I had the privilege of speaking with someone yesterday of whom I carry great respect for in every way. Though, the topic of death was brought up, and even in that, it was in an odd way. The person made the statement to me:
“I thought of heaven the other day. I do not think I have ever really thought about heaven, you know? It has always been something that I assumed would happen, but never a reality of sorts. And then, I realized that someday I will die, and all that has been promised to me will either come true – or not. I have never really thought of my death. It seems wrong for me to do so, but it hit me quite hard. So much that I had to stop doing whatever it was that I was doing and think. It scared me. Is that weird?”
The question was directed at me along with a much more personal question. The “is that weird,” comment is what I want to focus on along with the rest of our conversation. This is something that I think is very, very important in a Christian’s life, and something that most would find themselves confused on. Let’s begin.
Should we think of death? I mean, that is the real question here. Is it morbid? Should we stay away from it? Doesn’t the Bible speak of thinking of only pure things? All these kinds of questions get bounced around and settle at the feet of, “let’s just not talk about it.” This kind of attitude is wrong and leads to the kind of experience that my friend had. The experience that they had was not bad, but that they were confused by it. Why is it that there are so many issues never touched by books, pastors, or any leader? I digress.
So, should we think about death? Yes and no. Yes in that “Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof.”)Ecc.7:8, and no in that we hang a negative connotation on death, and focus on things that vex our spirit is not wise. But where is the line? (and stay with me on this, it gets good) The line is drawn in our own understanding. If we never think about it, we will never understand and if we never understand, then we will never truly have the joy that we should. “What!? Did you say “joy”? How is there joy in thinking about death? I mean, I get it, we die and go to heaven, but there is so much I want to still do on earth.”
It baffles me sometimes how Christians make it through a day. It really does. If we never think about death, we miss one of the biggest, sweetest concepts in our lives as Christians. The Bible says "I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us" (Rom. 8:18). "For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, works for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen—for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal" (2 Cor. 4:16-18). Weight! Do you see that?
The person I spoke with understood none of this. Not even a little bit, but there is an entire passage describing how amazing it is. How have we been hiding this? It’s like a robbery of joy on the part of leadership. We think about death because as Christians, death holds the promise of heaven: an end to the separation between us and our God; the beginning of us being together, bride and groom, for eternity. It is the end of something that begins another.
We strive and strive in this life to find happiness, yet we see none. We blame God for not placing those things in our life so that we can have joy, but He has! 2 Cor says that outward man perish, yet the inward is renewed day by day. Are you being renewed? Do you even know how to do so? It also says that these Small afflictions, a litotes, used to make a huge contrast. You see, this weight that is spoken of is made so great by these trials we face on earth, but they are nothing in the magnitude of this weight. What is this weight?
It is called the “eternal weight of glory.” Or, in other words, heaven. I love the translation here: weight. What a perfect word. When I was in college I was driving back from the beach (tough I know) and I was feeling the weight of the world on my shoulders and I just didn’t know if I was going to make it through, but then a thought hit me and my weight became another kind of weight. I realized that at the end of this long “workday” we call life, we have the respite of heaven to look forward to. From that day forward I have carried with me the weight of heaven on my shoulders, and let me tell you, it is the greatest weight I have ever bared.
When life has got me down and these light afflictions cause me great distress, I rest in the fact that heaven is my home, and there is nothing better than that. Someday I will have no more despair; only joy. This is one of the greatest ways to renew myself. I struggle all day long, but then I remember, this will not always be. I will someday be home.
This also encourages me to work to find those that do not have this peace nor this promise. We should want to share this joy. I think that if we would actually share our joy, which seems to be a rarity in Christianity, we would have much better results in witnessing. Let it show!
And as for my friend, this is what I told them:
“You need to take those opportunities, and that is what they are, and focus in on what you really have in Jesus. Death, in principle, should not scare you. But if you do not understand what it is that we have in death through Christ Jesus, then you are missing out on one of the greatest portions of joy in our life. And one more thing, I think God sends us those points in life that we truly reflect on who we are and how fragile life can be. If we always live our lives like we do every day, which is in a fantasy world, we may never be able to understand what it is like to ask someone else to do the same things. If you haven’t ever thought about what would happen to you if you died tomorrow, how can we expect someone else to do so if we respond with, “I don’t like to do that.” Maybe that is a larger cause for concern for your own soul.”
Monday, January 25, 2010
Apologies for the insane amount of time in between posts. The Lord had been doing some directing in our lives and it looks as if the mission field shall be our future destination. God has opened many doors, and windows, so that we would be able to do so.
So please join in my praising of the Lord for the amazing way He makes this world work.
So please join in my praising of the Lord for the amazing way He makes this world work.
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Who is God IV
We have covered a lot of ground in the previous portions of this series, and some of the items have been quite hard to take. But there is always something beautiful about God that makes understanding Him very easy.
We have stated that He is very far above us, that He has the power to run millions of earths if He so chose to, that our actions do not derail or affect His being, and that His power is limitless. It would do us good to respect God for who He is and not what we make Him to be. But what is nice about Him being so large is that His attributes towards us are just as large.
He is indeed far above us, and we are indeed His creation. But there is one thing that constrains Him. There is one thing that holds Him. That thing is the Bible. His Word is magnified above His name. It, and It alone shows us God's true character; and His true character towards us is love. Romans 5:8; Psalm 117; Psalm 136; John 5:13; John 3:16 all speak of His limitless love for us. He proved it by creating us, He proved it by giving to us His image, He proved it to us by dying for us, and more importantly, He proved it by resurrecting Himself for us so that we all could be a part of that resurrection.
God's Word is the beginning and end of our faith. Without it, we are nothing. Without it, we are lost. Without it, we are void of understanding. It is our wisdom and our strength. And we wonder why people fight so vigorously over it. That does indeed make me laugh when people say that those debates are useless. Whatever side you are on, you should want the correct Bible. It is what should be guiding you through life.
So the series ends here with this. God is all powerful, all knowing, and is so far above us that we are unable to understand it; but more importantly to us, He is love. 1st John 4:8. God is love. That is the final answer to our question. Who is God? He is love to us.
We have stated that He is very far above us, that He has the power to run millions of earths if He so chose to, that our actions do not derail or affect His being, and that His power is limitless. It would do us good to respect God for who He is and not what we make Him to be. But what is nice about Him being so large is that His attributes towards us are just as large.
He is indeed far above us, and we are indeed His creation. But there is one thing that constrains Him. There is one thing that holds Him. That thing is the Bible. His Word is magnified above His name. It, and It alone shows us God's true character; and His true character towards us is love. Romans 5:8; Psalm 117; Psalm 136; John 5:13; John 3:16 all speak of His limitless love for us. He proved it by creating us, He proved it by giving to us His image, He proved it to us by dying for us, and more importantly, He proved it by resurrecting Himself for us so that we all could be a part of that resurrection.
God's Word is the beginning and end of our faith. Without it, we are nothing. Without it, we are lost. Without it, we are void of understanding. It is our wisdom and our strength. And we wonder why people fight so vigorously over it. That does indeed make me laugh when people say that those debates are useless. Whatever side you are on, you should want the correct Bible. It is what should be guiding you through life.
So the series ends here with this. God is all powerful, all knowing, and is so far above us that we are unable to understand it; but more importantly to us, He is love. 1st John 4:8. God is love. That is the final answer to our question. Who is God? He is love to us.
Monday, December 7, 2009
Who is God III cont.
The last post I asked a question regarding who God is. That question was how we related to God as far as sin is concerned. The reason I ask is that it is a great way to get an understanding of how we stand in the full scope of creation and God.
The simple answer so as not to belabor the point is that we have two ways to view God. He is either so close to us that sin affects Him greatly as a being or He is so far above that it does not affect Him at all.
Now it is easy to say that of course sin affects God. And this is true in that He sees His creation disobeying Him and choosing sin over Him, but it does not over power Him and He is not chased off by it. He is over it and all things that exist. Sometimes we begin to think that our sin is too much for Him or what we are involved in He cannot handle. The truth is that God is so far above it, the only reason He is involved is that He loves us.
I think we also begin to think that this earth consumes His power, meaning it takes all of it to manage us and the earth. He is not consumed by it. Infect, He is far from it. He could have an infinite number of earths and His power would hardly be touched. He is that big and that powerful.
This has many meaningful ramifications which we will discuss later on, but a passage that illustrates this quite well is Psalms 139. My favorite part is verse 6 where the psalmist says God's knowledge is too high and he cannot attain unto it. How perfect is that. I believe that we spend too much time trying to be God, acting as if we have His knowledge, instead of finding our place as His creation.
The simple answer so as not to belabor the point is that we have two ways to view God. He is either so close to us that sin affects Him greatly as a being or He is so far above that it does not affect Him at all.
Now it is easy to say that of course sin affects God. And this is true in that He sees His creation disobeying Him and choosing sin over Him, but it does not over power Him and He is not chased off by it. He is over it and all things that exist. Sometimes we begin to think that our sin is too much for Him or what we are involved in He cannot handle. The truth is that God is so far above it, the only reason He is involved is that He loves us.
I think we also begin to think that this earth consumes His power, meaning it takes all of it to manage us and the earth. He is not consumed by it. Infect, He is far from it. He could have an infinite number of earths and His power would hardly be touched. He is that big and that powerful.
This has many meaningful ramifications which we will discuss later on, but a passage that illustrates this quite well is Psalms 139. My favorite part is verse 6 where the psalmist says God's knowledge is too high and he cannot attain unto it. How perfect is that. I believe that we spend too much time trying to be God, acting as if we have His knowledge, instead of finding our place as His creation.
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Who is God III
If you are following this post you are probably wondering where the love is. I encourage you to continue with this series because the love is there, but just as like every other type of love, it is much better enjoyed and understood with respect.
The third installment of our series on "Who is God," is on our relationship with God. No, I do not mean our devotion time or how close we are emotionally, but what is our relation to Him as creator and us as the created. We mentioned last article that we needed to grasp God as who He is. He is all powerful and is in complete control; yet somehow we still think we deserve something more than just being able to commune with Him.
I will pose a question and write more on this later because my time is slim. One of the best ways to view our relationship with God is to ask ourselves what affect our sin has on God. So, how does our sin affect God?
The third installment of our series on "Who is God," is on our relationship with God. No, I do not mean our devotion time or how close we are emotionally, but what is our relation to Him as creator and us as the created. We mentioned last article that we needed to grasp God as who He is. He is all powerful and is in complete control; yet somehow we still think we deserve something more than just being able to commune with Him.
I will pose a question and write more on this later because my time is slim. One of the best ways to view our relationship with God is to ask ourselves what affect our sin has on God. So, how does our sin affect God?
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Who is God II
Last article I presented the question, "Who is God?" We went through some of the most common answers and then the most fundamental one that matters the most: He is the Creator.
Without Him being the creator, whatever else we label Him is useless; thus, He has control over everything. This leads us into the second portion of "Who is God." You see, I think sometimes we begin to equal God with ourselves. We make our own rules, we make our own decisions, we don't even think of God as God, but some benevolent father figure that is there to hand us aid when we need it. This could not be farther from the truth.
These next few lines are going to be hard to read. Some will be angry at what I am saying, but it is not without a point. If you take us as His creation just as a clay cup could be ours, He does not have to let us have more control over our lives than He wants us to. He could keep us still, set us where ever He wants, or He could simply toss us against a wall and destroy us. We are His to do as He pleases.
Please, let us get away from this concept that we have rights or a say in the matter. I hear people all the time saying things like, "God wouldn't do that," or "If God did that, He is no God of mine." Your concept of God has little to do with the real God. We have such a ridiculous idea that we can define Him. The truth is, we can't.
Now I know that our God is defined to an extent by His Word, but His Word is the only way in which we can understand Him. Anything taken outside of the Bible about God, for the most part, is hearsay and useless. He does say that He loves us and give us free will so what I said above is a hyperbole, but the concept remains. We have to get past the idea that we deserve something from God. Like He is supposed to allow us to live a certain lifestyle or that He needs to make sure that we keep our huge home and cars. He has promised us two things in that area and they are food and clothes.
Furthermore, we also need to understand within understanding who God is, we have to have context. I have had amazing discussions with people about God, and I have no idea where they get their information or ideas. It's astounding. I finally ask them if this is the God of the Bible and they say yes, but that they can't accept certain parts of It. Let us, please, get this straight. Without the Bible, our definition of God is useless. It will be derived from TV, movies, and any other crazy source we here. The Bible is the beginning of our knowledge and It is the end. If you cannot accept a part of it, then you cannot accept all of it. This is not a mix and match. God is a God of fullness and completeness, not a God of what He can get.
We have trivialized God in our time. He is no more to us than an emotion and a song. At best He is a super-sized Santa. How can we ever have true faith if we never grasp who He is and His true power? We are soon to be devoid of all understanding of who we are in relation to our Creator. We cannot let that happen.
Without Him being the creator, whatever else we label Him is useless; thus, He has control over everything. This leads us into the second portion of "Who is God." You see, I think sometimes we begin to equal God with ourselves. We make our own rules, we make our own decisions, we don't even think of God as God, but some benevolent father figure that is there to hand us aid when we need it. This could not be farther from the truth.
These next few lines are going to be hard to read. Some will be angry at what I am saying, but it is not without a point. If you take us as His creation just as a clay cup could be ours, He does not have to let us have more control over our lives than He wants us to. He could keep us still, set us where ever He wants, or He could simply toss us against a wall and destroy us. We are His to do as He pleases.
Please, let us get away from this concept that we have rights or a say in the matter. I hear people all the time saying things like, "God wouldn't do that," or "If God did that, He is no God of mine." Your concept of God has little to do with the real God. We have such a ridiculous idea that we can define Him. The truth is, we can't.
Now I know that our God is defined to an extent by His Word, but His Word is the only way in which we can understand Him. Anything taken outside of the Bible about God, for the most part, is hearsay and useless. He does say that He loves us and give us free will so what I said above is a hyperbole, but the concept remains. We have to get past the idea that we deserve something from God. Like He is supposed to allow us to live a certain lifestyle or that He needs to make sure that we keep our huge home and cars. He has promised us two things in that area and they are food and clothes.
Furthermore, we also need to understand within understanding who God is, we have to have context. I have had amazing discussions with people about God, and I have no idea where they get their information or ideas. It's astounding. I finally ask them if this is the God of the Bible and they say yes, but that they can't accept certain parts of It. Let us, please, get this straight. Without the Bible, our definition of God is useless. It will be derived from TV, movies, and any other crazy source we here. The Bible is the beginning of our knowledge and It is the end. If you cannot accept a part of it, then you cannot accept all of it. This is not a mix and match. God is a God of fullness and completeness, not a God of what He can get.
We have trivialized God in our time. He is no more to us than an emotion and a song. At best He is a super-sized Santa. How can we ever have true faith if we never grasp who He is and His true power? We are soon to be devoid of all understanding of who we are in relation to our Creator. We cannot let that happen.
Monday, November 30, 2009
Who is God?
I am going to write on a very important subject, and I will be posting several articles of the same nature. These articles will hopefully assist us in understanding who God is instead of who we think He is. This of course is all based on Scripture. If you wish to venture outside of it, I cannot help you.
As the title asks, who is God? I would love to see some answers to this one, but odds are, you’re browsing through and don't intend on leaving any comments; thus, I will answer it for you.
Some would say, "He is the I Am of the Bible." Others would say, "He just is." Then come the torrent of descriptions. He is wonderful, powerful, awesome, etc. All these are true, but none of them matter if He is not what He is first.
He is the creator. First and foremost, He is the all mighty shaper of the universe. It does not matter who or what He is unless we have been created, and that is why creation is so important to us as believers. We try to blend it with science, but it does not work. God molded this universe with His hands. Nothing else helped or was a part.
The Bible says that it was 24 hour days that He used to create, and when He rested, He wasn't tired, but He rested His creative abilities. These things define our faith because if they did not happen, God is a liar and our faith is in vain. When we weaken or buckle on this subject, we hurt every part of our faith because without God the creator, nothing else matters
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