Daily Thought: A Test of Character

"Man's position or state in this creation was that of a lord tenant.  The earth is, indeed, the Lord's; but he gave it to man on a very easy and liberal lease, and so it became his property.  He was therefore, a free and responsible agent, capable of managing his estate and paying his rent; and consequently was susceptible of virtue and of vice, of happiness and misery. In order to freedom, virtue, and happiness, it was expedient and necessary to place him under a law; for where there is no law there can be no liberty, virtue, or happiness.  The law became a test of his character, a guarantee of his continued enjoyment of the life and property which God had leased to him on the condition of his obedience to that precept."

Alexander Campbell, The Christian System, Gospel Advocate Company (2001); p. 13

Video: How Big is Your God?

Linkage: Pressing for Decisions

My wife and I have been attending a Sunday School class on evangelism which has raised all sorts of questions in my mind.  This class would not have been my first choice to attend, but I did because the other class is on the book of Revelation and I didn't want constantly bite my tongue on things I didn't agree with. I thought a class on evangelism was a safer bet for me.

One of my initial problems with classes on evangelism is that there is always a guilt factor that is associated with them.  We are made to feel guilty that we are not going out and telling others about Jesus.  While I understand that we are to do things that we are not comfortable with, and I am not comfortable with doing evangelism as it is normally presented, I am just not all that certain that evangelism is what Jesus had in mind when He commissioned His followers to make disciples.

Yesterday during Sunday School and Church I was very frustrated because of this, but I really couldn't express my thoughts very well.  Then I read this post, Pressing for Decisions, by Scot McKnight and I started to have a little clarity to my thoughts, or at least I could put a name to my frustrations.

In this post McKnight begins to review the book  Transforming Conversion: Rethinking the Language and Contours of Christian Initiation by Gordon Smith.

American evangelicalism, and what I mean here is “revivalist” American evangelicalism, is shaped by and oriented toward decisions for Christ. What’s more, revivalist evangelicalism has a soterian gospel designed to precipitate decisions that can be used to measure who is “in” and who is “out.” Which is also to say that revivalist evangelicalism creates a “salvation” culture. (This is all sketched out in my The King Jesus Gospel.)

Continue reading Pressing for Decisions.

Out of the twelve themes McKnight mentions I want to pull out four that will validated my thoughts yesterday.

The first theme McKnight identifies is Conversion is equated with salvation (Smith says salvation is the work of God; conversion is the human response). What we tend to do is focus on getting a person to make a decision so they can be saved.  We feel like we have done what we needed to by getting the person to "make a decision," and thus they are saved.  Problem is that our evangelism drops the ball on the hard work of making disciples.  We are taught that the main point is getting people saved so they can go to heaven rather than making disciples who living like Jesus.

The second theme I would like to mention is Revivalism is ambivalent about the intellect and is often anti-intellectual.  This I think is one the cancers that is destroying the Church in the United States.  American Christians have a faith built on experience and cliché rather than truth and wisdom.  Most people's faith, including many pastors, is so shallow.  The result is that we don't have anything to offer people that really gets on the core problems of life.  I witnessed a classic example of this reality this summer.  I was at a camp this summer and the teens who staffed the kitchen were not all believers.  I came through food line and only caught the tail in of the conversation, but one of teenage boys was talking with the guy who was leading the music.  The young man was having trouble accepting that with all the bad things in the world, and in his life, that God was indeed good.  The song leader told the young man, "But God is so good."  To which the young man replied, "You only think He is good because that is the way you choose see Him."  The answer the song leader gave blew me away, "Just give Him a try and God will show you He is good."  He offered no reasons for why God is good, just go and have the experience.  If I had to rely solely on my experience I would not conclude that God is good.  I declare that God is good in spite of my experience because the truth of Scripture and the wisdom of people like C. S. Lewis who have used their minds to reconcile the existence of a good God in and evil world.

The third theme I would like to pull out is  Revivalism is ambivalent about or even anti-sacramental. (Including baptism.)  Evangelism, as mentioned before, focuses on a person making a decision and so in order to get a person converted and to help  you feel like you accomplished your good work we have to person say the "sinners prayer."  The importance of baptism is down played, even though  Jesus himself said that it was a key component in making disciples and the apostle Paul wrote that it was in baptism that we are united with Jesus (Romans 6).

The fourth theme is The church’s mission is to obtain conversions.  This goes back to the thinking that what is important is to get people saved so they can go to heaven when they die, but I don't think that is ultimately all that we are called to do.  If we look back at the original design and mission for humankind we see that we are called to be stewards of God's creation and fill creation with people who bear the image of God.  We see in the ministry of Jesus how He not only proclaimed the truth about God and set people free from the oppression of the law, but He also met their physical needs.  In Matthew 25 Jesus said those people who meet the physical needs of people: providing food, clothing, and companionship, those are the people really serving God.

I have rambled on long enough.  My main point in all of this is to say that we need to challenge our assumptions about what it means to be a Christian, what evangelism is, and even who God is.  We cannot allow ourselves to be push by the currents of cultural Christianity, we have to pursue the Truth God has given us, even when it forces us to go agains the flow.

Daily Thought: We Have to Work with God

I wouldn’t think of talking to unconverted men about overcoming the world, for it is utterly impossible. They might as well try to cut down the American forest with their penknives. But a good many Christian people make this mistake: they think the battle is already fought and won. They have an idea that all they have to do is to put the oars down in the bottom of the boat, and the current will drift them into the ocean of God’s eternal love. But we have to cross the current. We have to learn how to watch and fight, and how to overcome. The battle is only just commenced. The Christian life is a conflict and a warfare, and the quicker we find it out the better. There is not a blessing in this world that God has not linked Himself to. All the great and higher blessings God associates with Himself. When God and man work together, then it is that there is going to be victory. We are coworkers with Him. You might take a mill, and put it forty feet above a river, and there isn’t capital enough in the States to make that river turn the mill; but get it down about forty feet, and away it works. We want to keep in mind that if we are going to overcome the world, we have got to work with God. It is His power that makes all the means of grace effectual.

Moody, Dwight Lyman (2011-03-24). The Overcoming Life and Other Sermons (Kindle Locations 35-44). Kindle Edition.

Daily Thought: We Are Under Grace

Law is always external. It is always imposed from outside. It can never make man good. It can only make him wish he had been good. The coming of Jesus brought an end to law as a basis of anyone's relationship to God. Law, as a written code, was suspended and superseded by grace and truth. We are no longer governed by a written code. We are not under law, but under grace.

Ketcherside, W. Carl (2010-08-05). The Death of the Custodian (Kindle Locations 677-679). SCM e-Prints. Kindle Edition.

Daily Thought: Today is the Day

God pours his blessings out upon us, but the blessing is not to end with itself. Remember these words: "Freely ye have received, freely give." Seek to be blessed of God, that you may pass the blessing on to others. Leave some footprints here upon the sands of time, so that in after-years they may guide some one to a noble deed and better way. When you reach the end of life, you can experience no greater consolation than to know you have done what you could. Improve the moments of time while you have them. They are passing swiftly. They will not wait for you. Some people are going to do, but behold, the opportunity passes before they are ready.

Opportunities do not wait. Do good while you may. You are going to give the flower tomorrow, but tomorrow the flower may have faded. You intended to speak a kind word yesterday, but thought you would defer until another day. But the strain was so great the life went out, and your kind word came too late. Today is the day to save the lost. may be too late. How sad that a soul through all eternity will be crying out, "You were going to help me, but you came too late."

Orr, Charles Ebert (2004-11-01). How to Live a Holy Life (pp. 42-43). Public Domain Books. Kindle Edition.

Video: Doubt and Belief

Linkage: The Power of Implementation Intentions

One of the realities that we discover as we follow Jesus is the need for constant change.  We realize that we need to change our attitudes and well as our behaviors.  Yet time and time again we discover we don't have what it takes to change, and our good intentions remain good intentions.

The good news in this is that this change that needs to happen in our lives is not entirely our responsibility. The apostle Paul wrote in Galatians 5:22-23; "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law" (ESV).  One of the truths that Paul wants us to understand is that this changed life we are to live is the result of the Spirit working inside of us.  Our changed life is the fruit that the Spirit produces in our lives.  So when it comes to making changes in our lives we first need to surrender to God and ask Him to bring healing, wisdom, and strength to us through the Spirit.  We need God's help to change.

With that being said we have to realize that we have a part of play in our transformation as well.  Ultimately God wants us to be people who freely choose to do what is right.  We need to learn how to make the right choice, so that the right choice becomes second nature to us, something that we do without thinking about it because it is how we are.

Dallas Willard in his book The Renovation of the Heart provides a formula for the human side of transformation: VIM.  Vim stands for Vision, Intention, and Means.  We have to have vision of what that transformation will look like in our lives, we need to have the intention to bring that vision to reality in our lives, and then we have a means on making it happen.

It is in that last point, the means of turning our intentions into reality, that this article from the Art of Manliness about.  I hope that you find it helpful in your quest to become the person God created you to be.

If you’re like many men across the world, you probably set some new goals for yourself on January 1. Maybe it was to work out regularly or get into the reading habit. Or maybe you wanted to pay off your debt or increase your productivity. 

Perhaps you did okay for the first week or two, but have already fallen off the goal-achieving wagon. Oh well. There’s always next year, right? 

Hold on there, chief. No need to wallow in regret for the awesome life that could have been. There’s still hope for you yet. 

To end this month-o-motivation, I set out to do a comprehensive post about all the ways to increase your chances of reaching a goal. 

But as I waded into the research, what I found was that 1) summarizing all of the information required more of a book than a blog post, and 2) a lot of the methods didn’t personally strike me as all that helpful.

Continue Reading A Formula for Success: The Power of Implementation Intentions.

Daily Thought: Come Within Understanding Distance

"For the salutary and sanctifying intelligence of the Oracles of God, the following rule is indispensable:

We must come within the understanding distance.

"There is a distance, which is properly called the speaking distance, or the hearing distance; beyond which the voice reaches not, and the ears hear not.  To hear another, we must come with that circle which the voice audibly fills.

"Now we may with propriety say, that as it respects God, there is an understanding distance.  All beyond that distance can not understand God; all within it can easily understand him in all matters of piety and morality.  God himself is the center of that circle, and humility is its circumference."

Alexander Campbell, The Christian System, Gospel Advocate Company (2001); p. 5

Video: Francis Chan on Temptation

Making the Truth Visible

William Barclay in The Daily Study Bible: The Letters to the Corinthians wrote; "No one can argue against the proof of a changed life.  It is our weakness that too often we have tried to talk men into Christianity instead of, in our own lives, showing them Christ" (p. 25).

I am sure that you have heard different versions of this thought before.  Brennan Manning is credited with saying “The single greatest cause of atheism in the world today is Christians, who acknowledge Jesus with their lips, then walk out the door, and deny Him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable."

The heart of what both these men are saying is that the way we live provides the evidence for the truth of what we say.  When we say we follow Jesus and tell others that they should follow Jesus, but there is no difference in the way we live, then why would people want to follow Jesus?  To say that Jesus gives us hope and life, but those things are not evident in the way we live we are proclaiming to the world that the promises of Jesus are hollow and empty.  It takes more than apologetics and evangelism techniques to make true followers of Jesus.  What is needed is a way of life that people can immediately tell is a better way to live.

Peter writes:

But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts regard Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame (1 Peter 3:14-16; ESV)

Peter says that when we suffer for righteousness sake and we still live with hope, because we have allowed Christ to be Lord in our lives, then that is going to be reflected to the people around us.  It will get people to talk, and they will ask, "Why do you have hope?"  The way we live will be attractive to them and they will wonder how they can have a life like ours.

Apologetics and evangelism are important, but for many people those things will fall on deaf ears if the truth we present is not seen in the way we live.  The way we live provides the necessary evidence that what we say is true.  Our actions make our spoken words come alive.

If we are going to make disciples then we are going to need more than talking points and evidences, we are going to a need a life that shines a light in the darkness.  We need to show people that what we say is true.

Daily Thought: The One Best Book

"The Bible is to the intellectual and moral world of man what the sun is to be the planets in our system—the fountain and source of light and life, spiritual and eternal.  There is not a spiritual idea in the whole human race that is not drawn from the Bible.  As soon will the philosopher find an independent sunbeam in nature, as the theologian a spiritual conception in man, independent of The One Best Book."

Alexander Campbell, The Christian System, Gospel Advocate Company (2001), p. 3

Training to be Like Jesus

We have heard the old saying; “Practice makes perfect,” and we accept the truth that it teaches.  If we are going to do anything well we have practice doing it.  For the musician that means learning how to read music, learning to play scales, and learning to keep time before any actual music can even be played.  Even then hours of practice are required to play a piece of music well.

An athlete has to learn the basics of fundamentals of his sport, to spend time lifting weights, and running laps before the game can be played.  Likewise it requires hours of practicing the game before an actual can be played so that both player and team can play well.

Practice is an universal law on how to improve a skill or a talent.  With this being the case it is hard to imagine why we have overlooked it when it comes to our spiritual development.  Perhaps it is because we don’t want to be accused of being focused on “works,” so we live our lives frustrated that we are not doing better while waiting for God to magically make us perfect.  I am sorry, but I am afraid it doesn’t work like that.

C. E. Orr in his book How to Live a Holy Life wrote; “If you neglected to water your garden, you would not wonder for a moment why it was drying up. Then, when you are neglecting to water the soul in vigorous, spiritual exercises, why do you wonder at your being so spiritually dull?” (p.47).  The problem with many Christians today isn’t that they lack love or faith, but they lack the understanding that they need to be involved in spiritual exercise in order to become mature followers of Jesus.

Reflect on what the apostle Paul told Timothy:

If you put these things before the brothers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, being trained in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine that you have followed. Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness; for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come (1 Timothy 4:6-8; ESV).

It appears to me that Paul is trying to remind Timothy not to waste his life in doing things that are not eternally important.  He could spend his life to argue against the silly myths of the day, which would take time but be ineffective and thus be a waste of his time.  Timothy could devote his time to healthy living and exercise, which would benefit the body, but has little eternal value.  Instead Paul says he should train for godliness.  How does one do that?

If we follow the examples of a musician and an athlete that I gave earlier there are two facets of this train.  First there are committing to the spiritual disciplines.  These are activities that have historically proven to help people mature as Christians, and they are things that Jesus himself did while he was here on earth.  These disciplines include activities such as Bible study, prayer, fasting, giving, and worship.  These things are the equivalent of learning how to play a music scale or learning how to dribble a basketball.  They are want teaches your mind, heart, soul, and body what to do when faced with the reality of life.

Second there are what I will call the Christian duties.  Things like serving people, teaching, and taking a stand for what is right.  These are things that don’t come naturally to us, and things we don’t always feel like doing, and that is why they become duties.  When we do them, even when we don’t want to or have a great love in our heart for God, they teach us about humility and what it means to love those who may not love you back.  These duties are much like practice.  It is boring and becomes old hat to play the same piece of music a thousand different times or to go to basketball practice day after day and compete against the same people, but you do it, even when you don’t want to, because you know it will prepare you for the real thing.  These duties are like that, they are not always fun, but they are preparing us so we can respond to the realities of life out of love, goodness, and self-control.

If we are going to be like Jesus we need to train to be like Him, it isn’t going to magically happen.  It is going to take a lot of hard work on our part and a lot of grace on God’s part, but together it can happen!

Linkage: Don't Just Stand There

As we follow Jesus it is easy at times to stop and wonder what the next step is going to be.  We become paralyzed with fear and uncertainty that we don't do anything waiting for God to make His will for our lives clear.  Perhaps God is wanting us to step out and do what He has already revealed, even when doing so goes against common sense.

That is the point Mike Andrews is making in this post:

It was a huge mess. After watching their oppressors being hounded by bloody water, frogs, flies, gnats, hail, dying animals, locusts up the wazoo, darkness, festering sores all over their bodies, and the deaths of their firstborn sons... now they were free. Well, they were on the edge of the wilderness loaded down with loot, with no homes to which to return, but at least they weren’t slaves anymore, right? Then it all started to look really bad...

Continue reading Don't Just Stand There.

Just to build on Mike's thought is the need for us to go together.  There certainly will be times when we are forced to go alone, but it is so much easier to go as a group.  Just as a cord of three strands is multiple times stronger than those three strands alone, when we function as a body we are able to infuse each other with strength, courage, and faith that is desperately needed to live the life God has created us to live.

Daily Thought: The Queer Twist of Reality

"Besides being complicated, reality, in my experience, is usually odd.  It is not neat, not obvious, not what you expect.  For instance, when you have grasped that the earth and the other planets all go round the sun, you would naturally expect that ll the planets were made to match—all at equal distances from each other, say, or distances that regularly increased, or all the same size, or else getting bigger or smaller as you go further from the sun.  In fact, you find no rhyme or reason (that we can see) about either the sizes or the distances; and some of them have one moon, one has four , one has two, some have none, and one has a ring.

"Reality, in fact, is usually something you could not have guessed.  That is one of the reasons I believe in Christianity.  It is a religion you could not have guessed.  If it offered us just the kind of universe we had always expected, I should feel we were making it up.  But, in fact, it is not the sort of thing anyone would have made up.  It has just that queer twist about it that real things have."

C. S. Lewis, A Year with C. S. Lewis, HarperSanFrancisco (2003), p. 27

Daily Thought: Prayer is the Means of Victory

Prayer is the energy and life of the soul. It is the invincible armor which shields the devoted Christian from the poisoned missiles shot forth from the batteries of hell. It is the mighty weapon with which he fights life's battles unto victory. He who lives in prayer reigns triumphant. The dark storm-clouds are driven away, mountains of discouragement are cast into the sea, chasms of difficulties are bridged, hope is given wings, faith increases, and joys abound. Hell may rage and threaten; but he who is frequent and fervent in prayer experiences no alarm.

Orr, Charles Ebert (2004-11-01). How to Live a Holy Life (p. 49). Public Domain Books. Kindle Edition.

Video: The Christian Walk Requires Endurance

Words of Life

{John 6:66-69; ESV}

After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. So Jesus said to the Twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.”

Jesus has just finished giving the people a hard teaching. He told them that He was the bread from Heaven, and if they hoped to be part of God’s Kingdom and live forever they had to eat of His body. This was a teaching that the people did not understand, and they left grumbling. They had pursued Jesus with the hope of making Him king, and now they left His presence confused.

I think we can learn a very important lesson from the verses leading up to John 6:66. Here is the lesson we need to remember: we should never be afraid to tell people the truth. In terms of contemporary evaluation Jesus has just preached His worst sermon. He started with thousands of followers, and ends up with just a handful. This sermon drove off thousands of people, and Jesus let them go. Jesus demonstrates to us that faith is more important than numbers. We often get this the other way around. In our churches we will sacrifice faith for numbers. I have been part of church families where you have to walk on egg shells around certain people because they might get mad and leave the church, and so the rest of the people are left unchallenged by the truth. Sometimes the best thing that can happen to a church is the loss of certain people. It is not always a bad thing when people choose to walk way from Jesus.

As we begin to look at John 6:66-69, we notice that Jesus seems to invite His twelve disciples to leave as well. I would suggest that this question Jesus offers is an opportunity for the Twelve to evaluate why they remain with Jesus. These men had to come to grips with why they followed this Man who made such outrageous claims about Himself.

I think life often throws at us circumstances that provide us with opportunities to examine why we continue to follow Jesus. It could be when your husband/wife is diagnosed with cancer or when you have been unemployed for 6 months and God hasn’t answered your prayers for a new job. I would bet that you have had more than one crisis of belief that forced you to examine your faith. I know I have.

That is why Peter’s words ring through the centuries. The reason we remain faithful to Jesus is because we have discovered that He alone has the words of life. We have come to know that Jesus is indeed the Son of God, who has come to save us from sin and death.

One of the thoughts that I had which helped me through my last crisis of belief 3 years ago was: Jesus brings meaning and understanding to life. In other words, it wasn’t about evidences and arguments, but it was the difference that Jesus had already made in my life that convinced me that faith in Jesus was worth it. Isn’t that what Peter was saying? What they had already heard, seen, and experienced had caused them to put their faith in Jesus. They realized that only Jesus had the words of life that they needed. I pray that we all come to that realization.

Point to Ponder: Only Jesus has the words of life that we need.
Passage to Remember: John 6:66-69
Prayer to Pray: Heavenly Father, Open my ears so I may hear the words of Jesus and soften my heart so I will apply those words to my life...

Daily Thought: God Empowers Us to Conquer

It is like this: when a man enters the army, he is a member of the army the moment he enlists; he is just as much a member as a man who has been in the army ten or twenty years. But enlisting is one thing, and participating in a battle another. Young converts are like those just enlisted. It is folly for any man to attempt to fight in his own strength. The world, the flesh and the devil are too much for any man. But if we are linked to Christ by faith, and He is formed in us the hope of glory, then we shall get the victory over every enemy. It is believers who are the overcomers. “Thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ.” Through Him we shall be more than conquerors.

Moody, Dwight Lyman (2011-03-24). The Overcoming Life and Other Sermons (Kindle Locations 30-35). Kindle Edition.

Daily Thought: A Diseased Heart

Many a man, many a woman, fair and flourishing to see, is going about with a rusty moth-eaten heart within that form of strength or beauty.

"But this is only a figure."

True. But is the reality intended, less or more than the figure? Does not the rust and the moth mean more than disease? And does not the heart mean more than the heart? Does it not mean a deeper heart, the heart of your own self, not of your body? of the self that suffers, not pain, but misery? of the self whose end is not comfort, or enjoyment, but blessedness, yea, ecstasy? a heart which is the inmost chamber wherein springs the divine fountain of your being? a heart which God regards, though you may never have known its existence, not even when its writhings under the gnawing of the moth and the slow fire of the rust have communicated a dull pain to that outer heart which sends the blood to its appointed course through your body? If God sees that heart corroded with the rust of cares, riddled into caverns and films by the worms of ambition and greed, then your heart is as God sees it, for God sees things as they are. And one day you will be compelled to see, nay, to feel your heart as God sees it; and to know that the cankered thing which you have within you, a prey to the vilest of diseases, is indeed the centre of your being, your very heart.

MacDonald, George; eBook-Ventures (2010-08-07). Unspoken Sermons - Series 1, 2 & 3 (pp. 72-73). Unknown. Kindle Edition.

Video: Why Does Satan Have So Much Power?

We Must Be Crazy

{1 Peter 4:1-5; ESV}

Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God. The time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry. With respect to this they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign you; but they will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.

Following Jesus isn’t the sane thing to do.  Granted I think there are good and sound reasons to be a Christian, but to really follow Jesus is such a radical thing to do that it makes us look crazy to the rest of the world.  It is crazy to give money when we are urged to spend to the point of being thousands of dollars in debt.  It is crazy to love the grumpy old neighbor when everyone else on the block just complains about him.  It is crazy to celebrate a funeral while the rest of the world mourns the lost of of a loved one.  It is crazy to give up time to volunteer when there doesn’t seem to be enough hours in the day to accomplish what we need to get done.  It is crazy not to have sex before you get married when the world tells you that it is the natural thing to do.  To live a life that truly follows Jesus makes us crazy.

Erwin McManus wrote about this reality:

“When the Spirit of God envelops your soul, your spirit comes alive, and everything changes for you.  You are no longer the same.  And to those who cannot see the invisible, to those who refuse to believe it exists, the path you choose, the life you live, may lead them to conclude that you are not simply different but insane.  People who are fully alive look out of their minds to those who simply exist.” (The Barbarian Way, p. 69)

I think one of the problems the American Church suffers from is from the fact that we have made following Jesus reasonable.  Don’t get me wrong I am not saying that being a Christian means to shut off our minds and blindly accept what we are told to believe.  Remember faith in Jesus Christ begins with our decision to accept the reality, based on the evidence, of His life, death, and resurrection.  Yet, James tells us that if faith doesn’t start to affect the way we live then that faith is dead (James 2:17).  Living faith pushes us to make changes in the way we live and to do things we would neve have done before.

That is one of the points Peter is making in the passage above.  We used to live like the rest of the world, pursuing pleasure, but because we have linked our lives to Jesus, through faith, we now live differently.  No longer do we chase after the desires of the flesh, but we seek to obey the spirit.  The result of this change in behavior will be abuse from the world.

People who are guided by the passions and desires of this world think it is strange, they are astonished, that Followers of Jesus don’t join them in what they are doing.  Our lifestyle doesn’t make sense to them because they have come to believe that true life is found in the things of this world.  Even through their pursuit of pleasure and money have left them unsatisfied they keep telling themselves that happiness is just around the corner.  It is crazy to them that life can be found in giving our lives away.  They are not able to understand it.

Following Jesus is crazy because it goes against everything we have been told about what brings happiness to our lives.  Jesus tells us that life is found when we lose our life.  Jesus tells us that we are great when we are the least.  He says that being a servant is more rewarding that being a superstar.  He tells us that we are blessed when we are persecuted.  It is crazy to follow Jesus if that is what He is asking from us.

To follow Jesus isn’t about adding  Jesus to our lives it is about conforming our lives to the life of Jesus.  It won’t always make sense to us and people around us will think we are crazy, but it is the path God has established for living true life.  Are we crazy enough to follow it?

Daily Thought: God Will Accomplish His Plans

"Because God has chosen to create a cosmos populated with free agents, God's sovereignty is established as much by his wisdom as it is by his power.  He gives humans and angels the power to say no to him so they also might have the power to say yes to him.  But though these agents are able to thwart his will to some extent, God is nevertheless able to wisely accomplish his overall purposes in spite of, and sometimes by means of, their rebellion."

Gregory Boyd, Satan and the Problem of Evil, IVP Academic (2001), p. 112

Daily Thought: Putting It Into Practice

"And so we must apply our thinking to and with the Word of God.  We  must thoughtfully take that Word in, dwell upon it, ponder its meaning, explore its implications—especially as it relates to our own lives.  What are we to do in the light of the facts of the gospel and the revelation of God and of human destiny contained in the Bible?  We must 'pay greater attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it' (Hebrews 2:1; NRSV).  We must thoughtfully put it into practice."

Dallas Willard, Renovation of the Heart, NavPress (2002), pp. 104-05

Daily Thought: Integrity is Moral Courage

"In Jesus' three years of ministry, His environment grew in hostility and every decision of integrity increased its volatility.  That Jesus walked in integrity at all times, even when it cost Him His life, was the ultimate proof of who He was.  When we are defined by integrity, we respond with moral courage.  Courage is the ultimate expression of integrity.  Integrity gives us the courage to walk in truth even when it means walking straight into the mouth of the dragon.

"Solomon tells us that the wicked flee when no one pursues; but the righteous are as bold as a lion (Prov. 28:1).  When we lack integrity, we live in fear.  While that fear may manifest itself in many ways, it is fundamentally the fear of getting caught, of someone knowing who we really are.  When we walk in righteousness and love what is right, when we live lives of integrity, we have nothing to fear at all."

Erwin McManus, Uprising, Thomas Nelson (2003), pp. 72-73

Linkage: Secular Theocracy Part Two

You can read part of David Theroux's article here: Secular Theocracy Part 1.

One of the justifications given for the Civil War is that it was done to "perserve the Union."  The death of all those thousands of men are justified because the nation was held together.  Today we are told that we must sacrifice our liberties in order for the Nation to be secure.  It is the United States, especially seen in the Federal government, that is supreme and we must protect it at all costs.  The state religion of the United States is the religion of nationalism.

This is troublesome, not only because of the loss of personal liberty we experience, but the unquestioning loyalty and support people give to those in positions of power.  They after all work for the all powerful state, must they must be right!

During the Enlightenment, nationalism became the new civic religion, in which the nation state was not merely a substitute for the church, but a substitute for God, and political religion benefited from being more tangible than supernatural religion in having the physical means of violence necessary to enforce mandatory worship and funding. Nation states provided a new kind of salvation and immortality; one’s death is not in vain if it is “for the nation,” which will live on. 

This “myth of religious violence” lived on with legal theorist John Rawls who claimed that the modern problem is a theological one and the solution is political. For Rawls, since people believe in unresolvable theological doctrines over which they will kill each other, a secular state must rule. Similarly, Stanford law professor Kathleen Sullivan, a secularist, has claimed that as a necessary condition for peace to avoid a “war of all sects against all,” religion must be banished from the public square.

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Daily Thought: The Holy Spirit is Essential

"The Holy Spirit is absolutely essential in helping believers grow in their understanding of what God has purposed for them.  God wants every believer to experience what Jesus called the abundant life (John 10:10).  Therefore, the Holy Spirit leads Christians into a deeper and deeper knowledge of him.  It is a planned, deliberate process.  It is inconceivable that God would draw people to  give their lives to him, only to abandon them to live out their Christian lives independent of his direction.  God cares about each of his children, and he takes an active part in guiding them to experience his will to the fullest." ~ Henry and Richard Blackaby, Hearing God's Voice, p. 68

Daily Thought: To Daily Grow Better

For our life to be perfect every day, it must be our latest improved. The world is getting worse, we say, but you and I as Christians can daily grow better. Our life today can be an improvement over our life of yesterday. The Christian life is a real life, and is as capable of development as any life. The same law that develops us physically is necessary to our development spiritually. Day after day we can be built up into stronger spiritual beings. We can become more like God, possessing a firmer Christian character and having an integrity that will not swerve for a life nor a world from the path of virtue. Constant progress is constant peace and happiness. It is the triumphant life.

Orr, Charles Ebert (2004-11-01). How to Live a Holy Life (p. 80). Public Domain Books. Kindle Edition.

Daily Thought: Restoring Your Glory

"That's it exactly.  We are under a spell.  We are alert and oriented times zero.  We have no idea who we really are.  Whatever glory was bestowed, whatever glory is being restored, we thought this whole Christian thing was about...something else.  Trying not to sin.  Going to church. Being nice.  Jesus says it is about healing your heart, setting it free, restoring your glory." ~ John Eldredge, Waking the Dead, p. 80

Daily Thought: Rejoice When God is Glorified

"You rejoice because you and your family are in good health, because your friends are smiling upon you, because circumstances surrounding you are favorable, because you have an abundance of good things to eat and of clothing to wear. But your rejoicing is only in earthly things. We are to be grateful for these things, but they are only the sea-foam of joy; the water lies beneath. True joy is to rejoice not only in the Lord but with the Lord. Rejoice in those things in which Jesus and the angels rejoice. When your goods are being wasted, you find your deepest joy because God is being glorified."

Orr, Charles Ebert (2004-11-01). How to Live a Holy Life (p. 64). Public Domain Books. Kindle Edition.

Daily Thought: Remain Secure in Your Faith

"The best way then, to keep the faith of Christ, which many are now seeking to shake and to loose us from, is to be exercising the faith of Christ. The serious and upright practising of the gospel is the only best mean to keep thee firm in the profession of the gospel, when the gospel with thee is not a few fine notions in the brain; but is heavenly and necessary truth sunk into the heart, and living and acting there; it will keep thee, and thou wilt own it more firmly and steadfastly in a day of trial. Thy walking in Christ, and working and living, by him living in thee, will so root thee in the gospel truth, that enemies will pull in vain, when seeking to overthrow thee. The gospel of the grace of God received and entertained in thy soul in love, and constant suitable improvement, will fortify thee, and secure itself in thee, so that vehement blasts shall but contribute to its more fixed abode, and more fruitful actings in thee. Live up then to the gospel, and so be sure of it, and be safe in it."

Brown, John (of Wamphray) (2009-10-04). Christ: The Way, the Truth, and the Life (Kindle Locations 368-375). Public Domain Books. Kindle Edition.

Daily Thought: Teach Us to Pray

"Lord, teach us to pray.' Yes, to pray. This is what we need to be taught. Though in its beginnings prayer is so simple that the feeblest child can pray, yet it is at the same time the highest and holiest work to which man can rise. It is fellowship with the Unseen and Most Holy One. The powers of the eternal world have been placed at its disposal. It is the very essence of true religion, the channel of all blessings, the secret of power and life. Not only for ourselves, but for others, for the Church, for the world, it is to prayer that God has given the right to take hold of Him and His strength. It is on prayer that the promises wait for their fulfilment, the kingdom for its coming, the glory of God for its full revelation. And for this blessed work, how slothful and unfit we are. It is only the Spirit of God can enable us to do it aright. How speedily we are deceived into a resting in the form, while the power is wanting. Our early training, the teaching of the Church, the influence of habit, the stirring of the emotions--how easily these lead to prayer which has no spiritual power, and avails but little. True prayer, that takes hold of God's strength, that availeth much, to which the gates of heaven are really opened wide--who would not cry, Oh for some one to teach me thus to pray?"

Murray, Andrew; New Century Books; 99 Cent Books (2010-04-28). With Christ in the School of Prayer - New Century Edition with DirectLink Technology (Kindle Locations 69-77). 99 Cent Books & New Century Books. Kindle Edition.

Daily Thought: Exercise for Godliness

"The grace of godliness in the Christian character is capable of cultivation and increase. There is a law in both the material and spiritual that exercise is conducive to growth. The Spirit-filled apostle said, 'Exercise thyself unto godliness.' In the Emphatic this reads, 'Train thyself for piety.' Here is something for every soul that has any aspiration to be more godly in life. Train yourself for piety. To become of deeper piety and more godly is the joy of the Christian heart. By training we become more pious. The lawn-tender forms an espalier by intertwining the branches of the vine. He keeps intertwining them as they grow, and by such training forms a latticework made of shrubbery. The soul intertwined with the meek and lowly life of Jesus will form a character of deep piety and sincere godliness. The daily life should be intertwined with the life of Jesus. Let there be no reaching out for anything outside of him. For a proper development of the Christian graces there must be a constant training or intertwining of the soul with God. This linking more tightly is the result of growth, and growth is produced by exercise, and exercise consists in reading the Scriptures, in prayer, and in deep thought or heart-communion with God. The athlete takes such exercises and eats such foods as will most properly develop and strengthen his muscles."

Orr, Charles Ebert (2004-11-01). How to Live a Holy Life (p. 40). Public Domain Books. Kindle Edition.

God will Help Us Keep on Going

We are God's children.  That is a wonderful thought, for it implies that God loves us and that He desires us to live out the potential that each on of us have.  Isn't that what parents want for their children?  Parents want their children to achieve their potential and which uses their many talents.  In this train of thought what parents are looking in their children is progression.  Parents are thrilled when their baby rolls over, then are equally thrilled when baby begins to crawl, to walk, and then run.  Parents don't expect their baby to come out of the womb running 100 yard sprints, and they are excited by the progression of the child to get to that point.  Parents also know that if a child does not move past crawling then something is seriously wrong.

As we follow Jesus and seek to become more like him what God wants to see in our lives is a progression. It would not make sense for God to expect us to come up out of the waters of baptism, new creations in Christ, able to love perfectly.  There is a progression that follows with the ultimate goal being to love like Christ.  To have love such a part of who we are that we love people without thinking about it, that it happens automatically.  The question we need to consider is not whether or not we are perfect in our love, but whether or not we are making progress in our love?

Here is the thought that struck me this morning as I thought about the above, just as there are things that halt a child's progress in walking or learning, there are things in our lives that can halt our progress in becoming like Jesus.  These things vary from our emotional "wiring" to a severely dysfunctional family to addictions.  When our progression is halted does God then condemn us to hell?  If we are broken and can't take the next step despite our best efforts are we doomed?  Consider how a parent of disable child reacts.  The good parents continue to love and continue to help the child in whatever ways are needed.

God, being the best Father, isn't going to give up on us because our progression towards  Christ likeness was halted by drug addiction, by emotional baggage that makes trusting people impossible, or a temptation that will not go away.  Instead God is going to love us and use His power to enable us to continue on as we become more like Jesus.  God will not abandon us if we are not perfect.  Like a loving Father He will take us in His arms and help us keep on going.

Daily Thought: Over the Horizon

"I think all Christians would agree with me if I said that though Christianity seems at the first to be all about morality, all about duties and rules and guilt and virtue, yet it leads you on, out of all that, into something beyond.  One has a glimpse of a country where they do not talk of those things, except perhaps as a joke.  Every one there is filled full with what we should call goodness as a mirror is filled with light.  But they do not call it goodness.  They do not call it anything.  They are not thinking of it.  They are too busy looking at the source from which it comes.  But this is near the stage where the road passes over the rim of our world.  No one's eyes can see very far beyond that." ~ C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

Daily Thought: We Belong to God

The new covenant is individual in nature. It is secure in the inner being, that is, in the heart of the faithful person. One does not belong God because he belongs to a covenant people. He belongs to the covenant people because he belongs to God. He does not arrive at a covenantal status by subscribing to a code, but by surrender to the Christ. God is the God of those who have bared the walls of their hearts to the inscription written by the finger of God. Those who have covenanted with Him are His people. Any person upon this earth who has entered into the covenantal relationship with God is a child of God, and that covenant pledges his allegiance to God. So long as life continues he must have no other gods.

Ketcherside, W. Carl (2010-08-05). The Death of the Custodian (Kindle Locations 648-653). SCM e-Prints. Kindle Edition.

Daily Thought: God's Covenant is What Matters

"If God deals with us as a covenant-making God, and men confuse the covenant with writings addressed to the covenant people, our relationship is not conditioned upon faith but upon our intellectual apprehension of abstract matters."

Ketcherside, W. Carl (2010-08-05). The Death of the Custodian (Kindle Locations 538-540). SCM e-Prints. Kindle Edition.

Linkage: Secular Theocracy

We are told that there is a divide between secular and religion.  So we make religion a thing of personal preference and the secular, such as politics and eduction, public.  The problem lies in the reality that there is not such a clean divide.  As any devout religious person will tell you, our faith plays a huge role in the decisions that we make, including where we go to school and who we vote for in elections.  In part one of his article Secular Theocracy David J. Theroux explains how the Enlightenment produced this divide of sacred verses secular, which had never existed before, and gave rise to the tyranny that we now live under: the secular state.

We live in an increasingly secularized world of massive and pervasive nation states in which traditional religion, especially Christianity, is ruled unwelcome and even a real danger on the basis of a purported history of intolerance and “religious violence.” This is found in most all “public” domains, including the institutions of education, business, government, welfare, transportation, parks and recreation, science, art, foreign affairs, economics, entertainment, and the media. A secularized public square policed by government is viewed as providing a neutral, rational, free, and safe domain that keeps the “irrational” forces of religion from creating conflict and darkness. And we are told that real progress requires expanding this domain by pushing religion ever backward into remote corners of society where it has little or no influence. In short, modern America has become a secular theocracy with a civic religion of national politics (nationalism) occupying the public realm in which government has replaced God.

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Daily Thought: There Has Been a Change

"There was a life in you that used all the members of your body in the interest of self. But there has been a change. You were made a new creature. The life you once had was put to death--was crucified; then Christ stepped into your heart, and now he uses all the members of your body for himself. You still live, yet not you, but Christ lives in you. Once you did things for yourself; now you them for Christ. Just as you once lived purposely and intentionally for yourself, now you do things purposely and intentionally for Jesus, because it is he that lives, and not you yourself."

Orr, Charles Ebert (2004-11-01). How to Live a Holy Life (p. 11). Public Domain Books. Kindle Edition.

Daily Thought: This is How We Should Live

"This is how to live. This is the true way of life and the only way to life eternal. He who does not live with Christ on earth can not live with him in heaven, and he who does not live as Jesus lived does not live as he should. The life of Christ was the perfect life. Ours is perfect to the degree that we imitate him."

Orr, Charles Ebert (2004-11-01). How to Live a Holy Life (p. 10). Public Domain Books. Kindle Edition.

Linkage: The Point of the Book of Job

We understand that the book of Job is about suffering, but there is a lot in it that is hard to understand.  I know that there are times when I have read it and I have found myself agreeing with Job's friends only to remember that God was not pleased with what they had to say.  Greg Boyd in this essay seeks to help us understand the book of Job a little more clearly.

The point of the book of Job is to teach us that the mystery of evil is a mystery of a war-torn and unfathomably complex creation, not the mystery of God’s all-controlling will. 

Given how Christians are yet inclined to look for a divine reason behind catastrophes and personal tragedies, I think it’s a point we have yet to learn. 

In this essay I’ll flesh out my reading of this incredibly profound book. 

The Prologue
The genre of this book is epic poetry. As is customary with epic poems, it begins with a prologue that sets up the story line (chs 1-2). In Job, this prologue serves as a literary device to give the reader a perspective that the characters in the story lack. This is important, for the point of the whole narrative, we shall see, is to expose the vast ignorance of the characters involved.

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Daily Thought: God's Covenant is our Hope

"It is easy to develop a pharisaical attitude about the New Covenant Scriptures as about the Old. If we condition our relationship with God on the basis of knowing a compilation of sacred writings, rather than faith in Jesus, we actually make the Bible our God. As a result, we become inconsistent and insecure. Every interpretation, exegesis, or opinion that disagrees with our own is considered treason. Our problem is that we make the basis of our hope an agreement with men, not a covenant with God. One may be wrong about many things who is in a covenant relationship, but the covenant is not broken by his error. God's covenants are made with a variety of men. They do not all think alike, nor can they all do so."

Ketcherside, W. Carl (2010-08-05). The Death of the Custodian (Kindle Locations 513-518). SCM e-Prints. Kindle Edition.

We Belong to the Day

{1 Thessalonians 5:4-11; ESV}

But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief.  For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness. So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him. Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing. 

When we follow Jesus there should be a night and day difference in the way we live.  No longer are we concerned with how to please the flesh, but rather we seek to walk in step with the Spirit.  The way of the flesh, Paul says here, is like people who party and get drunk at night.  The darkness suits their lifestyle.  When we walk in the flesh we prefer to stay way from Jesus, for the darkness of immorality and selfishness suits our lifestyle better.

Paul makes it clear that those who are in Christ, who are following Him, no longer live in the darkness, but rather they live in the light.  Christ followers measure their lifestyles, their priorities, their attitudes, and their actions against the standard of Jesus' life and teaching.  He is the light in which we must become comfortable to live.

Since we are to live differently—we are day people now—we need to be intentional about encouraging each other to live in the light of Christ Jesus.  I think this is where so many of us falter.  We are so concerned about trying to remain in the light that we don't take the time to encourage others to stay in the light, or to receive the encouragement we need from other people.  We stumble and fall into darkness because in our pride Satan has convinced us that it is about our personal effort.

The truth of the matter is that we need each other.  We can't make this trip alone.  Paul knew that, for he experienced the help of other Christians his entire life, and so he encourages us to help each other.  That is only way we are going to make it through and become the people God created us to be.  We belong to the day, and not to the night, but we need the encouragement of each other if we are going to stay there.

Daily Thought: Nothing Changes

"Every election season America is presented with a series of false choices.  Should we launch preemptive wars against this country or that one?  Should every American neighborhood live under this social policy or that one?  Should a third of our income be taken away by an income tax or a national sales tax?  The shared assumption behind these question, on the other hand, are never cast in doubt, or even raised.  And anyone who wants to ask different questions or who suggests that the questions as framed exclude attractive, humane alternatives, is ipso facto excluded from mainstream discussion.

"And so every four years we are treated to the same tired, predictable routine: two candidates with few disagreements on fundamentals pretend that they represent dramatically different philosophies of government.

"The supposedly conservative candidate tells us about 'waste' in government, and ticks off $10 million in frivolous pork-barrel projects that outrage him—the inevitabel bridge-to-nowhere project, or a study of the effects of celery consumption on arresting memory loss—in order to elicit laughter and applause from partisan audiences.  All right, so that's 0.00045 percent of the federal budget dealt with; what does he propose to do with the other 99.99955 percent, in order to return our country to living within its means?  Not a word.  Those same three or four silly programs will be brought up all campaign long, and that's all we'll hear about where the candidate stands on spending.  But conservatives are told that they must support these candidates, and so they do, hoping for the best.  And nothing changes." ~ Ron Paul, The Revolution, pp. 1-2

Linkage: Getting the Most from Revelation 2

Here is the second part of Matt Proctor's article on how to get the most out of reading Revelation.  Let's admit it, Revelation is a difficult book.  Partly because it has been abused through sensationalism and partly because we don't know what to make of the numbers, symbols, and images.  Hopefully this article can provide you with a little more confidence when approaching the book.

Part One of this article examined four hermeneutical keys to help you unlock the meaning of the book of Revelation. But, what about the book’s significance? 

Even if I understand how to read Revelation, an important question remains: why should I read it? How will it help me devotionally? In what ways will it make me a better follower of Jesus? 

Another way of asking this: We know God has promised a blessing to those who take hold of the words of Revelation (1:3). But what kind of blessings should our people expect? 

Here are seven ways I deepen my faith when I read Revelation:

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Daily Thought: Obscurity Never Stopped God

"Would you be willing to give your life to save the world if no one ever knew your name?  If anonymity was the price you would have to pay for significance, would it be too great a price?  To live a life of courage is not a guarantee of prestige or adulation, but there is a freedom in humility.  It doesn't matter what anyone else thinks or what others say.  It only matters if you live and die fulfilling the mission you were born for...Obscurity has never stopped God from accomplishing great things.  Our poverty has never been His limitation, our position not important for His advantage.  Our reputation seems nothing more than incidental." ~ Erwin McManus, Uprising, pp. 62-63

Daily Thought: We Need God Desperately

"If you're not pursuing a dangerous quest with your life, well, then, you don't need a Guide.  If you haven't found yourself in the midst of a ferocious war, then you won't need a seasoned Captain.  If you've settled in your mind to live as though this is a fairly neutral world and you are simply trying to live your life as best you can, then you can probably get by with the Christianity of tips and techniques.  Maybe.  I'll give you about a fifty-fifty chance.  But if you intend to live in the Story that God is telling, and if you want the life he offers then you are going to need more than a handful of principles, however noble they may be.  THere are too many twists and turns in the road ahead, too many ambushes waiting only God know where, too much at stake.  You cannot possibly prepare yourself for every situation.  Narrow is the way, said Jesus.  How shall we be sure to find it?  We need God intimately, and we need him desperately." ~ John Eldredge, Waking the Dead, p.95