What are you going to fantasize about?

March 22, 2010

Maria Colossians, Reflections 2 Comments

Set your hearts on things above…….set your minds on things above – Colossians 3: 1b, 2a

God has given us the gift of imagination.  We can feed it and grow it into something that draws us closer to God, or we can feed it and grow it into something that becomes an idol.

I was listening to a recent ‘Focus on the Family’ discussion about the impact Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series has had on women of all ages. World-wide, 85 million copies have been sold since 2005. Apparently young girls are not the only ones feeding on this rich fantasy. There are married women, too, who are being drawn into an exciting fictional life.  Similar to the Harry Potter craze that made many children want to attend Hogwarts, Bella and Edward’s romance is being lived out vicariously by numerous women.  The guests on the show were saying that the attraction is akin to the lure men fall spell to when they indulge in porn.  They fantasize about something ‘better’ than real life.  The danger, however, is the disengagement from real life and the ensuing disappointment when one compares the two.

Thinking about the ease with which these readers can craft an imaginary world made me think about our God who is not imaginary.  Yes, He is invisible.  But He is real.  We, too, have a book, but what sets it apart is that is empowered by an actual living Holy Spirit.  What if we read our Bibles with the same intensity and devotion that girls are gobbling up the Twilight series?  Numerous girls, disappointed when they come to the end of the 4th novel, have read the series several times, even though they know the outcome.  Their reaction reminds me of the milestone set in Italy when James Cameron’s Titanic came out.  NPR interviewed one Italian teen who had been to the theaters 55 times to see the film.

If young women are so drawn to a secular series that isn’t even real OR healthy, shouldn’t we look at God’s word with at least AS MUCH interest?  After all, it is Truth. It’s about an exciting life that is here and not just in the future.

I’ve heard people complain that it is difficult to love God because He’s not flesh and blood, not tangible, like one’s husband or child.  Now I realize that is just an excuse.  Looking at the Twilight phenomenon is proof that we can use our imaginations.  It is a matter of feeding our mind, of re-reading our Book, of meditating.  Actually, we should be encouraged to know, that we, too, can have a ‘magnificent obsession’.  And when we encounter a fan of this vampire series, let us take advantage of the opening and share what a REAL lover is like, one who will never disappoint us or harm us, unlike Edward.

Gushing about God

March 16, 2010

Maria Colossians, Praise Leave a comment

Ever since the day we heard about you, we have been praying that …..you would ….joyfully give thanks to the Father…….So then, just as you received Christ Jesus, continue to live in Him……overflowing with thankfulness. Colossians 1: 9, 12

Joyful and overflowing thankfulness?  What does that look like? I picture an unceasing, bubbling fountain, abundantly gushing.  Now apply that image to a state of human thankfulness.  My everyday attitude doesn’t even come close.  The problem is that if we are not in the practice of overflowing with thankfulness, then we can’t just rev up overnight our thankfulness quotient from 0 to 60.  If it’s not yet a habit, it’s going to take time to build up speed.  When we do have days free from pain and sorrow, we ought to thank God intentionally.  A good place to begin is when we rise in the morning.  If we don’t start on a ‘good day’, the days of sorrow will overtake us with no preparation for praise.   So beginning on the problem-free days will give us opportunity to build up this habit.  Practicing thankfulness in the mornings will hopefully spill over throughout the day.

I started a small notebook where I now jot down my thanksgivings.  I write down 3 or 4 obvious ones:  Wes and his buddies made it safely to Florida.  My friend’s marriage is growing stronger.  My husband found his blackberry. But I also try to include one that has lasting value and connected to the Gospel, for instance a) the hope stored up for me in heaven is sure and secure or b)  I have access to all the grace I need.

I was challenged the other day, reading some Spurgeon.  He offers some practical help in making thankfulness a habit.  He suggests we use our memory to recall and then rehearse God’s mercies.  When we share with others God’s blessings to us, our memory grows stronger.  We need to ‘abundantly utter’ God’s favor to us.  He goes on to say, “Do not imitate some people, who, if they are prospering, make a point of not owning to it.  They will say, ‘Oh, I am doing pretty well, or…it is a fair crop.’  What robbery of God.   We talk as if we were to be pitied for living; as if we were little better off than toads under a plow or snails in a tub of salt.  We whine as if our lives were martyrdoms and every breath a woe.”

Wow!  Does that convict me!  “How are you doing, Maria” – I am likely to answer, “okay or fine”.  According to Spurgeon, we should be rehearsing and talking about God’s lovingkindness, ( ‘chesed’ in the Hebrew).  Only if we practice recounting the specifics of how His lovingkindness blesses us, will it flow out of our mouth.  This is how we are to bubble over with thankfulness.  We need to repeat and remind ourselves OUT LOUD, just like we would be working on lines of a play or preparing for a test.

Spurgeon encourages us to be perpetually cheerful, not because of our circumstances, but because of God’s innumerable mercies.   That takes care of times when circumstances ARE negative and one is feeling depressed.  Spurgeon counsels Christians NOT to show when they are down.  He quotes Matt 6:18 ‘Don’t let men know when you are fasting’.  When we pretend that showing sadness or seriousness indicates sanctity, he calls that hypocrisy!  “To conceal one’s own grief for the sake of cheering others implies a self-denying sympathy that is the highest kind of Christianity.”

However, in defense of being real, I once read about a woman dying of cancer.  When friends and family would visit and ask about her condition, she would share for one minute because they truly were interested.  Then she would shift the conversation to them, her visitors.  I think we can combine both.  If life is currently harsh, admit that, but be sure to add how God is showing His mercies, strength or wisdom.   This truly is the ‘sacrifice of praise’ as opposed to the ‘indulgence of pity’.   And I do believe we have to prepare to gush a bit regarding God’s loving kindness.  Gush?  Isn’t that too stong a verb?  Not really.  It’s only because we’re not used to gushing over God.   I don’t think it comes naturally, but we should practice it!  And think how much our neighbors will benefit if we talk abundantly of God’s goodness.  It’s not bragging on us, but on God.  And they will be correct to think, ‘If God has been merciful to my neighbor Maria, then maybe He’ll help me!’

Assumptions about the Gospel

March 4, 2010

Maria Colossians, Gospel Leave a comment

‘But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation – If you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel.’  Col 1: 22-23

  • Everyone in the Church needs to hear the Gospel every day.
  • I, Maria, need to hear the Gospel every day.
  • Unbelievers need to hear the Gospel.

I was listening to an interview with the eldest daughter of Martyn Lloyd-Jones.  He was the pastor of Westminster Chapel in London for 30 years.  In her talk with Mark Dever (Capitol Hill Baptist Church) she said that her dad was raised in a good Christian, chapel-going Welsh home where everyone assumed that people knew the Gospel.  In other words, the Gospel was not explicitly expounded in Lloyd-Jones’ boy-hood church.  He came to a saving faith gradually as an adult as he heard bits and pieces of the Gospel message and God put it together for him.  As counter-intuitive as it might be, we cannot assume that people in our churches have heard the Gospel.

But hearing it once is not enough.  Each day I wake up as though I have forgotten the news.  I NEED to hear the facts, the actual content of my faith, repeated daily. The Gospel is not just the story of what Jesus did for us so that we wouldn’t be condemned for our sins.  The good news of the Gospel is the power to transform our thinking so that we feel and act differently.  Soaking in Gospel truth, drop by daily drop, will change us.

A guest preacher for Matt Chandler’s church in Dallas was talking about how every one of us will stand before God at the Day of Judgment.  We will either be condemned for our sins, each and every one of them (thought, word and deed) or we will be commended in Christ.  But this commendation will have nothing to do with us, personally, as if we DID something.  (‘yes, I saw the light and was wise enough to choose Jesus’) No, Scripture is very clear that nothing we have done is worthy of commendation.  After all, our best deeds are described as dirty, greasy, rags fit for a motor pit-stop (Isaiah 64:6)

How freeing to meditate on the fact that God chose me before I was born and that I have value and worth because of his sovereign, electing love.  He purposefully planned for my life and my future inheritance.   I don’t have to earn his love.  I already have it.  That is the Gospel message I need to hear each day.

Understanding this radical news will aid me in halting my incessant seeking of worth via my ‘sophisticated and subtle’ boasts to fellow humans.  The impulse to impress others is always there.  I realized today that even in my French classes, I crave the students’ approval for my methods and techniques.  If I can cleverly engage them so they seem fascinated by French, then I am worth something as teacher.

But the Gospel message tells me I have only 2 choices – Do I want to stand and face God on my own record or on Jesus’ merit?

(But Lord, I want some credit for working hard and being a clever and gifted French teacher.  I want some strokes for that!)  Here is what would be freeing, to get it down deep inside of me, that I am totally accepted and O-K-A-Y, because of Christ (my ‘okay-ness’ is outside of me as Ray Ortlund puts it).  Then I would be free to focus on the kids and use French that is comprehensible to talk about them.  Freed up knowing that I’m totally loved, I could love on them.  No pressure.  Is it possible?

See what I mean that we need to hear the Gospel message every day?

And if WE, already loved and accepted as Christ’s brothers and sisters, need to hear it every day, then how much more  do our non-believing friends and neighbors?

So, here is my new question that I want to ask everyone I encounter, a question designed to keep my focus on God and encourage my heart, but also bless my fellow man:  “Hey, can I ask you my favorite question?  How has God blessed you recently?”

Asking that question and hopefully engaging someone on that level will keep the focus off me and will give me glimpses into glory which will encourage MY heart.

Pray that:   1) I can remember the question and 2) remember that I have nothing to lose by asking it.  I am already loved and accepted by Him who matters most in this world.

What is your major premise about God?

February 11, 2010

Maria Colossians, Doctrine, Job 2 Comments

Job 23:10   (God) He knows what he is doing with me…and when he has tested me, I will come forth as pure gold.

This verse contains both Job’s basic theology about God, what I call his major premise, and Job’s conclusion.  What did Job know about God?   Despite personal pain, Job could essentially assert in advance, ‘God has a plan for me and knows what He is doing – He’s actually in control of my miserable circumstances.’   With that theology in place, when the unthinkable happened, he safely concluded, ‘I will actually be a better person when all this is over’.

Because Job was certain about God, he bore with some grace the nightmarish circumstances of loss of family and property and did not dissolve into suicidal depression.  What we believe about God influences our conclusions about God.  These fundamental beliefs frame our context when we have to make sense of life’s painful & disappointing circumstances.

What was the major premise of the disciples upon encountering the man born blind?   They asked Jesus, ‘Lord, tell us who sinned – this man or his parents?’  Their theology at the time was that health and prosperity were a result of being obedient and enjoying favor with God.  So when they met the handicapped man, their conclusion was that SOMEONE sinned.  This reaction is similar to how Hindus view the caste system.  Those privileged members at the top won’t give aid and assistance to those at the bottom for fear of interfering with the cycle of Karma.  The well-to-do believe that the dregs are paying for sins committed in a previous life and that one should not interfere.

Today, most people’s major premises go unspoken.  You only hear them when tragedy strikes and they conclude that a) there must not be a God or b) God must not be loving or powerful. Their major premise is that if there is a God, then he would not permit evil if he loves mankind and is in control of the universe.

Job’s knowledge of God kept him grounded and he was able to draw a healthy conclusion in the absence of any explanation from an imminent, supernatural and caring deity.

Without the correct presuppositions, Job could have concluded, “God is mean/ God doesn’t love me/God is punishing me/ God doesn’t exist.”

Paul reminds us in Colossians 3 that since we have put on the new self we are being RENEWED in KNOWLEDGE in the image of our creator.  The correct knowledge about God does make a difference.  We dishonor God when we draw an incorrect, sinful conclusion about Him.

Flimsy Faith

January 21, 2010

Maria Colossians, Reflections Leave a comment

Colossians 2: 11-12

In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ, having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.

I stopped when I read this explanation by Paul.  Do I REALLY believe?   The word says that I am raised by means of my faith in God’s power.  How do I know I believe?  Maybe I’m just saying that I believe, but I really don’t?

Do you ever think like that?  I was helped this morning in considering these doubts, because they forced me to reason with myself.  My mind recalled a truth

  • Christ is the author of my faith (Hebrews 12:2) which means that HE initiated it.  It is not something I was born with.  Faith does not reside in me naturally.  It is a gift.  It is something planted in me.

So, if there is even a teeny bit of faith, faith exists.  If forced at sword’s point to admit whether or not I have faith….ONLY those 2 choices, would I really say I have NO faith?  Not if I’m honest. So the existence of even a mustard-seed-size faith (Luke 17:6) qualifies as faith.

The next truths that came to mind were

  • My faith does not have to be extensive to be effective.  The blind men cried out after Jesus, Son of David, Have Mercy on us (Matt 9:27).  Jesus must have given them an affirming glance to encourage the faith that they offered, for the Word continues, When he had gone indoors, the blind men came to him, and he asked them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?”     “Yes, Lord,” they replied.  Then he touched their eyes and said, “According to your faith will it be done to you”; and their sight was restored. (verses 28,29)
  • God will encourage our faith as we exercise it.  Their first use of faith was when they spoke to Jesus.  He led them on to firmer, more expansive faith and rewarded them with the gift of sight.

So, do we have to do anything, besides USE our faith? Well, continuing with the agricultural theme of a mustard seed, we can use common sense and realize that seeds need the sun to make them grow.  My part in growing the faith God has planted in me is to seek out sunlight.  The more I dwell in the kingdom of light with my conscious thoughts, the more I encourage my little seedling of faith to grow into a huge robust tree of faith with branches strong enough to encourage others and myself.  The more I read and study to know Him, the more I desire and pray to love Him, the more I will trust what He says.

The bottom line for me this morning was the security I felt when I realized that I, Maria, am not the source of my faith.  Once God has given me His faith, it is Christ’s job to help me grow my faith.  Hebrews 12: 2 not only calls Christ the author of my faith, but the perfecter or finisher of my faith.

Be calm and rest, O my soul.  You are in good hands. You HAVE been raised with Christ.  Your citizenship is in heaven.  You have a good inheritance waiting you.  And no less than the son of God has taken responsibility to make sure my faith is strong enough to be effective.

Why baptize babies?

December 28, 2009

Maria Colossians, Reflections, sacraments , Leave a comment

Colossians 2:12 Having been buried with Him in baptism and raised with Him through your faith in the power of God who raised Him from the dead.

We are new to the reformed faith (PCA) and have been learning a lot about baptism and why infant baptism is practiced. I came out of a ritualistic, liturgical church where many people believe that the baptismal rite itself has the power to insure entry into Eternal Life for recipients. I rebelled and took up the view that baptism should be reserved for those who make a profession of faith. After all, Jesus commissioned his followers to disciple all people groups. Following that imperative, He then mentioned two component parts of that process: a) baptism b) teaching. I interpret the Great Commission as an activity whereby we share the good news about what Christ has done. People repent and put their faith in Christ’s work on the cross and in God’s promises of present spiritual gifts and in future grace. They are baptized as a sign of that transformation and they continue to be taught.

But what about infant baptism? Where does that fit in ? Why baptize a baby if he hasn’t repented yet because he hasn’t HEARD that he’s under God’s wrath? Why baptize a baby if he has yet to learn the way to escape God’s wrath, thus fleeing to Jesus?

A clue came to me today as I was meditating on Colossians 2:12. I am enjoying the process of memorizing the Book of Colossians. It’ll probably take me 6 months, but every moment spent on it is worth it. Memorizing Scripture as opposed to reading Scripture is like walking instead of driving by a place. You see so much more because every word has to be chewed on and placed in one’s memory.

Maybe infants are ONLY buried with Christ in baptism. They are raised to life later when given faith (faith comes from hearing…) and that faith is actually exercised. Verse 12 says that we are raised from death when we believe that God actually raised his Son from the dead. At the point we understand and believe God we get LIFE. So baptizing a baby is a good thing. It’s like Part One. It doesn’t magically impart eternal life. But it does bring a baby into the family of God and bodes well for the baby. Hopefully he is discipled so that faith can take root and grow. A crucial component of the infant baptism process in the PCA church is that only believers’ children are offered baptism. So the sacramental ceremony is a reminder to the parents and the wider covenant family of the church that they are undertaking the responsibility to train up this child in the faith.

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