Things I Want to Say to Students at Liberty University

I have a few messages I wish I'd heard when I was attending Liberty:

1. Strive to grow in Christ. It's easy to assume that because you're going to convocation three times a week, church on Sundays, and prayer groups on Tuesdays, that you're growing spiritually. There is a BIG difference between doing spiritual activities and growing in Christ. Growing in Christ is hard work. It means spending time in prayer and in the word. It means fasting. It means being broken over sin. It means dying to yourself daily. It is not hanging out with Christian people or talking about Christian things or listening to Christian music or going to church at every opportunity. It is SO EASY to look at all the spiritual activities you're doing and think that you are growing in your relationship with Christ! Don't be deceived! It is so easy to go to church, prayer meetings, worship services, etc. and not even know Jesus Christ! Labor to know Christ! Wrestle with God just like Jacob did! Don't let Him go until He blesses you!

2. There is a real world out there past the Arby's restaurant and the Sonic. You study things in your theology classes, your GNED classes, Creation Studies classes, etc. and you hear about the people who believe different things from you. But until you're out there and you meet these people it's easy to let them be lumped into a huge massive group of faces you've never seen. Don't slip into the trap of focusing on their ideas and their arguments and their thoughts while missing their humanity. One day you're going to be in the "real" world and you will not be surrounded by people who believe Jesus is the only way or that human life begins at conception or that God created the world or that the Bible is true. When you meet these people you might be intimidated because they DO know a lot! They have arguments of their own. They are real flesh and blood people. People who want to be loved and cared for and acknowledged rather than steam-rolled over with arguments. And if Jesus is not more real to you than arguments and propositions and doctrines, you might get scared. That's why message number one is so important. Don't just know ABOUT Jesus Christ. KNOW Him. Open yourself and let Him start living His life out in you. Then you will go and love and serve and humbly point others to Him as the most precious thing in all the world.

3. Do uncomfortable acts of service. It's easy to be a "Christian" at Liberty. It costs you next to nothing. Nobody looks at you funny or asks why you're so obsessed with religion. Almost everyone there goes to church and convocation and knows a lot of worship music and uses big spiritual words like "compassion" and "mercy" and "grace". It costs nothing to be a "Christian" at Liberty. But a real Christian life is always costly. Christianity is more than going to church and having Chris Tomlin on your ipod and reading Christian books and watching Christian movies. Appearing to walk with Christ is easy. Walking with Him in reality is hard. It's going to cost you earthly comfort. Of course we are not saved by works or by anything that we do, but when a person sees how beautiful the cross of Christ is, they naturally forsake smaller pleasures for eternal ones, Christ-sized ones. So be uncomfortable. Pursue uncomfortability. People didn't find Christ living the cushy, pleasurable life while He was on earth, you won't find find Him by living that way yourself. Christ chose the path of costly love. It cost Him greatly. You have no idea how greatly it cost Him. It cost Him everything. So walk after Him. If you want to find Christ you must walk the paths that He chose. The greatest blessings in eternity lie waiting for those who take the lowest, most humble paths in this world. So do that. Do uncomfortable things. Loosen your grip on this world. Hold onto Christ.

4. Don't turn your political views or your knowledge of God into a way to get right with God. For a lot of my Christian life I have struggled with using my knowledge OF God as a claim that I know Him personally. I was using reading and studying theology and knowing the right books and the right authors and praying a certain way and reading so much of the Bible as my means of getting right with God. Simply, theology was my god. If I knew things that other people didn't I felt smug and I often looked down on them for not being as wise and well-read as I was. That's all crap. You don't get right with God by knowing the right things or saying the right things or reading the right books or anything like that. You get right with God by Jesus Christ dying for you. THAT is the only thing that matters. Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That is Christianity. Christ took my sins on Himself and gave me His righteousness in its place. Don't gather all the "right" knowledge of God and miss the realization that Christ really did die for people who simply put their faith in Him and believe that His sacrifice was enough. And when you realize that He died FOR YOU, nothing else really matters. Don't complicate your heart and mind with a lot of other stuff. Certainly, you should study, certainly, you should have good theology and go to church and pray; but don't let those things turn into your justification or you'll be in serious trouble on judgement day.

Sinking Sands

Korea is much different from the US. In the US, I had this real sense of stability and security. True, people leave the US to live abroad all the time, but I didn't know any of them. Things were constant. The same routine day in and day out. Adults usually work the same job for years and years on end. The church remains mostly the same. One's classmates remain mostly the same. There is no threat of war or, except in a few areas, natural disaster. I felt relatively safe in the US. The few things in my life that were unpredictable were small enough that I didn't really care about them.

When I came to Korea, all that was pulled out from under me. My life here changes. In big ways. And frequently. I've been put into a community that is very diverse and is constantly changing shape on me. People come and people go. The HICF (Hanbit International Christian Fellowship) I go to now is very different from the one I found when I got here. Our worship leader has changed, our sunday school program has been done away with, our Bible study location has changed, and now our Bible study *leader* has changed. There are very few things that really are constant in my life here. And tonight one of the things I'd really taken for granted, I had to say goodbye to. It's rough. I am a creature of routine and predictability and habit. I don't adapt at the drop of a hat. It takes time. Life in Korea has been difficult because the change is truly relentless. I have had to learn to take things as they come and accept change as something that's unavoidable.

Something that God is teaching me is to give up trying to maintain the status quo. One thing is unchanging. Only one. And that is God. My life needs to be held loosely. I can't grasp onto something and refuse to let it go because it will inevitably fail me and bring frustration and depression. God brought me to Korea to get the status quo off of His throne. Like I said before, change here is relentless. It's like God keeps throwing things at me telling me to deal with it, move on, and keep holding onto Christ. When one holds onto Christ, change, rather than bringing discouragement and depression, brings exhilaration and joy. Oh to walk with Him through all the shifting worlds is better to live in a world that seems secure without His sweet presence! Sometimes God stills the storm, and sometimes He stills the heart of His child in the midst of the storm. I prefer the latter.

Cutting a Hand

Brothers and sisters, I need you to pray for me. Usually when I say that I'm in some sort of depression or discouragement. This time, I'm on the verge of adventure, excitement, and change mingled with what will be a great pain for a while. This week I drew the conclusion that my computer, for most of my life, has been an idol in my heart. When I don't have other things to do, I get on the computer. Even when I remove most of the "interesting" features of a computer I somehow still get stuck on here. I guess I love the convenience of it. I've had a personal computer for most of my life. In fact, I can't really remember the last time I had no access to a personal computer. It's shaped the way I think even. Sometimes when I'm out and about a thought will come to me and I'll think "What a great facebook status that would be." or "I should write a blog entry about that concept." or after a long day at work, "Man, I can't wait to get back and crash with a good movie or TV show on my computer." It's an incredibly versatile invention. You can watch movies, play games, engage in socializing, plan a trip, find all sorts of random, useless information, read a book, and on and on and on. It plays so much to my "instant gratification" mindset. It gives me what I want when I want it.

So anyway, I realized what God wants me to do with this hunk of plastic and metal. Ever see the movie 127 Hours? It's about a guy named Aron Ralston who goes canyon climbing out in Utah. He gets to Blue John Canyon on Saturday. As he's climbing down a tight squeeze between two rock walls, an extremely heavy boulder gives way and falls a short way with him and then comes down pinning his right hand between it and the canyon wall. Over the next 4 days or so, Ralston tries many and various means to get his arm unstuck. On the last day, he comes to the conclusion that if he's going to survive he needs to take drastic measures. He breaks both of his arm bones and uses a dull pocket knife to cut his hand off. He's rescued; but barely. That's what I'm going to do with this computer. Just slice it off. There's a whole life out there that I've missed for a long time because my world centers around this electronic machine. There's a Savior to be known, a salvation to be reveled in, a crown to be won, and bunches and bunches of people to love and serve. So I say it's time. Be off with you, piece of crap. You've robbed me too long and too dearly already.

I can hear the questions coming. How will you stay in touch with your friends and family from back home? Does this mean no more emails or facebook or Skype or overseas communication in any form? No. It doesn't mean this. I'll still have my iPod. I'm getting wireless internet at my house soon. Then I can voice Skype, facebook, and email with my loved ones. They won't be able to see me as I don't have a camera on my iPod, but that's an inconvenience I'm prepared to deal with.

So why do I ask for prayer? Well, cutting out an idol doesn't automatically produce intimacy with Christ. It puts me under the fountain of blessing but God still has to turn that fountain on. There will be a great deal of pain. Most of my life, I've had a computer supporting me, giving me entertainment, taking my mind off of problems in my life, etc. Cutting that off isn't going to be a thrill ride most days. It's going to be hard and painful and frustrating and boring many days. Pray that doing this would rain down such a blessing of intimacy with Christ that I literally wouldn't know what to do with all my joy. And if He doesn't do that, pray that I would bear this patiently, persevering and walking with Christ daily. So yeah. Pray for me. Thanks, everyone!