What we believe matters. Our beliefs have the ability to shape our thoughts, world views, and behaviors. This is why we need to make sure what we believe is true.
With that being said, we have to recognize that understanding certain doctrines doesn’t mean we have faith in God. We can intellectually affirm that God is omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent, but that doesn’t mean that we actually have faith in God.
What is also true is that we can understand what those words mean, but still not understand God's character. If our relationship with God is based purely on definitions and doctrines, then we will miss experiencing God for who He truly is.
To gain a better understanding of God requires moving away from the intellectual pursuit of knowing about God to the pursuit of actually knowing God. That can only happen as we trust our lives to Him.
It is one thing to say that God is the great provider, but it is another thing to experience God providing for our needs.
We can say that God is the Great Physician, but it is another thing to experience God’s healing power in our lives.
Our ideas of God fall short of who God is.
Hebrews 11:29-31 (NLT)
It was by faith that the people of Israel went right through the Red Sea as though they were on dry ground. But when the Egyptians tried to follow, they were all drowned.
It was by faith that the people of Israel marched around Jericho for seven days, and the walls came crashing down.
It was by faith that Rahab the prostitute was not destroyed with the people in her city who refused to obey God. For she had given a friendly welcome to the spies.
Each of these examples mentioned in Hebrews 11 remind us what made the difference was the response of faith that allowed people to experience God’s power. Because of faith God parted the Red Sea, because of faith God tore down the walls of Jericho, and because of faith Rahab was rescued from Jericho.
All these people had an incomplete understanding of God, but because of their faithful actions they experienced God in a real way. This allowed them to see God in a more true sense then a careful study of Scripture is able to do.
Living by faith adds a real dimension to our understanding of God that our academic and devotional study are not able to provide.
Heavenly Father, I ask for the strength to do good. You have blessed me to be a blessing those around me, and that is what I want to do.
Give me hope to continue to bear Your image in this world. It is easy to become discouraged when I think what I am doing is not making any difference. Give me little glimpse of the difference my love and action is having in the world.
Open my eyes to the opportunities to show Your love to other people. I confess that too often I keep my attention focused on myself and the things I need to take care of. I want to see the world through the eyes of Jesus so I can discern the true need of people.
I give my life to You and Your Kingdom. Use me to make a difference in the lives of others. I pray this in the name of Jesus, amen.
With the enthusiasm of New Year's Resolutions fading away, I am guessing you may need to hear it too.
Changing our behavior is hard work and it takes time.
Very rarely are people able to make significant life changes over night. Not only do we have undo years of habit development, but often we have to deal with our own negative self talk.
At times it really seems like there is a part of us that doesn't want to change, regardless of how bad and unhealthy our behavior may be.
Something that I have been dealing with the last few weeks is the voice that tells me, "That is too little and too late." There is a part of me that wants me to believe that it doesn't matter what I do, all my effort will be a waste in the end. At times it feels like true lasting change is a hopeless dream.
When I listen to that voice I fall back on my old habits. When that I happens I want to throw in the towel and give up.
This is why it is crucial to remember that a mistake is not an excuse to give up. Nothing would ever change if we gave up when a mistake was made.
We need to remember that mistakes happen. They are part of learning a new skill, and it is okay if we are not perfect. The more we work on what we are changing, the easier it will become.
Remember what John wrote; "But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness." (1 John 1:9; NLT)
God provided a way for us to leave our sin in the past. He knew that we were going to stumble and fall, and so He made sure that even in our sin there would be an opportunity to return to Him.
Because of forgiveness, our sin is not an excuse to give up.
If that is true for sin, how much more true is it for the mistakes we make as we try to alter our habits and change our lives?
Since God forgives our sins, then we should be able to forgive ourselves of the mistakes we make, and keep moving in the direction of becoming a better person.
This tweet from Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is true.
Lies are contrary to the truth and are not just mere opinions.
As a Christian I want to seek, believe, and even defend the truth.
Here is the thing, it isn’t always easy to tell what the truth is.
For example, I like to say that love is the central command of Christianity and the resurrection is the central truth of Christianity.
I believe the resurrection of Jesus is true and not a lie. There are different pieces of evidences that I use to support that belief.
Yet, there are very smart people who will offer their evidence on why the resurrection never happened.
In other words, there is a difference of opinion when it comes to how we arrive at something being truth or a lie.
I bring this example up because I think many things within the realm of politics fall into this same sort of category. When trying to arriving at what is true, we have to discuss our perspective about why we believe something is true or not.
It is not good enough to simply declare something to be true or false. We need to be wiling to share our thoughts and listen to why someone else believes what they do.
To simply declare something to be true or false causes dialogue to end and division between people to increase.
Here is another example.
On Wednesday, January 6, 2021 a violent mob stormed the Capitol Building in Washington D. C.
That is a statement that virtually everyone would agree to be true.
What isn’t agreed about, and the areas of opinion that should be discussed are:
Whether that mob was incited by President Trump?
Was it an insurrection or coup attempt?
What defines someone as a domestic terrorist?
Here is my point: Our different perspectives give us a different understanding of truth. If we are truly committed to truth then we should be willing to hear those different perspectives.
This is precisely why freedom of speech is such an important part of life. It allows us to dialogue with one another. It helps us refine our arguments and beliefs. It gives us a chance to demonstrate why certain things are lies.
A major problem we are facing in the United States is the inability to really participate in the process of free speech. We want to be able to say what we believe the truth to be, but we don’t other people to respond with their perspective. We would much rather stay within our own little echo chamber, having our world view confirmed, than stepping outside that bubble and having it challenged.
We need to be brave enough to have civil conversation with people, seeking to understand why they believe what they believe, rather than just declaring the other side is lying and walking away.
The true benefit found in the freedom of speech is the opportunity to point out the inconstancies, errors, and false beliefs the other side has. It gives you the ability to answer those who promote a different ideology than you do and make the case for why your beliefs are true.
This is such an important freedom, and skill, to have.
Remember the t-shirts that had the message: “______________ is life, the rest is just details” written on it?
It is not uncommon for people to have one or two passions that dominate their lives.
Some live as if football is life and others live as if politics are life and still others live as if family is life. We have a tendency to make something the focal point of our lives.
Disciples of Jesus need to recognize our tendency to elevate a passion to the ultimate position in our lives. It could be a good thing like family and career or it could be a destructive thing like drugs and partying.
It doesn’t matter what it is. What matters is that we recognize our ability to let one passion dominate our lives.
Perhaps this tendency is behind Paul’s prayer for the Philippians — he wanted his readers to know what mattered most in life.
For Paul what mattered in life wasn’t who controlled the government, who would play in the Super Bowl, what the number on the scale is, or the amount of money in your bank account. It is not that these things don't matter, but they are secondary issues.
What ultimately matters is the way we live.
In other words, Paul wanted to make sure his readers lived lives that represented Jesus and honored God.
Living that way is hard to do.
We usually think in terms of how we can avoid bringing dishonor to God’s name. Trying not to dishonor God is not the same as choosing to do those things that honor Him.
I think this is place where many of us are at in our walk with Jesus.
We are satisfied with trying not to sin, trying to avoid what God prohibits, but we are not trying to demonstrate God's character to the world. We are content with not hating our neighbor rather than truly loving him.
For us to have a passion for following Jesus it is essential that we move past just trying not to sin to living a life that demonstrates God’s character. A life that is is characterized by love, joy, kindness, generosity, and forgiveness.
What we need is a shirt that says, “Following Jesus is life. The rest is just details.”
Following Jesus through the ups and downs of life is the way we demonstrate his character in this world.
I humbly confess that I allow the things of this world to distract me from the life You have called me to live. The distractions politics, entertainment, fun, and pleasure prevent me from truly setting my mind and my heart on those heavenly things which lead to life.
Renew my heart and mind so I will desire heavenly things. Strengthen my will so I can say no to the things of this world. Give me eyes to see from an eternal perspective. Empower me to live a life that glorifies you. This is the true desire of my heart. Help me Father to pursue You with all of my heart, soul, mind, and strength.
As a person reads through the Hebrew Scriptures it is easy to notice how Israel continually turned to idol worship. With all that God had done for them, Israel, time and time again, turned their back on God and worshiped the gods of the nations around them.
We think this is odd because we give no power to idols. We see them as nothing but objects of metal and wood that superstitious people worship.
Idols are not false gods, rather they are the images of false gods. While we may not worship a "statue," the spiritual forces behind those idols are still at work. This video from BibleProject will help you understand what is going on.
The United States of America is not immune to these spiritual forces.
I think, because we don't acknowledge them, they are able to have far deeper hold on people than we realize.
Today is January 7, 2021 and yesterday I saw a surreal scene as people who supported President Trump were able to break through security and enter the Capital Building as Congress tried to certify the Electoral College vote. The whole country was shocked by the events.
It is easy to condemn the violence and talk about how this is not the American way. I think to go for this low hanging fruit is to miss what is really going on.
In addition to condemning violence, I think it is time to call out the false god that has its grip on many American Christians.
I know that when we see American flags, hear the Pledge of Allegiance, and witness other trampings of American patriotism that it is easy to point and say the idol is Nationalism.
I am not denying that is a part of it.
People on the right certainly have the tendency to worship the United States as an idol (this is why I think it is dangerous to say the Pledge of Allegiance and celebrate State holidays during our Sunday worship times).
Yet, pointing to Nationalism misses at least half the problem. The other half of the problem is the Left's love of State Power. They want to use the power of the State to shape the country into their ideal nation.
While there are great differences between right and left, their hopes converge on one thing: democracy.
Democracy is the great god of the United States.
Jeff Deist, former chief of staff for Ron Paul, tweeted:
It is not hard to find this type of religious language used for the American system of government.
In an article written about election integrity, Kay James wrote, "The right to vote is among the most sacred rights we have as Americans. It is fundamental to our democracy."
We love democracy.
Take this opening paragraph from an article from The Atlanticfor example:
We have promoted democracy in our movies and books. We speak of democracy in our speeches and lectures. We even sing about democracy, from sea to shining sea, in our national songs. We have entire government bureaus devoted to thinking about how we can help other countries become and remain democratic. We fund institutions that do the same.
C. S. Lewis was right, we do venerate the word democracy.
I know you are skeptical and that you think I am crazy, but stop and listen to what we are being told. Look at these headlines.
We are being told that our god is in trouble and needs to be defended.
We are going to be told that to honor this great god we need to make some sacrifices.
We are going to applaud as it happens.
We have done it before.
We cheered as the government sent men and women to fight wars around the world to spread democracy.
The reality is that the demonic force behind democracy is not in trouble. What we are witnessing right now is what false gods always want: chaos and destruction.
They don't care about you, all they want to do is corrupt and destroy God's good creation, and if they can deceive you and use you as a pawn they will do it.
So what is the solution?
I don't know if I have the answers, but let me offer a few suggestions.
We need to commit ourselves to God and His Kingdom. I firmly believe that American Christians need to think through our relationship with the State. For far too long we have allowed an unhealthy relationship to exist between our loyalty to God and our loyalty to America. As a starting point I would recommend thinking through whether or not you should say the Pledge of Allegiance. If you are pledging your loyalty to America how loyal are you to God?
We need think through our relationship with politics and political parties. This is another area where are loyalty to God and His Kingdom gets divided. A good place to start here is discovering the value you place on voting. Voting is the greatest way we can honor the god of democracy, and that is why I believe Not Voting is a Legitimate Option.
Commit to treating other people with respect. One of the best ways we dehumanize people and rob them of God's image (at least in our eyes) is by name calling. Long ago, back when I was listening to Rush Limbaugh and calling President Clinton "Slick Willie," I was convicted of this point. Ever since then I have done my best to refer to people by their names and titles. It is what God expects me to do as His representative. This directly pushes back against the chaos and division the false god of democracy wants to plant in our families, churches, and communities.
I know you are probably thinking, "All this pondering stuff has made Paul a little nutty."
I am not denying that that is a possibility, so let me add one last thought.
This is not a plea to scrap the whole system or to say that Christians should not involve themselves in politics. Rather, it is a word of caution. Democracy is more than just a political system and there is a spiritual reality behind it. We need to be careful in our interactions with it.
God's people are commanded to only worship Him. So once again I will stand with Joshua and say:
“So fear the LORD and serve him wholeheartedly. Put away forever the idols your ancestors worshiped when they lived beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt. Serve the LORD alone. But if you refuse to serve the LORD, then choose today whom you will serve. Would you prefer the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates? Or will it be the gods of the Amorites in whose land you now live? But as for me and my family, we will serve the LORD.” (Joshua 24:14-15; NLT)
I like Kyle Idleman. I have used his stuff and will probably use it again in the future.
With that being said, I do have an issue with this tweet.
I understand the sentiment. It comes from that same line of thinking that says “Christianity is a relationship, not a religion.”
The reality is that Christianity is both religion and relationship. Those two ideas are not opposites. We can have a relationship with God while believing the truths of the religion and observing its disciplines.
In fact, I am not sure how you have a relationship with God apart from the religious practices discovered in Scripture.
The same is true with leaning on God and having a formula for prayer. Doing one does not negate the other.
In fact, they can, and should be, complimentary.
Here is the reason this is important to me.
This year I went through a time of depression, maybe the most severe depression that I have dealt with, and prayer was key in my struggle to overcome it. The prayers that I used (and still are using), the guided prayer of the One Minute Pause App and written prayers from the Wild at Heart App, helped my to “lean on” God. They provided me with the structure, words, and even purpose for my prayers when I was struggling to pray.
While it is essential to emphasis that we prayer to a God who is alive and desires to have a relationship with us, I think it is also important to provide people with resources and guidance in how to pray. There are activities, words, and themes that help us in our prayers.
I don’t want people to miss out potential life giving help because they want to avoid using “formulas” in their spiritual lives. What matters in prayer is our intention and faith, and if reciting the Lord’s Prayer or using a written prayer helps you vocalize that faith, then we should use it.
God’s people have always recited prayers. The book of Psalms is basically a prayer book for Israel which helped guide them in their prayers and their worship.
What matters is not whether or not we pray prayers “from the heart” or recite a prayer written by someone else, what matters is the faith and intention of your heart.
This tweet popped up in my timeline. I have no idea who John Harwood is and I don't follow him on Twitter.
When I read this tweet it brought to mind three thoughts:
The President of the United States should not be "the most powerful human being on earth." Having a powerful chief executive was one of the fears our founders had when they created the Constitution. What Alexis De Tocqueville witnessed of the president during the early part of the 1800s was that the president "has but little power, little wealth, and little glory to share among his friends; and his influence in the state is too small for the success or ruin of a faction to upon his elevation to power." How times have changed. At one time the citizens of the various states would have viewed a powerful executive with suspicion, but now a president who is able to make things happen, both at home and abroad, is expected. Maybe it is time to question whether or not the executive branch should have as much power as it has.
Since we accept the president as the most powerful person in the world, isn’t logical to assume that fraud and corruption a good possibility during an election? I am not saying that this election was "stolen" from President Trump, but I am saying, "I don't trust elections in general." There is nothing about what I know about corrupt human nature or a corrupt government that gives me confidence in our elections. There is too much at stake for too many people for them to truly let "the people" decide.
Why is it okay to call President Trump obese when you would have an absolute hissy-fit if he said that (and he has and they did) about another person? This is one of the things I dislike about politics in general, the complete double standard people have. They are fine with giving their side a pass on bad things, but will go absolutely crazy when the other side does it. While both sides do this, from my observation, the left is much worse about it.
The real issue at stake isn't why President Trump is continuing to fight for the election, rather, it is why does one office hold so much power?
Not only for the United States, but for the world.
N. T. Wright talked about that reality on the Ask N. T. Wright Anything podcast when he took questions about the election. He acknowledged that the U. S. Presidential election has ramifications for the entire world. This should not be the case.
Regardless of whether or not you think Donald Trump was a good president, the thing that we should be the most concerned with is how we can limit the power the president has in this world.
I shared this earlier on Facebook and thought I might expand on it here.
Just a few thoughts I have had about the future as we approach the end of 2020:
1. Historians will use 2020 to make the beginning of the end for the United States. I think in the next 15 years we will see at least one successful secession movement, which will change the make up of the country. The United States will continue to be a major player in the world, but things like debt and division will cause things to start to fall apart.
2. A viable 3rd party will emerge. Not from the place you expect. The Republican Party will become more conservative as it looses the Neocon wing of the party. The Neocons will join the Democrat party which will be viewed on the centrist party (and dominate elections). The progressive wing of the Democrat party (Bernie Sanders, AOC, and company) will break away and form a truly progressive/socialist party.
3. The average church size will continue to decline. There will be a time of transition for many local churches as they try to discover how to do ministry in a post-COVID reality. This isn’t a negative, because it will force churches become more creative in how to make disciples, but it will be difficult to say good bye to programs and ministries that we have come to believe are essential for church.
4. Denominational lines for churches will become increasingly irrelevant. There will be a greater emphasis and on “what the Bible says” and “Mere Christianity” with a diminishing emphasis on systematic theologies, Calvinism, etc.
5. Bivocational pastors will become the norm. Because of smaller church sizes most pastors will have to look for multiple streams of income to sustain their ministry. This can be a benefit as pastors get creative in how they leverage their “day job” for ministry.
6. The Church will have to be prepared to deal with ever evolving questions concerning sexuality, gender, race, and even things like transhumanism.
We are going to look back on 2020 as the year that everything changed. Some of those changes were already happening, they were accelerated because of what happened. Other things will change as a direct result of what happened this year.
Whatever the case, it is time to accept whatever change the future has for us and remain faithful to the calling God has given to us.
We are told that we are living in a divided nation.
The corporate press tells us about the extreme differences of the right and the left and how it is impossible for them to see eye to eye.We hear about one group of Americans is telling another group that they are racist and sexist because of the way they voted. We hear the other group of Americans respond by saying the new president elect is corrupt and will further destroy the foundations of the country.
The deep divisions that make up the very soul of American political life are on full display. There is no getting around the reality that there are two vastly different visions for the United States.
On the one hand you have people on the left who declare that equality is the value that must guide us into the future.
On the other hand you have people on the right who declare that we must remain true to the principles and traditions that the United States was founded on.
Each side views the other with skepticism, derision, and intolerance.
If you have spent any time on social media you know the names and the accusations that are being flung back and forth: “You are ignorant!” one side screams and the other side fires back, “You are a bigot!”
It it is a fruitless exchange as nothing gets resolved and blood pressures rise.
All you want is unity, but you are told that unity is impossible because those people on the other side are terrible people.
What are followers of Jesus Christ to do?
As simplistic as it might sound we are to follow Jesus.
It may sound simple, but it is not simple to do.
There are going to be people on both sides of the aisle declaring that this or that is the most important thing and that is what deserves our attention. Many of these people will invoke the name of Jesus to try to convince us that their side is the one we must choose.
When we pick a side in this political war we simple give into the hate and the division that continues to tear apart relationships, families, churches, communities, and countries.
There is a better way, and that way is the way of Jesus.
For you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. And all who have been united with Christ in baptism have put on Christ, like putting on new clothes. There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus. And now that you belong to Christ, you are the true children of Abraham. You are his heirs, and God's promise to Abraham belongs to you. (Galatians 3:26-29; NLT)
Unity is possible. It is the product of people who are rallied around a common idea, purpose, or person. Unity is achieved in football stadiums and concerts. People brought together because of their shared love for a team or a band.
This type of unity is flimsy and cannot survive the constant threat of division. This threat comes from the powers that constantly look to divide people into different groups.
There is only one power that is great enough to overcome these wall building powers, and that is the power of Jesus. According to the Apostle Paul, Jesus is to be the rallying point that brings true unity.
Jesus came to tear down walls. That can only be accomplished when we have our faith in him.
Within his small group of 12 disciples Jesus had at least two men who were on the opposite ends of the political spectrum. There was Simon the Zealot who wanted nothing more than to fight against the Romans and restore Israel's independence. There was Matthew the Tax Collector who believed that compromise with the Romans was the best policy.
Jesus united these men with a common purpose.
How did he do that?
Jesus rejected the politics of the world.
Satan offered Jesus the keys to all the kingdoms of the world, but Jesus held fast to God's way to bring redemption to creation (Luke 4:5-8). After his miracles of healing and feeding the crowd wanted to make Jesus king, but Jesus withdrew to the wilderness (John 6:15). The crowd shouted hosanna and proclaimed Jesus king as he rode into Jerusalem, but Jesus stopped and wept over the city because they missed his true identity (Luke 19:41-44).
Jesus came to establish God's Kingdom, but he rejected politics as the way to accomplish this task. He called his followers to make disciples of the nations, not by the power of the sword (the true power behind politics), but the power of sacrificial love.
The way for the Church to be the starting point for unity is for Christians to follow the way of the Lion, who became a lamb, who was slain (Revelation 5:5-6).
We are saddened by the deep divide that exists in our country.
Healing can only happen if we reject politics and follow Jesus.
