A new friend reminded me this afternoon the importance and brilliance of starting your day in prayer and communication with “the sweet guy up there.” I’m willing to bet he had no idea what he was igniting by choosing to share his thoughts with me today. What if all our relationships were marked by an un-filtered desire to share about Jesus?
Simple encouragements like this get my mind going for hours. Someone mentions something they’re learning, or how God’s working in their lives, and it just makes me want to dive head first into scripture and teach myself the same lesson.
So today I started thinking about the beauty and humility of beginning each day professing a need for God. When we wake up, our thoughts come back to life, and it is up to us to decide who will control our thoughts for the day. Are our thoughts from Satan, or are they from God? And more often than not, if our first thoughts of the day are not focused on God, we’ve already allowed Satan a foothold to control our mind the rest of the day.
We believe so many lies on a daily, even hourly basis. Isn’t it about time we stop listening to lies and start speaking truth to ourselves? Psychologically, thoughts are a HUGE part of who we are and they’re incredibly difficult to change. We can spend months treating a client with cognitive therapy, redefining the way they think. And while I am a therapist, I don’t believe we all need therapy, I just think we need to make war on our own minds. Our thoughts are deeply engrained, that’s why we should start fighting the moment we wake up.
But what about when we go to sleep? Lots of people have adopted the philosophy of starting one’s day with quiet time or in prayer, but is it any less important to glorify God at the end of the day?
Yes, in the morning we can start our day off on a good, positive, armed note, but the end of the day blesses us with an amazing opportunity to reflect and give glory to God for the grace we experienced.
And, at the end of the day we get to experience the gift of sleep! As college students, most of us constantly express a love for sleep, but I’d be willing to bet most of us don’t think about how to glorify God in it, or that He is with us, even in this catatonic state.
God created sleep, and that means sleep is good, and has a purpose.
We spend about one-third of our lives sleeping. One-third! That means if we live to be ninety, we’ll have slept for thirty years. It makes you think twice about your bed doesn’t it? Most of us love beds because that is where we may one day become one flesh with another person. We fail to recognize we’ll spend far more time engaging in the gift of God’s rest in our beds, than delighting in the gift of sexual intimacy (sorry boys).
God could have created us without a need for sleep, but in doing so, we’re reminded daily that we are not self-sufficient. God is the only one who “will neither slumber nor sleep” (Psalm 121:4).
So, the next time you’re tired (which happens to most of us daily), don’t curse God and life for exhausting you to the core, pray to God you can view tiredness as a reminder that we are just creatures, not the Creator. And thank God for such a humbling gift.
That being said, don’t take God’s gift of sleep for granted by abusing it, or by trying to do without it.
“Whether we eat or drink, do all things for the glory of God.” 1 Cor. 10:31
Most of us do all waking things for the glory of God, but consider sleep a whole separate category… we like to shirk responsibility for our unconscious thoughts. Our impure dreams are still our responsibility, which makes it all the more important for God to be on our hearts and minds before we drift off.
Like controlling our thoughts during the day, this isn’t an easy task. But it is possible. How crazy and amazing that we can glorify God in our sleep?! In the way we view sleep, and prepare for sleep.
It seems the older and more mature we get, the more we value sleep. I would argue the same should be true in our spiritual life. Except we’ll value sleep less for what it does for us, and more for what it does for our relationship with God.
If we don’t view sleep and the benefits of sleep differently than non-believers, something is wrong. Sleep is more than restoring us for a new day; sleep is an opportunity to be humbled. Our need for sleep is an amazing reminder that we need Christ every day, that we truly can’t do it on our own.
Monday, April 26, 2010
Sunday, April 25, 2010
To an Athlete Dying Young
This spring I coached a group of girls for a running race called the Little 50. Teams of four runners compete in a 50-lap relay that mimics both the Indy 500 and the Little 500.
We’ve been getting together a couple days each week for the last few months, training to represent Campus Crusade for Christ, and more importantly Christ himself.
A few months back, I began to wonder what that meant. We want to glorify God with the talent He blessed us with to run. We want to be a witness to the campus through this race. I know the vision; I cast it over a year ago. But, this season, that vision didn’t seem quite right.
How does one share the gospel when you’re competing? You can’t talk during the race and everyone’s too focused to talk beforehand. As a cop out, I always thought that witnessing Christ’s character was enough. So long as we pray before and after, and show good, Christ-like sportsmanship on the track, that’s good, right?
Wrong! Christ’s character, while a great model for how we should live our lives, is not the essence of the gospel. After all, if following his character were enough, he wouldn’t have had to die.
The essence of the gospel is in the sacrifice. God gave up his Son, sent him down to die a painful, horrible, agonizing death in order to pay for our sins. This was a difficult job, and the pain for God began long before Jesus’ death. Like all good parents, God had to discipline His Son.
"It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it." Hebrews 12:7-11
I’m sure this verse strikes a chord with most parents, but for me, it took coaching to understand the weight of what God went through.
I still remember the first sprint workout I put the girls through. I hated it! The girls were tired, and out of breath, and looked like they wanted to die, and I was there, watch in hand telling them to suck it up, they had four more repeats to go. I knew they needed to keep going. As part of their training, they needed this painful workout to be better runners, but I just wanted to give them all buckets of water and tell them to relax, go home, and take it easy.
The gospel takes sacrifice. Runners sacrifice sleep, junk food, carbonation. My girls sacrificed their social lives, and sometimes their muscles and knees to witness the gospel. I think that’s one of the reason’s running is so often used as a metaphor for the Christian life.
“Do you not know that in a race all the runners compete, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I pummel my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.” 1 Corinthians 9:24-27
“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” 2 Timothy 4:7
And my personal favorite.
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us…” Hebrews 12:1
What I love about verses like this is how you must understand the culture in antiquity (and of running) to really feel this verse. In ancient times, runners ran completely naked when they were competing. It gives new meaning to the idea of casting aside every weight, and the sin that clings so closely. Clothing is extra weight, which clings, impeding a runner’s stride. That’s why you see competitive runners today in tight spandex singlets. Running naked is inappropriate; this is the closest we can get.
And that’s what it takes to run a race well for the glory of God. You must shed sin. It’s easy to get distracted out there on the track. When sin entangles us we fight for the perishable wreath, it’s only when we shed our sinful selfishness that we can run unhindered for the imperishable wreath.
So, my girls sacrificed even more than sleep, good food, and social lives, they sacrificed their very lives. Dying to themselves, pushing one another to be better runners, but more importantly, to be more Godly women.
My girls won third place at this year’s Little 50, and while I am proud of them for that finish, I am far more proud of them for starting another race, one that they’re already running well.
We’ve been getting together a couple days each week for the last few months, training to represent Campus Crusade for Christ, and more importantly Christ himself.
A few months back, I began to wonder what that meant. We want to glorify God with the talent He blessed us with to run. We want to be a witness to the campus through this race. I know the vision; I cast it over a year ago. But, this season, that vision didn’t seem quite right.
How does one share the gospel when you’re competing? You can’t talk during the race and everyone’s too focused to talk beforehand. As a cop out, I always thought that witnessing Christ’s character was enough. So long as we pray before and after, and show good, Christ-like sportsmanship on the track, that’s good, right?
Wrong! Christ’s character, while a great model for how we should live our lives, is not the essence of the gospel. After all, if following his character were enough, he wouldn’t have had to die.
The essence of the gospel is in the sacrifice. God gave up his Son, sent him down to die a painful, horrible, agonizing death in order to pay for our sins. This was a difficult job, and the pain for God began long before Jesus’ death. Like all good parents, God had to discipline His Son.
"It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it." Hebrews 12:7-11
I’m sure this verse strikes a chord with most parents, but for me, it took coaching to understand the weight of what God went through.
I still remember the first sprint workout I put the girls through. I hated it! The girls were tired, and out of breath, and looked like they wanted to die, and I was there, watch in hand telling them to suck it up, they had four more repeats to go. I knew they needed to keep going. As part of their training, they needed this painful workout to be better runners, but I just wanted to give them all buckets of water and tell them to relax, go home, and take it easy.
The gospel takes sacrifice. Runners sacrifice sleep, junk food, carbonation. My girls sacrificed their social lives, and sometimes their muscles and knees to witness the gospel. I think that’s one of the reason’s running is so often used as a metaphor for the Christian life.
“Do you not know that in a race all the runners compete, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I pummel my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.” 1 Corinthians 9:24-27
“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” 2 Timothy 4:7
And my personal favorite.
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us…” Hebrews 12:1
What I love about verses like this is how you must understand the culture in antiquity (and of running) to really feel this verse. In ancient times, runners ran completely naked when they were competing. It gives new meaning to the idea of casting aside every weight, and the sin that clings so closely. Clothing is extra weight, which clings, impeding a runner’s stride. That’s why you see competitive runners today in tight spandex singlets. Running naked is inappropriate; this is the closest we can get.
And that’s what it takes to run a race well for the glory of God. You must shed sin. It’s easy to get distracted out there on the track. When sin entangles us we fight for the perishable wreath, it’s only when we shed our sinful selfishness that we can run unhindered for the imperishable wreath.
So, my girls sacrificed even more than sleep, good food, and social lives, they sacrificed their very lives. Dying to themselves, pushing one another to be better runners, but more importantly, to be more Godly women.
My girls won third place at this year’s Little 50, and while I am proud of them for that finish, I am far more proud of them for starting another race, one that they’re already running well.
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Queen of Thieves
One of my all-time favorite songs is "Times" by Tenth Avenue North. It's a beautiful dialogue between a sinner and the God of the universe. The lyrics speak to my very heart and soul.
The sinner (me) knows they need God but feels so far from Him, confessing unbelief in a real and vulnerable way. It's beautiful. Most of us doubt, but how many of us go to the Lord in our broken humility asking, "Are you done forgiving? Can you look past my pretending?"
I'm fairly certain most of us think so highly of ourselves that we don't even think to ask this second question. We truly believe we can pull a fast one on God, that we've got Him fooled.
But what I love even more than the sinner's cries in this song is God's response. He doesn't yell, he doesn't rebuke, he simply reminds his beloved son of the truth. He calls him out on the lies he's believed, and says, "No, that's not me. This is."
"I hear you say my love is over,
its underneath, its inside, its in between
the times you doubt me, when you can't feel
the times that you've questioned 'is this for real?'
the times you've broken, the times that you mend
the times you hate me and the times that you bend
Well my love is over, its underneath
its inside, its in between,
these times you're healing
and when your heart breaks
the times that you feel like you've fallen from grace
the times you're hurting
the times that you heal
the times you go hungry and are tempted to steal
in times of confusion and chaos and pain
I'm there in your sorrow under the weight of your shame
I'm there through your heartache
I'm there in the storm
my love I will keep you by my power alone
I don't care where you've fallen, where you have been
I'll never forsake you
my love never ends, it never ends."
But perhaps my very favorite part of the whole song is one simple line, "The times you go hungry and are tempted to steal."
This line always brings me back to the ten commandments and gets my brain going. Some of the commandments seem like common sense to me. Stealing and murder aren't even on my radar of sins I need to worry about. I'm not going to knock over Best Buy anytime soon, and I feel guilt when I kill a spider... so I'm fairly certain I'll never kill my fellow man.
But this one line changed my thinking about God's commands, because it goes beyond the physical act itself and points to the sin of our hearts. God could care less about the material things in this world and who thinks they own them. He reminds us in Luke 6:30, "...from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back." It's a hard truth most of us don't like to think about. Our possessions were never really ours.
That's the problem with stealing. We're all thieves. Everything in this world is God's! And when we steal it doesn't matter that we're taking it out of the hands of a brother or sister, the problem is that we're taking it out of the hands of God.
And this goes so far beyond material things.
The line says, "the times that you're hungry and are tempted to steal." The heart issue is the motive behind stealing. We steal because we're hungry. For something... or someone.
Maybe you've never walked into a store and taken something, and maybe you've never borrowed something from a friend, and conveniently "forgot" to give it back, but have you ever been hungry for God's love and stolen a brother or sister's affection to satisfy that need?
We do this all the time. So many Christians (myself included) think that because we're not fooling around with people and stealing their purity, that we're on the right track. We take flirting way too lightly. When I flirt and seek to gain a guy's attention, I'm stealing! I am not satisfied by God alone. I want validation and love and affirmation from the greatest man in all the world, but rather than getting in the Word or falling on my knees in prayer to be reminded of God's love for me... I run to the nearest guy and accept his attention as a substitution.
And when I do that I am stealing his attention. I'm stealing his eyes from his future wife, I'm stealing his words of affirmation. I'm stealing all this goodness God put in my brother for my own temporary pleasure.
It's okay to be encouraged by a member of the opposite sex, it's okay to be complimented by them. In fact, I'd argue we don't do those two things enough. At least not with pure hearts. Are you loving on a brother or sister to point them towards Christ, or are you loving on them in a way that points solely to you? Are you stealing their gaze from God?
----
It's Little 5 weekend at IU, and for those of you who don't know what that means... it's said to be the greatest college party weekend in the nation. And by weekend, I mean week. And by greatest, I mean darkest.
We sleep when it's dark. And when we're deep in sleep and someone turns on a bright light we groan and seek to shield our eyes. It's almost painful, and we usually yell at whoever turned on the light to make it dark again so we can fall back into our unconscious, carefree state.
The same can be said of sin. When we're deep in sin and someone wakes us up and exposes what we're doing, it's painful, and we want to shield our eyes and go back to our satisfying, yet ephemeral, dreamworld. But God is already winning, and as much as we plead to go back to our sin, guilt and conviction make it so even if we fall back to sleep, but it's not the same carefree, catatonic state we were in.
This morning was a rough one for me. The darkness of this party week lulled me into a deep sleep and God painfully turned the lights on me this morning. Seeing my sin in the light evoked in me such powerful sadness I literally began to shake.
So I turned on some peaceful music in an attempt to calm myself down, when this song came on. "Times." I wanted to crumple under the weight of my sin, and I still do... but I have to hold fast to God's words. I am not past his forgiveness, and he does see past my pretending. He will never forsake me, and his love never ends.
Maybe you're like me, you're still sleeping and you think stealing and murder don't apply to you. But if you've ever stolen someone's affection or killed someone's spirit with bitter words, I pray God will turn the lights on and wake you, too.
"And he came to the disciples and found them sleeping. And he said to Peter, 'So, could you not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray that you do not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." Matthew 26:40-41
The sinner (me) knows they need God but feels so far from Him, confessing unbelief in a real and vulnerable way. It's beautiful. Most of us doubt, but how many of us go to the Lord in our broken humility asking, "Are you done forgiving? Can you look past my pretending?"
I'm fairly certain most of us think so highly of ourselves that we don't even think to ask this second question. We truly believe we can pull a fast one on God, that we've got Him fooled.
But what I love even more than the sinner's cries in this song is God's response. He doesn't yell, he doesn't rebuke, he simply reminds his beloved son of the truth. He calls him out on the lies he's believed, and says, "No, that's not me. This is."
"I hear you say my love is over,
its underneath, its inside, its in between
the times you doubt me, when you can't feel
the times that you've questioned 'is this for real?'
the times you've broken, the times that you mend
the times you hate me and the times that you bend
Well my love is over, its underneath
its inside, its in between,
these times you're healing
and when your heart breaks
the times that you feel like you've fallen from grace
the times you're hurting
the times that you heal
the times you go hungry and are tempted to steal
in times of confusion and chaos and pain
I'm there in your sorrow under the weight of your shame
I'm there through your heartache
I'm there in the storm
my love I will keep you by my power alone
I don't care where you've fallen, where you have been
I'll never forsake you
my love never ends, it never ends."
But perhaps my very favorite part of the whole song is one simple line, "The times you go hungry and are tempted to steal."
This line always brings me back to the ten commandments and gets my brain going. Some of the commandments seem like common sense to me. Stealing and murder aren't even on my radar of sins I need to worry about. I'm not going to knock over Best Buy anytime soon, and I feel guilt when I kill a spider... so I'm fairly certain I'll never kill my fellow man.
But this one line changed my thinking about God's commands, because it goes beyond the physical act itself and points to the sin of our hearts. God could care less about the material things in this world and who thinks they own them. He reminds us in Luke 6:30, "...from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back." It's a hard truth most of us don't like to think about. Our possessions were never really ours.
That's the problem with stealing. We're all thieves. Everything in this world is God's! And when we steal it doesn't matter that we're taking it out of the hands of a brother or sister, the problem is that we're taking it out of the hands of God.
And this goes so far beyond material things.
The line says, "the times that you're hungry and are tempted to steal." The heart issue is the motive behind stealing. We steal because we're hungry. For something... or someone.
Maybe you've never walked into a store and taken something, and maybe you've never borrowed something from a friend, and conveniently "forgot" to give it back, but have you ever been hungry for God's love and stolen a brother or sister's affection to satisfy that need?
We do this all the time. So many Christians (myself included) think that because we're not fooling around with people and stealing their purity, that we're on the right track. We take flirting way too lightly. When I flirt and seek to gain a guy's attention, I'm stealing! I am not satisfied by God alone. I want validation and love and affirmation from the greatest man in all the world, but rather than getting in the Word or falling on my knees in prayer to be reminded of God's love for me... I run to the nearest guy and accept his attention as a substitution.
And when I do that I am stealing his attention. I'm stealing his eyes from his future wife, I'm stealing his words of affirmation. I'm stealing all this goodness God put in my brother for my own temporary pleasure.
It's okay to be encouraged by a member of the opposite sex, it's okay to be complimented by them. In fact, I'd argue we don't do those two things enough. At least not with pure hearts. Are you loving on a brother or sister to point them towards Christ, or are you loving on them in a way that points solely to you? Are you stealing their gaze from God?
----
It's Little 5 weekend at IU, and for those of you who don't know what that means... it's said to be the greatest college party weekend in the nation. And by weekend, I mean week. And by greatest, I mean darkest.
We sleep when it's dark. And when we're deep in sleep and someone turns on a bright light we groan and seek to shield our eyes. It's almost painful, and we usually yell at whoever turned on the light to make it dark again so we can fall back into our unconscious, carefree state.
The same can be said of sin. When we're deep in sin and someone wakes us up and exposes what we're doing, it's painful, and we want to shield our eyes and go back to our satisfying, yet ephemeral, dreamworld. But God is already winning, and as much as we plead to go back to our sin, guilt and conviction make it so even if we fall back to sleep, but it's not the same carefree, catatonic state we were in.
This morning was a rough one for me. The darkness of this party week lulled me into a deep sleep and God painfully turned the lights on me this morning. Seeing my sin in the light evoked in me such powerful sadness I literally began to shake.
So I turned on some peaceful music in an attempt to calm myself down, when this song came on. "Times." I wanted to crumple under the weight of my sin, and I still do... but I have to hold fast to God's words. I am not past his forgiveness, and he does see past my pretending. He will never forsake me, and his love never ends.
Maybe you're like me, you're still sleeping and you think stealing and murder don't apply to you. But if you've ever stolen someone's affection or killed someone's spirit with bitter words, I pray God will turn the lights on and wake you, too.
"And he came to the disciples and found them sleeping. And he said to Peter, 'So, could you not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray that you do not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." Matthew 26:40-41
Saturday, April 3, 2010
The Space Between
Mary has one of the most interesting introductions in the Bible, "Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out." Luke 8:2.
It’s well-known among Christian circles that she was a prostitute, and in the end a reformed prostitute. She’s the epitome of a resistant woman, one who likely did not come to the Lord easily.
Throughout the gospels we see those who are sick and lame literally reaching out their arms to Jesus for healing. These people sought out Jesus. They were incredibly faithful, never doubting the Lord’s healing power, and were rewarded for such faith.
At the start of Jesus’ ministry he didn’t just heal the sick, he cast out demons. And the New Testament shows a starch contrast in how these people came to Jesus.
They didn’t reach out to him in loving faith like the ill. They were pushed and prodded towards Jesus by family or friends. Loved ones who saw someone they deeply cared about fall away spent time and energy fighting the demon’s resistance in their beloved friend, daughter, brother, lover, and brought them to Jesus for healing. These people wouldn’t have come to Jesus on their own! Demons don’t want to be cast out, they don’t want the body healed, they want to be as far away from the Son as possible.
So what about Mary? She was a prostitute with seven demons. The Bible makes no mention of friends or family pleading on her behalf. And one could guess from her circumstances that she had none. Mary didn’t find Jesus, she couldn’t have. She was running in the complete opposite direction. But that’s the beauty of salvation, we don’t find Jesus, He finds us (she’s quite the encouraging story for those of us with resistant, seemingly impossible loved ones).
Jesus found Mary and cast out her demons, and took her in to be a follower of Christ. He forgave her for her sins and restored her worth. Mary went from feeling dirty, and lost, and unlovable, to clean, and worthy, and loved. He radically changed her life. So like the fishermen, Mary cast her fishnets aside and followed Him.
Mary was no doubt in that first love phase we all have when we first accept the gospel. She was made new, life was good, joy abounded! But Mary’s celebration was short-lived.
Before she knew it, her Savior was hanging on a cross, dying. The man who radically turned her life upside-down, forgiving her for her sins, was dying.
What must it have been like for Mary watching her Savior die on the cross? What must that have been like to finally feel love and then watch that love be destroyed before your very eyes? What was Mary feeling in that moment? Did she feel lied to? Abandoned? Was she ready to give up? Out of bitterness and anger did she think about returning to prostitution now that Jesus was gone? She knew Jesus said he would return from the dead, but as he breathed his last breath, did she question whether he could really be raised from the dead?
Psychologically speaking, and coming from my own sin-tempted experiences, I wouldn’t doubt whether these unbelieving thoughts came to her mind, if only for a fleeting moment. Even for those of us who have been saved, sinful, selfish, hopeless thoughts come to mind sometimes. The difference is, we know that we have an escape from temptation, and know to flee from these thoughts (1 Corinthians 10:13).
The Bible tells us Mary didn’t act on these sinful desires. Praise God! This proves just how transformed her life was. Drowning out her pain would have been an easier way to cope, at least temporarily. But she resisted, she faced the pain head on. Mary spent the next day, Saturday, preparing perfumes as a memorial to the Lord.
No one ever talks about Saturday. There’s Good Friday and Easter Sunday, and as Christians we celebrate both. Friday is a paradoxical day. Tragic in that Jesus was brutally killed, beautiful that He did so for the world. It’s heartbreaking that our sin held him there on the cross, and redeeming that He still wants to pay for the very sin that led him to his death. And by Sunday, He is raised! Celebration abounds. Jesus Messiah, Lord of all, has returned! But what about that 24-hour space between?
I think we’re ashamed of Saturday, so we don’t talk about it.
And the best way to explain this is to look at Saturday from Mary Magdalene’s standpoint, because let’s be honest, we’re not all that different from a reformed prostitute (no matter how much pride tells us otherwise).
If you’ve ever lost a loved one, or undergone any immense loss in your life, you can probably imagine what Saturday was like for Mary. Chances are she didn’t sleep, or eat. She probably cried so hard her eyes hurt. Saturday was a day of darkness, a day of waiting.
Mary KNEW Jesus was supposed to come back the next day, and she was pretty sure she believed him… but he hadn’t come back yet. Saturday was a dark and scary day; it’s the day we have to confront our doubts head on. Do we really believe? Will He really come back tomorrow?
We have to pay attention to Saturday. We have to stand together on Saturday, because it’s the day we doubt. It’s the day we’re too heartbroken to eat or sleep. It’s the day no one wants to talk about because none of us want to admit that there are times in our lives that we re-live Saturday over and over again. We’ve heard the truth, and we know Jesus is coming back, but right now it just doesn’t feel like that’s the case.
Saturday is the day we need each other. The beauty of the gospel is that God not only gave us His Son, He gave us the church, He gave us each other! He gave us a body of loving community and fellowship to be there for one another on the rainy Saturdays to tell our weary friends, “He will rise tomorrow!”
My friends, are you still living in Saturday?
Friday, March 19, 2010
Atonement
Leviticus is one of those books I'm never that fond of reading. I often selfishly see it as something I need to get through, knowing full well that I'll get nothing out of it. Well, at least the first half about all the laws. They just all seem so dated and unnecessary.
But, it's still God's Word, which means there is truth to be found, so this week I chugged along and ended up discovering something amazing.
The gospel can be found in Leviticus! And it's not by a major or minor prophet predicting Jesus' coming, or telling others about it, it's just one of those amazing parallels that shows us just how long ago God planned to save us from ourselves.
There was the old covenant, but God knew there would be a new covenant. He knew He would send His son to die for our sins. He knew that no amount of animal sacrifices could atone for the evil we do, only the sacrifice of Jesus could truly carry our sins away.
In Moses' time, part of the day included bringing two male goats before God as a sin offering.
"And Aaron shall present the goat on which the lot fell for the Lord and use it as a sin offering, but the goat on which the lot fell for Azalel shall be presented alive before the Lord to make atonement over it, that it may be sent away into the wilderness to Azalel." Leviticus 16:9-10
Like our day of atonement, Jesus was presented to God as a sin offering, he was sacrificed so we could be presented alive before the Lord to make atonement over, that our sins (past, present, and future) would be sent away into the wilderness.
"And Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it all the iniquities of the people of Israel, and all their transgressions, all their sins. And he shall put them on the head of the goat and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man who is in readiness. The goat shall bear all their iniquities on itself to a remote area and he shall let the goat go free in the wilderness." Leviticus 16:27
The difference of course is that in Moses' time, the day of atonement was an annual gig. Our sins could never fully be paid for. Jesus' sacrifice sends our sins into the wilderness forever. No other sacrifice is needed.
God laid his hands over his Son and over it confessed all of our iniquities, all our transgressions, all our sins, and he put them on the head of His Son. Jesus bore our iniquities and was killed on the cross as a sacrifice for us, to atone for our sins and send them free into the wilderness. He died to make us free (Romans 6:7, 8:2). Free from sin, free from ourselves, free to dance and free to run.
Ironically, us being free came at an enormous cost. What amazing grace.
But, it's still God's Word, which means there is truth to be found, so this week I chugged along and ended up discovering something amazing.
The gospel can be found in Leviticus! And it's not by a major or minor prophet predicting Jesus' coming, or telling others about it, it's just one of those amazing parallels that shows us just how long ago God planned to save us from ourselves.
There was the old covenant, but God knew there would be a new covenant. He knew He would send His son to die for our sins. He knew that no amount of animal sacrifices could atone for the evil we do, only the sacrifice of Jesus could truly carry our sins away.
In Moses' time, part of the day included bringing two male goats before God as a sin offering.
"And Aaron shall present the goat on which the lot fell for the Lord and use it as a sin offering, but the goat on which the lot fell for Azalel shall be presented alive before the Lord to make atonement over it, that it may be sent away into the wilderness to Azalel." Leviticus 16:9-10
Like our day of atonement, Jesus was presented to God as a sin offering, he was sacrificed so we could be presented alive before the Lord to make atonement over, that our sins (past, present, and future) would be sent away into the wilderness.
"And Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it all the iniquities of the people of Israel, and all their transgressions, all their sins. And he shall put them on the head of the goat and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man who is in readiness. The goat shall bear all their iniquities on itself to a remote area and he shall let the goat go free in the wilderness." Leviticus 16:27
The difference of course is that in Moses' time, the day of atonement was an annual gig. Our sins could never fully be paid for. Jesus' sacrifice sends our sins into the wilderness forever. No other sacrifice is needed.
God laid his hands over his Son and over it confessed all of our iniquities, all our transgressions, all our sins, and he put them on the head of His Son. Jesus bore our iniquities and was killed on the cross as a sacrifice for us, to atone for our sins and send them free into the wilderness. He died to make us free (Romans 6:7, 8:2). Free from sin, free from ourselves, free to dance and free to run.
Ironically, us being free came at an enormous cost. What amazing grace.
Monday, March 15, 2010
It's a Small World After All
For weeks I've been studying "the church." I've wanted to know about church doctrine, the importance of church, and what makes a church, well... a church. I even started reading the book "Stop Dating the Church," which has already began to change the way I look at attendance and membership. It's gotten me incredibly excited about going to church each week. But, sometimes there are obstacles.
Saturday night a group of friends and I drove down to Spring Hill, Florida for spring break. We drove through the night, and were set to arrive around 10 in the morning on Sunday. I tried to convince the rest of the crew to stop and go to church along the way, but my weary travelling friends did not seem as interested. I researched and found a church in Spring Hill that started at 10:30 and one at 10:50. Around 10:45am we were just pulling into Spring Hill and I knew church wasn't going to work out.
I'm not going to lie, I was a combination of disappointed and angry. I struggled to maintain patience the final 15 minutes of our trip.
Then something happened, as we pulled into the driveway of our vacation home, I looked to the left and saw a sign across the street, "Faith Evangelical Free Church." Their was going to be a service at 6pm. I was beyond excited!
But, a little nervous, too. I had no idea what to expect. Would it be a big church? A little church? Would I fit in? Would it be good teaching? Would I hear a false gospel? What if I wanted to leave halfway through?
Still, I felt called to go. I can't really explain it, I just knew I needed to be there.
I walked in and was shocked to find just about twenty other people present in the tiny church. It looked much bigger from the road.
The twenty-something odd people were all at least sixty years old or older. I stood out like a sore thumb.
Within a minute of arriving, the pastor came over to me to ask my name and welcome me to the church. It was odd, he was probably mid thirties, and (I mean this in the most respectful, appropriate way possible), he was very good looking for his age. I couldn't understand what it must have been like for him to preach here. Did he enjoy teaching here? Was he sad the congregation was so small?
His wife came in shortly after, she was a beautiful woman as well. I wonder how she handled seeing her husband up there on the pulpit. Was she still proud of him?
After a few wonderfully sung hymns, Pastor Slayden (great name!) was up to bat and I had no idea what was coming.
For 50 minutes he gave one of the most amazing sermons ever!! It was an exegetical study on Deuteronomy, and it was incredible. I learned so much, I was convicted, and I was challenged. I'm not going to lie, I did not expect that. Pastor Slayden was easily one of the most intelligent preachers I've ever heard, and he was downright joyful. Before long I realized the rest of the congregation was equally on their game. At one point, he asked the group a theological question that even I didn't know the answer to. Everyone else did. It was incredible.
After the service Kaitlin (Slayden's wife) came over to introduce herself to me and talk about what I was doing there. I shared why I was in Florida, what led me to their church, and how the group I'm with is involved with Campus Crusade for Christ back at Cru. Turns out, Kaitlin and Slayden met at Campus Crusade when they were in college!
Furthermore, Slayden went to Dallas Theological Seminary, the same six years I was in Texas, and we lived in the same town. Small world, right? The conversation continued with me practically drilling the two on Dallas Theological Seminary, as I've been debating going to seminary for Biblical counseling after I get my counseling license. Turns out, another member of their congregation actually started the Biblical counseling program there! We exchanged contact information so we can talk more about it and she can pass my name along.
I had no idea what to expect going into church Sunday morning. I just knew God wanted me there. I thought it would be for them. I thought it might be a cool witness for them to see someone making church a priority over Spring Break. That's what I thought would happen when I felt called to go there.
But, my God is an amazing God, and instead of using me to reach the church, He used the church to reach me. Amazing!
Saturday night a group of friends and I drove down to Spring Hill, Florida for spring break. We drove through the night, and were set to arrive around 10 in the morning on Sunday. I tried to convince the rest of the crew to stop and go to church along the way, but my weary travelling friends did not seem as interested. I researched and found a church in Spring Hill that started at 10:30 and one at 10:50. Around 10:45am we were just pulling into Spring Hill and I knew church wasn't going to work out.
I'm not going to lie, I was a combination of disappointed and angry. I struggled to maintain patience the final 15 minutes of our trip.
Then something happened, as we pulled into the driveway of our vacation home, I looked to the left and saw a sign across the street, "Faith Evangelical Free Church." Their was going to be a service at 6pm. I was beyond excited!
But, a little nervous, too. I had no idea what to expect. Would it be a big church? A little church? Would I fit in? Would it be good teaching? Would I hear a false gospel? What if I wanted to leave halfway through?
Still, I felt called to go. I can't really explain it, I just knew I needed to be there.
I walked in and was shocked to find just about twenty other people present in the tiny church. It looked much bigger from the road.
The twenty-something odd people were all at least sixty years old or older. I stood out like a sore thumb.
Within a minute of arriving, the pastor came over to me to ask my name and welcome me to the church. It was odd, he was probably mid thirties, and (I mean this in the most respectful, appropriate way possible), he was very good looking for his age. I couldn't understand what it must have been like for him to preach here. Did he enjoy teaching here? Was he sad the congregation was so small?
His wife came in shortly after, she was a beautiful woman as well. I wonder how she handled seeing her husband up there on the pulpit. Was she still proud of him?
After a few wonderfully sung hymns, Pastor Slayden (great name!) was up to bat and I had no idea what was coming.
For 50 minutes he gave one of the most amazing sermons ever!! It was an exegetical study on Deuteronomy, and it was incredible. I learned so much, I was convicted, and I was challenged. I'm not going to lie, I did not expect that. Pastor Slayden was easily one of the most intelligent preachers I've ever heard, and he was downright joyful. Before long I realized the rest of the congregation was equally on their game. At one point, he asked the group a theological question that even I didn't know the answer to. Everyone else did. It was incredible.
After the service Kaitlin (Slayden's wife) came over to introduce herself to me and talk about what I was doing there. I shared why I was in Florida, what led me to their church, and how the group I'm with is involved with Campus Crusade for Christ back at Cru. Turns out, Kaitlin and Slayden met at Campus Crusade when they were in college!
Furthermore, Slayden went to Dallas Theological Seminary, the same six years I was in Texas, and we lived in the same town. Small world, right? The conversation continued with me practically drilling the two on Dallas Theological Seminary, as I've been debating going to seminary for Biblical counseling after I get my counseling license. Turns out, another member of their congregation actually started the Biblical counseling program there! We exchanged contact information so we can talk more about it and she can pass my name along.
I had no idea what to expect going into church Sunday morning. I just knew God wanted me there. I thought it would be for them. I thought it might be a cool witness for them to see someone making church a priority over Spring Break. That's what I thought would happen when I felt called to go there.
But, my God is an amazing God, and instead of using me to reach the church, He used the church to reach me. Amazing!
Monday, March 8, 2010
(Un)Righteous
A couple of days ago I was reading in Exodus 34, and I was struck by the very first verse I read.
"The Lord said to Moses, 'Cut for yourself two tablets of stone like the first, and I will write on the tables the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke.'" (emphasis added)
I was immediately angry for Moses. Which he broke? Seriously, yeah he threw them down, but it was because Aaron and the people of Israel made a golden calf to worship!! God delivered them from bondage in Egypt. He literally parted a sea for them, and still they are so impatient that in the time Moses is up on the mountain speaking to the Lord, they turn to idol worship. I would've thrown down the tablets, too! But that's not MY fault, it's the people's fault. Their sin was bigger than mine.
But all sin is equal in the eyes of God.
James 2:10 says, "For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it."
In the gospel of Matthew Jesus is recorded saying, "'Or how can you say to your brother 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when there is the log in your own eye?'"
Earlier in Exodus Moses' sin is exposed, "As soon as he came near the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, Moses' anger burned hot, and he threw the tablets out of his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain." Exodus 32:19
I'm not arguing that Moses was unjust in his anger. It's difficult to see anyone sin against the Lord, but even more so when they're people you love or people you lead. Sometimes these emotions are founded in righteous anger and a Godly sorrow, sometimes their founded in pride. But even righteous anger can be acted on in a sinful way.
I don't condone idol worship at all, but Moses was far from blame himself. He sinned so greatly in his anger that he literally threw the work of God in the dirt (Exodus 32:15), the writing was the writing of God (32:16), written in stone with the finger of God (31:18)... and he burned so hot that he broke the tablets that God himself just wrote on.
I can't even fathom an equivalent, the closest I can imagine is being angry at my roommates for sinning and rather than walking away and praying, or taking my anger to God, or rebuking them later when I was of the right mind, it would be like me ripping my Bible in two, right in front of them. As if to say, "The word of God? Psh. My anger and my feelings are more important than that."
But so often when I sin out of righteous anger I choose to forget the first part. It's righteous anger, not sin. I did it for you, God! They're worse than me. I did this for you!
And so when I receive my just punishment for my sin I want to throw a fit. I say I'm being persecuted for righteousness sake. But I'm not, I'm being punished and disciplined for my own sin. And more importantly, for my own good.
Praise God that I have a Savior whose sacrifice covered everyone's sins once and for all. Praise God that He gave us His one and only Son and saw him brutally hung on a cross like a criminal as atonement for all of our sins. Past, present, and future.
Romans 5:18-19 says, "Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous."
I am so thankful that despite my stubborn, angry, sinful nature, the Lord always uses His word to teach me and prune me and grow me. And I'm so thankful that the Lord still loves me even when I sin against him by judging his children (my fellow brothers and sisters) and thinking I'm better than them. And I'm thankful that when I'm too blind to see my own sin, or too stubborn and embarrassed to own up to it, that he bluntly reminds me, "You broke my tablets."
God doesn't sugarcoat this or try to appease Moses when he returns. He's not worried about Moses' feelings, he's worried about Moses' godliness. He doesn't say, "...the first tablets which you broke, because of this horrible Israelites." The full weight of the responsibility is put on Moses.
The full weight of responsibility for my actions is on me. Sometimes I break God's tablets. Sometimes I throw His written word into the dirt. Praise God that while my sin is my responsibility, Jesus already took care of it, and teaches me how to do the same everyday.
"The Lord said to Moses, 'Cut for yourself two tablets of stone like the first, and I will write on the tables the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke.'" (emphasis added)
I was immediately angry for Moses. Which he broke? Seriously, yeah he threw them down, but it was because Aaron and the people of Israel made a golden calf to worship!! God delivered them from bondage in Egypt. He literally parted a sea for them, and still they are so impatient that in the time Moses is up on the mountain speaking to the Lord, they turn to idol worship. I would've thrown down the tablets, too! But that's not MY fault, it's the people's fault. Their sin was bigger than mine.
But all sin is equal in the eyes of God.
James 2:10 says, "For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it."
In the gospel of Matthew Jesus is recorded saying, "'Or how can you say to your brother 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when there is the log in your own eye?'"
Earlier in Exodus Moses' sin is exposed, "As soon as he came near the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, Moses' anger burned hot, and he threw the tablets out of his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain." Exodus 32:19
I'm not arguing that Moses was unjust in his anger. It's difficult to see anyone sin against the Lord, but even more so when they're people you love or people you lead. Sometimes these emotions are founded in righteous anger and a Godly sorrow, sometimes their founded in pride. But even righteous anger can be acted on in a sinful way.
I don't condone idol worship at all, but Moses was far from blame himself. He sinned so greatly in his anger that he literally threw the work of God in the dirt (Exodus 32:15), the writing was the writing of God (32:16), written in stone with the finger of God (31:18)... and he burned so hot that he broke the tablets that God himself just wrote on.
I can't even fathom an equivalent, the closest I can imagine is being angry at my roommates for sinning and rather than walking away and praying, or taking my anger to God, or rebuking them later when I was of the right mind, it would be like me ripping my Bible in two, right in front of them. As if to say, "The word of God? Psh. My anger and my feelings are more important than that."
But so often when I sin out of righteous anger I choose to forget the first part. It's righteous anger, not sin. I did it for you, God! They're worse than me. I did this for you!
And so when I receive my just punishment for my sin I want to throw a fit. I say I'm being persecuted for righteousness sake. But I'm not, I'm being punished and disciplined for my own sin. And more importantly, for my own good.
Praise God that I have a Savior whose sacrifice covered everyone's sins once and for all. Praise God that He gave us His one and only Son and saw him brutally hung on a cross like a criminal as atonement for all of our sins. Past, present, and future.
Romans 5:18-19 says, "Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous."
I am so thankful that despite my stubborn, angry, sinful nature, the Lord always uses His word to teach me and prune me and grow me. And I'm so thankful that the Lord still loves me even when I sin against him by judging his children (my fellow brothers and sisters) and thinking I'm better than them. And I'm thankful that when I'm too blind to see my own sin, or too stubborn and embarrassed to own up to it, that he bluntly reminds me, "You broke my tablets."
God doesn't sugarcoat this or try to appease Moses when he returns. He's not worried about Moses' feelings, he's worried about Moses' godliness. He doesn't say, "...the first tablets which you broke, because of this horrible Israelites." The full weight of the responsibility is put on Moses.
The full weight of responsibility for my actions is on me. Sometimes I break God's tablets. Sometimes I throw His written word into the dirt. Praise God that while my sin is my responsibility, Jesus already took care of it, and teaches me how to do the same everyday.
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