The Tragic Exchange

Watching the Thanksgiving Day Parade today got me to thinking about why people are so easily infatuated with famous people and consumed with their lives. Why do so many feel the need to know all they can about a particular celebrity or rock star? Why do we seep ourselves in the lives of the rich and famous?


The answer, I believe, is quite simple. We are made to worship and it is our inner craving to do so. And, whether or not we consciously decide it, we will worship something. We will either worship the God who satisfies our desire and is worthy of all our praise; or we will end up like those mentioned in Romans 1:21-25:


"For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him... they became fools and exchanged the glory of God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles... They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator-who is forever praised. Amen."


Tragically, mankind has made a foolish exchange and given up He who is all-glorious, all-beautiful, and all-satisfying; and traded it for the tarnished, ugly image of ourselves or something within the creation instead of the Creator.


And though some won't admit it, we all worship something or someone. We all long to make much of someone, whether it's ourselves, or some superstar. But none of our longings will be fulfilled until we start making much of God and His work on the cross. Only then will we be satisfied.


So, this Thanksgiving, let's make much of God and give all thanks to Him.

Jesus: the God of Contrasts

God is a God of paradoxes. That means that sometimes it seems that He contradicts Himself, when in reality there is a greater truth being shown in these contradictions. Scottish pastor James Stewart put it this way:

"He was the meekest and lowliest of all the sons of men. Yet he spoke of coming on the clouds of heaven with the glory of God. He was so austere that evil spirits and demons cried out in terror at his coming, yet he was so genial and winsome and approachable, that the children loved to play with him and the little ones nestled in his arms. His presence at the innocent gaiety of a village wedding, was like the presence of sunshine. No one was half so kind or compassionate to sinners, yet no one ever spoke such red-hot scorching words about sin.

A bruised reed he would not break. His whole life was love. Yet on one occasion he demanded of the Pharisees, how they were expected to escape the damnation of hell.

He was a dreamer of dreams and a seer of visions, yet for sheer stark realism, he has all of us self-styled realists soundly beaten. He was the servant of all, washing the disciples' feet, yet masterfully he strode into the temple, and the hucksters and moneychangers fell over one another to get away in their mad rush from the fire they saw blazing in his eyes. He saved others, yet at the last, he himself did not save. There is nothing in history like the union of contrasts which confronts us in the gospels; the mystery of Jesus is the mystery of divine personality."

10 Things I'm Thankful for

1. God's wondrously undeserved grace in my life

2. A family that loves the Lord

3. A beautiful and godly girlfriend

4.A Church that's more like family than anything else

5.Friends that are counter-cultural

6. The mentoring of older men and women in the faith

7. Faithful preaching of the Word from men such as John Piper and my pastor, Mike Horner

8.Laughter

9.Music and art

10.The change of seasons (it keeps me from getting bored)

My first post

Ok, so I'm new to the whole blogging world, at least this end of it. That being said, I am more than a little intimidated by the "professional" blogs.

However, I am so grateful that God has blessed us with this useful medium and I hope that He will allow me to use this to encourage other Christians and proclaim His name within the blogosphere.

I intend share my thoughts and experiences of what God is doing in my life for His glory and His alone. My uttermost confidence and faith is in Him and Him alone. All praise be His alone.

What I'm saying and what I will say will sound foolish to those who have never heard, but I promise you, the foolishness that is in Christ is the very wisdom that we all long for and we all need. I pray that you find that foolishness and join with me to become a fool for Christ.