Tis' the season to celebrate what God has done. While we celebrate that God has given to us by giving to others, let's not forget why he gave to us.
Let's not forget why his gift is so good.
God's gift of his son was so good because Jesus was an ambassador. Jesus was an ambassador to foreigners who did not know him and who were not know by him.
This is why we are taught that both knowing and being known by God is a big deal. We know God by revelation and God knows us by relationship. These were both made possible through the advent of Christ.
Jesus came to make peace where there was no peace. Jesus came to offer a way when there was no way. He came to grant life where there was only death. This is why the gift of God is amazing, this is why the gospel is such good news.
We were at odds with God, with no way into his presence, and he made a way.
This is why Jesus proclaimed when asked about the way to the Father.
“I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." John 14:6
The awesome gift of God in his Son Jesus was to provide a way to himself.
Paul explains this in detail in Ephesians 2:12-20:
12 remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
This is a reason to gather as family and as Christians at Christmas. Christ not only brings people together, but he gives his people a reason to gather together. He has made us one, he made a people where there was just many individuals.
14 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, 15 by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, 16 and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. 17 He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.
He brings us peace, formerly we did not have peace with God, we did not have peace with fellow man. Jesus came not only to grant us peace with himself but to teach us the way of peace with fellow man. This is part of the Christmas spirit, and the Christian message. The angels announce “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!” Luke 2.
Obviously we do not see the culmination of the many benefits of his coming until Easter but without Christmas there would be no Easter. He had to first come and present himself to the world. As the angel tells Joseph as recorded in Mathew 2.
"She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”'
And thus:
19 Consequently,
you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with
God’s people and also members of his household, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.
So when we are busy trying to complete our gift lists and make it to the parties and squeeze all the busyness of the Christmas season into a few days, remember why we are doing this. It is similar to that passage where it says we love because he first loved us. Likewise we should remember our giving is because he first gave to us, or at least it is supposed to be.
thanks
Wednesday, December 24, 2014
Wednesday, December 17, 2014
Unhostile Takeover
There are some people who have a bit of a problem with the idea of Christmas. Why? Because yes some of the traditions do have some pagan origins.
Some of the symbolism comes from a pagan festival with a pagan god. Some have taken this to mean that we are deceived and our Christian holiday is not so Christian. So some have distanced themselves from the holiday as if it is an affront to God. Some are concerned over the exact dating of the event. Still others may simply want to avoid the commercialism and materialism that veers it's ugly head in full force during this season. The latter may be worth looking into.
But the truth of the matter is that while these things may be true they are not what is celebrated. What is celebrated is what won out. What won out is the Christian tradition, our emphasis.
Try to have Christmas without the song Joy To the World. What Joy to the World would there be without Jesus in the manger. The little town of Bethlehem is know throughout the world as the birthplace of Christ. The power ballad O' Holy Night' continues to challenges and inspire pop stars to this day. These songs tie Christmas to the King.
Christians decided to celebrate the birth of Christ on December 25th to replace the Roman Saturnalia for the winter solstice. A pagan holiday more similar to our current Halloween with a bit of the roman gods thrown in for good measure. But Christians challenged the use of the holiday and made it another occasion to "do this in remembrance of me" as Jesus taught at the last supper.
This is similar to prayers before we eat. For some this tradition can be linked to prayer of protection in pagan rituals. But again we do this as honoring to God our father our provider. We acknowledge him as the one who gives us our sustenance as we were taught to pray in the Lord's Prayer. We redeem meal time. We reflect on God and bring him glory in something as mundane as stuffing our faces.
And the awesome thing is that it worked! We think of God now when we eat. In the same way we now celebrate the 3 wise men instead of Odin or Saturn. We celebrate gift giving for a reason instead of a kidnapping troll. We celebrate the birth of our savior instead of a reversal of societal norms and gambling. We focus on the true God instead of some roman gods. We know the biblical Christmas story instead of the pagan history that I have mentioned here.
Obviously there are songs about Santa as well. But in looking at who he actually was, we learn that he was a great man worth celebrating and in even mimicking.
Sincter Klaas a Ducth man actually did live and he did show love and gratitude to his fellow man because of the great things God has done. He was generous he did give gifts, and he helped those in need. His legend did grow into the Santa Claus we have today. Christmas both for us and for him have never been stripped of the reasoning behind the generosity. We give because he first gave to us.
So celebrating the reason of the season is very important. It is also what we celebrate because of choices made. So let's continue to celebrate Christmas specifically, not just the holidays. Just as music of the season tie Christmas to the King, let us also realize that Christians decided to tie December 25th to Christmas and continue to tie Christmas to the true King.
Let's continue to join with God and be in the business of redeeming things not picketing them.
thanks
Some of the symbolism comes from a pagan festival with a pagan god. Some have taken this to mean that we are deceived and our Christian holiday is not so Christian. So some have distanced themselves from the holiday as if it is an affront to God. Some are concerned over the exact dating of the event. Still others may simply want to avoid the commercialism and materialism that veers it's ugly head in full force during this season. The latter may be worth looking into.
But the truth of the matter is that while these things may be true they are not what is celebrated. What is celebrated is what won out. What won out is the Christian tradition, our emphasis.
Try to have Christmas without the song Joy To the World. What Joy to the World would there be without Jesus in the manger. The little town of Bethlehem is know throughout the world as the birthplace of Christ. The power ballad O' Holy Night' continues to challenges and inspire pop stars to this day. These songs tie Christmas to the King.
Christians decided to celebrate the birth of Christ on December 25th to replace the Roman Saturnalia for the winter solstice. A pagan holiday more similar to our current Halloween with a bit of the roman gods thrown in for good measure. But Christians challenged the use of the holiday and made it another occasion to "do this in remembrance of me" as Jesus taught at the last supper.
This is similar to prayers before we eat. For some this tradition can be linked to prayer of protection in pagan rituals. But again we do this as honoring to God our father our provider. We acknowledge him as the one who gives us our sustenance as we were taught to pray in the Lord's Prayer. We redeem meal time. We reflect on God and bring him glory in something as mundane as stuffing our faces.
And the awesome thing is that it worked! We think of God now when we eat. In the same way we now celebrate the 3 wise men instead of Odin or Saturn. We celebrate gift giving for a reason instead of a kidnapping troll. We celebrate the birth of our savior instead of a reversal of societal norms and gambling. We focus on the true God instead of some roman gods. We know the biblical Christmas story instead of the pagan history that I have mentioned here.
Obviously there are songs about Santa as well. But in looking at who he actually was, we learn that he was a great man worth celebrating and in even mimicking.
Sincter Klaas a Ducth man actually did live and he did show love and gratitude to his fellow man because of the great things God has done. He was generous he did give gifts, and he helped those in need. His legend did grow into the Santa Claus we have today. Christmas both for us and for him have never been stripped of the reasoning behind the generosity. We give because he first gave to us.
So celebrating the reason of the season is very important. It is also what we celebrate because of choices made. So let's continue to celebrate Christmas specifically, not just the holidays. Just as music of the season tie Christmas to the King, let us also realize that Christians decided to tie December 25th to Christmas and continue to tie Christmas to the true King.
Let's continue to join with God and be in the business of redeeming things not picketing them.
thanks
Thursday, December 11, 2014
A Sermon, Blindness and John 9
This is a sermon/talk I gave back in April that I wanted to re-post here simply to have it close by. Some of you may have heard this already. I won't write much about this because this sermon will take about 35 minutes of your time to listen to. If interested take the time to listen to the way God desires us to see him in John 9. He desires us to respond with eyes of faith. Plus there are some good stories of me in there as well.
Friday, December 5, 2014
He Didn't Start the Fire
With my birthday around the corner, I am a year older. I have been thinking about this blog and I realized I have an obvious theme going so far. This year has been so trying. This year has been a challenge. This year has been a time when doubt has crept in and I have felt the squeeze. I am a bit older but I feel a bit weaker in my spirit.
But faith does not grow without a little doubt in the mix. Faith does not grow without a little opposition.
So another year, and more faith for me.
In fact I recently just read a really useful blog post from Douglas Wilson:
"When we have a trouble, and have been praying urgently for deliverance, we should view every day without that deliverance as just another bucket of water on the altar — so that when the fire falls, God will receive greater glory."
Another bucket of water on the altar. He is of course referring to the Elijah incident from first Kings 18. It records that awesome story of God revealing to the people that he was God not the Baals, as the false prophets had proclaimed. Just to emphasize the point that God was there and that he was working, Elijah had many buckets of water to drench the wood that he was going to try and start a fire with. Elijah used twelve buckets of water to cover and soak the offering and the wood, probably to represent the twelve tribes of Israel. One bucket for each tribe that needed to witness the true God.
Drenched wood, doesn't burn.
Elijah made it clear, this is not a fire that he can start. In other words Elijah was making the point that he couldn't prove that God is God. Only God can prove that he is God and in our midst. Only God can reveal himself to his people. Only God can come and rescue in this dark time. Only God can deliver us from evil. Only God can prove himself to be bigger, better, and stronger than the other gods.
My mess is drenched wood. Only God can start the fire.
The hope at the end of the day is that when God finally does let his fire fall his people will give him praise and him only. Elijah prays when he calls down the fire, his prayer that God will display his power.
"So these people will know that you, Lord, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again."
This is similar to what Jesus says when he raises Lazarus from the dead from the gospel of Luke.
“Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42 I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.”
Jesus makes it clear that this is a display of God's power, this is to validate the message. While some may think it harsh that Jesus waits around for Lazarus to die before he comes to save him, it is made obvious that this was to reveal God's power.
Our struggle may just be so that more of God's power can be revealed. I know that this year I am in a place now where I can only hope on God's power. God raises the dead. God lights the fire. Not Elijah, not me.
So in the end I am a year older but perhaps God has caused my faith to grow several.
thanks
But faith does not grow without a little doubt in the mix. Faith does not grow without a little opposition.
So another year, and more faith for me.
In fact I recently just read a really useful blog post from Douglas Wilson:
"When we have a trouble, and have been praying urgently for deliverance, we should view every day without that deliverance as just another bucket of water on the altar — so that when the fire falls, God will receive greater glory."
Another bucket of water on the altar. He is of course referring to the Elijah incident from first Kings 18. It records that awesome story of God revealing to the people that he was God not the Baals, as the false prophets had proclaimed. Just to emphasize the point that God was there and that he was working, Elijah had many buckets of water to drench the wood that he was going to try and start a fire with. Elijah used twelve buckets of water to cover and soak the offering and the wood, probably to represent the twelve tribes of Israel. One bucket for each tribe that needed to witness the true God.
Drenched wood, doesn't burn.
Elijah made it clear, this is not a fire that he can start. In other words Elijah was making the point that he couldn't prove that God is God. Only God can prove that he is God and in our midst. Only God can reveal himself to his people. Only God can come and rescue in this dark time. Only God can deliver us from evil. Only God can prove himself to be bigger, better, and stronger than the other gods.
My mess is drenched wood. Only God can start the fire.
The hope at the end of the day is that when God finally does let his fire fall his people will give him praise and him only. Elijah prays when he calls down the fire, his prayer that God will display his power.
"So these people will know that you, Lord, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again."
This is similar to what Jesus says when he raises Lazarus from the dead from the gospel of Luke.
“Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42 I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.”
Jesus makes it clear that this is a display of God's power, this is to validate the message. While some may think it harsh that Jesus waits around for Lazarus to die before he comes to save him, it is made obvious that this was to reveal God's power.
Our struggle may just be so that more of God's power can be revealed. I know that this year I am in a place now where I can only hope on God's power. God raises the dead. God lights the fire. Not Elijah, not me.
So in the end I am a year older but perhaps God has caused my faith to grow several.
thanks
Thursday, November 27, 2014
Gratitude and Alignment
With Thanksgiving upon us and with some help from my pastor just recently speaking about gratitude, I had something confirmed that I have been thinking about for a hot minute.
Gratitude is simple but hard. I could just stop right there but that wouldn't be worth posting so I will continue. I admit that maybe this is more of an issue for realists/pessimists rather than optimists, but I have found that it is easy for me to look back on my life with gratitude over the difficult things that happened long ago. Sometimes it is hard to weigh the current good over the current bad. It is hard to be grateful when I am overly bothered by the difficult.
Unfortunately bad things sometimes are more memorable than good things, but amazing things are more memorable than all. The problem is I tend to forget the amazing things God has done for me, and I remember the difficult challenging things.
When I do this I fail to apply Paul's message in Philippians. I can do all things through him who gives me strength. This is not a boast for being awesome and getting things done, but a realization that contentment is about focusing on Christ and not on our poor circumstances.
11 Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.12 I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. 13 I can do all things through him who strengthens me.
Thanksgiving is a time to return and look on the good things God has done in our lives, to celebrate them. It unfortunately also reveals how often I simply tend to focus on the bad the other 364 days of the year.
This year God has been impressing on me his activity that I tend to overlook. I needed to recognize God's hand in my life. Further I needed to decide to recognize God's hand in my life. I fail to be grateful when I don't choose to recognize God's hand in my life, which leads to my worship of him to be poor. It is a vicious cycle that ends in bitterness that can be hard to come back from. This year God has invited me to enjoy him again, to look beyond myself and see him.
God has blessed Kimberly and I with Raphael, he is worth celebrating more than just on this day of remembrance. Raphael is a way that God has caused me to celebrate the goodness of God when I can't see a clear sky on a dark day.
Thanksgiving is a time of much needed realignment. Realignment is a much needed practice for gratefulness to take root. This is another reason why Paul calls us to renew our minds in Romans. In my messes God has graciously allowed me to be able to lift my head and say God is good.
So this Thanksgiving think of the things that God has done for you beyond this simple day of celebration, raise your head and say God is good all year long.
thanks
Gratitude is simple but hard. I could just stop right there but that wouldn't be worth posting so I will continue. I admit that maybe this is more of an issue for realists/pessimists rather than optimists, but I have found that it is easy for me to look back on my life with gratitude over the difficult things that happened long ago. Sometimes it is hard to weigh the current good over the current bad. It is hard to be grateful when I am overly bothered by the difficult.
Unfortunately bad things sometimes are more memorable than good things, but amazing things are more memorable than all. The problem is I tend to forget the amazing things God has done for me, and I remember the difficult challenging things.
When I do this I fail to apply Paul's message in Philippians. I can do all things through him who gives me strength. This is not a boast for being awesome and getting things done, but a realization that contentment is about focusing on Christ and not on our poor circumstances.
11 Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.12 I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. 13 I can do all things through him who strengthens me.
Thanksgiving is a time to return and look on the good things God has done in our lives, to celebrate them. It unfortunately also reveals how often I simply tend to focus on the bad the other 364 days of the year.
This year God has been impressing on me his activity that I tend to overlook. I needed to recognize God's hand in my life. Further I needed to decide to recognize God's hand in my life. I fail to be grateful when I don't choose to recognize God's hand in my life, which leads to my worship of him to be poor. It is a vicious cycle that ends in bitterness that can be hard to come back from. This year God has invited me to enjoy him again, to look beyond myself and see him.
God has blessed Kimberly and I with Raphael, he is worth celebrating more than just on this day of remembrance. Raphael is a way that God has caused me to celebrate the goodness of God when I can't see a clear sky on a dark day.
Thanksgiving is a time of much needed realignment. Realignment is a much needed practice for gratefulness to take root. This is another reason why Paul calls us to renew our minds in Romans. In my messes God has graciously allowed me to be able to lift my head and say God is good.
So this Thanksgiving think of the things that God has done for you beyond this simple day of celebration, raise your head and say God is good all year long.
thanks
Thursday, November 20, 2014
Blessed Be
Sometimes God does and sometimes God doesn't, blessed be the name of the Lord.
This can sound like easy Christian speak, but at the end of the day it is all we have. Sometimes when we are counting on God to come through, sometimes, he doesn't. I think of the mindset of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego from Daniel 3, even though God does deliver them out of the flame, they had a mindset that is able to speak faith. A mindset.
16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. 17 If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. 18 But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.”
They acknowledge that God is able to deliver, but despite the outcome they will still serve him. This is also similar to what Job says when he has had his whole world taken from him.
"The Lord has given and the Lord has taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord."
Job had lost everything and he decides to worship. Throughout the course of the book, while reflecting on the matter Job does start to want answers from God, but God never gives them.
This is when the fight of faith begins, it always seems to involve a "why?".
I believe this is what Paul means when he says fight the good fight of faith. He is referring specifically to defending good doctrine, but good doctrine usually comes into challenge when it is hard to hold onto. It is easier to come up with simpler more forgiving doctrine, which demands less and promises more. It is harder to hold the line when everything is falling down, it is harder to keep believing and trusting when everything seems to have failed. This is when we start to ask why? These are the situations when a call to fight is important. Later in chapter 6 Paul writes to Timothy telling him to guard that which was entrusted to him.
Fighting for and guarding his faith. Fighting implies opposition, guarding implies an attack to be fended off.
It is easy to talk about faith, but it is difficult when we need to fight for it.
I have been thinking about the line from Johnny Cash's song Unchained:
It's so hard to see the rainbow,
Through glasses dark as these.
Maybe I'll be able,
From now on, on my knees.
Fighting the fight of faith always begins on our knees.
Job started here but as he kept looking at his circumstances, discussing it with his friends, running it through his mind, he began to desire an answer. He stood up a bit. I have found myself standing up a bit.
But just remembering the words helps me lower my stiff neck. Paul knew it, Job was reminded of it, and Johnny Cash sang it. I need a reminder too.
Returning to our knees is the best way to say Blessed Be.
thanks
This can sound like easy Christian speak, but at the end of the day it is all we have. Sometimes when we are counting on God to come through, sometimes, he doesn't. I think of the mindset of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego from Daniel 3, even though God does deliver them out of the flame, they had a mindset that is able to speak faith. A mindset.
16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. 17 If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. 18 But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.”
They acknowledge that God is able to deliver, but despite the outcome they will still serve him. This is also similar to what Job says when he has had his whole world taken from him.
"The Lord has given and the Lord has taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord."
Job had lost everything and he decides to worship. Throughout the course of the book, while reflecting on the matter Job does start to want answers from God, but God never gives them.
This is when the fight of faith begins, it always seems to involve a "why?".
I believe this is what Paul means when he says fight the good fight of faith. He is referring specifically to defending good doctrine, but good doctrine usually comes into challenge when it is hard to hold onto. It is easier to come up with simpler more forgiving doctrine, which demands less and promises more. It is harder to hold the line when everything is falling down, it is harder to keep believing and trusting when everything seems to have failed. This is when we start to ask why? These are the situations when a call to fight is important. Later in chapter 6 Paul writes to Timothy telling him to guard that which was entrusted to him.
Fighting for and guarding his faith. Fighting implies opposition, guarding implies an attack to be fended off.
It is easy to talk about faith, but it is difficult when we need to fight for it.
I have been thinking about the line from Johnny Cash's song Unchained:
It's so hard to see the rainbow,
Through glasses dark as these.
Maybe I'll be able,
From now on, on my knees.
Fighting the fight of faith always begins on our knees.
Job started here but as he kept looking at his circumstances, discussing it with his friends, running it through his mind, he began to desire an answer. He stood up a bit. I have found myself standing up a bit.
But just remembering the words helps me lower my stiff neck. Paul knew it, Job was reminded of it, and Johnny Cash sang it. I need a reminder too.
Returning to our knees is the best way to say Blessed Be.
thanks
Monday, November 10, 2014
A Tale of Two Fathers
So now that Raphael has come I am a father, I have been thinking.
I know that God is our father, but I have been grappling with a full translation of that means. When talking with people about what this looks like, it is easy to simply say that out father in heaven will take care of us and not allow bad things to happen and always come through, which are comforting things to say. But things do not always play out in this way. What I mean is that yes I understand that God is our father, but do we really understand what a good father is? I read verses like Mathew 7:7-11
7“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. 9Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? 10Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? 11If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!
I read that and I think it does seem quite simple. But in reality it rarely seems to work out that way.
I am sure that in a few years Raphael will come to me and ask not for a fish, as we tend to avoid seafood, but more appropriately for a burrito, and I being a great father, I will happily agree, assuming it is meal time and not spoiling any other planned food. I understand how the transaction/relationship works and yet I do not find that it is that simple with my heavenly father.
Things do not always seem to be given, get answered, get better, or become immediately clear.
I have spent many hours, days, years even asking for things that I do not see the answers to of yet. I know the qualifiers in James about not asking in selfishness and asking in doubt. Yet I still see very little answers to specific prayers and requests that this passage in Mathew makes so simple.
Is it my understanding of a good father that complicates matters? I would agree any good father would give something to a son that was within reason and relatively ease as the verse in Mathew seems to indicate. This jives with a human understanding of what a father would do, the verse even implies that evil fathers do this. But often my experience with God is not that simple. I ask and do not receive and after enough time my requests start to seem like they are being ignored. Sometimes though they do seem like they are answered, but with stones, and sometimes sharp ones that were hurled in my direction.
This would makes me conclude that God is not a father or at least not a good father, but, these are unacceptable options to a Christian. So perhaps my idea of what a father is, is not quite right.
So is it possible that when the Bible uses the term father that it is trying to communicate some theological truth to the way God loves and interacts with his creation rather than giving a label to how things actually work based on our limited knowledge of fathers? God after-all put his own son to death and asked a similar thing of Abraham. And Christ tells us that to follow him is meant to mean taking up our own crosses and following him to Calvary, death. Death seems more like a stone than a fish.
Perhaps my ideas of good parenting falls short of what God actually does with his people. Perhaps my idea that a father would do everything in his power to help his child avoid pain is wrong. Perhaps my idea that a father would give a child something that was easily within his power to do so is wrong. Perhaps my idea of even answering a child in what appears to be a timely manner is wrong. Perhaps my demanding that God act in a way that I interpret any good father would act towards a child is wrong. And that, is hard.
God has his own will that I am supposed to seek. I can ask but often my will is probably not what is best. I think the metaphor of the father does not always communicate what we think it means. I know that there are a lot of positive ways to answer the question of "well why not?" A parent will obviously refuse a child who asks a request that will cause them harm, I get that. The rub again is when the request is just for help or for a job or for relief or for direction or for protection, and they simply seem to go unanswered.
Answers come in his timing and will, now this is different from an earthy father. God our Father is sovereign, he is just, he is love, he is God. He has more behind the meaning of father than my limited understanding. His timing and will are perfect, our earthy fathers are not. It often feels like he is more interested in my growth than my happiness, and that is also different than an earthy father. In the asking, in the waiting, God is with us. Maybe he is not offering immediate relief. Maybe he is offering his presence. This is something much more than any earthy father can offer. I cannot always be there for Raphael simply because I will not always be present.
So maybe there is a better way that God fathers than I can manage, a way I can't fully understand, and that is good thing. He fathers by causing me to grow and being present with me. He fathers better than I can hope or imagine. He loves me.
thanks
I know that God is our father, but I have been grappling with a full translation of that means. When talking with people about what this looks like, it is easy to simply say that out father in heaven will take care of us and not allow bad things to happen and always come through, which are comforting things to say. But things do not always play out in this way. What I mean is that yes I understand that God is our father, but do we really understand what a good father is? I read verses like Mathew 7:7-11
7“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. 9Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? 10Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? 11If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!
I read that and I think it does seem quite simple. But in reality it rarely seems to work out that way.
I am sure that in a few years Raphael will come to me and ask not for a fish, as we tend to avoid seafood, but more appropriately for a burrito, and I being a great father, I will happily agree, assuming it is meal time and not spoiling any other planned food. I understand how the transaction/relationship works and yet I do not find that it is that simple with my heavenly father.
Things do not always seem to be given, get answered, get better, or become immediately clear.
I have spent many hours, days, years even asking for things that I do not see the answers to of yet. I know the qualifiers in James about not asking in selfishness and asking in doubt. Yet I still see very little answers to specific prayers and requests that this passage in Mathew makes so simple.
Is it my understanding of a good father that complicates matters? I would agree any good father would give something to a son that was within reason and relatively ease as the verse in Mathew seems to indicate. This jives with a human understanding of what a father would do, the verse even implies that evil fathers do this. But often my experience with God is not that simple. I ask and do not receive and after enough time my requests start to seem like they are being ignored. Sometimes though they do seem like they are answered, but with stones, and sometimes sharp ones that were hurled in my direction.
This would makes me conclude that God is not a father or at least not a good father, but, these are unacceptable options to a Christian. So perhaps my idea of what a father is, is not quite right.
So is it possible that when the Bible uses the term father that it is trying to communicate some theological truth to the way God loves and interacts with his creation rather than giving a label to how things actually work based on our limited knowledge of fathers? God after-all put his own son to death and asked a similar thing of Abraham. And Christ tells us that to follow him is meant to mean taking up our own crosses and following him to Calvary, death. Death seems more like a stone than a fish.
Perhaps my ideas of good parenting falls short of what God actually does with his people. Perhaps my idea that a father would do everything in his power to help his child avoid pain is wrong. Perhaps my idea that a father would give a child something that was easily within his power to do so is wrong. Perhaps my idea of even answering a child in what appears to be a timely manner is wrong. Perhaps my demanding that God act in a way that I interpret any good father would act towards a child is wrong. And that, is hard.
God has his own will that I am supposed to seek. I can ask but often my will is probably not what is best. I think the metaphor of the father does not always communicate what we think it means. I know that there are a lot of positive ways to answer the question of "well why not?" A parent will obviously refuse a child who asks a request that will cause them harm, I get that. The rub again is when the request is just for help or for a job or for relief or for direction or for protection, and they simply seem to go unanswered.
Answers come in his timing and will, now this is different from an earthy father. God our Father is sovereign, he is just, he is love, he is God. He has more behind the meaning of father than my limited understanding. His timing and will are perfect, our earthy fathers are not. It often feels like he is more interested in my growth than my happiness, and that is also different than an earthy father. In the asking, in the waiting, God is with us. Maybe he is not offering immediate relief. Maybe he is offering his presence. This is something much more than any earthy father can offer. I cannot always be there for Raphael simply because I will not always be present.
So maybe there is a better way that God fathers than I can manage, a way I can't fully understand, and that is good thing. He fathers by causing me to grow and being present with me. He fathers better than I can hope or imagine. He loves me.
thanks
Thursday, November 6, 2014
Proverbs 3 five and six
This was my life verse for awhile and then I realized I really was really poor at doing it.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart. I used to think I knew what this meant. I've taught it to students confident it had to do with salvation. It sounds very easy, at least theologically speaking. I do trust in the Lord with all my heart because I trust him with my soul, right? I used to think it was that easy. I have prayed the sinner's prayer and therefore I do trust him for the securing of my heart and the very safety of my soul. But this I've found fails to help at all with not actually leaning on my own understanding, as the next phrase of the verse reads. Doesn't trusting God for my eternal life mean I am not leaning on my own understanding?
Well a bit. I am not leaning on my own understanding as far as salvation goes, but what about the rest of life? I believe I have a bit of understanding about life. This is the rub. I think that at this point in my life I do have some understanding, but more often than not it probably flies against what is God's understanding. This is what this verse seems to be getting at. If I was trusting in the Lord with all my heart, I shouldn't be leaning on my own understanding because my understanding is limited to my experience. Worse than this limiting is that my experience is skewed by my own ideas of right and wrong and where I place value and how I judge pleasure and pain. So my understanding is limited and my preferences are selfish and thus my understanding is not a useful barometer for the way things actually are. But thinking not in my own understanding is really difficult.
This is why the verse calls us away from our own understanding. So I may think that I am trusting and leaning but I actually keep getting caught up by what I feel about my experiences. This is why I have the problem of why my path seems not so straight or not so directed, depending on the translation. My path seems crooked, which does line up with my experiences, which makes my trusting in the Lord difficult.
It is silly, but I only just realized that I was poor at trusting, really trusting.
I wasn't paying attention to the fact that I find it very difficult to not lean on my own understanding. Leaning only or leaning mostly on my own understanding is another way of saying that I am piss poor at faith. Not faith in God strictly speaking. I think of the verse where faith requires not simply that I believe that he is, which is fairly easy to do as a Christian, but the second part which says that we must believe that he is also a rewarder of those whose diligently seek him (Hebrews 11:6).
This is difficult because I haven't seen much reward. I feel that I have been diligently seeking him my whole life, but this may be more of that my understanding thing again. And while I do not think of the reward as cash and prizes, I still do feel more reward should have arrived by now. I have heard it taught that the reward is simply more of God himself, which I can appreciate, but this would lead me to believe that if I did have more of him I would be better at leaning on his understanding rather than my own.
This is mostly to say that I realize that I have probably been affecting my enjoyment of God because my skewed perspective of my circumstances. Good theology cannot speak to the trials in life if I am only looking at myself, or at least barely staring above myself.
So in the end maybe I have just revealed my poor faith when it comes to looking above my understanding of my circumstances to trust in God. But I am aware of the problem and I can only continue walking before him as humbly as possible as I attempt to get more of him and alter or have my perspective altered.
thanks
Trust in the Lord with all your heart. I used to think I knew what this meant. I've taught it to students confident it had to do with salvation. It sounds very easy, at least theologically speaking. I do trust in the Lord with all my heart because I trust him with my soul, right? I used to think it was that easy. I have prayed the sinner's prayer and therefore I do trust him for the securing of my heart and the very safety of my soul. But this I've found fails to help at all with not actually leaning on my own understanding, as the next phrase of the verse reads. Doesn't trusting God for my eternal life mean I am not leaning on my own understanding?
Well a bit. I am not leaning on my own understanding as far as salvation goes, but what about the rest of life? I believe I have a bit of understanding about life. This is the rub. I think that at this point in my life I do have some understanding, but more often than not it probably flies against what is God's understanding. This is what this verse seems to be getting at. If I was trusting in the Lord with all my heart, I shouldn't be leaning on my own understanding because my understanding is limited to my experience. Worse than this limiting is that my experience is skewed by my own ideas of right and wrong and where I place value and how I judge pleasure and pain. So my understanding is limited and my preferences are selfish and thus my understanding is not a useful barometer for the way things actually are. But thinking not in my own understanding is really difficult.
This is why the verse calls us away from our own understanding. So I may think that I am trusting and leaning but I actually keep getting caught up by what I feel about my experiences. This is why I have the problem of why my path seems not so straight or not so directed, depending on the translation. My path seems crooked, which does line up with my experiences, which makes my trusting in the Lord difficult.
It is silly, but I only just realized that I was poor at trusting, really trusting.
I wasn't paying attention to the fact that I find it very difficult to not lean on my own understanding. Leaning only or leaning mostly on my own understanding is another way of saying that I am piss poor at faith. Not faith in God strictly speaking. I think of the verse where faith requires not simply that I believe that he is, which is fairly easy to do as a Christian, but the second part which says that we must believe that he is also a rewarder of those whose diligently seek him (Hebrews 11:6).
This is difficult because I haven't seen much reward. I feel that I have been diligently seeking him my whole life, but this may be more of that my understanding thing again. And while I do not think of the reward as cash and prizes, I still do feel more reward should have arrived by now. I have heard it taught that the reward is simply more of God himself, which I can appreciate, but this would lead me to believe that if I did have more of him I would be better at leaning on his understanding rather than my own.
This is mostly to say that I realize that I have probably been affecting my enjoyment of God because my skewed perspective of my circumstances. Good theology cannot speak to the trials in life if I am only looking at myself, or at least barely staring above myself.
So in the end maybe I have just revealed my poor faith when it comes to looking above my understanding of my circumstances to trust in God. But I am aware of the problem and I can only continue walking before him as humbly as possible as I attempt to get more of him and alter or have my perspective altered.
thanks
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