The Lord sometimes brings scriptures to my mind despite my greatly lacking meditative life. It happened this evening as I was on the bus to City 7. The scripture in 1 Samuel 15 just suddenly came to me where Samuel told Saul that obedience is greater than sacrifice. I realized that this completely flips human thought on its head. Humanity says EXACTLY the opposite. And the vast majority of the time I MYSELF think this way! My Christian walk feels like a failure when I haven't done something great or been able to emotionally testify of God's great power in my life or give a great deal of money to a godly cause. It is so tempting to think to oneself "I must get out there because Jesus died for me to do GREAT things. I was bought at an exorbitant price so I must serve exorbitantly! I must SHOW the gospel to be true through GREAT acts of love and compassion and sacrifice! We equate God's great act at the cross with how great our love should be shown towards Him.
Indeed, our love should be great towards God! We should exorbitantly love Him! But we cannot and MUST not judge our spiritual progress by how greatly we have been sacrificing. We are not constantly provided with opportunities to sacrifice but we ARE constantly provided with opportunities to OBEY!
"We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands," John the apostle says. He does not say "...if we sacrifice greatly and passionately." He says "if we obey." Just obey. Why is this so hard for us? Because we so deeply want the grandeur and hugeness of having sacrificed. It seems SO much more significant than mere obedience. God does not see it this way though! God loves it when you obey! It means so much more to Him than great sacrifice without obedience! God rejoices so much more when you simply stop watching a movie that's causing your mind to go places it shouldn't than when you have just given hundreds of dollars to a church or a Christian organization and then go and drink a few too many beers. We must get this through our heads! God is thrilled when we obey! He sings and dances because it is one of the ways our love toward Him is proven! So go your way today and obey! And know that God rejoices over your obedience!
04 December 2010
09 November 2010
Live or Freeze?
Something just passing through my mind this evening. I don't think any of us really can grasp how deep and vast the human soul and heart are. There are no psychological tests with which to measure the greatness of a single human heart. There are no tools to measure the depth of the soul. We cannot chart or graph the potentialities of our family, friends, or loved ones. The closest we can come to an accurate estimate of the value of a single human is to look at Calvary and see what God thought a human soul was worth. Look at Luke 15. There are three parables here. One with 99 sheep and one lost one. The next with 9 silver coins and one lost one. Finally, the famous story of the older and younger brother. Why this order? I believe it is to show something about the way God thinks. To him, the 100 sheep are not merely a flock of sheep. Each one, in His eyes, is as important as both of the sons in the last story. We see the same thing in Luke 7:11-15. There are multitudes surrounding Jesus but Luke takes the time to record this singular interaction. Jesus looked at this woman and his heart went out to HER. We see it again in Matthew 9:36. "When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd." Jesus sees each person as of great importance. We are great sinners but we are greatly loved. C. S. Lewis puts it this way:
"There are no 'ordinary' people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilisations -- these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whome we joke with, work with, marry, snub and exploit -- immortal horrors or everlasting splendours." (The Weight of Glory)
How does this play out in our relationships? If our Lord and Savior treats each person as worth so much, how can we think differently? If we are being conformed to His image, must we not take each and every one of our friendships and relationships as of immense importance? The idea of snubbing or hurting another person should move us to fear. Seeing a good friend hurt moves us to anger but how often do we casually take relationships? Look at the way Jesus deals with people in the gospels. It should cause us to cringe at our comparative indifference to those for whom Christ died.
Knowing this truth changes the way we live. Yes, ever person who crosses our path could have either a Josef Stalin or an Apostle Paul buried within them somewhere. Every soul can be truly great and God does not see us as we are but as we will be. So should we be petrified with fear that we will hurt one for whom Christ died? With everything we say or do we are having an effect on a person's potential. We either draw them closer to God and cause them to rise above where they are and make them a better person or we push them away from God and make them worse. So do we simply withdraw ourselves fearing that we will hurt them? Or do we boldly strive to draw them closer to God?
The answer is prayer and trust. Yes, each interaction is of enormous importance. Yes, a foolishly spoken word could have disastrous consequences. Yes, it is healthy to fear hurting another human being. No, we cannot withdraw ourselves or allow that fear to paralyze our friendships and relationships. We were created to be in community. We were created to interact with others and to have an effect on their life. We must simply learn to really believe that we have a loving, trustworthy, SOVEREIGN Father who is guiding human history with his nail-pierced hand. We must believe that He will not allow anything to happen that will not result in greater glory for Himself and that no mistake we make will surprise Him.
So go out there and accept that mistakes will happen, people will be hurt, and sin will be committed. But don't live recklessly or carelessly. Live in the fear of the Lord and submit to one another. Love and serve and give and forgive. Be Jesus to a lost and dying world.
"There are no 'ordinary' people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilisations -- these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whome we joke with, work with, marry, snub and exploit -- immortal horrors or everlasting splendours." (The Weight of Glory)
How does this play out in our relationships? If our Lord and Savior treats each person as worth so much, how can we think differently? If we are being conformed to His image, must we not take each and every one of our friendships and relationships as of immense importance? The idea of snubbing or hurting another person should move us to fear. Seeing a good friend hurt moves us to anger but how often do we casually take relationships? Look at the way Jesus deals with people in the gospels. It should cause us to cringe at our comparative indifference to those for whom Christ died.
Knowing this truth changes the way we live. Yes, ever person who crosses our path could have either a Josef Stalin or an Apostle Paul buried within them somewhere. Every soul can be truly great and God does not see us as we are but as we will be. So should we be petrified with fear that we will hurt one for whom Christ died? With everything we say or do we are having an effect on a person's potential. We either draw them closer to God and cause them to rise above where they are and make them a better person or we push them away from God and make them worse. So do we simply withdraw ourselves fearing that we will hurt them? Or do we boldly strive to draw them closer to God?
The answer is prayer and trust. Yes, each interaction is of enormous importance. Yes, a foolishly spoken word could have disastrous consequences. Yes, it is healthy to fear hurting another human being. No, we cannot withdraw ourselves or allow that fear to paralyze our friendships and relationships. We were created to be in community. We were created to interact with others and to have an effect on their life. We must simply learn to really believe that we have a loving, trustworthy, SOVEREIGN Father who is guiding human history with his nail-pierced hand. We must believe that He will not allow anything to happen that will not result in greater glory for Himself and that no mistake we make will surprise Him.
So go out there and accept that mistakes will happen, people will be hurt, and sin will be committed. But don't live recklessly or carelessly. Live in the fear of the Lord and submit to one another. Love and serve and give and forgive. Be Jesus to a lost and dying world.
04 November 2010
A Message
I feel this thing in my heart that I feel the Holy Spirit is wanting me to say. Do you realize what you are in Christ?! How dare any of us go out into this world hanging our heads?! YOU are a child of God! Do you realize what that means?! Your Father runs the universe! Jesus Christ loves you so much that He DIED for you! He died, was buried, and rose again and then He stepped into the control room of the universe and He is working ALL things together for your good! How can you be discouraged?! How can you be dismayed?! Your Father loves you with a deep, indeed an INFINITE love, and He reigns over everything you see! It pains God to see His VERY OWN CHILDREN going out into the world like they were insignificant, mediocre, worthless, or unimportant. You are absolutely individual! There is NOBODY just like you in the entire world! Yes, of course we sin! Of course we make huge mistakes sometimes! Of course we struggle and hurt and don't perfectly exhibit the greatness of God but NONE OF THIS changes His unfathomable, passionate, intimate, furious love and passion for you! If you are on fire for God, don't make the mistake of thinking you are more excited about your relationship with Him than He is! Yes, Jesus calls us to absolute commitment but NOBODY is more committed to their relationship to God than God Himself is! Don't EVER be discouraged! NOTHING that happens to you anywhere or anytime was engineered to discourage you or frustrate you! Isaiah 41:10 says "Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand." There are 2 commands in this verse and 5 reasons to obey!
Command #1: "Fear not"
DO NOT BE AFRAID! Do you know what the word "Fear" meant in the original manuscript? It meant FEAR! As children of God we have absolutely no right to be afraid! NEVER be afraid! Not in any circumstance! No matter what situation we face! No matter how people treat us! No matter what our boss says or what our friends say or what the news reports say or what we hear or see anywhere! God has commanded us "Fear not!"
Command #2: "Be not dismayed"
DO NOT BE DISMAYED! Never be discouraged! Never be frustrated! Never be overwhelmed or anxious or downcast or depressed or joyless! Never! Never ever! No! Not Ever! NEVER be dismayed! No matter if you get fired tomorrow! No matter if all your friends walk out on you! No matter if your significant other says they are leaving! If you lose all your money and your house burns down and everybody looks at you thinking that you are an absolute idiot and you find out you have cancer and you get injured in a freak accident! Not under any circumstance! God says, "Be not dismayed!" DO. NOT. BE. DISCOURAGED.
Promise #1: "I am with you..."
GOD is with you! GOD is there for you! GOD! The One who stretched out the corners of the universe and planted all the trees of the forest! Who set the stars blazing in the nighttime sky! Who loves you with a deep and everlasting love! Who says "I will never leave you nor forsake you! Who forgave your depraved, wicked, degenerate, filthy, God-awful rebellion and said "I want you to be my child!" THAT God. The one who knit you together in your mother's womb! Who sees your past, present, and future! Who knows every sin you have committed, are committing, and will ever commit in the future and still says "I love you!" Who sees your best deeds as filthy rags and still says "You are my beloved!" HE is with you! Emmanuel! God is with us!
Promise #2: "I am your God..."
He is not just with you. He is YOUR God. You have a personal relationship with Him. He does not say "That guy there!" when He refers to you! He says "My child [insert your name]" He is YOUR God. You are HIS child! You have a personal relationship with God Almighty who is so far above you in every way yet chooses to relate to you in a personal, intimate fashion! He does not distance Himself from you emotionally. He has clearly defined a relationship that exists between you and Him! He is not just God. He is YOUR God!
Promise #3: "I will strengthen you..."
He is with you! He is YOUR God! And He says "I will strengthen you!" Do you know how much energy God has??? Well, you really can't put a number on something that is infinite! Infinite. We sometimes forget what that word means! God strength has no beginning, it has no middle, and it has no end. There was never a point in time where God did NOT have limitless energy! He never climbs out of bed and has to get a drink of coffee to get his power flowing again! He does not have to lift grogginess with anything! He never has to do something in order to get his energy running full force. His energy never began! His energy has no middle! There is never a point in time where God is MORE able to do something than at other times! And His energy has no end! God does not get tired! He does not hope for Friday to come around so He can take a break! He never has to recharge His batteries or get an extra shot of espresso to keep Himself going late into the night! God's power is INFINITE! And what does this promise say?? "I will strengthen you." When God says He will strengthen you, watch out! This means there is NO situation He cannot put you in! You may find yourself in some REALLY difficult circumstances and situations! When God says He will strengthen you it means there is NOTHING He cannot ask you to do! There is no situation you cannot face! If EVERYTHING in your life falls to pieces and the bottom falls out and your existence turns into absolute misery, GOD will strengthen you! Never be discouraged! Never be afraid! Never be dismayed! Never be downcast or frustrated or angry or bitter or bummed out! God will strengthen you!
Promise #4: "I will help you." You can't come up against anything that will frustrate God. He does not get discouraged or upset or downcast or dismayed or bitter. "I will help you," He promises, you have God inside of you strengthening you, and you have God working in your situation to help you! "You are my child! I took you into account when I laid down history and decided how to engineer your circumstances!" He will help you! Within and without HE is on your side! He will never give you too much to bear but will fit your circumstances to your level of faith AND will strengthen you to bear difficulty and pain that you would not be able to handle otherwise! "I will help you," says the Maker of Heaven and Earth!
Promise #5: "I will uphold you with my righteous right hand!" You will not fall! Your situation will not overpower you! At the end of the battle, YOU will still be holding your ground because the LORD God Almighty, the Maker of Heaven and Earth, the sea, and all that is in them will hold you with His victorious right hand! You are on the side that will win the war! No matter what device of hell may be leveled against you, you may laugh for you serve the King of Kings and Lord of Lords! NEVER will He let you go! NEVER will He let you be overwhelmed! NEVER will His righteous right hand fail! NEVER! NEVER EVER! NOT EVER! NO! NEVER! NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES! No power of Hell! No scheme of man! NOTHING will ever pluck you from His hand! If you are His child, you will never ever ever ever ever slip away from Him! You are IN CHRIST! You are in the Fort Knox of Fort Knoxes! "I will uphold you with my righteous [victorious] right hand!" says God.
Hope you've been blessed by this! I've been blessed in the writing of it!
Command #1: "Fear not"
DO NOT BE AFRAID! Do you know what the word "Fear" meant in the original manuscript? It meant FEAR! As children of God we have absolutely no right to be afraid! NEVER be afraid! Not in any circumstance! No matter what situation we face! No matter how people treat us! No matter what our boss says or what our friends say or what the news reports say or what we hear or see anywhere! God has commanded us "Fear not!"
Command #2: "Be not dismayed"
DO NOT BE DISMAYED! Never be discouraged! Never be frustrated! Never be overwhelmed or anxious or downcast or depressed or joyless! Never! Never ever! No! Not Ever! NEVER be dismayed! No matter if you get fired tomorrow! No matter if all your friends walk out on you! No matter if your significant other says they are leaving! If you lose all your money and your house burns down and everybody looks at you thinking that you are an absolute idiot and you find out you have cancer and you get injured in a freak accident! Not under any circumstance! God says, "Be not dismayed!" DO. NOT. BE. DISCOURAGED.
Promise #1: "I am with you..."
GOD is with you! GOD is there for you! GOD! The One who stretched out the corners of the universe and planted all the trees of the forest! Who set the stars blazing in the nighttime sky! Who loves you with a deep and everlasting love! Who says "I will never leave you nor forsake you! Who forgave your depraved, wicked, degenerate, filthy, God-awful rebellion and said "I want you to be my child!" THAT God. The one who knit you together in your mother's womb! Who sees your past, present, and future! Who knows every sin you have committed, are committing, and will ever commit in the future and still says "I love you!" Who sees your best deeds as filthy rags and still says "You are my beloved!" HE is with you! Emmanuel! God is with us!
Promise #2: "I am your God..."
He is not just with you. He is YOUR God. You have a personal relationship with Him. He does not say "That guy there!" when He refers to you! He says "My child [insert your name]" He is YOUR God. You are HIS child! You have a personal relationship with God Almighty who is so far above you in every way yet chooses to relate to you in a personal, intimate fashion! He does not distance Himself from you emotionally. He has clearly defined a relationship that exists between you and Him! He is not just God. He is YOUR God!
Promise #3: "I will strengthen you..."
He is with you! He is YOUR God! And He says "I will strengthen you!" Do you know how much energy God has??? Well, you really can't put a number on something that is infinite! Infinite. We sometimes forget what that word means! God strength has no beginning, it has no middle, and it has no end. There was never a point in time where God did NOT have limitless energy! He never climbs out of bed and has to get a drink of coffee to get his power flowing again! He does not have to lift grogginess with anything! He never has to do something in order to get his energy running full force. His energy never began! His energy has no middle! There is never a point in time where God is MORE able to do something than at other times! And His energy has no end! God does not get tired! He does not hope for Friday to come around so He can take a break! He never has to recharge His batteries or get an extra shot of espresso to keep Himself going late into the night! God's power is INFINITE! And what does this promise say?? "I will strengthen you." When God says He will strengthen you, watch out! This means there is NO situation He cannot put you in! You may find yourself in some REALLY difficult circumstances and situations! When God says He will strengthen you it means there is NOTHING He cannot ask you to do! There is no situation you cannot face! If EVERYTHING in your life falls to pieces and the bottom falls out and your existence turns into absolute misery, GOD will strengthen you! Never be discouraged! Never be afraid! Never be dismayed! Never be downcast or frustrated or angry or bitter or bummed out! God will strengthen you!
Promise #4: "I will help you." You can't come up against anything that will frustrate God. He does not get discouraged or upset or downcast or dismayed or bitter. "I will help you," He promises, you have God inside of you strengthening you, and you have God working in your situation to help you! "You are my child! I took you into account when I laid down history and decided how to engineer your circumstances!" He will help you! Within and without HE is on your side! He will never give you too much to bear but will fit your circumstances to your level of faith AND will strengthen you to bear difficulty and pain that you would not be able to handle otherwise! "I will help you," says the Maker of Heaven and Earth!
Promise #5: "I will uphold you with my righteous right hand!" You will not fall! Your situation will not overpower you! At the end of the battle, YOU will still be holding your ground because the LORD God Almighty, the Maker of Heaven and Earth, the sea, and all that is in them will hold you with His victorious right hand! You are on the side that will win the war! No matter what device of hell may be leveled against you, you may laugh for you serve the King of Kings and Lord of Lords! NEVER will He let you go! NEVER will He let you be overwhelmed! NEVER will His righteous right hand fail! NEVER! NEVER EVER! NOT EVER! NO! NEVER! NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES! No power of Hell! No scheme of man! NOTHING will ever pluck you from His hand! If you are His child, you will never ever ever ever ever slip away from Him! You are IN CHRIST! You are in the Fort Knox of Fort Knoxes! "I will uphold you with my righteous [victorious] right hand!" says God.
Hope you've been blessed by this! I've been blessed in the writing of it!
Things I Have Learned About Classroom Discipline (So Far)
Here are some of the lessons I've learned about teaching English in Korea since I got here:
1. Classroom discipline is not an exact science. It's impossible to think that things will go swimmingly 100% of the time. Some days, the students are just bad no matter what consequences you affix to their actions.
2. In order to maintain classroom discipline you must go in with the presumption that you hold the control and have all the power. Classroom discipline is you figuring out the most effective way to use it. If you let students have any power they're going to walk all over you and you will be left frustrated and stewing with anger inside.
3. You cannot come up with a long list of rules and expect students to follow all of them all the time. Start small. Have very simple, broad rules and be unswerving with them. For example, when I made rules I came up with 10. Students were breaking them left, right, and center at first and there was literally no way that I could catch every infraction and apply the punishment I installed. Students picked up on this and saw it as a game of risk. Would I catch THEIR violation or miss it in favor of someone else's. You overwhelm yourself when you come up with more than 2 or 3 rules and at the end of the day you feel completely inconsistent. And you ARE inconsistent if you don't punish all of them. So start small with only a couple of rock solid rules and punish the violators without mercy.
4. Find something that the students care about and you find your power source. For instance, in most of my classes, they care about getting stamps that they can exchange for coupons. But in some of my classes they could care less about getting stamps. So I had to find something else that they DID care about.
5. Have both punishment and positive reinforcement in place. It's the same in God's economy. Students will either be punished for disobedience or rewarded for obedience. Under no circumstances will absolutely nothing happen. This way, the students will not see you as either a softy or a cruel dictator in the classroom. Those who are punished cannot accuse you of being mean and those who are rewarded cannot form the opinion that they can get away with things behind your back.
6. Don't take disobedience personally. The students want to get under your skin and they often will but you MUST not show it. Treat them as though you could care less how they behave and simply apply the reward or the punishment previously decided to the situation. If they see that they are getting under your skin it will simply make things worse. You must not allow them to affect your personal life. At the end of the day, some students are just rotten. They are rotten to you on top of all the others. Don't take it personally.
7. You're never going to have it perfect. At least not for the first long while. Students are students. They are in your classroom with 2 duties: learning and being students. Contrary to what people may tell you, these are not the same things. Every teacher I know wishes their class came with only the first duty but it's just not that way. Being a student means being a person and whenever you put more than 1 sinner in a room there are going to be social problems. We just have to deal with it!
1. Classroom discipline is not an exact science. It's impossible to think that things will go swimmingly 100% of the time. Some days, the students are just bad no matter what consequences you affix to their actions.
2. In order to maintain classroom discipline you must go in with the presumption that you hold the control and have all the power. Classroom discipline is you figuring out the most effective way to use it. If you let students have any power they're going to walk all over you and you will be left frustrated and stewing with anger inside.
3. You cannot come up with a long list of rules and expect students to follow all of them all the time. Start small. Have very simple, broad rules and be unswerving with them. For example, when I made rules I came up with 10. Students were breaking them left, right, and center at first and there was literally no way that I could catch every infraction and apply the punishment I installed. Students picked up on this and saw it as a game of risk. Would I catch THEIR violation or miss it in favor of someone else's. You overwhelm yourself when you come up with more than 2 or 3 rules and at the end of the day you feel completely inconsistent. And you ARE inconsistent if you don't punish all of them. So start small with only a couple of rock solid rules and punish the violators without mercy.
4. Find something that the students care about and you find your power source. For instance, in most of my classes, they care about getting stamps that they can exchange for coupons. But in some of my classes they could care less about getting stamps. So I had to find something else that they DID care about.
5. Have both punishment and positive reinforcement in place. It's the same in God's economy. Students will either be punished for disobedience or rewarded for obedience. Under no circumstances will absolutely nothing happen. This way, the students will not see you as either a softy or a cruel dictator in the classroom. Those who are punished cannot accuse you of being mean and those who are rewarded cannot form the opinion that they can get away with things behind your back.
6. Don't take disobedience personally. The students want to get under your skin and they often will but you MUST not show it. Treat them as though you could care less how they behave and simply apply the reward or the punishment previously decided to the situation. If they see that they are getting under your skin it will simply make things worse. You must not allow them to affect your personal life. At the end of the day, some students are just rotten. They are rotten to you on top of all the others. Don't take it personally.
7. You're never going to have it perfect. At least not for the first long while. Students are students. They are in your classroom with 2 duties: learning and being students. Contrary to what people may tell you, these are not the same things. Every teacher I know wishes their class came with only the first duty but it's just not that way. Being a student means being a person and whenever you put more than 1 sinner in a room there are going to be social problems. We just have to deal with it!
26 October 2010
A Framework for Scripture Reading
All Scripture is unified in the gospel. As I see it, there are 4 categories that every last verse fit under in Scripture. Here they are:
1. Who God is
2. Who I am
3. The relationship between God and me
4. What Jesus accomplished at the cross
Reading God's Word with these guidelines provides clarity and depth to every Scripture you will read.
1. Who God is
2. Who I am
3. The relationship between God and me
4. What Jesus accomplished at the cross
Reading God's Word with these guidelines provides clarity and depth to every Scripture you will read.
08 October 2010
50 First Dates
50 First Dates might come across as a really lame movie if you look only at the surface level. In fact, the surface level is probably how the director intended people to view it. But I was struck at the end of the film that it really contains the gospel message, albeit at a very shallow, worldly level. Let me briefly explain the premise of the film for those of you who have not seen it:
Adam Sandler plays a man who lives on a tropical island (somewhere in Hawaii I believe). He is notorious for taking women tourists out “for a good time” during their brief stay on the island. One day, he meets a “local girl” named Lucy (played by Drew Barrymore) who has short term memory loss. Every day she relives the day of her accident which caused the brain damage. She literally repeats every day as though it were the day she lost the ability to store long term memory. Her father and brother help her maintain this delusion because it is simply easier than explaining every day what happened and seeing the pain and disbelief ruin the whole day for her. Sandler falls in love with her and the two of them manage to develop some semblance of a relationship despite her memory loss. He creates a videotape for her to watch every day to remind her what happened, who he is, and about their relationship together. At the end of the movie they have gotten married and traveled to a place where Sandler is studying the behavior of walruses in the wild. They have a child and Lucy is living a beautiful, wonderful life.
Fellow believers, we have a very short term memory. We forget daily that we participated in a catastrophic event called the Fall. We have forgotten who God is and that we have any relation to Him. We forget that sin has gotten in the way of relating to God and that we must daily repent of our wickedness and embrace His love for us. We feel lost and lonely because we forget “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” We live life as we have every day of our life. Unless…
God’s word is, to us, the video tape. “Good morning! Watch me…” Lucy’s video says. God wants us to read His word every day to remind us of what’s happened, who He is, who we are, and what our relationship is. In the last scene, Lucy pops the video in and watches everything that’s happened. Then she peers out a window and sees icebergs floating by. She goes outside and is greeted by her husband and little girl. She has no words. She is just filled with wonder and awe. Friend, when was the last time you looked into the Holy Word of God and just were speechless at what He tells you? We are not nearly as struck by the wonder and awe of it as we ought to be.
Adam Sandler plays a man who lives on a tropical island (somewhere in Hawaii I believe). He is notorious for taking women tourists out “for a good time” during their brief stay on the island. One day, he meets a “local girl” named Lucy (played by Drew Barrymore) who has short term memory loss. Every day she relives the day of her accident which caused the brain damage. She literally repeats every day as though it were the day she lost the ability to store long term memory. Her father and brother help her maintain this delusion because it is simply easier than explaining every day what happened and seeing the pain and disbelief ruin the whole day for her. Sandler falls in love with her and the two of them manage to develop some semblance of a relationship despite her memory loss. He creates a videotape for her to watch every day to remind her what happened, who he is, and about their relationship together. At the end of the movie they have gotten married and traveled to a place where Sandler is studying the behavior of walruses in the wild. They have a child and Lucy is living a beautiful, wonderful life.
Fellow believers, we have a very short term memory. We forget daily that we participated in a catastrophic event called the Fall. We have forgotten who God is and that we have any relation to Him. We forget that sin has gotten in the way of relating to God and that we must daily repent of our wickedness and embrace His love for us. We feel lost and lonely because we forget “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” We live life as we have every day of our life. Unless…
God’s word is, to us, the video tape. “Good morning! Watch me…” Lucy’s video says. God wants us to read His word every day to remind us of what’s happened, who He is, who we are, and what our relationship is. In the last scene, Lucy pops the video in and watches everything that’s happened. Then she peers out a window and sees icebergs floating by. She goes outside and is greeted by her husband and little girl. She has no words. She is just filled with wonder and awe. Friend, when was the last time you looked into the Holy Word of God and just were speechless at what He tells you? We are not nearly as struck by the wonder and awe of it as we ought to be.
15 September 2010
Grace as Currency
So it hit me this evening that finances can tell us a lot about grace. I'm sure we all know what it's like to be scraping the bottom of our bank accounts not knowing where our next meal will come from or how we will pay our bills. When you're poor you carefully budget every last penny you earn so you do not miss any obligations. You wonder if you can afford to order a sandwich from the dollar menu or if you should just wait until you get home. You meticulously count out each purchase you make and you constantly worry that something unexpected will happen that you will not be able to handle financially. You often find yourself eating ramen soup or, if you're Korean, rice. That is your meal. You worry if you have somehow made a mistake in your calculations and think "Oh no! If I mess this up I'm going to be in trouble!" What if you've forgotten something critical? You worry so much when you're in a serious financial situation!
I think we all have the bad habit of treating God's economy the way we do our own. At least I do. We carefully budget God's grace hoping we will have enough to cover all of our obligations. And we work like the dickens making sure we have earned enough grace to cover whatever situation we face. We worry that some crisis will come up where we will not have enough grace to cover us. The only thing is that at least with a monetary account we can check our balance before making a purchase. There is a concrete amount. I look at my account, "Okay! I have 45 000 won in there. I can afford this." With God though, we worry because there's nowhere we can look to see if we have enough. We have to go on intuition. This leads to worrying that we have overestimated how much grace is available to us today. Like we will face some situation during the day and suddenly discover that there's not enough grace left! When we live like this we live very weak, fragile, cautious lives. We constantly tread on thin ice trying not to put too much weight on our "grace account" in case it's been depleted. We tread softly and we are weak. Our lights are dim and our salt is only mildly salty. We do not exhibit the greatness of Christ.
What do we do then? Well do you know what it's like to have a full bank account? I got paid today and I feel rich all of a sudden! My first inclination, though, is to still be careful. "What if it's not as much as it really is somehow? I need to be careful what I spend it on or it could still run out!" I have about more money than I've ever had at once in my life right now with the possible exception of one or two other times! And I'm still worrying! Let me tell you right now! Your "grace account" is FULL! It is ridiculous! It's bigger than Bill Gates' bank account! You couldn't put a dent in it if you bought the most luxurious things in the world all day every day for the rest of your life! God does not run out of grace! It's like the sun running out of heat or light! Or like the universe running out of space! It's like the color blue running out of blueness! It ain't gonna happen, folks! And even if all those other things could happen God could still not run out of grace! God does not HAVE grace! He IS gracious!
It is this attribute of God that the universe hinges upon! And how is this grace available to us? Did God just say "I'm going to show grace to those people!"? No! God can't just dispense grace to us when we are His enemies! He cannot just hand grace out to the wicked people that we are! That would make Him an unjust judge! How then is this grace available to us? Through Christ! "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich." --2 Corinthians 8:9. Jesus said "I love them enough that I will leave all my riches behind. I will humble myself and become a human. I will veil my power and majesty and take on poverty stricken, weak human nature. I will die instead of them. Then, Father, then you can bless them. Make them rich through what I do for them." The Father loved his Son more than any of our minds could ever possibly wrap our minds around. The love they shared is utterly incomprehensible to our small creature minds. How deeply must God love us that He would be willing for this event to take place?
So now we are free! Go out! Spend wildly! Jesus says in Luke 6, "But I say to you who hear, love your enemies! Do good to those who hate you! Bless those who curse you! And pray for those who spitefully use you!" In other words, "You've got more grace than you know what to do with! Don't be careful who you show grace too because you're never going to run out! Go crazy!" So go out there and spend like your resources can never be depleted! Because they can't!
I think we all have the bad habit of treating God's economy the way we do our own. At least I do. We carefully budget God's grace hoping we will have enough to cover all of our obligations. And we work like the dickens making sure we have earned enough grace to cover whatever situation we face. We worry that some crisis will come up where we will not have enough grace to cover us. The only thing is that at least with a monetary account we can check our balance before making a purchase. There is a concrete amount. I look at my account, "Okay! I have 45 000 won in there. I can afford this." With God though, we worry because there's nowhere we can look to see if we have enough. We have to go on intuition. This leads to worrying that we have overestimated how much grace is available to us today. Like we will face some situation during the day and suddenly discover that there's not enough grace left! When we live like this we live very weak, fragile, cautious lives. We constantly tread on thin ice trying not to put too much weight on our "grace account" in case it's been depleted. We tread softly and we are weak. Our lights are dim and our salt is only mildly salty. We do not exhibit the greatness of Christ.
What do we do then? Well do you know what it's like to have a full bank account? I got paid today and I feel rich all of a sudden! My first inclination, though, is to still be careful. "What if it's not as much as it really is somehow? I need to be careful what I spend it on or it could still run out!" I have about more money than I've ever had at once in my life right now with the possible exception of one or two other times! And I'm still worrying! Let me tell you right now! Your "grace account" is FULL! It is ridiculous! It's bigger than Bill Gates' bank account! You couldn't put a dent in it if you bought the most luxurious things in the world all day every day for the rest of your life! God does not run out of grace! It's like the sun running out of heat or light! Or like the universe running out of space! It's like the color blue running out of blueness! It ain't gonna happen, folks! And even if all those other things could happen God could still not run out of grace! God does not HAVE grace! He IS gracious!
It is this attribute of God that the universe hinges upon! And how is this grace available to us? Did God just say "I'm going to show grace to those people!"? No! God can't just dispense grace to us when we are His enemies! He cannot just hand grace out to the wicked people that we are! That would make Him an unjust judge! How then is this grace available to us? Through Christ! "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich." --2 Corinthians 8:9. Jesus said "I love them enough that I will leave all my riches behind. I will humble myself and become a human. I will veil my power and majesty and take on poverty stricken, weak human nature. I will die instead of them. Then, Father, then you can bless them. Make them rich through what I do for them." The Father loved his Son more than any of our minds could ever possibly wrap our minds around. The love they shared is utterly incomprehensible to our small creature minds. How deeply must God love us that He would be willing for this event to take place?
So now we are free! Go out! Spend wildly! Jesus says in Luke 6, "But I say to you who hear, love your enemies! Do good to those who hate you! Bless those who curse you! And pray for those who spitefully use you!" In other words, "You've got more grace than you know what to do with! Don't be careful who you show grace too because you're never going to run out! Go crazy!" So go out there and spend like your resources can never be depleted! Because they can't!
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