Here’s my podcast on the things I liked about Athanasius’ On the Incarnation. Check it out!
Two years ago I went to the beach determined that I was going to find a shark’s tooth. I had been to the beach many times before and found cool shells, but never had I found a shark’s tooth. So, the next few days I walked up and down the beach looking for a shark’s tooth. But I didn’t find one.
A whole bunch of thoughts filled my head. Maybe this beach didn’t have shark’s teeth. Just looking at the volume of sand that covered the beach to be searched was overwhelming. What if I would never find one because I was walking on the wrong side or at the wrong angle to see the sun glint off of it? What if I was walking right next to shark’s teeth, but they were six inches under me? How would I ever know?
Then last year I went to the beach again. I still wanted to find that shark’s tooth. But I was at the same beach. The same shell crushed beach that had nothing to find. I kept my eyes to the ground anyway. My brother was also there looking for shark’s teeth and we started to talk about it.
My brother, who has found shark’s teeth before, told me all sorts of things that I needed to know about them. Shark’s teeth are not white, but black. I did not know that. They also tend to be only as big as the shells you find them with. Small shells equal tiny shark’s teeth. I had not been looking for slivers of black. Also, you can see the gum line at the base, so not every pointy black triangle would be a tooth. And they are very shiny.
Armed with this new information I began looking again.
Then, my brother found a shark’s tooth. A real tiny one, but a tooth nonetheless. I tried to burn the image into my brain so I could find one of my own. Especially since I had just walked past it and didn’t even see it.
But now I knew something more. This beach did have shark’s teeth on it. In other words, it was possible to find them at this beach. When I thought that maybe this beach didn’t have them, it was easier to give up.
It reminded me of a computer game of solitaire I used to play. I could not beat the game at the harder levels at all. I would try for hours and then give up. I felt completely defeated. But then it occurred to me that the computer game was designed by a human and not a random shuffle of cards. I’d played physical solitaire games before where the cards were dealt in an order that was impossible to win, but a computer game that is given a rating of hard implies that it is possible to win, only it is hard to do. When we think anything is impossible, we feel justified in giving up, but if we don’t think the game is rigged, then we end up finding a way to beat it.
The question is, do we live in a world where the game of life is rigged against us? If we think it is, we will accept our own failure as the only option we have and we will think we’re right. While other people try the same things we do and succeed, we will categorize them as special, as the ones who can do the impossible or lucky as the ones who the world is not gunning against.
However, our world is not rigged against us. At least not in the way we think. We are not doomed to walk on a toothless beach hoping to find something that does not exist. We live in a world that God has created. He created it so that we could know Him and learn to love Him and those around us. It is true that in one sense the world is rigged because sin never leads to a fulfilled outcome, we are never able to create our own realities, and we will always long for God deep inside. But that is because we live in God’s world. He gives us the freedom to choose good things or bad things. Good things lead to peace, fulfillment, and joy. Bad things lead to frustration, disappointment, and guilt. But life is not rigged. We can choose the former or the latter along with the consequences of those choices. The question is always what are we going to do about it. Are we going to live as if we will never succeed? Or are we going to recognize that this world is our loving Father’s and that He will give us all good things in the right time?
As for me, I still haven’t found a shark’s tooth, but now I know what I am looking for and I know the things I need to do to find one. My first find will happen because I will keep trying. But, for now, I am just enjoying the process of growth needed to become the kind of person who can find shark’s teeth on my own even if the beach is not littered with them. Knowing that I can with determination and work is better than believing I can’t no matter how hard I try.
What about you? Have you ever felt like the world was rigged against you? Were you able to get out of that mindset? Let me know!
This is an important question and it is one that can dangle at the edge of our mind, cropping up here or popping up there when we least expect it. But how can we know if we are saved?
Now, there are several ways of looking at this question. The first is to see salvation as an event that determines destiny and within this way there are two opposing positions. The first is that true a salvation event is fixed. In one moment all sin is taken care of, past, present, future. That is, if God has saved you, then you will never lose your salvation. It has also been referred to as, ‘Once saved, always saved.’ So, it is possible in this view to have been truly saved as a child, to live despicably as a teen and young adult, but to still be preserved as a middle-aged adult. It is also possible in this view for a person to have a seeming experience of salvation as a teen, to live quite saintly during the young adult years, but as an older adult to realize that it had only been a momentary grace from God and to fall away for good. In this view, while it claims to give assurance of salvation, it really does not because there is no way to know if you are currently experiencing God’s momentary grace, where you think you are saved, or whether you truly have His preserving grace. Only the end will seal the destination that God already knew would be. The best this view can say is that all who are to be saved will be saved and if you are in that group, your salvation is assured. But as the future is still unknown to you, you could end up falling away which could be proof that you were never saved in the first place.
The second view of salvation as an event is that salvation is not fixed and can be accepted/rejected multiple times. So, a person who says a prayer as a child is saved, but then can walk away from God as a teen, walk back to God as a young adult, and walk away again after a middle-aged difficult life event, but still return as an elderly person and die saved. However, if the person died during one of the walking away times, it could depend on how far they were and how they acted when they died in order for us to know if they were saved. The plus side of this view is that if you are concerned about your salvation, then you just need to walk toward God. The idea behind this view is not that your salvation can be stolen from you, but it is that while God firmly protects you and your salvation from all outside attack, God still allows you to make your own decisions about whether you want to be with Him or not. So, His hand has firmly fixed your salvation as long as you are willing to stay in His hand, but if you push God’s hand away, then you are no longer as protected as you were. And the longer you resist God, the farther you are going from Him and His protection. A child who accepts God, but then rejects Him for the rest of the child’s life needs to return to God at the end or he will be lost forever.
Both of those views see salvation as an event, a moment, a choice, that forever determines your destiny, but they are not the only ways to view salvation. Another way to view salvation is to see it as an ongoing activity, a life-style, or a state of being. There can definitely be a beginning to an activity of salvation where we are rescued from our past, but there is also a need for us to be rescued, saved in our present. We need to be rescued from trials, from current sins, from the evil designs of others, and eventually from our own physical deterioration. We are needy people. Our day is filled with highs and lows and sometimes events that can shake us. We need Christ to be present and to rescue us from the pitfalls of all those things. We need His strength to get through pain, disappointment, and suffering. We need His guidance to get through our fears, decisions, and frustrations. We need His comfort to get through loss. We need His wisdom to resist temptation. All of those things are part of His salvation.
With this third view of salvation our past sins are taken care of before God, but our lives still depend on salvation to get through the day. It is less about being secure for the final location with little that can be done in the present like the first two views, and more about experiencing salvation on many different levels now. It is not a matter of walking away or of never being saved in the first place, but a reality of being saved right now in this moment. The final salvation of Heaven is included, but it is not all that salvation is good for as in the first two views.
Part of our difficulty with the human existence is that we can do things we don’t want to do. In the areas of sins, many sins are done automatically without our direct permission. This is something that Dallas Willard write about in The Divine Conspiracy. We don’t plan to lie, but only find that we have already lied. We don’t plan to be cruel, but realize we have already been cruel. We don’t plan to cheat, but discover we have already cheated. This is because our bodies have habits of acting in that way in those circumstances and we have to retrain our bodies so they won’t keep acting that way.
If we consider how to rid ourselves of a specific sinful habit, we can exist in that sinful state for a while with God as we are learning what it is and as we are listening to Christ as to what we can do to rid our bodies of the habits we have that make that sin an automatic response. Then as we practice what Christ tells us to do, we can shed those habits and give sin less and less a foothold over us as Christ saves us from the current hold that sin has had. This gradual salvation is for our benefit because we can grow and mature through the process we take with Christ. And yet through it we are also reassured in our relationship with Christ, that He is with us and guiding us and that He will be faithful throughout our whole lifetime and beyond. Instead of salvation being a moment in our lives, it is our daily experience. And because it is our daily experience, we are always assured of the reality Christ’s salvation has given us. It is not a matter of passing or failing in our spiritual lives, but a matter of our direction, progress, and maturity.
Of the three views above, how do you view salvation?
The Explorers
Once upon a time three explorers set out into space in their own crafts. The first explorer set his sights on a single star and used every ounce of his strength and fuel to reach it. The second explorer also set his eyes to a far-off planet, but shortly after he had done so he changed his course to go see a new sight that was much closer. The third explorer did not have any specific direction in mind and so he just drifted wherever the gravities in space pulled him. In the end the third explorer died of old age without having reached anywhere or seen much of anything although he had travelled some ways from Earth. The second explorer travelled from one new sight to the next amazed at all he saw and ended up in a place he had never imagined when he too died of old age. And the first explorer when he too died of old age had never reached the star, but he had gone farther than anyone else had ever gone.
Which of the three explorers had the most desirable journey? Is it better to go with the changes of life and find yourself having seen and done things that you did not plan, but that are satisfying, or is it better to pursue one goal to the very end whether you reach it or not?
The Gift
Once there were two men who were each given their own original rare painting by Leonardo di Vinci. The first man was astonished by the price and rareness of the gift and so he hung the painting in the place of most prominence where he could see it each day and soak in its beauty. He also placed it there so that all who visited him could see it and admire the painting with him. The second man was astonished by the price and rareness of the gift and so he left it in the box he had received it in and wrote the price of the gift on the box so that he could remind himself of how great a debt he owed to the Giver. Whenever anyone mentioned the great gift, he could only remark upon the cost of the painting with deep sadness and sorrow over how much such a gift had cost to be given to him.
The best, most important part of a gift is not the price paid for the gift, but the enjoyment of its use.
Some people can get very motivated by making New Year’s resolutions. There is something wonderful about being able to wipe the failures of the last year away and resolve to create new habits. The New Year is a great time for reflection too. Who we are right now and who do we want to be this time next year? Perhaps you love making lists, or you like setting goals, or even creating better systems for accomplishing goal. All of that is great and I’m the kind of person who can relate to that.
But as you are planning what changes to make in the next year, I’d like you to consider more than just who you will be in the next 365 days, or the next 5 years, or even the next 20 years. I’d like you to think about who you would like to be in 400 years and 4,000 years.
We are all eternal beings. We will continue to exist beyond the day that takes our breath away. God has a reason and purpose for us that will continue forever. But who would you want to be after all those years? And what would you want to do?
Some people (often musicians) make it seem like all heaven will be is an unending worship service and for them it very well could be, but God didn’t just make us to sing or dance. He made us to be responsible and to relate with others. And so, heaven is going to be much more than just music. Jesus is building homes for us so we will have some place to be with just Him and there will be animals and plants that might need to be taken care of. Plus, there are all the people who have come before us and we’re going to have big family dinners that are filled with joy and laughter.
Granted there are some unknowns that we cannot account for because we have limited knowledge of our lives with God after death. But there are somethings that will remain constant. Who we are becoming, who we are with, who God is, what we do with God, and what responsibilities He has now given to us.
What kinds of things would you want to accomplish with God when you have all the time in the world?
For me, I figure there will be a long transition time of getting used to reality, which is why 400 years is a great chunk of time because I’ll probably be past the transition by then. Then there would be a time of learning from God and others, a time of just being with nothing to hurry to do, a time of fellowship that goes down deep into my soul, a time of laughter and joy with others, a time of stillness and silent awe with God, a time of responsibility, and a time of growing character deeper.
By 4,000 years I hope to be intensely involved in multiple projects-several already completed, to engage with others creatively, to study and learn acutely, to play an instrument or three with great competence (haha or maybe 15 by that time), to listen to at least 1/4th of the stories that others there tell of times on earth, to learn new games and participate in things I would have never wanted to try on earth, like deep sea diving, or running barefoot through a prairie, or climbing trees to the very top, or playing with lions, if any of those things are possible. I’m sure after I arrive, I’ll have all sorts of new ideas of things to do, perhaps even greater possibilities than I could imagine now.
But I like imagining some now so I can keep my ultimate goals in view and so I can strengthen the trust in God I have when life seems dark. Because no matter what I do, everything will be done with God right next to me shining as bright as the sun. He is the only reason that heaven will be heaven. Anything I have lost on earth will be abundantly supplied with God and so much so that it will overflow forever.
So, dream a little about this year, but dream a little about the rest of your life too. If you can keep your real end in mind, you can make the kinds of goals that will make you into someone you’ll enjoy being for thousands of years.
What would be one thing you would like to do in the next 400 years? Write me a comment and let me know!
I’ve been trying my hand at a new format and since this is Christmas week I thought I’d share it. It’s based on the articles I wrote on giving and receiving. Enjoy! And I hope you are having a very merry Christmas!
There once was a big city whose leaders did not believe that sewage was a problem. They broke all their pipes and let the sewage spray into the air.
Now there was also a small town two hours away from the city and they prided themselves on their purity and their belief in sewage pipes. They had all their sewage pumped far away and dealt with in a way they believed was proper.
However, this town would also get packages, books, movies, furniture and such from the big city and as the containers carrying all the goods were flown there hanging from a helicopter, they would often be covered in sewage when they arrived. Now, it was the job of five men from the town to meet the helicopter and sort through the goods, cleaning what could be cleaned and throwing away the rest.
These five men worked hard at keeping their town clean and pure, but when they came home their hands would be tainted by the sewage even despite the protective gloves they used. They would try to wash away the grime and stench, but there was always a slight hint that would remain. The rest of the people in the town came to think that these five men were odd and that something was wrong about them and definitely less pure.
It got to the point where the five men were not invited to events and parties because of the work they did and sometimes people would even be afraid to sit next to them least some remnant of sewage would rub off on them. At the next town hall when the five men were again ostracized one of them stood at the front of the room and held up his slightly browned hands.
“These hands are dirty so yours can be clean,” he told them.
While the young ones present did not understand, the elders did and one of them stood, embraced the five men and said, “Our purity is only as pure as these men’s hands since we alone benefit and we are the reason their hands are dirty.”
The Body of Christ is only as pure and clean as the members who do the dirtiest jobs and work. We are all connected and should remember that if we benefit from the warning against something impure it means that someone who also desires to be pure had to see it in order to warn us. We benefit from their loss of purity.
I’ve heard a few sermons lately that speak of Jesus as King. It’s not a concept that we really relate to much. There are very few kings who are king in more than social position, that is they are king in the way a Hollywood star is a star. People pay attention to what they do, they have a certain amount of influence, and they get to do things the rest of the world can only imagine. But Jesus is not like those kings. He became King of kings in an age where the king was the most powerful person in the whole kingdom. The age where kings could kill with their looks or because they got up on the wrong side of the bed. The king was someone to tread lightly around and to mollify as well as could be expected.
Jesus’ reign goes above and beyond the reigns of those kings. He can reverse their decisions. He can enact and empower things they prohibited. He can do all this because He has real power and authority whereas the kings of old only have the power of their armies and intimidations. Jesus can keep alive people that the king would want to kill. Jesus can take away fear of death. Jesus can bring to light the deeds done in the dark. And that barely scratches the surface of all He can do.
Today there really isn’t a good equivalent to a king. To say that Jesus is the President of presidents is a start, but few presidents really have the kind of power that kings had. It would be more like Jesus is the President of presidents, the Supreme Judge of supreme court judges, and the Law Maker of all legislators. He holds all the powers of government in His hands and there is no one and nothing that can check His power, except His own character.
I used to wonder how God was not corrupted by absolute power. After all, John Dalberg-Acton has said that ‘power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.’ Absolute power, especially for the kings of old, was power that was unlimited and unrestrained. God has unlimited power. However, God is not unrestrained. God restrains Himself continually. He is known for His patience. He is known for His grace and mercy. He is known for His love and yet His love does not overwhelm us, it trickles down to us in ways that we can understand and know.
There is a verse in Ps. 62:11-12 that basically says there are two things the author has heard, that God is strong and He is loving rewarding all who serve Him. God’s love is matched by His strength and power. We will never have to worry about God getting up on the wrong side of the bed as long as we are doing what is right. And doing what is right is something we can decide to do. It is easy to serve a King like Jesus and so awesome that we can have access to Him all the time. We don’t have to watch Him from afar, because He is right next to us working and we can work with Him. He is the King of kings, Lord of lords, Ruler of rulers, unmatched in power, wisdom, and glory and yet He sits next to the broken hearted. What a true leader!
Once there was a young boy named Fulton who always wanted to do what was right. While he was in the school cafeteria, he saw a sign that said everyone had to wash their lunch dishes. He asked his friend Will, “Have you ever seen this sign?”
Will gripped his midsection like he normally did and said, “Oh that? You don’t have to do that at all I’ve ignored it my whole life and never had a problem.”
And so, Fulton followed his friend’s advice. The days went by and he noticed that his dishes were covered in crusted food that became moldy and slimy like Will’s were. Then his stomach began to hurt too and his food no longer tasted as good. Across the Cafeteria he saw a girl named Becca that he knew and he watched as she would stick her dishes underneath the tap water when she was finished eating.
He asked why she did that and she said, “There is a sign that says we are to wash our lunch dishes. I don’t have time to completely wash them but it’s just fine if I get them wet and rinse leftover food out.”
Fulton immediately brought his dishes over and swirled water around them. It was quite satisfying to see the old chunks of food disappear down the drain, but not all of them would. A few pieces of old food stuck to the corners and sides like barnacles. He saw another friend pouring soap onto his dishes.
“Why do you do that?” he asked.
“Soap cleans the dishes and coats all the old food so I don’t get sick.” But when Fulton looked at the boy’s dishes there was indeed a layer of soap inside them, but the soap stayed in the dishes.
“Shouldn’t you use water to rinse out the soap?” he asked.
“Oh no,” the boy replied. “I don’t want anything to do with water.”
“But then doesn’t your food taste weird?”
“It did at first, but then I got used to it and now I actually prefer the taste of soapy food. You will too if you try it.”
Fulton did try it, but then his stomach felt weird in a different way. Then he wandered around the cafeteria asking everyone he could how a person was supposed to wash their dishes. Everyone had their own opinions, most were ideas that Fulton had already tried or rejected, like just scrubbing the dishes with the leftover food or licking them clean. He was starting to give up hope that there even was a real answer to his questions when he saw an old man dressed in a faded light blue coverall uniform sweeping up fallen food in the corner. He remembered some of the other children laughing at the man and others warning him of how dangerous the man was because he would force you to do things only his way. But Fulton was desperate and one day he bolstered up his courage when the man was standing near the sign and asked, “Do you see that sign? Do you know how to wash dishes?”
The old man paused and glanced up at the sign. “Why yes,” he said. “I put that sign there so the children wouldn’t eat food on dirty dishes, but most have ignored it or tried to wash their dishes in their own ways and then they blame me when they get sick or when their food tastes bad.”
“So, you know how to wash dishes?” Fulton’s hopes began to rise.
“Of course I do,” the old man chuckled. “I’m the custodian here.”
“Can you teach me?”
“I would love to!”
The old man showed Fulton how to use soap, how to scrub off all the old food, how to rinse with water, and how to dry the dishes so they were ready to be used again. It did take some extra time, but his food always tasted like food and his stomach never hurt or felt weird. Will laughed at him at first, but then when Fulton spoke of how great it was to not live with a hurting stomach, Will started washing his dishes too.
If we are not taught how to do something, then people will make decisions based on their own opinions and if they are wrong, they will suffer consequences. The problem comes when people reject the right way to live life and then do not make the connection between their ideas and the negative consequences they experience. Not all ideas are equal. Just because most people know how to wash a dish properly, does not mean that they have ideas about reality that are consistent with reality.
I have seen well-meaning Christians speak often about issues they see in the Church.[1] How some groups of Christians are erring or supporting things another side sees as evil. Or how some groups participate in traditions or doctrines that are misguided, unbiblical, and subversive. Often these things are said to others in the same group who are considered to be of the same mindset or beliefs and those things are agreed with so readily that it then seems to be true.
I was one of them. It was easy to see the Church as splintered, broken, and weak. My thoughts would be fed by others in my group and there never seemed to be any relief. The more I would focus on the state of the Church the harder it was to see anything else and the more negative my own view would become. Negative thoughts increased negative thoughts and led to feelings of discouragement. But I have decided not to focus on those views of the Church anymore. Part of my discouragement was that I could not fix the whole Church, never mind that it is not my responsibility to fix. However, there was one thing I could fix. I could fix my eyes on something else. I could fix my eyes on Jesus. And when I did, I discovered truths I knew, but weren’t listening to.
This one is obvious. We all know Jesus is the Head of the Church. But what this means is that there is no person on earth who is responsible for the growth and maturity of the whole Church. (Technically, we’re not able to even be responsible for the growth and maturity of those around us. I am responsible for my actions and decisions and that’s it.) Christ is the only One who has that position. No ministry, no Christian leader, and no movement is the primary means of protecting and growing the Church, even though Christ may use some more than others. It is Christ who has His fingers to the pulse of what is needed and how the need should be filled.
2. Jesus is doing things without my knowledge on levels that I cannot see
Jesus knows the things He is doing and so much of what He does is done inside the hearts of others. While it is true that what is on the inside will come out, the inside changes are not always obvious. And it’s not up to me to measure how successful Jesus has been as the Head. While it is true that certain numbers like attendance and involvement in churches are not what they used to be, this does not mean that Jesus’ Church has declined in attendance or involvement at all. It might just mean that now our numbers are a little closer to the numbers Jesus has known all along.
Jesus is also interested in a different measurement of success than the scale we often use to measure. Attendance, baptism, salvation prayers, and prayer requests are tangible ways that we can determine growth, but how can we measure the quality of the fruit of the Spirit? Or how can we measure the depth of growth in the person who was present in church? Or how can we calculate how submitted to Christ a person is? These are things that will matter the more than a high level of attendance ever could. Jesus knows this, He knows how to grow these qualities in us, and He knows how successful He currently is in all those areas and more.
3. Jesus’ Church is listening to and following Him
The goal and direction of the Church may not be what I would hope, but it is not my church, it is Christ’s Church. He will take it to where He wants it to go. He will strengthen those who are following Him and weaken those who are ignoring Him. This may very well include the falling or diminishing of ministries or leaders that I would prefer to uphold, but whom Christ knows to not be listening to Him. Those who are following Him may go in new or odd directions, but that is the way it has always been with those who follow God. Also, it is not important for the follower to gain popularity because Christ is the One who matters most, yet He often does things in secret, like God who sees all things done in secret.
But there are three consequences to my prior way of thinking I hadn’t considered:
Again, it is a little obvious that cults and TV personalities do not equal Christians. Not even the title church or pastor or brother automatically equals a true follower of Christ. However, I don’t have to be frustrated that they are considered part of the Church and I don’t have to draw lines to exclude them. Sometimes the name Christian or church is applied to people who are not those things precisely for the reason that those who are the Church will get a bad name. Whenever media or entertainment misconstrues true Christianity, they do so intentionally. Yet we don’t have to believe that when we are lumped in with others who are given the name of Christian that before God we are seen as being a part of them too. God knows who are real and true and who are following Him. And He is the One that really matters. Now I can trust God’s perspective and ignore the urge to be frustrated by being grouped with those I have no fellowship with.
2. A negative view of the Church is a weak view of Christ’s leadership
This one hurts a little more than I thought, but it’s true. Whenever I would be frustrated at issues or errors I perceived in the Church, I was essentially questioning Christ’s ability to know what He is doing with His own Church. Christ knows those who are His and He knows what He wants the Church to grow into and He is fully capable of doing all that on His own without my two-cents. To speak negatively about the Church is to criticize Christ’s leadership and to second guess His methods, that will ultimately work the way Christ wants them to work in the time that He wants them to work.
3. Christ loves His Church
Even if I don’t like something about the Church, it does not give me a reason to complain about it. (Granted this applies more to opinions or theological preferences rather than to sin which should be confronted for the sake of the Church.) For Christ’s sake, we should love the Church, speaking life of Her and keeping no record of wrongs. If for no other reason than because that is what Christ is doing and He will continue to do whether we are willing to join Him or not. But I can trust that Christ knows all the issues that should be corrected in His Church and that He is taking steps to do just that. Plus, He will do all that in the best possible way with a firm gentleness, a patient kindness, and an unwavering holiness.
How do you view the Church? Do you see Christ as actively involved in everything? Have you ever been overwhelmed by negative views of the Church? Write me a comment and let me know!
[1] I capitalize Church to mean the Body of Christ rather than a church building or a denomination. So in this sense you and I cannot go to Church because the Church is a being that specifically belongs to Christ and not to anyone on earth, rather we are the Church. And sometimes we go to a building we call church.
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