God's sovereignty and the Boston Marathon Bombing ...

There is within theology an area of study called theodicy, which is the defense of God in light of the existence of evil. The question of why evil exists if there is a good and omnipotent God is for many a key argument against the existence of God - especially the Christian God. I find most of our objections come from our assumptions - especilly the assumptions we make about what a Good God should do. In effect, we are prosecutors putting God, as CS Lewis said, "in the dock" (i.e. on trial in the courtroom). But this is to judge God by our standards. And all of us would admit that we don't live up to our own standards. Some of us even see that our standards are affected by our imperfections and finiteness. Some would call that the "noetic effects of sin" or the effect our fall had on our minds. Thus, in reality, we should be suspicious of our own perceptions of ultimate good and evil, of true right and wrong. We need someone who sees more clearly than we do to help us see Truth - but alas, all human beings are in the same boat. Our glasses are broken, distorted, and warped. But if God is the Creator of all things and if the Universe is as a pebble to him, then it does us no good to rail against him. It is the definition of lunacy for a created mite to rail against the creator. We must accept and deal with reality, whatever it may be, and whether we like the God that exists is irrelevant. Only a fool rages against the sun. We need this God to reveal himself, for although we can find out many things by studying the creation that is his handiwork, we cannot use methods of this realm to study the One who transcends it. He must speak, and we must listen. And God has spoken - through His creation, through His Word, and through His Son. Creation is a true revelation of his power and majesty, but it is marred by the fall of man. And because our minds has been corrupted by our rebellion, we would misinterpret creation even if it was not marred. And we do not normally have access to the work and life of the person who is Christ, revealed to us in the God-breathed scriptures. But here agin, we must recognize that we must work to see accurately the scriptures, for our minds are still corrupted. We must conform our thinking to Scripture, starting with those things which are clear, and pryerfully thinking through the things which are unclear, being humble enough to consider other's thoughts on the same topic. In Scriptuure, it does not appear that God steps back from his responsibility as ruler of all: "If calamity comes upon a city, is it not I the Lord who has done it?" "All things work together for the good of those who love God and who are called according to his purpose ..." Joseph on being sold into slavery by his brothers: "you ment it for evil, but God meant it for good." In the book of Job, we see that Satan had to be given permission to touch Job's property, his family, and his health. God permits Satan to torment Job for reasons Job never finds out this side of heaven. And so on. God makes clear that Satan is not his adversary as much as a shamed foe on death row, who nevertheless rages against all that is good. The question we all have for this is why? And it's one of those questions which we cannot answer. Perhaps we could not grasp the reasons. Perhaps God wants us to trust him rather than have "all the answers" and trust them. Whatever the case, God is not ignorant of the pain and tragedy of the events in Boston. He knows who did the bombing and why. The hard part is that he knew beforehand that it was being done, and he could have stopped it. I can't tell you why he did that. But I can tell you that he did not intervene on another day 2000 years ago, on a day where His Son was wrongfully convicted, mocked, spit upon, beaten, crucified and killed. He even turned His back on His Son, who cried out to him. And God did this so that we might be brought into his family, into his kingdom. Jesus endured the cross for the joy that was set before him - for the joy of bringing many sons and daughters into the kingdom. For the joy of bring you and me into his family. We know that the most unjust event in human history was part of God's plan before the foundation of the world. If that is true, then can we learn to trust His heart when other tragedies occur "on his watch?" God is up to something, but his ways are higher than our ways. Let us all cry out to him in our grief and trust our Father's heart ..

The Boston Marathon Bombing and our fear ...

What do you do when your fears have merit? We love to label our fears: acrophobia - fear of heights; Triskaidekaphobia - fear of the number 13; Arachibutyrophobia - the fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of your mouth. Sometimes, these fears have little connection to the reality of this world, but other times they reflect a real danger in the world which we cannot control. If you have a fear of flying, no amount of rational talk may calm your fear. Even though the statistics say that flying is safer than driving, it is still a fact that some planes do in fact crash. This fear or anxiety of flying is a pessimistic prediction about the future: I know the likelihood of a crash is low, but some planes do in fact, crash - and I'm sure that this plane I'm about to get on is one of those planes. You cannot rationally talk someone out of this fear, because there is logic in much of their argument. So what do you do when you live in a world where bad things do happen? What do you do when you live in a world where someone would bomb the runners and spectators of the Boston Marathon? How do we protect ourselves from this danger? The experts will do their best figuring out who and how and why this occurred, though that will be little comfort for those who lost loved ones and limbs in the attack. I suspect there will be far fewer spectators next year at the Marathon because it is nearly impossible to protect 26 miles of a public course through the city. The fear of "what if it happens again?" will probably lead to many watching at home on the TV. I know that fear - my family had to go to Dallas in October of 2001. I decided that we would drive rather than fly because I did not want to face the uncertainty of "what might happen." That turned out to be a memorable trip for us, travelling through a few states for the first time. Is there any other option? Is there any hope? Is the answer "You can't let them win by making us afraid" or "Just don't think about it" or even a fatalistic "if it is your time to go, you can't change that?" People who have a naturalistic world view must in the end deal with it in their own strength, for there is no one greater to appeal to. But for the Christian, we must remember that nothing that happens on this earth goes unnoticed. Our pain is not merely the electrical response to stimuli, but moves God's heart. Sure, there are hard questions to ask about the existence of evil, but in times of grief and fear, we need to know that Our Father sees, hears, and comforts us even in the most grievous circumstances. The only way to navigate this broken world where evil people do evil things is to know that there is someone greater than those who plot evil. The solution to our fear is not a technique, not denying the reality of life, and not finding strength in ourselves. Trust in the One who rules the Universe settles fear. That's not a guarantee that bad things will not happen, but that you will not be alone if they do. And nothing comes into your life that does not first pass through His nail-pierced hands. This world is not the way it should be, and it is not forever. One day, for those who trust Christ, when we see Him face to face we will be like Him - and all pain, all suffering, all sin, all death, all decay, all destruction, all seperation from what is good will be gone. And he will wipe every tear from our eye ...

Home Stretch of Hebrew

I have not been a faithful blogger, that's for sure. There are reasons for this - my kids are getting older and I love spending time with them and taking Greek and Hebrew has been quite intensive these last two years. Sometimes I don't feel like I have anything interesting to say, while other times I wonder if anyone ever reads this. But in the end, this is about me putting my thoughts down, practicing the art of communication even if it seems one-way ... I have struggled with Hebrew, but it is finally sinking in. The sheer number of vocabulary words has been daunting, but I'm getting the hang of translating basic passages. Judges and Jonah have been rewarding and Song of Songs quite challenging. It's only a few weeks more, now, so I attempt to buckle down and do what must be done. Learning Biblical languages is rewarding and I am humbled that God has given me both the ability and the opportunity to do this. I don't know how I will use these, but may it be for His Glory alone ...

Review: The Christian Faith in the Modern World, J. Gresham Machen

This is a little book published in 1936. I wasn't sure what to expect from it, but I was pleasantly surprised. The issues addressed in the book are surprisingly relevant to today's issues. It is essentially a defense of the Christian faith, starting with whether God is knowable, whether he has revealed himself, whether the Bible is the Word of God, whether it presents Christ as deity, and whether that presentation is trustworthy. 75 years after publication and I find this readable, enjoyable, and informative. I especially resonated with his chapter on the centrality of the resurrection to the christian faith. He speaks of the historicity of the account and the remarkable change that took place in the discouraged, defeated disciples in a matter of a weekend. He addresses charges of hallucination, a spiritual resurrection, and the length of appearances - that they were not just momentary "apparitions" but lengthy discourses and even eating! He addresses the issue of why the enemies of the church did not merely produce the body if in fact Christ was not raised. Machen ends with not "merely" an appeal to the facts, but an appeal to God to open men's eyes to the truth so that they may be saved. This is one of many books that convinces me that far too many people have preconceived ideas about Machen, Westminster Seminary, and even Presbyterians in general. I would recommend this book to any Christian - in fact, it is one of those I want to keep on my shelf for my children to read.

Is Happiness the Goal?

Sometimes we think the goal of life is happiness. After all, who doesn’t want to be happy? But this world is broken because of sin and we know that things happen that make us unhappy – the death of a loved one, the loss of a job, moody teenagers, a seemingly destructive national decision that we often feel powerless to affect, or even something as small as stubbing our toe as we walk outside on a beautiful spring day. We seem to naturally think that life should go well for us, and we get confused when it doesn’t. Sometimes, we blame God – we think that since we try to serve him that he should make everything in our lives work out well. We hold up our righteousness to him – the good things we have done – and say essentially, “Am I not owed a good life because of all this?” It does not help that our culture and sometimes even our churches feed into these notions. I’ve heard non-Christians use the principle of “karma” to try to explain such things, but is that the answer – a non-personal universe that keeps score and levels the playing field with no mercy? Yet Christians often unknowingly make the same connections – you did this and now that is happening to you. The Bible presents a very different picture about our God and the world he has created.

You life is not just about your life. Your life is a scene in the Grand Play – God’s Story. Your life has meaning and purpose that is far beyond the bounds of the dash between your birth and death on a tombstone. What happens to us and how we react – what we run to – is of eternal importance. God wants to do more than just enter your story and make everything work out the way you think it should. God is not an errand boy who makes our agenda come to pass, but is instead the Grand Playwright, the Great Director, and the Master Storyteller. He has a destiny for you that is far bigger and better than your own dreams and desires. We are also a part of the story that involves the others around us – the play is not our own monologue, but a vast array of characters far beyond our view. God is the Great Redeemer, and we are the recipients of the Great Redemption. His redemptive work has an end goal far better than our mere happiness in seeing our dreams come to pass. His redemptive goal is that we each one day will be like Jesus – that when we stand before Him face to face, we will be like Him. At that time, all of our tears will be wiped away, all of our striving will cease, death and sickness will be no more – and that will be true happiness in the fullest sense of the word! That destiny is guaranteed for all believers because of what Christ has accomplished, and not because of our own performance. So, in the fullest way, happiness will one day be the glorious by-product of being like Jesus, and you will be happier than you can now imagine.

But right now, we are in the midst of our scene. The play is not over. The end of the story has been written and the outcome is secure – but it is not here yet. In the midst of this play, there is much conflict, war, and bloodshed. The enemy is raging, wanting to destroy as much as possible before his time comes. There are still casualties. Death, decay, and discord are a part of this life because we rebelled against a Loving and Holy God. But this same God who rightfully could pour down his wrath upon us all and sweep us away in a moment, chooses to enter our lives, redeem us and fight for us! He will never leave us nor forsake us for His Own Name’s sake! When the play is over, we will marvel at the depth of His love, His mercy, His patience, His justice, and His wrath. He will be known more fully because of the story, and we will praise Him all the more!

What does this mean for us in the midst of life, and specifically our marriages? It means that God has a plan far more complete and complex than you can imagine. The experiences and situations of your life are not random events, and they are not merely the events of an out-of-control world. This is Holy Ground and must not be taken lightly, for this means even our sufferings are for our ultimate good and for His praise! God does what is necessary to show us what our hearts value more than Him, to show us what we cling to besides Him in moments of trouble. We certainly do not want to think we can explain why someone went through some horrible form of suffering, but in the midst of our confusion, we can cling to the fact that nothing enters our life that catches God by surprise. Nothing enters our life that is not first filtered through his nail-pierced hands. The play is his, and we are actors in a scene. It will, one day, make sense. We must trust Him – trust His Heart that willingly died for you!

So, is God’s goal in our lives happiness? Not the way most people mean it. Most people want God to make their dreams, their vision of their life come true. But our story will climax in His story, and at that point we will have happiness beyond compare. Here, in the midst of the story, we are called to suffer – to suffer like Jesus, to identify him, and to pick up our cross. God has given you the spouse you have for a reason, and that reason is to make you more like Christ. The difficulties, arguments, and seeming incompatibility are there because you have (at least) 2 sinners living under the same roof, each with their own version of the play. God wants you to relinquish the rewrite, and trust that his version is the one that leads to true eternal happiness. Be willing to step back in the heated moments and say “just what is my heart craving in this moment?” and “what does it look like to live in faith in this moment?” It will take time to break old patterns and ways of thinking – but you have the same power working within you that raised Christ from the dead!

In the end, we need to spend more time pondering God’s self-revelation. Job knew nothing about the divine drama going on that caused him to lose everything earthly. He suffered greatly, yet never knew why. Jesus was the one person who ever lived who truly did, thought, and felt exactly what God wanted him to in every moment in life – yet it was God’s will to crush Him for our rebellion! If anyone ever deserved a “happy” life, was it not Jesus? Yet his life was full of suffering. The author of Hebrews tells us: “In bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through what he suffered.” Jesus “was made perfect” or complete through suffering - and we are made like Him when we suffer. We are called to “Love God” and “Love Neighbor” and even to “love our enemies.” And sometimes, in those heated moments (and maybe more often than that) our spouse can act like our enemy. We are called to choose the way of suffering and love them anyway …

A few verses on suffering: Romans 5:3, Romans 8:17, Romans 8:18, 2 Corinthians 1:5, Philippians 1:29-30, Philippians 3:10, Colossians 1:24, 1 Thessalonians 5:9, 2 Thessalonians 1:5, 2 Timothy 1:8, Hebrews 2:9-10,18, Hebrews 5:8, Hebrews 13:12

Taking Greek ...

I have just finished the second of three semesters of Greek I need to take for this degree I am pursuing. After I finish Greek, it's on to Hebrew. It is a lot more difficult than I expected - the pace is extremely fast, and the amount of memorization can seem overwhelming at times. Yet, I am now able to begin to piece together the NT text in the Greek ... and it is quite rewarding! No longer must I depend solely on someone else's translation work, though I am certainly not as skilled as they are in the art of translation. I can now use some of the tools I have (like the Expositor's Commentary) to a fuller degree. At the same time, I realize that although it is really cool to be able to read Greek, most of the people I minister to will get little out of the Greek I might use in a class... the analogy I heard that sticks with me is that learning Greek and Hebrew is akin to the pots and pans a chef uses to prepare a meal: they are absolutely critical to a well-cooked meal, but they are rarely seen by the guests. It's a lot of work to put into something that may not be appreciated by others often, but I pray that it makes me a more effective communicator ...

A return?

Well, it's been a while ... lots has been going on.
My grandmother passed away last year at 94, and her sister passed away later in the year as we were planning on attending her 100th birthday party ...

I would like to resume blogging - I think I have noticed a difference not putting some thoughts down on a regular basis. I've been challenged by two friends to spend some time making a priority list and planning out my time more intentionally, which is something I'd like to do ...

to be continued ...

Book Review: Ministering to the Mourning by Warren and David Wiersbe

Ministering to the Mourning
by Warren and David Wiersbe

Outstanding Book! Absolutely recommended for everyone - but especially for those who minister to others (pastors, elders, care givers)! Tough topics, but warmhearted compassionate biblical advice.

Book Review: Leadership Next by Eddie Gibbs

There were some parts of the book I liked - for instance, the movement towards a shared leadership framework. However, like most "Emerging Church" leaders, he shows too much disdain for the church of the present and the past and thinks, like many others, that his generation will finally *get it right.* I'd like to see him do a review of this book 25 years from now - but of course, that doesn't help his readers today. Worthwhile for some insights and approaches, but I wouldn't recommend it to a non-critical reader.

Book Review: Spiritual Leadership

Spiritual Leadership
Principles of Excellence for Every Believer
by J. Oswald Sanders

This book was required reading for me for a course. I've found it to be helpful in some areas, but I have questions about others. Dealing with the issue of Leadership, Sanders is at his best when he deals with the "inner life" or "private life" of the leader - there's no divide between the character of the leader as leader and as a private person. This is a continually welcome message for both the church as well as the culture. He deals quite well with the fact that Jesus' choice for leaders in the early church was quite different from what the world would have chosen.

He rightly reminds us that God is most interested in our relationship with Him and our relationship with others. One might be quite smart, or quite down-to-earth, or quite charismatic - but that does not mean one would be a leader in the mold of Christ. Service is perhaps the best word Sanders uses to define what Leadership within the church looks like.

He deals with practical issues of time management, reading, delegating, training others, and making yourself exspenable to the place you serve. He highlights the cost of leadership, the perils of leadership, and the tests of leadership. All of this is great stuff, because it reflects scriptural principles to a large degree.

However, I do wonder if there is too much focus on the "religious" at times. I recognize that prayer is time we spend with God, but the "old-time" focus on three, four, or five hours of prayer a day makes me wonder if we have not allowed religious ideas or even a bit of asceticism to creep in. I also wonder if we too easily excuse neglect of family in the name of "serving the Lord." I have heard that many of the leaders of these "great awakenings" have not had the best family life - and, without judging them, I wonder how much we should listen to them in their spirituality?

My final issue that I will voice is one I have with many evangelicals today - the reference to Charles Finney as a positive example. From what I know, Finney denied that Christ's death on the cross did anything for mankind, or for individuals - except that it was an example to follow. From my understanding, that places Finney not just outside the bounds of orthodoxy, but outside the "church." How can we quote a man's methods whom Paul (see Galatians) would apparently oppose?

Top 10 teams in baseball history ...

OK, I just read somebody's post that makes me think they have no idea what "top 10" means - they had teams in their top 10 who did not win the World Series, but did not include the team that beat them! Now, I understand that the "best team" on paper does not always win the World Series (like in 2009 ;) ), but to be considered a "best team" it seems a requirement that you did put it together and win the World Series - or at least lost to a team higher on the list. With that said, here's my list:

10. 1993 Blue Jays
9. 1970 Orioles
8. 1998 Yankees
7. 1918 Red Sox
6. 1939 Yankees
5. 1961 Yankees
4. 1974 A's
3. 1976 Reds
2. 1927 Yankees
1. 1908 Cubs

It galls me to have more than one Yankee team and no Phillies - but depending on what the Phillies do in the next couple of years, they could crack this list - all of these teams were multiple series winners.

Book Review: CrossTalk - Where Life and Scripture Meet

CrossTalk: Where Life and Scripture Meet by Mike Emlet

OK, another book from CCEF that cracks my top 10 all time books. I'm going to have to make it officially a top 20 books just to keep some other authors visible ...

To sum up a response to this book, I say “Wow !" I wish I had read this book years ago, but I doubt I was ready for it – in any case, the Lord is sovereign and I have read this book (and it has been published) in His timing, which is perfect. I have lived as a perfectionist, as someone who functionally based my justification on my supposed sanctification, and I have lived in a community where the Bible is always reduced to “rules.” It has been difficult to realize that I am always looking for the “call” on someone’s life – mine or a friend’s – and that much of my personal ministry was looking for “corrective verses” instead of the “whole-istic” view of ministry presented in Scripture. It was like being in a band where on the flat notes could be struck, and thinking that this was the only kind of music there was.
I have struggled even in my own reading of scripture not to turn everything into a demand, into a rule that needed to be followed in order for “approval” to be had. The first chapter continued to whet my appetite for more – something that CCEF resources have been doing for a couple of years now. The imagery of ditches and canyons struck home – I wanted everything to be a ditch, and I felt inadequate for anything wider than a few inches. Saying to me that the Bible is NOT primarily a book of do’s and don’ts has felt like making the Bible a foreign book – if THAT was not what it was for, how do I understand it? But then to go even further and say that the Bible is not primarily a book of timeless principles for the problems of life – well, statements like that will get you labeled with the “L” word. And yet, there is something that rings true, something that warms my heart, something that creates longing in me when I see what is meant by the proper use of Scripture in ministry. As I am learning in my Prolegomena class, it is improper for me to sit in and judge Scripture, and so I must confess that my feeling of “rightness” has no impact on the actual rightness or wrongness of any method, and yet I do want to affirm that this approach seems to be more in line with the Jesus I see ministering to others rather than the people I see around and including me.
The idea of meta-narratives, of seeing myself and others within a story that is part of a larger story seems quite revolutionary to me – and yet, by transferring my gaze off of my own little world, I gain an others-centered perspective that keeps me from spiraling in on myself. By explicitly focusing on the saint-sufferer-sinner model, it prevents me from falling back into old habits – of merely attacking the points of sin. I am reminded to see people as God’s beloved children, being redeemed, who suffer due to their own sin and the sin of others – and not just as projects who need fixing. I love the concrete examples that are given of using a passage from the Old and New Testament in a ministry setting – and not just “easy application” passages. This again seems to resonate in my heart with a “I knew there was something better out there but couldn’t find it” response.
I find myself longing for the time to re-read this book and to sit down and think through specific ministry situations with the framework it presents. Quite frankly, at this stage of my life - I find that I have little time for anything. And yet, I am smack in the middle of ministry – so much so that I desperately need to make time for this. Most of all, I want time to go through Scripture and change my view from a “rule-search” or a “principle-search” to a search for Christ. It really is He that I want most of all, and yet so much gets in the way – including myself. I think this book will get worn out from my use – at least I hope so – and I want to be able to incorporate it into the “second-nature” of my thinking.

Tiger and me ...

It appears Tiger Woods is human after all. Oh, there was never really any doubt, but as we do far too often in our culture, we place athletes and celebreties on pedastals where they should not be and then revel in their fall. I don't know much about Tiger, and I'm not much of a golf fan, but I do feel for him. Don't get me wrong, what he apparently did was wrong and I have far more empathy for his wife than for him. And yet ... I understand. Our desires are insatiable. Here is a man married to someone who was a model, if not a supermodel. Our culture tells us that he should be the happiest man on earth. He has money, fame, a beautiful wife, the envy of much of the world, and he gets to play a game for a living. And yet, it was not (apparently) enough.

These things never are enough to satisfy our hearts, our longings - and our desires can outgrow the ability for anything to satisfy them. We see this play out in the news (and the tabloids) time and time again. The human condition is one of searching, of longing, of wanting, of needing ... yet being unfulfilled. We have brought it on ourselves, yet we refuse to hear the solution. We suppress what is readily apparent about the universe because we like our sin. We don't want to be accountable to anyone or anything outside ourselves. We certainly don't want to hear that our lives will be evaluated for what they were in the end ...

I'm not sure women appreciate the all-consuming nature of lust. There are probably some women who do, but as a whole, the reactions I have seen from women lead me to say that they don't get it. Why, for instance, would Tiger stray from a supermodel wife? Isn't that enough? Could he possibly want more than that? Yes. It is, in a very real way, like an analogy to food I heard. You could put the best piece of apple pie ever made beforre a hungry man and let him eat it. He could take his time, savoring each bite with the most appropriate beverage ever devised. Maybe he takes an hour to eat that pie. When he's all done, he sits back and reflects on the best piece of apple pie ever made. Could he possibly want more after that? If someone came along with a store bought cherry pie, could he possibly want that? Yes, we all know full well that one (male or female) could have a desire to eat that cherry pie even after finishing off the best piece of apple pie ever made. Why? Because our desires, ultimately, are insatiable.

There must be something else that captures our hearts more than our desires - or we will destroy our lives. Whether through an affair or over-indulgin in pie, we all die a slow death this way. Tiger, what you (apparently) did was hurtful, dumb, and sin. You and I both need a Savior. Without Him, we shall be consumed ...

What about MY shame?

I went to a conference recently, and a lot of great things were said. One of the speakers touched on something that I have personally witnessed in my interaction with others. For most of us, Thanksgiving and Christmas are days we look forward to as we consider spending time with cherished family and friends. But they are not so for everyone. Some people are far away from their family by distance, death, or rejection. The holidays are not times of joy for them, but times of sadness and sorrow. There are still others who are dealing with great tragedy in their life who cannot seem to find any reason to rejoice at this time of the year. The gospel has much to say to these people in their circumstances. But there are others for whom the shame of what has been done to them colors all of life. Most of us see how the Gospel relates to things that we have done – but how does it relate to things that have been done to us?

Shame is something we see coming on the scene immediately after Adam and Eve sinned in the garden. Before, they walked and talked with God openly, and they were naked and not ashamed. As soon as they sinned however, we see them hiding from God – and we see God graciously providing coverings for them. This is a hint of what was to come, for we needed more than animal skins to cover our shame before a Holy God. In Exodus 28, we see God providing garments to the priests – giving them “dignity and honor,” for the priests represented the people in the tabernacle/temple. Adam and Eve, in addition, were driven from the garden – they were literally “outcasts.” In the Old Testament, those who were unclean were outcasts. God provides again for the shame of His people as He details sacrifices for the people, sacrifices for sin and uncleanness. In Leviticus 10:10, God tells them to make a distinction between the holy and the common, between the clean and the unclean. The unclean was not to be touched, for the unclean could contaminate the clean. Those who have been sinned against can often feel this sense of “uncleanness” – and how does one get rid of this sense? What can make the unclean clean again? The Holy can make the unclean clean!

Fast forwarding a bit to when Jesus comes on the scene. We find him doing what ought not be done with the unclean - He's touching them. On purpose! Touching lepers to make them clean, touching blind people, touching all sorts of “untouchable” people! He even touches dead bodies (i.e. Jairus’ daughter)! Can you imagine the sense of healing, of wholeness given to those who have been outcasts for years by Jesus touching them and healing them in this way. Lepers who perhaps had not had human contact for years were touched by Him! Lepers who had to go through the streets yelling "unclean! unclean!" so that others could avoid them were now healed! In Luke 8, we see a woman who had been bleeding for 8 years trying to secretly touch the hem of Jesus’ garment – and when she does, she is healed! Jesus doesn't allow that to be the end of the healing, for when he publicly brings her forward, he gives her words of acceptance and peace – affirming that she did not “steal” the healing. When Jesus comes on the scene, we see him pursuing the worst sinners, the outcasts, the ones whom no one associated with. He does not allow a sense of shame, of uncleanness, to come between these people and His love. The “Holy” had come on the scene, and uncleanness itself is banished! Know that if your life is colored by shame, Jesus is willing to touch you, to heal you, and to extend his love to you!

Mark Driscoll strikes a similar tune in his book “Death By Love.” In the chapter on expiation (the cleansing of the stain of sin on our soul), he writes a letter to a woman in his congregation who had been raped. In his own style, Mark Driscoll speaks to her of the gospel – what the gospel has to say to her in her pain. Jesus did not only take the punishment for our sins on the cross, but he also took on our shame! He became a curse for us (Gal 3:13), he became rejected by men and God, spit upon, beaten, and crucified. It is not just that we can be forgiven from whatever we have done – the gospel also cleanses us from any and all shame of what has been done to us! Christ is the Holy One who comes and touches us, who cleanses us, who remakes us into His image - the one who can make us Holy! If you struggle this Thanksgiving and Christmas season because of what has been done to you, look to Christ and see how the Gospel sets you free and cleanses you from even this! Your hope is in Christ!

Falling in Awe at the Savior's Feet Together

See Life Differently: Dealing With Lust

I found an old post on a blog that I am unfamiliar with (and so do not endorse anything on it) that I found particularly insightful on lust.

See Life Differently: Dealing With Lust

The key section (in case the link gets broken) for me is:

"Wouldn't it be better if a woman in a bikini didn't even register on my radar because I am so in love with my own wife? Wouldn't it be best if I could actually overcome my lust altogether, rather than merely trying to control the sinful behavior that results from it?

How come no one's talking about how to change the heart? Hmmm?"

Some thoughts:

There actually are some people who are looking at heart change, rather than merely external boundaries. The people at CCEF have been dealing with this for years, and they don't get enough traffic, as far as I'm concerned. They have some fine resources on dealing with "how people change" that deals primarily with heart change.

If I might summarize to the best of my ability: we need to realize that we do, in each and every moment, exactly what we want to do. We always follow our greatest desire. The question is, how do we desire something else?

First, we must realize that what we want often kills us slowly. We ingest poison - poison that gives us a rush - and then wonder why we are deteriorating. We choose to swallow the lie, that thing offered to us that promises life, and find only once it gets into our stomach that it is bitter.

Second, we must realize that we undervalue Christ. We think the gospel is only for the moment of salvation and we're on our own to "make it the rest of the way" through life. We do not see that the Gospel is for ever day living. We do not see the all-surpassing glory of Christ that would far outshine these momentary pleasures if we would just look! Instead, we suppress our knowledge of Christ in order that we might pursue this created thing - or perhaps we have never had an accurate picture of the Glory of the Risen Christ!

Third, we fail to realize that we cannot change ourselves - or others. The one thing everyone needs - and the one thing no one can do for themselves or others - is a change in the heart. We can't reach into someone else and flip a switch, as it were, so that they crave the right thing. The best we can do is show truth to them, to hold up Christ in all His glory, and pray that he will draw this person to himself.

Fourth, we must see that life is a series of realizations that we have turned from Christ and to something else - that we have sought life in another. We then turn from the thing that has captured our affection and look to Christ. We need to deny ourselves this momentary pleasure for something far more satisfying. To paraphrase John Piper's words: we must stop dwelling on "our mud pies in the slums" and see the value in the "holiday at the sea" that is offered. We are far too easily satisfied.

Fifth, and perhaps this is out of order, we must realize that if we are united with Christ, our Sovereign Lord has arranged the details of your life so that you will continue to walk down the path of Christ-likeness. We are guaranteed to reach our destination, as the deposit of the Holy Spirit attests. We will one day be like Him - when we see Him face to face. Your life is bigger than your life, and the "Grand Play" going on around you will display the Lord in all His Glory. Your life is a part of that reality. There is nothing that happens to you by chance, by happenstance, by randomness (as if that were a force anyway) - every detail is arranged according to plan. The sovereign Lord speaks into all of life - and He cares far too much about His children to let them settle for mud pies. He will do whatever is necessary to free them from the power of sin - for if He has given us Christ, what good will He withhold?

No, for whatever reason, God does not see fit to perfect us in this life. But as we walk with Him, we will be more like Him. And I have a suspicion that when all is revealed, our joy and His Glory will be ever-intensified because of the path He has taken us through.

So, as we struggle with lust, remember:
1. We are falling for the trap and lie of the enemy that life is found in a sexual experience rather than fellowship with God
2. Lust is destructive and will destroy us
3. We do what we do because we want to
4. We need heart change, but are dependent on God for that
5. Christ's Glory far surpasses the mud pies we play with - so behold Christ!
6. Because we are united in Christ, one day this struggle will be over - but that day is not today