Month: March 2022

Categories
Ramblings

The Value of Writing Down What God Is Teaching You (No. Not Journaling.)

Not Journaling. Certainly Not Keeping a Diary.

Simply Writing Down What God is Teaching You on Occasion.

I don’t remember when I started doing it or even who it was that encouraged me to start. It seems that maybe it was around the time I started seminary that I started writing down a few of the things God was teaching me. Maybe it was a professor who encouraged us to start doing so? Maybe it was in one of the books I had to read for class? I had heard of the value of journaling, but that’s not what I’m talking about. I’m just talking about occasionally writing down valuable things God is pointing out.

man taking notes in front of his computer - a form of journaling

I’ve been doing this now for more than 25 years. I don’t write something down every day, but as I read God’s Word each morning, if something strikes me in a way that I think is important or challenging or points out something I hadn’t noticed before, I write it down. And if I hear something really helpful in a sermon, I write it down. And if I read something of great value in a book, I write it down. (Again… this is not the same as journaling.)

You can do that in the margins of your Bible, or in the front or back pages of your Bible. You can do this on scrap pieces of paper. You could even use a notebook. I have done all of that at various times. But I then keep all of that info in one place. And occasionally I go back through my scribblings and scratchings to see what God might point out to me from what I had previously thought was valuable. It is always interesting to see what God was pointing out to me at different times of my life.

And as I have been doing so, I have come across a few ideas that I thought might also interest you. And so when that happens, I’ll share those ideas for us to consider together. Here’s one I ran across from a few years ago when I was reading through Genesis:

In Genesis 15, God establishes his covenant with Abram by having Abram take sacrificial animals, cut them in half and lay the halves apart from each other, creating a path down the middle between the split animal halves. (Seems a bit odd, right?)

The Study Bible I was using that year provided a helpful explanation:

This type of ceremony was not uncommon in that day and age. An agreement is being made between the superior party and the inferior party. The superior typically promised protection and the inferior promised service. And typically the inferior was the one who walked through the halves as an indicator that he realized this would happen to him if he did not keep his end of the bargain.

But here are the two big differences between the typical covenant and this one that God made with Abram.

1) Typically, the inferior’s list of duties were longer than the superior’s. But that isn’t the case here. God had much more listed: protection, blessing, descendants, land, care for future generations, wealth, & peaceful death. Abram’s list of duties were minimal – they are not even mentioned, but we assume it is simply to believe in the Lord’s promises (15:6). The focus is on what the Lord promised Abram, not what Abram promised the Lord.

2) The inferior party is also the one who typically would have walked through the pieces to indicate his death if he broke covenant, yet here we have a symbol of God passing through the pieces, indicating that He would die before He would allow His covenant with Abram to fail.

And that is exactly what happened! Jesus did die to fulfill His covenant with Abraham. And through Jesus’s death, Abraham became a father of many, and Abraham’s descendant (Jesus) became a blessing to all nations. What an amazing story of God’s faithfulness to His promises!

So this is just one of the types of things I would jot down as something helpful to me when reading the Bible during my quiet time. And now, with new technology, it’s even easier. I can simply open up a note-taking app on my phone and type in the thought, whether at home or when listening to a sermon. coffee cup and notebook to point toward the value of journalingI want to encourage you to begin occasionally writing down what God is telling you. Whether you do it in the margin of your Bible, in a notebook, or in a note-taking app on your phone – keep up with the ideas that God points out to you as you engage with His Word. And go back on occasion to see how God has worked in your life over time!

(And as I’ve pointed out several times now. This is not journaling.)

Wait… is this journaling? Well, if it is, just don’t tell anyone. Because I’ve found that word turns some of us off.

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Categories
Ramblings

You Are A Unique Miracle.

Our world has an amazing creation story. God created it out of nothing. But the truth is that every single one of us also has a miraculous creation story.photo of earth from space reminding us that creation is a miracle

Because from the beginning of creation up to present day – only God can make another person. We know how a human egg gets fertilized and becomes an embryo and continues to grow in the womb and is born into this world as a new baby, but…

…We can’t create life without God.

We can clone cells, we can fertilize an egg, but we can’t take the raw building blocks of life and create new life. Only God can. Even with all our technology and science and medical know-how, we can’t do the one thing God has been doing since the creation of our world – creating new life.

Only God knows how to create life. He created all that we see and know. And…

He created you!

You are an amazing and unique story created by our remarkable, eternal, all-powerful God.

This is exactly what God is telling us through David in Psalm 139 –

It was you, Eternal Creator God, who created me and my inward parts. You knit me together in my mother’s womb. I will praise you because I have been fearfully and wonderfully made!

Your works are wondrous, and I know this very well, because…

Your eyes saw me when I was still formless.

And all my days were written in Your book and planned before a single one of them began.

Sometimes we have self-esteem crises. We wonder if we are valuable. We have negative thoughts about our worth. But if you ever find yourself in that place… wondering if you are valuable… remember this:

God – the eternal Creator of the universe, the One who speaks all things into being from nothing, this infinite, eternal, almighty, all-knowing God – He has created you uniquely, which means you are truly a one-of-a-kind miracle.

fingerprint - reminding us that each of us are a unique miracle
Eight billion people on the planet – and your fingerprint is unique. What a miracle!

You are made in the image of God, which is amazing in itself. But you also have been made by the very hand of God. You are special, because of who you are in the eyes of the Great, Eternal, Creator God. He loved you so much that He made you unlike any other person on this planet. In fact, He has made you unlike anyone who has ever existed, or ever will exist. Therefore…

You Are Priceless!

Not only did He love you so much that He created you as a unique miracle; He also loved you so much that He sent Jesus to be your Savior, so He could have you – a priceless treasure – with Him forever.

He loves you, He created you, He arranged you just as you are – He knit you together. And now He is drawing you to Himself with loving-kindness. He is drawing you into a deeper relationship with Him. So turn your life over to the eternal, almighty God who made you the unique miracle that you are.

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Categories
Serving Others

Serving God Can Be Uncomfortable. But That May Be On Purpose.

Sometimes God puts us in uncomfortable places to serve Him.

Paul went to Jerusalem knowing that he would be arrested. And yet he went anyway. From all indications, prison is uncomfortable.photo of prison bars remind us prison is uncomfortable

While in prison, Paul got the chance to speak to Felix, the Governor. The Bible tells us that Felix was hoping to get money from Paul, so he spoke to him often. So why didn’t Paul just go ahead and bribe Felix to get out of prison?

Alistair Begg mentions:

Certainly Paul would have known that the hints dropped by Felix would allow him to get out of prison. Certainly he could have asked for his supporters to give finances to help him get out of prison. What reason would Paul remain in prison when he could have bribed his way out?

Well, before I share with you Begg’s answer, I would venture to say that one reason could be that Paul knew that providing a bribe was not following the law and was not God-honoring. I hope that as we think about our own lives, that we strive to honor God by obedience to the law. According to the Bible, we are to obey the law until the law puts us in conflict with God’s commands. There are plenty of ways people try to “get around” the law even though it is not in conflict with God’s Word. Let’s make sure we don’t fall into that trap of damaging our witness by taking shortcuts or using deception to “get around” the law.

But I also really like Begg’s answer:

Since Paul had an opportunity to share the gospel with people who he would not otherwise be able to interact with, he remained in prison and remained able to attempt to influence Felix and those in the court.

Paul trusts that God has him exactly where he is supposed to be. He could have thought, “I can be more effective outside of this prison.” But he doesn’t seek for that release knowing that God has him in exactly the right spot. So instead of worrying about where he is, he sees his current location and situation as an opportunity.chalkboard with crisis crossed out since uncomfortable situations can be opportunities

I don’t know where God will place you today, but I do believe that He has you there for a reason. It may be (like Paul with Felix) that there is someone that will be there with you that is not open to hearing about God from anyone else but you. So don’t work so hard to get out of an uncomfortable place, if that’s where you find yourself. Instead, try to see it as a special opportunity to share with those God has placed around you. He placed you right where you are “for such a time as this!”

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Categories
Christian Living

I am not the center of everything. And . . . neither are you.

We all want to understand what life is all about. We want to know what to focus on. But when we think of ourselves as the center of the universe, and want everything and everyone to revolve around us, we elevate the wrong “center” and find ourselves frustrated and ultimately unsatisfied.

a question mark in the center of a maze to ask "what should be placed at the center?"
So what should be in the center?

The reason for this frustration is that when we put too much emphasis on the wrong center, we are expecting fulfillment from something that can’t provide it. It’s like climbing a ladder to the top of a building, only to discover you placed the ladder on the wrong building. Only when we learn what (or Who) should be properly placed in the center of life will we begin to experience true fulfillment and satisfaction. And spoiler alert – the only correct center… is God.

Now some may say, I don’t believe in God. I don’t like the idea of an ultimate Being that has created all things and guides all of life and history. But just because a person doesn’t like an idea, doesn’t mean it isn’t true.

C.S. Lewis points out: “A man can no more diminish God’s glory by refusing to worship Him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling the word ‘darkness’ on the walls of his cell.”

This quote is a reminder that I am not the center of all things. God is. But it’s hard to remember. It is so easy to make everything about me.

Here is an excerpt from the book Awe by Paul David Tripp that explains it well:

We quickly replace awe of God with awe of self.

This means that no story will be more important to me than my story. I will ask no bigger question than the question of how I am doing. I will have no bigger concern than my satisfaction and comfort. I will ask life to serve me, to submit to my interests, and to deliver whatever I demand. This viewpoint will guarantee me a life of huge disappointment.

The Bible calls the person who lives this way a fool (see Psalm 14). The problem is that all sinners replace God with something else. It is as natural and intuitive to us as breathing. Putting ourselves in the center of our awe is the DNA of sin.

We need our awe changed over to God… So that we will not only live in awe of God but will pass that awe down to the generation that follows.

Parents, you are called by God to inspire worshipful awe in your children. You have been called to something that is profoundly deeper than being a lawgiver, a law-enforcer, and a punishment-deliverer. You are to exercise your authority in such a way that it gives your children eyes to see the awesome presence, power, authority, and grace of God.

When our children are blown away by the glory of God, they will be more likely to reach out for his grace and submit to his will.

May we help our children, our spouses, and ourselves put our awe in the right place. Standing in awe of God, placing Him in the center, is the only way to true joy and life. quote from c. s. lewis - "I was made for another world."

(And on another note – Thank you for the encouragement earlier this week when I began posting again. My plan is to post here a couple of times a week. On a few other days a week, I’ll also post some smaller snippets, quotes, or thoughts on Facebook.)

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