Facebook is Modern Worship

In our world of technology and advancements, social interaction is at the tip of our fingers.  With just the click of a button, we can have hundreds and thousands of friends and followers from all over the world.  50 years ago this kind of online socializing couldn't even be imagined.  Places like Facebook and Twitter have made the impossible, possible.

There's only one problem.  Online, we can "appear" to be whoever we want.  We can claim to have hundreds of friends who "like" us.  In reality, do they really even know us.  We choose just the right picture to make us look like just the right person.  We update everyone with pictures, statuses, and quotes as if we were a famous celebrity.  Our lives could be falling apart at home but online we are cool, calm, and collect.  We put an image out there of something we are not.

Paul found the Christians in Galatia in the same state.  They were trying to appear holy and righteous according to their good works.  He was disappointed because this was not the freedom they were called to.  This was not  the gospel he preached.  They were wasting their time trying to prove themselves to be something they could never be: perfect.

He exclaims to them again that the Christian life is all about loving, savoring, and worshiping Jesus.  He wants them to accept who they are and what Christ has done on their behalf regardless of their sinful nature.  In that, there is true freedom to do the things God truly desires (v. 14-15: love one another).

Today we are in the same predicament.  We are constantly trying to upgrade ourselves in order to make us appear better than we really are.  This attempt at showing off ourselves is idolatry at best.  We are worshiping ourselves.  It's like a rotting log in the woods.  On the topside, it can be very beautiful in a natural wilderness kind-of-way.  But, if you roll the log over, it is rotten, there are bugs and slime, and you may even find a predator you're not expecting.  Jesus Christ has the ability to make your weaknesses your greatest features but he bids you to come and die in order that you may find true life.  Only He can take the emptiness that is inside of you and make it good.  Only when you trust Him, can you truly reflect outwardly what is happening inwardly.

Is your life beautiful on the outside but empty inside?  Is your worship and love for Jesus only as true as your friends and status on Facebook?  Is your love for Christ only skin deep? This is not how it was meant to be.  Claim the freedom, life, and love He offers by trusting that only He can give you something worth more than Facebook, Twitter, your image, and even the world.

Read Your Bible, be made NEW by God

I just read the weekly blog digest from John Piper.  It addresses the issue of reading Scripture daily out of desire not obligation.  I hope you are as encouraged by it as I was/am!  It hits the issue I was trying to talk about this week.  Do not make something like reading your Bible a law to yourself.  Out of a love for God, enjoy the opportunity you have to read His Word!  It is in that state of love that the Holy Spirit will work and move to mold and shape you into the image of Jesus Christ.  Even when the reading seems dry and you feel like a desert, think of it as a spiritual investment!  Remember, the Word and Truth of God never comes back void.  Click HERE to read it.

Lambs in the midst of Wolves

Luke 10:3 : 3 Go your way; behold, I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves. 

I just read this as part of my daily devotions and wanted to share some initial thoughts.  There is a lot of work, not many workers, and the harvest is among the fiercest of enemies.  It will be this way until he returns.  Taking up your cross daily is no small task in these conditions but it is the calling of every Christian.  Talk about tough.  All I can think of are the words of Paul, "To live is Christ, and to die is gain".  Not once did Christ ever call someone to a life of good health and wealth.  The reward of Christ is eternal but getting to eternity will be no small task.  We will be troubled, persecuted, and brought low.  We must be ready to fight this good fight of faith which God has put before us.  We must be ready to take the role of the suffering servant with Christ, himself, as our example.  We must keep our eyes on that eternal prize of the glory of God so that when we are under fire, we will not lose hope.  I pray you find your hope in His perfect glory.

Faith is not Foolish

Galatians 3:1-5
O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified? Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law, or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun with the Spirit, are you now ending with the flesh? Did you experience so many things in vain?—if it really is in vain. Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith?


Paul cannot believe how ridiculous the Galatians are being.  He very seriously calls them foolish twice in these five verses.  He goes as far as to say that they are bewitched (under a spell).  When he was with them, the gospel became their hope and passion.  When he left them, false teachers were able to come in and distort the gospel.  They made the equation of salvation = Jesus + Good Works.  This is not what Paul had preached to them at all.  He preached the righteousness and perfection of Christ, His death, and resurrection was the payment for sin because of the imperfect human nature.  Christ death was necessary because we lacked the ability to save ourselves (Galatians 2:16).


John Piper says it well in a sermon on this passage (http://ow.ly/7SROz)  ,"...it is the people who don't take Christ into account who are in the dream-world."  I would take it one step further and say that it takes more faith for someone to not believe in God and Christ than to believe that Christ was the son of God and died for the sinful, unrighteous man.  But, he finds the Galatians believing that they must earn God's favor through their own works.  So, he brings them right back around to the gospel by asking questions that need no answer.  Christ is the only key to gaining access with God.  Faith is not foolishness.  The truth is that Christ died for us when we were dead in our sin and unable to do anything to save ourselves.


The best part is we can know whether or not we are truly His because of the Spirit.  This Holy Spirit is given to any who believe as a seal/ mark of God's family.  It's like the family crest, it's how you identify where you belong.  And we can know whether or not we have the Spirit by the fruit in our lives.  I'll clue you in...the fruit of the Spirit is not a strawberry.  Later in this letter, Paul makes known the fruit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Gal. 5:22-23).  This is the Spirit of Christ.  If you are His, you will begin to desire this fruit.  What kind of fruit are you producing in your life right now?


A few study/ follow up questions:

• Why is Paul calling the Galatians foolish?
• What Spirit did the Galatians receive?
• How did they receive the Spirit?
• Where/Who did the Spirit come from?
• Can we have this Spirit? (How can you know?)

Key to God: Notes on Prayer

     I moved into my new office on September 1st.  It is extremely exciting to be doing something I enjoy so much as my vocation!  Hannah was a true blessing in helping me get all my stuff moved in quickly.  There are still a few more things I would like to set up but I need to get into the swing of working here first.  A couple weeks in, and I am already feeling a little overwhelmed (but I consider the stresses I do have to be good stresses).  Within my first full week I had to prepare three different devotionals.  It was studying one of the passages I wanted to speak about when I stumbled upon something that really nailed me.

1st Timothy 2:1-7
   
     The idea of prayer as an act of worship is very humbling to me.  Prayer is powerful because of WHO you are praying to not who or what YOU are praying for.  It's humbling because by praying there is an act of submission that happens.  Prayer reveals that there are people and situations in life that are out of my control. (i.e. I cannot cause a persons heart to love God)  To make prayer a true act of worship means to admit from the very essence of what it means to be human that God is more powerful and more caring than I could ever be.
      Don't get me wrong, I am very thankful that He is!  I am thankful that I can pray to God, who can do something.  From the above passage, I know that God hears my prayers because Jesus Christ is interceding for me.  My prayers do not deserve to be heard because of the sin that is in my life.  Yet, Jesus Christ makes that possible.  Jesus is actively working on my behalf before God.  He is not dead, His tomb is empty.  He is very much alive and very much still at work!  He is my Savior, and my Mediator (and He offers his work freely to you as well).
     So, prayer and the cross go hand in hand.  They are intertwined because they both directly relate to God's plan through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Christ again proves to be the epicenter of God's plan for His people.
     This passage also reveals God's desire.  God wishes that all would be saved.  So, Paul says pray for all people.  God doesn't want any to perish (John 3:16).  That is why he sent Jesus Christ as payment for sin.  Without Christ we are enslaved to sin.  With Christ we are free from it!  The sad reality is that not everyone will believe and therefore be saved.  But, the work of Christ is sufficient for all.  Paul takes a moment to reaffirm God's mission by looking at his purpose: to preach the good news to the Gentiles so that they might be saved (v.7).
     The last piece that really caught my attention was Paul calling the people to pray for the government and high officials.  A lot of commentaries say that he wanted this so peace could be restored to the Christians because they were under heavy persecution.  Sure this is true but I believe that Paul intends more than that.  He is calling the church to do what Christ would have done...love their enemies.  At this point in history, Nero is emperor of Rome.  He hated Christians.  He imprisoned, tortured, burnt, and killed many who confessed Christ as their Savior.  Paul knew this, Timothy knew this, and the church in Ephesus (where Timothy was at the time of this letter) knew this.  Nero was in fact probably the last person that these Christians in Ephesus wanted to pray for.  Paul tells them to pray for the officials...as an act of love for their enemies and so that there might be peace.  Those officials needed Christ just as much as anyone.  Also, think about how quickly the gospel could spread if the government no longer viewed these Christians as a threat to their empire.  Maybe that too is what Paul was getting at.

Sometimes I find it hard to make anytime in my day to pray.  Paul emphasized it as of high importance not for just individuals, but for the church, as a whole, as well.  All of this is very humbling to me.

Transformers Reflection (The Lawless Decepticon)

Ever since the false prediction of the end of the world by Harold Camping, I can't get my mind off of the end of everything as we know it and the 2nd coming of Christ.  Even tonight as I was reading 2nd Thessalonians, the man of lawlessness was described (2nd Thess. 2:1-12) right after a segment about the second coming and judgment of Christ.  This just kept fueling my thoughts and it took all of my will power a to stay focused long enough to finish the book.

But after I finished, my thoughts kept getting caught up on these two verses and thought: 2nd Thessalonians 2:11-12

My illustration of this verse: The man of lawlessness is like a Decepticon (Description of a Decepticon).  He is meant to deceive.  I have no doubt that backed by the power of Satan he will be the most powerful delusion ever.  So much so that the deceived will believe he is truth when really he is the direct opposite of the truth.  He will win the hearts of many.  He will know how to woo people.  Like in the old Transformers cartoon show and recently made movies (where they were cool looking vehicles that transformed into bots) the man of lawlessness will one day be revealed and many will realize they did not know, love and have faith in the Truth (Jesus Christ) and so were deceived.  They will realize they believed in Megatron, not Optimus Prime.  The illustration is ridiculous but the principle is sobering!

I cannot predict the future or the end.  I have no idea what this man of lawlessness looks like.  I do know however, that apart from Christ I am nothing.  I have nothing else to cling to.  He paid the ransom for my sins and now in faith I am made clean before God.  In that truth I look forward to His return!