Something To Look Forward To

People sometimes say a specific thing keeps them going--keeps them excited about life or gives them something to look forward to. Often that is the next vacation or the next academic degree they will get, or the next career move/promotion or something related to a child's accomplishment. But what if those things might not be doable due to age or money or other reasons?

One thing that never gets old is learning about God and the Bible. The fact that the Bible is so large can be overwhelming, but it also has the blessing of having so much to read and learn about.

Due to our human nature, it's easy to feel we have read it all already or at least get the gist of the Bible and not want to do much more. But when we do sit down to read parts of it, it often fills us with comfort or makes us wonder more about life and how to really love others, or can help put us back in the right mindset.

There's also a lot of commentaries or recorded sermons that can help us understand parts we have questions about, or even ones that seem simple--a commentary can sometimes add another interesting point--like how it relates to other places in Scripture.

Two Hard Sayings in the Bible

People often find it hard to say what appears in the Bible: "I am a sinner" and "The world is fallen."

One way to help accept this biblical truth is to have the other part of the story next to it. For example: "I am a sinner, but the Holy Spirit is with me, helping me, and Christ has forgiven my sins, so there is still hope." And: "The world is fallen, but there is common grace, and given the beauty I see now in that, how even more beautiful everything will be in the future!"

If we don't admit these two truths, it can be easy to fall into perfectionism and a judgmental attitude either towards ourselves or others. We need to accept that life will be hard, and that human nature just tends to be impatient and unwise at times, but we have a Father that desires for our wellbeing and loves us for who we are in Him.

It is too Difficult

At times a point is raised in casual Christian discussion about if the bible teaches this or that. Often someone will object, but "it is too difficult," or, "we cannot know what it means."

Is it too hard to understand or are we avoiding the issue? If it seems that the bible may say something can we really excuse ourselves after a minute of contemplation saying the task cannot be understood. Or are we just offering an excuse to avoid the issue at hand.

Or is the teaching really too difficult to live out? If God has taught that we should live a teaching out God has given us resources to live the teaching out.

Maybe we cannot understand the teaching or feel we cannot live the teaching because we have not spent enough time. The bible is blessedly inconvenience.

I say blessedly because the bible is not satisfied with "good enough ethics" or a "not being a bother to society ethic." The bible is an active power.

God knows we will fail and loves us unconditionally, but God asks us to follow Jesus. Wherever Jesus leads us we will follow.

When God called Jonah to Nineveh it was a blessed inconvenience to save many souls. Sometimes we simply need to trust that God's wisdom is above our wisdom.

If we disagree with God it is not that God is wrong, but rather that we are limited. Even if we intend well we lack the vantage point to see God's wisdom.

Inerrancy is Comprehensive

Many pastors have a great concern with inerrancy. The doctrine is very important, but is of very little practical use without an insistence on comprehensiveness in exposing scripture.

With the great amount of topical preaching done in the current day having a pastor with a doctrine of inerrancy is of little practical use to his congregation if the pastor avoids teaching on many topics in scripture. It is rarely stated in a crass way by the pastor that he does not wish to preach on a topic in scripture, but many pastors have certain topics they refuse in practice to preach on.

I once heard a high profile preacher who preached an entire sermon series on inerrancy and faithfulness to scripture proudly state that he has and never will preach a sermon on giving. It is difficult to reconcile his great passion for inerrancy in scripture with his objection to preaching the fullness of scripture.

Many pastors in the current day live in this state. They insist upon the inerrancy and usefulness of all scripture while trying to hide many elements of scripture away from view.

I find one of the best ways to judge the orthodoxy of a pastor or theologian is to look at what they refuse to or never speak on. It is easy to say all the right things when a pastor or theologian picks and chooses the topics to speak on.

But what is unsaid is often where orthodoxy is made or broken. A pastor may claim to hold a "high view of scripture" but that high view is only so high as the pastor's concern to practically model that all scripture is useful.

It seems that the focus of pastors would be better to focus on a comprehensive view of scripture. An insistence on comprehensive view of scripture coupled with an inerrant view of scripture is of far greater use than simply a concern with inerrancy.

Taking the Bible Seriously

I have had a number of conversations where in Christian circles where I have brought up the concept of Christian liberty. The concept that unity in small matters is more important than arguing the finest hairs of truth is found throughout scripture.

Almost immediately there comes an objection. The idea brings in relativity. We will keep arguing every tiny detail, because we who are we to decide what is important or not.

At times the attempted piety of persons is an excuse to not take the bible seriously. The bible calls us to seek wisdom. To actually think and make decisions.

The bible calls us to wisdom. It does not call us to mindlessly refuse to decide what is important. The bible calls us to think and discern as image bearers of God.

The bible is not a call to a mindless life of acting as if every thing is of the same importance. We cannot be faithful to scripture if we refuse to seek wisdom.

We are not seeking wisdom if we do not take seriously what the bible takes seriously. The call to unity in the church requires that we seek wisdom.

Of course truth is important. It takes no wisdom to see this. It takes wisdom to see how unity and truth relate. And how not all truth is worth fighting over.

We cannot piously reject the teaching of scripture. And refuse to incorporate concepts into our thought that scripture teaches.

Why Experts get No Listeners

I was recently reading a really excellent article by an economist lately which was far better than most economic articles I've read. I was struck as a realized the article was probably far less read than most of the prevalent economic drivel on the Internet.

I realized that the issue was that the article was too instructive. We want quick fixes. We want to know is the market going up tomorrow or not. We want to know how to make money.

We aren't really interested as a group in underlying economic currents and really understanding. All human action is motivated action.

And as humans our shortsightedness draws us away from a acquisition of knowledge and wisdom. Often we need to slow down in life.

The path to true knowledge in most fields is long and hard. The short cut to "easy answers" in life often gives us know answers.

Often we never learn because we do not have the humility to admit that learning takes time. We imagine we may sit down in and afternoon and master a topic.

True learning takes time, humility, and patience. There are no short cuts. No quick solutions.

We meet ourselves when we seek to learn. Our impatience, our shortsightedness, and our pride.

The great failure of mankind is learners is because the bible is right about the nature of man. The bible does not paint a pleasant picture of the nature of mankind, but it paints an honest picture.

And to that honest picture the bible gives a glorious solution of a the free offer of grace for all who will come to Jesus.

Issues in Marriage

I've seen a number of articles recently on issues in marriage. They have often gone to scriptural texts, but often the wrong texts.

I usually do not like to point out wrong approaches, but I'm including a link as I personally do not wish to recap the common approach.

http://www.desiringgod.org/blog/posts/my-spouse-doesn-t-enjoy-sex

Fundamentally the issue with Christian marriage counseling currently is that it deals with symptoms rather than causes. Advice on issues in the sex life of married Christians is dealt with by Christian teaching on sex in marriage.

While the Bible's teaching is true and relevant the issue for most married Christians is rarely a failure understand the Bible's teaching on sex.

More often is is a lack of understanding the Bible's teaching on what Christian love looks like. Or failure to understand Christian rest. Or failure to have grace on others failures or failure to forgive. Or failure to take responsibility.

The issue with the approach is not that it is wrong, but it is becoming a one sized fits all solution. It is a solution which may be right in some cases, but more often the issue lies elsewhere in the foundations of a relationship.

We need the whole teaching of scripture in regard to issues, not a one sized fits all solution. That is why the Bible's teaching on interaction in marriage goes far past this one text.

The Bible never presents a once sized fits all solution. So why should the church?

The Importance of How

We live in a world that evaluates results and does not like to ask questions of how people got where they got.  Often in life we are presented with choices of how to get places.

Sometimes success requires sacrifices of one sort or another.  In life how we get to where we get is always more important in God's eyes than where we get.

Sometimes in faith we can fail to reach an accomplishment because we weigh the cost of the accomplishment rightly.  It is often the case than many successful careers have destroyed families and marriages.

Often we need to look at life in total and not isolation.  Being available 24/7 while it might be good for a career might not be good for a family.  Often we have to find contentment in what we have.

The feeling that the grass is always greener on the other side is often illusory.  Sometimes the grass is greener, but often life is a complex series of trade offs.

Seeking success too strongly in one sphere of life may destroy all other spheres.  The bible always reminds us to judge rightly and not by the worlds standards.

How we get to where we get and the cost it takes to get there are not unimportant in God's eyes. Always we need to judge true success by God's standards and not mans.

Come as You Are

The bible bids us to come to God. It is easy to make excuses, but God wishes for us to come to himself.

The church should actively seek to bring the good news of the Christian gospel to others. Too often we are hesitant wondering if we are eloquent or what we have to say.

It is God who moves mountains and not ourselves. God has many things for us to do in life if we will be open to the possibilities. Often we quench the Spirit by doubting that God can use us.

It is easy to feel that the problems of the world are too big. If we look at the news and we see the problems in this or that country and all over the world, it is all to much.

We become paralyzed looking at the thousands of problems which present themselves to us in the world. But the reality is that if we pick one problem and begin to work on the problem we can make a difference.

It is often important to be realistic. Often we accomplish nothing because we take on goals which are beyond are ability.

We should aim to make a difference and have the humility to make a small difference rather than to fail at making a huge difference. Our faithfulness in making a small difference in the world can step by step help advance the kingdom of God in the world.

The Bible and Debt

The bible always teaches us to be wary of debt. Our culture often promotes a view that buying now and paying later is normal. In a sense buying on credit is normal in our culture.

The issue of course is that something being normal does not equate to it being good. The bible teaches about being wary of debt because we are spending future income (which may or may not be what we expect) for present gratification.

Debt has destroyed the lives of many people. The bible does not ever absolutely condemn debt but asks us to think. It asks us to think if our inclinations of what we need and want are really so good for us.

The bible's teaching on debt, like many of the bible's teachings, are to protect our happiness. We have a tendency as fallen people to value pleasure in the moment far above the long term costs of our decisions. We often suffer from a shortsightedness which is why the bible teaches us to be wary of debt.

Faithful Implications in Theology

It is easy in theology to understand the thrust of scripture and then to begin to see implications the bible does not see. The bible is very clear in its teaching and often qualifies statements.

As Christians it is easy to often grasp the thrust of the teaching and to miss all the nuance. We may see that God is love and thus forget that God has a righteous anger. We see the concept of love and begin to play it out in a way which makes love and righteous anger incompatible.

The examples of these sorts of issues is profoundly large in scale. It is often that a preacher will grasp the thrust of a biblical text but take the implications too far. Most theological errors of minor and serious degree take truths in scripture and begin to take the implications far past where scripture takes the implications and at times to the point of denying other principles in scripture (although it is rarely stated so crassly).

In theology we can often most easily notice an error in a system when we see certain elements become so absolutized they seem to push other elements taught in scripture out.

Good theology by nature of the discipline is an attempted approximation of the teachings of God through his inspired writers as found in the old and new testaments. To the degree that theology fails to approximate scripture or even worse contradicts scripture it is to that degree that the theology fails.

True Friendship

Friendship in the deepest sense requires an interest in the well being of the other. It places us in the odd situation of desiring the well being of the other even if it means we will see far less of the friend.

We can find that at times our friends seem resentful of good things which place some distance in our relationship. In a sense these friendships fall far short of ideal. The friendship is placed above the mutual good of those in the friendship.

It is a strange dynamic but the best friendships are those where the friends place the happiness of their friend above the friendship. Many shallow friendships tend to place the friendship over the happiness of each other.

You see the difference is that in the shallow friendships each person is searching for happiness on their own. In a deeper friendship each friend is searching for their own happiness and the happiness of the other in the friendship.

You often see that joy is more complete when we have a bit less desire in finding it for ourselves. We should desire to have joy and happiness, but if we do not desire it for others often our joy and happiness is incomplete.

It is as if an essential element of joy and happiness to be truly full is that we actively seek the joy and happiness of others. It is of course what one would expect from the bible.

The bible describes the law of God as sweet and pleasant. Love for God is a joy presented in the bible and the Christian walk as a easy burden compared to living in sin.

You see we often doubt the bible's correctness on these issues. How can the law of God and worship of God make my life better? We are often tempted to think this way.

We act as if God doesn't know us better than we know ourselves. The other fact is that we place individuality to such a degree that we cannot imagine religion and many of the laws fitting into that mold.

Of course if we tried out the bible we often find that its way is better. But it often takes time. Sin tends to look for good in the moment at the expense of the future. The bible always protects human happiness in the long term against shortsightedness.

When we meet the bible and we feel the bible is wrong it is usually just a matter of time if we keep an open mind before we see the wisdom of the bible.

Seasons of Change

As much as we may love routine or how things are in our life or plans now, change seems to always sneak into our lives. People move, new technologies change the way tasks are done, jobs responsibilities or opportunities change, and many other things.

There are times in life when there is very little change, and other times when it seems like change happens way more than we want for months on end.

It's at times of unexpected change that faith is of great help to us. We often don't know why things are changing, but we know that God has a good plan for us. We know that he will give us the strength and will love us still at the times when we feel weak.

Whether it's a time of change in your life or not, now is a good time to soak in the meaning of the Bible, of what Christ's work means and how God has a good plan for his children and will be with them. That will help prepare for times of transition but also helps in times of transitions.

Often transition takes up large amounts of time and thought, and having already really learned about God and our relation to him can be in the back of our mind or there in quick moments in between tasks, and is a comfort to us.

The more we study and truly learn God's Word, the more we'll feel a confidence that God will always love us and allow things to happen for our overall good.

This reminds me that God never changes. However much we feel life around us is shifting and changing, we know that God is still the same God he was yesterday. And if we truly know God, we know that is a great thing.

Bible Reading: Are Read-It-In-a-Year Plans Wise?

There are many "read through the Bible in a year" Bible reading plans available for free, but have you ever been able to follow one for more than two weeks? A month? Some people do, and it might work for them. But it's important to not pressure ourselves to follow a set plan when it comes to the Bible.

For instance, during a day's reading, there may be a passage that you find you really need to think about. If you do, you may miss the time allotted for finishing the rest of the chapters listed for that day. If this happens enough times, you're stuck with feeling the need to read a large number of chapters in a row, in order to catch up on previous days' assignments in the Bible reading plan.

The Bible is the Word of God. When we read it, we should aim to really listen to what it has to say--to really think about it and try to understand it, and that can take time.

We should also be sincere instead of forcing ourselves. As children of God, we will desire at times to read his Word. A plan may force us into doing something we really don't want to do at that moment.

It doesn't need to be a race to get through it as fast as we can. We may hear someone say how they read the Bible in a year and desire to do that because it sounds wonderful. But honestly what's most important for us in reading the Bible is being sincere and ready to think and listen. That includes openness to it taking as much time as needed.

Human Nature

The nature of humanity is fallen and corrupt.  I believe this is one of the most scientifically verifiable claims in the bible.  And yet social science and social thinkers often deny the fact.

I suppose we do not like what the bible has to say about the condition of mankind.  So we create theories of this or that type to explain the actions of people.  There is truth to many of the theories which suggests how people head wrong, but it misses the ultimate point that the bible is right about the nature of man.

Man is inherently selfish and fallen.  If you educate a person to act well and live well in society it does not change the fact of their nature.  In fact some of the worst influences on society come from people who are completely well behaved and law abiding.

You see the nature of man expresses itself constantly against God.  Man is against God because man wants things his way.  We want to be the king of the universe rather than admit that God is the king of the universe.

It is why the bible at times says that God is in the heavens laughing.  You see we are so foolish at times to think we can dictate to God the way things are or should be.

Man always wants to think well of himself, his actions, and intentions.  The evidence in life suggest that mankind is a sinful race, but we would like to ignore the fact.  It is always this or that which is the problem.  Once this or that is fixed we will all see that man is inherently good.

But you see this or that was never the problem.  The problem is always that mankind has rebelled against the Lord of Heaven and earth and needs to be reunited to God in fellowship.

The solution is not hard.  God has done basically all the work.  All we have to do is accept that we need help and turn to God in faith.

Knock and the door will be answered.  Maybe why faith is so hard is because it is so easy.  It is humbling to accept that such a huge problem has such a simple solution.  But it mirrors the issue that started the mess.  Man would not take God at his word and now God asks man to take God at his word.

Spirit and Truth in Debate and Life

We often find in discourse that people will wish to win an argument by a trick question or by bringing quotations out of context to win an argument.  It is as if getting the "right result" is more important than the method by which the result is obtained.

I am convinced that we cannot seek to follow God and not care about the methods by which arguments are won.  I believe that any dispute won by deception or guile or shortcuts is usually a battle which is lost.

The truth shines in the light.  If we cannot win a dispute taking the high road and acting in spirit and truth than the battle is not worth winning.

It is often that arguments are won in Christian circles by people misquoting scripture.  They bring certain texts out of context because it seems to conveniently prove their point.  If they brought in texts which really deal with the issue it becomes too muddied and their "win" is more difficult.

You see the bible had great nuance.  And many situations in the bible require wisdom.  That is why pulling definitive texts which do not apply to the situation at hand is so detrimental.

The bible does not give easy answers to many questions.  We are a people who love quick fixes and easy answers.  We don't like situations where the answer after much thought requires thought and wisdom and may be opposed to the general conscious of the current day.

We do not like any areas where there is greyness.  Everything is so black and white.  That is the way the bible is of course we think.  But the reality is that often in the bible men acting in faith did not know what to do.

If everything is always so clear there would be no need for the constant call of the bible to wisdom.  There is very much which exists in a very clear cut ethical state.  But there are also many things where it is difficult to know what is right.

Too often the church jumps in and tries to impose clear cut answers without thought on people who are in situations which require much thought.  We are often far too confident in ourselves and far too eager to try to solve problems which will take far more thought and prayer to solve than we are willing to devote.

We fail to solve many problems because we are so set in our ways that we are not open to the solution at times.

To Not Take Credit

The bible tells us to seek what is good and noble.  Often it is important to seek these things for their own worth.  If is easy to seek these things for the wrong reasons.

It is easy to do good things if they are for our benefit.  It is good press to be seen doing good things in public or mention in public all the good we have done.

It is not that it is important that others never see us do good works.  The reality is that often good works will be seen.  What is important is our spirit.  Do we do the good works because we seek to please God or do we do them because we want to impress people.

I suppose a simple test is if our first reaction when we do something good that few people know about is to go and tell others.  You see often it is the case that the people who do the least good spend the most time telling others about the few good things they have done.

Motive is always important in theological ethics.  God looks at the heart and judges actions in part by motive.

This is why the bible often tells us to do good in secret and not before men.  It is not that our good works should never be seen, but that we should desire to do good works unto God and not before people.

In the end we should care what God thinks and not what people think.  If the whole world views us as foolish but God sees us as righteous than what does the world's view matter.  You see this repeated in the bible.  The world thought Noah was foolish, but not God, and at times the whole world doubted Moses.

You see in the end only one opinion matters and that is of the Lord of Heaven and earth.  All other opinions matter only in relation to that one opinion.  Of course that is not a call to a standoffish attitude.  But rather a call to realize that we may at times be doing what is right and everyone may see us as foolish.

God Gives Direction

The Bible frequently speaks of God as a still small voice. Amid the hustle and bustle of life we often never hear God. It is not that God does not try to speak, but we often are not looking to listen.

God has a great deal to say to us in scripture and often speaks to us through fellow creatures. It is often that we do not hear God because we do not listen.

Of course there are many times we earnestly seek God's will and do not find the answers. You see sometimes God requires patience of us. If we were given all the answers we would not need to learn patience through trust.

You see it takes faith to listen for the still small voice of God in whatever form it comes. And faith to accept that sometimes God leaves us for a time without the answers to questions we wish we knew.

Often we wonder why certain things happened in life. Sometimes we learn the answers to the questions and sometimes we do not. You see although we cannot find the answer for why this or that has happened and it is difficult for us we need to still have faith in the goodness of God.

God looks at our lives from the perspective of eternity. He knows far more about what we need than we do. It is his divine wisdom by which he shows us answers or hides answers from us.

God loves us and we often are tempted to think that he does not at times. We never get past faith in life. It is not a sign of a weak faith that there are times of doubt. A weak faith doubts more easily than a strong faith, but many of the great heroes of the Bible doubted.

God knows we doubt and cares for us. Life can be a struggle, but God is for us even when we find life and faith difficult.

Liberty in the Christian Life

The bible offers a great deal of latitude and liberty in the Christian life. The bible does have many specifics, but often you find Jesus opposed to an over zealous application of the specifics.

There is always wisdom needed in life. Situations in life are often complex. There are not easy answers to many problems. One size fits all solutions often fail.

That is why the bible constantly calls us to love. We are to love God and love our neighbor. In the unclear of situations our principle is love.

Love has a great patience, but it can also have an aggressive or adversarial edge. You see love at time forces us to act. You see that true love at time needs to take a stand.

Love also does not insist on it's own way. We might prefer certain things in the the church be this way or that way, but we cannot insist on preference or infringe upon the liberty of others because certain things displease us.

Often in life there are things others do which we think are wrong or shortsighted or maybe a bit non-ideal. But these things fall in the realm of liberty. We cannot ever take a strong stand against that which falls in the realm of liberty even if it seems shortsighted or wrong.

If we take a stand against folly which is permitted in liberty we fall into the even graver error of legalism. Liberty allows what is not always pleasing to oneself but is permitted in the bible. Legalism insists on its own way. It insists on essentials the bible does not insist on.

Legalism seeks for a higher ethic than God desires. It is a theology which has little sense of true importance and is undesirable.

We always need to try to make important what the bible sees as important and have liberty where the bible sees liberty. We need to try to make the emphasis of the bible our own.

Post: True Christian Liberty

An Overarching Grasp

Often our tendency in reading the bible is to read a few verses and carefully think about them.  I have come to think that reading a large number of verses with less thought is preferable.

It is not that digging into a few verses is wrong.  The approach has a lot of benefit, but the approach fails to let us get a grasp of a chunk of the bible in a sitting.

It has the tendency to allow large scale theological holes to remain because we do not get a sense of the contents of the bible.  To illustrate my point the teaching of Jesus for example in the gospels is often critically misunderstood.

First, there is the misunderstanding about the teaching of Jesus by many that he was not concerned with heaven and hell and his Deity.  All through the gospels this is emphasised repeatedly.  It is at the core of his teaching, and much of his teaching of the poor and ethics  flows from his Deity.

Second, many people miss how radically concerned Jesus is with the poor and systems that oppress the poor.  This is also a large scale concern in the Old Testament, and frequently Israel's troubles with God were for failing to take care of the poor and the widow.  It is frequent to find people who miss this aspect of Jesus' work.

Also surprising to many people is the massive amount of teaching Jesus has on money.  Many people simply are unaware Jesus has anything to say about money.

It is common among bible readers in the church to be biblically illiterate in that they are unaware of many of the important themes in the bible.  The issue is often that they spend large amounts of time on a few verses and miss the overarching themes repeated throughout books in the bible.

Preaching from the pulpit where one or two verses are exposited often is to blame for this tendency in membership.  Often a pastor will do a ten week sermon series on a set of verses and then move on to another sermon series.

This approach in preaching is dangerous because it becomes easy for pastors to decide what is important.  In a span of a year with maybe five to ten sermon series it is quite easy if the pastor is not careful for the church to have heard a relatively small amount of the themes which the bible repeatedly expresses.

Sometimes less is more, but often in the church the study of scripture has become so focused that the bible is poorly covered.  Larger chunks of text faithfully covered will often be of more service to many churches.