Junto

Conflicted

Have you ever felt conflicted?  Have you ever felt your mind tearing away from your soul?  Calling this hypocrisy is faulty.  What some may call hypocrisy is not the definition applied by Christianity.  Those who have not experienced God's grace can look from the outside and proclaim Christianity to be fraudulent when times of doubt, hurt, or slip-ups occur.  

But then there are the times when we've done everything right but we're experiencing Job-like moments when our righteousness is not saving us from our test.  

The 42nd Psalm illuminates these feelings.  It puts into words the emotions that often churn our stomachs and the thoughts that abash our minds.  When reading verses 5-8 you can see the conflict between the mind and the soul.  The soul is feeling parched...unsatisfied...anemic... but the mind remembers the goodness of God and clings to it.

"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.  My soul is downcast within me; therefore I will remember     you from the land of the Jordan, the heights of Hermon - from Mount Mizar.

Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all your waves and breakers have swept over me.    By day the Lord directs his love, at night his song is with me - a prayer to the God of my life."

It does us good to think out loud when encompassed by the turmoil.  If anything has been proven true of the Christian life it's that our emotions cannot be trusted and our logic is at times faulty.  What do we cling to when we can't trust ourselves?  We must embrace not our logic...we must entertain not our emotions. 

The only option is to adhere to the character of God - only this can be trusted in our moments of insecurity.  

We all see things we want.  We all have desires that keep us awake at night and influence our actions during the day.  I guess in the end the conflicts of soul and mind occur when we place our hope in these things instead of believing in God's best.  At the peak of our faithlessness the Psalmist's prayer can bring calm beyond measure - "Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God."

I imagine calling God our Savior requires more faith than thought by most....

For Our Sake

It really doesn't matter what the circumstance it, revenge is never a good option.  Sure, there are times when we're deeply offended.  There are times when we KNOW the other person is wrong - and then there are times when they actually are.  

What is it about our nature that makes us want to lash out and make people pay for their hurtful actions?  Is it that our pride has been tainted?  Do we feel the need to avenge the hurts of others?  And why is it that when we choose to 'put someone in their place' we do it under the guise of 'defending righteousness'?

One of my favorite books is Tale of Three Kings by Gene Edwards, and Chapter 6 is my favorite chapter. Probably because it speaks so loudly against the natural reaction of humanity.

"When someone throws a spear at you, David, just wrench it out of the wall and throw it back.  Everyone else does, you can be sure.

And in performing this small feat of returning thrown spears, you will prove many things:  You are courageous.  You stand for the right.  You boldly stand against the wrong.  You are tough and can't be pushed around.  You will not stand for injustice or unfair treatment.  You are the defender of the faith, keeper of the flame, detector of all heresy.  You will not be wronged.  All of these attributes then combine to prove that you are also a candidate for kingship.  Yes, perhaps YOU are the Lord's anointed.

After the order of King Saul.  

There is also a posibility that some twenty years after your coronation, you will be the most incredibly skilled spear thrower in the realm.  And also by then... 

Quite mad."

Joshua 23:3 says, "You yourselves have seen everything the Lord your God has done to all these nations for your sake; it was the Lord your God who fought for you. (emphasis added).

God fights for us.  Why do we doubt that?  We are so blessed, yet we trust so little.  No, that's an incorrect statement.  

We trust God will fight for us... when it's someone else who is being targeted by the spear...

Trusting is much easier when we're asking someone else to do it.

God Who Understands

Hebrews 4:15-16         

“For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are - yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and grace to help us in our time of need.”         

It’s interesting that so many people feel God doesn’t connect with humanity. Humanity hasn’t changed. It’s been struggling with the same issues since the beginning of time. Selfishness, greed, lust, anger, and resentment have all been lurking in the hidden parts of our hearts since we could speak. Since Jesus was perfect we often feel He must not be able to understand what we’re going through. Sure, Jesus may not be able to associate with the feeling of spiritual failure, however He did and still can associate with the weaknesses we face.         

Jesus did not have a place to lay his head. Are we not to think the temptation to envy the opulent lives of others existed? Jesus was not married. Are we not to believe He was not tempted to desire after another woman, or possibly the temptation to get married and have kids of His own?         

Jesus understands what we go through in our darkest moments - and THAT is why we should so openly come to him. Because He desires to give us mercy and grace and help us in our time of need. He does not desire to judge us and condemn us. His desire is always assistance and restoration. The quicker we’re able to comprehend and accept the character of Jesus the quicker we’ll desire a greater relationship with Him - feeling welcomed and not shunned.

The Tougher Road

2 Timothy 3:10-11                  

“You, however, know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, persecutions, sufferings - what kinds of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra, the persecutions I endured. Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them.”         

    It would appear humanity is often plagued by the decision of polarizing choices. Frequently we are placed in positions mental and spiritual division - confronted by two life altering choices. It’s not solely spiritual. Some are faced with choices of integrity in the workplace - do we lie and get promoted or bear truth and remain?         

    Some are faced with relational choices - do we struggle through difficulty to remain married despite the current bleak outlook knowing that the end result is a stronger cord or do we cave to the pressures and prideful arrogance that divides unity?         

    Other choices stunt our spiritual growth. How we use our bodies, how we tame our tongues, and how we hold captive our thoughts are all choices that bear the weight of potential strife and division if left unchecked. In a picture perfect world we would prefer to not make these choices. We would choose that the choices be made for us - and that every choice would lead to a favorable outcome.         

    The analogy of two roads is apparent. We are at the fork and can seemingly see for miles in every direction although we aren’t certain of the destination at the end of either path. We simply know that from perspective, one road seems inevitably tougher than the other.                  

    The tougher road isn’t enticing, it’s frightening. It isn’t attractive, it’s repelling. It isn’t accepting, it’s confrontational. It’s everything our born nature revolts against, but it’s the very thing our blessed soul acknowledges as right. We would desire to avoid all difficulties and still benefit from increased character and resolve, but this is not the reality of human nature. We are made stronger through trials and assured through conquering fears.                  

    One has to admire Paul for his endurance and firm conviction. He operated without fear because he knew that the tougher road was not tough at all. It was an illusion the whole time - because he knew no matter the circumstance he would be rescued by Jesus - and it was so until his time had come.         

    If the tough road was illusional, is it possible the easy road is also illusional? If the tough road truly isn’t tough, is it possible that the easy road truly isn’t easy? It would appear that way...

Trailing Sins

1 Timothy 5:24         “The sins of some men are obvious, reaching the place of judgment ahead of them; the sins of others trail behind them. In the same way, good deeds are obvious, and even those that are not cannot be hidden.”

It’s seemingly the public figures - those who have openly made mistakes - who are pierced with judgmental glares proclaiming their fall from grace. And it is us, the now un-silent majority that have ripped from them all privacy and discretion and tossed their image and reputation to a place of unrecoverable solitude. 

Question of the Week - 11/22/09

This question comes from none other than Amy Via!  Great thinking Amy - here you go!  No wikipedia citations please - use your brains!

What is the difference between fortune telling and prophecy?

I'm looking forward to hearing your responses!

Question of the Week - 10/25/09

Hey all!

This questions can be a touchy one and will require a great deal of semantically sensitive finesse.  Enjoy and I look forward to hearing your responses!

It's evident by reading the bible that miracles are real.  Also, knowing that God doesn't change we must believe that they can and do continue to happen today.  We also believe that God is compassionate, loving, and no respecter of persons.

Here is a hypothetical scenario.  Let's say a guy named Bill has cancer and is on his death bed.  After praying for healing, and God miraculously heals him - no signs of cancer at all.

Now, let's pretend that that Bill's wife also is diagnosed with cancer, but despite all of the prayer meetings, fasting and faith, she is not healed and passes away.

How do we respond to the person that is praying to be healed, or praying for a miracle, but it doesn't happen?  How do we answer someone who asks us why God chose not to heal them?

Careful!  Don't give a cliche answer on this one!  Cliche answers spoken to someone who has gone through something like this are often extremely insensitive and condescending.  Put some thought into it.

Love ya!

Question of the Week: 10/18/09

Here it is, back by popular demand! 

The question for this week is:  In light of post-modernism (i.e. there are no absolutes - truth is relative) does one consider love an absolute truth or a subjective opinion?

Is love an absolute truth?

I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Tim

Saved To...

Before Jesus came to re-connect mankind to their creator, the creator had already developed a plan for mankind.  It's not uncommon for Christians to view this plan as solely redemptive - anything Christian MUST revolve around salvation or it is viewed as heretical. 

For many, the worldview they've established is one of multiple compartments - a compartment for faith and a compartment for the rest of life.  As mentioned in her book, 'Total Truth', Nancy Pearcey describes this as the secular/sacred divide.  We fail to realize that EVERYTHING created and established is protected and empowered by the Common Grace of God.  However since the creation of the world God's plan was simple. 

"In Genesis, God gives what we might call the first job description: 'Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it'.  The phrase, 'be fruitful and multiply,' means to develop the social world: build families, churches, schools, cities, governments, laws. The second phase, 'subdue the earth', means to harness the natural world: plant crops, build bridges, design computers, compose music."

When humanity elected to choose separate from God the result was an eye opening experience.  They realized, albeit to late, that God's grace had been protecting them from the start.  Now they had to experience labor.  It was painful for child birth... painful to toil the land... but also psychologically painful. To remember how good things WERE and now to have to wake up to an alternate life experience never intended by God must have been mentally exhausting.  

But God never left - God never gave up - because God knew humanity could still be great.  He desired to make them great - to restore what was taken - to empower them to do wonderful, meaningful things.

Jesus has not just saved us FROM, but also saved us TO.  We can never fail to recognize the sacrifice made for our redemption - but this redemption did not just save us FROM eternal separation from God. It saved us TO greatness within God's original plan!  

This is why there are NO vocations or callings separate from God's grace.  The beauty displayed in the artists painting, the steady hands of a surgeon, the deep thought of a theologian, or the effective management style of a leader are ALL purposed and empowered by God.  

We must look at everything created, formed, and performed through the eyes of Christ. It's what God has saved us TO that holds even greater importance than what He saved us from.  We are new creations through Christ - it's what we do AFTER that experience that truly matters!!  What are you saved to? Musician? Doctor?  Artist? Engineer?  Great!  Now realize you can do this job (calling) and experience it fully through the eyes of Christ - this is how it was intended from the start.

The cause of Christ was never intended to separate us from what we do.  It can only enhance it when viewed through grace. 

Saved To...

Before Jesus came to re-connect mankind to their creator, the creator had already developed a plan for mankind.  It's not uncommon for Christians to view this plan as solely redemptive - anything Christian MUST revolve around salvation or it is viewed as heretical. 

For many, the worldview they've established is one of multiple compartments - a compartment for faith and a compartment for the rest of life.  As mentioned in her book, 'Total Truth', Nancy Pearcey describes this as the secular/sacred divide.  We fail to realize that EVERYTHING created and established is protected and empowered by the Common Grace of God.  However since the creation of the world God's plan was simple. 

"In Genesis, God gives what we might call the first job description: 'Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it'.  The phrase, 'be fruitful and multiply,' means to develop the social world: build families, churches, schools, cities, governments, laws. The second phase, 'subdue the earth', means to harness the natural world: plant crops, build bridges, design computers, compose music."

When humanity elected to choose separate from God the result was an eye opening experience.  They realized, albeit to late, that God's grace had been protecting them from the start.  Now they had to experience labor.  It was painful for child birth... painful to toil the land... but also psychologically painful. To remember how good things WERE and now to have to wake up to an alternate life experience never intended by God must have been mentally exhausting.  

But God never left - God never gave up - because God knew humanity could still be great.  He desired to make them great - to restore what was taken - to empower them to do wonderful, meaningful things.

Jesus has not just saved us FROM, but also saved us TO.  We can never fail to recognize the sacrifice made for our redemption - but this redemption did not just save us FROM eternal separation from God. It saved us TO greatness within God's original plan!  

This is why there are NO vocations or callings separate from God's grace.  The beauty displayed in the artists painting, the steady hands of a surgeon, the deep thought of a theologian, or the effective management style of a leader are ALL purposed and empowered by God.  

We must look at everything created, formed, and performed through the eyes of Christ. It's what God has saved us TO that holds even greater importance than what He saved us from.  We are new creations through Christ - it's what we do AFTER that experience that truly matters!!  What are you saved to? Musician? Doctor?  Artist? Engineer?  Great!  Now realize you can do this job (calling) and experience it fully through the eyes of Christ - this is how it was intended from the start.

The cause of Christ was never intended to separate us from what we do.  It can only enhance it when viewed through grace.