This academic year, I've been taking a course on the Psalms. Each unit of the course is accompanied by a set of meditations. Below is a passage from one of this week's meditations, which are centered around Advent:
But do not ignore this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like one day. The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some think of slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance.
- 2 Peter 3: 8-9
Waiting.
We (I) often think that when God doesn't fulfill His promises to us (me), give me what I pray for right away, when I want whatever it is that I want, that He is simply being "slow about his promise." But God isn't being "slow"--God isn't "slow" in that sense; He isn't like me, who am not perfectly holy and intentional as He is. I'm human, and I'm a sinner. So, when I don't make good on a promise or deadline, it's likely that I'm swamped, lazy, distracted, or forgetful. But the Lord isn't like that--He doesn't just get swamped or distracted and is definitely not lazy.
And anyways, how long did God's people wait for the birth of Jesus Christ? They prayed and prayed for the promise of God, that He would send us a Savior, to be fulfilled in their time and in a way that they could see. Our forefathers waited and waited--Moses, David, the prophets--they all waited and were faithful, believing in God's promise of the Messiah, trusting in God's timing, even if that meant that they would not see the birth of Christ in their lifetimes on earth. It says in Hebrews 11:13, 39:
All of these (Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob) died in faith without having received the promises, but from a distance they saw and greeted them...all these, though they were commended for their faith, did not received what was promised, since God had provided something better so that they would not, apart from us, be made perfect.
The Lord gave all these holy people, the "great cloud of witnesses," as it says a little later in Hebrews, His word, a promise, and this was their bread--they were satisfied with this promise. They did live to see the fulfillment of the promise of the Messiah on earth, and yet they did not become hardened toward the Lord and break His commandments. They remained obedient and faithful, grateful for what God gave them during their lifetimes.
In the New Testament, we also see examples of waiting, more "witnesses." In the Gospel of Luke, we see Anna and Simeon, who have been waiting for a very long time for the fulfillment of God's promise to them, that they would live to see Jesus Christ. They did not complain about the waiting. At the sight of the baby Jesus, they rejoice, and are filled with gratitude toward the Lord for His faithfulness. And good and sweet it must have been, overwhelmingly joyful for Anna and Simeon to finally see Jesus.
Their joy was a fruit of their waiting. As Peter says, "The Lord is not slow about his promise...he is patient with you." This is an interesting logic. Very succinctly Peter makes his point: it's not that God is slow--it's actually that we are impatient, and God is patient with us. The OT heroes could have said, "Well, because God hasn't sent the Messiah in my lifetime, God isn't faithful." But they didn't live with this kind of bitterness and lack of faith. They persevered. They submitted to the Lord, aware that God loves the whole of humanity enough to wait for the anointed and perfect time to send Jesus Christ into the world. The Lord waited for the right time to send Moses to free the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. The Lord did not wait so long because He forgot that His chosen people were suffering and dying. He waited with purpose, wisdom, and love. He waited for Moses to come along. He waited for the right time, the right person, Moses, to set His people free.
Just so, God waited for the right time to send His Son, Jesus Christ, who is the One who truly sets us all free from the slavery of sin and death.
Our God is a God who waits. He waits with us, because He is with us, which is why His name is "Emmanuel." We could think of Advent as a time during which we are waiting for Him to come again in glory, which is true, or as a time when He is waiting for us to move toward Him, which is also true. But Advent is also a season in which we can acknowledge that wherever we are, whether we're waiting for Him, or moving toward Him, He is with us. This is the glory of the Incarnation, that the Lord God enters fully into our condition, that He might know and have compassion for us in every respect; oh how Jesus must have suffered as he waited for the right time to bring Lazarus back to life. But he did it--he waited for the right time, even though he had great compassion for Mary and Martha, that is, he "suffered with" them.
Waiting well, being outside of and without anxiety about timing, is a part of God's "character." But it isn't exactly so for us, and so He loves us enough to want to give this "character trait" to us, because He wants us to be like Him. We often perceive seasons of waiting, such as Advent, as a time of preparation and discipline, which they are, but these seasons, are also His gift. Who am I, that the God of the universe, would be patient with me?
This is love. This is Love. God's waiting for us to return to Him is an expression of His love for us. Could we not do the same for Him? How could we not love Him in-return and receive this gift of waiting.
Come, Lord Jesus!
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
'Tis The Season...
...For sharing provocative quotes. From St. Augustine's Confessions, on being a liberal arts university student:
"And what good did it do me that I, at a time when I was the vile slave of evil desires, read and understood for myself every book that I could lay my hands on which dealt with what are called the liberal arts? I could understand quite easily and without the aid of an instructor every work...But I did not use these gifts by making of them an offering to You...And now, my God, I do not blush to confess to you the mercies which you have shown me...O Lord our God...our strength, when it is from you, is strength indeed...Let us return to you now, Lord...Our home, which is your eternity, does not fall down when we are away from it" (4.16).
May the Lord bless us this Advent season as we "return" to Him, as we fix our eyes upon Heaven, our eternal "home." Amen.
"And what good did it do me that I, at a time when I was the vile slave of evil desires, read and understood for myself every book that I could lay my hands on which dealt with what are called the liberal arts? I could understand quite easily and without the aid of an instructor every work...But I did not use these gifts by making of them an offering to You...And now, my God, I do not blush to confess to you the mercies which you have shown me...O Lord our God...our strength, when it is from you, is strength indeed...Let us return to you now, Lord...Our home, which is your eternity, does not fall down when we are away from it" (4.16).
May the Lord bless us this Advent season as we "return" to Him, as we fix our eyes upon Heaven, our eternal "home." Amen.
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Delving into the Campus America movement a bit
Below are some quotes that are making me think. They're excerpted from God On Campus: Sacred Causes and Global Effects by Trent Sheppard. I hope to write more about this book later.
On Discipleship
A rhythm of practical discipleship and steady engagement with suffering people was not simply characteristic of the Oxford Methodists: it was their DNA.
On Friendship
...Intentional friendships that include honest conversations, steady rhythms of prayer and practical service to others are essential for healthy spiritual growth.
On the formation of the mind
When the full-bodied message of Jesus is reduced to the saving of souls alone, we fail in our equally essential calling of exercising the mind of Christ in working toward creative and thoughtful solutions for the pressing issues of our age. Learning to think like Jesus is a vital part of learning to live like Jesus....In actual fact, the biblical idea of repentance begins with a deep and thorough rethinking of every aspect of our lives.
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Wait...where are we going? ...
Sometime in high school, I began, each time I found myself getting stressed out or anxious, to stop and ask myself this question: What is my ultimate life goal? If I have been stressed or anxious, it has usually been because I've been striving toward the completion of a goal which does not actually matter so much in the grand scheme of things. As a college student, when I became anxious about my studies, I would (try to) ask myself, "What is my ultimate aim in life? To be the perfect student? To get a good job?" No.
Still today, I often ask myself the same question: "What is my ultimate life goal?" To be a good writer? A teacher? A missionary? A wife? A mother? A sister or daughter? Employee? Nanny?" The answer is D. None of the above. We can get caught up in having good goals, even good "Christian" goals or "dreams" such as these, and hold them as being more important and better than the world's simply because they are not "sinful" or what we who are Christian consider "worldly." We can sacrifice a job opportunity, be generous in our financial resources, put all sorts of things on-hold "for the sake of the Kingdom" without having a totally given heart for that same Kingdom. We can act like the older son in the Parable of the Prodigal Son and complain to the Lord, "Wait, I gave you everything, I've been giving you my life, so where's my reward?" A response such as this from us reveals where our heart truly lies--still in this world and not in Heaven. As Tim Keller argues throughout Counterfeit Gods, idols are more often than not good things placed above God.
So, as I have tried to regularly remind myself over the past several years, my ultimate life goal is to be a saint, to be with the Lord eternally in Heaven, and to bring as many people as I can with me through the work of evangelism. This is the only thing that really matters. As Paul writes in his second letter to the Corinthians, our moments of anxiety, suffering, and hardship on earth are collectively all but a "slight momentary affliction preparing [us] for an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, because we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen; for the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal" (2 Corinthians 4: 16-8). And oftentimes, we should probably look at the hardships and afflictions we suffer and be able to admit, in humility that they are the fruit of our own flesh and weakness not of someone else's wrondoing or weakness.
We can submit to this if we are humble; the Lord is never scandalized by our weakness so neither should we be (something wise someone once said to me). We have only to admit that we are weak, that we are oftentimes idolaters, that we are sinners, and then turn to the Lord and ask him to be the Savior which he purposed to be: "This was according to the eternal purpose which he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and confidence of access through our faith in him" (Ephesians 3:11-12).
The Lord Jesus Christ says to us, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven." (Matthew 5: 3). And who are these "poor"? Scott Hahn and Curtis Mitch: "Those who recognize their need for God and his grace. Unattached to this world, they find their security in the Lord and rely on his mercy rather than their merits or material wealth."
May we recognize our need for God and his grace, that we may be able to recognize it when He surely sends it. Amen.
Still today, I often ask myself the same question: "What is my ultimate life goal?" To be a good writer? A teacher? A missionary? A wife? A mother? A sister or daughter? Employee? Nanny?" The answer is D. None of the above. We can get caught up in having good goals, even good "Christian" goals or "dreams" such as these, and hold them as being more important and better than the world's simply because they are not "sinful" or what we who are Christian consider "worldly." We can sacrifice a job opportunity, be generous in our financial resources, put all sorts of things on-hold "for the sake of the Kingdom" without having a totally given heart for that same Kingdom. We can act like the older son in the Parable of the Prodigal Son and complain to the Lord, "Wait, I gave you everything, I've been giving you my life, so where's my reward?" A response such as this from us reveals where our heart truly lies--still in this world and not in Heaven. As Tim Keller argues throughout Counterfeit Gods, idols are more often than not good things placed above God.
So, as I have tried to regularly remind myself over the past several years, my ultimate life goal is to be a saint, to be with the Lord eternally in Heaven, and to bring as many people as I can with me through the work of evangelism. This is the only thing that really matters. As Paul writes in his second letter to the Corinthians, our moments of anxiety, suffering, and hardship on earth are collectively all but a "slight momentary affliction preparing [us] for an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, because we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen; for the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal" (2 Corinthians 4: 16-8). And oftentimes, we should probably look at the hardships and afflictions we suffer and be able to admit, in humility that they are the fruit of our own flesh and weakness not of someone else's wrondoing or weakness.
We can submit to this if we are humble; the Lord is never scandalized by our weakness so neither should we be (something wise someone once said to me). We have only to admit that we are weak, that we are oftentimes idolaters, that we are sinners, and then turn to the Lord and ask him to be the Savior which he purposed to be: "This was according to the eternal purpose which he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and confidence of access through our faith in him" (Ephesians 3:11-12).
The Lord Jesus Christ says to us, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven." (Matthew 5: 3). And who are these "poor"? Scott Hahn and Curtis Mitch: "Those who recognize their need for God and his grace. Unattached to this world, they find their security in the Lord and rely on his mercy rather than their merits or material wealth."
May we recognize our need for God and his grace, that we may be able to recognize it when He surely sends it. Amen.
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Treasures from Thrift Store Shopping on the West Side of Michigan
I am reading Discipline: The Glad Surrender by Elisabeth Elliot right now, a book about Christian discipline, that is, discipleship. The book is great--found it for 49 cents at a Christian thrift store. You know it's a Christian thrift store when there is a "Prayer Corner" in the store, and the book section is basically all books on Christian prayer and discipleship. Anyways, reading a book on Christian formation reminds me that my mind still needs exercise and formation, and for me, that formation comes from reading books, particularly, Elisabeth Elliot books--she pulls no punches. Honest and eloquent to a fault when it comes to sharing the word of God.
A few days ago, while developing Campus Outreach Academy material, I was recalling Descartes and the Cartesian split. The gist of this theory: our minds and bodies function separately from one another. I first heard of this notion in a university course. Today, apparently, I am still unravelling what I was taught to be true during my college years because in the past several days I've been struck by the falsity yet the impact that this theory has had on my mind and heart (and thus my body--my actions), and lifestyle, as well as our world today, particularly Western civilization.
When do I--we--assent to this theory in our thoughts and lifestyles? When we do not think that, for example, getting enough sleep will affect our minds and hearts; when we do not think that, as Elliot reminds her readers in a chapter entitled "Discipline of the Mind," the discipline of one's body has a profound correlation with the discipline of the heart and soul, our emotions and thoughts.
I was reading the Detroit Summer Outreach monthly update letter a few days ago: people's lives continue to be changed by the rigor of DSO life--the everyday rigor is the gateway to spiritual riches and a renewed heart for the Lord. DSO is a glorious reminder from Him that He is faithful and that He has made us to give our entire lives to Him, and that this giving takes place through our thoughts, emotions, and actions, the whole package.
God tells His people time and again that He made them with a mind, body, and heart and that all of the aforementioned were created to work in unity. He gives us the Greatest Commandment: "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength" (Deuteronomy 6: 4-5). Just as the Lord our God is "one," so we, too are "one." We have been made to reflect His one-ness, and we do when we work to live a consistent life.
But we need to allow ourselves to be disciplined--discipled--by Him. Another example: UCO Summer Household is a rigorous program. The every day, practical commitments help to yield spiritual fruit in the participants' lives because what we do and say has an impact on our thoughts and hearts. Another example would be an athlete; the training of the body has an impact on the formation of the mind and heart.
Yet it is not enough to believe that the Cartesian split is a load of bologna. People who do not believe in this theory still do things oftentimes that do not align what they have professed to believe or think. Added to which, people often think or feel something bad and then act on that thought or feeling--that is a unity of mind and action, but it is not righteous. And righteousness matters.
It's our fallenness that we need to surrender to the Lord. I am a sinner, made of flesh and Spirit; that is the primary reason why my thoughts and actions often run contrary to one another. I need the grace of the Holy Spirit, not myself or a better coach or teacher or the right theory, in order to help me "live in a manner worthy of the call [I] have received" (Ephesians 4). I need God's help if I am to ever be unified in my mind and actions, and not just unified, but conformed to the mind and actions of Jesus Christ. Amen.
A few days ago, while developing Campus Outreach Academy material, I was recalling Descartes and the Cartesian split. The gist of this theory: our minds and bodies function separately from one another. I first heard of this notion in a university course. Today, apparently, I am still unravelling what I was taught to be true during my college years because in the past several days I've been struck by the falsity yet the impact that this theory has had on my mind and heart (and thus my body--my actions), and lifestyle, as well as our world today, particularly Western civilization.
When do I--we--assent to this theory in our thoughts and lifestyles? When we do not think that, for example, getting enough sleep will affect our minds and hearts; when we do not think that, as Elliot reminds her readers in a chapter entitled "Discipline of the Mind," the discipline of one's body has a profound correlation with the discipline of the heart and soul, our emotions and thoughts.
I was reading the Detroit Summer Outreach monthly update letter a few days ago: people's lives continue to be changed by the rigor of DSO life--the everyday rigor is the gateway to spiritual riches and a renewed heart for the Lord. DSO is a glorious reminder from Him that He is faithful and that He has made us to give our entire lives to Him, and that this giving takes place through our thoughts, emotions, and actions, the whole package.
God tells His people time and again that He made them with a mind, body, and heart and that all of the aforementioned were created to work in unity. He gives us the Greatest Commandment: "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength" (Deuteronomy 6: 4-5). Just as the Lord our God is "one," so we, too are "one." We have been made to reflect His one-ness, and we do when we work to live a consistent life.
But we need to allow ourselves to be disciplined--discipled--by Him. Another example: UCO Summer Household is a rigorous program. The every day, practical commitments help to yield spiritual fruit in the participants' lives because what we do and say has an impact on our thoughts and hearts. Another example would be an athlete; the training of the body has an impact on the formation of the mind and heart.
Yet it is not enough to believe that the Cartesian split is a load of bologna. People who do not believe in this theory still do things oftentimes that do not align what they have professed to believe or think. Added to which, people often think or feel something bad and then act on that thought or feeling--that is a unity of mind and action, but it is not righteous. And righteousness matters.
It's our fallenness that we need to surrender to the Lord. I am a sinner, made of flesh and Spirit; that is the primary reason why my thoughts and actions often run contrary to one another. I need the grace of the Holy Spirit, not myself or a better coach or teacher or the right theory, in order to help me "live in a manner worthy of the call [I] have received" (Ephesians 4). I need God's help if I am to ever be unified in my mind and actions, and not just unified, but conformed to the mind and actions of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Resting and Standing
A couple months ago I read in a New York Times Health article that the majority of the pleasure one takes in a vacation actually does not occur while on the vacation but in the preparation and time leading up to the vacation. And I've been thinking about this health study as I have been preparing for my own summer vacation, mainly I've been thinking about this article as various and random obstacles have arisen in my planning. It might be worse, come to think of it, that I know that the majority of the pleasure in a vacation actually occurs in the planning stage. Good grief--I hope that's not true!
But I trust the Lord much more than I do the New York Times, I hope, and I am called to believe that the Lord's plans are good. I find it ironic that as I plan the perhaps singlemost important and potentially restful period of my entire year, I've been challenged, yet again, to think about what "rest" really is, which just happens to be at the core of UCO's Summer Household teaching program on Ephesians.
I find that the Lord is filling out my understanding of rest through the challenges I've been facing with my vacation plans. True rest comes from trusting in the Lord, and this true rest, as one friend put it earlier this week, is to be fought for, needs to be fought for. They were right to point out that my rest has been under attack, and that God is calling me to fight for it.
Summer Household is wrapping up, and so we've been focusing on "standing" in the Lord, chapter 6 of Ephesians: standing up to the Enemy, spiritual attacks on our identity in Christ. As I "stand" in this fight to "rest," I am reminded that the "rest" I fight for is much more significant than a vacation in July; the rest I fight for is a more eternal rest which comes from the conviction that God's promises are true, that He has good things for His children, that He is to be trusted, that Jesus Christ died and rose again for our salvation. But it's creative on His part to make this fight tangible, to teach me this lesson about rest, through this very real situation of planning a literal vacation, with all its practicals, communications, financial aspects, etc. That is our God. :)
And God never promised me the world's version of a peaceful vacation; He actually promised me just the opposite: "Peace I leave, peace I give to you, not as the world gives." So, we shall see just how peaceful this July vacation is. I think it may be epic, if the grief leading up to it has been any indication of how restful it will be. This vacation may just prove the NY Times wrong.
But I trust the Lord much more than I do the New York Times, I hope, and I am called to believe that the Lord's plans are good. I find it ironic that as I plan the perhaps singlemost important and potentially restful period of my entire year, I've been challenged, yet again, to think about what "rest" really is, which just happens to be at the core of UCO's Summer Household teaching program on Ephesians.
I find that the Lord is filling out my understanding of rest through the challenges I've been facing with my vacation plans. True rest comes from trusting in the Lord, and this true rest, as one friend put it earlier this week, is to be fought for, needs to be fought for. They were right to point out that my rest has been under attack, and that God is calling me to fight for it.
Summer Household is wrapping up, and so we've been focusing on "standing" in the Lord, chapter 6 of Ephesians: standing up to the Enemy, spiritual attacks on our identity in Christ. As I "stand" in this fight to "rest," I am reminded that the "rest" I fight for is much more significant than a vacation in July; the rest I fight for is a more eternal rest which comes from the conviction that God's promises are true, that He has good things for His children, that He is to be trusted, that Jesus Christ died and rose again for our salvation. But it's creative on His part to make this fight tangible, to teach me this lesson about rest, through this very real situation of planning a literal vacation, with all its practicals, communications, financial aspects, etc. That is our God. :)
And God never promised me the world's version of a peaceful vacation; He actually promised me just the opposite: "Peace I leave, peace I give to you, not as the world gives." So, we shall see just how peaceful this July vacation is. I think it may be epic, if the grief leading up to it has been any indication of how restful it will be. This vacation may just prove the NY Times wrong.
Monday, April 26, 2010
Uncompromising Discipleship
Another excerpt from My All for Him:
For a long time I could not find the key, the solution, to my questions: What is true discipleship? What does Jesus want? On the one hand, He calls us to an uncompromising discipleship. He calls us to forsake everything, to lose our lives for His sake. He calls us to leave father and mother. On the other hand, we are supposed to honour our fathers and mothers...
...I wondered. What did God want?...I wanted to tread His path, no matter what it cost...He had to make me see the truth about myself before He could show me the right way. He had to show me that I was a poor sinner...The Lord granted me a penitent and crying heart. This experience drove me into the arms of Jesus...It was He Himself--not any particular teaching or any religious doctrine, but rather He Himself who was the answer.
...Yes, all my questions had been answered and all my problems solved. Now I was truly free....I now had part in everything that belongs to this earth and to the whole universe. My love had become all-comprehending, but my love had also remained close to God and bound to the centre of creation.
Just as my life had been unhappy and torn with inner conflicts before I found this answer, so everything was much more happy and more natural afterwards. My life was filled with joy, because I had found the One who loved my soul and whom I was permitted to love above all else with all my soul, with all my strength, with all my being. I found in Jesus my greatest Love, my most intimate Friend, and for almost thirty-five years since then I have gone through life with Him, and over and over again I have told Him how much I love Him, who is my Bridegroom.
Good Christian teaching is a good thing, and I've been blest to be surrounded by it. But sometimes, there's a temptation to put the teaching before the Teacher. The Teacher, Jesus, sometimes, often times, confounds us with His ways. We want to quickly figure out the 'lesson' He's trying to teach us. But sometimes, there's nothing we can do but wait for Him to reveal the 'lesson' in stages, sometimes painfully slowly. It's not that we're failing the school of Christianity. It's not that we're flunking out as disciples. It's not a matter of sin or not sin; it's not black and white. God, in His mercy, just blows our minds, and shows us, time and again, that He is God and we are not. When we can learn to rejoice in this, we will know that we are rejoicing in Him and not in our own self-knowledge, intellect, and self-will. B. Schlink says she "was filled with joy" not when she understood 'teaching' but when she realized how much she didn't understand, and this admission humbled her and brought her to Jesus. Then, she was filled with joy and love and freedom.
Do we want to love God so that we might understand Him and have our way, or do we love Him and want to know Him simply that we might love and worship Him?
There are many things each of us does not understand about God and His mysterious ways, but this unknowing need not prevent us from going deeper with Christ and loving Him fully. It was Adam's and Eve's desire to fully know that brought about the Fall. Can we surrender to this unknowing, and count it as God's security rather as a reason for us to be insecure? It's a challenge in the world we live in today and as Fallen individuals. But God gives us His grace and His Son, that we might be content in being the Father's children, taken care of by Him:
We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are. For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God's glorious standard. Yet God, with undeserved kindness, declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. -Romans 3: 22-4.
God is good. Amen.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)