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.

Islam, Grace and Southpark

Comedy central apparently aired an episode of Southpark in which they depicted the prophet Mohamed dressed up in a bear costume. I am not endorsing or recommending you see this episode or any episode. The issue here is that a group called revolution muslim opposed the episode. They were adamant that depictions of Mohammed not be shown. They posted on their website graphic pictures of the death of Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh, who was murdered in 2004 by Muslim extremists for making a movie about Muslim women. The caption under the images read: “Have Matt Stone and Trey Parker Forgotten This?” The threat was seen as very real and comedy central censored the episode. What strikes me about this is the lake of grace that exists in the religion of Islam. While I am sure that Revolution Muslim does not represent all muslims, Islam is rigid and there are reasons that countries controlled by Muslim leadership are so repressive. The main thing that stands out to me is the appalling lack of grace. I have witnessed to Muslims in this country and it always strikes me how they are working to balance the scales. They talk about repenting and seeking to do good. Lets take a step back and think about the seriousness of sin and its offense to God. If I lied to my children I will not get in a great deal of trouble. If I lie to my wife I will certainly face consequences. If I lie to a police officer or a judge I could go to jail. If I lie to the federal government I could lose my life for treason. The difference in each of these situations is the stature of the person or entity I lied to affected the consequences of telling a lie. God is greater than any government and He is holy. How much of an offense is one lie to God? Could anyone ever do enough good to offset just one lie? The tragedy for my muslim neighbors is that they live under a religious experience that offers no grace and so they offer no grace. I count myself privileged that God called my in grace to Himself. He paid the penalty for my sin and made me His child. I repented and now seek to follow Him as my Lord. Repentance for me was recognizing that I have sinned against God and cannot hope to pay the penalty on my own. I called on God in my brokenness to save me and Jesus took my penalty and paid my price. I am counting on grace and this gives me the ability through the Holy Spirit to offer more grace to others. May God grant my Muslim neighbors the grace they need to meet Jesus repent and receive His grace so that they too can come to live God focused lives in Jesus my God.

Understanding Christianity's role in politics

Yesterday I talked about how Christianity should not really be associated with a political party. So how does Christianity come into play. Trusting in Jesus and following Him is not about joining a club or being part of a team. It is first and foremost about a relationship. It is about pursuing knowing and loving God. In Matthew 22:37 Jesus said, “And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” Jesus calls us first and foremost to love Him. Political parties are formed around ideas and ideals not relationships. When we reduce the relationship with God offered to us by Jesus death on the cross to a political ideal we cheapen it. Are we called to impact the world? Clearly! In Acts 17:6 the Jason and some others were accused of being part of those who have turned the world upside down. What were they doing that turned the world upside down? They were introducing others to Jesus. These people were so affected by the relationship with Jesus that they stopped worshipping the emperor. They were willing to face persecution and death rather than stop following Jesus. The way to influence and change politics is to change hearts. When hearts are changed and committed to following Jesus in everything then laws will change because the people have changed. The problem we face as a church in general is we have become too much like the world. 1 John 2:15-16 is instructive. It lists three things as being of the world.

1. Desires of the flesh
2. Desires of the eyes
3. Pride in possessions

For the most part most people who would call themselves evangelical Christians embrace these things. Those of us who are seeking to live a God focused life if we are honest struggle with these things at some level. These things make us an enemy of God and put us in alliance with the world. We must return to living lives that have an unquenchable desire for God alone. This is the really the only antidote to the influence of the world and the best hope for changing hearts and lives. This is the only real role Christianity should play in politics.

Who loses when Christianity becomes political?

In my conversations with people throughout the years about Christianity and Politics it seems like there is one thing that is consistent. Conservatives usually want to see Christianity plastered as a subtext to the campaign they support. Liberals get up in arms and defensive when they see Christianity plastered as a subtext to any campaign usually crying separation of Church and state. Who looses in these collisions between politics and Christianity. I think Jesus does. Before you liberals rejoice and you conservatives tune me out please hear my reasons. I am all for a Christian being able to take a political position or hold office. I am even for them having the freedom to base their position on the Bible. What I am not for is a whole church or denomination supporting a party. When this happens it becomes divisive. Christians who hold a liberal stance are offended. Christians who hold a conservative stance don't really gain anything in the end. The big problem here is really a foundational issue that arises out of the Bible. In Matthew 16:24 Jesus said to the disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” The foundational problem with Christianity and Politics is that Christians are not getting involved under a Christian umbrella in order to follow Christ. The main reason that they trumpet to get involved is to protect our rights. But the last time I checked if we have died to self (Romans 12:1), rights should be a distant second or ever much further behind the glory of Christ. I would like to feel I can support other Christians but when I see my saviors name used to advance a political cause that has very little to do with His kingdom I find it impossible to support. My goal in living a God focused life is to advance His kingdom. Jesus kingdom is filled with grace something I see very little of in politics branded as Christian.

The real question God or chance

An article featuring Stephen Hawking called, "Aliens may exist but contact would hurt humans: Hawking" explores the idea that Aliens if they do exist and do show up on our doorstep are probably looking for lunch. The reason that they would be here, according to hawking's discovery channel show, is to hunt for resources after draining their planet dry. From a God focused perspective my question is, "Where is God in this?" Of course I expect a resounding round of silence because there is no God in any of these conversations. The reason that aliens exist and might happen upon our planet is purely chance. What is chance anyway? Outside of a description for mathematical probability it is nothing. It is not a force any more than luck or the easter bunny. But supposedly against all odds everything has happened by chance. Hawking a brilliant man calls the statistical odds that aliens exist rational. It is just as rational when looking at the irreducible complexity of simple cells to statistically assume a designer of much higher intelligence than us created life as it is and put it in motion. This is the assumption behind all of the inspired writing in the Bible. Instead of looking at the vast expanse of the heavens and assuming aliens, David the Psalmist assumed God. Psalm 19 begins with “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.” Did God create the heavens so that we might fear an invasion of resource hungry aliens? No! God created the heavens to cause us to stand in awe and wonder in a way that only the heavens can make us do that. So if you get a chance wherever you happen to live go outside tonight and look at the heavens and ponder the vast greatness and grandeur of our Lord Jesus Christ the creator of Heaven and Earth (Genesis 14:19).

Who's the biggest loser?

Jillian Michaels the trainer on the biggest loser is getting some press time. Yahoo published an article titled, Jillian Michaels Criticized for Anti-Pregnancy Comments. Apparently Michaels has taken the position that she will adopt rather than have children of her own because of what that will do to her body. I hope that she does adopt and have the joy of a child in her life. But honestly I will be somewhat surprised if she does. You see Jillian has basically revealed the same self-centered perspective that is everywhere in our culture. It takes sacrifice to raise children. Not just your body, but your time and your energy (physical and emotional). One of the reasons that people in our society are making this kind of decision is that our society holds very little value for God. There are lots of people that want to have children and can't and my heart goes out to them. But the people who do not value the gift of life that God has placed within them are to be most pitied. These folks fail to embrace God's command to Adam and Noah (Genesis 1:28; 9:1) to be fruitful and multiply. These folks see children as an impediment to their career or desires for life. Instead of this those who seek to live a God focused life are going to see children as a blessing and gift from God. While Jillian Michael's might be a star trainer on the, "Biggest Loser" when it comes to children and they gift they are from God she ends up being the biggest loser.

The threat of prayer

As I reflected on yesterdays post, it occurred to me that those who oppose prayer have a real problem on their hands. First of all many of those that oppose Christian prayer claim to be atheist. That is they do not believe in any God. Now I do not believe in the tooth fairy or the easter bunny or celebrating halloween, but I do not go around trying every legal thing within my power to shut those things down. Why because they have no power over me. Interestingly enough the atheist involved in bringing lawsuits and the ACLU have overlooked on multiple occasions Muslim prayers or Hindu prayers. Why? These prayer hold no threat for them. They are no threat because they do not have any power over them or over anyone for that matter. But Christian prayer is a different story. Romans 1:18-20 tells us that something within them recognizes God. They suppress their recognition of God. One of the ways that they do this is by squelching Christian prayer any time they can. This action by the atheist of our world to try and squelch Christian prayer no matter what else they may say is an admission that these prayers are a threat to them. By opposing Christian prayer they make a tacit admission that the God of Christianity is real and that He threatens the life and existence without God that they desire. So take heart when the world opposes you. It is not so much you they oppose but Jesus Christ who indwells you by the Holy Spirit. Rejoice when the pagan opposes you because what they recognize within you is God's image. You have been counted worthy to face opposition for living a God focused life (Acts 5:40-41).