Christian Geeks Unite

Friday, November 17, 2023

A Shared Faith

“You may not believe me now, but I want you to hold on to my faith because I believe that Jesus can change your life.”

I came across this sentence recently, though now I’ve forgotten where I read it. There are times when it is hard to believe that God is working all things for good (Rom. 8:28), or that “The Lord is my strength and my shield” (Ps. 28:7) if He doesn’t seem to be on guard against the difficult times we each face. Sometimes we need those friends who can say, “You may not have the faith you think you need right now, but I’ll believe for the both of us.”

It reminds me of the paralytic in Mark 2 whose four friends carried him to Jesus and cut a hole in the roof just to make sure Jesus saw him. I wonder if that man was a confident in the results as his friends were? Was he saying, “Guys, why are you wasting your time with this expedition?” Jesus didn’t specifically refer to the man’s faith. Verse 5 says, “And when Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, ‘Son, your sins are forgiven.’” After this odd response, the man doesn’t suddenly jump up from his cot. He apparently lays there and listens to the lecture to those who doubt Jesus. It isn’t until Jesus commands him to pick up his bed and walk that he realized he was healed.

There are several times in Scripture when Jesus mentions someone’s “little faith” (Matt 6:30; 8:26; 14:31; 16:8; 17:20). Usually it’s a word to His disciples, encouraging them to believe He is who He says He is. A few people were commended for their faith; for example, the centurion whose servant was sick (Matt. 8:10), a Canaanite woman whose daughter was oppressed by demons (Matt. 15:28), and the woman who had been bleeding for twelve years (Matt. 9:22).

There is no one-size-fits-all standard of faith. Our confidence in God can ebb and flow over time and through changing circumstances. We all hope we are growing in faith, but there are hills and valleys throughout life. That’s why we need to be engaged with the church, vitally connected to the Body of Christ. We need those who will lift us up when we are weak, fearful, discouraged, or struggling. And in turn, we need to lift others up when we have the faith that they are lacking at a difficult time in life.

This week I had a random phone call from a stranger who read a couple verses of Scripture and encouraged me with the reminder that Jesus is coming again soon. I have no idea what prompted her to this particular ministry of encouragement and evangelism, though I’m glad there are people like that. But how much more powerful is an encouraging word when it comes from a friend who knows the road we’re on and offers to come alongside saying, “Lean on my faith for this season.”

May we all be those who share our faith, not just in terms of evangelism of unbelievers, but in encouraging fellow believers to keep holding on no matter how small their faith feels.

“Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing” (1 Thess. 5:11).

Thursday, November 9, 2023

Fast Forward

Reading through the Simplified Harmony of the Gospels, I came across a couple verses that got me thinking. The first comes from John 17:24:

“Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, may be with Me where I am, to see My glory that You have given Me because You loved Me before the foundation of the world.”

Why did Jesus pray this? Like much of His “high priestly prayer” it states things that were already predetermined. In a way, the whole prayer is more of an encouraging word to the disciples than a petition to the Father. However, another verse just a little later in the timeline shifted my focus a bit:

“My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will” (Matt. 26:39).

It’s clear that Jesus would have preferred a less painful and difficult way to achieve salvation for mankind, but He submitted to the Father’s plan. If you take that perspective back to the verse in John, it sounds to me as though Jesus might have been praying, “Father, I wish we could just skip to the end where we all dwell together in eternal glory.” That is encouraging because it sounds like many of my own prayers.

Even if my interpretation is stretching it, we can still draw strength from the fact that Jesus knows our struggles and our desire to avoid pain. He can “sympathize with our weaknesses” (Heb. 4:15) and He “endured the cross” for us (Heb. 12:1). When life is overwhelming and we want to fast forward to the end, He understands and He walks with us through it all. I imagine it brings a smile to His face each time we pray “Lord, come quickly!”

It’s okay to wish for and pray for an end to pain, suffering, and difficult circumstances, though we know that God may not answer those prayers in the way we want. It’s also okay to long for that final Day when all things will be made perfect. In fact, I believe that the longer we live and grow in faith, and the more we experience of the brokenness of this world, the more we should long for the “new heavens and new earth in which righteousness dwells” (2 Pet. 3:13b).

Jesus spent a lot of time speaking of eternal things, and He encouraged His disciples by point ahead. “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to Myself, that where I am you may be also” (John 14:3). He never sugarcoated suffering (e.g. Matt. 5:3-12), but He urged us to remember that this is not “your best life now” but merely a prelude to real life in His kingdom. So we can continue to wish and pray for the soon-fulfillment of our hope in the presence of His eternal glory!

“Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him... The world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever” (1 John 2:15, 17).

***

Here’s an episode of the Broken Vessels Podcast that touches on some of these ideas and more.

Thursday, October 26, 2023

IQ Isn't Everything

If you’re like me, whenever you hear the name Albert Einstein there’s this mental sign that pops up saying, “Ah, genius!” When I learned that he was from a Jewish family, had Catholic school education, and was a pacifist, I thought it would be interesting to read some of the things he wrote. They are indeed interesting, but not in the way I anticipated. In just the first chapter of the book The World as I See It, there are a few statements I can fully agree with:

“What is the meaning of human life, or of organic life altogether? To answer this question at all implies a religion... The man who regards his own life and that of his fellow-creatures as meaningless is not merely unfortunate but almost disqualified for life... I have never looked upon ease and happiness as ends in themselves.”

Other statements seem mostly correct:

“From the point of view of daily life, without going deeper, we exist for our fellowmen—in the first place for those on whose smiles and welfare all our happiness depends, and next for all those unknown to us personally with whose destinies we are bound up by the tie of sympathy.”

But then there are statements that greatly undermine my respect for this genius. When he gets into religious discussions the anvil drops:

“Feeling and desire are the motive forces behind all human endeavor... [The] most varying emotions preside over the birth of religious thought and experience. With primitive man it is above all fear that evokes religious notions—fear of hunger, wild beasts, sickness, death...

“The social feelings are another source of the crystallization of religion. Fathers and mothers and the leaders of larger human communities are mortal and fallible. The desire for guidance, love, and support prompts men to form the social or moral conception of God... The Jewish scriptures admirably illustrate the development from the religion of fear to moral religion, the religions of all civilized peoples... are primarily moral religions...

“Common to all these types is the anthropocentric character of their conception of God. Only individuals of exceptional endowments and exceptionally high-minded communities, as a general rule, get in any real sense beyond this level. But there is a third state of religious experience which belongs to all of them, even though it is rarely found in a pure form, and which I will call cosmic religious feeling... He looks upon individual existence as a sort of prison and wants to experience the universe as a single significant whole... The religious geniuses of all ages have been distinguished by this kind of religious feeling, which knows no dogma and no God conceived in man’s image; so that there can be no Church whose central teachings are based on it. Hence it is precisely among the heretics of every age that we find men who were filled with the highest kind of religious feeling and were in many cases regarded by their contemporaries as Atheists, sometimes also as saints... I maintain that cosmic religious feeling is the strongest and noblest incitement to scientific research.”

While scientific advances are often (though not always) helpful to the world, it’s sad that some of those involved in such research can’t imagine that there is a sovereign God who not only created this world but is intimately involved in the lives of people. If I thought that man’s only purpose was to keep improving this world for future generations, I don’t think I’d be willing to endure through all the seasons of suffering that life brings. Yes, my faith does help to address my fears and it provides a moral framework for me, but my real hope is in a future life in relationship with my Creator and Redeemer. That is what helps me to get out of bed every day and to keep serving those in need around the world.

My life is what it is because of the God who made me in His image (Gen. 1:27), not because I shaped a god in my own image. Einstein is unfortunately one of those the Apostle Paul was writing about when he said, “In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord” (2 Cor. 4:4-5a). I’m thankful to God that I have a God I can thank!

“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).

(You can read more about Einstein’s religious views on Wikipedia.)

Wednesday, October 18, 2023

Nearing the End

“For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God” (Col. 3:3).

This verse came to mind as I was thinking about what it would be like to face an imminent death. We all know that death is a certainty unless Christ returns first. We just don’t know how soon our end will come. You’ve probably heard some variant of the question, “If you knew this was your last day on earth, how would that change your priorities?” But the Apostle Paul puts a different spin on it, because he says we have already died and our remaining days belong entirely to Christ. He uses the same reasoning in Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”

How should it shape our priorities and daily lives if we remembered that in Christ we have already died to the things of this world? The first thing that comes to mind is that I would care a lot less about what people think of me. It wouldn’t matter so much whether I am accepted, appreciated, or adequate, because I’m already fully loved and accepted by the only One whose opinion really matters. For some, the first thought might be a different definition of success—no longer striving for perfection or achievement, but focusing on sharing the gospel with those we love and want to be with for eternity. For others, it could be a realization that the things we depend on for safety and security in this life are not going to matter in eternity, and therefore they don’t require as much attention or effort as we might otherwise dedicate to them.

I was introduced to the 7 Primal Questions concept from Mike Foster. I find the psychology of it interesting, but from the few videos I watched it sounds like his primary advice is to turn each question around:

From “Am I safe?” to “I am safe.”
From “Am I secure?” to “I am secure.”
From “Am I loved?” to “I am loved.”
From “Am I wanted?” to “I am wanted.”
From “Am I successful?” to “I am successful.”
From “Am I good enough?” to “I am good enough.”
From “Do I have a purpose?” to “I have a purpose.”

For the Christian, every one of those questions is answered “yes” in Jesus Christ. We have all the security, love, and purpose that we really need because we are children of the Heavenly Father. Admittedly, that doesn’t always feel like enough when we’re living in a broken world. We’d all like to have people around us who will affirm those truths frequently, and the Church doesn’t always do a good job of that. That’s one reason we need to remind ourselves that we have died with Christ, and we now live in and through Him.

People will always disappoint us one way or another, and we will disappoint them too. But our Father is never disappointed with us, because He knows us better than we know ourselves. And there is coming a day when we will see our Savior face to face and we’ll know the full depths of His love, acceptance, and forgiveness. Until that day, we can remind ourselves and one another that this life is far shorter than we can comprehend and we should order our priorities accordingly. By doing so, our lives will probably start to look more like the Beatitudes—meek, merciful, pure in heart, peacemakers, seeking righteousness, etc. (Matt. 5:3-12), because we know that the promised blessings are already ours in Christ.

“Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Heb. 12:2 BSB).

Wednesday, October 11, 2023

In Our Weakness

In a recent podcast from The Gospel Coalition, Ray Ortlund pointed out that in Romans 8:26, “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness” it is not plural, weaknesses, but “in our weakness.” He says, “Weakness is not one more experience alongside all these other experiences. Weakness is the foundation or platform on which we have all experiences. We have never known, for one nanosecond in this life, a moment of non-weakness”

We could put it this way: our experiences of particular weaknesses are the things that remind us of our inherent weakness and neediness as fallen creatures, and they should also remind us that God is the one who carries us through. As the Apostle Paul wrote in a verse I return to often, “He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me” (2 Cor. 12:9).

This kind of thinking is antithetical to our Western autonomous culture. Children and youth are taught from an early age that they should be self-confident and self-directed, everyone is a winner, follow your heart, feeling bad means something needs to be fixed or changed. Affirmation is the mantra of the day, even if it means affirming them in life-changing decisions and relationships that we know are anti-biblical.

In another podcast that I’ve come across, The Care Ministry, guest Monica Coleman refers to being called by God to break the silences and stigma about those areas of mental health that are so often kept silent even in the church. In many ways, I feel that describes my own calling. I got tired of trying to hide depression and pretending that everything is “fine and dandy.” Life is hard, and mental illness is one particular weakness that many people wrestle with in silence. It is a constant reminder that we’re not the strong, self-assured people that society, and often the church, says we’re supposed to be.

And since I need all the encouraging words I can find, in another of my favorite podcasts from Immanuel Nashville, Barnabas Piper preached on Mark 9 and the man whose son was suffering from an unclean spirit. This was the father who proclaimed, “I believe, help my unbelief!” Piper notes that faith and doubt can coexist. “Doubts are uncomfortable, especially if you have grown up in a church context… ‘I believe’ is a profession of faith, and ‘help my unbelief’ is the prayer of faith… Faith is not measured in certainty, but by trusting Jesus with our needs.”

We are all weak and needy people. Pretending we have no doubts or struggles not only keeps us from seeking strength and help from God, but also isolates us from one another in our many times of need. Someone recently made a comment to me, and perhaps I misunderstood their intent, but it sounded like they were saying that people put on a happy face at church because that’s how they want to feel and what they think will encourage other people. But for those who are aware of their own weakness and trials, that is just one more barrier to connecting with others in a meaningful way.

I feel like a hypocrite when I plaster on a smile and join in singing songs that imply that God heals every weakness and wound in this lifetime. I know that in the resurrection He will do so, but as long as we live in this broken world we’ll have to wrestle with sin, doubt, weakness, and sorrow. To pretend that we are above such things is to join the Pharisees and to lay heavy burdens on the shoulders of those who don’t measure up (Matt. 23:4). Instead, let us acknowledge our weakness and “bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself” (Gal. 6:2-3).

Thursday, September 28, 2023

A Long Journey

In his book Angry with God: An Honest Journey Through Suffering and Betrayal, Brad Hambrick writes,

“We usually only think of sanctification in terms of purification from sin… But if we only think of sanctification in terms of purification, we begin to believe that every unpleasant emotion that emerges from suffering reveals an idol, some aspect of life taking on a God-sized role in our heart. This belief is inaccurate, creates false guilt, and causes God to come across we an uncaring cosmic Cop… What is the complementary aspect of sanctification that needs to be emphasized? If sanctification is the process of becoming more Christlike, the following question will point us to the answer. What verb does the Bible use to describe Jesus’ response to suffering? Consider what Hebrews 12:2 says of Jesus: ‘Looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God’ (emphasis added). We become like Jesus when we endure suffering in a way that resists the shame that often accompanies it. We need a view of sanctification that allows us to both be purified from sin without a condemning sense of guilt and endure suffering without a stigmatizing sense of shame. That is what it is to be Christlike in a broken world where sin and suffering are both common experiences” (143-144).

This is a perspective I had not heard before, and one that is much needed in the church. We can get so fixated on sanctification as removal of sin that we look for, and often find, evidence of personal sin behind every difficulty in life. And then when people are suffering for unknown reasons or for reasons outside their control, they feel a need to hide it lest others think the worst of them.

In one sense sin is the cause of all suffering, because all of creation was impacted by the sin of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. But not all suffering is directly linked to personal sin. Many of us live with broken bodies, broken hearts, and broken minds. For those who are suffering, it can be hard to know how to relate to others in the church when they all seem to be content with projecting the “Life is good” image. Chronic illness, whether physical or mental, carries an unspoken stigma simply because it has no end, and other people don’t know how to relate to that unchanging need.

I came across this quote from Hudson Taylor, and though he seems to be primarily addressing obedience, it also speaks to the mystery of suffering and the sovereignty of God:

“If God has called you to be really like Jesus in all your spirit, He will draw you into a life of crucifixion and humility, and put on you such demands of obedience that He will not allow you to follow other Christians; and in many ways He will seem to let other good people do things that He will not let you do… So make up your mind that God is an infinite Sovereign, and has a right to do as He pleases with His own, and He may not explain to you a thousand things which may puzzle your reason in His dealings with you.”

There is much that we do not know, cannot understand, and do not enjoy about the way God works in this world and in His people. Faith often means trusting that God will one day make all the darkness disappear in the light of that new day of eternity.

“Behold, I go forward, but He is not there, and backward, but I do not perceive Him; on the left hand when He is working, I do not behold Him; He turns to the right hand, but I do not see Him. But He knows the way that I take; when He has tried me, I shall come out as gold” (Job 23:8-10).

Thursday, September 14, 2023

Worth It All

Last weekend I went hiking with some friends along the Tanawha Trail up to Beacon Heights in between two major thunderstorms. We hiked about three miles and my phone registered 49 flights of stairs. When I was telling someone about it later she commented that hard hikes are worth it if there’s a great view. I showed her one of the pictures below and she said, “Totally worth it!”

It didn’t occur to me till a couple days later that her comments had spiritual significance. There are a lot of times in this life that we’re on a narrow path, going through dark woods, clambering up and down rocks, wondering if the rain will hold off, not knowing how much further we have to go, and wondering if it’s going to be worth it in the end. But for Christians, we have the assurance from the Bible that it will indeed be worth it all. Here are a few of the Scriptures that I turn to frequently:

“For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal” (2 Cor. 4:17-18).

“In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1 Pet. 1:6-7).

“And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you” (1 Pet. 5:10).

In the toils of a lifetime of seventy or eighty years, it can be hard to remember that this life is just a brief moment in light of eternity. Jesus said, “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field” (Matt. 13:44). That eternal kingdom will make every sacrifice, loss, and trial that we face in this life ultimately worthwhile. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, writing on Matthew 5:3, says,

“The kingdom of heaven will come to those who live thoroughly in renunciation and want for Jesus’ sake... They have their treasure well hidden, they have it at the cross. The kingdom of heaven is promised them in visible majesty, and it is already given them in the complete poverty of the cross” (Discipleship, ch. 6).

As we were enjoying the view at Beacon Heights, we talked about the fact that if we can enjoy beautiful views in this broken and marred world, just imagine what eternity will be like. When I think about places I would like to visit but probably won’t see in this life, I figure the new earth will still have similar continents but even better sights to enjoy. What better way to praise God than by enjoying the perfection of His new creation for eternity!

And if today’s enjoyments are small compared to what is to come, how much smaller are today’s sorrows? I admit that’s really hard for me to hold onto at times, especially when it feels like life is heavily weighted with loss, disappointment, anxiety, and discouragement. But even when there are no views to enjoy and the rocks on the trail seem too hard to climb over and the valleys too deep, there is a Shepherd and Guide who walks alongside us all the way. For now I’ll take any glimpses of heaven that I can find.

“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me” (Ps. 23:4).