"Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left
the house and went off to a solitary place, where He prayed." ~ Mark
1:35
This verse comes up frequently among people who begin to get bogged down
with life and start to drift in their devotion to God. It serves as a
reminder that Jesus is our priority, even above our own lives, and it
convicts by showing that when Jesus was at His busiest, He was the most
immersed in His time with His Father. This has been a recurring theme
for me this semester because, despite an apparently lighter course load,
I found myself getting more buried under schoolwork than ever. But
there is more to this verse that can be found in the context that
surrounds it.
To put things into perspective, our text begins in verse 21. Jesus and
His disciples had just arrived in Capernaum, and based on verses 30 and
31, I believe verses 21 through 38 all happened within the same 36 hours
or so—scholars may have discovered otherwise, and I'm open to being
corrected. My reasoning? Simon Peter's mother-in-law was sick, and if
Jesus and His disciples had been staying at Simon and Andrew's house, I
would think that Jesus would have already healed Peter's mother-in-law.
I would not expect them to leave the house in the morning and come back
that night to find her with a crippling fever. There would have been
early signs. So that night at Simon and Andrew's house, I think, would
have been their first night in Capernaum.
So our day begins on the Sabbath with their arrival in Capernaum. Jesus
went into the synagogue to teach and was met by a man possessed by an
evil spirit, whom Jesus set free. Afterward, they retired to Simon and
Andrew's house, where Jesus healed Simon's mother-in-law. But that
wasn't the end of the night. In verse 32 we see that people were
bringing the sick and demon-possessed to Jesus to be healed after dark.
There is no telling how late they were up, but the fact that the "whole
town gathered at the door" (v. 33) is a good indicator that they were
up well into the night.
Now we get to verse 35. So consider this: You get up Sunday
morning and go to church. You're a surgeon, and you get a call
informing you that you have several unexpected operations lined up for
you that afternoon. You go in and operate, then return home, only to
receive another call after dinner that an emergency procedure is
required of you immediately. You return to work and perform the
operation. Word spreads throughout the hospital: 'Good news! The best
surgeon in the region is in the building.' Staff and patients alike
hear the news, and all of the patients lined up for surgery are rushed
to your care. It's late, but you continue to work, knowing that these
patients' lives could depend on your self-sacrifice. (Not the most
practical analogy, but just go with it.)
Finally, the last operation is done, and you go home. Exhausted, you
climb in bed and immediately fall asleep. You sleep for a couple hours,
but it feels like only minutes when something stirs and awakens you.
Somehow you find yourself wide awake, though you know you've had nowhere
near enough sleep, so you climb out of bed and go for a walk to pray.
After all, your Sabbath was not much of a holy day of rest. You have
company at your house, but they can manage without you until you
return—besides, they'll still be asleep for another hour or two. You
turn your phone off so you can enjoy some quiet time with the Lord
without disturbance, and you walk to a nearby park. You take a seat on a
bench in your favorite secluded spot, hidden by trees, and suddenly
your mind begins to race with countless prayers for the lost, for the
growth of those who have already received salvation, for the needs of
the poor and homeless, for provision for the sick who are without
necessary healthcare, for the stressed parents and unruly children at your
church, for families of deceased patients... Your mind wanders as you
pray for every thought that pops into your head. You look around, and
the beauty of nature around you makes you praise God for all His
wonders. A church bell rings, counting the hours, but you pay no
attention to the time. You can't. You're too busy confessing your sins
to your heavenly Father and thanking Him for His forgiveness and the
gift of Jesus' sacrifice on the cross. Then you begin to hear voices.
You open your eyes and notice that the sun is high overhead as the
voices draw closer. You turn your phone back on and find that you have
several missed calls from your guests. Rising from your bench, you walk
out of the secluded area into the open, where your guests are searching
for you high and low. When you are reunited with them, something takes
a hold of you and you suggest a road trip. Confused, they agree, and
you all hop in the car and drive off to who knows where, not to return
home until a few days later.
That was Jesus' day. He began the day arriving in Capernaum from out of
town, and immediately went to teach. After returning home, He found
not one healing to perform, but many, going late into the night. Before
the sun had even risen the next day, He got up and left, feeling hungry
for time with His Father. He wandered off without His disciples'
knowledge and found a quiet place, isolated from the public. When His
disciples awoke, they found Him missing and went searching for Him. He
had gone missing not just long enough for His disciples to notice, but
long enough for them to look for Him and eventually find Him. And after
He had been found, they left right away to continue traveling and
preaching the gospel.
Yes, Jesus got up early in the morning and went off to a quiet place to
ensure that He had adequate time to devote to His Father (v. 35), but He
did so much more than that. He devoted Himself to serving those He
cared about (v. 30-31). He devoted Himself to serving those who came to
Him looking for help (v. 32-34). He allowed Himself to be interrupted
(v. 23-26, 32-34). He devoted Himself to fellowship with His friends
(v. 31b). He started His day with meeting with His Father and did not
cut His time short until He was needed (v. 35-37). And He remained
devoted to His task above and beyond His physical desires (v. 38).
Jesus didn't just fit God into a busy schedule. He made sacrifices to
ensure that His Father was integrated into His entire schedule, even
when things began to pile up all at once without warning.
Here Jesus addresses, by His actions, the Fourth Commandment and His
later explanation of the Sabbath in Mark 2:23-28. The Fourth
Commandment is often abbreviated to "keep the Sabbath day holy," but
there is more to it than that. Exodus 20:9-10 says, "Six days you shall
labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the
Lord your God." Verse 9 cannot be ignored if we are to indeed enjoy the
Sabbath. A day of rest must be balanced with work the remainder of the
week. Six days of public service and interaction must be balanced with
a day of total devotion to spending time alone with God. When Jesus
found that His time with His Father was going to be interrupted that
Sabbath, He determined to set aside the following day for the purpose so
that His work would not be hindered presently and so that He would not
be drained for the following week's work. The Sabbath was made for
man's benefit, and the Lord will not contradict His commands. If the
Lord determines that work is to be done on a particular Sabbath day,
another Sabbath rest will be provided in its place, if man will only
seek Him earnestly.
This post is getting to be much longer than I intended, so I'll try to
wrap it up. For my Western Civilizations class, I had to read Survival in Auschwitz,
by Primo Levi, and I was surprised to find an entire two pages directly
applicable to this lesson of devotion in the midst of a busy schedule.
The author and narrator began to question why one would continue with
the meaningless habit of washing oneself every day when the grime of the
day's work would return to cover everyone again before the day's end.
Steinlauf, a fellow inmate in the labor camp, gave him some insight into
the matter: The labor camps are intended to make animals of men, and it
is for precisely that reason that they must continue with daily habits
of civilized life, that they may cling to civilized life and resist
devolving into beasts. Likewise, it is because Satan intends to crowd
God out of our schedules that we must increasingly devote ourselves to
the Lord in our busiest times. Jesus understood this best, and it is
time I began to learn this lesson and apply it to my daily life.
Sunday, December 15, 2013
Saturday, August 24, 2013
12:10
Romans 12:10 says, "Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves." The ESV says, "Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor." Last summer this became kind of a theme verse a few of the counselors at Camp Highland. Our only "rule" at camp is that we show honor toward each other and toward camp property. Any time this was not happening, a quick reminder of "12:10" would bring to mind the verse we had been focusing on all week.
This year, Romans 12:10 became kind of an unspoken theme among the counselors, especially the second half of the ESV translation. It became a joke among the summer staff that if we were to ever be in a burning building, we would all burn because we would be so insistent on putting each other before ourselves—we would fight to hold the door for each other and let others go first, and eventually the fire would consume us along with the building. It became almost a game to be the first to finish at meals in order to collect and clean everyone's dishes. Sometimes the game broke out into races to the dish room. One counselor even sabotaged me with honor one night by convincing my campers to let me take the first shower of the night. This was partially in response to his campers from a few weeks earlier, who had been determined to honor their counselor so much that he would be utterly unable to serve them because of how quick they were to serve him in the ways he wanted to serve.
If there was any underlying theme for the whole summer, it would have to be the theme of "[outdoing] one another in showing honor," and also that the greatest challenges bring the greatest rewards (James 1:12). The theme verses of the sessions were John 15 (abiding in Christ), Colossians 3:16 (letting the Word dwell in us richly), James 1:1 (being transformed from skeptic to willing servant through a deep personal relationship with Christ, just as James was after his encounter with the risen Savior), and James 1:27 (being found pure in the sight of God by the blood of Christ, and living in that identity as one who is unstained by sin). These themes also played an important part in my growth this summer leading into this present semester. They seem to me like themes for my own personal devotion to God though. If you were to ask me what I took away from the summer, I would probably bring up the first two themes I originally mentioned. But though I don't immediately think of the session themes, they have been key in bringing me out of the slump I found myself in last year. Going into the summer, I had my fears and insecurities because last year was a strange year for me spiritually. Since my response to the Lord's call in January 2010, Scripture has been my place of refuge and refreshment when it comes to my growth in my walk with Christ. But after spending an entire summer leading elementary and middle schoolers in the basics of TAG time (Time Alone with God), I found myself feeling comfortable with what I already knew of the Bible. Instead, my growth last year focused primarily on prayer. Ironically, as the year came to a close, I felt very uncomfortable about the fact that I had felt comfortable with my Scripture knowledge. So the start of this summer was the start of another turning point, bringing me back into a daily time of reading, in addition to a constant connection in prayer. My fear at the beginning was that, having not consistently been reading for a year, I wouldn't know what to teach my campers or how to lead them this year in comparison to last year. But another key theme of the summer was this truth: I don't have what they [the campers] need. In and of myself, I have nothing of value to offer. God pointed this out to me right away. He had a purpose for keeping me from reading the Bible like I was used to: to humble me and to make me dependent on Him in order to lead the campers into a personal knowledge of Christ. And as soon as the campers arrived, I began to notice that the Lord had blessed me beyond what I could have imagined coming into the summer by calling to mind Scripture references and memory verses I didn't even know I still remembered.
He also blessed me with fantastic co-counselors and an incredible team of fellow staff. Vinnie, who was my co-counselor for four weeks last summer, was my co again for six out of the seven weeks of camp this summer. The way that he modeled the wisdom he shared was a huge inspiration to me because he truly lives out James 1:22, not merely listening to the Word, but also doing it. His is a James 3:17 kind of wisdom. This convicted me at the beginning of the summer to seek to live out wisdom rather than share it verbally. The wisdom that comes from God comes with humility and love, and is the kind of wisdom that is displayed, not spoken. So for the summer, at least toward the beginning when it was fresh in my mind, my task was to live and do what could be done without words, and to speak only the wisdom that had to be spoken and could not be outwardly displayed. How well I actually followed through with that goal, I'm not sure, but I bring up the point now so that I can renew my prayers and efforts for such wisdom.
There's still a lot more I want to share about camp, but I'll leave it there for now. I'll have more about day-to-day life and the wins for Christ I saw this summer next time.
—————
Recap:
I don't have what they need.
"We're going to burn!" Outdoing one another in honor.
Wisdom: Doing what can be shown without words, and saying only what cannot be communicated otherwise.
This year, Romans 12:10 became kind of an unspoken theme among the counselors, especially the second half of the ESV translation. It became a joke among the summer staff that if we were to ever be in a burning building, we would all burn because we would be so insistent on putting each other before ourselves—we would fight to hold the door for each other and let others go first, and eventually the fire would consume us along with the building. It became almost a game to be the first to finish at meals in order to collect and clean everyone's dishes. Sometimes the game broke out into races to the dish room. One counselor even sabotaged me with honor one night by convincing my campers to let me take the first shower of the night. This was partially in response to his campers from a few weeks earlier, who had been determined to honor their counselor so much that he would be utterly unable to serve them because of how quick they were to serve him in the ways he wanted to serve.
If there was any underlying theme for the whole summer, it would have to be the theme of "[outdoing] one another in showing honor," and also that the greatest challenges bring the greatest rewards (James 1:12). The theme verses of the sessions were John 15 (abiding in Christ), Colossians 3:16 (letting the Word dwell in us richly), James 1:1 (being transformed from skeptic to willing servant through a deep personal relationship with Christ, just as James was after his encounter with the risen Savior), and James 1:27 (being found pure in the sight of God by the blood of Christ, and living in that identity as one who is unstained by sin). These themes also played an important part in my growth this summer leading into this present semester. They seem to me like themes for my own personal devotion to God though. If you were to ask me what I took away from the summer, I would probably bring up the first two themes I originally mentioned. But though I don't immediately think of the session themes, they have been key in bringing me out of the slump I found myself in last year. Going into the summer, I had my fears and insecurities because last year was a strange year for me spiritually. Since my response to the Lord's call in January 2010, Scripture has been my place of refuge and refreshment when it comes to my growth in my walk with Christ. But after spending an entire summer leading elementary and middle schoolers in the basics of TAG time (Time Alone with God), I found myself feeling comfortable with what I already knew of the Bible. Instead, my growth last year focused primarily on prayer. Ironically, as the year came to a close, I felt very uncomfortable about the fact that I had felt comfortable with my Scripture knowledge. So the start of this summer was the start of another turning point, bringing me back into a daily time of reading, in addition to a constant connection in prayer. My fear at the beginning was that, having not consistently been reading for a year, I wouldn't know what to teach my campers or how to lead them this year in comparison to last year. But another key theme of the summer was this truth: I don't have what they [the campers] need. In and of myself, I have nothing of value to offer. God pointed this out to me right away. He had a purpose for keeping me from reading the Bible like I was used to: to humble me and to make me dependent on Him in order to lead the campers into a personal knowledge of Christ. And as soon as the campers arrived, I began to notice that the Lord had blessed me beyond what I could have imagined coming into the summer by calling to mind Scripture references and memory verses I didn't even know I still remembered.
He also blessed me with fantastic co-counselors and an incredible team of fellow staff. Vinnie, who was my co-counselor for four weeks last summer, was my co again for six out of the seven weeks of camp this summer. The way that he modeled the wisdom he shared was a huge inspiration to me because he truly lives out James 1:22, not merely listening to the Word, but also doing it. His is a James 3:17 kind of wisdom. This convicted me at the beginning of the summer to seek to live out wisdom rather than share it verbally. The wisdom that comes from God comes with humility and love, and is the kind of wisdom that is displayed, not spoken. So for the summer, at least toward the beginning when it was fresh in my mind, my task was to live and do what could be done without words, and to speak only the wisdom that had to be spoken and could not be outwardly displayed. How well I actually followed through with that goal, I'm not sure, but I bring up the point now so that I can renew my prayers and efforts for such wisdom.
There's still a lot more I want to share about camp, but I'll leave it there for now. I'll have more about day-to-day life and the wins for Christ I saw this summer next time.
—————
Recap:
I don't have what they need.
"We're going to burn!" Outdoing one another in honor.
Wisdom: Doing what can be shown without words, and saying only what cannot be communicated otherwise.
Saturday, July 6, 2013
Embrace the Fade
"All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them." ~ Hebrews 11:13-16
"But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables Him to bring everything under His control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like His glorious body." ~ Philippians 3:20-21
This morning the Lord impressed on me the reality of how temporary this life is and the joy we receive from that realization. I was reading Psalm 103, and the first thing God brought to my attention was verses 2, 5, and 9: the Lord has been good to me, and I must not forget it. He has done much that I can bring to mind in order to remember His faithfulness when I am in distress. And He does not make us suffer constantly. Though He does use trials to refine us and grow us more into His likeness, not all of His blessings come in disguise. And I am grateful for that. I would not be able to stand under the weight of a constant barrage of trials, and I enjoy receiving good things from God in the midst of His discipline. As verse 5 says, He gives us these good things so that we can be refreshed and strengthened for the new work He has prepared for us to do.
That was the main theme I picked up from Psalm 103, but verses 15 and 16 also caught my attention, leading me to the above passages, which took the majority of my focus. The point that came from it was this: We are temporary; rejoice in it! The Spirit's signature statement was, "Embrace the fade," or, "Welcome transition." A lot of times I have a hard time letting go of certain groups or positions within a group, but God stressed to me that I am made to last only in eternity. My position in this life can change at any moment. And that's good in His eyes. It's humbling to know that I have a valuable role to play where I am at any given point in time but that God can work just as well without me when I am gone as He can while I am here. Even when I leave here, wherever here is, I still have a role to play: welcoming whoever is to take my place and leaving without regrets or reservations. I must welcome the transition because it is a necessary step in my journey toward heaven and in the advancement of the Kingdom here on earth.
Sometimes I'll look around and see people, things, or interactions between people and/or things, and it will feel surreal. I get the sense that my perception is that of a shadow, as if this present reality is only a dream from which we will eventually wake up to see true reality. My grandfather's death was one such occasion, when the reality that he was "gone" never really sank in because he's not actually gone for good. Eternity is more real to me in that case than this present reality is (see 2 Corinthians 5:16-18). In fact, this life is the preparation stage for heaven. We are collecting our eternal belongings—our character developed in Christ, the blessings we inherit by sharing blessings with others, our talents and abilities refined for our specifically assigned form of worship, etc.—and packing our bags, with the Spirit as our sturdy Vessel and our Father's side being our destination. We can pack all we want, but unless Christ is our Vessel, all our belongings will fall through and we will not make it safely to the table of our God for the feast He has prepared for us. Only dependence on Christ will ensure our arrival in heaven. We can keep our belongings in our earthly containers and try to force them into our heavenly Vessel, but just as packing individual belongings in a suitcase is easier than packing entire unorganized bags of belongings into a suitcase, so removing our spiritual belongings from their earthly vessels will make it easier to store them in Christ. All of life encompasses this process of packing and unpacking and repacking. And it's a wonderful process, though it can be painful at times. But remember, we are packing our bags after a long vacation on earth so that we can return home to heaven to be with our Father. Thank God this world is only a tent for our temporary dwelling (2 Corinthians 5:1-3); praise Him for the unshakable city He is preparing for us (Hebrews 12:28)! Welcome transition: much better is coming to replace the good we have now. Though God made all of creation, and it is good in His sight, there is much better yet to come as this world fades away (2 Corinthians 5:4-8).
"So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal." ~ 2 Corinthians 4:16-18
"—yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes." ~ James 4:14
Embrace the fade.
"But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables Him to bring everything under His control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like His glorious body." ~ Philippians 3:20-21
This morning the Lord impressed on me the reality of how temporary this life is and the joy we receive from that realization. I was reading Psalm 103, and the first thing God brought to my attention was verses 2, 5, and 9: the Lord has been good to me, and I must not forget it. He has done much that I can bring to mind in order to remember His faithfulness when I am in distress. And He does not make us suffer constantly. Though He does use trials to refine us and grow us more into His likeness, not all of His blessings come in disguise. And I am grateful for that. I would not be able to stand under the weight of a constant barrage of trials, and I enjoy receiving good things from God in the midst of His discipline. As verse 5 says, He gives us these good things so that we can be refreshed and strengthened for the new work He has prepared for us to do.
That was the main theme I picked up from Psalm 103, but verses 15 and 16 also caught my attention, leading me to the above passages, which took the majority of my focus. The point that came from it was this: We are temporary; rejoice in it! The Spirit's signature statement was, "Embrace the fade," or, "Welcome transition." A lot of times I have a hard time letting go of certain groups or positions within a group, but God stressed to me that I am made to last only in eternity. My position in this life can change at any moment. And that's good in His eyes. It's humbling to know that I have a valuable role to play where I am at any given point in time but that God can work just as well without me when I am gone as He can while I am here. Even when I leave here, wherever here is, I still have a role to play: welcoming whoever is to take my place and leaving without regrets or reservations. I must welcome the transition because it is a necessary step in my journey toward heaven and in the advancement of the Kingdom here on earth.
Sometimes I'll look around and see people, things, or interactions between people and/or things, and it will feel surreal. I get the sense that my perception is that of a shadow, as if this present reality is only a dream from which we will eventually wake up to see true reality. My grandfather's death was one such occasion, when the reality that he was "gone" never really sank in because he's not actually gone for good. Eternity is more real to me in that case than this present reality is (see 2 Corinthians 5:16-18). In fact, this life is the preparation stage for heaven. We are collecting our eternal belongings—our character developed in Christ, the blessings we inherit by sharing blessings with others, our talents and abilities refined for our specifically assigned form of worship, etc.—and packing our bags, with the Spirit as our sturdy Vessel and our Father's side being our destination. We can pack all we want, but unless Christ is our Vessel, all our belongings will fall through and we will not make it safely to the table of our God for the feast He has prepared for us. Only dependence on Christ will ensure our arrival in heaven. We can keep our belongings in our earthly containers and try to force them into our heavenly Vessel, but just as packing individual belongings in a suitcase is easier than packing entire unorganized bags of belongings into a suitcase, so removing our spiritual belongings from their earthly vessels will make it easier to store them in Christ. All of life encompasses this process of packing and unpacking and repacking. And it's a wonderful process, though it can be painful at times. But remember, we are packing our bags after a long vacation on earth so that we can return home to heaven to be with our Father. Thank God this world is only a tent for our temporary dwelling (2 Corinthians 5:1-3); praise Him for the unshakable city He is preparing for us (Hebrews 12:28)! Welcome transition: much better is coming to replace the good we have now. Though God made all of creation, and it is good in His sight, there is much better yet to come as this world fades away (2 Corinthians 5:4-8).
"So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal." ~ 2 Corinthians 4:16-18
"—yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes." ~ James 4:14
Embrace the fade.
Wednesday, July 3, 2013
Doubting Thomas
The other day at camp, the story of Doubting Thomas came up. As the
discussion went on, my perspective on Thomas began to change. Something
about what he said when the disciples told him that Jesus had risen
from the tomb just didn't seem to match the common interpretation of his
attitude. What if the "doubt" that Thomas was accused of consisted
less of skepticism and more of a sense of caution?
And what about the other account of Thomas, when Jesus headed straight into hostile Judea to raise Lazarus, though the Jews there sought to put Him to death? Could Thomas' comment, “Let us also go, that we may die with him" also be misinterpreted? Maybe the sarcasm we infer from the statement is actually real concern and a carrying out of Peter's later vow to lay down his life for his Savior (John 13:37). Maybe Thomas' mentality in his statement was not, "I can't believe we're walking straight into our death sentence," but rather, "Why would Jesus dare to risk His own death? If He is killed, I will not be able to live with myself without Him. If He is to die now, I will die with Him."
One of the counselors at camp asked another counselor a question, which he then asked me: What does "hope in Christ" mean to you? I think hope in Christ looks like John 20:29. We become so deeply attached to the Lord that any assault on Him or His glory is taken as a personal attack, and to be given any false hope concerning Him would be treachery of the worst sort. We desperately long to hope for His resurrection, but we must be cautious and count all men liars (Psalm 116:11) if they would have us trust in anything other than Christ and His truth spoken directly from His own mouth. And yet, just as Abraham hoped against hope that what God had promised would come to pass (Romans 4:18), we put the fullness of our hope in the promise that the Lord is faithful to keep every promise. So despite the risk of pain if we are to find our hope to be false, our hope in Christ is firm and secure (Hebrews 6:19) because we know that "hope does not disappoint" (Romans 5:5). Whereas Thomas fought the hope that he longed to cling to because of the potential pain it could bring, we eagerly hold firm to our hope because God has proven Himself faithful before, and He will do it again. As Jesus said, blessed are those who love Me so much that they fear disappointment at finding the testimonies about Me to be false, and yet who put their trust in My testimony anyway because they know My character of faithfulness (John 20:29).
In a way, that is what I think of when I think of hope in Christ. But that is also what I think it looks like when we hope for Christ. To hope in Christ can also be to hope for things from the perspective of God's will. Hope in Christ stems from abiding in Christ (John 15:5). When we remain in Him, we begin to see things through His eyes, and thus we begin to hope based on His desires because "we have the mind of Christ" (1 Corinthians 2:16) given by the Spirit. "Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart." ~ Psalm 37:4
To go even further, when I think of "hope in Christ" I think of Colossians 1:27, "Christ in you, the hope of glory." When we hope for glory, we hope only for God's glory because there is no other glory worth speaking of. Our hope of glory, then, or our hope to see God glorified, is Christ in us—the character of Christ growing in us, His word dwelling in us richly (Colossians 3:16), being built up into a dwelling place for the Spirit (1 Peter 2:5), Him increasing as I decrease (John 3:30). God receives glory when His Son is seen in us and through us. Thus, to hope in Christ is to trust Him to make us more like Himself, that our heavenly Father may be glorified. And we can be confident that He will do so, because He "must be about [His] Father's business" (Luke 2:49 KJV), and so must we.
So let us joyfully take hold of the hope that Thomas so cautiously repressed, because we know that "great is His steadfast love toward us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever. Praise the Lord!" (Psalm 117:2).
Now Thomas, one of the Twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.”What if Thomas, of all the disciples, actually loved Jesus more than any other? And what if His crucifixion brought such great pain and sorrow to Thomas, that the grief of the others could not compare? Perhaps that was why Thomas was not with them when Jesus appeared to them the first time: he may have been grieving alone. What if his pain was so great that he would reject any glimmer of hope in fear that that hope would be dashed to pieces? Maybe Thomas desperately wanted to believe that Jesus had risen to life, but unless he saw Him with his own eyes, he would not dare to risk giving himself to a false hope. Only the testimony of the risen Savior Himself would be sufficient to convince Thomas, because any other witness could be flawed. What if his heart echoed the deeply pained caution of Psalm 116:11, deeming any proclamation of resurrection to be a lie until the Resurrected One appeared personally? Then when Jesus finally appeared to Thomas, what if his exclamation, "My Lord and my God!" was not one of disbelief proven wrong, but rather one of a cautiously repressed hope joyously fulfilled?
Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.” Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” ~ (John 20:24-29, ESV)
And what about the other account of Thomas, when Jesus headed straight into hostile Judea to raise Lazarus, though the Jews there sought to put Him to death? Could Thomas' comment, “Let us also go, that we may die with him" also be misinterpreted? Maybe the sarcasm we infer from the statement is actually real concern and a carrying out of Peter's later vow to lay down his life for his Savior (John 13:37). Maybe Thomas' mentality in his statement was not, "I can't believe we're walking straight into our death sentence," but rather, "Why would Jesus dare to risk His own death? If He is killed, I will not be able to live with myself without Him. If He is to die now, I will die with Him."
One of the counselors at camp asked another counselor a question, which he then asked me: What does "hope in Christ" mean to you? I think hope in Christ looks like John 20:29. We become so deeply attached to the Lord that any assault on Him or His glory is taken as a personal attack, and to be given any false hope concerning Him would be treachery of the worst sort. We desperately long to hope for His resurrection, but we must be cautious and count all men liars (Psalm 116:11) if they would have us trust in anything other than Christ and His truth spoken directly from His own mouth. And yet, just as Abraham hoped against hope that what God had promised would come to pass (Romans 4:18), we put the fullness of our hope in the promise that the Lord is faithful to keep every promise. So despite the risk of pain if we are to find our hope to be false, our hope in Christ is firm and secure (Hebrews 6:19) because we know that "hope does not disappoint" (Romans 5:5). Whereas Thomas fought the hope that he longed to cling to because of the potential pain it could bring, we eagerly hold firm to our hope because God has proven Himself faithful before, and He will do it again. As Jesus said, blessed are those who love Me so much that they fear disappointment at finding the testimonies about Me to be false, and yet who put their trust in My testimony anyway because they know My character of faithfulness (John 20:29).
In a way, that is what I think of when I think of hope in Christ. But that is also what I think it looks like when we hope for Christ. To hope in Christ can also be to hope for things from the perspective of God's will. Hope in Christ stems from abiding in Christ (John 15:5). When we remain in Him, we begin to see things through His eyes, and thus we begin to hope based on His desires because "we have the mind of Christ" (1 Corinthians 2:16) given by the Spirit. "Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart." ~ Psalm 37:4
To go even further, when I think of "hope in Christ" I think of Colossians 1:27, "Christ in you, the hope of glory." When we hope for glory, we hope only for God's glory because there is no other glory worth speaking of. Our hope of glory, then, or our hope to see God glorified, is Christ in us—the character of Christ growing in us, His word dwelling in us richly (Colossians 3:16), being built up into a dwelling place for the Spirit (1 Peter 2:5), Him increasing as I decrease (John 3:30). God receives glory when His Son is seen in us and through us. Thus, to hope in Christ is to trust Him to make us more like Himself, that our heavenly Father may be glorified. And we can be confident that He will do so, because He "must be about [His] Father's business" (Luke 2:49 KJV), and so must we.
So let us joyfully take hold of the hope that Thomas so cautiously repressed, because we know that "great is His steadfast love toward us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever. Praise the Lord!" (Psalm 117:2).
Sunday, June 2, 2013
Thoughts from the "Camp Bubble": Camp Highland Staff Training
Well, today marks our day of rest as Camp Highland staff after two weeks of staff training. It's been intense, deep, challenging, and of course a lot of fun. This summer has a lot of new things in store for the campers who will be coming, and it has been a cool opportunity to take part in making these new things possible. After two weeks, we're finally ready to welcome the kids to camp tomorrow morning. And even after only two weeks, the Lord has done countless wonders and taught innumerable valuable lessons that I'm going to try to remember so I can share them.
As soon as I drove through the front gate, everything felt surreal. It can't really be true that it's been a whole year since last summer. It felt as if it had only been a few weeks. As the staff began to trickle in Monday morning, I started to get more and more excited for training to start and for the campers to get here, as I saw just how many staff we have returning from last year and just how incredible all the new staff are. And to top it off, my friend Johnny from Journey showed up! Journey/Choose to Invest is a group that partners with Camp Highland to send a team of college students on a 6-8-week mission trip in Kenya every summer. Johnny was one of the team members that I connected with, and we kept each other updated on the happenings at camp and in Kenya throughout the summer. This year Johnny is one of the team leaders, so it was awesome to see how God orchestrated everything so that we would both end up camp again this week so that we could reconnect.
For me the biggest thing God has been doing in me has been constantly immersing me in His Spirit. Usually when I think of experiencing God's presence, I think of big emotional experiences that produce spiritual highs. Although I did experience a spiritual high during the first week of training, the Lord has been teaching me to seek Him in other ways, especially when I don't feel Him. The first week involved a lot of huge revelations for all of the staff, as well as a rapid development of openness with each other. Prophetic encouragement led to people realizing their purpose for being here at camp. Testimonies of strengthened faith through hardships, especially a very recent death of a close loved one, shook all of us up and stirred us up to pursue the Lord in greater faith. The "camp bubble" atmosphere of freedom from the darkness and chaos of the outside world has been growing me in making me more comfortable with allowing the Lord to speak through me whenever He wants to, and He has been teaching me to simply open my mouth and let Him speak.
The second week, however, took a different turn. While praying at the end of the first week, thanking God for just how encouraging the first week had been, He quietly warned me that the following week would not be the same as the first. This week would be filled with difficulties and tests of faith and patience. And I'm glad He told me that, because I'm not sure I would have made it through the week in one piece (mentally and spiritually) if I had simply been thrown into it. I tend to be very idealistic, and it's very easy for me to be disappointed when someone I look up to fails to meet my expectations. That happened a few times this week, and I began to become impatient, though it might not have been apparent outwardly. But last night God had to correct me, not for being impatient, but for misunderstanding what true impatience is. (In fact, these last two weeks have involved a lot of redefining of terms, specifically humility and pride.) He reassured me that the "impatience" I was experiencing was actually justified indignation at what displeases Him. He has given me the same righteous anger He has about the things that defy Him. But He also reminded me that vengeance is His to repay. He told me to welcome what I have termed "impatience" because it is a sign of His just character, but to outwardly demonstrate patience and love, and to not foster impatience and anger, lest it grow to become hatred not of sin but of the sinner.
The biggest truth the Lord revealed to me this week came while I was praying one day. My allergies have been plaguing me incessantly, and I think it actually developed into a minor cold/fever after I got a little sunburned, so my morning TAG time (Time Alone with God) for several days was spent going in and out of the bathroom to blow my nose, which kept me from getting very deep into my reading. Instead, my time was spent praying and listening. Finally, I was tired of not being able to read for longer than three minutes at a time, so one night during some down time, I sat down and read some, then returned to praying. While I prayed, I started to complain to God, "Why do I feel so disconnected from You?" He said, "You're not." At first, that was reassuring and gave me a sense of peace. He was telling me that despite my sense of being distant from Him, my feelings were deceiving me, and He was, in fact, near and using all things to grow me. But I took His response as a correction to my question. But after deeper searching later that night, the Lord revealed that His response was actually His answer to my question. I feel disconnected from Him because I am securely connected to Him. At camp, our mission is "to lead people into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ through the use of high adventure," which means that, naturally, high ropes courses, climbing walls, and enormous swings are heavily used and always related to a spiritual concept that can be put to practical use. So naturally God related His answer of security to the use of a harness. When climbing a rock wall or walking through a high ropes course, a harness is a necessity for safety. Of course you feel the harness when you first put it on, and you can always tell that it is on securely as you progress through your task, but do you really feel it all the way through the course or all the way up the tower? Is your attention on the harness and the belay rope, or is it on your next handhold or your next step across a rickety rope bridge with loose boards? While you know that your harness is keeping you safe, your attention should be on the task at hand. If your sense of the harness overwhelms your sense of accomplishing a task, then it must be uncomfortable and something must be wrong with the harness. Not very reassuring. A true sense of security is evidenced by a tendency to forget about the harness while performing a task. A more personal analogy that I feel conveys the message more clearly is the way that I cannot feel the infusion site of my insulin pump once it has been inserted correctly. The concept of an infusion site is similar to an IV that you might get at the hospital. Once it's in, yes, you know it's there, but if it has been inserted properly, you should have very little physical sensation of it being there. Any feeling stimulated by the infusion site or IV is evidence that it is uncomfortable, giving reason to adjust it or change it completely. When I go through my day-to-day life, I don't feel my infusion site at all. And that is the proof that it is working well. Likewise, because I didn't feel God as strongly this week, I had reason to believe that God was entrusting me with more of Himself because I no longer need constant emotional experiences to prove to me that God is real. I felt disconnected from God because He is closer to me now than ever before. Needless to say, that was an exciting discovery!
And there's still more! This week the leadership staff from Stone Mountain Park and Wild Adventure came to camp for their staff training, and we got to train and hang out with them while they were here. It was encouraging to hear how they noticed Christ in us as we demonstrated unity and love for one another and for them. Some of them even came to know Christ in a deeper personal way during their time here, which is really exciting! God moved in them here, and I can't wait to hear how He moves through them as they go back to lead their staff by the power of the Holy Spirit.
But along with all of this encouragement also came some conviction. God called my attention again to my diabetes and revealed to me that I have been a victim of spiritual diabetes. While I receive wisdom and insight from the Lord and continue to seek more from Him, and while I share what He teaches me, very little of what He teaches me comes across in practical application in my everyday life. I ingest spiritual carbohydrates, but I am lacking in spiritual insulin to make my spiritual food useful for action. I want to see this change. Lord, replace my spiritual pancreas with Your Spirit, Your spring of Living Water.
There's still much more that God has been doing, but this is the last thing I'm going to share for now, until next time, because I'm running out of time, and I've already given you enough to read for now. The unity and support our staff have demonstrated in our support for each other has been a huge encouragement to me. A few of us spent one night sharpening each other as iron sharpens iron in a heated debate. All sides of the discussion were passionate about their stance and were fully convinced of the Lord's will in that area, and it was cool to see how the Spirit spoke truth into the situation through so many wise individuals, growing us all to have a united cause: to make the name of Jesus glorified abundantly. Another night was spent being vulnerable in confession and encouraging a brother that God is not finished with His work in him yet. Just hearing his story makes me excited about the ministry opportunity he has, to share the gospel with a unique group of people and to be a like a living stone (1 Peter 2:5), evidence of God's sovereignty and His ability to make good out of the worst of circumstances.
Thank you to everyone who has been praying and supporting me as I prepare to work at camp this summer! I can't fully express how much it means to me that you would set aside part of your day to keep me and our staff in your prayers, and I pray that you would be encouraged to know that God is working because of you. We are fighting for the hearts and souls of the kids who will be coming here, and your prayers strengthen us for the Lord's purposes. Campers arrive tomorrow! To arms, prayer warriors! God bless!
As soon as I drove through the front gate, everything felt surreal. It can't really be true that it's been a whole year since last summer. It felt as if it had only been a few weeks. As the staff began to trickle in Monday morning, I started to get more and more excited for training to start and for the campers to get here, as I saw just how many staff we have returning from last year and just how incredible all the new staff are. And to top it off, my friend Johnny from Journey showed up! Journey/Choose to Invest is a group that partners with Camp Highland to send a team of college students on a 6-8-week mission trip in Kenya every summer. Johnny was one of the team members that I connected with, and we kept each other updated on the happenings at camp and in Kenya throughout the summer. This year Johnny is one of the team leaders, so it was awesome to see how God orchestrated everything so that we would both end up camp again this week so that we could reconnect.
For me the biggest thing God has been doing in me has been constantly immersing me in His Spirit. Usually when I think of experiencing God's presence, I think of big emotional experiences that produce spiritual highs. Although I did experience a spiritual high during the first week of training, the Lord has been teaching me to seek Him in other ways, especially when I don't feel Him. The first week involved a lot of huge revelations for all of the staff, as well as a rapid development of openness with each other. Prophetic encouragement led to people realizing their purpose for being here at camp. Testimonies of strengthened faith through hardships, especially a very recent death of a close loved one, shook all of us up and stirred us up to pursue the Lord in greater faith. The "camp bubble" atmosphere of freedom from the darkness and chaos of the outside world has been growing me in making me more comfortable with allowing the Lord to speak through me whenever He wants to, and He has been teaching me to simply open my mouth and let Him speak.
The second week, however, took a different turn. While praying at the end of the first week, thanking God for just how encouraging the first week had been, He quietly warned me that the following week would not be the same as the first. This week would be filled with difficulties and tests of faith and patience. And I'm glad He told me that, because I'm not sure I would have made it through the week in one piece (mentally and spiritually) if I had simply been thrown into it. I tend to be very idealistic, and it's very easy for me to be disappointed when someone I look up to fails to meet my expectations. That happened a few times this week, and I began to become impatient, though it might not have been apparent outwardly. But last night God had to correct me, not for being impatient, but for misunderstanding what true impatience is. (In fact, these last two weeks have involved a lot of redefining of terms, specifically humility and pride.) He reassured me that the "impatience" I was experiencing was actually justified indignation at what displeases Him. He has given me the same righteous anger He has about the things that defy Him. But He also reminded me that vengeance is His to repay. He told me to welcome what I have termed "impatience" because it is a sign of His just character, but to outwardly demonstrate patience and love, and to not foster impatience and anger, lest it grow to become hatred not of sin but of the sinner.
The biggest truth the Lord revealed to me this week came while I was praying one day. My allergies have been plaguing me incessantly, and I think it actually developed into a minor cold/fever after I got a little sunburned, so my morning TAG time (Time Alone with God) for several days was spent going in and out of the bathroom to blow my nose, which kept me from getting very deep into my reading. Instead, my time was spent praying and listening. Finally, I was tired of not being able to read for longer than three minutes at a time, so one night during some down time, I sat down and read some, then returned to praying. While I prayed, I started to complain to God, "Why do I feel so disconnected from You?" He said, "You're not." At first, that was reassuring and gave me a sense of peace. He was telling me that despite my sense of being distant from Him, my feelings were deceiving me, and He was, in fact, near and using all things to grow me. But I took His response as a correction to my question. But after deeper searching later that night, the Lord revealed that His response was actually His answer to my question. I feel disconnected from Him because I am securely connected to Him. At camp, our mission is "to lead people into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ through the use of high adventure," which means that, naturally, high ropes courses, climbing walls, and enormous swings are heavily used and always related to a spiritual concept that can be put to practical use. So naturally God related His answer of security to the use of a harness. When climbing a rock wall or walking through a high ropes course, a harness is a necessity for safety. Of course you feel the harness when you first put it on, and you can always tell that it is on securely as you progress through your task, but do you really feel it all the way through the course or all the way up the tower? Is your attention on the harness and the belay rope, or is it on your next handhold or your next step across a rickety rope bridge with loose boards? While you know that your harness is keeping you safe, your attention should be on the task at hand. If your sense of the harness overwhelms your sense of accomplishing a task, then it must be uncomfortable and something must be wrong with the harness. Not very reassuring. A true sense of security is evidenced by a tendency to forget about the harness while performing a task. A more personal analogy that I feel conveys the message more clearly is the way that I cannot feel the infusion site of my insulin pump once it has been inserted correctly. The concept of an infusion site is similar to an IV that you might get at the hospital. Once it's in, yes, you know it's there, but if it has been inserted properly, you should have very little physical sensation of it being there. Any feeling stimulated by the infusion site or IV is evidence that it is uncomfortable, giving reason to adjust it or change it completely. When I go through my day-to-day life, I don't feel my infusion site at all. And that is the proof that it is working well. Likewise, because I didn't feel God as strongly this week, I had reason to believe that God was entrusting me with more of Himself because I no longer need constant emotional experiences to prove to me that God is real. I felt disconnected from God because He is closer to me now than ever before. Needless to say, that was an exciting discovery!
And there's still more! This week the leadership staff from Stone Mountain Park and Wild Adventure came to camp for their staff training, and we got to train and hang out with them while they were here. It was encouraging to hear how they noticed Christ in us as we demonstrated unity and love for one another and for them. Some of them even came to know Christ in a deeper personal way during their time here, which is really exciting! God moved in them here, and I can't wait to hear how He moves through them as they go back to lead their staff by the power of the Holy Spirit.
But along with all of this encouragement also came some conviction. God called my attention again to my diabetes and revealed to me that I have been a victim of spiritual diabetes. While I receive wisdom and insight from the Lord and continue to seek more from Him, and while I share what He teaches me, very little of what He teaches me comes across in practical application in my everyday life. I ingest spiritual carbohydrates, but I am lacking in spiritual insulin to make my spiritual food useful for action. I want to see this change. Lord, replace my spiritual pancreas with Your Spirit, Your spring of Living Water.
There's still much more that God has been doing, but this is the last thing I'm going to share for now, until next time, because I'm running out of time, and I've already given you enough to read for now. The unity and support our staff have demonstrated in our support for each other has been a huge encouragement to me. A few of us spent one night sharpening each other as iron sharpens iron in a heated debate. All sides of the discussion were passionate about their stance and were fully convinced of the Lord's will in that area, and it was cool to see how the Spirit spoke truth into the situation through so many wise individuals, growing us all to have a united cause: to make the name of Jesus glorified abundantly. Another night was spent being vulnerable in confession and encouraging a brother that God is not finished with His work in him yet. Just hearing his story makes me excited about the ministry opportunity he has, to share the gospel with a unique group of people and to be a like a living stone (1 Peter 2:5), evidence of God's sovereignty and His ability to make good out of the worst of circumstances.
Thank you to everyone who has been praying and supporting me as I prepare to work at camp this summer! I can't fully express how much it means to me that you would set aside part of your day to keep me and our staff in your prayers, and I pray that you would be encouraged to know that God is working because of you. We are fighting for the hearts and souls of the kids who will be coming here, and your prayers strengthen us for the Lord's purposes. Campers arrive tomorrow! To arms, prayer warriors! God bless!
Friday, May 17, 2013
"God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He tempt anyone."
James 1:13b
This passage has always confused me, and it wasn't until a few months ago that God gave me a little clarity on it. Now I'm finally getting around to writing about it.
So what's the confusion? Of course, we know that God doesn't tempt anyone. That's what Satan does. But why include the statement that God cannot be tempted? What about when Jesus was tempted in the wilderness (Luke 4:1-13)? Wasn't God tempted then? And isn't this passage in James talking about the temptation man experiences? What does tempting God have to do with it?
Let's start by defining temptation. We're familiar with the common understanding of what temptation is: a pull toward something that is immoral, unwise or, in other words, contrary to God's will. And, in fact, that may be enough to help us understand this verse. Because God is the One who knows and is in control of His will, nothing can convince Him to take a detour away from His own will. It may appear in certain passages in the Bible that prayer was used to change His mind about something, but the reality is that the end result that came from prayer was actually His plan all along. He simply tested His servants and drove them to earnest prayer by setting in their minds that His current course of action needed to be changed. By convincing them that His plan was unlike Him, He led them to seek Him more passionately in prayer so that He would be glorified more appropriately, and thus He accomplished His will and received greater glory through His servants than He would have if He had simply gone ahead with His will without giving His servants a part in it.
Anyway, let's look at it another way. If I say, "I'm tempted to buy this book," it can be assumed that my original plan was not to buy that book. My original course of action was already set, but temptation came and gave me an alternate route. Sometimes the word temptation can be misused in this case, when buying that book would be a good investment, but buying the book would still be a detour from the original plan. So in this case, "temptation" can convince us that the new course of action is better than the original. God, however, cannot be tempted in this way. He can never be convinced that another way is better than His way. Obviously. You'd think the Creator of the universe and the Orchestrator of all things would know the best way to organize the events of history for the good of His people and for the increase of His glory.
So I think what James is trying to say here is that when God seems to give us clarity on His purposes for our lives, we must test anything that seems to take us on a different path, even if it only delays us in getting to the same destination. God will not tell us to do something one day and the next day say, "Actually, I have a better idea." When God makes His way known and declares His word, His word is set up as a monument of truth for eternity.
"The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever." ~ Isaiah 40:8
So what is temptation? Let's call it "anything that tries to convince a child of God to depart, even momentarily, from the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God."
"When tempted, no one should say, 'God is tempting me.' For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He tempt anyone; but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death." ~ James 1:13-15
This passage has always confused me, and it wasn't until a few months ago that God gave me a little clarity on it. Now I'm finally getting around to writing about it.
So what's the confusion? Of course, we know that God doesn't tempt anyone. That's what Satan does. But why include the statement that God cannot be tempted? What about when Jesus was tempted in the wilderness (Luke 4:1-13)? Wasn't God tempted then? And isn't this passage in James talking about the temptation man experiences? What does tempting God have to do with it?
Let's start by defining temptation. We're familiar with the common understanding of what temptation is: a pull toward something that is immoral, unwise or, in other words, contrary to God's will. And, in fact, that may be enough to help us understand this verse. Because God is the One who knows and is in control of His will, nothing can convince Him to take a detour away from His own will. It may appear in certain passages in the Bible that prayer was used to change His mind about something, but the reality is that the end result that came from prayer was actually His plan all along. He simply tested His servants and drove them to earnest prayer by setting in their minds that His current course of action needed to be changed. By convincing them that His plan was unlike Him, He led them to seek Him more passionately in prayer so that He would be glorified more appropriately, and thus He accomplished His will and received greater glory through His servants than He would have if He had simply gone ahead with His will without giving His servants a part in it.
Anyway, let's look at it another way. If I say, "I'm tempted to buy this book," it can be assumed that my original plan was not to buy that book. My original course of action was already set, but temptation came and gave me an alternate route. Sometimes the word temptation can be misused in this case, when buying that book would be a good investment, but buying the book would still be a detour from the original plan. So in this case, "temptation" can convince us that the new course of action is better than the original. God, however, cannot be tempted in this way. He can never be convinced that another way is better than His way. Obviously. You'd think the Creator of the universe and the Orchestrator of all things would know the best way to organize the events of history for the good of His people and for the increase of His glory.
So I think what James is trying to say here is that when God seems to give us clarity on His purposes for our lives, we must test anything that seems to take us on a different path, even if it only delays us in getting to the same destination. God will not tell us to do something one day and the next day say, "Actually, I have a better idea." When God makes His way known and declares His word, His word is set up as a monument of truth for eternity.
"The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever." ~ Isaiah 40:8
So what is temptation? Let's call it "anything that tries to convince a child of God to depart, even momentarily, from the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God."
"When tempted, no one should say, 'God is tempting me.' For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He tempt anyone; but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death." ~ James 1:13-15
Paraphrased:
"When you have been clearly given a plan by God, do not question His way when something pops up that may give you a logical reason to take a different path. Just because you heard God's voice in a certain way, do not immediately assume that it is His voice again when you hear it the same way again, especially if it contradicts what He first told you. It is not God telling you to disregard His original plan; it is your own natural inclination toward reason and safety. Any attempt to preserve your life or dignity that strays from God's will will only result in your eternal harm. God knows what He is doing, and He will not change His mind once He has told you His plan for you. Keep your ears open and your mind clear so that you can know when you have accurately heard the voice of the Lord; then stand firm in what He has told you."
Monday, May 13, 2013
Prayer as Prophecy
Did you know that prayer can be spoken as prophecy? I didn't either until God told me earlier today.
If you've been following my blog for a while, you've probably noticed that I've written a few times about prayer and prophecy, sometimes individually and sometimes together. Well, I'm going to add to that collection.
Another school year has gone by, and now I'm back at home. My brother is finishing up his first year of college, and my parents are on their way up to Indiana now to pick him up later this week. So it's just me and my grandma left in the house, which, even though one day isn't much to go by, has been great! I usually don't spend a whole lot of time talking with my grandma because of the language barrier, but we worked through it with some broken Japanese on my part and some broken English on her part. But that's not the only thing that I've gotten to enjoy since being home. With a quiet, almost empty house, I was able to enjoy some time reading and praying. In fact, I plan on continuing that prayer time after I finish typing. Anyway, in the middle of reading, I couldn't stay focused on my reading because God was putting too much on my mind that He wanted me to pray for. So I prayed then went back to my book, then got distracted again, so I prayed and went back to my book. Eventually, I decided to just go on a prayer walk with my dog.
As I was praying, the Holy Spirit started speaking through me in a powerful way that I had never recognized or understood before. I had felt that kind of authority in prayer before, but I had never been able to put a name to that kind of confident praying. He had me praying for things I wouldn't normally think of to pray. And He had me praying with such confidence and assurance of His promises that I knew that what He had me praying for would come true. Then the Lord planted the thought of prophecy in my mind, and I understood. The kind of strength I felt while praying earlier was the same feeling of authority that comes from prophecy and the understanding of visions. Because the Holy Spirit is the One giving the prophecy or vision, the prophecy or vision can be trusted to be true and to be fulfilled. In the same way, because the Holy Spirit is the One who prays for us, we can trust Him to fulfill our prayers because the Spirit only prays what the Lord wants and what He intends to fulfill. When we pray authentic prayers guided by the Spirit, we are not merely expressing our desires; we are prophesying! That's why Paul encourages the Corinthians to desire the gift of prophecy (1 Corinthians 14:1): he wants them to learn to be in such close contact with the Lord that His desires are deeply known to us so that we may speak them into being with His life-giving breath. We are called to delight in the Lord so that we may want what He wants, and thus our desires, which are God's desires, would be fulfilled (Psalm 37:4). And when we pray in the Spirit (Romans 8:26-27), we welcome and ask for the fulfillment of those desires.
This is also why God told Ezekiel to prophecy to the dry bones in the valley (Ezekiel 37). Rather than pray that the bones would receive new life, Ezekiel was told to prophecy to the bones, implying a certain level of assurance that the words spoken will indeed become truth.
Maybe this doesn't change all that much, but it's still a cool thought. When you're praying, instead of just rattling off a list of wants and needs and hopes and thanks (thanksgiving is essential), allow the Spirit to pray through you as if He is prophesying through you. See what happens to your faith as a result, and what happens in actuality.
If you've been following my blog for a while, you've probably noticed that I've written a few times about prayer and prophecy, sometimes individually and sometimes together. Well, I'm going to add to that collection.
Another school year has gone by, and now I'm back at home. My brother is finishing up his first year of college, and my parents are on their way up to Indiana now to pick him up later this week. So it's just me and my grandma left in the house, which, even though one day isn't much to go by, has been great! I usually don't spend a whole lot of time talking with my grandma because of the language barrier, but we worked through it with some broken Japanese on my part and some broken English on her part. But that's not the only thing that I've gotten to enjoy since being home. With a quiet, almost empty house, I was able to enjoy some time reading and praying. In fact, I plan on continuing that prayer time after I finish typing. Anyway, in the middle of reading, I couldn't stay focused on my reading because God was putting too much on my mind that He wanted me to pray for. So I prayed then went back to my book, then got distracted again, so I prayed and went back to my book. Eventually, I decided to just go on a prayer walk with my dog.
As I was praying, the Holy Spirit started speaking through me in a powerful way that I had never recognized or understood before. I had felt that kind of authority in prayer before, but I had never been able to put a name to that kind of confident praying. He had me praying for things I wouldn't normally think of to pray. And He had me praying with such confidence and assurance of His promises that I knew that what He had me praying for would come true. Then the Lord planted the thought of prophecy in my mind, and I understood. The kind of strength I felt while praying earlier was the same feeling of authority that comes from prophecy and the understanding of visions. Because the Holy Spirit is the One giving the prophecy or vision, the prophecy or vision can be trusted to be true and to be fulfilled. In the same way, because the Holy Spirit is the One who prays for us, we can trust Him to fulfill our prayers because the Spirit only prays what the Lord wants and what He intends to fulfill. When we pray authentic prayers guided by the Spirit, we are not merely expressing our desires; we are prophesying! That's why Paul encourages the Corinthians to desire the gift of prophecy (1 Corinthians 14:1): he wants them to learn to be in such close contact with the Lord that His desires are deeply known to us so that we may speak them into being with His life-giving breath. We are called to delight in the Lord so that we may want what He wants, and thus our desires, which are God's desires, would be fulfilled (Psalm 37:4). And when we pray in the Spirit (Romans 8:26-27), we welcome and ask for the fulfillment of those desires.
This is also why God told Ezekiel to prophecy to the dry bones in the valley (Ezekiel 37). Rather than pray that the bones would receive new life, Ezekiel was told to prophecy to the bones, implying a certain level of assurance that the words spoken will indeed become truth.
Maybe this doesn't change all that much, but it's still a cool thought. When you're praying, instead of just rattling off a list of wants and needs and hopes and thanks (thanksgiving is essential), allow the Spirit to pray through you as if He is prophesying through you. See what happens to your faith as a result, and what happens in actuality.
Sunday, April 28, 2013
Go, Send, or Disobey
These are John Piper's three behavior categories of Christians when it comes to missions: we can either go serve and take the gospel to Jerusalem, to Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8); we can support, encourage, pray for, and send others (Acts 13:1-3); or we can disobey the Great Commission entirely and so reject God's grace shown to us.
This past week the Lord has been heavily emphasizing missions in what He has been teaching me. It started with hearing about Athens Launch a couple weeks ago, which is a mission-oriented community group that is being set up here for the upcoming school year. Launch has several sites across the country, and now Athens will be added to that number. The purpose of Launch is largely for networking and encouraging "go-ers" and mobilizers. A go-er is just what it sounds like: they are the people typically identified as missionaries, who go overseas as laborers in the harvest. Mobilizers are those who make people aware of the urgent need for missionaries in all six areas (learning, going, praying, sending, welcoming, and mobilizing) and who spur people on toward action for the advancement of the Kingdom of God.
Anyway, because I won't be doing Wesley leadership next year (God is leading me to start removing myself from the campus ministry setting and more into a church setting, so I plan to get more involved at Watkinsville First Baptist), it seemed like Launch was going to be what I'm supposed to do next year instead. I was wrong. Because of time conflicts with Redcoats, Launch is not for me. But I like several of the ideas behind Launch, like the commitment to meeting with international students regularly, the desire for fellowship not only in a spiritual learning environment but also in a setting that fosters relationship building—specifically, sharing meals together with the intent of carrying that time over into Bible study time. So I want to live out what Launch will be doing without officially being a part of Launch.
Enough about that. Following the whole ordeal with Launch, I went to Perspectives this past Thursday, which drove home the idea of missions even deeper. My friend Jessica had an idea that got us both really excited about the learning and mobilizing areas of missions, and that set the ball rolling for even more ideas. In addition to that, Chris Fitzgerald, the missions director at Watkinsville, spoke at Perspectives and talked about the importance of having a solid home church that will wholeheartedly support missionaries so that they are not cut off from their church family while they are overseas. Then Chris spoke again at church this morning, as well as a couple that will be moving to Boston to minister to college and university faculty.
All of this has culminated for me in the last couple days. What I said earlier was exactly completely true: this didn't really start with Launch. It started with me not going on a mission trip this year, which was a change for me because I've gone to Jamaica over spring break two out of my three years at UGA. Instead, God called me to help send people on mission trips rather than actually going on one myself. So I've been supporting people financially and in prayer this year, which has been an incredible opportunity to see how God uses the people I am investing in. He also showed me how Moses was a mobilizer to Aaron, and because of other similarities I noticed when comparing my own life to the life of Moses, I took that to mean that I'm supposed to be a mobilizer too. So the culmination of all of this came when my friend Shelby shared that she is still raising her last $700 of support for her trip to Southeast Asia through Adventures in Missions (http://www.adventures.org/give/donate.asp?giveto=partFund — choose Passport under Program, and donate to Shelby Burnam), and I wanted to give more, but God gave me a different idea. After hearing Chris speak at Perspectives, the Lord hinted at the idea of setting up an organization, probably starting locally here in Athens but possibly expanding, that would connect go-ers with senders and pray-ers. We hear a lot about people who are raising support to go on mission trips, but what if there was a group of people who know that their calling at this point in time is not to go but to send and pray, and that group was filled with a passion and desperation to support people going on mission trips? What if people began to say, "I wish I knew someone that is going overseas that I could invest in through prayer, encouragement, and financial means"? And what if there was someone that could connect those senders and prayers with the go-ers who are still raising support? This idea is still in the formative stages, but I think this is where God is leading me in the relatively near future.
The last thing the Lord told me yesterday was on the issue of praying for missions. I was reading The Complete Works of E.M. Bounds On Prayer, which I've been reading on and off since summer 2011, and conveniently, the chapter that I had left off on was on Prayer and Missions. The point Bounds made in the chapter was that too often we give financially toward missions but we don't pray. Missionary support without prayer is just like sending someone on a fully funded vacation or community service project. What really sets missions apart is the prayer that goes into it. So God challenged me with a challenge for all go-ers, prayers, and senders. To the senders, pray! Pray first before you donate. And don't let it be just a one-time thing, when you pray for God to bless your donation, and then you give your money. Really pray over an extended period of time. For example, for a week-long mission trip, assuming the one going has given you advance notice, keep the trip in your prayers at least as long as the trip will last before you give any money toward it. If you know for certain that you are supposed to give toward a trip before you pray about it, tell the person, "I'm going to give financially toward your trip, but I want to pray for you and your trip before I give you the money and send you off." And to the go-ers, encourage your supporters to do this. Rather than asking for money right off the bat, if it's early November and your trip is in March, ask your supporters to pray for the entire month of November before sending any money. And when sending updates during the support raising period, remind your supporters to keep praying, an give them something to pray about rather than just giving financial progress reports. Bounds states that too often we ask for money and assume that prayer will inherently be given along with the money. But we need to start thinking the other way around: a spirit of prayer for missions will naturally give rise to a giving spirit. So that's my challenge: In supporting missions, don't give money until you have actively prayed for the trip. A lot of times our prayers regarding missions are confined to the shallow "Should I give, and if so, how much?" kind of prayers. But we need to actually pray for missions, not simply about them. And in seeking support, trust God to give you the money you need when you need it; instead, let your main request be for prayer.
This past week the Lord has been heavily emphasizing missions in what He has been teaching me. It started with hearing about Athens Launch a couple weeks ago, which is a mission-oriented community group that is being set up here for the upcoming school year. Launch has several sites across the country, and now Athens will be added to that number. The purpose of Launch is largely for networking and encouraging "go-ers" and mobilizers. A go-er is just what it sounds like: they are the people typically identified as missionaries, who go overseas as laborers in the harvest. Mobilizers are those who make people aware of the urgent need for missionaries in all six areas (learning, going, praying, sending, welcoming, and mobilizing) and who spur people on toward action for the advancement of the Kingdom of God.
Anyway, because I won't be doing Wesley leadership next year (God is leading me to start removing myself from the campus ministry setting and more into a church setting, so I plan to get more involved at Watkinsville First Baptist), it seemed like Launch was going to be what I'm supposed to do next year instead. I was wrong. Because of time conflicts with Redcoats, Launch is not for me. But I like several of the ideas behind Launch, like the commitment to meeting with international students regularly, the desire for fellowship not only in a spiritual learning environment but also in a setting that fosters relationship building—specifically, sharing meals together with the intent of carrying that time over into Bible study time. So I want to live out what Launch will be doing without officially being a part of Launch.
Enough about that. Following the whole ordeal with Launch, I went to Perspectives this past Thursday, which drove home the idea of missions even deeper. My friend Jessica had an idea that got us both really excited about the learning and mobilizing areas of missions, and that set the ball rolling for even more ideas. In addition to that, Chris Fitzgerald, the missions director at Watkinsville, spoke at Perspectives and talked about the importance of having a solid home church that will wholeheartedly support missionaries so that they are not cut off from their church family while they are overseas. Then Chris spoke again at church this morning, as well as a couple that will be moving to Boston to minister to college and university faculty.
All of this has culminated for me in the last couple days. What I said earlier was exactly completely true: this didn't really start with Launch. It started with me not going on a mission trip this year, which was a change for me because I've gone to Jamaica over spring break two out of my three years at UGA. Instead, God called me to help send people on mission trips rather than actually going on one myself. So I've been supporting people financially and in prayer this year, which has been an incredible opportunity to see how God uses the people I am investing in. He also showed me how Moses was a mobilizer to Aaron, and because of other similarities I noticed when comparing my own life to the life of Moses, I took that to mean that I'm supposed to be a mobilizer too. So the culmination of all of this came when my friend Shelby shared that she is still raising her last $700 of support for her trip to Southeast Asia through Adventures in Missions (http://www.adventures.org/give/donate.asp?giveto=partFund — choose Passport under Program, and donate to Shelby Burnam), and I wanted to give more, but God gave me a different idea. After hearing Chris speak at Perspectives, the Lord hinted at the idea of setting up an organization, probably starting locally here in Athens but possibly expanding, that would connect go-ers with senders and pray-ers. We hear a lot about people who are raising support to go on mission trips, but what if there was a group of people who know that their calling at this point in time is not to go but to send and pray, and that group was filled with a passion and desperation to support people going on mission trips? What if people began to say, "I wish I knew someone that is going overseas that I could invest in through prayer, encouragement, and financial means"? And what if there was someone that could connect those senders and prayers with the go-ers who are still raising support? This idea is still in the formative stages, but I think this is where God is leading me in the relatively near future.
The last thing the Lord told me yesterday was on the issue of praying for missions. I was reading The Complete Works of E.M. Bounds On Prayer, which I've been reading on and off since summer 2011, and conveniently, the chapter that I had left off on was on Prayer and Missions. The point Bounds made in the chapter was that too often we give financially toward missions but we don't pray. Missionary support without prayer is just like sending someone on a fully funded vacation or community service project. What really sets missions apart is the prayer that goes into it. So God challenged me with a challenge for all go-ers, prayers, and senders. To the senders, pray! Pray first before you donate. And don't let it be just a one-time thing, when you pray for God to bless your donation, and then you give your money. Really pray over an extended period of time. For example, for a week-long mission trip, assuming the one going has given you advance notice, keep the trip in your prayers at least as long as the trip will last before you give any money toward it. If you know for certain that you are supposed to give toward a trip before you pray about it, tell the person, "I'm going to give financially toward your trip, but I want to pray for you and your trip before I give you the money and send you off." And to the go-ers, encourage your supporters to do this. Rather than asking for money right off the bat, if it's early November and your trip is in March, ask your supporters to pray for the entire month of November before sending any money. And when sending updates during the support raising period, remind your supporters to keep praying, an give them something to pray about rather than just giving financial progress reports. Bounds states that too often we ask for money and assume that prayer will inherently be given along with the money. But we need to start thinking the other way around: a spirit of prayer for missions will naturally give rise to a giving spirit. So that's my challenge: In supporting missions, don't give money until you have actively prayed for the trip. A lot of times our prayers regarding missions are confined to the shallow "Should I give, and if so, how much?" kind of prayers. But we need to actually pray for missions, not simply about them. And in seeking support, trust God to give you the money you need when you need it; instead, let your main request be for prayer.
Sunday, April 21, 2013
Westboro Among Us
It's been a long time since I've written anything, but I've felt like I haven't been retaining much of what I've been learning since I stopped posting in my blog, so I figured what God showed me today was worth posting so that I would remember it and also because it needs to be shared.
I haven't been very consistent with attending church this year (I've partially justified it by my attendance and leadership position at Wesley, but I've genuinely missed being at an actual church rather than a campus ministry. The last couple months I've also had several gigs that have interfered with me attending my usual church. But today I finally got to go back, and I was taken aback by just how guarded and borderline critical it seemed, not of me but of other denominations and specific controversial preachers. While I do agree with some of the points made and that the controversial statements of said preachers quite obviously contradicted my own understanding of biblical faith, I felt offended on behalf of the Church as a whole because of the attacks being made against individuals and their followers.
Maybe the criticism stood out to me just because I've been noticing my own tendency to be critical of the majority of Christians. But regardless, I think the overall skeptical nature of this generation has become one of the biggest downfalls of the Church because it has caused us to turn against each other. We put down the teachings and beliefs of other Christians just because we happen to not be learning the same thing at that point in time. We question everything anyone says, and while I admit that we are told to test the spirits and not take everyone at their word, if straightforward skepticism becomes the identifying trait of Christians, then something is wrong. The line of distinction between us and Westboro Baptist Church is starting to fade. We boldly point out the faults of anyone who claims to be Christian but has even one differing opinion from our own, and we pronounce them condemned for it. That may be a harsh way of putting it, but I believe it's true.
Now, I realize that this post is pretty ironic because I'm criticizing the Church's tendency to criticize the Church. But I think it's time for us to focus less on the flaws of the whole Church and turn our examination inward to recognize and correct our own individual flaws. As Alan, my high school small group leader said, part of what goes into fearing God is acknowledging how we have wronged Him throughout our lives so that the wrongs others do to us don't seem like that big of a deal in comparison; and it's time for us to start fearing God. We need to be so repentant of our own sins that we can't help but be forgiving to others because of the forgiveness God has shown us. We need to learn to love despite our disagreements. I need to learn to love. Of course, love does not condone views and actions that are clearly out of line with God's will, but it most definitely is not founded on criticism.
May we learn to be humble in our faith while remaining firmly rooted in the Truth. May we learn to encourage others while not neglecting to promote the Truth and dismiss lies with gentleness and respect. And may the Lord grant me the privilege of being the first to take my own advice and fall in line with His will, to love the Church as He does.
In keeping with seeking humility, I invite anyone who disagrees with me on any point to say so, as well as anyone who would like to comment or who would like me to elaborate. This goes for this post as well as any past and future posts.
I haven't been very consistent with attending church this year (I've partially justified it by my attendance and leadership position at Wesley, but I've genuinely missed being at an actual church rather than a campus ministry. The last couple months I've also had several gigs that have interfered with me attending my usual church. But today I finally got to go back, and I was taken aback by just how guarded and borderline critical it seemed, not of me but of other denominations and specific controversial preachers. While I do agree with some of the points made and that the controversial statements of said preachers quite obviously contradicted my own understanding of biblical faith, I felt offended on behalf of the Church as a whole because of the attacks being made against individuals and their followers.
Maybe the criticism stood out to me just because I've been noticing my own tendency to be critical of the majority of Christians. But regardless, I think the overall skeptical nature of this generation has become one of the biggest downfalls of the Church because it has caused us to turn against each other. We put down the teachings and beliefs of other Christians just because we happen to not be learning the same thing at that point in time. We question everything anyone says, and while I admit that we are told to test the spirits and not take everyone at their word, if straightforward skepticism becomes the identifying trait of Christians, then something is wrong. The line of distinction between us and Westboro Baptist Church is starting to fade. We boldly point out the faults of anyone who claims to be Christian but has even one differing opinion from our own, and we pronounce them condemned for it. That may be a harsh way of putting it, but I believe it's true.
Now, I realize that this post is pretty ironic because I'm criticizing the Church's tendency to criticize the Church. But I think it's time for us to focus less on the flaws of the whole Church and turn our examination inward to recognize and correct our own individual flaws. As Alan, my high school small group leader said, part of what goes into fearing God is acknowledging how we have wronged Him throughout our lives so that the wrongs others do to us don't seem like that big of a deal in comparison; and it's time for us to start fearing God. We need to be so repentant of our own sins that we can't help but be forgiving to others because of the forgiveness God has shown us. We need to learn to love despite our disagreements. I need to learn to love. Of course, love does not condone views and actions that are clearly out of line with God's will, but it most definitely is not founded on criticism.
May we learn to be humble in our faith while remaining firmly rooted in the Truth. May we learn to encourage others while not neglecting to promote the Truth and dismiss lies with gentleness and respect. And may the Lord grant me the privilege of being the first to take my own advice and fall in line with His will, to love the Church as He does.
In keeping with seeking humility, I invite anyone who disagrees with me on any point to say so, as well as anyone who would like to comment or who would like me to elaborate. This goes for this post as well as any past and future posts.
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