Happy Christian New Year's Day (Life)!

"... All the days of my struggle I will wait until my change comes"  (Job 14:14, NASB).
"... All the days of my service I would wait, till my renewal should come" (Job 14:14, ESV).


The whole pagan world is united in this: celebrate (get drunk and party) the New Year.  They make such a production out of it that it eclipses everything else--even Christians fall prey to temptations.  But what is New Year's Day for the believer?  God doesn't command us to celebrate it and Christians don't believe in partying and getting drunk.  Most people think of it as a time of renewal and commitment.  But Christians can repent anytime and start over with a new life--they don't have to wait till the new year to start over in life.  Jesus is in the business of changing lives permanently!

Ever new beginnings are what the Chrisitan life is all about.  God changes lives over and over and doesn't ever stop changing us till we are in Christ's image--chipping away anything that doesn't resemble Christ.  Whenever the Christian confesses and repents God offers a clean slate--He forgets our past mistakes and sins and we don't have to either.  It's just like Job proclaimed:  I will wait till my renewal comes (cf. Job 14:14).  We can come to terms with God at any time!  In fact, this is the whole point of Christianity and unique to our faith--we don't have to make vows or resolutions but just confess our fault to God and trust Him.  It's not a matter of trying but trusting!  It would be disingenuous to confess to God not accepting a new beginning or intending to let God remold us and fulfill His promises.  Every day is New Year's Day for believers!  Don't wait till the end of the year to take spiritual inventory or make a checkup on your life--this is an ongoing project.

Remember that God is never finished with us and will not give up on us till glory when the work is perfected.  With the believer, it may be said happy new life for God is in the business of changing lives--this is the point!  If you want to live all year and wait to make the changes you want rather than what God wants you aren't living by the Book. We don't have to wait!

This all comes with the package and we signed up for it upon salvation--commitment towards ultimate perfection (what God wants not us--e.g., not dieting but making healthy choices!).  Just like Christians ought always to be in the Christmas spirit, they also ought to have the right attitude towards new beginnings for the Christian. There are really no holidays for the believer; he isn't even obliged to observe the Sabbath!  But we mustn't just our brother on what is holy to him and what his faith is.  For example, Christmas isn't mandatory but believers over the centuries have given in to public pressure and God has worked it out to be a Christian tradition. And so, why wait? because we can celebrate New Year's Day all the time!  In sum, it's always New Year's Eve for the believer--a time of contemplation and decision making and realizing that God does all the work.     Soli Deo Gloria!

To Fathom God

THAT'S A TRICK TITLE BECAUSE NO ONE BUT GOD CAN FATHOM OR COMPREHEND GOD FULLY OR EVER WILL.

Suffering Job was asked:  Canst thou by searching find out God (Job 11:7).  Is your God too small?  It is impossible to figure God out or to peg Him or confine Him to your specs.  People tend to label Him with human descriptions just like Luther told Erasmus:  Your thoughts of God are too human.  God is no Republican, not a member of the Evangelical Right, not a Baptist, not a politician, in fact, we can never label God or fit Him into our group.  God is no respecter of persons and doesn't take sides in our sports games.

Our goal in life is to know Him and to make Him known, which is the essence of our faith.  The person who can really boast is the one who knows the Lord, not the rich, wise, nor mighty one (God is no bully!).  People think of God the way they are and that is why Voltaire said that man created God in his image!  Thales, the first of the Greek philosophers was challenged to describe God.  After three days he admitted he couldn't.  What the skeptic will tell you is that if you can describe God to him maybe he'll believe.  We must come to God in faith and be willing to go where the evidence leads and God convicts us with no conditions.  The point the skeptic will not understand nor accept is that if you want to know what God is like, look at Jesus because He's the very icon and express image of God.

It takes a leap of faith (into the light, not the darkness) but this is the only way to know God and the person must realize it will cost him everything he's got (the ownership of his life and surrender to God's will); however, not believing will cost more (suffering the wrath of God forever).  People who want to know God say they are searching for God but they are searching for the benefits and not the Benefactor.  The only real way to know God is by accepting Him on His terms and by experiencing Him in a daily walk.  We actually begin our search to know God at salvation; it doesn't end there.

People like to put God in a box, like thinking of Him merely Santa, as the man upstairs, the Spirit in the sky, Father Time, the Celestial Policeman or Killjoy,  and even when we see Him as our Heavenly Father we are still putting Him in a box if this is the limit of our knowledge and we only see Him in that capacity, not as our Judge, Ruler, Advocate, or Provider.  Actually, Father is the covenant name for God for Christians and unbelievers have no prerogative to call Him that.  We all long for something and are on a quest for something to satisfy the inner emptiness and vacuum in our soul but just knowing God exists doesn't satisfy, we must have an existential encounter with Him and knowing Him in a relationship--that's why He's called a personal God because He gets personal and is a person we can relate to.

We must learn to think big and outside the box, if we are to know God.  It's not how big our faith is but how big our God--that's why we must strive to know Him for who He is and not have any presuppositions.  Knowing God boggles the mind and blows us away as well as challenges and enlarges the intellect.  God-talk or theological discussion and conversation was the hobby of every seventeenth-century gentleman.  We find out soon enough that God is no vapor, essence, principle, force, nor influence but a person like us and that is why we are in the image of God and of all creatures alone have the capacity to relate to and communicate with God.  God became a man in order that we may have something to relate to and see God with skin on and Jesus is merely perfect God and perfect man in one person.  Even the believer realizes he can never define nor confine God but understands the basic principle:  the finite cannot contain (grasp) the infinite.

The Christian is not excused from knowing about God though this is a prerequisite for knowing Him, he learns to turn knowledge about God into the knowledge of God.  Even the gospels don't attempt to describe Jesus but to make Him known.  The Christian realizes in His walk that it's the loftiest speculation, the mightiest philosophy, the purest ethics, the highest science, the most fulfilling and abundant life.  The believer realizes that he's not presenting a creed but a person and that is the point when one knows Him; it's not a to-do list nor a rulebook, but a gateway to the Way (the Higher life in Christ whereas one has found ultimate fulfillment and a richer life than ever dreamed or imagined).  His goal, according to Richard of Chichester, is to know Christ more clearly, to love Him more dearly and this is done by following Him more nearly (for the essence of the Christian ethic is to follow Christ, i.e., become a disciple)!  Everything we need to know of God is revealed in Jesus as God's icon!   We must realize the wisdom of Plato:  If I want to know how to live in reality, I must know what God is really like.  I say amen to Plato on this!

The keynote of God is love which defines Him.  "God is love."   Those who love and know love know God for God is love.  But if we say we know God and do not obey Him we lie.  The test of our faith and knowledge of God is our obedience (we obey the law of love), not our portfolio or real estate!   We cannot know God by our wisdom and we cannot find nor know Him apart from grace.  The world by wisdom cannot know God!  He must be revealed to us and we must be illuminated and have our spiritual eyes, as well as the eyes of our hearts, opened.  The closer we grow to God the more He infects our minds and fills our thoughts--we find our destiny, purpose, and meaning in Him. But what keeps us humble is that we didn't find God--He found us first and we would never have searched for Him had He not first found us!  He hides and will only be found by diligent searching with one's whole heart, soul, mind, and strength, but he will indeed authenticate Himself to anyone who does search earnestly.

I am not writing from some inside track as if I had a vision or special revelation, I've practiced what I've learned and the more we do that the more we learn and experience with God is the best teacher.  We don't want Him to be nearly a theory or idea!  We acquaint ourselves with God to have inner peace and prosperity.  Spiritual riches are the most fulfilling, not materialistic ones or the love of the things of the world and what it offers.  We will find that the more we get to know God and put it into practice that we will grow in our love for God.  But we must realize that we can even get A's in theology class and not know our God!   It's not a matter of information, for the Bible wasn't written to increase our knowledge but to change lives!  The ultimate result and proof of our relationship and salvation and the whole point is conversion or change.  We never qualify, earn, nor deserve to know Him and can never be good enough, only bad enough to need Him--the qualification is to realize one is unqualified.

We all want an infectious, contagious faith.  Some people try to do things backward--they reform their lives or turn over a new leaf, but the change must come from the inside out for Christ didn't' come to make bad men good (goody-goodies) but to make dead men alive in Christ.  Christians are the ones most alive and living not existing because Christ lives in them. Remember this one thing though, we will never fully understand God's nature (i.e.,  His deity, trinity, sovereignty, glory, and majesty) but will always be humbled throughout all eternity by our increasing knowledge of the Divinity.  God's personhood is a mystery in Jesus for no one will ever figure out the kenosis (emptying of Himself in His incarnation ) nor the dual nature in one personhood of Christ.

Every system of thought or philosophy that doesn't start with Christ is bogus!  He is our beginning and ending! That's why the Bible begins:  "In the beginning God...."   This statement is not just an introduction or opening line, but the essential doctrine to all doctrine and worldview--i.e., we start with God and explain the universe, we don't start with the universe and explain away God!   In sum, God is the perfect Being that is above and beyond anything imaginable and needs no improvement and cannot become anything less--if you knew all about Him you would beg to have a relationship with Him.   Soli Deo Gloria! 

You Cannot Rationalize God...

It's a no-win scenario, an exercise in futility, and will be to no avail trying to argue someone into the kingdom--they have their minds made up and don't want to be confused with the facts.  There's no smoking-gun proof of God (otherwise everyone would believe)--God is only pleased with a leap of faith to know Him. It's not a step into the darkness but into the light!   Evidence in itself is not always conclusive but only one argument for or against a proposition.  What one has to do is to go in the direction of the evidence and believe in the preponderance of the evidence. Many a jury has decided a verdict without all the evidence being in, and even of having no direct evidence but only circumstantial.

But one must be willing to go where the facts lead with an open mind just like in science without presupposition.  If you are not willing to admit even the possibility of God no amount of evidence will convince you. In fact, without God the First Thinker we cannot believe in thought!  First comes the thinker, then the thought, then the object, then the action with the object; thus the link in the chain must begin somewhere. The Bible attributes the First Thought to Jesus ("In the beginning was the Word....").   Infinite regress or passing the buck into eternity (a is caused by b, b is caused by c, c is caused by d, ad infinitum) is impossible and cannot go on forever without some point of the beginning--if there was no beginning there would be no chain according to logic.  We cannot believe in a beginning (Big Bang) without a Beginner!  That's like believing in a bullet being shot from a gun without a shooter.

The maxim goes without saying:  "A man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still."  Jesus had performed many miracles and yet they demanded some sign that they couldn't resist--a biggie miracle. The man of God must not be quarrelsome, contentious, judgmental, divisive, or argumentative!  We seek an open door not to close them--bridges not walls! Let God open them and look for opportunities!  Some discussions will turn into arguments and are not worth the adrenaline and generate more heat than light!  Note:  yet they will not believe, it's not that they can not believe (cf. John 12:37). 

Many philosophers have offered "proofs" of God but these are only arguments that the strengthen the faith of the faithful and soften the ones of the infidel but God still requires faith, not proof--He doesn't need to prove Himself to us.  The Bible never attempts to prove God but assumes Him.  You cannot force a person to believe because it's not a matter of the intellect but of intellectual pride.  They say that the heart of the matter is that it's a matter of the heart!  All in all, we only accept the facts that suit our opinions and there is no one with perfect objectivity.

Did you know that you cannot prove anything!  Try proving the Mona Lisa is beautiful to the ignorant or the sun to the blind man or the harmony of an orchestra to a young person.  Some will deny the beauty of a sunset though this is almost universally accepted.  We believe in the sun, not just because we can see the sun, but we can see everything else!  You cannot prove the rainbow is beautiful to those who know how to debate.  What if they don't like colors or are color blind?  Everything isn't a matter of logic or math where everything is contingent upon one undeniable proposition or self-evident truth.  That's why in the beginning there was logic (the Logos or Jesus known as the Word).  There are two basic assumptions that all knowledge is based upon the law of noncontradiction and the law of causality.  Without these two laws, we couldn't know anything!

The point is that all knowledge is contingent, except God's!  In fact, everything is contingent except God.  We all depend upon something or someone but God!  We must all be willing to accept or believe in something we cannot prove, a presupposition or theory; for instance, evolution is founded upon an unproven and unprovable theory.  It's never a matter of faith versus reason but which set of propositions we are willing to accept. Those who think science has undermined the Bible neither understand the Bible nor science--which is based on the biblical worldview and owes its existence to Christians.  We all have faith!  No one believes in "nothing!"  Just like no one worships "nothing!"  Everyone has a god or God.  If you do not worship the living God, you worship some other god.  We have a choice as to what we choose to place our faith in, though; for instance, secularists have bet the farm on the assumption that science has all the answers.

There are classic "proofs" of God including creation itself because it had to come from something or someone and couldn't have created itself, the existence of purpose (everything seems to have it)--hence a "Purposer," the appearance of design implying a Grand Designer, the existence of beauty needing an Artist, and even the obvious fact that we see order everywhere from sub-atomic to galactic and we know that nothing can be in order without an Orderer,  the existence of cause and effect or causality necessitating a First Cause or causa prima (cosmologically thinking) because infinite regress is impossible (the chain cannot go on forever but must have an origin)--in other words nothing just happens by itself, the moral or character argument that necessitates a Standard of right and wrong and explaining where our values and conscience came from, the most obvious proof of God is the miracle that takes place in the heart of an individual upon finding God and being converted; i.e., changed lives that cannot be denied.

And so there is ample proof for those who want to believe but God isn't going to force Himself on anyone.  There is never enough proof for the hardened in heart, stubborn, and unwilling.  But one can never disbelieve for lack of evidence!  If a person is a sincere searcher of the truth and the answer and willing to accept God and the consequences of knowing Him.  Remember God is no man's debtor and will reveal Himself.  God will authenticate Himself to the earnest searcher as promised.  The problem is that people deny the God they do know and the evidence that they have been aware of and simply choose a life of sin and rebellion against God going their own way and doing their own thing.     Soli Deo Gloria!
    

Do You Know Him?

"Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them" (John 13:17, NIV). 

Salvation is not achieved nor earned but received as God opens one's eyes to the true identity of who Jesus is, as Peter exclaimed:  "Thou art the Messiah, the Son of the Living God."  And the Father had revealed this to him to open his eyes to spiritual truth.  Faith is not in the acquiescence of the identity of Jesus nor of agreeing with church dogma, but in living out this faith and making it real in our hearts as we fall in love with our Lord in a lifelong relationship and experience. There is so-called story faith or head belief and then there's something a few inches lower:  heart belief or acceptance into the heart.

To know Him is to love Him is the old cliche, but this is scriptural since we must follow on to know Him in reality (cf. Hos. 6:3) and Jesus equated knowing Him with salvation. Of course, it goes without saying that to know Him is to love Him.  Not just knowing His identity but accepting its ramifications and to obey Him as He demands. If we love Him, we will obey Him--the only test of faith is obedience though (cf. Heb. 3:18-19).   There is no salvation without obedience.  Faith must be demonstrated by works or otherwise, it is suspect and empty talk.  As James did say that dead faith (without accompanying works) cannot save.  The Reformers taught it plainly: "We are saved by faith alone but not by a faith that is alone."  Faith must be authenticated by works or its spurious and suspect.

We show others that we know Him by our testimony and life witness which should never be jeopardized by sin.  We ought to freely show our faith, not privatizing it, but then again not flaunting it nor wearing it on our sleeve--let God open doors to share your story.  Once you have a story you will be surprised at the opportunities God gives to share it.  This is where faithfulness comes in and faith and faithfulness are the same words in Hebrew which is appropriate. Faith cannot be divorced from faithfulness for the "righteous shall live by their faith" (fulness)--Hab. 2:4. We prove we know Him by living out our faith and sharing it and showing it's not just pie-in-the-sky or wishful thinking but has a common application to everyday, mundane life.   So, what's the gospel according to you?   If we say we know Him and do not obey Him we are lying!

We must know Him in that He is real to us and we recognize and acknowledge His presence:  "He is there, and He is not silent,"  according to Francis Schaeffer.  When we know Him we will see Him in action as "God works in mysterious ways His wonders to perform" (according to hymn writer William Cowper).  Salvation is not only knowing Him but it is an ethic of proving this to others:  We must know Him and make Him known.  The ultimate proof of knowing Him is the miracle of a transformed or changed life--this is the whole point of salvation. Changing lives is Jesus' business!   If there's no fruit there is no faith and good soil always produces fruit! Colossians 1:10 says that we grow or increase in the knowledge of God as we bear fruit in every good work!

It is important that we acknowledge that the important fact of salvation is not that we know Him but that He knows us (cf. Gal. 4:9).  He knew us before the world was even created and this is called "foreknowledge" by theologians and scholars.  For whom He knew, He predestined!  This means that God ordered and arranged the events in our life so that we would get saved!  And for whom He predestined He called (cf. Romans 8:29)!  This means that God individually reached out and wooed us to salvation.  And for whom He called He justified or saved!  And finally, the terminus of the chain of salvation:  For whom He justified He glorified.  This means God sees the whole event as one unbroken and linked chain that cannot be separated.  And it also means no one gets lost in the shuffle; there is no one who was called that didn't get justified and no one justified that didn't get glorified.  In the final analysis, this the ultimate proof of our security in Christ that our salvation is a done deal or a fait accompli.  

Knowing the Lord is more than acquired information or teachings about Him as at an academic level:  We must experience Him and relate to Him on a personal level; i.e., we convert our knowledge about God into the knowledge of God.  When we finally know Him we are not immune from knowing about Him, but we know Him on a level above that.  We are never excused from knowing about Him and becoming believers or disciples entails matriculating in the school of Christ to dedicate one's life to the lifelong pursuit of the knowledge of God and its application.  It's not enough to know; we must apply our knowledge and turn our creeds into deeds!  You can know a lot about God and still not know Him!  In the seventeenth century, it was every gentleman's hobby to be conversant in the Bible and basic holy talk.  Today even in the churches it seems like no one wants to talk about the godly or holy but only to engage in the mundane and secular.

Finally, if we want to boast we should boast in the Lord.  As Paul said, "I venture not to speak but of what  Christ has accomplished through me" (cf. Rom. 15:18).  What hath God wrought?  We praise God for who He is and thank Him for what He has done, is doing and believe He will do.  But Jeremiah 9:24 says that if a man should boast he should boast that he knows the Lord!  This is more to be braggadocious about than riches, wisdom, or strength.  Soli Deo Gloria!   

The Call To Lordship

Lordship salvation has been a matter of debate for decades even among well-meaning evangelicals.  Some maintain that requiring a lordship decision is tantamount to demanding works in exchange for salvation (which is supposed to be a gift of grace).  We can do nothing to earn, deserve, nor pay back our salvation, which is a monergistic (one-sided) enterprise of God not a synergistic or cooperative affair between us and God. Salvation is all God's work and we don't help Him or prepare ourselves for it as Jonah 2:9 says, "Salvation is of the Lord." Jesus Himself demanded the utmost loyalty and surrender in His invitation to follow Him on to know Him (the essence of salvation and its application).  We must make a one-time full surrender (as well as daily renewals) to His will for our lives and be willing to follow on to know Him wherever He leads--this was a well-nigh impossible demand that actually discouraged seekers who were not wholehearted followers but merely curious or simply admirers or wanted the fringe benefits of being a follower without paying the cost--which could be the ultimate sacrifice of laying down one's life for the sake of the Name.

In other words, we must be willing to go wherever He leads and do whatever He demands without reservation--holding naught back.  Anything less is only being a halfhearted disciple.  We must be gung-ho for the Lord and seek Him with our whole heart.  We don't do God any favors by "accepting Him" because we must accept Him for who He is without dividing His offices of Savior and Lord.  We trust as Savior and submit as Lord.   Actually, the terminology of "accepting" Him is unbiblical and only made up to domesticate the gospel call and make it more palatable to the unbeliever.  Jesus never made it easy to become a Christan or disciple (interchangeable terms in Scripture) but actually discouraged some.

We have more of a problem of false disciples with a false assurance that we do with believers who lack assurance.  Assurance is not an automatic fruit and there are degrees of certitude of one's salvation as one matures in Christ.  That's why the only way we can be sure of salvation is to realize it's a sole enterprise of God and we contribute naught. Assurance is a matter of coupling the Word of God with the internal evidence and conviction of the Holy Spirit ("The Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God," cf. Rom 8:16).  If we had to do anything we'd fail!  Lordship, then, is more trusting God through thick and thin and even when the chips are down!  Knowing that if the Lord got you to it, He'll get you through it!

Jesus will not save those He cannot command according to A. W. Tozer!  The command is to repent and follow Him!  We must be obedient for that is the only measure of faith--not emotions, accomplishments, nor success! The mandate is to obey the gospel (cf. Rom. 1:5; 16:26; Acts 6:7; 2 Thess. 1:8).   As Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, "Only he who believes is obedient; only he who is obedient believes."  The two are correlated and cannot be separated as doctrines but only distinguished--they are eternally linked and juxtaposed in Scripture.  Hebrews 3:18-19, HCSB, says, "And who did He swear to that they would not enter His rest, if not those who disobeyed?  So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief."  I want to point out that disobeying God doesn't cancel our salvation but the only ones who obey are believers.  We must obey the gospel to be saved!  But the measure and standard of our faith is its obedience, not its achievements or success, for God doesn't call us to success but to faithfulness according to Mother Teresa (Saint Teresa).

He is Lord of all (Acts 10:36; Rom. 10:12) and we don't make Him Lord, for God made Him both Lord and Christ (Acts 2:36).  God the Father has given Him all authority (cf. Matt. 28:18) and we must do the same and follow suit!  He is Lord and we must obey and submit like the hymn goes, "Trust and obey, for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus...."  If we don't receive Him as our Lord we are rejecting Him; we know Him for who He is! We don't "try Jesus" or give Him a chance to prove Himself; we must take the leap of faith into the light!  There's no other way except by faith!   In short, we must bow to His lordship and be willing to pay the cost of discipleship (for He stressed that we must count the cost!).  He has given His Spirit to those who obey Him (cf. Acts 5:32; Heb. 5:9).  

Jesus simply cannot save us if He is not our Lord and that means Lord of all, not withholding anything back or having any reservations or hesitations to follow Him bearing our cross which pales in comparison to His.  When they ask, "Who's the boss?" we should unreservedly answer that Jesus is the master of our fate and the captain of our soul!  We have surrendered the ownership of our lives to His control and our destiny and future are in His hands!  This is not the gospel in vogue today but it is the biblical one.  It is not easy-believism which is simply an acknowledgment and it is not cheap grace which justifies the sin and not the sinner!    In sum, when we call Him Lord we are admitting that we are His slaves; the point is that everyone is a slave and we only exchange masters from being the slave of sin to being the slave of righteousness!   In fact, the more enslaved to Christ, the freer we really are.  Soli Deo Gloria!

A Little Christmas Spirit

Every Christian should be filled with the Spirit during the holiday season as a witness to our goodwill, charity, and good cheer during the happiest time of year even for the unbeliever who shares in the common grace of God given to all to change hearts.  Yes, God softens the hardest heart and can make it like His own by a work of grace.  Christmas is a bonanza of opportunity to be a Christian witness to the unsaved and to show what our faith really stands for--peace, goodwill toward all.  For we alone know the true meaning of Christmas.   At no other time of year do we hear Christmas carols on the radio and in the stores as a matter of course.  Even infidels would agree that it's the most wonderful and wonder-filled time of the year.  Not to mention:  This season has a way of changing people and making them realize that Christianity does have some substance--it's not all pie-in-the-sky or even religiosity.  And no one wants to be a Scrooge or a Grinch!

Some Christians may even not feel like celebrating the season and believe that since the early church didn't and it's not Scriptural that something about it may be un-Christian.  By the same token, Christians celebrate Thanksgiving not because it's biblical, but because Christians of all people should be examples of owing a debt of gratitude to God and we cannot thank Him enough.  This also is a time to share our Spirit with the unbeliever.  I believe that Thanksgiving had Puritan roots and it had the intention of giving thanks to God.  If there were no God, we would have no reason for the celebration and no one to thank!  It is a time of national recognition of God whether people admit it and realize it or not.  It is one of the days some go to church that otherwise never go and do get the opportunity to hear the real meaning of the season.

Do you have the Christmas spirit? Everyone has their own way of getting into the mood from listening to music to fellowship.  The spirit of Christmas manifests itself in manifold ways.  That's why believers of all people should be examples of good cheer and have the spirit of giving (as Jesus said that it's more blessed to give than to receive).  For we realize that it is in giving that we receive and everyone has something to give--even sacrifice of time and labor if one is destitute.  I wish the season would not just be for the weeks of Advent but the Christian spirit would endure the whole year round--what an open door that would be!  It is not carnal to enjoy or sing secular Christmas songs like enjoying the myth of it as well (e.g., Santa, a white Christmas, the decor of Christmas trees and lights, mistletoe, winter wonderland, stockings, and whatever tradition has wrought).  It's not a sin to be sentimental and enjoy giving and receiving presents as long as one realizes that's not the focus and purpose of the holiday season.

Many families have traditions for the season and even make it quality family time.  There's nothing wrong with tradition as long as it doesn't controvert Scripture, but it must bow to conviction and not take precedence over the spiritual or scriptural--keeping things in perspective! But when we become the slave of tradition or it dictates our choices, there's something amiss.  Every family has a right to have private gatherings and traditions of its own.  As a family affair, it's a miracle to see Christmas through the eyes of a child filled with wonder.

We have to realize that everyone is at a different level spiritually and some people need to just have their hearts softened and to realize that Christianity has something to offer the world.   As long as we do not lose focus on the true meaning of Christmas--that Jesus is the reason for the season!  NB:  Santa, or Saint Nicklaus, was a Christian and cannot help it that such a legend has been concocted about him throughout the centuries.  Would he turn in his grave?

And therefore we should all agree that Christians of all people should have the Christmas spirit and manifest it in whatever way they can.  We need not fear to get sentimental and letting our feelings show, for Christmas is different strokes to different folks.  THEREFORE, SPREAD A LITTLE CHEER, YOU'LL BE ALL THE BETTER WITNESS FOR CHRIST DOING IT AND SOMEONE MAY SEE A GLIMPSE OF CHRIST IN YOU.   In sum, don't be afraid that it's unbiblical to spread a little Christmas cheer to the world as a witness during the time of the open door.     Soli Deo Gloria!  

    

Christian Hedonism

"My goal is to know Him and the power of His resurrection..." (Phil. 3:10, HCSB).   "Wherever your treasure is, there your heart will be also" (Matt. 6:21, NIV).  "You made us for yourself, and our hearts find no peace until they rest in you."  --Saint Augustine of Hippo, Confessions   "There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of every man which only God can fill through His Son, Jesus Christ." --Blaise Pascal  "Christianity has not been tried and found wanting, it has been found difficult and not tried." --Chesterton

Usually, the term hedonist refers to Epicurean philosophy or the naked pursuit of pleasure for its own sake (e.g., "eat, drink and be merry...").   I am following John Piper's lead in applying this to our walk with Christ.  Christ did promise a "more abundant life" (cf. John 10:10)!  Some believers may miss the boat chasing pipedreams or fantasies, even what the world has to offer with all the devil's enticements, not to mention crutches such as supernaturalism, escapism, cynicism, and humanism.  However, the more room for Satan entails that we open the door to our enemy the less room there is for God to fill this void  (e.g., 1 John 2:15, NIV: "Do not love the world or anything in the world...").  There is joy in living for Christ and joy doesn't depend on happenings like happiness does, but cannot be taken away just like our attitude.  Paul commanded in Philippians 4:4 to "rejoice always."  The point is that we will not always get everything we want, but what we need (not so-called "felt-needs").  He knows our needs!

Fulfillment is not in the abundance of our possessions or how many toys we end up with but in the "fewness of our wants!"  God knows us better than we do and is a primary concern is not our happiness, but using us for His glory and will. Jesus said that our "life doesn't consist in the abundance of [our] possessions."  Habakkuk 3:18, HCSB, says:  "[Y]et I will triumph in Yahweh; I will rejoice in the God of my salvation!" [though he virtually lost everything but God!].  The most satisfying life is one lived for Christ and fulfilling one's calling with one's spiritual gifts.  "For you need endurance, so that after you have done God's will, you may receive what was promised" (Heb. 10:36, HCSB).  God will reward us with a heritage:  "I am your shield; your reward will be very great" [or "I am your reward"]  (Gen. 15:1, HCSB)

Some believers see our walk as of walking around on Cloud Nine or Seventh Heaven or on some perpetual religious high, however, eventually God will test our faith, bringing us down to earth.  It's easy to have faith if one is always high, but "God withdrew from Hezekiah in order to test him and to see what was really in his heart [his motives]" (2 Chron. 32:31, NLT).   We are not called to wear our religion on our sleeves nor to parade and flaunt our faith (nor to privatize it either though--per Daniel's example!).  Character is only built through adversity and trial, not spiritual feelings. We can learn to rise above our feelings and be equal to the challenge!   God is more pleased with faith than feeling anyway (cf. Heb. 11:6).  We must learn to walk by faith (cf. 2 Cor. 5:7) than by our feelings which need not to be confused with facts.  The point of feelings is that they follow they don't lead (first comes fact, then faith, then obedience, then feelings).  Pascal pondered:  "If man is not made for God, why is he happy only in God?  If man is made for God, why is he opposed to God?"

The devil likes to catch us on a spiritual high as well as when we are depressed or brood. He knows our weaknesses and vulnerabilities.  "The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation," according to Henry David Thoreau.  Carl Gustav Jung said, "The central neurosis of our time is emptiness...."  Depression or the doldrums aren't necessarily bad but a natural course when God is speaking to us and we need to heed His Word--don't go by feelings!  We note the "downcast" spirit in several psalms:  Psalms 42, 43, and 143, not to mention Nehemiah.  Often people don't know the reason or what is going on spiritually.  Anyone can experience a depressed funk and show one has feelings and it is a pity some have none!  It shows something is wrong and we need to do some soul searching--it's a warning sign or even an omen!  Note that when we are at our weakest Satan will tempt us and we should not "ignorant of his schemes" (2 Cor. 2:11, HCSB).  Sometimes it's good to feel not so good because we realize something is amiss or God is speaking to us.  We all experience trials, troubles, affliction, and adversity and it comes with the territory; but the Chrisitan life is not hard, it's impossible!  We can only live it by God's indwelling power, not the energy of the flesh. We have the power to live in the Spirit!

And in conclusion, Christians seek joy in the Lord and contentment (cf. Phil. 4:13) rather than satisfaction of every whim or fantasy and basic happiness.  Those who chase fantasies are fools. Christians have dignity, purpose, and meaning in life that the secular worldviews cannot offer! We don't live for the hear and now or short term like secularists but in light of eternity; however, one day at a time (cf. Psa. 118:24)!  We're not pleasure-seekers but have learned to find it in God!  We have a different outlook on crisis and adversity:  we see opportunity and possibility in them and room for growth in our walk--that's why no one can steal our attitude!   And the answer to the question, "What's your pleasure?" is to please God doing His will of service with a smile, or practicing and applying everyday, practical holiness!   Soli Deo Gloria!

The Old Humanism

God is not dead, nor doth he sleep."  --Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Humanism isn't a newfangled idea or concept but was an idea concocted or developed by the Greeks in antiquity.  They sought to make man the measure of all things or that everything is related to man and interpreted with him in mind (known as Homo mensura in Greek).  This was promulgated chiefly by Protagoras. The actual roots stem from ancient times (post-diluvian or after the flood aka the deluge) when the people sought to make a name for themselves (cf. Gen. 11:4).  Man has always had trouble with the truth because his pride gets in the way; he tends not to accept the authority of God and seeks to be his own man.  Sin is basically that:  the declaration of independence from God. As it is written (Rom. 1:28, HCSB):  "And because they did not think it worthwhile to acknowledge God...."  In fact, Voltaire went so far as to define God thus:  "Man has created God in his image."  And Sigmund Freud went on to insult God as being a "projection."   

By definition, humanism is the deifying of man and the dethroning of God!  Friedrich Nietzsche proclaimed unashamedly that "God is dead," which meant that He either doesn't exist or is totally irrelevant.  They exalt man and ignore God or make Him irrelevant, even declaring Him dead. What kind of God dies?  But our God refuses to and will not die!  What they are doing is worshiping man, because man is by nature a religious creature that is hard-wired to worship someone or something and never can claim to worship nothing even if he's a self-proclaimed nihilist or atheist.  They are parading themselves and are braggadocious of their own achievements, not God's accomplishment, and in this way are very religious.  John Dewey, who co-wrote Humanist Manifesto [I], in his book Common Faith, posited that we can be "religious" without "religion" or claiming no official or affiliated religion.

It sounds offensive to say, "Glory to man in the highest!"  This is counter-intuitive but is what they are maintaining unawares.  Man is not worthy of worship but man cannot but worship someone or something.  Humanists tend to live in the here and now and refuse to let God into the reckoning.  Without God in the equation, man is without purpose and hope and is empty.  This void or God-shaped vacuum can only be filled by God according to Blaise Pascal!  Sartre said that unless one considers God in the picture, man is a "useless passion."  Christians, on the other hand, live their lives in light of eternity, not just for the mundane and the present circumstances--they can live above them and have hope for the future that lifts the spirit. Augustine of Hippo is known for maintaining that man is restless until he finds his rest in God.

Humanists live for themselves like animals in heat avoiding pain and seeking pleasure.  But Christians live for God and have a higher purpose in living that brings meaning and definition.  They have a destiny to live out and a reason for being.  I want to point out that even Christians can become humanists by letting their pride get in the way and becoming self-centered and selfish and losing track of the will of God, seeking short-term pleasure in life instead of a life defeating evil and the power of sin.   And when Solomon says that there's nothing new under the sun, he's right in that even Adam and Eve were humanists when they ate of the proverbial apple and sought their own wisdom, pleasure, and meaning in life independent of God's will and love.

We must realize that God has a purpose for everyone and Christians realize fulfillment in God only.  God even made the wicked for the day of evil.  When we have served our purpose God may call us home to glory, but we're all here for a purpose that we may not be aware of.   Paul said in Col. 1:16 (MSG):  "...[E]verthing got started in him and finds its purpose in him."  We are all here for a reason and must never say as the old proverb goes:  "Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die" (Cf. 1 Cor. 15:32; Isa. 22:13; Luke 12:19).  Those famous words are in Scripture and man has always been guilty of this kind of thinking.

Julian Huxley wrote Religion without Revelation to point out that we can be good without God and don't need God or believe in absolutes to have ethics or morals.  That's basically what Satan has always tried to convince man since the Garden of Eden:  We can be good without God, or we can be as gods!  This is what's so deceiving of false religions because they may seem good on the outside and people are tricked into thinking that they mean well, but Satan knows how to insert just enough error to be dangerous and inoculate one from the truth and deceive with an element of truth.

In conclusion, we'll never arrive at objective truth (true regardless of whether it's believed and apart from personal input or perspective) unless we start with God in the picture, as Athanasius said, "The only system of thought into which Jesus Christ will fit is the one in which He is the starting point."  We must not begin with man and explain the universe or explain away God, but must begin with God and explain everything else: reality, man, the world with all the academic disciplines, current events, and history.  The Bible starts out with the opening words, "In the beginning God...." for a reason, and it's theological as well as rational.  Even without realizing it or becoming atheists, they are practical atheists are really maintaining:  "Down with God; up with man!"  Au contraire!  The divine viewpoint should be:  "All the world is relative to Christ," according to Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and Carl Henry said, "The Christian belief system is relevant to all of life."  Soli Deo Gloria!

God Is Here

"But no one asks, 'Where is God my Maker, who provides us with songs in the night'" (Job 35:10, HCSB).
"Yes, You are a God who hides Himself..." (Isa. 45:15, HCSB). 
"'I was sought by those who did not ask.'  I was found by those who did not seek Me.  I said:  Here I am, here I am..." (Isa. 65:1, HCSB).
"What can be seen on earth indicates neither the total absence of God nor his manifest presence, but rather the presence of a hidden God."  --Blaise Pascal

Jesus' name is Immanuel or "God with us" as interpreted.  Christian faith can be reduced to knowing Christ and making Him known, done by living for Christ and having a consistent testimony that isn't jeopardized.  We know God well enough to recognize His presence and the moving of the Spirit.  Francis Schaeffer said that Christianity is about the God who is there!  It's not just believing in God, but God in us!  We must believe in God as He is and not as He isn't; i.e., in truth!  There is another Jesus, another gospel, and another Spirit to beware of (cf. 2 Cor. 11:4).  We don't just believe there is a God but believe God!

The point is that God resides in every believer via the presence of the Holy Spirit, and Christ in us is the hope of glory.  We are His heart to spread love, His ears to listen to those in need and troubled, His hands to do His work, His voice to speak up for Him, and His mind to think His thoughts and explain or defend God to the unbeliever.

One prof wrote GODISNOWHERE on the blackboard and asked his students what they saw:  most thought it meant that God is nowhere! It should be:  God is now here!   We see what we want to see or are conditioned to see, and if we have no faith in God we will not believe He is here!  Surely, the presence of the Lord is in this place!  As Francis Schaeffer postulated:  "He is there and He is not silent."  Don't rule God out of the picture, for only He sees the big picture! God is ubiquitous or omnipresent and has no interstellar address!  He literally fills the heavens!  His immensity refers to the fact that all of His attributes are everywhere present, not limited or bound by space or time.  Think of God as dwelling in another dimension in which we are unaware.  But we know He exists because of the things He does just like we know the wind exists by its effects.  This explains William Cowper penning his hymn:  "God works in mysterious ways His wonders to perform."

We need not wonder of God's whereabouts, for He's always as close as the mention of His name--He is no man's debtor and will authenticate Himself to everyone who diligently seeks Him (seek and you will find!). When the skeptic asks, "Where is God?"  Reply, "Where isn't God?"  The believer sees God in all of creation from the sub-atomic to the interstellar with everything in its order and design according to the Designer.

God is both transcendent and immanent!  He is"not far from each one of us" (cf. Acts 17:27), yet He dwells in the heavenly spheres (cf. Isa. 57:15). He is present through the ministry of the Spirit and works in each of us according to His will.  Since God created the time-space continuum, He is not obliged to be limited to it nor defined by it but can suspend its power and act outside its forces.  Christians are more fortunate than contemporary believers who didn't have the resident Holy Spirit and the complete canon of Scripture to be our plumbline.

In summation, we should all be like famed Bro. Lawrence, a French Carmelite monk, who practiced the presence of God even doing the mundane chores of dishwashing and wrote The Practice of the Presence of God, a good-read and classic study in the discipline of one's prayer life.  NB:  "... [A]nd the name of the city from that day on will be: Yahweh [the LORD} is There" (Ezek. 48:35, HCSB). I'll close quoting Francis Schaeffer again:  "He is there and He is not silent."     Soli Deo Gloria! 

The Fatherhood Of God

Adolf Karl Gustaf von Harnack wrote What is Christianity? downsizing the faith to the universal fatherhood of God and the universal brotherhood of man.  This is both right and wrong depending upon the premise.  If we are saying that we are all His offspring as Paul said in Acts 17:28, then we are all fellow brothers (love our fellow man!) and members of the human race and it is true that there is one God who is God of all regardless of faith, but this is not a justification for universalism.  God is our Father as believers and this is the Christian covenant name for God though He was the Father of Israel and urged them to call Him Father as well (cf. Jer. 3:19); however, the Pharisees thought Jesus was presumptuous to call God His Father.  

God is both the Almighty God and our personal Father. NB:  When we call God Father, we are appealing to His authority and position, not His superiority over the other co-equal members of the Triune Godhead, which entails the God the Father as an eternal relationship to God the Son--He always was the eternal Father and didn't become the Father.  In short, addressing the Lord as Father shows respect for His authority, use of a protocol in prayer, a feeling of familiarity and intimacy.

We have special access to His throne room as believer-priests.  We can gain entree via the virtue of the intercession of Christ on our behalf and because we are now legitimate sons of God and members of the royal family of heaven.  Our Father is called the Heavenly Father in Matthew and Jesus taught us to pray to Him with this rubric.  The Jews felt estranged from God and not in a fellowship like we are and addressed Him mainly as LORD God or as Lord. That is still His official title and the covenant name He will be known by (the YHWH, the Tetragrammaton is known as Yahweh) but God has opened the door to us to readily enter on family terms.

Behold what manner of Father we have:  He gave up His one and only Son to suffer and die for us; He is the Author, Planner, and "Purposer" of our salvation; or that creation was from the Father, through the Son, by the Holy Spirit.  He wants us to feel right at home with Him as if He were a human natural father. Because of Christ's intercessory work on our behalf we have the privilege to go right to the top and God always has an open-door policy of quick access.  The parable of the Prodigal Son shows what patience and longsuffering the Father endures for our sakes.  It is true that no matter what we've done, we are still His children and He may chastise us but we will not be disowned as His children.  No one in Scripture is unborn, unadopted, or disinherited from God's family.  Learning from the prodigal son, we find out that God is waiting for us to repent and return to His grace.

God the Father is in the business of remolding us in His image since it was tarnished by the Fall.  What He does is take away everything that doesn't look like Jesus much the way a sculptor removes pieces of marble until it forms the image he so desires--he chips away at everything that doesn't look like the subject!  Sometimes we may have to go through the school of hard knocks but the best way to learn is directly from the Word applied to oneself.  

Note that with humans there is no guarantee that their children will turn out to be regular chips off the old block or as misfits, but with God, we are all guaranteed a future and heritage that won't fade away--a permanent legacy and home with Him.  The story of the gospel could just as well be:  Criminal gets pardoned of a capital crime by the judge who pays his penalty and adopts him as his son to live with him in his house.

We know that we are progressing in our faith when we feel comfortable addressing God as Father.  Some believers have not yet learned to see God in this light, while others only see Him in that manner thus putting God in a box:  He's more than our Father--He's the Judge, the Savior, the Lord, the Author!  He's the one who had the purpose behind it all and planned everything from eternity past!  When we say, "I like to think of God simply as my Father," we are putting Him in a box or labeling Him and restricting our spiritual growth and awareness.  Also, it is erroneous to construe God as a projection of some need for a father-figure, as psychologists would have.

Some people have had a history of experiences with their earthly father and cannot picture God in this manner, in fact, many so-called enemies of the faith have come from broken homes or estranged father-son relationships.  It used to be that Father knew best, but in today's society he is the object of ridicule and satire, parodied, and ends up being the butt of jokes.  This is merely a sad commentary on our time, not a reflection of how good God the Father is.  

It is our society that is sick and sinful not the Bible for portraying God as our heavenly Father.  Parents together stand for God's authority over children in the home and it is sometimes called in loco Dei or "in the place of God."  There is a direct correlation between one's relationship with one's father and how one sees and relates to God the Father, whether there is a reconciliation and healed fellowship or not.  You cannot have an estranged relationship with one's father and claim to be at peace with God the Father.     Soli Deo Gloria!