“The greatest sorrow and burden you can lay on the Father, the greatest unkindness you can do to him, is not to believe that he loves you.” John Owens “Communion with God”
It is going on five years since I have given my life over to Christ. The more that I learn, the more I understand, the more my faith grows in Jesus Christ. One of the things that I have struggled with over my time as a Christian is that God not only, so LOVED the world, but He so loved me, that he gave His only begotten Son… (John 3:16).
I have spent most of my life isolated from the world. Only in the last 5 years or so have I really started being a bit more social. I am not very good at relationships. I am not very good at having people close to me, I struggle on how to do relationships. In a lot of ways I am very immature when it comes to dealing with people. In a word I tend to be a misanthrope, far easier to avoid and hate everyone, than have to deal with people. It is hard enough for me now to believe that I have such quality people in my life. It is even harder for me to believe that these people would befriend, and even go further to love me and call me brother.
Though I have been a Christian for the last five years I could never wrap my mind around the fact that God loved me. Just like in my relationship with people I always take the cynical route. I just couldn’t believe for any reason that God really wanted me to be part of the Kingdom. I could certainly see why God loved others, but never could understand how he could me. I often sabotage myself to fulfill the self-proclaimed “prophesy”. Sometimes even sinning, just to thumb my nose at God, and to try to put up another barrier between God and myself. To be loved has always scared me.
Coming face to face with the “burning heart” of God has destroyed all pretense that the Love of God is only for those who are better than me. God’s Word says that in love he predestined us for adoption before the foundation of the world. God knows exactly who and what I am. He knows how I am going to succeed and how I am going to fail. He chose me anyway. He didn’t choose me because of who I am, but because of who He is. Though I am not a very good Christian, a slow learner, I want to live a life that honors and glorifies God. I want to learn to be holy and be sanctified and transform from one degree of glory to another.
It is through His promises that he makes out his great, passionate, steadfast love that sustains us on the trail of holiness. Even as I struggle through some of my darkest times of depression, His love is a beacon in the darkness.
His love has brought me from death to life, and if you let Him, He will do the same for you!
In the book bearing his name, God introduces Job to Satan in an incredible way (Job 1:8 ESV). And the only thing Satan could do is agree with God and suggest that the reason why Job is blameless and upright is because God puts a hedge around him. Job’s reputation was well earned especially after God through Satan put him to the test. When push came to shove after losing everything including his health Job kept his faith and got it mostly right. God did have to straighten Job out on several things, but in the end Job learned even more who God is and why he should fear God (Job 42).
How many other people in the Bible could God introduce in the way He introduced Job? How many men living today could be introduced that way? My guess is not many. Job was the gold standard of men, in the time he lived and even to this day.
This brings me to the cross, because I know that without Christ’s death God could only see me as an enemy. I know full well how sinful and terrible of a person I am. It is only through the blood of Christ that God could see me as someone worth considering, as a servant, and even a son. It is not through who or what I am, but through God’s loving plan the God would even deign to look at me, let alone adopt me as His son.
I have not written in my blog for a long time. There have been a few reasons for that lack of writing. None of them good.
The biggest reason is that I have been lazy. It takes time and effort to write.
When I sin, I feel like I have no right to write anything especially about God’s Word
Intimidation. I am privileged at my church to study and work with people who have great minds, who sometimes listening to them makes my head hurt. I think that I have to write and think on their level. I am not smart enough to be the next John Piper, CJ Mahaney, or Craig Muri.
I might be wrong about something and someone will think less of me. I have people who I admire and respect read this blog and do not want to be looked at as stupid.
So why do I blog?
It started off with the fact that I use to like to write and every once in a while I was able to write coherently.
It helps me think through things.
It is a way, maybe just maybe I can reach out to someone.
Why start again this year?
Help me think through new Biblical and life concepts that I am learning. Reading and studying through the Bible and trying to live a holy life it is not enough to just read and listen, you need to interact and wrestle with the text from the Bible and try to integrate concepts into your life.
Help me learn to communicate more clearly.
To possibly learn from others. Instead of being wrong, I will get a chance to learn.
My goal is to write at least two blog entries each month. With the hope of doing blog posting at least once a week. I am hoping that as I write I am able to wrestle and learn things that will help me become closer to the image of Christ. My hope is through His help that I am able to write things that are God glorifying.
Today is the first day of a New Year. It is all shiny and new. It is a new beginning. How appropriate it is to start reading the bible from the beginning.
“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness.” (Genesis 1:1-4 ESV)
God calls the light out of the darkness and so begins the shaping of the world. After the six days of creation the world was all shiny and new. It was pure uncorrupted and undamaged, kind of like the year seems to us as the calendar turns from December 31 to January 1.
As I read this morning the first three chapters of Genesis, I wanted to luxuriate myself in the Creation Story and the newly God created earth. I really struggled to start reading chapter 3 of Genesis. I wanted to read more about what it was like to live in Eden and to be able to walk in the garden with God, to live in the newness of the world.
I am always surprised how quickly the fall comes in the Bible. It seems that as soon as man was created we fell. First two chapters talking about God creating the world and mankind, the very next thing is our pride got better of us. It seems that paradise wasn’t enough for us.
The same will happen with our shiny New Year. Suffering, tragedy and sin will start invading and corrupting our new year, if it hasn’t already started happening.
If I ended here this would be a very depressing blog post…
Genesis is the beginning of the Bible, but not necessarily the beginning of the story. The story begins in eternity past with an all knowing, sovereign God knowing full well, what will happen when he created the earth, and created man in His image. This sovereign God knowing exactly what he is going to do.
The fall is not the ending of the story, but the beginning. The fall is one of the most important events of the Bible, but in some ways it is just the back story of what is to come both in the Bible and the world. The fall is the beginning point of a story of How God is going to save and redeem His people and His creation.
The world may seem like it is in chaos and completely out of control, but there is a God who is in perfect control of everything. This year as I read through the Bible I pray that I will get to know more of who God is (Exodus 34:6) and be assured by both the things he has done and the things (John 3:16*) he has promised to do (Micah 7:8-9*)
*There are numerous examples of who God is, what God has done, and what he has promised. I just chose the ones in my thoughts today.
On Wednesday night in our prayer challenge we were challenged with some verses out of Hosea. One of the verses that caught my eye (not the verse which we were being challenged with) was the first part of this verse: “The more they increased, the more they sinned against me; I will change their glory into shame.” (Hosea 4:7 ESV).
Israel at this time had grown in number, riches and prosperity. The more that God allowed them to increase the more they sinned against him.
Contrast that to what John the Baptist said: “He must increase, but I must decrease.”” (John 3:30 ESV)
I wonder if John the Baptist was thinking of this verse in Hosea when he said this to his disciples about Jesus.
Anyone who has been in my “room” knows I have several verses up on my wall. Last night I read about Jeremiah 5:22 and this morning on my wall I saw Isaiah 41:10
“Do you not fear me? declares the LORD. Do you not tremble before me?” (Jeremiah 5:22 ESV)
“Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” (Isaiah 41:10 ESV)
Fear and worry is one of those things that comes with depression and probably a consequence of the lifestyle I lived and most likely a consequence of life in general. Fear is certainly not a pleasant thing and the bible in general tells us very explicitly not to fear.
Doing a word search in the ESV for the words “Do not fear” it comes up with 37 hits in 35 verses.
It is interesting to me that close to a hundred times the Bible tells us not to fear about our lives. And yet most of us spend all our time fearing and worrying about all the things we are not suppose to fear. When we worry or fear we are not trusting God. Though there is ONE thing we are suppose to fear and that is God himself.
In a simple search of the Bible it tells us to fear the Lord as many times as it says not to fear anything else. Maybe we need to take some time and fear and give reverence, honor and glory to the Lord instead of worrying and having fear for the world.
Quoting from the New International Encyclopedia of Bible Words. Fear of the Lord. This religious fear, or awe, is God’s answer to the ordinary fears that master human beings. Such fear is reverence for God. We who fear God recognize him as the ultimate reality, and we respond to him. Fear of God is called the “beginning of knowledge” (Pr 1:7), meaning that taking God into account is the foundation of a disciplined and holy life (Pr 1:3; cf. Ge 20:11; Ps 36:1-4). To fear God means to reject every competing deity and to serve him only (Dt 6:13). Fear of the Lord is expressed by walking in all his ways, by loving him, and by serving him with all our heart and soul (Dt 10:12; Job 1:1; Ps 128:1). While fear of God is closely linked with morality and with obedience to God’s commands, it is also freeing. To fear God means to recognize him as Creator and to know that his plans stand firm forever (Ps 33:8-11). God has a special concern for all who fear him (vv. 18-19; cf. Ps 31:19; 34:9). Thus those who fear God can say with the psalmist, “We wait in hope for the LORD; he is our help and our shield. In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name. May your unfailing love rest upon us, O LORD, even as we put our hope in you” (Ps 33:20-22).
Maybe it is time we realign our fears to focus on the one biblically correct fear. What tricks do you use to deal with your fears of the world and help you to realign them to focus on God?
Last night I wrote a blog entry that I am pretty sure no one really understood. Well that is okay. I can live with that. Most people don’t understand what I am thinking about anyway…
The point of yesterdays blog is that EVERYTHING God does is of such a huge scope that it should blow us away. I think most of us understand how bad the wrath and disapproval of sin and where that is going to lead. But do we understand the greatness of God’s love for us?
The love that God has for us is of a scope beyond our comprehension. For someone like me, who is only beginning to learn to love, learning to know what it means to be loved by friends and church family, that is scary enough as it is. All of our attempts to love each other combined in comparison to His is like a thimble full of love in comparison to His Universe full of Love which is lavished upon us (1John 3:1 ESV; I like the NIV version better) undeserved rebellious people who deserves the worst of punishments. We love, both God and others because God loved us first (1John 4:19 ESV). God’s love is as intimate as a loving father (Romans 8:15 and Hebrews 12:7,8,11) and big enough to save the world, not only the world today, but those 2000 years ago and into the future until Christ comes again (John 3:16-17)
I hope that we never become jaded enough where we the Love of God becomes a ho-hum experience. I hope we all, those that are still experiencing the newness and those who have grown up being loved by family, church and God, are still blown away at how incomprehensible God’s love for us is. I pray that when people think about God’s love, that it is not just a nice little reminder, but that it is a knee dropping, take your breath away, God praising experience.
Please tell me what part of God’s love takes your breath away and drops you to your knees in praise to God.
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