Holiness and Happiness

An article appeared on Livescience.com today. It is called, "Don't Worry: Happiness Levels Not Set in Stone". The main point of the article is that happiness is not genetically prewired. Happiness can change for all of us throughout our lives. They point to things that really happy people have in common. One of those things is going to church. I find this interesting for a very good reason. In my interactions with people who call themselves Christians I have often heard a comment about happiness. It usually comes from someone facing a challenge in their lives. It goes something like this, "God wants me to be happy doesn't He?"

What always strikes me as interesting about these comments is that they usually come from people going through situations where they are being pushed by the circumstances to lean more on God. God will place us in situations that strip away the earthly things that we depend upon. He does this to bring us into a greater dependence on Him and to help us to know Him better. Job went through this very thing. God led Job to a place where he looked back on what he went through and declares that he has seen things too wonderful for him (Job 42:3). What Job went through stripped him of everything that he had to enjoy and depend on except for God. Yet Job appears to count it as all worth it because He has come to know God better. James says a similar thing in James 1:2-4,

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

It appears that James point is that God wants us to be holy or set apart to Himself more than He want us to be happy. But here is the great irony for those who come to embrace knowing God. In coming to know and depend upon God we will find that there is greater peace and joy in knowing God than in not knowing Him. You see when we are depending on Him we know that the things our heavenly Father takes us through are for our benefit. When we realize that even the challenges are there to help to shape us we can rejoice in them (Philippians 4:4). Does God want us to be happy? No God wants us to be Holy, but in the midst of embracing the holiness that He is producing in us we will find true and lasting happiness and joy.

The gift of sleeplessness

We read the Bible, stories from Christian history and usually a good book to our children each evening. We are currently reading a book titled, "Prisoners of the Sea" by Florence M. Kingsley. It was initially published in 1897 and it is an exciting cast away and adventure on the high seas story. Tonight chapter thirty-eight held our attention as an escaped convict planned to kill some of the stories heros while they slept. One of our heros is a Huguenot Pastor. In the story he could not sleep. What he says was a really great perspective on sleeplessness.

But the Huguenot pastor, Constantin Dinant, was not asleep. He had not slept during the night; he had beguiled the long hours with prayers, none the less fervent because they were inaudible.

"Why bemoan a sleepless night?" he was wont to say. "These are the hours that God snatches for us out of the thirsty waste of our lives, wherein to give us the living water. Rejoice then, when sleep forsakes thine eyes, for it is a sign of favor. Surely communion with the King of king is better than the unconsciousness of sleep."

To see sleeplessness as a gift from God (James 1:17). A gift of sweet communion with Jesus the King of kings. Now there is a perspective that strikes at the very core of living a life focused on our great God, Jesus the Christ.

 

Do you know legalism when you see it? (Part 2)

The reason I did this post in two parts from the out set is that there are two aspects to legalism. The one we touched on yesterday is the hypocrisy of self-righteousness. This form of legalism can creep into a Christian's life through the pride of the flesh. The second form of legalism has to do with salvation and can literally corrupt it and keep one from truly knowing Jesus. Because this second form can condemn people to an eternity under the wrath of God it is important to be able to distinguish it.
What is it? This form of legalism is like the legalistic righteousness of the Pharisees. It is external in its form and lacks any internal structure. A passage that comes to mind is Luke 11:42. Here Jesus affirms that tithing their spices was right but out of balance. Jesus is addressing their legalism He is pointing out that their physical actions are not sufficient to earn them salvation. It comes back to the focus of the heart. In the case of the Pharisee their heart was looking for the adoration of men. They did their deeds for the people but clearly thought that jumping through external hoops was their ticket to paradise. This is no different than any of the man-focused works-based divisions of Christianity today. The people caught up in these sects do things in order to be right with God. They might say a certain number of hail Marys or go to confession. They might be found knocking on your door putting in time as part of their required good works. You will find these people doing lots of good things. Often they do more good things than the people who are truly following Christ (which is tragic). But the problem they have is found in their dependence upon their actions to be part of their justification before God. We are justified before God because of the work of Christ on the cross alone. When we add any work to that dependence on Christ alone it no longer remains a dependence on Christ alone. By making a frail human work part of the requirement of salvation we make salvation ultimately dependent upon the work of man. If salvation depends on man in any way there is no longer any assurance of salvation available. You can never be sure in this case because what you are depending on may change because it is rooted in man and man is ultimately mutable (changeable). The other problem with this is it places a love for man's ability alongside of a love for God's ability. This is placing a love for man's ability on par with God, which is pure idolatry. It is idolatry to divide a hearts affection. No man can serve to masters (Matthew 6:24). We must realize that the appeal to include a dependence on something within man is spoken of in the Bible. Repeatedly the Biblical authors point out that the heart of man is corrupt (Genesis 6:5, Psalm 14:1, Hebrews 3:12). We must realize that what we view about salvation must be shaped by scripture alone. When God and a desire for Him grips your heart you will see only Him as being the author and finisher of your faith. This heart for God would want to do all that it can to embrace with all energy the relationship with God. At the same time this heart will realize that the only reason it does these things is because of the work of God in it. Even John Wesley acknowledged this truth. In an interview with Charles Simeon when asked if he depended on an works in addition to Christ he said, "No, I must be saved by Christ from first to last." (Entire interview can be found here). It is with full confidence in the reforming power of the Holy Spirit to shape our hearts that I say the God focused heart will see Christ as the only means by which we are saved. Don't allow legalistic righteousness to fool you. Press on with friends depending on legalistic righteousness (Matthew 23:15). They need desperately to come to depend on Christ alone.

Emotional reminders of our insufficiency

Today was an admittedly challenging day. I looked at our bank account. (When your unemployed this can be a discouraging thing to do.) While I know that it is God that supplies our needs sometimes I get hit with a tsunami of emotion when I contemplate the gravity of it all. After applying for what seems like hundreds of jobs one begins to feel a bit rejected. My pride quickly kicks in and begins to feel injured. Thoughts like "No one wants me", "I'm just not good enough" and "Perhaps if I had just contacted this person or that one". All of this is really an emotional roller coaster that takes off from the platform of self, climbs the mountain of pride and quickly plunges into the maddening spiral of self in the pit of pity. Thank God for His grace, and the examples that we have in His precious word. Paul talked about being buffeted by a messenger of Satan. He requested that it be taken away. God's responded that His grace was sufficient (2 Corinthians 12:9). God's grace is just as sufficient today. These times of my failing are valuable reminders of my insufficiency. They cause me to depend even more on Jesus. Without Him this time of challenge would be truly overwhelming. Because He has so graciously granted me a heart that desires to focus on Him, He saves me from myself. The Holy Spirit draws my eyes to my magnificent God and plants my feet on the solid rock of Jesus. If you find the trials overwhelming turn to our Lord and use our insufficiency to embrace the sufficiency that can only be found in Him.

Happiness Vs. Joy

How many times have I heard the phrase, "God wants me to be happy"? It alway brings to mind the same internal response. "No God did not die on the cross to make me happy He died to make me Holy." If the situation seems appropriate I will share this phrase. But in a sense if God created us to begin with during the 6th day of creation then you would think that in a perfect world Adam probably was happy. I think that when people make this comment about God wanting them to be happy they are sensing the happiness that was lost in the fall. But happiness is not something we can manufacture. It is the result of circumstances. A child does something funny and we all laugh. Someone tells a joke with that perfect timing that brings a happy smile to everyone's face. Being happy is an emotional result of something that happens. Therefore in a fallen world happiness will be sporadic at best. Joy on the other hand is something that is abiding. Joy comes from the peace that floods the soul of the Christian who is resting in Jesus Christ (Philippians 4:7). Joy is not contingent on circumstances. A person can be going through a major trial and still have the peace and joy of the Lord. Happiness would have been blown away by that type of circumstance. Joy comes to us as a result of surrendering to Jesus. The more that we put to death the deeds of the flesh the greater our abiding joy will be. Even in the midst of adversity we will find joy in Jesus (1 Thessalonians 1:6). The disciples rejoiced when they faced demons and returned rejoicing (Luke 10:17). Seek to grow in your relationship with Jesus Christ and you will find that joy begins to become a regular component of your life because true joy comes from God.

Looking for love in all the wrong places

A headline on CNN this week read, "18 killed amid panic at Germany's 'Love Parade'". The Love Parade started in Germany in 1989 a few months before the fall of the Berlin Wall. It has been held every year since. It was created to be a political statement. They were calling for international understanding and peace. The creators thought they could do this through love and music. So this big music festival that attracts hundreds of thousands of people has continued until this year when 21 people died at the festival in a crowded underpass. People came looking for peace and love and found death. Things like this exult in man's ability to solve his own problems. Seeking peace in man whose biggest problem is sin is a futile enterprise. There will never be peace as long as there is sin. Jesus was the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6). He told the disciples that He was leaving them a peace that was different from the world. He said that He was leaving His peace with them (John 14:27). The world's peace is an empty promise that it never delivers on. God's peace is available to anyone who repents of their sinful ways and trusts Jesus as their Lord. The peace that we receive from the Holy Spirit is one that the world cannot understand (John 14:16-17). Why does the world not understand it? Because they have not received the Holy Spirit and they are not interested in keeping God's commandments. I am not talking about developing a legalistic righteousness. But Jesus Himself said, "If you love me, you will keep my commandments" (John 14:15). Was Jesus calling us to be legalist? No! If you love someone don't you do things that will please them. If God has placed a love in your heart for Jesus and His kingdom you will find yourself longing to keep His commandments. This is not to make you more righteous but this is simply to take you to the feet of Jesus. Those who desire to live a God focused life will find their hearts embracing and seeking after God's law as a means of knowing Him better.

Ignorance is bliss!

We have all heard the phrase but for some reason it struck me today in relation to pride. Pride seems to lurk in every seam and corner of the fabric of life. You can be proud of just about anything. Proud that you have job in this tough economy. Proud that you toughing out not having a job better than your friends are. Proud that you were able to go out to eat. Proud that you saved money and ate in. You can be proud of your kids your parenting your spouse your hobby. You name it and you can be proud of it. I have a tendency to become proud of my writing or my thoughts or if God seems to really work in a persons life I can start to think that it was a good thing I was able to be there to help out. All of the pride that we store up and embrace is nothing but wood hay and stubble. There is not one thing that we have that we have done that is we should be proud of. Everything we have and everything that we are and all the successes we experience are from God and through God and are for the praise and glory of our Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 11:36, 1 Corinthians 8:6). We were created for the glory of God not for our own glory. When God by His grace gives us the grace to rest in His presence and glorify His name--that is when we are truly most satisfied. The promise of satisfaction whispered into our souls by the perverted voice of pride  is nothing but a corrupting attempt of our flesh to take to ourselves what is God's. May God grant us the grace to pray that He will keep us focused on Him and away from our pride.

The primacy of our marriages

Today is my wife and I's anniversary. We usually take some time off every year to get away for a day or three and just spend concentrated time together. Since we are still working with newborns we thought it prudent to delay taking some time off. But in honor of the great gift that God has given us in marriage it seemed appropriate to step back and dwell a bit on what it so appropriately draws our hearts to do. The married couple have a great responsibility before God. They are supposed to love each other. The husband's love should manifest itself in loving her as Christ loved the Church (Ephesians 5:25). The wife's love should manifest itself in submission to and respect for her husband as she would submit to and respect Christ (Ephesians 5:22-24). Why do these two things need to be so primarily in place??? Paul tells us in Ephesians 5:31-32 that the primary reason for marriage even existing in the first place is to reflect or be a shadow of Christ relationship to His bride the church. Because marriage and Christian marriage in particular reflects Christ relationship to His bride then the Christian married couple should be concerned about what their actions say about the church. You see our marriages are primary in reflecting the diversity and unity that is found in the God head. This is a sacred and honorable opportunity. How we personally pursue God will impact our understanding of how important this symbol is to God and ultimately how important this symbol is to us. You see if we men as part of Christ's bride love and respect who He is then what He says will be of vital importance to us. We will be looking to do what we know pleases God because if we really love someone we are always looking to do what pleases them. Do we love God? Are we living a life where everything we do is seen through a focus on our Lord Jesus Christ? If we are doing this then our desire will be to see our marriages as primary. What this means is that our marriages are more important because of what they symbolize than just about any other relationship we have. Our children and friends, our jobs, our hobbies, should all come as a second place finish at best when compared to our marriage. We must guard the symbol because it speaks to those around us about the greatness of our Lord Jesus. It shows them that our relationship with Him is important because our relationship with our wives is important. You see the thing that should drive this enhanced pursuit of the relationship is the relationship with Jesus. In knowing and loving our spouses we show the world that we value things as important that God Himself values as important. Lets work on having a passionate Biblical love in our marriages this is another way in which we can love God.

Why do we need Dads?

There are a lot of articles on the web in the last couple of weeks about fatherhood and dads. There is one thing that I did not see and really did not expect to see. The most crucial reason that children need dads is spiritual. Spirituality is about warfare. It is warfare for the souls of our fellowman and our children. It requires a man to take on this role because it is men who by and large are the warriors in our society. Unfortunately what has happened over the last one hundred years has been the feminization of our Christianity. Men have gradually taken a back seat to women leading spiritually in the home. Shame on us for allowing this to happen. We have young boys growing up associating spirituality with women but not men. These young men have a hard time seeing this role as something they can effectively take on. We need to awaken the warrior inside of us. We need to realize that the battle we are engaged in is eternal and it is for the very soul of our children. Paul calls the Bible the sword of the Spirit (Ephesians 6:17) for a reason, and the reason is that it cuts to the heart and will ultimately free us from sin (Hebrews 4:12). We need to fortify our souls and overcome the opposition to standing as a spiritual warrior for our children. Men we must immerse ourselves in pursuing God with all that you are. We must cultivate a passionate and vibrant relationship with our Lord Jesus. Extremism in the pursuit of Jesus is no vice and mediocrity in the pursuit of Jesus is no virtue.

Why the God focused life is the best one to hire

I am going through a job search. I was struck by the emphasis on what your online profile says about you in a job search. What came to mind is the number of people I know that are really web savvy. These people could put an outstanding profile out there but that does not make them a good worker. What drives a person to become a good working is more important that what they look like online. The person who lives their life everyday realizing that God is there and their actions are performed before Him is going to be an excellent employee. There goal will always be to perform in an excellent manner. Why? Because they realize that they are representing God to the world. They understand that it is by God's grace that they even have their job. This person will be passionate about seeking to be excellent to the glory of God. I am not saying that all people who call themselves Christians fall into the category of living lives as if they are living before the face of God. What I am saying is that the Christian who lives their lives before the gracious God who has forgiven their sin and granted them eternity will be an excellent employee. They will not steal because that would be an offense to God. They will be encouragers. They will work hard and extraordinary results will follow. But most of all they will be focused on bringing glory to God by their life.

Why where sin resides is important

Sin is never a thing outside of man. This is an important distinction to make. Sin cannot be an object that God has made. In a sense all objects of God's creation are completely neutral in regard to being sin in and of themselves. Where does sin come from? It issues from the heart of man (Proverbs 23:7a). Another way of describing the issue at hand would be that sin is man's abuse of something or being taken captive by something. Alcohol by itself is not sin in an object. Drunkenness or the abuse of alcohol is sin (Ephesians 5:18). Opiates were created by God and are not sin. They are used by the medical community to ease great pain without inducing other experiences or feelings. But opiates that are abused and used in other manners by man are sin because of how man uses them. In this case man is being controlled by the opiate instead of controlling it. This is an important principle because it is about living a God focused life.
Sin is an issue of the heart and as such true freedom is found when we see sin for what it is and where it resides. For example: (I am not super familiar with Alcoholics anonymous but I think this has a bit of application there.) In alcoholics anonymous they stand up and introduce themselves by name and say that they are an alcoholic. This can be good and this can be a potential problem for the recovering addict. You see alcohol is not sin. My experience with alcoholics is that they can easily start to view alcohol as sin. Their problem is not really an alcohol problem their problem is a heart problem. Their heart has come to be ruled by alcohol. This is no different than the sex addict whose heart has come to be ruled by sexual fantasies. The solution for the sex addict is not to mutilate the flesh so that they do not have to deal with the problem. The solution is to deal with the problem in the heart. The problem an addict has is that they have allowed their heart to be ruled by something. That something might be sexuality, alcohol, work, music, you name it almost anything can come to rule our hearts (Proverbs 23:7). The problem with seeing sin as a thing out side of us is that we never end up dealing with our hearts. We are called to love the Lord with all of our hearts (Matthew 22:37). If we would come to do this our hearts would begin to be consumed by God. This is what our flesh fights against. It will prompt you to be ruled by anything but God. But if an alcoholic or any kind of addict for that matter comes to be ruled by God and to see sin as an issue of the heart they will be freed. They will not go around avoiding an object out side of themselves but they will go to God seeking to be consumed by Him in all that they do. In this case they are freed to be addicted to God which frees them from addiction to sin (Romans 12:1-2). Let's prompt one another toward love and good deeds to the glory of God and it might be a really good thing if we became so addicted to God that we could not live without Him.

Sometimes even pagans acknowledge the wisdom of God

There is a social article on CNN.com called, "I believe in evolution, he doesn't". The article is in a "dear Abby" like column where Wendy Atterberry (aka: the Frisky) weighs in on peoples questions about life. What caught my attention about the article is the way that the Frisky ends up advising the couple. She basically says, "that beliefs are the basis for entire life philosophies values and behavior." She goes on to say that, "if the couple can't talk nicely about it (evolution vs. creation) now, it won't get any better later." She says that if she is not willing to accept him as an equal and back off then she should probably move on. Wow!! I almost could not believe what I was reading. God tells us in His word to not be unequally yolked with unbelievers (2 Corinthians 6:14). This woman is basically saying something similar but not exactly the same. She is pragmatically pointing out that it probably will not work and she would be better moving on. As a Christian I would be saying to the guy, "Do you really love God more than your evolutionist girlfriend?" Because at the end of the day if you really love God more, then the girlfriends beliefs will have to change or there will always be dissension, which is not pleasing to God. But what is really going on is that the guy probably really loves the girl more than God. So the issue is that he is trying to reconcile it all into one package. You may say that this is hard but Jesus is the one who said, “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me (Matthew 10:37-38).” In this case the guy has chosen the girl over the cross, and it is the girl getting the good advice from a pagan source. This is one more indication of how far a Christian can drift from the mooring of glorifying God in whatever they do (1 Corinthians 10:31). What is the solution? We need to get people to turn back to pursing God passionately with all that they are.

How fears point us to God

CNN has an article on their site called, "Who's afraid of snakes, spiders, vomit?" While the article deals with phobias it brings up a good point for Christians to consider. The very first time that we see fear mentioned in the Bible is when Adam tells the God that he heard Him and was afraid and hid himself (Genesis 3:10). Fear is a result of the fall and I think that in all of eternity this will be borne out. 2 Timothy 1:7 tells us that God has not given us a spirit of fear but God gave us a spirit of power, love and self-control. The main thing here is that power, love and self-control are all things that put fear to death. It is even this idea of self-control that counselors use to treat phobias. What should our goal be as Christian living a God focused life? To be so consumed with a desire for God and His kingdom that the things of this earth that produce fear in us are minimized. To put it another way we can say that we do not fear man or beast because God has ordained the day of our death (Hebrews 9:27). Men may try to intimidate us but we do not fear them because the power of God is greater than that of any man. Ultimately the thing that will fill our heart with the confidence we need to face and overcome fears of all kinds is the love of God filling and permeating our hearts. 1 John 4:18 says “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.” The love of God experienced in the context of a relationship with Him will fortify our hearts against fear.

Do we love God???

Coming up on the weekend I thought a good question to ponder is, "Do we love God?" There is a legitimate reason to ask this question. Many of us talk about loving God as if it is an assumed reality if you are a Christian. The truth of the matter is that the command to love God and to love your neighbor or enemy is the most repeated set of commands in the New Testament. When I have to repeat something over and over again to my kids it is usually because they are not doing it. We have an incredibly strong propensity to be self centered as a people. This can be traced back to the fall. The lie of Satan was that we would be like God (Genesis 3:5). Since that time it seems like man is always seeking to be a god unto himself. And so we have this self-centered propensity in general in our society. We have in essence become god's unto ourselves. How does this impact our Christianity? Well lets look at our churches. What do they cater to? The perceived needs of the people usually. We spend a great deal of time focusing on creating programs and services that appeal to the people. We rarely ask the question, "Would this program or service appeal to Jesus?" Our main concern is not offending someone which is usually a euphemism for not ever confronting anyone or dealing with real issues. The main role of the Church is to gather people together at the feet of Jesus, to seek Him as our God and Savior. Jesus knew that we would struggle with giving up the god of self. What did Jesus call us to? He said that we should take up our cross daily and follow Him(Matthew 16:24, Mark 8:34, Luke 9:23). The cross is a symbol of death. Paul clarified the metaphor in Galatians 2:20 when he says that we are crucified with Christ but that it is no longer us who live but Christ who lives in us. If that is not clear enough Paul defines what being crucified means in Galatians 5:24 when he says if you belong to Christ you crucify the flesh with its passions and desires. Now obviously if this happened instantly we would not have the commands to love God and our neighbors or enemies repeated again and again. The reality often is that we like God and all that Christianity has to offer, but all this other stuff well that’s for the really committed. I have even heard people refer to it as second level Christianity (Although I have never seen that in the Bible). These are the same people who will tell you they love the Lord. Do they? Do we? Just in case we were confused about the cross thing, Jesus said in Matthew 10:38 “And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.” So the question to ponder this weekend is, "Are we willing to take up our cross and seek to love God?" Join me on this journey after God as we seek to live life focused on Him.

The Purpose of Suffering - Part 1 Revelation

Yesterday I explained how Sam Harris could not in a Biblical sense come to grips with a moral ground founded in God. During that post I pointed out some of the issues he raised in the article on CNN.com by John D. Sutter called, "Philosopher: Why we should ditch religion." In this article he draws comments from Sam Harris trying to make the case on why we should ditch religion. Sam makes some comments related to suffering. These are recaps from his 20+ minute video presentation on the TED web site. (There is a link to it in the link above if you want to see it.) Sam's case is an emotionally charged one. He is passionate about the need to combat repression and pain wherever it exist. In many ways Sam seems to see repression and pain as the highest moral tragedy. This is what guides much of his discussion on science determining what is morally right and wrong without the need for religion. Sam uses pain to point out problems with different religions around the world. His opening religion shot is the repression of women by Islam. He takes shots at religious groups that call themselves Christian but cause pain for others. He sees these things as either wrong and a distraction from bigger issues (also potentially painful) like, "nuclear proliferation and genocide and poverty and the crisis in education," For the most part I would agree with Sam that many of these issues cause pain. But that is where we part. Sam would blame Christians and in effect God for promoting or allowing so much pain. The reality is quite different. God created the world very good (Genesis 1:28) and when the new heaven and earth are made God promises in Revelation 21:4 that there will be no more pain. What happened in between these verses? Man fell and in Genesis 3:16-17 we see them both cursed with pain. Because they have eaten of the tree Adam and Eve are spiritually dead. God gives them physical pain to help them realize that something is wrong. Since they are separated from God this pain points to a need for something more. Often it is pain that is the tool God uses to strip away the blinders and help us to see that we are not self-sufficient. Some people argue that this is self-serving of God. But if God made us for Him then the best possible thing for us is God. Since God is the best thing for us if it takes pain to bring us to Him then that pain becomes the kindest and most gracious thing that He could give to us. Pain in the hands of God becomes a great revealer of our need for Him. Pain is God's to give not mine. My calling is to live a life focused on Him and help others to do the same.

Is Sam Harris religion better than others?

CNN has an article by John D. Sutter called, "Philosopher: Why we should ditch religion." In the article he draws comments from Sam Harris trying to make the case on why we should ditch religion. I will be examining some of the comments by Harris over the next couple of days. Tonight I want to look at the opening comment in the article. Sam Harris says, "For the world to tackle truly important problems, people have to stop looking to religion to guide their moral compasses." This is a fascinating statement. Essentially, Sam wants us to get rid of the only foundation for morality that man can reference that is unwavering. And he wants us to ditch this moral compass for what??? Sam Harris is one of the outspoken athiest of our day. So we know that his ditching of spiritual forms of religion is to be replaced by a dependence on science and evolutionary thought. It fascinates me because I grew up being taught that the goal of good science is that it is testable, observable and repeatable. Most scientist would call this a good definition of science. Evolution one of the main things Sam wants us to rely on by this definition is a total failure. The macro evolution that Sam is talking about happens over millions of years. It is not observable. We take our best guess based on what we see. Now your preconceived notion will have a great deal of influence on how you interpret the data you discover. This is where Sam and many other scientist begin to rely on faith in their opinions about the data. But macro evolution fails the testable part of good science as well. Once again we look at the data and based on what our notion is about the outcome we come up with what must have happened. For committed evolutionist like Sam it is a forgone conclusion what the data must mean. Finally evolution fails on the repeatable side as well. But that really does not matter to the evolutionist because it all adds up based on what their assumptions are about the data we find. So you see what Sam has is a lot of faith in man's ability to peer into the past with absolute accuracy and determine that there is no God. Sam's faith ultimately is not in hard empirical data. His faith is in man's understanding of the data. Very highly educated Christian scientist looking at the same data will come away affirming that the data points to God and disproves evolution. Once again the person's predicate notions influence the way they see the data. What strikes me here about the statement is that Sam wants to replace the Christian religion with a religion that roots its faith in man. Romans 1:20-23 tells us how men who reject God even though they perceive the invisible things of God, like morality, become futile in their thinking and their foolish hearts are darkened. Where will morality come from without Christian religion? Who will be the arbiter of what is right and wrong? Will there even be such a thing as right and wrong in a world like that? The answer is yes there will be right and wrong. The right and wrong will be determined by God's law which is written on the hearts of men. Sam Harris will borrow the capital of morality from the Christian religion and use it with impunity while at the same time decrying that religion. Sam there is no moral compass for anyone without a righteous and Holy God to whom we can look for that direction. Sam can have his religion of man, I will continue to pursue a God focused life.

What meaning does Palm Sunday hold for you?

Rev. Bill Shuler wrote an article on the FOX news site titled, "10 Things We Must Not Forget At Easter." It is an interesting piece to find on a major news outlet site. He makes some interesting points and I would say its worth the read. What strikes me though about all the headlines is I did not find a single feature article on Palm Sunday. That would be this Sunday. In two days we will be remembering the day that Jesus entered Jerusalem riding on a donkey. The Prince of Peace had come and was being hailed as the one who had come in the name of the Lord. Palm Sunday invokes for me the reality that God in the person of Jesus entered into that final week as the one who had conquered sin in His own living and existence. He had been tempted in every way that we are and yet for 33 or so years he had resisted that temptation and was without sin. He was the spotless lamb of God. His entry into Jerusalem was cause for celebration. Jesus had come to the final steps of His lifelong journey to redeem for Himself a people that would serve him freely and joyfully for all eternity (Psalm 110:3). Creation was about to be changed. The final sacrifice for sins was entering into Jerusalem. The means of repentance and reconciliation to God was right around the corner. The creator was going to make fallen condemned mortals, immortal. God had become the Son of Man so that man might become a son of God. It is a breathtaking journey that we witness. May Palm Sunday stir within your soul the wonder of the glorious Lord Jesus, and join me as I resolve to live a life in passionate pursuit of the blessed one that came in the name of the Lord.

Demystifying devotions

This is one of those things that has been so subtly under-minded by our culture that it is both shocking and eye-opening when Christians see it in the light of scripture. Why? Most all of the devotional materials you will find in the Christian marketplace are formed around a basic pattern. It goes something like this:

• Look at a passage
• Summarize it or restate it in an interesting or engaging manner 
• Talk about or write about a really great way that you can apply that passage to your life

This is the basic pattern found in 95% to 98% of the devotional materials out there. No one questions it and so it continues. In Matthew 22:35-40 Jesus answers a lawyer's question about the greatest commandment. Jesus' answer is instructive for us when we think about approaching scripture. But first let's think about people that we love and letters that we get from them. When you read a letter from someone you love you don't try and come up with some great way that you can apply that letter to your life. You read the letter to know the person that you love better. The person you love may express hurt or concern about something and you will immediately apply that to your life without even making any effort to do so. You see if you love someone you don't want to hurt them. You want to please them because it makes you happy to bring pleasure to the person you love. Back to Jesus' comments. He said in this passage that to love the Lord your God was the greatest commandment. Applying scripture to my life is not so much about loving God as it is loving myself. Granted we are seeking to grow and may even achieve a certain level of growth using this method, but the ultimate growth pattern we long for will elude us. We will develop far more quickly and far more richly in our relationship with God through devotions if our focus is on Him. In the previous example God becomes a means to an end and the end is us. Devotions that are God focused will look something like this.

• Summarize the passage (This is something I do to boost my attention while I am reading)
• Write down what you are reminded of about God or see about God

Try it! Even the begats start to hold real meaning when our goal is to see how they reveal God to us and not how they apply to our lives.