A Social Network Christmas

Touching and funny. The Christmas story told via Joseph's Facebook account...

School Today

Righteous by Nature

Photo by seier+seier’s

I was reading Romans 2 the other day and verse 28-29 jumped out at me:

I have come to the conclusion that a true Jew is not the man who is merely a Jew outwardly, and a real circumcision is not just a matter of the body. The true Jew is one who belongs to God in heart, a man whose circumcision is not just an outward physical affair but is a God-made sign upon the heart and soul, and results in a life lived not for the approval of man, but for the approval of God. (Rom 2:28-29, J B Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English)

Circumcision was an outward sign, but Paul is saying here that the true Jew is one whose heart has been inwardly circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature (see Col 2:11-12). It struck me how we try to circumcise ourselves outwardly, by changing our behavior to look more “Christian,” and we encourage others to do the same. Here’s an example:

When my wife and I were still dating, we attended a Harvest Crusade in Anaheim, CA. At that time, my wife smoked, and as we drove out of the stadium parking lot, windows down, someone shouted, “Jesus is Lord!” to which my wife shouted back, “Amen!” Without missing a beat, the person yelled back, “Then why are you smoking?”

You see, it’s much easier to circumcise ourselves outwardly… stop smoking, quit swearing, dress more modestly. All those things are well and good, but in Mathew 23:23, Jesus called the Pharisees “hypocrites” for focusing exclusively on external behavior:

You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.

Here’s where we get it wrong. We think sin is about behavior. It’s not. Before you were saved, you were not hell-bound because of your behavior. You were hell-bound because of your nature:

All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. (Eph 2:3)

We were by nature objects of wrath… not by behavior. Do you see the difference?

If you don’t grab a hold of this, then you’ll fall into the trap of thinking that, because you sin as a Christian, then you are still a sinner. But that’s not Biblically true. In my last post, I proved in the Scriptures that we are not sinners or fallen creatures, but a new creation (see 2 Cor 5:17 ). So in the same manner that we once were sinners by nature, we are now righteous(ers) by nature!

God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Cor 5:21)

Fallen Creature or New Creation?

Photo by shannonkringen

Here are a couple of Scripture verses for you to consider:

You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: Although we are still sinners, Christ died for us. (Rom 5:6-8)

Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a hybrid creature; the old things have not quite passed away; but behold, some new things have come! (2 Cor 5:17)

Unless you glossed over the verses above, you probably realize that that’s not how they read… I changed a few words.

Before you start picking up stones, let me explain.

You see, despite how those verses really read, most of us think and act as if my rendition were true. And it doesn’t help when theologians and Bible scholars publish books that say as much. Case in point:

When we pray, we pray not only as saints but also as sinners, very much inclined to use prayer to advance our own selfish interests, even when we pray out of desperation. Prayer for that reason is highly complex. On the one hand, the very act of praying reminds us that we are children of God. On the other hand, that same act of praying exposes us for the fallen creatures we are. (Italics Mine)

Jerry Sittser, When God Doesn’t Answer Your Prayer (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2003), pp 67-68.

And:

This prayer is simple and profound: “Jesus Christ, son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” The most basic concerns that true prayer should address are found in this prayer: It identifies Jesus as God’s son, acknowledges that we are sinners, and asks God for mercy. (Italics Mine)

Ibid, p 105.

But is that what scripture really says about us? Are we some kind of hybrid creature — part sinner, part saint? Let’s look at the correct rendering of Romans 5:6-8 and 2 Corinthians 5:17.

Romans 5:6-8
You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

2 Corinthians 5:17 (AMP)
Therefore if any person is [ingrafted] in Christ (the Messiah) he is a new creation (a new creature altogether); the old [previous moral and spiritual condition] has passed away. Behold, the fresh and new has come!

Romans 5:8 says that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. “Were” is past tense! Otherwise, the verse would read like I rewrote it: “Although we are still sinners…” but it doesn’t.

Romans 5:10 goes on to say that we “were reconciled to him [God] through the death of his Son.” To reconcile is to change or exchange. According to Vine’s, it denotes “to change from one condition to another.” When you balance your checkbook and find an error, it’s your checkbook, not the bank that makes the adjustment, the change. By reconciling us, God didn’t change; he didn’t decide to accept us in spite of us being sinners. Instead, he changed us from sinners to righteous-ers — that is, the righteousness of God. He re-made us back into his own image, created in true righteousness and holiness (see Eph 4:24). If, as Romans 5:19 says, that through the obedience of Jesus we were made righteous, how then can I be both righteous and a sinner at the same time? Am I a righteous sinner?

In the Scriptures, “sinners” is never used as a description of the church. The Bible refers to the church as saints, or holy ones, but never sinners. If you identify yourself as a sinner, you are separating yourself from Christ — because Jesus, our resurrected high priest, can have nothing to do with you:

Such a high priest meets our need—one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners… (Heb 7:26; Italics mine)

You are not a “fallen creature,” as Sittser claims — you are a new creature!

The Truth About God

Ever notice how “lie” is smack-dab in the middle of the word “believe”?

It makes a great word picture, showing us that Satan is much too clever to come at us with a boldfaced lie. Instead, he wraps some truth around the lie — like he did by quoting Scripture to Jesus to tempt him into sin.

Likewise, he comes at us by telling us the truth about our earthly nature. Or, to put it more precisely, he points out reality instead of Truth.

In 2 Corinthians 10:4-5, Paul describes thoughts as strongholds and tells us to “take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”

The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

But every wrong thought doesn’t necessarily originate from Satan. There is also the mind of the flesh which is hostile towards God:

...for the mind of the flesh [is] death, and the mind of the Spirit — life and peace; because the mind of the flesh [is] enmity to God... (Romans 8:6-7, Young’s Literal Translation)

But whether the thought comes from devil or the flesh, the solution is still the same... take every though captive. Here’s what I mean:

I woke up one morning feeling particularly down. I had been taking care of the kids while my wife was out of town visiting her mother and I was feeling overwhelmed. I sat on the edge of the bed for a long time thinking about how I didn’t have the strength to even start my day and contemplated staying home from work.

But then I remembered a verse. Or, more precisely, I remembered a song. It was Everlasting God, by Lincoln Brewster. At the end of the song a young child reads Isaiah 40:28-29, but it was verse 29 that popped into my mind that morning:

He gives power to the weak
   and strength to the powerless.

As I spoke the words, I could feel strength return to my body. I got up, got ready for work and had a great day. But here’s the deal: I had to say these words out loud. Romans 10:17 says that faith comes by hearing, not by thinking. Would I have had the same experience if I’d sat on the bed and just thought about that verse? I doubt it.

Does it feel strange to do that, like you’re talking to yourself? David didn’t think so... he talked to “himself” regularly:

Why are you downcast, O my soul?
    Why so disturbed within me?
    Put your hope in God,
    for I will yet praise him,
    my Savior and my God.

- Psalm 42:5 (Also see Ps 42:11, 43:5)

And:

Praise the LORD, O my soul;
    all my inmost being, praise his holy name.

Praise the LORD, O my soul,
    and forget not all his benefits-

who forgives all your sins
    and heals all your diseases...

- Psalm 103:1-3 (Also see Ps 104:1,35, 146:1)

Your soul (i.e., you mind, emotions and will) must submit to either the flesh or the Spirit... there’s no middle ground. Remember, your flesh dwells within you, but you are not your flesh. So tell your flesh to shut up, tell your soul to rise up, and walk in the victory He’s promised.

The Truth About You

This video will have a greater impact without any introduction. Please watch!

We’re the Apple of His Eye

Here’s an election I watched closely, for non-political reasons.

Incumbent Alan Grayson ran a vicious attack ad which twisted challenger Daniel Webster’s words at a Christian Men’s Conference completely around...



Daniel Webster won tonight with 56 percent of the vote to Grayson’s 38 percent in their central Florida district around Orlando.

“—for whoever touches you touches the apple of his eye—”

- Zechariah 2:8

Why are Christians so…?

Photo by Natalie Dee

You’re probably already familiar with Google’s autosuggest feature (even if you didn’t know what it was called). That’s when you begin typing a phrase in the Google search box, and Google completes it with a number of suggestions.

Because the suggestions are based on the most common searches starting with that phrase, it can also reveal popular opinions and beliefs about a specific topic. The website Blame it on the Voices decided to see how Google’s autofill would complete phrases like:  why are christians so… and  why are muslims so… (You can see the results here.)

They even took it a step further and created a venn diagram to demonstrate what traits people perceive Christians and Muslims as having in common. And here they are...

• Crazy
• Hateful
• Ignorant
• Stupid

I decided to conduct my own experiment with why are christians so... and came up with the following:

If this merely confirms in your mind that we are being “persecuted” for what we believe, think again. When I type in why are atheists so…, I get:

So my own venn diagram shows the traits that we share with non-believers are:

• Stupid
• Mean
• Hateful
• Intolerant
• Annoying

Are you surprised that we seem to have the exact same attitude towards those that disagree with us as non-believers have towards us? And does it bother you that we do?

Maybe Google’s algorithms can answer this: why are christians so unloving?

The Gates of Hell

Photo by divemasterking2000

In Matthew 16, Jesus asks his disciples who the people say he is. Their responses vary: John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah or one of the other prophets. Then he asks, “But who do you say that I am?” to which Peter replies: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

Then Jesus makes this statement:

Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. (Matthew 16:17-18, NIV)

The word translated here as overcome in the NIV is rendered in other translations as overpower and prevail. Many commentators say that this conveys the image of hell attacking the church, but that the church will prevail over everything the enemy throws at it.

But here’s my question: Since when do gates attack?

Gates are used for defense, not offense. Gates are a part of a wall and keeps attackers out of one’s fortress. If the picture here is hell attacking the church, why didn’t Jesus say the armies of hell will not overcome it?

In the NIV, the footnote to “overcome” in v.18 offers an alternative translation: not prove stronger than it. So verse 18 could well read: “...on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prove stronger than it.”

The Wycliffe New Testament renders this verse like so:

…upon this stone I shall build my church, and the gates of hell shall not have might, or strength, against it.

Answers In Action blog makes the point that this verse plainly says something much more dramatic than mere assurance that the church will prevail over all adverse circumstances:

The church will overcome anything the Devil may raise in defense against it. In other words, it is not merely that the church will endure, but more positively that it will take over what the Devil seeks to keep from it.

And...

So, if the gates of Hades or hell cannot prevail against the church, that must mean that the church will mount a successful offense against the powers of evil... In other words, when the gates “will not prevail,” that means that the church, in effect, knocks down the gates.

With a fresh perspective, we can go forward confidentially, knowing that we have “authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm [us].” (Luke 10:19)

Whatever You Do, Don’t Run!

Photo by chris.merwe

Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. - 1 Peter 5:8

We think of the lion as an African species, but in ancient times, lions ranged from Greece to India and Persia. By 100 A.D., they had become extinct in Europe, but they survived in considerable numbers in the Middle East until the early 20th century. So New Testament writers like Peter would have been quite familiar with lions and their behavior.

Much has been written by modern Christian authors about how a lion will roar to scare its prey into running the other way... towards a waiting ambush of other lions. I couldn’t find any information confirming that. But I did find one reason they do roar: as a territorial display.

A lion’s roar can carry 5 miles or more. Males roar only when on their own territory. In other words, it’s a display of ownership that is only given by resident lions on their own territory.

Does that put 1 Peter 5:8 in a whole new perspective? Satan is acting like he owns the place, roaring in a lion-like territorial display. But we’re told not to give him any ground (see Ephesians 4:27).

The Safari Guide, a website that provides information to tourists visiting the bush on safari, gives this advice when encountering a lion in the wild:

One thing to remember with lions – whatever you do, don’t run! If you run away from a lion it will regard you as prey and it will chase you.

If you do get charged by a lion, you must stay still and hold your ground. This is easier said than done, but you cannot outrun a lion anyway. Lions often mock charge and break away at the last moment. They do this to show their displeasure, as an act of bravado and to ‘test’ you.

Notice how many times the word stand appears in the well-known Armor of God passage:

Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.

God’s already given you all that you need for the battle, so next time the adversary confronts you, keep in mind that he’s only “like a roaring lion.” He isn’t actually one.

The Devil is Afraid of You

Photo by David Thunander

When I started walking with the Lord again in the late 80’s, it felt like the devil was soooo powerful, and I cowered before him because he was always “attacking” me. But, in reality, I was just acting out my victim mentality. (I can’t do anything because the devil is always hindering me.) It was just an excuse to remain a victim.

There’s a powerful a payoff in being the victim. You always have someone else to blame when you always fail. It’s like No-Fault Insurance – it absolves you of all responsibility for what happens in your life. The payoff can also be sympathy from others. All this may feel completely “normal” if you’ve never known anything different.

But the reality is the devil’s supposed to be fleeing from us, not the other way around:

Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. (James 4:7, NIV)

Think about the word “flee.” It’s likened to running away from something dreadful or terrible. Who flees from something they’re not afraid of?

Here’s something else to consider: the devil is more afraid of you than he was of Jesus when he tempted him in the desert.

Do you find that hard to accept? Then take another look at Luke 4:1-13. After Jesus resisted Satan’s three temptations, it says that the devil “left him until an opportune time.” Notice it doesn’t say he fled from him. Quite the opposite… it implies that he would be returning with even more temptations when the time was right.

So how can I claim that Satan is more afraid of you today than he was of Jesus on that day? Because since that day, Jesus died and rose again… and in doing so, he:

…disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. (Colossians 2:15)

You see, we focus on verses that call Satan “the god of this age” (2 Corinthians 4:4) and that “the whole world is under the control of the evil one” (1 John 5:19). But as far as God is concerned, he is a defeated foe. God is not at war with Satan. Yes, he is our enemy, but the only power he has against the Christian is what we give him. He’s only “like a roaring lion…” (1 Peter 5:8). He isn’t actually one.

So the next time the devil seems so big and God so small, remember that:

…you are of God [you belong to Him] and have [already] defeated and overcome them [the agents of the antichrist], because He Who lives in you is greater (mightier) than he who is in the world. (1 John 4:4 AMP)

“We are not unaware of his schemes...”

When I came back to the Lord in the late 1980’s, I had a couple of “conditions.” First, I didn’t want to go around telling people how Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormons really weren’t Christians. Second, I didn’t want to know anything about the end of the world, and in particular, the devil.

Funny… God didn’t honor any of my conditions. One of the first books I read shortly thereafter was Hal Lindsay’s The Late Great Planet Earth. I also ended up teaching a class at church about the Jehovah Witnesses and their beliefs, but that’s another story.

But about the “devil” part…

Now, I’m not the type of Christian that sees a devil behind a hangnail, but at this time in my life, a series of events occurred that was hard to chalk up to coincidence. First of all I needed to move from where I was living into a condo I’d been renting out. My tenant left owing me 3 months rent and an abandoned Volkswagen bus in the garage (minus the engine, which he had apparently tried to rebuild on the living room rug… as evidenced by the large grease stain).

On top of this, going from sharing rent with a roommate to paying the entire amount myself was a financial burden in itself, but then, the company I was working for laid off our entire customer service department to relocate it at the corporate headquarters in Louisiana. Soon afterwards, the transmission on my car went out. I couldn’t get a job without a car and I couldn’t get a car without a job. I felt stuck.

But the clincher was a girl I’d been interested in. Despite having mutual feeling for one another, she had a some issues she was dealing with, so we’d decided to just be friends for the time being. (Although that didn’t diminish my feelings for her.) But soon afterwards, she approached me at a gathering we both happened to be at and began telling me how she could see herself married to me, having children with me and being happy… and I thought to myself: “Yes! See’s finally seeing what I’ve being seeing for months now!”

Then she proceeded to tell me that she had been dating “George” and that she and “George” were moving in together, and that she wanted me to know because she really did care about me.

You can imagine my drive home that night. About halfway there, I was about as low as you could get, and I begin telling God that if this is the life he had for me, that I was better off without him. I started to say that if Satan really wanted me that bad, he could just have me…

But I stopped short of saying the words. It was as if the Holy Spirit rose up in me and I suddenly shut my mouth. Even as low as I was, I recognized that it was Satan, not God, who was orchestrating all of this. It seems I wasn’t going to be able to ignore him, after all.

Incidentally, “George” turned out to be obsessive, possessive, and physically abusive. She eventually moved out and got a restraining order against him.

Prayer and Faith (Part 5): Faith, The Title Deed

I’ve been talking about how the Greek word “assurance” in Hebrews 11:1 conveys the idea of a title deed:

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen... (Heb 11:1 ESV)

In 2005, we moved from California to Ohio. Now, escrow closed on our old house on the Friday that we left town to head for Ohio. But escrow on our new house didn’t close until Monday. So from that Friday to the following Monday, we were officially homeless. Yet we didn’t fret and agonize whether we were going to have a home to live in or not. Even though we couldn’t see the new house and we didn’t possess it yet, we had “the assurance (i.e., title deed) of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” (Heb 11:1)

But here’s the other thing: we never would have taken complete ownership of the house had we not showed up to sign the final papers at the escrow office on Monday morning. Remember the “blank check” analogy both both Boyd and Sittser used? Doesn’t the legal aspect of a title deed described by hypostasis more closely fit Boyd’s view than Sitter’s?

I believe it does.

Incidentally, after we signed the paperwork, they gave us the keys to the house.

I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. -Matthew 16:18-20

Prayer and Faith (Part 4): Faith, The Title Deed

Photo by .A.A.

In my previous post, I talked about how the Greek word assurance in Hebrews 11:1 conveys the idea of a title deed:

The word “assurance” in this verse is the Greek word hypostasis. It commonly appears in ancient papyrus business documents, conveying the idea that a covenant is an exchange of assurances which guarantees the future transfer of possessions described in the contract. Moulton and Milligan suggest rendering this verse as: “Faith is the title deed of things hoped for.” (Vocabulary of the Greek Testament, 1963, p. 660).

Wikipedia defines title deed as “documents showing ownership, as well as rights, obligations, or mortgages on the property,” and “a formal document that serves as evidence of ownership.”

Title deeds do not necessarily imply possession. Possession is a right that accompanies ownership, but just because you possess it does not necessarily prove that you actually own it. In other words, possession is the actual holding of a thing, whether or not one has any right to do so.

For example, if you buy a car, your name is on the title, but if you give that car for your teenage son to use, then he has possession.If you bought the car with a loan, then the bank holds the title as security, but you possess the car. If the car gets stolen, the thief now has possession (albeit illegally). In these examples, the rightful owner of the property could retake possession, using the title deed to enforce his or her rights.

Does that sound familiar? In my earlier post, I quoted Greg Boyd saying that “prayer is not just a two-way transaction – it also involves the principalities and powers that hinder what God is able to do on the earth.”

When Satan enticed Adam and Eve to sin, he usurped the legal authority of the planet. But when Jesus died on the cross, he returned the title deed of the earth back to us. So anything Satan possesses, he does so illegally. He may possess something, but that does not signify ownership. According to the definition of possession, he may hold a thing without any right to do so.

So title deed suggests that, even though you are the legal owner or have legal rights to a thing, you may not acutally possess it. When you look at it that way, it puts prayer in a whole new perspective, doesn’t it?

In 2005, we moved from California to Ohio. Now, escrow closed on our old house on the Friday that we left town to head for Ohio. But escrow on our new house didn’t close until Monday. So from that Friday to the following Monday, we were officially homeless, but we didn't fret and agonize whether we were going to have a home to come to. Even though we couldn’t see the new house and we didn’t posses it yet, we knew that we had “the assurance (i.e., title deed) of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”

But here’s the other thing: we never would have taken complete ownership of the house had we not showed up to sign the final papers in the escrow office on Monday morning. Rememebr the “blank check” analogy that has been used by both Boyd and Sittser? Doesn’t the legal aspect of a title deed described by hypostasis more closely fit Boyd’s view than Sitter’s?

I believe it does.

Incidentally, after we signed the paperwork, they gave us the keys to the house.

I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. -Matthew 16:18-20

Prayer and Faith (Part 3): Praying According to Covenant

“This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.”

In The Better Covenant, Watchman Nee expresses the idea of praying “according to his will” within the context of our covenant relationship with God. Rather than a God who is reluctant to answer our prayers, Nee sees God as taking delight in our “requesting Him to perform according to all His promises in the covenant.” Using a similar blank check analogy as the previous authors I quoted, he says:

May we all remember that we have the right to pray according to covenant. We may ask God to act according to His covenant. But if there is no faith, our prayer will be of no avail. God has reserved everything in the New Covenant in just the way a person deposits his money in a bank. If the person believes, he can draw it out continually.

It’s no coincidence that all three of  these authors liken prayer as a type of financial transaction, for God himself expresses the spiritual transaction between himself and Man in similar terms:

What does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”

Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation. However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness. (Rom 4:3-5)

He goes on to say (v. 23-24) that God will also credit righteousness (i.e., equity) for us as well. (See my earlier blog post, The Economics of Self Worth.)

Hebrews 11 is a commentary on the function of faith in relation to the covenant of God:

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen... (Heb 11:1 ESV)

The word “assurance” in this verse is the Greek word hypostasis. It commonly appears in ancient papyrus business documents, conveying the idea that a covenant is an exchange of assurances which guarantees the future transfer of possessions described in the contract. Moulton and Milligan suggest rendering this verse as: “Faith is the title deed of things hoped for.” (Vocabulary of the Greek Testament, 1963, p. 660).

Nee puts it like this: “…all who know what a covenant is know how to pray – they may ask God with boldness.” (pp 33)

So God responding to our prayers becomes a matter of his covenant, not his sovereignty. It’s not even based on grace.

Prayer and Faith (Part 2): “Lord, teach us to pray...”

In my previous post, I talked about two different authors’ opposing worldviews on how prayer and the spirit world operates:

Gerald Sittser believes everything that happens fits into God’s secret plan, a divinely ordained blueprint, which is hidden from us. Our prayers, he says, may not always be answered because God’s sovereign will may dictate otherwise.

Gregory Boyd believes in a warfare worldview, in which Satan is actively thwarting God’s will. He says that principalities and powers – not God’s sovereign will – is what hinders what God is able to do, and that prayer is about cooperating with God to help accomplish his will.

According to Boyd, the problem with Sittser’s blueprint worldview is that...

“...it is difficult to pray passionately that the Father’s will would be done ‘on earth as it is in heaven’ (Mt 6:10) if one believes that the Father’s sovereign will is already being done in bringing about the very thing against which one is now praying.” (pp 370)

When American troops were deployed in Viet Nam in the 1960’s, they were not sent there to fight and win a war - they went there to “contain” communism and prevent it from spreading. Contrary to what they’d been trained for, the military was not empowered to act or go on the offensive, because it might conflict with the government’s agenda of containment.

As a result, the soldiers lacked a clear sense of what the war was about... why are we here? As one history professor observed: “In the field – ‘in country’ there seemed to be no secure places – the enemy was everywhere.”

I can’t help but see the similarity to – and the results of – Sittser’s worldview: Christians lacking a clear sense of direction... the enemy seems to be everywhere, but we’re not sure of exactly how to pray or act...  because it might conflict with God’s true agenda.

Because of this, the church is too quick to accept unanswered prayer as the norm. Yet, if we are to take verses like 1 John 4:14-15 at face value, then prayer which lines up with the Word is to be answered, isn’t it?

This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us – whatever we ask – we know that we have what we asked of him. -1 John 4:14-15, Italics Mine

Prayer and Faith (Part 1): “Lord, teach us to pray...”

Photo by Lel4nd

Chapter 11 of the Gospel of Luke starts out with Jesus praying in a certain place and, when he finished, one of his disciples asked, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.” It seems that, over 2,000 years later, we still can’t quite figure it out.

In his book, When God Doesn’t Answer Your Prayer, Gerald Sittser uses the analogy of prayer being like a “blank check.” He writes:

We know we can’t ask God for just anything. We must make reasonable requests. In short, we must pray according to God’s will. If prayer were a blank check, we would need two signatures to cash it in. One would be our signature; the other would be God’s signature. God himself must sign off on our requests. He must give final approval. (pp 124)

Gregory Boyd, in his book, Satan and the Problem of Evil, also uses the blank check analogy:

God’s will is like a business check that must be cosigned in order to be validated. We the church are the cosigning party, and prayer is our signing. Hence the essence of prayer is, as Jesus taught, to align our will with the Father’s will—to cosign his will, as it were—so that his rule is established “on earth as it is in heaven”. (Mt 6:10) (pp234)

Although they use the same analogy, Boyd sees God as giving us a blank check – already signed – in order to empower his people to act in his behalf. We are the co-signing party which finalizes the spiritual transaction. Sittser, on the other hand, sees God as withholding his signature until he’s certain we’re spending it responsibly.

Jerry Sittser holds a master of divinity degree from Fuller Theological Seminary. Greg Boyd holds a master of divinity degree from Yale Divinity School and a Ph.D from Princeton Theological Seminary. If two bible scholars such as these cannot agree on something so fundamental to Christianity such as prayer, what hope is there for the rest of us?

The reason why Sittser and Boyd do not agree is because each one has a different view of how the spirit world operates. Sittser believes that everything that happens on the earth somehow fits into God’s secret plan – a divinely ordained blueprint, which is hidden from us. Although we ought to pray for things like a friend’s healing or that a loved one’s life be spared, God’s sovereign (i.e., hidden) will may dictate otherwise. Therefore, he may withhold his signature on the blank check.

Boyd, on the other hand, believes in a warfare worldview, in which Satan is actively (and often successfully) thwarting God’s will. For this reason, Boyd views prayer as fundamentally a warfare activity. Quoting another author, he says that prayer is not just a two-way transaction – it also involves the principalities and powers that hinder what God is able to do on the earth. God wants his will carried out on the earth, but he wants it carried out in cooperation with him. His will is not accomplished unless we are in communication with him on it.

There are plenty of issues Christians do not agree on... and when these are non-salvation issues, then I think we ought to agree to disagree. But when it involves an issue as vital as prayer, I find it difficult not to weigh in. What do you think? Can God’s will can be hindered in any way? Or is everything that happens divinely ordained? Your worldview, be it Boyd’s or Sisster’s, will affect how you pray.

Stay tuned... I’ll weight in on this topic in Part Two.

Life or Lord?

Photo by gustaffo89

Recently on Facebook, a relative posted the following in her status box:

Okay, Life… I give up. Do whatever the ?#@*&%! you want with me.

I guess she was having a bad day. I probably didn't help. I commented that, if she substituted “Life” with “Lord” and eliminated the “?#@*&%!” then she had nailed it.

It occurred to me how we as Christians can fall into this type of thinking…

We act as if Life and Lord are the same thing, interpreting everything that happens to us in life as God’s will.

But God is Love, not Life. God is separate from his creation. The idea that God and his creation (i.e., Life, Nature) are the same is not Christianity, but Pantheism.

You see, Pantheists do not believe in a creator God. They believe that God and Nature are one, that all living things contain a divine spark within them. But the Bible teaches that God created the world and that the world is fallen. The Bible calls Satan “the god of this age,” and says that “the whole world is under the control of the evil one.” So why do we assume that whatever Life throws at us must somehow be God's will?

Turning Off Sin’s Power

Photo by Tony₃

Psalm 103: says “...as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.” 1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.“ It’s clear from both the Old and New Testament that God has made provision for the forgiveness of sin.

But the good news of the Gospel is more than just freedom from sin’s penalty. It’s also freedom from its power.

Martin Luther King, Jr. once wrote:

The belief that God will do everything for man is as untenable as the belief that man can do everything for himself. It, too, is based on a lack of faith. We must learn that to expect God to do everything while we do nothing is not faith, but superstition.

God has done everything to provide the victory, but it seems that, in order to walk in it, we also have a part to play.

Here’s what the Word of God says about The Problem, God’s Part and Our Part in overcoming sin’s power.

The Problem

What your flesh wants is contrary to what the Spirit wants, and the Spirit wants what is contrary to what your flesh wants. They are opposed to each other. As a result, you don’t always do what you want. ~Galatians 5:17

I love God’s law with all my heart. But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. ~Romans 7:22-23

Everyone is tempted by his own desires as they lure him away and trap him. Then desire becomes pregnant and gives birth to sin. When sin grows up, it gives birth to death. ~James 1:14-15

God’s Part

The Holy Spirit will give you life that comes from Christ Jesus and will set you free from sin and death. ~Romans 8:2

You are tempted in the same way that everyone else is tempted. But God can be trusted not to let you be tempted too much, and he will show you how to escape from your temptations. ~1 Corinthians 10:13

Because Jesus experienced temptation when he suffered, he is able to help others when they are tempted. ~Hebrews 2:18

Jesus understands every weakness of ours, because he was tempted in every way that we are, but he didn’t sin. ~Hebrews 4:15

Our Part

So whenever we are in need, we should come bravely before the throne of our merciful God to receive mercy and find kindness, which will help us at the right time. ~Hebrews 4:16

Consider yourselves dead to sin’s power, but living for God in the power Christ Jesus gives you. ~Romans 6:11

Therefore, never let sin rule your physical body so that you obey its desires. Never offer any part of your body to sin’s power. No part of your body should ever be used to do any ungodly thing. Instead, offer yourselves to God as people who have come back from death and are now alive. Offer all the parts of your body to God. Use them to do everything that God approves of.

Sin is no longer your master, for you no longer live under the requirements of the law. Instead, you live under the freedom of God’s grace. ~Romans 6:12-14

You used to let the different parts of your body to be slaves to sin and evil. But now you must make every part of your body serve God, so that you will belong completely to him. ~Romans 6:19

Offer your bodies to God as a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. ~Romans 12:1

Don’t become like the people of this world. Instead, change the way you think. Then you will always be able to determine what God really wants—what is good, pleasing, and perfect. ~Romans 12:2

Instead, live like the Lord Jesus Christ did, and forget about satisfying the desires of your flesh. ~Romans 13:14

So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. ~Galatians 5:16

‘Nuff said?

“I See You... Satan!”

Mark Driscoll, pastor of Seattle’s Mars Hill Church, has been taken to task for denouncing Avatar in a recent sermon [pdf] as “the most demonic, satanic movie I’ve ever seen.” Mark Moring of Christianity Today criticized his comments on his blog:

...did I find it “overtly demonic”? Heck no — and even on the contrary. I saw some distinctly Christian themes in the ideas of self-sacrifice, unconditional love, incarnation, and even a model for missions.

When Star War was released in 1977, one response from Christians was an attempt to capitalize on its success by trying to relate ‘the force’ to some aspect of Christianity. (You may remember a book entitled, The Force is Jesus.) Unfortunately, these attempts are doomed to fail because even non-believers can see through the subterfuge and realize that ‘the force’ and Jesus are nothing alike.

In a interview years later, Star Wars creator George Lucas said that every major religion used the concept of ‘the force’ as an evangelistic and proselytizing tool — confirming his view that “if you believe there’s one God, then all religions have to lead to the same place.”

Mark Moring, in his Christianity Today blog post is trying to do the same — reconcile the central themes in Avatar to aspects of Christianity. And while I don’t think he’s intentionally trying to come to the same conclusion as Lucas, he’s coming dangerously close to doing so, and leading others to to the same.

I think he’s missed the mark (no pun intended, Mark...), because the things he calls “Christian themes” — self-sacrifice, unconditional love — are not Christian themes at all... they are universal Human needs and desires. Let’s look some of them:

Unity and Love Among People
Although they do have internal conflicts, the tribe is united in a common purpose. The authority of the leaders is respected when final judgement on a matter is pronounced.

Connection to the Supernatural
In Avatar, the Na’vi are connected to their deity, Eywa, via a global network of interconnected synaptic energy. Contrary to what many Christians think, non-belivers are looking for spirituality. As in Paul’s day, we have a plethora of idols: Wiccaans, New Age, etc. People are looking for spirituality in all the wrong places.

The Ability to Defend what Belongs to You Against a More Powerful Adversary
Like the Native Americans in the 19th Century, the Na’vi homeland is threatened by outsiders who want to drive them away and take the planet’s resources. As believers, aren’t we supposed to do the same?

Knowing and Being Known
The traditional Na’vi greeting is, “I see you,” meaning I see into your soul; I see who you are. People crave to be loved and accepted for who they are.

---

I find it strangely disturbing that Moring would come so strongly against Pastor Driscoll, even praising non-Christian Houston Chronicle faith-and-art blogger Menachem Wecker for his criticism of Driscoll. Wecker believes that Avatar should be “applauded for celebrating a spiritual approach to life,” but as Driscoll points out, just because it’s spritual doesn’t mean it’s good.

Attacking Avatar was not Driscoll’s main point... he merely used it as a sermon illustration to show how Satan and his demons operate. Driscoll simply pointed out that Avatar clearly advocates Paganism and that Paganism is satanically inspired. He never said that the characters themselves were satanic (but you wouldn’t get that from Moring and Wecker’s criticism).

Personally, I thought Avatar was a great film, but I didn’t buy into its message; and I’m concerned about any Christian who cannot disern what that message is and thinks Avatar expounded “Christian themes” and had “Christian undertones.”

One of the commentators on the Christianity Today blog hit the nail with this statement: “Perhaps we would do well to watch Avatar with discernment and see its popularity as an opportunity to engage others thoughtfully about biblical truth.” Well said.

Let’s Meet on Mars Hill

A special edition of Avatar (containing 9 minutes of extra footage) was released in theatres this weekend. I missed seeing the original on the big screen – much less in 3D – so I took the family to see it on Saturday.

Even before the re-release, Avatar became the highest grossing film in history (2.8 billion), beating out James Cameron’s other film, Titanic. Cameron is currently planning two sequels to complete the trilogy. Considering its popularity, this could become an even bigger cultural phenomena than Star Wars.

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the three films I just mentioned all have a spiritual theme. If you recall the end of Titanic, Rose is reunited with Jack in death on the Grand Staircase, along with the others who had died. The ‘force’ of Star Wars was most certainly derived from Hinduism and Buddhism. And the main spiritual theme of Avatar comes from Pantheism, the idea that there is a divine “life force” in all living things. According to Wikipedia, Pantheism is...

...the view that the Universe (Nature) and God are identical. Pantheists thus do not believe in a personal, anthropomorphic or creator god.

In Avatar, however, Cameron takes it up a notch by explaining this phenomena scientifically – the trees on the planet are interconnected to one another with “more synapses than the human brain.” The planet’s natives, the Na’vi, are able to connect to this, upload and download data, access memories of their ancestors, like a “global network.”

All of this, combined with some anti-militaristic, pro-environmentalist sentiments, has made Avatar a target of criticism from the Christian community. But if that’s the only response we have, we’re missing an incredible opportunity.

The book of Acts describes how the apostle Paul visited the city of Athens. It says he was “greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols.” So he went to the marketplace and began reasoning with the people there. They became intrigued enough to bring him to a meeting at the Areopagus (Mars Hill) where they asked him to explain this “new teaching”:

Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you.

“The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’

“Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by man’s design and skill. In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead.”

When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, "We want to hear you again on this subject." At that, Paul left the Council. A few men became followers of Paul and believed. Among them was Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus, also a woman named Damaris, and a number of others. (Acts 17:22-34)

During worship the following Sunday, the Spirit of the Lord showed me that the reason Avatar can gross 2.8 billion dollars is not simply because it’s a good movie. It’s due to spiritual hunger. If we’re made in his image, then we are spiritual beings... so it’s only natural we’d be drawn to things of a spiritual nature. But if criticism is the only response we have to spiritual ideas that contradict Christianity, then we are missing the larger opportunity to engage in meaningful dialog and present people with the Truth.

After all, isn’t that what Paul did so many years ago on Mars Hill?

“Then I crashed into you...”

Photo by infidelic

I had a friend that was in a heavy metal band before he was a Christian. After getting saved, many of the lyrics he had wrote become songs for the Christian band he later formed. He once said that the Lord spoke to him about those lyrics, saying, “I caused you to write those so that you would come to know me.”

I wonder how often God moves among secular muscians in a similar manner. Case in point is the song Crashed, by Chris Daughtry:

Well I was moving at the speed of sound
Head-spinning, couldn’t find my way around
Didn't know that I was going down
Yeah, yeah

Where I’ve been, well it’s all a blur
What I was looking for, I’m not sure
Too late and didn’t see it coming
Yeah, yeah

And then I crashed into you
And I went up in flames
Could’ve been the death of me
But then you breathed your breath in me
And I crashed into you
Like a runaway train
You will consume me
But I can’t walk away

From your face, your eyes
They’re burned into me
You saved me, you gave me
Just what I need
Oh, just what I need

Of course, the lyrics are not as impactful without the music, so here is the video.



Seriously... this guy needs to get saved and start writing some Christian music.

One Thing I Hate about You

I’m tempted to dislike someone. Not just anyone, but a particular someone. The source of my dislike is a person who mouthed off to my nine-year-old boy. I didn’t hear it, but my son told us about the incident. On two separate ocassions, this person told my son to “shut your mouth” during baseball practice.

Not long after the first occurrence, I was outside doing some yardwork, when this snippet of a verse ran through my head:

“Regard no one from a worldly point of view...”

I recognized the verse. It’s from 2 Corinthians 5:14-16:

For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer.

Paul is saying that he and others once regarded Christ “as just a person” and not as who he really is — the one that died for everyone’s sins. So, in the same manner, I ought not to regard this other person from a worldly point of view, but as one for whom Christ died.

So now I’m busted. That means this person is not really just the loud-mouthed jerk I think she is. It means she’s either a Christian or she’s not. If so, then she’s my sister in Christ. (Ouch.) If not, then I ought to be more concerned about her salvation than how much I or my son have been wronged. (Ouch again.)

The Bible talks a lot about suffering as a Christian. Many people take that to mean bad things, like sickness, are going to happen to us. But I think otherwise. Godly suffering is suffering for doing the right thing. And that manifests both externally and internally. Externally, we can suffer pursecution for doing the right thing. But internally, we suffer in the flesh by doing the right thing.

Here’s what I mean.

While this issue with my son needs to be addressed, my flesh would like to handle things quite differently than the Spirit of God would:

For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. - Galatians 5:17 (NIV)

While neither the sinful nature (i.e., the flesh) or the Spirit referred to in this verse are me, the conflict takes place within me. I suffer emotionally while this takes place, as I stuggle to yield to the Spirit within me rather than my flesh.

Ergo, the suffering...

He Gives and Takes Away... or Does He?

I had a discussion on Facebook with a friend of mine regarding the Haitian earthquake. He had linked to a video in which a Haitian pastor quoted Job 1:21:

The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.

My friend was impressed with the pastor’s spirituality, and even made this statement: “Everything is by God, through God, and for God’s glory.”

Perhaps you agree with that. I don’t. The problem with The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away is that it cannot be applied to the situation in Haiti. Let me explain why.

Job had a covenant with God and, if you recall, Satan made this accusation about Job:

“…stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and surely he will curse you to your face.”

You see, God specifically allowed Satan access to Job in order to prove that Satan’s accusation was not true. And while many religious leaders have come forth with their opinions on why it happened, this cannot be the case with Haiti, because the nation of Haiti is not in covenant with God.

Others believe that is God is “dealing” with Haiti’s sin, because of voodoo. But there’s a problem with that as well: God is currently “not counting men’s sins against them.” (2 Corinthians 5:19). There will come a day when God will judge men’s sins (Acts 17:31), but that day is not today.

Romans 1:18-32 clearly states how God pours out his wrath — by giving Men over to the sinful desires of their hearts, to shameful lusts and to a depraved mind. God does not pour out his wrath in the form of earthquakes or natural disasters. Nor does he allow man-made disasters, such as 9/11, to occur to punish a nation’s sins.

The problem with getting our theology from the book of Job is that most of it consists of Job and his friends expounding incorrect doctrine. Verses like, “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away,” are often quoted as examples of the proper attitude we should take in the face of tragedy. Yet if we are to accept these words from Job as “the true nature of God,” then what about the other things he said about God, such as:

You formed me with your hands; you made me,
yet now you completely destroy me. (Job 10:8)

You have become cruel toward me.
You use your power to persecute me. (Job 30:21)

God hates me and angrily tears me apart.
He snaps his teeth at me
and pierces me with his eyes. (Job 16:9)

If I hold up my head, you hunt me like a lion
and again show your terrible power against me. (Job 10:16)

When a plague sweeps through,
he laughs at the death of the innocent.
The whole earth is in the hands of the wicked,
and God blinds the eyes of the judges.
If he’s not the one who does it, who is? (Job 9:23-24)

Why is it that pastors never quote these verses as an accurate description of God’s character? Could it be because they sound more like a description of Satan rather than God? (See 1 Peter 5:8.) Scripture calls him the “god of this age” (2 Corinthians 4:4) and says that “the whole world is under the control of the evil one.” (1 John 5:19)

That’s why I disagreed with my friend when he wrote, “Everything is by God, through God, and for God’s glory.” James 1:17 says, “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights.” There’s nothing “good” or “perfect” about what’s happening in Haiti right now.

God will certainly use tragedies like this to his greater glory, but I do not believe that he in any way ordains them for the purpose of building the character of his saints, judging the sins of unbelievers, or furthering his glory.

“Take your son, your only son...”

I’ve been listening to a sermon about the nature and goodness of God. The pastor pointed out that, as James 1:13 says, God will never tempt us with evil, that the only test that comes from God is the test of obedience – Will you obey Me?

One of the examples he used to illustrate his point was God’s command that Abraham sacrifice his son Issac. And that got me thinking... killing your son... that’s pretty, well... evil.

Yet the Scripture says that God is never tempted to do wrong, and he never tempts anyone else.

I’m confused...

So I got to thinking, the very idea of doing such a thing in this day-and-age, in our culture, is so despicable, so horrifying, that it defies the senses to imagine God telling anyone to do such a thing.

But let’s put it into it’s proper context – how Abraham would have seen it, that is.

Human sacrifice was a very ancient custom. Among those who practiced it in Biblical times were the Babylonians, the Assyrians, the Phoenicians, the Canaanites, the Scythians, the Egyptians, and the Persians, to name a few.

In his 1893 work, The Early Religion of Israel as Set Forth by Biblical Writers and by Modern Critical Historians, James Robertson makes this point:

To Abraham, not unfamiliar with various ways in which among his heathen ancestors the deity was propitiated, the testing question comes, “Art thou prepared to obey thy God as fully as the people about thee obey their gods?” and in the putting forth of his faith in the act of obedience, he learns that the nature of his God is different. Instead, therefore, of saying that the narrative gives proof of the existence of human sacrifice as an early custom in Israel, it is more reasonable to regard it as giving an explanation why it was that, from early time, this had been a prime distinction of Israel that human sacrifice was not practiced as among the heathen.

To rephrase this in 21st Century vernacular, Abraham would not have found it as appalling as we do, because it was not uncommon for heathen deities to demand human sacrifices, so why not Yahweh? So, in context, God’s test of obedience to Abraham was, Will you obey me as fully as those around you obey their gods?

To put it in a modern-day context (and perhaps this is a poor analogy), it would be like God telling you to take your only son and heir, the one he promised you, put him up for adoption, change his name, relinquish all ties to him, and remove him from your will.

Be Careful Where You Put Your But

Abraham’s faith never became weak, not even when he was nearly a hundred years old. He knew that he was almost dead and that his wife Sarah could not have children. But Abraham never doubted or questioned God’s promise. His faith made him strong, and he gave all the credit to God. Abraham was certain that God could do what he had promised. - Romans 4:19-21 CEV

We all know that the word “but” negates, or changes what comes before it. So if tell my wife or one of my children that, “I love you, but you drive me crazy,” my main point is that “you drive me crazy.” (The “I love you” was only intended to soften it up a bit.) The “I love you” statement is negated by “you drive me crazy,” so that the latter statement is the stronger one.

If I were to reverse my sentence to, “you drive me crazy, but I love you,” it changes the entire point to mean that, in spite of the fact that you drive me crazy, I love you. So where you place your “but” is crucial to your point and, as we’ll see, to your faith. Let’s look at Romans 4:19-21 and see where Abraham placed his.

We know from the Genesis account that Sarah had a difficult time believing what God had promised her husband. I can imagine Abraham trying to reassure her by saying, “I know I’m nearly dead and so is your womb, but I’m certain that God has the power to do what he’s promised.”

Suppose instead he had told her, “I’m sure God has the power to do what he’s promised, but I’m nearly dead and so is your womb.” Do you think he’d be called “the father of us all... who are of the faith of Abraham” (Rom. 4:16) if he had?

We ought to have the faith of Abraham when we speak, but instead we say things like:

“I know God promises to provide for us, but I don’t know how we’ll make ends meet this month.”

“I know the God promises to protect us, but all these burglaries in the neighborhood really have me worried.”

“I know God has promised to forgive me, but I’ve really blown it this time.”

“I know the Bible says God loves me, but I really don’t feel like He does.”

What you’re doing by making statements such as these is walking by sight, not by faith. You’re focused on the bills, the burglaries, your behavior, and how you feel. But faith is literally what is unseen:

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good report. Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. - Heb 11:1-3 KJV

I cannot “see” God’s protection, his provision, his forgiveness, or his love with my physical senses. The word “substance” in this passage comes from the Greek word hypostasis, which means “that which stands beneath” (i.e., a foundation). Greek philosophers such as Aristotle used it to speak of the objective reality of a thing, its inner reality, as opposed to outer form.

So the outer form of a thing might be: “There’s been a lot of burglaries in the neighborhood recently.” But the inner (i.e., unseen) reality is: “God promises to protect us.” (Ps 91)

Focusing on that is walking by faith, not by sight.

The Ultimate Introduction

In this video, comedian Steve Harvey “introduces” Jesus.

It’s Not About You... or is it?

There are a few Christian sayings I don’t particularly like, such as “Everything happens for a reason,” “You’re exactly where God wants you to be,” and “It’s not about you.” It’s the last one I’m addressing in this post.

“It’s not about you.” We hear that all the time in Christian circles. (It’s even the first sentence of a best-selling Christian book.) When people, especially pastors, say this, it’s to remind us that life doesn’t solely revolve around us, our happiness, our problems and our needs. It’s supposed to remind us not to be self-centered.

That’s all well and good, but the problem I have with this statement is that it presents an either-or fallacy, in which only two alternatives are considered, when in fact there may be other options.

The natural alternative to “It’s not about you” is: “It’s all about God,” which causes people say things that sound spiritual on the surface like, “I’m only a tool,” and “I’m just a vessel.” Makes it sound as if we’re just a length of pipe... like God’s blessings are always on their way to someone else.

In the Old Testament, God dealt with the nation of Israel as a group, working out his purpose and plans through them, sometimes with their cooperation and sometimes without.

Under the New Covenant, God deals with the individual, re-creating us from the inside by giving us a new nature and putting his Spirit within us. Together, we compromise the church, his body on this earth.

So, here’s another option: It is about us… it’s just not all about us. It’s about us and God. After all, isn’t that the point of the gospel, “Christ in you, the hope of glory”? (Colossians 1:27)

So don’t forget, it is about you – Christ in you, that is.

Creating Value in the Workplace

Photo by fotologic

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. - Colossians 3:22-24:

In a previous post, I said that “work is the creation of value,” and I asked you what value you are creating at your work.

One of the things I do for a living is train sales people and telemarketers. By doing so, I create value by increasing sales. Increased sales means more revenue. More revenue means the company can stay in business, pay its bills and continue to employ the people it employs.

Value isn’t always about money, but it is always about increases or decreases. If you are increasing or decreasing something that your employer wants increased or decreased, then you are creating value.

So again I ask, what value you are creating?

Jesus and Your Job, by Nancy Ortberg

Colossians 3:22-24 says:

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.

Work is the creation of valve. What value are you creating?

The following sermon, “Jesus and Your Job,” given by Nancy Ortberg at the Menlo Park Presbyterian Church, addresses that very issue.

The direct link to the page containing the video, which also includes a downloadable transcript, a study guide and an audio MP3, can be found here.

Wanting What You Have or Having What You Want?

My friend the communist
Holds meetings in his RV
I can’t afford his gas
So I’m stuck here watching TV

I don't have digital
I don't have diddly squat
It’s not having what you want
It's wanting what you’ve got

So croons Sheryl Crow in her hit song, “Soak Up the Sun.”

There was a time about 15 years ago when I was dying to have a computer. PC’s were becoming the norm, but the majority of households, including mine, were without one. My main reason for wanting one was, like today, I did a prolific amount of studying and writing. I found that I was filling notebooks full of sermons (having no idea what I was to use them for). But I knew that a computer would be a terrific help.

It wasn’t until a few years later, when I finally changed careers to do what I’d always wanted to do – graphic design – that having a computer became more of a necessity. You see, at the time, the graphics industry was beginning to make the transition into digital, and Macintosh was the computer of choice in the industry. So fresh out of design school, I bought my first computer: a Mac Quadra with a whopping 36 megabytes of RAM! (I even ordered it with an “upgraded” hard drive of 500 megabytes.)

Today, I own an iPod with 16 times the disk space, but at the time it felt like I had a souped-up Chevy big block under the hood.

But a few years after getting this first computer, something strange happened… computers got faster, and having 36 MB of RAM was no longer impressive – it was laughable. And I began running out of space on that 500 MB hard drive. So I needed more…

So here’s my question. Is “Wanting What You Have or Having What You Want” an either-or proposition? Or is it a fallacy, suggesting that there are only two possible choices, when three or more really exist?

Here’s what I mean. After the decision was made to get a new computer, the shortcomings of my current one loomed even larger in my mind. I found myself disparaging my now-obsolete old friend. Gone were the days when I was “dying” to have a computer, any old computer. I wanted more and I was getting what I wanted. And as each passing day brought the arrival of my new beauty closer, the more my distain grew towards my old companion.

Now, according to the either-or mindset of “Wanting What You Have or Having What You Want,” I was definitely over-indulging in “Having What You Want.” But at some point, I came to my senses and realized what I was doing. I remembered how it was when I didn’t have any computer, and I realized that my attitude had become that of a spoiled, ungrateful child. Yet, I didn’t just switch over to the other side of “Wanting What You Have,” and decide just to keep my old computer. Instead I began exploring a third option, outside of the “either-or” fallacy. I asked whether there was such a thing as healthy discontent – that is, being grateful for what you have, yet still desiring more. And by “more,” I’m not necessarily referring to more possessions, more money, etc. But more in life.

What I began to realize was that it was okay to want a more up-to-date computer, but that it wasn’t okay to have such an ungrateful attitude towards anything I possessed, even a computer. So I began to thank God and tell him how grateful I was to even have a computer.

I know this probably seems shallow. (That age-old classic, “Finish your dinner; don’t you know there’s staving people in China?” comes to mind.) And I can easily justify feeling appropriately guilty knowing two-thirds of the world’s population lives without basic necessities, much less have a computer. Yet, must I be in a continual state of guilt, just because I’m blessed? It sounds very spiritual, but is it, really?