Evangelism

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THE PURPOSE OF LIFE

When contemplating the meaning of life, I find that it is infinitely complex like the Author of Life.  Still, it can also be boiled down to something quite simple.  The questions: why am I here and what is my purpose can be easily answered.  We are here because God brought forth life in his creation, and He made beings like us in his image.  So we have life because God ordained it.  Our purpose is to have a close loving relationship with him.

Since we acquired, through disobedience, the knowledge of good and evil, that relationship has been complicated.  We now have to seek him, yet he has cleared the way for us to find him through the cross of Jesus.  We just have to accept the way he has provided.  Finding him is not difficult.  However, looking for him through other paths will not lead to him.  There is only one way; His way.

We exist at God’s good pleasure, and he has given us purpose.  As I stated above, our purpose is to have a close loving relationship with him.  Some are confused about our purpose and think that our purpose is to work.  It is important to note that the work I’m referring to is the work of the kingdom, good deeds, as opposed to working for a living.  These works are not our purpose; they are the result of our purpose.  In my loving relationship with God, he has taught me to love others.  Because I love him, and he has taught me to love others, I work to help those around me.  I give of myself.

Throughout my life, I have worked to provide for my family.  This is a requirement in this fallen world.  During this time of sorting out eternity, we have to work for a living.  It is the curse for disobedience (Genesis 3:17-19).  In the midst of our work, we often have the opportunity to do the work of the Kingdom.  However, no matter what type of work we are doing, the only work that has eternal merit is that which is driven by love.  In our relationship with God, he nurtures us with love. From this love, he generates in us the strength to provide for our family and do the work of the kingdom.  Work flows out of the fruit of relationship.  Relationship with God is our purpose.

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AWESOME POWER – GREAT BEAUTY

One of my favorite places on God’s earth is at Monterey Bay here on the California Coast.  At the southern tip of the bay where it meets the open ocean, large waves crash on building size rock formations creating a scene of awesome power.  Near the beach is a smaller formation that receives the partially spent waves but still with a powerful display of water crashing upon rocks. At low tide you can climb onto this smaller formation, and when you reach the top you find there a seat smoothed by the crashing waves.  I love to sit there feeling the waves crash around me.  It’s like being in the midst of great power but protected from the danger.

When I visit this place, I feel very close to God.  The awesome power of these waves reminds me of how God is ultimately powerful.  The peace and security I feel reminds me that I am protected by his love for me.  I feel as if I’m in the shadow of his wings. (see Psalm 17).  I usually don’t want to leave.  I know I have to because high tide is coming, and I must return to the world and its trials.  It seems amazing that a place so filled with chaotic noise and danger would be a place of peace and comfort, but I assure you it is.

Just a few hundred yards north along the beach, the rocks are gone and the waves brake into a rolling foam and crash into the beach.  Facing what promised to be a tough day at work, I left home early to walk along the beach in my favorite place. I needed the Lord to strengthen me.  As I looked out over the ocean, the sun began to rise from behind me.  The hill behind me was covered in a thick mist.  The rays of the sun were refracted by the mist producing a unique phenomenon.  The foam on the rolling waves began to take on the colors of the rainbow.  It was a most beautiful display.  As the sun continued to rise, the colors eventually faded, but I remained until it was finished.

This event reminded me of the great beauty of God.  Throughout God’s creation, there is great beauty.  We see his beauty in the sunrise and sunset, the flowers and trees, and in the mountains and the animals that he created.  Every once in a while, we get a special glimpse as I did that morning.  The day went much better than I had anticipated.  Who could have a bad day after that?

Our creator is awesomely powerful and greatly beautiful.  I have learned to look for his attributes each day.  I find abundant comfort in remembering who he is as I walk in the midst of what he has made.

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REDEMPTION NOT REVENGE

“I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity.”  Jonah 4:2

This is what Jonah said when The Ninevites repented, and God decided to withhold bringing destruction on them.  Jonah knew God’s character.  I never quite caught that before.  I’ve always focused on the fact that Jonah was mad about God not destroying them.  He knew what God would do, and he wanted no part in saving the hated Ninevites.  I believe Jonah provides us with a clear distinction between the heart of God and the heart of man.

I hear people ask how can a loving God let this or that happen?  Yet, Jonah wanted his loving God to bring disaster.  These are obvious contrasting perspectives on God.  Both fail to understand the heart of God. Peter tells us, “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness.  He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9)  God loves us all.  Judgement will come, but he gives us time because he loves us.

God is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity.  This is the heart of God; not the heart of man.  Man in his heart wants revenge.  God’s heart wants us to receive the salvation he provided through his son.  In my quest to understand God, understanding his heart brings completion.  Knowing his heart is knowing him.  Now I just have to become like him.

Father, help me to lay down my heart and take up your heart.  Build in me, O Lord, a heart of forgiveness that desires redemption not revenge. Amen!

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PSALM 8, A PSALM OF DAVID

When we look with wonder into the heavens at night, we connect with the billions of others who have lived on the earth through the centuries.  There is in us a great awe as we survey the vastness of the heavens.  We are inclined to speculate about where it all came from.  For King David there was no doubt that his God had created all that he saw.  And in creation, he saw the glory of his God.  In Psalm 8 he voiced, “How majestic is your name in all the earth.”

In my quest to understand God, King David, “a man after God’s own heart” (See 1 Samuel 13:14), sets a perspective of God that is foundational.  To understand God, I need to see how big he is.  You can’t get any bigger than the creator of heaven and earth.  Everything I know and understand, plus an infinite amount beyond, was created by God.  He’s big!  Yet he allows praise from the mouths of little children to silence his enemies.  God is big, and he is humble.

What draws the attention of this mighty creator?  Human beings are at the center of his creation.  In our original state we were created just a little less than God himself.  We are created in his image.  He made us rulers over all the creature of the earth.  David’s response to these thoughts; “How majestic is your name in all the earth!”

As I look into the night sky, the words of Psalm 8 always bring from deep in my soul a resounding praise.  How amazing are you my God that you can create these limitless expanses, yet I am important to you.  Thank you God for loving me, redeeming me, and giving me an eternal future with you.

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NO CONDEMNATION

It happens so regularly that it’s predictable.  The moment I decide to do good, sin is there to trip me up.  I truly delight in God’s commands, but it’s pretty obvious that not all of me joins in that delight.  Parts of me covertly rebel, and just when I least expect it, they take charge.  I’ve tried everything and nothing helps.  I’m at the end of my rope.  Is there no one who can do anything for me?  Isn’t that the real question?  The answer, thank God, is that Jesus Christ can and does.  He acted to set things right in this life of contradictions where I want to serve God with all my heart and mind, but am pulled by the influence of sin to do something totally different.  With the arrival of Jesus, the Messiah, that fateful dilemma is resolved.  Those who enter into Christ’s being-here-for-us no longer have to live under a continuous, low-lying black cloud.  A new power is in operation.  The Spirit of life in Christ, like a strong wind, has magnificently cleared the air, freeing you from a fated lifetime of brutal tyranny at the hands of sin and death. (Romans 7:21-8:2 The Message)

What then is our responsibility in regard to sin?  This question reveals the trap that catches many believers.  We often feel that we should now more than ever focus on being sinless, missing the fact that we can’t make ourselves sinless.  We are still flawed by our inherited sinful nature.  Focusing on making ourselves sinless is self-indulgent and actually leads us away from God.  Our focus should be on God.  That is where we find freedom.  Paul calls it living in the Spirit not in the flesh.  All the power to overcome sin is in Christ Jesus.  We have no power in ourselves.  Jesus said, “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” (Matthew 6:33)  Our responsibility is to seek God.  He takes care of the rest.  Try sinning while you’re seeking God.

In closing, I’d like to remind you that we are justified through Christ’s blood shed on the cross.  That means we are acceptable in the sight of God.  We are welcome into the presence of God.  The work is finished.  There is no condemnation for us who have received Jesus.  When we are seeking God, he wants, and may I say is excited for, us to find him.  It is his delight for his children to know him.

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FAITH AND DOUBT

Are you convinced that Christianity is true? Do you ever doubt your belief? Does God really exist? Is my belief in vain? Do these questions of doubt haunt you at times? They do me. During these times of doubt I have two processes that I follow, reason and experience. Reason alone cannot restore faith, but it can help.   Walking back through my life and remembering my experiences with God seals the breach in my faith, and I am restored.

These nagging questions that challenge my faith cause me to return to the process of reasoning. I start with the basic question of where did I and all I know come from. There are only two possible answers. It all came about by some accidental occurrence of events over millions and billions of years, or an intelligent force designed it. The complexity of the universe and the existence of life itself lead me to believe that an intelligent force designed it. And if this is so, what do I know about this intelligent force. I have concluded that the Bible is the most reliable source of information about this intelligent force. This process, to remind myself of the logic of my belief, gets me started. But the most interesting truth about this reasoning process is that it all came about after I believed. My belief in God is therefore founded in something other than reason.

I next reminisce on my experiences with God. God has spoken to me at key moments in my life, and he drew me to himself. He answered prayers and provided miracles all to build a relationship of trust. My faith is rooted in a relationship with God that he has built over many years. Then I remember, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.” Ah, my faith is based not on my ability to reason, but on my relationship with God. Experience trumps reason. The questioning of my faith is entrenched in my reasoning skills. My reasoning is faulty, but my experience is sound. There is no argument against what I have experienced.

I feel that faith is even more deeply based on a spiritual foundation. When I first believed reason played a small part, experience barely existed, yet I was drawn to God. Jesus said, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him …” (John 6:44). My reason and my experience came because God drew me. I simply said yes to him. I believe because I was predestined to believe. God is sovereign over all his creation, even me.

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TRUST IN THE LORD AND DO GOOD

The title above comes from Psalm 37:3.  Trust in the Lord and do good.  This is wisdom for God’s people from King David who later, in verses 8&9, exhorts us to: Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret – it leads only to evil.  For evil men will be cut off, but those who hope in the Lord will inherit the land.   These verses challenge us, but they also comfort us.  Jesus said, “In this world you will have trouble, but take heart. I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)

In light of the Supreme Court’s decision on gay marriage, I believe June 26, 2015 is a day to be marked as another “in your face God” moment for our country.  That is why I was looking for comfort and direction from Psalm 37.  God’s people need to be aware that God is not surprised by the decisions of man.  He gave them over to a depraved mind because of their rejection of him.  He is in charge, and we belong to him.  We are redeemed!  And we are bearers of his message of love and forgiveness.  Nothing good will come if Christians join the ranks of haters and revilers.

In Romans 1:18-32 Paul gives a clear dissertation on what’s happening.  He starts out: “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness.”  Reading on we see that the depravity over taking our nation is because we have turned our backs to God.  Even the futility of our thinking, the illogical thinking of our leaders is a result of denying God.  So, what should be our response to this evil?

I think that we should trust in the Lord and do good.  God has his hand on all that is taking place on the earth with a promise to work it out for his glory and our good.  Trust him!  As King David pointed out, hating, fretting and being filled with wrath only leads to evil.  Our charge is to do good, and to love our neighbor as ourselves.  Do good to those who spitefully use you.  Jesus made it clear how we are to proceed.  Don’t turn your back to him.

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The End of Separation

In the beginning there was no separation between man and God.  When man sinned God withdrew his presence.  This separation lasted until Jesus’ death on the cross. The restoration was signified by the tearing from top to bottom of the temple curtain.  (See Matthew 27:51, Mark 15:38, and Luke 23:45)

One of the churches in our city does the Stations of the Cross each year on Good Friday.  My wife and I find this experience a great way to begin Easter Weekend.  The stations take you from the time they arrested Jesus to the crucifixion. I am always deeply moved as I walk from station to station remembering what Jesus went through.  This year the tearing of the temple curtain stood out to me.

At the moment when Jesus said it is finished and gave up his spirit, the temple curtain was torn in such a way that it could only have been done supernaturally.  The curtain was 16 feet tall and 4 inches thick, and it was torn from top to bottom.  As it was torn it exposed the Holy of Holies, the place of God’s presence in the temple.  No one could enter the Holy of Holies except the high priest, and he could only enter once a year after going through an extensive ritual of preparation.

Jesus gave up his life so we could be restored to the presence of God.  We who are redeemed by Jesus’ blood can now enter into God’s presence. I was overwhelmed by the significance of the tearing of the curtain.  God’s redemption of fallen man was complete, and he opened for us access to his presence.  This tragic day had underlying glory.  God’s created ones could now return to the closeness that Adam and Eve had with him before the fall.  Jesus restored our relationship with his amazing act of sacrificial love.  Can I do anything but spend eternity expressing gratitude to my blessed savior?  Thank you Jesus!

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The Pivot Point of Eternity

Kneeling at the cross

Such a wondrous place to be,DSCN1330

I find my greatest freedom there

At this place called Calvary.

 

For here is where it all begins,

If you are willing to receive.

At this pivot point we each decide

Our eternal destiny.

 

Yes, God took our greatest evil,

The murder of his son,

And with his loving power

Salvation for all He won.

 

Now kneel with me if you will,

And receive this very hour,

The salvation offered freely

Enlivened with resurrection power.

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My Neighbor

I work part time as a driving instructor.  I am well versed on the rules of the road.  I know exactly how other drivers are supposed to drive.  In light of the general way people drive; this is a dilemma for someone trying to not be judgmental.  Driving has become the proving grounds of my sinful nature.  In-other-words while driving, I prove myself a sinner.  I frequently blurt out expletives like jerk and idiot.

Monday I was driving to my house after a driving lesson.  As all Americans seem to be, I was in a hurry.  I came to an intersection where I was turning right.  I stopped correctly behind the crosswalk before moving forward to make my right turn on red.  However, the gentleman in the left turn lane stopped all the way across the crosswalk, blocking my view of the cross traffic.  I was grateful that he slowed me down and made me wait for the light; not really.  After my usual pronouncement of his lack of intelligence and moral character, I was struck by the thought, he’s my neighbor.  I found myself changing from annoyance to compassion.  I thank the Holy Spirit for the thought.

The rest of the journey home was occupied by thinking about “my neighbor”.  Jesus made some clear statements about our neighbors such as: “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 19:19).  Yep, I was falling painfully short of loving my neighbor.  That afternoon, I started reading through the scriptures about my neighbor.  In Luke 10: 29-37 Jesus responds to the question, “And who is my neighbor?” with the parable of the Good Samaritan.  The Samaritans were hated by the Jewish people of Jesus’ time.  By using the Samaritan as the good guy of the story, Jesus nailed the prejudice of the time.  Today, perhaps the story would be of the Good Muslim or in the Middle East, the Good Christian.

My conclusion, after my study, is that everybody I come into contact with is my neighbor.  All the man in the left turn lane needed from me was patience and compassion.  Everyone I meet needs at least that.  A smile and an encouraging word would be nice, but they certainly don’t need my judgement.  Every day I obviously fall short of perfection, but I have the Holy Spirit to reminding me of the words Jesus spoke.  With his help I plan to be a better neighbor.  If we should run into each other someday, just know I’d be delighted to be treated like your neighbor.  I’ll try to respond with the same recognition.  God bless you neighbors.

Author’s note:

This has been a challenging week of trying to love my neighbor.  I have been reminded of how desperately I need the salvation Jesus bought for me on the cross.  Lord thank you for your mercy and grace, Amen.