I am not one to minimize the importance of education. This should be obvious by the fact that I am a Bible College student and will be an instructor next year. I believe God gave us each other so we could learn together. What I become concerned about is when Jesus Christ and him crucified is not at the center of our education and discussions about God…
Archive for the Christian Life Category
This is a note I wrote last August which I published on Facebook. I decided I would share it here, as it is something that has become increasingly important to me lately. I have made some small edits to the note.
“Light is sown for the righteous, and joy for the upright in heart. Rejoice in the Lord, O you righteous, and give thanks to his holy name!” Ps. 97:11-12
I am a relatively young person, and there are many who lived more life than I have, but in my 27 years of life, there has been no greater times of joy than when I have been in the service of people, and in the worship of Almighty God. I imagine this is the case for many others. My goal as I continue to be immersed in a community in which I have the opportunity to learn, serve and worship with people from all walks of life, is for my life to be a blessing to those around me.
Just about all who read this post are in different situations. Some spend your time working to pay the bills, the daily routine becomes boring, and sometimes there seems to be no point. Some wish for a more boring life, to slow down and be able to take time to reflect. Regardless of your situation, there is nothing stopping you from serving people and worshipping our God.
This is what we were created for.
This morning I had the privilege of preaching in a small church in Wimborne, Alberta. From the moment I stepped into the building I felt such a warm and welcoming love from the people there that reminded me of why I am pursuing pastoral ministry. I am so glad I am invited back to preach again the last Sunday of June.
Here are some notes from my sermon, which is part one of two on Romans 3:21-26 (as well as other passages in Romans):
Passages like Romans 12 are not to-do lists for someone who wants to become righteous. They are a description of someone who treasures the forgiveness offered by God through Christ…
The human condition is that we fail to make God our highest treasure. The remedy is to treasure God more highly. So, when we read a passage in Scripture that lists off a bunch of good Christian things to do, and we see that we are failing at some or all of them, our response should be, what am I treasuring more highly than God? The issue is not primarily obedience, but the spirit of obedience, which is to treasure God so much, that Romans 12 becomes a description of our lives. This is not to minimize the importance of discipline in the life of a Christian, but we need to recognize that discipline does not bring righteousness. Righteousness is a gift, and when we treasure that gift, our lives will reflect that which we treasure most.
The Lord has heard my plea; the Lord accepts my prayer.” Ps. 6:9
Today is the first day of the lent season. Over the next six weeks, the participation of lent will hopefully bring us into a deeper and more intimate relationship with our Lord, Jesus Christ.
A common challenge I think many of us need to overcome is to move from an intellectual acceptance of Christ as our saviour, to having a real relationship with Christ from which flows the fruits God expects us to produce. My goal over this lent season is to spend time meditating on the promise of God’s presence in my life, and what it means to have an intimate relationship with Christ.
Below are words from O for a Closer Walk with God, which express a desire to have a renewed closeness to God:
O for a closer walk with God,
A calm and heavenly frame,
A light to shine upon the road
That leads me to the Lamb!Where is the blessedness I knew,
When first I saw the Lord?
Where is the soul refreshing view
Of Jesus and His Word?What peaceful hours I once enjoyed!
How sweet their memory still!
But they have left an aching void
The world can never fill.Return, O holy Dove, return,
Sweet messenger of rest!
I hate the sins that made Thee mourn
And drove Thee from my breast.The dearest idol I have known,
Whate’er that idol be
Help me to tear it from Thy throne,
And worship only Thee.So shall my walk be close with God,
Calm and serene my frame;
So purer light shall mark the road
That leads me to the Lamb.
One of the greatest failures of a Christian, I would suggest, is that we have poorly represented the deepest and most important truths that can be known by humanity. As Philip Yancey puts it in his forward to Chesterton’s Orthodoxy, Christian faith is not simply a “bulwark of civilization but rather an expression of the deepest truths about the world” (Waterbrook Press, 2001. p.viii).
Christianity is much more than mere religious practice. It represents the deep truth of who God is in relation to humanity and who humanity is in relation to God. It explains the reason behind our social behaviours and why we have this undeniable need to love and be loved. Most importantly it explains how this need can ultimately be satisfied.
I say we have failed at representing these truths because when I look at myself and the Christian’s around me, I see people who are so concerned about our own place in this world that we have forgotten who and what we represent. We get caught up in seeking social and physical security from the false gods of this world. I don’t believe seeking wealth is wrong, but seeking wealth should come out of a desire to see others prosper above ourselves. I don’t believe seeking social security is wrong, however security should ultimately come from who we are in God, and our relationships should exist in order to benefit those we are in relationship with.
So, here’s my challenge: each day, our goal should be to first claim our position in the Kingdom of God, for that is where our security lies. After that, there is no need to worry about this world providing us with physical and social security, and we can go on to making sure others have the security we have, that is, sharing the Gospel. I don’t mean finding non-believers and telling them about Christ. What I mean is this, and this is the point of my post. Our thoughts, actions and words should demonstrate what it means to be eternally secure in the hands of the Creator. This is the profound truth and can be shared with believers and non-believers alike.
Something I’ve been thinking about lately is this: How can we get kids and youth to want to be involved in church? I know there are people who are much more qualified than I am to offer answers to this question, however I think there is one thing that is true across the board, no matter the culture of the church or age of the members.
When we are trying to get kids and youth to want to come to church, what we are really doing is trying to get them to desire to become a part of the Body of Christ. This requires a different approach than trying to get a kid to want to go to school, or practice piano. Church is not merely a club or organization. The Church is a family, who’s members have the responsibility primarily to love God and love one another.
When we are trying to get our kids to want to be a part of Church life, there is one important thing all of us have the responsibility to do: love them. Whether you are a parent, grandparent, aunt or uncle, pastor or youth leader, sunday school teacher or elder, prayer warrior or maintenance worker, you have a responsibility to make sure the young people are loved! It is only the love within the Body that will keep it’s members unified and passionate about serving one another.
The next time you think to yourself, “I wish the church would do more to attract young people”, think about what YOU can do to attract young people. What you can do is love them. What does that look like? Well, that’s another blog post for another day.
