Religion is Easy

Then You Will Understand

Proverbs is a beautiful book. I feel like it holds most of life's little secrets that will keep us out of trouble. The first 10 verses of Chapter 2 rocked my world recently. To paraphase:

"If you:

1. Accept these words,
2. Store up these commands,
3. Apply your heart to understanding,
4. Call out for insight,
5. Cry aloud for understanding,
6. Look for it (wisdom),
7. And search for it (wisdom)

THEN: you will understand the fear of the Lord AND find the knowledge of God...You will understand what is just, and right, and fair."

I could go into what I think each of those seven things mean, but that's my role at this point. You can figure that out for yourself. It's pretty easy to see though that there are certain actions we can take to get closer to God's heart and will. It is clear that we truly can know what is right and what is just. Does that mean it will be easy? Certainly not. But we can clarify things a little bit.

Think about it.

Meditate on this passage.

Your life will be blessed because of it.

The People Were Amazed

The man began to tell how much Jesus had done for him. And all the people were amazed. ~Mark 5:20

Right before this little snippet, Jesus had healed this man of being possessed by a demon. The man instinctively goes and tells all his family, friends and neighbors about what happened. What's crazy to me is that the people were amazed by the things Jesus had done. 

Question: Am I even letting Jesus into my life enough for people to be amazed by my story? Am i taking enough risks for the sake of Christ and the Gospel to let Him work through me? 

If people aren't amazed by your story, maybe you're not living your story to the fullest. 

Chew on that. 

I know I will. 

A Tenth of Everything

Abraham gave Him a tenth of everything. ~Gen 14:20 

I'm reading through Genesis here, and in the middle of battle scenes and genealogies pops up this little nugget of gold. Abraham had just won a battle, and gave ten percent of his spoils to God. 

What's awesome to me here is that he gave God ten percent of everything. Now, I understand things are a little different today. Back then, wealth was measured by your stuff. Today, it's measured by the size of our bank account. But is it really? Isn't our cultural status actually determined by the stuff we have? Anywho, that's beside the point. 

What if we gave a tenth of our possessions to God? What would it look like? It is so easy to write a check when you aren't struggling financially. You have no emotional connection to your money. But what if you said that you were going to give 10 percent of your stuff to a women's shelter? Or to your friends who might need it more? 

We could even get crazier and talk about giving ten percent of your time to God. That works out to almost 2.5 hours a day. I'm not saying everyone should stop doing what they do and read the Bible for 2.5 hours every day. Just think about what it would it look like if we sacrificed a couple of "our" hours to pray, meditate, read and simply be in the presence of our Creator? 

Would your life be more focused? More worshipful? 

Just think about it. That's all I'm asking. 

Walk the Length and Breadth of the Land

Go, walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I am giving it to you. ~God, Gen 13:17

What's happening here is that God is giving Abraham a whole bunch of land. Essentially, God is telling Abe to get to know the land, since it's being given to him. 

What I like about this is that it's a "Go" command. There are a bunch of these throughout the Bible, and they almost always come as missions related. God tells Moses to "Go" back to Egypt and free his people (Ex 4:12). Jesus tells his followers to "Go" and make disciples of all the nations (Matt 28:19-20). When this word "Go" is used, God's people are being sent out as missionaries. 

How does this relate to our good friend Abe then? 

My own reading is that God is telling him that he needs to really know where he is living. Know its landscape, its boundaries, its culture, its beauty, its flaws...everything there is to know about it. I think God calls us to do the same in our lands and cities. Do we really know the places we live in? Do we know the pains? The groans of those hurting near us? Do we see the beauty in it? Do we know our culture enough to speak into it?

Know your land. 

Walk the length and breadth of it, for God is giving it to you. 

Nothing Will Be Impossible

If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. ~God, Genesis 11:6

This episode is during the infamous Tower of Babel incident. The people (all speaking one language at this time) were attempting to build a tower to reach up to the heavens and be equal with God. 

God saw it, didn't like it, and scattered and confused them by making them all speak different languages. 

I'm gonna go out on a limb with this post. 

This verse has a bad connotation to it. It almost appears as if God is scared that they could accomplish their goal unless he interferes. What if this verse were redeemed for good though? Let me explain.

Our world obviously speaks thousands upon thousands of languages. But even in America, among English speaking people, we speak totally different languages ranging from Techie to Christian. What if we made efforts to all speak the same language? What if we could all use the same vernacular? Wouldn't we be able to accomplish so much more for God's glory? 

In the Tower of Babel they were using their common language for destruction. I believe that we can use it for unbelievable good though. 

Try to break down language barriers. Even the ones that aren't so obvious. 

Greater Joy

You have filled my heart with greater joy than when their grain and new wine abound. ~David, in Psalm 4 

David got it. 

We long for "grain" (aka stuff) and new wine (aka more stuff). Back in those days their wealth was measured with these things. How is our wealth measured today? Not just by money, but by our stuff. Money can bring joy (only temporal, mind you), but it's really what our money buys that brings us joy. David, however, let God fill his heart with greater joy than when material wealth was abounding. 

Isn't that incredible? It seems obvious to us Christians. "Well duh, of course God brings greater joy than our stuff". But we don't usually believe that do we? We still yearn for all the peripheral things instead of the thing itself. 

David let God fill his heart with joy. We have to let him in first. If you don't allow him to enter your life, like really enter it to the depth of your being, this type of joy will never happen.

Don't you want the kind of joy that never dies? David found the secret, you can too. 

Now, how do you respond?

In His Likeness

When God created man, he created him in the likeness of God...When Adam was 130 years old he had a son in his own likeness, in his own image. ~Gen 5:1, 3

I do not know why, but for some reason this passage, more than almost any other in the Bible, more clearly describes to me the relationship between man and God. The same exact language is used to describe Adam's relationship to his flesh and blood son as it is between us and God. I've always known that God is my Father, but never really made the connection. I honestly still haven't entirely, but it's clearer than it used to be.

We are in God's likeness the same way that a child is in his/her parents likeness.

It's the same.

How does a child relate to their parents?

Depends on the age and maturity really. There are periods of respectfulness, rebellion, anger, admiration, thankfulness, etc. Why wouldn't it be the same in our relationship with God? We obviously don't want those bad times, but honestly, they're part of any relationship aren't they? Don't those times grow us more than any other?

As I've matured, I've become more thankful for my parents. For their wisdom, advice, unconditional love...and yes, even the discipline that I so hated when I was in those moments.

I think the same is true as Christians. As I mature in my faith, I become more thankful for God. For his wisdom, his advice, his unconditional love...and yes, even his discipline.

You were made in his likeness.

Now, how do we respond to that?

Are You Willing?

A man with leprosy came to him [Jesus] and begged him on his knees, "If you are willing, you can make me clean." Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing," he said. ~Mark 1:40-41

If you are willing.That really stood out to me. This man was crying out for healing.

Are you willing?

I was amazed by Jesus' humanness in this passage. He was filled with compassion and touched the man.

Jesus was willing.

Honestly, I'm usuallly not. I'm usually too busy. Or on my way to something more important. Or maybe I'm just hanging out with my friends. Either way, most of the time I do not even hear the man begging. 

That's the first step isn't it? Just hearing the people around us in their need. They usually aren't speaking audibly, but with their faces and actions.

Are you hearing them?

Are you willing?

News About Him Spread

News about him spread quickly over the whole region of Galilee ~Mark 1:28 

So, some context first: 

Right before this, Jesus is in the Temple teaching away. But the people notice something different about him. He teaches with authority. They see that He's not tentative or weak when he talks, but strong and confident. He also had just healed a man who was possessed by a demon. It says that "the people were all so amazed." 

What can we learn from this short passage? 

Our culture, even our church culture, has this idea that we must rely on marketing and branding and advertising in order to get word out about our product. Here's a thought though: I don't think that's entirely true. Great products don't actually rely on those things, but rather use them as tools or as supplements. 

I won't deny the power of great marketing, but Jesus goes so much beyond being simply a product that He speaks for Himself. If we, as a Church, are portraying him the way we ought to in our communities and cities, there will be a natural attraction. Or at least there should be. 

Maybe news about us will spread throughout the region. Without the Internet. Without marketing. Without a "branding strategy". 

Just maybe. 

One thing is for sure, Jesus did it pretty well without those things. 

A Re-Launch of Sorts

Yo. 

I took a two month break from blogging. I cant quite tell you why, mainly because I don't entirely know myself... Partially because of a crazy end to last semester. Partially because of winter break also being nuts. Anywho, I needed it. 

I'm ready to be back though. 

I want to focus on the Bible, and more specifically writing out of the overflow of what God is teaching me through Scripture. That's what I'm passionate about. So that's what I'll write about. I believe God has gifted me with a special passion for reading and understanding the Bible, as well as other books in general. 

I'm going through a one-year plan so I'm just gonna write about what sticks out to me from that day. And I'm gonna start back from Day 1. I hope that's okay. 

Please feel free to discuss, disagree with me, agree with me, etc. 

Let the fun begin.