"If we cannot look ahead through all the unknown and have HOPE, then what do we really have , and what are we really living for?"
Friends of mine wrote this in their Christmas letter and I've been mulling it over for days now. Where does my hope truly lie? It's easy to say I hope in the Lord when all is going well, when everything has turned out okay, but in the midst of crisis, it's also easy to see all the superficial things I really put my hope in.
"Blessed are those who mourn..." because those who mourn have the opportunity to know, to understand, that the Lord really is the only One, the only relationship, the One who beyond all circumstances, is our earthly and eternal refuge. He only disappoints when my hope is not in Him, but rather in what I think my life should look like especially when compared to someone else.
My hope is not in Him if I so bitterly lament the further, inevitable deterioration of this already crippled, temporal body. I'm not saying that this will be easy or enjoyable or that He won't provide any physical comfort because He has and most certainly will, but that my hope is in Him when I rejoice in the fact that this life, and certainly the next, is about so much more than whether I'm free from such aches, pains, and further limitations.
"Now may the Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and hope through grace, comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word" 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Sunday, December 20, 2009
The Gospel
17Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us. 18For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. 19 Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things. 20But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself." Philippians 3:17-21
This is why the prosperity gospel is so contrary to the Gospel of Christ. If an abundant life consists of the fulfillment of our earthly desires, the justification of gluttony and greed, what is Paul doing in a jail cell suffering for proclaiming the gospel? It's not that the Lord won't supply all of our needs (and many of our wants), because he most certainly will, but that's not the point. Christ didn't come to die for our sins, to bring us into a right relationship with God so that we could enjoy every earthly pleasure. He died to make us citizens of heaven, so that we could spend eternity with God and no amount of fleeting earthly pleasure or pain can possibly compete with that. If He did nothing else, if He withheld every other blessing, He would still be utterly worthy of our eternal praise.
This is why the prosperity gospel is so contrary to the Gospel of Christ. If an abundant life consists of the fulfillment of our earthly desires, the justification of gluttony and greed, what is Paul doing in a jail cell suffering for proclaiming the gospel? It's not that the Lord won't supply all of our needs (and many of our wants), because he most certainly will, but that's not the point. Christ didn't come to die for our sins, to bring us into a right relationship with God so that we could enjoy every earthly pleasure. He died to make us citizens of heaven, so that we could spend eternity with God and no amount of fleeting earthly pleasure or pain can possibly compete with that. If He did nothing else, if He withheld every other blessing, He would still be utterly worthy of our eternal praise.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Ten Dollars
Last night, I was asking the Lord for a million dollars so that Phoenix Christian Unified Schools (PCUS) could pay off all of its debt and implement some of the Lord’s great ideas for the future. I’ve asked Him for this many times before. He’s the only One I know who has it and might just give it to us.
No, we don’t deserve it. Years of not facing our true financial situation certainly helped to get us here, but I figure God is in the business of mercy (and discipline since He has shown us the error of our ways and brought about major financial changes). He sent His only Son to die for a world of ungrateful sinners (at least we all start out that way). A $1,000,000 so that a bunch of His imperfect sons and daughters can continue spreading the good news, particularly impacting our students for Christ as well as giving them a top-notch education, is certainly small potatoes for the Lord of all creation.
He has the money and He is going to give it to us, I have no doubt. For $10.00 each, 100,000 people can be part of this miracle. I don’t like asking people for money, but even I would be willing to ask everyone I know and complete strangers for $10.00. Nothing is impossible with God!
If you'd like to join me in this miracle there a few ways you can donate:
DONATE ONLINE - Visit the PCUS website at:
http://www.phoenixchristian.org/content/view/130/48/ and click on the orange "donate" button. The fundraiser on that page is actually asking for a dollar a day, but I promise you, all I want is a one-time gift of $10.00.
BY MAIL - Send a check (payable to PCUS) to:
Phoenix Christian Unified Schools
1751 W. Indian School Road
Phoenix, AZ 85015.
SEE ME - I will glady accept cash and checks and will also give you a big hug along with much sincere heartfelt appreciation.
Either way, you will NOT be put on any future mailing lists or call sheets due to this donation.
All gifts are tax deductible, but it may not be cost effective to send a receipt for every ten dollar donation. For gifts of this amount, your cancelled check or Paypal receipt is sufficient to claim this donation as a deduction on your income taxes. Besides, the Lord's blessing is always a greater benefit than any tax break.
No, we don’t deserve it. Years of not facing our true financial situation certainly helped to get us here, but I figure God is in the business of mercy (and discipline since He has shown us the error of our ways and brought about major financial changes). He sent His only Son to die for a world of ungrateful sinners (at least we all start out that way). A $1,000,000 so that a bunch of His imperfect sons and daughters can continue spreading the good news, particularly impacting our students for Christ as well as giving them a top-notch education, is certainly small potatoes for the Lord of all creation.
He has the money and He is going to give it to us, I have no doubt. For $10.00 each, 100,000 people can be part of this miracle. I don’t like asking people for money, but even I would be willing to ask everyone I know and complete strangers for $10.00. Nothing is impossible with God!
If you'd like to join me in this miracle there a few ways you can donate:
DONATE ONLINE - Visit the PCUS website at:
http://www.phoenixchristian.org/content/view/130/48/ and click on the orange "donate" button. The fundraiser on that page is actually asking for a dollar a day, but I promise you, all I want is a one-time gift of $10.00.
BY MAIL - Send a check (payable to PCUS) to:
Phoenix Christian Unified Schools
1751 W. Indian School Road
Phoenix, AZ 85015.
SEE ME - I will glady accept cash and checks and will also give you a big hug along with much sincere heartfelt appreciation.
Either way, you will NOT be put on any future mailing lists or call sheets due to this donation.
All gifts are tax deductible, but it may not be cost effective to send a receipt for every ten dollar donation. For gifts of this amount, your cancelled check or Paypal receipt is sufficient to claim this donation as a deduction on your income taxes. Besides, the Lord's blessing is always a greater benefit than any tax break.
Friday, July 10, 2009
The Wonderful Cross
When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the Prince of Glory died
My richest gain I count but loss
And pour contempt on all my pride
See from his head, his hands, his feet
Sorrow and love flow mingled down
Did ever such love and sorrow meet
Or thorns compose so rich a crown
O the wonderful cross, O the wonderful cross
Bids me come and die and find that I may truly live
O the wonderful cross, O the wonderful cross
All who gather here by grace draw near and bless Your name
Were the whole realm of nature mine
That were an offering far too small
Love so amazing, so divine
Demands my soul, my life, my all
- "The Wonderful Cross", Chris Tomlin
This song was running through my head all day yesterday.
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Heaven: Perfect Love & Humility
Those that have a lower station in glory than others, suffer no diminution of their own happiness by seeing others above them in glory. On the contrary, all the members of that blessed society rejoice in each other’s happiness, for the love of benevolence is perfect in them all. Every one has not only a sincere, but a perfect goodwill to every other.
And what puts it beyond all doubt that seeing the superior happiness of others will not be a damp to the happiness of the inferior, is this, that their superior happiness consists in their greater humility, and in their greater love to them, and to God, and to Christ, than the inferior will have in themselves. Such will be the sweet and perfect harmony among the heavenly saints, and such the perfect love reigning in every heart toward every other, without limit or alloy, or interruption; and no envy, or malice, or revenge, or contempt, or selfishness shall ever enter there, but all such feelings shall be kept as far away as sin is from holiness, and as hell is from heaven!
- Jonathan Edwards, "Heaven, A World of Love"
When I see someone who is better at something that I am, something which brings glory to God, I am tempted to envy that person and thus reveal that I really want to bring glory to myself rather than rejoicing in the Lord's glory. May I always rejoice when He is glorified.
And what puts it beyond all doubt that seeing the superior happiness of others will not be a damp to the happiness of the inferior, is this, that their superior happiness consists in their greater humility, and in their greater love to them, and to God, and to Christ, than the inferior will have in themselves. Such will be the sweet and perfect harmony among the heavenly saints, and such the perfect love reigning in every heart toward every other, without limit or alloy, or interruption; and no envy, or malice, or revenge, or contempt, or selfishness shall ever enter there, but all such feelings shall be kept as far away as sin is from holiness, and as hell is from heaven!
- Jonathan Edwards, "Heaven, A World of Love"
When I see someone who is better at something that I am, something which brings glory to God, I am tempted to envy that person and thus reveal that I really want to bring glory to myself rather than rejoicing in the Lord's glory. May I always rejoice when He is glorified.
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