Belonging to God

Here is a quote from Charles Ryrie in his book, Basic Theology, on Satan's influence.  (Linked to his book for sale on Amazon).  I unfortunately have not read the book but came across this quote the other day.  How encouraging is this?

Whatever Satan or demons can do to a believer, and whether from without or within as their base of operation, their control cannot be permanent and eternal.  John clearly declares that the evil one cannot "touch" the one who is born of God (1 John 5:18).  The word "touch" here involves the purpose of harming -- Satan cannot harm the believer...Satan can never hang on to the believer with the purpose of harming him, for that believer belongs eternally and irrevocably to God. (pg. 168)

Satan cannot harm us (spiritually) because we belong "eternally and irrevocably to God."  I find that truly heartening.

Someone Else's Fruit

"Do all things without grumbling or disputing; so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I will have reason to glory because I did not run in vain nor toil in vain."  Phil 2:14-16

The part in bold rocked my world this morning.  I am not sure exactly what caused me to see this in a new way other than the Holy Spirit.  I don't even remember what the pastor said about this part.  But this is what I realized:

We (as Christians) are someone else's fruit.  Someone led us to Christ.  We have a responsibility to not only that person, but anyone who has helped us in our Spiritual journey, to not make their toil to have been in vain.

Yes, we have our own race to run.  And we must make sure it is not done in vain.  But by running our race so as not to be in vain, we fulfill our responsibility to the one who led us to Christ.  We cannot control what others will do with the toil we put into their lives.  Though we can ensure great joy and happiness for the one who led us to Christ just as Paul tells the Philippians.

We are the fruit of someone else's labor.  We owe it to them not to be bad/rotten fruit.

Here are some questions to ponder:

Who led you to Christ?
Who has had a major impact on your walk with God?
Are you living in such a way so that their toil will not have been in vain?

The Jesus Battering-ram

Sorry it has been a while since I posted something.  Life got a little crazy and this had to take a back seat for a bit.

The other day I was doing outreach on a college campus in Denver, Colorado.  After a short time we ran out of people to talk to so my friend and I did a prayer walk around campus.  While praying I was reminded of something I had heard a few days before.  It was part of a talk and at one point the speaker was talking about the power we have in the Holy Spirit.  He referenced Jesus talking to Peter when Jesus says, "the gates of Hades will not overcome" and how gates are a defensive weapon.  They are not a very good offensive weapon.  Gates are big, heavy, and built to keep things out.

It struck me while I was praying on campus that Christians acknowledge the strongholds of Satan but do not think about Jesus' promise.  We forget that Jesus has already overcome them.  Jesus is stronger than Satan.  He can easily bash in the gates.  So why is it that many Christians choose to sit and wait for the gates to be broken down before they advance?  God chooses to use us, but often requires us to move/act so that He can then work.  All we have to do is stand, rely on Jesus, and the gates of Satan's stronghold pose no obstacle for us.  So lets use the battering-ram provided us in Jesus and advance the Kingdom of God whether that is on a college campus, in a household, or in your workplace.

Rethinking the word 'spiritual'

(The idea for this post came from 1 Corinthians 12:1 -- 'Now concerning spiritual gifts...')

The word spiritual that is in the Bible has a very different meaning than what it now means in America today.  When people talk about 'spiritual' things now-a-days, they are referring to something invisible, insubstantial, supernatural, something beyond our world.  But to Paul the world spiritual means animated by the Spirit.  It is something real, something tangible, something physical, something the Spirit does in and through us.

The last few generations (though probably mine more so) is guilty of making 'spiritual' some loose, mystical, far out concept.  It scares a lot of people so we trivialize it to the point where it loses its significance.  Without even realizing it I have helped this along.  My guess is many others have as well.  When our focus tips too much to the here and now, we push spiritual things to the side.  When we try and relate to non-Christians by loosening up our terms/broadening our definitions (usually in trying to find common ground) we start to affect our own thinking about spiritual things.  So how can we stop this trend and help reverse it?  Here are a few tips:

1.  Be more selective in your word choice when talking to non-Christians.

2.  Realize that the Spirit is a real being and that His works are physical and tangible.

3.  Remember that we live IN the here and now, but we live FOR eternity.

4.  Surrender to the Spirit.

5.  Be careful in how you think about spiritual things.  It should not be done flippantly or as an after thought, but should be done with all seriousness.

6.  And remember, once we are a follower of Jesus, our entire lives (every aspect of them) are spiritual.

What do you think?  Do you agree/disagree?  Why?  What steps have you taken?

One Day versus 40 Years

"It took the Israelites one day to leave Egypt, but it took 40 years for Egypt to leave them."

I have found this is a fitting metaphor for some aspects of our lives.  One aspect in particular is our struggle with habitual sin.  All it takes is one day, one choice, one conversation, one prayer, one whatever to turn from our sin to God.  But it can take a really long time for the sin to leave us.  And the effects of that sin linger even longer.

Just because the sin leaves us does not mean the temptation to fall into that sin will as well.  In fact it might not ever.  I have experienced this before when I went for a few months without falling into a certain sin I struggled with for a long time.  But the temptation never left, though it was diminished for a while.  Even though I had repented of the sin, I am a broken human being and I did fall back into that habitual sin.  I have since been able to kick that sin again (and hopefully for good this time) with the help of the Spirit.  But the temptation still follows me around.  The slippery slope is still close and still beckons.  But I would like to think I am more prepared now.  I am a little older and arguably a little wiser.  However, I will feel the scars and effects of that sin probably for the rest of my life on earth.

If you think that you have kicked some habitual sin that you have struggled with for a long time, I want to encourage you.  Do NOT deceive yourself into thinking the temptation for that sin is gone for good.  Satan is crafty and prowls around waiting.  He will change tactics.  Keep on your guard, if you get complacent he will pounce.  But take heart, we have God on our side and in the end, He will prevail.

Don't Waste Your Life

I recently finished reading Don't Waste Your Life by John Piper.  For the most part, I really enjoyed the book.  There were only a couple spots where I disagreed with Piper's theology.  But that is not the point of this post.  My reason for this post is to give a few thoughts on what I got from the book.

Reading this book I realized just how much my view of living a Christ-centered life had shrunk.  Christ is still the center of my life, but that center should be more than just the core of my life.  It should encompass every aspect of life.  Like Piper says, "If my life was to have a single, all-satisfying, unifying passion, it would have to be God's passion" (pg. 28).  He goes on to describe God's passion as being "the display of his own glory and the delight of my heart" (pg. 28).  For me this is not the struggle.  My struggle is letting that passion permeate even the mundane things in life.

Reading this book also expanded my view of what it means not to waste my life.  I grew up hearing live your life for Christ and it won't be wasted (which I agree with).  But have you ever felt there was more to it than that?  Piper gives some very concrete examples of how NOT to waste your life by saying how to waste it:

"We waste our lives when we do not weave God into our eating and drinking and every other part by enjoying and displaying him" (pg. 32).

"We waste our lives when we do not pray and think and dream and plan and work toward magnifying God in all spheres of life" (pg. 32).

Living for Christ is more than just seeking God's will and trying to live a good life that reflects Him.  It includes glorifying Him in all we do whether eating, playing, working, or whatever.  It is weaving Him into it all; doing all things in partnership with Him.  I should be including God in every part of life, even the mundane, daily tasks.

Here are a few questions to ponder:  Are you wasting your life?  Do you involve God in every aspect of life, even the mundane?  Is there a single, unifying passion in your life?

Looking up

Have you ever found yourself looking up at the ceiling while singing worship songs at church (or really anywhere for that matter)?  My pastor mentioned this the other week during his sermon and it sent my mind to wandering.  I started pondering why we look up.  Especially when God is all around us and not just up above us somewhere.  So I came up with some possible reasons:

1.  God is so awesome and majestic that we can't help but look up to Him in awe and wonder and respect.

2.  We look around us at eye level all the time so we need somewhere else to look that is new.

3.  We can't look down since we already bow our heads when we pray.

4.  It is like standing on the side of a mountain and wanting to get a bigger picture of where you are.  Even though you are on the side of the mountain, you look up in order to get a better view of the whole thing.  In the same way we look up to God even though He is all around us.

5.  We grew up thinking of heaven (God's dwelling place) as up in the clouds somewhere so we still at some subconscious level think of God as up above us.

Those are just a few reasons that I came up with.  Why do you think we look up?