Act Like Men – Live in Love

OneThing [28Dec10]

“Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.  Let all that you do be done in love” - 1 Corinthians 16:13-14

     At the end of Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, he gives them parting instructions.  In the midst of many specific instructions to the church, the reader finds this exhortation: “act like men.”  What does this mean?

     In the context of the paragraph, it means that men of the faith are vigilant for opposition and when attacked, they do not give up their ground because they are strong.  And they do all this in love.

     In the context of the whole book, men do not quarrel with one another.  They do not engage in sexual immorality.  They do not sue their fellow believers, but they give preference to others and take care to not injure another believer’s conscience.  They surrender their rights for the sake of the gospel and do everything to glorify God.  They are sensitive to the needs of others and work well with others.  They prioritize love above all.  They endeavor to benefit the whole body and to help church services operate smoothly.  They stake all their hope in the resurrection of Christ and long for their own resurrection.  They are sacrificial with their resources and honor more mature Christians.

     It should be noted that 16:13 uses the illustration of manhood similarly to 13:11 which says,

“When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child.  When I became a man, I gave up childish ways.”

This verse speaks of all earthly things passing away.  Only love will remain.  So it can be inferred that acting like a man means putting away the childish, earthly, things and  living for the things of eternity, namely, love.  Our speech, thought, and reasoning much be built of that which will endure.

     Acting like a man means many things.  Those listed above are merely the pebbles laying on the surface of a much deeper topic.

Live Rightly for the Gospel

OneThing [27Dec10]

“Wake up from your drunken stupor, as is right, and do not go on sinning.  For some have no knowledge of God.  I say this to your shame.” - 1 Corinthians 15:34

Here, in the middle of a passage about the resurrection, Paul urges the Corinthians to snap out of their continuing sin and live a pure life.  “Why?” they ask.  The reason presented here is the sake of the gospel.  The people were living drunken lives which indicate lives that are self-centered and out-of-control.  Such a lives are not ones a Christian should lead because they harm the image of the gospel.  Christ did not save us so that we may go back to sinning!  We are saved to new life and part of that new life is spreading the gospel to a dying and confused world. 

Four Days and One Half

So now I see

That time has come

And time has gone.

The end is here,

The Summer’s done.

On the fifth dawn,

Starts the new year.

For then I leave.

life reminders

There’s a joke that goes something like this:

   A female of a certain hair color walks into a beauty shop with headphones planted firmly over her ears. The beautician begins pulling out her instruments as she asks the young woman to please remove her headphones. The customer gasps, clenches the sides of her head, and says, “No! If I take these off, I’ll die!”

   The stylist is confused, but decides to attempt working around the head gear. Soon, the hard plastic gets in the way and the beautician asks again, “Ma’am, do you think you could take off your head phones for just a moment?”

   “No,” Replies the woman of a particular hair color, “if I take these off, I’ll die!”

   The stylist is confused and considerably frustrated now, but she continues cutting and trimming around the apparatus. Finally, it all becomes too much and she rips the headphones off the girl’s head and tosses them to the ground.

   The young woman sits completely still and then falls to the floor dead.

   The beautician is shocked! What could have been so important that this girl would die if she couldn’t hear it? Slowly, she reaches down to the floor, picks up the headphones, and listens. She heard a voice repeat over and over, “Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in. Breathe out…”

 

Pretty funny, huh? A little, but my point wasn’t to be humorous.

   I wish I was like that girl with the headphones. I am like her in many ways. I’m not nearly smart enough to live rightly. Even the simplest spiritual truths continually slip my mind. I need to be constantly reminded who my God is, who I am, and what I’m supposed to be doing.

   I wish I was like that girl because she knew she couldn’t make it on her own. She knew she needed the voice and she wouldn’t willingly let anyone take it away from her. I need the steady flow of spiritual refreshment. Without it, my life falls apart and I forget the most basic principles. I even forget that I need that refreshment at all. I become dry and useless. It happens so quickly.

   All Christians need that voice telling them how to live, who to worship, who to love. Where do we find that voice? Scripture and Prayer. So simple. So vital.

   Always keep the voice in your head: “Put off. Put on. Put off. Put on. Put off…”

-->

Life at Home

     It’s been a long year.  Although it flew by, my first nine months at Master’s was packed full.  From tests, to art work with the roommate, to late-night runs to Diddy Reese, and learning how to right MFRs for ROTC, I was barely ever without something to do and always responsible for my own decisions.

     Having been back home for a little over a month, I think I can say that I very much like being back in Ohio.  The green, the open roads, friendly waves from strangers, and long talks with old friends.  Life back here is so different from California. I don’t have to plan something every evening nor am I constantly being yelled at by a long-haired Korean.

     The hardest part about being home is that I feel as if I have a lacking of accountability.  Regrettably, my devotions are not as consistent or as deep as they are at school.  My prayers come more in spurts.  I haven’t shared the gospel even once since I’ve been back outside of the Sunday School classroom.  More and more I feel nearly like I’m going through the motions without any passion, fire, or willingness.

     These things ought not to be!  My God at TMC is my God here in Ohio.  His love is no less amazing and neither is His grace.  He still is working in my circumstances to sanctify me and He is still interceding for me when I fall into sin.  He is the God of creation, the Sovereign over this house, and He is still the Lord of my heart.  If I can encourage my spiritual brothers towards greater love for Him when I am at college, what would hinder me from encouraging my blood relations when I am at home?  Praise God for His incredible mercy that He does not condemn me for my lack of faithfulness.

     I long that this would be my attitude

GOD OF MY END,

   It is my greatest, noblest, pleasure to be acquainted with thee and with my rational, immortal soul;

   It is sweet and entertaining to look into my being when all my powers and passions are united and engaged in pursuit of thee, when my soul longs and passionately breathes after conformity to thee and the full enjoyment of thee;

   No hours pass away with so much pleasure as those spent in communion with thee and with my heart.

   O how desirable, how profitable to the Christian life is a spirit of holy watchfulness and godly jealousy over myself, when my soul is afraid of nothing except grieving and offending thee, the blessed God, my Father and friend, whom I then love and long to please, rather than be happy in myself!

   Knowing, as I do, that this is the pious temper, worthy of the highest ambition, and closest pursuit of intelligent creatures and holy Christians, may my joy derive from glorifying and delighting thee.

   I long to fill all my time for thee, whether at home or in the way; to place all my concerns in thy hands; to be entirely at thy disposal, having no will or interest of my own.

   Help me to live to thee for ever, to make thee my last and only end, so that I may never more in one instance love my sinful self.

The Secret of Life

I heard a song earlier this week called "The Secret of Life" by Faith Hill. The lyrics showed how sad and hopeless the world's situation is. I should give the warning that there is a small bit of language in it, but you can read the lyrics here.

The song is about two drunks in a bar discussing the "secret of life" and they conclude that "the secret of life is there is no secret." It also lists many earthly and material things that don't have anything to do with the real Secret.

"Jesus answered and said unto them, 'I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father but by Me.'"

Praise the Lord that we know the Secret of Life.

However, to the rest of the world, He is still a secret. The question is, "why is He still a secret?" The answer is because us who know about Him haven't been telling people enough.

LET THE CAT OUT OF THE BAG!

The Doctrine of Election

The doctrine of election is the doctrine stating that God has chosen who will and who will not become a believer. This is very commonly a hard concept for Christians to understand. How can God choose for people to sin and still blame them for it? That's not fair. Even though it is hard, this doctrine is very important, so that we don't start thinking that we did something of our own will to choose God or earn His favor. This quarter, I'm helping out in our church's first grade SS class. We are currently walking through "Jobs in the Old Testament" and how they relate to our Christian life. For example, last week, we were studying the soldier and comparing their armor to the Armor of God.

This week we studied the potter. Everyone got a container of PlayDoh, and made a bowl and some other stuff. Watching all the kids: one of the most interesting things was that most of them started by mashing the PlayDoh as hard as they could. Also, some of them made their bowls fancy with little handles on them, and some made them plainer looking. Some of the kids after a try at making a bowl didn't like the way it turned out, so they smashed it and started over.

After everyone was finished, the teacher asked them about what they had done and began drawing similarities between the way that God is the potter of our lives (Romans 9). She pointed out how many of the kids had smashed their PlayDoh and asked why. They said that before they could work with the PlayDoh, they needed to make it soft so that they could work with it more easily. That is a way that God commonly works in people's lives. God will use a hard time to work and soften a person, so that He can mold them.

The teacher also asked why all the bowls were different. The only answer anyone could come up with was, "Because that's the way I like it." And that is the right of the Potter: to make what He wants, how He wants it. He makes people all different, physically and spiritually and we have no grounds on which to question that. He is the Creator, we are the creation.

We went on to talk about how some kids had smashed their PlayDoh and started over when they didn't like the way it looked and several other things that they did. We discussed the fact that God can do anything He wants with us and He is always right in doing it. We read through Romans 9 and talked about Jacob and Esau. God loved Jacob and hated Esau. On human terms that's playing favorites and definitely not fair, but God is God and He is always right. Then we talked about the way that God chooses if a person will be rescued from sin or not. A few of the kids didn't know what to think about God not bringing everyone into Heaven with Him, but it's the truth.

As I said earlier, this is a tough topic. I thought it was really neat that it is being taught in our church when, in a lot of churches, it's just skipped over. But even more than just that this doctrine is being taught: it's being taught to the first graders! I praise the Lord for the work that he is doing in the hearts and lives of those little kids.