Is the Bible Believable?

Its a miracle the ancient scriptures were preserved so well and faithfully.  No other culture has such a vast collection of its ancient literature.  To think that Jesus read these scriptures is amazing and even more astounding is the fact Jews everywhere read these same scriptures today, two thousand years later.  Jesus gave credence to the Old Testament.  He quoted from nearly every book of it.  When He spoke about it, He spoke with authority.  Those were His Father’s words, God’s truth.  Since Jesus proved his own credibility through his miracles, his Resurrection from the dead and final ascension into the heavens, we can accept His assessment of the veracity of Old Testament scripture.

Nothing is Happening Part 2

Once I prayed with great anguish:  “Lord, I’ve prayed and prayed for You to use me, and nothing is happening.”  The answer I received in my spirit was awesome.  I sensed the Lord saying to me:  “Child, are you willing to let me use you, even if I don’t reveal to you what I am doing?  If I use you mightily, in the dark so to speak, and you become aware of it, might you not become puffed up?  If you begin to think too highly of yourself, you may take over the work yourself and cease to be my servant.”

Something’s Leaking

There is an Indian legend about a man who goes every day to a well to draw water and return home.  He carries two jugs for the water.  One day he drops one of the jugs and it cracks.  When he fills it, it leaks.  Now he feels he must hurry home with his water filled jugs, so as not to lose too much water from the cracked jug.  One day while cursing his luck over the leaking jug, he looked down and was amazed to see flowers growing all along the path where his jug was leaking.

We are made of clay, according to the creation story.  We are also imperfect, broken creations because of sin.  We most certainly leak.  Yet, what does anything leak?  Whatever its full of, of course.  If we are daily filled with Jesus love, we will leak it over a dry and thirsty human race, wherever we travel.

Servant or Companion

I had planned a fishing trip with my son.  The fishing was secondary to much anticipated time of conversation, sharing and just being together.  However, my son had other ideas.  He assumed it was more important to cut  my lawn, and that this would also be more pleasing to me.  He spent the morning and half the afternoon working, paid me a short visit and then was off to his own plans.  How sad I was for what I missed and for what he had missed too.  I could have easily hired out the lawn work.  He didn’t know that, of course, for he never asked me about the lawn–just assumed I’d want it done and assumed I’d be pleased.

Imagine for a moment that we do the same thing to God.  We often do many works with the idea we are serving God and pleasing Him, but our prayers are cursory.  God wants people who will walk with Him, talking with Him, waiting for Him, and watching for his answers.  When we serve alongside Him, letting Him teach us and guide us, we are spending time together.  Its the fishing trip He planned.

Unequals in Love

The bible has said Christians are not to be unequally yoked with unbelievers.  A lot of Christians take exception to this teaching, believing it to be overly harsh.  This is especially true when the Christian is in love with an unbeliever.  At that point love trumps every teaching and the Christian in question believes love will solve everything.

Love is powerful.  But is it love when the core of who you are, your Christian faith, is rejected by the one you love?  The real you is neither known nor valued by the person you love.  You don’t share your deepest thoughts with your beloved because they aren’t understood.  You don’t share your deepest feelings, for they aren’t appreciated.  You close off your true self from your loved one and not only is there not any deep unity, your own soul begins to suffocate.  You make compromises for the relationship.  You give up some of what sustains you, for the sake of peace.  You do things that cause you vague feelings of shame, for you have compromised your integrity.  The relationship that is left is unsatisfying on the deepest level.  You may still love in an altruistic way, but you lose your own self.  “What does it profit a person to gain the whole world and lose your own soul.”  –Jesus

What Do I Want

When it comes to the world of work, I think our default setting is “What do I want?”  We ask children from a young age what they want to be when they grow up.  However, while what we like and what we are good at are similar most times, questionnaires and tests to find out what we like may be asking the wrong question when we are trying to find out our vocation or calling.  It is indeed useful to know our talents and gifts, but the next question ought to be, what kinds of things are God and his people doing around me.  When I see a field of work or organization or ministry that grabs my passion, then I need to ask what is my fit in that place.  What can I do to advance the work of this entity with the gifts and skill sets I possess.  We ought to be asking, “where can I be the best I can possibly be for God?”.  We love God and the more we love Him, the less we want to give him mediocrity.  Asking how to give Him the very best development of everything He has given me, is a different question than “What do I Want?”  Its a God-centered and God’s work centered question rather than a “me” centered question.

Casting Our Pearls

Jesus told us not to cast our pearls before swine or they would only turn and trample us.  I have often wondered what that could possibly mean.  In younger days, I would spend a great deal of time involved in trying to answer the questions of unbelievers.  A few people were helped by my answers, but most were hostile to my answers, and I found that puzzling.  Now I think I understand the statement about pearls. 

When I throw something precious to people who don’t want what I offer, I get a hostile response.  Just as a pig isn’t interested in pearls when its looking for food, a person hostile to Jesus doesn’t really want a reasonable answer to a question, they want me to be unable to answer, which in their mind justifies their unbelief.  If I spend time on such a person, I’m wasting time better spent on a sincere questioner.  If I spend energy on such a person, their hostility is an energy sapper, doubly leaching me of energy better spend on someone who is a sincere seeker.

A Christian writer once said we should concentrate our efforts at those nearest the “narrow gate” Jesus talked about.  These people have followed God’s guiding all the way to the way into the entrance, and they just want someone to help them with the gate.  Ministry among such willing seekers would be very successful and satisfying, and probably a source of further energy for more ministry.  However, I think its not necessary to stay only with those nearest the gate.  Someone could be still very far off, yet sincerely seeking help to find their way to Jesus.  I think its important to discern which way they are facing.  Are they facing Jesus and the gate into the kingdom, or are they turned away?  Those facing the right direction, even if still afar, are moving toward Jesus and can benefit from our help.  Those facing away from Jesus have turned away because of heart issues that have nothing to do with being shown or taught anything.  Its prayer they need, for only God can soften a hardened heart toward him.  That is beyond our capability.

Idolatry and Religion

Every form of idolatry is alike in that we the religious decide what our religion is going to require of us.  We like to be in control.  We like to make rules that we don’t mind keeping.  We want to be king of ourselves with no guilt.  I believe this thinking better explains why there are so many religions than any other theory I’ve heard.

Finding Our Way Home

A little hummingbird got lost in the big dining room where I was working.  All around him were windows and the one open door he’d flown through to get inside.  He tried one window after the other, just fluttering up and down, back and forth against the glass, going nowhere.  Everything was a false opening.  It looked good, but wasn’t real.  I thought about trying to help him, but he would have been afraid of my strangeness and my size and possibly in fear might have flown still further from the door.

Suddenly, I saw a parable in this.  The little bird represents the lost soul who wants to find his way home.  He looks and looks at things that look good, but are false.  While God could lead him home, God is terrifying and he runs away.  How is it then, hard to believe, that God should become a man, so fearful humans can experience God in a way they can understand and not feel threatened.  How kind of God to come as Jesus.  He has not only shown us the way home, He is the Way.

A Coupon for Jesus

As I walked into the fast food restaurant, I was accosted by a stranger who told me he had a coupon for me for a deal “too good to be true”.  The coupon said something about Jesus.  Before I could finish reading it, he asked me if I was a Christian and when I said “yes” he handed me a whole stack of his coupons and said I should be preaching the gospel as he was doing because Jesus commanded us to do that.  Somehow, I just felt uncomfortable with the whole thing.  I guess I didn’t really experience Jesus as much as I experienced a sales pitch.  Now I’m not sure that God wouldn’t use even a sales pitch to make Himself known.  He can use anything.  If someone’s discomfort made them investigate Jesus  just to prove the salesman to be a nut case, that person through their searching may experience the real Jesus.  A real experience of Jesus involves a profound encounter with love and grace which has never before happened to a person.  I like to introduce Jesus to people in a context of love and grace, but really, its not about me.  A Jesus moment is a gift from Himself and He can use any means of delivery.