New Testament Church

In the past five years I have been privileged to travel around the state of Missouri, and beyond, to countless different churches. I have participated in dozens of Disciple Now weekends at various locations, filled the pulpit in numerous houses of worship, visited churches in the city of Cleveland ranging from traditional to contemporary to hip-hop, taken on interim roles in three churches, and am currently employed at a church as a youth pastor. I have seen countless church services from the pew and from the pulpit. And even with the church-hopping mentality of today’s church-goers, I have been a part of more churches than most people ever will. Yeah, I get around.

And with all these places I have gone, there was one thing I had to learn very quickly: no one does it the same. If you visit many churches you will realize this too; despite the similarities we find, no two churches are the same. And, as I visited all these churches, I began to be amazed at how rigid some people have become in their way of “doing church.” With so many Christians these days it’s “My way or the highway. And highways are unbiblical. Remember, Jesus said the way is wide that leads to destruction.”

I blame much of this mentality on the New Testament Church. Well, that may be a bit unfair. I blame it on the idea of the New Testament Church. This is a concept I have heard talked about in many different places; it is an ill-defined idea of some sort of perfect, coherent, super-church where Peter is the pastor, Paul is the Sunday school director, and John is the minister of music. And we glorify this “Church” to the point of thinking, “Oh, if I could only have been a Christian back when Paul was around! Not when he started passing the torch to Timothy, that kid had no moxie. Give me Paul any day.” And we look around at our churches and we judge them, saying, “My church is a ‘New Testament Church.’ Sure, you may attend a church, but mine is holier.” or “This church has some problems. They would never have made it if Peter was still around. Most likely, they’d all be lion food; except God would probably strike them dead like Ananias and Sapphira before the lions got to them.”

What we sometimes forget, I think, is that this “New Testament Church” was actually why we have the largest portion of the New Testament. Think about it; how much of the second half of the Bible would we have if Paul had not been reprimanding the church for something stupid they were doing? A good chunk of the New Testament is devoted to telling off the New Testament Church. Far from perfect, it was a group of people still trying to figure out how to love God, and they messed up plenty along the way.

Don’t get me wrong, I think they had a lot of stuff right; and we have a lot to learn from the way they did things. But the New Testament Church, the REAL New Testament Church, was not successful because they had the order of service down pat. They didn’t grow because they had great facilities or programs. In many cases, it wasn’t even because of strong leadership. The New Testament Church was successful because it was filled with people who wanted to learn about God and show Him to others. It wasn’t the way they “did church;” it was the way they left church. It wasn’t their order of service; it was their obedience in service.

So, the next time you look around at your church and think, “I don’t like the way they do that. I bet there’s a better church out there; a more ‘New Testament’ kind of church.” maybe the problem isn’t with your church but you. There is no perfect church, not even in the New Testament; stop looking for it. Instead, work where God has put you so that your church will begin winning territory for the Kingdom of God.

What about you? Are you at a "New Testament Church"? Are you looking for one? Are you helping create one?

A Dead Dog and the Kindness of a King

In 2 Samuel 9, David is the newly crowned king of Israel, the nation’s enemies have all been put down, and God has promised to bless David and his house forever. Things could not be going better for David.

The story is quite different, however, for the household of Saul, Israel’s former royal line. All the closest relatives of Saul have been killed either by Israel’s enemies or by treacherous men with whom they had surrounded themselves. In all the family of Saul, one lone man is left: Saul’s grandson, the son of Jonathon, named Mephibosheth. But it is even worse than that; Mephibosheth was lame. Not that he wasn’t hip; no, he actually was the victim of a childhood accident that left him without the use of either of his feet.

One could wonder, then, considering the contrast between these two families, what it would take to bring them together. This question will only be heightened by an understanding of the culture of the day. In times when monarchy is the prevailing form of government, the role of king is understandably very desirable to people. This position, however, is generally established by heritage: namely, by relation to the previous ruler. But, on the few occasions that a king is overthrown by someone outside his family, it was common political practice to eliminate the competition, so to speak, by executing the entire royal family.

One can imagine, knowing this, the amazement David’s counselors must have felt when they heard him ask one day, “Is there not still someone of house of Saul, to whom I may show the kindness of God?” (2 Samuel 9:3)

I think the key to this question is in the way David describes this kindness. It is “the kindness of God.” David recognizes that the kindness that has been shown him is from God; and he desires to show that kindness to the son of his friend Jonathon, even though the world would tell him to do the opposite. David’s actions are not based on the culture around him but on the way he has seen God act. And David tries to mirror those actions.

This is important to remember. It is, in fact, the core of following Christ: to be like Him, to display Him, to show His kindness.

But I feel David is not the only character in this story from whom we may learn something. When Mephibosheth is finally tracked down and brought before the king, David reveals to him that he is to be an honored and permanent guest at his table. Mephibosheth responds, “What is your servant, that you should look upon such a dead dog as I?” (2 Samuel 9:8)

Here was a man who knew that he was pitiful. He knew what most people would do to him in that situation, and he knew that nothing he could say would alter his fate. That is the way we must all accept the kindness of God. There is nothing we could do to deserve it. There is nothing we could do to get it on our own. We are as disgraceful as dead dogs, but He gives us grace anyway.

That is the Kindness we must show. For, that is the Kindness we have been shown.



*******

It is not a small thing to be called the Body of Christ. It is no small thing indeed. Little is the thought we devote to the burden placed upon that privilege. But it is no trifling matter to see with His eyes, to speak on His behalf, and to work for His Name.

C.S. Lewis said, “You don’t have a soul. You are a soul; you have a body.” Yet, when the world thinks of us, it thinks first not in terms of unseen but of seen. Though our true selves are grown and contained and maintained in are souls, we are only shown for what we are through the usage of our bodies.

Likewise, we are the means by which Christ has chosen to show His nature to the world. He doesn’t have to use us, but He does. And we think far too little of that call. When the world wishes to judge us, it does not see our soul; it judges by what our body does. When the world wishes to judge God, it does not always see His Holiness; it judges by what His body does.

“If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.” -- 1 Peter 4:11

Why Do You Yet Crawl...?

For over two months now, there have been at least four sparrows living inside of the Wal-Mart here in Hannibal. I know this because I see them there…all the time…all over the store. I’m not sure how this is not some sort of health code violation, but what are you gonna do? I sincerely doubt that those birds are going to find their way out; I don’t know why they would want to leave anyway. And, short of some kind of net-launching cannon or releasing a falcon in the store, I see no way to catch those things.

Let’s face it: if you were a bird, that would be the place to be. There’s all the food you could want, it’s super warm and cozy, there are no threats from predators, and the ceilings are high enough to fly above the crowds and even build a nice little nest for yourself and the little lady.

There’s only one kicker. Those birds: I wouldn’t call them free. Sure they have anything they need; they may even have all the liberty they could ask for, they can fly around to their heart’s content. But there is still a ceiling between them and the sky. They are still in a cage; it’s just bigger than they would expect.

Sometimes I feel like those birds: trapped at Wal-Mart. There are so many things I would like to do, and so many things I feel I am meant to do; but my job traps my time. After all, I have to provide for needs. I need money to get food and to pay rent and bills. But it all seems like flying in a circle—a big circle, maybe, but still a circle.

Actually though, it’s just easy for me to blame Wal-Mart for my problems because I don’t like being there anyway. There is still so much of my time that I could use for the important things, but I waste it. The cage I’m in is built mainly of my own laziness and procrastination. If there is anything holding me back from the sky, it is me. God has blessed me so greatly, and I have opportunities most people will never know (as do we all) but I am still content to live in a smaller world with a ceiling above me.

I don’t know what all of this will prove to be about, but this is what my life is like right now. There is a sentence in my head. I don’t know if I heard it somewhere, or if God just put it there. “Why do you yet crawl while you may fly?” Most of us are still stuck on the ground. God has so much more for us. Stop being content here in the dirt.

And that goes for me.

The Church of Tomorrow

Admit it. Some of you, when you read that title thought back to the old “home of tomorrow” or “car of the future” campaign ads. You were thinking, “What? A blog about churches with recliners instead of pews? With all stainless steel décor, robots to greet you when you enter, automatic collection plates that take the money right out of your wallet!” But no, that is not at all what I intended. Although, it would be pretty awesome if that church had a convict-o-matic, where the preacher could flip a switch and any member of the congregation he chose would be “aided” down the aisle to pray, led by a combination of spring propulsion and robotic arms a la George Jetson. But I digress.

By “The Church of Tomorrow” I was referring to a phrase that seems to be a favorite of certain church members. Typically it is used by the elderly, often deacons, for whom I have the utmost respect. But it is also common among the middle-aged and young parents. And I believe they are well-intentioned, though misguided.

Here is my problem with the term: we don’t apply it to the right people.

That phrase, as it is used in the typical church, usually is part of an impassioned plea or a rationale for focusing on the youth group. “These young people are the church of tomorrow!” someone will say. “The youth are the church of the future.”

As a youth pastor, I appreciate the sentiment. But there is a flaw with the statement. The youth, if they are Believers, are not the church of the future. They are the church now. The attitude that they are the future church is a part of what contributes to the generation gap in our churches.

At this point it would be possible for the ranting to begin. But there is another point I need to make, a point that is perhaps more important. And that is that there is a church of tomorrow. It consists of the lost.

So, please, stop referring to youth as the church of the future. If they are our future, it looks bleak. I’m not bashing the youth; I’m just saying, statistically 80% will leave church when they graduate high school. Also, Church, you are not having enough kids to propagate a “church of tomorrow” without reaching out to the lost. I’m not saying to forget the youth; please, please don’t. But can we put as much emphasis on reaching the lost? We should, if we are truly concerned about the future of the church; and, more importantly, if we are concerned with Chist.

The Pride of False Humility

Humble. That is one word we would all like to be used in describing us. We want to be thought of as humble people. Here’s the problem: many times in our desire to appear humble we are actually behaving pridefully.

Here’s the scenario. Someone come to you for something. It could be for advice. It could be asking for your help. It could be wanting you to fill a position or a need. In response, we humble admit that we are not smart enough, not talented enough, not gifted enough, or whatever the case may be.

The message we try to convey is this: “No, I’m not good enough. I would mess things up. I totally recognize my inability. I’m trying to be humble here.”

Essentially, what we’re saying though, is this: “I recognize your need, but I don’t want to take the chance of making myself look like a fool. Maybe I would be the best one to meet this need right now, but I don’t feel like trying it. I don’t think I’m good enough. So, I would rather maintain my dignity than do what I can to help someone.”

That is not humility. That is the most conceited action we could take. We are more concerned with our appearances than with doing the work God has prepared for us. It is our pride that tells us we will look like a fool, and so we do nothing.

Listen to what the Bible would say about that. I Corinthians 3:18 says, “Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you seems to be wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise.”

Humility requires willingness to be humiliated. Humility means putting the needs of others above our own need to look good.

Not A Knight

If I had lived in the Dark Ages, I would not have been a knight. I would have dreamed about it. I would have longed to be the protector of the helpless. But I think I would have been a farmer. I would have been a farmer who dreamed of being a knight, but I would have been satisfied with being a herdsman. At least then I would have had the animals to protect.

There are but few knights that we remember, however. Not many, even of that most noble breed, left a mark on history. And we may remember a few in tales or ballads, but those were composed by someone other than the knights themselves. So, perhaps the poets are the ones who have left the greatest signs of history. We know the names of Lancelot and Beowulf and Saint George, but few if any remember who told the tales. Those forgotten bards bear more weight than the heroes of their tales, for it is they who have shaped us with the stories.

If I had been alive back then, I would not have been a knight. I think I would have been a farmer. I hope I would have been a storyteller.

Don't Water the Begonias

If you are going to take care of plants it is helpful to know something about them. I don’t. That is, I don’t really know about them; I do have to take care of them. My training involving the plants consisted basically of being told to water them every day, and to water them until it runs out the holes in the bottom of the pots. I really don’t know much about plants.

Luckily, Wal-Mart has Art. Art is a 76-year-old black man who knows everything about every plant. When we have a question, we go to Art, and he answers with his usual fervor. He sure doesn’t act 76. I think he must have either discovered the fountain of youth or he has a secret lab in his basement where he sucks the vitality out of little children he has shipped in from the streets of Mexico City. But I digress. The point is, when the majority of the Begonias in our store were dying and rotting, it was Art who knew that their peril was caused by over-watering.

In life, I have found that I usually know as little about what I need as I do about how to take care of a hibiscus. Thankfully, in life, we have God. The verse has become a bit of a Christian cliché, but the truth of Jeremiah 29:11 not diminished by its overuse. “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”

Sometimes the things that happen to us don’t make sense. But God knows what He’s doing. Just accept what He gives, and trust.

Enslaved to Liberty

Here in the land of the free and the home of the brave there are few things we value more highly than our liberty. Liberty is one of the cornerstones of our nation. We even have an idol of her in the harbor outside New York. Well, perhaps we don’t bow down to “Lady Liberty,” but she is still somewhat of a deity to us. We like to do things on our own, in our own way. And we like to have the freedom to do so. This is especially true of men, and I don’t know of any guy out there that doesn’t wish they could be William Wallace crying out with his last breath, “FREEEEEDDOOOOOOOM!!!”

As wonderful as our liberty is, and as grateful as I am for freedom, I believe that the majority of the American church has taken our independence too far. Our commercialism and economics and politics and social theory have bled over into our faith. There is only one problem: our faith does not follow the same laws as the government or the stock market or Hollywood or the media (thank goodness). And yet, we have all but replaced God with what we can do on our own. We are free to do as we please and do what we please in a way that is pleasing to us. And our freedom has given us power.

Or so we think.

But seriously, what can we not accomplish? We have enough money to solve all our problems without prayer, without God’s help. We have a world of information to answer our questions. The philosophy of the ages and of this age is at our fingertips on the internet. We can supply our own food, shelter, whatever; who needs faith? Who needs to rely on anyone or anything? We are free.

Or are we?

Maybe we are. But if we are, our liberty has made us weak. By relying only on our own power we have forfeited any true power. By replacing God with freedom we have become indebted to self-sufficiency, enslaved to liberty, and subservient to independence.

Think about it; the most powerful being to ever walk the planet, Jesus Christ, did not even rely on His own strength. Listen to what He said in John 5:19. “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do.”

In spite of all His power, Jesus was still completely dependant upon His Father. In fact, that dependency was the very source of His power. Wrap you mind around this: Jesus was so dependant on the Father that He could do nothing apart from the Father; hence, everything He did was in accordance with the will of the Father and as such was empowered by the very hand of God. It is incredible to think of such perfect dependence result in such absolute power, but that is the way God works.

So if you want more than just “freedom,” offer yourself as a slave to God. It is my prayer that the church will become so dependent on God that He can empower us. It is my prayer that we will forfeit enough of our liberties that He will be able to use us.

Stacking Dung

I recently got a job at Wal-Mart. Working there has stifled my desire to write for some time, though I have gotten a few ideas in the past weeks. One of them actually came from something I do as a part of my job.

I work in the lawn and garden department and one of the responsibilities I have is to load mulch and potting soil and fertilizer and such things. We have big piles of all this stuff stacked on pallets in the parking lot, and the heaps can tend to get a little disorderly. When this happens, someone has to straighten up the lot.

This task reminded me of what Paul said about this life in the third chapter of Philippians. In the beginning of that chapter Paul lists his credentials according to the flesh: all the things that he once thought would make him right with God. It is a very impressive list, full of wonderful things. But in verse eight Paul says he counts all these things as “rubbish” but the original Greek word actually translates better as “dog dung.”

Perhaps you wonder how it relates. But as I thought about the impressive pile of crap that Paul had accumulated, I couldn’t help but think about the stacks out on the lot and about how much time I spend building up my own pile.

We spend so much time gathering together our little piles of manure, stacking them neatly, and trying to make them look impressive. But in the end, it’s all still dung. No matter how nicely packaged a bag of manure may be, it doesn’t change what I’m loading into that truck when people come to Wal-Mart to try to get their garden ready. And no matter how much dung we gather, we still have nothing to offer to God.

So what we need to do is leave those steaming heaps behind us; and, like Paul, say that we are “forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead. I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Jesus Christ.”

What is Good?

We all want things that are good. We don’t want things that are bad. It’s a simple concept, one that no one would dispute. It is basic common sense. But, in this life, we all must face things that we cannot help but label as “bad.” These “bad” things cannot be avoided; there are a part of living in a fallen world. But they make me wonder: who decided whether a thing is “bad” or “good”? And is there any real difference between these things, or is it all in our heads?

As Christians, should we not be protected from these “bad” circumstances? If, after all, “bad” is a result of sin, should not we whose sins have been atoned have release from these dire circumstances? Does not the Bible say, “God cause all things to work together for good…”? Yes, that promise is there. But what does the Bible mean when it says “good”? Is it what we would call “good”?

Ecclesiastes 6:12 asks the question, “Who knows what is good for a man in this life…for who can tell a man what will be after him?” The Hebrew word for “good” in that verse—tob—can have several meanings: sweet, beautiful, bountiful, better, or best. So, it is difficult for us to know what is good for us in this life. Many things that seem “good” can become bad, and vice versa.

So, now to the real question: what does God say is good? Well, Micah 6:8 tells us that God has “shown you, o man, what is good (tob).” But since I took Romans 8:28 out of context earlier, I would like to use that passage to answer the question.

When Scripture says that God cause all things to work together for good it puts a few stipulations on that promise. To begin with, the previous verses are talking about how we don’t even know what we should pray for, but the Spirit will intercede in accordance with God’s will. So, the context is not one of getting what we want, but of being informed of what God’s purpose is. So, if we do not even know how to pray as we aught, how can we claim to understand what is good for us?

Secondly, the last half of the verse puts a qualifier on the promise, “to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.” So, this is meant for those who are called according to the purpose of God. But what is that purpose? What does He intend? The following verses explain; they list a string of events that take place in the life a Believer. We are foreknown, predestined, called, justified, and glorified. All these things take place that we may be “conformed to the image of His Son.”

That is the goal. That is the purpose to which we have been called. That is the good toward which God will cause all things to work. So, those “bad” things we go through, they are put there because God wants to use them to make us more like His Son. That is the reason we were made: to be His image. That is the purpose we messed up with our sin. And that is the purpose Christ had in mind when He offered us salvation. God is ever striving to restore His image in us. And that is the greatest good we can find in this world.

Raised from Stones

What gall those Pharisees and Sadducees had. Oh, and it wasn’t just Jesus who had to deal with them; John the Baptist had his fair share of dealings with the religious nuts. They came to him in Matthew chapter three. They wanted to be baptized, but John saw right through them. They wanted to be baptized, but they didn’t want to change.

Those presumptuous Israelites figured that their standing as children of Abraham afforded them assurance of high standing in the Kingdom of God. They thought God would certainly desire followers of such noble lineage. But John set them straight.

In verses seven through twelve he really lets them have it. “You’re a bunch of snakes! Who warned you that God was about to take you out? If you really want to escape, start acting like you’re sorry for being such idiots and making Him angry in the first place.” (This, of course, is a slight paraphrase.) “You keep bragging about being descended from Abraham, but that’s nothing. God could make children of Abraham from this pile of rocks, and they’d be better looking too!” (Maybe that last part isn’t in there).

The gist of John’s message: “God is fixin’ to clean house fellas (I like to imagine John spoke with the equivalent of an Alabama accent in Hebrew). You’d better straighten up and quit putting all you stock in who your daddy was. God doesn’t need you anymore than He needs a gravel pit.”

How true that is. God made the first man from dirt; don’t you think He could do that again? He doesn’t need us. But we need Him desperately. The next time you think you are entitled to something from God because of who you are or what you have done, remember: He made you from mud; there is plenty of material left to make your replacement.

Kicking Against the Goads

In Bible times one of the most vital and useful tools that could be owned by a farmer or a herdsman was a device known as a goad. It’s not something we hear about very often these days. It was basically a stick with a sharp point either hardened with fire or covered with metal. This spiked tip was then used to poke an animal to make it move. The goad was meant to direct the animal, steering it or speeding it up.

When the beast was confronted with this motivational tactic, it had three basic choices. It could give in to the prodding and move at the desired speed in the right direction. It could keep doing what it was doing as though nothing had happened, thus ensuring the goad would be used again (and likely in a more aggressive manner). Or the animal could kick at the goad, trying to injure whatever it was that had poked him. There are a couple of problems with the animal reacting in this way. First of all, the whole point of a goad is to keep the herder far enough away from the herdee that the animal cannot reach him. So, an animal that kicked against a goad could only hurt himself. In order to kick, the animal has to be moving toward the goad; well, moving closer to a sharp object that is jabbing you is not going to help. Also, in order to kick, the animal would have to flex most of the muscles in its leg. This would cause the goad to dig deeper into the muscle than if they were relaxed.

Interesting, right? Well, I’m not meaning to just talk about ancient techniques for animal herding. That historical tidbit is necessary in order to understand a message that God once gave to the apostle Paul. In Acts 26 Paul is retelling the account of his encounter with Christ on the road to Damascus. It is there that we hear the words of Jesus, when He says, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.”

So, God is comparing Saul (later to be called Paul) to a stubborn ox that is being herded but keeps kicking against the goad. God is trying to direct Saul, to move him in the right direction; but Saul only wants to attack what is pushing him.

This makes me wonder if Saul knew all along that Christianity was the way. God had been guiding him, trying to get him to see the truth, but he just would not. He did not want to admit that his whole way of life was useless, his vast learning was missing a vital piece, his righteousness was not enough.

Like Paul we often find ourselves being herded along by God. And, like Paul, we often think our own way is so much better, and we rail against the direction God is taking us. We ignore His guidance and His direction. But all the while, He keeps trying to turn us. It would be so much easier if we would just stop kicking against the goads and walk where Christ wants us.


“The words of the wise are like goads…they are given by one Shepherd.” Ecclesiastes 12:11

It sure seems like I've been writing on here a whole lot less recently. Well, since I'm through with college, there hasn't been as much to write about. Or so it seems anyway.

One may take my lack of blogging to mean that I am no longer clueless. Perhaps I wander less. Perhaps I have found the answers to my questions.

Rest assured, this is not the case.

Yes, despite all the things God has taught me, I am still clueless. I still ponder things to which I may never find a reasonable conclusion. And my life is filled with at least as many questions as it was when this whole thing began.

Here's the problem. My questions used to be interesting. There used to be some kind of deeper... something from... somewhere. Now all I can seem to get out is "What? Where? When? How?" Not very exciting or vital to the reader who is outside my thought process. But to me, these are the questions that shape the course of my life. They are the same boring questions we all ask.

So, yes, I am still clueless. I am still stumbling through a messy, mixed-up world. And I still hope we can find the Way together as we seek to walk with Christ.

Yesterday's Manna

As I was contemplating how we are sustained by God, and how He nourishes us spiritually, I couldn’t help but remember the story of Exodus 16. As seems to always be the case in Exodus, the Israelites are groaning. I say this in no way to mean that I am better; I groan plenty, it’s just that no one has written a book about me doing it yet.

In this particular instance, the people are groaning because they need food. Not a bad reason to groan, if you have none. So, God provided for them, as He always did. He rained down a delicious meal from heaven, an unknown food that tasted like wafers made with honey (possibly Honeycomb breakfast cereal). They could it “manna.”

God gave some specific instructions along with this blessing, however. He told them to gather only what they needed, but to gather double on the day before the Sabbath, and to eat those leftovers on the Sabbath.

Of course, the Hebrews neglected these commands. Not only did they try to gather manna on the Sabbath, but they also tried to gather extra manna on other days. And, as is usually the case when one disobeys God’s instructions, the consequences were eminent.

During the night this sweet pastry attracted and bred worms, turning sour and creating a tremendous odor (the manufacturers of Honeycomb avoided this with the invention of the artificial preservatives we all love so much).

Nonetheless, I believe there is an important lesson to learn from this story. So often we look back on our past spirituality, or even the spirituality of our family, and we become satisfied with it. We come to rely on it. We believe what we have done in the past is enough, if we could just sustain it or replicate it. We try to survive on the manna we gathered yesterday. But there was a reason God told the Israelites to gather their nourishment everyday.

God wants us to continually be relying on Him. He wants us to always be searching for some new revelation. Simply reviewing what we have done or learned cannot be enough. In Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, he writes in chapter thirteen, “When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.”

The bitter truth is, there are many among us who simply need to grow up. We have become satisfied with what we have accomplished, with what we know; and all the while there is so much more to behold. There is so much more to the glory of God than we have seen. There is so much more to His provision, to His power. And we are content to stagnate and breed worms. We need to quit fiddling around with yesterday’s manna. Go and see what God has sent from heaven today.

Food we Do Not Know

How often do we skip a meal? I know I don’t very often. We like food, and we don’t like being hungry. But I was wondering the other day, “Why don’t we hunger for God that way?” After all, we need God even more than we need food; He is the source of our strength and nourishment. Why do we ignore Him in a way we would never ignore our hunger pangs?

In John chapter four, Jesus’ disciples were taking care of their grocery shopping in a Samaritan village while Jesus waiting at the local watering hole. That’s where the Savior had an encounter with a Samaritan woman and confronted her misconceptions about worship and life. But after His conversation with the woman, His disciples tried to get Him to eat something. Jesus replied, “I have food to eat of which you do not know.” The disciples question among themselves, wondering where He got the food. He answered them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.”

I really believe that Jesus had a hunger inside Him. I believe that if He ever went very long without touching someone for His Father, He was filled with pangs like if we had not eaten. And when He fulfilled a task that His Father had given to Him, He felt a satisfaction better than any we could know from the biggest meal.

So why do we not take advantage of this food we do not know? Why do we neglect the one thing that can nourish us, strengthen us, and satisfy us like nothing else can? Why do we not hunger to serve the One who sent us?

Lord, fill us with desire for Your food.

The Most Noble Contradiction

There were many contradictions at the cross. Everything about it went against the nature of God. The One who knew no sin was made to be sin. The True Light that had come into the world was shrouded in darkness. The Life was crucified. The Three-in-One God was divided, separated for the first and only time.

But these kinds of contradictions are what makes the cross so powerful. No other life could have, by its death, given life to the world. Only a sinless sacrifice could wipe out the debt of sin. These contradictions were a part of the plan all along, and they were nothing new in the life of Christ.

The very act of Jesus being born was a contradiction. His very nature, wholly God and wholly man, is a seeming paradox that we cannot fully understand. But perhaps the greatest contradiction is explained in the opening chapter of John’s Gospel. John says that Jesus came “full of grace and truth.”

The grace of God is His lovingkindness toward us, His mercy, the way He puts up with us when we fail. The truth of God is His unchanging faithfulness, His immutability, His uncompromising justice. His grace is what makes Him want to bring us to Himself. His truth is what keeps Him from welcoming sinners. The two thoughts are perpendicular. It does not seem like they should exist in one God. But the contradiction is not because the two are mutually exclusive; it is because our sin is in conflict with both.

That is why the contradiction of the cross was necessary. That is where the grace of God and the truth of God met. That is where they worked together to rid the world of the sin that had placed them at odd. That is where Christ became, as it says in Romans 3, “both just and the justifier.” The contradiction of the cross is where God rejected His own nature because of His deep love for us. He gave up so much of Himself so that His real self could be revealed to us, so that we could know Him.

It is a mystery too great for words. It is the most noble contradiction.

God: Remembered

It was strange. God had freed His people from their enemies and conquered their foes on every side. He gave them Gideon as a judge to guide them. But, as soon as he died, Judges 8:34 says, “the children of Israel did not remember the LORD their God.”

When Jerusalem lay desolate and without walls, and enemies threatened to stop the construction, Nehemiah offered the people only one hope. “Do not be afraid of them.” Nehemiah 4:14 says, “Remember the Lord, great and awesome, and fight.”

A prophet running from God found himself in the midst of a storm-tossed sea. But matters soon would get much worse, as he found himself in the midst of a great fish. But, from the bowels of a sea monster, when all hope was lost and his spirit fainted within him, Jonah 2:7 says, “I remembered the LORD.”

Often God must go to extreme lengths to get His people to remember Him. When the psalmist recounts the story of the exodus in Psalm 78, he lists all the ways that God provided for His people. But it was not until God brought death to them that he could say in verse thirty-five, “Then they remembered that God was their rock, and the Most High God their Redeemer.”

How often we don’t remember God! When He is the only One who can save, guide, and provide. I can only say, with the writer of Ecclesiastes 12:1, “Remember now your Creator in the days of your youth, before the difficult days come.” Now is the time to make that choice. He is worth remembering. He is the most important thing to remember.


“All the ends of the world shall remember and turn to the LORD, and all the families of the nations shall worship before You.” Psalm 22:27.

Too Much Honey

The Bible often uses honey as an analogy. Typically it is a symbol of prosperity; several times it is even used as a picture of God’s Word. One chapter in Proverbs, however, references honey twice, but in a very different way. Proverbs 25:16 says, “Have you found honey? Eat only as much as you need, lest you be filled with it and vomit.” But the verse I really want to focus on comes later. Verse twenty-seven tells us, “It is not good to eat much honey; so to seek one’s own glory is not glory.”

These verses, placed so conveniently close together in the text, have got me thinking. How much of a good thing is too much? Clearly, the Bible is teaching here that indulgence results in our own downfall. Like an overabundance of honey, seeking our own glory destroys the thing we were out to get.

But there’s more to it than that. In the original Hebrew, the word for “seek” doesn’t mean simply “seek;” it has connotations that can make it mean “examine,” “study,” or “number.” So the writer is not merely warning against someone who is only out to get more glory, but he is also saying that we should not spend too much time thinking about their own “glory” or taking stock of their own accomplishments.

When we eat too much honey we get sick to our stomachs. That is the same effect that besets our souls when we think more of ourselves than we ought. So often we seek our own glory. We become caught up in our image or reputation. We refuse to be fools for Christ, forgetting that the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing. We lap up honey like it was water, and it has made us sick. It is time to finally stop researching ourselves. Enough is enough. There is one Glory, and it is God alone. If we seek any glory but His, we are looking to be filled by something that is actually causing the problem. We are getting sick off of honey.

Let the Dead Bury Their Own

How easy it is to become distracted from doing the work God has set before us. The gospels of Mathew and Luke share a very brief story that emphasizes the importance of remaining focused on following Christ.

In Matthew 8:21-22 we see the story of a man who would follow Christ. But he asks the Savior if he may first go and bury his father. Jesus answered, “Follow Me, and let the dead bury their own dead.” Luke chapter 9 tells much the same story in verses 59 and 60, but records Jesus’ response as, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of God.”

Christ’s response to the man is something many of us would do well to remember. The things of this world can only end in death. Even things that aren’t bad often bring no benefit except in what happens between here and the grave. Christ is trying to get this young follower to shift his focus to what happens after the grave. So many of the things in this life are not worth worrying about, and would take care of themselves if we focus on following Christ and proclaiming His kingdom.

So, let the dead bury their own. Let the things of this world worry about themselves. And follow Christ.