Shut In

Yesterday I was watching the TV guide channel because I could not find a single high quality television program to watch…imagine that. The movie that was playing was Panic Room. Long story short, a mom and her daughter have their house broken into by criminals and are forced into their panic room in order to protect themselves. They were stuck in the room. There was very little food, very little space, and they were completely surrounded by danger. But it was necessary to keep them safe.

God provides his followers with, for lack of a better word, panic rooms. In the story of Noah and the flood, God provided a safe place for Noah and his family while he was destroying the rest of earth and all living things apart from those on the ark. Genesis 7:16 says: “The animals going in were male and female of every living thing, as God had commanded Noah. Then the LORD shut him in.” Earlier verses in chapter 7 say that Noah was the only righteous man left and that is why God chose to deliver him while the wicked were destroyed.

God protects those who love him. Psalm 18:2 says: “The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge. He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.” God is a rock, a fortress, a deliverer, and a stronghold. In times of trouble and times of panic, God is a stronghold. He provides refuge. In Noah’s case it was the ark. Though it was cramped, smelly, and surrounded by danger, it was also safe from destruction.

God protects the upright and the righteous. He is a refuge for his people in times of trouble and a stronghold in times of danger. Sometimes we may not be aware of the flood around us. Sometimes it may seem like God has shut us in a smelly, cramped place for no reason. And yet we can always know God is protecting us. We can’t see it all, but God does. When God shuts you in, thank him for it.  

Will You Master It?

John Nash was a brilliant mathematician who won a Nobel Prize for his original work in mathematics. For those of you have seen the 2001 Oscar winner A Beautiful Mind, you know this story. (Spoiler Alert) Nash was plagued by a form schizophrenia that caused him to create images, theories, and people that were only real in his mind. He struggles with these delusions for the majority of his life. His behavior almost destroys his marriage, family, and job. He begins to take medication and the delusions go away, but so does his brilliance. He struggles for months whether or not it is worth it to continue the medication and have no delusions, but no brilliance. He eventually comes to a breaking point where he chooses to go off the medication. His intelligence returns along with the hallucinations. For those of you who have seen the movie, you know that he chooses to live the rest of his life this way. He learns to ignore the hallucinations, though they never really disappear. He no longer allows them to be the masters of his life.

Genesis 4:7 says, “If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.” God is very clear of our options. If we follow him and give him our all, then we will be accepted. We will be looked upon with favor, just as Abel was.

But when we do not do what is right…

Sin is crouching at our doorstep. It wants nothing more than to devour us. We must master it. Every day we will sin. Every day we will fail. Every day sin will be crouching at our doorstep. Every day sin will desire nothing more than to devour you and steal you away from God. John Nash’s delusions and hallucinations were constantly crouching at his door. They constantly desired to ruin his life, and nearly did.

Sin can and will ruin your life if you do not master it. John Nash mastered his disease. He mastered his hallucinations. We must master sin in the same way. It is always there, always seeking to devour. We must learn to master it. We must learn to see temptation but to ignore it. We must learn to hear sin, but not listen to it. We must learn to be surrounded by sin, but not live by it. Sin is crouching at your door, will you master it? 

Complete Creation

Work ______. If I had to fill in that blank space, my first reaction would be to fill it in with the word “stinks”. Anyone who knows me knows that I tend to be lazy and avoid work that I see as unnecessary. Ironically enough, one of my greatest satisfactions in life is completing something that I have begun. School started this week for many of us. Many of us have jobs as well. This is a perfect time for us to focus on work.

The Bible is very clear about the value and necessity of work. Proverbs itself has over 20 verses specifically addressing the importance of work. Ecclesiastes speaks a great deal about work as well and talks about how satisfying work can be. Ephesians 4:28 tells us to work so that we may have something to share with those who are less fortunate than us. My point is that there are hundreds of verses in the bible about work. Here we will focus on Genesis 2.

Genesis 2: 5 says, “Now no shrub had yet appeared on the earth and no plant had yet sprung up, for the LORD God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no one to work the ground…” I gather two parts from this verse that are significant. 1) Without man, God’s creation is incomplete. We are valuable to him and the reason he made this earth.  2) Without man working, God’s creation is incomplete. No shrub or plant had appeared because there was no one to work the earth. God intends us to be workers of the land, an essential component of his creation.

A second verse, Genesis 2:15 says, “The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.” This verse is more to the point and straightforward. God placed Adam in the Garden of Eden so that he could work it and take care of it. Adam’s job was to commune with God and to work the land. We are the same way. We are to commune with God and to work. Those are essential pieces to the puzzle that is discovering man’s purpose on earth. We are God’s prized creation, and without us and our work, the rest is incomplete. 

Starry Night

I was recently sitting in a restaurant that had dozens of children’s artwork hanging on the walls. Some of them were significantly better than I could ever have done. One of them in particular stood out to me. It was an 8^th grader named Michael’s best attempt at a replica of Vincent Van Gough’s Starry Night. While I recognized what it was supposed to be, the painting was clearly not a replica. This particular painting was not famous or valuable or legendary. It was merely a boy’s best attempt to replicate what some would call the perfect painting.

Despite our endless attempts to imitate Jesus and his life on earth, we are always going to fail. We will never be able to create such a masterpiece of a life as Jesus did. Jesus was perfection and we are not. No matter how hard we try, our lives will never be an exact replica of Jesus. No matter how hard Michael tried, his painting could never be an exact replica of Van Gough’s. 

Genesis 1:27 says, “So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” We are all created in the image of God. We are little people walking around on earth that resemble the Creator of the universe. Yet no matter how hard we try, we will not be able to replicate His image perfectly. The best we can do is to imitate the person and character of Jesus.

While we will never be able to mold ourselves into flawless masterpieces, we ought to be living in such a way that when people look at us, they can tell what and whom we are imitating. I could tell by looking at Michael’s painting that it was an imitation of Starry Night. I can also tell by looking at people what and whom they are imitating. As Christians, we ought to be living and making ourselves into people that, though we are not perfect replicas, are imitators of Christ. If someone hung your life on a wall, would they be able to look at it and say, “That person’s life was spent imitating Jesus?” 

What's Really Crazy About Love

Love is one of the most complex, unusual, confusing things in the world. Along with what trans fat is and whether or not Waldo actually wants to be found (I personally think he does). The simple fact is that none of us can survive on earth or beyond without love. I’m not going to delve into how important love is because I think most people value love more than anything in the world, whether they realize it or not. There are a lot of complex and crazy things about love. What else would cause someone to take a bullet for a man? Or run into a burning building to save a life? Or let bad things happen to good people? Aha…gotcha. 

It’s easy to see love in taking a bullet or running into a burning building. Where love isn’t so easy to see is in dark times. The less light there is, the harder it is to see love. Perhaps the single most asked and pondered question in religion today is “Why does he let bad things happen to people he loves”? I myself am not a parent. But I think Jesus-like unconditional love makes a little more sense once you have children and a family of your own. Even though I am not married or a father, I love my family and my friends greatly. I would die for them. 

What I have learned recently is that one of the craziest things about love doesn’t have anything to do with a mushy or gushy feeling. It doesn’t even have anything to do with taking a bullet. What’s crazy about love, is that it may not always seem like love. When our parents discipline us, it stinks at the time. It may always stink, but it was done out of love. When it comes to God’s love, it may not always be fun. It may hurt. It may stink at the time and it might even always stink. It might not ever make sense. Which is why it is so crazy! Because it doesn’t even seem like love! It may even seem like the opposite. 

The one who is doing the loving is the only one who knows the motive. God’s motive is for the good of those who love him. It takes a truly crazy person to realize that despite the bad things that are happening, God loves them like crazy. 

Evangelical Unity

One of the greatest frustrations with our generation today is the seeming lack of unity in the Christian Church. There are over 30,000 different denominations in Christianity today. How can that possibly show a unified body of believers? Surely if the Christian church were more unified and less divided, we could share the Gospel more effectively?

Bickering, brawling, and battling over theological differences is what has led to such a vast amount of denominations in the church today. With our fallen nature, is more unity in the church even plausible? If there were fewer denominations, wouldn’t the bickering brawling and battling continue anyway? In this hypothetical situation, unity = disunity. The more “unified” the church would become, the less unified it would be in reality. Without a doubt, unity in the church is important and not nearly where it should be today. Paul speaks about the unity of believers in the New Testament more than most other topics. When it boils down to it, should the denominational differences between our churches affect our effectiveness? The simple fact is that the church today is fallen and divided. Theological differences are important and should not be minimized for purely for the sake of unity.

However, in the end, all denominations, no matter what their theology, should be spreading the Gospel and sharing the unfailing love of Jesus Christ. Stop worrying about what the other church down street believes and focus on how you can help your church share the Good News with your city, state, country, and world. I will never argue that theological differences are not important to be aware of, particularly when it comes to working with and supporting one another. But in the end, every person must focus how to help his or her church spread the Gospel.

There is a difference between a good cause and evangelical cause. Obviously there are good people doing good things in our community and every community, but good things are not necessarily evangelical things. We should spend our time and money focusing on evangelical things, not just good things. Evangelism a huge part of why churches exist in the first place, so don’t forget about it. In conclusion, we ought to be focusing on how we as individuals and as a church can be purposefully evangelical. 

A Path For the Lost

"Reason is in fact the path to faith, and faith takes over when reason can say no more."

—   Thomas Merton

We all struggle with the fact that we have loved ones who are lost. Whether it is a family member or a close friend, we have all been there. It can be extremely frustrating sometimes because we have forgotten what it is like to be lost. Lost people don’t know they are lost or else they would choose to be found. People that are lost are living their lives based on reason and what they know and are familiar with. Reason can only carry a person so far before it runs out of strength. Familiarity is a dangerous thing for lost people. No one enjoys leaving behind the familiar and the comfortable, especially for a faith that involves putting yourself last. This quote should provide some comfort simply because it points out that reason is the path to faith. Lost people who are happy with their faithless lifestyle desire nothing more than remain that way. However, there comes a point in every person’s life where reason runs out of strength and they are forced to choose faith or reject faith. The role that we play as people who love the lost is important. It is our job to exhibit faith throughout our lives, so that when they reach a point where they must choose to accept or reject faith, our example will help nudge them toward faith rather than away from it. Walk by faith so that the lost can see your path and choose to follow you to Jesus.