I love my home church's pastor. He's practical, wise, and funny. So, in a little tribute to him, here are 3 of my favorite quotes of his:
"God may not require that you give your physical life for Him, but He does require that you give your entire life to Him."
"Christians are notorious for talking about what they should be praying about."
And my personal favorite:
"God will move mountains, but you'd better bring a shovel."
-Gene Beezer
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Answering The Thursday Question
I follow this amazing blog called "Just Wallpapers". The author is dedicated to raising awareness about scary statistics (like that 4,100 people die every day from HIV/AIDS-related illnesses in Sub-Saharan Africa alone) and mobilizing people to share God's love in tangible ways.
He asked a question on his blog recently, and I thought it was interesting, so I decided to answer it here. It's from a book he was reading, called "Just Courage".
"...how do I actually live with bravery, love and significance? And how do I lead others in that path? We have all had moments and glimpses of our own courage. We’ve all been brave when we needed to be. The question is, how can we live more like that? In fact, how can we live like that so consistently that it becomes who we actually are?"
I've said this before, but it's worth repeating. It's my credo, you could say.
For years, I've held that the most important things in life are:
1) My relationship with God, and
2) My witness to others- Christians included.
The nice thing about this set of priorities is that if #1 is in good standing, then #2 usually falls into place. Sometimes I get distracted on focusing on God and I forget that loving God means loving the things He loves, and that includes other people.
For me, the answer to this question lies in striving to be more like Jesus. He was bold and brash when He needed to be, kind and loving other times. He threw tables around in the Temple, and He pulled little children onto His lap. He cursed a fruitless tree and then endured torture and death for our sakes.
Jesus, of course, had wisdom beyond what we can ever hope AND He didn't have that pesky sin nature that bugs us all the time. But regardless, Jesus gave us a command: "If you love me, feed my lambs."
I've often been told that if you tell a lie long enough, you'll start believing it yourself. I know this is true. I struggled for a long time with telling lies, because I thought I needed to make my life more interesting. To this day, there are some stories that I know I lied about for years, but I can't remember the truth because the lies are so pervasive.
But the same is true for truths. For a year or so now I've been saying something to myself that has revolutionised my self-esteem: "I am God's favorite."
Don't tell me it's not true. It is. And this one statement has changed the way I view myself in relation to God. I know longer feel like I have to earn His favor the way I earn everyone else's. I am, just by virtue of being myself- the one God made me to be, treasured most deeply by Him. And it's in this knowledge that I can function more successfully in doing His work.
So when we live more like Christ day to day, eventually it will become natural to us, and we can live in such a way that no one can resist asking us who our role model is.
He asked a question on his blog recently, and I thought it was interesting, so I decided to answer it here. It's from a book he was reading, called "Just Courage".
"...how do I actually live with bravery, love and significance? And how do I lead others in that path? We have all had moments and glimpses of our own courage. We’ve all been brave when we needed to be. The question is, how can we live more like that? In fact, how can we live like that so consistently that it becomes who we actually are?"
I've said this before, but it's worth repeating. It's my credo, you could say.
For years, I've held that the most important things in life are:
1) My relationship with God, and
2) My witness to others- Christians included.
The nice thing about this set of priorities is that if #1 is in good standing, then #2 usually falls into place. Sometimes I get distracted on focusing on God and I forget that loving God means loving the things He loves, and that includes other people.
For me, the answer to this question lies in striving to be more like Jesus. He was bold and brash when He needed to be, kind and loving other times. He threw tables around in the Temple, and He pulled little children onto His lap. He cursed a fruitless tree and then endured torture and death for our sakes.
Jesus, of course, had wisdom beyond what we can ever hope AND He didn't have that pesky sin nature that bugs us all the time. But regardless, Jesus gave us a command: "If you love me, feed my lambs."
I've often been told that if you tell a lie long enough, you'll start believing it yourself. I know this is true. I struggled for a long time with telling lies, because I thought I needed to make my life more interesting. To this day, there are some stories that I know I lied about for years, but I can't remember the truth because the lies are so pervasive.
But the same is true for truths. For a year or so now I've been saying something to myself that has revolutionised my self-esteem: "I am God's favorite."
Don't tell me it's not true. It is. And this one statement has changed the way I view myself in relation to God. I know longer feel like I have to earn His favor the way I earn everyone else's. I am, just by virtue of being myself- the one God made me to be, treasured most deeply by Him. And it's in this knowledge that I can function more successfully in doing His work.
So when we live more like Christ day to day, eventually it will become natural to us, and we can live in such a way that no one can resist asking us who our role model is.
Monday, December 22, 2008
"I laughed, I cried; it moved me, Bob."
If you haven't seen the movie Freedom Writers, get up and go rent it right now.
No, seriously.
Why are you still reading this?
No, seriously.
Why are you still reading this?
Saturday, December 13, 2008
The Little Christian Who Did (Oh no, you di'in't!)
I never meant to be so accusatory. Maybe I get too excited when I share my opinion...
For several years now, I've been saying that the #1 thing (watch out, here it comes!) in life should me My Relationship With God and the #2 thing should be My Witness To Others. If #1 is goin' good, then #2 should fall into place.
Jesus named these two things at the Greatest Commandments. That's right. Check it out in Matthew 22.
I've been reading a lot of blogs lately who don't think Christian Activism in the world is a good thing because they think that first and foremost, we should be creating more followers of Jesus (or, "Making more of me" as one blogger said). And yes, seeing people saved should be a priority to us. But "Making more of me" is an arrogant statement because it presumes that we can save people, when the Bible clearly shows that people are saved by GOD (and grace through faith plus works- see James 2:14-26 and Romans 5:1) and not by the witness of other humans, no matter how strong or how weak.
(A small Aside: I know, I know... "How will they hear unless someone tells them?". Yes, true. But also remember, "They are without excuse" even if no one tells them. This, however, is no excuse for us not to tell.)
...And we're back.
OK, so let's begin with a slogan. The smartest woman I know (mah momma) always tells me, and has told me for many years, that "People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care."
I always assumed that this meant how much you care about the people. But I think it can be expanded to how much you care about people, and the things that they care about. So if someone's concerned about the environment, they're probably not going to listen to you talk about salvation if you're driving and SUV and littering all over the sidewalk. Sorry, you just forfeited your witness.
I'm a big fan of lifestyle evangelism. Yes, I know... for years people have been witnessing at doorsteps and to those in line at the grocery store. Good for them. I, however, lack the gift of striking-up-conversation-with-total-strangers-without-sounding-like-infomercial.
In my recent post about environmentalism (you know, the one with Queen), I gave the Evolutionist's (read: naturalist's) worldview- the real one- and mentioned that it doesn't make any sense for them to be the environmentalists on Earth. Let's see what the Christian's worldview should be. To do this, we need to start at the beginning.
Christians believe that God made the Earth and everything in it, including trees, coffee mugs, and people (pardon the homage to Fred Blackburn, my favorite philosophy professor). There are various theories to how much time God took to do it, in which order, and other stuff, but mostly Christians are just concerned about the idea that the creating was done by God. And after God created us, He gave us a duty: take care of the Earth.
And then we screwed it up.
Yes, yes we did. God gave Adam and Eve one rule: Don't eat the fruit from this one tree. So they did. And now the world is what we call "cursed". This means that now people don't like snakes, women have intense pain in childbirth, it's harder to grow food because of disease, pests, and weeds, and we don't live forever (sad, eh?). And, maybe the worst one of all: we lose our relationship with God. We have what we call a "sin nature", meaning that our first inclination is to be selfish, cruel, and generally not-nice people.
And since God knew that this was going to happen, He had a back-up plan. The plan was this: one perfect sacrifice would serve as the atonement for all of mankind.
But there was a problem. No living thing on Earth was good enough to meet the standard. And everybody on Earth that was a descendant of Adam was cursed with this same sin nature. The only person who could fulfill the requirements for being the sacrifice would be someone not descended from Adam.
God had a way. He himself would take on human form, be born as a baby, grow up on Earth, and become the sacrifice.
That's who Jesus was. But when Jesus came to be that atonement, He also came to remind us of a world which we had forgotten. He called it the "Kingdom of Heaven". That world is very different from the one we know. It's all upside-down. Its concerns are opposite ours. People in that world will abandon everything for the one thing they know is of value. People in that world will actually be treated equally, regardless of merit. People will live their lives being prepared for it, but so many will miss it. (Matthew 13 has some great parables about who will "miss" the Kingdom.)
So the question arises: Are you ready?
Remember the bit about the child being tested for bigger responsibility? Or in 28 Days, where the counselor tells the group that after they get out of rehab, they should get a plant. A year later, a dog. Two years later, if the dog and the plant are still alive, they can start dating again.
Reward and Responsibility are both gauged in terms of past record. In order to receive a greater responsibility, you have to prove yourself worthy of the current one. It works in every realm of life and is the basis by which we judge the 'fairness' of someone's promotion.
Same kind of thing happens in the Kingdom, only the criteria are completely different from what we wold expect. In fact, there's no way that we can even explain them. But Jesus' message about the Sheep and the Goats is the best we have to explain the standards of the Kingdom. Check it out in Matthew 25:31-46. This passage, of course discusses our treatment of other people, but it can be easily extended to encompass all of Creation.
(The quiescent Buddhist in me would even suggest that since God permeates all things, then even the way we treat a tree whose roots are cracking our front steps reflects how we treat God. Oh, He's nice... until He gets in the way.)
The bottom line here is that people need to be saved. But if we're trying to get people saved at the expense of the planet, is that an effective witness?
P.S. How do we determine the effectiveness of our witness? Is it in numbers of saved people? "Jewels" in our "crown"? Or something more subtle?
For several years now, I've been saying that the #1 thing (watch out, here it comes!) in life should me My Relationship With God and the #2 thing should be My Witness To Others. If #1 is goin' good, then #2 should fall into place.
Jesus named these two things at the Greatest Commandments. That's right. Check it out in Matthew 22.
I've been reading a lot of blogs lately who don't think Christian Activism in the world is a good thing because they think that first and foremost, we should be creating more followers of Jesus (or, "Making more of me" as one blogger said). And yes, seeing people saved should be a priority to us. But "Making more of me" is an arrogant statement because it presumes that we can save people, when the Bible clearly shows that people are saved by GOD (and grace through faith plus works- see James 2:14-26 and Romans 5:1) and not by the witness of other humans, no matter how strong or how weak.
(A small Aside: I know, I know... "How will they hear unless someone tells them?". Yes, true. But also remember, "They are without excuse" even if no one tells them. This, however, is no excuse for us not to tell.)
...And we're back.
OK, so let's begin with a slogan. The smartest woman I know (mah momma) always tells me, and has told me for many years, that "People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care."
I always assumed that this meant how much you care about the people. But I think it can be expanded to how much you care about people, and the things that they care about. So if someone's concerned about the environment, they're probably not going to listen to you talk about salvation if you're driving and SUV and littering all over the sidewalk. Sorry, you just forfeited your witness.
I'm a big fan of lifestyle evangelism. Yes, I know... for years people have been witnessing at doorsteps and to those in line at the grocery store. Good for them. I, however, lack the gift of striking-up-conversation-with-total-strangers-without-sounding-like-infomercial.
In my recent post about environmentalism (you know, the one with Queen), I gave the Evolutionist's (read: naturalist's) worldview- the real one- and mentioned that it doesn't make any sense for them to be the environmentalists on Earth. Let's see what the Christian's worldview should be. To do this, we need to start at the beginning.
Christians believe that God made the Earth and everything in it, including trees, coffee mugs, and people (pardon the homage to Fred Blackburn, my favorite philosophy professor). There are various theories to how much time God took to do it, in which order, and other stuff, but mostly Christians are just concerned about the idea that the creating was done by God. And after God created us, He gave us a duty: take care of the Earth.
And then we screwed it up.
Yes, yes we did. God gave Adam and Eve one rule: Don't eat the fruit from this one tree. So they did. And now the world is what we call "cursed". This means that now people don't like snakes, women have intense pain in childbirth, it's harder to grow food because of disease, pests, and weeds, and we don't live forever (sad, eh?). And, maybe the worst one of all: we lose our relationship with God. We have what we call a "sin nature", meaning that our first inclination is to be selfish, cruel, and generally not-nice people.
And since God knew that this was going to happen, He had a back-up plan. The plan was this: one perfect sacrifice would serve as the atonement for all of mankind.
But there was a problem. No living thing on Earth was good enough to meet the standard. And everybody on Earth that was a descendant of Adam was cursed with this same sin nature. The only person who could fulfill the requirements for being the sacrifice would be someone not descended from Adam.
God had a way. He himself would take on human form, be born as a baby, grow up on Earth, and become the sacrifice.
That's who Jesus was. But when Jesus came to be that atonement, He also came to remind us of a world which we had forgotten. He called it the "Kingdom of Heaven". That world is very different from the one we know. It's all upside-down. Its concerns are opposite ours. People in that world will abandon everything for the one thing they know is of value. People in that world will actually be treated equally, regardless of merit. People will live their lives being prepared for it, but so many will miss it. (Matthew 13 has some great parables about who will "miss" the Kingdom.)
So the question arises: Are you ready?
Remember the bit about the child being tested for bigger responsibility? Or in 28 Days, where the counselor tells the group that after they get out of rehab, they should get a plant. A year later, a dog. Two years later, if the dog and the plant are still alive, they can start dating again.
Reward and Responsibility are both gauged in terms of past record. In order to receive a greater responsibility, you have to prove yourself worthy of the current one. It works in every realm of life and is the basis by which we judge the 'fairness' of someone's promotion.
Same kind of thing happens in the Kingdom, only the criteria are completely different from what we wold expect. In fact, there's no way that we can even explain them. But Jesus' message about the Sheep and the Goats is the best we have to explain the standards of the Kingdom. Check it out in Matthew 25:31-46. This passage, of course discusses our treatment of other people, but it can be easily extended to encompass all of Creation.
(The quiescent Buddhist in me would even suggest that since God permeates all things, then even the way we treat a tree whose roots are cracking our front steps reflects how we treat God. Oh, He's nice... until He gets in the way.)
The bottom line here is that people need to be saved. But if we're trying to get people saved at the expense of the planet, is that an effective witness?
P.S. How do we determine the effectiveness of our witness? Is it in numbers of saved people? "Jewels" in our "crown"? Or something more subtle?
A New Take on Christmas Trees
I never liked real Christmas trees. I only remember once or twice when my family had one, and I think most of the time we had a potted tree, meaning it wasn't cut down.
When I was a kid and we lived in Mexico, we used to decorate my mom's Ficus benjamina at Christmastime. I thought that was cool- it was different, that's for sure.
But to me, killing a tree every year is akin to those people who go hunting and have their kills stuffed and displayed in the den. There's no difference to me between putting a snarling bear carcass on the den floor and watching a decorated blue spruce slowly disintegrate over the span of a month or more. And then what happens? We toss them out the front door and think of the fond memories we created with that murdered pine? The whole tradition seems gruesome to me.
A few years back, my family splurged and bought a really high-quality artificial tree which is guaranteed for around 30 years or so. No more tree purchases for us!
According to the National Christmas Tree Association, 31.3 million households in the US purchased a real Christmas tree in 2007 at an average price of $41 per tree. That rounds out to about 1.3billion dollars last year spent on Christmas trees alone in the US.
Maybe Africa gives me a different perspective. Maybe my point of view is skewed. But does it seem a bit ridiculous that we're spending this much money every year on killing trees when people are starving? When rainforests are being depleted? When the farmland gets less useful every year because of misuse?
I'd like to encourage you to think about this. Maybe you already bought a tree this year. That's okay. You have a whole year to consider what you're going to do. And as food for this thought, here are some suggestions for what you can do with the $41 you'll save:
- The World Wildlife Fund is sponsoring a program called NewTree to plant trees in Borneo and Indonesia. For $5.50 you can plant a tree and watch it grow on Google Earth. Check out mybabytree.org.
- Sustainable Harvest International is a nonprofit organization that "provides farming families in Central America with the training and tools to overcome poverty while restoring our planet's tropical forests." For $30 you can reforest a family farm. Check out their site.
- At Christmastime every year, World Vision International allows you to donate specific gifts to families in need. For around $14, you can provide 10 fruit trees or enough seeds to start a family farm. For $36 (still less than a live tree) you can give not only seeds, but also farm tools and training to a family. Check out the UK version of "Must Have Gifts" (the US version's link was broken...)
- Finally, if you like the UN, if you're sorta broke, or if you just like getting your hands dirty, you can join a worldwide campaign called "Plant for the Planet" whose goal is to plant 1 billion trees around the world each year. Check out Billion Tree Campaign.
If you're wondering what I'm doing promoting tree planting when people need Jesus, bear with me and read my next post... Thanks
When I was a kid and we lived in Mexico, we used to decorate my mom's Ficus benjamina at Christmastime. I thought that was cool- it was different, that's for sure.
But to me, killing a tree every year is akin to those people who go hunting and have their kills stuffed and displayed in the den. There's no difference to me between putting a snarling bear carcass on the den floor and watching a decorated blue spruce slowly disintegrate over the span of a month or more. And then what happens? We toss them out the front door and think of the fond memories we created with that murdered pine? The whole tradition seems gruesome to me.
A few years back, my family splurged and bought a really high-quality artificial tree which is guaranteed for around 30 years or so. No more tree purchases for us!
According to the National Christmas Tree Association, 31.3 million households in the US purchased a real Christmas tree in 2007 at an average price of $41 per tree. That rounds out to about 1.3billion dollars last year spent on Christmas trees alone in the US.
Maybe Africa gives me a different perspective. Maybe my point of view is skewed. But does it seem a bit ridiculous that we're spending this much money every year on killing trees when people are starving? When rainforests are being depleted? When the farmland gets less useful every year because of misuse?
I'd like to encourage you to think about this. Maybe you already bought a tree this year. That's okay. You have a whole year to consider what you're going to do. And as food for this thought, here are some suggestions for what you can do with the $41 you'll save:
- The World Wildlife Fund is sponsoring a program called NewTree to plant trees in Borneo and Indonesia. For $5.50 you can plant a tree and watch it grow on Google Earth. Check out mybabytree.org.
- Sustainable Harvest International is a nonprofit organization that "provides farming families in Central America with the training and tools to overcome poverty while restoring our planet's tropical forests." For $30 you can reforest a family farm. Check out their site.
- At Christmastime every year, World Vision International allows you to donate specific gifts to families in need. For around $14, you can provide 10 fruit trees or enough seeds to start a family farm. For $36 (still less than a live tree) you can give not only seeds, but also farm tools and training to a family. Check out the UK version of "Must Have Gifts" (the US version's link was broken...)
- Finally, if you like the UN, if you're sorta broke, or if you just like getting your hands dirty, you can join a worldwide campaign called "Plant for the Planet" whose goal is to plant 1 billion trees around the world each year. Check out Billion Tree Campaign.
If you're wondering what I'm doing promoting tree planting when people need Jesus, bear with me and read my next post... Thanks
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