relativisim

In our modern-day culture, how do we grade, or consider our position or standing in life? If things are great, sad, we're rich, we're poor, we're smart or dumb, pretty or fat...how do we determine those things?

Don't we look at other people and compare? If I lived in a society where I weighed 350 pounds, but I looked around, and everyone around me was 500 pounds or more, I'd think I'm super-skinny, moms would want to constantly feed me and tell me I needed to thin out.

My point is, doing relative comparisons, and using other people as the measure, is a dangerous slope to be on I think while seeking to walk with and bring honor and glory to Jesus.

Husbands shouldn't look to other men and consider how they're doing in their marriages, and then decide if he's doing ok or poorly in his own marriage. Couples shouldn't consider how other couples interact and love and honor each other.

As followers of Christ, we have an absolute standard that we need to look to, and if you feel the need, to measure yourself.

Jesus is that absolute standard. As such, husbands should consider how Christ acted as a husband. Couples should consider how, in reality, Christ was in communion with the Father and Holy Spirit, and realize that a marriage is a three part relationship.

Now, you might think, attaining an absolute level like Christ is impossible. Yes, I agree. Attaining Christ's perfection is incompatible with the sinful, depraved human beings we are. But, it doesn't mean we shouldn't try.

Jesus is completely perfect. We should attempt to live as holy a life as He did. In doing so, it's important to realize that we will never live up to His absolute standard of perfection. That shouldn't stop us from trying. His perfect grace makes up for the shortcomings that hinder that attainment of absolute perfection.

Peter writes (NASB):
"For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps,WHO COMMITTED NO SIN, NOR WAS ANY DECEIT FOUND IN HIS MOUTH; and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously; and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed. For you were continually straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls.
Paul puts forth at various points in the New Testament (all NIV)" (1 Peter 2: 21-25)

and Paul writes (NIV):

"Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me." (Phil 3:12)...

"Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." (Hebrews 12:2)

wanting this...

Can we dare to imagine heaven on earth?

What would that look like?

It might include no fear, no pain, pride washed away, people living in harmony, loving each other purely...honoring God and spending ever waking moment bringing glory to the King and worshiping Him.

It's not that this mentality is one of "not" or "avoiding" sin. Rather, I think heaven on earth is going to be a proactive love and full worship of Jesus.

I went to a Hillsong concert about 3 weeks ago, and the pastor who shared a message put it very well: we should yearn and be led by the Spirit to live out and fulfill the bringing about of Christ's reformed Kingdom here on earth.

When Jesus taught His disciples to pray, He said "This, then, is how you should pray: " 'Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven..." (Matthew 6:9-10 NIV)

Did you catch that?

Jesus' own words: "your kingdom come!! your will be done on EARTH as it is in heaven"

I keep replaying this prayer in my mind over and over since the Hillsong pastor talked about it in his message. And the other day, 2 Chronicles 7:14 popped into my life. These are God's words, Him speaking, so I'm pretty confident that they're long-lasting, as in eternally TRUE words worth counting on.

"if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and forgive their sin and heal their land..."

How I long for that day when Christ's kingdom is all we know on this earth! God desperately wants to heal our land...to bring about the fulfillment of that promised earthly Kingdom...

And both these verses remind us and point to prayer as a fundamental starting point for that to happen.

teach me to see like You Jesus...

there's a fairly well-played song on Christian radio these days that has the chorus:

Give me your eyes for just one second
Give me your eyes so I can see
Everything that I keep missing
Give me your love for humanity
Give me your arms for the broken hearted
Ones that are far beyond my reach.
Give me your heart for the ones forgotten
Give me your eyes so I can see
Yeah
Yeah
yeah
yeah

Now it's kind of a pop-ish song, but that's not the point. I've though a lot about this idea of really trying to "put on" Christ-like vision apart from this song. Do I read the Bible more? Do I pray more? Do I serve others more? Do I deny the comforts of this American lifestyle and life with poor or neglected people? I think the lyrics reinforce really well the idea of wanting to see like Jesus in the world we live in.

I simply don't see the world as Jesus does. But I really want to!

Seeing one way or another way, how you interpret the world, makes a big difference in the way your motivations and subsequent behavior takes shape. Just put on those 3-D glasses or the goggles that they use to show what a drunk person sees, and you get this idea very quickly.

To me though, it's deeper than just surface level vision. My mind so often thinks about what is "efficient" or "effective" or "optimal." This comes from a wordly perspective, and I realize, it often doesn't coincide with the way of the King and His vision for His Kingdom on earth.

Here's a perfect example:

I know a very faithful missionary family in Argentina. The father is very real, genuine, and is one of the most faithful servants I have ever met. They minister intentionally to a specific group of people in Buenos Aires, one of the most difficult people groups to share Christ with, in my opinion. I'm not going to write which people group that is, for reasons regarding their safety and confidentiality.

My point is, the family is great, and they are led by an incredibly faithful man. I know this. In my mind and my heart, I know this and believe this fully.

Yet, I sometimes question, in my mind, their ministry. I have such thoughts as "well, jeez, they get paid a normal year's salary through the contributions of so many churches" "...they have some "successes" to show for their work, but really not that many." "They are semi-accountable to their donors, but not wholly and fully transparent." "They could be doing anything really, living off the good graces and good intentions of others." (again, as I stated before, they are a really genuine and no funny business is going on). "Wouldn't their time and effort be best spent in other areas with other people groups, where more chances for "success" in sharing Christ could take place?"

So let me say, I hate these thoughts that I have. But I have them. I think I'm nifty and crafty that I can see inefficiencies and the way things can be improved...my mind often thinks about such things.

Never mind that I overlook their sacrifice of being in a foreign country, away from many comforts of friends and family, to intentionally share the Gospel with a group of people who are often so quick to reject their message.

In all reality, this just really reveals the depth of my selfishness, and what I'm talking about in this post...that I really don't see like Jesus sees the world.

Peter tells us the underlying sentiment of God's heart: "The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance." (2 Peter 3:9 NIV)

Isn't it fitting that Peter is the one who writes this verse, even after his staunch promise to never deny Jesus, and then outright denying Him 3 times? Peter lived out fully this sentiment of God's heart.

Romans 3:23 speaks truth in reminding us that we're all broken. Sin is the culprit of our brokenness, and no matter who we are in the world, we can't escape this fact. "...for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (NASB)

Jesus has an amazing ability to see through our self-protections, piled up walls, defense mechanisms to deal with the world, to see the heart of our brokenness. He sees the problem crystal clearly AND the solution. I believe He desperately wants broken hearts to return to Him as soon as possible.

He is the perfect solution, and sees perfectly how events and His followers are going to work under His name to help heal those broken hearts and turn them back to Him, while delighting in the glory of this process.

I can't even give an answer of what Jesus' version of a solution really looks like, since I so frequently think of solving problems in worldly terms...and again, I don't see like Him.

But I think it's really great that He sees in a unique way, that's different from the worldly vision which I so frequently see things...and I want more of that eyesight. His eyesight.

Lord Jesus, please help me to see more like You...

Christ followers and their roles with orphans...?

"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." (James 1:27 NIV)

I feel like that verse is pretty straightforward in what it is saying to Christ followers. It comes out of a larger section in James that is talking about walking the walk, putting faith into practice and being the hands and feet of Christ.

I'm thinking about orphans now, which I have to admit, I haven't ever really done much of...I watched a documentary yesterday entitled "War Dance." It traces the stories of three kids, some of them orphans, in Northern Uganda who have been displaced by rebel uprisings and war.

I'm not really an emotional person, and I don't really do crying. I didn't cry yesterday watching the film, but I was close a couple of times, if that says anything. The film really tore some inner heart strings.

I looked up how many orphans are in the US today, and it is approximately 3 million (according to UNICEF statistics). Another article I found said there are about 150 million orphans in the developing world as well. Taking all the nations of the world together, that's a lot of kids...way too many to be orphans!

I think a hard question to ask and an even harder one to answer, but one seriously worthy of some intentional thought:
What role do intentional Christ followers here in the US have to play with a) orphans in the US and b) orphans in the rest of the world?

I'm not implying that Christ followers should be nationalistic to a particular country, I think Christ followers should recognize they carry a passport of Heaven that sees no earthly nation-state lines...but I ask the question in parts because the reality of the situation is that we do live in recognized nation-states, and so borders, and laws, and customs, and language do factor in.

I don't know if Jesus specifically refers to orphans in this passage, but I can see Him having a really compassionate heart for these children who could be orphans:
"Then little children were brought to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples rebuked those who brought them. Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." When he had placed his hands on them, he went on from there." (Matthew 19:13-15 NIV)

go right ahead!

this is a really interesting story on NPR:
(it's a 5 part series - you can click on the next one under "more in this series")

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=104240746

Scientists are trying to prove or disprove the existence of God by examining people's brains to see if they can detect some sort of linked relationship of when people pray and have "spiritual" encounters.

I'll let you listen to the story yourself, but there's strong evidence from various studies that shows association between spiritual experiences and certain parts of the brain being more active, and certain chemicals in the brain doing certain things...all that to say that the evidence is pointing to a positive correlation between certain parts of the brain and "spiritual" activities.

Wait...you mean, we're hard-wired to interact with and experience God? Shut up!

This to me is ironic, but great. Most science typically wants to disprove God and His existence. But it looks like science will end up actually producing more convincing evidence for the existence of God than evidence that disproves Him.

I can imagine that all these scientists and experiments might be humorous to God, trying to prove so hard through empirical proof and rigorous analysis that He is alive and well, and that...WOW...we're hard wired for communication with Him...go figure! (ok, I'll stop being sarcastic about this, because it's really serious for a lot people)

It seems like there's a less painful way to enjoying God, recognizing His existence, and knowing Him at a point sooner in life...which involves learning about and getting to know Jesus...but, if this is the route some people need to get a hold of the existence and believe the Father, then go right ahead! They'll get to Jesus at some point or another.

The fact is that it's an indeniable part of relating to God. Truth tells us that:

"Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me". (John 14:6 NIV)