Death and Dying

Tonight, I heard some challenging words from a man named Darrel McCarthy, one of the speakers/teachers of the "Perspectives on the World Christian Movement" class (a class that would benefit ANY Christ seeking Christian). He was talking about Jesus' mandate for the nations (a.k.a. the Great Commission). He talked about reaching peoples and nations and focusing on what is at the core of all of missions: one person telling another person about Jesus. Though I could write on this for pages, somewhere in these words were the words of which I spoke before. In his exaltation and encouragement to not only go, but "tell people about Jesus as you go", he mentioned some words that I'd forgotten about. When Darrel uttered these words, I knew in my heart that I was not conforming to the Jesus of the Bible. He said (and this he quoted from someone else) "When Jesus calls a person, He bids him come and die."

I am doing a lot of "good things", a lot of Biblically sound things; I study the scriptures, I pray, I meet regularly with the Body of Christ, which is his church. But one thing I was not doing was dying. "When Jesus calls a person, He bids him come and die." This statement is profoundly powerful, not just because of what it's saying, but because of what it means; or to put it another way, because of what it implies. I can say to you, if you work your body by running and lifting waits, your body will hurt. What that statement says is because you are working your body, it will hurt. What it implies is, because you are working your body, it will hurt not only after the work is over, but all the time you are working. So the statement "When Jesus calls a person, He bids him come and die" says, because you are following Jesus, you will die. But what it implies is, because you are following Jesus, you will not only die at the end of your journey, but you will also die the entire time you are following Jesus. Now think about that and compare that to your daily walk with Jesus (if you have one). If you can't see the way in which you're dying daily in your walk with Jesus, welcome to the table. Pull up a chair and listen. I will admit freely that I don't have the answers. If I did, and still found myself in this predicament, there would something seriously wrong with my relationship to Jesus. The only thing I have to offer here is some thoughts and encouragements; not answers.

As I heard these words come out of Darrel's mouth, I thought to myself, "That is not what my faith walk looks like. How can I make it look like that?" As I said before, I don't have an answer, but a few things were planted in my mind shortly after that moment. First of all, I came to the conclusion that I wanted to have a relationship with Jesus that led me to die daily, but the reality was I didn't. I didn't because I'd never explored what it actually looked like to die daily in MY life. I'd studied Jesus life, and Paul's life, briefly Peter's life, I'd seen the conclusion of Stephen's life; I knew what it meant to die daily, I just didn't know how that dying daily would manifest itself in my life. Then, I thought, these men all were persecuted beaten and imprisoned for their faith. If I somehow managed to get myself imprisoned for my faith in a country that boasts in its citizens' freedom to religion, that would be impressive, but most likely, I would be doing something contrary to the love and teachings of Christ. I then realized that it's not death itself, whether that is a physical death, or another kind of death, but rather the act of dying that is important. All throughout Jesus' life, he was dying daily, but it was the decision to die that was so massively important. For Paul, it was not the imprisonment and beatings that gave the most strength to those around him; it was the decision to carry out the action that carried those repercussions that gave those around him the most encouragement.

So through this series of thoughts I stumbled on an important piece of my puzzle. Jesus even says it! How could I have missed it? "Whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it (Matt. 16:25)." It's not the dying, but the decision to die. Now comes the big question, and the one I have no answer for at the moment. What does a decision to die look like in my life, or, in what capacity can I seek to lose my life for Christ's sake. It is something that I will have to think and pray about, to think and pray hard about because it's not a decision that will come easy. To choose to die, to will my life away, is something that is so absolutely contrary to our nature as humans that to those who don't know Christ, it's pure insanity, and to those who do know Christ, it seems impossible. "With man, this is impossible, but with God all things are possible (Matt. 19:26)." Jesus said these words, and I believe him whole heartedly, but that doesn't make it any easier. I can truly say that, even righting this, seeing myself down the road standing at the fork in the road when the decision is to be made, to comfortably slide by, or to die to myself, to surrender my life wholly and unconditionally and lay it at the foot of the cross where my savior died for me, it makes me shiver. Will I have the faith? I want to say yes, but I truly can't answer that; I have absolutely no idea what that choice will look like, but I do know that it will come.

If this is a question that is weighing on your soul as well, you're not alone. I said at the beginning that I had no answers... I lied. I have but one. Pray. "Pray that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak (Mark 14:38)." Jesus said these words to his disciples as he was preparing to die on the cross. His disciples with him while he prayed to the Father, "My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will (Matt. 26:38b)." Even for Jesus it was hard. He was sweating drops of blood. I will never know how hard it was for Him. I can't expect the decision to be any less difficult for me. All I can do is pray and lean upon the power and sovereign love of Christ and God the Father.

Difficulty aside, I leave you with the eternal and sovereign words of Jesus: "whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it."

A Christmas Meditation

It is very nearly Christmas, and I have been meditating on a few passages lately relating to the Christmas story. These passages are John 1:19-23 and Isaiah 40:1-5. As I will show you, these passages are magnificently linked and carry a message that brings joy to billions of people around the world. In telling you this relationship, I will reveal to you (if you haven't already made this connection) a message that the scribes and priests of Israel (the social elite and the religious leaders of the time) missed when they heard it.

To start with, I want to give to you Isaiah 40:1-5, because one, it was written first, and two, with an understanding of this passage, the second will become all the more amazing.

Isaiah 40:1-5
Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
and cry to her
that her warfare is ended,
that her iniquity is pardoned,
that she has received from the LORD’s hand
double for all her sins.

A voice cries: "In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD;
make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
Every valley shall be lifted up,
and every mountain and hill be made low;
the uneven ground shall become level,
and the rough places a plain.
And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed,
and all flesh shall see it together,
for the mouth of the LORD has spoken."

These words were spoken by the old testament prophet Isaiah, who is responsible for a large portion of the messianic prophesy that is contained in the old testament. In fact, Isaiah is the most commonly referenced prophet in the new testament. Let's look at what Isaiah says in these five verses. The first part, or first stanza of this passage is the most emotionally charged, as it relates directly to the condition of God's people, Israel. He says, in essence, the hard times are over and you will be ushered into the good times. You shall war no more and all your misdeeds will be pardoned, and you will be forgiven double the amount of your transgression!

This is an awesome statement, especially to a people like the people of Israel, that have been beaten, lost, enslaved, nearly annihilated, taken captive, persecuted, and have been continually under the judgement of a righteous God. For a people like that to hear the message "your strife is ended, and your sins are forgiven" is almost beyond words. But it goes on. The second part of this passage gives cause for further celebration. It tells the people of Israel to "Prepare the way of the LORD. Make everything ready to receive the LORD. It goes on to say that when this happens, "the glory of the LORD shall be revealed". You must remember that, at this point, the Jews (Israel) have lived for centuries serving, worshiping and following after God and they have seen a glimpse of His glory, and a sampling of His power. They saw a glimpse of His glory as His holy fire guided Israel through the desert, and they experienced a sampling of his power when He delivered them from Egypt after the ten plagues through the parted Red Sea. For a people who have seen these tidbits of His glory to hear "the glory of the LORD shall be revealed" is an awesome statement. It says to them that what they've seen so far is a glory masked. His true glory has been hidden from them and it shall soon be made clear. So, before I go on, I would like you to think about this passage and what it meant for the people of Israel. "Your warring and hardships are over and if you thought God was glorious before, you haven't seen anything yet." Think on this. I'll wait.

Okay, now I'd like to jump forward in time and look at the other passage mentioned at the beginning, John 1:19-23. This passage comes at the beginning of the letter of John recounting the account of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection, otherwise known as the Gospel.

John 1:19-23
And this is the testimony of John [the Baptist], when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, "Who are you?" He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, "I am not the Christ." And they asked him, "What then? Are you Elijah?" He said, "I am not." "Are you the Prophet?" And he answered, "No." So they said to him, "Who are you? We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?" He said, "I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, 'Make straight the way of the Lord,' as the prophet Isaiah said."

This event takes place before Jesus started his ministry, when John the Baptist (not John the apostle) is still preparing the people of Israel for Jesus' message. He is baptizing people and preaching the forgiveness of Sins (which at this point in the history of Israel is very radical, almost heretical, because only the Sacrifices of Atonement can deal with sin). So, of course, the religious leaders of Israel send their people to find out who this guy is. They ask him just that, "Who are you?" It's odd, because if someone asked you or me "Who are you," the natural response would be to state our name; a positive answer-- I am Henry Bartel. But that's not what John says. In response to this question, he gives them a negative answer. He says "I am not the Christ", which means that he knew why they were there, which is to find out if this person preaching the forgiveness of sins was the prophesied Christ, or Elijah, who was to come before the Christ. So the Levites then ask him if he is Elijah, or the prophet, and he says no. After finding that John is not the Christ, or Elijah, or anyone they expected him to be, they ask him again, I'm sure in an exasperated tone, "Who are you? We need to give an answer to those who sent us." Then John drops the bomb that should have tipped them off. He quotes the prophet Isaiah, and says "I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, 'Make straight the way of the Lord,' as the prophet Isaiah said." Now, you should recognize that statement from the first passage we looked at. Here John only uses one line from this passage, but the men he is addressing are the priests of the Jews, and they know the entirety of scripture by heart and should recognize this passage instantly. They should know what John is referencing, and more than that, they should know what John is telling them by referencing this particular passage. He is telling them that the time is here which the passage in Isaiah prophesied. That the time of the revelation of the Glory of the LORD is at hand. He's telling them, and Israel, that their time of warring and strife is over and that the forgiveness of sins is close at hand. At these words of John, the Levites and priests that were questioning John should have seen this. But they were too concerned about getting to the bottom of this, what appeared to be, crazy man preaching forgiveness of sins that they missed his message completely.

This message, the message of John the Baptist, is preached every year in December around the world. The times of warring with the worries of this world are over, and the Glory of the LORD has been revealed. Jesus, God become man, has paid our debt and offers forgiveness on top of forgiveness. Make straight the path of the LORD in your heart and offer Him free passage into your life, he will reveal the glory of the LORD in you. The religious leaders of Jesus' time missed this because they were too concerned with appearances. The same message is here in front of you, will you see it? Will you embrace it? Will you rejoice at the coming of the Glory of the LORD. If so, make straight the way of the LORD. Make your mountains low and your valleys high, let go of your pride and self-pity. Open your heart and life to Jesus and he will make your rocky ground even and your rough places a plain. The glory of the LORD has been revealed, can you see it?

A Drunken Angel

This is an account of an extraordinary event that took place while I was going to college at Kansas State University in Manhattan Kansas. This event helped to shape my views about God the Father, about angels, and further demonstrated to me the sovereignty of God in everything. I can’t say for certain what really happened, I can only relate to you what I saw and experienced from my end, and from my mortal and finite perspective.

It all began in Aggieville at Radina’s Café, a local coffee shop here in Manhattan Kansas. It’s a place where people come to meat with friends, study, or just drink some coffee or espresso. I liked going there to have my “quite time”. Allow me explain. I have a circle of people that I like to hang out with; Christians that are sold out for Christ and using their lives to follow Him and make Him known, like me. We (this group of people and I) spend, or try to spend, a consistent time alone at times throughout the week, ideally every day, reading the Bible, studying it, meditating over it, reflecting on it and praying through it. This time is dedicated to spending time and communing with God one on one. During this time, we try and limit the distractions we encounter from the world around us, thus it is known as our “quiet time”. Anyway, I frequented Radina’s because I enjoyed having my quiet times there. One day, late morning, early afternoon, I came to Radina’s to spend some time alone, just me and God, and as I was reading, I noticed Allie, a friend of mine, outside sitting at one of the outdoor tables they have in front of the cafe. I continued to read and finished my quiet time, and then went out to sit and chat a bit with Allie. As I got outside, I saw that she was talking with a man that had just been walking by and had stopped to talk to her; he looked to be maybe in his thirties. So I asked if I could join their conversation and sat down beside her. I don’t remember what all we talked about, but through the course of the discussion, Allie and I learned that this man, Ken, was an alcoholic and a severe alcoholic at that. Ken shared with us that he couldn’t go for very long without alcohol in his system or else the delirium trimmers would render him all but incapacitated. He also shared with us that because of this, he had really lost his desire to live. His quality of life had been degraded so much by his addiction to alcohol that he really didn’t care anymore that his addiction would ultimately kill him. We also found out that Ken was on his way to Rusty’s Last Chance (a fitting name), a bar in the area, to basically drink himself to death. He had decided that he was going to go drink until he either passed out or died, or both. Clearly moved by this, Allie begged him not to go. Later, she said she couldn’t explain why she had done this except that the Holy Spirit had come upon her and told her not to let this man do this. She begged him not to go to the bar, and in the process persuaded him to let her help him. After asking him some questions and determining what would be of the most benefit, she offered to take him to the emergency room, and he accepted. She asked me to come along, because she didn’t think she could do this alone. Moved by pity, by compassion, and probably a lot by the Holy Spirit, I agreed, so we drove him to Mercy Medical here in Manhattan. When we got there, the staff of the emergency room were very helpful and gracious. From what I remember, the process of checking him in and getting him the care he needed went abnormally smooth, especially considering we knew nothing about Ken, we weren’t related to him, and from what I can remember, he wasn’t really in much of a shape to answer questions or fill out paperwork.

After he got checked in, the nurse put us in a room off to the side, hooked Ken up to an I.V. drip that would help tame his DT’s as his body started to react to the lack of alcohol in his system. She put us in a tiny room off to the side of the nurses’ station, Allie, me and Ken, and then left, probably to go do some paper work or something. So while we were in this room alone with Ken, we began to ask Ken some questions. We began to talk to Ken, and Ken began to open up to us. He began to tell us all about himself, how he used to have a family, how he used to have a wife and kids, and how his addiction to alcohol stripped him of all those things. He told us that he was disgusted with himself because of his addiction. He said that if he were in bed with a beautiful woman and a six pack of beer, he would choose the beer over the woman. He told us how his addiction pushed his family away, and forced his wife to leave him and take their kids with her. He told us that he had no idea where they were, or even how to find them. This addiction had Ken in a strangle hold, and it was obvious he wanted out. After hearing this, I felt certain that this man needed to hear about Christ, and that he needed to hear it now, from Allie and me. I began to explain to him what he already knew, that he was in a pit of remorse, of pain, and of perpetuating self destruction; a pit that was too deep for him to get out of by himself, and would continue to get deeper and deeper. As I said, this he already knew because he had basically told us this in not so many words. Then I told him about Jesus. I told him that while he cannot get out of that pit, there is someone that can get him out. I used the imagery of Christ standing outside that pit on solid ground, extending his hand to Ken. I told him how Christ had suffered and died as a substitute in our stead for our sins, and how he was raised up from the death that came from those sins to gain power over them; power that he freely offers us. I said, “Ken, you can’t get out of this pit. You can’t do this by yourself; it’s too deep. But Jesus can help you.” I explained to Ken how, in the power of Christ that he freely offers us, we can conquer sin (and addictions) and rise above it. I explained that all he had to do was reach out and take the hand of Jesus that He was offering him. With tears in my eyes I laid out before him the Gospel.

As he was looking at the both of us, with tears in his own eyes, partly from, I imagine, his acknowledgement that he wanted and desperately needed what Jesus had to offer, and partly from the fact, as he admitted, that we, Allie in particular, reminded him of his children. He began to ask her questions, and Allie began to open up to Ken. She started telling him things about herself, about school, about her own family, and then she came to the subject of her father. She explained to Ken that her father, when she was young, died of alcohol poisoning. Her father was an alcoholic. She told Ken that she would give anything to see her father again, and she wished that she could talk to him, get to know him and look into his eyes again. As she was telling him this, Ken began to visibly break down. I could see in his eyes and his body language that he was deeply moved by what Allie was telling him. Allie leaned forward and looked him square in the eyes; she got up on the edge of her seat and asked Ken to promise her that he would not do to his children what her father had done to her; that he would not leave them not knowing who their father was and not having a chance to find out. At this point, Allie had tears running down her cheeks, and Ken was all but weeping. Ken made that promise to her, and went on to tell her how much he still loved his wife, and especially his children. How he wanted so much to hold them in his arms again and tell them that he loved them. We talked for a little while more, about what, I can’t remember, and then the nurse came in and took Ken to one of the examining rooms where doctors could begin the initial de-tox treatments. We were not allowed with him beyond that point, since we weren’t family, so we said goodbye, Allie gave him her phone number and email and told him to get in contact with her when he was better, and we left. I can’t remember most of what happened the rest of that day, only that we both went our separate ways. She went to go talk over what had just happened with a friend and mentor of hers, and I went back to my dorm room to process what had just happened.

A week later, Allie and I met together again at Radina’s to talk about what had happened. Allie, through talking with her friend, had discovered what she believed (and I would agree, given the facts) to be the reason for this all having taken place. She told me that through helping Ken, and through Ken telling her about his children, she gained a perspective on her father that she had never seen before. Through Ken, she saw how her own father saw her, and loved her as his daughter. Through this incident, God had allowed her to see through her father’s eyes. As she was telling me this, the Holy Spirit brought to my mind an amazing, and simply breath-taking verse. Hebrews 13:2, which says “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.” As I verbally processed this verse and what it meant, I stumbled across this truth: Angels, being citizens of heaven and empowered by God, do not need our help. Anything that they need they will get from God. So what is the purpose of “entertaining angels”? That’s when it hit me. God doesn’t send us to help his angels, he sends his angels to help us. Any time we “entertain angels unawares” we are helping in such a way that will benefit us, not the angel; the angel needs no help. We both came to the conclusion at that moment that Ken had been an angel from God. He had come from nowhere, had no past as far as we could tell (with the exception of what he had related to us), no real identity, other than “Ken” and played a very large role in what you might consider an act of God. He’d come to give Allie closure to her relationship, or lack thereof, with her father. God had reconciled that relationship in order that she could have a right view of what it means to be a father, and what a father’s love looks like so that she could come into a closer, more intimate relationship with God, her Heavenly Father. She told me later that she had no expectation of Ken ever contacting her. He had done what he was placed there to do, and gone on to whatever was next, whether that is back to heaven, or back to wherever he might be from.

On that day, I gained a whole new perspective on what God’s interaction with us, his children, looks like, and I know that Allie gained a new perspective on her relationship with God. That is the story of Ken, and how he, whoever he was, changed Allie’s life and helped me to gain a broader perspective on who God is in just one afternoon.

I count myself blessed to have been a part of this experience, and I hope that you too, through reading this, have been blessed, in whatever capacity God has chosen to do so. Thank you for taking the time to read what I’ve written, and God bless.

Faith Without Love

Galatians 5:6

For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcnision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.

James 2:15-17

If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, be warmed and filled," without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.


These two verses highlight the fact that true faith will always be accumpanied by good works. As James says, only faith producing works is true faith, and paul says in Galatians that this faith is the only thing that counts. This is an issue that has been addressed many times in many places, so instead simply talking about it and explaining it again, I'm going to take this idea, this truth and I'm going to run with it and draw it out in another area of life other than faith; expand the scope of this statement.

To start off with, lets establish that what James says is indeed correct. For starters I can tell you that it is correct because it is written in the Bible. 2 Timothy 3:16 says "All scripture is God-breathed", meaning that all scripture, though written by man, is the direct transcription of the Holy Spirit; the very words of God. Secondly, lets look at the logic of James' statement. He says, in essence, faith that does not produce fruit is not faith. Jesus himself says something along these lines. "Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. (Matt. 7:16-18)." The definition of faith, according to Dictionary.com is "confidence or trust in a person or thing: faith in another's ability." So, to have faith in Jesus is to trust Jesus and his promises. It means to trust that he has our best interest in mind, and to trust that what he says is true. He (Jesus) says "seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you." Do you trust him? If yes, than the natural product of this trust will be a willingness and even an eagerness to "seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness." If that willingness and eagerness isn't there, than it should be apparent that neither is the trust. Just like if a tree claims to be a fig tree, but it produces thistles, it should be apparent that the tree is not a fig tree. So, the logic makes sense: faith that does not produce works is not faith.

At the start, I said I was going to take this idea and run with it; draw out some of the implications that this idea has in another area of life, particularly love. At the beginning, you can see written out Galatians 5:6, which says "For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcnision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love." Paul here is basically saying the same thing as James. But he uses an important key word. "The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through LOVE." If the only thing that counts is faith producing love, I would think it is of some importance to understand what love looks like. To start to explore this question, lets see what God has to say about it. In the Gospel of John, he says in chapter three, verse sixteen, ""For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." What does this passage say about love? "For God so loved the world...", or God loved the world so much that... "he gave his only Son." God loved the world, so out of that love came a great and costly sacrifice. That points to a pretty extreme definition of love. Or here in John 15:12-13, we hear Jesus come out and say what John 3:16 is pointing to, "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends." Here Jesus says very plainly, that love, pure love, is "that someone lay down his life for his friends." Now let's apply this new definition of love to our life. What implications does that have. What are you really saying when you say you love someone? Are you saying that you would be willing to lay your life down for that person? And if this is the case, if the opportunity comes or the need arises to lay down your life for this person and you don't, is it really love? Now, before we get too far into this, I need to clarify the term "lay down your life." When I say this, I don't mean give up my life (a.k.a. die), though that is in the scope of this phrase. What I'm talking about is setting your own life aside, or even re-organizing or redefining your own life for the betterment of the one you love. This doesn't always mean to die, but if a situation arose in which your death would be the most benificial to the one you love, it would fit into the phrase laying down your life. Keeping all this in mind, let's look at another one of Jesus' commandments. In Matthew 19:19, Jesus says "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." So, we are not to just love those we care about, but we are to love our neighbors (everyone around us). How are we supposed to love, really love everyone around us? How can we lay down our lives in a way that will be most beneficial to the people around us? What is the one thing that we could do that would be of ultimate benefit? the answer to this sounds like it comes from Sunday school, but it's true. We show them the way to Jesus. Not only that, but we show them the beauty of Jesus by doing just what Jesus commanded us: Loving them as Jesus loved us. Jesus loved us so much that he gave himself for our salvation, so we are to love others sacrificially, putting aside our personal agenda's and our own desires in order that we can show others the Wonderful Savior.

Getting back on track, we started by examining the statement "faith without works is not faith", so lets continue in that thought process by asking the question, is love without sacrifice still love? We've already defined love as sacrificially living in order to show others to Jesus. Going back again to the analogy of the tree and it's fruit, if we say we love, but we don't live in a way that reflects this, what does that say about our claim to be loving? We can say that we love people, we can even tell people about Jesus, but unless our life matches our claim, unless we live in such a way to display the sacrificial love of Jesus, our claim to love is a lie. So if the fruit of faith is love, and the fruit of love is a sacrificial life, if we are not living a sacrificial life, what does that say about our claim to have faith? If love means living sacrificially, and we do not live a sacrificial life, than that would seem to suggest that we do not have love. And if the fruit of faith is love, and we do not have love, that would seem to suggest that we don't have faith. I'll leave you with this challenge. Look closely at your life. Examine the way you live and how you treat the people around you. Take every opportunity to "be Jesus" to those around you; to live in a sacrificial way that exhibits the love of Christ and leads the ones around you to a faith in Christ that produces love. By all means, don't stop telling people about Christ, but as you talk the talk, walk the walk.

Believe

What Does It Mean to Believe in Jesus?

The Bible says in many places that all someone needs to do to be saved from eternal damnation and to be able to claim many promises made by God is simply “believe.” But believe what? Many Christians (if not all of them) will tell you that that means believe in Christ Jesus. But, what does that mean? What does it mean to “believe in Christ Jesus?”

To answer this question, I’m going to turn to a book that often sheds light on the meanings of various things in life: The Oxford Dictionary. The definition that the Oxford Dictionary gives for our particular usage of the word “believe” is as follows:

Believe- intr. (foll. by in) a have faith in the existence of (believes in God). b have confidence in (a remedy, a person, etc.)(believes in alternative medicine). c have trust in the advisability of (believes in telling the truth).

This definition presents us with three options: a, b, or c. Let’s take them one by one and try and decipher which one of these option is the one that we need for the phrase in question.

To start with, let’s look at option “c.” If we were to replace the word believe with this definition, would the phrase we are questioning convey the message that it was intended to? “One only needs to [trust in the advisability of] Christ Jesus.” Does this sound like the gospel message? If you said no, you are right; but why? The definition in option “c” simply recognizes the soundness of Christ Jesus, or the fact that the decision to accept Christ is a good one. Option “c”, in the context of our phrase says all anybody needs to be saved is to see the benefit, or the ‘goodness’ of choosing Christ. While that recognition might lead to an acceptance of Christ into one’s heart and life, it does not require it, so we can cross option “c” off the list of possible definition of “believe.”

What about option “a?” That one sounds like it might be close, doesn’t it? Let’s find out: “One only needs to [have faith in the existence of] Christ Jesus.” That sounds pretty close, but is that the gospel message? If you said yes, than I need to tell you that you are wrong, and I’ll tell you why straight from scripture. In James chapter 2, verse 19, James writes “You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe – and shudder!” In this verse, James is telling us that simply to believe God or Christ exists is no extraordinary feat; even the demons and the very Lord of Hell believe in His existence, and they are terrified. Because the demons of Hell believe with option “a”, we can confidently rule it out as the answer to our question since they (the demons) use option “a” and are still damned to Hell.

So that leaves us with the only remaining option, option “b”, which refers to confidence. Let’s see if this definition fits into our phrase. “One only needs to [have confidence in] Christ Jesus.” Is this the Gospel message? If you said yes, you are correct! Another way of phrasing option “b” is to simply say “trust;” one only needs to [trust] Christ Jesus in order that he might be saved. So all we need to do to be saved is to trust Christ. But what must we trust him for? The answer here is simple: Everything. We can see in the four gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) that Christ trusted God for everything, from the food he ate to the people he healed, to his very spirit as he hung upon the cross. Christ calls us to follow him; just as he put all of his trust in the Father, we must put all of our trust in him. What does that mean? That means that we trust Christ for our faith, for our salvation, for our spiritual health, for our physical health, and it goes on and on, even down to the minutest detail of our lives; the food we eat, the cloths we wear, the money we need to live, shelter, everything. Matthew 6:32-33 says “for the gentiles seek after all these things, and your Heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added to you.” In other words, trust Christ first, and he will take care of the rest. That is what it means to “believe in Christ.” But going back to our dictionary definitions, I think that it needs to be said that both options, “a” and “c,” must be present in order for option “b” to be possible, but only option “b” will result in the salvation of your soul that Jesus Christ offers.

Do you believe?

This note was found on the desk of a young pastor from Africa as his desk was being cleared off after he’d been martyred for his faith.

The Fellowship of the Unashamed

I am a part of the fellowship of the unashamed. The die has been cast. I have stepped over the line. The decision has been made. I’m a disciple of His and I won’t look back, let up, slow down back away, or be still. My past is redeemed. My present makes sense. My future is secure. I’m done and finished with low living, sight walking, small planning, smooth knees, colorless dreams, tamed visions, mundane talking, cheap living, and dwarfed goals. I no longer need preeminence, prosperity, position, promotions, plaudits, or popularity. I don’t have to be right, or first, or tops, or recognized, or praised, or rewarded. I live by faith, lean on his presence, walk by patience, lift by prayer, and labor by the Holy Spirit's power. My face is set. My gait is fast. My goal is heaven. My road may be narrow, my way rough, my companions few, but my guide is reliable and my mission is clear. I will not be bought, compromised, detoured, lured away, turned back, deluded or delayed. I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice or hesitate in the presence of the adversary. I will not negotiate at the table of the enemy, ponder at the pool of popularity, or meander in the maze of mediocrity. I won’t give up, shut up, or let up until I have stayed up, stored up, prayed up, paid up and preached up for the cause of Christ. I am a disciple of Jesus. I must give until I drop, preach until all know, and work until he comes. And when he does come for his own, He’ll have no problems recognizing me. My colors will be clear!

Spiritual Excercise

It’s the middle of February and spring is beginning to peak its beautiful head around the corner. At the tail end of a frigid winter, a glimmer of sunshine carrying with it the warmth of a new spring creates all manor of different inspirations and thoughts. For some, the warmth means they can finally crawl out of the layers upon layers of clothing they don over the winter months; for others it means that they will enjoy the flowers and birds as they share their beauty. For me, one of the inspirations that I experiences was the motivation or the urge to become physically active again. With the spring weather comes memories of baseball games, outdoor escapades such as camping or catching a game of Ultimate Frisbee on the quad after class. The call to be active is strong, and I know that it will be fun and refreshing, but I also know with that fun and refreshment will come frustration; frustration at the limitations of my body which has been relatively inactive all winter. Almost instantly upon prolonged physical acitivity, I will feel the strain of physical activity on my cardio-vascular system as I hear my heart in my ears and begin to breathe hard and my sides begin to ache. My legs begin to turn into jelly and my muscles will be sore for days afterwards. Even though I love the activity outdoors, my body just can’t keep up with the demands that I put on it.

There is a way around this problem however. That solution involves being physically active all the time; some call it training, others ‘working out’. When spring comes and I have a desire to be more active, if I’ve been active throughout the winter, keeping my heart and lungs in shape, and maintaining the endurance of my muscles, I will have no problem (or at least less of a problem) when spring comes around and I want to participate in those things that give me great joy, such as baseball/softball and Ultimate Frisbee. If I’ve been consistently active; if I’ve made an intentional effort to exercise on a regular basis, when I do those things that tax my body, I will be able to enjoy those things longer, and I will be able to make a greater contribution to my team (if it’s a team sport), or otherwise be more able to ‘win’ what ever game it is that I’m playing.

In 1 Timothy 4:7-8, Paul is instructing Timothy to “Have nothing to do with irreverent silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness [because] while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.” Paul is telling Timothy here, that while physical exercise is a good thing (don’t stop); spiritual exercise is a better thing. In much the same way that you or I would exercise or train our bodies so that we can effectively and joyfully participate in activities that come in the spring, Paul instructs Timothy (and us) to exercise our spirits as well, so that when a season of spiritual activity comes around, we will be able to take full advantage of it. If we don’t exercise our spirit, when a spiritual “spring” comes about, we will long to participate in the activities that are able to be done in that season, but like my experience with physical activity after a season of inactivity, we will try to do the things needed to be done but will become frustrated by the lack of ability, the lack of stamina, the lack of training to really excel at what we are attempting. Our spirits will begin to give out. Impatience will begin to creep in; the taxing of our spirits will leave us sore and aching, unable to be effective in the spiritual arena.

The author of the book of Hebrews echoes this encouragement to spiritual fitness in chapter 12 when he says in verse 1 “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.” If you are among those that make an effort to keep your body in shape, or to be fit, I say to you how more should you strive to exercise your spirit and maintain its ‘fitness’. The spiritual ‘spring’ is here. Jesus tells us the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. We are among those few laborers, let’s make an intentional effort to maximize our effectiveness by maintaining our spiritual fitness so that we can “run and not grow weary”; so that our spirits can better keep up with the demands God puts on them. I encourage you (and myself), the next time you ‘workout’ or exercise, to think about how you are exercising your spirit. There are many different ways; no one right way, but many effective ways. Just as everybody has their preferred method of physical training, find your preferred method of spiritual training.

Make yourself uncomfortable, force your spirit to grow by stretching it, by breaking it, and by coming back to Jesus to let it rest and heal. Whatever you need to do to make that happen, get it done for the purpose of spiritual exercise, knowing that someday you will enter a time of spiritual activity and you will be able to endure and win the prize, whether that be your own faith, the faith of another, or even the salvation of others. Train yourselves during the seasons of spiritual winter so that you can run with endurance in the spiritual springs in your life.

WITH

This weekend, I attended the Navigators Midwest Laborer’s Conference where I heard Jim Rinella, the Rocky Mountain regional director and campus director of the Navigator ministry at Colorado State University. During the Saturday morning ‘rally’, he delivered a message about discipling, specifically Jesus’ strategy for discipling. At the beginning, he illustrated the importance of discipling (which comes from the root word “disciple” which is a follower or believer who is learning through the instruction of the teacher (or rabbi) they are following) in when ministering to the lost (those who haven’t believed on Christ for their salvation and therefore are outside the redemption found therein).

Discipling is a process by which a follower and disciple of Christ (a.k.a. Christian) both learns from a person more mature in their Christian walk than themselves, while simultaneously teaches someone that is less mature the principles, tools, lessons, and passions needed to be a follower or disciple of Christ (a.k.a. Christian). His illustration came from a famous article written by Dawson Trotman (the founder of the Navigators) called “Born To Reproduce” which lays out the principles of spiritual multiplication. Spiritual multiplication uses the mathematical model of exponential growth to provide a way in which the followers or disciples of Christ (a.k.a. Christians) can evangelize (and bring into redemption) the entire population of the world in a relatively short period of time (around 30 years). What happens is one person (follower or disciple of Christ…) invests their life into another person for one year, teaching them, helping them to grow in their spiritual walk, equipping them to teach others, and instructing them so that they will grow into a mature disciple themselves. At the end of that year, the new disciple will go out and find his own protégé to mentor teach and equip, and the first discipler will find another person to disciple. So now, instead of one disciple making one disciple, there are now two disciples, each making one more disciple. These two disciples teach, equip, love, and instruct their new disciples, and at the end of the second year, each new disciple finds a new disciple of his own to teach. Now instead of four disciples, there are now eight. I’m confident you see a pattern here. Eight become sixteen, sixteen become thirty-two, thirty-two become sixty-four, sixty-four become one-hundred-twenty-eight, so on and so forth, until in about thirty years, the entire population of the world (a ridiculously huge number) will have been reached and given the redemption found in Jesus Christ.

The Navigators Midwest Laborer’s Conference is for students on the Leadership Teams of the Navigator ministries around the Midwest, so being very familiarized with the principles and the mission of the Navigators, we had all heard about and were familiar with the principle of spiritual multiplication. The message Jim delivered that morning was about how to best go about investing your life in the life of another. After he had given his short exposition on spiritual multiplication, he began to talk about the ministry of Jesus (who was the first to use spiritual multiplication). He (one man) started by teaching and training 12 disciples, entrusting and charging them with the task of teaching and training others. So if you have any doubt about if spiritual multiplication actually works, think about this, Jesus (one man) started with twelve men and now there are nearly one billion disciples of Christ around the world… It works. He summed up the ministry of Jesus in one word: With. Mark 3:14 says “And he appointed twelve (whom he also named apostles) so that they might be with him and he might send them out to preach.” Jim related the story of how he was discipled as a young man. A man took him under his wing and taught him, equipped him, and mentored him, spent time with him every week. Met with him every week, and encouraged him to start doing the same with a young man of his own at a very young spiritual age. If you’ve ever seen two people that spend a lot of time together, you know the power of “with”. Those two people sound alike, they think alike, they act alike in some cases, have the same idiosyncrasies, the same expressions, the same views on life, etc. Jesus did everything (when He wasn’t praying by Himself) with them; they were even with Him when He died on the cross. Jesus did teach them, and He did give them to tools they needed, but in order to truly shape their lives to be like Himself, He spent almost all of His time with them.

A lot of people, including me, put such a complicated framework and substructure in the principle of sharing our faith, of discipling (even if you don’t call it “discipling”, if you’re a follower or disciple of Christ –a.k.a. Christian–, you do this). We think that to properly confer the knowledge, faith, tools, wisdom, ability, and everything else it takes to be an effective disciple, we need this complex set of instruction or rules to make sure that everything gets transferred. That absolutely is not the case. Jim, in his story, said that after four days, four days, of being a Christian, Allen, his friend and discipler, took him to the shopping center to share Christ. Four days! It doesn’t take large amounts of time, or an extensive network of training principles and lessons and workshops to prepare someone to be a disciple (and a discipler), it just takes another person, another disciple to come alongside them, teach them the basics, and do it with them. As long as you know and are able to teach the basics of the Christian walk (which are things pretty much straight from the Bible), you can make disciples simply by walking with them; by sharing your faith to others with them; by making disciples with them. The entire life is based on imitating others. We learn to walk by watching others, we learn to talk by listening to others, we learn our values from those around us, we learn our behaviors from watching others. So why not learn to make disciples by simply doing it with others. You can teach all the knowledge and the wisdom in the world, and you can give somebody every resource there is on sharing their faith and making disciples, but the most effective and the surest and most lasting way to make a disciple is to do it with them. It’s so incredibly simple! When I heard this message and let it sink in, I was struck and overcome by the beautiful simplicity of it. I think this is something that every follower or disciple of Christ needs to hear, because we’ve made Christ’s mission so complicated, so difficult that we are paralyzed by the complexity of it. We don’t know where to start because we have put so many extra steps in it that don’t need to be there. All that needs to happen to make a disciple for Christ is to do it with someone else. To get into God’s Word (the Bible) with your disciple, to pray with your disciple, to witness (or evangelize) with your disciple, to walk with Jesus with your disciple. No “twelve easy steps”, no complicated theorems, not even a formula. All a person needs to become a effective disciple is for an established to disciple teach them all that they know, and do it with them.

I hope that what you’ve just read has inspired you or has rejuvenated your desire for Christ and your desire to reach the lost; it has mine (it’s so simple, how could it not!). My prayer for you, whoever you are, is that the words I have written above will change your life, just as the words that I heard on Saturday morning have changed mine. God bless, and may Christ be with you.

Navigators Midwest Laborer’s Conference

This weekend (Friday and Saturday), I had the privilege of attending the Navigators Midwest Laborer’s Conference (held in Manhattan, Kansas), which is a time for students on the Leadership Teams of Navigator ministries around the Midwest to come together and learn about leading and laboring for Christ from a series of ‘rallies’ in which a speaker delivers a message (the same speaker all weekend for 3 rallies) and through various workshops and times of meditation and reflection. This year’s conference we had the privilege of hearing Jim Rinella, the Rocky Mountain regional director and campus director of the Colorado State University Navigator ministry.

For weeks before this conference I was looking forward with anticipation to this time of fellowship and growth, as well as the opportunity to serve for an entire weekend by helping set up when necessary, tear down when needed, and helping with anything else that needs to be done throughout the weekend. As the conference grew closer (like the Thursday before) I prayed that God would use this conference to show me ways in which I can better serve and honor Him, to open my eyes to more of what He wants from me, and for God to rejuvenate my soul and my spirit. The Laborers Conference has come and gone, and I can confidently say that that prayer has been answered.

The first rally of the conference (Friday night), Jim spoke about three fundamentals of living a life like and for Christ. These three fundamentals are “Prayer from the heart, Care from the heart, and Share from the heart.” You might think to yourself, “well, that makes sense,” and it does; but the cool thing was that how he spoke about those three things really lead me to think about how these three fundamentals are related, or how they come together to form a life that is one, honoring to God, and two the life Jesus called us to live. The way in which these three do this is as follows: When you lift up prayer for someone, I mean really pray for someone about anything (prayer from the heart), you will naturally want to check up on them to see one, how they are doing, and two, how God is working through your prayers. Through prayer from the heart, automatically created in you is care from the heart. You will always be asking them how they are, how whatever you are praying for them is going; you will always be interested in their life. As a result of your prayers, care will immerge, and more than likely, whoever is the beneficiary of your prayer and care, will be attracted to you because you have shown an interest in them. They will want to spend time with you because you make them feel loved (which they are), and you make them feel like you actually care (which you do). From this attraction will come, naturally, an opportunity for you to share your heart with them; to share Jesus. To put it into a simple and more portable phrase,

With prayer from the heart, comes care from the heart. With care from the heart comes an opportunity to share from the heart.

So that was just the Friday night rally, which is the main focus of this entry, but there is more. At the Saturday morning rally, Jim delivered another stellar message that again inspired me to praise and wonder. Simply put, he spoke about the ministry and strategy of Jesus, and summed it up with only one word: With. I won’t go into that right now, because I believe that that deserves its own entry, which you can get to by clicking the link above.

I’m always amazed by how much God speaks through these conferences. My last two conferences have been absolutely incredible, and this one most definitely has lived up to the standard. I have a lot to chew on and meditate over. God has challenged me through Jim and has used Jim and the men that he brought with him from Colorado to encourage me and refresh my spirit. The faithfulness of God never ceases to amaze me, that he would meet me in such a powerful and intimate way, even though I consistently fall short of even my own standards and sometimes even turn my back on Him completely. The grace of God through Christ is extremely evident to me when I experience the loving instruction of God in such a powerful way in events such as the Navigators Midwest Laborer’s Conference. As we say here at KSU Navs to close our weekly rallies on Thursday nights, “God is good, all the time. All the time, God is good.” I Praise the Lord my God, for He is good!

A Sobering Reminder

February 20, 2007

This morning while reading in Romans, I came across an interesting passage that caught my attention. In chapter fifteen, verse three, Paul writes “For Christ did not please himself, but as it is written ‘the reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me’.” That to me was interesting because I read it to mean that those who reproached me, their reproaches fell on Christ, and that is a God honoring thought… I think; after all, God’s wrath for my sins (which I’m finding are more in number as I see more and more of myself) fall on Christ. So it made sense to me that the reproaches of those who would reproach me for my faith would fall on Christ. That being the case, I can, without shame, declare His message to everyone.

While that is a good thought, as I looked closer at the words on the page, I saw a tiny letter referencing a footnote where Paul quotes scripture (…as it is written…). That little quote comes from Psalm 69:9, which carries a different meaning than what I had originally interpreted. In Psalm 69, David says “I sink in deep mire, where there is no foothold; I have come into deep waters, and the flood has come over me.” He goes on describing in various metaphors his situation (which is everyone wants to kill him), and then in verse 9 he says “for zeal for your house has consumed me, and the reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me.” So while I interpreted that passage quoted in Romans as a promise of deliverance from reproach, it turns out that it is almost the complete opposite. Romans 15:3 promises not deliverance from reproach, but rather the rise of reproach. Those who reproach God will, because of my affiliation with God, reproach me as well. This passage is located in a section of scripture that is sub-labeled “The example of Christ.” The word “example” implies that it is meant to be followed.

Christ was met with the ultimate reproach: The people’s hatred of Him and their desire to take his life. Their reproach for God (the real God that Jesus represented, not the god represented by the Pharisees and their legalistic rituals and traditions) fell on Christ because He was the son of God. In Christ, my sins have been forgiven and I am now a co-heir with Christ; a child of God. As those who hated God dumped their reproach on Christ, so too will those who hate God now dump their reproach on me and anyone who proclaims rebirth into the family of God in Jesus Christ.

This passage is a sobering reminder of the price that comes with the redeeming grace and forgiveness of sins that’s found in Christ. In being joined with Christ, having our hearts and minds transformed into the likeness of His, there also comes with that the reproach of everyone who hates God (those who hate God will hate anything that resembles or is like God).

A Beautiful Harmony

The song by Michael W. Smith called “Prince of Peace” is an absolutely beautiful song. It not only is a wonderfully composed and beautifully harmonious composition, it also displays the beauty that is manifest in the relationship between men and women as they relate to God. The song begins with the men singing, and the women echoing the same things that the men are singing, and then the men and women separate into two very different choruses that, when put together, creates a gorgeous expression of worship through music that highlights how men and women were meant to relate as God’s sons and daughters; brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ.

In Genesis, God created woman because “It is not good for the man to be alone (Genesis 2:18).” He created Eve as a helper to Adam, but more than that, a companion that was to share both in his work, and in his admiration of God. Throughout the Bible, men have a distinct role as the head of the woman. However, just because man is placed as the head of the woman, that does not, by any means, diminish the role of women in God’s Kingdom and the body of Christ. Women have also ,throughout the Bible, often played a redeeming role in their relationship to men. Without Sarah, Isaac would not have been born to Abraham (Genesis 17), and the Messianic line would never have been. Without Ester, the entire Jewish nation would have been eradicated (Ester 1-10). Without Rahab, the spies sent by Joshua would have been found out and never been able to report back about Jericho (Joshua 2). Without Ruth, the Messianic line would have been cut off (Ruth 1-4, Matthew 1:5). Without Hannah, Samuel, who was responsible for putting David on the throne of Israel, would have never been born (1 Samuel 1). Without Abigail, David would have, in his anger, sinned and lost the Lord’s favor (1 Samuel 25). My point is, though men have an immensely important role in God’s plan and Kingdom, so do women.

As both men and women seek to follow and glorify Christ, it is also our respective responsibilities to help each other glorify the Lord even more than we could ever do on our own. For men, this means leading and serving those around us; honoring women as our sisters and letting them speak encouragements and exhortations into our lives. For women, this means encouraging, serving, and letting men do their part by letting yourselves be served. Of course, these aren’t the only roles that we have, and these distinctions are by no means black and white, but as a general picture, I believe that this is what it will look like for men and women to live together for the one purpose which we were meant for, which is to honor and glorify God in Jesus Christ.

When this happens, the result is a beautiful harmony created by each party doing what they were meant to do, and receiving what the other was meant to give. Both men and women, when living as they were meant, will naturally fit together like pieces of a jig-saw puzzle. Each has a space that the other was meant to fill, and each has a role that the other was meant to compliment. Together, we get a fuller picture of both the love and character of God, and what it looks like to follow and glorify Christ.

Just like in Michael W. Smith’s song, both men and women, up front, have the same goal, to worship and follow Christ, but as the song goes on, they separate into their respective parts and create a beautiful tapestry of God-glorifying words and melodies that complement each other and fit together perfectly, each melody filling spaces in the other. Each chorus, by itself would be a wonderful song and a Christ-glorifying statement, but only when they are sung together do we see the beauty of how the song is supposed to sound. Sung separately, the melodies are nice; kind to the ear. But only when they are sung together, when the one fills the other’s empty places, and the other compliments the one, do we see just how beautiful the song really is.

Fasting

What is the purpose of fasting? Most everyone knows what fasting is (purposefully depriving oneself of something, most commonly food), but what is its purpose? The principle of fasting comes from the Old Testament, when the Jews would fast to humble themselves before God in order that they might approach God in the case of the Levites (the tribe of the Jewish priests), or in order that God would hear their prayers. In both of these cases, the root reason for fasting is to clear the things away from one’s life that might distract one from God and possibly draw one’s praise away from God, in order that the relationship, the avenue of communication between that person and God will become clearer, and their focus can be wholly on God, instead of God and whatever else it is you might be distracted by.

If you’ve ever fasted, you know that it is not the easiest thing to do, and it probably isn’t the most pleasant thing to do either. I don’t think anybody ever said, “I can’t wait to fast again; that was fun!” The reason it’s not very easy or fun is that we are depriving ourselves of something that we are used to, something that makes us comfortable in this world. Being hungry is not a pleasant experience, in fact sometimes it hurts. But when we fast, we stick it out because we know in the end it will benefit us, it will hopefully result in a better relationship with God, or a better idea of what God wants us to do. We also stick it out because we can see the end. We go through our fast, not concentrating on the hunger pangs and the decrease of energy and the discomfort, we look to the end, when we will break the fast, and once again enjoy the comforts that we have temporarily forsaken. Whenever I fast, I think that’s the biggest thing that allows me to keep from giving in to temptation, from giving up and breaking the fast before I intended to. If there wasn’t an end in sight, I wouldn’t have the anchor I need to look to in order to maintain my self control and self discipline.

Bigger than just fasting, the Christian walk is much the same way. We are told to abstain from those things which God abhors and to steer clear from things that will hinder our walk with Christ. We are asked to deny ourselves those thing, often times things considered to be comforts, or ‘life enhancing’, such as drunkenness, or promiscuous sex, or pornography, or any number of things that lead to breaking God’s commands or going directly against the teachings of Jesus. We are told to abstain, but I think that many of us, including me, fail at this in some area fairly consistently. The temptation is always around us, and sometimes it even comes from within us. We are bombarded with temptation after temptation. Much like you notice the smells of food, and notice people eating when you are fasting, when you are abstaining from the other things in the world, you tend to notice the temptation all around you. Like I said earlier, in fasting we can look to the end of the fast to gather strength and maintain self control, but with the Christian walk, the end isn’t as visible to us. In fact, to many, the end is nowhere in sight. The Christian walk is unlike a fast in that it lasts an entire lifetime. In the life that Christ calls us to live on this world, we are required to give up things for our entire life. No end on this world. This is one reason that Jesus says in Matthew 8:20 “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” This means that we have no home on this earth since our home is in heaven, but it also means that foxes and birds, they have comforts in this world, but the Christian has nothing in this world to comfort him. That sounds depressing, but the better part of this little comparison is that when we reach the end of this great fast known as the Christian walk, we will have every comfort we need being in direct communion with Christ. That is the end of the fast that the Christian looks to for strength. Just like in a temporary fast here in this world where we look toward the end, the breaking of the fast for our resolve and self restraint, as Christians, we should look toward the end or our walk when we will have all we ever needed and wanted in God in Heaven for our resolve and self-restraint. When viewing this life as all there is, the Christian walk looks very impractical and extremely miserable because we abstain from things even to death, never experiencing some things. But when viewed as a fast with a great feast at the end, it is a wonderful thing because, though we might not experience some of the comforts in this world, we will have all that we need and want in the next for eternity. So next time you are wavering in the presence of temptation, think about the end, when you will break your fast and be given all that you’re heart and soul will ever need and want in Christ. Though you might deny yourself a comfort now, in the end, the reward will be that much sweeter, just like fasting in this world; when you deny yourself of some comfort, at the end when you break the fast, the comforts that you do experience are much sweeter than they would be if you had given in at the first sign of temptation.

A Personal Note

December 3, 2006

Tonight, the Navigators Student Leadership Team had their last meeting for the semester, and I feel absolutely fantastic. It wasn’t the meeting itself that gave me this feeling of peace about…everything about where I am right, but it was a conversation I had with a good friend afterwards, coupled with the recent completion of a fast in which I learned a lot about self-control and dependence on God.

I’ll start with the time of fasting that I had a week ago. The week before Thanksgiving break a couple of friends and I decided that we would fast the week after the break. So, when I got back, I began, and it was hard. It was hard just to live with my roommate who wasn’t fasting. The temptation to give in was all around me, during meal times and anytime someone even cooked popcorn for a snack. But the biggest temptation came on the second day of the fast when I worked the dinner shift at the Derby Dining Center (the dorm cafeteria). As the week went on, I began to lean on God when temptation grew around me. Every morning I would pray to God for the energy to go through the day, and for the strength to maintain my self-control and not give in to temptation, and he answered everyday. Through the course of the week, I faced temptation so much that it became almost natural to deny my urge to give in. At the end, when it came time to break the fast, I wasn’t as eager as I thought I would be to taste food again. My self-control was immensely bolstered through that experience, and afterward I took that lesson of self denial and applied to an area that I had struggled with and it hasn’t been an issue since. Plus, I feel that God really has shown me what it is to truly walk and live in the Holy Spirit. I felt closer to God in the last week after the fast than I have all semester, possibly closer than I’ve ever felt.

Then, a week later, I had a talk with one of my close friends about a family issue that I was facing and she gave me some excellent council and insight into the situation and how I needed to approach it. Then after talking about some other things that I had on my mind, her answers to some of my questions allowed me to let go of some things that I think were holding me back from following God with all that I am. With those things now put to rest, I really feel that I am closer to God than I have ever been. I can’t explain how absolutely wonderful it feels to know that God is working in my life, that the creator of the Universe, the almighty God of everything is coming close to me and calling me even closer. It’s absolutely exhilarating. I’m now two weeks away from winter (Christmas) break, and I can’t wait to spend some time totally dedicated to thinking about Christ and what he did for me, about the miracle of his coming into the world and the cost of his call.

It is now my prayer that you, whoever you are, whoever is reading this right now, could feel what I feel right now. Whoever is reading this right now, I want you to know that no matter what you’ve done, no matter how good or bad your life is, no matter if you think you are worthy or not, God wants to know you, and He wants you to know Him. Jesus Christ, the son of God, came into this world and died for our sins, not because he had to, not because that was his purpose, but because He loves YOU and wants to bring YOU into a relationship with God. He did it because he loves you. It doesn’t matter who you are, what you do, what you’ve done, where you live, or how old you are; He wants to know YOU. He loves you more than anything you can imagine, and he wants to know you. Just stop reading for minute and think about this for a moment: Christ Jesus, God, the almighty creator and master of the entire universe wants to know YOU.

If you truly want this, all you need to do is pray (say out loud or in your head) “Jesus, God, I want to know you, show me who you are.” He wants to know you, and he wants you to come to him. The ball is in your court now…

The Parable of the Talents Expanded

I came to Panera Bread here in Manhattan to sit and have a quiet time to read a little in the Word of God (Bible) and relax before my day begins. So I get my orange juice and asiago cheese bagel and go into the back room to get away from the hustle and bustle of the rest of the place. When I sit down, I realize that in the opposite corner of this small back room is a mother nursing here infant while keeping an eye on her boy, I’m guessing the boy was about 5 or 6 years old. So I think to myself, great, I’ve come for some quiet time and I choose to sit in the same room as the obnoxious kid. But as I try to ignore the scene and fail, I hear the situation that is playing out across the room. The little boy is crawling all over the mother, the mother tells him repeatedly to stop, and after ignoring her instruction, she tells him, “You know what, I think we’re not going to go to Target.” You might think this is a rather random response, but something important just happened there. I’m going to infer from that comment and the boy’s response that she had told the little boy that they were going to go to Target where he was going to receive something that he wanted. Only first they were going to go to Panera for some breakfast. I don’t know if this is exactly what happened, I’m just guessing based on what I heard. Anyway, the point is he was given an opportunity to have something good, but because of his misbehavior, he lost that opportunity. I can relate to this situation because as a child, my mother doubtless went through many of these episodes.

What all this is reminding me of is a passage in Matthew that says “For to everyone who has will more be given and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.” This passage comes from Jesus’ parable of the talents which deals plainly with possessions, namely money. But we can apply the lesson learned to many areas of life. This little boy at Panera could have had a nice trip to Target for something desirable, but because he had no self-control (good behavior) his trip to Target was taken away. He was given an opportunity, but not respecting it or being mindful of it, his opportunity was taken away. I think this scenario exists between us as Christians and God as well. God, no doubt has all manner of good things prepared to throw our way, but because of our lack of self control to follow his instructions that he repeatedly gives us, we lose some of those things he has prepare for us, or at least postpones their coming. As children of God, Christians have the promise of every good thing, but because of our lack of self-control (good behavior) we are denied these things because we are not ready for the responsibility that these things carry.

Pork Chops, Jolly Ranchers, & Slim Jims

Last night my bible study and I went out to the lake to hang out and chat about God and life, but mostly to play in the campfire. But while we were out there, we had an interesting discussion about following God. It started with a passage the book of John, John 10:3-5, which says,

To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.

This led to a discussion about whether a particular situation is truly the call of the Good Shepherd, or the voice of a stranger. The line between the two got pretty fuzzy at times, and from that discussion, I have derived a metaphor for such situations.

A pork chop is a very good thing. When cooked correctly, a sliver of pork loin is one of the most delicious meals one can find. It is wholesome (meaning it contains stuff your body needs), it’s natural and un-tampered-with (with the exception of seasoning and cooking), and it is satisfying. After you have eaten a pork chop, you can sit back and say to yourself, “self, I’m glad I ate that pork chop because now I am no longer hungry and my body can use most of what I just ate to grow and move and live. Eating that pork chop was a good decision.” Unless you’ve over-indulged, you can feel good about ingesting a cooked piece of pig.

On the other hand, a Jolly Rancher is not as good in the sense that the pork chop is good. It does taste good, but that’s about it. When you eat a Jolly Rancher, you taste the sugar and other various things that are contained within, but after you’ve finished it, that’s it, your experience with that little piece of candy is finished. It’s not wholesome, it doesn’t contain much if any nutrients or other resources that your body can use, it doesn’t satisfy, it’s most definitely not a naturally occurring object. You’ll never find a Jolly Rancher farm, or a Jolly Rancher orchard. The only thing that the Jolly Rancher has going for it is the fact that it is good while you’re eating it. But after that, it has nothing.

If you haven’t picked up on the analogy yet, I’ll lay it out. If you have, good deal, but I’m going to lay it out anyway. The call of God, or the Good Shepherd, is like the pork chop. It is good, it is good for you, it is what we were meant to follow, and it is satisfying. The call of the stranger is like the Jolly Rancher; it may be good while you’re experiencing it, but it’s not good for you, it’s not what we were made for, and it doesn’t satisfy.

This is all pretty straight forward. But if life were always this straight forward, no one would ever have any trouble at all deciphering what is and isn’t the call of the Good Shepherd, but the fact is, it’s not that simple. People have trouble in some areas determining if what they are ‘hearing’ is the Good Shepherd’s voice or the stranger’s voice because there are more things out there than just pork chops and Jolly Ranchers.

Take for instance Slim Jims. If you don’t know what a Slim Jim is, it’s a ‘stick’ of processed meat product (or byproduct, I'm not sure which), that is meant to taste like barbeque or some other kind of seasoned meat. A Slim Jim is derived from natural products (meat), and it has some nutritional value. But it also was made through artificial means; it has a cocktail of preservatives and other unnatural agents in it. It tastes good, and has the potential to fill a person up (if you ate a large plate full of Slim Jims, you would be filled by those), so it can be satisfying, although not the healthiest thing in the world. But that’s not what it’s meant for, it’s meant for short term pleasure, not lasting. We see here that it has characteristics of both the pork chop and the Jolly Rancher. This is where things get a little fuzzy.

Given these three options (pork chops, Jolly Ranchers, and Slim Jims), if you are hungry, the best choice is obviously the pork chop. But sometimes we don’t have a pork chop where we are at. But Slim Jims are pretty much available everywhere. At almost every store you go into, you would be able to find a Slim Jim. The same could be said about a Jolly Rancher (or some facsimile there of). But the Slim Jim is a better choice for nourishment than the Jolly Rancher. But just because the Slim Jim is better then the Jolly Rancher doesn’t mean that it’s what is best for us. It may be better (and is definately better for us) to wait to satisfy our hunger when we can gain access to a pork chop. Instead of searching out a short term fix to our need, a better solution would be to practice patience and wait until the opportunity to eat a pork chop arises.

If you haven’t followed me this far, I’ll lay it out again; if you have, good deal, but I’m still going to lay it out. We’ve already established that the pork chop is the Good Shepherd, and the Jolly Rancher is the stranger, but what about the Slim Jim? The Slim Jim has redeeming qualities, it is possibly derived from a pork chop, but is not a pork chop. We might taste some of the pork chop in the Slim Jim, but it doesn’t taste or satisfy like a pork chop. So, what is it? The Slim Jim is still the stranger. Shocked? Don’t be. Anything that isn’t the Good Shepherd is a stranger. Even if they have some aspects of the Good Shepherd, they are not the Good Shepherd. Only the pork chop is the Good Shepherd. Some good may come from the Slim Jim stranger, but not nearly as much as the pork chop Good Shepherd.

I think many people get led astray by the Slim Jim. They’ve never tasted the pork chop, just read or heard about it (if that), and when they taste the Slim Jim, they recognize a part of the pork chop in it and say to themselves, “I think I can taste pork chop in this, this is what I need.” But in reality, it’s only the Jolly Rancher masquerading as a pork chop to deceive those who don’t know what it is to truly be satisfied by the pork chop. And it leads many down the wrong path.

If you’ve never tasted the pork chop, or aren’t sure if you have or haven’t, ask God for a taste. Pray, “God, I need to taste the pork chop, I’m tired of Jolly Ranchers and Slim Jims. I need the real deal.” God wants nothing more than for you to be satisfied by the pork chop.