"Einstein felt, at most, man had attained 1% of the possible knowledge of the universe. Do you think it's possible God is able to do unexplainable things with the 99% we don't understand?" -from
Rooms by James L Rubart

Monday, November 14, 2011

what makes us think we're different than the israelites??

when i was younger and read in the Bible about the Israelites, God's chosen people, i used to wonder why in the world God put up with them! no matter how plain God's laws were, the Israelites broke them! when they were in the desert, He graciously fed them with bread falling from the sky (pretty awesome). all He commanded was that they NOT store it up. they were to trust Him by just gathering what they needed each day. did they listen?? NO! they tried storing it and, just like God said, it rotted. i thought, 'how dumb could they be?!' i read all those stories about these people who kept disobeying and thought how ridiculous they were...
but am i really different?
Nehemiah chapter 9 is a prayer addressing all the shortcomings of the Israelites throughout their history, and as i read it today, i couldn't help but think of how i (and we as Christians) do the same things. these are some things Nehemiah lists and parallels i see today:

the Israelites (vss 16-18) "...became arrogant and stiff-necked, and did not obey Your commands... refused to listen and failed to remember the miracles You performed among them... appointed a leader in order to return to their slavery... cast for themselves an image of a calf and said, 'This is [our] god...'"

us today: 
-we arrogantly say, "i'm a pretty good person; i only need a little bit of forgiveness. God should be happy with me because i didn't kill anyone... or steal anything... or rape anyone... i'm not like those people..."
-we disobediently think with stiff necks: "surely God won't mind if i tell a little white lie. it's not that big of a deal! everyone lies sometimes!" or "there's nothing wrong with 'appreciating the beauty' of another human being by looking at them; it's not lust as long as i don't physically DO anything with them! everyone looks a little!"
-we look at the time our tire didn't go flat until the car was parked and say, "that wasn't a miracle; it was luck!" or the time we ran into someone we really needed to see just at the perfect moment and say, "that wasn't God's blessing; that was a coincidence!"
-instead of turning to our one and only mediator, Christ, for direction and confession, we appoint church leaders and don't dare act without their approval or their blessing. this can be anyone from a counselor to a priest, depending on what type of church you attend. even when we think God might be leading us to act or repent, we turn to these humans for guidance... but it's self-inflicted slavery!
-we build idols out of celebrities, pro-sports stars, news casters, tv show stars, cars, making more money, food... if someone wants to interrupt my show, i think, "how dare they!!! this is my time!" if someone scratches my car or insults my hero, i'm ready to beat them up! we're more willing to fight for our man-made idols than we are for GOD. 
-we are afraid to tell others about Jesus, for fear of offending someone, or getting into an argument.

the Israelites (vs. 26) "were disobedient and rebelled against You; they put Your law behind their backs. they killed Your prophets, who had admonished them in order to turn them back to You; they committed awful blasphemies."

us today:
-we rebel and disobey by wearing what we want to wear, comparing ourselves to the world and NOT to God's standards. we think, "this skirt (or these shorts or these tight pants or this shirt) isn't that bad. i just want to look nice. so what if there's a little cleavage showing? so what if i can barely get these pants on because they're so tight? so what if guys can see most of my legs? no one will ever notice me if i don't look 'attractive'! everyone else is wearing it and it's so hard to find anything else!"
-when people tell us what we're doing is wrong and give us warnings, we roll our eyes and lump them in the 'fanatic' category. we don't want to be that 'good'; we just want to get into heaven by being happy and nice. we don't want to think about what wrong we've done; we just want to send some money to a charity and go on our merry way.
-we blaspheme by telling God we know better than He does. we think He must not understand. He must be far away in heaven somewhere growing a beard, unaware of what we go through, unaware of how 'good' we already are. 
-we blaspheme by telling God that Jesus is not the only way to heaven; we think that surely we are too intelligent and advanced to 'judge' other people's religions!!! often the church is too busy trying to 'make friends' with other religions, rather than telling the truth that ALL NEED CHRIST. 

the Israelites (vss. 29-30) "stubbornly... turned their backs on You, became stiff-necked and refused to listen. for many years You were patient with them... yet they paid no attention, so You handed them over to the neighboring peoples."

us today:
-no matter how many times we hear the truth, we tend to believe what we already believed. we see a Bible verse that says "there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. (Romans 3:11)" and we think, "it can't really mean all that!!! surely someone, like probably me, seeks God!
-we read 1 John 5:12, which says, "he who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life." and we think, "that's a little harsh! we're supposed to all be friends! surely God won't judge them for not believing in Jesus! they're nice people!" so we push the verse away and discount it and get back to our lives.

slowly, slowly, we have let down our guard,
we have blurred the lines and cushioned the rules,
we have toned down all the tough language,
until we are left with a corny religion which only compels us to go to church on Easter and maybe tell someone they're 'in our prayers' when they're sick. we believe we're 'Christian' because our parents might have been, or simply because we aren't any other religion.
it is true that changing our actions will not save us. only putting our faith in Jesus will do that. BUT our actions come out of our hearts. so if you find that religion is just a front or a mask for you, PLEASE consider that you need to make a commitment to trust in Jesus TODAY! don't wait till later!
and if you find, though you have committed to Christianity in the past, that you have let your life slide into gray areas, please consider doing what the Israelites did and RECOMMIT your life to Him. He is always ready to give a second chance to someone whose heart is willing to change.
over and over again in nehemiah chapter 9, he recalls how God had GREAT compassion and did not abandon the Israelites nor cease to guide them (vs. 19), He gave His good Spirit to instruct them (vs. 20), gave them deliverers (vs. 27), warned them (vs. 29), was patient with them (vs. 30), and in His great mercy did not put an end to them (vs. 31). 
He has done the same with us!
but how long will God have patience with us? we are already being handed over to those who would destroy us. our schools are removing prayer, removing God. our courthouses are upholding abortion and homosexuality. our military is teaching undercover militant muslims how to fight us.... the list goes on.
we are no different from the Israelites. their story is our story. 
may we learn from them. may we become fearless. 

"But in Your great mercy You did not put an end to them or abandon them, for You are a gracious and merciful God." Nehemiah 9:31

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

how does worship look?

the last 8 chapters of ezekiel go into great detail of how the Lord's temple is supposed to be build and what is the perfect way to worship God.

Ezekiel 46:9-10
"When the people of the land come before the LORD at the appointed feasts, whoever enters by the north gate to worship is to go out the south gate; and whoever enters by the south gate is to go out the north gate. No one is to return through the gate by which he entered, but each is to go out the opposite gate. The prince is to be among them, going in when they go in and going out when they go out."

what a perfect picture of what our worship is to look like today! we should NOT go out the same way we came in! change happens to us when we worship God correctly, and the change in us is like going out a different door than the one we came in.
if i go into worship harboring anger, i see God's perfection and my shortcomings, and it causes me to forgive.
if i go into worship with sin in my heart, God's presence brings it to light and i have to choose to give it up. i canNOT choose both; it's either choose God or choose my sin.
if i go into worship as king of my life, His ultimate Kingship puts me to shame, and i have to give up the throne.
when we worship God, our focus is to be on HIM alone. it causes us to examine ourselves and realize that we come up short. our love for Him causes us to desire change and then to make it happen.
and i love how the 'prince', though it is referring to an earthly prince here, reminds me of Jesus. He is among us as we worship, going in as we go in, and going out when we go out!