As Jesus approached Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging. When he heard the crowd going by, he asked what was happening.
They told him, "Jesus of Nazareth is passing by."
He called out, "Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me!" Those who led the way rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, "Son of David, have mercy on me!" Jesus stopped and ordered the man be brought to him. When he came near, Jesus asked him, "What do you want me to do for you?"
"Lord, I want to see." he replied.
Jesus said to him, "Receive your sight; your faith has healed you." Immediately, he received his sight and followed Jesus, praising God. When all the people saw it, they also praised God.
Luke 18: 35-43
Picture this scene. Pretend you're the blind man. You hear a crazy commotion and you feel the hot dust stirring around you. You fumble around, searching for the source of the madness. You reach for some one's cloak and you beg to know what's going on. They tell you that Jesus is passing by. Passion swells inside you because you know He's the Savior, deep down inside, no matter what you hear people say, you know He's The One. You can feel Him in your marrow. All of a sudden, as if of some inner impulse, you shout at the top of your lungs. You voice raises above the crowd, hurting the man's ears next to you, you shout, "Jesus, have mercy on me!"
Before you know it people are holding you back. You can feel their expensive fabrics and you scratch and claw for freedom. These are leaders and they're trying to keep you from your Savior. They demand silence, but you hold on to the only hope you know. Jesus is passing by. You shout and fight until you hear the Master's voice. He's demanded to see you. You pause for a second, scared, then your fear vanishes and you walk towards the beautiful voice, as you come closer He says, "What do you want Me to do for you?" Shaking, you reply, "Lord, I want to see." Stunned by the silence that's surrounded you, you hear His voice ring out and you could almost swear you can feel His holy breath upon you. "Receive your sight;" He says, "Your faith has healed you." Immediately, the sun stings your eyes, you shade your face with your hands and and catch a glimpse of your Healer. For a moment you gaze at the beauty around you. Then, you have a choice, and you knew exactly what must be done. You drop all you have and follow Jesus.
Can we compare with the beggar? Have you ever been completely hopeless only to wake up and find that Jesus is passing by. We fight, and we claw, and we shout for His mercy, and He hears us. Despite what those around us say, despite their attempts to silence us, we fight so hard just to beg for His mercy. Have you ever tried that hard to get to Jesus? When everyone seems to be against you, do you have the strength to fight to get to your Savior? Even if you can't see? What if you couldn't see Him, would you still fight? What if everyone around you was holding you back and telling you to be silent? It's a battle for us to simply talk to our Creator, to ask for healing and forgiveness, let alone ask for healing.
When we finally get to Him, He's calm and ready for us; He orders us to be brought to Him when we seek Him. Then He asks us, "What do you want me to do for you?" So simple. Jesus is telling us to simply seek Him, come to Him, and ask. When we cry out to the Lord, begging for sight, begging for freedom, He works miracles. The greatest thing happens after this poor man begs for mercy, which, I'm sure made the leaders' mouths drop wide open. Jesus said, "Receive your sight; your faith has healed you." Jesus was making a point to the leaders of that place. Your faith is the only thing that can heal you. Faith in Jesus, faith in His Father.
Maybe someday soon, us Christians in this world will rise to the occasion and let go of the passion we're holding back and beg for mercy from the Savior of the world. Only then will we receive our sight, causing us to praise God and follow Jesus.
"How can we be silent when a fire burns inside us?" -Unknown
by a girl that waits for Him and lives for Him.
"Since ancient times no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who acts on behalf of those who wait for him." Isaiah 64:4
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24.2.09
15.2.09
chosen.
"And those He predestined, He also called; those He called, He also justified; those He justified, He also glorified." Romans 8:30
What an amazing verse. I want to break down what each of those things actually mean.
The Predestining.
Greek word, proorizō, meaning to "decide beforehand." Jeremiah 29:11 comes to mind. "'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you, not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.'" The verse right before verse 30 says we are "predestined to conform to the likeness of His Son." By sending His Son, God has given us a prosperous hope and future.
The Calling.
No specific word for "call" in Romans 8:30 was given on my source for Greek words. I searched on Google and found an article that broke down all the original words for call, calling, or called in the Bible. They determined that the call that Paul was talking about in this verse was that "God sovereignly calls men individually to salvation and to service." (Bible.org) So, those He chose beforehand, He also chose for specific reasons, salvation and service. Another way Paul might have meant the term "called" is that God called us by name before we were born. It shows how intimately and closely He knows us. "For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb." Psalm 139:13
The Justification.
The Greek word for justified is dikaioō, meaning "to render righteous." God justified us? He rendered us righteous? The opposite of righteous is unrighteousness, which is basically sin, right? So, rendered us sinless. God made us as pure as snow by sending His Son to take our unrighteousness and replace it with His. In July of 2008 at Harbor, Pastor Tom said something so profound that has stuck with me ever since. He said "Jesus became disgusting to God." God hated Jesus? The Son was forsaken by the Father. Why would a Father forsake His Son? The answer? Because He loved you and me.
The Glorification.
The Greek word, doxazō means, "to praise, extol, magnify, celebrate, to honour, do honour to, hold in honour, to make glorious, adorn with lustre, clothe with splendour, to impart glory to something, and to render it excellent." How can God, so glorious, clothe us with splendor? Honor us, extol us, and celebrate us? All caught up into rendering us excellent? When I look at the mess I am, I can't even imagine how God can see me as something even worth saving. But, He does, and I'm on my knees because of it. How great is the God we worship?
God promises us in His word that simply because He predestined, called, and justified us, we will be glorified for it. Understand the key part of that sentence. HE. He will get all the glory because we're His chosen. He chose us, we didn't choose Him. Trying to grasp the greatness of our God leaves me with a headache and a complete unworthiness in the pit of my stomach. It's hard to imagine such a love without feeling a hard pang of guilt. All I can do is embrace this great love and forgiveness with trembling hands and offer my life and body to the One and Only Jesus Christ. I hope that the world soon learns of this love and begins to realize that God has predestined them for excellence and righteousness.
What an amazing verse. I want to break down what each of those things actually mean.
The Predestining.
Greek word, proorizō, meaning to "decide beforehand." Jeremiah 29:11 comes to mind. "'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you, not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.'" The verse right before verse 30 says we are "predestined to conform to the likeness of His Son." By sending His Son, God has given us a prosperous hope and future.
The Calling.
No specific word for "call" in Romans 8:30 was given on my source for Greek words. I searched on Google and found an article that broke down all the original words for call, calling, or called in the Bible. They determined that the call that Paul was talking about in this verse was that "God sovereignly calls men individually to salvation and to service." (Bible.org) So, those He chose beforehand, He also chose for specific reasons, salvation and service. Another way Paul might have meant the term "called" is that God called us by name before we were born. It shows how intimately and closely He knows us. "For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb." Psalm 139:13
The Justification.
The Greek word for justified is dikaioō, meaning "to render righteous." God justified us? He rendered us righteous? The opposite of righteous is unrighteousness, which is basically sin, right? So, rendered us sinless. God made us as pure as snow by sending His Son to take our unrighteousness and replace it with His. In July of 2008 at Harbor, Pastor Tom said something so profound that has stuck with me ever since. He said "Jesus became disgusting to God." God hated Jesus? The Son was forsaken by the Father. Why would a Father forsake His Son? The answer? Because He loved you and me.
The Glorification.
The Greek word, doxazō means, "to praise, extol, magnify, celebrate, to honour, do honour to, hold in honour, to make glorious, adorn with lustre, clothe with splendour, to impart glory to something, and to render it excellent." How can God, so glorious, clothe us with splendor? Honor us, extol us, and celebrate us? All caught up into rendering us excellent? When I look at the mess I am, I can't even imagine how God can see me as something even worth saving. But, He does, and I'm on my knees because of it. How great is the God we worship?
God promises us in His word that simply because He predestined, called, and justified us, we will be glorified for it. Understand the key part of that sentence. HE. He will get all the glory because we're His chosen. He chose us, we didn't choose Him. Trying to grasp the greatness of our God leaves me with a headache and a complete unworthiness in the pit of my stomach. It's hard to imagine such a love without feeling a hard pang of guilt. All I can do is embrace this great love and forgiveness with trembling hands and offer my life and body to the One and Only Jesus Christ. I hope that the world soon learns of this love and begins to realize that God has predestined them for excellence and righteousness.
10.2.09
prayer.
Some interesting things came up when I googled the word 'prayer'. A lot of catholic "how-to" pray sites, a one-eight hundred number to call when you're in need of prayer, (which, if you think about it, might be scary) even a youtube video of President Obama using the word God *sarcastic gasp*. In my Beth Moore study, we recently learned about the story in the gospel of Luke where the disciples are learning about prayer. They ask, simply, "Lord, teach us how to pray." Luke 11:1 His answer is with the all too familiar Lord's prayer. "Father, hallowed be Your Name, Your Kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one." Luke 11:2-4 (also from Matthew 6.)
I don't know about you, but a closer look at these words convicts me so much.
Forgive.
Forgive as He forgives? That section sticks out like a sore thumb in my view. Do we really forgive as much as He forgives us? I think not. Aphesis, Greek for forgiveness means "pardon, of sins (letting them go as if they had never been committed), remission of the penalty." How hard it is for us to forgive and pretend like it never happened? I would say pretty darn hard.
Further into Luke we find a passage that digs that conviction even deeper, Jesus speaks to His disciples and says, "If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him. If he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to you and says, 'I repent' forgive him."
Faith.
The response His disciples gives makes me laugh, "Increase our faith!" I can just see their faces as He told them this. I love how open and honest they were about all the things they lacked. You can't hide anything in Jesus' presence. I wonder though, if the disciples knew how much Jesus would test their faith in the coming days. I truly don't believe that God simply 'gives' us faith, but he gives us reasons to be faithful. I've seen this displayed so much in my life. Trusting Him in hard times is the easiest way to learn what true faith looks like. In the very next part of Luke 17 Jesus goes on to talk about faith the size of a mustard seed. Just a hint of Christ's power could move a mountain. Amazing.
Yes, I know, the Lord's Prayer doesn't mention faith. (I got off on a rabbit trail. (: There's just so much to learn!) But I did find a connection between the two that was pretty profound, James 5:15 says, "And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven." Well, looky there! All three of our words. Basically...Pray with faith the size at least the size of a mustard seed and forgive as I forgive you and I will raise you up, I will heal you... "Raise you up" literally means "to arouse from sleep." I think God's telling us it's time to wake up.
So, back to the main question. How do we pray? With faith, for one. Not just faith that God will give us the answer we're looking for, but faith that, basically, He'll do His will. Here's another way to pray. Hebrews 4:16 says, "Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need." Confidence. I had to put the entire definition in here.
"freedom in speaking,
unreservedness in speech,
openly, frankly,
without concealment,
without the use of figures and comparisons,
free and fearless confidence,
cheerful courage, boldness,
assurance."
That's a lot to describe one word. Does that describe what our prayer life is like? Open, frank, without comparing it to anyone else, with boldness, and cheerful courage. God really wants us to come to Him boldly, ask what we want, then have the faith to trust His hands.
I don't know about you, but a closer look at these words convicts me so much.
Forgive.
Forgive as He forgives? That section sticks out like a sore thumb in my view. Do we really forgive as much as He forgives us? I think not. Aphesis, Greek for forgiveness means "pardon, of sins (letting them go as if they had never been committed), remission of the penalty." How hard it is for us to forgive and pretend like it never happened? I would say pretty darn hard.
Further into Luke we find a passage that digs that conviction even deeper, Jesus speaks to His disciples and says, "If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him. If he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to you and says, 'I repent' forgive him."
Faith.
The response His disciples gives makes me laugh, "Increase our faith!" I can just see their faces as He told them this. I love how open and honest they were about all the things they lacked. You can't hide anything in Jesus' presence. I wonder though, if the disciples knew how much Jesus would test their faith in the coming days. I truly don't believe that God simply 'gives' us faith, but he gives us reasons to be faithful. I've seen this displayed so much in my life. Trusting Him in hard times is the easiest way to learn what true faith looks like. In the very next part of Luke 17 Jesus goes on to talk about faith the size of a mustard seed. Just a hint of Christ's power could move a mountain. Amazing.
Yes, I know, the Lord's Prayer doesn't mention faith. (I got off on a rabbit trail. (: There's just so much to learn!) But I did find a connection between the two that was pretty profound, James 5:15 says, "And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven." Well, looky there! All three of our words. Basically...Pray with faith the size at least the size of a mustard seed and forgive as I forgive you and I will raise you up, I will heal you... "Raise you up" literally means "to arouse from sleep." I think God's telling us it's time to wake up.
So, back to the main question. How do we pray? With faith, for one. Not just faith that God will give us the answer we're looking for, but faith that, basically, He'll do His will. Here's another way to pray. Hebrews 4:16 says, "Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need." Confidence. I had to put the entire definition in here.
"freedom in speaking,
unreservedness in speech,
openly, frankly,
without concealment,
without the use of figures and comparisons,
free and fearless confidence,
cheerful courage, boldness,
assurance."
That's a lot to describe one word. Does that describe what our prayer life is like? Open, frank, without comparing it to anyone else, with boldness, and cheerful courage. God really wants us to come to Him boldly, ask what we want, then have the faith to trust His hands.
9.2.09
instructing.
"In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of His appearing and His Kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke, and encourage--with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry." 2 Timothy 4:1-5
Wow. There's so much in this passage, I'm not quite sure where to start.
One thing that really stands out to me is the charge Paul gives. "Correct, rebuke, and encourage." adding to that, "with great patience and careful instruction." I believe that when we're faced with a ministering opprotunity we can do these three things with it. Either correct it, rebuke it, or encourage it.
Take a diet for example, say that ho-ho cupcake is calling your name in the pantry. It's tempting you and you have three choices. (1) You can go grab a banana instead as you stare sadly at the box of heaven, (2) you can grab the box of heaven and, reluctantly, throw it in the trash in such a way that it's not eatable ever again, or (3) you can grab that heavenly box and shove two or three down in 5 seconds(your new world record). When faced with a troubling situation (maybe a little more notable than ho-ho cupcakes) most of the time, one of these three things takes place. Let's take a look at what exactly these words mean.
Correct and rebuke.
The original Greek for both of these words are the same. Elegchō, meaning "to reprehend severely, chide, admonish, to expose, to bring to light." When God says to correct something or someone in our lives, He wants us to have courage and bring the problem out so that it will be demolished. This can be so tough when it involves others. Showing that you care about them by rebuking them is not the greatest way to make lots of friends.
Encourage.
Parakaleō, greek for exhort, is used in the original King James Version. The word literally means, "to call to one's side, to encourage, to strengthen." From my experience, one of the most amazing examples of encouragement I've ever had always takes me back to long talks with my Mom. She literally called me to her side and gave me strength. I'm sure she doesn't remember what she said to me, but I know everytime she sees me do something that takes strength, she knows she once gave that to me. God does the same thing in (sorry Mom) even more amazing ways. He draws His kids to His side and tells them to be strong.
"Do not be terrified, do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go." Joshua 1:9
Don't let those times pass by when you know someone needs you to come to their side and make them strong. God designed us to be eachother's encouragers. God's word says, from the very beginning that,
"It is not good for man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him." Genesis 2:18
So, quick overview. Correcting is only good if you're not a wuss about it, encouraging can change someone's life, and those ho-ho's are definitely something to be rebuked.
Let's take a look at how these things are to be done. With great patience and careful instruction. Wait, how can you be carefully strong? Rebukingly patient? Woah. This changes things, doesn't it? "Great," I say, "how does that work?" Check out the previous verses in Timothy where we find our threesome of confusing words again, with a couple new friends.
"All scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness. So that the man of God my be thoroughly equipped for every good work." 3:16-17
Ah, I love how all the answers are there. Scripture is the answer. From this verse, we learn that from His Word, not only can we rebuke and correct, but also teach and train! His word is the secret to being prepared for any situation that we meet. When we re-read our main verse we notice it says in the first part "be prepared in and out of season." For what? To correct, rebuke, encourage, teach, train others to pursue righteousness, and pursue righteousness for ourselves, in every way possible. Skip down after all the depressing things that people will become "for a time" and it says to, "keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry." Basically, sell yourself out to Christ and His calling on your life, by keeping your head about you and drowning yourself in His God-breathing Words.
One trap I can so easily fall into is the "oh, sure, when I'm older and more mature I can deal with all that." Well, let's look at who this letter was written to. Who was Timothy to the Apostle Paul? In the beginning of 1 Timothy, he calls him, "my true son of faith." I couldn't find a reliable source to say the age of Timothy at the time of the letters (if anyone knows, please post so.) but because he calls him his son, he implies young age. In both of the letters, Paul mentions his youth a couple times (see 1 Tim 4:12 and 2 Tim 3:22). So I wish to plead with our generation, a generation so entranced with youthfulness and fun, to step up and take on the life and challenges graciously given to the youth of the nation. Get out there and do what you know God has called you to.
"Do not let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity." 1 Timothy 4:12
Wow. There's so much in this passage, I'm not quite sure where to start.
One thing that really stands out to me is the charge Paul gives. "Correct, rebuke, and encourage." adding to that, "with great patience and careful instruction." I believe that when we're faced with a ministering opprotunity we can do these three things with it. Either correct it, rebuke it, or encourage it.
Take a diet for example, say that ho-ho cupcake is calling your name in the pantry. It's tempting you and you have three choices. (1) You can go grab a banana instead as you stare sadly at the box of heaven, (2) you can grab the box of heaven and, reluctantly, throw it in the trash in such a way that it's not eatable ever again, or (3) you can grab that heavenly box and shove two or three down in 5 seconds(your new world record). When faced with a troubling situation (maybe a little more notable than ho-ho cupcakes) most of the time, one of these three things takes place. Let's take a look at what exactly these words mean.
Correct and rebuke.
The original Greek for both of these words are the same. Elegchō, meaning "to reprehend severely, chide, admonish, to expose, to bring to light." When God says to correct something or someone in our lives, He wants us to have courage and bring the problem out so that it will be demolished. This can be so tough when it involves others. Showing that you care about them by rebuking them is not the greatest way to make lots of friends.
Encourage.
Parakaleō, greek for exhort, is used in the original King James Version. The word literally means, "to call to one's side, to encourage, to strengthen." From my experience, one of the most amazing examples of encouragement I've ever had always takes me back to long talks with my Mom. She literally called me to her side and gave me strength. I'm sure she doesn't remember what she said to me, but I know everytime she sees me do something that takes strength, she knows she once gave that to me. God does the same thing in (sorry Mom) even more amazing ways. He draws His kids to His side and tells them to be strong.
"Do not be terrified, do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go." Joshua 1:9
Don't let those times pass by when you know someone needs you to come to their side and make them strong. God designed us to be eachother's encouragers. God's word says, from the very beginning that,
"It is not good for man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him." Genesis 2:18
So, quick overview. Correcting is only good if you're not a wuss about it, encouraging can change someone's life, and those ho-ho's are definitely something to be rebuked.
Let's take a look at how these things are to be done. With great patience and careful instruction. Wait, how can you be carefully strong? Rebukingly patient? Woah. This changes things, doesn't it? "Great," I say, "how does that work?" Check out the previous verses in Timothy where we find our threesome of confusing words again, with a couple new friends.
"All scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness. So that the man of God my be thoroughly equipped for every good work." 3:16-17
Ah, I love how all the answers are there. Scripture is the answer. From this verse, we learn that from His Word, not only can we rebuke and correct, but also teach and train! His word is the secret to being prepared for any situation that we meet. When we re-read our main verse we notice it says in the first part "be prepared in and out of season." For what? To correct, rebuke, encourage, teach, train others to pursue righteousness, and pursue righteousness for ourselves, in every way possible. Skip down after all the depressing things that people will become "for a time" and it says to, "keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry." Basically, sell yourself out to Christ and His calling on your life, by keeping your head about you and drowning yourself in His God-breathing Words.
One trap I can so easily fall into is the "oh, sure, when I'm older and more mature I can deal with all that." Well, let's look at who this letter was written to. Who was Timothy to the Apostle Paul? In the beginning of 1 Timothy, he calls him, "my true son of faith." I couldn't find a reliable source to say the age of Timothy at the time of the letters (if anyone knows, please post so.) but because he calls him his son, he implies young age. In both of the letters, Paul mentions his youth a couple times (see 1 Tim 4:12 and 2 Tim 3:22). So I wish to plead with our generation, a generation so entranced with youthfulness and fun, to step up and take on the life and challenges graciously given to the youth of the nation. Get out there and do what you know God has called you to.
"Do not let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity." 1 Timothy 4:12
knowing God.
To know God is the greatest accomplishment in life, ah! but to know. What does it mean to know?
The definition of “know” is “have personal experience of, be absolutely sure of.” Now, are we absolutely sure of God? Surely, that says if we know Him or not. How are you sure of something that cannot be seen, you ask? God can be seen, I see Him in you, I see Him in the trees, I see Him in the creation all around me. Yet, I’ve never seen His face. I can’t trace the contours of His face in my head, I can’t feel His rough and beaten, hole-filled hands, I can’t look in His untraceable eyes and see the yearning and aching for lost souls that Jesus feels. Then how, you say, can you know God? Maybe, I don’t know, exactly "how-to." He’s called each of us, I presume, differently to each of His chosen. For me, on one hand, it’s easy to look at the sky, the water, and the sun and moon and know that there’s a God. Something or Someone must have created this sphere we call the world. It’s easy for me to say that God’s out there and He’s watching over me and directing my steps, it’s safe. But is it? He’s leads me in the strangest ways, in the strangest fashions. I find myself looking back on weeks and months and wondering how I got to where I am. When I search for Him, He finds me. He finds me even if I’m not looking. It’s like I have a target on my head and He won’t leave me, even if I flee from His sight and rebuke Him, He still finds me. It’s beautiful, the ultimate love.
I wish we, as humans, could understand that love, think about how the world would be different if we all loved with God’s love. Forgiveness would never fail, patience would be abounding and love would never end. But, somehow, I can’t help but think we’d mess it up. It’s human nature, right? We all sin and we all fail. No matter how close and how much we know God, no one can be as perfect as He is. I guess that would be God’s definition. Perfect. But oh! that doesn’t even begin to describe Him. I talk so often with Him and ask Him to give me a word to describe Him, but none comes. Just the soft whisper that He’s there, watching me, waiting patiently for His child to step in faith. The word I’m looking for doesn’t exist in our dimension. Beautiful, glorious, wonderful, holy, they all fall short of describing Him fully. I think He did that on purpose, so we would have to use more than one word when talking about or with Him. It all goes back to knowing Him. He calls us to know him, and who said we could love Him with one word? Can we do that with our earthly relationships? No. Relationships take time to grow and change, there are trials and misunderstandings, good times and bad times. All God wants from us is everything, is that so much for Him to ask for? He did create us. Shouldn’t an artist be entitled to His work? That’s the difference between Christianity and other religions, God came to us. He took on the form of a servant, a child, a wrongly accused criminal. He became disgusting to His father, died a horrific death and gave everything for us, so He could be glorified through us. Now, all He wants is everything from us, and He even gives us the choice to follow Him or not. The “everything” He wants is, purely, unadulterated, uncontaminated time. Yes, time. Time with Him, for Him and around Him. Just as a girl wants to spend time with her crush, or as a young boy wants to spend time with his new puppy. Just time, just talk, just openness. That’s all He wants. Don’t be afraid of it. He created you, it’s not like He’ll be surprised that you wanted to kick the slow old lady in front of you at the grocery store, or the time you ate a cookie when mom told you not to, or the time you lied to your loved one. He knows all about your sins, trials, imperfections, and pains already. He wants to heal them, grow them, change and rearrange them. Let Him, He really knows what He’s doing. Step in faith and challenge yourself to truly know God. I know from personal experience that we'll never know Him fully, so we'll always have more to learn. Keep seeking to know God.
The definition of “know” is “have personal experience of, be absolutely sure of.” Now, are we absolutely sure of God? Surely, that says if we know Him or not. How are you sure of something that cannot be seen, you ask? God can be seen, I see Him in you, I see Him in the trees, I see Him in the creation all around me. Yet, I’ve never seen His face. I can’t trace the contours of His face in my head, I can’t feel His rough and beaten, hole-filled hands, I can’t look in His untraceable eyes and see the yearning and aching for lost souls that Jesus feels. Then how, you say, can you know God? Maybe, I don’t know, exactly "how-to." He’s called each of us, I presume, differently to each of His chosen. For me, on one hand, it’s easy to look at the sky, the water, and the sun and moon and know that there’s a God. Something or Someone must have created this sphere we call the world. It’s easy for me to say that God’s out there and He’s watching over me and directing my steps, it’s safe. But is it? He’s leads me in the strangest ways, in the strangest fashions. I find myself looking back on weeks and months and wondering how I got to where I am. When I search for Him, He finds me. He finds me even if I’m not looking. It’s like I have a target on my head and He won’t leave me, even if I flee from His sight and rebuke Him, He still finds me. It’s beautiful, the ultimate love.
I wish we, as humans, could understand that love, think about how the world would be different if we all loved with God’s love. Forgiveness would never fail, patience would be abounding and love would never end. But, somehow, I can’t help but think we’d mess it up. It’s human nature, right? We all sin and we all fail. No matter how close and how much we know God, no one can be as perfect as He is. I guess that would be God’s definition. Perfect. But oh! that doesn’t even begin to describe Him. I talk so often with Him and ask Him to give me a word to describe Him, but none comes. Just the soft whisper that He’s there, watching me, waiting patiently for His child to step in faith. The word I’m looking for doesn’t exist in our dimension. Beautiful, glorious, wonderful, holy, they all fall short of describing Him fully. I think He did that on purpose, so we would have to use more than one word when talking about or with Him. It all goes back to knowing Him. He calls us to know him, and who said we could love Him with one word? Can we do that with our earthly relationships? No. Relationships take time to grow and change, there are trials and misunderstandings, good times and bad times. All God wants from us is everything, is that so much for Him to ask for? He did create us. Shouldn’t an artist be entitled to His work? That’s the difference between Christianity and other religions, God came to us. He took on the form of a servant, a child, a wrongly accused criminal. He became disgusting to His father, died a horrific death and gave everything for us, so He could be glorified through us. Now, all He wants is everything from us, and He even gives us the choice to follow Him or not. The “everything” He wants is, purely, unadulterated, uncontaminated time. Yes, time. Time with Him, for Him and around Him. Just as a girl wants to spend time with her crush, or as a young boy wants to spend time with his new puppy. Just time, just talk, just openness. That’s all He wants. Don’t be afraid of it. He created you, it’s not like He’ll be surprised that you wanted to kick the slow old lady in front of you at the grocery store, or the time you ate a cookie when mom told you not to, or the time you lied to your loved one. He knows all about your sins, trials, imperfections, and pains already. He wants to heal them, grow them, change and rearrange them. Let Him, He really knows what He’s doing. Step in faith and challenge yourself to truly know God. I know from personal experience that we'll never know Him fully, so we'll always have more to learn. Keep seeking to know God.
meaninglessness.
In chapters 1 and 2 of Ecclesiastes, the Teacher, who most believe is King Solomon, son of David, writes about three ways that he searched for satisfaction in his lifetime. The first manner in which he sought after atonement was wisdom. Found in Ecclesiastes 1:16, he says, “I achieved for myself wisdom. I became wiser than everyone who ruled before me.” Skip ahead a chapter to find another attempt at a life-filling activity. Searching for pleasure, in chapter 2:1-3, he says, “I began to seek the pleasures of this world. I laughed, drank wine, embraced folly and silliness.” Once again, in chapter 2:4,8,9, he says, “I undertook great projects. . . I amassed silver and gold for myself. . . I became greater by far than anyone in Jerusalem before me.” He also states in 2:10, frankly, “I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure, my heart took delight in all my work, and this was the reward for my labor.” As you see, though he did all these things, his answer was a disappointing phrase at the end of chapter 2 that runs through the entirety of the book, “This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.”
The book of Ecclesiastes opens with one of the most depressing and agitating chapters in the entire Bible. “Meaningless! Meaningless! Says the Teacher. Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.” Although he tried it all, he came up empty.
The next part of the passage says, “What does man gain from all his labor at which he toils under the sun? The Greek word for toil means, “To work, to labor, to torment or put to the test.” Also, the word for gain means, “produce fruit.” So in other words, the sentence is saying, “It is meaningless for a man to labor when he produces no fruit.” But that is not the end of the sentence. Notice carefully the words chosen to describe where this fruitless worker is laboring. Under the sun.
Begin chapter three. Consider carefully the words chosen to begin this new chapter, “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven.” We see a slight, but very important change in his words in chapter 3, where he states clear as day that there is a certain time, with certain purpose for every activity that is under Heaven. Under Heaven, not under the sun. All the meaningless life that he searched for purpose in was without God. There is a stark contrast between what the teacher says in these different chapters. He searched for the meaning of life without God and found it as useful as “chasing after the wind” but yet in God’s world, under Heaven, there is specifically planned time for everything and all activity has meaning.
Pas, the Greek word for everything, means, “in every matter, in every way, on every side, in all things.” When God’s Word says everything, He means everything. All things are under God’s watchful eyes and in His hands. Ecclesiastes 3:2-8 list things that are under heaven that have a place and time. Birth and death, planting and uprooting, killing and healing, tearing down and building up, weeping and laughing, mourning and dancing, scattering stones and gathering them, embracing and refraining, searching and giving up, keeping and throwing away, tearing and mending, silence and speech, love and hate, war and peace. All these things have a time in God’s universe. NET.bible.org explains well the message the Teacher is trying to get across, “[verses 2-8 is] a figure using polar opposites to encompass everything in between, that is, totality.” In short, the Teacher wanted to make sure that we understand that God is in everything we do, see, hear, feel, and need.
Throughout the entire book of Ecclesiastes, the teacher talks about things completely out of his control, things like the rising and setting of the sun, the wind blowing, the streams flowing, also birth, death, planting, healing. All of these things are out of our human reach, we can’t control them. The difference in these passages is the simple phrasing, “under the sun” and “under heaven.” Life is meaningless without a divine leader, god, or creator.
Most religions, from the time of their founding, have a deity, someone above humans or something to fear. Buddhism, Hinduism, Mormon, Catholic, Islam. All of them have something or someone that they look to for answers, feel the need to worship, or wish to emulate. We humans were created to serve something bigger than us, something that we can’t control, and something that we don’t fully understand. God put these needs in our hearts from the very beginning of the world so that we would always need to seek Him, and He promises that when we seek Him, we will, eventually, find Him. “Ask and you shall receive. Seek and you shall find. Knock and the door will be open to you.”
We have two choices that the teacher in Ecclesiastes is showing us. We can either choose to be frustrated by a meaningless, accidental, purposeless life without Christ, or, we can choose to believe that God is in control of this life, and by trusting Him, we’re able to rest in His “plans to prosper us, not to harm us.” This doesn’t promise us a life free of weeping, mourning, giving up, tearing down, war, and hate, on the contrary, it basically promises that we will experience these things. In fact, there is actually a proposed time and place for all these things. What we are promised is that we can know that our purposeful, good, personal, and prospering God allows these things for a reason. What the Teacher is trying to get across is that if you suffer, if you fail, if you get frustrated and you’re living under the sun, you are accomplishing absolutely nothing. Live under Heaven, and in everything you do, all activity you live out, whether it be easy or difficult, amusing or heartbreaking, it has meaning. It has a place in a plan that we don’t even understand.
As you’ll see in 3:11, the teacher says, “. . .He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.” Time doesn’t matter to God, He is there all the time. We understand time in two ways, as chronos, meaning amount of time, and kairos, meaning season of time. The time that the Teacher is referring to in Ecclesiastes, is both. In the way we spend the seasons of our lives and amount of time given to us. Our meaning in life depends if we choose to spend this specifically appointed time, under the sun, or under the Son of God.
I found this quote from an online sermon on the subject, “. . . But we are called to go on in faith, enjoying what we've got while we've got it, and giving thanks to the God who gives us good things. But with eternity set into our hearts, we are also called to move forward in life listening for that eternal melody from God's far country, singing along as best we can as we hear snippets of God's life-affirming music. There is a time for everything but there is also an eternity for everyone. This is not an easy or obvious thing to sense. But we render God our thanks that we sense it at all. . .”
The book of Ecclesiastes opens with one of the most depressing and agitating chapters in the entire Bible. “Meaningless! Meaningless! Says the Teacher. Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.” Although he tried it all, he came up empty.
The next part of the passage says, “What does man gain from all his labor at which he toils under the sun? The Greek word for toil means, “To work, to labor, to torment or put to the test.” Also, the word for gain means, “produce fruit.” So in other words, the sentence is saying, “It is meaningless for a man to labor when he produces no fruit.” But that is not the end of the sentence. Notice carefully the words chosen to describe where this fruitless worker is laboring. Under the sun.
Begin chapter three. Consider carefully the words chosen to begin this new chapter, “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven.” We see a slight, but very important change in his words in chapter 3, where he states clear as day that there is a certain time, with certain purpose for every activity that is under Heaven. Under Heaven, not under the sun. All the meaningless life that he searched for purpose in was without God. There is a stark contrast between what the teacher says in these different chapters. He searched for the meaning of life without God and found it as useful as “chasing after the wind” but yet in God’s world, under Heaven, there is specifically planned time for everything and all activity has meaning.
Pas, the Greek word for everything, means, “in every matter, in every way, on every side, in all things.” When God’s Word says everything, He means everything. All things are under God’s watchful eyes and in His hands. Ecclesiastes 3:2-8 list things that are under heaven that have a place and time. Birth and death, planting and uprooting, killing and healing, tearing down and building up, weeping and laughing, mourning and dancing, scattering stones and gathering them, embracing and refraining, searching and giving up, keeping and throwing away, tearing and mending, silence and speech, love and hate, war and peace. All these things have a time in God’s universe. NET.bible.org explains well the message the Teacher is trying to get across, “[verses 2-8 is] a figure using polar opposites to encompass everything in between, that is, totality.” In short, the Teacher wanted to make sure that we understand that God is in everything we do, see, hear, feel, and need.
Throughout the entire book of Ecclesiastes, the teacher talks about things completely out of his control, things like the rising and setting of the sun, the wind blowing, the streams flowing, also birth, death, planting, healing. All of these things are out of our human reach, we can’t control them. The difference in these passages is the simple phrasing, “under the sun” and “under heaven.” Life is meaningless without a divine leader, god, or creator.
Most religions, from the time of their founding, have a deity, someone above humans or something to fear. Buddhism, Hinduism, Mormon, Catholic, Islam. All of them have something or someone that they look to for answers, feel the need to worship, or wish to emulate. We humans were created to serve something bigger than us, something that we can’t control, and something that we don’t fully understand. God put these needs in our hearts from the very beginning of the world so that we would always need to seek Him, and He promises that when we seek Him, we will, eventually, find Him. “Ask and you shall receive. Seek and you shall find. Knock and the door will be open to you.”
We have two choices that the teacher in Ecclesiastes is showing us. We can either choose to be frustrated by a meaningless, accidental, purposeless life without Christ, or, we can choose to believe that God is in control of this life, and by trusting Him, we’re able to rest in His “plans to prosper us, not to harm us.” This doesn’t promise us a life free of weeping, mourning, giving up, tearing down, war, and hate, on the contrary, it basically promises that we will experience these things. In fact, there is actually a proposed time and place for all these things. What we are promised is that we can know that our purposeful, good, personal, and prospering God allows these things for a reason. What the Teacher is trying to get across is that if you suffer, if you fail, if you get frustrated and you’re living under the sun, you are accomplishing absolutely nothing. Live under Heaven, and in everything you do, all activity you live out, whether it be easy or difficult, amusing or heartbreaking, it has meaning. It has a place in a plan that we don’t even understand.
As you’ll see in 3:11, the teacher says, “. . .He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.” Time doesn’t matter to God, He is there all the time. We understand time in two ways, as chronos, meaning amount of time, and kairos, meaning season of time. The time that the Teacher is referring to in Ecclesiastes, is both. In the way we spend the seasons of our lives and amount of time given to us. Our meaning in life depends if we choose to spend this specifically appointed time, under the sun, or under the Son of God.
I found this quote from an online sermon on the subject, “. . . But we are called to go on in faith, enjoying what we've got while we've got it, and giving thanks to the God who gives us good things. But with eternity set into our hearts, we are also called to move forward in life listening for that eternal melody from God's far country, singing along as best we can as we hear snippets of God's life-affirming music. There is a time for everything but there is also an eternity for everyone. This is not an easy or obvious thing to sense. But we render God our thanks that we sense it at all. . .”