"we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us." (Romans 5:3-5)
It has been a pretty tough week. Not that there was any one thing or one event that has been an issue, but just a cumulative series of small things that have drained me bit by bit. I am reminded of this verse - to glory in tribulations.
Tribulations will definitely span a great range - for most people, such as myself at this time, it will be fairly mundane things that will be a trial, and for others there will be a difficult event that will take a good amount of time to overcome.
But, I really do believe in the cycle that Paul describes in Romans. We are shaped through our trials far more than through our blessings. I know that I spent a good deal of time praying and asking God for strength this week than I have for a while. It is the new things, the new trials that cause us to go to our knees.
What we find however, is that God can successfully bring us through the trials. He really is faithful. Faithful, not in the sense that we won't have difficulties or tragedies happen to us, but faithful to give us the strength to overcome them. And the result of that is we see more and more that God is good to us, and the truth that He will never leave us nor forsake us.
It is through this body of work, that is our personal journey of life through which God proves His faithfulness and His reality. And when each trial has been overcome, we have a track record on which to place our hopes for eternal life. God really is, and He is with us.
Perhaps there is something behind the curse of Adam given to us men during the Fall:
"Cursed is the ground for your sake; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, and you shall eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for dust you are, and to dust you shall return." (Genesis 3:17-19)
Adam and Eve had just disobeyed God in the midst of a life of ease in the Garden of Eden. If a life of ease did not produce obedience, loyalty and character in them, perhaps God wanted to develop that character through trials instead.
As I think about those who will share the Kingdom with the Lord in the end, they will all have been tested through a life of trial and tragedy. Each will know what evil is, and in contrast, the goodness of God.
Lord Jesus, thank You for being strong in my life. That there are times when I need to lean upon You for strength and simply dwell in Your presence. Thank You for being faithful in my times of need and that You are always true and good. As a family, help us to navigate these waters that will be a challenge. Help us to stay near to You and always have Your character on us even through the darkest days. In Jesus' name, AMEN.
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Be Content In Marriage And Money
4Marriage is to be held in honor among all, and the marriage bed is to be undefiled; for fornicators and adulterers God will judge. 5Make sure that your character is free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, "I WILL NEVER DESERT YOU, NOR WILL I EVER FORSAKE YOU," 6so that we confidently say,
"THE LORD IS MY HELPER, I WILL NOT BE AFRAID.
WHAT WILL MAN DO TO ME?"
(Hebrews 13:4-6)
As I read this passage, I noticed that the Lord is asking us to live with a sense of gratefulness and appreciation for what we have. Along with that spirit of thankfulness, we need to also practice delayed gratification as well.
We live in a fast food, instant gratification world. It is such a luxury that we can jump into our cars and purchase anything under the sun whenever we like with only a piece of plastic instead of carrying around cash. If we want to be entertained, our movies are fed straight to our big screen TVs over high definition (or our everywhere internet connected smartphones). It's an awesome thing - luxuries no one could have even imagined just 20-30 years ago.
As great as these things are, that attitude of instant gratification cannot carry into our married life or our finances. Perhaps more than anywhere else in our lives, God needs to reign in us when it comes to those two things.
I am so glad for my wife. We are such different people and that can lead to great complementary aids, or great disagreements. But through everything, she is a loving support for me through tough times. Marriage has also been the toughest test for me in my entire life. The concept of "two becoming one" seems romantic when you're single, but when actually doing the process in real life, it can also be like surgery. For others, there might also be times when it can seem mundane because you see a person everyday. Either way, staying the course in marriage isn't necessarily easy.
It can seem attractive to bail out and to find someone new in order to rekindle excitement or somehow feel validated or "manly". But, we are called to be pure and loyal in our marriages. It is a sanctioned contract under and before God, where we swear to live our whole lives serving our spouses.
The reward for us is the supernatural miracle of two persons truly functioning as one unit. Each supporting the other in different ways and creating a solid foundation and shelter from which to raise the next generation for Christ. There is deep joy in being able to share one's life with another and to lean on them in times of need. We were made to live in marriage (other than those who are called to be single to serve God fully), and when we are able to live out the journey of life through the journey of marriage, we are fulfilled to the depths of our souls.
Money on the other hand is a trap for us. Money's threat is to replace our sense of security in the Lord with the security of a full bank account. In addition, it feeds our greed to obtain and collect things - focusing on material acquisition rather than the fruits of the Spirit.
Making purchases feels empowering. We are drawn to possession and it makes us feel validated. We judge a person's social status and rank by the type of things they have, where they live, the car they drive, and the clothes they wear. God doesn't judge on any of those things. Not a single one.
It is not wrong to be rich. God desires for us to be successful. But, we cannot worship things and compromise ourselves in order to obtain things. We cannot compromise our faith, or our relationship and assignment from the Lord in order to drive a nice car or live in a nice house. Instead, we know that it is God that is our ultimate provider - not our bank accounts. We need to worship the giver and not the gifts.
Be content with what you have, says the Lord. God knows our characters and when we give our lives over to Him, we are submitting to His provision and His timing. He knows us better than ourselves and knows whether we have the characters to live with more or less. Since money is not a factor in God's success, the level of money in our lives has nothing to do with whether or not God believes in us or loves us. He simply has called us to live with a certain amount of funds.
The world is littered with lives that have been destroyed by the love of money. Relationships, one of the greatest treasures that we can have, are severed by jealousy, envy or greed all rooted in the love of money. While it is necessary to live and function, it is meaningless to God's Kingdom.
Lord Jesus, thank You for reminding me about the power and gift of a pure marriage, and warning me about the dangers of the love of money. One is possibly the greatest treasure during our lives here on Earth, and the other is completely worthless in the whole scheme of things. Thank You for being the provider for our family, helping and encouraging us to grow little by little. At the same time, please protect our marriage and help us to grow more and more into the one unit that lives for You alone. In Jesus' name, AMEN.
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Sin = Enslavement; Jesus Breaks Sins and Gives Life
"Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. for the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts." (Romans 6:8-12)
In Christianity, we hear of the free gift of Christ very often. Here in Romans 6, Paul details to us what exactly Christ has done for us. Christ sacrificed Himself for the death that we should have died because of our sins, and being God His death has the power to cover all our sins. In addition, only the death of a perfect man under the law could serve as that sacrifice as a sinful man would already deserve death on his own faults. Christ's resurrection of Himself on the third day evidences that death's power has been overcome by Christ's sacrifice. If we believe in Him AND become His follower, then His death is extended to us because we die to our old selves, and are renewed in Christ. We are no longer slaves to sin - but are now slaves to righteousness.
This message isn't a simple one - and although I've been a Christian for a few years now, I also had to struggle with the above paragraph to try to break it down to something simple for me to write...and I only think that I half succeeded.
The part of Romans 6 that has really struck me though is the concept of Lordship. We are either slaves to sin or slaves to righteousness.
Sin attracts us because we want to be free to do whatever we want to do. Our society tends to live by the motto: "If it feels good, do it". Well, sin always feels good at first. There is a rush of doing something that even our souls know is illicit. We are going against God and rebelling feels good.
But as we do our sin more and more, something terrible happens. The enjoyment level falls but the craving to keep doing it increases. Soon we are slowly consumed by the need to sin more and more, while the only enjoyment comes from thinking and doing more perverse ways of sinning. We fall into a deeper and deeper cycle and addiction. Sin, which seemed so attractive and free, has ensnared us.
As we become enslaved to sin, the enjoyment of life decreases. It is difficult to live because we need to sin. We are not free any longer and we have given over our souls to sin.
But Christ is the light that saves us because He alone can break the power of sin. Yes, by accepting Him, we become His followers and His children. But, being our Creator, He knows the optimum ways in which we need to live. He has given us guidelines through His Word to direct us in the ways that will be beneficial to us - ways to maximize our enjoyment and our freedom. But one of the first things that He does for us when we become Christians is that He breaks the shackles of sin, and provides us with a way out of those sins. For some people it is a dramatic turnaround. For others like myself, it is a gradual working and changing of my life more and more towards His ways.
It is such a paradox that although Christ gives us commandments which seem to be so constrictive, our true freedom, peace and happiness is derived from those boundaries. It is like a rule that we can't eat a poison berry. Yes, the berry may taste sweet and delicious, but the poison will ultimately kill us. While eating the berry may seem like freedom, the death that it leads to is the anti-thesis.
Lord Jesus, today You have allowed me to think once again about all that You've done for me in my life. I know that I need to renew my understanding from time to time in order to keep strong in my faith - especially because I have such a short term memory and we are bombarded with messages to sin and live with the world on a daily basis. But, when I recall Your power to break sins, I have to sit and marvel at all the changes You've made in my life. While I am not perfect, You have given me new life, and I am so grateful for it all. I am free in ways I have never known and I have peace and joy deeper than I ever could have imagined. Thank You Jesus. In Your name I pray, AMEN.
In Christianity, we hear of the free gift of Christ very often. Here in Romans 6, Paul details to us what exactly Christ has done for us. Christ sacrificed Himself for the death that we should have died because of our sins, and being God His death has the power to cover all our sins. In addition, only the death of a perfect man under the law could serve as that sacrifice as a sinful man would already deserve death on his own faults. Christ's resurrection of Himself on the third day evidences that death's power has been overcome by Christ's sacrifice. If we believe in Him AND become His follower, then His death is extended to us because we die to our old selves, and are renewed in Christ. We are no longer slaves to sin - but are now slaves to righteousness.
This message isn't a simple one - and although I've been a Christian for a few years now, I also had to struggle with the above paragraph to try to break it down to something simple for me to write...and I only think that I half succeeded.
The part of Romans 6 that has really struck me though is the concept of Lordship. We are either slaves to sin or slaves to righteousness.
Sin attracts us because we want to be free to do whatever we want to do. Our society tends to live by the motto: "If it feels good, do it". Well, sin always feels good at first. There is a rush of doing something that even our souls know is illicit. We are going against God and rebelling feels good.
But as we do our sin more and more, something terrible happens. The enjoyment level falls but the craving to keep doing it increases. Soon we are slowly consumed by the need to sin more and more, while the only enjoyment comes from thinking and doing more perverse ways of sinning. We fall into a deeper and deeper cycle and addiction. Sin, which seemed so attractive and free, has ensnared us.
As we become enslaved to sin, the enjoyment of life decreases. It is difficult to live because we need to sin. We are not free any longer and we have given over our souls to sin.
But Christ is the light that saves us because He alone can break the power of sin. Yes, by accepting Him, we become His followers and His children. But, being our Creator, He knows the optimum ways in which we need to live. He has given us guidelines through His Word to direct us in the ways that will be beneficial to us - ways to maximize our enjoyment and our freedom. But one of the first things that He does for us when we become Christians is that He breaks the shackles of sin, and provides us with a way out of those sins. For some people it is a dramatic turnaround. For others like myself, it is a gradual working and changing of my life more and more towards His ways.
It is such a paradox that although Christ gives us commandments which seem to be so constrictive, our true freedom, peace and happiness is derived from those boundaries. It is like a rule that we can't eat a poison berry. Yes, the berry may taste sweet and delicious, but the poison will ultimately kill us. While eating the berry may seem like freedom, the death that it leads to is the anti-thesis.
Lord Jesus, today You have allowed me to think once again about all that You've done for me in my life. I know that I need to renew my understanding from time to time in order to keep strong in my faith - especially because I have such a short term memory and we are bombarded with messages to sin and live with the world on a daily basis. But, when I recall Your power to break sins, I have to sit and marvel at all the changes You've made in my life. While I am not perfect, You have given me new life, and I am so grateful for it all. I am free in ways I have never known and I have peace and joy deeper than I ever could have imagined. Thank You Jesus. In Your name I pray, AMEN.
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