God's Will For Us

What is God's will?  was a question that made me very unsettled for a long time.  I wondered, "if God cares about and has a distinct choice I am to make to be in His will then this must encompass every single decision.  This includes from which path to take to work and what shoes to wear.  It literally liked to have drove me nuts.  I eventually through a pretty long and painful process figured out by I believe God's help that He is interested in our heart's attitude.  He will direct our steps if we fix our eyes on pleasing Him.  I just summed up in a couple sentences what took about two years for me to come to and I am still having to correct my thinking all the time.  

I am convinced so many christians are wasting their time worrying about following 'God's will for their lives' instead of seeing what Jesus says is important and incorporating those attributes by His help into our lives.  Many christians including myself have thought of God's will as either your in it or out of it.  The truth is if you are His child your in it.  What many of us have prescribed to in trying to follow God's will is a type of fortune-telling.  God has not, nor do I believe will tell us the specific future.  We are to place our hearts before Him to please Him and stop worrying about miniscule things.  You see, one problem with the either in or out way at looking at God's will is that it will make you unable to learn some really valuable lessons from people.  We may be afraid to question whether or not it is wrong to live luxuriously in this world of poverty because of a pastor that we know is a Godly man lives this way; or we may judge that a pastor is not in 'God's will' because we believe him to be living in overboard luxury.  The truth is throughout the day each of us can be in or out of God's desired will for us by where we have our hearts set.  This is the will we ought to all seek to follow. 

Man, I have been awakened again to the awesome news that being a christian means trusting and following Jesus.  If I do this I think I will find myself following the will of my Father.  If I started worrying more about seeking out the lost and hurting and helping them and loving my wife and little boy and students I wouldn't worry so much about the next career step.  Yes the career steps may change and surely I will have to make some decisions but the most important things will be set in place and make the other decisions have the right light on them.  

Anyway I have been greatly encouraged by a book I am reading called 'Searching for God Knows What' by Donald Miller.  Thanks to Allison Rouss for the Christmas gift.  I would recommend it to anyone.  

Question

Which of the following does faith in Christ look like, or are both faith?

Person #1  "If I choose to follow Jesus and live the christian life and then die one day and find out that I was wrong, I haven't really lost anything.  In fact I still would have made a good decision because if you follow what the Bible teaches you will live a good moral and happy life.

Person #2 "If Jesus Christ is not God and has not died for my sins and is not going to give me a place with Him one day then I have wasted my life.  If I don't get to go to heaven with Jesus after this life on earth then I am the biggest fool of all.  If it is true that this life is all there is then let us eat the best all the time at every meal, let us drink to a drunken stupor every chance we get, let us do everything we can to make our bodies feel happy, because in a sense just in a few short days we die.

I have heard quite a few people say something like person number one when defending why they choose to be follow Jesus, and when I hear it it always terrifies me.  It may not be the exact words as what I used to describe the thought process.  I heard one man say, "you know I'm just not willing to take the chance."  By this he meant, the chance that there actually is heaven and hell and that if he hadn't 'got saved' he would go to hell.  It sounds like insurance to me, and I don't think Jesus deals like that.  The New Testament followers looked to Him as the life boat, not a life jacket to wear in case your boat wrecks.  This is not over-analyzing either.  It only takes about two minutes of honest reading in the New Testament to see that there faith was not casual.  Paul said near the end of 1 Corinthians that if we have hoped in Christ in this life only we are of all men most to be pitied.  He said if Christ is not raised let us eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we die.  There he was quoting the secular Greek philosophy of his time, and was affirming that if this faith in Jesus does not turn into sight one day then we all that have chosen follow Him are pitiful fools.  If Jesus has not died for us and rose for us then we are idiots who have chosen to give up our agendas for His will.  

Anyway, as always I appreciate any of you who take the time to read this.  I know I am choppy at times.  I am trying to get better and better at getting these ideas out.  These are all rough drafts from my head.  

Ryan

The Christmas Season

I love the Christmas season.  I have a ton of great memories from my childhood that still make me happy when I think of them.  I know some folks out there have not had such good memories of the holidays and that makes me sad.  I love remembering about seeing all my family and eating the most awesome home-made food from my grand-parents.  I have some great memories of some family members that have passed away in that last few years that I was so blessed to be around.  I have a few bad memories around the holidays too, but the overarching feeling I get when I think back is a warm one.  Without going any further into the details of my christmas time memories, I would like to talk about something that has been the topic of conversation for me and my wife lately....what are we going to do with our children as far as Santa Claus goes.  I personally think it is a conscience decision that is not specifically spelled out in the Bible.  However, I do think we ought to make every decision with the light of God's Word guiding us.  Where it does not specifically tell us what to do we ought to decide based on Biblical principles.  I think the Bible teaches us to be very purposeful with everything.  We are not just to decide whatever we want as long as the Bible does not say.  We are to 'do all things to the glory of God' (1 corinthians).  So with all that in mind, me and Emily have decided teach our children first and foremost about the wonderful Gift of Christmas that is Jesus, and within that mind-set to teach them about a man of God who followed truly followed Jesus, St. Nicholas.  As far as Santa Claus goes, we are not going to treat him as an evil idea.  I consider him along the same lines as Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck, all of which are fictional characters.  I don't think this will in any way take away any happiness from our children.  How can focusing all of their attention on a wonderful God that loved them so much that He gave His only begotten Son to live and die for them so that they could go to heaven one day be boring or a strike against their happiness.  On top of this there are some things about Santa Claus that I am weary of.  For one thing He supposedly only gives gifts to you if you have been a good boy or girl.  I guess poor children are all bad.  Another thing is that He is supposed to be able to see them at all times.  (He sees you when your sleeping, he knows when your awake.......)  Personally the only one I want my children to ever think about seeing them at all times is God.  Now I know, I can already hear some of you saying how overboard this is, but once again I'm just giving you my train of thought about it.  If we as parents are supposed to do everything to point our children to a personal relationship with Jesus, (a relationship that is not based on their performance, but on His mercy), then shouldn't we at least consider the possibility that Santa Claus could be a stumbling block to this.  Santa Claus teaches them to be good and they will get gifts, Jesus teaches them that He died for them in spite of their actions.  Now the story of St. Nicholas on the other hand teaches us to be like Jesus, who gave in spite of, not because of.  I have just recently researched to historical St. Nicholas.  There are tons of stories, some of which seem sure to be folklore, but some which seem to be true.  The most famous one was told by just about every writer I read.  The story is about this man that had three daughters.  He was poor and on the verge of starving along with the rest of his family.  So in desperation he decided to sell one of his daughters into slavery.  The night before he was going to take her to be sold, St Nicholas dropped a bag of gold down the chimney and hurried away before he was found.  The man found the money and did not sell his daughter.  The story is told a little different by each writer, but the jest of it is the same.  St. Nicholas gave to a man that was in real need.  That is the example of Jesus.  He became poor, so we could be rich.  He died, so we could live.  What an awesome Saviour!  Another reason I think teaching only Jesus at Christmas is a good idea is because of the possibility of teaching our children the joy of giving to those who really need it.  Now I would never go into any details or say we or anyone else should give any certain amount to those in need each Christmas, but the example of Jesus leads us to do something.  If we allow our children to take part in this their whole lives, they will hopefully be drawn to the God who inspires all the giving.  This type of thinking is in sharp contrast to 'being good so that I can get all the toys I want'.  I want my children to think,  "Mommy and Daddy love us and give us gifts at Christmas."  That is all.  I can't wait till Garrison and Allie are old enough to enjoy the anticipation of getting gifts on Christmas morning, but I want them to know that they got them because we love them not because they earned them.  

Honestly, it scares me how tightly we hold on to Santa Clause.  It seems for some of us that our affections are stirred much more by thinking of him than by thinking of Jesus.  Its seems to me that, though we would never say it, we believe Jesus is the necessary part and Santa is the fun.  God help us if this is the case.  We need to be brought back to the wonder of how awesome the real story of Christmas is.  

With all that said I will not cut you off as friends if you disagree with me.  I would love to hear other angles on this topic if you would like to comment.

Ryan  

Please Read This!

They are His first and foremost, and then ours.  
I would like you to read a devotional from a very good friend of mine.  He is a Pastor of a church in Mobile.  He has been one of the biggest influences in my christian life.  He is a father-figure to me and a true man of God.  I think we could all benefit from reading what he has to say about our present President-elect.  

Friends,        My wife Frances has been a Labor & Delivery RN for 30 years, and is currently Assistant Manager of the L&D unit at a local hospital.  She has witnessed thousands of births, and has personally delivered many babies when doctors could not arrive in time for the blessed event.  As the title of a book she is working on about her experience in Labor and Delivery indicates ("Memories of Miracles"), she  says that every birth she witnesses is an obvious miracle, an obvious act of God.  As such, she has a unique perspective regarding the election of Sen. Barack Obama as President of the United States.     As many of you know, Sen. Obama has in the past advocated and legislated for a procedure known as partial birth abortion. In the present, he is unrepentant for having done so. The procedure involves allowing babies to die if an abortion fails to end its life, usually by setting it aside in some out of the way place (although occasionally, some kind-hearted health care professional may hold the baby as it dies).  In essence, the procedure is death by neglect, to put it very moderately. Before the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003 (upheld by the Supreme Court in 2007, and opposed by Sen. Obama), lowest estimates indicated that at least 500 partial birth abortions a year took place in the United States, while higher estimates were in the thousands.          "Did not He that made me in the womb make him? And did not One fashion us in the womb?" (Job 31:15).     "But Thou art He that took me out of the womb: Thou didst make me hope when I was upon my mother's breasts" (Psalm 22:9).         The born again Christian who believes the Bible must be deeply disturbed that such a procedure was once legal in the United States, and that Sen. Obama - now President Elect Obama - was an ardent supporter of its legality.  Clearly, God is involved in our conception and gestation, as the passages above declare, and it is He that takes us out of the womb through the agency of nurses, doctors, midwives and others.  L&D nurses therefore see obvious acts of the Creator in every birth.  Their perception and understanding of the sacredness of birth is therefore to be expected, as is the horror which many of them feel that we have elected a president who advocated and legislated for this "death by neglect."       I was in my 20s when science shows on TV began to show childbirth.  I cried the first time I saw a baby born on film, and I have cried every time I have seen any baby born (including, of course, my own).  I have never sensed the presence of God more than when witnessing the miracle of childbirth.  God is there in some special and glorious way whenever a child enters the world, and crying for emotional types like myself is the obvious response.  Of course, you don't have to cry, but the point is that anyone with any heart whatsoever is going to be deeply affected.  You have to be because, again, God is present in His glory when His splendid creations, His babies, are called forth from the womb.        The history of Barack Obama regarding this issue is a matter of public record despite his statements in the campaign which contradicted the facts.  Again, he has advocated and legislated for partial birth abortion, or infanticide, or death by neglect.  I've wondered recently if he was present when his own children were born.  I suspect not.  I sincerely hope and pray not!  Because if he could have witnessed the birth of his children - and the manifested presence of God in their entrance into the world - how could he  could have been the ardent proponent of partial birth abortion that he has been?  What are we to believe about his heart?  No excuse will suffice, not "the mother's choice," or "women's rights," or "the antiabortion crowd will use banning partial birth abortion as a stepping stone to banning all abortions."      I sincerely wish that every American would be required to witness either in person or on film a partial birth abortion.  Somehow the baby survives the savagery of the abortion process, and then if the mother nevertheless chooses its death, it is denied care which would preserve its life.  The death process may take as little as 45 minutes, or 8 hours or more.  It is simply left to die, or perhaps someone may hold it until it does.        Make this very personal.  Imagine for a moment that you are witnessing the film of a partial birth abortion,  or the actual event.  Feel your heart break, and the tears flow from your eyes.  Hear the sounds of the dying baby.  Look at its struggle to breath, to live.  See the reality.  Look at it.  Look at it!  Watch in your mind's eye, your heart's eye, the baby die.      If we were required to witness this horror, would any American with any semblance of a heart continue to support such barbarism?  Or, could we vote for any politician who advocated and legislated for the procedure?      Barack Obama's history is known, and easily researched.  He knows what partial birth abortion is.  He has advocated and legislated for it.  If, therefore, he is successful as President in matters of economics, foreign policy, social issues and any other aspects of our society, the believer must nevertheless ask the question:  Can I give him my support until he repents of his support for partial birth abortion, and until he decisively advocates against it?  The answer is obvious.  Certainly we will pray for him as a human being and as our President, as the Bible commands, and we will respect him as our President, as the Bible commands.  But never should he have our political support.  We must pray with all our hearts that Americans will become aware of what partial birth abortion is, and that the man our nation elected as president has been one of its primary political supporters.  And let us pray that God will change his heart, and indeed, break his heart for having supported the barbarism that is partial birth abortion.       "I will praise Thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are Thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well" (Psalm 139:14).      Glen" The above is the exact quotation from the OM devotional.  I would encourage anyone that would like a good place to be stirred to visit his site at www.omcafe.org Ryan

One more note on the election

I recommend a site to go to that has some interesting points to think about concerning the candidates this year.  I think you will find what is said to be honest and frank but insightful as well.  Please go to www.desiringgod.org and go to the blog section from Oct. 30th, or you could probably just search the topic from the front page.  Anyway, I think anyone could benefit from listening to what John Piper says in the 7 minute talk.  There is a long version which is 7 minutes and a short version skips the first 3 points.  I recommend listening to the long version, but both are very helpful.

Ryan

Election 08'

In just a few days there will be a new President of the United States voted in.  Should I really care what happens in politics?  If I believe in a sovereign God who is in control of all things should I really be concerned about who the next President of the United States is?  Should I just sit back and let what happens happen?  After all I don't necessarily agree with either of them.  

Well let me say that I think by not voting I would inevitably vote for whoever wins.  Now I know that my one little measly vote may not seem to matter much, but all our votes together do.  I really do think that we christians have a responsibility to help make the world around us, (wherever that may be) the best it can be according to His principles.  We can not take a fatalistic approach to God's will; (living like no decision we make can affect it).  I have done this in the past, but I was wrong.  We must do whatever we can with the power given us for His glory.  We also can not sit back and watch what we think to be God's judgement happen; (watching America fall further into depravity and into the hands of men and women who have no moral compass).  I'm bringing this particular attitude up because I have had it before.  I have thought, "well God must be bringing judgement on America."  That may be true, but that is not my place to say.  I have an obligation to do my part, and that is to vote for the best candidate that reflects His principles the closest.  If it were the case that the two candidates both had similar moral convictions, then I would be responsible to choose the best one according to practical wisdom.  That is not the case this year though.  Before we ever get to the practical issues of the economy and such we must look at the moral issues.  One believes in the woman's choice to kill her unborn little one.  The other does not believe that should be the woman's choice.  The only way that this issue would prove to be invalid  to a christian is if the candidate that does not think it is the right of the woman to kill her unborn baby countered with supporting some other issue that is immoral.  Once again though, this is not the case this year.  

As christians we are to be most concerned with moral issues and then with the economy.  Now one's view on morals will surely affect their outlook on economy, but lets not get the cart before the horse.  A seemingly strong economic plan with no moral foundation to build on will never be secure.  Principles should guide and fulfill the wants.  When the wants start making principles bend to them, watch out.  I'm not advocating the joining of church and state here either.  History shows the corruption that happens every time that has happened.  What I am promoting is the idea that we have an obligation as christians to help see God's will accomplished on earth as it is in heaven as much as is within our power.  This is of course always to be done in the way the Bible outlines it to be done.  I don't believe in 'Christian Crusades' and I don't think Jesus does either.  If I am missing something here, please comment. 

Ryan 

I Want Greatness!

I do!  I can ignore the fact, or try to humbly reject it, but the fact is that I want greatness.  I want something extraordinary, something excellent, something filled with glory.  I do not want the ho-hum life.  I do not want to glide into the subtle trap of the just get by.  Now I can hear some saying, "yeah me too, I want to be the best, I want to excel above everyone so everybody will know who I am."  I can also hear some saying, "well that seems kinda cocky; I live what you might consider the ho-hum life.  I don't have a notorious job.  I think I'm doing ok with my life."  I disagree with first quote, and I might disagree with the second depending on what is meant by 'ok'.  I'm not talking about putting others down. I'm talking about being excellent; getting involved in something with all my heart that is full of glory.  I'm talking about something bigger than me.  So if the second quote may happen to mean just doing enough to get by to pay the bills, or finish the job or any kind of minimalist type of attitude then I'm against it.  Yet if you mean by 'ok' doing a satisfactory job to the best of your ability then I agree.  I know I just made those arguments up, but it helps me to clarify what I mean.  I think we all want greatness.  This can be good or evil, depending on if it is totally selfish or not.  I do think there was a man from Galilee that said we ought not just get by, but pursue His kingdom with passion.  I agree with C.S. Lewis.  He said that it is not that we are to passionate, but that we are not passionate enough.  He said we are like children that are consumed with a sand castle, not realizing that there is a real castle just a little ways away.  (My paraphrase)

Women Warriors

The title to this post should make you feel uneasy. I hope it does. Women soldiers. Right now women can be in the military, but are not supposed to have a combat type job, however many of these non-combat jobs become combat jobs once the position title hits the battle scene. There have been 70 women killed so far in Iraq, more than every other U.S. war combined. I hate the fact that any person gets killed in war, but especially women. We are so twisted that we deny even our most basic gender differences. God made man and God made woman. There are significant differences between us (Thank God). But in our twisted nation and twisted world we are becoming more and more manly women, and womanly men. We can't even see anymore that it is wrong for a woman to fight for a man. If there must be a fight a man should lay his life down for a woman. Can't you see how sick it is for us men to step back and let our women die for us. God help us! Of course this all goes back to our foundation. Do we believe in the God of the Bible and what He says about our differences or not? If we take His words to be true there is no doubt that women fighting for men is not only a bad idea strategically but it is sinful. Even our anatomical make-up proves that men are made to fight better than women. Men are naturally stronger than women. Men are naturally faster than women. Look at a woman's trunk and compare it to a man's. Does not the man's look more suitable to take a blow. Now some wars have sinful motives and I'm not here defending all wars or saying that all men soldiers are good men, but there is sometimes things that must be defended and when they must we as men should rise up and fight, not cowardly sit back and let our wives, sisters, and daughters do the fighting! I can't understand a man that this doesn't affect or woman that this doesn't make feel safe like she ought to. The fact that women have to fight at all anywhere, does not show that they can fight too, but that we men have done such a horrible job of being the heads or our homes!

I thank God for our differences as men and women. I thank God for my very very very soft and womanly wife. She loves the thought of being protected. She loves being taken care of. She loves the fact that she will never as long as I'm breathing have to defend herself. She loves being a nurturer. She loves being a woman. I love having her as my wife. I'm so thankful she is a girly girl; a womanly woman.

Men stand up and fight!, if needed for your women and children

Women please let us.

Pleasing vs. Necessary?

Many of us at least to some degree have errors in our thinking about what pleases God.  I am assuming this based on the conversations I have had with a lot of folks and the thoughts I have on a regular basis.  We tend to think of certain things that we do as spiritual and directly for God, while other things we view as waste or only 'the necessary.'  We struggle with guilt over time wasted in the necessary things (going to work, cleaning the house, eating lunch, etc.),  while we spend so little time doing the truly spiritual things (going to church, going to Bible studies, sharing our faith, going on missions work, etc.).  Do you feel like that sometimes?  I do, and a whole lot of other christians I have talked to do.  So here we are we think, stuck with so much time that must be spent doing the necessary things, and so little time to do the really spiritual things.  There are a lot of reasons why we think like this, but the fact is that line of thinking is faulty.  If taken out of context, this next line could be harmful, but it's the truth.  Teaching a history class is no less spiritual and pleasing to God than missionary work in China.  Both can either be pleasing or displeasing to Him.  The question is motivation.  Here I will let a wiser man explain 

"The Lord Jesus Christ Himself is our perfect example, and He knew no divided life.  In the Presence of His Father He lived on earth without strain from babyhood to His death on the cross.  God accepted the offering of His total life, and made no distinction between act and act.  "I do always the things that please him," was His brief summary of His own life as it related to the Father (John 8:29).  As He moved among men He was poised and restful.  What pressure and suffering He endured grew out of His position as the world's sin bearer; they were never the result of moral uncertainty or spiritual maladjustment."  (The Sacrament of Living in The Pursuit of God, by A.W. Tozer)

A Sense of Humor

My mom used to quote a verse about laughter being like medicine.  I was just trying to remember exactly how it goes, but I can't.  The jest of it was what I just stated though.  I'm almost positive is in Proverbs somewhere.  Anyway, I know I have felt the truth of that verse many times in my life.

It just feels good to get a good belly laugh at something or myself.  But I also know that all too many times I laughed at things that grieve the heart of God.  Either because of feeling uncomfortable not to laugh or because the remaining filth still within me, I have laughed at things that are not funny to our Lord at all.  I am making this post to get my thoughts out about a conversation I have been having with another christian about a post he made on facebook.  I told him that I didn't think it was right to joke about some things.  I can't and wouldn't want to make a list of the things that are wrong to joke about, but I think a good question to ask is if our Lord would find humor in it.  Or can I say thank to God for the humor about whatever it is I'm laughing at.  We can know this for sure.  God has a special place in His heart for the hurting and needy.  To laugh at anyone like this is very dangerous.  For the Bible speaks over and over again about the 'Defender of the weak.'  God is not a cosmic killjoy.  He is happy.  He wants you be as well........In Him.  I pray that I would do this, and not just write a post to others.

I really believe that we can tell a lot about who we really are by what we think is funny.  God help us all not sacrifice grieving our Lord for a good laugh.

A Better Look At Something

I can't quite remember what made me think of it this way, but Sunday morning during the worship service something was said that made me see this in a new way.  

About nine months and five days ago my son was born.  Emily and I had been at the hospital for 24 hours when the doctor decided that due to my son's heart rate it would be very dangerous to continue with a vaginal birth.  So within thirty minutes or so Emily was taken back to have a C-section.  We did not plan it that way, but we did what we and the doctor thought was best for him.

Everything went very good and Emily and Garrison came out healthy.  

Well with the C-section, Emily has went through some hard times of guilt about it.  I assure her all the time that she did what was the most loving thing she could do for Garrison, but it is still hard for her for many reasons that I won't go into detail about.  But Sunday I was given a new view about the loving sacrifice my wife chose to be for Garrison's safety.  

There was another one who laid down His rights to do the most loving thing for His children.

It was not the popular way.  He didn't choose the pretty way.  He did what was necessary, because of His great love for us.  He gave up His precious body to beaten and nailed to a tree.  The Bible says that He was crushed for our iniquities.  He so loved us, His children that He gave up His body to be cut and pierced and His soul to be crushed.  He gave up His life so we could live, and He chose to keep the scars.  The Bible says that His hands still have the pierce markings and His side still has the gash.  We have them as a reminder forever of how much He loves us.    

My wife has a scar now too.  It is right below her waist line, a precious reminder of just how much she loves my son Garrison.  She and I both would have chose another way, but she did what was necessary to ensure his safety.  Is that not a glimpse of calvary love.  I think it is.

Thank you so much Emily

Hard work and grace

"For you remember, brothers, our labor and toil: we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any or you, while we proclaimed to you the gospel of God." (1 Thessalonians 2:9 ESV)

"You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my necessities and to those who were with me.  In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive." (Acts 20:34-35 ESV)

Somehow in my thinking and I think in other believers' thinking we have a hard time seeing the connection between grace and hard work.  You see I know without a doubt that I brought nothing and still bring nothing to the table as far as my right standing before God goes.  I trust completely in everything He has done.  I can't add a thing to it.  I received it and I do still receive that wonderful message that Jesus paid it all.  Now that is called justification.  We understand that, not perfectly but we do have a grasp of it.  I think we also know something about the next theological term sanctification, but it is here that the disconnect in our thinking happens.  We know in the Bible that everything done in the flesh does not honor God.  We know that the Holy Spirit must be the main source of our energy that we work with for it to be God-glorifying.  I have had a hard time with this, because I think, 'well how do I know if the work I am doing is generated by my flesh or the Holy Spirit?'.  Is there a certain feeling or certain prayer that I feel or pray?  How do I know?  What I have found as the pattern in the Paul is that he continually expressed to God his need for His power and help, and he sought to do the things that he knew were God's desire.  If there is a certain feeling we must have to know for certain we are being led by the Holy Spirit I have not found it explained in the NT.  And we know from reading the NT that Paul prayed all kinds of different prayers.  So what is key?  We must continually ask for God to help us, and we must get to doing the things we see in His Word that are pleasing to Him.  This does not just mean going to the church building on Sunday and Wednesday and having Bible studies, and going witnessing.  These are awesome things to do and are essential, but Paul was also a tent-maker.  Undoubtably God didn't think that Paul was wasting his time making tents while he could have been doing what we tend to think of a spiritual.  The fact is tent-making, grass cutting, dish-washing, baby-changing, and all the other seemingly monotonous jobs turn into the living worship when we do them with our hearts turned toward God in thanksgiving.  Some of my most favorite memories as a baby christian in high school was cutting grass.  I can remember for the first time ever I was enjoying cutting grass.  I was working hard for my parents and God singing every worship song I had heard lately.  And there in the middle of the summer in Creola sweating and stinking behind an old push-mower I spent some of the most precious times in my life with Jesus.  So it is not what you do, but how and who you look to while you are doing it, whatever it may be.  Go work hard for the glory of the precious Savior that bought you.  

Please don't grow dull of hearing

You know, in the christian life we revisit things all the time.  In one sense we are saying and reading the same things over and over again.  It is evident by all the new christian books sold that we are discontent.  Now I know that christian books outside of the Bible can be very helpful to us, but I know at least for me that many times I would rather read a christian book than the Bible.  There are times when it is good to read other books, in fact it is good to do a lot to freshen our view and be encouraged to pursue God.  But I want to encourage anyone who might possibly read this; God still speaks in the pages of Scripture, and if you will ask Him to help you honestly hear what He says you will understand and be better off than you would by reading any other book.  I really believe this.  You may not understand the entire passage you read, but if you pray and look to God honestly He will make what you need to understand clear.  I promise.  Jesus promised that if anyone seeks he will find.  He is willing to show His wisdom to people that search like dependent children.  If you have become discontent with reading the Bible, or have never really understood it when you read, you are not alone.  I used to read it growing up and it never made much sense to me.  But I promise it is not God's inability to communicate.  Try praying then reading with the intent to really understand and follow and I promise you will not be disappointed.  Remember our christian walk begins and ends in the same place.......... Jesus.  Its only more intimate as we go.  We found this Jesus through the words of Scripture, so we must assume that we will understand Him and His will through Scripture.  This is the argument that Peter makes for us to desire the Word of God.  Read 1Peter1:22-2:3.  So please do not grow dull of hearing Jesus.  Listen to Him in His Word.  

He is!

God is and we adapt.  He is.  He describes Himself as 'I am'

The Bible states that we know inherently that there is a God that we ought to be thankful to.  I am not speaking to christians only.  This is true for every coherent man and woman on the planet.  Ok, my intention was not to defend creation.  My intention is to help wake us up!  I heard a very strong message this morning.  I was shook pretty good.  The main point of it was that the great God of the universe, the entire everything, that you see and don't, is just in all His ways.  He is.  Do you believe that?  Do I really believe that?  He is just to condemn sinners.  He is just to condemn me, but He gives me grace.  We run past the justice part to fast many times to get to the love part, but when we do we inevitably weaken the love.  God's love and mercy and forgiveness is so wonderful because of His justice.  Christ gave His life because He is just.  We need to let it sink in.  Don't just run past it.  Remember God is who He is and we adapt to Him.  It is not the other way around.  We are the created, He is the Creator.  I pray He helps us all see this as wonderful and relieving as it can be.

Ryan

A Clarification

I said something in my last post about Paul saying in the Bible that he would not even eat meat again if it caused someone to stumble.  I want to talk about that for a moment.  The context in which Paul said this was the place Corinth.  Paul was writing to believers in Corinth.  The problem was that many of the christians were buying meat at discounted prices that had been sacrificed to idols.  Undoubtably many people thought the value of the meat diminished or something.  But many of the christians had come out of a religion that sacrificed things to idols and therefore thought it was wrong to buy the meat.  So you had one group of christians that thought it was wrong to eat meat that had been sacrificed to idols and another that thought it was ok.  If you would like to read about it, check out the book of 1 corinthians.  Anyway, Paul states that there is indeed nothing wrong with eating any kind of meat, but he said that the ones that thought it was ok to buy and eat the meat that had been sacrificed to idols should lay aside their right to do this for the sake of their brothers and sisters in Christ.  You see, even though there was nothing wrong with the act itself, if it caused someone else to stumble in their walk with Christ then the loving thing to do was give up the right.  The key ingredient is true love that holds a precious soul as more important than any right I have.  This is not to say that I should live my life as a mere people pleaser.  This is not that type of attitude.  A people-pleaser has as their god people, this attitude has as its God Christ.  

So how does this apply to smoking a cigar, drinking a beer, or buying on bag of chewing tobacco every four months.  The attitude of doing whatever possible to promote Christ being glorified in others has to be here too.  The fact is, here in the south especially many people think that all uses of tobacco and alcohol are sins.  I do not agree.  So here I am with a similar problem as that of the early church in Corinth.  So what should I do?  I think that I should lay aside what I think is ok, (and I truly do think that some of these things are ok) in order to not put an unnecessary stumbling block in people's way that may hinder their relationship with Christ.  I felt like I needed to elaborate a little more to make myself clear.  

Ryan

Passionate not permissible

I feel that in many ways I have backsliden to sins that I thought I was past.  I think I need to write this in order to free myself of my conscience's constant nagging about my hypocritical living.  I am being taught now that I may not have been as holy as I perceived myself at a time in the past.  This is not to say that I have been living a total lie.  That is not the case.  I have been following Christ at least in some real manner since I was 16 or 17, and there was a time when even though I was struggling with my flesh, I nevertheless was a wide-eyed kid anxious to get to know my Father and Saviour Jesus.  I had a real passion to get to know Jesus.  Well, my first year in college a whole host of things happened and I went into a real depression.  Not just a couple of day down period, but a real valley.  I call it that now, but at the time I didn't know if I would ever come out.  I though to myself many days during that time, 'so this is it, I will be like this from now on'.  I was very scared and very down and darkness was all around me.  I know in stories people tend to exaggerate, but with this I am understating because you could not understand unless you were there.  Well during this time I battled all kinds of questions and doubts about everything that meant anything to me, namely God.  I doubted my salvation a lot.  I was approached with all kinds of ideas about God that I had not heard, (at least in the manner they were being presented).  Well there was some real good that I got out of that era in my life which I finally slowly began to come out of.  I developed a desire to read that I didn't have before, because I read everything during that dark period to try to find some light.  I also learned a real-life compassion for people struggling with depression.  I also learned a good bit about doctrine.  That is good too, but somewhere along the way I lost the passion for my Saviour and filled it with a passion for understanding.  That is not a conclusive statement, but that is in large part what happened.  There were times when I felt I was still close to God, but the close father-child relationship I didn't feel.  I also have the last few years have picked up a few things that I renounced as definite, no doubt about it, sins when I first started following Christ.  But after studying I found that some of the things that I had renounced as definite sins were not in fact in and of themselves sins.  Things like smoking a cigar, drinking a beer, having a chew or a dip of tobacco.  Those things are not found condemned in the Bible, and I still believe are not in and of themselves sins.  However, I could never and still can't get past the feeling of guilt that overcame me as I tried some of those things after I was 19 and 21.  I could never press the guilt feelings out of my heart, no matter how much I talked to myself about them being ok.  Specifically, the verse in which Paul says that he would not even eat meat again if it might cause someone to stumble, kept haunting me.  You see I had gotten knocked around badly and when I began to balance back out emotionally I started to follow the doctrines of God  rather than God and what He teaches us.  I began to live a permissible christian life instead of a life sold out to following Jesus.  I am not here condemning anyone that can honestly with a clear conscience do any of the things I listed above.  I am not trying to promote another list of rules outside the Bible.  I am trying to promote a life that is passionate, not permissible.  

The things I listed above do not make a comprehensive list of all that I struggled or struggle with, but it gets the point across.  I for a long time have lived without the wonderful awareness of my great God on a consistent basis.   I have lived a permissible life, without much passion for Jesus.  But I am very happy to say that the day before yesterday I saw Him with my heart once again as my precious Saviour that died for me, that is now here with me.  I am still fighting every moment that I think about it to keep Him before me as I live, but there is a freshness about it.  I am ready to follow Him.  He is so faithful.  You can trust Him too.  If you are reading this you can have the reality of knowing Jesus Christ personally.  You can.  You may already.  Either way the object is the same: Jesus.  If you'll look to Him now and be honest about where you are, He will take you in and be your Saviour and Father.  

 

Can you see the sky?

Is it possible to know anything for certain?  Are there any things that are unchangeable regardless of who looks at them?  I think so, but the argument I keep hearing from some folks I've been talking to on a website against christianity is that, since we are all subjective beings everything we see must be interpreted subjectively and therefore will vary.  That is not the exact quote but that is the jest of it.  

You see, one particular post on this site stated 'If God speaks, why can't He get His story straight?'  They were talking about how there are so many different interpretations of Scripture.   I replied something to the extent that it is possible for the story-teller to get his story right and for the people reading it to twist it to the way they like it.  I said that I think this is why we have divisions.  After several statements from many of the people on that site and many statements back from me, someone finally said what I stated above about everything being interpreted by a subjective being must come up with a subjective interpretation.  I disagree.  We all look up and see the sky if we have eyes.  We all see our hands if we have hands and eyes.  If we look down we see the ground beneath us.  We may call it different things but reality is what it is.  It does not change because of what we call it.  Reality around us is what it is and what we call it does not change it or change the reality we see.  A chair's substance does not change if you call it a table.  Ok so you may ask, 'what the heck are you arguing about?  We all know that.'  Well if we believe that the Bible truly has multiple interpretations or a new meaning to different people we are believing that chairs are turning into tables because we call them that.  This is serious for many reasons, one of which is it will cripple our ability to witness educated people.  (by educated I mean by secular universities)  We continue as christians to talk in terms of this is what it means to me and such like we do many times when talking about the Bible.  In doing so we prove that we are reading the Bible the same way existentialism teaches to, which is the foundation of all non-absolute thinking.  We therefore weaken the Bible's power by adding our meaning to it.  At this point I will let someone who has helped bring this idea home for me speak, for he is much clearer on the subject.

"If there is only one life to live in this world, and if it is not to be wasted, nothing seemed more important to me than finding out what God really meant in the Bible, since he inspired men to write it.  If that was up for grabs, the no one could tell which life is worthy and which life is wasted.  I was stunned at the gamesmanship in the scholarly world as authors used all their intellectual powers to nullify what they themselves wrote!  That is, they expressed theories of meaning argued there is no single, valid meaning in texts.  Ordinary people reading this book will ( I hope) find this incredible.  I don't blame you.  It is.  But the fact remains that to this day well-paid, well-fed professors use tuition and tax dollars to argue that 'since literature does not accurately convey reality, literary interpretation need not accurately convey the reality which is literature.'  In other words, since we can't know objective reality outside ourselves, there can be no objective meaning in what we write either.  So interpretation does not mean trying to find any objective thing that an author put in a text, but simply means that we express the ideas the ideas that enter our head as we read.  Which doesn't really matter because when others read what we have written, they won't have any access to our intention either.  It's all a game.  Only it is sinister, because all these scholars (and small-group members) insist that their own love letters and contracts be measured by one rule: what they intended to say.  Any mumbo-jumbo about creatively hearing 'yes' when I wrote 'no' will not go down at the bank or the marriage counselor"  (John Piper in "Don't Waste Your Life")

This is not just a subject for a certain few, its for all.  When you talk or write you want to be understood for what you really mean.  God does too. 

Scared to death

I am going to bare my honest thoughts about a subject we do not normally like to talk about... Death.  You may already be discarding this as morbid, but I hope you will hear me out on this.  Ok, here I am honest.  Death scares me.  It does.  My faith tells me not to be, but I am a lot.  So what do I do?  A habit I have tried to implement in my life is that if something scares me, face it, hit it head on.  The truth is true regardless of my efforts or lack thereof, so if I want any lasting joy I have to deal with things that scare me.  Before I go any further, I am not morbid.  I love life.  I love living.  The fact that I am scared of death points to this.  I also am a christian.  I believe in Jesus Christ the Son of God.  I trust Him to be true.  Yet once again if I am honest, death scares me, and I think it scares all of you too.  

I think there are several reasons for this.  We are sinners.  We know of our very recent sins.  Sin distorts our vision of life and makes things seem dark.  Our conscience also condemns us.   Another reason we fear death is because we have never experienced it, and it doesn't seem pleasant.  We also love our family and friends.  We don't want to leave them or them to leave us.  I am sure there are other reasons I am leaving out.  Here is one though that scares me maybe more than all the rest;  if I were to leave this life right now and enter into eternity, do I really know this Jesus that I am about to see.  I do not mean know the facts about Him, or know what He said.  I mean do I know Him personally, like say the way I know Emily?  Do I really know Him?  These questions are tough.  They are not yes/no answers quick feel better answers.  They are the real life questions, that will truly affect you if you take the time to ask yourself them.  Sure you can push this out of your mind by remembering a past date or past period of time, but the only thing that we have for certain is the present.  This does not make the past unimportant.  It is.  But we live from moment to moment.  From faith to faith as the Bible says.  But now you say, 'great now here I am depressed.  I could have been a lot happier if I wouldn't have read this.  I would have not thought about this dark subject and I wouldn't have these nagging questions about my faith.'  (I am sure this is not the exact response but it sums up the idea)  But let me ask you this,  " Would you rather live in mostly uninterrupted peace here and never be asked difficult questions and find out in the end you never really knew Jesus, or would you rather have your peace interrupted for a period of time to come away with the lasting peace of knowing that you have brought your soul bare before Jesus.  Remember, Jesus never turned away genuine doubters and questioners.  His only requirement is your need of Him.  He did not come to save righteous people.  He came to save sinners and make them righteous.  

I do not want to make anyone have unneeded doubts about their salvation, however some are needed.  Remember, He promised that all who come to Him will not be cast away.  Bring all your questions, doubts, fears, sins, and He will take you in and love you.  I am convicted as I type this, because I have not done this completely lately.  I know when I do He always comforts me and He will comfort you too.  Your doubting will not make Him not real.  Remember that.  He is what He is.  He does not depend on your thoughts.  I don't know exactly why, but thinking about that always brings me comfort.  

In conclusion, Be real.  Be candid.  Be brutally honest with yourself and God.  This really is the only way.  Do not be afraid of bringing Him everything that scares you.  He cares.

Let this sink in  "Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your cares/anxieties on Him for He cares for you" (1 Peter 5:6-7)  

Hurt

I watched the Johny Cash music video 'Hurt' earlier.  I think that was the second time I've seen it.  It pulled me in.  Or maybe I was already there.  The opening line is powerful, "I hurt myself today to see if I still feel, I focus on the pain the only thing thats real."  It goes on "try to kill it all away but I remember everything."  I don't know if he wrote the song but I know he felt it, and I do too.  I can't help but remember everything, whether good or bad, its all still here with me.  Emotional pain is something that can not be put on a scale, so I can not here say that I can relate to all.  We find in sharing that it all ties together.  People loving and losing people.  People hurting and being hurt by people.  People, thats our common bond.  Like it says later on in song "everyone I know goes away in the end."  You see losing things doesn't hurt us accept as they remind us of the people we love.  "And you could have it all, my empire of dirt.  I will let you down, I will make you hurt."  I also really believe that we want to be loved by someone that won't let us down, someone that will be there once everyone goes away, if we live that long.  All of the ones we hope to always be there may not, either by choice or death.  I believe like A.W. Tozer said that in each one of us, though we strut around like we are so secure, there is within us a sense of cosmic loneliness, a feeling that nobody really cares for me in a way will last forever, because they all might go away.  He tells a story about a homeless man in one of his sermons that has impacted me forever now that I have a boy.  He said 'that old homeless man sitting there has no one left who loves him here on earth.  His parents that once watched him crawl across the floor with dripping chin and picked him up every time he fell have been long gone, and his sweetheart of his youth has left him, and there he is all alone.  Everyone has deserted him.  And as he sits there he thinks, no one is left to love me.  At that moment the christian evangel comes to him 'hey there you, God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever and that included you may not perish but have everlasting life.'

We are all cosmic orphans until we come to Christ.  Thank God He is a 'Father to the fatherless.'  

I know that does not solve it all.  We still have these memories and attachments that are good.  But now I have Someone here with me in my darkest and brightest memories and my darkest and brightest moments.  Trust Him with all of you.  He will not turn you away.  Be completely honest with Him.  He knows it all anyway, and He still cares.  God cares about you.  He loves me, so I know He will love you.  He knows about all my darkness but He still stays here with me and loves me.  He won't leave you.

Money and power

Christ is right.  We can not love God and money.  They both take our affections in different directions.  But what is it about money that is so seductive.  I think it is our desire for power and independence that gives it the power to grab us.  I know I continually fight it.  I know, I know, 'we all have to have money to survive.'  I tell myself this all the time. (many times to defend my own greed)  We love defending the necessity of something to promote our indulgence of it.  We do this thinking somehow we can fool ourselves, and many times we succeed.  The truth is though, at least for me, I love money and the thought of being financially secure more than God a lot.  I am sure this is true more often than I realize, for it always takes me a while to see where I've let myself get to.  Actually I'm typing this because I am convicted about my condition now.  The Lord is always faithful to deliver me.  I just wish I wouldn't wonder back away from Him.  This is true with all my sins.  Like the line in the old hymn "prone to wonder, Lord I feel it, prone to leave the God I love."  Thank God His grip is stronger than mine.  I'll leave a couple lines from a man that has helped me so much.  Here is a prayer he put at the end of a chapter titled 'The blessedness of possessing nothing' in his book "The pursuit of God"  

Father, I want to know Thee, but my cowardly heart fears to give up its toys.  I cannot part  with them without inward bleeding, and I do not try to hide from Thee the terror of the 

parting.  I come trembling, but I do come.  Please root from my heart all those things 

which I have cherished so long and which have become a very part of my living self, so that 

Thou mayest enter and dwell there without a rival.  Then shalt Thou make the place of Thy 

feet glorious.  Then shall my heart have no need of the sun to shine in it, for Thyself wilt 

be the light of it, and there shall be no night there.  In Jesus' name, Amen.

Hard to take in

There are things in the Bible that are hard for me to take.  I'm just being honest.  If you read some of the laws in the Old Testament they seem harsh.  Yet if I want to trust in the Christ of the New Testament I must trust in the God of the Old Testament.  I can not pick and choose what parts I like to believe.  He is Lord of the whole thing or not at all, because one Testament can not be true without the other.  So what shall I do.  I can put the parts out of my mind that I don't like and just concentrate on the things I like.  Yet if I do this I am afraid I will create in my mind a God who is not real.  No, the only way to true peace that I don't have to worry about losing every time I read certain passages of the Old Testament is to accept God as He is period.  That seems hopeless at first doesn't it.  You mean that we must just take everything in the Bible about God no matter how much it seems to contradict the God we have always thought of.  Yes we must.  For this is the only way to ensure that we have not made up a god that is similar to the true God but really not Him at all.  I am not saying that we have to understand everything.  We never will.  Yet in every born-again heart there is a feeling  like Peter had.  In the gospel of John it says that after Jesus preached a very very hard sermon most of the people listening stopped following Him.  Then Jesus turned to the disciples and asked 'are you going to leave to' and Peter replied 'where else can we go Lord, You have words of eternal life.'  

You see, our God is loving and wonderful, but He is not everything we would attempt to make Him.  He is the Lion and the Lamb.

It is amazing to me

It is amazing to me that He loves me.  I am so messed up.  I may have doubted that before, but I am more and more certain everyday that anything that is ever good in me has to be from Him.  Think for a moment if God were to pull out every word of every thought that you thought today and posted them for everyone to see.  That is who we truly are.  We are not merely what others see, or what we see in a mirror.  We are what God sees.  Let that sink in.  There is no mind games with him.  He sees the mind game.  This makes Jesus' words in the gospels not seem so harsh and overstated when he said "if you being wicked know how to give good gifts to your children will not your heavenly Father give to those who ask Him."  I have always thought that statement seemed harsh.  Surely not all of those that He was teaching were wicked.  But that is where I err in my thinking.  The Lord sees our hearts. 

So have you murdered today?  Have you stolen?  Have you committed adultery?  Have you placed another god before Him? ............

Yes we have.  We are all guilty.  

But what does God say "while we were yet sinners, Christ died for the ungodly"  He does not say oh your not that bad, but you know I had to die for you to save you.  NO!  He says 'you are wicked, if not in your actions in your thoughts, and since I am God of both, you are, but I still love you.  He still loves me.  He still loves you.  If that does not warm your heart then please pray that He will make it do that, because that is the greatest news of all time.  

As a line in a song I heard says "Why should I gain from His reward? I can not give an answer.  But this one thing I know for sure,  His wounds have paid my ransom."

Let the truth of the often misused yet beautiful verse sink in to your heart.  "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life."

Why is it that we think thinking too much is bad?

It seems to me that most people think thinking too much about any one thing or "too deeply" about anything is damaging to a person's enjoyment.  I disagree, though I think I can see where they are coming from.  When we do first start thinking past the surface on a topic it is scary.  We may find that we have thought wrong about it for a long time, or that the popular opinion of the subject is wrong, or that we have rested our hope on something that we know little about.  I feel like this is especially true with God, or eternal matters.  I find myself all the time running from thinking about God, because I know that I have thought so little of Him lately.  Many of us have trusted in a God we know little about.  We know the main stories, but do we know Him?  That is a scary question.  I tremble even typing it.  However, I always find that when I do think deeply about Him I trade a glib happiness full of uncertainty for a strong deep-seated joy.  The process many times is scary and painful, but when I search He finds me.  There is a line in a DCB song "alone here with my doubts, afraid You'll find me out."  Yet when we find Him it is a beautiful collision.  So go increase your joy.  Think about the great God of the universe.  

I like talking

I have fought the fact of computer communication for a long time, but I finally surrender.  Since this is the way it seems everyone else is communicating I guess I'll join in.  

We finally have a computer at our home now so this will help too.

Anyway, I started this blog as a release for myself and maybe a stirring point for others.  I may not say things here that are interesting to anyone but me, but maybe a few others might enjoy thinking about some of the things I type here.  I'm love thinking and talking about life.  This blog will just be some overflow from my everyday thoughts and battles within.