Occasionally, I will remember something that I've heard or read hundreds of times, usually something from God's Word, and it will strike a tone that resonates very loudly in my mind and heart. Usually, it is so simple that it almost seems silly. Usually, it's the simple message of the gospel... I am forgiven of all my sins.
As I read yesterday, "Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered," (Psalm 32), I realized how all-over-the-place my heart has been, my hopes turning from this to that, almost every hour, looking for something better, forgetting how blessed I am!
No wonder Paul has to remind Timothy, his disciple who was already pastoring a church, "Remember Christ Jesus, risen from the dead..." I Timothy 2:8. I believe, based on this and all my experiences trying to get to know Jesus better, that in 50 years I will have the same conflict. A conscious decision needs to be made, and must be made, to remember Jesus, his life, his work, his death, his love, his power.
When I REALLY pause and ponder the facts, they are outrageously more interesting, stimulating, and motivating than anything else I tend to give my heart to. I was living in rebellion to God, spiritually dead, but he brought me to life and showed me the cross, the way by which God's son came to rescue helpless rebels like me. Embracing this faith, and embracing the King himself, Jesus, I am made right with him and with my Father; I receive, as a free gift, his record in place of mine. His record covers mine. I am covered, forever.
AND MORE! I become doubtful and wonder, sometimes unaware that I'm doing so, "Is this real? Does it really work like this? Was he really God in the flesh?" Instead of being ashamed that I would have such thoughts, I can acknowledge them, examine them, and truly put them to the test. Perhaps the most important and convincing test is that letter in the New Testament, First John, which was written to the early church "so that you may know that you have eternal life." How could they, and more importantly, how can I know I am covered? If my life has changed, and is changing still, perhaps at varying rates and degrees in different seasons of life, so that I am living and loving and serving and resembling more and more Jesus, then I have evidence that it is real. I am really covered, forever, accepted joyfully by my Father God. Nothing and no one is a greater blessing of mine.
Writings I hope will spark imagination
Friday, April 15, 2011
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Nobody knows...
Two things on my mind:
1) I still love my new job. I have a great project manager who is showing me the ropes and has made it his goal to see to it that I get my Professional Engineering license (PE). That's my goal, too! It is still shocking almost every day as I walk through the office, see the Rocky Mountains out the window, and realize God led me here and gave me work that I thoroughly enjoy.
2) I have been reading through proverbs for the past week, and I have been understanding how a lot of the principles taught in the book are illustrated in the life of Jesus. Yes, the whole Bible is about Jesus, as is all of life, but I still find myself surprised when I see this in new ways. One example, from Proverbs 14:10:
Couldn't this be a song lyric?! It's really true and connects with me in a very emotional way. I sometimes feel like nobody can understand how much I enjoy the things I love or how empty I feel in confusing, hard situations. However, if we look at Jesus' life, we realize that he demonstrates this most vividly. Truly, none of us could ever know the emotional pain of Jesus, the bitter taste of being punished for sins he had never committed by a perfect Father who had only ever loved him forever. On the flip side, who could know and feel the same real, intense joy Jesus has felt in his heart through his love of his Father and the joy of reconciling all the world back to relationship to him? The good news is this: God invites us into that joy, but it also comes with pain. I don't totally understand that, why there has to be pain, but it has to do with sin entering the world. Jesus entered into eternal joy and invites us into eternal joy, both through a bloody, stinking cross. That's interesting, huh? As weird as it sounds, I'm glad this is how he did it; I'm glad God uses pain to bring about joy and goodness. I feel that without it, sons and daughters of God would be way too much like Ned Flanders. Do you get what I mean?
1) I still love my new job. I have a great project manager who is showing me the ropes and has made it his goal to see to it that I get my Professional Engineering license (PE). That's my goal, too! It is still shocking almost every day as I walk through the office, see the Rocky Mountains out the window, and realize God led me here and gave me work that I thoroughly enjoy.
2) I have been reading through proverbs for the past week, and I have been understanding how a lot of the principles taught in the book are illustrated in the life of Jesus. Yes, the whole Bible is about Jesus, as is all of life, but I still find myself surprised when I see this in new ways. One example, from Proverbs 14:10:
The heart knows its own bitterness, and no stranger shares its joy.
Couldn't this be a song lyric?! It's really true and connects with me in a very emotional way. I sometimes feel like nobody can understand how much I enjoy the things I love or how empty I feel in confusing, hard situations. However, if we look at Jesus' life, we realize that he demonstrates this most vividly. Truly, none of us could ever know the emotional pain of Jesus, the bitter taste of being punished for sins he had never committed by a perfect Father who had only ever loved him forever. On the flip side, who could know and feel the same real, intense joy Jesus has felt in his heart through his love of his Father and the joy of reconciling all the world back to relationship to him? The good news is this: God invites us into that joy, but it also comes with pain. I don't totally understand that, why there has to be pain, but it has to do with sin entering the world. Jesus entered into eternal joy and invites us into eternal joy, both through a bloody, stinking cross. That's interesting, huh? As weird as it sounds, I'm glad this is how he did it; I'm glad God uses pain to bring about joy and goodness. I feel that without it, sons and daughters of God would be way too much like Ned Flanders. Do you get what I mean?
Friday, February 18, 2011
What if All Roads Lead to God?
I think it is very good practice to evaluate our beliefs. Sometimes we may find that they have been imposed on us by our parents or culture, and upon further examination we realize that they are illogical and just plain wrong! That can be scary, and I can say that it has been for me. Knowing that makes me more cautious to confront people about their deepest held beliefs. It's not that I will not confront others, but I realize it must be done, as much as possible, patiently, with consideration, and with friendship.
I've been thinking specifically about an idea that is very widespread, not only where I live in Denver, but throughout the western world. You can call the root of it post-modernism. According to this ideology, no one is wrong. Truth is dependent upon whether someone believes an idea, not whether this idea matches up with reality. What is reality, anyway? No one can really know.
Out of this ideology comes the idea that all roads lead to God, that is, if you believe in a God. This is what I've been trying to think through and evaluate lately. I came to realize six years ago that I had personally and knowingly rebelled against God and sought life, happiness and personal autonomy completely apart from him. I then realized that the death of Jesus was a substitute for people just like me, and I began to not only acknowledge the facts of Jesus' death and resurrection, but to cling to him as my only hope of being reconciled or brought back to God. It was probably about a year later when I was first confronted with the idea, from a Muslim friend, that both of our beliefs could be right. I knew that it didn't feel true, but had never thought it through critically so that I could articulate any reasons why I disagreed. However, now I have, and I would just like to share three reasons why I disagree with my Muslim friend. These reasons are primarily grounded in the Bible, but I will not focus much here on why I trust the Bible. I will simply say that it is incredibly credible, historically speaking.
Firstly, Jesus said, as recorded in John 14:6, "I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." Therefore, if Jesus claims exclusive access to God the Father, and Person B claims Jesus among multiple other ways to access the Father, either Jesus is wrong, or Person B is wrong. The law of non-contradiction states that both "A" and "not A" cannot be true simultaneously. Furthermore, if Jesus is wrong, then Person B is also wrong, because he claims that Jesus is right!
Secondly, Jesus, in the hours leading up to his crucifixion, prayed, "Father, if there is no other way for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, let your will be done" (Matthew 26:42). The "cup" referred to here was written about hundreds of years prior by the prophets who called God's "cup of wrath" the justified anger that rose up in God because of man's rebellion. Jesus didn't deserve to "drink this cup," because he never rebelled against his Father but always perfectly and lovingly obeyed him. Nor did Jesus want to take on this responsibility if it weren't absolutely necessary. Jesus was not unlike us. Something in us longs for there to be some other way than Jesus dying on the cross to fix the world. Why? From our point of view, the exclusivity of the cross of Jesus means this: We are so broken, out-of-line with our created purpose and out-of-touch with God, that the only way we and God can be reunited is through the sacrifice of God's perfect son. The task is beyond us. There is no effective self-salvation plan. Spiritually, we are helpless because we are dead. That idea does not feel comfortable. Then, if we think about Jesus' point of view, he may have been thinking something like this at that crucial moment of prayer, "These people who I love are so helpless to save themselves that I am the only one who can do anything for them, yet to do so means absorbing in my own body all the anger of my Father, built up throughout all history as a result of sick, gross sins... murder, rape, idolatry, genocide, etc. All I have ever known from my Father has been love and acceptance throughout eternity. Now he will reject me personally, and it will hurt tremendously to fall into the hands of the Romans, but to fall into the hands of my Father as he crushes sin is too much. Could there be some other way? Isn't there any other way?" Jesus, God in the flesh, knew there was no other way, and he took the responsibility for our rebellion at "the place of the skull," Golgotha.
Thirdly, we all believe there is someone out there doing something we do not like. Even if we do intellectually buy into the ideology that morality is relative and all religions are equally valid, we do not feel that way, nor do we act that way. No one really feels like Hitler was right because he sincerely believed Jews were inferior. No one really feels like Jim Jones was right because he really thought God told him to kill hundreds with cyanide-laced kool-aid. We call these guys evil, or at least crazy or terribly wrong. We do not feel like they were in any way right, or that they found reconciliation with God through their actions.
In conclusion, and in answer to the question of this post, if all roads lead to God, then both Jesus and post-modernists are wrong, Jesus suffered unnecessarily, and Hitler and Jim Jones are in heaven. You don't want to believe that, nor should you.
I've been thinking specifically about an idea that is very widespread, not only where I live in Denver, but throughout the western world. You can call the root of it post-modernism. According to this ideology, no one is wrong. Truth is dependent upon whether someone believes an idea, not whether this idea matches up with reality. What is reality, anyway? No one can really know.
Out of this ideology comes the idea that all roads lead to God, that is, if you believe in a God. This is what I've been trying to think through and evaluate lately. I came to realize six years ago that I had personally and knowingly rebelled against God and sought life, happiness and personal autonomy completely apart from him. I then realized that the death of Jesus was a substitute for people just like me, and I began to not only acknowledge the facts of Jesus' death and resurrection, but to cling to him as my only hope of being reconciled or brought back to God. It was probably about a year later when I was first confronted with the idea, from a Muslim friend, that both of our beliefs could be right. I knew that it didn't feel true, but had never thought it through critically so that I could articulate any reasons why I disagreed. However, now I have, and I would just like to share three reasons why I disagree with my Muslim friend. These reasons are primarily grounded in the Bible, but I will not focus much here on why I trust the Bible. I will simply say that it is incredibly credible, historically speaking.
Firstly, Jesus said, as recorded in John 14:6, "I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." Therefore, if Jesus claims exclusive access to God the Father, and Person B claims Jesus among multiple other ways to access the Father, either Jesus is wrong, or Person B is wrong. The law of non-contradiction states that both "A" and "not A" cannot be true simultaneously. Furthermore, if Jesus is wrong, then Person B is also wrong, because he claims that Jesus is right!
Secondly, Jesus, in the hours leading up to his crucifixion, prayed, "Father, if there is no other way for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, let your will be done" (Matthew 26:42). The "cup" referred to here was written about hundreds of years prior by the prophets who called God's "cup of wrath" the justified anger that rose up in God because of man's rebellion. Jesus didn't deserve to "drink this cup," because he never rebelled against his Father but always perfectly and lovingly obeyed him. Nor did Jesus want to take on this responsibility if it weren't absolutely necessary. Jesus was not unlike us. Something in us longs for there to be some other way than Jesus dying on the cross to fix the world. Why? From our point of view, the exclusivity of the cross of Jesus means this: We are so broken, out-of-line with our created purpose and out-of-touch with God, that the only way we and God can be reunited is through the sacrifice of God's perfect son. The task is beyond us. There is no effective self-salvation plan. Spiritually, we are helpless because we are dead. That idea does not feel comfortable. Then, if we think about Jesus' point of view, he may have been thinking something like this at that crucial moment of prayer, "These people who I love are so helpless to save themselves that I am the only one who can do anything for them, yet to do so means absorbing in my own body all the anger of my Father, built up throughout all history as a result of sick, gross sins... murder, rape, idolatry, genocide, etc. All I have ever known from my Father has been love and acceptance throughout eternity. Now he will reject me personally, and it will hurt tremendously to fall into the hands of the Romans, but to fall into the hands of my Father as he crushes sin is too much. Could there be some other way? Isn't there any other way?" Jesus, God in the flesh, knew there was no other way, and he took the responsibility for our rebellion at "the place of the skull," Golgotha.
Thirdly, we all believe there is someone out there doing something we do not like. Even if we do intellectually buy into the ideology that morality is relative and all religions are equally valid, we do not feel that way, nor do we act that way. No one really feels like Hitler was right because he sincerely believed Jews were inferior. No one really feels like Jim Jones was right because he really thought God told him to kill hundreds with cyanide-laced kool-aid. We call these guys evil, or at least crazy or terribly wrong. We do not feel like they were in any way right, or that they found reconciliation with God through their actions.
In conclusion, and in answer to the question of this post, if all roads lead to God, then both Jesus and post-modernists are wrong, Jesus suffered unnecessarily, and Hitler and Jim Jones are in heaven. You don't want to believe that, nor should you.
Thursday, February 10, 2011
The Worst Part about Getting Shot in the Buttocks
In case you haven't seen Forest Gump, the title of this post is an augmentation of my favorite of his quotes, "The best part about getting shot in the buttocks is THE ICE CREAM!" Any time I hear someone use the word "buttocks" I think of this quote. For example, read the following article from BBC News. WARNING: It's a serious article, though the Forest Gump quote is funny, at least to me.
Buttocks Injection Death
The main thing I wanted to think through is the question, "What does this say about our culture's world-view?" Obviously, something is skewed.
We all care about how we look, right? Is that bad? Well, I believe that depends on why we care. The book of Proverbs tells us that "as water reflects a face, so a man's heart reflects the man" - Proverbs 27:19. That's written by Solomon, the wisest man ever. He was saying that the most important aspect of a man, even the essence of who a man is, is what goes on in his heart. Then, someone greater than Solomon, Jesus, came and also taught about the heart as a consistent theme, as recorded throughout the gospels. Jesus compares men and women to trees, where the "root" determines the "fruit," meaning the heart determines the actions (Matthew 12). Of course when we talk about the heart in this sense we're not referring to the blood-pumping organ itself but about what we treasure with our deepest desires and passions. "Where your treasure is, there your heart will be, also" - Luke 12:34. Therefore, the most important part of who we are as humans, from God's eternal perspective, is what we treasure with our deepest desires and passions, our heart.
This being said, the question remains. Is it right for me to care about how I look? Absolutely. However, it is not right to be consumed with how I look. That can become idolatry, where I actually start worshiping myself instead of God alone. The next logical question is, how do I know if I care too much about my image? Personally, I have realized a few ways of discerning when I care too much. If I would be embarrassed to admit how much time I spend looking in the mirror, how much money I spend on my clothes/hair/body, how self-conscious I feel to take my shirt off at the pool, whether proud or ashamed, how much time I spend at the gym trying to get ripped, etc... those are all good indicators that I care too much about my physical image. If you travel to foreign countries to undergo life-threatening cosmetic surgeries organized through the black market, you, also, may care too much about your physical appearance.
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Jobs
I would simply like to share how my job search is going, in case anyone is curious, and because I get bored applying for jobs all day and need to take breaks.
So, I have had two small signs of hope with regards to engineering jobs lately. First, I was told I would be scheduled for an interview with a construction company this week! Second, I made it past round one for a civil engineering opening with the Colorado Division of Wildlife, and I'm invited to come take a written exam.
In the meantime, I have been looking for part-time work. So far, the most exciting possibility I have applied for is a swimming instructor. I love swimming! I have taught swim lessons briefly in the past, and I would love to do it again for a season. We'll see what happens.
So, I have had two small signs of hope with regards to engineering jobs lately. First, I was told I would be scheduled for an interview with a construction company this week! Second, I made it past round one for a civil engineering opening with the Colorado Division of Wildlife, and I'm invited to come take a written exam.
In the meantime, I have been looking for part-time work. So far, the most exciting possibility I have applied for is a swimming instructor. I love swimming! I have taught swim lessons briefly in the past, and I would love to do it again for a season. We'll see what happens.
Thursday, January 20, 2011
I don't want to be rich, but I do...
I really want to be an engineer. I graduated over a year ago now, had the opportunity to do a great internship, and am now looking for a full time engineering job. In the mean time, as I have been working a couple jobs outside of my field of study, I have been a bit anxious. It is hard to find an engineering job right now! I am seriously searching hard, as many of my other recent-graduate friends are, as well. I took some time today to evaluate the motives of my heart (which I must do often, because that is the most important part of who I am), and I realized that a significant reason why I want a "better" job is for the money. I love money and want lots of it! Yes, that's hard to admit, but true. Is it wrong? It depends on the reasons, and the reasons are diverse. I want comfort, security, and power. However, I also want to be generous. My motivations are mixed.
I wondered today if my desire to be rich, which I believe we all experience, is given to me by God. While I believe it is God-given, I know I don't always direct it appropriately. C.S. Lewis explains this well in The Weight of Glory:
Personally, I need to remember that having the comfort, security, and power that comes from having more money is not as good as the riches Jesus offers me. I want to be rich in the way Jesus was and is.... but, he was homeless! He was rich, however, in love. He was an investor, not so much in the market, but in relationships with people. He had twelve men who did everything with him. He had three of those twelve who he could be even more personal and vulnerable with. He was and is an awesome friend.
So, I now live in Denver, Colorado! I am part of a small new church, Soma Church. I live in a great community, West City Park. I have really cool neighbors and two room-mates who are both crazy about Jesus and total goof balls (with a serious side, too). I'm still looking hard for a job! Plus, I will have tons of daily choices to invest in my friends, to hang out, to help, to laugh, to be open, and to become filthy stinking rich the way Jesus wants me to be. I'll try to invest wisely.
I wondered today if my desire to be rich, which I believe we all experience, is given to me by God. While I believe it is God-given, I know I don't always direct it appropriately. C.S. Lewis explains this well in The Weight of Glory:
Indeed, if we consider the
unblushing promises of reward and the
staggering nature of the rewards promised
in the Gospels, it would seem that Our
Lord finds our desires, not too strong, but
too weak. We are half-hearted creatures,
fooling about with drink and sex and
ambition when infinite joy is offered us,
like an ignorant child who wants to go on
making mud pies in a slum because he
cannot imagine what is meant by the offer
of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily
pleased.
Personally, I need to remember that having the comfort, security, and power that comes from having more money is not as good as the riches Jesus offers me. I want to be rich in the way Jesus was and is.... but, he was homeless! He was rich, however, in love. He was an investor, not so much in the market, but in relationships with people. He had twelve men who did everything with him. He had three of those twelve who he could be even more personal and vulnerable with. He was and is an awesome friend.
So, I now live in Denver, Colorado! I am part of a small new church, Soma Church. I live in a great community, West City Park. I have really cool neighbors and two room-mates who are both crazy about Jesus and total goof balls (with a serious side, too). I'm still looking hard for a job! Plus, I will have tons of daily choices to invest in my friends, to hang out, to help, to laugh, to be open, and to become filthy stinking rich the way Jesus wants me to be. I'll try to invest wisely.
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Job [Jobe]
Every time I read through the Old Testament book of Job, it is an interesting experience. Sometimes I find the long arguments of Job's friends boring. Sometimes I see great foreshadowing of Jesus and the cross. Sometimes I realize that the notes I wrote in my margins are so wrong! Also, I don't know of any other book in the Bible where I read a discourse and ask myself, "Wait, which parts of these arguments are true? Is that really how God works? I think he's wrong about that!" I believe we can and should ask ourselves those questions when we read Job's so-called friends' rebukes because God eventually rebukes them for how they act and speak. Consider this statement by the young acquaintance, Elihu...
I think it is important that when we read this we can say, "No, Elihu, you are wrong. Our sin does not simply affect other men. God is not merely a God far-off in the heavens. God is an emotional and personal being. He created emotion. He cares about the little things. When we choose sin over God, he takes it personally. God tells the heavens to be shocked and appalled at the putrid audacity of men, the fact that we actually choose stuff over God. God takes that personally and grieves over individual sin. That is what compelled him to send his son to the cross. If our sins did not affect him to the core, he would never give up his only son whom he loves more than anyone or anything else."
Does anyone else have any interesting observations in trying to understand this book? I think it shares a valuable message from God that can help us to know how to respond to God when we go through suffering, because Job surely suffered more than anyone else I know, bar Jesus. He was practically a human scab with no possessions, no friends, and almost no hope!
4 “I would like to reply to you
and to your friends with you.
5 Look up at the heavens and see;
gaze at the clouds so high above you.
6 If you sin, how does that affect him?
If your sins are many, what does that do to him?
7 If you are righteous, what do you give to him,
or what does he receive from your hand?
8 Your wickedness only affects humans like yourself,
and your righteousness only other people.
I think it is important that when we read this we can say, "No, Elihu, you are wrong. Our sin does not simply affect other men. God is not merely a God far-off in the heavens. God is an emotional and personal being. He created emotion. He cares about the little things. When we choose sin over God, he takes it personally. God tells the heavens to be shocked and appalled at the putrid audacity of men, the fact that we actually choose stuff over God. God takes that personally and grieves over individual sin. That is what compelled him to send his son to the cross. If our sins did not affect him to the core, he would never give up his only son whom he loves more than anyone or anything else."
Does anyone else have any interesting observations in trying to understand this book? I think it shares a valuable message from God that can help us to know how to respond to God when we go through suffering, because Job surely suffered more than anyone else I know, bar Jesus. He was practically a human scab with no possessions, no friends, and almost no hope!
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