How do we think of God

 "I am the vine , you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing."  (John 15:5, NASB)

Sometimes we think of God as just a bigger version of ourselves.  We use him when things get bad, but most of the time we feel like we can handle life on our own.  We can, as we used to say when we were little, "Do it myself."  In this version of God he becomes a handy tool that we can call on (prayer) when we have a need, but he is not Lord.  This is a highly dangerous view of God.  And yet it is one that is all too common.  

It is interesting that the Bible does not give us this option.  God reminds us that he is higher than us.  He reminds us that our lives are but a mist and a vapor, but he is eternal.  He reminds us that we are weak and he is strong.  And yet even with all the reminders we cannot seem to escape trying to view him as something we need when we reach the end of our rope.  John 15 reminds us that Jesus is the vine and we are simply branches.  Think of this - the branch without a connection to the vine is a literal piece of garbage.  This is what verse 6 says.  If our goal is to bear fruit (as it states in verse 5) than we MUST be connected to Christ.  Without him, we cannot bear any fruit because he is our life!  

So today, remember that apart from Christ, you can do NOTHING!

The B I B L E, Yes that's the book for me

 Have you ever taken a moment to really think about the Bible - that book that you wish you spent more time with, but sometimes have a hard time prioritizing?  

Many times we have a wrong idea or a series of wrong ideas about what the Bible is.  I think that many people think that it is like a good self-help reference book.  It is not.  Some think it is a manual - it is not.  Some think it is a love letter - it is not.  Of course it has elements of all of these things but it is not any one of them.  It is a unique book.  A book that is the Word of God.  A book that was inspired by God.  A book that is written by human authors and shows their uniqueness and yet shows the reality that it is inspired by a singular God who is sovereign over all.  

This book that you hold, this book that you read is the authoritative Word of God written to many different people at many times and preserved by the will of God so that when we read it the Spirit of God can use it to teach us, and correct us, and train us in righteousness!  What a glorious gift!

God's Word

 I think that we have lost something as a culture over the course of time due to the ongoing progress of technology.  We have forgotten and/or lost a foundational concept that was true for us from the beginning of time.  We are a people who were created to listen.  Think of the opening chapter of Genesis and how many times that it records for us the words "and God said."  God has recorded and preserved His Word.  The prophets spoke over and over again, "Thus says the Lord."  Jesus comes and John presents Him as the Logos - the eternal word.  Hebrews author reminds us that God has spoken both in times past and now, but now He has spoken to us through His perfect Word - His Son - Jesus Christ.  

But along the way, despite all of the commands of Scripture to listen, to meditate, to hear, we have become a people who instead speak.  Even though the command of James is to be quick to listen and slow to speak (James 1:19-20), we instead have been enveloped by a culture that tells us that we have to listen to no voice other than our own.  We have nothing outside of ourselves that we need and therefore any voice that is contrary to the voice of our "authentic self" is to be ignored or even shamed. 

And yet we were created to listen.  And in listening to obey.  

So the question for us as believers is this - will we train ourselves to listen to God, or will we continue to speak and in so doing shut out His voice?

The Power of the Word of God

 "For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart."  (Hebrews 4:12, NASB)

I think that sometimes we underestimate the power that the Word of God has.  I think that all of us have a general sense that we need to change - that we need to be made more like Jesus.  And we think that God is going to do this in some mystical sense.  But it would seem that He has made it clear to us exactly how he is going to change us.  James refers to the Word of God as a mirror that we should examine in order to know what to change, but this passage in Hebrews tells us that the Word is the surgical tool that God wields in order to reveal the very inner parts of who we are and what we think and feel.  

Paul tells Timothy to trust the power of the Word to teach, to reprove, to correct and to train in righteousness.  He tells him that the Scriptures are able to make us equipped for every good work.  And yet for many this powerful Word simply sits on the shelf.  Or in our lap.  It may be read but it is rarely used to teach ourselves, to reprove ourselves, to correct ourselves or to train ourselves in righteousness.  Instead we use it to get a few inspiring thoughts that we imprint on T-shirts or pillows or hang as a picture on our wall.  We reduce the Bible to another poster like the cat that encourages us to "hang in there."  And in so doing we miss the power of God.  

Don't miss this critical tool in the arsenal of a soldier of Jesus Christ.  It is our sword, one that we should first allow God to use to change us and then that we should use readily and often as we strive to serve our Lord and Savior.

School has started

 School starts this week in our area.  I am reminded at this time of year of a number of different things and I wonder if I might share a few of them with you.

I am reminded that not everyone starts school at the same level.  Some start coming with the nice new backpack and new shoes and new everything and others come with their older brother's clothes, a back pack that is well worn and a pair of shoes that has no material over their toe.  I wonder what the people of God are doing to make sure that each student has what they need to be able to learn.

I am reminded that the school is a place where doctrine is taught.  They of course would not say this, but they are trying to teach the kids about how to answer the most important questions of life.  I wonder if we are doing this with our own children to prepare them for how what they hear at school might be different from what they hear at home and at church.

I am reminded that school is an increasingly difficult place to be a Christian - both as a student and as a teacher.  I wonder if we are praying regularly for those who are fellow believers in our school system and if we are striving to encourage our young people toward Christ-likeness even in their school's.

Pressure

 I am reminded from time to time of various lessons we can see in the world around us.  This past weekend I was camping and where we were camping there was a post for 4 campsites to hook water up to.  This meant 4 spickets for the water hoses to connect.  3 of them were connected.  When I was using the last spicket to get water the other three stopped spitting out so much water.  They each had pressure built up to the point where the line was losing water out the top of the spout.  But when I turned on the fourth valve some of that pressure released and there was a little less water shooting out.  I am reminded that in some ways this is true in life.  Each of us has a pressure valve - a limit to how much pressure we can manage.  God has created us with these limits.  Each of us has a different valve than the next person, God has created us unique and my pressure may not be your pressure.  But when I can help release some of your pressure it makes your load just a little easier.  I may not be able to take the whole burden, nor am I meant to, but I can help alleviate the pressure a bit by bearing what parts I can on your behalf.

Would you look today for someone whose burden you can help bear.  In doing this Galatians says we will fulfill the law of Christ! (Galatians 6:2)

Freedom

 I am always fascinated when people talk about freedom.  When we think of freedom we think usually about choices.  And to be really free we think that we have to have multiple choices and be able to choose from any of them equally.  However this is rarely if ever the case.  Allow a brief demonstration.

Let us say for the purpose of this demonstration that you have before you a table to food as if you were at a potluck.  There are 50 crock pots full of food and you can choose from any of them.  But can you choose from them freely and equally.  Consider that you know you get heartburn and 10 of them are spicy dishes that will give you heartburn.  The introduction of consequence means that you could choose those 10, but there will be a price to pay and therefore the choice is not equal.  Now say you are allergic to milk and 10 of them have dairy in them.  There is now a consequence of eating those 10 as well.  And say there are 25 people who go before you and they together eat all of the food in another 10.  Suddenly your choices are very limited, even though there were 50 choices.  In this case, time has been your enemy and the fact that you did not go first (likely a choice you made) means your choices are now even more limited.  Then you realize that you do not have a spoon and 10 of them are soups.  You could still eat them but you would have to slurp loudly out of a bowl.  This leaves 10 non-heartburn, non-dairy, partially full crock pots of non-soup.  In this scenario are you no longer free?  Just because you have limited choices is your freedom somehow no longer free?

The reality is that all of the choices that we make begin bound by a series of constraints.  This is why I like the idea of responsibility rather than freedom.  We are responsible for our choices more than we are free in them.  I am responsible for my heartburn if I eat something spicy.  I am responsible for going 26th in line.  I am responsible before God in my every-day choices to do not just what I can, but what I should.  (morality is another limiting factor in freedom)  This is not ultimately a negative, but something that God has graciously granted for our good.