The Big Picture
1 Corinthians 13:9-12
9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. 12 Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
NIV
One of the greatest challenges that my wife and I are facing with our kids is getting them to eat a variety of food and getting them to eat food that is healthy. If it’s not pizza, chicken nuggets or mac and cheese, they basically will not eat it. They will literally sit at the table for 2 hours straight and not eat the food. Well, this past Thursday, my wife cooked dinner and prepared a somewhat balanced meal. My son, Isaiah, sat at the table for about an hour and ate maybe 3 bites of the food. The next day, we went to Cracker Barrel. We ordered him grilled chicken, some carrots and apples. Again, the plate was left practically untouched.
I can see that if this is not corrected in my son, later on in life it can pose problems for him. First of all, it is for his bennefit that he learns to eat a variety of food and not just the few things that he likes right now. Secondly, if he doesn’t learn to eat his vegetables now, it can pose health problems to him in the future. So my wife and I decided to ground him from playing his WII and from any snacks. Because we love him so much, we want to correct these habbits and teach him how to eat properly. Well after Cracker Barrel, we went home, and gathered as a family in the living room to watch a movie. As the movie was beginning, I went and made a bag of popcorn. Since my son had been grounded for not eating his dinner two nights in a row, he was not able to eat any popcorn. When he realized this, he proceeded to cry, beg, throw a fit and whine.
You see, he didn’t understand that he couldn’t eat that popcorn because I wanted to teach him. He didn’t understand that I fear what can happen to him in the future if he doesn’t break these habbits now. He didn’t understand that the reason that he was grounded was because Mom and Dad truly love him and are trying to do what is best for him. He didn’t comprehend any of that. All he knew at that moment was that the rest of the family could eat popcorn and he couldn’t. All he knew was that I was the worst dad in all the world. I was the meanest and the most unfair. See, he was thinking and reasoning as a child. I remember thinking those same thoughts about my parents. But now as a man with my own children, I undersand why they did what they did and I understand why they said “no” when they did. And today, I thank them for it.
In our lives, we often can not see the BIG picture that God sees. We wonder why we go through certain experiences and we ask how God could allow certain things to happen to us. But we only see partially and we don’t understand fully. God sees all things and he understands what we can not. What we must do is to hold on to faith. Have faith that God knows what we do not and through it all, God is at work in us. Even if we don’t understand. Even if we don’t know the why’s for the how come’s, trust that God is in control and that in His big picture, even the most difficult moments will make sense and God will somehow use them for our good.
Is Christianity Really Narrow Mindedness?
Just yesterday I was speaking to an individual who had basically questioned me about Christianity. This was a person that I had just met, knew that I was a minister and took that opportunity to “grill” me on what I believe. As he questioned my stance on various issues such as abortion, homosexuality and pre-marital sex, I openly and honestly expressed that abortion is murder in the eyes of God. I explained that homosexuality according to the Bible is an abomination (detestable sin) and how pre-marital sex is wrong in God’s eyes because it goes outside of the boundaries that He has set for us to live and enjoy the fullness of all He has for us.
As I spoke to this individual in response to his questions, I saw “the look” in his eyes. It’s not the first time that I’ve seen that look. It was if he wanted to say, “You are such a narrow minded fool”. And for a moment, I felt very uncomfortable. I thought about retracting what I had just said. I thought about putting a little sugar over the words that I had just spoken and smoothing them over. And then I thought to myself, “NO!” I must declare what the Word of God says and not what our culture and our society wants to hear.
I then began to explain to this individual that my beliefs and my convictions on these issues were taken from God’s word. As Christians, we can not and should not formulate our morality and ethics according to what the majority of our society thinks but according to what God thinks. We may be viewed as narrow minded, intolerant or out dated but on the day of judgment I will not stand before society or before our culture. On that day, I will stand before Almighty God and I will give an account to him for everything I’ve said and everything I’ve done.
So to every Christian, speak the truth. As hard and as difficult as it may be, speak the truth. Do not allow culture and society to shape your opinions and beliefs but submit your thoughts and your opinions to God’s Word and allow the Bible to shape your beliefs. And when you feel as if the world looks at you and sees a narrow minded fool, remember that Christ died with a great majority of the population of his day thinking the same thing about him.
Have you had any experiences where as a Christian you’ve struggled between our Culture’s views and God’s views?
From Visitation To Habitation
There is no doubt that there are moments/seasons when God begins to really deal with an individual or church. There are often seasons where it seems as if God is visiting us in a special way. As a matter of fact, we often use those exact words in moments of blessing or in times where the presence of God is being felt and sensed in an unusual way during times of prayer and corporate worship. You will often hear pastors or worship leaders or other people say, “God is visiting us!” But as I have contemplated these words, I have become convinced that as great as a visitation from God is, it is not his will to only visit us but He desires to make us His habitation.
In scripture we find that God visited this planet, through His son Jesus Christ. He was sent with a great mission and this mission had many aspects. He was to reveal the Father to humanity. He was to reveal what true love is. He was to show us how to live for God and serve as our ultimate example. He was to redeem us and reconcile us to the father. But there was another aspect to Christ’s mission that we often overlook. John 16:7 says, “But I tell you the truth: it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.” Jesus himself said that it was better for us that he leave so that the Holy Spirit would come.
Christ was on earth for only 33 years. And out of those 33 years only 31/2 of those years were spent in public ministry. This was only a visitation. God visited this planet through His son. But it was only a visitation. What does all this mean? One aspect of why Christ visited earth was to prepare the way for the Holy Spirit and the work that He does. Not that the Holy Spirit was greater than Christ (for they are both God) but through the Holy Spirit the limitations that Christ had because of his human nature would now be removed. Christ was limited to being at one place at a given time. Now the Holy Spirit would not be limited by space or time. He is everywhere at every time. Christ could only visit people. Such as the time that He visited Mary and Martha, Zacchaeus, Lazarus, the woman at the well, and countless others. These people’s lives were completely transformed by a visit from God the Son. Imagine what would happen when God the Spirit would come not to visit them, but to dwell within them.
John 14:16-17 – “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever – the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him for he lives with you and will be in you.”
How did Christ prepare the way for the Holy Spirit? Christ left his word and his example. Now the Holy Spirit would take that word and bring conviction to the hearts of unbelievers (Jn. 16:8). Now the Holy Spirit would remind us of everything that Christ said and would teach us all things (Jn. 14:26). Christ told us and showed us how to serve God and live for Him, now the Holy Spirit would empower and enable us to do it (Acts 1:8). In the same way that Christ’s visitation to this world and to individuals during his earthly ministry prepared the way for the Spirit’s habitation, so those special moments of visitation in your life are to prepare you for a greater relationship with God and the habitation of His Spirit in you. But beware. We must not allow what happened to God’s people, the Jews, during His last visitation to happen to us during this visitation.
Christ in His word declares that He came for the Jew first, then for the gentile. In other words the purpose for His visitation was primarily for the Jewish people. But something happened. While Jesus visited with them, they did not realize the hour of thier visitiation (Lk. 19:44). Ultimately, the Jewish people as a whole have missed out on the habitation of God’s Spirit in thier lives all because they failed to realize, recognize, honor and respond to Christ’s visitaion. We must not allow this to happen to us. We must acknowledge that we have been in the presence of the omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, sovereign and eternal God. We must honor Him and worship Him in the manner in which He’s worthy of. We must respond to His call and move at His command. For if we fail to do these things, it will be said of us, “God was not able to make Robert his habitation for he knew not the time of his visitation.”
I have made up my mind. I will not be swayed. I choose to allow God to make my life, my heart, my family, my ministry and my church His habitation.
Obama or McCain? Palin or Biden?
I, as many in our nation, have been glued to the t.v. screen during the Democratic and now Republican conventions. I find it extremely fascinating to hear each candidate and those that have been chosen to speak on their behalf. Both sides are making some BIG promises and the rhetoric with which they speak sounds very appealing. But my question is this: How much of what they are promising will actually get accomplished? There is no doubt that I believe both men are sincere and have certain passionate beliefs concerning how our nation should be dealt with, but how much of what they are saying and describing and promising in their campaign speeches will actually turn into legislation and how much will be turned into policy?
I guess only time will tell, but if you ask me I don’t place my trust in either one of these candidates. I certainly have my preference in who I would like to see come out on top in the November election. But my hopes for my future and for the future of my children does not rest on whether my preferred candidate wins or looses. My hope for the future rests solely in my God. It is my firm belief that God holds all things in His hands and whether the McCain/Palin ticket or the Obama/Biden ticket ends up being the winning ticket, God is ultimately still in control. As Christians, it is our duty to pray that God’s will be done and when our next president is elected, it is our duty to uphold him and sustain him in prayer.
I hope as Christians we vote and allow our voice to be heard. But even more than that, I pray that as Christians we are in prayer and seeking the face of God for the direction of our nation.
Let me know your thoughts on the candidates and on our Christian duty as citizens!
