Hope Against All Hope

Do you ever feel like there is no hope? It's not an uncommon feeling. I mean, the world kind of sucks sometimes. The economy is in the gutter. Gas prices are through the roof. Politicians bicker and fight, yet seem to accomplish little. Maybe your grades are bad or you got dumped or didn't get the raise/promotion that you wanted at work. In the end, all this kind of stuff just seems to pile up and it feels like the end is never in sight. Yet, I would argue that there is always hope.

"18 Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, 'So shall your offspring be.'" -Romans 4:18, NIV

You see, things didn't always go so great for Abraham, either. Like us, Abraham and his wife Sarah wanted things to "work out." I mean, who doesn't? Abraham had been told by God that he would be made into a great nation, with offspring as numerous as the stars. The only problem was that Abraham was really old; as in, senior citizen old. The dude would have long been on AARP, and yet God's over here telling him that he's going to have a kid. Do you think it was hard for Abraham to trust that promise? My vote is yes.

Yet, against all that, Abraham stayed fast and hoped that God would provide for him a son. Yeah, the odds were against him, but with God, nothing is impossible.

Are the odds against you? Do you need to hope against all hope that God will come through for you?

Two Videos Worth Watching

Right now, a certain 30-minute documentary is sweeping the nation and world, gathering support. I don't normally show videos on my blog, but these are two documentaries I have watched in the past few months that are definitely worth your time. Together, they should only take about 1 hour. I encourage you to watch them both, either one after the other or seperately, and think about them and what they say.

180 Documentary by Ray Comfort and The Way of the Master


KONY 2012 by Invisible Children

Names of God: Maker

Have you ever realized how intricate you are? Right now, look at your body for a second. Look at all the tiny lines on the top of your hands or the wide array of colors in the iris of your eyes (they may be blue, but look how many shades of blue!). Then feel your forearm while you move your fingers. Feel the muscles of your arm as they move your fingers. Watch the bones in the top of your hand as you more the fingers; it looks kinda cool, huh?

The human body has so many little intricate, awesome features, I could write all day about them. Each little part of your body has a function (except the appendix, as far as we know), and each little part has an important role in your life. And yet, each part was made specifically by God.

Each one of us is a creation of God's. Just like that artwork you did in second grade art class, you are one of God's creative masterpieces. Ephesians 2:10 says that we are His "masterpiece" or "creation."

Let's look specifically at a verse that refers to God in this Maker role, and think about what it means:

"Come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the LORD our Maker." -Psalm 95:6, HCSB

You see, the masterpiece doesn't rule the master. The Mona Lisa didn't tell Da Vinci what to do, and Michelangelo didn't worship the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. In that same line of thinking, we shouldn't expect God to worship us. He is not a vending machine that we only mention when we need something. He is not just a "part of our lives." He is our Maker, and He demands all of our praise and all of our attention.

Everything we do, we should do for His glory. Ephesians 2:10 goes on to say that we are made "to do good works, which God prepared ahead of time so that we should walk in them." We're meant to be the hands and feet of God, doing His work all over the nation and world.

So, will you worship Him? Will you bow before our Maker, or will you be a rebellious creation that spits in the Creator's face and does your own thing?

To Fast or Not to Fast, That is the Question

I'm gunna break from the Names of God series for a post, just to talk about something that needs discussing. The topic: fasting.

In the Church, especially in the Protestant Bible Belt of the southeastern United States (where I reside), spiritual disciplines get a lot of attention. By spiritual disciplines, I mean actions we do that bring us closer to God. Reading your Bible is one that gets an incredible amount of exposure; memorizing Scripture also gets a lot of attention. Prayer has a spotlight on it; giving money to God gets preached all over the world every weekend. None of that is bad; in fact, I'd argue that all four are crucial to the Christian journey, and if you are not practicing those disciplines, you should be. Yet, how often do you hear about someone fasting? Why does fasting get left out? Is it less spiritual or necessary to the pilgrimage of the Christ follower? Prayer was almost always accompanied by fasting in the New Testament. The early Church fasted all the time. Therefore, I'd argue its importance. Let's look at a passage and see what the Bible says on fasting.


"And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 17 But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, 18 that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you." -Matthew 7:16-18, ESV

This passage is tucked into Jesus's famous "Sermon on the Mount," right between the Lord's Prayer and the passage that talks about how you can't serve money and God. How is this little section on fasting so overlooked if it sits between two of the most famous passages in the Gospels?

This little section is titled in most Bibles as "How to Fast." Handy, right? So, how do we fast? Primarily, with humility and sincerity. Jesus says here not how long you should fast, or what you should fast from (which doesn't have to be food; it can honestly be almost anything). Instead, He is far more focused on your heart. Are you making a show of your fasting? Are you fasting to look "holy?" If so, quit fasting. Now.

However, if you have wondered whether or not to fast (especially at this time of year, since we are currently in Lent, the Catholic practice of fasting 40 days before Easter), I would encourage you to search your heart. Why would you be fasting? If the goal is to grow in your relationship with God, or hear Him speak on something in your life, etc., I'd say go for it. If you can keep the focus on Him and not on you, you're golden. Which, honestly, can go for anything; if you read your Bible, pray or give money to make yourself look good, stop. God doesn't want those prayers or that money. He has no interest in your selfish desires, much less using Him to reach them.

Where is your focus? Are you doing everything for God's glory, or for your own?