baffled… June 5, 2009

so, i’m baffled.  i have an atheist co-worker who is getting a divorce after being together with his wife for six years and he’s finding relief in scripture…then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.  his relief isn’t because of Christ and the truth you find there.  but because of the truth he has found in his relationship with his wife.  strange…

still baffled.  one of my other co-workers found out she was pregnant this week.  this is her second child.  her first is around four years old and his father lives in colorado.  they were never married.  she got pregnant with the first when she was nineteen years old.  now she dating a “good” guy.  early in the relationship, she claimed she wouldn’t have another child outside of a marriage.  well, obviously that didn’t last long.  she has often voiced her Christian beliefs at work.  not sure how that is going to work when everyone finds she is pregnant.  especially with the atheists and agnostics at work when they already focus on how hypocritical Christians are in the united states.  well, she made a statement to me that she was not going to go back to her church because she didn’t want to be the black sheep.  so i attempted to comfort her in reminding her that all sin is equal and we all have sin in our lives.  well in comforting her, it seems i instead gave her an excuse for her actions.  i’m a genius.  after that boo-boo, i didn’t know how to remind her that as Christians we’re not suppose to live in our sin.  when we know we’re sinning, we’re suppose to turn away from it and ask for forgiveness.  but she is more worried about how she will make sure this doesn’t happen again since her birth control failed this time.

so i really am just baffled…

a deaf world April 24, 2009

God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains; it is His meagaphone to rouse a deaf world. — c. s. lewis

does it glorify God? April 17, 2009

i’ve thought about how Christians have become desensitized and i even read an article on the internet today that took that concept to the farthest extreme.  the article took desensitization to the extreme that praise bands in worship is a form of just that.  i think that’s just a little legalistic.  our environment continuously changes therefore the people in it do too, so our forms of worship and how we reach people changes.  paul’s travels showed us how there were many different people groups throughout the new testament and he spoke to each of those differently.  so the focus should be more on…

finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. (philippians 4:8)

whoever speaks, is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God; whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to who belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever.  Amen. (1 peter 4:11)

motive…isn’t that the key?  is what we’re doing glorifying God?  it’s become a very overused statement, but seriously…what would Jesus do?

but i guess we don’t really consider even our motives much because we have become casual Christians.  how often do i really stop and say…is what i’m doing glorifying God?  i guess some don’t even know that what they are doing isn’t glorifying God because they haven’t been in the Word and aren’t growing a closer relationship with the Father.

when you think about all of this, we really have become a complacent people.  and we really have become desensitized to so much.  can i really say that watching an r-rated movie is glorifying God?  but wait, we don’t look at it from that perspective.  we say something more like this movie doesn’t change who i am or influence my witness.  and i’m not watching it in front of anyone that it would be a stumbling block for so i’m good.  and too, i’m not convicted about watching violence, nudity, or sex in r-rated movies.  seriously, what would Jesus do?  would i be watching an r-rated movie with all the above in it (i guess we could use the watchmen as an example) if Jesus was sitting right beside me?  o wait…He is!  but we’ve become so desensitized that we’ve forgotten just that.

in sunday school a while back we were talking about the difference between a conviction and a standard.  and i get that.  i could see how one group could be convicted about using praise bands in worship and another group could not.  but because of our desensitization and lack of relationship with the Father, we chalk almost everything up to convictions that we’re not convicted about.  are we not convicted about it because we are too desensitized and lack a strong relationship with the Father?  the list of questions we went through in sunday school were great.

1. is the decision within the explicit moral will of God?  is it in the Bible?  if so, argument ends there.  if not, ask questions 2-16.
   an r-rated movie with violence, language, and sex…not literally in the Bible anywhere so i’ll say no.
2. is the decision being made in the attitude of Christ (romans 15:1-13)?
   to watch some r-rated movies…honestly, i think we usually stop at questions one and if the answer is no then we don’t go much farther.  we don’t really want to know whether we are convicted about it.  convictions don’t just pop out of thin air, they come from the Father thru His Word and our studying of it.  but let’s just say that sometimes my motives are pure…so yes.  because sometimes they are.  we really are getting into convictions and the lack of black and white.
3. is the decision being made under the control of the flesh or the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:13-26)?
   now that’s a tough one.  because our relationship with the Father is weak, it’s hard to know the difference.  so i’m going to skip past this one for now.
4. will the decision have a positive spiritual impact on self (1 corinthians 6:12; 10:23-24)?  will it help me become more like Christ?
   hmm…did the watchmen help me become more like Christ?  not thinking so.  deep down in the watchmen, there was a theme about good and bad, but i think the violence, language, nudity, and sex kind of greatly decreased what good value it had.  do the majority of r-rated movies help me become more like Christ?  probably not.  i’m just picking on r-rated movies for the sake of picking a topic.  are there r-rated movies that have helped me become more like Christ?  yes, i can name a few, and of course, the passion of the Christ.  so it is possible to say yes to this question.
5. will this decision addict or enslave (1 corinthians 6:12)?
   in this specific discussion of r-rated movies, it’s a no for me.
6. is the decision consistent with the rule for Christian living?  rule for Christian living — that all our works should be directed to the advantage of others.
   i can’t see watching an r-rated movie to be to the advantage of others.  watching it in a movie theater, no way because how does that reflect on my witness.  watching it at home, if in some crazy way it helps me grow closer to the Father then i guess it could be to the advantage of others.
7. will the decision hurt a brother spiritually or set a spiritual deathtrap (romans 14:13)?  how do i determine this?  God holds us accountable for the knowledge that we have.  what knowledge do i have about those around me?
   for most it would probably be a spiritual deathtrap.
8. will the decision have a positive spiritual impact on fellow believers (romans 14:19; 1 corinthians 10:23-24; galatians 6:1-10)?
9. does the decision go against (my own) conscience (romans 14:14)?  our conscience does not dictate what others should or should not do.
10. will the decision disrupt fellowship and damage relationships within the community (romans 14:15)?  never allow opinions to be more important than relationships.
11. will the decision damage reputation (romans 14:16)?
12. will the decision remove focus from the big picture of God’s kingdom (romans 14:17-19)?
13. is the decision being made out of a selfish heart (romans 14:20-21)?  will the decision offend (1 corinthians 10:32)?
14. can the decision be imitated by others who understand their freedom (1 corinthians 10:33-11:1)?
15. is the decision being made in light of the cause of evangelism (1 corinthians 9:19-24; 10:33)?  will it further God’s kingdom?
16. will the decision glorify God (1 corinthians 10:31)?  will the decision make a big deal of Jesus (galatians 6:11-16)?

we don’t want to think that hard about what we do.  we just want to live in the moment.  that’s why we are desensitized and stagnant.  so the question of the day is…does it glorify God?

stagnant April 16, 2009

malachi 2:17 – 3:6

isaiah 5:20 — woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!

zephaniah 1:12 — it will come about at that time that I will search Jerusalem with lamps, and I will punish the men who are stagnant in spirit, who say in their hearts, “the LORD will not do good or evil!”

God does not want us to be complacent.  we have become stagnant in our relationship with the Father.  we might recognize that we are at a place of complacency, but we have become so complacent that we don’t even have the motivation to become more.  complacency has become the norm?

“but who can endure the day of His coming?”

are we going to be able to endure the day of His coming?  have we lived a life that we are proud of?

“then I will draw near to you for judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers and against the adulterers and against those who swear falsely, and against those who oppress the wage earner in his wages, the widow and the orphan, and those who turn aside the alien and do not fear Me,” says the LORD of hosts.

i don’t think the list is limited to the above.  i think it includes just simply those living outside the will of God.  He is unhappy with us.  but for some reason we don’t fear Him anymore.  but neither did the people at this time.  hence, the reason all of this is being said.  if we still had that healthy fear, would we be living such a stagnant life?

why isn’t our faith visible? April 15, 2009

so i was reading daniel and nikki’s latest blog.  nikki was writing about visiting a mosque and writing about how muslims are so visibly muslim.  and then nikki came to a similar conclusion that i have come to too, however, we got there in two different directions.

it caused me to wonder, is there value to allowing your faith to be more visible in the things that we do?  not in a pious kind of way, but in a “this is who i am” kind of way.

a comment was made on her blog that it seems that Christians in america are ashamed to be Christian.  are we ashamed?  is that why we won’t live a set apart life outwardly?  are we afraid to be different?  Christ associated with sinners but He never took part in their sins.  we are living as close to the wordly line as we can get.  does the average person on the street see the fruits of my relationship with my Heavenly Father?