Becoming Truly Human

 {2 Corinthians 5:17; ESV} 

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

Stop for a moment and consider why it is important for us to be made new.  After all, aren’t we already created in the image of God?

Men AND women (Genesis 1:27) tells us that God created us to be His image bearers in the world.  This means that we are to reflect God’s love, truth, and holiness as we watch over the world and interact with one another.  To truly be human means that we reflect God’s character in all that we say and do.

The problem is that sin makes it impossible for us to do that.  Sin, while it seem like that natural human thing to do, is the pathway of becoming less human.  The more we allow sin to control our lives the further away from God’s image travel.

Ultimately that Good News of Christ Jesus is that it is possible for us to change directions.  Rather than moving away from God we can once again start moving towards Him.

I want you to consider what Erwin McManus wrote in his book Uprising:

God desires to place within each of us a new heart, a heart that reflects him not only in action, but in desire.  The Scriptures speak of this transformation as a metamorphosis.  We are literally transformed into new creations; not a different kind of creature, but a different kind of humanity.

The divine transformation that God seeks to bring is nothing less and nothing more than making us truly human (emphasis added, pp. 68-69).

The hope that we have in Jesus Christ isn’t centered on “going to heaven,” but it is that we can become new people.  It is possible for you and I to be the people God created us to be.  There is hope for our lives.  We can live an authentic human life.

The Process of Becoming

I think our culture has over looked just how powerful our choices are.  You see our choices form us into the people that we are.  This is why it is so important for us as a culture to have high expectations for the younger generation.  We can’t expect young people to  spend their lives watching TV, playing video games, gossiping, and frivolously spending money to one day in their mid-twenties to all of sudden become mature responsible adults.  When we allow our children to make the easy to choice and to constantly choose what is fun or brings instant gratification then they will mature into people who are selfish, petty, shallow, and irresponsible. 

I want you to think about something Gregory Boyd wrote:

“Moral culpability is not just about people acting certain ways when they could have and should have acted differently.  It’s more about people becoming certain kinds of people when they could have and should have become different kinds of people” (Satan and the Problem of Evil; p. 122).

Here is the thought that I have been thinking about this afternoon as I prepare for leadership camp next week: The Church needs to encourage people to become a different kind people.  People who have their minds set on heavenly things rather than earthly things (Colossians 3:1-4), people who walk by the Spirit rather than by the flesh (Galatians 5:16-26), and people live humbly putting others ahead of themselves (Philippians 2:1-11).

How can we do this?  First, we emphasis the fact that God in His great love for us has opened up for us the way of redemption, and that way is Jesus (Romans 5:6-11).  We need to always remember that without God’s love and initiative we would have no hope.  Our ability to become new people, Kingdom people, depends on God’s intervention in our lives.  If we miss this truth then we miss the foundation of the Gospel.

Second, we need to pray for our children, students, and others that we have influence with.  This is the example that the apostle gives in Colossians 1:9-12.  The reason Paul prays for the Colossians is so that they will be the type of people who will honor Christ Jesus.  We need to pray for people to be filled with a knowledge of God’s will and with spiritual wisdom and knowledge so they can become people who honor Jesus with the way they live.

Lastly, we need to give people tools, methods, and disciplines to help them train in godliness (1 Timothy 4:7). If we were honest we would have to admit that our process of discipleship isn’t working.  Our church families are not filled with people becoming more and more like Christ Jesus.  In fact, I would wager, many of us having given up on true transformation taking place, and we are content with a little behavior modification.  We need to help people understand that they are responsible for their spiritual growth and that the spiritual disciplines such as meditation, prayer, worship, service, fasting, solitude, and celebration are ways in which we can train our bodies to ignore the pull of the flesh and to follow the Spirit.

Each one of us is in the process of becoming.  We are either becoming a more human and thus fit for God’s Kingdom or we are becoming less human and thus fit for the kingdom of darkness.  Are choices play an essential part in this process.  We are called to do all that we can to help people make the right choices.

We Will Have Fear

I believe that one of the greatest obstacles that we have to overcome as we strive for maturity in Christ Jesus is fear.  Fear is what prevents us from stepping out in faith and experiencing God at work in us as well as in the world.  We choose comfort and security over risk and uncertainty.  At face value it seems like a no brainer until we realize that are stuck in a rut of existence rather than traveling the road of life.

John Ortberg had this to say about fear:

The fear will never go away. Why? Because each time I want to grow, it will involve going into new territory, taking on new challenges.  And each time I do that, I will experience fear again...The decision to grow always involves a choice between risk and comfort.  This  means that to be a follower of Jesus you must renounce comfort as the ultimate value of your life (If You Want to Walk on Water You’ve Got to Get Out of the Boat; p. 21)

You and I will always experience fear, even as we follow Jesus, but our goal is not to allow that fear to determine the choices that we make.  To live with courage is not to live with out fear, but to make the right choice in spite of the fear.  How do we do that?  Let me offer a few suggestions.

First I would suggest don’t go it alone.  My personal experience has taught me that it is easier to respond with courage with a friend by your side.  We need the help of other people if we are going to grow.  Perhaps that is why we are constantly urged in the New Testament to be part of each other lives.  Hebrews 10:24-25 reads; And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near (ESV).  We need to ENCOURAGE (fill each other with courage) each other as we follow Christ Jesus.

Second I would suggest that we meditate and pray.  Sometimes we get ourselves so worked up over a situation that we totally lose perspective on it.  Whatever is causing us fear can seem so huge to us that it ends up pushing God totally out of the picture.  This is why it is essential that we take time to sit down, pray, and think on words from Scripture.  Words like these well known words from Psalms:

The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters.
He restores my soul.
He leads me in paths of righteousness
for his name's sake.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me (Psalm 23:1-4; ESV).

Prayer and meditation help us regain a proper perspective on reality.

A last suggestion I would make is that we need a Kingdom mindset.  I think the reason why fear is such a powerful force in our lives is because we are focused on our lives.  What we are seeking is to make a nice little comfortable life for us and we don’t want anything to come in and tear that life apart, so we hold back.  Think about these words from Jesus:  “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matthew 6:33; ESV). The context for this saying is Jesus’ teaching on not to worry, for God knows our needs.  What Jesus tells us us that when we seek after His Kingdom then everything we need for life and godliness will be given to us.  We may not always get what we want, but we will receive what we  need.  This promise should provide comfort as we face the fears in our lives.

We will have fear, but it doesn’t have rule our lives.  May we be people who live lives of courage as we follow after Jesus.

Going Camping

I wanted to let all 3 of my blog readers know that I am going camping and won't be back until Wednesday.  I once again give you permission to take a break from pondering with me, and I will have something brand new for you on Wednesday evening.  Until then remember 1 John 2:6.

Sunday Quote: A Different View of Temptation

“In this life it is impossible to escape the assault of temptation; but one thing is sure—temptations are not sent to us to make us fall; they are sent to strengthen the nerve and the sinew of our minds and hearts and souls. They are not meant for our ruin, but for our good. They are meant to be tests from which we emerge better warriors and athletes of God.” ~ William Barclay; DSB: The Gospel of Mark; p. 21

Salt and Light

In his book Velvet Elvis Rob Bell sums up what it means to follow Jesus: "As a Christian, I am simply trying to orient myself around living a particular kind of way, the kind of way that Jesus taught is possible. And I think that the way of Jesus is the best possible way to live.”  The older I get and the longer I follow Jesus the more convinced I become that Bell is correct: The way of Jesus is the best way to live.  That doesn’t mean it will be easy, but it does mean that it is good.

Why do I think the way of Jesus is the best way to live?  One reason I think the way of Jesus’ way is the best way to live is because it helps me make sense of the world.  To understand that there are other forces at work in the world than God is absolutely vital to understanding the context of our lives.  Not only has Jesus come to give us life, but there is a thief who is working to steal, kill, and destroy that life.  Christianity helps me make sense of life.

A second reason why I believe Jesus’ way of living is the best way to live is because it gives me a part to play in making this world a better place.  The choices that we make either bring love, hope, and joy into this world or they bring in fear, heart-ache, and pain.  When we give ourselves over to the love, compassion, and generosity, the way modeled by Jesus, we are able to make this world a better place. 

The way of Jesus reminds us that life isn’t about our best life now, but it is about joining God in bring love, hope, and help to a world that is in desperate need.  Our lives are but loans from God and we are to use them to benefit the world around us, and that all begins with the choices that we make.  These choices form the content of our lives, and thus they reveal the presence (or the lack of) faith, hope, joy, peace, and love in our lives.  The way we live our lives become the evidence of whether or not following Jesus is the best way to live.

On the Sermon on the Mount Jesus put it this way:

"You are the salt of the earth. But what good is salt if it has lost its flavor? Can you make it useful again? It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless. You are the light of the world--like a city on a mountain, glowing in the night for all to see. Don't hide your light under a basket! Instead, put it on a stand and let it shine for all.  In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father”  (Matthew 5:13-16; NLT).

We can give a reasoned defense on why the way of Jesus is the best way to live, but for most people that won’t matter, because they have been sold a bunch of lies before.  What people are looking for is whether or not following Jesus works.  That is why the best evidence for the Truth of Jesus is the way His followers live, and that is what being the salt of the earth and the light of the world is all about.  Are you being salt and light?

Futile Living

As I was working on Leadership Camp (August 4-6 at Camp Nebowa) this morning I began to ponder this passage from 1 Peter:

And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one's deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for your sake, who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God (1 Peter 1:17-21; ESV).

Peter tells us that the way the world is living is futile, and thus give life.  Take for example a show like American Idol, which clearly demonstrates the futility of trying to find life through being famous.  So many of the people who trying out for the show believe it is their only chance of “making it” and if they could then they could really have life.

Shows like the Bachelor shows us the futility of trying to find life in a relationship.  The problem is that world’s understanding of romantic love is flawed, for it is just a matured version of lust, because at its core is, “What can you do for me.”  People pursue romance in order to find validation, that they really are a man or that they really are beautiful.  In other words, people want to know that they are desired and accepted, and they hope to find this in a romantic relationship.  It is also the reason why so many relationships fall apart, because when validation no longer comes through the romantic relationship, it is time to find a new one.

The way of Christ is fundamentally different than the way of the world.  For the source of our life is not what we are able to accomplish or in what another person offers us, but it is found in Christ Jesus Himself.  In Him we find what being human is all about, in Him we discover that life comes from serving rather than being served and that our validation comes from what Christ has already done for us rather than what another person can offer us.

Here is the simple point that I want to make today: Christ offers us a new way to live.  The ways to live the world offers us: fame, power, romance, pleasure, fun, etc. are all futile.  Sooner or later they will leave us disappointed, but the way of the Christ will continue to lead us deeper and deeper into what life is really all about.  That doesn’t mean there will be no obstacles or disappointments along the way, but it does mean that we will discover a joy, a peace, and a purpose for life that we could find in no other place.  Thanks be to God who has delivered us from futile living and given us true life in Christ.

Guide Me to Life

Psalm 16:11

Good Shepherd,
I ask that You will lead me on the path of life. It is so easy for me to become distracted by the things of this world that I find myself constantly wandering away. Watch over me, pursue me when I wander, pick me up when I stumble, and correct me when I disobey. I want to live the life You have for me to live.

Lord, show me the futility of life in this world so that it ceases to be attractive to me. Put into my heart the longings for love and truth so that my supreme desires can only be found in You.

I surrender my life to You, Christ Jesus. Guide me to true and eternal life. It is in Your name I pray, amen.

Busted Again

Here recently it seems that God has been using Scripture to point out attitudes and behaviors that I need to change.  This morning the Gospel reading for the day was Matthew 15:21-28:

After going out from there, Jesus went to the region of Tyre and Sidon. A Canaanite woman from that area came and cried out, "Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David! My daughter is horribly demon-possessed!" But he did not answer her a word. Then his disciples came and begged him, "Send her away, because she keeps on crying out after us." So he answered, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." But she came and bowed down before him and said, "Lord, help me! "It is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs," he said. "Yes, Lord," she replied, "but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table.  Then Jesus answered her, "Woman, your faith is great! Let what you want be done for you." And her daughter was healed from that hour (NET).

Too often I find my attitude in ministry is just like the disciples, to help only those who are "deserving" of help.  In other words, I don't want ministry to be too hard or to take me out of my comfort zone.  I want ministry to be nice and easy so that my gifts can shine through and people think: What a wonderful guy Paul is.

May my eyes be open to what God is doing in the world and the opportunites to love and serve that He puts in my way, even when those opportunities are difficult.

Dead to Life

I like what Erwin McManus wrote in his book Uprising:

God’s warning to man was that if he at of the forbidden fruit, he would surely die.  Adam and Eve did eat of the tree, but there was no apparent death at the moment.  I think we often assume God was speaking metaphorically.  Yet what we find throughout the Scriptures is that in the most important way we truly did die.  We are now dead in our trespasses and sins.  We are in a sense even dead to life.  We merely exist and think we are alive.  We have traded the authentic for the imitation.  Human history can be summarized as a desperate search for life (p. 5).

The evening news and the gossips shows continue to show this desperate search for life.  We constantly lie to ourselves by saying, “The missing part of my life is …”  That “is” could be a new relationship, a new job, a different hobby, a different address, more money, or more clothes and you are aware that this list could go on and on.  Most of us should have lived long enough to know that this is just a delusion.  There is nothing in these things that is truly life giving.

The apostle Peter wrote:

And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one's deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for your sake, who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God (1 Peter 1:17-21; ESV).

In Christ, Peter tells us, we are saved from this empty and hollow existence that many people call life, through the work of Christ Jesus.  I think this passage also reminds us why the world doesn’t need our condemnation, but rather what they need is our love.  You see the people of the world really don’t know any better, and they are chasing life in the same ways that people have always chased after life, yet those ways are futile, and will never give us the life we long to have.

How do we experience this new life that we have been given in Christ Jesus? Peter went on to write; So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up to salvation— if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good (1 Peter 2:1-3; ESV). Peter mentions two essential actions we must take.  First, we have to git rid of our evil behavior.  We cannot do this alone, but it is something that we must choose to do.  Second, we need to crave God’s truth.  We crave, not necessarily because we like it (hopefully that will come), but because we know it is essential for our lives.  These two actions go together, for we cannot rid our lives of evil without also knowing God’s will and knowing the way He desires us to live.

We live in a dead world among people who are dead to life because of sin.  It is time for us to bring life back to the world, and that begins with our choice to stop existing in this world and to start living the life God created us to live.  In other words it begins when we trust Jesus for life.

A Piece of Advice from King David

This Psalm was part of my devotional reading this morning.

Psalm 62
1 For God alone my soul waits in silence;
from him comes my salvation.
2 He only is my rock and my salvation,
my fortress; I shall not be greatly shaken.
3 How long will all of you attack a man
to batter him,
like a leaning wall, a tottering fence?
4 They only plan to thrust him down from his high position.
They take pleasure in falsehood.
They bless with their mouths,
but inwardly they curse. Selah
5 For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence,
for my hope is from him.
6 He only is my rock and my salvation,
my fortress; I shall not be shaken.
7 On God rests my salvation and my glory;
my mighty rock, my refuge is God.
8 Trust in him at all times, O people;
pour out your heart before him;
God is a refuge for us. Selah
9 Those of low estate are but a breath;
those of high estate are a delusion;
in the balances they go up;
they are together lighter than a breath.
10 Put no trust in extortion;
set no vain hopes on robbery;
if riches increase, set not your heart on them.
11 Once God has spoken;
twice have I heard this:
that power belongs to God,
12 and that to you, O Lord, belongs steadfast love.
For you will render to a man
according to his work. (ESV)

Here David has declared his trust in God, in spite of the opposition that he was experiencing from people.  While they planned to David harm, David spent time in worshipping his God.

Reading this I feel so busted because I am reminded how my response to opposition in life is so very different.  When road blocks come my way and it seems like people are trying to sabotage my life I scheme and make plans for how I will get the advantage.  The sad reality is that I often put my trust in my own cleverness rather than in God and His power.

As we read this Psalm we notice that David urged the readers, the singers, and the pray-ers of it to trust God at all times.  David goes on to say that our positions in life count for nothing and our wealth contains no last hope, in other words they are not the steadfast rock that our loving Heavenly Father is.

The person who trusts in power, fame, or fortune will one day be disappointed, for none of those things have the ability to give life.  Only the person who trusts in Christ Jesus has the opportunity to experience real and eternal life.  May I live my life trusting Him to be my rock and salvation, and may I teach others to do the same.

Within Our Control

There is so much in our lives that is outside of our control.  A man who has never smoked a cigeratte gets lung cancer or the woman who runs daily dies of heart attack.  We can reduce risks, but we don't control our DNA, the weather, the government policy, or the actions of another person.  In spite of our efforts to be intentional, a good deal of life is created for us by outside forces.

With this in mind consider the words of Gregory Boyd:

While a great deal of the world in which we live and even a good deal of own lives is determined by forces outside of our control, the conviction that we possess self-determination remains.  However much of life may be decided for us, some aspects of our life are decided by us.  We have some degree of genuine say-so in what happens in our lives and the world, and it is this that most fundamentally gives our lives dignity and worth" (Satan and the Problem of Evil, p. 66).

We have been created with the ability to make choices.  While our lives might be at the mercy of outside forces we can still make choices that determine how we will respond to those forces.

We can, as Paul writes, set our hearts on heavenly things (Col. 3:1); or clothe ourselves with mercy, love, and patience (Col. 3:12). In that same line of thinking we can consider it a joy when hardships come our way as we read in James 1:2.

Followers of Christ Jesus need to keep two truths in mind.  First, we need to remember that much of life is outside of our control.  Second, how we respond to the joys, hardships, successes, and trials of life will reveal our faith the the world.  It is this second truth that is with our control, and therefore that is where our concern should be.

Don't Stand Condemned

Morality doesn't come easily, in fact, it is down right hard.  The truth is that I am not the moral man that I desire to be.  The scary reality about this truth is that if I removed all of God's laws and all of society's laws I would still be an immoral person.  Why would I be immoral?  The reason is simple: I cannot even live up to my own standard of ethics.  I am not as generous as I should be, I tend to eat way too much, I am unloving to people (even people I care about), and I waste too much of my time rather than being productive with my days.  I cannot even construct a system of morality that I can keep perfectly.

In his book The Problem of Pain C. S. Lewis wrote, "All mean alike stand condemned, not by alien codes of ethics, but by their own, and all men therefore are conscious of guilt" (p. 19).

I want to suggest that this desire to creat a moral law and our guilt for not living up to it is a reflection of the reality that our lives are not what they should be.  Each of us struggles with the fact that we haven't kept the simplest moral law, and each of us has a longing for our lives to be different.

We can make all the rules, resolutions, and promises we want; but our only hope is Christ Jesus.  This is why the apostle Paul wrote; Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin (Romans 7:24-25; ESV).  I can be condemned or I can trust Jesus, those are my two options.  If I keep trying to create my own way of living the more guilt I will accumulate, but if I trust Jesus I find forgiveness and a brand new way to live life.  I choose forgiveness.

Ransomed Heart: Identity is Bestowed

Here is the Daily Reading that Ransomed Heart Ministries sent out today:

Identity Is Bestowed 

 

Deep within the Arrows stay, poisoning our self-perceptions, until someone comes along with the power to take them away, free us from all the false selves we use to weather the world's weather, and restore to us our true identity. Identity is not something that falls on us out of the sky. For better or for worse, identity is bestowed. We are who we are in relation to others. But far more important, we draw our identity from our impact on those others-if and how we affect them. We long to know that we make a difference in the lives of others, to know that we matter, that our presence cannot be replaced by a pet, a possession, or even another person. The awful burden of the false self is that it must be constantly maintained.

We think we have to keep doing something in order to be desirable. Once we find something that will bring us some attention, we have to keep it going or risk the loss of the attention.

And so we live with the fear of not being chosen and the burden of maintaining whatever it is about us that might get us noticed and the commitment never to be seen for who we really are. We develop a functional self-image, even if it is a negative one. The little boy paints his red wagon a speckled gray with whatever Father left in the can after putting a new coat on the backyard fence. "Look what I did!" he says, hoping for affirmation of the wonderful impact his presence has on the world. The angry father shames him: "What do you think you're doing? You've ruined it." The boy forms an identity: My impact is awful; I foul good things up. I am a fouler. And he forms a commitment never to be in a place where he can foul things up again. Years later, his colleagues wonder why he turned down an attractive promotion. The answer lies in his identity, an identity he received from the impact he had on the most important person in his world and his fear of ever being in such a place again.

(The Sacred Romance 86, 88)

Sunday Quote: Trying to Take God's Place

In fact, the sin of pride is the oldest one in the Book.  The writer of Genesis states that it was through pride that the serpent tempted Eve to eat the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden: “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God.” And we have all, in our own way, been trying to take God’s place ever since. ~ John Ortberg, The Life You've Always Wanted, p. 109

A Failure to Commit

In Christian circles it is popular to say that we want to live the life God created us to live, but the reality is that very few Christians actually live like it.  I know that it has been true in my case.  I will try to live a life of holiness as long as it is easy and doesn’t require too much from me, so as soon as an obstacle is place in the way I give up.

Author Dallas Willard wrote;

The general human failing is to want what is right and important, but at the same time not to commit to the kind of life that will produce the action we know to be right and the condition we want to enjoy.  This is the feature of human character that explains why the road to hell is paved with good intentions.  We intend what is right, but we avoid the live that would make it reality (The Spirit of the Disciplines, p. 6).

Salvation is a work of God.  It begins with His love for us and ends with His ultimate victory over his foes (Satan, sin, and death).  Just because salvation is God’s work does not give us an excuse to do nothing.  God expects us to commit to change.  Paul put this expectation into writing when he wrote:

If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory (Colossians 3:1-4; ESV).

To seek the things that are above and to set our minds our godly things requires a commitment on our part.  A failure to commit to the things of God will result in a life that is not transformed.  If we want to live the life God created us to live it will require that we are seeking first God and His Kingdom.  In other words, we need to commit to God and trust Him to give us true and everlasting life.

My Apologies

I am sorry for the lack of updates this week.  I have been at church camp this week, Camp Nebowa, and I haven't had a chance to post.  My intention was to have ponderings scheduled to post each day, but those ponderings are still in the notebook and have not been typed into the computer yet.  So once again the old saying about good intentions proves true.  Have a good week and I will have a couple of posts for you this weekend.

Sunday Quote: Radically Unequal

"The Declaration of Independence states that it is a self-evident truth that all people are created equal.  From a scriptural perspective this is undoubtedly true in terms of God's love for all people and thus in terms of their inherent worth.  But in every other respect nothing could be further from the truth.  People are radically unequal in terms of the possibilities and potential inherent  in every area of their life.  Some have outstanding physical and mental capacities others lack.  Some even have inherent spiritual aptitudes that others lack.  People are not equal in terms of their natural endowments." ~ Gregory Boyd, Satan and the Problem of Evil, p. 194

Look to Jesus

If we want to know what it means to be human there is only one place to turn: Jesus.  If we want to know God there is only one place to turn: Jesus.  Elias Dantes in his essay on the incarnation of Jesus wrote:

“If you want to know what it means to be a human being and to stand for the humanity of man look to Jesus Christ.  If you want to know God, look to Jesus Christ” (Christ the One and Only; The Incarnation of Christ and its Implications; p. 18).

Hebrews 2:17 reminds us that Jesus became a man in order to make atonement for our sins.  One implication of this reality is that Jesus is our example of what it means to live a truly faithful life; for Christ Jesus lived out what it means to be created in the image of God.  Thus we are urged; Those who say they live in God should live their lives as Jesus did (1 John 2:6; NLT).

Not only is Jesus our example for living, but He is also the truth about who God truly is.  Jesus said that anyone who has seen Him has seen the Father (John 14:9).  Jesus, by the way He lived, expressed precisely, in terms our finite minds could grasp, the character of God.

Since we are created in God’s image to reflect His glory, is it any wonder that these two realities are connected in Jesus?

Unequal not Unjust

Ludwig von Mises wrote:

If we reach the conclusion that only private ownership of the means of production [capitalism] makes possible the prosperous development of human society, it is clear that this is tantamount to saying that private property is not a privilege of the property owner, but a social institution for the good and benefit of all, even though it may at the same time be especially agreeable and advantageous to some (Liberalism: The Classical Tradition; p. 11).

This is the point I want to pull from the above quote: life is unfair, but that doesn’t make life unjust.  In Matthew 20:1-16 we read a parable Jesus told about a vineyard owner.  This man was wealthy with a large vineyard, so he hired workers to bring in the harvest.  Now who do you think worked the hardest to bring in the harvest? It would seem to me that the hired hands would have worked the hardest, yet it was the vineyard owner who received the biggest benefit.  This discrepancy didn’t make things unjust even though it seems to be unfair.  Though the reality is that the vineyard owner, by putting his land into production, brought about a benefit to the workers and the surrounding  community, a benefit they would not have had otherwise.

It is too easy to label the unfairness or inequality of the world as injustice, when the truth is it is nothing more than the reality of life.  True injustice is the result of unequal treatment  from the law.  It is what happens when government favors one segment of society over another.  For instance, injustice happens when government doesn’t enforce accurate weights and measures so the merchants are able to steal from the consumers.  It is this favoritism in government that God hates and that we should fight against, and not merely the unequal distribution of wealth.

So Sad

My MacBook power cord broke so I won't be able to post any ponderings for awhile, but that does mean I will have a lot of stuff to post once I get back online.  So you don't have visit the next couple of days, but hopefully by the end of the week I will be able to have the new stuff up.  Until then remember 1 John 2:6.

Sunday Quote: We are Free

"You were created to be free.  If you are a follower of Jesus Christ, you're also called to be free.  Yet to experience this freedom there must first be an uprising—revolution of the soul.  This is exactly what Jesus Christ calls you to.  Your liberation will require you to see beyond the illusion of freedom—free acts that lead to bondage.  Our freedom must never be about us alone.  Freedom is the gift of serving others out of love.  This is the freedom that only God can give, where we once again become like Him.  It is here and only here that freedom exists without boundaries.  You are free to love without limit, to forgive, to be merciful, to be generous, to be compassionate, to risk, to sacrifice, to enjoy, and to live." ~ Erwin McManus, Uprising, p. 12

Amaze Jesus

Is it possible to amaze Jesus? Imagine that you were able to memorize the entire Bible and you go to Jesus to show Him what you are able to accomplish. He smiles, pats you on the back and replies; “You know I wrote that.”

Imagine you are an artist of amazing talents. The paintings you are able to create are so real; the colors are so real. You run to Jesus to show Him your latest masterpiece. He smiles, and compliments you on your talent, and then has you look at the snow capped mountains.

There is nothing we can do that can amaze the Man who opened the eyes of the blind, gave hearing to the deaf, walked on water, turned water into wine, and let us not forget rise from the dead. Jesus is amazing. Jesus is awesome. How can we amaze Him?

After he had finished all his sayings in the hearing of the people, he entered Capernaum. Now a centurion had a servant who was sick and at the point of death, who was highly valued by him. When the centurion heard about Jesus, he sent to him elders of the Jews, asking him to come and heal his servant. And when they came to Jesus, they pleaded with him earnestly, saying, “He is worthy to have you do this for him, for he loves our nation, and he is the one who built us our synagogue.”  And Jesus went with them. When he was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends, saying to him, “Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof. Therefore I did not presume to come to you. But say the word, and let my servant be healed. For I too am a man set under authority, with soldiers under me: and I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” When Jesus heard these things, he marveled at him, and turning to the crowd that followed him, said, “I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.”  And when those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the servant well (Luke 7:1-10; ESV; emphasis added).

Jesus is amazed by our faith. Jesus is does not marvel at a simple belief that He exists and that He rose from the dead, but He is amazed at a life which trusts Him completely. The centurion was a Gentile, he may have come to know God through the teachings he had heard, but he wasn’t a Jew. There was no reason why a guy like this would put his trust in Jesus, and yet he did. The centurion trusted Jesus more than any of the Jews Jesus ran into. It was the centurion’s trust in Jesus and His power that amazed Jesus.

Look around us. There is no reason why we should have faith in God. Science and technology have helped us conquer this world. Everyday we learn more about the Universe we live in and it seems like it can all be explained without believing in a Grand Designer.

Spirituality is all the rage today. People want to explore the mystery and experience the mystical. It seems so exciting; so much for people to discover. It is possible to have real emotional or spiritual experiences that  seem to add meaning to our lives.

The world is telling us that Jesus is obsolete; that He is no longer relevant to today’s society. Imagine anyone saying that He is the only way to God. The arrogance and ignorance of such thinking!

To put our faith in Jesus is not the  rational or reasonable thing to do according to the standards of the society in which we live. In that aspect we are very similar to the centurion. The Jews had the Scripture pointing out who Jesus was, but the centurion came from a very different culture. A culture which didn’t recognize the God of Abraham and therefore had no reason to hope for the Messiah. Yet he had faith in Jesus.

Our culture does not honor God, let alone Jesus. By going against the culture and trusting Jesus we amaze Him. I am not talking about simply walking down the aisle at church and accepting Jesus as your Savior and being baptized. I am talking about a life that trust Jesus more than we trust ourselves. Not only saying we trust Jesus for our salvation, but putting it on the line and obeying what He has commanded. It amazes Jesus when we go against the culture in order to put our faith in Him.

Live with Joy

Psalm 1:1-2

God in Heaven,
I desire a life of joy. A joy that is based on eternal things and not on my everyday circumstances. A joy that is just as real in the hard times as it is in the good times.

In this Psalm You have revealed that the source of true joy is found in Your truth. I plead to You to lead me into all truth and to send Your Holy Spirit to my heart to instruct me in that truth and that You will strengthen me to walk in Your truth.

Guide my life into truth so that I can live a life of true joy and holiness. It is in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray, amen.