Advent Pt. 3 - Origins

I sat bewildered at what had just happened. I couldn't believe that Facebook had changed again. It all too often caves into the waves of change allowing its users to sit and complain about it for a moment and then get used to its new form. Yet this new form of Facebook completely alters social networking. You can now trace a person's life on this timeline all the way back to their birth. 
It's a shame how a lot of people can't do that. A lot of people can't trace their origins. 
While this new moralism is still preaching a gospel of peace and love, it is a peace and love with no foundation. Unlike how the Israelites can looks back on how God led them out of Egypt to justify their faithfulness and how Christians can look back on Christ's death and resurrection to justify their new life, new moralists can't look back on everything. Rather this new moralism is a synthesis of beliefs from different religions. 
So where are its origins?
I don't believe that Jesus came up with the moral structure explained in the Sermon on the Mount out of nowhere. If He did, then the flaws of His structure would have caved in over time. Yet it still has a firm foundation in society today. New moralists partake in this structure because they are still preaching the same gospel of love and peace. The only difference is that they have secularized it. An example would be someone would love their neighbor because they are a fellow American and not a creation of God or cause Jesus said so. Therefore, a rationality was introduced to justify their means.
One of the greatest threats to our philosophical age is the justification that rationality provides. 
People who partake in this new moralism seek to be justified in their own rationality rather than by God in their actions. But in doing so, they effectively deny their roots. 
The ironic thing is how rationality has actually blurred our origin instead of make it clearer. 
This Advent season, as we love, as we give, as we toil, as we do anything and everything under God's grace, we need to realize that we are only doing that because of our origins. If God didn't send His Son, then we wouldn't be celebrating Christmas. If God didn't send His Son, then we would have no reason to love and to give this season. 
So there is a way to redeem the secularization of the Advent season and that is to reconnect the new moralism that has doused our culture to its origins in Jesus Christ. 

"Let them give thanks to the Lord

for His unfailing love

and His wonderful deeds for men."

-Psalm 107: 8, 15, 21, 31

Advent Pt. 2 - Morality

It's funny how we go about morality in a subjective manner. As humans, we are all moral beings given the idea that we have the power to discern right from wrong. But we have different definitions of what is right and what is wrong. A person who robs a bank could justify his actions by saying its morally right. This is because morality is defined through culture as to what culture believes is right and wrong. But beneath it all, if everyone has some different sense of what is moral then the culture's perspective of morality is permeable and manipulable, giving in to the law of the jungle stating that whoever is in power has a say of what is moral.

An example of this situation came to me just recently. Last week I took up a job buying back books from students on campus. My main intention in doing this job was to make people happy and serve them in a loving way. So I researched one of my books for class with the bookstore and found that they were buying back the book for a cheaper price than I offered. So I emailed my whole class and told them that I was offering a better price and that I would just sit outside the final and buy their books from them. Well one person, unaware that I was telling the wholesale price of the book at the bookstore and not the market price, sought to react to my email in a bad manner. He said that I was screwing people over. Now here are the two clashing moralities: I, wanting to help and serve people, and the other person, wanting to react to injustice. Both sides are serving an ultimate good, but one side goes about it in a malicious manner.

But if we doused this situation in the standard of morality that the Gospel and the teachings of Jesus presents, we find that they not only serve an ultimate good, but a beneficial good. We both could have gone about this situation in a more loving manner and build each other up rather than seek to tear others down.

There is a new moralism (as Pope Joseph Ratzinger calls it) that is taking precedence in culture today. This new moralism can be defined by belief in a greater good by the standards of culture and promoting ideals such as love, justice, peace, etc. etc. As this new moralism is taking precedence it is still man-made which allows it to be fallible enough to allow for the preaching of a gospel of hate rather than a gospel of peace and love. In the mentioned situation we were both trying to create a peace endowed with justice but in doing so preached this gospel of hate. 

How does culture's morality affect the Advent season?

Advent Pt. 1 - The Necessity of Christ

Advent is described as this season of waiting, longing, expectation, preparation, yearning for the arrival of Christ or for Christmas. In many ways I believe we have as a culture secularized this idea. And that's okay! There is a redemption to this idea that exists.
One day, the rain was beating hard against the pavement and was pounding on me relentlessly on my journey to the car. I would have reached my car sooner if I had ran, but I was going about my journey in an odd way. I was taking big and scattered steps. Why? I was trying to avoid all the worms that had been washed out onto the sidewalk. I saw them scrambling to get back into the dirt where they were "safe." While I was looking like an idiot trying to get to my car, I had enough pity on them not to step on them. 
The funny thing is, when God looks down on us, worms that just crave the dirt, He doesn't pity us but He loves us. 
Yet the worms knew no better than to go back to the dirt. In their eyes, if they see some giant figure looming over them, they are naturally going to run. They needed some other worm to guide them out on to the smooth surface of the sidewalk and let them know that they are going to be okay. 
We see many times in the Old Testament how a rain comes and washes worms onto this path of righteousness until they realized they are exposed before a holy God and try to hide in the dirt again. But then God, out of love, sends His Son down to die for us so that we can realize that we can permanently partake on this path of righteousness. 
The necessity of Christ permeates deep within our being. Yet in this secularization of the Advent the idea of being needy of salvation in Christ has become blurred by a new moralism. This new moralism isn't bad because in a tough world, it does the right thing, yet there is a way of connecting this new moralism to a greater truth. Further discussion on what this is in Part 2.

Christ In Us Pt. 1

The confusion distorting her once calm countenance was evident as she walked through the room. As she came closer it was clear that it wasn't confusion as much as it was an array of feelings in response to an essay she had read. She proceeded to read us this essay of her fellow classmate. The volume of this classmate's opinion was so loud it left our ears ringing. We sat stunned empathizing in our friend's confusion.

This classmate was arguing about being controlled by the Supreme will of God and how it's not out of love for us, but rather out of hate. She brought up the story of Abraham and Isaac (which when people argue against God's will, they mostly bring up this story). She argued God's will by asking the question: why would a loving God ask so much of His followers? It was her argument that Abraham would have been better off not listening to God that day.

What shocked me about this paper was that it acknowledged this human capability outside of God's ability. Trusting in our own ability and saying no to God's will would have saved Abraham a trip up Mount Moriah. No. God works His will amongst us out of love for us. Abraham needed that test of faith. And God never intended to have Abraham sacrifice Isaac for He had great plans for Abraham's family. He always had the other sacrifice in mind because He wasn't really down with child sacrifice. In fact, later in Jeremiah 19:5 when the Israelites start committing child sacrifice, God rebukes it saying He never had any of that in mind.

What does all this mean? Human capability outside of God's ability only leads to success in an earthly sense. Imagine if Abraham trusted in His own ability to have a greater sense of faith. He would have never went up on that mountain and would have never been acknowledged as a man of faith. He would have never learned. He might have considered it success but it would be a success that would easily fade. But we see the opposite displayed in this story. Abraham trusted in God's ability to grant him greater faith, and because of this, he gained an eternal success of faith. 

Too many times do I see human ambition and trust in their own ability compete with God rather than submitting to God. We see this in Scripture when the people of the world moved to a plain in Shinar and tried building a tower to reach to the heavens (Genesis 11). This was not in God's will because His people sought to compete with God out of their own ability, so God scattered the people as punishment. 

Human ambition and ability can never exceed the boundary of God's will because God's will knows no boundaries. Rather, God's will at work in us only shines light on how our ability far lacks in comparison. We are not capable of anything eternal by ourself. 

To those who are living to die, the idea of not being capable is the most discouraging thing they could hear. But for those dying to live, it is the most encouraging. It gives us hope that we can change the world not through our own flawed ability, but rather the limitless ability of God. It makes sense to us by re-establishing the correct order of the universe- that we are small and God is big. In my own life, I feel like all my successes only testify to my weakness as a man and the grace God is so willing to bestow.

There is this extraordinary phenomena that occurs within us that allows us to accomplish anything. You see, Christ dies for us and then lives in us by His Spirit.  If we live according to His Spirit, then we can trust that God is enacting His supreme will in us, and by that we have the ability to accomplish great things, right? But rather, we find ourselves saying the same thing as the man in Mark 9:22, who says, 'If you can do anything . . .' You see, there are people who have a distrust of God enacting His supreme will in them that they believe they have no ability. What is the result? Well a couple of verses later in Mark 9:38 the disciples say that they stop another man casting out demons in His name. Therefore, out of their own distrust of God working in them, they stifle the work of those who are trusting in God's will and ability for the betterment of their self and others.

In conclusion, people argue against God's will because they are more trusting in their own ability. But their ability far lacks in comparison to submitting to God's will because it doesn't accomplish anything eternal. Trusting in God's ability and will allows us to accomplish the eternal. And this phenomena of God giving us the ability and enacting His will is at work in us because Christ lives in us. But though He lives in us, we have a distrust of His work in us which only leads to a stifling of ability rather than promoting ability for accomplishing the eternal. 

Trust in the fact that Christ lives in us, therefore, we can accomplish anything in submission to His will. 

Boy Meets Grace

"So what do you want to do later on down the road?" There goes the question. Here comes the answer. "I want to be a pastor. Get involved with church planting and ministry." There goes the answers. What follows is what I deem, "the look." Now, I am quite familiar with "the look." "The look" is what the person gives in response to my answer, signifying that in their mind they just placed me on a different level than them self. I am no longer an equal. I am a person who "has it all together." Thats what "the look" tells me! Usually it is not verbalized, except for one time where one guy told me that he wasn't very religious like he was confessing to me. "That's cool, I didn't ask you if you were."

One thing I've learned is that being a pastor or in a ministry leadership role doesn't mean you "have it all together." Rather, it means that you have humbled yourself to allow God to redeem your shortcomings for His will. It means that you have come across the revelation of the bigness of our God and how impossible it is to not bow down and humble yourself before the presence of such a big God. But the reality is: you are one of many Christians who have arrived upon this revelation.

Bearing the title of a Christian brings on the assumption that you have it all together when the reality is that God holds us together. The only thing that keeps the shattered pieces of our broken nature from spilling all over the place is the grace and love of God (Lam 3:22). The only thing that keeps our soul from being sucked into the black hole of our deceitful, sin-natured heart is the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit within us. The only thing allowing us not to be consumed within ourselves, not allowing our light to become trapped within the black hole of our sinful heart, but rather allowing it to shine before men is Jesus Christ living within us. It is not a natural force that man does by himself, but rather, it is a supernatural force compelled by a stirring of God's will within us. 

So why does the idea that "we" have it all together come across more often than the idea of God holding us together? Because the beggar can only relate to the beggar. The beggar can not relate to the proud man. Whoever you come across who gives you "the look," whether they are the beggar or proud man does not matter as long as you humble yourself to become the beggar. No one can relate with the proud man because usually they have placed their self too high for anyone to get to their level. It is all about the idea of being a beggar for God's grace. 
How can we be the beggar? We humble ourself to the point where we can repent. 
Now let me pose the point: How was David a man after God's own heart when he did evil in the Lord's eyes so many times? Like the time he sent Uriah the Hittite to the front line so he would die and David would take Bathsheba, his wife, as his own? Because when Nathan rebuked David, David repented before the Lord saying, "I have sinned against the Lord" (1 Samuel 12:13). Thats why in Acts 13:22, David is described as a man after God's heart. He repented before the Lord, not placing himself above the Lord's forgiveness or power. David was in no way a proud man before the Lord, and he even says this in Psalm 131!
When we become a people after God's own heart, we shine God, not ourselves. It is my prayer that when people give us "the look" they'll see a brokenness that has been redeemed by the grace of God.

Community Pt. 2

Sometimes I feel alone in community. I go about community, play my part in it, but in the end, I feel as if I am one of the only ones striving for revival. I feel as if I am one of the only ones who so desperately desires to see God move in power in that manner. But the thing is, that is not true. A good portion of people within the body of Christ wants to see God just swoop down and save people right and left. So then why do I feel as if this isn't true?
Maybe it is because when a community comes face to face with the radical they have to retreat to the basic to achieve the common ground. Maybe the common ground is set too low. Maybe the radical is too hard to grow to.
While the radical attracts, it only attracts from a distance. When it is in your face, it's scary! Take Jesus for example. When we read the Bible, we believe He's a total baller (which He is), but imagine if we were in the shoes (or sandals to be more historically correct) of the people during those times. We probably would've been scared out of our minds that this guy was coming through and changing everything!
With a community, it's no different. Revival is a radical concept and a community has to conform to the basics if they seek to attract more. If a community is introduced with the radical then that welcoming comfort is instantly abandoned in exchange for a dream. But the aspect of a community saturated by God that is ignored is that, every community is radical. A community doused in the glory of God is supernatural in essence. Every individual is a dreamer, and in a culture where dreams yield to the artificial American dream, the idea of true dreamers gathering together is pretty radical.
I'll tell you the most supernatural concept about a community gathered together is that it is (or should be in some cases) a community that truly loves each other. 
The beautiful thing about the fellowship of believers in the Acts 2 church was that the believers' awe and reverence for God was manifested in their relationships with each other. And because of this, there was no needy person amongst them. Because of this, people were being added to their number daily. That's love. Better yet, that's love with the response of action. Real love is an overflow with a response of action. 
It is my desire to see and be a part of a community that makes the greater move towards God together. Because that's what love is, it's movement. It moves us to do missions, evangelism, etc. etc. In 2 Corinthians 5:14 it says that Christ's love compels us. Love is movement!
I want to be a part of a community where we are so solidified in love, that I feel as if we are moving together instead of feeling like the only person who so desperately desires revival (which, I'll state again, I know that I am not the only person). 
Someone asked me once, "How did you even manage to create something like JMU One?" And I simply responded, "Easy, I didn't." I didn't create JMU One, people did. It was people who decided they wanted to make the greater move together, it was people who decided to show up that night, it was people who prayed together and worshipped together that made JMU One. JMU One isn't an event as much as it is about the people, growing in love for each other to the point where a move for revival isn't just a dream, it's a reality. It is a testament that we, as a people, are brought together by grace but most importantly, we are sealed together by love.

Community

This time of the year here at school is possibly one of the most overwhelming times of the year. It is the time where everybody returns with excitement and enthusiasm back to the culture that is JMU. And the freshmen come and experience their fantastic orientation event called August 1787 Orientation. With this whole community coming together, it is an amazing picture. People's love for each other, pride for their school, and excitement for the year shines through their reunions and introductions. Last night, I went to an orientation event which was just a dance party in the middle of campus. As I shuffled till I got blisters on my feet, I stopped, and gazed over the sweaty haze of people gathered together on an overcrowded basketball court. While it is an exciting sight, I wanted to run the other direction. It was so overwhelming to be around so many people.
I have to admit, I fall victim to that in the Christian body too.
With events like on-campus ministries and Passion, I see the body gathered together in such a large mass and while I do revel in the glory of it, the other half of me wants to run and do this whole Christianity thing by myself.
Once I was sitting in the corner of my house doing my quiet time on a Sunday morning when my brother came home from church and decided to confront me on me not going. Now if this was just one time, it would've been fine. But I had gotten into this phase where I bought into the lie that I can do this Christianity thing by myself and the entire time I was home, I avoided church. My brother simply convicted me by saying, "Why would you want to miss out on the opportunity of blessing others?"
You know, thats what the body of Christ is suppose to do for each other! We are suppose to bless others rather than just sit in the corner and receive blessings. For Jesus said: "It is more blessed to give than to receive (Acts 20:35)." We are suppose to strengthen, encourage, and edify each other in love. 
Love is the common denominator in any sort of community.
But as I stand in the in between of divided communities for the Gospel of Jesus Christ, I feel as if love is the variable we are all in search of.
Maybe this is the child in me speaking, but I don't understand why Christian communities seek to make their mission different than the mission of other Christian communities. I mean, aren't we all called to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ? Whatever twist we like to add to that initial mission, we are all still part of the body of Christ.
I always wonder what might happen in the body of Christ if the different Christian communities were willing to humble themselves and come together for the collective mission of spreading the Gospel. I mean, from my understanding, the only way we get things done is when we do it together. But there is too much pride behind ministries that tells them that it is much better when they do it on their own. But you know, I don't blame them, because I was victim to the same thing. I told myself the same lie that I could do this Christianity thing by myself.
I had the pleasure of working in a community called Walterboro, SC this summer. In this community, there was brokeness, crime, hatred, poverty, unemployment, and the pride of a people whose faith in God believed they could redeem this society for the glory of God. So after massive amounts of prayer, denominations coming together, and people just honoring and loving on each other, people outside the body were able to see how the body of Christ is love and people were saved. Things happened, hearts were changed, crime was decreased, and a society was redeemed. All because people decided to come together to bring about Heaven on earth. 
From my understanding, when ministers in New England distributed a letter calling Christians to pray somewhere in the 1730s to 1740s, all denominations supported it and it grew to become "The First Great Awakening."
Things get done when we are willing to die to ourselves for the glory of Jesus Christ to be spread.
Now I am not arguing that all the denominations should blend under one identity. What sort of community would that be? If that happened the body of Christ would be like one giant hand or leg or some body part like that. But what I am arguing is that we should make an effort to honor each other above ourselves as it says in Romans 12:10.
Another part coming soon!

Faithfulness

I had the pleasure of recently seeing a psychologist at work. There was a girl who was having a panic attack, and the psychologist just majestically entered into the room and was like, "Where is she?" We pointed him her way where she was just crouched down in the corner. The next action of his surprised me. Instead of him grabbing the readily accessible chair, he crawled down on the floor with her. And in his silence, he comforted her.
This is how I relate God's faithfulness to His people. 
It doesn't really make sense to me when people try to define God's faithfulness. If you ask someone what having the faithfulness of an all powerful being means to them, they are completely stumped. For the few who do give an answer, they give an answer to how God is faithful in His physical provision. For instance, they would say: I know God is faithful because He provided me with a job when I was in need. He gave me the money I need to do this event. He provided Noah with an ark. He led Moses and his people out of Egypt. He allowed David to capture Jerusalem. He provided. These are all physical testaments to God's faithfulness, but what if there wasn't anything physical to testify to God's faithfulness? Would you say that God is still faithful? Of course He is! 
One of the many beauties of an all powerful God is that His providence is a direct result of His faithfulness to us. To add to that, His providence knows no bounds. That means that even though we aren't given tangible evidence of His providence, He is still faithful.
It is just like the psychologist. He didn't provide anything to the girl. He didn't even say a word. But he was still there for her, even when she didn't ask him to be. 
Yet much of the world still operates in a manner which says if there is no physical evidence, how can I know you are faithful? 
For example, I told one of my friends that I would be at this reunion with a bunch of friends. Now my faithfulness to my friend is at stake here. Lo and behold, in the craziness and haste of reality, I simply forget about this event and I am not there for my friend. My faithfulness is shattered because I was not able to provide my presence at this event. My faithfulness to my friend is discredited because I was not able to physically provide my presence.
But this is not true of God.
Not only does He provide His presence at all times, but He is also faithful in Spirit.
One thing that doesn't make sense to me in how this world operates is that we judge too much by exterior. For instance, my faithfulness to my friend is completely gone in my friend's view because I couldn't physically provide my presence, but if my friend looked past that they would see that I would always affirm him in his spirit. I would always seek to build him up in love. I would always acknowledge him as a child of God and treat him fairly out of reverence and respect for my God.
You see, God doesn't have to provide something physical or tangible to prove that He's faithful. He is for us, not against us, meaning He always will affirm us in our spirit. And for the unbeliever who still needs to see physical evidence for God's faithful nature, check out Jesus Christ's death certificate. And once you snap out of ignorance and step into the Kingdom perspective, recognize that there is no death certificate because He is alive!
Rather we have the certificate of His death and resurrection engraved on the tablet of our hearts, and that is the greatest example we have to God's faithful nature. For it says in Ephesians 1:3, we have been given every spiritual blessing in Christ. 
What does this mean? It means that we have every tool possible to recognize God's faithfulness towards us!
The reason I am bringing up faithfulness now is because it troubles my heart how a lot of people aren't willing to return the favor to God. He is faithful to us, so why can't we even strive to be faithful to Him despite our flawed nature?
One of the many reasons I have come up with is because ignorance has blinded a desperate people to only seek the physical evidence of His faithfulness. In a world judged by sight and not by faith, its hard to trust to anything. Even an all-powerful God! But thank God that His faithfulness is not contingent on our faith as it says in Romans 3:3-4.
If anything, God's faithfulness pierces through our ignorance and keeps calling us back.
God has already fulfilled a promise to His people by giving His only Son to die for us on the cross so that by believing in Him we will receive the salvation of our souls. But in this promise is another promise. You see, we have received righteousness and have been deemed blameless before our Lord through our faith in Christ Jesus. And if we turn to Scripture we see that Paul writes in his letters that God will keep us blameless (1 Thess. 5:23, 1 Cor. 1:8). So not only does He promise us a way for salvation, but He also promises us that He will keep us in the faith. God's faithfulness testifies to the fact that He keeps us.
So what does this mean? A helpless people falling out of the faith or not reaping the fruit of the faith is our fault, not God's, because God promises to keep us, and He is faithful to His promise. It is out of our own ignorance, out of our own unfaithfulness, that we fail to see the fruit of God's faithfulness.
Much like the psychologist, God doesn't have to give us something to testify to His faithful nature. He has already given His Son and in that, He has allowed us to have access to Him, the best Psychologist in the universe! If you have trouble seeing God's faithful nature, go see the Psychologist cause He's definitely in business and always has been!
So this is a wake up call for the ignorant nature of needing to see something physical to prove God's faithfulness. The mere fact that you're still in the faith is testament enough that He is faithful. And if you're an unbeliever, its never too late to reap the fruit of a faithful God, someone who won't let you down like anyone here on earth. Let us open our eyes to how faithful our God is, and let us respond with faithfulness to His commands and His ways.

Redemption Pt. 4

Someone told me once that the more you fall in love with the Savior, the more the world doesn't make sense to you. I find myself victim to that idea. It doesn't make sense that we kill to get our way. It doesn't make sense to me that we can get so excited over a sports game but then we stand in church like we don't care. It doesn't make sense that we exploit women (and even men as a matter of fact!) in the media. It doesn't make sense that we could even endorse the exploitation of women through our choice of music we listen to. It doesn't make sense to me that we worship these big public figures who probably only care about themselves and their career. We all have our justifications around these things, but in the end, they're just lies blinding us from truth. Its a good thing there is grace or I myself would be screwed!

The world is such a fickle thing. Its not constant in the least bit, and that in it self doesn't make sense. I know this because at one moment I could be overjoyed at the beauty of the glory of God on this earth and then the next I could be deeply saddened by the ignorance of it. We weren't created to be so fragile, so fickle. We were born with an anchor, and that is God's love for us. So with that in mind, our ignorance, our humanity lacking the salvation of God, doesn't make sense.

And thats what I hope to be this semester and for the rest of my life. Someone who makes sense in the context of the solution to our broken soul. I want to make sense because I have the light of God shining within me. But I don't want to be the only thing that makes sense. I want the whole world to make sense. I want the world to be redeemed.

With this desire comes the greater responsibility and joy on my part. I seek to do so much for the redemption of this world. I want to find the church where there is no needy person amongst them, where they break bread together, where they truly and deeply love each other out of reverence for God. I want to live in another country with the least of these. I want to know how its like to live on 10 percent a day. I want to travel and do missions. I want to find God shine so bright amongst people like the stars shine in foreign country. I want to see Jesus through someone's eyes. And I want to mobilize a united effort for the redemption of our world in every region. I have big ambitions, but they mean nothing if I'm not even willing to do it to the person down the street from me.

So thats where I'm at this semester. Redeeming the world starting with James Madison University. So to whoever is reading this, I encourage you to do the same for wherever you're at now. Its time to close the gap between inactive believers and active unbelievers into the umbrella of God's love for us and the redemption that comes through the blood of Jesus Christ. 

The beauty of Christ cannot be contained in tall, brick sanctuary or stain glass windows. So lets stop pretending like it can be! The beauty of Christ shines in our hearts and we carry the fragrance of the knowledge of Him to a depraved world (2 Cor. 2:14). Redemption is in our hands to carry out in this world, for we are His church.

I don't know about you, but thats the most logical thing that has crossed my mind since I've started writing this post. It just makes sense. Thank God for something making sense in this world.

"In Him we have redemption through His blood,

the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the 

riches of God's grace that He lavished on us with

all wisdom and understanding . . ."

-Ephesians 1: 7-8

Redemption Pt. 3

Read Redemption Pt. 1 and Pt. 2 before you read this post


The comforting thing about the existence of evil in this world is that when it is the darkest, thats when you see the light shine the brightest. God works for our good and our good is for His glory. 
People can choose to bring about redemption in this world but totally leave God out of the picture. They would want to spread ideals such as peace, love, joy, but a peace, love, and joy outside of God. It is ultimately just a peace, joy, and love because . . . just because. And you know, thats fine! I applaud people like those because they are people who are so close to truth that they are able to really market that out to an unbelieving world. What I mean is, these people are just reaping the fruit of the victory of Christ without believing in Him. In an unbelieving world, the only thing that can appeal to a depraved humanity is reaping of this fruit without committing to a belief. These result is people keep doing good and ultimately that is what spreads until someone asks the question, what for? That is why I love these people. But sadly what I've come to find is, people who decide to spread these ideals and do good outside of God, don't reproduce anything. They just briefly cover up evil for a moment.
Its like the stars (and I don't mean to sound corny here). I was sitting on my roof the other night just wishing I could be living in a foreign country right now where the stars shine brighter. Well its not that the stars shine brighter in another country as much as it is our own artificial light blotting out the true light. Our man made light enshrouds the skies when deep down we long to see the real light. Thats what spreading these ideals outside of God does. They just cover up the truth with ephemeral man made ideals. While they are good to appeal to the masses, they are not truth. 
And the truth is God's redemption provides us with something eternal. God's redemption gives us the solution our soul longs for. God's redemption is the thing that lasts.
For example, Kurt Wyman's best friend, Bobby, could have decided to not respond at all to his friend's death. But instead, he decided that he was going to find the man who killed his best friend in jail and minister to him so that he might be a believer. You see, Bobby is giving that man something tangible! It would have been so hard and pointless for Bobby to go to the jail and talk to him about love because that discussion outside of God leads to a dead end. That fruit doesn't reproduce outside of God because it doesn't make sense why it should be reproduced. But a love that stems from God reproduces more love, joy reproduces joy, peace reproduces more peace, and thats how fruit should be!
I knew a person a while ago (whose name I will not mention) who was just burdened by the fact that he himself couldn't change anything in another person's life. Now I realize why. The victory we have in Christ is the line in which insufficiency meets grace. We were never meant to do this whole "change the world" on our own because us on our own is insufficient. But when we bring Christ into the picture our insufficient self meets the grace that tells us we are righteous and able.
So you see, plugging ourselves into God's redemptive work is the only logical solution for really changing this work.
Final post coming up next!

Redemption Pt. 2

Everybody keeps talking about the possibility of a zombie apocalypse in the future. They make jokes about who their zombie apocalypse team is gonna be, or where they would hide. People have gone so far enough as to even build zombie-proof shelters! Well guess what? People should open their eyes and see that the zombie apocalypse might have well already happened. Now before you ditch your computer and take shelter, let me explain.

You see, it is my idea that every single person knows that there is something wrong. There is something wrong deep inside of man. They can't watch a murder story on the 5 o' clock news and think that everything is just peachy. They know that there is something wrong and whether their too proud to admit it is a whole different story.

Here's whats wrong. We are a bloodthirsty people, much like zombies. We are a primitive, backwards, and bloodthirsty people feeding on the blood of others much like the truck driver and the car driver. Their desire was for blood to be shed and for them to drink from that. But fear not people! There is an antidote to this zombie apocalypse.

Here's the solution: Jesus Christ steps down from Heaven in His magnificence and gives His own blood so that a primitive people won't thirst anymore. His blood floods our inadequacy and exchanges it for righteousness. And there it is, our thirst is satisfied. But much like that scene from I Am Legend (A Will Smith movie about zombies. I highly suggest it!) where the zombies are scared of the light, we see the path of righteousness the Son has laid out for us, but its scary. So then, still stuck on our cancer of depravity, envelop the lie that our primitive ways of self-sufficiency are enough and turn the other way. We continue to shed the innocent blood of others seeking to be satisfied in our soul, but its never enough. 

And thats what ignorance and pride does to us. It makes us blind to the solution and therefore, keep buying into the problem.

But here is the big question of the day: how much blood should be shed for the ignorance of a primitive people?

I cry in my soul because I know that there was an obvious solution to the day that man decided to kill Kurt Wyman. And that was for that man to be shaken of his ignorance instead of seeking the blood of an innocent person. Though his ignorance shed the blood of another, there was a beautiful picture amongst that scene the day Kurt Wyman died. And that was this: Kurt was the solution. He was someone bearing the fragrance of Christ, or the knowledge of the glory of God. He was letting his light shine. But much like the zombie from I Am Legend, the man was scared. Through his fear of the light came his ignorance of Kurt trying to save his life, so he took Kurt's. 

Many people ask, why does God allow pain in this world? Well I feel like many Christian theologians, writers, preachers, etc. etc. have realized that God would reply with the right question, why do you allow pain in this world.

The beautiful thing about Kurt is that he was someone who plugged himself into the redemptive work of God on this earth. His life was not in vain.

In the next part I will talk about plugging into God's redemptive work as a church and discuss my plans to live that out this semester and for a lifetime.

Redemption Pt. 1

Here I am. Back at school, ready to begin another semester. You know, the cool thing about semesters at school is that every semester has a story of its own. For example, my fall semester was entirely different than my spring semester last year mainly because at the end of the year I wasn't the person who I was back in fall semester. I had changed mostly because I became heavily consumed and convicted by the Gospel of Christ and in turn, died to myself. So as I sit here pondering about what this semester's story might be, I am continually drawn back to the mission of Christ. 
Earlier today, I was taking the trash from the front of my house to the back of the house. As I was taking it out back I heard from a car passing by, "Get out of the (bad word) street you little (another bad word)!" The following thoughts whirling around my head after this man's daring statement was: was he referring to me (even though I wasn't on the street)? Another was this: Could something as little as a person on the street compel this man to act in a manner that would crush someone else's spirits?
Another road example: Me and my friend, Andrew, were driving down the highway when our annoying GPS tells us to take the next exit. I glance at him, he glances at me, and then like magic we somehow arrived at the conclusion: we needed to take the next exit. The only problem was there was this huge truck hogging up the right lane and when we turned on our blinker they decided to speed up. They were still a good distance behind us when we needed to switch over last moment. So we switched over to the right lane and the truck sped up more and then switch to the left lane. As we were taking the exit, the truck honked and the driver decided to give us a symbol of his admiration for us (and no, it was not a thumbs up but another finger). The following thoughts whirling around my head after this man's bold action was this: why did that man feel the need to express his anger with us? We didn't need to know that!
Now, it would not be right of me to assume that the truck driver and the person driving the car were not believers. They could have been believers and read every verse in the Bible, but skipped verses like Colossians 3:8 ("But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips.") But despite them being believers or not, they are here to prove a point, and that is this: there is evil in the world. It is evil to not chose the action of building up one another in love in exchange for expressing anger. There is evil that exists out there.
To really drive the point home, I have one more story. I had the pleasure of working with a youth group from New York this summer who had suffered a tragic loss in their youth group. It was a youth worker and Deputy Sheriff by the name of Kurt Wyman. He was a man who was more concerned about the Gospel of Christ than his own life, and as a result his life was taken by a man with a gun in a domestic dispute. The worst part was, he was trying to save the man's life, in more ways than one.
There is evil in this world. There is a depreciation of life, ignorance of others, and hatred towards others that exists in this world. But then there is the evil that stares back at us when we look in the mirror. The evil of pride deprives us of the surpassing glory of being fully reliant on God. It deceives us to believe that we could do this whole "living" thing on our own.  Ha! That is the biggest lie since toe thumbs (toe thumbs: fact or fiction? Find it out for yourself)! 
I don't mean to be morbid through my acknowledgment of evil in this world. But I believe an acknowledgment of evil is necessary for the discernment of righteousness in this world. The acknowledgment of evil also makes our mission of Christ more clear in this world. In my next post I'll discuss the hope of redemption as well as how it ties into my hopes for this semester.

Sacred Love Pt. 3

"and to KNOW this love that surpasses KNOWLEDGE-

that you may be filled to the measure of all the

fullness of God."

-Ephesians 3:19

Know a love that surpasses knowledge? Have any of you been puzzled by this verse? How can you know a love that surpasses knowledge? It is because the knowing that is spoken of in this verse is an experiential knowledge in contrast to the knowledge of the brain.

The key to fighting earthly love is experiencing sacred love. 

Well how do we experience sacred love?

Misconception: KNOWING the love of God is an act of the brain. False. It is an act of the heart. This knowledge is an experiential knowledge so it is meant to be lived out in the heart. When people go about living out the love of God with brains, arguments, and logic they end up relying on what knowledge the world has given them about love and then they approach God with an earthly love. This is another example of blurring the lines between earthly and sacred love. We are not meant to rely on what culture teaches us about love. We are meant to rely on the love God has for us (1 John 4:16).

Well how do we experience the love of God on our hearts?

"And hope does not disappoint us,

because God has poured out His love

into our hearts by the Holy Spirit,

whom He has given us."

-Romans 5:5

Have you ever thought of love being something almost supernatural? Thats because it is. God pours out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit. 

Think about it like this: In Ephesians 3:19, we see that the love of God is so much that we can't comprehend it because it surpasses our knowledge. And we know what love is because Jesus Christ laid down his life for us (1 John 3:16). This is the Gospel! Upon our belief of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38). The Holy Sprit works on our hearts so we can experience the love of God rather than try to grasp it with our minds. This is how we know the love that surpasses knowledge.

Think about it in another way: In 1 John 3:1, it says that we know the love of God because we are called His children. Well in Romans 8:16, it says the Spirit testifies that we are God's children. Therefore, we know and experience the love of God because the Holy Spirit allows it. He allows us to comprehend the love that surpasses knowledge.

Therefore, love is the manifestation of the Spirit on the heart.

Now this whole time I've been talking about the heart, but I've been neglecting the relationship between the heart and the brain. There is a cause and effect relationship between the heart and the brain. Think about it: we like someone with our heart after our mind first decides to like that person. We use an object after our mind has first decided to buy it. The brain is the cause, the heart is the effect. God's love being poured into our hearts is a response of our mind's decision to believe in Christ. 

"The Spirit clearly says that in later times

some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving

spirits and things taught by demons."

-1 Timothy 4:1

Earthly love is a faithless love of pleasure and deceiving spirits. We are deceived and taught through our brain. Therefore, earthly love speaks to our brains while sacred love speaks to our hearts. Thats why in 2 Corinthians 4:4 it says the god of this age has blinded the MINDS of unbelievers. Now Satan is smart, even though a lot of us might think he's stupid. He uses earthly love to speak right to the cause so the effect doesn't happen.

Lets rewind back to the first post. Back to when earthly love was first introduced into the world. The moment when Eve was deceived by Satan. Her perception about the fruit was changed in that one moment and she embraced earthly love. A lot of fighting the battle between earthly and sacred love has to do with the manipulation of our perception. Let me give you an example.

"For everything God created is good,

and nothing is to be rejected 

if it is received with thanksgiving."

-1 Timothy 4:4

Everything God created is good and nothing should be rejected because since everything God created is good then it should be used to bring praise to Him. It depends on our perception.

Does anyone find it funny that Adam and Eve hid behind God's creation after they had sinned (Gen. 3:8)? The trees were created to bring praise to God, yet it was desecrated in that one moment because then Adam and Eve perceived it to be a good hiding spot. Everything God created is good and it is not to be rejected if we give praise to God through His creation. Our sinful perceptions granted to us by deceiving spirits is what keeps us from seeing God's manifestation of love through creation. It is earthly love speaking to our minds.

"Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world,

but be transformed by the renewing of your mind . . ."

-Romans 12:2

Lets renew our minds so earthly love can't speak to it anymore. Once we renew our minds, we will walk in sacred love (2 John 1:6) just as it was done in the beginning. Lets renew our love.

God's love is a sacrificial love. Therefore, God's love isn't so much of emotion but rather a love of action. He loved us so much that He GAVE His Son (John 3:16). So we are called to have a love of action.

Think about it: much about love is movement. That's why in 2 Corinthians 5:14 it says Christ's love COMPELS us. This is why we do missions, charity, evangelism, etc. etc.! Because love moves us.

This is why faith without action is dead (James 2:17): because by the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit we are being conformed to share in the glory of Christ (2 Thess. 2:13-14). And we see that God's and Christ's love is action. Then through our true faith or perception of Christ in the Gospel, the Spirit would manifest itself on our hearts so we would emulate this action-love. Action is the justification of love and faith. 

There is an expectation of God on our lives. 1 John 4:16-17 says love is being made complete in us because in this world we are like Him. Love is becoming our condition because love and responding to love with action is what makes us like Him on the earth. Love is the expression of God on this earth. 

So are we going to align ourselves with culture's definition of love or God's definition of love? Only through God's definition of love are we able to experience love. It is this sacred love that allows us to experience love. It is sacred love that allows us to be conformed to His likeness. It is sacred love that was present in the beginning. So let us therefore renew ourselves back into God's definition of love and fulfill the expectation of God on our lives by living out a life of sacred love.

  "My purpose is that they may be 

encouraged in heart and united in love,

so that they may have the full riches of

complete understanding, in order that they

may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ,

in whom are hidden all the treasures of 

wisdom and knowledge."

-Colossians 2:2

Sacred Love Pt. 2

"The god of this age has blinded

the minds of unbelievers,

so that they cannot see the light

of the Gospel of the glory of Christ,

who is the image of God."

-2 Corinthians 4:4

We know that the Gospel of the glory of Christ is true sacred love in its most quintessential form because it most clearly display the sacrificial love of God. This is how we know what love is!

"This is how we know what love is:

Jesus Christ laid down his life for us."

-1 John 3:16

The god of this age (Satan) has blinded the mind of unbelievers so that they cannot see this sacred love. Now we know God's love is always present and there is a time when that love will pierce through the darkness that Satan has created, but it depends on the mind of the unbeliever (which we will get into later) and if that is God's will. Wait- God's will? If God's love is always present and He loves that unbeliever wouldn't He save that person? Thing to remember: God's unconditional love is not a love that justifies the sinner, but rather a love that justifies the sin. If it was a love that justified the sinner, everyone would be saved. 

There is an obvious battle present here. The battle between earthly and sacred love. What we have to do is recognize the battle between earthly and sacred love. Why do we have to recognize the battle? Because the battle between earthly and sacred love is not just a battle between the unbeliever and the believer. It is a battle amongst believers as well.

The great evil in this battle of love in believers is when we blur the line between the two loves. This reveals itself in our lives so many times. For instance, when we say we love our girlfriend or boyfriend and devote so much of our time into him or her rather than our relationship with God. This is confusing two distinctly different things.

An almost greater evil in this battle is when we are unable to acknowledge the difference or when we are unable to admit we are wrong in this. So many of us claim to know the difference between earthly and sacred love and how we go about it. But if we love God like we say we do then that should be enough to radically and drastically change the way we live our lives. For some people, our lives wouldn't look too different if we had no sacred love at all. It would probably just mean no church on Sundays or campus ministry or etc. etc. Therefore, we see in the battle of earthly and sacred love for the believer it is mainly drawing a line between religion and relationship. Are you just doing religion? Do you have a relationship with our God? Realizing this line is key to approaching God with a sacred love. 

Another question that you should asking yourself became apparent to me when I was at Passion in January. John Piper asked everyone this question: Do you feel more love by God when He makes much of you or when He enables you to make much of Him?

We have seen that earthly love is a very self-focused love which contrasts God's sacrificial love. Therefore, do you love God because He makes much of you (earthly) or because He enables you to make much of Him (sacred)? 

There is one common misconception in unbelievers and believers (not all) that is  important to realize in recognizing the battle between earthly and sacred love. That misconception is this: God created us so that He could love us. Yes, God loves us, but that is not why He created us. God created us so that we could love Him (Isaiah 43:7).

People who approach God with an earthly self-focused love feel distant from Him when something goes wrong in their life because in that one moment, they are not being made much of. People who approach God with a sacrificial sacred love feel like God is closer to them when something goes wrong in their life because they grasp the idea that His power is made perfect in weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9). Their reaction is to praise God all the more through their weakness or in other words, make much of Him. 

Recognizing the battle between earthly and sacred love has so much to do with evaluating your approach to God. The beautiful difference between earthly and sacred love is that you can actually formulate your life around the love you have for God. You can't formulate your life around the love you have for a chair. You can try to, but you will fail because God's love is the only love that is unfailing (like we have seen earlier).

Are you trying to formulate your life around a love you have on this Earth? Or is your sacred love for God your anchor? Evaluate your approach to God and recognize the apparent battle between earthly and sacred love.

In Part 3, we will discuss fighting the battle between earthly and sacred love. 

Sacred Love Pt. 1

"And now these three remain:

faith, hope, and love.

But the greatest of these is love."

-1 Corinthians 13:13

I have explained why hope is important, why faith is important, but why is love important? Love is the greatest of these three. Why? Many people know love is important, but it is one of those things we just know and can't explain why. Sadly, one of the reasons we can't explain love is because there are so many definitions about it. But I am only going to discuss two definitions (or categories) of love.

Lets first take a look at Adam and Eve. They lived in perfect fellowship with God. Everything was perfect amongst God's creation. Everything Adam and Eve did was worship to God- every sight, every step, every smell was an act of worship and thanksgiving to the Lord. Then, the serpent comes along and changes Eve's perspective about the forbidden fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Genesis 3:6- "When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it." Eve was only able to see this after her perception was changed by the serpent. She saw it as pleasing and good when it wasn't. And as a result, the perfect fellowship with God was broken. The rest of the generations to come leading up to Jesus was characterized by renewing the gap and separation created from this one event. We see as a result of this one event, earthly love was introduced into the world. 

What is earthly love?

"People will be lovers of themselves,

lovers of money, boastful, proud,

abusive, disobedient to their parents,

ungrateful, unholy, without love,

unforgiving, slanderous, without self control,

brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous,

rash, conceited,

lovers of pleasure

rather than

lovers of God."

-2 Timothy 3:2-4

Earthly love is a love of pleasure. It is a deception guiding us away from the true love. We see that Eve was a victim of this earthly love when she was deceived to think the fruit was pleasing and good. It is a love of pleasure.

How does culture display earthly love? Think about it. There are many instances. For example, listen to mainstream music now a days. What's the message? Get rich quickly or maybe its the boasts of one person because he or she is rich and successful or maybe its for the love of another person. Advertisements appeal to emotion saying that we could do it or we have control of our own lives or we can be a certain image. These are deceptions guiding us away from the true love. These are loves of pleasure. 

Culture has transformed the meaning of love and therefore, love has lost its potency or its significance.

Think about it, we say we love everything! We say we love a chair or some food and then with the same tongue we say we love the Lord. Surely, we don't love a chair the same way we love the Lord, but because culture has merge the meaning of love, there is no way to distinguish this with our words. In the Old Testament Song of Solomon, there were three Hebrew words to discuss the word love expressed in that book. There was: raya, ahava, and dod. And then in the New Testament, there is the Greek word agape which is used to describe the love of Christ in comparison to the other Greek words for love in the New Testament philia and storge (the word eros is not used in the New Testament). Think about how we only have one way to say love. There is not another word in our culture to express the love of God in comparison to the love of a chair. Our culture has merged these different loves into one. 

Love might have lost its potency by earthly standards but not by Heavenly standards. We know there is something other than what culture has to say about love. We know there is something other than earthly love.

There is sacred love.

Now I use the term 'sacred' love because sacred in Merriam-Webster's dictionary means 'dedicated or set apart for the service or worship of a deity.' And thats exactly what our love for God is! It is set apart from earthly love meant to worship Him!
Now if sacred love models what Adam and Eve had in creation before the fall and they were created in the Father's likeness, then sacred love is meant to emulate the love that our Father has for us. And since this is so, I am going to define sacred love by describing what earthly love is not or the attributes of God's love.
It is important to understand certain attributes of God's love. Now there are many attributes but I will only discuss three.
God's love is unconditional. We do not have to meet any condition to receive His love in contrast to the performance-based earthly love. Now this unconditional love is not a love that saves or justifies the sinner. If it was a love that saved or justified the sinner, then everyone would be saved since God loves everyone. Unconditional love is a love that loves us before we meet the condition of sin. Now there is a difference between status and condition. A sinner's status is sin if they are not justified by faith. A believer's status is righteousness because it was imputed on us through the death of Jesus Christ. But there is still the condition of sin on believers. But praise God that in 1 Peter 4:8 it says, "love covers over a multitude of sins!" Now God loves everybody (don't get me wrong), but by saying He has an unconditional love means that He loves us despite the condition. I'm not saying He doesn't love the sinner whose status is sin. But by saying God unconditionally loves the sinner, it is like saying God loves the sinner because he or she sins. God unconditionally loves the righteous because though they have the condition of sin, they were chosen, appointed, elected, or called to eternal life (Ephesians 1:4-5, Acts 13:48). Our faith is a result of the election and when we choose to believe, our condition of sin becomes replaced by love because love covers over a multitude of sin! Thats why in 2 Peter 1:5 it says: ". . . add to your faith goodness: and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, LOVE." He loves us unconditionally because through His unconditional love, our condition becomes love. 
God's love is constant and unfailing. This is IMPORTANT and to stress the importance I will give Scripture: Exodus 15:13, Psalm 6:4, Ps. 13:5, Ps. 18:50, Ps. 21:7, Ps. 26:3, Ps. 31:16, Ps. 32:10, Ps. 33:5, Ps. 33:18, Ps. 33:22, Ps. 36:7, Ps. 44:26, Ps. 48:9, Ps. 51:1, Ps. 52:8, Ps. 62:12, Ps. 85:7, Ps. 90:14, Ps. 94:18, Ps. 107:8, Ps. 107:15, Ps. 107:21, Ps. 107:31, Ps. 109:26, Ps. 119:41, Ps. 119:76, Ps. 119:88, Ps. 130:7, Ps. 138:2, Ps. 143:8, Ps. 143:12, Ps. 147:11, Isaiah 54:10, Lam. 3:32, Hosea 10:12. Why is this important? I've heard so many people say that they feel so distant from God and they can't see Him. They approach God like His love is not constant, which is uncharacteristic of His love. His love is constant! Some people might rely on the earthly definition of love to describe God's love, and they treat His love like it is something of this earth. Earthly love dies, not God's love. This is important to understand because this is a fundamental difference between earthly and sacred love.
God's love is sacrificial. John 3:16, 15:13, and 1 John 4:16 clearly explains that God sacrificed Himself because He loves us so much. God broke perfect fellowship with Himself by giving us His Son to die for us on the cross. In Matthew 27:46, Jesus says: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" God had to deny this perfect fellowship for us. God had to turn away from Himself for us. God had to sacrifice because He has a sacrificial love. 
This is everything earthly love is not. This is sacred love.
I have drawn the lines between earthly and sacred love. In Part 2, I will discuss recognizing the battle between earthly and sacred love. 

The Hall of Faith

I have touched on what hope for salvation means in terms of being united within faith, hope, and love in the Kingdom. But soon after I've finished I started recognizing how people desire to be unified to faith, but go about it in different approaches. What does faith mean in terms of the unification of the Kingdom?

We see in Hebrews 11, faith is defined:

"Now faith is being sure of what we hope for

and certain of what we do not see."

-Hebrews 11:1

"And without faith it is impossible to please

God, because anyone who comes to Him

must believe that He exists and that He

rewards those who earnestly seek Him."

-Hebrews 11:6

And then the rest of Hebrews 11 goes on to be what I call, "The Hall of Faith" or brief descriptions of Old Testament heroes in the faith. Now let me introduce one of my life verses to pull out a point.

"Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in 

a manner worthy of the Gospel of Christ.

Then, whether I come and see you or only

hear about you in my absence,

I will know that you stand firm in one Spirit,

contending as one man for the faith of the Gospel."

-Philippians 1:27

Now let me shift back to Hebrews 11.

"All these people were still living by faith when

they died. They did not receive the things

promised . . ."

-Hebrews 11:13

"These were all commended for their faith,

yet none of them received what had been

promised."

-Hebrews 11:39

Why am I pulling out all these scriptures? Well, these scriptures seems to look at faith from two opposite ends of the same spectrum. Hebrews looks at a faith in God to deliver the Messiah and Philippians looks at faith in the Gospel of the promised Messiah. The people in "The Hall of Faith" were looking forward to the cross, and we're looking back at it. What I have observed as of late is that people either abide with Old Testament faith and describe their faith as a faith in God or they abide with New Testament faith and describe their faith as a faith in the Gospel of Christ. What some people have failed to realize is that Old Testament faith and New Testament faith are the same thing because we can see God's glory in the Gospel! They are not two different faiths in light of us receiving what was promised, but rather the same faith in the glory and power of God because it is seen in the Gospel.

God's glory is to be recognized in the Gospel.

"For God, who said, 'Let light shine out

of the darkness,' made his light shine in our

hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the

glory of God in the face of Christ."

-2 Corinthians 4:6

I have witnessed an ignorance of God's glory in the Gospel. And with this ignorance, followed up a belittling of the Gospel. Let me ask this question: if you have faith in the Gospel but fail to see God's glory in it, then what does the death of Jesus Christ serve for you? Was it ultimately to glorify God or just a death? It was a death to point to the glory of our Father! But ignorance of this can lead to a belittling of the Gospel.

Think about it like this: creation was meant to glorify God (Psalm 57:5, Psalm 57:11, 1 Chron. 16:35, Luke 2:14, 1 Cor. 10:31, Eph. 1:14, Philippians 4:20, 1 Thess. 2:12, etc. etc.). And then, we see that faith in Jesus Christ brings glory to God (Rom. 15:17, Rom. 16:27, Philippians 1:11, Philippians 2:11, Philippians 4:19, Heb. 1:3, 1 Peter 4:11, Jude 1:25, etc. etc.). Therefore, the Gospel is not meant to be belittled because if our lives are meant to glorify God then a true belief in the Gospel serves that. 

If the Gospel is belittled by people, then it becomes malleable to human standards. In their ignorance of God's glory in the Gospel, people make it about their own glory. But it was never our glory to own (Isaiah 42:8). 

In 1 Peter 4:17 and 2 Thess. 1:8 it says "obey the Gospel." I believe people distort this. They believe the Gospel is then something that man has to do rather than about what God has done for us. We know this is a lie because the Gospel is about God's glory and power, not man's (1 Cor. 2:5, Gal. 1:11). People transform the Gospel to be about their lives, and therefore fail to live in line with the truth of the Gospel (Gal. 2:14). 

But how do we live in line with how the Gospel was presented to us? In other words, how was the Gospel presented to us?

"The Word became flesh and made His dwelling

among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of

the One and Only, who came from the Father,

full of grace and truth."

-John 1:14

"For the law was given through Moses;

grace and truth came through Jesus Christ."

-John 1:17

The Gospel was presented to us in the fullness of grace and truth. The Gospel requires us to live in line with it with grace and truth.

People who transform the Gospel into being all about truth have a legalistic approach to the Gospel. They realize it's call to action but they transform it into being about working to maintain a relationship with God. Their response to the Gospel is to be justified by their works rather than their faith. That is why when they do something wrong they feel distant from God and go rushing back to repentance. They are blinded to believe their works keeps their relationship with God.

People who transform the Gospel into being all about grace fail to live a life in response to it. They decide whats wrong and right for them. I like to call these people "Buffet Christians," or people who pick and choose the rules they like and don't like. They believe that God accepts them no matter what they do and then fail to realize that the Gospel calls to live a life in response to it. 

Jesus Christ was FULL of grace and truth. And we are called to follow the fullness of Christ (Col. 2:6-10). Therefore, we live in line with the Gospel by following the fullness of grace and truth to which is was presented to us rather than depending on our human traditions to tell us how to live in line with the Gospel (Col. 2:8). 

Faith is the result of the Gospel. This is our response to the Gospel. We are justified by faith (Romans 5:1) but what faith is not justified by action (James 2:17)?

How do we know Noah was faithful? He built an ark! How do we know Abraham and Sarah were faithful? Sarah had a baby when she was past age! How do we know Abraham was once again faithful? He offered up this son as a sacrifice! How do we know Moses was faithful? He led his people out of Egypt and parted the Red Sea! How do we know David was faithful? He killed Goliath!

How do we know you are faithful?

Therefore, our response to the Gospel should be faith justified by action. Now this action is not law, but a preaching of the Gospel for which we received salvation. We are called and COMPELLED to preach the Gospel (Mark 13:10, Mark 16:15, 1 Cor. 9:16).

We are called to join "The Hall of Faith" in Heaven by perfecting faith in our acknowledgement and spreading of the Gospel (Hebrews 11:40). Let us keep in line with the Gospel which was presented to us and not present a Gospel based on human traditions (Gal. 1:6-10). Let our action that justifies our faith acknowledge what it means to keep in line with grace and truth to the Gospel. Let us recognize it's value and therefore, let our lives testify to the Gospel so we can join "The Hall of Faith."

"So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord,

continue to live in Him, rooted and built up in Him,

strengthened in the faith as you were taught,

and overflowing with thankfulness."

-Colossians 2:6-7