Happy belated Bloggiversary to me!

Yes, why yes, can you believe it?!?!?! It's already been a year, lalalalalala..

And I have decided that even though my blogging is completely erratic, I quite enjoy the discipline of having to think about my thoughts and having the opportunity to read about the later, so let the blogging continue :)

PS to those of you who have me on their blogreader.. I have now realized why multiple copies of the same blog might appear in your reader, so I humbly apologize and will 'STOPPIT!'!

PPS And Merry belated Christmas! But yay, every day is like Christmas when you only live because of Jesus' birth, death and resurrection!

"I am strong...

because the Lord Almighty is my God" :)

That's a really cool verse I read somewhere but I can't find again :( Maybe because I'm remembering incorrectly? But if you find it, please reference! I think it was a prophet somewhere in the O. T.

Faith is..

Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. (Hebrews 11:1)

Faith is, in the end, a kind of homesickness - for a home we have never visited but have never once stopped longing for. (Philip Yancey, Disappointment with God, 1988:276)

Interesting.

God converts, [Part II]

and heck, don't we know it!

I was reading Matthews chptrs 1-3 today and I was laughing at how ridiculous it all seemed. Rationally it doesn't make sense at all: whoever heard of prophetic dreams, talking angels, virgin births, flying donkeys... ?!?! But if we were able to figure it all out rationally, us realizing that Jesus IS God wouldn't be grace.. It'd be work.

It brings this passage to mind:

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written:
"I will destroy the wisdom of the wise;
the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate."

Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. (1 Corinthians 1:18-21)

So if you're talking to friends and family about Jesus, keep on keeping on and don't get frustrated that your words aren't convincing them. It is our job merely to present the truth, and then God will do the real work in His own good time.

PS There aren't really any flying donkeys in Matthew... Maybe in Shrek. No, you're right: Shrek ISN'T in the Bible. I kinda just thought it'd be funny. It isn't? You should go look for your sense of humour then!

God converts,

not me.

But this is something I had been forgetting in many of my chats with my non-Christian friends. There are two people in particular that I often walk away frustrated from because sometimes I can't answer their arguments, and at other times when I do, they just seem to refuse to accept it.

However, I was reminded of God's irreplaceable role in evangelism when a visiting preacher at our church used a Bible verse to show that the Bible is God's Word. "Hold on," I asked him afterwards, "isn't that a bit of a circular argument?!?!?!? If I wanted to start a cult and wrote a book, of course I would say it's the Word of God!"

To my complete surprise, the minister agreed. But then he pointed out that that's why God has to change your heart to see that the Bible is really His word. This is not saying that we need to throw out our brains- even though the argument for the authority of the Bible might be circular ("The Bible is the Word of God because it says it is the Word of God"), there are many intersections it makes with the real world, and it does stand up to rational investigation. However, this doesn't mean that rational arguments will convince anyone - it is the work of God to ultimately convince.

For those who are now getting worried about the authority of the Bible being based on a circular argument, another minister I asked this same question pointed out that there are many other things in life based on circular arguments. (Which didn't really comfort me that much more). But then he added that you can then check out other claims that the Bible makes e.g. internal consistency - the OT prophecies certain claims which the NT records as having been fulfilled etc.

Now I'm tired of typing, so you (i.e. The Sultan of Sound, quite possibly my one and only reader) can come up with some more.

PS I'm trying to think of other circular arguments and thought that love might be a good example? You should believe I love you because I say I love you. But then this is observable in tangible forms e.g. the way I treat you. Make sense? Not so much?

Living

So it's been a crazy few months since I last blogged, and one of these reasons is 'cause a very dear friend of mine went in for a much-needed liver transplant. Now my casual mention of this should not deceive you into thinking that this is an ordinary I'm-just-going-to-pop-into-the-shops-for-milk-quickly kinda event. It is indeed what they call A Big Deal. [Praise God, the operation went smoothly and he is now recovering at home. Albeit with a little bit of cabin fever.] [For those unfamiliar with that term, no need to worry: cabin fever isn't a terminal illness ;)]

Anyway, having someone so close to me come so close to death, has really made me think about the role God plays right now in running this world. As I read various bits and pieces of the Bible, I came to realize that in my head I had this picture that God had created the world, and now it kinda runs with momentum from that one moment.

Wrong!

The Bible makes it very clear that the world can not run at all without God's power!

for example:

[Christ] is before all things, and in him all things hold together. (Colossians 1:17)

When I learned that my friend had to go on to a lung machine on and off throughout the day just to be able to breathe, a function we take for granted, I realized that my friend actually had the amazing opportunity to realize how weak and fragile our bodies are. And quite often we are tempted to think that we will be fine with our modern technology and medicines, but that's actually quite arrogant! As the writer of Psalm 3 wrote:

I lie down and sleep; I wake again, because the LORD sustains me.

I woke up the other morning and really got it for the first time: the only reason I didn't pass away during the night was cause God was sustaining me! And that meant that He had something for me to do that day :) How amazing! So let's not live our lives as if every day is our last (as though that day could be taken away from us) but rather as if every day is our first - as though that day were specially given to us :)

Change, change, change

Sometimes I really get frustrated with people who aren't showing any signs of being convicted by the gospel of Jesus and who aren't changing in ways that my eyes can perceive. Then I was reminded of two awesome ...umm, for lack of a better word... reminders.
[I don't know who to reference for these - I stole them from a friend's Facebook note :)]

1. Give people time to change
I think there are some tensions and questions here, but we need to give people time to change. How long did it take for you to become perfectly like Jesus? Of course, you’re still changing. There are some sins we’re prepared to work on over a lifetime, but there are others where we demand instant change. Why is this? The answer, of course, is that we want them to become respectable. We don’t want a messy community. So we say, ‘You’re saved by faith, but to become part of the church (e.g. to be baptised) you need to change your life.’ So which is it? Are we saved by works or are we saved by works?

2. Focus on the heart
What’s your agenda for change? All too often we focus on behaviour. We can list the behaviours we would like someone to stop or start. But Jesus says our behaviour comes from the heart (Mark 7:20-23). Our focus needs to be on the heart. Our job is to help people love God and treasure Christ. In Philippians 1 Paul says the aim of his ministry among them is their joy (1:25-26). He wants them to find joy in Christ – only then will people turn from the pleasures of sin. I do need to describe a life that pleases God. But my job is not to go round telling people to reform their lives or change their behaviour. My job is help people find joy in Christ.