Matthew 21:22 says, "If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer." Verses like these which are meant to encourage genuine faith often leads into a vert dangerous way of thinking. When our prayers seem ineffective, we begin to question whether we had ‘enough’ faith. This leads us to think that if we just work up a little more faith, then God would answer our prayers. The fundamental problem here is that we shift our attention from God, who is the object of faith, to faith itself. We turn faith into a work, thinking that prayer will only be effective if we know how the system works. We can’t create faith for ourselves; it’s is a gift of God. However, our faith will be strengthened by setting our eyes on God himself. We must see God as a loving Father, and we must trust him to give us the faith we need to pray rightly. We must have a bigger view of God than someone who will only work for us if we get things right. He’s the one working in us and enabling us to get things right. And even if we don’t have the proper faith, God is not bound. Nothing prohibits him from answering the prayers of selfish and doubting saints. He often does exactly this with me in order to show me his love, power, and freedom. Prayer is not the key to a machine to get what you want, it’s the key to a loving relationship where God where we can freely come to God and freely be blessed by him.
Friday, February 22, 2013
Sunday, February 17, 2013
How We Love God
The main question I want to answer is this: How do we love God? If the greatest commandment is to love God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength, then we ought to have a really clear idea of what loving God looks like. I believe this is where having fellow humans (especially brothers and sisters in Christ) becomes more essential than we often think.
In Matthew's depiction of the final judgment, the reason believers receive salvation is because of their love and service toward the saints, which Christ equates to loving and serving himself (Matt 25:31-40). I believe that truly loving fellow humans is at the heart of loving God and growing in a love for God.
1 John 1:12 poses a dilemma. "No one has ever seen God." While it's not impossible to find ways to love a God whom you've never seen (e.g. prayer, Bible reading, meditation), it's not at all easy. This is why God gives us family and friends. Loving one another is like a crutch, or a significant handicap, aiding us in our love and devotion to God and allowing us to live more faithfully. In other words, I believe the first and greatest commandment is largely fulfilled by faithfulness to the second commandment. While solitary devotion to God through prayer and reading the word are essential, the act of loving other people is also a huge means by which we love God. For this reason John says, "No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us" (1 John 4:12). It's through the love we share with other humans that God abides in us and perfects his love in us.
So don't undermine the value of human relationships. If you want to express your love to God and expand your love for God, your interactions with other people are essential. After all, you aren't truly loving God if your spending all of your time being a jerk toward other people. "Whoever loves God must also love his brother" (1 John 4:21).
Also, God uses your family, friends, classmates, roommates, and fellow church members not just to express your love to him, but to expand your love for him. I've spent hours reading, studying, and memorizing the book of 1 John. But the moment I was moved to tears by realizing God's love for me was when I was holding a 6 week old baby. All I could think about was how much I would do to keep that baby safe from harm and make sure he had everything he needed. When the realization came that God loves me even more than I cared for that child, I hit the breaking point. The love we feel toward others teaches us about the love that God has for us. When we allow ourselves to grow closer to others, to feel more deeply toward them, and to care for them in a more significant way, we are not separating ourselves from God by drawing closer to another. Rather we are drawing closer to God by expanding our hearts for him and for others.
In Matthew's depiction of the final judgment, the reason believers receive salvation is because of their love and service toward the saints, which Christ equates to loving and serving himself (Matt 25:31-40). I believe that truly loving fellow humans is at the heart of loving God and growing in a love for God.
1 John 1:12 poses a dilemma. "No one has ever seen God." While it's not impossible to find ways to love a God whom you've never seen (e.g. prayer, Bible reading, meditation), it's not at all easy. This is why God gives us family and friends. Loving one another is like a crutch, or a significant handicap, aiding us in our love and devotion to God and allowing us to live more faithfully. In other words, I believe the first and greatest commandment is largely fulfilled by faithfulness to the second commandment. While solitary devotion to God through prayer and reading the word are essential, the act of loving other people is also a huge means by which we love God. For this reason John says, "No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us" (1 John 4:12). It's through the love we share with other humans that God abides in us and perfects his love in us.
So don't undermine the value of human relationships. If you want to express your love to God and expand your love for God, your interactions with other people are essential. After all, you aren't truly loving God if your spending all of your time being a jerk toward other people. "Whoever loves God must also love his brother" (1 John 4:21).
Also, God uses your family, friends, classmates, roommates, and fellow church members not just to express your love to him, but to expand your love for him. I've spent hours reading, studying, and memorizing the book of 1 John. But the moment I was moved to tears by realizing God's love for me was when I was holding a 6 week old baby. All I could think about was how much I would do to keep that baby safe from harm and make sure he had everything he needed. When the realization came that God loves me even more than I cared for that child, I hit the breaking point. The love we feel toward others teaches us about the love that God has for us. When we allow ourselves to grow closer to others, to feel more deeply toward them, and to care for them in a more significant way, we are not separating ourselves from God by drawing closer to another. Rather we are drawing closer to God by expanding our hearts for him and for others.
Saturday, February 16, 2013
Resurrection
When thinking about the resurrection from the dead, we need to strike a balance between what we can know and what we can't.
Many theologians who teach the resurrection from the dead rightly emphasize the fact that we will have bodies in the new heavens and the new earth. We will not be floaty spirits which are finally set free from the material world. Material things are not inherently bad, and so our body is just waiting for the physical (and the spiritual) to be redeemed and re-made.
Although we can affirm that we will have bodies, we will eat, work, and do other physical things, there are still many things we don't know about our future resurrection. What indeed will we be? Will we be just like we are now with a few modifications and a remission of our defects? Paul actually answers people who come to him with this very question (cf 1 Cor 15:35). He describes our bodies as a seed that is sown. We must die (be buried) and be raised. The difference between the seed that is sown (your body) and the plant that it grows into (your resurrected body) is extraordinary. Paul says, "And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel" (1 Cor 15:37). In some regards, what we will be in the resurrection is completely different. It's not perishable, dishonorable, or mortal, rather it's imperishable, glorious, and immortal. But there's only so much we can know, for as John says, "what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is" (1 Jn 3:2).
While continuing to affirm what we do know (we'll have imperishable bodies, not just spirits), we can continue to wonder and marvel at what our resurrected bodies might be like. Indeed, the difference between a seed and the tree it grows into is very great. Be ready for an incredible future. Be prepared to be raised in power and glory. Be ready to see Christ as he is and to become as he is.
Here's the main point: Although your resurrected body will not be the same as the body you have now, it will still be yours and it will still be a body.
Many theologians who teach the resurrection from the dead rightly emphasize the fact that we will have bodies in the new heavens and the new earth. We will not be floaty spirits which are finally set free from the material world. Material things are not inherently bad, and so our body is just waiting for the physical (and the spiritual) to be redeemed and re-made.
Although we can affirm that we will have bodies, we will eat, work, and do other physical things, there are still many things we don't know about our future resurrection. What indeed will we be? Will we be just like we are now with a few modifications and a remission of our defects? Paul actually answers people who come to him with this very question (cf 1 Cor 15:35). He describes our bodies as a seed that is sown. We must die (be buried) and be raised. The difference between the seed that is sown (your body) and the plant that it grows into (your resurrected body) is extraordinary. Paul says, "And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel" (1 Cor 15:37). In some regards, what we will be in the resurrection is completely different. It's not perishable, dishonorable, or mortal, rather it's imperishable, glorious, and immortal. But there's only so much we can know, for as John says, "what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is" (1 Jn 3:2).
While continuing to affirm what we do know (we'll have imperishable bodies, not just spirits), we can continue to wonder and marvel at what our resurrected bodies might be like. Indeed, the difference between a seed and the tree it grows into is very great. Be ready for an incredible future. Be prepared to be raised in power and glory. Be ready to see Christ as he is and to become as he is.
Here's the main point: Although your resurrected body will not be the same as the body you have now, it will still be yours and it will still be a body.
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