Recent happenings have reminded me of a time I spent with a very good friend of mine. We go back a while. We have taken a common interest in many activities and have enjoyed growing together in our friendship. Our time together centered around a tragedy. It was a tragedy he was dealing with, and still is. To my delight, he called me when it happened to come be near him.

Without a doubt, I’m there.

He talked, I mostly listened. Usually I want to offer solutions to problems, but God must have acted because I was able to just be silent (for the most part). There was pain, there was emotion, there was uncertainty; but most of all, there was trust.

My friend trusted me with every word that came out of his mouth. There was no real solution I could offer, just affirmations and companionship.

The value in these moments is simply silence and acceptance.

Click here to read the rest of this article.

Have you benefited from the presence of someone while going through pain? Tell us what it’s like by leaving a comment here.

photo credit

The difference between saying that you believe and actually believing in what you say is your level of investment.

There’s a lot of talk about what belief is and what it’s not. Questions that revolve around this matter largely consist of whether or not belief a valid thing to have, or if it is purely metaphysical. The physical being things we perceive with the 5 senses. The metaphysical being beyond, above, or parallel to the physical.

In other words, is belief justifiable, or does it exist only in that which we cannot see or feel our experience through the senses? But I suggest something different.

Everyone is a believer.

No matter which side of the fence you may be found on, the thing about belief is that everyone has it, and everyone expresses it. It doesn’t matter if whether someone says belief is for weak people or if it’s the result of educated inquiry, everyone believes in something.

No matter who you are, where you are, and what you think may be epistemologically justified, you’re a believer. You believe certain things that you cannot prove through the scientific method. If you disagree, then your belief is in the scientific method itself. Thing is (as my pastor rightly pointed out last week), the scientific method itself cannot be proven, or tested. It’s a belief system also.

When something is true and you believe in it, it grips you.

Since I am a Christian, my belief is in God, specifically through the person of Jesus Christ. This means that the way I perceive the world is directly related to my understanding of God. The same is true for all belief systems. What ever system of belief you hold to, it creates a filter by which you view the world.

There’s nothing in my worldview that my Christian belief does not touch. The reason is it has gripped me. The Gospel of Jesus Christ has completely altered my life and way of living.

When it’s a life altering belief, you put stock into it.

That’s why I do things like write this blog. My hope is that in some way I will help to challenge, equip, and encourage people into a deeper relationship with Jesus Christ. And, of course, to introduce Him to you who don’t believe in the Bible—yet.

It’s why I teach my children about Jesus. Every night I lead my children in “Bible Time.” They take turns reading parts of the Bible, books at a time. I then end the time with a lesson and Q & A. We’ll read the whole Bible through in time.

It’s also why I attend church regularly. If this thing means anything to me I’ll do what I can to be with the family of Christians. That’s how we roll, we’re a family. We love and support each other, encourage each other, and hold each other accountable. You cannot be a Christian single in the sense of being isolated from other Christians.

And, it’s why I plan to write more books. Many of you know I have recently written a book that is in the process of being published. This is one of my loves. I put stock in that which has altered my life, and that investment looks like much time devoted to helping people grow spiritually.

The stock you put into your belief is your life’s purpose.

Everything you do is driven by a fundamental idea about what you believe. For me, the most basic, fundamental aspect of my belief is that truth is knowable. The truth that I believe is knowable can only come from  God, since it is necessary for Him to exist in order for truth to exist, or even be knowable.

What flows from that is what this truth reveals. In short, it reveals that God is good, He is perfect, and loving. He created us, me, in His image and has an immense love for His creation, especially people. It reveals that God has gone to the extreme to have a relationship with His people, Jesus coming to live, to die, and to rise again for the sins of the world. It says that Jesus is the ultimate revelation of that truth, and in Him you and I have purpose.

I believe the Bible teaches that purpose is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. So to come full circle, glorifying God and enjoying Him drives everything I do. I may sin because of my human nature, and miss the mark of honoring Him perfectly, but the truth of God’s word reveals that this will happen. What’s important is my life’s purpose. And that is what ultimately drives me.

The question you must ask yourself is what is my ultimate purpose in life? That may very well help you understand what it is you truly believe.

Has this changed the way you think about belief? Have anything to add? Leave your comments below.

photo credit

However, others, including the publisher, advised me that it would be a good idea to get a photo for the back of the book on the bottom left of the soft back and for the inside flap of the hard cover dust jacket. I succumbed, and had my photo work done by Lori Hill Photography. I also had her do our family photos because of how much we like her work. If you’re in the Cincinnati area and need photos done, it would be worth your time to check her out.

This is where I need your help. I’m terrible when it comes to these kinds of decisions, because it takes me for ever and I never land on a decision I feel good about. It’s almost as bad for me as going shoe shopping… don’t ask.

So here’s the photos. Each shot has a duplicate black and white. Chose from option 1, 2, or 3. I need your vote!

Option 1:

Option 2:

Option 3:

Please help me out! Leave your vote in the comments below.

…

Did someone really think this kind of comment would make it public on someone’s blog?

*This is the second part of a two-post series of Pride and Grace: How to Know God is Opposing You*

What if I told you that God opposes some people? That there are some people God does not give His grace to? How would you respond to something like that? Does it conflict with what you believe about God and His love for us?

He also withholds grace from some people.

The prideful—by their own pridefulness—cannot receive grace.

We might like it to be otherwise, but while God gives grace to the humble, He withholds it from the proud.

While humility presupposes contentment, pridefulness does something a little different. It’s not the opposite of what humility produces, which we might think to be discontentment. Instead, pridefulness produces a sense of sufficiency.

In other words, instead of simply not being satisfied with what you have, if you are prideful you would be convinced of the sufficiency of your own efforts to be content, or to gain more. So this idea of sufficiency supersedes discontentment.

Biblically speaking, pridefulness is what keeps people from experiencing the grace of God in a personal context. What I mean is that pridefulness produces a sense of self-sufficiency which naturally negates the need for forgiveness. Forgiveness is a stupid word in the ears of pride and self-sufficiency.

That’s why the prideful cannot receive God’s grace in a personal, salvific way. It cannot accept the need for forgiveness, because it cannot perceive the danger of its way. When a mind becomes plagued with pride and self-sufficiency, it is also blinded to the present condition of the soul.

And if you’re living on the fumes of sufficiency, you are at the same time rejecting God’s gift of grace.

So… being opposed by God is directly related to not receiving grace.

It’s not that He doesn’t want to give people grace, it’s that some just won’t receive it. Let’s remember, we’re not talking about grace to live, or to breath, or to experience life on this planet. We’re talking about grace unto salvation. There are those who simply want nothing to do with God.

Other manifestations of pride can be seen in those who think they’re okay with God because of the sufficiency of their own morality. It’s dangerous because major blindness and ignorance is involved. We should be careful not to assume we are in the green here!

I’m talking about us Christians. Just because you’ve received grace unto salvation doesn’t mean you have lost the tendency to mentally revert to pridefulness. It’s subtle, and it sneaks up without warning. That’s why you always need to be on your guard, and “resist the devil” by submitting to God in humility (James 4:7).

Can’t think of a better example of this other than Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane. He didn’t want to experience the weight of the sin punishment, but He did it anyway. Jesus submitted to the will of the Father, and Satan couldn’t do a thing to Him. I think Jesus wants us to have that same desire for God’s will.

What are some ways that pride creeps into our lives? What keeps us from receiving God’s grace?

New here? Consider Subscribing via RSS feed. It’s the best and fastest way to get content!

*This is the first post of a two-part series on Pride and Grace.

What if I told you that God opposes some people? That there are some people God does not give His grace to? How would you respond to something like that? Does it conflict with what you believe about God and His love for us?

To be honest, it does for me, but that doesn’t change anything.
Because…. that’s exactly what the Bible says God does. That’s right, God keeps His grace from some people. Conflicting, I know. But it’s true. Let me explain.

Take this passage for example:

“Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.’” – 1Pet 5:5 (ESV)

This passage is speaking directly to the idea what all of us have heard (or should have heard) since our youth. You know the saying: Respect your elders! But there’s also a direct correlation to something else in this passage.

There are tough things in Scripture that aren’t as comfortable to read as others. This is one of those tough things, because it speaks of a special blessing of grace. Peter is providing a quote that James also uses in the context of quarreling, but makes takes it further into a matter of salvation (James 4:4-10). That’s the kind of grace I’m talking about.

God gives His grace only to some people.

He gives grace to the humble because it is they who can receive it.

Now let’s not get this confused here. I don’t want you to think of humility in the same you do about being introverted. These are two completely different things. Just because someone is shy and doesn’t speak up much, it doesn’t mean they are humble.

Humility, however, presupposes contentment. Contentment is one of those foreign words in the American culture. It’s just not “healthy” to be content. Gotta have that new phone… that new toy… that new dress… that co-worker’s possition… that bigger T.V…

Our culture is blasted with the consumeristic idea of needing more to feel satisfied. Actually, satisfaction has become a matter of evolution. In other words, to be satisfied means embracing of an ever-increasing need for more things. As long as you’re “evolving” in your possessions, or money, or status, then you can be “content.”

Humility short-circuits this idea. It says that you can be satisfied with what you have no matter what anyone else has. There’s no competition in humility. But it goes deeper than that. Humility also acknowledges it’s proper place. When it comes to our place before God, humility says we have none.

Humility tells us that we are sinners, undeserving of God’s grace, and submits to God’s standards and Law. That’s why the humble can receive grace from God, because being humble is being aware of the plight of your personal sin and how hopeless you are without God.

There are two more things I want to say about this, but I will be ending here for now. I will provide the remainder of those two points in my next post. You can go there now by clicking here.
In what ways does discontentment rear it’s face in your life? How have you seen the consumerism mindset transform people around you?

New here? Consider Subscribing via RSS feed. It’s the best and fastest way to get content!

A warm greeting from a friend from the past!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day Everyone!

New here? Consider Subscribing via RSS feed. It’s the best and fastest way to get content!

This is what you would have seen if you visited this site within the past few weeks. I don’t know how, but this site got hacked. Somehow someone, or some autobot, got into my WordPress files and corrupted something. It would direct you to some other site that was potentially harmful to your computer.

I apologize for all the confusion the past couple weeks as I was trying to get this whole thing figured out. Thank you for your patients and loyalty.

When I realized this, I was still able to log into my account and download a backup of my content. Thankfully, because if I had not done that I would have lost everything.

Our good friend Don Dudley (YouSeeDryBones.com) helped me out a lot. He looked at the files, checked my DNS settings, yadda, yadda, yadda. Everything was good on that side, so it had to have been the files.

Solution: full wipe!

I hated the prospect of deleting everything I’ve written for the past 4 years. Since I was able to save the literature of my content, I was eased to a great degree. However, all my media content was not so fortunate.

So, you’re going to notice a few weird things on all posts older than this. There will be literature content, but no picture or media. There will be what appears to be a former image, identified by a “?” thumbnail. It will take me a LONG time to delete all those thumbnails out, so for now they’re staying.

Also, as you can see, we have a new layout around here! I love it, actually. I was going to purchase this layout eventually, so Don helped me get it. #ThatWasATotalBlessing (someone please tweet that… )

I’ve got a lot of playing around to do, so expect things to look a little different from time to time.

I still need a little help… from you! Click around on things. Check out the navigation menu, the links, the posts, etc.

Leave me some feedback in the comments and suggestions on what to do to make this site go from good to great!

New here? Consider Subscribing via RSS feed. It’s the best and fastest way to get content!

photo credit

 
Years ago, belief vs. consistency was a concept that never entered my mind.
But something happened to me. Something I never really considered. What was it? It was thinking about the beliefs I had, and whether or not they conformed with reality. From what I’ve learned, this used to be a common practice.

But it seems as though we have lost the art of thinking. I’m not saying that people don’t think, I’m saying that we as a culture don’t put serious thought into the consistency of our beliefs.

Instead, we have largely replaced sensical belief with emotional preference.

But there should be no division.

A consistent belief system should provide the greatest emotional pleasure. Contrarily, an inconsistent belief system should cause serious questioning, major doubts, and emotional instability. That is, if you take the foundations of your belief system seriously.

Every belief system that I have encountered promises results if the believer’s actions are consistent with the doctrines. The problem is that when a belief system has flawed foundations, actions can never be consistent with the belief. The result should be obvious.

You have to change your belief.

With most (all?) religions save for Christianity (not a religion), the promise of a better life to come is for all who behave according to its doctrines. Work for God’s favor, or work to produce good karma, what have you, and you reap the blessing!

Its earning salvation. And here is the big problem with those religions and their belief systems: all of them acknowledge the fallen condition of humanity to some regard. In other words, everyone knows people aren’t perfect. Therefore, how could an imperfect creature produce perfect results?

Near perfect isn’t good enough. You need to get it right. There’s only assurance for those who get it right. There’s no assurance for those who fall short.

Only the Christian worldview can provide such assurance.

The reason is because it is not based on formulas, diagrams, will-to-power, or self-perfection, but it is based on ultimate reality. It is not merely existential (though it provides existential purpose) but instead is transcendental. Its doctrines are not based upon human reasoning, but on the Creator’s.

Christian belief doesn’t assert that you need to be perfect, or that you need to get everything right.

In fact, says that you must first acknowledge your own personal falleness. The only thing you need to get right is not what you need to do to earn salvation, but Who it is that has already provided it for you.

Jesus is that person.

He is the transcendent God who made the rules. He is the ultimate reality that all things are properly understood through. And He is the one who loved His creation so much that He would come to earth and provide a way for you and I to be saved.

And He did it to the death of His body.

It’s not by our works, not by our own goodness, but by His ability alone. Why? Because He’s the God of the universe and He doesn’t need our goodness. No amount of moral goodness could impress Him. What do you or I have, or what can we do, that He is not entirely supreme in?

He wants our trust. That way He can work HIS goodness through us.

This is one of the most consistent Christian beliefs.

Its foundation supports it, and it conforms to ultimate reality. It seems that we’ve lost the ability to think about these things. We’ve become oblivious to the obvious.

Don’t be a conformist. Think about what you believe and consider its consequences with regard to reality. And be honest, both intellectually and emotionally.

What are some things you think could be challenging for a person to evaluate his or her beliefs?

Through my petty, momentary discomfort, God gives me perspective of His greater providence. Perhaps someone out there needs to hear this.

New here? Consider Subscribing via RSS feed. It’s the best and fastest way to get content!
]]> http://www.sortingbeans.com/on-the-job-providence/feed/ 0