Thank You

So. It's been.....what? A month since I started this? This blog has been something truly amazing for me.Not because I get to spout random ramblings on the internet, but because I get to sit down and pray for God's words. I get to look up at my screen after a paragraph and see what God has to teach me. This blog was surely started with the intention of "teaching others" and I pray that you all come away with something new, but God has used it so much to teach me. Everything I have to say is useless.If anybody learns from what I have said, it is the power of God giving them that knowledge, using my feeble shell of a life to do so.

I thank God for what He has taught me in the past month. I also thank Him for the people He has put in my life this month and in the past. My camp "posse" for one. They are always there. They pray, they love, they laugh. I thank God for that. I also thank Him for a friend of mine who I have been able to hit Taco Bell with a few times this summer. A guy who held me accountable when I wasn't getting into my Bible. A guy who I could bounce ideas off of. He also is responsible for the redesign of my blog a couple weeks back (doesn't it look better?).Not only was He a great accountability partner, he's also heading off to the mission field tomorrow, so pray for him and his family. I thank the people who have come up to me and encouraged me. I wouldn't sop writing this, even if nobody enjoyed it, but to hear from men and women of God that they were somehow affected by what God said through me is humbling.

God has been so good in this month and as I head into this school year I am excited to see what else He does. I will continue posting, but the posts will be farther apart just because I'm sure homework will keep me busy. God worked, is working and will work in the future. We thank Him daily and look forward to the year to come. Thank you all and thank God. To Him be the glory.

Up and Down

So at this point it has been over two weeks since I got back from camp. One of the big things that week that the speaker brought up, was how each week of camp or any other large burst of spirituality, we have a spiritual high. A spiritual high is a feeling often felt during a Christian gathering when someone feels emotionally "better" or "closer to God". While these feelings are good and can certainly be used by God for His purpose, they are so often mistaken for how Christians should feel 100% of the time. We get home from camp, we get home from that conference, we get home from church and life hits us square in the face. There's no worship band, no speaker and people aren't focused on God. Then all the sudden those spiritual emotions, that "closeness" we thought we felt is gone and we're left with our everyday thoughts and we wonder what we did wrong.

This is the "spiritual roller coaster" brought up at camp. It's something that gets us on a higher high each time. We realize it's existence and think that acknowledgment will make a change. However what we are trying to beat is our own emotions. How you feel is dictated by so many things, that trying to defeat a feeling is near impossible. We come home with "closeness" because there was a good worship band. News Flash: Chances are the worship band at your house is less moving. The lie we need to defeat is this: Spiritual feelings equate to actual relationship with God and success as a Christian. We are so often believe this. What we need to do when we are tempted to think this is the same thing we must do everyday. Remind ourselves of the Gospel. The same Gospel that says "my relationship with God is based solely on the finished work of Jesus Christ and has nothing to do with how I feel". We are in perfect relationship with God, the Father, because God, the Son, said: It is finished. That's the beauty. We have no part in this relationship. God is gripping us with all His might and even if we let go we would still be held in that powerful, glorious hand. This fact is what often turns people off. How can it be that simple? I would first say: It wasn't easy for Christ, but also: Why should it be difficult for us? God loves us so much, why would He make some convoluted, impossible ritual to become His child?

That's the answer to the "spiritual roller coaster" problem. Our emotions can go up and down, we can feel ecstatic or burdened, either way, if we have accepted the Gospel then it doesn't matter how we feel. Because even if our emotional roller coaster is going up and down like a rodeo, our relationship with God is smooth sailing, right at the top. God is holding us up there and all we have to do is yell at the people on the other roller coasters, telling them of the grace of God. We sit and watch what God does and thank Him for what He has done in the past and will do in the future.

Providential Love

I've mentioned here before that I like to bike. I have biked all over Sheboygan this summer and it's honestly amazing that I haven't been injured yet. I don't profess to be very road savvy. I follow the law as best as I can, but I'm sure a few of my decisions have been less then optimal. Happily, nobody has gotten uptight (other then that one elderly gentlemen) and I haven't been killed. Today, as I biked to the beach for a school function. I was on a different bike then usual and, being the intelligent person I am, found a way to break it in the first two blocks of my ride. So there I am on the side of the road, nobody to help, just me with a broken bike and absolutely no mechanical prowess. So, I got down on my knees and started moving the chain around, hoping that maybe, just maybe, I could get lucky and somehow fix this compound machine (Thank Mr Andringa for that term). As I often find, that didn't work, although I did find the bike grease to be enjoyable. At some point, through a lot of prayer and of the chain falling off, I got the bike to a point where it would halfway-kinda-pedal-almost. I thought I would just ride it to my destination and that would be that. Well, as I pedaled, the bike would make a clank noise, then keep going. It made this noise every few rotations and I realized, in my brilliance, that this was probably not a good thing. Let me just say, God places things for a reason. For instance, God put a bike shop right in my route. So, in I went. I awkwardly hobbled in, carrying my bike and sheepishly asked the two guys if they could help, ending my story with: "the problem being, I have no money.". At this point I expected them to send me along. Nope, that wasn't in God's plan for me today. The two bike shop workers went right to work. They screwed screw, spun wheels, calibrated random levers, lubed shift triggers and fixed things I certainly didn't know were broken. Then they sent me out with: "It's on the house." And then I left.

Why tell you this story? Point 1: God is a providential God. He brings things and people into our lives just when they are needed. I think the thing I love most is seeing God work. Looking back on a experience and realizing that God was there and active through every step. Point 2: You'll notice that sitting on the side of the road pulling the chain didn't get me very far. When presented with problems, we often turn to ourselves. We fix things on our own. Or we try to. I at there for ten minutes fooling myself into thinking that I could do something worthwhile on that bike, when in reality, not only was it broken in the chain, it was broken in ways I didn't even know. So are we. We are broken in ways that we won't understand until Judgment Day. Also, you'll notice that the bike shop people knew I had no money and they knew I would fail to fix it on my own. Now, I will use the extremely loose symbol of the bike people as God. God knows we are helpless, He knows we have nothing to offer, but He still saves us in ways we didn't know we were broken. That's God. Showing Himself through little moments in life.

Gifts, Power and Wisdom

I will not boast in anything, no gift, no power, no wisdom.

But I will boast in Jesus Christ, His death and resurrection.

-Stuart Townend, How Deep The Father's Love For Us

Go ahead. Sing it out. Feel it. Love it. Believe it. Now, go live it. Which of us can? Can we take every piece of credit we have, then throw it all towards Christ? Again, we are far to selfish for that. How do I know? Because the first thing that would come to any of our minds if we did that would be: "Look at what I just did! I am such a good person, I gave Christ the credit." That's the problem with humility, if you know you have it, it's hard to keep. If you're humble about something, you think: "Look how humble I am!"

If I were to use my ability to give Christ credit, I know I would be arrogant about it. That's why we don't use our own power. We use Christ's ability to give Christ credit. Always Christ. His power, His thought, His life. He is what should power our every movement. Because then, if I were to boast in my power or wisdom, it wouldn't be my power or wisdom, it would be Christ's. Any gift, power or wisdom we have is from Christ. That is what we boast in, while simultaneously realizing that we have nothing without Him. The reason we can throw any credit we have to Christ is because we have no credit. Christ has credit and we take possession of it.

We are ignorant people. People who think that we can accomplish things without Christ, when in reality, we are incapable of good without Christ. Without Christ there is no silver lining in humanity. That's why hell will be hell. Any good here on Earth will be drained out of those who have chosen separation from God. We become humble people when we realize that Christ isn't responsible for certain good things, He is responsible for Good. Any good that comes out of us, is a grace of God.

Enough

1st Corinthians 13:1-3

"If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing."

Wow. Pretend you just read that for the first time. Maybe you did. Think about it either way. As Christians, what makes us successful in life? We know that our definition and the world's definition must be different, but what is our exact definition? How do we know that we have done what God called us to? For me, I think in younger years I probably thought if I just had enough head knowledge then I would be a good Christian. (Disclaimer: There is no such thing as a good Christian, there is only a good Christ.) So I went through AWANA thinking that the more sections I did, the more verses I memorized, then the better person I would be. Put that up against this passage. You understand all mysteries and all knowledge? Good for you. Now when was the last time you gave time to help people? Who was the last person you offered a word of encouragement to? So, through enough youth group messages and devotionals, I realized that head knowledge wasn't the way. The funny part is that, though I realized my first mistake, I went into a second lie. Instead of realizing my little disclaimer up there, I chose the next lie.

What's next in our passage? If I have all faith, so as to move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. Notice this verse says I am nothing. Not just "I have nothing", but "I am nothing" that's pretty brutal huh? Lie #2? That if I just believe enough, I can be a good Christian. (See earlier disclaimer). Believe enough? "Enough" is an interesting word. What is enough? Enough for what? I was trying to fill the gap my sin had made, between me and God. With what? Belief. Belief is a good step one in the Christian faith. "Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved." However, one must understand what they are believing in. Not just the existence of God, or that God is the Creator. No, the belief needed is the belief of the Gospel. And as I have said, part one of the Gospel: We are lost. Beyond help. So, let's come back to "enough" I can't do anything enough, including believe in God. Because the only true "enough" is sufficient. His Grace is enough. Nothing else.

So, that puts the kibosh on lie #2, but think about all the things our passage talks about. Being a good speaker, prophesy, giving to the poor, all of these are things we do, thinking they will be "enough" Now don't walk away from this saying: "I shouldn't have faith or give to the poor". All of these are good things, the problem is we try to elevate them to our Savior. We cling to them, when we should be clinging to Christ. You may be wondering: "Doesn't this chapter say we should put love ahead of these things?" Yes. Yes, because if we don't love, if we don't encourage, if we don't act Christ-like to the people of this world, then why would they ask us about Him? That's the goal, that is earthly success. People seeing us and wondering: What makes them different? Love is the difference between us and the world. Love is what makes the world us.