all the places where Jesus performed no miracles? Jesus says that they will be better off on Judgment Day. How much better off? I don’t know for sure. But this gives me a lot of hope for people who respond to whatever evidence God has placed in their lives and follow Jesus to the extent that they know about Him. Why does this give me hope for them? It gives me hope for them because Jesus didn’t have to perform miracles in other places to know how they would have responded. Jesus knows people’s hearts well enough for His knowledge of our hearts’ responses and their “would have responded if” responses to be taken into account on Judgment Day.
So how does this change anything for me? Actions-wise, it doesn’t. I need to be a faithful witness, no matter what. I can’t just sit back and avoid witnessing “because I know that Jesus is fair and trust that He knows who would have believed in Him if they had heard.” Too many passages in His Word remind us that our responsibility to introduce people to Jesus is a serious responsibility with serious consequences for the people around us. But on the other hand, I can walk through life with hope for the people who seem to be the most disadvantaged when it comes to opportunities to know Jesus. Jesus knows their circumstances, and He knows their hearts, and on Judgment Day, it’s going to make a difference for them.
And I can trust Him to do what’s right. I love hope.
Note: I have obviously been less than consistent about posting devotional thoughts for a while now, so I’m not going to claim that I’ll be consistent for the next few months, or that the blog will be centered around a certain theme (it was supposed to deal with faith-stretching verses this year). I just hope that these thoughts are still an encouragement to you, whenever they come your way.
- Matthew 8:5-13; Luke 7:1-17; Matthew 11:1-19; Luke 7:18-35; Matthew 11:20-30; Luke 7:36-50
Verse(s) to Ponder:
- Then Jesus began to denounce the towns where he had done so many of his miracles, because they hadn’t repented of their sins and turned to God. “What sorrow awaits you, Korazin and Bethsaida! For if the miracles I did in you had been done in wicked Tyre and Sidon, their people would have repented of their sins long ago, clothing themselves in burlap and throwing ashes on their heads to show remorse. I tell you, Tyre and Sidon will be better off on judgment day than you.” Matthew 11:20-22, New Living Translation
Thoughts:
Is God unfair?
Some people are born into Christian communities and hear God’s Word from a young age; others are born into communities that worship false gods. When Judgment Day comes, will God punish the people who had little to no chance to hear about Him just because of their circumstances?
All around the world, some people get to experience God’s miracles and some see visions sent from heaven; others feel like they would like to believe in God, but because they have never experienced this kind of evidence, they aren’t convinced that any of the stories about miracles and visions are true. No one they know has ever seen anything truly miraculous. When Judgment Day comes, will God judge the people who never saw a miracle on the same standards as those who did, as though they had the same opportunity to understand His wonderful nature?
No. Not according to what Jesus says in Matthew 11:20-22.
Jesus performed a number of miracles in some places, and yet many of the people who experienced His miracles did not renounce their sins and turn to God. I can’t even comprehend why they would not have responded to Jesus after seeing His miracles, but they didn’t (which is a sobering reminder that our hearts are more rebellious than we would like to admit, and that even those of us who claim that we would believe in Jesus if He would only give us more evidence may be deceiving ourselves). And Jesus compares them to others, essentially saying that they have been given an advantage and have done nothing with it.
But what about all the places where Jesus performed no miracles? Jesus says that they will be better off on Judgment Day. How much better off? I don’t know for sure. But this gives me a lot of hope for people who respond to whatever evidence God has placed in their lives and follow Jesus to the extent that they know about Him. Why does this give me hope for them? It gives me hope for them because Jesus didn’t have to perform miracles in other places to know how they would have responded. Jesus knows people’s hearts well enough for His knowledge of our hearts’ responses and their “would have responded if” responses to be taken into account on Judgment Day.
So how does this change anything for me? Actions-wise, it doesn’t. I need to be a faithful witness, no matter what. I can’t just sit back and avoid witnessing “because I know that Jesus is fair and trust that He knows who would have believed in Him if they had heard.” Too many passages in His Word remind us that our responsibility to introduce people to Jesus is a serious responsibility with serious consequences for the people around us. But on the other hand, I can walk through life with hope for the people who seem to be the most disadvantaged when it comes to opportunities to know Jesus. Jesus knows their circumstances, and He knows their hearts, and on Judgment Day, it’s going to make a difference for them.
And I can trust Him to do what’s right. I love hope.
Note: I have obviously been less than consistent about posting devotional thoughts for a while now, so I’m not going to claim that I’ll be consistent for the next few months, or that the blog will be centered around a certain theme (it was supposed to deal with faith-stretching verses this year). I just hope that these thoughts are still an encouragement to you, whenever they come your way.
Monday, October 3, 2011
Kids’ Persistent Questions
Today’s Reading:
Verse(s) to Ponder:
Thoughts:
I was just thinking today about the connection between persistent prayer and praying to a Heavenly Father.
As a human father, sometimes I wish that my children wouldn’t ask so persistently. My son Michael is really, really eager to visit the Discovery Place (and we’ve already been there several times, so his experience gives him a lot of motivation to return). And he will ask me, “Dad, can we go to the Discovery Place?”
So I’ll say, “Yes, Michael, we can go.”
And he asks an important question: “When, dad?”
It usually takes me a minute to decide when I would like to take him to visit the Discovery Place, but the answer often ends up being something like, “We’ll go there next week on Thursday.”
You would think that I’d get a huge cheer right then! After all, I have just told Michael not only that we’ll go to the Discovery Place, but I’ve committed myself to a set date. I can’t postpone it beyond then without breaking my word (and I am very reluctant to do that).
But Michael is usually not very happy with an answer like that. “Yes” isn’t enough. “Next Thursday” isn’t enough. He wants to go NOW. And what that usually means is that for the next week, he keeps asking me over and over and over, “Dad, can we go to the Discovery Place? Can we go now?”
As I said, being a human father, this isn’t the most pleasant experience in the world for me. I can become a bit impatient… not that anyone else would know what I’m talking about, right? I’ve given my son an answer, I’ve given him the promise of a good gift, and I’ve given him a specific time when he can expect to receive it. Sometimes I wish he would just trust me and wait patiently.
A lot of the things we ask God for are things that He has said “Yes” to, also. Health. Wisdom. Character. Safety. And He has told us when we can expect to have them in their fullness—when Jesus comes back. Sometimes He gives us an early taste of them, too. But often, He asks us to wait.
Somehow, that doesn’t do much to satisfy our desires. We want those good gifts from God, and we want to experience them—fully—now. And so we ask, and we keep on asking. And we knock, and keep on knocking. And God keeps telling us, as we read His Word, “Yes, when Jesus comes back.” And we keep begging Him, “How about today? How about now?”
The really amazing thing to me is this: through Jesus, God encourages us to keep begging and asking. God is better with His children than I am with my son. He not only knows how to give good gifts, but God is patient and understanding toward His children’s repeated requests. He loves to hear them! He wants to have the opportunity to tell all of us—not just me, but you, too—to tell all of us a big, wonderful “Yes” over and over again. Through His “Yes,” God reminds us that He loves us. As He reminds us of His plan to fulfill every promise through Jesus, God thrills at the opportunity to fill our minds and hearts with His love again. And so He loves to hear us ask for His good gifts, not just once, but repeatedly. Every time we ask, we give Him another opportunity to joyfully remind us of His loving plans.
Note: I have obviously been less than consistent about posting devotional thoughts for a while now, so I’m not going to claim that I’ll be consistent for the next few months, or that the blog will be centered around a certain theme (it was supposed to deal with faith-stretching verses this year). I just hope that these thoughts are still an encouragement to you, whenever they come your way.
- Matthew 6:5-7:6; Luke 6:37-42; Matthew 7:7-20; Luke 6:43-45; Matthew 7:21-29; Luke 6:46-49
Verse(s) to Ponder:
- Keep on asking, and you will received what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you.… You parents—if your children ask for a loaf of bread, do you give them a stone instead? Or if they ask for a fish, do you give them a snake? Of course not! So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him. – Matthew 7:7, 9-11, New Living Translation
Thoughts:
I was just thinking today about the connection between persistent prayer and praying to a Heavenly Father.
As a human father, sometimes I wish that my children wouldn’t ask so persistently. My son Michael is really, really eager to visit the Discovery Place (and we’ve already been there several times, so his experience gives him a lot of motivation to return). And he will ask me, “Dad, can we go to the Discovery Place?”
So I’ll say, “Yes, Michael, we can go.”
And he asks an important question: “When, dad?”
It usually takes me a minute to decide when I would like to take him to visit the Discovery Place, but the answer often ends up being something like, “We’ll go there next week on Thursday.”
You would think that I’d get a huge cheer right then! After all, I have just told Michael not only that we’ll go to the Discovery Place, but I’ve committed myself to a set date. I can’t postpone it beyond then without breaking my word (and I am very reluctant to do that).
But Michael is usually not very happy with an answer like that. “Yes” isn’t enough. “Next Thursday” isn’t enough. He wants to go NOW. And what that usually means is that for the next week, he keeps asking me over and over and over, “Dad, can we go to the Discovery Place? Can we go now?”
As I said, being a human father, this isn’t the most pleasant experience in the world for me. I can become a bit impatient… not that anyone else would know what I’m talking about, right? I’ve given my son an answer, I’ve given him the promise of a good gift, and I’ve given him a specific time when he can expect to receive it. Sometimes I wish he would just trust me and wait patiently.
A lot of the things we ask God for are things that He has said “Yes” to, also. Health. Wisdom. Character. Safety. And He has told us when we can expect to have them in their fullness—when Jesus comes back. Sometimes He gives us an early taste of them, too. But often, He asks us to wait.
Somehow, that doesn’t do much to satisfy our desires. We want those good gifts from God, and we want to experience them—fully—now. And so we ask, and we keep on asking. And we knock, and keep on knocking. And God keeps telling us, as we read His Word, “Yes, when Jesus comes back.” And we keep begging Him, “How about today? How about now?”
The really amazing thing to me is this: through Jesus, God encourages us to keep begging and asking. God is better with His children than I am with my son. He not only knows how to give good gifts, but God is patient and understanding toward His children’s repeated requests. He loves to hear them! He wants to have the opportunity to tell all of us—not just me, but you, too—to tell all of us a big, wonderful “Yes” over and over again. Through His “Yes,” God reminds us that He loves us. As He reminds us of His plan to fulfill every promise through Jesus, God thrills at the opportunity to fill our minds and hearts with His love again. And so He loves to hear us ask for His good gifts, not just once, but repeatedly. Every time we ask, we give Him another opportunity to joyfully remind us of His loving plans.
Note: I have obviously been less than consistent about posting devotional thoughts for a while now, so I’m not going to claim that I’ll be consistent for the next few months, or that the blog will be centered around a certain theme (it was supposed to deal with faith-stretching verses this year). I just hope that these thoughts are still an encouragement to you, whenever they come your way.
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
God Among The gods
Today’s Reading:
Faith-Stretching Verse(s):
Thoughts:
Obviously, if you’ve read anything I have written so far, you know that I am a Christian. I believe in the God of the Bible—of the Old and New Testaments—and I believe specifically that we are set free from our sins and invited to know Him through His Son Jesus Christ, who lived and died and rose from the dead and lives forever as the eternal God who also became a man. I believe that I have a relationship with God, and that His Holy Spirit lives in me and changes me and reminds me to look to Jesus day by day.
As a Christian, I also believe that this is the only true God. I deny that the God of Islam is the same God. I deny that those who follow Judaism know the true God, even though they share more than half of my Bible with me, because Judaism without Jesus Christ knows something about the true God but refuses to know Him as He has fully revealed Himself to be. I deny the many gods of Hinduism to be real gods—perhaps demons, but not gods. I deny the gods of ancient Greece, the gods of ancient Rome, the gods of animism, the gods of the cults, the gods that were worshiped by ancient Israel’s neighbors, and any other god or gods that anyone might claim deserve mankind’s worship. There is only one true God. And I know Him.
There. Now I sound really arrogant.
But more than that, in today’s world, I might actually sound stupid. Because in today’s world, with a whole academic field devoted to comparative religions, scholars have discovered not only that different religions are different, but that different religions and deity-related mythologies are eerily similar. For instance, see this video on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljRKhZ81aqY. The argument in this video is similar to the argument made by Sennacherib’s “chief of staff” (NLT): “Gods are all pretty much the same. The LORD/Jesus is a God/god. Therefore, the LORD/Jesus is no more powerful or real than any other deity.”
How do we deal with this argument? In some ways, it seems to have merit. After all, even though we Christians call many beneficial events in our lives “miraculous,” most of the events we call miracles happen to unbelievers from other religions, and even to atheists. How many of our experiences have been brought to scientists and subjected to their thorough scrutiny to such an extent that even atheists have to deal with scientifically documented evidence of God’s work in our world? And even if we had a bunch of scientifically inexplicable stories, it may well be that people from other religions have some, too—stories which they would use to leverage people toward faith in their gods. And then we would have to deal with the reality that these stories are not the norm—even Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego admitted that God might not help them out of their fiery predicament (Daniel 3:17-18). Christians often go through experiences just as horrible as the experiences anybody else would go through.
I have a couple of suggestions for refuting this argument. First, we should examine (as I still need to do more thoroughly) similar stories to find out whether they were viewed as true earthly history or not. Second, we should examine what archaeology has revealed about our own God, in order to find out what kinds of evidence exist regarding His impact on earthly history. Third, perhaps we should take better notes on current miraculous events—scientists are doing studies to compare healings among prayed for people and unprayed for people, and those of us who have seen God’s wonders ought to be helping them explore the evidence we have experienced. Fourth, we need to turn back to the pages of our Scriptures to remember what the Bible says that God has done in space and time history—the list is very impressive, and we need to consider whether history could possibly have resulted in today’s world without God’s intervention.
Because the Bible’s claim is that God sometimes does intervene. In tomorrow’s reading (2 Kings 19) Hezekiah is saved from an army of 185,000 Assyrians in response to his prayers. If that’s just a myth, then don’t believe it. But if this really happened, don’t just call it a coincidence (even if God used some horrible earthly plague to defeat the huge army). If this is history, then God is not just one of the gods. He is exactly who He claims to be, the Creator and Sustainer of the universe who loves His people, who sent Jesus to save all who believe in Him, and who is making all things new in His time.
Even if others sometimes think of Jesus as just “one of the (false) gods,” the question still remains – Are they right or wrong? The benefits of knowing Him are nothing to sneeze at just because others claim He’s nonsense. Don’t miss out unless there’s nothing to miss out on. Pursue the truth.
For an overview of this year’s blog, please see http://threequartertank.blogspot.com/2011/01/why-do-believers-believe.html.
- Micah 6:1-7:20; 2 Chronicles 32:1-8; 2 Kings 18:13-18; Isaiah 36:1-3; 2 Kings 18:19-37; Isaiah 36:4-22
Faith-Stretching Verse(s):
- “Don’t let Hezekiah mislead you by saying, ‘The LORD will rescue us!’ Have the gods of any other nations ever saved their people from the king of Assyria? What happened to the gods of Hamath and Arpad? And what about the gods of Sepharvaim? Did any god rescue Samaria from my power? What god of any nation has ever been able to save its people from my power? So what makes you think that the LORD can rescue Jerusalem from me?” – Isaiah 36:18-20, NLT
Thoughts:
- It’s easy to wonder if perhaps our God isn’t so unique.
Obviously, if you’ve read anything I have written so far, you know that I am a Christian. I believe in the God of the Bible—of the Old and New Testaments—and I believe specifically that we are set free from our sins and invited to know Him through His Son Jesus Christ, who lived and died and rose from the dead and lives forever as the eternal God who also became a man. I believe that I have a relationship with God, and that His Holy Spirit lives in me and changes me and reminds me to look to Jesus day by day.
As a Christian, I also believe that this is the only true God. I deny that the God of Islam is the same God. I deny that those who follow Judaism know the true God, even though they share more than half of my Bible with me, because Judaism without Jesus Christ knows something about the true God but refuses to know Him as He has fully revealed Himself to be. I deny the many gods of Hinduism to be real gods—perhaps demons, but not gods. I deny the gods of ancient Greece, the gods of ancient Rome, the gods of animism, the gods of the cults, the gods that were worshiped by ancient Israel’s neighbors, and any other god or gods that anyone might claim deserve mankind’s worship. There is only one true God. And I know Him.
There. Now I sound really arrogant.
But more than that, in today’s world, I might actually sound stupid. Because in today’s world, with a whole academic field devoted to comparative religions, scholars have discovered not only that different religions are different, but that different religions and deity-related mythologies are eerily similar. For instance, see this video on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljRKhZ81aqY. The argument in this video is similar to the argument made by Sennacherib’s “chief of staff” (NLT): “Gods are all pretty much the same. The LORD/Jesus is a God/god. Therefore, the LORD/Jesus is no more powerful or real than any other deity.”
How do we deal with this argument? In some ways, it seems to have merit. After all, even though we Christians call many beneficial events in our lives “miraculous,” most of the events we call miracles happen to unbelievers from other religions, and even to atheists. How many of our experiences have been brought to scientists and subjected to their thorough scrutiny to such an extent that even atheists have to deal with scientifically documented evidence of God’s work in our world? And even if we had a bunch of scientifically inexplicable stories, it may well be that people from other religions have some, too—stories which they would use to leverage people toward faith in their gods. And then we would have to deal with the reality that these stories are not the norm—even Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego admitted that God might not help them out of their fiery predicament (Daniel 3:17-18). Christians often go through experiences just as horrible as the experiences anybody else would go through.
I have a couple of suggestions for refuting this argument. First, we should examine (as I still need to do more thoroughly) similar stories to find out whether they were viewed as true earthly history or not. Second, we should examine what archaeology has revealed about our own God, in order to find out what kinds of evidence exist regarding His impact on earthly history. Third, perhaps we should take better notes on current miraculous events—scientists are doing studies to compare healings among prayed for people and unprayed for people, and those of us who have seen God’s wonders ought to be helping them explore the evidence we have experienced. Fourth, we need to turn back to the pages of our Scriptures to remember what the Bible says that God has done in space and time history—the list is very impressive, and we need to consider whether history could possibly have resulted in today’s world without God’s intervention.
Because the Bible’s claim is that God sometimes does intervene. In tomorrow’s reading (2 Kings 19) Hezekiah is saved from an army of 185,000 Assyrians in response to his prayers. If that’s just a myth, then don’t believe it. But if this really happened, don’t just call it a coincidence (even if God used some horrible earthly plague to defeat the huge army). If this is history, then God is not just one of the gods. He is exactly who He claims to be, the Creator and Sustainer of the universe who loves His people, who sent Jesus to save all who believe in Him, and who is making all things new in His time.
Even if others sometimes think of Jesus as just “one of the (false) gods,” the question still remains – Are they right or wrong? The benefits of knowing Him are nothing to sneeze at just because others claim He’s nonsense. Don’t miss out unless there’s nothing to miss out on. Pursue the truth.
For an overview of this year’s blog, please see http://threequartertank.blogspot.com/2011/01/why-do-believers-believe.html.
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Andrew Smith’s sermon: Let Your Yes Be Yes
I didn’t have time today to write any thoughts on my devotional readings. But I did hear a wonderfully compelling message today when I attended theGathering (www.theGatheringNC.org - note: the message is probably not actually entitled "Let Your Yes Be Yes"). Andrew Smith preaches from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount and does a wonderful job explaining why taking oaths makes no sense if you believe that God created, oversees and owns everything… including you. Let’s see if the sermon’s already online or not… Ok, so it’s not quite up yet (but I don’t know whether my sermons ever got online before Monday, either—often Tuesday. That’s asking a lot.) Still, his sermons from the past several weeks are online, which I’m sure are terrific, because in my one and only time listening to his preaching I found him to be passionately faithful to Jesus. So go to http://www.thegatheringnc.org/messagecenter.aspx?parentnavigationid=10677, listen to a message or two, and bookmark the page so that you have the chance to hear today’s message soon. Maybe even tomorrow. ‘Night, y’all!
Saturday, July 9, 2011
Forgetting and Mingling
Today’s Reading:
Faith-Stretching Verse(s):
Thoughts: Losing your walk with Jesus is as easy as forgetting and mingling.
Why do people lose their faith in Jesus? Surprisingly, it’s pretty easy to do. All you need are two common life skills: forgetting and mingling.
Forgetting is when you stop thinking about your history with Jesus. You stop remembering what He did for you. You stop realizing how much He is doing for you. You put your mind on other things, and you downplay His role in your life. Amazingly, the Israelites were able to forget about God’s wonders and how He had miraculously brought them out of Egypt even while Moses was on Mt. Sinai receiving the Ten Commandments from God! And having forgotten Him, they replaced Him with a golden calf. We are amazingly adept at forgetting.
And forgetting is even more easy when we’re mingling. Mingling is simply getting into a community. Different communities have different ways of thinking and talking about the world. So if we’re from one community, but then we mingle with another community, it creates a conflict inside of us wherever the communities differ from one another. Something inside of us yearns to be fully accepted by the people we’re mingling with. And this yearning makes us try to conform to each community’s standards for acceptance. Mingling with a new community that doesn’t think the same way as our original community—whether this involves a farmer moving to the city, a smoker living among non-smokers, a northerner living in the south or a Christian befriending unbelievers—encourages us to forget our old patterns and adopt new ways of talking and behaving so that we can adapt and fit in to new surroundings less conspicuously.
And voila! Life transformation occurs! Unless a person figures out what it will look like to hold on to his or her original pattern while still living in a new community (or rejects the new community entirely), forgetting and mingling result in adapting. The farm boy sets aside farm life and replaces it with city life. The smoker tries to quit smoking until he either gives up, leaves his new home or (possibly) succeeds. The northerner learns to interpret the southern drawl and to say, “Yes, sir,” and, “No, ma’am.” And the Christian adopts the unbelievers’ lifestyles and thoughts and ways of talking about reality.
Adaptation is natural. It can feel necessary. In some cases, for survival, it is necessary. So the question of whether to adapt or not depends on convictions. In most cases, people have no convictions against adapting. Moving from the farm to the city? Sure, learn to live the city life. Moving in with non-smokers? Sure, try to quit smoking. Moving south? Sure, adapt to the drawl. But matters of faith and morality are matters of conviction. To hold on to our original faith while mingling with a new community requires a conviction that keeps us remembering, rather than forgetting. And the very convictions required for remembering are the convictions that seem to melt away the more we mingle.
Living among people who oppose our convictions can be extremely internally challenging. Living with people always involves some degree of mingling with them. Disagreements will become obvious soon enough. If a believer wants to maintain his faith, there’s going to be a cost. Mingling will always have to stop short of agreeing with words or behaving in ways that deny his convictions. Forgetting will have to be fought by disciplined self-reminders and, if possible, by plugging into a community of people who share the same convictions and care about remembering them together.
We all face the challenge to forget, mingle and adapt to people around us. How does this play out in your life? Are you forgetting, mingling and adapting? Or are you remembering, limiting mingling with convictions and staying faithful?
For an overview of this year’s blog, please see http://threequartertank.blogspot.com/2011/01/why-do-believers-believe.html.
- Psalms 105-106
Faith-Stretching Verse(s):
- They forgot God, their savior, who had done such great things in Egypt. – Psalm 106:21, NLT
- Instead, they mingled among the pagans and adopted their evil customs. – Psalm 106:35, NLT
Thoughts: Losing your walk with Jesus is as easy as forgetting and mingling.
Why do people lose their faith in Jesus? Surprisingly, it’s pretty easy to do. All you need are two common life skills: forgetting and mingling.
Forgetting is when you stop thinking about your history with Jesus. You stop remembering what He did for you. You stop realizing how much He is doing for you. You put your mind on other things, and you downplay His role in your life. Amazingly, the Israelites were able to forget about God’s wonders and how He had miraculously brought them out of Egypt even while Moses was on Mt. Sinai receiving the Ten Commandments from God! And having forgotten Him, they replaced Him with a golden calf. We are amazingly adept at forgetting.
And forgetting is even more easy when we’re mingling. Mingling is simply getting into a community. Different communities have different ways of thinking and talking about the world. So if we’re from one community, but then we mingle with another community, it creates a conflict inside of us wherever the communities differ from one another. Something inside of us yearns to be fully accepted by the people we’re mingling with. And this yearning makes us try to conform to each community’s standards for acceptance. Mingling with a new community that doesn’t think the same way as our original community—whether this involves a farmer moving to the city, a smoker living among non-smokers, a northerner living in the south or a Christian befriending unbelievers—encourages us to forget our old patterns and adopt new ways of talking and behaving so that we can adapt and fit in to new surroundings less conspicuously.
And voila! Life transformation occurs! Unless a person figures out what it will look like to hold on to his or her original pattern while still living in a new community (or rejects the new community entirely), forgetting and mingling result in adapting. The farm boy sets aside farm life and replaces it with city life. The smoker tries to quit smoking until he either gives up, leaves his new home or (possibly) succeeds. The northerner learns to interpret the southern drawl and to say, “Yes, sir,” and, “No, ma’am.” And the Christian adopts the unbelievers’ lifestyles and thoughts and ways of talking about reality.
Adaptation is natural. It can feel necessary. In some cases, for survival, it is necessary. So the question of whether to adapt or not depends on convictions. In most cases, people have no convictions against adapting. Moving from the farm to the city? Sure, learn to live the city life. Moving in with non-smokers? Sure, try to quit smoking. Moving south? Sure, adapt to the drawl. But matters of faith and morality are matters of conviction. To hold on to our original faith while mingling with a new community requires a conviction that keeps us remembering, rather than forgetting. And the very convictions required for remembering are the convictions that seem to melt away the more we mingle.
Living among people who oppose our convictions can be extremely internally challenging. Living with people always involves some degree of mingling with them. Disagreements will become obvious soon enough. If a believer wants to maintain his faith, there’s going to be a cost. Mingling will always have to stop short of agreeing with words or behaving in ways that deny his convictions. Forgetting will have to be fought by disciplined self-reminders and, if possible, by plugging into a community of people who share the same convictions and care about remembering them together.
We all face the challenge to forget, mingle and adapt to people around us. How does this play out in your life? Are you forgetting, mingling and adapting? Or are you remembering, limiting mingling with convictions and staying faithful?
For an overview of this year’s blog, please see http://threequartertank.blogspot.com/2011/01/why-do-believers-believe.html.
Friday, July 8, 2011
Denying History
Today’s Reading:
Faith-Stretching Verse(s):
Thoughts:
History is history.
It’s fairly easy to question the Bible. There are lots of accounts that talk about individuals hearing from God and speaking for God and other spiritual experiences like that. When people today claim to be speaking for God, we’re at least a little skeptical, especially when their messages don’t match up with the kinds of messages that the Bible depicts God speaking throughout history. If we just apply our skepticism to the Bible, all these claims about spiritual experiences sound a little bit sketchy.
We want something more tangible. A common suggestion I’ve heard is, “If only God would write a message for me in the clouds…” Clouds are visible. Clouds are able to be experienced by multiple people at the same time, so multiple witnesses can corroborate one another’s testimony if something strange happens up there in the sky. If five people came and told you that they had all seen the same message in the sky, and they seemed to be fairly sane people apart from this claim, and if they never changed their story and it impacted their lives, wouldn’t that be a pretty strong reason to believe their claim to receiving a message from God (especially before the ability to write cloudy messages with airplanes was developed)?
Ok, so let’s go back a few thousand years to the story found in Exodus—the story of how God rescued Israel from Egypt and led them through the desert. I seem to remember a cloud. Oh, yes! Here we go. Exodus 13:21: “By day the LORD went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night. Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people” (NIV). From a cloud, God protected Israel (Exod. 14:19-24), demonstrated His presence (Exod. 16:10; 40:34-35), spoke to Moses in the nation’s hearing (Exod. 19:9, 16; 24:15-18; 33:9-10), covenanted with the people (Exod. 34:5-28) and guided them in all their travels (Exod. 40:36-38).
This is history! And it’s history that is very difficult to refute. The Israelites experienced this cloud for at least forty years (Exodus 40:36-38; Num. 9:16-22; 32:13; Deut. 2:7; 8:2). And not just Moses—they all experienced it, all the millions of them that were there (Exod. 12:37; 33:10; 40:38)! That’s a lot of witnesses! That’s a lot of time! It changed their lives and the course of their history forever! And if this weren’t true, why on earth would the millions of people who finally entered the promised land after starting off as teenagers and children in Egypt and traveling through a desert for forty years ever allow Moses and Joshua to write such a blatant lie into their history? Why would they agree that it was true? Why would they allow such lies to become their holy Scriptures?
Only one good reason exists for including this forty year cloud in Israel’s history. This cloud is history. Not fantasy. Not myth. Not just a good story. It’s history. And as much as our modern world has a hard time understanding the kind of phenomenon described in Exodus, history is history. It happened. Really. Those who deny it are denying the shared claim of millions of people who shared the same visible, tangible history.
Personally, I can’t do that. Can you?
For an overview of this year’s blog, please see http://threequartertank.blogspot.com/2011/01/why-do-believers-believe.html.
- Psalms 98-100; 102; 104
Faith-Stretching Verse(s):
- He spoke to Israel from the pillar of cloud, and they followed the laws and decrees he gave them. – Psalm 99:7, NLT
Thoughts:
History is history.
It’s fairly easy to question the Bible. There are lots of accounts that talk about individuals hearing from God and speaking for God and other spiritual experiences like that. When people today claim to be speaking for God, we’re at least a little skeptical, especially when their messages don’t match up with the kinds of messages that the Bible depicts God speaking throughout history. If we just apply our skepticism to the Bible, all these claims about spiritual experiences sound a little bit sketchy.
We want something more tangible. A common suggestion I’ve heard is, “If only God would write a message for me in the clouds…” Clouds are visible. Clouds are able to be experienced by multiple people at the same time, so multiple witnesses can corroborate one another’s testimony if something strange happens up there in the sky. If five people came and told you that they had all seen the same message in the sky, and they seemed to be fairly sane people apart from this claim, and if they never changed their story and it impacted their lives, wouldn’t that be a pretty strong reason to believe their claim to receiving a message from God (especially before the ability to write cloudy messages with airplanes was developed)?
Ok, so let’s go back a few thousand years to the story found in Exodus—the story of how God rescued Israel from Egypt and led them through the desert. I seem to remember a cloud. Oh, yes! Here we go. Exodus 13:21: “By day the LORD went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night. Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people” (NIV). From a cloud, God protected Israel (Exod. 14:19-24), demonstrated His presence (Exod. 16:10; 40:34-35), spoke to Moses in the nation’s hearing (Exod. 19:9, 16; 24:15-18; 33:9-10), covenanted with the people (Exod. 34:5-28) and guided them in all their travels (Exod. 40:36-38).
This is history! And it’s history that is very difficult to refute. The Israelites experienced this cloud for at least forty years (Exodus 40:36-38; Num. 9:16-22; 32:13; Deut. 2:7; 8:2). And not just Moses—they all experienced it, all the millions of them that were there (Exod. 12:37; 33:10; 40:38)! That’s a lot of witnesses! That’s a lot of time! It changed their lives and the course of their history forever! And if this weren’t true, why on earth would the millions of people who finally entered the promised land after starting off as teenagers and children in Egypt and traveling through a desert for forty years ever allow Moses and Joshua to write such a blatant lie into their history? Why would they agree that it was true? Why would they allow such lies to become their holy Scriptures?
Only one good reason exists for including this forty year cloud in Israel’s history. This cloud is history. Not fantasy. Not myth. Not just a good story. It’s history. And as much as our modern world has a hard time understanding the kind of phenomenon described in Exodus, history is history. It happened. Really. Those who deny it are denying the shared claim of millions of people who shared the same visible, tangible history.
Personally, I can’t do that. Can you?
For an overview of this year’s blog, please see http://threequartertank.blogspot.com/2011/01/why-do-believers-believe.html.
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
The Demise of the Fittest
Today’s Reading:
Faith-Stretching Verse(s):
Thoughts:
The strongest and fittest still fall.
We’re used to thinking about the “survival of the fittest.” It’s inspiring to think that if we just grow strong enough, equip ourselves well enough, adapt readily enough and think intelligently enough, we will survive and even flourish.
But that’s not what is meant by the “survival of the fittest.” What is meant is that being strong enough, equipped enough, adaptable enough and intelligent enough will allow us to survive long enough. Long enough for what? To pass on our hereditary information to the next generation. Because if we take a quick reality check, the truth is that the fittest do not survive. The fittest die.
The Bible talks about the demise of the fittest. All of creation is vulnerable. All humanity is weak. A microscopic one-celled organism can invade our systems, colonize, and overwhelm us. The TSA as a system can vanquish 999,999 terrorist plots—but if just 1 terrorist plot succeeds, tens, hundreds and even thousands of people descend into the grave. The Secret Services can have a near-perfect record, but one lapse in judgment is all that it takes for an assassin to have his way. The survival of the fittest applies, at best, to DNA. On the personal level, reality demonstrates 100% of the time that we should be talking about the demise of the fittest.
When the fittest meet their demise, who can save them?
For an overview of this year’s blog, please see http://threequartertank.blogspot.com/2011/01/why-do-believers-believe.html.
- Psalms 1-2; 10; 33; 71; 91
Faith-Stretching Verse(s):
- The best equipped army cannot save a king, nor is great strength enough to save a warrior. – Psalm 33:16, NLT
Thoughts:
The strongest and fittest still fall.
We’re used to thinking about the “survival of the fittest.” It’s inspiring to think that if we just grow strong enough, equip ourselves well enough, adapt readily enough and think intelligently enough, we will survive and even flourish.
But that’s not what is meant by the “survival of the fittest.” What is meant is that being strong enough, equipped enough, adaptable enough and intelligent enough will allow us to survive long enough. Long enough for what? To pass on our hereditary information to the next generation. Because if we take a quick reality check, the truth is that the fittest do not survive. The fittest die.
The Bible talks about the demise of the fittest. All of creation is vulnerable. All humanity is weak. A microscopic one-celled organism can invade our systems, colonize, and overwhelm us. The TSA as a system can vanquish 999,999 terrorist plots—but if just 1 terrorist plot succeeds, tens, hundreds and even thousands of people descend into the grave. The Secret Services can have a near-perfect record, but one lapse in judgment is all that it takes for an assassin to have his way. The survival of the fittest applies, at best, to DNA. On the personal level, reality demonstrates 100% of the time that we should be talking about the demise of the fittest.
When the fittest meet their demise, who can save them?
For an overview of this year’s blog, please see http://threequartertank.blogspot.com/2011/01/why-do-believers-believe.html.
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Sin: A Reason for Faith
Today’s Reading:
Faith-Stretching Verse(s):
Thoughts:
Sin is a universal experience.
One reason that I am thankful to Jesus is that I trust Him when He says that He offers forgiveness for all my sins. And part of the reason that I trust Him for forgiveness is… well… I guess it’s that I realize that I’m actually a sinner, and I see sin all around me. In other words, I see such a great need for forgiveness that I believe Jesus when He says that we need it.
I’m going to throw out a challenge here, and it applies regardless of whether you’re a Christian, a Hindu, a Muslim, a Jew, a Buddhist, a member of any other religion… or even not a member of any religion at all! Has anyone ever known a man or woman who never, ever, not once in his or her entire life, even as a child, never, ever, EVER did ANYTHING wrong? Do you know anyone who has never told even a little white lie? Who has never had lewd thoughts? Who has never lost their temper, for even the briefest of moments? Who has never even thought about cheating? Who has never wished something awful would happen to someone else?
Because I haven’t. I have known people—Christians and non-Christians—who are extremely respectable, honorable, self-controlled, gentle, kind, peaceful and all the rest of the best words we have for the best people. But I have never known someone who was morally perfect throughout his or her entire life. Never.
And that’s what the Bible means when it talks about sin. The word “sinner” doesn’t imply that a person behaves like a maniacal, out-of-control criminal. The word “sinner” doesn’t indicate that a man is abusive toward his wife, that a woman always sleeps around, that teenagers are constantly looking for ways to abuse their parents’ trust and land themselves in juvenile court, or that children have watched too much TV and are about to unload 2000 rounds of ammo at their elementary schools.
A “sinner” is the sweetest grandma you’ve ever met, a lady who regrets the one time when she really lost her patience with a telemarketer. A “sinner” is your hard-working, reliable co-worker, a man who constantly volunteers his services to the community, but who secretly feels ashamed for the moment when he allowed himself to pursue his desires a little too far with the attractive female in HR—even though he put a stop to things before they’d gone “all the way.” A sinner is the gentle child who finally got fed up with another kid’s pestering and hit the little fellow in the face with her lunch box.
A “sinner” is me. And you. I’ve never yet met a non-sinner. And that’s the way that Jesus says this world is. He’s right about us. So I trust Him.
And since the same One who is right about sin is the One who died to offer us His forgiveness, I’d say that there’s quite a bit of reason for hope.
For an overview of this year’s blog, please see http://threequartertank.blogspot.com/2011/01/why-do-believers-believe.html.
- Psalms 47-49; 84-85; 87
Faith-Stretching Verse(s):
- You forgave the guilt of your people—yes, you covered all their sins. - Psalm 85:2, NLT
Thoughts:
Sin is a universal experience.
One reason that I am thankful to Jesus is that I trust Him when He says that He offers forgiveness for all my sins. And part of the reason that I trust Him for forgiveness is… well… I guess it’s that I realize that I’m actually a sinner, and I see sin all around me. In other words, I see such a great need for forgiveness that I believe Jesus when He says that we need it.
I’m going to throw out a challenge here, and it applies regardless of whether you’re a Christian, a Hindu, a Muslim, a Jew, a Buddhist, a member of any other religion… or even not a member of any religion at all! Has anyone ever known a man or woman who never, ever, not once in his or her entire life, even as a child, never, ever, EVER did ANYTHING wrong? Do you know anyone who has never told even a little white lie? Who has never had lewd thoughts? Who has never lost their temper, for even the briefest of moments? Who has never even thought about cheating? Who has never wished something awful would happen to someone else?
Because I haven’t. I have known people—Christians and non-Christians—who are extremely respectable, honorable, self-controlled, gentle, kind, peaceful and all the rest of the best words we have for the best people. But I have never known someone who was morally perfect throughout his or her entire life. Never.
And that’s what the Bible means when it talks about sin. The word “sinner” doesn’t imply that a person behaves like a maniacal, out-of-control criminal. The word “sinner” doesn’t indicate that a man is abusive toward his wife, that a woman always sleeps around, that teenagers are constantly looking for ways to abuse their parents’ trust and land themselves in juvenile court, or that children have watched too much TV and are about to unload 2000 rounds of ammo at their elementary schools.
A “sinner” is the sweetest grandma you’ve ever met, a lady who regrets the one time when she really lost her patience with a telemarketer. A “sinner” is your hard-working, reliable co-worker, a man who constantly volunteers his services to the community, but who secretly feels ashamed for the moment when he allowed himself to pursue his desires a little too far with the attractive female in HR—even though he put a stop to things before they’d gone “all the way.” A sinner is the gentle child who finally got fed up with another kid’s pestering and hit the little fellow in the face with her lunch box.
A “sinner” is me. And you. I’ve never yet met a non-sinner. And that’s the way that Jesus says this world is. He’s right about us. So I trust Him.
And since the same One who is right about sin is the One who died to offer us His forgiveness, I’d say that there’s quite a bit of reason for hope.
For an overview of this year’s blog, please see http://threequartertank.blogspot.com/2011/01/why-do-believers-believe.html.
Monday, July 4, 2011
Take God Seriously Now, Because One Day We’ll All Take Him Seriously
Today’s Reading:
Faith-Stretching Verse(s):
Thoughts:
People will not be able to rebel forever.
I may or may not have noticed before, but this verse that talks about being still and knowing that God is God is in a not-so-peaceful context. The verses right before it say, “Come, see the glorious works of the LORD: See how he brings destruction upon the world. He causes wars to end throughout the earth. He breaks the bow and snaps the spear; he burns the shields with fire.” – Psalm 46:8-9, NLT
In other words, God conquers. Those who rage against Him fall, and their weapons are completely overwhelmed by His power. And then God speaks this verse that we’re so familiar with: “Be still, and know that I am God! I will be honored by every nation. I will be honored throughout the world.”
This isn’t the gentle call of an imploring deity. This is the overwhelming command of a conquering ruler.
For those who are among the people God is protecting, this message is greatly comforting. We will ultimately be kept safe.
But for those who reject God, this verse is a challenge and an offense precisely because God is staking His claim to be the ultimate owner and ruler of everything—and the exclamation point on His claim is the threat of crushing and violent destruction.
From the perspective of those who do not believe in our God, this verse is an example of why Christianity is an intolerant and exclusive religion that should not be tolerated. But from the perspective of those of us who do believe in Jesus, this verse is a call to sacrificially do everything we can possibly do to draw people into His kingdom before it is too late for them.
Jesus is God and King. All the world will one day know it. And His reign will have serious consequences: serious threats for His enemies and detractors, but serious freedom and life for those who walk with Him now.
For an overview of this year’s blog, please see http://threequartertank.blogspot.com/2011/01/why-do-believers-believe.html.
- Psalms 42-46
Faith-Stretching Verse(s):
- Be still, and know that I am God! I will be honored by every nation. I will be honored throughout the world. – Psalm 46:10, NLT
Thoughts:
People will not be able to rebel forever.
I may or may not have noticed before, but this verse that talks about being still and knowing that God is God is in a not-so-peaceful context. The verses right before it say, “Come, see the glorious works of the LORD: See how he brings destruction upon the world. He causes wars to end throughout the earth. He breaks the bow and snaps the spear; he burns the shields with fire.” – Psalm 46:8-9, NLT
In other words, God conquers. Those who rage against Him fall, and their weapons are completely overwhelmed by His power. And then God speaks this verse that we’re so familiar with: “Be still, and know that I am God! I will be honored by every nation. I will be honored throughout the world.”
This isn’t the gentle call of an imploring deity. This is the overwhelming command of a conquering ruler.
For those who are among the people God is protecting, this message is greatly comforting. We will ultimately be kept safe.
But for those who reject God, this verse is a challenge and an offense precisely because God is staking His claim to be the ultimate owner and ruler of everything—and the exclamation point on His claim is the threat of crushing and violent destruction.
From the perspective of those who do not believe in our God, this verse is an example of why Christianity is an intolerant and exclusive religion that should not be tolerated. But from the perspective of those of us who do believe in Jesus, this verse is a call to sacrificially do everything we can possibly do to draw people into His kingdom before it is too late for them.
Jesus is God and King. All the world will one day know it. And His reign will have serious consequences: serious threats for His enemies and detractors, but serious freedom and life for those who walk with Him now.
For an overview of this year’s blog, please see http://threequartertank.blogspot.com/2011/01/why-do-believers-believe.html.
Friday, July 1, 2011
When Jesus Gets Specific
Today’s Reading:
Faith-Stretching Verse(s):
Thoughts:
Jesus blesses those who put their hope in Him.
It’s one thing to make broad, general promises about how Jesus will care for everyone who trusts in Him. “Make Jesus your hope, and He’ll be with you no matter what you go through.” Promises like that are easy to make and hard to challenge. Even when someone’s been forced to walk through the gates of hell itself, who can say that the promise failed?
But specific promises – that’s another story. “Pray, and Jesus will heal her.” “Sell your possessions and give to the poor, and Jesus will still feed and clothe you.” What if Jesus doesn’t heal her? What if you sell, give… and starve? Specific promises are testable. Which is scary. For one thing, what happens to me if I risk everything and lose? For another thing, what does it say about the whole question of God’s existence and trustworthiness and goodness when specific promises fail? Someone who has experienced a failed promise is left in the dust of life to sift through his questions and decide whether it was truly God who failed, or merely a man.
And yet specific promises are very much a part of the Scriptures. And they are used to motivate people (more cynical people might suggest that they’re used to manipulate people) to obedience and conformity.
Here in 2 Chronicles, newly crowned King Hezekiah starts off his reign with a zealous push for religious reform, and he wants everyone to get back on board with him to worship the LORD. He not only urges the people of his country, Judah, to attend the Passover – he sends couriers up into the country of Israel to invite them to the celebration, too!
And his couriers carry promises that are founded in earlier prophecies. If the people will repent of their wickedness and live faithfully for the LORD, God will bring their families back from captivity and oppression. What a promise! What a chance for joy! And what an opportunity for discouragement—if the promise fails.
Some of today’s “ministers” abuse the power of God’s hope-giving promises for personal gain. There are those who take every single promise—at least, every “good” one—written in the Scriptures and apply it to themselves and their followers, even when a promise is clearly intended for a specific Bible character. And there are too many who freely make promises on God’s behalf whether the promises are found in God’s Word or not. Because of the abuses, it is tempting to allow disillusionment to set in and to discard the belief that any of God’s specific promises are for us.
But when we listen to what Jesus says in the Scriptures, we can’t help but discover that some of His promises are meant for us. And rather than just claiming to “believe in Jesus” in general, He asks us to trust Him with His specific promises.
Do we dare?
For an overview of this year’s blog, please see http://threequartertank.blogspot.com/2011/01/why-do-believers-believe.html.
- 2 Chronicles 29:3-31:21
Faith-Stretching Verse(s):
- “If you return to the LORD, then your brothers and your children will be shown compassion by their captors and will come back to this land, for the LORD your God is gracious and compassionate. He will not turn his face from you if you return to him.” – 2 Chronicles 30:9, NLT
Thoughts:
Jesus blesses those who put their hope in Him.
It’s one thing to make broad, general promises about how Jesus will care for everyone who trusts in Him. “Make Jesus your hope, and He’ll be with you no matter what you go through.” Promises like that are easy to make and hard to challenge. Even when someone’s been forced to walk through the gates of hell itself, who can say that the promise failed?
But specific promises – that’s another story. “Pray, and Jesus will heal her.” “Sell your possessions and give to the poor, and Jesus will still feed and clothe you.” What if Jesus doesn’t heal her? What if you sell, give… and starve? Specific promises are testable. Which is scary. For one thing, what happens to me if I risk everything and lose? For another thing, what does it say about the whole question of God’s existence and trustworthiness and goodness when specific promises fail? Someone who has experienced a failed promise is left in the dust of life to sift through his questions and decide whether it was truly God who failed, or merely a man.
And yet specific promises are very much a part of the Scriptures. And they are used to motivate people (more cynical people might suggest that they’re used to manipulate people) to obedience and conformity.
Here in 2 Chronicles, newly crowned King Hezekiah starts off his reign with a zealous push for religious reform, and he wants everyone to get back on board with him to worship the LORD. He not only urges the people of his country, Judah, to attend the Passover – he sends couriers up into the country of Israel to invite them to the celebration, too!
And his couriers carry promises that are founded in earlier prophecies. If the people will repent of their wickedness and live faithfully for the LORD, God will bring their families back from captivity and oppression. What a promise! What a chance for joy! And what an opportunity for discouragement—if the promise fails.
Some of today’s “ministers” abuse the power of God’s hope-giving promises for personal gain. There are those who take every single promise—at least, every “good” one—written in the Scriptures and apply it to themselves and their followers, even when a promise is clearly intended for a specific Bible character. And there are too many who freely make promises on God’s behalf whether the promises are found in God’s Word or not. Because of the abuses, it is tempting to allow disillusionment to set in and to discard the belief that any of God’s specific promises are for us.
But when we listen to what Jesus says in the Scriptures, we can’t help but discover that some of His promises are meant for us. And rather than just claiming to “believe in Jesus” in general, He asks us to trust Him with His specific promises.
Do we dare?
For an overview of this year’s blog, please see http://threequartertank.blogspot.com/2011/01/why-do-believers-believe.html.
Saturday, April 9, 2011
A Treasure Deeper Than Pleasure
It’s been a while since I wrote. I hope that this is not just an intermittent post, though, but that I soon begin to write regularly again. Still, since I have not been writing, this post will not follow the normal format, and it has nothing to do with today’s daily reading (I hope at least some of you are still reading through the Bible chronologically with me this year – I’m really enjoying it).
To start with, does anyone remember that little song in the Burl Ives-starring holiday classic, “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer”? The snowman/narrator starts to sing about silver and gold in that warm, contented voice of his, and during the song he croons, “How do you measure its worth? Just by the pleasure it gives.”
We measure the worth of most of our treasures by the pleasure they give, don’t we?
So it’s intriguing that James writes (in James 4:1-3) about desires and the pleasure of their fulfillment so negatively:
What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? Don’t they come from the evil desires at war within you? You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it. And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure. (NLT)
Think about that last statement for a moment: you want only what will give you pleasure. Have you ever wanted anything that wouldn’t give you pleasure? Is that even possible?
James seems to think so. And I think we have some examples in today’s world of things we’ve wanted to do not so much for immediate pleasure as for the hope (not even always the guarantee) of great reward.
So the next time you want something that you don’t already have, take the time to ask yourself whether what you want is just something to fulfill your desire for pleasure. If so, remember that there is a treasure deeper than pleasure—many such treasures, in fact. Sometimes I get more pleasure out of reading than out of having my reading interrupted by my three children, no matter how adorable they are. But where is my real treasure? In my personal reading time? Or in my children and the chance to help them learn to enjoy the life God’s given them?
There is a treasure deeper than pleasure, better than immediate gratification. Often, it’s a treasure we reject. But our good God longs to give us His true treasure—if only we’ll want it enough to ask.
For an overview of this year’s blog, please see http://threequartertank.blogspot.com/2011/01/why-do-believers-believe.html.
To start with, does anyone remember that little song in the Burl Ives-starring holiday classic, “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer”? The snowman/narrator starts to sing about silver and gold in that warm, contented voice of his, and during the song he croons, “How do you measure its worth? Just by the pleasure it gives.”
We measure the worth of most of our treasures by the pleasure they give, don’t we?
So it’s intriguing that James writes (in James 4:1-3) about desires and the pleasure of their fulfillment so negatively:
What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? Don’t they come from the evil desires at war within you? You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it. And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure. (NLT)
Think about that last statement for a moment: you want only what will give you pleasure. Have you ever wanted anything that wouldn’t give you pleasure? Is that even possible?
James seems to think so. And I think we have some examples in today’s world of things we’ve wanted to do not so much for immediate pleasure as for the hope (not even always the guarantee) of great reward.
- Athletes want to push their bodies to the physical limit not so much for instantaneous pleasure, but because they hope that such discipline will one day result in competitive victory.
- Many people want to continue to attend school when it’s not required of them (e.g., college, grad school, etc.) because they hope that the not-always-so-pleasurable academic rigors will prepare them for more enjoyable, better-paying jobs.
So the next time you want something that you don’t already have, take the time to ask yourself whether what you want is just something to fulfill your desire for pleasure. If so, remember that there is a treasure deeper than pleasure—many such treasures, in fact. Sometimes I get more pleasure out of reading than out of having my reading interrupted by my three children, no matter how adorable they are. But where is my real treasure? In my personal reading time? Or in my children and the chance to help them learn to enjoy the life God’s given them?
There is a treasure deeper than pleasure, better than immediate gratification. Often, it’s a treasure we reject. But our good God longs to give us His true treasure—if only we’ll want it enough to ask.
For an overview of this year’s blog, please see http://threequartertank.blogspot.com/2011/01/why-do-believers-believe.html.
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Hard Choice: Stew or God. Hmmm…
Today’s Reading:
Faith-Stretching Verse(s):
Thoughts:
Faith is a matter of life and death.
Esau’s dying. Or at least he feels like he’s dying. Of starvation. And Jacob has stew simmering over the fire, ready to eat. Esau asks for stew. Jacob says, “I’ll trade you—my stew for your birthright.” And Esau agrees, saying, “What good is my birthright to me NOW?”
What exactly was this birthright?
In that culture, the firstborn son was the primary heir of his father’s estate. The bulk of his father’s assets became his when his father died. If your father was poor, inheriting his possessions wasn’t too helpful.
But Esau and Jacob’s father Isaac was wealthy. And even if he’d been poor, he possessed a treasure no money could buy: God’s promises. God had promised Abraham to make him into a great nation, to bless him, to make his name great, to make him a blessing, to bless those who blessed him, to curse those who cursed him, and to bless all peoples on earth through him (Genesis 12:2-3). And God had promised to give Abraham’s descendants the land of Canaan (Genesis 12:7; 13:14-17). In fact, God had promised Abraham Himself, saying, “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward” (Genesis 15:1).
All of these blessings from God were part of the birthright. They were meant to be passed on to Abraham’s heirs (Genesis 17:7-8).
But Abraham’s firstborn son, Ishmael, did not inherit these blessings. The birthright went instead to the promised son, Isaac (Genesis 17:18-22). And it was only passed on to Isaac after Abraham was asked to choose between God and His promises, on the one hand, and Isaac, on the other. Abraham’s choice was clear: Isaac faced death because Abraham valued God and His promises above even his own son (Genesis 22:1-18)! That’s how priceless a treasure God and His promises are.
Esau, Isaac’s son, threw this birthright away over a bowlful of stew! In exchange for stew, Jacob received the family’s primary relationship with God and His blessings!
Faith is a matter of life and death. Esau almost certainly would not have died without that stew. But even if he had literally been on the brink of death, he would have been better off to clutch his birthright promises jealously to his chest and die, trusting that God would bring him back to life and fulfill His promises (as Abraham trusted God would do with Isaac – Hebrews 11:17-19).
So perhaps this isn’t why I believe. It’s more why I cling to my faith so tightly. Given the fact that I believe in God and look forward to the day He fulfills His promises, there’s nothing that could replace Him. Nothing.
For an overview of this year’s blog, please see http://threequartertank.blogspot.com/2011/01/why-do-believers-believe.html.
- Genesis 25:27-28:5
Faith-Stretching Verse(s):
- “Look, I’m dying of starvation!” said Esau. “What good is my birthright to me now?” – Genesis 25:32, NLT
- Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and lentil stew. Esau ate the meal, then got up and left. He showed contempt for his rights as the firstborn. – Genesis 25:34, NLT
- “May God pass on to you and your descendants the blessings he promised to Abraham. May you own this land where you are now living as a foreigner, for God gave this land to Abraham.” – Isaac to Jacob. – Genesis 28:4, NLT
Thoughts:
Faith is a matter of life and death.
Esau’s dying. Or at least he feels like he’s dying. Of starvation. And Jacob has stew simmering over the fire, ready to eat. Esau asks for stew. Jacob says, “I’ll trade you—my stew for your birthright.” And Esau agrees, saying, “What good is my birthright to me NOW?”
What exactly was this birthright?
In that culture, the firstborn son was the primary heir of his father’s estate. The bulk of his father’s assets became his when his father died. If your father was poor, inheriting his possessions wasn’t too helpful.
But Esau and Jacob’s father Isaac was wealthy. And even if he’d been poor, he possessed a treasure no money could buy: God’s promises. God had promised Abraham to make him into a great nation, to bless him, to make his name great, to make him a blessing, to bless those who blessed him, to curse those who cursed him, and to bless all peoples on earth through him (Genesis 12:2-3). And God had promised to give Abraham’s descendants the land of Canaan (Genesis 12:7; 13:14-17). In fact, God had promised Abraham Himself, saying, “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward” (Genesis 15:1).
All of these blessings from God were part of the birthright. They were meant to be passed on to Abraham’s heirs (Genesis 17:7-8).
But Abraham’s firstborn son, Ishmael, did not inherit these blessings. The birthright went instead to the promised son, Isaac (Genesis 17:18-22). And it was only passed on to Isaac after Abraham was asked to choose between God and His promises, on the one hand, and Isaac, on the other. Abraham’s choice was clear: Isaac faced death because Abraham valued God and His promises above even his own son (Genesis 22:1-18)! That’s how priceless a treasure God and His promises are.
Esau, Isaac’s son, threw this birthright away over a bowlful of stew! In exchange for stew, Jacob received the family’s primary relationship with God and His blessings!
Faith is a matter of life and death. Esau almost certainly would not have died without that stew. But even if he had literally been on the brink of death, he would have been better off to clutch his birthright promises jealously to his chest and die, trusting that God would bring him back to life and fulfill His promises (as Abraham trusted God would do with Isaac – Hebrews 11:17-19).
So perhaps this isn’t why I believe. It’s more why I cling to my faith so tightly. Given the fact that I believe in God and look forward to the day He fulfills His promises, there’s nothing that could replace Him. Nothing.
For an overview of this year’s blog, please see http://threequartertank.blogspot.com/2011/01/why-do-believers-believe.html.
Genealogical Genius
Today’s Reading:
Faith-Stretching Verse(s):
Thoughts:
How important are the genealogies, really?
I don’t know anyone who really seems to like reading all the Bible’s genealogies. It’s usually not the highlight of my year, anyway. But they’re worth reading as a reinforcement to our faith.
How so? They’re nothing incredible. All they are is a list of who descended from whom. A really, really, really long list. How can a list like this reinforce our faith?
For one thing, the genealogies show how much our God cares about details. The God who claims to know everything, down to the number of hairs on each human head, shouldn’t have any trouble keeping track of details about who was whose father. So if nothing else, the genealogies give us a little bit more reason to trust that the Bible is an accurate, detailed book.
But that’s not the only reason for the genealogies. God has other ways to show us how detailed He can be. What purpose is there in the genealogies?
Let’s see if we can get a hint from where the genealogies begin. This is not the first time we’ve seen a genealogy. The genealogies start with Adam, continue to Noah, go on to Abraham, and then trace their way onward from there.
What about which people are included in the genealogies? Mostly the genealogies follow the line from one man of faith to another. Noah. Abraham. Jacob. Judah. David. Sometimes the genealogies also take a little bit of time to trace their relatives, like the one above about Ishmael. They remind us that all of humanity, including Israel’s enemies, is family.
And where do the genealogies end? The last two genealogies I can think of in the Scriptures are in Matthew 1 and Luke 3, and both end with the same person: Jesus Christ. In other words, even the genealogies tell a story, and the point of the story is that God was keeping careful watch over all of human history as He guided it from the first man, Adam, who dragged all of us into sin, to the sinless man, Jesus Christ, who died for our sins and not for His own.
Even in the seemingly pointless details of Scripture, God points us to Jesus. And this happens as scores of human writers who mostly never meet each other coordinate their thoughts across centuries of Bible-writing until Jesus is born. This is no coincidence. This is evidence that God was really coordinating human history to His planned outcome. In other words, the genealogies are a reason for faith.
For an overview of this year’s blog, please see http://threequartertank.blogspot.com/2011/01/why-do-believers-believe.html.
- Genesis 25:1-4
- 1 Chronicles 1:32-33
- Genesis 25:5-6
- Genesis 25:12-18
- 1 Chronicles 1:28-31
- 1 Chronicles 1:34
- Genesis 25:19-26
- Genesis 25:7-11
Faith-Stretching Verse(s):
- This is the account of the family of Ishmael, the son of Abraham through Hagar, Sarah’s Egyptian servant. Here is a list, by their names and clans, of Ishmael’s descendants: The oldest was Nebaioth, followed by Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam, Mishma, Dumah, Massa, Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah. These twelve sons of Ishmael became the founders of twelve tribes named after them, listed according to the places they settled and camped. – Genesis 25:12-16, NLT
Thoughts:
How important are the genealogies, really?
I don’t know anyone who really seems to like reading all the Bible’s genealogies. It’s usually not the highlight of my year, anyway. But they’re worth reading as a reinforcement to our faith.
How so? They’re nothing incredible. All they are is a list of who descended from whom. A really, really, really long list. How can a list like this reinforce our faith?
For one thing, the genealogies show how much our God cares about details. The God who claims to know everything, down to the number of hairs on each human head, shouldn’t have any trouble keeping track of details about who was whose father. So if nothing else, the genealogies give us a little bit more reason to trust that the Bible is an accurate, detailed book.
But that’s not the only reason for the genealogies. God has other ways to show us how detailed He can be. What purpose is there in the genealogies?
Let’s see if we can get a hint from where the genealogies begin. This is not the first time we’ve seen a genealogy. The genealogies start with Adam, continue to Noah, go on to Abraham, and then trace their way onward from there.
What about which people are included in the genealogies? Mostly the genealogies follow the line from one man of faith to another. Noah. Abraham. Jacob. Judah. David. Sometimes the genealogies also take a little bit of time to trace their relatives, like the one above about Ishmael. They remind us that all of humanity, including Israel’s enemies, is family.
And where do the genealogies end? The last two genealogies I can think of in the Scriptures are in Matthew 1 and Luke 3, and both end with the same person: Jesus Christ. In other words, even the genealogies tell a story, and the point of the story is that God was keeping careful watch over all of human history as He guided it from the first man, Adam, who dragged all of us into sin, to the sinless man, Jesus Christ, who died for our sins and not for His own.
Even in the seemingly pointless details of Scripture, God points us to Jesus. And this happens as scores of human writers who mostly never meet each other coordinate their thoughts across centuries of Bible-writing until Jesus is born. This is no coincidence. This is evidence that God was really coordinating human history to His planned outcome. In other words, the genealogies are a reason for faith.
For an overview of this year’s blog, please see http://threequartertank.blogspot.com/2011/01/why-do-believers-believe.html.
Friday, January 7, 2011
Faith-Based Risks
Today’s Reading:
Faith-Stretching Verse(s):
Thoughts:
How on earth could Abraham send his firstborn son away?
I don’t think Abraham could have done it without his faith in God—the same faith that enabled him to be willing to sacrifice his promised son, Isaac, a little while later.
Both events sound awful. We’re used to thinking about how terrible it would be for God to ask us to sacrifice a son because we hear the story of Isaac all the time. But it’s not as if being asked to send a son out into wilderness and never to see him again would be much easier. How could Abraham do it?
Here’s how: Abraham could only send his son Ishmael away if he was 100% convinced that God would truly care for his boy.
Abraham sent Ishmael away knowing he would survive…at least, if God was real and trustworthy. Just before sending Ishmael away, Abraham at least thought that he heard this message from God: “But I will also make a nation of the descendants of Hagar’s son because he is your son, too.” So Abraham acted in line with the promise he heard from God. And do you know what? Ishmael survived. And although not all Arabs are necessarily descended directly from him (at least, according to http://www.cbn.com/spirituallife/OnlineDiscipleship/UnderstandingIslam/Is_the_Arab_nation_descended_from_Ishmael.aspx; and please note that I do not necessarily endorse the sites on which I find things like this), their culture is considered to be his legacy. So there’s at least some evidence that God fulfilled His promises yet again.
But the point I really want to make is this: the steps Abraham took were the steps of a man convinced that He was hearing from God. And things worked out the way Abraham trusted that they would.
So another reason I believe is that men like Abraham, throughout the Bible and throughout extra-biblical history, have been willing to risk everything on God’s promises. People don’t take such big risks without being completely convinced that someone has their back. When that Someone is God, and when He comes through like this, their conviction seems to be validated. And trusting their God seems reasonable.
For an overview of this year’s blog, please see http://threequartertank.blogspot.com/2011/01/why-do-believers-believe.html.
- Genesis 21:8-23:20
- Genesis 11:32
- Genesis 24:1-67
Faith-Stretching Verse(s):
- So Abraham got up early the next morning, prepared food and a container of water, and strapped them on Hagar’s shoulders. Then he sent her away with their son, and she wandered aimlessly in the wilderness of Beersheba. – Genesis 21:14, NLT
Thoughts:
How on earth could Abraham send his firstborn son away?
I don’t think Abraham could have done it without his faith in God—the same faith that enabled him to be willing to sacrifice his promised son, Isaac, a little while later.
Both events sound awful. We’re used to thinking about how terrible it would be for God to ask us to sacrifice a son because we hear the story of Isaac all the time. But it’s not as if being asked to send a son out into wilderness and never to see him again would be much easier. How could Abraham do it?
Here’s how: Abraham could only send his son Ishmael away if he was 100% convinced that God would truly care for his boy.
Abraham sent Ishmael away knowing he would survive…at least, if God was real and trustworthy. Just before sending Ishmael away, Abraham at least thought that he heard this message from God: “But I will also make a nation of the descendants of Hagar’s son because he is your son, too.” So Abraham acted in line with the promise he heard from God. And do you know what? Ishmael survived. And although not all Arabs are necessarily descended directly from him (at least, according to http://www.cbn.com/spirituallife/OnlineDiscipleship/UnderstandingIslam/Is_the_Arab_nation_descended_from_Ishmael.aspx; and please note that I do not necessarily endorse the sites on which I find things like this), their culture is considered to be his legacy. So there’s at least some evidence that God fulfilled His promises yet again.
But the point I really want to make is this: the steps Abraham took were the steps of a man convinced that He was hearing from God. And things worked out the way Abraham trusted that they would.
So another reason I believe is that men like Abraham, throughout the Bible and throughout extra-biblical history, have been willing to risk everything on God’s promises. People don’t take such big risks without being completely convinced that someone has their back. When that Someone is God, and when He comes through like this, their conviction seems to be validated. And trusting their God seems reasonable.
For an overview of this year’s blog, please see http://threequartertank.blogspot.com/2011/01/why-do-believers-believe.html.
God Fights for Faith
Today’s Reading:
Faith-Stretching Verse(s):
Thoughts:
Since almost the beginning of time, one of our most grievous challenges against the existence of God has been the idea that perhaps the God who claims to be good isn’t actually on par with His claims.
We experience so much pain. We experience so much agony. Whole nations, and even continental regions, endure the most distressing times. Tragedy seems to strike good people as often as bad people.
And a good God’s supposed to be in charge of all this?
If only every person’s story were recorded from God’s perspective, the way Abraham’s is.
We already know that Abraham’s a man of faith. He trusts God. But that doesn’t mean that Abraham shies away from the tough questions. In fact, it is precisely because Abraham trusts God that He begs God to go easy on Sodom and Gomorrah, if only to spare fifty…no, forty-five…no, how about forty…or thirty…maybe twenty…or even a mere ten righteous people. Abraham believes God is good, and so He asks God, “the Judge of all the earth,” not to treat good people like bad people.
And do you know what? God makes it clear right from the beginning that He is as good as He claims to be. In this particular story, God destroys Sodom and Gomorrah because not even ten righteous people live within their walls. And what’s more, the few righteous people who do live there are rescued….Not that they turn out to be perfect, themselves (which I take as a note of hope for those of us who are seeking after God, even if imperfectly).
Of course, there are plenty of stories not only outside of the Bible, but inside of it, that give us pause and make us wonder all over again, “Do all people really get what they deserve? Or is God perhaps not perfectly fair?” But between stories like this, where the line between good and evil seems black and white and God is always clearly good, and God’s explanations elsewhere that perfect justice will not be completed in this complex world where we can’t always see either good or evil clearly, I’m willing to believe in Him. I think He’s trustworthy. I mean, He’s God. He has nothing to prove. If He were evil, why would He care what I thought of Him? I can’t vote Him out of office. So why claim to be good if He’s not? He has no need for falsified PR.
God cares that we think He’s good. He takes the time to tell us stories about how much He hates evil and loves good, stories intended to answer our most doubt-filled questions. The fact that He’s fighting like that for our trust—when He’s God and doesn’t have to—makes me trust Him even more.
For an overview of this year’s blog, please see http://threequartertank.blogspot.com/2011/01/why-do-believers-believe.html.
- Genesis 18:1-21:7
Faith-Stretching Verse(s):
- Surely you wouldn’t do such a thing, destroying the righteous along with the wicked. Why, you would be treating the righteous and the wicked exactly the same! Surely you wouldn’t do that! Should not the Judge of all the earth do what is right? – Genesis 18:25, NLT
Thoughts:
Since almost the beginning of time, one of our most grievous challenges against the existence of God has been the idea that perhaps the God who claims to be good isn’t actually on par with His claims.
We experience so much pain. We experience so much agony. Whole nations, and even continental regions, endure the most distressing times. Tragedy seems to strike good people as often as bad people.
And a good God’s supposed to be in charge of all this?
If only every person’s story were recorded from God’s perspective, the way Abraham’s is.
We already know that Abraham’s a man of faith. He trusts God. But that doesn’t mean that Abraham shies away from the tough questions. In fact, it is precisely because Abraham trusts God that He begs God to go easy on Sodom and Gomorrah, if only to spare fifty…no, forty-five…no, how about forty…or thirty…maybe twenty…or even a mere ten righteous people. Abraham believes God is good, and so He asks God, “the Judge of all the earth,” not to treat good people like bad people.
And do you know what? God makes it clear right from the beginning that He is as good as He claims to be. In this particular story, God destroys Sodom and Gomorrah because not even ten righteous people live within their walls. And what’s more, the few righteous people who do live there are rescued….Not that they turn out to be perfect, themselves (which I take as a note of hope for those of us who are seeking after God, even if imperfectly).
Of course, there are plenty of stories not only outside of the Bible, but inside of it, that give us pause and make us wonder all over again, “Do all people really get what they deserve? Or is God perhaps not perfectly fair?” But between stories like this, where the line between good and evil seems black and white and God is always clearly good, and God’s explanations elsewhere that perfect justice will not be completed in this complex world where we can’t always see either good or evil clearly, I’m willing to believe in Him. I think He’s trustworthy. I mean, He’s God. He has nothing to prove. If He were evil, why would He care what I thought of Him? I can’t vote Him out of office. So why claim to be good if He’s not? He has no need for falsified PR.
God cares that we think He’s good. He takes the time to tell us stories about how much He hates evil and loves good, stories intended to answer our most doubt-filled questions. The fact that He’s fighting like that for our trust—when He’s God and doesn’t have to—makes me trust Him even more.
For an overview of this year’s blog, please see http://threequartertank.blogspot.com/2011/01/why-do-believers-believe.html.
I Trust the One I Hear
Today’s Reading:
Faith-Stretching Verse(s):
Thoughts:
I’m playing catch-up, so I’ll be brief.
Part of the reason I believe what I believe, to be honest, is personal experience. I believe the God I hear.
No, I don’t hear God’s voice audibly. And if I did, I would probably double-guess my hearing so often that the experience would be more painful than blissful. But when I’m reading the Old and New Testament Scriptures, I hear God. And just as some would argue that I can prove my existence because “I think, therefore I am,” I would argue that, “I hear, therefore He is.” Let alone, “I am, therefore He is.” But I won’t get into that argument here.
I hear. Therefore He is. When I read this passage, where God announces the incredible to an aging, childless man, I hear God announcing the incredible for me. Not the same incredible. I’m not going to be the father of celestial numbers of descendants. But all the same, that promise was for me because I am one of the descendants who gets to receive God’s blessings.
People are still hearing God today. I’m one of them. And because I hear, I believe. Do you hear Him?
For an overview of this year’s blog, please see http://threequartertank.blogspot.com/2011/01/why-do-believers-believe.html.
- Genesis 15:1-17:27
Faith-Stretching Verse(s):
- Then the LORD said to him, “No, your servant will not be your heir, for you will have a son of your own who will be your heir.” Then the LORD took Abram outside and said to him, “Look up into the sky and count the stars if you can. That’s how many descendants you will have!” And Abram believed the LORD, and the LORD counted him as righteous because of his faith. – Genesis 15:4-6, NLT
Thoughts:
I’m playing catch-up, so I’ll be brief.
Part of the reason I believe what I believe, to be honest, is personal experience. I believe the God I hear.
No, I don’t hear God’s voice audibly. And if I did, I would probably double-guess my hearing so often that the experience would be more painful than blissful. But when I’m reading the Old and New Testament Scriptures, I hear God. And just as some would argue that I can prove my existence because “I think, therefore I am,” I would argue that, “I hear, therefore He is.” Let alone, “I am, therefore He is.” But I won’t get into that argument here.
I hear. Therefore He is. When I read this passage, where God announces the incredible to an aging, childless man, I hear God announcing the incredible for me. Not the same incredible. I’m not going to be the father of celestial numbers of descendants. But all the same, that promise was for me because I am one of the descendants who gets to receive God’s blessings.
People are still hearing God today. I’m one of them. And because I hear, I believe. Do you hear Him?
For an overview of this year’s blog, please see http://threequartertank.blogspot.com/2011/01/why-do-believers-believe.html.
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Books Needed for Indonesia Seminary
Hi everyone,
I have an invitation especially, but not only, for the members of Swanton Alliance Church. Would you like to help the Sekolah Tinggi Theologia Jaffray (Jaffray School of Theology), a seminary in Makassar, Indonesia? One practical way that you can help is by buying and sending some books their direction. Below is a list of desired books sent to me by a member of their faculty. Please contact me if you would like to help by buying and sending specific books or by simply donating finances to be used for these purchases.
Here is the list:
2. Dictionary of the Old Testament: Pentateuch (The IVP Bible Dictionary Series) by T. Desmond Alexander and David W. Baker (Dec 13, 2002)
3. Dictionary of the Old Testament: Wisdom, Poetry & Writings (The IVP Bible Dictionary Series) by Tremper Longman III and Peter Enns (Jun 6, 2008)
4. Handbook of New Testament Exegesis, A (New Testament Studies) by Craig L. Blomberg and Jennifer Foutz Markley (Nov 1, 2010)
5. Contextualization in the New Testament: Patterns for Theology and Mission by Dean E. Flemming (Oct 12, 2005)
6. Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels (The IVP Bible Dictionary Series) by Joel B. Green, Scot McKnight, and I. Howard Marshall (Feb 18, 1992)
7. Children's Ministry in the 21st Century by Group Publishing (Dec 2006)
8. Children's Ministry That Works !: The Basics and Beyond by Craig Jutila, Jim Wideman, Chris Yount, and Thom Schultz (Jul 31, 2009)
9. Best Practices for Children's Ministry: Leading from the Heart by Andrew Ervin (Sep 1, 2010)
10. Christian Counseling 3rd Edition: Revised and Updated by Gary R. Collins (Jan 16, 2007)
11. Christian Counseling: An Introduction by H. Newton Malony and David W. Augsburger (Feb 2007)
12. Counseling: How to Counsel Biblically (MacArthur Pastor's Library) by John MacArthur, Wayne A. Mack, and Master's College Faculty (Aug 23, 2005)
13. Killing Cockroaches: And Other Scattered Musings on Leadership by Tony Morgan and Andy Stanley (Mar 1, 2009)
14. The Monkey and the Fish: Liquid Leadership for a Third-Culture Church (Leadership Network Innovation Series) by Dave Gibbons (Jan 20, 2009)
15. Communicating for a Change: Seven Keys to Irresistible Communication by Andy Stanley and Lane Jones (Jun 1, 2006)
16. Visioneering: God's Blueprint for Developing and Maintaining Vision by Andy Stanley (Oct 3, 2005)
17. Basic Christian Leadership: Biblical Models of Church, Gospel and Ministry by John R. W. Stott (Mar 23, 2006)
18. Christian Theology: An Introduction by Alister E. McGrath (Oct 12, 2010)
19. The Book on Leadership by John F. MacArthur (Oct 3, 2006)
20. Cross and Christian Ministry, The: Leadership Lessons from 1 Corinthians by D. A. Carson (Feb 1, 2004)
21. Dictionary for Theological Interpretation of the Bible by Kevin J. Vanhoozer (Nov 1, 2005)
22. Evangelical Dictionary of Theology (Baker Reference Library) by Walter A. Elwell (May 1, 2001)
23. Think: The Life of the Mind and the Love of God by John Piper and Mark A. Noll (Sep 15, 2010)
24. Jesus: The Only Way to God: Must You Hear the Gospel to be Saved? by John Piper (Aug 1, 2010)
25. A Sweet and Bitter Providence: Sex, Race, and the Sovereignty of God by John Piper (Dec 21, 2009)
26. Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament by G. K. Beale and D. A. Carson (Nov 1, 2007)
27. Scandalous: The Cross and Resurrection of Jesus (Re:Lit) by D. A. Carson (Feb 3, 2010)
28. What Does God Want of Us Anyway?: A Quick Overview of the Whole Bible (9Marks) by Mark Dever (Mar 9, 2010)
29. It Is Well: Expositions on Substitutionary Atonement (9Marks) by Mark Dever and Michael Lawrence (Apr 1, 2010)
30. 12 Challenges Churches Face by Mark Dever (Apr 1, 2008)
31. Ryken's Bible Handbook by Leland Ryken, Philip Ryken, and James Wilhoit (Sep 19, 2005)
32. Art for God's Sake: A Call to Recover the Arts by Philip Graham Ryken (May 2, 2006)
33. Discovering God in Stories from the Bible by Philip Graham Ryken (Feb 10, 2010)
34. The Great Commission: Evangelicals and the History of World Missions by Martin Klauber, Scott M. Manetsch, D.A. Carson, and Glenn Sunshine (Apr 1, 2008)
35. The God Question: An Invitation to a Life of Meaning (ConversantLife.com®) by James Porter Moreland (Jan 1, 2009)
36. The Questions Christians Hope No One Will Ask: (With Answers) by Mark Mittelberg and Lee Strobel (Oct 11, 2010)
37. Voices of the Faithful: Inspiring Stories of Courage from Christians Serving Around the World by Beth Moore and International Mission Board (Dec 28, 2010)
38. Paradigms in Conflict: 10 Key Questions in Christian Missions Today by David J. Hesselgrave (Jan 15, 2006)
39. Perspectives on the World Christian Movement: A Reader by Ralph D. Winter (Jan 2009)
40. Ephesians (Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament) by Frank Thielman (Nov 1, 2010)
41. Acts (Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament) by Darrell L. Bock (Oct 1, 2007)
42. The First and Second Letters to the Thessalonians (New International Commentary on the New Testament) by Gordon D. Fee (Jul 10, 2009)
43. The Letter to the Hebrews (Pillar New Testament Commentary) by Peter Thomas O'Brien (Feb 22, 2010)
44. The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament by John H. Walton, Victor H. Matthews, and Mark W. Chavalas (Nov 8, 2000)
45. Sustainable Youth Ministry: Why Most Youth Ministry Doesn't Last and What Your Church Can Do About It by Mark DeVries (Oct 10, 2008)
46. The Power of a Whisper: Hearing God, Having the Guts to Respond by Bill Hybels (Jul 25, 2010)
47. Too Busy Not to Pray by Bill Hybels (Apr 10, 2008)
48. The Recalcitrant Imago Dei: Human Persons and the Failure of Naturalism (Veritas) by James Porter Moreland (May 30, 2009)
49. The Promise-Plan of God: A Biblical Theology of the Old and New Testaments by Walter C. Kaiser (Apr 8, 2008)
50. Recovering the Unity of the Bible: One Continuous Story, Plan, and Purpose by Walter C. Kaiser (Oct 13, 2009)
I have an invitation especially, but not only, for the members of Swanton Alliance Church. Would you like to help the Sekolah Tinggi Theologia Jaffray (Jaffray School of Theology), a seminary in Makassar, Indonesia? One practical way that you can help is by buying and sending some books their direction. Below is a list of desired books sent to me by a member of their faculty. Please contact me if you would like to help by buying and sending specific books or by simply donating finances to be used for these purchases.
Here is the list:
Book List for STT Jaffray, Makassar, Indonesia
1. Dictionary of New Testament Background (The IVP Bible Dictionary Series) by Craig A. Evans and Stanley E. Porter (Nov 16, 2000)
27. Scandalous: The Cross and Resurrection of Jesus (Re:Lit) by D. A. Carson (Feb 3, 2010)
36. The Questions Christians Hope No One Will Ask: (With Answers) by Mark Mittelberg and Lee Strobel (Oct 11, 2010)
48. The Recalcitrant Imago Dei: Human Persons and the Failure of Naturalism (Veritas) by James Porter Moreland (May 30, 2009)
49. The Promise-Plan of God: A Biblical Theology of the Old and New Testaments by Walter C. Kaiser (Apr 8, 2008)
50. Recovering the Unity of the Bible: One Continuous Story, Plan, and Purpose by Walter C. Kaiser (Oct 13, 2009)
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