Over the past several weeks I've had some new ideas on what faith means. To me, it's hard because the book I read has some truth in it, but some of it contradicts what I've been taught, so I have to really think about what I think the truth really is. I've decided that what makes the best, the absolute best people is grace. The idea that we come to God with nothing, and that he loves us where we are for what we are is the difference-maker. Not for what we wish we were or what we want people to see us as- but simply as we really are. This notion that Yahweh loves us, even as messed up as we are... I think that is foundational to any right living that happens. Are there people who live right but don't really get this? To a degree, sure. In order to truly be great in the kingdom of Heaven, however, one has to accept Heaven and God as a gift- something that cannot be earned by right living. And you must understand that living right is about real love, not about pleasing other people.
The thing I like most about the book I just read (titled "The Jesus Dynasty" by James Tabor) is that it teaches that the early Christians were more focused on Jesus's message than on the man being God incarnate or the other theological beliefs that relate, such as the virgin birth or resurrection in bodily form. I honestly don't know whether these things are true, but the idea that it might matter more to focus on Jesus's teachings than on these other things appeals to me. The core idea of "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and love your neighbor as you would love yourself." seems to me to be more relevant to life than belief in a miracle that may or may not have happened. What Jesus taught itself was somewhat revolutionary- he took righteousness to a whole new level. To even lust is to commit adultery- this insight alone is far more intense than people were taught before Jesus. Other teachings of Jesus indicate that God loves poor people, and as I consider myself poor- at least by American standards- I can relate to this as well. You don't know what love is until you are giving away money to someone in need that you might need yourself. That is genuine love.
I guess my point is that while things tend to be more complex than we imagine them to be, and truthfully, what we wish they were, we're still given the option to largely ignore all those complexities and live as Jesus did- one day at a time, trusting God for our daily bread, loving the people around us to the max, and believing that God loves us simply because it is his nature to love and he made us to be objects of his love. We don't really need more than this to live. We don't have to understand with certainty whether Jesus was resurrected from the dead in bodily form, or whether Jesus was born of a virgin, or all the other obstacles to faith that have been put up by professional religious people. If you don't understand that you yourself are messed up in the first place, then you don't really know your own sinfulness. If you do though, then you can accept that God loves you because it is in his nature to love- always has and always will be. If you can receive that love, then there's hope that you can then disperse that love. That is the hope of humanity- that humans can follow this precise path of humility, to really love the people around them.
It is my hope that you the reader will come to God as a little child and accept God's love as it comes- free of charge, on the house. The truth is we were made by God, and that is the only reason God has to have in order to love us. I hope today you will discover or rediscover how much God loves you, and use that as a catalyst for an entirely new life of ruthless trust in God.
Friday, June 26, 2015
Wednesday, May 13, 2015
It's Not What You Believe- It's What You Do That Matters
Scripture is awash on this matter. Some passages seem to indicate belief being key, while other passages (such as the one where Jesus separates the sheep from the goats) it seems that what you do is what matters. I'm going to settle this debate once and for all- it's what you do that matters.
I know you are asking me "how do I know?" I know because God sends me on all sorts of assignments. When God sends me on assignments, he doesn't seem to give a rat's ass what I believe. All he cares about is what I do. He DOES care a lot about what I do though. A LOT. In fact, what I do is the whole game from God's perspective. SO as believers we've got to stop majoring on something that doesn't matter and major on what DOES matter- what we do. I can tell I'm right that someone has a heart of gold by their actions. And truth be told, Jesus generally majored on action, as the passage above indicates. Belief in God- sure. it matters some. However, I think I could make a better person out of someone who doesn't believe but loves with their whole heart, than someone who does believe (in one sense) but doesn't really care about other people.
I know you are asking me "how do I know?" I know because God sends me on all sorts of assignments. When God sends me on assignments, he doesn't seem to give a rat's ass what I believe. All he cares about is what I do. He DOES care a lot about what I do though. A LOT. In fact, what I do is the whole game from God's perspective. SO as believers we've got to stop majoring on something that doesn't matter and major on what DOES matter- what we do. I can tell I'm right that someone has a heart of gold by their actions. And truth be told, Jesus generally majored on action, as the passage above indicates. Belief in God- sure. it matters some. However, I think I could make a better person out of someone who doesn't believe but loves with their whole heart, than someone who does believe (in one sense) but doesn't really care about other people.
Monday, March 30, 2015
Why Gay Marriage is Bad
I was essentially asked this question by someone recently, and I think it is worthy of further discussion. Here is my point of view on the matter.
In order that one might understand why gay marriage is bad, you first have to understand the point of marriage as it was intended. See, this is a complex question, and will take multiple parts to answer. First of all, when God made the genders, he made them very different, each with very different strengths and weaknesses. These were designed to compliment each other, so that the children produced by such a relationship would get all the love that they need, so that they can go out in the world and do God's will for their lives. Now if we got honest, not every marriage is truly in obedience to Christ's designs, and there is no question in my mind that some loving homosexual couples do a better job than some heterosexual ones, but in the ideal situation the father gives certain kinds of love that meet needs towards the encouragement of following God's plan for the children's lives, while the mother provides the love that says that the children are loved just as they are now. I think the differences are more than that and varied, but this difference I've just illuminated is a significant key. However, there is an even more pressing issue, and that is the idea that marriage represents the relationship between Christ Jesus and his bride.
It is my opinion, which I think is based on scripture, that the marriage relationship was meant to be a demonstration to the world of Christ's relationship with the church. The man, who plays the role of Christ, is supposed to love his wife more than his own life, and be prepared to even die for her if necessary. He is her protector, her lover, and to some extent, her fulfiller. She is supposed to meet God, based on what her husband is like. On the other hand, she is supposed to trust him, and trust him implicitly. Of course, he's supposed to earn that trust by the love that he gives, but I digress... Anyhow, this relationship between man and woman was supposed to be a microcosm of what heaven is like- two people living together, with very different roles to play, but of equal importance. It was supposed to be a witness to the world of what Jesus is like, and how the church was meant to be transformed by His love. This is the ideal situation. Most marriages are not ideal, but hopefully people in the church, as a general rule, try to honor this plan for their marriage.
I hope no one reading this feels I am judging them. I'm talking here about the ideal- and few can handle it. This was what we were born for, to demonstrate God's love for each other, after of course first receiving said love from God. You cannot give what you have not received. I do not judge any man for divorcing his wife, but... I personally see no time for when that would truly be appropriate, if the man is in fact getting his needs met from God. I believe this to be a hard word, but Jesus's feelings about divorce were just as clear. As far as women are concerned, I believe there is a time and place for divorce. Men who abuse their spouses should not be tolerated...
In order that one might understand why gay marriage is bad, you first have to understand the point of marriage as it was intended. See, this is a complex question, and will take multiple parts to answer. First of all, when God made the genders, he made them very different, each with very different strengths and weaknesses. These were designed to compliment each other, so that the children produced by such a relationship would get all the love that they need, so that they can go out in the world and do God's will for their lives. Now if we got honest, not every marriage is truly in obedience to Christ's designs, and there is no question in my mind that some loving homosexual couples do a better job than some heterosexual ones, but in the ideal situation the father gives certain kinds of love that meet needs towards the encouragement of following God's plan for the children's lives, while the mother provides the love that says that the children are loved just as they are now. I think the differences are more than that and varied, but this difference I've just illuminated is a significant key. However, there is an even more pressing issue, and that is the idea that marriage represents the relationship between Christ Jesus and his bride.
It is my opinion, which I think is based on scripture, that the marriage relationship was meant to be a demonstration to the world of Christ's relationship with the church. The man, who plays the role of Christ, is supposed to love his wife more than his own life, and be prepared to even die for her if necessary. He is her protector, her lover, and to some extent, her fulfiller. She is supposed to meet God, based on what her husband is like. On the other hand, she is supposed to trust him, and trust him implicitly. Of course, he's supposed to earn that trust by the love that he gives, but I digress... Anyhow, this relationship between man and woman was supposed to be a microcosm of what heaven is like- two people living together, with very different roles to play, but of equal importance. It was supposed to be a witness to the world of what Jesus is like, and how the church was meant to be transformed by His love. This is the ideal situation. Most marriages are not ideal, but hopefully people in the church, as a general rule, try to honor this plan for their marriage.
I hope no one reading this feels I am judging them. I'm talking here about the ideal- and few can handle it. This was what we were born for, to demonstrate God's love for each other, after of course first receiving said love from God. You cannot give what you have not received. I do not judge any man for divorcing his wife, but... I personally see no time for when that would truly be appropriate, if the man is in fact getting his needs met from God. I believe this to be a hard word, but Jesus's feelings about divorce were just as clear. As far as women are concerned, I believe there is a time and place for divorce. Men who abuse their spouses should not be tolerated...
Saturday, February 21, 2015
Love, Wisdom, and Passion
It occurred to me that it takes three things to make someone great in the kingdom: love, wisdom, and passion. I believe that the problem is these things don't get married often enough within believers. Most believers major on one or two of these but not all three. It takes all three to drive someone to greatness in the kingdom. I will demonstrate how these things need to be merged, and what happens when someone only has one or two of them...
Love. We talk about love, but what is it? Fundamentally, love is about having an active interest in the concerns of others. If you have love, you will act to help those that you love. If you come across a real need, what do you think? Do you think about doing something, or do you stand on the sidelines? Nothing great in the kingdom is ever done without love. I can think of many examples of so-called "Christians" with passion, and maybe even wisdom, but have not love and are therefore hopeless. Love makes you care. Sometimes, love is the difference between inaction and action. Love on it's own can make a world of difference, but it is only the capacity to act that love demonstrates itself- love does not drive you to act necessarily, nor does it give you the sense of knowing the right way to act or the right time to act. That's where wisdom and passion come in.
Wisdom is about the ability to know the precise answer to a situation. If I love my friend, I'm going to share my faith with him. If I have wisdom, I might then choose the proper time and place to share my faith so as to improve the odds that the seed I am trying to plant might take hold. It might even give me the right angle to come from, to get at the heart of the matter most effectively. Without wisdom, Christians are dangerous in a bad way. We might be well-meaning, but if we say the right thing at the wrong time or in the wrong way, we get nowhere. If we don't know how to be shrewd the way God meant us to be shrewd, we will bungle the opportunities granted us to impact the lives around us. We'll mismanage our time and energy. We'll fight battles we should have avoided, and avoid battles we should have engaged. Wisdom is SO critical to right living before God that without it, our love is somewhat meaningless, as we blow opportunities to make a difference by mistakes that could easily have been averted with a little forethought. Wisdom is what guides our love so that the love is not ineffective. Love and wisdom are great, but without an engine to drive it, little will be accomplished. That engine is passion.
Last but not least of these is passion, the fire that really makes things happen. I would argue that faith is the underlying architect of passion, because passion is faith set on fire. There are plenty of people with passion who do not have love or wisdom. Passion alone is a dangerous thing- it's what makes things like suicide bombers possible. While passion alone is a dangerous thing, without it we'll never believe God for anything of significance. We'll never follow through on the dreams we dream. We won't hunger and thirst for righteousness. Without passion, we will be content to be mediocre and nominal. Passion... every believer must be set ablaze by God or will never amount to anything of significance. You know that people who do stuff like suicide bombing and terror attacks and intense, bold things have no lack of passion. My wish was that there was more passion within the church- if you haven't been set on fire by God then you are only standing in the way. To make a difference on this planet, a real difference, you have to care about your cause within the kingdom and your purpose before God as much as anyone in Satan's camp cares about their cause. We need people who have real passion, directed by real love for God and people and channeled by wisdom to be effective. Without passion, nothing of any real significance is ever accomplished.
I have a vision for what Christianity could be. That vision is a church that loves first and foremost, has the wisdom to guide it so that when that love is shown it is received, and has passion so that the visions we have of our world being made right can be turned into reality. Without these things we are hopeless. To cultivate love, you need to know how much you are loved. To cultivate wisdom, you must seek God for it and learn to see what God sees and to hear what God is saying. To cultivate passion, you must believe that God has a plan for your life that is bigger than just existing and you must receive the Holy Spirit's passion for your own life. Ultimately, you must care about whether God's will happens in your life or not. If you cultivate these three things, you are likely to go somewhere. If you don't, you will be just another nominal Christian whose life amounts to little and has nothing significant to speak of when you get to Heaven. Something to think about...
Love. We talk about love, but what is it? Fundamentally, love is about having an active interest in the concerns of others. If you have love, you will act to help those that you love. If you come across a real need, what do you think? Do you think about doing something, or do you stand on the sidelines? Nothing great in the kingdom is ever done without love. I can think of many examples of so-called "Christians" with passion, and maybe even wisdom, but have not love and are therefore hopeless. Love makes you care. Sometimes, love is the difference between inaction and action. Love on it's own can make a world of difference, but it is only the capacity to act that love demonstrates itself- love does not drive you to act necessarily, nor does it give you the sense of knowing the right way to act or the right time to act. That's where wisdom and passion come in.
Wisdom is about the ability to know the precise answer to a situation. If I love my friend, I'm going to share my faith with him. If I have wisdom, I might then choose the proper time and place to share my faith so as to improve the odds that the seed I am trying to plant might take hold. It might even give me the right angle to come from, to get at the heart of the matter most effectively. Without wisdom, Christians are dangerous in a bad way. We might be well-meaning, but if we say the right thing at the wrong time or in the wrong way, we get nowhere. If we don't know how to be shrewd the way God meant us to be shrewd, we will bungle the opportunities granted us to impact the lives around us. We'll mismanage our time and energy. We'll fight battles we should have avoided, and avoid battles we should have engaged. Wisdom is SO critical to right living before God that without it, our love is somewhat meaningless, as we blow opportunities to make a difference by mistakes that could easily have been averted with a little forethought. Wisdom is what guides our love so that the love is not ineffective. Love and wisdom are great, but without an engine to drive it, little will be accomplished. That engine is passion.
Last but not least of these is passion, the fire that really makes things happen. I would argue that faith is the underlying architect of passion, because passion is faith set on fire. There are plenty of people with passion who do not have love or wisdom. Passion alone is a dangerous thing- it's what makes things like suicide bombers possible. While passion alone is a dangerous thing, without it we'll never believe God for anything of significance. We'll never follow through on the dreams we dream. We won't hunger and thirst for righteousness. Without passion, we will be content to be mediocre and nominal. Passion... every believer must be set ablaze by God or will never amount to anything of significance. You know that people who do stuff like suicide bombing and terror attacks and intense, bold things have no lack of passion. My wish was that there was more passion within the church- if you haven't been set on fire by God then you are only standing in the way. To make a difference on this planet, a real difference, you have to care about your cause within the kingdom and your purpose before God as much as anyone in Satan's camp cares about their cause. We need people who have real passion, directed by real love for God and people and channeled by wisdom to be effective. Without passion, nothing of any real significance is ever accomplished.
I have a vision for what Christianity could be. That vision is a church that loves first and foremost, has the wisdom to guide it so that when that love is shown it is received, and has passion so that the visions we have of our world being made right can be turned into reality. Without these things we are hopeless. To cultivate love, you need to know how much you are loved. To cultivate wisdom, you must seek God for it and learn to see what God sees and to hear what God is saying. To cultivate passion, you must believe that God has a plan for your life that is bigger than just existing and you must receive the Holy Spirit's passion for your own life. Ultimately, you must care about whether God's will happens in your life or not. If you cultivate these three things, you are likely to go somewhere. If you don't, you will be just another nominal Christian whose life amounts to little and has nothing significant to speak of when you get to Heaven. Something to think about...
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