Some rather extraordinary pictures have been brought to my attention recently and I thought I would share them with you.
The first set is a ghostly combination of the Russian town of Leningrad.
The second set are pictures of realistic paintings found on city streets.
I highly recommend checking these out.
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Friday, February 27, 2009
The Mystery of God
When I think about God, I often think of the mysteries that surround Him. How can God be loving and just? How can Jesus be both God and man? Why would the righteous choose to suffere for the unrighteous? And how can God both be three and one?
I love thinking about these mysteries. It assures me that God is truly bigger than my understanding. It is necessary that God be incomprehensible for if He could be understood by his creatures, then they would be greater than He is.
Evelyn Underhill said it this way: "If God were small enough to be understood, He would not be big enough to be worshiped."
Now, that being said, there are at least two things we must avoid when thinking about the mysteries of God.
First, just because these things are mysterious does not mean they are without explanation. There is NOT ONE mystery that can't be explained. Incomprehensible does not equal unexplainable. When we accept these apparent contradictions of God, we are not saying that we believe something that is illogical. Rather, we are trusting in God, whose logic transcends our own.
"How is this different?" you might ask. Well, realizing that paradoxes are not flawed logic, but instead superior logic, means that we will not accept something that contradicts what we do know about God. For instance, if we believed that these mysteries were in fact contradictions of reality or Himself then we could accept that certain sins are both right and wrong or that God is both holy and just as well as being lowly and easy-going with sin.
And this leads me to my second point. We should understand that though there is a great deal about God we don't know (we will never know all about God), there are things He has revealed and new revelations will never contradict old ones. But they might change the perspective.
The greatest example of this is the mystery of Jesus Christ. Before Jesus came to earth, God promised a Messiah. Even as far back as the first sin in the Garden of Eden, God promised that he would send a Redeemer (Gen. 3:15). But as the years went forward, no one knew what this Messiah would be like or anything apart from what was said in the prophecies and even that was misinterpreted.
For all people before Christ, His coming was a mystery. That is what Paul called it in Romans 16:25. But when Paul uses the word musterion from which we get the word mystery, he is not at all implying that we still don't understand how, when or why Christ has come. That has now been revealed (1 Peter 1:20-21). But that revelation in no way contradicted what we knew of God before. Rather, it enhanced it. Through Christ the mysteries of the forgiveness of sins and salvation by faith alone were revealed.
And so it is with all mysteries of God. As we learn more about God, it will never contradict what is clearly stated about God in the Bible, but it might change how we view Him. I encourage you to enjoy the mystery of Christ today.
I love thinking about these mysteries. It assures me that God is truly bigger than my understanding. It is necessary that God be incomprehensible for if He could be understood by his creatures, then they would be greater than He is.
Evelyn Underhill said it this way: "If God were small enough to be understood, He would not be big enough to be worshiped."
Now, that being said, there are at least two things we must avoid when thinking about the mysteries of God.
First, just because these things are mysterious does not mean they are without explanation. There is NOT ONE mystery that can't be explained. Incomprehensible does not equal unexplainable. When we accept these apparent contradictions of God, we are not saying that we believe something that is illogical. Rather, we are trusting in God, whose logic transcends our own.
"How is this different?" you might ask. Well, realizing that paradoxes are not flawed logic, but instead superior logic, means that we will not accept something that contradicts what we do know about God. For instance, if we believed that these mysteries were in fact contradictions of reality or Himself then we could accept that certain sins are both right and wrong or that God is both holy and just as well as being lowly and easy-going with sin.
And this leads me to my second point. We should understand that though there is a great deal about God we don't know (we will never know all about God), there are things He has revealed and new revelations will never contradict old ones. But they might change the perspective.
The greatest example of this is the mystery of Jesus Christ. Before Jesus came to earth, God promised a Messiah. Even as far back as the first sin in the Garden of Eden, God promised that he would send a Redeemer (Gen. 3:15). But as the years went forward, no one knew what this Messiah would be like or anything apart from what was said in the prophecies and even that was misinterpreted.
For all people before Christ, His coming was a mystery. That is what Paul called it in Romans 16:25. But when Paul uses the word musterion from which we get the word mystery, he is not at all implying that we still don't understand how, when or why Christ has come. That has now been revealed (1 Peter 1:20-21). But that revelation in no way contradicted what we knew of God before. Rather, it enhanced it. Through Christ the mysteries of the forgiveness of sins and salvation by faith alone were revealed.
And so it is with all mysteries of God. As we learn more about God, it will never contradict what is clearly stated about God in the Bible, but it might change how we view Him. I encourage you to enjoy the mystery of Christ today.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Sacrifice
A dear friend sent me this quote from David Livingstone:
"Can that be called a sacrifice which is simply paid back as a small part of a great debt owing to our God, which we can never repay? Is that a sacrifice which brings its own blest reward in healthful activity, the consciousness of doing good, peace of mind, and a bright hope of a glorious destiny hereafter? Away with the word in such a view, and with such a thought! It is emphatically no sacrifice. Say rather it is a privilege." - David Livingston, in a last will and testament to college men commissioning them to Africa.
Pondering this, I pray that I would not consider the small areas that I suffer and am discomforted as a sacrifice, but a privilege. It is only my pride that would consider these things as sacrificial. For when we consider something as a sacrifice we focus on ourselves and what we are doing. Instead, when we give our lives as a sacrifice, our focus should be shifted to our Savior. For, what sacrifice could I ever make to compare with that of my Savior?
When I consider His greater sacrifice, I can only consider it a privilege to suffer with Him and for Him.
"Can that be called a sacrifice which is simply paid back as a small part of a great debt owing to our God, which we can never repay? Is that a sacrifice which brings its own blest reward in healthful activity, the consciousness of doing good, peace of mind, and a bright hope of a glorious destiny hereafter? Away with the word in such a view, and with such a thought! It is emphatically no sacrifice. Say rather it is a privilege." - David Livingston, in a last will and testament to college men commissioning them to Africa.
Pondering this, I pray that I would not consider the small areas that I suffer and am discomforted as a sacrifice, but a privilege. It is only my pride that would consider these things as sacrificial. For when we consider something as a sacrifice we focus on ourselves and what we are doing. Instead, when we give our lives as a sacrifice, our focus should be shifted to our Savior. For, what sacrifice could I ever make to compare with that of my Savior?
When I consider His greater sacrifice, I can only consider it a privilege to suffer with Him and for Him.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Anger
Jonathan Dodson has a helpful article on anger, which I know is a struggle for many Christians.
Saturday, February 14, 2009
My One True Love
On this day of the year, in which we celebrate love in a romantic sense, I want to proclaim my love for my Savior. This love transcends all other loves and consumes my life. I would be nothing without God's work in my life. He has taken me from death and brought me into life. I love Him because He first loved me. And I owe all to Him.
Thank You God for loving me.
Thank You God for loving me.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Happy Birthday, Honest Abe!
Today is the 200th birthday of our nation's greatest president (at least, in the minds of many.) He led us through the Civil War and emancipated the slaves. And he ended up dying as a result. I thank God for blessing us with such a president (despite his flaws!). Happy birthday President Lincoln.
John Piper gives his thoughts.
Love Vs. Fear
(This is my fourth post in my series on fear.)
The Language of the Bible
What is Fear?
New Post Series on Fear
My basketball coach in elementary school, Dan Wentworth who was also a pastor once said "Hate is not the opposite of love. Fear is." Though I am not certain that I agree that fear and love are complete opposites, there is a definite correlation. In fact, 1 John 4:18:
"There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love."
But to examine the idea further, I want to look to the Bible's definition of love which is most clearly stated in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 and look at it's relation to fear.
Love is patient. Fear is anxious. It worries about what is going to happen, what might go wrong and what others might think. It focuses on its own inadequacy and not the other person.
Love is kind. Fear can be hurtful and is too focused on itself and the problems that it faces to consider others.
Love is not jealous. Jealousy is wanting what someone else has, often as a result of a fear of not being as good as someone else. And, in relationships, jealousy for the other person's attention may be out of a fear of losing them.
Love does not brag. Fear will boast of itself lest others think little of them.
Love is not arrogant. Fear, and especially worry, is self-centered and only concerned with its own welfare.
Love does not act unbecomingly. Fear can cause people to do wild and strange things. And, if one fears looking "uncool", they may do many things to change that.
Love does not seek its own. Fear seeks its own safety and welfare.
Love is not provoked. Those who fear others' opinions may get defensive and angry easily.
Love does not take into account wrong suffered. Fear worries that if they do not deal with the wrong done them, it will not be dealt with.
Love does not rejoice in unrighteousness. Fear does not rejoice in anything, lest it be caught off guard.
Love rejoices with the truth. Fear contradicts the truth or distorts it.
Love bears all things. Fear worries that the weight will crush it.
Love hopes all things. Fear has no hope.
Love believes all things. Fear can't believe that which might cause it to look foolish or cause it lose control of itself.
Love endures all things. Fear worries that over time it might buckle under the pressure.
Love never fails. Fear always succeeds.
Love is an attribute of God (1 John 4:7). Fear is not.
The Language of the Bible
What is Fear?
New Post Series on Fear
My basketball coach in elementary school, Dan Wentworth who was also a pastor once said "Hate is not the opposite of love. Fear is." Though I am not certain that I agree that fear and love are complete opposites, there is a definite correlation. In fact, 1 John 4:18:
"There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love."
But to examine the idea further, I want to look to the Bible's definition of love which is most clearly stated in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 and look at it's relation to fear.
Love is patient. Fear is anxious. It worries about what is going to happen, what might go wrong and what others might think. It focuses on its own inadequacy and not the other person.
Love is kind. Fear can be hurtful and is too focused on itself and the problems that it faces to consider others.
Love is not jealous. Jealousy is wanting what someone else has, often as a result of a fear of not being as good as someone else. And, in relationships, jealousy for the other person's attention may be out of a fear of losing them.
Love does not brag. Fear will boast of itself lest others think little of them.
Love is not arrogant. Fear, and especially worry, is self-centered and only concerned with its own welfare.
Love does not act unbecomingly. Fear can cause people to do wild and strange things. And, if one fears looking "uncool", they may do many things to change that.
Love does not seek its own. Fear seeks its own safety and welfare.
Love is not provoked. Those who fear others' opinions may get defensive and angry easily.
Love does not take into account wrong suffered. Fear worries that if they do not deal with the wrong done them, it will not be dealt with.
Love does not rejoice in unrighteousness. Fear does not rejoice in anything, lest it be caught off guard.
Love rejoices with the truth. Fear contradicts the truth or distorts it.
Love bears all things. Fear worries that the weight will crush it.
Love hopes all things. Fear has no hope.
Love believes all things. Fear can't believe that which might cause it to look foolish or cause it lose control of itself.
Love endures all things. Fear worries that over time it might buckle under the pressure.
Love never fails. Fear always succeeds.
Love is an attribute of God (1 John 4:7). Fear is not.
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