Pieces or Potato Head?

Have you ever wondered what you would say, if you had only one thing to say to a person you cared deeply about? What if you were allowed five minutes with them? What would you say?

Jesus had a moment like this. Moments before He was betrayed, arrested, beaten and killed, He was on His knees on a mountain, praying. First, He prayed for Himself. Then, for His twelve disciples. Finally, for all believers. The Book of John records this final portion of His prayer, focus on all of those who call on His Name, for only seven verses. I want to focus on the front four verses of this prayer:

I pray not only for these,
but also for those who believe in Me
through their message.
May they all be one,
as You, Father, are in Me and I am in You.
May they also be one in Us,
so the world may believe You sent Me.
I have given them the glory You have given Me.
May they be one as We are one.
I am in them and You are in Me.
May they be made completely one,
so the world may know You have sent Meand have loved them as You have loved Me.
-John 17:20-23, HCSB

He prays only seven verses worth about us, right before His arrest, and what does He spend four of those verses praying for? Unity. He prays that we would "all be one," as "You, Father are in Me and I am in You." He prays that we "also be one with Us [God]," "One as We are one," and that we may "be made completely one." I'm not sure, but I think Jesus wants us to be one.

It is said that the body of Christ is the Church (all Christians). Here's the thing: a finger, toe and ear are not a body. If you see a Mr. Potato Head's arm and teeth on the ground, you do not think that these pieces are the body of the toy. Instead, you see them as pieces of one structure.

The same is the case for the Church. We may have many pieces, with different functions, flavors and styles, but we are just that: a bunch of pieces. Apart, we are only able to accomplish so much, just as my eyeball could only do so much without the rest of me.

Christ intends for Christians of all kinds to unite under the commonality that we all find in Christ as our Savior, Lord and Treasure, rather than squabbling over differences. The quicker we quit our infighting and start uniting, the quicker the point of our unity will be realized: "so that the world may believe You sent Me (v.21)." We are on mission, Church, and a group on mission must be unified.

In Passionate Pursuit

Well, it's been a while since I wrote a piece for my blog. I appreciate those of you that continued to visit the page and read my posts while I was not writing; I only had 100 pagesviews less than a normal month with multiple posts. So, thanks and I hope to write more regularly in the month of June.

Today, I want to take a look at a warning from the past that applies well to today, so look at Hebrews 3:7-14 with me:

"Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says:
Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion,
on the day of testing in the wilderness, where your fathers tested Me, tried Me,
and saw My works 10 for 40 years. Therefore I was provoked with that generation
and said, “They always go astray in their hearts, and they have not known My ways.” So I swore in My anger,
“They will not enter My rest.” " -Hebrews 3:7-11, HCSB

This passage starts with a quote from Psalm 95:7-11, which talks about the failures of the Israelities in the desert (which you can read more of in the books of Leviticus and Numbers). We read that the Israelities hardened their hearts and turned away from God when they were in the desert, and so God didn't allow them to enter "the rest," which they were supposedly going to be able to receive once they made it to the promised land of Canaan.

So, how does is apply to us? Check out the next verses:

"Watch out, brothers, so that there won’t be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart that departs from the living God. But encourage each other daily, while it is still called today, so that none of you is hardened by sin’s deception. For we have become companions of the Messiah if we hold firmly until the end the reality that we had at the start." -Hebrews 3:12-14, HCSB

Christians, we must guard ourselves from this! We have to stay away from an evil heart that turns away from God. How do we do that? Two things:

1. Encourage each other. Encouraging fellow Christians, and being encouraged yourself, is a great way to keep yourself headed toward God. It's always easier to stay on target when ther people are helping you do so.

2. Hold firmly to God. Passionately follow after God, always looking to draw nearer to Him. Read His Word, pray and do His work.

Both of these things will help us to keep Him in our sights. The question is: will you harden your heart, turning away from God, or will you passionately pursue Him?

She Will Be Saved Through Childbearing

"But she will be saved through childbearing, if she continues in faith, love and holiness, with good sense." -1 Timothy 2:15, HCSB

This verse states that women receive salvation by having children. That is the only verse that I am aware of that specifically says how women are saved.

Also, it appears that having faith in late childbirth will often provide with amazing offspring and salvation all the more. Look at Sarah, Abraham's wife: she waited for a child until she was old, and her son was Isaac. Rebekah: Joesph. Hannah: Samuel. Elizabeth: John the Baptist. So.. girls, wait as long as you can. Have faith that God will provide a child, and through His gracious giving of a child, you'll be saved. The longer you wait, the more likely your child is to be a prophet.

Ok, so that is completely untrue. The way to salvation is not childbearing for women, nor is their faith increased and their possibility of having an amazing prophet increased by waiting until old age.

So, what was the point of that opening? It is an excellent way for us to see the danger of looking at certain verses without the context and truth of the entire Scripture in mind. It is extremely unwise to randomly read verses of Scripture and try to decide their meaning without looking at the rest of the Bible. Just think: if a friend of mine and I can take 1 Timothy 2:15 (which is a difficult verse with many interpretations, one of which [that I most agree with] saying that all women are saved spiritually through the most important birth of time, Christ) and make it into an whole new doctrine of salvation, just think about what else can happen. Almost any verse can be twisted to say similarly crazy things. We must, as rapper Trip Lee says, "keep the Gospel in mind." Every verse in the Bible is meant to come back, somehow, to the cross. All of Scripture is about Jesus and His unfolding plan of salvation to sinners. We must keep that as a focus when reading Scripture.

So, here are a few helpful hints that will help you avoid inventing doctrine or jerking verses out of context:

1. Have a solid study Bible. A good study Bible will have cross-references and study notes to help you see the verse you are reading in the light of other Scripture.

2. Read the passages before and after the verse you are reading. For instance, 1 Timothy 2:13-14 talk about Adam and Eve, and Eve's sin. This, in conjunction with "saved through childbearing" seems to allude to the prophecy in Genesis 3:15, when God told Satan, Adam and Eve that one of Eve's children (Christ) would come and defeat the sin that Eve just started. By reading the passages before and after, you will get a better feel for what the author of the verse is really saying, not just what you think.

3. Keep the Gospel message in mind. If the verse seems to go against another verse that states a Biblical truth, then you probably are not focusing in the true message of the verse. We know that 1 Timothy 2:5-6 states that Christ is a ransom and mediator for all, and Acts 16:14 tells about the conversion of a woman to faith in Christ via God's opening of her heart, not having a kid. There is overwhelming Scriptural evidence that all people, man and woman alike, are saved through faith in God's grace. Thus, my above explanation of 1 Timothy 2:15 is false. We must keep the Gospel at the core of our Bible study, or we remain vulnerable to misinterpretation.

God's Will: How to Find It

Getting ready to make an important decision? Maybe you're deciding whether or not to pop the question and propose to the girl of your dreams. Maybe you're trying to decide on a college or career. Maybe you are in the mood for both Chinese and Mexican food tonight. All in all, you just want the answer to one question: which choice is in God's will? Lucky for you, I can answer that.

Honestly, did that intro not sound like an infomercial? If I tacked on a price tag of $19.99 (plus shipping and handling), Billy Mays could have thrown that pitch. Yet, the idea of "finding God's will" in our decisions, both big and small, is a legitimate question that many Christians fret over regularly. I mean, we don't want to screw this thing up. What if God wanted me to go to Dartmouth instead of Ole Miss? What if God wanted me to marry another guy, who happens to live in Oregon, while I am a doctor in Miami?

These kind of questions frustrate many Christians, particularly the young 20 and 30 something crowd that I happen to fall in. We don't want to go against the grand scheme that God has laid out for us. Yet, the answer to finding God's will is much simpler than you may think.

"In these last days, He has spoken to us by His Son. God has appointed Him heir of all things and made the universe through Him." -Hebrews 1:2, HCSB

Here, the author of Hebrews makes it rather clear: if we want to hear God speak, we realize that He speaks through the Son. So, if we want to hear God tell us what to do, we find Jesus. Got it. Now, where is He, exactly? Oh, yeah. He ascended and went to the right hand of the Father. So... how it that we are to get direction from Him?

"In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God."

-John 1:1, HCSB

Jesus is the Word. Word meaning that He is found in Scripture, which means that the best way to communicate with God is to read His Word. I mean, we have 66 books worth of God speaking to us? If we are looking for God to help guide us through a decision, why wouldn't we start there? It only makes sense.

Here's the part where you say, "But Bryan, the Bible doesn't directly tell me what to do. I get that it's telling me a lot of things, but I still don't know whether to go to Dartmouth or Ole Miss." I get what you are saying, so let me give a few pointers:

1. Make sure both decisions are without sin. If your choosing of an option in a decision is directly sinful, or will easily lead to sin when the other option will not, I suggest avoiding the sinful/sin-leading option. The Bible is clear that we are to avoid sin at all costs.

2. Pick which one is the most God-glorifying. If both seem to be legitimately moral options, try to figure out which one helps you to take His name to the world the best. If one option seems to better allow you to spread the name of Jesus, then I'd be willing to bet that option is probably best. Acts 1:8 says that we are to be His witnesses; regardless of the option, will you be able to be His witness there?

3. Choose what you want. Yes, this seems crazy and strangely not spiritual, but think about it. After you know someone for a while, can't you start anticipating what their responses and decisions will be before they even make them? Of course you can; you've learned how their mind works. So if you are following Christ in your life, pursuing a life of godliness, praying and reading the Word, you are getting closer to God, correct? If you are getting closer to God, does that not make it easier to know what He would pick?

That fact is that the Bible never states that God will direct you in any other way than through His Word and you growing closer to Him. Yes, there are example of Him showing people His guidance in other ways, but they are almost always completely unexpected. Just pursue Him, weigh the options based on what His Word says, and you should see yourself making more and more decisions that are focused on God, and not on yourself. As long as the focus is on Him, you can't go wrong.

-Special thanks to Kevin DeYoung, whose book Just Do Something inspired this post and has helped my get a more biblical view of finding God's guidance-

A King's Prayer of Awe (That You Can Use)

As I have said before, King David is one of my very favorite biblical characters. This dude just had so much passion going on! One minute he's in the clouds, and the next minute he's scraping the bottom of the bucket, lower than dirt. Today, we are going to look at a prayer of his, and really focus on how his view of God leads to only one logical response that we can follow with.

Towards the end of his reign as king of Israel, David wanted desperately to build a temple for God. His logic was simple: if the mortal king of Israel has a majestic palace, how much more does the King of all deserve? Alas, God did not let David build. David had shed far too much blood in his life, and the honor of building the temple would instead fall to Dave's son, Solomon.

Instead of pouting about not being the one to build, David hosted a massive fundraising project, in which he gave generously (even for a king) for the project and led the leaders of Israel to follow suit. After all the fundraising is completed, and David sees the massive amount of money, he is ecstatic. He proceeds, as he did more than once, to worship in front of everyone. Here's what he said:

"May You be praised, LORD God of our father Israel, from eternity to eternity.Yours, LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the splendor and the majesty, for everything in the heavens and on earth belongs to You. Yours, LORD, is the kingdom, and You are exalted as head over all. Riches and honor come from You, and You are the ruler of everything. Power and might are in Your hand, and it is in Your hand to make great and to give strength to all. Now therefore, our God, we give You thanks and praise Your glorious name." -1 Chronicles 29:10-13, HCSB

What a prayer! Let's look at the three-fold part of this prayer:

1. He states God's name and rejoices in His traits. He opens with praising the LORD God (Yahweh) of Israel, and then dives off into God's traits and characteristics. He discusses God's everlasting nature. He discusses His greatness, power, glory, splendor, and majesty.

2. He gives God His dues. He admits to God that the entire universe belongs to Him, and that the Kingdom is His. He is exalted as head over all. Even riches (like those that David and Co. just gave to build the temple) and honor and power (like David's kingship) and might and strength are all a product of God. Without His giving it, we have none of those things.

3. He reacts to all this with praise and thanksgiving. There are only two responses to a God like what David has just described: indifference and awe. If you could care less about this God, you have not grasped the majesty and power and greatness of God. Just look at how the beings in the throne room of God react to Him:

"When He took the scroll, the four living creatures and the 24 elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and gold bowls filled with incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song:

You are worthy to take the scroll
and to open its seals,
because You were slaughtered,
and You redeemed people
for God by Your blood
from every tribe and language
and people and nation.
You made them a kingdom
and priests to our God,
and they will reign on the earth.

Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels around the throne, and also of the living creatures and of the elders. Their number was countless thousands, plus thousands of thousands. They said with a loud voice:

The Lamb who was slaughtered is worthy
to receive power and riches
and wisdom and strength
and honor and glory and blessing!

I heard every creature in heaven, on earth, under the earth, on the sea, and everything in them say:

Blessing and honor and glory and dominion
to the One seated on the throne,
and to the Lamb, forever and ever!

The four living creatures said, 'Amen,' and the elders fell down and worshiped." -Revelation 5:8-14, HCSB

That, my friends, is the correct response to this great God. All-out praise and worship and awe. I urge you to take all three of the pieces of David's prayer, and make a prayer that will leave you in awe of God.

For more into the traits of God that will spread your view and understanding of His majesty and greatness, check out:

-He has always been in existence, and always will be (Psalm 90:2, Psalm 100:5)
-He is everywhere, at one time (Jeremiah 23:23-24, Psalm 139:7-12, Proverbs 15:3, Isaiah 43:2, Hebrews 13:5)
-He is powerful over all (Jeremiah 32:17, Genesis 18:14, Luke 18:27)
-He is never changing (James 1:17, Hebrews 13:8, Hebrews 1:10-12, Psalm 102:25-27)
-He knows all (1 John 3:20, Psalm 139:1-6, Isaiah 40:13-14)

#YOLO (Or Do You?)

Recently, I have seen a lot of tweets, both among friends and famous people, with the hashtag "#YOLO," which stands for "You Only Live Once." In fact, here's a few examples from a random Twitter search for "#YOLO" (note: I do not recommend following any of these people on Twitter. I don't know them. They were selected from a search because they had funny or interesting #YOLO tweets):

Week old shrimp pad thai leftovers in the fridge....#YOLO
     -@Hololla

Getting one wisdom tooth removed right now.. #YOLO
     -@YakapoFlow

Leave your test blank and turn it in #YOLO
     -@ohhh_brandon

But this tweet really captures what a lot of people seem to use YOLO for:

I guess when you say #Yolo that means you can do whatever
     -@McGlovin24

McGlovin24 crystallized YOLO about as well as anyone could. It seems to have become the motto for for doing whatever you want, since you've only got one life to live. Don't waste it, right?

And I totally get that. I'm all about living life to the fullest extent possible. Who wants to get to be 70, 80 or 90 years old and realize that they did NOTHING worth note in their life? My question is: for what reason are you living your life?

When I went to the Passion conference in 2011, Francis Chan spoke on a verse that has become one my "life verses":

"Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ"
     -Philippians 1:27a, ESV

This is my YOLO verse. It speaks to how we live our lives. Are we living lives that match up with being a Christian, as many claim to be? You see, if you are a Christian, you're called to a different live. You are called to life a life that radically reflects the amazing truth of the Gospel. Look at the Bible: Peter, Paul, James, and John are all examples of New Testament Christians that lived a life on the edge, giving their all to glorify Christ. Out of those four, three of them were killed for their radical, all-in life, which they gave to following Jesus (and they other one died in exile on an island, which isn't much better). You think they played it safe? Do you think they missed out on a full life for following Christ? No! They understood a truth, which Paul alludes to in 2 Corinthians 4:

"So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal." -2 Corinthians 4:16-18, ESV

The fact is, we don't live only once. Yes, we all have an earthly death approaching, but that isn't the end of the line. Our current bodies are falling apart, but for the Christian, your inner spirit (given life by the Holy Spirit when you are saved and become a child of God) is growing. There will come a time when this earth will be completely remade, and those who are God's people will live again on this Earth. If you have Christ, you have been born again. You are on your second life, not the first.

And if you don't know Christ? Well, according to Ephesians 2, you are "dead in your sins." Your spiritual life, the second life, has not begun. If you remain in this life, and never turn to God to be born into the second life, a life of glorifying Him and following Him into eternity, then you will be judged by God and found guilty for the sins you committed in this life, even the ones you justified in the name of "YOLO."

The fact is: Christ died and rose again, allowing dead sinners to come to life in Him and live twice. So, live your life to the fullest, absolutely, but are your eyes on this life, living until this body dies, or are you focused on the second life, the things unseen, and a future with Him? What is your reasoning behind going for broke on life? I hope and pray that it is the name of Christ that you live for.

Suffering and Strife

Lately, God has been really bringing in a focus on suffering in my life. Everywhere I turn, it seems I am learning about how to handle suffering. Thus, I write you this to share some of what He is teaching me, and perhaps this will help those of us that are either going through suffering currently or are being prepped for suffering in the future.

The apostle Paul knew all about suffering. He was shipwrecked (twice), bitten by a snake, jailed, stoned, left for dead, beaten, excommunicated, and mocked. He lived with a "thorn in his side," a "a messenger of Satan" that gave him quite a bit of grief in his life. And yet, He was incredibly faithful. Was not Paul one of the greatest leaders of the early Church? Was he not the one that wrote thirteen books of the New Testament? What gives? Why didn't God protect him from that? By extension, why doesn't God protect those of us that struggle from our grievances? Check out 2 Corinthians 4:13-18 with me.

"¹³ And since we have the same spirit of faith in keeping with what is written, I believed, therefore I spoke, we also believe, and therefore speak. ¹⁴ We know that the One who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and present us with you. ¹⁵ For all of this is because of you, so that grace, extended through more and more people, may cause thanksgiving to increase to God’s glory.
¹⁶ Therefore we do not give up. Even though our outer person is being destroyed, our inner person is being renewed day by day. ¹⁷ For our momentary light affliction is producing for us an absolutely incomparable eternal weight of glory. ¹⁸ So we do not focus on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." -2 Corinthians 4:13-18, HCSB

This, Christian, should bring you great joy. I am falling in love with 2 Corinthians, and this is one of my favorite passages. You see, if you are a Christian, you have the Spirit of God within you. That Spirit raised Jesus from the grave, and it raised you from your death, as well. Without Christ, we are dead in our sins, rebels that have spit in God's face and told Him to get lost. Clearly, we were deserving of death. Yet the Spirit rose us from the grave and brought us into this new life that we live, re-born to follow Christ.

Now that we are re-born and alive with the Holy Ghost coursing through your body, everything is working to give glory to God. Yes, your struggles are supposed to glorify God. How? Check it out: by thanksgiving. Yeah, God glorifies in your thankfulness for His grace during struggles. Being thankful for the grace that He gives you is easy when all is well on the home front; being thankful for grace when the world is crashing in is much harder. Yet, when we are thankful for grace in the struggles, all glory for our lives goes to God.

As the passage continues to say, don't give up. Yes, struggle and strife can bring you down, but we have something else to focus on: not what is seen (our dying flesh and earthly life), but on what is unseen (our future in the glory of God). Christian, your life now is minuscule compared to the life you will live for eternity. We will live forever in the glory and majesty of the God of the universe, praising His name and worshipping on the new Earth. This world will be completely repaired, and God will remake it in all of it's majesty. Everything will be made right, and we will be heirs to this Kingdom. So, stay strong. Stand firm in the faith, and give thanks for the new life you have in Christ. For as Paul says, "our momentary light affliction is producing for us an absolutely incomparable eternal weight of glory."