Be sure to read your Bible

 I was thinking today about the importance of Bible reading.  There are obviously many reasons to read your Bible.  It is God's revealed Word to us.  God commands us to meditate on it.  It is there to instruct us, correct us, train us, equip us.  It is encouraging and exhorting.  It is sharper than a two-edged sword and will reveal our thoughts and intentions.  It is a mirror that helps us to see ourselves rightly.  But as I was thinking, I wonder how often we think about the Bible as a means to correct our perspective on history?

I think that we all have a tendency to view our world as being the worst it has ever been.  We see moral decay and decline and we think that we have it worse than all those who have gone before us.  I find myself doing this even recently with our young people - thinking that they have it harder than all those generations that have gone before them.  In some ways this might be true, but the Bible reminds us that our world is not unique in its rebellion against God.  Which is harder, our world today or the open pluralism and sexuality that was present in the world into which the epistles were written?  Which is worse, the violence and murder today, or the first family in which brother killed brother?  Which is worse, the blatant violation of God's created order for the family or Lot's daughter's, Noah's son Ham, Jacob and Esau, and the many other stories of this family order being upended.

What all of this does for us is remind us that we are not alone, and God is still in charge over it all.  As He has been for all of time He is today.  He reigns on the throne and has promised to us and to those that came before us that there is coming a day when He will make all things right.  Read your Bible and allow it to adjust your perspective!

Independance

 We as a culture value our independence.  It is built into our national heritage.  We after all just celebrated independence day.  We don't want to be dependent upon any one, for our oil, for our electric, for just about anything we want to be able to do it ourselves.  We have been told from the time that we are very young that we are to learn to do things on our own.  

I think that I want to understand that instead of independence, we need to learn appropriate levels of dependence in our lives.  What do I mean by that?

1.  We are never truly independent because we are created by God and therefore, by virtue of creation alone (but this is not the only reason we are dependent upon God), we are dependent creatures.  We cannot ever claim total independence without denying a practical and functional part of our identity.  No matter how hard we strive to do it alone, we cannot for we rely on God.

2. We are never truly independent because we are created by God for relationships with each other.  This started in the garden with husband and wife.  It was not good for man to be alone.  God created us in His image, male and female -designed for relationship.  He called His people into relationship with Himself and promised Abram many children.  He has given us the church body.  We are not, nor have we ever really been, independent. 

3. We are never truly independent because we were created by God for service.  This by necessity involves other people.  We were never designed to be an island to ourselves, nor even a grouping of like-minded people on a larger island.  Instead, we were designed to fill the earth and subdue it for the glory of God.  Post-fall this involves evangelism and taking the glory of the gospel to the lost.  We were tasked with this by our Savior and so we are not independent.  

I could go on.  We are given other tasks to complete for the benefit of God and others. We are told to be encouraged and served in our relationships with others as we serve and encourage them.  We are to be connected in prayer, in unity, in fellowship, under the Word, under the authority of the church, and I could keep going.  

Independence is a word that should rarely enter our mouths as believers.  We are dependent on God and upon each other!

Rest

 I think that we underemphasize the importance of rest.  I might be thinking about this more since I just returned from vacation, but I really think it is true.  Our culture seems to emphasize work.  We work for money, we work on ourselves, we work on our relationships, we work to make the world a better place.  We work, work, work and then in a rare moment of pause for reflection - maybe while sitting in traffic on our way to work, we think about how tired we are and then we get to work and forget all about that momentary pause.  We work to make our kids life better, we work to give them all the opportunities they ask for, we work to serve our church.  And then we take a moment - maybe when we get sick - to think about the fact that we seem to have lost time for things like reading the Bible.  But then we get better and go back to work.  We work on making our house and life more presentable to others, we work to get better at Bible reading, we work on making a fuller prayer list.  And then we take a break in line at the store because the cashier is slow and we think about how nice it would be if we could just take a small break from it all.

I think this is why the Scriptures record rest from the beginning to the end.  (see Genesis and Hebrews for some really good detail on this)  I think this is why the Bible says that Jesus took time to rest and pray.  I think that this is why God gave in the law a commandment to rest, one day out of seven (and that is just the beginning - look at the law of Jubilee for even more rest!)  

I wonder if we will take a moment to consider the importance of rest for worship.  Will you stop for a moment this week and consider how to add rest to your work schedule?  Maybe take a moment to work on resting!

I am holy

 With a blog title like this it sounds like I am bragging.  I want to be clear I am not.  I am not even suggesting that I am living without sin in my life.  In fact, 1 John makes it clear that if I say that I am deceiving myself.  And yet, the statement remains and is true.  I am holy.  When God sees me, he does not see my own holiness, but instead the holiness of Christ.  And because I am united to Christ, when God looks at me and sees the holiness of Christ - He sees me as holy.  I am holy in the sight of God.  What a glorious truth this is because of the work of Jesus Christ.

It is sometimes hard to keep this in proper tension.  On the one hand - if I think of myself totally in my flesh I will see myself as totally unholy - and even the good things I do are but filthy rags.  I am to come to God in humility and recognize that all the forgiveness He gives me has nothing to do with me deserving an ounce of it.  On the other hand, if I think of the holiness of Christ in me and therefore do not care what I do and make no effort to live as who Christ has made me, I will not honor God and not show reverence for the Christ who died for me to make me holy.  

And so I must recognize that I am holy and yet strive to be holy.  This is because I am waiting to be fully made who I truly am in this moment!  What a glorious thought!

We exist for Him

 1 Corinthians 8:6 reads, ". . .yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things and we exist for Him; . . . " (NASB).  Today I am interested in the phrase "we exist for Him".  Interestingly, the word "exist" is not in the original text, it simply says, "and we for Him".  Later it adds, "and we through Him".  Apparently, in the middle of a discussion on knowledge and freedom (two concepts really popular in our culture today), Paul decides to remind us that we are really for God and through God.  I wonder though if this is a hard concept for us.  We are not really for anyone but ourselves.  We are for political parties.  We are for ideologies.  We are for particular teams and sports and topics and thoughts.  But when we think about belonging to someone or through someone, we fight these ideas in almost every sense.  And yet Paul reminds us that we are, at our fundamental identity, the property of God.  This is not a solo concept in this verse.  He reminded us in 1 Corinthians 3:23 that we belong to Christ.  He reminded us in the same book in chapter 6 and verse 20, "you have been bought with a price." after telling us that we are not our own.  This is not a unique concept even to the book of 1 Corinthians.  We do not belong to us. 

We talk of our time belonging to God, our possessions belong to God, our families belong to God, our work belongs to God.  All of the things that we would "own" clearly are owned by God first, but so often we forget to add ourselves to that list.  I belong to God.  I exist for God.  My life is to be lived in servitude to my glorious Master.

What are you reading?

 I love to read.  In fact, for quite some time I have been tracking all of the books that I read so that I can measure if my reading is increasing both in volume and to ensure that I am reading a broad spectrum of material.  But often it is easier to remember to read for my book list than to read the Bible.  I also read a variety of devotional material - each to a greater or lesser degree based on Scripture.  I wonder how many of us measure our devotion by the amount that we read rather than the quality of the content.  

Some devotional books are a story - or theology with a limited connection to Scripture.  Of course they list the Scripture that you are supposed to read, but often times I find myself not reading the selected Scripture unless something raises a question in my mind.  And I find that I am often reading the devotional and only as much Scripture as the devotional contains.  

May I encourage you to evaluate your devotional reading along these lines also.  Are you reading only the words of the human authors or are you reading the Divinely inspired Word of God?  One of those two sources contains the promise that it will not return void.  (HINT:  its God's Word)  One of those tells us directly of its value in protecting us from sin.  One we are called to meditate on day and night.  One never fails.  One is sharper than a two-edged sword.  And so on.  So, what are you reading?

He is Alive

 We have just celebrated the resurrection of our Lord and Savior - Jesus Christ!  What a great joy to remember that Christ is raised to life and we serve a living Savior.  But it is also important because it gives grounds to our faith - without it we have hoped for little!  But because of it we have power from God and the promise of God for a future.  I think that sometimes we forget how dependent we are on the resurrection of Christ.  And this is the challenge.  Do we live life as though He is Alive and present with us?  Do we live as though He is Alive and present in us?  

I think that often we live as though He were distant at best and perhaps still dead.  We do not treat Him as though He were alive and reigning.  We think he has lost His power when nothing could be further from the truth.  

Is your Savior Alive?  If so, are you living as if He is!