In his inaugural address, President John F. Kennedy said, "And so my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country." How the climate of America has changed! Modern culture is saturated with seeking the most benefits with the least cost. Between social programs, government grants, welfare, and medical insurance, there are many potential benefits of living in America. But when is the last time I asked, "What can I do for my country?" Unfortunately if I even tried to ask I would likely be directed to an 800 number with an automated voice response. Since the days of President Kennedy, the implications of "country" in America has become synonymous with "government." Country is more than government, just like church is more than a building.
After dinner, our family typically reads a chapter from the Bible. Tonight we read this in 1 Chron. 16:28-29: "Give to the Lord, O families of the peoples, give to the Lord glory and strength. [29] Give to the Lord the glory due His name; bring an offering, and come before Him. Oh, worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness!" The repetition of the word "give" stood out to me. It could also be inferred that bringing an offering is a gift, as well as the gift of worship. It is fitting we should give unto God, for He has freely given unto us all things. In light of Kennedy's quote, it could be rephrased: "Ask not what God can give to you - ask what you can give unto God."
If we are willing to ask this question, God is ready to answer. Instead of an automated response, we will receive a personal answer that will be challenging, personal, or even painful. Few are as honorable as King David, who refused to offer to God what cost him nothing. I think it wise to ask ourselves if there is anything we will not give to God. If we are called to give all to God it is what we refuse to give which must be dealt with. God is a giving, generous God. Our prayers can mimic the two daughters of the leech mentioned in Proverbs 30:15: Give and Give! Instead of our lives being marked by greed, God can empower us to be gracious givers. Let us give Him our all.
26 February 2010
23 February 2010
Glorious, Awesome God
This morning I had "Awesome God" stuck in my head. "Our God is an awesome God, He reigns from heaven above with wisdom, power, and love: our God is an awesome God." I could hear an orchestra playing along, a symphony of praise raising up to God in heaven. Like cannons were used in the recording of the 1812 Overture, I imagined howitzers firing off at the crescendo. I wonder: do the angels sing songs written by men? If I could imitate the songs of angels I certainly would! A song should never fire us up more than our excitement concerning the God of whom we sing.
How awesome is our God! He has created the universe with a word, at whose face the world will flee. In Rev. 20:11 we read, "Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them." Earth and heaven cannot hide from God, and neither can those who inhabitant them. The power of earthly elements are nothing compared to the power and might of the God followers of Jesus Christ serve. He is God, and there is no other. Even the wind and waves obey Him. This is a God worthy not only of songs but of fear and much trembling from His subjects. If you shudder at the thought of being cornered by a thug in an alley or a fearsome beast in the woods, tremble before God!
Few things make us tremble these days. We are happy and content with a far-off god, a god who involves himself in our lives at our convenience according to our plan, a god we can manipulate and control. But the Creator and Ruler of all that is made is no such god: He is an awesome God! He is the over and above all One. Isaiah 55:8-9 says, "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways," says the Lord. [9] "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts." If we think highly of ourselves, we will have a low view of God.
1 Chron. 16:28-35 reads, "Give to the Lord, O families of the peoples, give to the Lord glory and strength. [29] Give to the Lord the glory due His name; bring an offering, and come before Him. Oh, worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness! [30] Tremble before Him, all the earth. The world also is firmly established, it shall not be moved. [31] Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad; and let them say among the nations, "The Lord reigns." [32] Let the sea roar, and all its fullness; let the field rejoice, and all that is in it. [33] Then the trees of the woods shall rejoice before the Lord, for He is coming to judge the earth. [34] Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever." May we be moved to praise such a glorious God, whose reign is from everlasting to everlasting. Such praise is due Him by us.
How awesome is our God! He has created the universe with a word, at whose face the world will flee. In Rev. 20:11 we read, "Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them." Earth and heaven cannot hide from God, and neither can those who inhabitant them. The power of earthly elements are nothing compared to the power and might of the God followers of Jesus Christ serve. He is God, and there is no other. Even the wind and waves obey Him. This is a God worthy not only of songs but of fear and much trembling from His subjects. If you shudder at the thought of being cornered by a thug in an alley or a fearsome beast in the woods, tremble before God!
Few things make us tremble these days. We are happy and content with a far-off god, a god who involves himself in our lives at our convenience according to our plan, a god we can manipulate and control. But the Creator and Ruler of all that is made is no such god: He is an awesome God! He is the over and above all One. Isaiah 55:8-9 says, "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways," says the Lord. [9] "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts." If we think highly of ourselves, we will have a low view of God.
1 Chron. 16:28-35 reads, "Give to the Lord, O families of the peoples, give to the Lord glory and strength. [29] Give to the Lord the glory due His name; bring an offering, and come before Him. Oh, worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness! [30] Tremble before Him, all the earth. The world also is firmly established, it shall not be moved. [31] Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad; and let them say among the nations, "The Lord reigns." [32] Let the sea roar, and all its fullness; let the field rejoice, and all that is in it. [33] Then the trees of the woods shall rejoice before the Lord, for He is coming to judge the earth. [34] Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever." May we be moved to praise such a glorious God, whose reign is from everlasting to everlasting. Such praise is due Him by us.
20 February 2010
God's Love
"Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. [34] Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. [35] Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? [36] As it is written: "For Your sake we are killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter." [37] Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. [38] For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, [39] nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
Romans 8:33-39
How easy it is to pass quickly over well-known passages of scripture! We are always the loser when we fall into this snare, and no one is exempt. Sometimes we are so sure of the meaning of a scripture that our mind returns to old programming and reads our assumptions into the scripture. May God cure us of this malady!
As I read this verse during my devotions a couple days ago, something stood out which never had before. Look carefully at verse 38. Paul was persuaded nothing could possibly separate us from the love of God. Nothing has the ability to overcome the power of God's love and alienate us from it. Because he says "...neither death nor life" I always focused on the fact a Christian's physical death cannot separate him from God's love. But what about life? Can life separate us from God? If I were to count the ways, this post would never be finished! His love is never abated towards us, but our love toward Him can be diluted by desire for earthly things.
God has given us opportunities for fun, relaxation, entertainment, hobbies, work, and all manner of things on earth for us to enjoy. But we can easily be tweaked out of balance by the abundance of ways we can spend our time and neglect looking to God who has made all things possible. Your schedule reflects your priorities. Your priorities are not what you say they are, but what your decisions and lifestyle reveal. It is ironic that the very life God has given us can make us so busy that we take for granted the love God has freely given. Death cannot separate us from God's love, and neither can life. Let us be sober and vigilant to not allow God's great gifts to avert our focus from the Source and Creator of All. He has made all things for His glory and good pleasure. Praise Him for your life, and may our lives be an outpouring of thanks unto Him!
19 February 2010
An Expected End
As I was working on the twelfth floor of the new dorm on UCSD, I had an inclination to look toward the north. Because of where I was in the building, I could see south easily but the north only had a small window. "What's the point of looking north," I asked the LORD, "when I can hardly see anything?" It struck me that looking towards the north is like trying to see my future. Looking south is like looking at my past, a panoramic view of the ocean and La Jolla spread from a high vantage point. Yet looking north all I could see was a big concrete wall with a small square window. A wide, wild future lays in front of me but I only have a tiny window through which to see. My future is there sure as the sun will rise tomorrow, but it will always be elusive. It will always be ahead of the present.
Needless to say, the way we see and the way God sees are very different from each other! I am reminded of God's words in Jeremiah 29:11: "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope." God sees our complete lives stretched out before Him. As Corrie ten Boom was fond of saying during her time on earth, "God sees the front side of the embroidery." We see the back of the embroidery. From our vantage point there is no picture to speak of, just random colors stitched across each other with tons of strings hanging down. This verse in the KJV reads, "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end." Our future is uncertain and unclear to us, but to God it will be as He expects. He is not caught off guard, confused, or surprised.
At this point last year, I would not have thought my family would be living in my parent's home, our house for sale, and I would be working in construction to save towards an international move to Australia. Right now the actual move to Australia seems far off in the distance, obscured by walls to thick to break through and too tall to climb. Yet I find myself looking through that little window, excited about the prospects of a future ordained by God. Isn't it wonderful to know God has good thoughts toward us? As a Christian I have a future worth hoping for! For us who are born again, the end of our lives on earth is not the end of life: it is the beginning of eternal life! What a future awaits us on earth and in heaven thanks to our Father! May I do my part to embrace that future God has in store!
Needless to say, the way we see and the way God sees are very different from each other! I am reminded of God's words in Jeremiah 29:11: "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope." God sees our complete lives stretched out before Him. As Corrie ten Boom was fond of saying during her time on earth, "God sees the front side of the embroidery." We see the back of the embroidery. From our vantage point there is no picture to speak of, just random colors stitched across each other with tons of strings hanging down. This verse in the KJV reads, "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end." Our future is uncertain and unclear to us, but to God it will be as He expects. He is not caught off guard, confused, or surprised.
At this point last year, I would not have thought my family would be living in my parent's home, our house for sale, and I would be working in construction to save towards an international move to Australia. Right now the actual move to Australia seems far off in the distance, obscured by walls to thick to break through and too tall to climb. Yet I find myself looking through that little window, excited about the prospects of a future ordained by God. Isn't it wonderful to know God has good thoughts toward us? As a Christian I have a future worth hoping for! For us who are born again, the end of our lives on earth is not the end of life: it is the beginning of eternal life! What a future awaits us on earth and in heaven thanks to our Father! May I do my part to embrace that future God has in store!
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