These are some reflections on attending the recent Voice of the Apostles conference in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. (The web site for the event is here: https://voa2016.com/) There were some consistent themes, as well as some familiar emphases.
What I noticed most was the theme of the importance of having a personal encounter with God. The worship times were wonderful (though a bit louder than they should have been, IMHO). The sessions were never a waste of time (though some went longer than needed, again IMHO). But all in all, I'm glad we went.
I'll summarize a few other key teachings I found helpful first, and then talk about having an encounter. The other thoughts are some of the fruit of a life-style of encounter. If you find those helpful, as I do, they may spur you on to seek a deeper encounter with God yourself.
Tuesday, October 25, 2016
Tuesday, October 11, 2016
Either / Or, or More?
As US citizens look at the upcoming election, we are told, over and over and over again, that there are only two choices: Trump or Clinton and that every other vote is simply throwing a vote away, because no one else has a chance of getting elected.
I'd like to challenge that thinking.
Before I do, let me say to all those who are committed to one candidate or the other, that these are my personal thoughts and I'm not trying to change your mind, so much as asking that you understand mine. Maybe you will change your mind, and I think that could be a good thing for you and me, and possibly our nation.
Secondly, you should not assume that if I restricted my vote to just one candidate that I'd vote for the same candidate you would. I have Christian friends (real ones, not just the Facebook kind) on both sides of this election, and I respect their positions. Which is to say, my inclination to vote for a third party candidate may not rob a vote from the candidate you support.
I'd like to challenge that thinking.
Before I do, let me say to all those who are committed to one candidate or the other, that these are my personal thoughts and I'm not trying to change your mind, so much as asking that you understand mine. Maybe you will change your mind, and I think that could be a good thing for you and me, and possibly our nation.
Secondly, you should not assume that if I restricted my vote to just one candidate that I'd vote for the same candidate you would. I have Christian friends (real ones, not just the Facebook kind) on both sides of this election, and I respect their positions. Which is to say, my inclination to vote for a third party candidate may not rob a vote from the candidate you support.
Tuesday, September 6, 2016
Finding Our Place in the Band
I was reflecting recently on how being a church member is a lot like being a (musical) band member. We have each have our parts to play. We each bring something unique into the mix. Yet we need to fit in with the rest of the band, if what we're bringing is to make any sense and contribute to the overall mission of the local church we belong to. We also contribute by beginning where we are, and growing into, or at least toward the best we can be.
Tuesday, August 16, 2016
Fear of the Lord
Many believers I have talked to are, at least at times, afraid of God. The very idea of appearing before God's judgment someday is terrifying to them. The phrase "the fear of the Lord" or "the fear of God" or similar phrases occur many times in the Bible, which seems to give ground for this attitude.
But should believers be afraid of God? The answer to that is a clear "No." So, what does the Bible mean by "the fear of the Lord"? I'll try to explain this as best as I can below.
But should believers be afraid of God? The answer to that is a clear "No." So, what does the Bible mean by "the fear of the Lord"? I'll try to explain this as best as I can below.
Tuesday, August 9, 2016
As Obedient Children...
As obedient children do not conform the the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance (1Peter 1:14).
When I was preparing a Bible study on this passage recently the phrase "obedient children" jumped out as significant. It's used as if it were the basis for something, namely: non-conformity to our former way of life. So, in trying to formulate an inductive question about that, I thought about alternatives to "obedient children," like "[merely] compliant children," or "slave children."
Obedience is qualitatively different that both compliance and slavery - which is to say nothing about what it is to be God's children.
When I was preparing a Bible study on this passage recently the phrase "obedient children" jumped out as significant. It's used as if it were the basis for something, namely: non-conformity to our former way of life. So, in trying to formulate an inductive question about that, I thought about alternatives to "obedient children," like "[merely] compliant children," or "slave children."
Obedience is qualitatively different that both compliance and slavery - which is to say nothing about what it is to be God's children.
Tuesday, August 2, 2016
What Do You Have in Mind?
When Peter took Jesus aside to rebuke Him for teaching that He would suffer, be rejected by the religious leaders, be killed and then raised after three days (Mark 8:31-32), Jesus rebuked Peter with those famous words "Get behind me Satan! You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns" (Mark 8:33).
Peter's problem was that he was thinking like a human.
Peter's problem was that he was thinking like a human.
Tuesday, July 19, 2016
What's Normal?
I've been thinking recently about something that is probably obvious, once we think about it, but it's not something we would normally think about. It's about what is "normal" for me, or for you.
That word "normal" has the word "norm" in it. It means simply something that conforms to a norm, something that is a rule or a principle. As I write this blog, a style setting for the text I'm writing right now has "Normal" as one option. In this case "Normal" is the standard setting, the other settings are special settings. So, "normal" is whatever is usual and standard. It's not something that deviates from the rules, and/or it's something that's needed, except for special circumstances.
So what does it mean to be a "normal" person? And just as importantly: what does it mean to be the normal you or the normal me?
What I want to get to however, is that our inner life, our thoughts, how we see and understand ourselves are often ruled by an unspoken set of rules and expectations (what's "normal" to us). For some folks the feeling of abandonment, loneliness, worthlessness, anxiety, suspicion, and an entire set of other emotions are what are "normal" for them. If someone grew up in a home where performance dictated acceptance, then doing-things-to-get-accepted rules their inner and probably external lives. If someone grew up in an abusive home, then high walls of self-protection, and/or a desperately low self-esteem is "normal" for them. If someone grew up in a disconnected home, where you were basically on your own most of the time, abandonment and loneliness may be "normal" for you. And so forth.
I just wonder how many folks believe they're perfectly normal, when they're living in a constant state of personal misery. They simply don't know anything else. Like people who live by a busy highway learn to tune out traffic noise, the constant noise of inner anguish becomes just "white noise" in the background of their lives. They are completely unaware that the forces that drive their behavior are rooted in inner poisons--the toxic products of their inner unhealth. I wonder how many of my behaviors are driven that way.
Sometimes people's behaviors baffle me. Sometimes my own behavior baffles me. I guess Paul had the same issue (see Romans 7:15, e.g.). This is what leads me to today's blog. I see too much of people doing their best and yet simply not making it, all the while bewildered as to why. For some it's doing grand things that still don't get them the recognition they crave, for others it's avoiding or denying their own pain, or the pain of others around them, for others it's confusion about why people seem to even like them at all, for still others it's hurt when anyone doesn't seem to like them a lot. Some are by nature pessimistic, others are always optimistic - and they often drive each other crazy!
Among Christian people, there are some for whom being a sinner is not merely an adjective, but a description of what's "normal" for them. For other Christians being a saint is more than an adjective and describes what's "normal" for them. And the two types are very suspicious of each other!
I'm just wondering today about how normal "normal" really is. I'm pretty convinced that my "normal" isn't yours, and yours isn't mine. If we were somehow able to average out "normal" for all people, would that even be normal?
It's no secret that the word translated "repent" in the New Testament (μετάνοια, metanoia), means to change one's mind--perhaps better: to change the way we think. Jesus said that our behavior comes out of our hearts (our inner being, which includes our thought-life). If we change the way we think, if we can change our inner "normal" to something more Christ-like, to something that conforms more to the Holy Spirit within us, and less to our "normal" (see Romans 8:5), our entire lives will change from the inside out.
If I think I'm "normal," I don't think I need to change. Right? However, if we define "normal" as having the mind of Christ (1Corinthians 2:16), then we need to check how our way of thinking lines up with how Christ thinks. We have to decide that if one of us is different, which one of us needs to change. If Christ's thinking is the new norm, and I don't think like Him, then I'm the abnormal one, and I need to change the way I think.
If we want to know how Jesus thinks, we need to read the Gospels. While I'm not Jesus and don't have the same calling He did (I'm not supposed to die for the sins of the world, for example), I am God's son and have a calling to which I want to be faithful--and so do you, sons and daughters of the Most High! What characterizes Jesus, if not compassion, love, a desire to do the Father's will, much time in prayer, an uncompromising approach to false religion, patience with sinners and other "outsiders," a commitment to fulfill His calling, and much, much more.
Jesus was completely confident about who He was: "God's Son in Whom He is well pleased." He knew that nothing could change that. He didn't seek, nor need recognition because He already had His Father's recognition (before His first sermon, or first miracle, we should notice). He didn't seem hurt when others didn't like Him, nor sucked in to become a crowd-pleaser when they did. He was optimistic about humble people, and pessimistic about the powerful. He never denied His pain, nor even His anxiety (a debatable assumption, I'll grant), pouring out sweat like blood in Gethsemane, yet was not controlled by His anxiety as He yielded to His Father completely. He was completely humble (see also Philippians 2:5-8). This paragraph could obviously, go on, and on, and on, and...
I don't know about you, but I want my thoughts to be more like Christ's thoughts.
Father, I want my innermost thoughts to be more and more like Jesus' innermost thoughts. I want to think more like He thinks. I want what is "normal" in me to be more like what is normal in Jesus.
Change my way of thinking, by the power of your Spirit within me, so that I begin to think your thoughts after You. Give me the mind of Christ. Change my way of thinking so that Your thoughts become my thoughts and Your ways become my ways.
For the glory of Jesus. Amen.
That word "normal" has the word "norm" in it. It means simply something that conforms to a norm, something that is a rule or a principle. As I write this blog, a style setting for the text I'm writing right now has "Normal" as one option. In this case "Normal" is the standard setting, the other settings are special settings. So, "normal" is whatever is usual and standard. It's not something that deviates from the rules, and/or it's something that's needed, except for special circumstances.
So what does it mean to be a "normal" person? And just as importantly: what does it mean to be the normal you or the normal me?
We Learn "Normal" from our Past
What seems normal to us has everything to do with how we grew up, what people around us said about others and about us. Whenever someone does not act according to our norms, they feel strange to us--abnormal.What I want to get to however, is that our inner life, our thoughts, how we see and understand ourselves are often ruled by an unspoken set of rules and expectations (what's "normal" to us). For some folks the feeling of abandonment, loneliness, worthlessness, anxiety, suspicion, and an entire set of other emotions are what are "normal" for them. If someone grew up in a home where performance dictated acceptance, then doing-things-to-get-accepted rules their inner and probably external lives. If someone grew up in an abusive home, then high walls of self-protection, and/or a desperately low self-esteem is "normal" for them. If someone grew up in a disconnected home, where you were basically on your own most of the time, abandonment and loneliness may be "normal" for you. And so forth.
I just wonder how many folks believe they're perfectly normal, when they're living in a constant state of personal misery. They simply don't know anything else. Like people who live by a busy highway learn to tune out traffic noise, the constant noise of inner anguish becomes just "white noise" in the background of their lives. They are completely unaware that the forces that drive their behavior are rooted in inner poisons--the toxic products of their inner unhealth. I wonder how many of my behaviors are driven that way.
Sometimes people's behaviors baffle me. Sometimes my own behavior baffles me. I guess Paul had the same issue (see Romans 7:15, e.g.). This is what leads me to today's blog. I see too much of people doing their best and yet simply not making it, all the while bewildered as to why. For some it's doing grand things that still don't get them the recognition they crave, for others it's avoiding or denying their own pain, or the pain of others around them, for others it's confusion about why people seem to even like them at all, for still others it's hurt when anyone doesn't seem to like them a lot. Some are by nature pessimistic, others are always optimistic - and they often drive each other crazy!
Among Christian people, there are some for whom being a sinner is not merely an adjective, but a description of what's "normal" for them. For other Christians being a saint is more than an adjective and describes what's "normal" for them. And the two types are very suspicious of each other!
I'm just wondering today about how normal "normal" really is. I'm pretty convinced that my "normal" isn't yours, and yours isn't mine. If we were somehow able to average out "normal" for all people, would that even be normal?
What if We Found a New "Normal"?
What if I consider my inner loneliness to be abnormal? What if I consider my inner anxiety to be abnormal? What if I consider my inner desperation for recognition to be abnormal? What if I consider my incessant optimism/pessimism to be abnormal? What if I decide my inner life, as a believer in Christ whose mind has been transformed and renewed (Romans 12:2), is not supposed to work like the mind I grew up with?It's no secret that the word translated "repent" in the New Testament (μετάνοια, metanoia), means to change one's mind--perhaps better: to change the way we think. Jesus said that our behavior comes out of our hearts (our inner being, which includes our thought-life). If we change the way we think, if we can change our inner "normal" to something more Christ-like, to something that conforms more to the Holy Spirit within us, and less to our "normal" (see Romans 8:5), our entire lives will change from the inside out.
If I think I'm "normal," I don't think I need to change. Right? However, if we define "normal" as having the mind of Christ (1Corinthians 2:16), then we need to check how our way of thinking lines up with how Christ thinks. We have to decide that if one of us is different, which one of us needs to change. If Christ's thinking is the new norm, and I don't think like Him, then I'm the abnormal one, and I need to change the way I think.
If we want to know how Jesus thinks, we need to read the Gospels. While I'm not Jesus and don't have the same calling He did (I'm not supposed to die for the sins of the world, for example), I am God's son and have a calling to which I want to be faithful--and so do you, sons and daughters of the Most High! What characterizes Jesus, if not compassion, love, a desire to do the Father's will, much time in prayer, an uncompromising approach to false religion, patience with sinners and other "outsiders," a commitment to fulfill His calling, and much, much more.
Jesus was completely confident about who He was: "God's Son in Whom He is well pleased." He knew that nothing could change that. He didn't seek, nor need recognition because He already had His Father's recognition (before His first sermon, or first miracle, we should notice). He didn't seem hurt when others didn't like Him, nor sucked in to become a crowd-pleaser when they did. He was optimistic about humble people, and pessimistic about the powerful. He never denied His pain, nor even His anxiety (a debatable assumption, I'll grant), pouring out sweat like blood in Gethsemane, yet was not controlled by His anxiety as He yielded to His Father completely. He was completely humble (see also Philippians 2:5-8). This paragraph could obviously, go on, and on, and on, and...
Give Me the Mind of Christ
I don't know about you, but I want my thoughts to be more like Christ's thoughts.
Father, I want my innermost thoughts to be more and more like Jesus' innermost thoughts. I want to think more like He thinks. I want what is "normal" in me to be more like what is normal in Jesus.
Change my way of thinking, by the power of your Spirit within me, so that I begin to think your thoughts after You. Give me the mind of Christ. Change my way of thinking so that Your thoughts become my thoughts and Your ways become my ways.
For the glory of Jesus. Amen.
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