Tested

The tests we endure in life, become part of our testimony.

From chapel today.

“…the world with all the bad shaved off…”

Really different.  Is there anything really different about us?  Because sometimes it seems like we’re exactly the same, but without all the ‘fun’.  We’re just like the world, but with the bad shaved off.  ‘Too good’ for all that.  Or whatever we say–redeemed, is it?  Are we just the same as the world, but without the drugs, sex and alcohol?  Because if all we are is the rest of the world minus the hedonism, then why in the heck would anyone really want to be like us?  Unless we have something honest and genuine to give, something honestly different and revolutionary, we really have nothing.  It’s not just about removing the ‘bad’ and replacing it with something ‘good’.  It’s about flipping the world on its head.  Everything needs to start being rebuilt from the ground up.  Of course, that needs to evident in our own lives before we can expect others to take notice.  What do I mean by all this?

‘The job of a prophetic minister is to criticize and energize‘ –Walter Brueggemann.  (Emphasis added)

A prophet is not ‘one who predicts the future’.  They declare truth, especially when it is the radical, thing to do.  They declare truth when no one will believe it.  They declare truth, when everybody else is distracted by everything else.  They declare truth because there is nothing else to declare.  In a sense, we are all called to be prophets to the world around us.  We need to be pointing out what is wrong in the world, and correcting it.  Jesus was revolutionary.   He caused problems among the ‘religious elite’ and divided families.  We need to declare the truth, no matter how revolutionary, to the world around us.  It does have the power to change!  Think about it.  Criticize and energize.  That is the power of the Gospel.  Have you seen that in your own life recently?

Writing the check

Why do we find Scripture so profound, yet often it changes nothing?  We can find new insights and come up with amazing practical applications, yet we never follow through.  We are content to let others sow the seeds and feel our “calling” is to write checks to missionaries.

Jesus gave the law in one phrase: Love the LORD your God, and love your neighbor.  Later, Jesus throws down the gauntlet when he says “if you truly love me, you’ll keep my commands.”   His commands?  Spread the Good News!  So if we’re so “Gospel centered,” why aren’t we doing anything about it?!  Apathy is not an acceptable path.  The answer, is that on one hand, God is working in us and we will be perfected in time.  On the other hand, we need to pray that he would use us.   And we need to step outside.  Let’s get over ourselves.

The Nature of God

The nature of time is defined by the nature of change.  Time exists because change exists.  Think about an object in motion.  As it moves along its path, each moment in time is a different snapshot of its position.  Thus because its existence changes, we can define time.  If there is no change in the object, motion or otherwise,  there is neither a need nor a possibility of time.  It merely exists.

We know that God existed before and outside of time.  In fact, he created time.  We also know that God is unchanging.  Therefore, before the creation of the heavens and the earth, God EXISTED!  There was nothing else but himself.  The nature of time is not that it existed infinitely into the past.  The nature of time is that it didn’t exist before.  We humans are changing beings.  We change in personality and character as well as physical position.  God doesn’t.  Time exists because contingent beings exist.  We exist in time while simultaneously, God exists outside of time.  And for some reason God chose to enter time to save us.  What an awesome God.