Archive for June, 2008

Posted on June 30, 2008 - by bj

Let go of the shovel

Why is it that sometimes we find ourselves in the pit of temptation or suffering and we blatently choose sin?—or maybe another, and probably better question(s) is, why do we sometimes sin, and not know it?—-why does it take us witnessing the consequences of our sin, mainly seeing its effect on other people–usually those that we’re closest to, before we come to the realization, “Hey, maybe what I did was wrong?” i believe 100% that it should never take us seeing how our words or actions have hurt someone else for us to come to that realization. However, i do know that the Lord uses that quite often to discipline his children because, most of the time, we just don’t get it; we choose not to get it–pride. The thing is, there is never sin, without temptation. Temptation precedes sin. Even for the unbeliever that is held captive by their sin–there’s always temptation before their wrongdoings–they just fail to realize it because of the scales that are covering their eyes. So what does the presence of temptation mean? It means hope, it means love, it means that you don’t have to do whatever it is that you’re about to do. Experiencing temptation is the last resort that our Father takes to keep us from doing wrong–it is a TANGIBLE interceding in our lives by the Holy Spirit that says, “BJ, I love you My son. It’s not wrong of you to be tempted–I too was tempted. But through Me, you can overcome this and walk in freedom.” Some may disagree and say that sometimes there isn’t any temptation, but i would say to them… How could the Lord offer a way out of every situation (which He does) if that were the case? However, temptation is dangerous. i feel it could be described as the “middle ground” between death and freedom. And sometimes, we do give in–if we don’t know Jesus, if we lose sight of the cross, or if we never really embraced the fact that we actually have the Holy Spirit living IN US, and the only way that it got there is through an amazingly indescribable Man, that overcame the temptation of all sin, yet placed all of that very sin on Himself so that in the very moment that we’re facing that tempting decision, we can say, “This really might hurt them if i say it so i’m not going to,” “This will probably turn me away from the Lord if i do that, i’m not going to do that,” “Hey yall, i know we feel like we’re able to drive and i know it’s only a short distance home, but can we just take a taxi to be on the safe side–i would hate for one of us to get hurt or even worse, for someone else to,” “My body is purified by the Spirit and it’s a temple of God; we will not do that,” and you could probably think of many others. Even though temptation is a sign of love and care from the Lord, it’s still–as i said earlier, extremely dangerous because when it hits us, we’re already walking on a thin layer of ice. We must do everything we can to prevent putting ourselves in tempting situations. We can’t reason with ourselves that we will not give in to temptation everytime we face it because many times we will, and that’s definitely not a reason to just forget about it or overlook it either.
Can we just embrace ourselves the way the Lord has embraced us? Can we look at ourselves and others through Holy eyes? Can we encourage and pray for those that have wronged us? Can we just say, “i’m sorry,” or “Thank you,” or “i really appreciate you” (as small as that may seem, it can have huge impact on another person)—why do we have to tear each other down and wound ourselves the process? Can we learn what it means to live in the truth of “You are forgiven, go and sin no more.” i don’t know about you, but to me, that seems like the most appealing thing. i’m definitely not perfect, i struggle, i’m a sinner. But that isn’t what defines me and it isn’t what defines you. We are defined by the cross. Perfection is not attainable here on earth, but i feel that we should at least try to be–the way that Jesus exemplified perfection. And in our trying, we must embrace the fact that we will fail. Just because we will never be perfect should not keep us from trying to be–or to put it another way, just because we know that we will fail should not keep us from trying to be. Failing should never seem attractive. However, if we are striving for perfection in life without realizing how imperfect we are, we will make that conquest only about ourself, which makes everything worse and also makes it difficult to approach the Lord when we do fail. Embracing our imperfection leads to humility and keeps our heart open to His voice and His guidance. You and i are loved unconditionally by the Savior of the world; what’s not to love about that?

And….i kind of got off on a tangent with this post; it totally went in a different direction than i had intended. What i wanted to write about originally was similar, but quite different. So, i guess i’ll have to save that one until next time.

Posted on June 24, 2008 - by bj

my daily walk…learning about Jesusnomics

So this post is the first of a series of posts (not necessarily one after the other) that are basically about my daily walk with God and how He shows up sometimes just to say “Hey, how’s it going?” In previous posts, i kind of touched on how creation and all good things are from Him and for Him. With me being fairly busy these days, it’s really important that i engage in worship throughout my day and keep my mind set on Him. If not, i become like the very ground that i walk on. In doing that, the Lord has been consistent in revealing His character and truth through the world around me—nature, relationships, and various other things; confirming that fact that “I am with you,” and “I want you to know Me,” and “I desire you.”

The other day, i was thinking about my grandmother and how usually, each Christmas or for my birthday, she knits something for me–usually a blanket, or a shawl, or something similar. The amazing thing about this is that she’s blind–not partially, but fully. And…it usually takes 3-5 weeks to finish a full blanket. But, she loves to knit and the amount of time doesn’t matter because it’s her most favorite thing to do. And in this, the Lord gave me a literal picture of how we can love something that we can’t see–that yes, it is by faith in What we can’t see that brings life. Now clearly, this isn’t anywhere close to comparing to loving and having faith in the God that we can’t see, but just one of many ways that the Lord spoke truth over me and kept my mind on Him.

A couple of things that came to mind yesterday as i was thinking about pride, society, the world, etc…were roads and gas prices—random, i know. But anyway, roads help us get from one place to another. They’re usually nice and smooth, and provide the easiest way to get places…and you probably see where i’m going with this. For us to have a place in mind and venture off the road to try and make our own way would not be smart at all. The “way” to get to wherever you want to go is already provided for you–why make it harder on yourself? The path to God is straight, yet narrow—it’s not a 4-laner. But it’s there, and it’s been cleared. And not only has a road been provided for you, but so has a vehicle–Jesus. And He’s standing there like a limo driver, holding the door open, waiting and wanting you to get in. It’s a free ride—where do you want to go?

As frustrating as it is to pay “through the roof” prices for gas these days, at least we have access to transportation and its lifeblood. We’re not in a place where we must walk to get everywhere–we should be thankful for that. My heart breaks for people that must do that.
Gas could probably be described as one of the things that keeps this world spinning round. So much depends on it–almost every form of transportation. And as the world grows, its dependency and need for fuel will also grow, until an alternate fuel source is found. More than likely, the price of gas will rise as well, at least according to economics—we have scarce resources that must be allocated to individuals with unlimited wants and needs (and what do you know–pride is the center of something else). And if supply is low and demand is high, higher prices will follow suit—and because we need gas so badly, we will pay the higher prices. The more i learn about the heart and character of God and the more He reveals himself to me, the more that i realize my need for Him. And not only do i realize my need for Him, but i desire to be in His presence, i want to grow with Him, i want others to see Him, i want others to experience and live in the grace and the joy that He gives—that can only be found in Him and not any other alternate form or source. As i understand more about my need for Him and my wanting, the more i realize that i’m willing to pay a higher price. And not only is there a willingness, but a desire to pay a higher price. Jesus paid the ultimate price so that we could truly live. Paying a higher price in life means sharing more in the sufferings of Christ. And this leads to expansion of the kingdom. Call it spiritual economics, if you will.

Posted on June 23, 2008 - by bj

Opposites don’t attract

i was watching Larry King Live very briefly the other night. A certain individual was on there; i won’t say their name, but anyway…Larry was asking this person about their views on faith, afterlife, etc… And then he asked this person the question, “Do you accept Darwin?” This individual replied, “Yes I do, but I would give up Darwin if the creationists gave up their belief in the 7-day account of creation. I mean…that’s what’s holding this world up.” First off…i don’t know about you, but this remark makes absolutely no sense to me…But anyway, about the comment itself– There’s definitely a spitefullness about it. You can see the spiritual dysfunction here–the enemy is clearly an envious being and our pride naturally tells us to belittle, manipulate, and do whatever else it takes to make ourselves feel superior to anyone or anything that seems to be “ahead of,” or “intruding upon,” or “better” than us. And i could see the true hurt and pain that this person was suppressing, the hurt and pain that they were totally oblivious to. But after hearing the comment, i was first filled with intense emotion–anger, frustration, various other synonyms, and after calming down, i then realized that this is the view that so many people have in our country as well as others. Take our country for example–we’re immersed in a society where pride is placed on a pedestool, where we’re taught to put ourselves above anything, that it’s up to us to make something of our lives–independent of anyone or anything else and any benefit we reap because of that hard work is because “I worked hard to get where I am,” or “I grew up with nothing but I made something out of nothing,” and you could make your own list. We’re immersed in a culture where the most important decision in life is determining to withdraw or rollover your 401K.
Our society teaches us everything that is contrary to Christian belief. Everything that the world teaches and tries to push on us is totally the opposite of what is taught in the Word. It was written thousands of years ago and warned us about the evilness of the world–that conforming to it leads to death; how true is that today? But i guess the fact that the Word matches up with that reality is just a total coincidence. If you believe in creation, you more than likely believe in the crucifixion. For someone to say or believe that believing in creation/the crucifixion is the reason that our “world” is held up, is, i’m sorry to say it, but crazy. Of course, it does say in the Bible that the “truth is foolish to them,” but it still doesn’t discharge the fact that it’s an absured thing to believe. In the garden, Adam and Eve chose to eat the fruit. Everything was perfect but was tarnished because of that. Many people think that the “sin,”–the “fall of man” happened because Adam and Eve disobeyed God and ate the fruit. Yes, that is true and to disobey God is a sin. But, the fall of man happend when Adam and Eve decided to consider themselves equal to God, worthy of being all-knowing. It happened when they let pride convince them that their desire was power, not God. And pride is now the root of all evil. From that, all of the “junk” that is in the world is because of pride. Murder, rape, the aids epidemic, even hunger along with everything else that is awful is a direct result of what happened in the garden. Murder and rape happen because someone considers themself superior to another and because someone doesn’t care about controlling their desires–even though they know it’s wrong. The rapid spreading of aids is due to people only caring about themselves, not even taking into consideration the other person. It’s due to people being too prideful to go to the doctor to get help because they’re ashamed… because they’re afraid of what people might think. They end up being convinced of.. “Surely you’re not sick, surely you won’t die, surely you won’t bring anyone else down with you….” “The fruit does look delicious, and pleasing on the eyes, and desireable,”…..yeah, I think I’ll eat it. i attribute the hunger epidemic to the curse that God place on the ground beacause of Adam’s passiveness and decision to step down as a leader. Food no longer springs forth from the ground as it did in the garden. Pride is the reason that this world is “lagging behind.”

Many people care so much about saving the environment and ridding it of the pollution and nastyness that we put into it. And i’m all for doing things to help the environment and make it better, but the world was never meant to last forever in the first place. And the problem is not environmental pollution—it’s spiritual and moral pollution. We’re so concerned about what we’re putting into the earth, and just about the world in general that we fail to realize what we exhale into the individuals that inhabit it. The gospel is foolishness to the world but is life-giving to followers of Christ. It is the Thing that is the best tasting, the most pleasing on the eyes, and the most desireable. YES, i will feast on that.

i believe in the Savior. i am awaiting His return. But what i find perplexing is that, if at the end of the world, it were not true, i still wouldn’t want to live my life any other way. And not one nonbeliever can make a valid argument against the fact that if everyone lived according to the Word, it would definitely be a much better place. What’s really exciting is that you who are wounded, you…the one being held captive by your past sin, by past decisions, you…the individual that thinks your problems are too big for God and that He won’t understand, are invited into an amazing story of grace–a never ending story. You live your life on earth as if you’ll live here forever and not even death can touch you…why not surrender that life and actually receive eternal life, AND actual victory over death, AND true joy, AND life to the fullest, on top seeing and experiencing some cool things along the way. Forgiveness awaits, grace is ready to relieve you of the weight that you’ve put on yourself. Jesus desires you and so desparately wants to bring healing.

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.” Matthew 7: 7-8

Posted on June 18, 2008 - by bj

Do work son

The past two weeks have been extremely demanding. This entire summer has been very “labor-intensive” as far as school goes and with that, a complete lack of sleep has followed. Physically, i’m drained. But the Lord has been so amazing and loving in all of this. He continues to remind me that He has allowed everything to happen as a way of drawing me into Him. It’s only by our dependency on the Lord that the trials of life can be overcome, whether we consciously realize it or not. i’ve learned alot about what it means to rest in midst of my”busy-ness.” Usually, i think of rest as quietness, stillness, intimacy, etc… And those are all good things, but not necessarily applicable in every situation–at least not in the form that we normally think of those terms. We can still have that closeness and fellowship with the Lord even if it seems as though we “don’t have enough time.” In this season of life, i’ve realized that resting doesn’t always mean STOP what you’re doing and take a break from the things you need to do. But sometimes, we just need to pause………….and take a moment to think about why we’re doing these things and for Whom we’re doing them. We must speak truth over ourselves. And this could take anywhere from a split-second to……whenever. A “quiet-time” isn’t required for us to have intimacy with the Lord, although alot of times, that’s what it takes for us to draw near to Him. i’ve learned that the desire to work hard and put in the time that it takes to get stuff done, whether it be school related, job-related, family-related, etc…is a blessing from the Lord. He wants us to work hard at the things that are required of us; He wants us to be fruitful. The Lord gives us all different passions and purposes, but the key thing there is that they are FROM HIM. And anything from Him is FOR HIM, so giving us passions to pursue in life is ultimately a way that the Lord reveals Himself to us and to other people. Our passions are means to glorifying the Lord and allowing His character to be mirrored through our actions and reflected to everyone around us. He shows us that our one true purpose is Him and because He is the Lord of all things and unfailing, purposes can’t fail. “Our” purposes can fail because they’re of the flesh, but not His….Never. He is solid and cannot be shaken. He’s also united us as the body so that we can encourage and pray for one another and i’m grateful for everyone He’s put in my life. Life isn’t going to get any easier from here (it will from a wordly perspective)……through my surrender, i’m actually called to suffer and will. And i could push Him aside to pursue my own ambitions and probably be “happy.” But, a surrendered life is far too beautiful to do so.