Excerpts from a Conversation

I was talking with God this evening, just trying to figure some things out. In the course of the conversation, the following dialogue was had:

Me: “Why do You even love me, God? You know everything I do; all my failings; how I stumble time after time after time and never seem to learn. Why do You still love me?”

God: “I made you.”

Me: “You made a mess!”

God: “I made someone who needs My Son.”

That pretty much ended the conversation. Question answered. I love it: no long explanation or justification, just seven simple words. And almost a quarter of the day later, I’m still thinking about it - what exactly my identity means, what are the results of this, and what it means going forward.

Chair Video

If you've heard of Rob Bell (http://nooma.com/), you might be familiar with the style of this video. I'd been wanting to film a video like he does for some time now, and finally this last weekend wrote and taped this. Now it's on GoogleVideo for you to enjoy, learn from, and share! Enjoy!

Chair pt. II

Another key word in this passage is also a verb. This time, though, it is a perfect verb, meaning it has already been completed. What do you think that word is? Read through the verse again.

Could you guess? The word I’m talking about the Hebrew “Tamak” (Taw-mak), which is translated as the English “uphold.” God is constantly, actively upholding us, and it is already completed. Not that He will sometime in the future uphold us; no, He is already sustaining us.

Often times it doesn’t seem like that, though. It feels like we’re free falling through the abyss some call “life.” But He’s still supporting us. Think of it this way. Going through life is like sitting in a chair, like you are right now. Are you comfortable? Reasonably? Well, consider right now as sailing through a smooth stretch of life. Everything is going pretty fine, you’re doing okay at school, family life is pretty even-keel, and you have good relationships with your friends.

But then something happens. You know what I’m talking about. Maybe you’re living through a something or somethings right now. But God is still supporting you; He is still upholding you. Just because the chair is uncomfortable doesn’t mean you’re not sitting in it.

Let me say that again. Just because life is being mean to you doesn’t mean that God has forsaken you. He is not out to get you! Let me ask this: If the chair is uncomfortable, does that mean it’s not supporting you? Of course not! Regardless of how challenging life seems, regardless of how hard and uncomfortable the chair seems, God is still upholding you. He will not let you dash your foot on the rocks. That’s settled.

You are God’s beloved, His amazing child. He will not forsake you! Regardless of how loud the storm of life rages around you, He is still standing beside you! You may not hear Him, but He is still there, standing by your side, unwavering in His devotion and dedication.

So may you always remember not to be Yare’ (Yaw-ray) but instead remember that God is constantly, continually supporting you, regardless of how hard the situation might get. Do not be fearful or dismayed, for God will strengthen you, help you, and uphold you forever.

“Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.” ~ Isaiah 41:10

Chair pt. I

“Fear not.” “Be of good courage.” “Do not be afraid.” How many times have we heard that in the Bible? Countless times, it seems. God does not want us to be afraid. But why? Why doesn’t He want this? Because fear paralyzes us from accomplishing His will. Fear is like a poison that spreads from a source, slowly rendering ineffective everything in its path. It starts in the mind as a little worry but soon grows into a monster too large to control ourselves, and we submit to its intimidation. This is not in God’s plan.

God does not want us to be afraid because fear is not from Him. If God is love, and “perfect love casteth out fear,” then there logically can be no fear in God. And why should there be? He is all-powerful and all-knowing. Nothing ever catches Him off-guard. Nothing is ever too strong for Him. So why should God have anything to fear? The truth is, He has no reason. Perhaps more appropriately the question is, “Why should we have anything to fear, if we have God dwelling within us?”

Our text today is from Isaiah chapter forty-one. If you have your Bibles, now’s a good time to pull them out and follow along. Our key verse is verse ten: “Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of My righteousness.”

Here again is that “fear not” phrase. In this reference, it is both a command and a promise. “God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” (Second Timothy 1:7) That verse clearly says fear is not from God. He commands us not to be afraid, because He has not given us fear. Instead He has given us power and love and a solid mind. He gives us power to overcome every obstacle we meet. He gives us love because “perfect love casteth out fear.” And He has given us a sound mind to reason with. We do not have to be afraid of anything, because God is on our side. And if God is for us, who can prosper against us?

“Fear thou not” is also a promise in this verse. God doesn’t just tell us not to be afraid and then leave us hanging. He promises that He will strengthen us, help us, and uphold us. He leaves us with no reason to fear or dismay.

In the Hebrew, the word translated “fear” is the verb “Yare’” (Yaw-ray). It’s interesting to note that Yare’ is a verb—a word indicating action. Fear is not something you just put on, like a shirt. It is something you do, like running. Because it is a verb, it means that we can choose to stop doing it. We don’t have to be slaves to fear. Holding to fear is only hurting yourself, paralyzing yourself from accomplishing God’s full potential in your life.

(to be continued)

Photo Editing

Before

After

This evening I did some photo editing (see pictures above). Yeah, pretty self-evident. But while I was doing it I was struck with a spiritual concept. We are all photos in the likeness of Christ Jesus. It took me some manipulating, merging, squashing, mashing, cutting, pasting, blending, and adjusting to create the final result in my project.

We are the same way. God needs to merge, cut, paste, blend, and adjust us to become the person He designed us to be. He has an idea for your life just like I had an idea for the photo I was editing. I’m sure if the pictures could talk, they would have been screaming because of all the twisting and cropping I’d done to them.

Maybe we can learn a second lesson from this. Just as the pictures on the computer were silent, we too need to accept God’s working with humility and brokenness. That is something I’ve really been learning lately. Don’t ask for strength when you’re going through a hard time. Ask for brokenness to be able to be molded into what God is trying to make.

But, just like I finished the picture (eventually), God will constantly be working on you, until you are made perfect in the day that Jesus comes again!

“I am sure that God Who began the good work in you will keep on working in you until the day Jesus Christ comes again.” ~ Philippians 1:6

Homework

This post stems from a real-life event, not necessarily a truth I want to expound on. This morning, my mom got the flu. I had a doctor appointment but we had to cancel that and I went with my mom instead to take her to her doctor. I thought I would miss my college class, so I didn’t bring my backpack, which, coincidentally, held my homework which was due today. Well, we got out of the doctor in time to skid into my math class. Without the homework, of course. So, that good thing was that I made my class. The bad was that I didn’t have my homework.

But, things get even better. Before class started, I overhead Professor Pipkin talking about the homework with one of the students of the previous class. He said because the test covered so much material, he won’t collect the homework and give everyone a 10 on it.

Now, say with me: God is good.

All the time.

And all the time.

God is good.

Amen.

“We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.” ~ Romans 8:28, NRS