Samaritan's Purse Teaching Life-Saving Childbirth

Watch this emotional, short documentary and be encouraged at what Christians are doing in the world in the name and power of Jesus Christ:

http://www.samaritanspurse.org/women/healing-for-hewa/?utm_source=GglDisplay&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=m_YGHH-014V_GGLHewa300x600&gclid=CKae__v7478CFUKCMgodlA8AFA

The Worship of Faith and Worship?

Just yesterday, as I was pondering the history of my church attendance and participation, I was struck by the possibility that worship of worship and worship of our personal faith could actually become one of those idols God says we are not to have before Him.

I believe it would be easy, if in fact is not already easy, to lose sight of God for our faith in Him. Meaning, we become so focused on our faith in God, or our worship of Him, that our out-working of faith and act of worship actually take precedence over God Himself. It’s a fine line.

We are to have faith: but not in our faith.

We are to have faith in God.

We are to worship: but not worship our worship or worship our faith.
We are to worship God.

Much energy gets poured into our “faith life.” We can become goal-oriented in “growing in faith.” And all that grooming can become a barometer for our selves first, and then for others. And soon faith is the focus, along with worship (which we put in the bucket of faith life). And though we say it’s about God, God quickly becomes a groupie to our life of faith and worship.

What I’m getting at, perhaps, after my first 13 years of learning what it means to be a Christian, is that faith in the Triune God must never become faith in my faith. Faith in God and the worship of Him must not contain spiritual barometers, emotional gauges and levels of prayer warrior status. We come right to His throne wherever we are and in whatever mood. And not primarily, or only, in church or a designated “worship time.”

Which means that often, nobody but God will notice our faith life because our faith life will be our silent thought life. Nobody will notice our worship because it will be happening when nobody is looking. And it will mean that our faith life and worship will collide and cooperate on a daily basis, whether people notice or not. Whether we notice or not.

When we worship God, not worship itself, and have faith in God alone, not in our faith, we are freed from a basis of self in which self is the center of faith and worship. 

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” Deuteronomy 6:5-9

“My soul, wait in silence for God only, For my hope is from Him.” Psalm 62:5

“And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” Luke 10:27

 “God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” John 4:24

Know God

In every day of the unknown there is a known, and it is God. He is the knowable in the unknowable.

We do well to get to know Him. He already knows us.

“My son, if you will receive my words
And treasure my commandments within you,

Make your ear attentive to wisdom,

Incline your heart to understanding;

For if you cry for discernment,

Lift your voice for understanding;

If you seek her as silver

And search for her as for hidden treasures;

Then you will discern the fear of the Lord

And discover the knowledge of God.” Proverbs 2:1-5

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,

Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord.” Isaiah 55:8

"Here's Where I'm At"

At any given time, when we conclude, “Here’s where I’m at,” we can’t then expect everyone else to be “where I’m at.”

Whether it’s a theological point of view, stage of life, conservative/liberal bent, fan of warm weather, fan of cold weather, meat-eater or vegetarian, everyone is “where they’re at.” And while there does need to be some sensitivity to “where people are at” on our part, it follows then that there needs to also be some sensitivity on the other person’s part to where I’m at. Oftentimes, all parties involved simply want others to conform to where they’re at and bulldoze accordingly.

Why do we have tunnel vision when it comes to where we’ve landed on something, as if there were never any other place to land (even though we ourselves were once planted in an entirely different point of view, behavior or mindset?) I believe the number one reason is because we feel threatened. We feel threatened that the other person is going to land or remain in a previous (now deemed odious), place that we’ve managed to escape from, or our identity is tied up in the new place we’ve landed. So when our identity is challenged, who we are is challenged. And that feels threatening.

To be threatened is the feeling that our experience up to this point, which has formed our outlook and understanding on myriad aspects of life, from automobile design, politics, faith, healthcare, the environment, and diet, is being denigrated, belittled or rejected. And the reason it’s being rejected is because the other person’s experience, which has formed their outlook and understanding on the same myriad aspects of life, is being threatened by our experienced-based understanding!

And so it is a vicious circle. People with less/more or different experience are “hurt” or "offended" by those with less/more or different experience and yet all feel their experience is truth itself: the only legitimate place to land.

Hence the danger of experienced-based faith. That is exactly what all of this can lead to, making us no different in our Christian walk than we were when we were not-yet-saved.

Much of life is subjective, but faith is not. Faith contains experience but is not determined by experience. Faith is shaped and influenced by experience, but it is the objectiveness of faith that rights a misguided or off-base experiential faith conclusion.

If I base my attitudes, behaviors and actions on experience alone (or even primarily), I will neglect the other possibilities of how things experientially can be. I will be living a false “truth” that, since it is only experientially “true for me,” doesn’t make it objectively true for all. So I will be stuck in my subjective experience, never reaching objective truth.

However, if my identity is not tied up in where I’ve landed but in a Person—as C.S. Lewis says in describing how he found joy in the Person of God and not in the concept of joy itself—then there is no threat to my identity. If my identity is in the Triune God, then when His truth as I live it, represent it or teach it is challenged, questioned or threatened—rightly or wrongly—God is there for me to come to for proper feedback and consideration. Seeking God’s perspective through His Holy Spirit and Word is the key to preventing shouting matches, “hurt” feelings and the wholesale writing off of people.

So much—too much—of me goes into my perception of any event, person or place. As any journalist or court of law can tell you, question five witnesses to the same incident and you will obtain five different records of what actually took place. Truth is a very difficult place to land...when it’s based on a human level, that is.

And now we come to why it is that I love being a Christian! I can subjectively experience people, places and things and then take them before the Lord for discernment, wisdom and appropriate response. I can lay the subjective against the objective ("test everything" 1 Thessalonians 5:21). My self-centered subjectivity can shrink more and more from a “me” perspective to a “standing in other's shoes” perspective. I am freed, and in fact expected, to jettison my meager, pitiful, human, self-centered, subjective-experience-tainted take-aways of anything and anyone.

As Christians become sanctified in the knowledge and wisdom of God, we will interpret life less and less and God will interpret it more and more. We will hear Him say, “Don’t over-react;” “That person did not intend what you thought;” “Maybe your co-worker is going through something personal—some internal battle that you can’t even imagine and nobody else knows about;” and on and on it goes.

God teaches, in fact compels me to live in His presence in the present. And because He is God, He will give a right perspective when I cannot or will not.

Only then can I confidently land where God lands me, and not be threatened by where someone else is in the process of landing or has already landed.

“For You are my hope; 
O Lord God, You are my confidence from my youth.” Psalm 71:5

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart

And do not lean on your own understanding.” Proverbs 3:5

“Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.” Romans 12:1-2

“Therefore, putting aside all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander, like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation, if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord.” 1 Peter 2:1-3

Jesse Campbell: Amazing Grace

Just Do Something Quote #2

Another quote from Kevin DeYoung's book, Just Do Something, published recently by Moody Publishers:

“What I am saying is that we should stop thinking of God’s will like a corn maze, or a tight-rope, or a bull’s-eye, or a choose-your-own-adventure novel.”  

Just Do Something by Kevin DeYoung

A new book out by Moody Publishers, Just Do Something by Kevin DeYoung, is the one book every Christian should read this year (along with their Bible, of course!). In fact, I am going to feature some excerpts from the book in upcoming daily posts to encourage folks to do just that. 

Let's begin with this one:

     "So here's the real heart of the matter: Does God have a secret will of direction that He expects us to figure out before we do anything? And the answer is no. Yes, God has a specific plan for our lives. And yes, we can be assured that He works things for our good in Christ Jesus. And yes, looking back we will often be able to trace God's hand in bringing us to where we are. But while we are free to ask God for wisdom, He does not burden us with the task of divining His will of direction for our lives ahead of time.
     The second half of that last sentence is crucial. God does have a specific plan for our lives, but it is not one that He expects us to figure out before we make a decision."