Tuesday, July 14, 2009

The Danger of Laughter

In Genesis 17, God establishes his covenant with Abram, who is now 99 yrs. old. God established a covenant with Abram that held so much significance it required change. His name was changed from Abram to Abraham, his wife's name was changed from Sarai to Sarah, and all of the males in his household had to undergo a physical change by being circumcised. After telling him about all these changes that occur, God tells Abraham that he and his wife are going to have a son. They were 99 and 98 yrs old!! What do you think Abraham's reaction was, he laughed in God's face! He thought that it was ridiculous and even asked God to just bless the son he already had. That just sounds outrageous. How can someone laugh in the face of God over his promise of a miracle? Yet, are we any different? There are so many times that God promises us miracles that we refuse to believe. We say, "Yeah, I know He can do it, but He won't do it, at least not for me." The problem with this is that we are faithfully trusting in Him. We have to remember, when God establishes a covenant, a change has to occur. What is the covenant He established with us? The promise of eternal life in heaven with our Holy Father. His son died on a cross for that covenant to come into affect. We are not without responsibility. As a sign of this covenant, our lives our changed through the work of the Holy Spirit, and the miracles God performs in us and through us. Don't laugh in God's face because you don't want to have the faith that it takes to change your life. 

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

An Understandable God?

Sometimes we find ourselves trying to wrap our brains around one of God's mysteries, such as the fact that He has always been and always will be, or that He is omnipresent (everywhere at once), or that He is omniscient (all-knowing). There is always one of two results to this pondering: 1) We decide that we'll find out when we get to heaven and accept the fact that we will never understand it in this life, or 2) we come to the conclusion that we really can't believe in God because we just don't understand Him. Well, there is a problem with the latter choice. The problem is that if we CAN understand God, than He is no greater than we are. Who would want to worship someone who is no greater than themselves? The fact that we don't understand all of God's mysteries points to His greatness and should make us that much more excited to get to know Him better. We will still find ourselves struggling over His grace or maybe even the seeming injustice of the world, but when that does happen, we can be reminded of Deut. 29:29 "The secret things belong to the Lord our God; but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may practice all the words of this law." There are things God has kept from us, but He has given us so much to discover!

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Heart - break

Life is crazy! Between taking care of 4 insane little children, doing schoolwork, and church ministry, I'm tired. It's not just the busyness, but all of it takes a lot out of me mentally and emotionally as well. When you are so busy, it seems like taking time to read your Bible is just one more thing on the to-do list. However, when I open up God's Word I find calm and peace, a sense of relaxation. The phrase "rest in the Lord" is real. When we give our time to God, He gives us rest. How? because we are reminded that He is really the one that does all the work. I don't have to rely on my abilities or strengths or how smart I am to make it through this life. All I have to rely on is God. I can give my heart a break by filling myself with the promises of God and renewing my Spirit each day. No matter how busy you are, make time to rest in God Word's and put your life back in perspective. 

Monday, June 22, 2009

What's your "-ology"?

There are so many belief systems and areas of study to choose from - mythology, scientology, you can even throw in there psychology, sociology, areas of science (most happen to end in -ology), and the list goes on and on. Society not only encourages us to accept all this "diversity" but also encourages and promotes us believing in it. So what is the problem with that? Why shouldn't Christians be accepting of diverse beliefs? All of these "-ologies" that I listed have one thing in common, they are all man-centered. They are based on the ideas and beliefs of men. They can be  called manology or humanology if you prefer. As Christians, it is vital that we have a firm foundation in our theology. Why? Because it is the only "-ology" that is not centered on man, but is centered on God! In fact "theo" means God. Theology is the study of God. Should this not be our main focus of study and belief? We pour so much time into studying the different "-ologies" that man has created, yet we are lacking in the area of study that matters the most. It is the most important, because it affects ALL other areas of our lives! Yes, it is good to read your Bible and you should do so daily, but did you know that you can study your Bible? It is not enough to just read through and hope we are getting something out of it. We need to have understanding of what the Bible is really saying and in order to that we need to spend time searching through Scripture studying background and context. You know what the best part is, you don't HAVE to go to school to do it! You can go to a school that will teach you how to study Scripture, but it's not required. God gave us the Holy Spirit for a reason, to help us to study His Word so that we may understand. Don't be lazy when it comes to learning about God, because He is the source of all knowledge! What better place to obtain wisdom than from the very source?

Thursday, May 7, 2009

Are you a Lot?

How often do we have the attitude of Lot? In Genesis 13 Abram (Abraham) and Lot had to go there separate ways because both owned too many animals for them to reside in the same land. Abram let Lot choose which way he wanted to go. So Lot looked around and when he saw which part of the land had the greenest grass and the best looking water, that's where he decided to go. He didn't consult God, he didn't consider what Abram would want, he just looked for the "seemingly" best and took it for himself. Too many times we choose what looks like the best option for us, without consulting God or finding out if it would be to the benefit of someone other than ourselves. We just selfishly take what we want. Well, the land Lot chose was Sodom and Gomorrah. Little did he know that what seemed like the "best" was full of evil and worldly pleasure. Satan is really good at making the world look desirable and at times it even "looks" better than what God has for us. But don't be fooled by looks, because God may have some interesting surprises up His sleeve! 

Monday, May 4, 2009

Apologizing and Forgiveness

Apologizing:
Why do we say "I'm sorry"? Is it out of a feeling of requirement, that we should say it? What does it even mean? "I'm sorry" is a human approach to forgo confession of sins. Thing about the difference between saying "I'm sorry for such and such" as opposed to "I sinned when I (fill in the blank), will  you forgive me?" The latter is a true confession of sin against another and requires us to recognize it as just that. I don't know about you, but I have a hard time saying I am sorry, but how much harder would it be to actually call it sin and confess it and ask for forgiveness. Ouch! what a blow to our pride. This is exactly why we have come up with the shortcut of "I'm sorry" and the typical response "It's alright". However, this is not biblical approach to handling problems. God expects much more out of us and we know that from His example. He instructs in the Lord's prayer to confess our sins and ask for forgiveness from Him. This is not just saying "I'm sorry God" as a blanket over all our sins, but rather He expects us to confess our sins by recognizing each sin for what it is. We are also to ask for forgiveness which I will now go into more detail about our failure to forgive the way God wants us to forgive.

Forgiveness:
Forgiveness is not a feeling. Sometimes we don't feel like forgiving others and so instead we hold a grudge. It is also not adequate to respond to someone's request for forgiveness with "it's alright". Obviously it is not alright or they would not have needed to come confess their sin against you and ask for your forgiveness. A request for forgiveness requires a "yes, I forgive you" or a "no, I won't forgive you" (of course the latter response is not a Christlike response). So then what does it mean to forgive someone? Forgiveness is a promise. When you say "Yes, I forgive you," you are actually saying "I promise that (1) I will not bring this matter up to you again; (2) I will not bring it up to others; and (3) I will not bring it up to myself - dwell on it in my mind." Wow, that is not something to take lightly. This is how God forgives us, "Your sins and iniquities will I remember against you no more" (Jer. 31:34). 

Can you imagine how much better our relationships would be if we truly confessed our sins against each other and asked for forgiveness and then if we truly forgive following the example of how God forgives us? As difficult as this may be, I think I'm going to give it a shot, starting with my husband.