Yes Brother I Do Lift

Since we are moving and I have been busy I will post a bit of shorter one this week. This is something I wrote awhile back but I was thinking about it again because of us moving across the country and as I have been busy all week packing and lifting all our belongings onto a truck so...

Be strong if your strength comes from the Lord and be weak if your weakness gives way to the Lord's strength. Do not lean on your own understanding but lift your shoulders as he gives strength. Re-new your strength and rise up like eagles because we wait for God's movement. He gives strength to the weak and gives help to hopeless. I have no strength on my own. But I do lift my head to the one who gives all that I need. I lift my eyes up to the mountain where my help comes from. I stands as he gives my bones strength and I walk as he give my body life.

I am weak truly and he is strong. But my weakness allows for his strength to rise. In my weakness he is strong so I am made strong in turn. I can keep moving as he gives me his Spirit and breath.

I can drown on own, but I am ready to soar. I can fail and create massive destruction on my own just fine thank you, but God makes all things new.

For I was dead and he made me alive. For I carried the stink of death, and my smell appealed only to my fellow walking dead. But now I carry the aroma of life leading to life that he grants. He gives me the help that I need beyond my need, the needs that I don't understand and sometimes don't see. I cannot rest on my laurels if I even have any. I rest in his strong arm. I lift my head because I know where my strength comes from. I lift my head from the many sorrows to the Father of lights.

I also lift my voice as I call on the name of the Lord. I lift my voice and call to the one who strengthens in the days of adversity. I lift my voice to the one who guides when the night continues on for too long. The days are darker but I can lift my voice to the ever present help in time of need.

I lift my face when my soul is downcast. I lift my face when my tears draw my head down. I lift as he holds me, as my own might is nothing. He holds and guides and draws. He is with me. He is in me. He is for me. He loves me. So I can press on. I can continue the race till the reach that place that puts all the world to rest. 

He gives me rest so I can rise in the morning. He gives me grace so I can rise despite my failings. Just as I will rise when he calls my name. I lift my myself into his hands. But really he has lifted me.

I rise when I fall because he helps me to stand. I lift my heavy heart when my heart is overwhelmed.

I lift my hands to worship the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. I lift them because he was first lifted for me. He spread out his hands to show them the kind of death he would die. We was lifted up on the cross and draws all the world to himself. 

As he was lifted up and brought down to the depths of the earth, his life and body afterward was lifted into the sky for one the day he will return. Until then I lift my head till he returns knowing that he will lift me up when I lay me down for the final sleep.

So I lift my arms to the work of the Gospel as he has called and shown me the way. I lift my strength and give it to him to use as he gave his all for a world that did not weep as his own sacrifice. I lift as he leads and I go as he calls. I lift because he taught me how.

He taught me to lift my head when I didn't really want to, he shortened my tether and held me close so that I would learn to lift my heart to him. So I lift my heart to the one who holds it eternally dear. I lift my faith to believe in him and I continue to do and I will with his help.   

Oh, you were talking about going to the gym? Er, well I uh, maybe tomorrow.

Thanks

On God and gods

A new year but still an old theological debate. By the time I wrote this many had already taken the task of answering this question and thank God, more people need to speak up about this. But it is going around so I will still add my two cents. Of recent the question "Don't we all just worship the same God? The Jews, Christians and all their denominations and what about the Muslims? Isn't it all the same God of Abraham? Aren't we just looking from different vantage points reading slightly different descriptions? Haven't you seen that tolerance and co-exist bumper sticker with all the world religions represented on it? Geez! Are we all approaching the same God who just seems to give different and conflicting marching orders to different peoples? Well with the rise of Radical Islam this is a good question to ask. This is not simply the case of Christians trying to be different for differences sake, these truths have gravitas, they carry meaning. As a famous person once said, ideas have consequences. 

Well let's look at it. Let's get Biblical a moment. The word of God gives testimony about what we are supposed to believe, this is why we place such weight to what is written. This is why even the Qur'an calls Christians people of the book. So what does that book say? The Bible records for us the character and nature of God. It says:

35. The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand. 36. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him. John 3:35,36

"Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever receives the one I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me." John 13:20

He who has the Son (Jesus) has the father, he who does not have the son does not have the father. 1 John 5:12 

No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also. 
1 John 2:23

This is even foretold in the Old Testament.

13. I saw in the night visions,and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man,and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. 14. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion,which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.  Daniel 7 

This is why Jesus frequently refers to himself as the Son of Man. The Father (God) is inextricably linked to the Son (Jesus). 

It other words there is a sense in which the Jews are approaching the right God but attempting to worship him wrongly. But can this be said the Islam? Does simply the idea that Isaac and Ishmael shared a Father in Abraham mean that a religion that rose literally hundreds of years later that pays lip service to that God mean anything? Well I think we have to seriously look at what the teachings say? How is God described what does he ask of his people? And finally, this is the linchpin, what do they say about Jesus?

This is the issue. If they acknowledge that Jesus is the Christ, the messiah come into the world, God's own son that shares nature with the Father then they are true, if not they are Antichrist. This is an explicit teaching of the Bible. No blogger can change this even if it wins friends and influences people. As creatures we have to come to God on his terms. 

If God condescended and humbled himself to take on the form of a human being in order to testify that he himself had the keys to death and eternal life and that nobody could approach his father, who he is himself one with, then apart from his known message and offer of redemption, are we really being intellectually and theologically honest in arguing that another religion that is hostile to that  truth is the same thing? 

If we have one math book that teaches that 1+1=2 and we have another math book that teaches that 1+1=3 then they cannot both be reliably teaching the same thing. Even if we were attending a conference on math solidarity and peace among mathematicians. I would hope that there would be enough integrity in the room for someone to stand up and say we have crossed over from math into silliness. 

The Bible is explicit. Paul specifically makes the case that even if it was an angel was to appear to you and were to preach to you another gospel that they should be accursed. Why? Because it would be messing with the very revelation from God himself, the very revelation that teaches how to have peace with God. In other words God is not going to contradict himself and confuse his people, but perhaps his enemies will...

Go and read Islamic history. This is exactly the story of how it happened. An angel from "god" appeared and gave new and conflicting testimony. A good follower of the God of Abraham would have recognized the revelation as new and quite different and thus not from the true God. They already had other books not included in the cannon. A good follower of Christ would have further asked and what do you say about Jesus? Is he Lord and God? Well the answer is clear from the Qur'an, No! He was just another prophet from (same god?) of which now Muhammad is greater.

The Bible records Jesus saying of himself from the Gospel of John:

"I am the way the truth and life no one comes to the Father but by me."

"I am the resurrection and the life."

"I am the gate, whoever enters through me will have eternal life."

and to prevent the idea of two Gods Jesus says of himself "I and the Father are one." 

This is how we get the idea of trinity along with the Holy Spirit, 3 in 1. These are exclusive Christian truths that no Jew or Muslim will claim or stand for. We have to consider theology here. If Jesus was just another one in line of people who at one time or another was privileged enough to speak on behalf of god for a bit, he really is no better than Moses, Isaiah , Jonah or perhaps even Mohammad. Jesus really should not be saying the kinds of things he said. We shouldn't be revering him the way we do and we should surely stop writing songs about the guy.

But God is a jealous God who will not share his glory with another. The writer of Hebrews writes:

The Son is the radiance of his glory and the representation of his essence, and he sustains all things by his powerful word, and so when he had accomplished cleansing for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. 4 Thus he became so far better than the angels as he has inherited a name superior to theirs. For to which of the angels did God ever say, “You are my son, today I have begotten you”? Or again, “I will be to him a father,   and he shall be to me a son”? 6 And again, when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says, “Let all God's angels worship him.”7 Of the angels he says, “He makes his angels winds and his ministers a flame of fire.”8 But of the Son he says,“Your throne, O God, is forever and ever the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom.

So Jesus is quite different from other men. Jesus is quite different even to the angels who owe him worship. This is not another prophet in line of the prophets. This man is God's own Son who claims worship for himself. Jews recognized this which is why they put him on the cross. The Qu'ran cannot and will not claim this, in fact neither will the Jews. Listen to what the Apostle Paul says of him in Colossians 1:

15He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. 19For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

If we want peace with our fellow man we need more than a bumper sticker understanding, we have to follow it to the source which is a man Jesus, we do not however pretend all our gods are the same. This is why Jesus came, anybody can use the word god and fill in the meaning. Hinduism literally has millions of them, our planets are Roman Gods fashioned after the Greek gods and Zeus, who was that thunder guy? We have lots of gods in our history, we are not short on gods. Just because someone in your ancestry has a common relative does not mean your gods are the same, especially with conflicting revelation.

This is why all the many denominations of Christianity share confessions and creeds. We hold that Jesus is the only begotten Son and that he and the Father are both one.  The spirit proceeds from them, their is one God with three persons we have a holy trinity. We have certain confessions that demarcate faith in God or something else. If we have these confessions in common so we can disagree on baptism and liturgy and music. This is why the counter argument that certain theologians also had different gods because they worship differently does not work. We have church history and heretic councils when their gods were actually different and wouldn't you know it, it was about the theology. 

If we agree, we can have many flavors on a Sunday morning as long as we honor Jesus Christ as Lord. When not? Well this is why Mormonism is considered a cult to Christians, they do not share the belief that Jesus is the unique and only begotten Son of God in the flesh worthy of all our worship. Interestingly enough their revelation was also given by an angel of which we were already warned about. This is why people who say they want Jesus or God but don't like theology unfortunately do not understand how it works. Jesus gave us specific testimony that we either accept or reject. The Father (God) sent Jesus because he does care and specifically want us to believe and act in a certain way, it does matter. People will always create other ways to god and even gods themselves but the Father only recognizes the way of his Son. Certain things can never be denied or else we have 1+1=3 and only silly people will agree to live in such nonsense. 

Jesus says I am the way the truth and the life no one can come to the father but by me. There is no other prophet who gives aid. This is why even Jews need the Gospel. This is why Christians who know their Bibles will never agree to a statement that we all worship the same god, it is not to be petty, it is not to be belligerent, it is because it is not a simply a question of method but of who is actually on the other end of those prayers. 

Let's stop arguing for solidarity when there is none, but gain a little understanding. Instead read the Bible and see who it is we actually are seeking or not. Find out who it is you are reaching for as Michelangelo painted. Because there are many gods out there, but there is only one true God. Maybe we should find out who he is. 

thanks

Stuck in a Delay

I Recently I flew to my hometown Tucson and wouldn't you know it? I finally had that terrible airport experience that you often hear about.

First my plane was delayed a bit, no problem, only a half hour, happens all the time. We were supposed to leave st 7:25 so I sent needed text of my new arrival time. A lady came and tagged my bag and then walked away, my small bag would now have to be checked, OK. Then after we boarded and sat for five minutes we were told to deplane because of maintenance issues. I was told I couldn't have my bag back that they just took, I doubted it was even under the plane yet. We were then directed to another airplane many gates away that we for some silly reason thought we had to rush too, I was hungry. I sent the respective text again so they wouldn't arrive too early and have to wait. I grabbed a small snack.

We sat and sat and then at 9 they told us we were waiting for a crew. At 10 they told us we were still waiting for one. At 11:30 they told us plane was cancelled. At midnight they told us to get out of line and go to hotels and call to reschedule. At one I finally got through the line and rescheduled my flight for 7 the next morning.

I then had the decision to stay in the airport without my checked bag or go retrieve it and stay in the hotel I received a voucher for.  I decided a change, a phone charge, and a hotel was better. When I reached the bag check they told me it was closed and I could come back at 5 to get my bag. So deflated I went to find the free shuttle to my hotel, but that also had stopped running. So I split a taxi with the other unfortunate souls in my position and took a two hour nap at the hotel. I came back at 5 to get my bag as I had been informed that my bag would still travel to Tucson even though my new flight was for Phoenix. The bag lady told me I could not get it until 6 but by then I needed to be at the other end of the airport to check in, this was at O'hare in Chicago.

I decided to reroute my bag to phoenix and then walk all the way back across the terminals to my new airline with no bag and still no food. Time was so tight that I couldn't use the vouchers for free food which I discovered I had left back i  the hotel. When I finally did board at 7:45am the flight was a no food flight and I was tired. My new connection flight in Houston left me no time to eat either, I literally had to run to the already boarded plane. The best part about all of that was that I was flying to an interview and they were picking me up, un-showered, un-eaten and un-rested and unchanged. Awesome.

They asked me later if I would blog about it and I said I would. This isn't a complaint to the airline as many people said I should make but it did get me thinking.

Psalm 37:23 and 24 says

The steps of a man are established by the Lord; when he delights in his way, though he fall, he shall not be cast headlong, for the Lord upholds his hand.

This crooked path reminded me of my life. When I make plans my projected path is much straighter than this was. My foreseeable hiccups accounted for and strictly avoided. There is nothing like a plan coming together but that path rarely happens when walking with God. God seems to have another plan in mind.

He seems to be more interested in the shortest path to him not the shortest path to my objective. The quickest way to him sometimes seems to be through trial. When I need help I turn to him. It causes me to grow.

When Kimberly and I were first married we decided to honeymoon in Florida so of course we decided to go Disney world. While we were visiting I wanted to visit Typhoon Lagoon, Disney's water park.  I remember when I was little all the advertising for it on the Disney channel. I remember watching all the drawings become actual construction. I remember all the planning and advertising and announcements for the project coming to fruition. Now I never dreamed of actually getting to go, but once we were heading that direction I knew we would have to make a visit. 

On the day of we had prepared ourselves for a day in the Florida sun experiencing the huge wave pool and sweet water slides. I was genuinely excited. Kimberly and I walked through the ticket gates and noticed how dark the skies were. We passed through the concessions and I think I heard a low rumble in the skies, but we headed for the water. I remember just seeing the iconic beached fishing boat when alarms started going off. We were told to exit the park. Hurricane warnings. I made the joke that park was already hit and prepared for a Typhoon but it didn't matter. We would not be  experiencing Typhoon Lagoon. I was a bit sad, I had wanted to see it my whole childhood and now it would not be.

My plans do not always work out. 

I remember being disappointed but I decided to not let that ruin our honeymoon. Being with Kimberly was more important and really the point. We went to see Legally Blonde 2 instead, not really a great place holder but I was with Kimberly so it was fine. We both agreed it wasn't that great a film. But man I must have been in love because really that movie is terrible. 

When we focus so much on the destination we lose sight of the sunsets during the journey. Worse yet we lose sight of our travelling companion on the journey. I have often done this with God. 

God himself is always going to be the destination but part of reaching him is realizing he is also our travel companion that goes the distance with us. When we ignore our travel companion, the journey may just stretch out to be a bit longer than planned, but remember the destination is sure and the company is good.

Think of that footprints in the sand poem.

Sometimes our eyes can get so focused on where we plant our next step in the sand that we forget where it was we were going. We forget that our hand is firmly held. There is one other thing though. When we step back and realize that God is with us we are able to enjoy the journey in a whole new way. We are able to view the journey in a whole new way. The journey doesn't have to be a dread, it doesn't have to be a delay, it can simply be what is next. So next time your destination seems far off, and the road blocks continual, remember who is with you and where you are actually heading. 

When we finally do arrive, we realize we are better for having come the way we have. This is something I had to learn along the way. 

thanks

A re-New Hope

Writing straight theology is easy for me, but returning to my personal walk is a challenge. Sometimes I get overwhelmed, sometimes I have to be honest about where I am. These words from the Cure's song Maybe Someday sometimes haunt me.

No I won't do it again, I don't want to pretend
If it can't be like before, I've got to let it end
I don't want what I want, I've had a change of head

I got to let it go and leave it gone,
just walk away, stop it going on
Get to scared to jump if I want too long

Being hopeless is not a place that a Christian should be, but I have to admit sometimes I feel this temptation. I have been tired of being without hope for awhile. So I have to come back and ask God where is the hope? I read 1 Corinthians 2 where it says:

 

“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,

nor the heart of man imagined,

what God has prepared for those who love him”

I read this and I say "well my eye has certainly not seen nor has my ear heard."  But Paul reminds the Corinthians that he came to them and he decided to know nothing among them except Christ and him crucified. I can write good theology but it means nothing if I can't stop resting my faith in the wisdom of men and instead find solace in the power of God. The power of God. What power of God? 

We don't always experience the power of God the way the disciples did. I know that God gives different gifts to different people. I don't have to worry about not having the gift of healing or of the prophetic. This is not about answering the why's of those questions but instead reflecting on the power that is readily available to us. There is power in simply knowing God. As much as we may want Jesus to be present with us, he said that it was to our benefit for him to go away. He said this because he would send the comforter, the counselor, the companion, the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit seems to impart the power for our gifts, but for this discussion he grants access to the very person of God. Jesus was the human God with us, and the Spirit is God with us now. Until we stand in his presence physically again.

The power that is readily available to us is in his resurrection. The other is the power of prayer. He rose from the dead. That means his words are true. Two powers available to me. He is near and he listens. He has risen and my sins are forgiven, not just forgiven but the power of sin that used to enslave my soul has been broken. My soul is free from the bondage that made sin not only my master but my only option. I was an enemy of God condemned to live apart from him. My life was on a track with a one way ticket to hell where I would experience some form of wrath from a Holy God.

The power of God however broke those chains and now I can draw near to him. I am a new creature. I am a new person. I need to learn how to live as this new being, with plenty of old baggage to still sift through. But he has broken my shackles. Because I am no longer a slave to the sin, I am now a son of God. The writer of Hebrews reminds us:

Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Because Jesus came as a man and experienced temptations and yet remained without sin he is able to sympathize with us even in our weakness. He understands...

Dear God I need your mercy and grace, help me in my time of need. I am failing in my challenge of belief.

I think of the song from the Cure and how often my thoughts are similar and then I think of a bit of Psalm 42.

 I say to God, my rock:

“Why have you forgotten me?

Why do I go mourning

because of the oppression of the enemy?”

10  As with a deadly wound in my bones,

my adversaries taunt me,

while they say to me all the day long,

“Where is your God?”

11  Why are you cast down, O my soul,

and why are you in turmoil within me?

Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,

my salvation and my God.

There is real power in God, but then I realize where my eyes have been looking.

And then I remember another Cure song, Trust, and I can hear God's voice echo.

Still the hardest part for you, to put your trust in me

I love you more than I can say, why won't you just believe?

I know that I no longer want to just say that maybe someday it will be different. I know that it won't happen if I leave my hope to my feelings. I have to renew it.

thanks  

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

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.

https://archive.org/details/TheBlindMan_201412

thanks