Introspection

God loves us so much. He is such a good Daddy. If one were to compare His love for us His children to my love for my children you would probably send me to prison!

• I lose patience so easily...He is the God who has waited 2000 years for His people to recognize His Son as their Savior.


• I readily put my desires and wants (let alone my needs!) ahead of others...God planned from the beginning of time to give up His Son to death for me.


• I let the faintest slights and wrongs infuriate and aggravate me...God casts my sins away as far as the east is from the west, repeatedly.


• When I actually do something good I try to make sure everyone knows it...God labors in love with no recognition, though He is the Creator and Sustainer of ALL things and is worthy of all praise and adoration.

A little introspection has proven useful to me today. It has drawn me closer to the nature of the Lord. But it does hurt a little.

Reconciliation

At a recent Bible study we read some verses that I had read before (they were underlined in my Bible and had some vague notes scribbled near them); but this time they jumped off the page like never before. They seemed to answer a question that has always floated around in the back, and sometimes the front, of my mind. The question is: "Now that I am saved, what now?"

It is a huge question with an even larger array of answers. It is a question that looms over the parking lots of the great Billy Graham and Harvest Crusades as thousands, who minutes before surrendered their lives to Jesus, head to their cars. It echoes in the confines of their Hondas, Fords, and Chevys as they meander home. It whispers to them as they trudge back to their lives and their jobs and their families. And for many, oh so sadly, it often goes unanswered. They either quickly stop asking the question or don't know where to search for the true answers. A frustrated few may get overloaded with answers from well-meaning, over-exuberant Christians. God's Word, the Bible, is indeed full of such answers. (A cute little acronym for B.I.B.L.E. is: Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth.) Some, I am sure, don't like the answers. Others will get seduced and manipulated by those offering another path. And thankfully, a very few will truly surrender to God and wait on His answer as they search His Word.
I will not pretend to fully know or understand the answer. But these verses, I believe, do provide a part of it:
2Corinthians 5:17-20 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God.

So, what is this ministry of reconciliation? Reconciliation is defined as: 1) exchange [of the business of money changers, exchanging equivalent values]; 2) adjustment of a difference, restoration to favour, to unite, to make one. By His death, Jesus reconciled us to the Father. He exchanged His perfection for our sin. When God looks at us (His believing children) He does not see low-life sinners; He only sees Jesus. This reconciliation is His love for us in action.
Once we are saved and become that new creation in Christ, we are given our marching orders: enter into the same ministry of reconciliation. God reconciled the world through Jesus; and now He uses us! We are His ambassadors! We have the keys to His Kingdom! We must love the world in the same way that Jesus did. He forgave, consistently and eternally. He had compassion because He cared more for others than Himself. He cared for all men, not esteeming or judging one man over another. He taught others about His Father; and the words of His teachings were fully backed by His actions. There is no greater love than for a man to lay down his life for his friends; and Jesus did just that and more...He died for His friends, for His enemies, for strangers, and for all men of all times.
This exact same ministry is the one we are called to; and it scares me. I can hardly believe that God calls me to such an important part of His work. I know that the government has strict qualifications for its ambassadors and there are only a few of them; God requires that all of His citizens become ambassadors for Him! Wow. And our main purpose is to unite all men to Him in peace. I can't help but think that my own perceived purposes in life are not quite correct. And that I don't come close to carrying them out correctly either!

But God loves me; and He is waiting, even now, for me to come to Him and obey. I just have to decide. He will handle the rest.

Writer's cramp

Deu 17:18 "Also it shall be, when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write for himself a copy of this law in a book, from the one before the priests, the Levites. And it shall be with him, and he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the LORD his God and be careful to observe all the words of this law and these statutes, that his heart may not be lifted above his brethren, that he may not turn aside from the commandment to the right hand or to the left, and that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his children in the midst of Israel."

Have any of you ever tried or attempted this? Have you ever written a copy of the Word for yourself? I wrote the first chapter of Genesis and it took about an hour and a half. My little children were very curious as to what I was doing! Take away distractions (...very difficult for many of us!!) and I would venture to say that you could write the average chapter in an hour. Psalm 119 may take a little bit longer!
So, at an hour a day, with 1189 chapters in the Bible, it will take you about 3 years and 3 months to complete your own copy of the Bible. Intrigued? Challenged? I am.


Jos 8:32-35 And there, in the presence of the children of Israel, he [Joshua] wrote on the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he had written. Then all Israel, with their elders and officers and judges, stood on either side of the ark before the priests, the Levites, who bore the ark of the covenant of the LORD, the stranger as well as he who was born among them. Half of them [were] in front of Mount Gerizim and half of them in front of Mount Ebal, as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded before, that they should bless the people of Israel. And afterward he read all the words of the law, the blessings and the cursings, according to all that is written in the Book of the Law. There was not a word of all that Moses had commanded which Joshua did not read before all the assembly of Israel, with the women, the little ones, and the strangers who were living among them.

Discipline

Athletes are disciplined. They workout religiously, often with creative and wild techniques.
Top-level students are disciplined. They study like zealots.
Vegetarians and vegans are disciplined. They eat very restricted diets, with no exception.
Soldiers are disciplined. Marines even more so.
People in recovery try very hard to be disciplined. They do what they have to to avoid relapse.
Christians are...who am I kidding!! I am ashamed to even call myself by the name of the Lord and Savior of this world. Forgive me Lord. Strengthen me with Your disciplines.

Wise Guys

After the wise men bestowed their gifts on Jesus they went home. They were warned to avoid King Herod in a divinely appointed dream and they obeyed. I wonder, though, how the rest of their lives played out...?

Their long journey and expedition had come to a glorious and wild end. Their worship of the King of kings was clouded by political intrigue. And now, having triumphantly fulfilled their quest, they were headed home...while the baby Jesus headed the opposite direction to Egypt to avoid Herod's bloodthirsty rage. I wonder if they would have rather stayed with and protected the new baby Messiah?

Years of studying, of calculating, and of craning their necks skyward had led them to the single most dramatic discovery of the natural world (http://www.bethlehemstar.net/). And now it was over. I wonder if they returned to their lives and were pulled into the busy-ness of their old routines; or did they ponder the outcome of that little baby Jesus and his Jewish parents?

I wonder what effect Jesus has had, does have, and will have on my life?

Surfs Up

Just bought and watched Soul Surfer. I watched it in the theatres and loved it. The special features on the DVD made it a good buy.

After watching it, I am in awe at the way God works. Bethany Hamilton is, by all accounts, a brave, strong, Christian young woman. When that shark took her arm, though, she was a thirteen year old girl! She was 13!! She was also nearing the top of a sport that is known for its bikini-clad babes and adrenaline junkie men. The surfing world she lived in was far removed from the praise-filled halls of most Christian churches. Spiritually, it was a fairly dark world...and God was about to light it up!!
Bethany faced a test from God that was tough. God could have very well stopped that shark; He could have done a million things to keep it from biting her arm off. But He didn't. And in short order He was able to reveal a small sliver of His plan. Bethany would be assaulted by nearly every media agency in the world...and she gently brought the name of Jesus to every one of them. That little girl became a light in the dark world she surfed in. And, thus far, seems to have remained centered on the Lord. I pray she remains so!

In Bible College I took a course on the book of Matthew and noted over and over again the power and wonder of Jesus' ministry. I recently studied through Acts and saw the same awesomeness in Paul's ministry. A reoccurring question of mine is: Where is that awesomeness now? And the answer I believe to be the right one is this: There are very few Bethany Hamilton's out there. Let me explain...
Should the aforementioned awesomeness descend on me I would most likely not have the humility, pureness of heart, or love for Jesus to give Him all the glory. I would be seduced and tempted to keep some of the glory for myself.
This is why it was so inspiring to watch a young 13-year old surfer girl from Hawaii overcome tragedy and go on MTV and proclaim her love for Jesus. Wow. I love seeing how God worked in her life.

Create in me a clean heart, O Lord. And renew a right spirit within me.

Change

Thought I would redecorate a little bit. Hope you like the new layout, different colors, and pretty picture. I think I do. I know I like the picture. Just staring at it makes me feel better. It brings back all those great feelings I have had on similiar beaches. Just think, Heaven should be just like that...a constant wash of good!

Beans

This came across my path this week:

Get a bag of red beans and a bag of white beans. Pinto and lima work great. Split them up between you and someone who you are trying to love better (husband and wives, brothers and sisters, friends, coworkers). Each of you will get a pile of red and white beans.

Every time you say something encouraging, complimentary, and positive to the other person they get to give you a white bean. Every time you criticize, speak negatively, or utter any discouraging word then you get a red bean. You could even do this with another couple and make a competition out of it! You will be training yourself to be "nice"...and you might learn something about yourself. "A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks." (Luke 6:45)

Jesus set the example in this matter. He never spoke anything that could be examined in the light and found to be worthy of a red bean. "But they could not catch Him in His words in the presence of the people. And they marveled at His answer and kept silent." (Luke 20:26)

The game is afoot!

Salvation

Ephesians 2:8-10 "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; [it is] the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them."

There is a pretty simple theology of salvation in this verse that was made stunningly clear to me this week. I have always felt overburdened by the enormity of "salvation". A friend of mine who went to Bible college spent a whole semester and read numerous dissertations concerning this core aspect of Christianity. And you would think that all professing Christians would be united in their understanding of God's salvation. But I digress...back to my moment of clarity this past week.

The above verse seems to define salvation as a 3-part process: "...by grace...through faith...unto good works..." It occurred to me that Christians adhere to one part, or a combination of parts, or place emphasis on one part over another.

Salvation starts with grace. We don't deserve it; we in fact deserve quite the opposite. This show of love from our God must remain at the forefront of our thoughts. We have to believe it. Guilt, rationality, logic, and culture will rail against our faith in God's grace. The end result of our faith in His love is a life lived doing His will. This is expressed through the good works we are so blessed to have the opportunity to do.

We don't start with works and try to earn our way to God. We don't carry on with faith devoid of action. We don't ever forget God's grace.

"...by grace...through faith...unto good works..."

Judges 18

Such a sad, sad story. The tribe of Dan is about to inherit their portion of the land given them by God. Like a child on his birthday, they are about to open God's special present to them. But from the very first they go astray; and never return to the Lord. They remain steeped in their sin until the Captivity!! They take the present from God, slap Him in the face, turn their backs on Him, and then go and adopt their own idea of God.

I, like King David in Psalm 69:18, cry out to the Lord: "Draw near to my soul, redeem it; Deliver me because of my enemies." I sure don't want to be like Dan! Yet it is amazing how easy I can.

Revelation 7 includes a specific listing of how the special 144,000 will be divided up amongst the tribes of Israel. Two tribes are omitted from this list; Dan is one (Ephraim the other). I wonder if their longstanding rebellion against God is the cause for this omission...hmmm.