This is a tough question that I have always had a problem answering. Not only has our culture made me feel uneasy about being arrogant, but doesn't the loving side of my Christian faith leave no room for arrogance?
On the other side of things, don't I believe that I have the only correct answer? That nothing else matters? What else could be so deserving of arrogance?
Hmm. Well I had been thinking about this for some time and not coming up with the solution until just recently.
Look all the way back into 1 Kings 18.
This passage tells about how the prophet Elijah was so confident in his God that he challenged the prophets of Baal to a God-off. Basically a, "let's see who's god is better!" Right off the bat that feels so arrogant and uncomfortable doesn't it? But Elijah doesn't stop there. The challenge that he lays out before the prophets of Baal, in front of a large crowd of people I might add, is to make an altar and lay a sacrificial bull on the altar and call upon their gods to call down fire from the heavens to consume the sacrifice.
The prophets beg their gods for an entire day, from morning to evening. By noon it says that Elijah was mocking their gods!
"27 And so it was, at noon, that Elijah mocked them and said, “Cry aloud, for he is a god; either he is meditating, or he is busy, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is sleeping and must be awakened.”"
How not PC that is. This passage leads me to believe that not only should we be confident in our faith, but we should be openly confident! Something which can easily be seen as arrogance...
-Robert D.
November 19, 2009
November 8, 2009
Am I giving due reverance?
I thought that I would like to write a little bit about my favorite verse. Thinking about this verse has really been helping my walk with God by informing me a little bit about where I stand, and a little bit about where He stands in our relationship.
Hebrews 2:9 But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone.
I have been realizing that something that I am missing in my relationship with the Lord is a true and overwhelming reverance for my God. When I truly sit back and think about it, He created the universe......and He cares enough about me to not only allow me to exist, but send His Son to die for my sins, my transgressions. The creator of the universe. How crazy is that?!
And here I am asking the King of all to help me find my keys when they're lost or praying that I might not be late to a meeting. I'm not saying that asking for these things is wrong, quite the contrary (1 Thessalonians 5:17). We should be praying to God about everything. What I am saying is that I need to examine how I ask for them, how I approach my God. Doesn't he deserve more respect than I give Him?
I guess what I am wrestling with at the moment is how to have the intimate relationship that God desires with me, and that I want with Him, while showing due reverance to the Lord my God. Something to think about.
-Robert D.
Hebrews 2:9 But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone.
I have been realizing that something that I am missing in my relationship with the Lord is a true and overwhelming reverance for my God. When I truly sit back and think about it, He created the universe......and He cares enough about me to not only allow me to exist, but send His Son to die for my sins, my transgressions. The creator of the universe. How crazy is that?!
And here I am asking the King of all to help me find my keys when they're lost or praying that I might not be late to a meeting. I'm not saying that asking for these things is wrong, quite the contrary (1 Thessalonians 5:17). We should be praying to God about everything. What I am saying is that I need to examine how I ask for them, how I approach my God. Doesn't he deserve more respect than I give Him?
I guess what I am wrestling with at the moment is how to have the intimate relationship that God desires with me, and that I want with Him, while showing due reverance to the Lord my God. Something to think about.
-Robert D.
November 2, 2009
Does the church owe an apology to the homosexual community?
My eye was caught by this provacative title a little more than a week ago. My first inclination was to be completely offended. But after reading the blog by the pastor who is asking this question I found myself finding that the answer to this question isn't so easy.
If you think about it, why is the church so harsh on the gay community? Maybe harsh is the wrong term to use. Focused. Why is it that the modern church has become so focused on the sins of the gay community? After thinking about it, it seems to me that the Bible says that all sins are evil. Where does it say that the sins of a homosexual are more wrong than the sins of a liar? Or that of a lustful heterosexual? For some reason the church today has chosen to focus so much more of their attention on the gay community than on other sins; making it so much harder for members of that community to feel welcome in a church.
What is the ultimate goal of the church's stand against sin? Is it to deal out guilt and judgement? Or to show that man in all manners of his sinfulness are indeed depraved and in need of a savior.
Check out the provacative blog and decide for yourself.
An interesting video found on youtube also deals with this topic. Check it out!
-Robert D.
If you think about it, why is the church so harsh on the gay community? Maybe harsh is the wrong term to use. Focused. Why is it that the modern church has become so focused on the sins of the gay community? After thinking about it, it seems to me that the Bible says that all sins are evil. Where does it say that the sins of a homosexual are more wrong than the sins of a liar? Or that of a lustful heterosexual? For some reason the church today has chosen to focus so much more of their attention on the gay community than on other sins; making it so much harder for members of that community to feel welcome in a church.
What is the ultimate goal of the church's stand against sin? Is it to deal out guilt and judgement? Or to show that man in all manners of his sinfulness are indeed depraved and in need of a savior.
Check out the provacative blog and decide for yourself.
An interesting video found on youtube also deals with this topic. Check it out!
-Robert D.
September 2, 2009
On the Precipice...
Lately I have been thinking about my Christian faith. And I mean really considering it. I have realistically always believed in the Bible and what it teaches but I haven’t really lived it. To put it in church terms I don’t think that I have walked the walk.
Now I have always stayed away from the really bad stuff. No drinking, smoking, drugs….nothing like that. From all outward appearances I have always looked like a good Christian. One who doesn’t swear or get angry and goes to church every week. Involved with the youth groups, knowing all the lyrics to all the church songs…etc. You have a good Christian stereotype, chances are that I have been that somewhere, to someone.
The problem is, that isn’t good enough. I have recently been experiencing a period of unrest in my Christian faith. A turmoil. A revolution in my own Christian thinking. Not a crisis of faith or a doubt of the things I believe, but a realization that if what I believe is actually true, I’m not living as I should. This might seem strange to some people; those people who think that I have been all that a Christian must be. In fact, for the last ten years or so, I thought that I was everything that I needed to be. Sure, there were always little things to work on, but I was being a good Christian…..right?
Living as a Christian is so much more than singing songs and going to church on Sundays. It is a lifestyle. A Christian is one who follows Christ. Am I following Christ when it comes to ALL of my decisions? Jesus simply walked up to His future disciples saying, “Follow Me.” They dropped everything they were doing and followed Him. If I am a Christ follower, a Christian, why haven’t I dropped everything to follow Him?
It seems to me that all Christ followers must make a decision. We all say we believe what the Bible says. But if that’s true, then why don’t we drop everything? Give it ALL. “Do you really believe that what you believe is true?” If you do, then what’s holding you back? What’s holding me back?
Personally, I am on the precipice of this decision. Either I must fall back into the comfortable life I have grown up in and keep Jesus encounters for Sunday, or I must take a leap of faith and trust God with EVERYTHING. At stake: my personal goals, the future I have envisioned for myself, stability and sure comfort. But if I actually believe what I say I believe, than my goals and my comfort are all temporary and meaningless. On the precipice….
If I do decide to follow Christ with all that I have, abandoning all else in my pursuit of the Cross, then I ask you to follow me. Not because of who I am or what I’ve done but because I am following Christ.
Walk with me as I walk with the Lord.
-Robert D.
Now I have always stayed away from the really bad stuff. No drinking, smoking, drugs….nothing like that. From all outward appearances I have always looked like a good Christian. One who doesn’t swear or get angry and goes to church every week. Involved with the youth groups, knowing all the lyrics to all the church songs…etc. You have a good Christian stereotype, chances are that I have been that somewhere, to someone.
The problem is, that isn’t good enough. I have recently been experiencing a period of unrest in my Christian faith. A turmoil. A revolution in my own Christian thinking. Not a crisis of faith or a doubt of the things I believe, but a realization that if what I believe is actually true, I’m not living as I should. This might seem strange to some people; those people who think that I have been all that a Christian must be. In fact, for the last ten years or so, I thought that I was everything that I needed to be. Sure, there were always little things to work on, but I was being a good Christian…..right?
Living as a Christian is so much more than singing songs and going to church on Sundays. It is a lifestyle. A Christian is one who follows Christ. Am I following Christ when it comes to ALL of my decisions? Jesus simply walked up to His future disciples saying, “Follow Me.” They dropped everything they were doing and followed Him. If I am a Christ follower, a Christian, why haven’t I dropped everything to follow Him?
It seems to me that all Christ followers must make a decision. We all say we believe what the Bible says. But if that’s true, then why don’t we drop everything? Give it ALL. “Do you really believe that what you believe is true?” If you do, then what’s holding you back? What’s holding me back?
Personally, I am on the precipice of this decision. Either I must fall back into the comfortable life I have grown up in and keep Jesus encounters for Sunday, or I must take a leap of faith and trust God with EVERYTHING. At stake: my personal goals, the future I have envisioned for myself, stability and sure comfort. But if I actually believe what I say I believe, than my goals and my comfort are all temporary and meaningless. On the precipice….
If I do decide to follow Christ with all that I have, abandoning all else in my pursuit of the Cross, then I ask you to follow me. Not because of who I am or what I’ve done but because I am following Christ.
Walk with me as I walk with the Lord.
-Robert D.
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