I was digging in Job today and came across a few passages that struck me. During this point in the story Job is dealing with head to toe sores all over his body and is in absolute pain and agony and just wanting God to take his life at this point. At the beginning of the story three of Job's buddies, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, "made an appointment together to come to show him sympathy and comfort him...they raised their voices and wept, and tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads toward heaven. And they sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great." Sounds like a couple of swell guys wouldn't you say? If three of my buddies came to be with me and sit on the ground with me as I battled a painful...whatever, I would feel that they were the best friends a guy could have. You know those times when there are just absolutely no words to comfort someone so you end up just sitting there and being there for them in the midst of all that they are going through? It seems to me that is what Job's boys were doing. Up to this point they are good dudes in my eye.
However...as the story unfolds we come to find that Job and his buddies begin a dialogue that continues back and forth between the four of them with Job's friends basically telling Job that he needs to repent because he must have done something wrong in order for God to have done this to him. In chapter 12, verses 2 and 3, Job reveals his frustration towards his friends through sarcasm as he basically says, "You guys are idiots! You act as if you alone are wise." Job rebukes these chumps because they seem to be overlooking the realities that the righteous suffer just as the wicked prosper in safety.
The practical application that I got out of these first twelve chapters of Job is the fact that it is so easy at times, from our lives of comfort, safety, and health, to look at suffering and believe in our hearts that those people deserve what they are going through. What a joke! Like Job says in verse 5, "In the thought of one who is at ease there is contempt for misfortune; it is ready for those whose feet slip." Or, as The Message puts it, "It's easy for the well-to-do to point their fingers in blame, for the well-fixed to pour scorn on the strugglers. Crooks reside safely in high-security houses, insolent blasphemers live in luxury; they've bought and paid for a god who'll protect them."
Job's friends started off with the best of intentions as they sat and wept for him providing Job comfort. Their intentions got away from them, however, as their words turned to contempt. How do we do this in our own lives?
August 28, 2009
August 17, 2009
The Cross Is Worth It
Does God want some of us to be rich, healthy, and without major problems? Yes, in order to glorify his name through that (1 Corinthians 10:31). Does He want all of us to be rich, healthy, and without major problems? No, in order to glorify his name through that (John 11:4). How do I know that we are not all to "prosper"? The lives and deaths of Jesus and his disciples can attest to this:
1.) Jesus died poor, homeless, and was crucified on the cross as an innocent man (Matthew 27:24). The manner in which he died was so horrendous that a word was invented to explain how great the pain was: excruciating which literally means "from the cross".
2.) Matthew suffered martyrdom in Ethiopia, killed by a sword wound.
3.) Mark died in Alexandria, Egypt, after being dragged by horses through the streets until he was dead.
4.) Luke was hanged in Greece as a result of his tremendous preaching to the lost.
5.) John faced martyrdom when he was boiled in a huge basin of boiling oil during a wave of persecution in Rome. However, he was miraculously delivered from death. John was then sentenced to the mines on the prison island of Patmos. He wrote his prophetic Book of Revelation on Patmos. The apostle John was later freed and returned to serve as Bishop of Edessa in modern Turkey. He died as an old man, the only apostle to die peacefully.
6.) Peter was crucified upside down on an x-shaped cross, according to church tradition because he told his tormentors that he felt unworthy to die in the same way that Jesus Christ had died.
7.) James the Just, the leader of the church in Jerusalem, was thrown over a hundred feet down from the southeast pinnacle of the Temple when he refused to deny his faith in Christ. When they discovered that he survived the fall, his enemies beat James to death with a fuller's club. This was the same pinnacle where Satan had taken Jesus during the Temptation.
8.) James the Greater, a son of Zebedee, was a fisherman by trade when Jesus called him to a lifetime of ministry. As a strong leader of the church, James was ultimately beheaded at Jerusalem. The Roman officer who guarded James watched amazed as James defended his faith at his trial. Later, the officer walked beside James to the place of execution. Overcome by conviction, he declared his new faith to the judge and knelt beside James to accept beheading as a Christian.
9.) Bartholomew, also know as Nathanael, was a missionary to Asia. He witnessed to our Lord in present day Turkey. Bartholomew was martyred for his preaching in Armenia when he was flayed to death by a whip.
10.) Andrew was crucified on an x-shaped cross in Patras, Greece. After being whipped severely by seven soldiers they tied his body to the cross with cords to prolong his agony. His followers reported that, when he was led toward the cross, Andrew saluted it in these words: "I have long desired and expected this happy hour. The cross has been consecrated by the body of Christ hanging on it." He continued to preach to his tormentors for two days until he expired.
11.) The apostle Thomas was stabbed with a spear in India during one of his missionary trips to establish the church in the subcontinent.
12.) Jude, the brother of Jesus, was killed with arrows when he refused to deny his faith in Christ.
13.) Matthias, the apostle chosen to replace the traitor Judas Iscariot, was stoned and then beheaded.
14.) Barnabas, one of the group of seventy disciples, wrote the Epistle of Barnabas. He preached throughout Italy and Cyprus. Barnabas was stoned to death at Salonica.
15.) The apostle Paul was tortured and then beheaded by the evil Emperor Nero at Rome in A.D. 67. Paul endured a lengthy imprisonment which allowed him to write his many epistles to the churches he had formed throughout the Roman Empire. These letters, which taught many of the foundational doctrines of Christianity, form a large portion of the New Testament. ("The Signature of God" by Grant R. Jeffrey)
"When we let go of the idea of Jesus as a product and embrace Him as a being, our path to spiritual maturity begins." -Donald Miller
We need to stop asking the question, "What can I get from Jesus?" and start asking the question, "What has Jesus already given us?" The cross.
1.) Jesus died poor, homeless, and was crucified on the cross as an innocent man (Matthew 27:24). The manner in which he died was so horrendous that a word was invented to explain how great the pain was: excruciating which literally means "from the cross".
2.) Matthew suffered martyrdom in Ethiopia, killed by a sword wound.
3.) Mark died in Alexandria, Egypt, after being dragged by horses through the streets until he was dead.
4.) Luke was hanged in Greece as a result of his tremendous preaching to the lost.
5.) John faced martyrdom when he was boiled in a huge basin of boiling oil during a wave of persecution in Rome. However, he was miraculously delivered from death. John was then sentenced to the mines on the prison island of Patmos. He wrote his prophetic Book of Revelation on Patmos. The apostle John was later freed and returned to serve as Bishop of Edessa in modern Turkey. He died as an old man, the only apostle to die peacefully.
6.) Peter was crucified upside down on an x-shaped cross, according to church tradition because he told his tormentors that he felt unworthy to die in the same way that Jesus Christ had died.
7.) James the Just, the leader of the church in Jerusalem, was thrown over a hundred feet down from the southeast pinnacle of the Temple when he refused to deny his faith in Christ. When they discovered that he survived the fall, his enemies beat James to death with a fuller's club. This was the same pinnacle where Satan had taken Jesus during the Temptation.
8.) James the Greater, a son of Zebedee, was a fisherman by trade when Jesus called him to a lifetime of ministry. As a strong leader of the church, James was ultimately beheaded at Jerusalem. The Roman officer who guarded James watched amazed as James defended his faith at his trial. Later, the officer walked beside James to the place of execution. Overcome by conviction, he declared his new faith to the judge and knelt beside James to accept beheading as a Christian.
9.) Bartholomew, also know as Nathanael, was a missionary to Asia. He witnessed to our Lord in present day Turkey. Bartholomew was martyred for his preaching in Armenia when he was flayed to death by a whip.
10.) Andrew was crucified on an x-shaped cross in Patras, Greece. After being whipped severely by seven soldiers they tied his body to the cross with cords to prolong his agony. His followers reported that, when he was led toward the cross, Andrew saluted it in these words: "I have long desired and expected this happy hour. The cross has been consecrated by the body of Christ hanging on it." He continued to preach to his tormentors for two days until he expired.
11.) The apostle Thomas was stabbed with a spear in India during one of his missionary trips to establish the church in the subcontinent.
12.) Jude, the brother of Jesus, was killed with arrows when he refused to deny his faith in Christ.
13.) Matthias, the apostle chosen to replace the traitor Judas Iscariot, was stoned and then beheaded.
14.) Barnabas, one of the group of seventy disciples, wrote the Epistle of Barnabas. He preached throughout Italy and Cyprus. Barnabas was stoned to death at Salonica.
15.) The apostle Paul was tortured and then beheaded by the evil Emperor Nero at Rome in A.D. 67. Paul endured a lengthy imprisonment which allowed him to write his many epistles to the churches he had formed throughout the Roman Empire. These letters, which taught many of the foundational doctrines of Christianity, form a large portion of the New Testament. ("The Signature of God" by Grant R. Jeffrey)
"When we let go of the idea of Jesus as a product and embrace Him as a being, our path to spiritual maturity begins." -Donald Miller
We need to stop asking the question, "What can I get from Jesus?" and start asking the question, "What has Jesus already given us?" The cross.
August 9, 2009
Swimming at Nanna's House
We had fun at my Mom's house swimming and messing around with her amazing camera which just happens to be water proof. About a week prior to this swimming fun Joe wouldn't even let go of Alysa or me while in the water and then on this day he was jumping off the diving board and 4 foot high walls. Fun times!
August 7, 2009
God's Word
Some thoughts for all of us on reading the God's Word. If you've ever struggled with getting into the Word (like I have many times!) here is a fresh perspective on two separate ways of looking at/reading the Bible. We can read it as law and threat, or we can read it as promise and assurance. I know that when I was younger I stayed way away from the Bible because all I saw were rules and laws and me breaking all of them. I now look at the Bible through a different lens and see it as being the beautiful promises of God and the story of redemption and of life by a wonderful Creator who loves us and desires us to know Him!
"If we read the Bible as law, every page will feel like God glaring at us: “If you ever . . . .” And since we are all law-breakers at heart, the Bible will crush us. Even the promises will come across as law: “God will bless sinners—well, the ones who deserve it.”
If we read the Bible as promise, every page will be hope from God. It will breathe new life into us. Even the commands will be sweetened with grace: “God will bless sinners—yes, sinners who break these laws.”
Which way of reading of the Bible is correct?
The apostle Paul explains: “The law, which came 430 years afterward, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to make the promise void. . . . God gave it to Abraham by a promise” (Gal 3:17-18).
Here is Paul’s point. If we want to know whether we should read the Bible through the lens of law or promise, we can start reading on page one and see which comes first. And in fact, promise comes first—God’s covenant with Abraham in Genesis 12. The law is a later sidebar, in Exodus 20. The category “promise” is the larger, wraparound framework for everything else.
The deepest message of the Bible is the grace of God for sinners. The Bible presents itself this way. The laws and commands and examples and warnings are all there. Let’s revere them. But we can read them with this as our foremost thought: “Jesus obeyed it all. He died for all my failure. And now he is changing my heart. I can read this page of the Bible with hope in his grace.” -Ray Ortlund
"If we read the Bible as law, every page will feel like God glaring at us: “If you ever . . . .” And since we are all law-breakers at heart, the Bible will crush us. Even the promises will come across as law: “God will bless sinners—well, the ones who deserve it.”
If we read the Bible as promise, every page will be hope from God. It will breathe new life into us. Even the commands will be sweetened with grace: “God will bless sinners—yes, sinners who break these laws.”
Which way of reading of the Bible is correct?
The apostle Paul explains: “The law, which came 430 years afterward, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to make the promise void. . . . God gave it to Abraham by a promise” (Gal 3:17-18).
Here is Paul’s point. If we want to know whether we should read the Bible through the lens of law or promise, we can start reading on page one and see which comes first. And in fact, promise comes first—God’s covenant with Abraham in Genesis 12. The law is a later sidebar, in Exodus 20. The category “promise” is the larger, wraparound framework for everything else.
The deepest message of the Bible is the grace of God for sinners. The Bible presents itself this way. The laws and commands and examples and warnings are all there. Let’s revere them. But we can read them with this as our foremost thought: “Jesus obeyed it all. He died for all my failure. And now he is changing my heart. I can read this page of the Bible with hope in his grace.” -Ray Ortlund
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