Israel as a brand-new nation was given very clear direction by Yahweh about who was in charge: "You are not to have any other gods before me" and "You shall not make any images, and not bow down to them or serve them," found in Exodus 20:3-5. These give us much of our thinking about idolatry, and the problem wasn't unique to Israel of course; Paul talks about
Showing posts with label God. Show all posts
Showing posts with label God. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 16, 2018
Monday, January 5, 2015
A Few Nothings about God
The Triune God -- Father, Son and Spirit -- are not limited in any way. God's attributes include being all-knowing, all-present, and all-powerful. So, here's a list of a few "Nothings" that apply to God:
Nothing that, from our perspective stands in our way, imposes an obstacle
Nothing that, from our perspective stands in our way, imposes an obstacle
Monday, June 23, 2014
Hungry Birds
I was sitting this morning with The Lovely Joanne on our front porch, quietly talking with God, and heard a chirping a few feet away. The birdseed sock on the other end of the porch was being visited by two yellow finches, male and female, and they were happily pecking away at the seed. That humans were so close, and yet they were willing to keep pecking, meant they were hungry enough to risk an encounter with us.
Oh that we were so hungry for God, that we were willing to pour ourselves out for him, eagerly drinking in whatever he gave us and not shrinking back from whatever he asked of us in return! That we would be so hungry for him to move in our hearts and make his love known through us that we would be willing to give up our illusion of control, our desire for safety and predictability, our wish to manipulate the outcome, and simply let God do in us, for us and through us what he wished! What then would be the outcome? Oh, it might be unfamiliar and even uncomfortable at first, but Lord, what results would you create in our lives and in our churches?
Lord, make us hungry.
Oh that we were so hungry for God, that we were willing to pour ourselves out for him, eagerly drinking in whatever he gave us and not shrinking back from whatever he asked of us in return! That we would be so hungry for him to move in our hearts and make his love known through us that we would be willing to give up our illusion of control, our desire for safety and predictability, our wish to manipulate the outcome, and simply let God do in us, for us and through us what he wished! What then would be the outcome? Oh, it might be unfamiliar and even uncomfortable at first, but Lord, what results would you create in our lives and in our churches?
Lord, make us hungry.
Wednesday, December 26, 2012
What Is God's Name? (Part 5)
Have you ever understood the Bible's names for God, about how and why God is called Father, Son and Holy Spirit? Have you ever wondered -- or doubted -- whether we can trust
those names? And by "trust" I mean two things: the Bible being accurate in its teaching, and trusting God intimately as we come to know him more every day. I've been trying to understand that myself, and am attempting to explain it briefly here.
So far we've talked mostly about the name Father, and why the Bible describes him that way. Let's examine, briefly, whether that name includes gender, or male sexuality. We've already said that Jesus called God his Father many times in the Gospels; that God is called the Father of our Lord; and that Jesus said he came to reveal the Father (John 14:9, Matt. 11:27). In Matt. 23:9 Jesus says to us not to call a human person Father, but why would he say that? To stop us from projecting human ideas onto God, and polluting our view of him, from two sources: from elevating a human person too much, and from our notion of fatherhood, however good or bad. (We've talked already of the difficulty some have of not being able to think of God as Father, because of problems with human fathers. This is what Jesus rules out here.)
Some say that the name or title "Father" is a way to make male humans more important, and that men wrote the Bible to oppress women. So then, is the Bible's description of God any different than other religions of the time when it was written? Here's an extremely brief sketch. Actually, the writers of the Bible could see many examples in the pagan world around them, of mythological deities described as being male or female, like humans, and because of their greater powers they misused their male or female qualities worse than the humans did. Some societies had female gods to worship, but history shows that didn't make the status of women any better. Because of the broken relations between the sexes in the world around them, people predictably worshiped the mythological gods in broken ways: there was temple prostitution and all kinds of other horrible activity, in the name of their gods, whether male or female. The Bible was specifically, carefully, written to exclude all those ideas in referring to the true God.
So what do we come back to? The God of the Bible, who is described as infinitely loving, giving and concerned for us; who has given himself, in the person of Jesus, to rescue us; and unlike the pagan gods of mythology, doesn't have the weaknesses we do. We can trust God as Father, so long as we think of him in the way he describes himself and not in other ways. We'll look at some other ways language is used to describe God -- including some feminine characteristics!-- next time.
those names? And by "trust" I mean two things: the Bible being accurate in its teaching, and trusting God intimately as we come to know him more every day. I've been trying to understand that myself, and am attempting to explain it briefly here.
So far we've talked mostly about the name Father, and why the Bible describes him that way. Let's examine, briefly, whether that name includes gender, or male sexuality. We've already said that Jesus called God his Father many times in the Gospels; that God is called the Father of our Lord; and that Jesus said he came to reveal the Father (John 14:9, Matt. 11:27). In Matt. 23:9 Jesus says to us not to call a human person Father, but why would he say that? To stop us from projecting human ideas onto God, and polluting our view of him, from two sources: from elevating a human person too much, and from our notion of fatherhood, however good or bad. (We've talked already of the difficulty some have of not being able to think of God as Father, because of problems with human fathers. This is what Jesus rules out here.)
Some say that the name or title "Father" is a way to make male humans more important, and that men wrote the Bible to oppress women. So then, is the Bible's description of God any different than other religions of the time when it was written? Here's an extremely brief sketch. Actually, the writers of the Bible could see many examples in the pagan world around them, of mythological deities described as being male or female, like humans, and because of their greater powers they misused their male or female qualities worse than the humans did. Some societies had female gods to worship, but history shows that didn't make the status of women any better. Because of the broken relations between the sexes in the world around them, people predictably worshiped the mythological gods in broken ways: there was temple prostitution and all kinds of other horrible activity, in the name of their gods, whether male or female. The Bible was specifically, carefully, written to exclude all those ideas in referring to the true God.
So what do we come back to? The God of the Bible, who is described as infinitely loving, giving and concerned for us; who has given himself, in the person of Jesus, to rescue us; and unlike the pagan gods of mythology, doesn't have the weaknesses we do. We can trust God as Father, so long as we think of him in the way he describes himself and not in other ways. We'll look at some other ways language is used to describe God -- including some feminine characteristics!-- next time.
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
What Is God's Name? (Part 3)
Is God a male person? Why do the descriptions of God in the Bible seem male instead of female? Why is God called a "father"? Can we use feminine concepts
for God also? We've started on some important questions here: whether the names and descriptions we have for God are adequate and if not, what to do about it.
Last week I wrote about whether being wounded by a father figure (or any male figure) means we shouldn't try to think of God as a father, substituting some other word instead. We recognized that idea as "anthropocentric" or human-centered reasoning, which is basically idolatry. It starts from the basis of who we are, what we understand, and what we feel our needs are, then projects our ideas onto God, like he was a big movie screen. But God is far greater than our ideas of who he should be, so we need to use "theocentric" or "God-centered" reasoning instead.
Since God describes himself to us in the Bible using the word Father, then we should use those concepts to describe and define for us what a physical father should be like. God is not often referred to in the Old Testament as a father, but Jesus describes him right from the start as "Our Father" (Mat. 6:9) and he speaks of God as Father 16 times in Luke's gospel and at least 93 times in John's Gospel! We would do well to review John's writings, especially, to see more of the Fatherhood of God as Jesus showed it to us. But in summary, we could say that the Father is an infinitely loving Person who plans and provides good for us, looks out for us, and always works out what is best for us, even to the point of sacrificing himself for us (see John 3:16). In fact, he loves us as much as he loves the Son of God (John 17:23) -- which shows us that the infinite and eternal love that is characteristic of the Father-Son-Spirit God is now being shared with us!
If we are willing to trust that Scripture has come to us as it was inspired by God, without changes in its meaning, then we also have to accept that the names for God are what he actually calls himself. Can God be Father even if we have similar terms in human life, and some of those terms leave us with negative images? Yes, if we're willing to think in theocentric terms: admitting that God is Father of all, and that he defines for us what Fatherhood is, therefore we can re-define what fatherhood should be! Our own fathers fell short of that ideal, no matter how good they were, but we can choose to see them through the eyes of grace just as our heavenly Father sees us. More on all of this next time.
for God also? We've started on some important questions here: whether the names and descriptions we have for God are adequate and if not, what to do about it.
Last week I wrote about whether being wounded by a father figure (or any male figure) means we shouldn't try to think of God as a father, substituting some other word instead. We recognized that idea as "anthropocentric" or human-centered reasoning, which is basically idolatry. It starts from the basis of who we are, what we understand, and what we feel our needs are, then projects our ideas onto God, like he was a big movie screen. But God is far greater than our ideas of who he should be, so we need to use "theocentric" or "God-centered" reasoning instead.
Since God describes himself to us in the Bible using the word Father, then we should use those concepts to describe and define for us what a physical father should be like. God is not often referred to in the Old Testament as a father, but Jesus describes him right from the start as "Our Father" (Mat. 6:9) and he speaks of God as Father 16 times in Luke's gospel and at least 93 times in John's Gospel! We would do well to review John's writings, especially, to see more of the Fatherhood of God as Jesus showed it to us. But in summary, we could say that the Father is an infinitely loving Person who plans and provides good for us, looks out for us, and always works out what is best for us, even to the point of sacrificing himself for us (see John 3:16). In fact, he loves us as much as he loves the Son of God (John 17:23) -- which shows us that the infinite and eternal love that is characteristic of the Father-Son-Spirit God is now being shared with us!
If we are willing to trust that Scripture has come to us as it was inspired by God, without changes in its meaning, then we also have to accept that the names for God are what he actually calls himself. Can God be Father even if we have similar terms in human life, and some of those terms leave us with negative images? Yes, if we're willing to think in theocentric terms: admitting that God is Father of all, and that he defines for us what Fatherhood is, therefore we can re-define what fatherhood should be! Our own fathers fell short of that ideal, no matter how good they were, but we can choose to see them through the eyes of grace just as our heavenly Father sees us. More on all of this next time.
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
What Is God's Name? (Part 2)
Last week we introduced some of the questions about how God is named in the Bible, and whether we should add
to those words or change them, with the goal of understanding God better and loving him more. These goals sound noble, so let's see if the strategy is a good one. I am indebted for this material to the work of James B. Torrance and his brother Thomas F. Torrance, Gary Deddo and Roland L. Frye, among others.
My dad and I didn't get along well when I was growing up. Until I began to understand and appreciate both God and my father better, I had difficulties accepting God as a father figure -- no surprise, right? In fact many (not all, of course) of us in the Western world have strained relationships with our physical fathers. So it seems logical to us that we should want a different word for God, that doesn't remind us of that wound. Some evangelists have even substituted "friend" for "Father" to be a more acceptable idea to those who don't know God yet. Others focus on Jesus, who seems more palatable than the Father, thus avoiding -- for the moment -- the issue of God's fatherhood.
So here's the first problem we're going to look at: this strategy is "anthropocentric" or human-centered, rather than "theocentric" or God-centered. We've created ourselves as the center of the universe. We allow our pain to define and determine who we are for the rest of our lives, not believing that God can heal any wound. That's idolatry. Instead, when we look to Jesus we find the love and healing of God expressed toward us. Jesus took on our sins, our weaknesses and our pain (Isa. 53:3-5). When he touched a leper, he didn't contract leprosy -- the leper was healed! When he spoke with people, he didn't leave them in their sin and selfishness, but confronted their anthropocentric ways, challenging them to turn away from themselves as idols, and toward God (the Sermon on the Mount, Mat. 5-7, is a good example of that idea, but there are many others).
Here's the point for today: your pain, the abuse in your past, your personal or public wound, does not define you. Only God can define you -- and God says you belong to him, he loves you just like you are right now, and he will love you forever! Even though you've been wounded by a father figure, God is the perfect definition of all fatherhood, and he knows how to help you perfectly. Hebrews 12:10 says "For our earthly fathers disciplined us for a few years, doing the best they knew how. But God’s discipline is always good for us, so that we might share in his holiness."
God is asking you, right now, to let go of whatever you think keeps you from his "YES" toward you. Even if you've been saying "No" to him all your life, God says "No" to your "No" and "YES" to you. His love as a perfect Father will completely make up for any lack of love from your own dad -- and you will find healing in him (Mat. 11:29). (Next week, we'll look at why the Bible uses the word "father" for God.)
to those words or change them, with the goal of understanding God better and loving him more. These goals sound noble, so let's see if the strategy is a good one. I am indebted for this material to the work of James B. Torrance and his brother Thomas F. Torrance, Gary Deddo and Roland L. Frye, among others.
My dad and I didn't get along well when I was growing up. Until I began to understand and appreciate both God and my father better, I had difficulties accepting God as a father figure -- no surprise, right? In fact many (not all, of course) of us in the Western world have strained relationships with our physical fathers. So it seems logical to us that we should want a different word for God, that doesn't remind us of that wound. Some evangelists have even substituted "friend" for "Father" to be a more acceptable idea to those who don't know God yet. Others focus on Jesus, who seems more palatable than the Father, thus avoiding -- for the moment -- the issue of God's fatherhood.
So here's the first problem we're going to look at: this strategy is "anthropocentric" or human-centered, rather than "theocentric" or God-centered. We've created ourselves as the center of the universe. We allow our pain to define and determine who we are for the rest of our lives, not believing that God can heal any wound. That's idolatry. Instead, when we look to Jesus we find the love and healing of God expressed toward us. Jesus took on our sins, our weaknesses and our pain (Isa. 53:3-5). When he touched a leper, he didn't contract leprosy -- the leper was healed! When he spoke with people, he didn't leave them in their sin and selfishness, but confronted their anthropocentric ways, challenging them to turn away from themselves as idols, and toward God (the Sermon on the Mount, Mat. 5-7, is a good example of that idea, but there are many others).
Here's the point for today: your pain, the abuse in your past, your personal or public wound, does not define you. Only God can define you -- and God says you belong to him, he loves you just like you are right now, and he will love you forever! Even though you've been wounded by a father figure, God is the perfect definition of all fatherhood, and he knows how to help you perfectly. Hebrews 12:10 says "For our earthly fathers disciplined us for a few years, doing the best they knew how. But God’s discipline is always good for us, so that we might share in his holiness."
God is asking you, right now, to let go of whatever you think keeps you from his "YES" toward you. Even if you've been saying "No" to him all your life, God says "No" to your "No" and "YES" to you. His love as a perfect Father will completely make up for any lack of love from your own dad -- and you will find healing in him (Mat. 11:29). (Next week, we'll look at why the Bible uses the word "father" for God.)
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Face to Face (part 2)
Experts say 90% of communication is non-verbal -- that is, not the words themselves, but the vocal inflection, timing, and the facial and bodily expressions that go with the words. This is why I'd rather see my wife while we talk, than just speak on the phone, as I can understand more of what she's saying.
John, the apostle, seems to have known Jesus best of the twelve. He wrote his gospel to comment on Jesus' divinity and how he reveals the Father to us. John writes in chapter 1 verse 1, that "In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God." The word "with" in English indicates being next to, or participating; but that's far too simple a thought here. It is translated from the Greek "pros" which has the idea of connection, nearness and intimacy. It means, in this usage, something like "face to face with." John takes it even farther in verse 14, when the Word (who became human, now obviously speaking of Jesus) is called "the Father's one and only Son." So John is painting a portrait here of a Being who is God, who is also face-to-face with God, and who also became human.
Verse 18 is also powerful: "No one has ever seen God. But the unique One, who is himself God, is near to the Father’s heart. He has revealed God to us." The Greek here says "God the one and only" or "God the uniquely begotten one". That's the one we know now as Jesus; who as the eternal Word, became a human being just like us and showed us who and how the Father really is. The Hebrew writers and prophets described God as best they could; but human language was just not good enough. God himself came to be with us and let us see him, to supply all the information that language alone couldn't provide (among other reasons).
Jesus was giving the disciples a deeper understanding of his relationship with the Father in John 14. He said to Philip in verse 9, "Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father! So why are you asking me to show him to you?" So when we want to understand who God really is, what he's really saying, we look at Jesus. Jesus was and is God, not just a prophet; so what he shows us is more complete than what was said before. There is no other "God" hiding behind Jesus' back. There aren't two different faces to God, the God of anger and judgment on one hand and the God of love in Jesus on the other -- that's our own misunderstanding of the scriptures. There isn't any other mysterious 'plan of God' besides Jesus. Jesus is the One who brings out in detail the full plan and purpose of God from creation: that is, to be with us, to save us from all our sins and failings and to get us close to him so he can show us what real life and real love are about -- forever!
Jesus was and is God's equivalent, for us, of all the non-verbal communication cues that we use in trying to understand others. His life and teachings, in the Gospels and the rest of the New Testament, are there to help us get face-to-face with God and understand him. So let's continue to look to him (Heb. 12:1-2) until we actually get to see him with our own resurrected eyes. More on that next time.
John, the apostle, seems to have known Jesus best of the twelve. He wrote his gospel to comment on Jesus' divinity and how he reveals the Father to us. John writes in chapter 1 verse 1, that "In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God." The word "with" in English indicates being next to, or participating; but that's far too simple a thought here. It is translated from the Greek "pros" which has the idea of connection, nearness and intimacy. It means, in this usage, something like "face to face with." John takes it even farther in verse 14, when the Word (who became human, now obviously speaking of Jesus) is called "the Father's one and only Son." So John is painting a portrait here of a Being who is God, who is also face-to-face with God, and who also became human.
Verse 18 is also powerful: "No one has ever seen God. But the unique One, who is himself God, is near to the Father’s heart. He has revealed God to us." The Greek here says "God the one and only" or "God the uniquely begotten one". That's the one we know now as Jesus; who as the eternal Word, became a human being just like us and showed us who and how the Father really is. The Hebrew writers and prophets described God as best they could; but human language was just not good enough. God himself came to be with us and let us see him, to supply all the information that language alone couldn't provide (among other reasons).
Jesus was giving the disciples a deeper understanding of his relationship with the Father in John 14. He said to Philip in verse 9, "Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father! So why are you asking me to show him to you?" So when we want to understand who God really is, what he's really saying, we look at Jesus. Jesus was and is God, not just a prophet; so what he shows us is more complete than what was said before. There is no other "God" hiding behind Jesus' back. There aren't two different faces to God, the God of anger and judgment on one hand and the God of love in Jesus on the other -- that's our own misunderstanding of the scriptures. There isn't any other mysterious 'plan of God' besides Jesus. Jesus is the One who brings out in detail the full plan and purpose of God from creation: that is, to be with us, to save us from all our sins and failings and to get us close to him so he can show us what real life and real love are about -- forever!
Jesus was and is God's equivalent, for us, of all the non-verbal communication cues that we use in trying to understand others. His life and teachings, in the Gospels and the rest of the New Testament, are there to help us get face-to-face with God and understand him. So let's continue to look to him (Heb. 12:1-2) until we actually get to see him with our own resurrected eyes. More on that next time.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Cats and God: Mornings
The Lovely Joanne and I have developed a routine with the girls (our cats Haley and Susie). Every morning when we get out of bed, we spend 5 minutes or so playing with them -- wrestling on the floor, playing chase-the-string, and giving them some affection. They meow at us, perhaps telling us what they did during the night, and asking us how soon breakfast will be. They love this routine, and we've grown to enjoy this time with them every day.
Our heavenly Father deeply wants the same kind of closeness and enjoyment of fellowship with us. He walked and talked with our first parents in the garden, remember? And in the end of the book, he says he will live among us forever: "I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, 'Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them.'" (Rev. 21:3)
He wants the relationship to be mutual -- so we will want to be with him just as he wants fellowship with us. In Psalm 42, the psalmist expresses longing for God, comparing his desire for God to a thirsty animal:
"As the deer longs for streams of water, so I long for you, O God." And several of the psalms begin with encouragements to worship: for instance, 108, 111, 113, 117, 118, 122, 134, 135, 136 and the crescendo in Psalms 145 to 150. Some talk about rising early; others about pursuing a relationship of awe, worship and love with God. Psalm 100 is a good example of a heart filled with joy and energy from knowing God and wanting to know him better.
So we would know him better, and so we could know his love for us, the Father sent the Son into the world (John 3:16, John 14:9; Heb. 1:2). It's been his plan -- which means he really, really wants this, and that's why he has invested so much in creating that relationship with us -- from the beginning. God loves his children, all of them, and he loves it when we turn to him in repentance, faith and love, to come closer to him. It brings a smile to my face to see the kittens come bounding up to see me every morning; and even more, our desire to know and love God brings great pleasure to him.
Would it be worth it to spend that first few minutes every morning thanking and praising God? I know of one man who pivots himself when he gets out of bed, so his knees hit the floor first, and spends a few minutes there talking to his Creator. I enjoy taking a cup of coffee to a quiet place to connect with him. What could you do to create a 'holy space' in your life to spend with him, every day? It will be worth it!
Our heavenly Father deeply wants the same kind of closeness and enjoyment of fellowship with us. He walked and talked with our first parents in the garden, remember? And in the end of the book, he says he will live among us forever: "I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, 'Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them.'" (Rev. 21:3)
He wants the relationship to be mutual -- so we will want to be with him just as he wants fellowship with us. In Psalm 42, the psalmist expresses longing for God, comparing his desire for God to a thirsty animal:
"As the deer longs for streams of water, so I long for you, O God." And several of the psalms begin with encouragements to worship: for instance, 108, 111, 113, 117, 118, 122, 134, 135, 136 and the crescendo in Psalms 145 to 150. Some talk about rising early; others about pursuing a relationship of awe, worship and love with God. Psalm 100 is a good example of a heart filled with joy and energy from knowing God and wanting to know him better.
So we would know him better, and so we could know his love for us, the Father sent the Son into the world (John 3:16, John 14:9; Heb. 1:2). It's been his plan -- which means he really, really wants this, and that's why he has invested so much in creating that relationship with us -- from the beginning. God loves his children, all of them, and he loves it when we turn to him in repentance, faith and love, to come closer to him. It brings a smile to my face to see the kittens come bounding up to see me every morning; and even more, our desire to know and love God brings great pleasure to him.
Would it be worth it to spend that first few minutes every morning thanking and praising God? I know of one man who pivots himself when he gets out of bed, so his knees hit the floor first, and spends a few minutes there talking to his Creator. I enjoy taking a cup of coffee to a quiet place to connect with him. What could you do to create a 'holy space' in your life to spend with him, every day? It will be worth it!
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Cats and God, part 1
The McCulley household once more includes cats, by name Haley and Susie. They are cute, I must admit, even though I'm not a cat lover. They do what cats do -- eat, sleep, play ChasePounce, stretch, test their claws on the furniture, and so forth. It's easy to see that they are cats; they act like cats. And the reverse is true: if I see claw marks on something, I know they've been around -- clawing is one of those things cats do (and I don't).
It's like that as we come to know God. We can know God by what he does (I don't care how many meteorological explanations there are for a sunset, God makes them!), and by what he tells us he is like in the Bible. And we can be sure that what we are told about him is not only true, it's according to his nature -- to who he really is in his being.
God told us a lot about himself in the Hebrew scriptures, what Christians usually call the Old Testament. But as the opening verses of Hebrews (the epistle in the New Testament) say, now God has spoken to us directly: "Long ago God spoke many times and in many ways to our ancestors through the prophets. And now in these final days, he has spoken to us through his Son." However, more than his speaking, but in his very essence, Jesus the Christ was the person of God among us: "The Son radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God, and he sustains everything by the mighty power of his command. When he had cleansed us from our sins, he sat down in the place of honor at the right hand of the majestic God in heaven."
If I want to know what cats are like, I watch cats. If I want to know what God is like, I watch Jesus, because he wasn't just a representative from God, he was and is God. That's why Jesus could say to Philip, "If you have seen me, you have seen the Father" in John 14:9. Jesus wasn't an apparition, he wasn't an angel, he wasn't an exalted human, he wasn't just a special teacher -- he was (and remains) God in the flesh. He deserves all honor and glory and praise because he is God. And on top of that, we have an eternal debt of gratitude to him because he did us the eternal favor of dying to pay the penalty of all sin, so we could enter into shared life with him.
God really is who he reveals himself to be through the Son. We can fully trust that Jesus truly reveals the will and character of the Father, and his love for us. The surprise, when we finally get to see God, will be in the sheer magnitude of his person; not in what he is like. That, we already know, through the Son. Hallelujah!
It's like that as we come to know God. We can know God by what he does (I don't care how many meteorological explanations there are for a sunset, God makes them!), and by what he tells us he is like in the Bible. And we can be sure that what we are told about him is not only true, it's according to his nature -- to who he really is in his being.
God told us a lot about himself in the Hebrew scriptures, what Christians usually call the Old Testament. But as the opening verses of Hebrews (the epistle in the New Testament) say, now God has spoken to us directly: "Long ago God spoke many times and in many ways to our ancestors through the prophets. And now in these final days, he has spoken to us through his Son." However, more than his speaking, but in his very essence, Jesus the Christ was the person of God among us: "The Son radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God, and he sustains everything by the mighty power of his command. When he had cleansed us from our sins, he sat down in the place of honor at the right hand of the majestic God in heaven."
If I want to know what cats are like, I watch cats. If I want to know what God is like, I watch Jesus, because he wasn't just a representative from God, he was and is God. That's why Jesus could say to Philip, "If you have seen me, you have seen the Father" in John 14:9. Jesus wasn't an apparition, he wasn't an angel, he wasn't an exalted human, he wasn't just a special teacher -- he was (and remains) God in the flesh. He deserves all honor and glory and praise because he is God. And on top of that, we have an eternal debt of gratitude to him because he did us the eternal favor of dying to pay the penalty of all sin, so we could enter into shared life with him.
God really is who he reveals himself to be through the Son. We can fully trust that Jesus truly reveals the will and character of the Father, and his love for us. The surprise, when we finally get to see God, will be in the sheer magnitude of his person; not in what he is like. That, we already know, through the Son. Hallelujah!
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Hearing God, Part 2
Last time we looked at humanity's on-again, off-again way of hearing from God, starting with Adam and Eve and going through Abraham. The times when people actively tried to listen, things went a lot better with them, and vice versa. Now we come to Moses, in the book of Exodus.
God had been keeping track of the descendents of Abraham and their problems for the last 400 years. In Exodus 2, he arranges for a new leader to be born and trained to accomplish the next step in the plan. Moses is a sheepherder, and God starts talking to him out of a burning bush. Moses has enough sense to listen; although his version of listening includes a lot of arguing and complaining (see 3:11, 4:1, 10, 13). Moses continues to listen to God and to complain to Him for another 40 years. But God seems to enjoy the give-and-take; He compares His conversations with Moses to that of friends in Ex. 33:11.
God brings the Israelites out of Egypt, where they saw His miracles in the plagues against the Egyptian gods and His parting the Red Sea for them. They still hadn't heard His voice, though, as Moses had. So He calls them to Mount Sinai and there He speaks. But they can't listen; in a kind of irony, after Moses was afraid they wouldn't listen to him at all (4:1), they want to hear him instead of God: "don't let God speak to us, or we will die!" (20:19).
Moses was like the later prophets: he told the people, over and over, to hear God and not turn away, even though he knew they were going to (Deut. 4:1-14, 31:27, etc). Moses had seen from his own life and from watching others that we aren't very good at listening, but that God is talking and we should pay attention.
Now, here's a point: God had continued to find various ones who would listen, and He kept up the dialog. Why? Because He wants relationship with us. He wants the dialog, even when we get argumentative and difficult. And He sent His Son to talk to us, tell us more about Him and to call us back to that dialog and to walking together. We'll see some more of that next time. In the meantime, keep your ears open. He will definitely have something to say.
God had been keeping track of the descendents of Abraham and their problems for the last 400 years. In Exodus 2, he arranges for a new leader to be born and trained to accomplish the next step in the plan. Moses is a sheepherder, and God starts talking to him out of a burning bush. Moses has enough sense to listen; although his version of listening includes a lot of arguing and complaining (see 3:11, 4:1, 10, 13). Moses continues to listen to God and to complain to Him for another 40 years. But God seems to enjoy the give-and-take; He compares His conversations with Moses to that of friends in Ex. 33:11.
God brings the Israelites out of Egypt, where they saw His miracles in the plagues against the Egyptian gods and His parting the Red Sea for them. They still hadn't heard His voice, though, as Moses had. So He calls them to Mount Sinai and there He speaks. But they can't listen; in a kind of irony, after Moses was afraid they wouldn't listen to him at all (4:1), they want to hear him instead of God: "don't let God speak to us, or we will die!" (20:19).
Moses was like the later prophets: he told the people, over and over, to hear God and not turn away, even though he knew they were going to (Deut. 4:1-14, 31:27, etc). Moses had seen from his own life and from watching others that we aren't very good at listening, but that God is talking and we should pay attention.
Now, here's a point: God had continued to find various ones who would listen, and He kept up the dialog. Why? Because He wants relationship with us. He wants the dialog, even when we get argumentative and difficult. And He sent His Son to talk to us, tell us more about Him and to call us back to that dialog and to walking together. We'll see some more of that next time. In the meantime, keep your ears open. He will definitely have something to say.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Hearing God, part 1
Humans started out hearing God's voice, kind of like a baby hears its parents' voices, just as a part of living. Adam and Eve seem to have listened to God (Gen. 1:28-30) as he told them why they were in the garden and what they should do about it, and to stay away from that one pesky tree of 'knowledge of good and evil' (chapter 2). But in chapter 3, after they'd already taken the one thing they weren't supposed to take, the tone of the conversation is strained -- it reminds me of some discussions I've had with my children. "What did you do?" "I didn't do it, it was her fault!" and evasion instead of honesty. Adam even tried to blame the whole thing on God ("“It was the woman you gave me who gave me the fruit, and I ate it.”). I can imagine God sighing at this point, and shaking his head.
From then on, things get tense. God tries to discuss things with Cain, who isn't in much of a listening mood (chapter 4) and from that time, there don't seem to be many who are in a conversation with the Creator. God speaks with Noah (Genesis 6) and Noah does everything God tells him to (verse 22). But Noah is the only one who seems to pay attention at that point. Not even his three sons and their wives, who get saved from the flood also, seem to have any ongoing contact with the Lord.
After the great flood, everything continues much as it had before. The gift of speech, which includes the need to hear, is used by the humans to plan and build a tower. They are listening to each other, but nobody is listening to God. So he confuses their speech (11:7-8) and now they can't hear each other!
Along comes a fellow named Abram. This man seems serious about hearing God; when the Lord tells him to pick up and move to a different land, he does (12:1-4). And throughout the rest of his life, through all sorts of adventures, God talks to this man and this man listens. Sometimes the conversations are more difficult, like in chapter 15 where Abram complains that God's promises aren't coming true because he doesn't have a son. But Abram/Abraham learns to trust God and even more, to be honest with him -- as Adam and Eve didn't do. And he keeps hearing when God speaks.
There's a lot more to the story, and I want to go into that the next few weeks. But every time we read in the Bible about God, it seems like he is trying to reach out to us, to help us, to teach us. Will people learn to hear him? Will we learn to trust him? That's the continuing question -- not only for humanity as a whole, but for each one of us.
What are you doing to hear from God today? He speaks through his word, the Bible, and to our minds and emotions as we pray, and through circumstances and other people. I need to hear from him about all kinds of things and I bet you do too. How about spending some time talking with him, and asking him to talk to you? And then actively listening? It will change you. It changed me, and a lot of people I know.
From then on, things get tense. God tries to discuss things with Cain, who isn't in much of a listening mood (chapter 4) and from that time, there don't seem to be many who are in a conversation with the Creator. God speaks with Noah (Genesis 6) and Noah does everything God tells him to (verse 22). But Noah is the only one who seems to pay attention at that point. Not even his three sons and their wives, who get saved from the flood also, seem to have any ongoing contact with the Lord.
After the great flood, everything continues much as it had before. The gift of speech, which includes the need to hear, is used by the humans to plan and build a tower. They are listening to each other, but nobody is listening to God. So he confuses their speech (11:7-8) and now they can't hear each other!
Along comes a fellow named Abram. This man seems serious about hearing God; when the Lord tells him to pick up and move to a different land, he does (12:1-4). And throughout the rest of his life, through all sorts of adventures, God talks to this man and this man listens. Sometimes the conversations are more difficult, like in chapter 15 where Abram complains that God's promises aren't coming true because he doesn't have a son. But Abram/Abraham learns to trust God and even more, to be honest with him -- as Adam and Eve didn't do. And he keeps hearing when God speaks.
There's a lot more to the story, and I want to go into that the next few weeks. But every time we read in the Bible about God, it seems like he is trying to reach out to us, to help us, to teach us. Will people learn to hear him? Will we learn to trust him? That's the continuing question -- not only for humanity as a whole, but for each one of us.
What are you doing to hear from God today? He speaks through his word, the Bible, and to our minds and emotions as we pray, and through circumstances and other people. I need to hear from him about all kinds of things and I bet you do too. How about spending some time talking with him, and asking him to talk to you? And then actively listening? It will change you. It changed me, and a lot of people I know.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
On the Shore of the Red Sea
Exodus is a very cool book: full of stories of God's power, his peoples' inability to understand him even though he made it plain, and some 'excellent adventures' to borrow the title of a slapstick movie. Plagues, miracles and wonders, new kinds of food, burning mountains, the whole panorama of the new and unusual.
One story that always gets me is what I call "Standoff at the Red Sea" in chapters 13 and 14. First, God puts the Israelites into what my military friends would call an indefensible position, stuck on a little stretch of beach between the mountains and the sea. The whole Egyptian army, out for revenge for all those plagues, is boiling down on top of them. The Israelites, of course, blame Moses for the whole thing (starting with, "I can't keep my campfire lit next to the ocean!") and he spends some time complaining to the LORD about them.
The LORD comes back with something nobody would have predicted: he opens up the Red Sea for them. They stand there gawping for awhile, then because the Cloud moves into and through this new channel, they go across too. Probably shaking in their sandals the whole way and stopping the kids from picking up seashells. Then, just to sew it all up into a nice package, the LORD lets the waters come back over the Egyptian army; that'll show 'em!
I've sat in that spot, between the mountains and the sea with something or other coming at me like a Mack truck, more times in my life than I can remember. It's almost gotten to the point of being routine, except the circumstances keep changing. And, yes, I spend my time complaining to God about it. And inevitably, something happens that I didn't know was out there and couldn't have engineered to save my life (which is sometimes the point!).
Sooner or later, we all face illness, job loss, death of a loved one, financial problems, housing problems, or a thousand other problems we can't solve. Thing is, the same LORD who knew what the Israelites were facing also knows what you're up to. He is just as faithful to deliver you as he was to deliver them. And he is just as capable at parting your Red Sea as he was theirs. Now, the solution may be just as hard to step into as theirs was, but you can usually tell it's from him because nobody else could have done it. It may not be the solution you'd have chosen, but it will fit his plans to a T.
And when you step forward into his solution, whatever it is, he may show you a really pretty shell to keep, just to remind you that he loves you.
One story that always gets me is what I call "Standoff at the Red Sea" in chapters 13 and 14. First, God puts the Israelites into what my military friends would call an indefensible position, stuck on a little stretch of beach between the mountains and the sea. The whole Egyptian army, out for revenge for all those plagues, is boiling down on top of them. The Israelites, of course, blame Moses for the whole thing (starting with, "I can't keep my campfire lit next to the ocean!") and he spends some time complaining to the LORD about them.
The LORD comes back with something nobody would have predicted: he opens up the Red Sea for them. They stand there gawping for awhile, then because the Cloud moves into and through this new channel, they go across too. Probably shaking in their sandals the whole way and stopping the kids from picking up seashells. Then, just to sew it all up into a nice package, the LORD lets the waters come back over the Egyptian army; that'll show 'em!
I've sat in that spot, between the mountains and the sea with something or other coming at me like a Mack truck, more times in my life than I can remember. It's almost gotten to the point of being routine, except the circumstances keep changing. And, yes, I spend my time complaining to God about it. And inevitably, something happens that I didn't know was out there and couldn't have engineered to save my life (which is sometimes the point!).
Sooner or later, we all face illness, job loss, death of a loved one, financial problems, housing problems, or a thousand other problems we can't solve. Thing is, the same LORD who knew what the Israelites were facing also knows what you're up to. He is just as faithful to deliver you as he was to deliver them. And he is just as capable at parting your Red Sea as he was theirs. Now, the solution may be just as hard to step into as theirs was, but you can usually tell it's from him because nobody else could have done it. It may not be the solution you'd have chosen, but it will fit his plans to a T.
And when you step forward into his solution, whatever it is, he may show you a really pretty shell to keep, just to remind you that he loves you.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
God, in His Own Words
Who is God? What is he like? We can speculate on and on, or we can read what God said about himself. Hmmm...what might work better?
In Exodus 3, God has confronted Moses from the burning bush, and says about himself "I am who I am" (verse 14, NIV). On first glance that might not tell us much. But let's think about it: "I am who I am" was a self-revealing statement of a God who had been pretty mysterious for the last several hundred years, but who was now determined to open up his chosen peoples' understanding of him. So what might it mean? It means, among other things:
--God is self-existent; he doesn't depend on anything
--God himself determines who he is and how he relates to us; he isn't bound by our preconceptions
--God is eternal; the verb here implies past, present and future tenses rolled into one
--Since God IS, it might be helpful for us to get to know him as he is.
This isn't the only place God reveals himself to Moses and to us. In chapter 34, God tells us something fundamental about himself: "Yahweh—Yahweh is a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger and rich in faithful love and truth, 7 maintaining faithful love to a thousand [generations], forgiving wrongdoing, rebellion, and sin. But He will not leave [the guilty] unpunished, bringing the consequences of the fathers' wrongdoing on the children and grandchildren to the third and fourth generation."
These descriptions (compassionate, gracious, slow to anger, rich in faithful love, rich in truth, etc) all show important aspects of who God is. God has freely chosen -- without being obligated to us by anything we have done -- to be compassionate and merciful to us. He is 'rich in faithful love' which has to do with his decision to be loyal, dependable, reliable and dedicated to his people. In spite of themselves.
This self-description is a good place for us to start in getting to know God. This explains why, for instance, he continued to pursue his chosen people Israel in spite of their constant rebellion, why he never gave up on them. And why, in expanding that relationship of unsolicited love (see Romans 5:8-10) to all humanity, he sent his Son into the world to save us pitiful creatures (John 3:16-17, 1 John 3:16).
There are lots of other points to discuss in this passage, like why God says he is compassionate and merciful, yet punishing sin. But for today, why not meditate on these words that describe the gracious God who created the universe and made you to be his child?
In Exodus 3, God has confronted Moses from the burning bush, and says about himself "I am who I am" (verse 14, NIV). On first glance that might not tell us much. But let's think about it: "I am who I am" was a self-revealing statement of a God who had been pretty mysterious for the last several hundred years, but who was now determined to open up his chosen peoples' understanding of him. So what might it mean? It means, among other things:
--God is self-existent; he doesn't depend on anything
--God himself determines who he is and how he relates to us; he isn't bound by our preconceptions
--God is eternal; the verb here implies past, present and future tenses rolled into one
--Since God IS, it might be helpful for us to get to know him as he is.
This isn't the only place God reveals himself to Moses and to us. In chapter 34, God tells us something fundamental about himself: "Yahweh—Yahweh is a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger and rich in faithful love and truth, 7 maintaining faithful love to a thousand [generations], forgiving wrongdoing, rebellion, and sin. But He will not leave [the guilty] unpunished, bringing the consequences of the fathers' wrongdoing on the children and grandchildren to the third and fourth generation."
These descriptions (compassionate, gracious, slow to anger, rich in faithful love, rich in truth, etc) all show important aspects of who God is. God has freely chosen -- without being obligated to us by anything we have done -- to be compassionate and merciful to us. He is 'rich in faithful love' which has to do with his decision to be loyal, dependable, reliable and dedicated to his people. In spite of themselves.
This self-description is a good place for us to start in getting to know God. This explains why, for instance, he continued to pursue his chosen people Israel in spite of their constant rebellion, why he never gave up on them. And why, in expanding that relationship of unsolicited love (see Romans 5:8-10) to all humanity, he sent his Son into the world to save us pitiful creatures (John 3:16-17, 1 John 3:16).
There are lots of other points to discuss in this passage, like why God says he is compassionate and merciful, yet punishing sin. But for today, why not meditate on these words that describe the gracious God who created the universe and made you to be his child?
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Why?
Children ask a lot of "why" questions. Why does the sun come up in the morning? Why do birds eat worms? And so forth. Isn't it a shame we tend to lose our curiosity as we get older? Maybe we should get it back. It's a very useful trait.
I've spent a lot of time this last year studying the #1 question of all time: who God is. I think there are, roughly, three ways you could understand God and what he wants from us. They range from great strictness to complete looseness. Here are the first two:
If God is primarily concerned with whether people are doing wrong and then punishing them for it, you have a God of judgment and the primary job of his messengers is to tell people not to sin. If God is primarily concerned with accepting people, then he will overlook or excuse their sins and evil ideas, and the primary job of his messengers is telling people that he loves them and has decided not to care about their imperfections. Those are the two extremes.
There's a third option that addresses both of these: If God is primarily concerned with bringing people into a loving relationship with him, then he has found a way to deal with peoples' imperfections, weaknesses, sins and evil. The primary job of his messengers is telling people that God is passionately interested in a deep relationship with them, and that he has already handled the problem of evil in them and in the world.
This last one is the comprehensive message found in the Bible. It includes God's judgment against sin (overall, our rebelling against his love and instructions in an attempt to do it our own way) as well as his limitless love for us and desire to have relationship with us.
Here's the grand unifying theory, in two passages from the New Testament: "When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s condemnation. For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his Son. So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God." (Romans 5:6-11)
"For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16)
God's judgment against our sins, and his love for us, come together and are dealt with perfectly and completely in Jesus Christ, who was the perfect union of humanity with God. That means the Gospel is, truly, good news -- the best news you could ever hope for. And that message is what his messengers live for.
Why are you here?
I've spent a lot of time this last year studying the #1 question of all time: who God is. I think there are, roughly, three ways you could understand God and what he wants from us. They range from great strictness to complete looseness. Here are the first two:
If God is primarily concerned with whether people are doing wrong and then punishing them for it, you have a God of judgment and the primary job of his messengers is to tell people not to sin. If God is primarily concerned with accepting people, then he will overlook or excuse their sins and evil ideas, and the primary job of his messengers is telling people that he loves them and has decided not to care about their imperfections. Those are the two extremes.
There's a third option that addresses both of these: If God is primarily concerned with bringing people into a loving relationship with him, then he has found a way to deal with peoples' imperfections, weaknesses, sins and evil. The primary job of his messengers is telling people that God is passionately interested in a deep relationship with them, and that he has already handled the problem of evil in them and in the world.
This last one is the comprehensive message found in the Bible. It includes God's judgment against sin (overall, our rebelling against his love and instructions in an attempt to do it our own way) as well as his limitless love for us and desire to have relationship with us.
Here's the grand unifying theory, in two passages from the New Testament: "When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s condemnation. For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his Son. So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God." (Romans 5:6-11)
"For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16)
God's judgment against our sins, and his love for us, come together and are dealt with perfectly and completely in Jesus Christ, who was the perfect union of humanity with God. That means the Gospel is, truly, good news -- the best news you could ever hope for. And that message is what his messengers live for.
Why are you here?
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Daddy
The picture many of us have of God is often one of a stern, harsh ruler, ready to 'take us out' at our next infraction. Some see the OT God as some sort of angry authority figure, balanced out by his really nice and loving son Jesus. The angry God sent the Son, the idea goes, to be punished because of us -- sort of like the vicarious 'whipping boy' employed by royalty when the prince messes up.
But we need to remember that God is one (Deut. 6:4, etc). So there is no difference between the God of the Hebrew scriptures and the God of the Greek New Testament. Whether we think of the Father or the Son, or the Holy Spirit, the passions and love and desires of God are the same.
Jesus referred to God as his Father. To do so in a personal sense was unheard of in Israel's thinking. Observant Jews of his day would not have dared claim God as a Father. But Jesus did!
He told us to pray to "Our Father" in a personal way (Matt. 6:9). So he was opening up that relationship of love and acceptance, tenderness and grace, on a personal level, for the first time.
The Father wants us to experience that relationship with him, not just learn about it in some sort of classroom way. Paul uses some OT verses to construct a new thought in 2 Cor 6:18: "And I will be your Father, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty." The Father is serious about being our Father, and he wants us to accept our status as his children. He thinks of us as his children, and he wants us to think of him as Father.
Those of us who are fathers know how much we want to be Daddy to our kids. We desire to be close to our children emotionally, to have a deep relationship with them. That's just what the Father says to us also. His love for us was so strong that, before the universe existed, he knew he would have to sacrifice his own self, through the Son, to bring us into intimacy with him: “For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life"(John 3:16).
God has already made that move. We already belong to him as his children and he yearns for us to have that same intimacy with him. That relationship already exists, whether we see it or not. But the experience of it is up to us. How about it? Will you run into his arms and call him Daddy? It will change your life forever.
But we need to remember that God is one (Deut. 6:4, etc). So there is no difference between the God of the Hebrew scriptures and the God of the Greek New Testament. Whether we think of the Father or the Son, or the Holy Spirit, the passions and love and desires of God are the same.
Jesus referred to God as his Father. To do so in a personal sense was unheard of in Israel's thinking. Observant Jews of his day would not have dared claim God as a Father. But Jesus did!
He told us to pray to "Our Father" in a personal way (Matt. 6:9). So he was opening up that relationship of love and acceptance, tenderness and grace, on a personal level, for the first time.
The Father wants us to experience that relationship with him, not just learn about it in some sort of classroom way. Paul uses some OT verses to construct a new thought in 2 Cor 6:18: "And I will be your Father, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty." The Father is serious about being our Father, and he wants us to accept our status as his children. He thinks of us as his children, and he wants us to think of him as Father.
Those of us who are fathers know how much we want to be Daddy to our kids. We desire to be close to our children emotionally, to have a deep relationship with them. That's just what the Father says to us also. His love for us was so strong that, before the universe existed, he knew he would have to sacrifice his own self, through the Son, to bring us into intimacy with him: “For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life"(John 3:16).
God has already made that move. We already belong to him as his children and he yearns for us to have that same intimacy with him. That relationship already exists, whether we see it or not. But the experience of it is up to us. How about it? Will you run into his arms and call him Daddy? It will change your life forever.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Perfect Love?
Loving others is important -- I think just about anybody on the planet would agree with that. Are you good at it? I'd like to believe I am, but I'm too fickle, too human, to love well, even most of the time. And to love perfectly? Out of the question, unfortunately.
John, the apostle who may have known Jesus best, says in his first epistle, 1 John 4 verse 18, that perfect love drives out fear, and fear is linked to punishment. Well, since my love isn't perfect, won't I get punished by God for that? I've beat myself up for decades on that one, trying to make my love perfect (and failing).
But that isn't the love John is describing here. It's not our love, but God's, that is perfect. Verses 9 and 10 say that "God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us..." So God's love is perfect, but how do we get his love?
John outlines God's love through the whole chapter in this way: Starting in verse 7, he says "Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God." Well, this love must be something special, not just romantic love, or fondness for a pet or for chocolate. Verses 9 and 10 (I quoted those just above) define the love he's talking about: a love that sacrifices what you want, with the good of the other higher than your own good.
In verse 15, he says "All who confess that Jesus is the Son of God have God living in them, and they live in God." The Greek word for 'confess' in this verse means to recognize, face and admit, even to promise. It's commonly used in the New Testament to describe people's statement of allegiance to Jesus Christ.
What's with this "God living in them, and they live in God" stuff? In verses 2, 4, 6 and 13, he describes the Spirit of God and that it is the Spirit's work of living in us that produces God's love in us. Our loving like God depends on the Holy Spirit "who lives in" us (verse 4) -- not on our own effort. How do we 'live in God' then? By belief in -- allegiance to -- Jesus Christ, we have the promise of "eternal life" (verse 9); not just in the future, but since our life comes from him, we can say that we live 'because of him' and our lives are 'wrapped up in him' already in the present moment.
How do you know if you have the Holy Spirit living in you? Typically, from the time of baptism, although scripture also shows the Spirit drawing us before then. It gets down to this: if what John says about God's love, and our loving others, makes sense, if you know that you love this way (which is beyond yourself) and you desperately want to love more and know God's love more, that's the Holy Spirit's work. If you don't care, then the Holy Spirit hasn't gotten through to you yet.
But -- if this love is what your life has been missing, now's the time to pursue it. God has loved you since before he made the universe, but you can only experience his love by admitting how much you need it and asking him for it. How 'bout it? Why not now?
John, the apostle who may have known Jesus best, says in his first epistle, 1 John 4 verse 18, that perfect love drives out fear, and fear is linked to punishment. Well, since my love isn't perfect, won't I get punished by God for that? I've beat myself up for decades on that one, trying to make my love perfect (and failing).
But that isn't the love John is describing here. It's not our love, but God's, that is perfect. Verses 9 and 10 say that "God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us..." So God's love is perfect, but how do we get his love?
John outlines God's love through the whole chapter in this way: Starting in verse 7, he says "Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God." Well, this love must be something special, not just romantic love, or fondness for a pet or for chocolate. Verses 9 and 10 (I quoted those just above) define the love he's talking about: a love that sacrifices what you want, with the good of the other higher than your own good.
In verse 15, he says "All who confess that Jesus is the Son of God have God living in them, and they live in God." The Greek word for 'confess' in this verse means to recognize, face and admit, even to promise. It's commonly used in the New Testament to describe people's statement of allegiance to Jesus Christ.
What's with this "God living in them, and they live in God" stuff? In verses 2, 4, 6 and 13, he describes the Spirit of God and that it is the Spirit's work of living in us that produces God's love in us. Our loving like God depends on the Holy Spirit "who lives in" us (verse 4) -- not on our own effort. How do we 'live in God' then? By belief in -- allegiance to -- Jesus Christ, we have the promise of "eternal life" (verse 9); not just in the future, but since our life comes from him, we can say that we live 'because of him' and our lives are 'wrapped up in him' already in the present moment.
How do you know if you have the Holy Spirit living in you? Typically, from the time of baptism, although scripture also shows the Spirit drawing us before then. It gets down to this: if what John says about God's love, and our loving others, makes sense, if you know that you love this way (which is beyond yourself) and you desperately want to love more and know God's love more, that's the Holy Spirit's work. If you don't care, then the Holy Spirit hasn't gotten through to you yet.
But -- if this love is what your life has been missing, now's the time to pursue it. God has loved you since before he made the universe, but you can only experience his love by admitting how much you need it and asking him for it. How 'bout it? Why not now?
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Stuff
The Amazing Joanne and I are now owned by a mortgage (well, we've bought a house and get to live in it while we pay off the bank.) So we're working out how to get our stuff moved over to the new place.
Even though we got rid of a lot of stuff when we moved to beautiful Colorado a year ago, the amount of stuff we still have is a little frightening, especially when I think of having to carry all our stuff down three flights of stairs into a truck. So I'm thinking about purging again.
I have a lot of old files, from when I ran a business, and a year ago it wasn't yet time to ditch them. Now it is. There are probably a few clothing items I'll never wear again -- this might be a good time to give them to someone, or to Goodwill, and get it over with.
The Bible talks a lot about possessions and how we use them. The book of Proverbs is full of warnings not to put our trust in money or stuff; for instance, Proverbs 11:28 and 23:5. Jesus talked a lot about money and its use, particularly the need to be generous with it, especially in the gospel of Luke. (I remember a Veggie Tales segment about an enormous store called "Stuff Mart" where Larry kept going to buy more stuff that wouldn't even fit into his house.)
God's word also warns us about excess baggage of other types like old habits, mistaken ideas and sin. We're told in Hebrews 12:1 that we need to "strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us." That's a reminder that we're in this for the long haul, and some things in life will only weigh us down.
Every once in awhile it's a good idea to "take an inventory" of our lives -- our habits and thought processes, as well as our physical possessions -- and see what we don't need any more. What about that old resentment, that TV show, even a favorite beverage, or whatever? If it takes our attention away from loving God and loving others, and wastes our time, money or energies with no eternal return, then perhaps it's time to shove it out the door and into the trash. On the other hand, there may be parts of our lives that need to be turned around into vehicles of love and service, rather than used only for ourselves. That's an inventory and analysis that each of us needs to do on ourselves -- I can't do it for you, and you can't decide it for me, but it's a healthy step.
So even though you're not moving, like I am, we're all headed for "a better place, a heavenly homeland," just like the heroes in Hebrews 11:16. Like them, we don't need to be weighed down by extra stuff. Ready to get rid of some of yours? Why not ask God to help you sort out your closet? You'll gain a surprising feeling of lightness and freedom by getting rid of the "stuff" that's been weighing you down.
Even though we got rid of a lot of stuff when we moved to beautiful Colorado a year ago, the amount of stuff we still have is a little frightening, especially when I think of having to carry all our stuff down three flights of stairs into a truck. So I'm thinking about purging again.
I have a lot of old files, from when I ran a business, and a year ago it wasn't yet time to ditch them. Now it is. There are probably a few clothing items I'll never wear again -- this might be a good time to give them to someone, or to Goodwill, and get it over with.
The Bible talks a lot about possessions and how we use them. The book of Proverbs is full of warnings not to put our trust in money or stuff; for instance, Proverbs 11:28 and 23:5. Jesus talked a lot about money and its use, particularly the need to be generous with it, especially in the gospel of Luke. (I remember a Veggie Tales segment about an enormous store called "Stuff Mart" where Larry kept going to buy more stuff that wouldn't even fit into his house.)
God's word also warns us about excess baggage of other types like old habits, mistaken ideas and sin. We're told in Hebrews 12:1 that we need to "strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us." That's a reminder that we're in this for the long haul, and some things in life will only weigh us down.
Every once in awhile it's a good idea to "take an inventory" of our lives -- our habits and thought processes, as well as our physical possessions -- and see what we don't need any more. What about that old resentment, that TV show, even a favorite beverage, or whatever? If it takes our attention away from loving God and loving others, and wastes our time, money or energies with no eternal return, then perhaps it's time to shove it out the door and into the trash. On the other hand, there may be parts of our lives that need to be turned around into vehicles of love and service, rather than used only for ourselves. That's an inventory and analysis that each of us needs to do on ourselves -- I can't do it for you, and you can't decide it for me, but it's a healthy step.
So even though you're not moving, like I am, we're all headed for "a better place, a heavenly homeland," just like the heroes in Hebrews 11:16. Like them, we don't need to be weighed down by extra stuff. Ready to get rid of some of yours? Why not ask God to help you sort out your closet? You'll gain a surprising feeling of lightness and freedom by getting rid of the "stuff" that's been weighing you down.
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Home
The Amazing Joanne and I have been in Denver for going on a year now, living in a lovely apartment God found for us, but we're beginning to believe that it's time to take the next step to settle in -- finding a house to purchase and move into, and start putting down roots.
I have mixed feelings about it. Our apartment has been a place to meet a bunch of new people, and we've enjoyed having people over here. We've made friends with the management and staff, and taken time to welcome new tenants to our building and some of the others too. Whenever we leave, I'll miss this place that welcomed us to Colorado. But then again, we could do the same things in a new neighborhood -- inviting people in for coffee or lunch, and welcoming new arrivals, maybe hosting a Bible study and introducing people to this amazing God who loves us so much.
The Bible talks about home too, of course. Many of God's servants were wanderers, not having a place to call their own. Take Abraham, for example, along with Isaac and Jacob, as told in Hebrews 11:8-9; or Moses, who left his home in Egypt and moved to the desert, then came back and wandered with the Israelites in tents for another 40 years. All of these, the writer tells us, were looking for something beyond just this life: "Abraham was confidently looking forward to a city with eternal foundations, a city designed and built by God." (Hebrews 11:10) And all the other people of faith were hanging on for something none of them ever completely received: "All these people earned a good reputation because of their faith, yet none of them received all that God had promised." (Hebrews 11:39) Even Jesus had to do without a home sometimes, he said (Matthew 8:20).
And Paul wrote that this physical life is, after all, only temporary and he was looking forward to a different 'home' after death, in 2 Corinthians 5: "Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands...We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord." The here-and-now looks so solid and real, but the true reality and permanence is in the final home we get to have with God.
I don't know if we'll find the perfect house or not, or if God will call us to stay in the apartments awhile longer, or whether if we move, we'll stay there until the end of our days. But I do know that God has a home for me that won't need paint, a new roof, or even heating in the winter -- and that's the one I'm really looking forward to.
And the best news of all, God has reserved a 'new house' for all humanity, not just the nice kids -- Jesus died and was resurrected on behalf of every single person. We've all got that permanent home waiting for us. Isn't that great news?
Do you believe that? Or is something holding you back from being sure what God has waiting for you? If so let's talk.
My place or yours?
I have mixed feelings about it. Our apartment has been a place to meet a bunch of new people, and we've enjoyed having people over here. We've made friends with the management and staff, and taken time to welcome new tenants to our building and some of the others too. Whenever we leave, I'll miss this place that welcomed us to Colorado. But then again, we could do the same things in a new neighborhood -- inviting people in for coffee or lunch, and welcoming new arrivals, maybe hosting a Bible study and introducing people to this amazing God who loves us so much.
The Bible talks about home too, of course. Many of God's servants were wanderers, not having a place to call their own. Take Abraham, for example, along with Isaac and Jacob, as told in Hebrews 11:8-9; or Moses, who left his home in Egypt and moved to the desert, then came back and wandered with the Israelites in tents for another 40 years. All of these, the writer tells us, were looking for something beyond just this life: "Abraham was confidently looking forward to a city with eternal foundations, a city designed and built by God." (Hebrews 11:10) And all the other people of faith were hanging on for something none of them ever completely received: "All these people earned a good reputation because of their faith, yet none of them received all that God had promised." (Hebrews 11:39) Even Jesus had to do without a home sometimes, he said (Matthew 8:20).
And Paul wrote that this physical life is, after all, only temporary and he was looking forward to a different 'home' after death, in 2 Corinthians 5: "Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands...We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord." The here-and-now looks so solid and real, but the true reality and permanence is in the final home we get to have with God.
I don't know if we'll find the perfect house or not, or if God will call us to stay in the apartments awhile longer, or whether if we move, we'll stay there until the end of our days. But I do know that God has a home for me that won't need paint, a new roof, or even heating in the winter -- and that's the one I'm really looking forward to.
And the best news of all, God has reserved a 'new house' for all humanity, not just the nice kids -- Jesus died and was resurrected on behalf of every single person. We've all got that permanent home waiting for us. Isn't that great news?
Do you believe that? Or is something holding you back from being sure what God has waiting for you? If so let's talk.
My place or yours?
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Connections
Our office printer decided, the other day, not to cooperate. I wrestled with it for hours and finally realized that it was my fault after all. I'd started replacing a cable by pulling the old one off, but had gotten distracted and not put the new one on; that meant the printer was no longer connected to the computer. About thirty seconds after I put the new cable in, the printer started cooperating.
As often happens, that got me started thinking about spiritual things. It's a central part of my thinking that God has saved us from spiritual death through the free gift of life given us by Jesus Christ ("while we were still sinners, Christ died for us", Romans 5:8). Jesus Christ says that we are 'in him' (John 14:20) and that means we are secure. Nobody can take us out of his hands (John 10:28-29).
The next human thought can sometimes be, "Okay, now all I do is coast and enjoy life!" Well, not quite. If we want to enjoy life, we need to stay 'plugged into' the source of life -- kind of like the printer has to stay connected to the computer to be of any use. Paul writes in Ephesians 4:30, "Don't grieve God's Holy Spirit, who sealed you for the day of redemption." He says also in Romans 8:15, "...but you received the spirit of adoption, by whom we cry out 'Abba, Father'." And in verse 26, "In the same way the Spirit also joins to help in our weakness, because we do not know what to pray for as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with unspoken groanings."
The Holy Spirit, who lives in us, is the one who actually initiates our prayers and our contact with God. He's the one who reminds us that we are the children of the Father. He makes up for our human inability to see God's perfect will in our prayers, by communicating perfectly with the Father for us; and in turn, reminds us of the Father's perfect will for our moment-by-moment actions and words. (For you computer geeks, think 'bi-directional printer communication' as a loose analogy.)
So as we continue on in this new life in Christ -- whether it's six weeks new or sixty years new -- we are at our best when we stay fully plugged into the mind of the Spirit at every step. Have you felt the tug of the Holy Spirit to pray, or to stop and talk with someone, or send a card or a phone call of encouragement, or do something generous? That's being 'plugged in' with God. Do you sometimes ignore that tug due to being 'busy'? That's when the cable falls out, and when it's time to plug it back in.
Stay connected, my brothers and sisters!
As often happens, that got me started thinking about spiritual things. It's a central part of my thinking that God has saved us from spiritual death through the free gift of life given us by Jesus Christ ("while we were still sinners, Christ died for us", Romans 5:8). Jesus Christ says that we are 'in him' (John 14:20) and that means we are secure. Nobody can take us out of his hands (John 10:28-29).
The next human thought can sometimes be, "Okay, now all I do is coast and enjoy life!" Well, not quite. If we want to enjoy life, we need to stay 'plugged into' the source of life -- kind of like the printer has to stay connected to the computer to be of any use. Paul writes in Ephesians 4:30, "Don't grieve God's Holy Spirit, who sealed you for the day of redemption." He says also in Romans 8:15, "...but you received the spirit of adoption, by whom we cry out 'Abba, Father'." And in verse 26, "In the same way the Spirit also joins to help in our weakness, because we do not know what to pray for as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with unspoken groanings."
The Holy Spirit, who lives in us, is the one who actually initiates our prayers and our contact with God. He's the one who reminds us that we are the children of the Father. He makes up for our human inability to see God's perfect will in our prayers, by communicating perfectly with the Father for us; and in turn, reminds us of the Father's perfect will for our moment-by-moment actions and words. (For you computer geeks, think 'bi-directional printer communication' as a loose analogy.)
So as we continue on in this new life in Christ -- whether it's six weeks new or sixty years new -- we are at our best when we stay fully plugged into the mind of the Spirit at every step. Have you felt the tug of the Holy Spirit to pray, or to stop and talk with someone, or send a card or a phone call of encouragement, or do something generous? That's being 'plugged in' with God. Do you sometimes ignore that tug due to being 'busy'? That's when the cable falls out, and when it's time to plug it back in.
Stay connected, my brothers and sisters!
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Prayer and the Pray-er (Prayer #2)
A friend told me this morning that he'd been praying for me. I was touched by his generosity with his time, and encouraged that someone was talking to God about me (in a positive way!)
Which brought to mind the question of what our prayers accomplish. Again, as we talk about prayer we're discussing how we talk to a Being who already knows more about the situation than we can tell him, about a friend or family member he already loves infinitely more than we do. So as we pray, are we convincing God to do something good for this person for whom Jesus has already died?
My best understanding, as of May 27 2008, is that prayer for the good of someone else does several important things:
--Reminds me to love that person, since God already does
--Keeps that person in my mind during the week, rather than simply saying that I care about him or her, but forgetting all about their needs later
--Allows God to bring to mind things that I can do for that person, over and above prayer
--Encourages that person, when he or she learns how many people are praying and concerned about their needs
--Shows me my un-Christlike attitudes about another person.
There are probably more, but those are pretty powerful already.
When I actually wrestle with God in prayer over the needs of a friend or family member, I have to work through some of those parts of my thinking that aren't like God. Praying through those things is like taking the flour and other ingredients from the cabinet and working them slowly into the dough that will be good bread; in this case, finding places in the Bible that help me see the mind of God, especially as revealed through his son Jesus, and working that into my thinking to replace the selfish ideas and motivations.
Jesus said "the Kingdom of God is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough." (Matthew 13:33). That works on the macro-level (that is, all through the world) and the micro-level (all through me).
Good prayer, like good bread, takes work. But it's worth every second. Why don't you give it a try? And let me know how it comes out.
Which brought to mind the question of what our prayers accomplish. Again, as we talk about prayer we're discussing how we talk to a Being who already knows more about the situation than we can tell him, about a friend or family member he already loves infinitely more than we do. So as we pray, are we convincing God to do something good for this person for whom Jesus has already died?
My best understanding, as of May 27 2008, is that prayer for the good of someone else does several important things:
--Reminds me to love that person, since God already does
--Keeps that person in my mind during the week, rather than simply saying that I care about him or her, but forgetting all about their needs later
--Allows God to bring to mind things that I can do for that person, over and above prayer
--Encourages that person, when he or she learns how many people are praying and concerned about their needs
--Shows me my un-Christlike attitudes about another person.
There are probably more, but those are pretty powerful already.
When I actually wrestle with God in prayer over the needs of a friend or family member, I have to work through some of those parts of my thinking that aren't like God. Praying through those things is like taking the flour and other ingredients from the cabinet and working them slowly into the dough that will be good bread; in this case, finding places in the Bible that help me see the mind of God, especially as revealed through his son Jesus, and working that into my thinking to replace the selfish ideas and motivations.
Jesus said "the Kingdom of God is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough." (Matthew 13:33). That works on the macro-level (that is, all through the world) and the micro-level (all through me).
Good prayer, like good bread, takes work. But it's worth every second. Why don't you give it a try? And let me know how it comes out.
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