Me or Jesus

What am I offering others?

A set of true propositions that are static and unmoved or eternal life - life to the full?

Another Christian truism comes to mind - religion or relationship?

Am I really offering relationship with Jesus to others or am I offering what I think is the only right way of understanding the Scriptures and doctrine?

There is a right way to know God - the only way - Jesus Christ.  The God-man is not frozen in time, dead except to the theologians and exegetes.

In our own lives and when ministering to others, it is all about facilitating an environment for the Holy Spirit to encounter one's spirit and for Him to speak truth and life into one's very core.  Salvation is a creation event in which God breathes in us and gives us life through His Son by the power of the Spirit.

"The woman said, 'I know that Messiah is coming.  When he comes, he will explain everything to us.'  Then Jesus declared, 'I who speak to you am he.' ... Then, leaving her watering jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, 'Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did.  Could this be the Christ?' ... Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony, 'He told me everything I ever did.' ... Because of his [Jesus'] words many more became believers.  They said to the woman, 'We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.'"
-John 4:25-26, 28-29, 39, 41-42

Truth about God cannot be received apart from the work of the Spirit.  May we invite Him to do as He wills as we speak the truth in love!

Lord, help me let you speak for yourself so that others may hear for themselves and come to know that you, Jesus, really are the Savior of the world.

Praising God

Below are some fun things God showed me while taking a class on poetry in the Bible this summer.  For me, it shows how we really need to understand the Old Testament to fully realize how beautiful, merciful, loving, and gracious the content of the New Testament is:

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In the Psalms we see death viewed as separating one from God.  There was no praising God in death; it meant separation from God and the covenant community.  Romans 8:31-39 has just become all the more incredible for me in light of this, especially Romans 8:38-39:

"For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers...will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Also, I am not only seeing "love" in the New Testament as agape, but also as chesed, which is the Hebrew word for God's covenant lovingkindness - His unfailing love.  This is what I trust in, not myself or anything I do.  I imitate God as one who is unconditionally, covenantally, ceaselessly, loved.

Doing from being, not being from doing.

This phrase is a life-long process that must be unpacked by Father God daily.  God is doing a work.  I do not need to know all of the intricacies of it, all the steps, etc.  How could I?  Even so, I'm sure my spirit knows more than my brain.  I guess it has to start there - that's how the Lord works - from the inside out.

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I'll have some more lovely reflections later this week as I start to regularly blog again :)

Enjoy soaking in this truth if you wish as well (one of my favorite artists!):

Process

Two artists I love talk about the joy of the process of creating music.  The end product is a fraction of the story. I find it to be a great reminder as the Lord takes me through various processes in life.

We are all artists in one way or another - enjoy the process and you will that much more enjoy the end product!

Below each video you will find some favorite quotes of mine from the respective videos that I think are musts to take with us on our journeys so that we do not miss out on what the Lord has for us along the way as well as at the end.



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"Most of the process behind this work of art is the actual carving into the wood, and the final product, what everybody else gets to see, is just this thing on a piece of paper. They don't get to see the process and the beginning - all the intricate little maneuvers that actually go into creating the final product."

 "It's this really interesting process of collaboration. All of that goes on in the background in the beginning, and is really only for us to experience and to see. And in the end all that people get to see is the imprint of that, but this is the most amazing part of it for me - the carving. And I think that's really beautiful and I feel really lucky to be involved."

 

 "Whatever is left on the canvas when you strip it all off, that's what this record is. I love that. I love that concept of it being the sort of remainder because we sort of burned away a lot of the distractions, and it's just very raw and pure and honest."

 "I want to be that record in your ear. I want to be the sound of something that's soothing, but something that's really heartfelt and honest."

Control and Creativity

The more I release control by entrusting the Lord with more and more of my life, the more creative and free I can be!  I become less dependent on other people's reactions and the more receptive to acknowledge and express how the Lord has made me and desired me to reflect in the world His glory He has given me.

Confidence comes through faith in God and in His transforming power.

But what, after all, is freedom?  Does freedom have limits?  Currently, it seems many would say that true freedom does not have boundaries.  "Boundaries" and "limitations" are dirty words and are intolerable in many settings.  This led me to search God's Word for what freedom means:

Lord, you have assigned me my portion and my cup;
you have made my lot secure.
The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
surely I have a delightful inheritance.  -Psalm 16:5-6

Such a statement about the beauty of boundaries strikes me because if anyone has the power and freedom to do literally anything, it's a king in a monarchy.

What, after all, is freedom?  Is it doing whatever you want?  Again, insight from king David:

I will always obey your law, for ever and ever.
I will walk about in freedom, for I have sought out your precepts.
I will speak of your statutes before kings and will not be put to shame,
for I delight in your commands because I love them.  -Psalm 119:44-47

From a Christian standpoint at least, living in freedom means having boundaries as well.  These are not boundaries that we make for ourselves to earn God's love, rather through faith in Jesus, God gives us His Spirit to follow His ways, and thus living in true freedom:

I [God] will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you;
I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.
And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.
-Ezekiel 36:26-27

That being said, living in freedom is anything but clean cut, formulaic, and being like a well oiled machine.  It's chaotic, messy, non-linear, and relational.  We take risks, we get paint on the canvas and on the carpet, and we invest in lives that are unpredictable.  Let us not hoard our mina because we fail to realize the true nature of our heavenly Father.

"Let us live and die with God.  Sufferings will be sweet and pleasant to us while we are with Him; and the greatest pleasures will be, without Him, a cruel punishment to us."
-Brother Lawrence, The Practice of the Presence of God


Speaking of messy freedom and creativity, here are two audio/visual representations that echo and add to what I've shared  above.  Check the first one out here and the second one here!

Luther, Pascal, Aquinas

"The love of God does not find, but creates, that which is pleasing to it...Rather than seeking its own good, the love of God flows forth and bestows good." -Martin Luther

"Certainty of knowledge is a long way from security of life...By thinking, by clear and distinct thinking, it is possible - perhaps - to gain conceptual certainty, but never existential security."

-Blaise Pascal

"Better to illuminate than merely to shine, to deliver to others complicated truths than merely to contemplate." -Thomas Aquinas

Holiness

I am reading John Webster's book "Holiness" for my theology class this semester. The following is an excerpt that really changed my perspective on some of what it means for God to be "holy."

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"And so, once again, God's utter separation from wickedness is to be understood within the scope of God's dealings with humankind. Holiness is not the antithesis of relation - it does not drive God from the unholy and lock God into absolute pure separateness.

Rather, God's holiness is the quality of God's relation to that which is unholy; as the Holy One, God is the one who does not simply remain in separation but comes to his people and purifies them, making them into his own possession.

Talk of God's holiness indicates the manner in which the sovereign God relates. As the Holy One, God passes judgement on sin and negates it. Yet the holy God does this, not from afar, as a detached legislator, but in the reconciling mission of the Son and the outpouring of the sanctifying Spirit.

That is, God's destruction of sin is accomplished in his triune acts of fellowship with humanity, in which he condemns [God the Father], pardons [God the Son] and cleanses [God the Holy Spirit] by taking upon himself the situation of the ruined creature, in sovereign majesty exposing himself to our peril and only in that way putting an end to our unholiness. God's 'active opposition to sin' is thus known in the economy of salvation as a 'unity of judgement and grace.'"

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Thanks be to God for His judgment and grace!

Surface Scratches

The problem is not the government. The problem is not the structure. The problem is us. The problem is me. The solution is Christ in us. The solution is Christ transforming us. The solution is Christ transforming me. The solution is going from autonomous to co-laboring with Christ. It is not about the agenda of man, but God's agenda and His original purpose for what He created. What is freedom? What is "for the good of society"? What is "good"? No one is good but God alone. God's presence is for the good of society.

"Jesus replied, 'I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.'" John 8:34-36

The problem is not external. The problem is internal. Both external and internal are valuable, but one must be healed before the other can be healed.

Untitled

"We in the West are well trained to do jobs. We are not skilled in building relationships. Yet the fruit of the Spirit are expressed in relationships, and relationships are at the heart of all lasting evangelism." Paul Hiebert

"Both dogmatic scientism and extreme relativism had disastrous consequences. In one case the point of departure was the utter reliability of unaided reason; in the other it was personal preference or experience. In both instances it was purely self-referential; its criteria were immanent. Both models celebrated freedom; but people were unprepared for the freedom they have arrogated to themselves: they cannot handle it." David Bosch

"It is not enough that we should understand others (this can be a subtle form of patronizing); they must also understand us." Eugene Nida

"Christ did not teach and suffer that we might become, even in the natural loves, more careful of our own happiness...We shall draw nearer to God, not by trying to avoid the sufferings inherent in all loves, but by accepting them and offering them to Him; throwing away all defensive armour. If our hearts need to be broken, and if He chooses this as the way in which they should break, so be it." C.S. Lewis

Scholar on Fire

Just recently I found a treasure trove of GCTS videos that some talented folks at my school made concerning the seminary. Some of the more interesting ones for me have been the alumni videos that briefly look at what GCTS alumni are doing now. The following is a video of the adjunct professor for the OMP course prior to my trip last summer. He is one of my favorite personalities on campus and radiates a genuine Christ-like character. I am truly blessed by the global perspective he and other professors give with their lives.

Alumni Profile: Dr. Paul Borthwick from Gordon Conwell on Vimeo.

Revelations During Crossfit?!

I've recently joined this thing called CrossFit and it's pretty amazing so far. Well, it feels amazing after the workouts - during them you feel like you're going to die :) I like it because if I went to a gym on my own I would be staring at a bunch of equipment that I wouldn't know how to use and I wouldn't know how to push myself/know when I've gone too far. I also like that the workouts are different every time and I'm not just running around in circles. A definite plus. I could keep going, but trust me, this isn't a commercial for Xfit - I promise. What amazed me the other night was that during the crazy workout I got a download from God. What? Apparently I can think about other things than just reminding myself to breathe during these times.

Here's something I jotted down that night about it:

Did squat clean thrusters today. Wanted to work on my form, so I started with just the bar. I did ok, but felt awkward: I was arriving at the different positions correctly, but the movement to each position was off. I decided to add weight, a little nervous that my form would only lessen and get sloppier. However, to my surprise, my form got better - way better - with more weight. So, technically I did something more challenging better than something less challenging. I was reminded of the spiritual life and how God strengthens us. We are not meant to be stagnant, but progress, and we are in better form when things are more challenging, not when they're less challenging.

"...we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope." Romans 5:3-4

Exit Manipulation

Jesus does not hold His sacrifice over our heads. He does not make us feel guilty for what He did on the cross. This could only happen if He was forced and obligated to die. But Jesus did not have to do what He did. He did it voluntarily out of His freedom as God. Jesus sacrificed His life willingly. Jesus gives gifts purely and without impure motives or strings attached. God is self-sufficient, therefore He does not need to nor can He manipulate us with His gifts and His ultimate life sacrifice in His Son. May our pride and walls subsequently melt away at the knowledge of this.

"...he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us." -Psalm 103:10-12

God does not give me what I deserve. He does not repay evil with evil, but with good.

My God does not criticize or judge me. Some reflections on the elder son in the parable of the prodigal son that apply to this:

"The harsh and bitter reproaches of the [elder] son are not met with words of judgment. There is no recrimination or accusation. The father does not defend himself or even comment on the elder son's behavior. The father moves directly beyond all evaluations to stress his intimate relationship with his son when he says: 'You are with me always.' ...the father's unreserved, unlimited love is offered wholly and equally to both his sons." -The Return of the Prodigal Son, Henry Nouwen, p. 80

If you want to be wrecked, read the above book. You won't be disappointed.

Nothing Greater

True wisdom will not be seen as such and rather as foolishness unless God gives us eyes to see and ears to hear. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

"To the discerning all of them [Wisdom's words] are right; they are faultless to those who have knowledge." -Proverbs 8:9

Who gives knowledge? Who gives discernment? Who gives wisdom? How can we know God? It is only because God reveals Himself in ways that are accommodating to us. We have no capacity for these things unless God intervenes. And He has. Revere the Lord. He is holy. There is none like Him. He bestows value and honor on us continually by loving us unconditionally. We must come to the place where we realize our position as creatures before the Creator. He is God and we are not.

Even so, He has made a way for us to know Him - we are created in His image. We share in the Trinity's unity of love through the work of Jesus. There is nothing greater than sharing in this.

Confessions and Spiritual Friendship

Transitioning into a new semester means shifting books around, sorting papers, and rediscovering previously finished work that one has otherwise forgotten. In two books I found lists of memorable quotes I had "scribed," and some are definitely worth sharing:

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Excerpts from Confessions by St. Augustine

"But we enjoyed playing games and were punished for them by men who played games themselves. However, grown-up games are known as 'business,' and even though boys' games are much the same, they are punished for them by their elders...my games delayed my progress in studying subjects which would enable me to play a less creditable game later in life."

"We learn better in a free spirit of curiosity than under fear and compulsion."

"For your [God's] goodness is almighty; you take good care of each of us as if you had no others in your care, and you look after all as you look after each."

"You [God] follow close behind the fugitive and recall us to yourself in ways we cannot understand."

"Make your dwelling in Him [God], my soul. Entrust to Him whatever you have, for all that you have is from him."

"I did not know that if my mind was to share the truth, it must be illuminated by another light, because the mind itself is not the essence of truth."

"If a man is to please you [God], surely it is not enough that he should know facts like these? Even if he knows them all, he is not happy unless he knows you; but the man who knows you is happy, even if he knows none of these things."

"A statement is not necessarily true because it is wrapped in fine language or false because it is awkwardly expressed."

"You [God] are there to free us from the misery of error which leads us astray, to set us on your own path and to comfort us by saying, 'Run on, for I shall hold you up. I shall lead you and carry you on to the end.'"

Excerpts from Spiritual Friendship by Aelred of Rievaulx

"It is thus impossible to prefer a friend to morality; as soon as morality is damaged, friendship vanishes."

"Effort in great things is itself great."

"Scarcely any happiness whatever can exist among mankind without friendship, and a man is to be compared to a beast if he has no one to rejoice with him in adversity, no one to whom to unburden his mind if any annoyance crosses his path or with whom to share some unusually sublime or illuminating inspiration. 'Woe to him that is alone, for when he falls, he has none to lift him up.' He is entirely alone who is without a friend."

"Since, therefore, among the good, friendship always precedes and advantage follows, surely it is not so much the benefit obtained through a friend that delights as the friend's love in itself."

"And so we ought not, like children, change friends by reason of some vagrant whim. For since there is no one more detestable than the man who injures friendship, and nothing torments the mind more than desertion or insult at the hands of a friend, a friend ought to be chosen with the utmost care and tested with extreme caution." (spoken like a true infj in my opinion!)

"A truly loyal friend sees nothing in his friend but his heart."

"Indeed, a man owes truth to his friend, without which the name of friendship has no value." (I think "name" has the sense of "character" here.)

Faith and Inheritance

A passage and an explanation:

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"I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the

Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe.

That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way."

-Ephesians 1:17-23

"This, then, is the order: enlightenment, knowledge, faith, experience. It is by enlightenment that we know, and by faith that we enter into the enjoyment of what we know. Our faith-experience is therefore largely conditioned by our heart-knowledge. Further, the more we know, the greater our spiritual capacity becomes and the greater our responsibility to claim our inheritance by faith. Thus, when a person is newly born of the Spirit, his grasp of God's purpose for him is usually very limited and his experience is limited in proportion. But as the Holy Spirit enlightens the eyes of his heart, vistas begin to open up before him of which at first he had scarcely even dreamed. He begins to see and know the hope of God's calling, the riches of God's inheritance and the greatness of God's power. He is challenged to embrace by faith the fullness of God's purpose for him.

The tragedy is that often our faith does not keep pace with our knowledge. Our eyes are opened to see more and more of the wonders of God's purpose for us in Christ, but we hang back from appropriating it by faith. This is one of the ways in which we lose the fullness of the Spirit, not necessarily by disobedience but by disbelief. Our lungs develop, but we do not use them. We need constantly to repent of our unbelief and to cry to God to increase our faith, so that, as our knowledge grows, our faith may grow with it and we may continuously lay hold of more of the greatness of God's purpose and power."

- Baptism and Fullness, John Stott, 81-82

Although not directly spoken to, this excerpt from Baptism and Fullness also speaks to the distinction between blind faith and faith, between stupidity and trust based on knowledge revealed by the Holy Spirit.

Thank you Lord for not leaving us in ignorance and for providing a way out.

Science and Miracles

God and Biases

"The historic confession of the Church has been that biblical revelation gives us truth in the sense that it gives us an accurate account of what is 'out there,' whether we are considering the character of God or His purposes, or the nature of created life, or the end to which human history is going. Its correspondence to what is there is secured by the fact that it is God who has given it. Because this is so, it is objective in the sense that its content is not open to revision or change. It must always be interpreted and every interpreter carries within himself or herself the biases which social location, ethnicity, class - and, we must add, sin - generate. Yet even these biases are themselves subject to the correction of God's truth if it is objective and it is knowable. Furthermore, if it is God who has revealed it, then in its reach it is both unvarying and universal, the same for all people in all places and at all times. And if it is the biblical God of holiness who has revealed it, it will set up antitheses with all that is untrue and all that is wrong for that is what God's holiness does."

- David Wells, Above All Earthly Powers, 88

God is bigger than our biases and He will teach us and reveal Himself to us despite our weaknesses, near -sightedness, and shortcomings. God's special revelation is universally true, gracious, loving, compassionate, serving, and accommodating. This is one of the many manifestations of God's abundant mercy, grace, and desire to be known. He longs to lavish love and value on us, taking us from glory to glory as we increasingly reflect the glory He has given us back to Himself.

Stumbling and Redemption

The other day I was struck by our frailty and our finiteness as human beings. I was struck by it in the context of peers reading Scripture. As Christians, we all go to the Word in brokenness, and it heals us, speaks to us, and changes us no matter what we bring to it. Working through the Word, the Holy Spirit speaks to our spirits and transforms us into the likeness of Jesus more and more. Not only this, it gives us hope, reminding us of the glorious day when we shall see Him face to face and be like Him. We know, but only in part now. How wonderful when we will know fully because we will be fully known.

"If the Lord delights in a man's way, he makes his steps firm; though he stumble he will not fall, for the Lord upholds him with his hand." Psalm 37:23-24

If "stumble" in the above passage is a reference to sinning, then the "Lord delights in a man's way" must not refer to someone being perfect and the Lord delighting in this independent perfection. No, I believe the answer lies earlier in the chapter:

"Trust in the Lord and do good, dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will do this: He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun." Psalm 37:3-6

And in some verses following:

"The days of the blameless are known to the Lord, and their inheritance will endure forever. In times of disaster they will not whither; in days of famine they will know plenty." Psalm 37:18-19

The Lord delights in us trusting Him, committing our way to Him, and delighting in Him, not being perfect independently.

"In your ways oh God, redemption is so much better than perfection. In your ways oh God, over and over you prove yourself faithful. Over and over you prove yourself a redeemer." Kristene Mueller, Redemption

"Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven - for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little." Luke 7:47

My unworthiness of God's grace necessitates my acceptance of it. I am holy and blameless in His sight. This is such a hard truth to believe, especially when we stumble. My shame and guilt are taken away by His gaze. When I am in God's gaze, God is beside me, giving me the strength to diffuse lies. He is always for my best self-interest - mirroring the glory He bestows on me back to Him. Praise God.

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On a completely different note, I want to share some cool music. The video below is the music of a "hang instrument," which is something I saw a lot of last summer and summers before abroad. I find it really relaxing. Enjoy!