Recentering

Have you ever gone on a hike and used a compass? Perhaps you're a pilot and you need to fly at a certain bearing? Imagine that you look at your compass or bearing once at the beginning of your journey, but neglect to check yourself along the way. You likely would end up way off your intended mark. I want to take this time to recenter myself, check the bearings, etc.

I read recently that message is important but often lacks effectiveness if presented poorly. Posture is essential for gaining trust and credibility. I could have spouted off all the "content" of my faith, and cognitively explained why what I believe is important, but who am I to speak with any authority regarding things of the faith.

I should respect you, the reader, enough to allow you to get to know me well enough to begin to trust me as credible because you see me and the impact Christ has on my life. That speaks volumes more than just rambling off sermons.

So that is my intent for this blog entry. I'm going to share a little about me.

I started going to church and getting excited about God in junior high. I was impressionable and seeking acceptance, and the youth group I attended with friends had the cool college aged leaders to provide that sense of belonging I craved. I can see how one can deconstruct this experience and chalk it up to identity confusion and peer pressure for why I became a Christ follower, but there's more to it. This message of the gospel was that with God in my life, ever-present and transformative as I allow Him, I would find meaning to life with Him, experience real joy, guidance and comfort for hard times, and life eternal with God. Jesus provided the way to all this as I believe in Him. I tried to fake it, acting like a Christian, doing the Christian things, but after several months of going through the motions, I actually got the sense from God that He wanted more from me... an actual relationship. He wanted my heart. He wanted to be Lord, to have actual control over my heart, mind, soul and life, because He alone could manage it properly.

This is important. I still take back control of my life. It makes me feel horrible to this day. I don't know if you can relate, but it is exhausting trying to manage one's life and remain afloat, let alone making progress toward the harbor. I suck at it, and have found the most success and joy in life when I have surrendered my will to His, and enjoyed His control of things. There is such an incredible peace when I do this, I wish everyone could know it... It's just scary because it requires giving up control. The ironic part, however, is that what control people think they have is usually just an illusion, as their sinful nature tends to draw people closer and closer to the whirlpool's center. It's never to late though...

Back to my story.

I continued to do the Christian thing all the way through high school. I learned a lot. Scripture started to make its way into my psyche. You just think Scripture after years of reading it. I like this a lot. College years were tough because God wanted to break some of the perceptions I had of Him that were wrong. I thought God was very limited and small functionally. I only thought I could experience Him through music praise songs, sermons and the Bible. I hit a crisis of faith, seriously considering changing the entire trajectory of my life (to a non-Christian one) because I felt all I knew and experienced of God was imagined.

God showed back up in an incredible way for me. My first personal miracle. He told some neighbor to tell me to read a Bible passage, which when I did, I turned immediately to (no bookmark), and the passage applied directly to my confused, desperate heart, wondering where God was (Psalm 77). I believed in God again and He taught me that He's bigger than I made Him out to be, and He's personally invested in my life. I never realized these things before God taught me them through this cool experience.

Since then, I've dabbled in pursuing God more and trying to become a leader. This has looked different at different times. I was the President of Peer Counseling in college. I was promoted at work to be the Team Leader of my shift working with troubled youth. I am now in Seminary working on my Master's in Christian Studies to become a church consultant/missionary/church planter/pastor of sorts. It's slow going, as most things are. It's even discouraging at times when I look too closely at particular moments and have spiritual myopia. When I look at where I started and where I am now, I can see God's faithfulness in getting me through and transforming me into His likeness (the full image of God in humanity).

My most recent "project" for myself and my growth, related to becoming a leader, is to grow comfortable and capable in communicating and interacting with others, so that they may see how my life is changed and desire the same for their lives. Some call this evangelism. I like to think of it as not letting my fears and insecurities get in the way of being who I really am. I'm still in process, but I can experience positive, glorious transformation when I remain connected with my God. He has shown Himself to be faithful and able to do this in me.

My hope and prayer, is that you all can see the growth and transformation in me, recognize it as true life, and hunger for it as I do. I am more than willing to walk along you when you see its value and are ready to try it out. God's going to be the one to do the work, but for some crazy reason, God enjoys including His children in the work. I enjoy it too.

Who Are We?

I should start from the beginning. After all, for some, that's where we will end.

Genesis 1:26-28 says,

"Then God said, 'Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.' God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. God blessed them; and God said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.'"

So both man and woman are made in the image of God. If my seminary education hasn't failed me, I believe the Hebrew word here for "image" is the same (or at least the same root) word used to express the term "idol." So we are like a statue that resembles a real person. We are like what God is like. We are representations of God in our inherent nature and character. And we are to rule creation with power and authority.

Except things aren't that way anymore. The introduction of sin changed things. We call it the Fall. Perhaps we call it "the Fall" because it reminds us of how a 3rd of the angels "fell from grace" and had their natures changed, now corrupted and contrary God's ways; they're demons now. When Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit, the consequence was a "falling from grace," no longer allowed in the garden and now aware of both good and evil.

I intend to discuss in greater detail the nature and implications of a sinful nature when I teach on the "What Is the Problem?" For now, however, I bring up our current state because in a very important way it provides information on the state so crucial in understanding who we are. Let me elaborate.

Before the Fall, humanity was absolutely dependent on God, but that's not bad. It sounds bad but it's not. Existence did not make sense apart from the Fellowship of our Creator. God was our life-source and power; our nature of being image bearers was that we reflected God's glory as we communed with Him. We know this because Genesis says that Adam and Eve walked and talked with God (Gen 3:8-9). In fact, even after the Fall, God continued to fellowship with a few of His children. "Enoch walked with God three hundred years..." (Gen 5:22) and "Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his time; Noah walked with God" (Gen 6:9).

As time progressed, and people continued to exercise their "independence" from God, humanity became more and more corrupt and lost. Sort of like how a teenager, raging with hormones and uncharted emotions is "lost," that's how humanity devolved.

It's important to comprehend where we came from and how we are now, for it is this slip into depravity that frames God's love. There is a passage that distinguishes two camps: Those who are vessels of wrath and those who are vessels of mercy. This is found in Romans 9, one of the hardest passages for people to deal with because this language is frightening and difficult to understand. Essentially, it says that God is the one who determines who will be saved. Belief in Christ is needed for sure; but belief is impossible apart from God empowering the person to have it. This is what we call election or predestination. When Christians say they believe in free will, in the vast majority of cases, they mean that God opens up salvation to everyone, and it is the person's choice which they choose. This position is not supported by Scripture, which is why Romans 9 is so difficult for many. (Please see John Piper's sermons on this passage. This issue often raises doubts on God's goodness, as it seems He is being unfair and heartless as to who is saved or not. Piper does a good job breaking things down as to make sense and elevate God to a place of honor for the way He does things, a most difficult task considering the issue at hand. They can be found here. Listen to dates 11/3/02 - 11/17/02, 12/01/02 - 12/15/02, 01/12/03, 02/02/03, etc. Just follow the next section of Scripture. They will skip a bit - not strictly sequential).

I had to bring that up because it sheds light on the reality of our situation. There are some who are vessels of wrath, where they will feel the weight of God's condemnation because of their disobedience. Then there are those who are vessels of mercy, where God will relent and spare them when they receive Christ's protection. Ephesians 5:8 says it this way: "For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light." That is explains God's love in the context of our states. So if the notion of being a child of disobedience frightens you, good! It should. There is hope though. His name is Jesus. Why don't you take to heart what Hebrews 7:25 says: "Therefore He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them." Remember, God is the one who will make this possible. Don't wait for Him, however. That's where you responsibility comes in. Draw near to God! You will actually be able to if He wills it. And if you actually believe what I've said here in this post and are concerned for your salvation, that's a good sign too. Just do your part. Seek and you will find. Ask and it will be given to you.

Who Is God? Part 2

Last time, I used an analogy of a 2-D stick figure being visited by a 3-D human finger to describe how much more infinitely glorious God is compared to us. We are the stick figures who are incapable of comprehending fully who God is because He is infinitely more... everything: glorious, complex, good, creative, powerful, wise, etc.

I want to continue the analogy only briefly to describe another aspect of God. I'm sure you have heard mention of the Trinity when discussing the nature of God. To use the stick figure analogy, imagine God was compassionate enough to want us to know Him fully. The thing is, if God were only as capable of doing things as much or as well as we humans are capable, God would not be able to reveal Himself fully to us. It would be just like the human sticking its finger through the paper; it would not be a sufficient means to have the stick figures comprehend the human's full nature. Fortunately, God is more capable of doing things than humans are.

Hence, we have God himself becoming a man to reveal Himself to mankind through Jesus. How could God jam all of his essence into a human being and still be God? That I cannot comprehend. But we know He is fully God and fully human because we have Scripture like "For it was the Father's good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him" (Colossians 1:19). If it were not the case, Jesus would not be an adequate mediator and sacrifice for our sin. But now I'm getting ahead of myself. What is important is that Jesus made it possible for us to know God fully when we look upon Him, for Jesus does (and did while on earth) only what He knows the Father to be doing. Jesus did not stray away from participating only in what the Father was doing, thus representing the Father perfectly.

The full revealing and display of God occurred when Jesus died on the cross. This is one of the most missed truths in Christianity. I discussed earlier that God was obsessed with His glory being known and proclaimed to all of creation, and that ultimately all creatures will bow in subjection to Him because there is no other possible response, He is that significant. The cross was the moment where God legitimized His authority and revealed His exact nature, in that He is that humble to die an excruciating and horrible death, bearing all the weight of sin on one who knew not sin until that moment, that He may pay the price and penalty of death when it was not deserved of Him. It was the biggest atrocity of all of time. And everyone will one day understand how appalling an injustice it was one day (hopefully many will understand sooner than later, so that they may be saved). But again, I'm getting ahead of myself, talking about sin. In my original post, before it was unfortunately deleted, I discussed how the ministry of Jesus on earth was proof of God's goodness, creativity, worthiness, etc. I hope by now you can understand why. God did a lot by coming down to our level to make connection possible for us. Our connectedness to Him will be essential in our ultimate fate, which will be explored more in the posts to come.

I think I will skip explaining the third part of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, until explaining the issue of our response. So next, you can expect to learn more about who we are in all of this.

Until then, feel free to ask questions, share comments or rebuttals. All discussion is welcome.

Who Is God? Part 1

One of the most essential components of the gospel is the truth of who God is. I'd like to start by presenting an analogy for God.

Imagine you draw a series of stick-figure pictures to present a story. The characters are elementary, as they are “trapped” on a 2-dimensional surface. They have no concept of depth. In fact, imagine more, as if you can experience what they do. As you look around, you see a line that fluxuates in length. It would be a pretty limited and frustrating experience. Imagine you, as a 3-D human, could “penetrate” the stick-figure world. You stick your finger “through the page,” penetrating their plane of existence. What would they see? How what they experience a 3-D finger in a 2-D world? If you think about it, they would see a dot just appear, it would expand into a line segment and as the finger exited the plane, the line segment would shrink in size, return to a point and then disappear.

Can you imagine being a stick-figure, trying to make sense of just the finger, let alone the complexities of the human eye or central nervous system. To the stick-figure, all they saw was this weird fluxuating line segment appear from nothing and disappear. There is no way it could make sense of the true character of you who stepped into their world! The immaculate complexity and impressiveness of the 3-D human to the stick-figure is not at all unlike our experience with God. God is the human and we are the stick-figure.

Of course this analogy breaks down, because as humans, we lack the ability to know how to transform the life of the stick-figure and make it 3-D, living and functional. God has that ability with us, to transform us into a remarkable and glorious being. Now I’m getting ahead of myself.

Once you begin to grasp how infinitely fantastic and glorious the LORD is, that his character compared to us is unmatched, then you can begin to see there is much benefit and blessing we as his creation can experience when He “penetrates” our world. We cannot conjure the “finger of God” into our realm. There is no controlling God or forcing His hand. He alone is sovereign and will do as He sees fit.