Call it life getting in the way, but I've really neglected this blog. The best intentions of mice and men, right? I don't foresee me becoming regular here, but I might as well post when something is swirling around in my head. So here it is, the thought for the week.
God is outside of time, he's not bound by what he created. Jesus as his son, born into man was both within and without human's constraints. As such he aged, but is even so now ageless. Because God exists in all time, that means that for him everything is immediate. For him everything is happening at this moment. All one has to do is look to Revelations to the end of time. It's already been done, because it's happening now. The creation of man is happening right now. For God nothing is fixed, for man everything is. And this applies to the forgiveness of sins.
We go through life and are bound to trip up from time to time. A righteous man falls seven times and gets back up. But to say that your previous sins have any more forgiveness than your current doesn't hold. Christ died for your sins. He didn't die to cover your transgressions up to the point of your asking him into your heart. He was crucified for the sins of man, and that will include every sin you have in your life. Whether or not you accept Jesus into your life and attain salvation, he died for your sins. Those of us who have had or continue to have a recurring sin in our lives, I want you take this thought to heart:
Christ didn't just die for your sins, he is currently dying for your sins 2000 years ago to us. Right now, a father removed from time, is turning away from his child because he can't look upon the sins of man. Right now Jesus is looking up to heaven and saying "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do," and he's not talking about the Romans, and he's not talking about the Pharisees, he's talking about you, and me, and every time we walk open eyed into a transgression. And right now, regardless of where you're at, he's forgiving you, and asking you to take the life he offers.
We've already made him a sacrifice, why let his gift go to waste? Taste and see that the Lord is good.
Perhaps one day I'll write to the nature of sin. But when it comes to blogging and well, most things in life, there's no guarantee. Anyway... In the words of my great grandfather who spoke it every day about the return of Christ, "maybe today".
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
The Personal Touch
Today I'm not going to be handling a question but rather I want to speak about something I feel God is speaking to my heart. I hope to get back to questions again soon and if anyone has any, feel free to drop me a line.
A personal relationship with Jesus. It's something that gets said a lot in church, but is often overlooked by us each day. After all, we go to church, where we worship, we pray, we speak in tongues, and we learn from the Word; all as a body. Don't get me wrong, it's important to commune with other believers, it's just more important to develop that personal relationship. One way in particular is on my heart today.
For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. -John 3:16 KJV
Thanks to sporting events it's probably the most famous verse in the bible. With good cause though, since it sums up all it takes to be saved. But I think too often we get stuck in the mentality of Jesus saving the world, and forget that he saved not just the world but also 'me'.
Have you ever really thought about that? For the moment, forget the rest of the world. The world is impersonal, it's ambiguous. Christ didn't die for the world, he died for you; for each one of us individually. For God so loved You, he gave his Son.
How would you feel if someone pushed you out of the way of an oncoming bus and took the full force themselves; a stranger, who you'd never met, pulling you out of the clutches of death and dying in your place? You'd feel grateful to be alive, and you'd feel forever indebted to this man who had saved you. You'd want to get to know who he was, to know his family. Everywhere you'd go, everyone you met, you'd recount the story, telling them how this man had saved your life. It's something that you would carry around with you for the rest of your life.
It's the personal touch.
And it's what happened. Jesus stepped in the way of our death. But how many of us actually believe that? If we had seen him die in the flesh, how different would we be living our lives? For the most part, as far as we're concerned it's something that happened 2000+ years ago. But understand, to God, to his Son, time means nothing. He saw you when he gave his life. He didn't die 2000 years ago, he died today, for you.
And while we go through life fulfilling the day to day tasks, we can't be expected to think about it all the time, but it's something that deserves a moment every now and again. To hide away from the world, close our eyes, and think for minute, He died for 'Me.' That's something for each one of us, and just us. A love that's truly personal.
A personal relationship with Jesus. It's something that gets said a lot in church, but is often overlooked by us each day. After all, we go to church, where we worship, we pray, we speak in tongues, and we learn from the Word; all as a body. Don't get me wrong, it's important to commune with other believers, it's just more important to develop that personal relationship. One way in particular is on my heart today.
For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. -John 3:16 KJV
Thanks to sporting events it's probably the most famous verse in the bible. With good cause though, since it sums up all it takes to be saved. But I think too often we get stuck in the mentality of Jesus saving the world, and forget that he saved not just the world but also 'me'.
Have you ever really thought about that? For the moment, forget the rest of the world. The world is impersonal, it's ambiguous. Christ didn't die for the world, he died for you; for each one of us individually. For God so loved You, he gave his Son.
How would you feel if someone pushed you out of the way of an oncoming bus and took the full force themselves; a stranger, who you'd never met, pulling you out of the clutches of death and dying in your place? You'd feel grateful to be alive, and you'd feel forever indebted to this man who had saved you. You'd want to get to know who he was, to know his family. Everywhere you'd go, everyone you met, you'd recount the story, telling them how this man had saved your life. It's something that you would carry around with you for the rest of your life.
It's the personal touch.
And it's what happened. Jesus stepped in the way of our death. But how many of us actually believe that? If we had seen him die in the flesh, how different would we be living our lives? For the most part, as far as we're concerned it's something that happened 2000+ years ago. But understand, to God, to his Son, time means nothing. He saw you when he gave his life. He didn't die 2000 years ago, he died today, for you.
And while we go through life fulfilling the day to day tasks, we can't be expected to think about it all the time, but it's something that deserves a moment every now and again. To hide away from the world, close our eyes, and think for minute, He died for 'Me.' That's something for each one of us, and just us. A love that's truly personal.
Monday, May 2, 2011
Why do bad things happen to good people?
Question: Why do bad things happen to good people?
After 9/11 I remember hearing Billy Graham saying on TV that in all his years he'd never been able to answer that question. Now, I have nothing but respect for that man, and I realize it was a delicate time. One where the entire country was scared and hurting. He had to choose his words carefully. The fact is though that there is a hard answer to the question.
Life is random.
Going back to Genesis, we see what was originally a perfect world. God created man, intending him not to be as servants, forced to obey, but as children with free will. The planet was given to us to take care and manage. The world was a giant garden and we were the caretakers. While we remained faithful, the world ran according to God's plan and will. But then Adam and Eve ruined that.
Instead of choosing to live by God's will man chose to live by his own. No longer was there a perfect order to things. One perfect will guiding the planet. Death and sin was introduced into the world and our various wills, reigned instead.
I'm sure most everyone knows chaos theory, even if it's just from watching Jurassic Park. Life really does operate in that way. Our actions, along with random chance produce outcomes we could never foresee. When you have 6 billion people each struggling to make the world conform to their version of happiness, it becomes chaotic. Like 6 billion people trying to drive one car. Course naturally when things go bad, God gets the blame.
How could a merciful God allow such horrible things to happen?
Because he loves us. God loved us enough to give us free will to impact this earth as we see fit. He's not going to control everything we do, so as a result, we have the ability to create and destroy ourselves anyway we see fit. And we're far better at the latter. If we believe in him though, have faith, it is possible to change things. Sometimes God intercedes for one reason or another. Again it may seem random to us, but every choice he makes has a reason behind it. God won't interfere with our destroying ourselves, but he does love us and will do what he can to save as many as he can.
So, to sum up, bad things happen because life is random. Maybe, instead of asking why there's so much darkness in this world, we should be asking, 'what can I do to shine a light in it?'
After 9/11 I remember hearing Billy Graham saying on TV that in all his years he'd never been able to answer that question. Now, I have nothing but respect for that man, and I realize it was a delicate time. One where the entire country was scared and hurting. He had to choose his words carefully. The fact is though that there is a hard answer to the question.
Life is random.
Going back to Genesis, we see what was originally a perfect world. God created man, intending him not to be as servants, forced to obey, but as children with free will. The planet was given to us to take care and manage. The world was a giant garden and we were the caretakers. While we remained faithful, the world ran according to God's plan and will. But then Adam and Eve ruined that.
Instead of choosing to live by God's will man chose to live by his own. No longer was there a perfect order to things. One perfect will guiding the planet. Death and sin was introduced into the world and our various wills, reigned instead.
I'm sure most everyone knows chaos theory, even if it's just from watching Jurassic Park. Life really does operate in that way. Our actions, along with random chance produce outcomes we could never foresee. When you have 6 billion people each struggling to make the world conform to their version of happiness, it becomes chaotic. Like 6 billion people trying to drive one car. Course naturally when things go bad, God gets the blame.
How could a merciful God allow such horrible things to happen?
Because he loves us. God loved us enough to give us free will to impact this earth as we see fit. He's not going to control everything we do, so as a result, we have the ability to create and destroy ourselves anyway we see fit. And we're far better at the latter. If we believe in him though, have faith, it is possible to change things. Sometimes God intercedes for one reason or another. Again it may seem random to us, but every choice he makes has a reason behind it. God won't interfere with our destroying ourselves, but he does love us and will do what he can to save as many as he can.
So, to sum up, bad things happen because life is random. Maybe, instead of asking why there's so much darkness in this world, we should be asking, 'what can I do to shine a light in it?'
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Who Created God?
Question: Where does God come from?
I've been asked this question many times. Both camps in the creation/evolution debate have similar issues. Creationists would argue that the initial building blocks of the universe, that what sprung the big bang, couldn't have come from nothing; and of course evolutionists would ask where God came from. Both are rooted in the question of how something could come from nothing.
When I was younger this was a subject that bothered me greatly, even leading me to study Acosmism and other philosophies that suggest the universe doesn't actually exist. I did eventually come to terms with the issue though when I realized that question itself was wrong.
In reading Genesis, you'll find the story of God creating everything. He creates the heavens and the earth, night and day, all the stars in the sky and everything on the earth. It tells you every bit of where we came from. Raised from the dust, instilled with the breath of life. It tells you how woman was created from a part of man. It tells you how death came into the world and how the world changed as a result. The entire foundation of our lives is written in this book. But you know what's not? God's.
The problem with the question of where God comes from is that we generally start from the assumption that he was born into this existence. Or we just imagine some omnipotent being floating through the darkness of a blank slate. But it states clearly in the opening chapters of the bible that he created this reality. All time and space for us was created by him. He may be in it, but he is not of it.
If I made a box and filled it with things, I could sit inside the box but I'd still exist in my world. While the analogy is crude, it's to illustrate how God's existence really has nothing to do with this universe.
So where does God come from?
Who's to say? If you think about it, the bible reads like a sequel. We don't know what God's life was before us, because that's where we came into the story. He could be some guy in a lab playing around with a petri dish. he could be a computer programmer making a heck of a game. He could even (and I know this could be considered sacrilege, though I've never felt questioning the nature of God was) be the product of evolution.
That's right, God in his existence may have been the product of evolution. Who can say? Does he have a family? Is there a whole universe of beings like him? No one knows. What we do know is that he created this universe and so has no fixed point within it.
All the other questions, are something I look forward to finding out one day.
I've been asked this question many times. Both camps in the creation/evolution debate have similar issues. Creationists would argue that the initial building blocks of the universe, that what sprung the big bang, couldn't have come from nothing; and of course evolutionists would ask where God came from. Both are rooted in the question of how something could come from nothing.
When I was younger this was a subject that bothered me greatly, even leading me to study Acosmism and other philosophies that suggest the universe doesn't actually exist. I did eventually come to terms with the issue though when I realized that question itself was wrong.
In reading Genesis, you'll find the story of God creating everything. He creates the heavens and the earth, night and day, all the stars in the sky and everything on the earth. It tells you every bit of where we came from. Raised from the dust, instilled with the breath of life. It tells you how woman was created from a part of man. It tells you how death came into the world and how the world changed as a result. The entire foundation of our lives is written in this book. But you know what's not? God's.
The problem with the question of where God comes from is that we generally start from the assumption that he was born into this existence. Or we just imagine some omnipotent being floating through the darkness of a blank slate. But it states clearly in the opening chapters of the bible that he created this reality. All time and space for us was created by him. He may be in it, but he is not of it.
If I made a box and filled it with things, I could sit inside the box but I'd still exist in my world. While the analogy is crude, it's to illustrate how God's existence really has nothing to do with this universe.
So where does God come from?
Who's to say? If you think about it, the bible reads like a sequel. We don't know what God's life was before us, because that's where we came into the story. He could be some guy in a lab playing around with a petri dish. he could be a computer programmer making a heck of a game. He could even (and I know this could be considered sacrilege, though I've never felt questioning the nature of God was) be the product of evolution.
That's right, God in his existence may have been the product of evolution. Who can say? Does he have a family? Is there a whole universe of beings like him? No one knows. What we do know is that he created this universe and so has no fixed point within it.
All the other questions, are something I look forward to finding out one day.
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