God’s Favorite
Did you know that God has a favorite? When I say favorite, I mean it by the sense that the dictionary defines favorite as. Favorite-a person or thing regarded with special favor or preference. In all of time, in all recorded history there is one person that he loves above all others. I’m sure your thinking, well of course he does, it’s Jesus! But Jesus is a part of God therefore he cannot be his own favorite. I know what I’m about to say is going to stretch some people’s minds. But allow me to explain further before you completely ignore me or write me off as a fool.
When God thinks of this person he can’t help but get a smile on his face. When God thinks of his favorite person in all of creation, his heart skips a beat like someone who’s spotted his loved one in a crowded room. When God thinks of the one person in all of creation that he loves above all others, words can’t begin to describe the passion that boils up inside of him. Who is this person? Why it’s me of course. Yes me, with all of my faults. I couldn’t believe it either when I learned it. You would think that his favorite would be someone so grand and wonderful. An obvious choice, God chose me though. Even though I walk a bit funny, even though I’m deaf in one ear, and even though I’m more that a tad overweight. I am in all of creation, his favorite.
But and this is what makes God so incredible, it is also each and every one of you. At any moment, at any point in time through the history of man, whenever you are on his mind, you are the most important in all of his creation. A lot of words have been used to describe his love, awesome is one of them. But as a friend of mine said recently, we use that word way too much to describe things that are not truly awesome. We see a great athletic play, or hear a tremendous song, read a brilliant book, and we say that was awesome. But the dictionary defines awesome as inspiring awe. If awesome is something that inspires awe, then what is awe itself? Awe is an overwhelming feeling of reverence, admiration, fear, etc., produced by that which is grand, sublime, extremely powerful. When we say that God’s love is awesome what we are really and truly saying is that his love is so amazing that when we think about it inspires in us an overwhelming feeling of reverence and admiration.
This is where realizing that you indeed, yes you, are God’s favorite can become hard to understand and comprehend. If I had told you that any number of characters from the Bible were God’s favorite, or that someone like Billy Graham, Mother Teresa, or any other famous evangelist or preacher was the favorite one. You may disagree with my logic, or argue with me that God plays no favorites. But those at least we could rationalize in our minds, these are all famous or talented, or more spiritual than most of us believe we could ever be. When however I tell you that I am God’s favorite, a boy born with CP, raised in a tiny community named Tacy. When I tell you I am God’s favorite it becomes an act of pride, you can say I’m making more of myself than I truly am worth. Telling you then that YOU are God’s favorite, you who know all your flaws, all your hidden and not so hidden sins, you who know everything about yourself. I tell you that YOU are God’s favorite, and it becomes difficult to believe about oneself. But I want everyone to say out loud I AM GOD’S FAVORITE!
We are more special in God’s eyes than most of us ever realize. The passion that God has for us is most clearly written about in a book not heavily preached out of, the Song of Songs or Song of Solomon. A woman, and the King that she loves are the two principles in the book, as they go back and forth telling each other how much they are in love. While the book tells us how the love between a man and his wife should be, it also gives us a glimpse into how much God loves us. For we are his bride, his choice in SOS 6: 8,9
Even among sixty queens
and eighty concubines
and countless young women,
9 I would still choose my dove, my perfect one—
The King says I may have the choice of all the woman in I want, but I would choose you above all others. I think for some reason we tend to shy away from thinking of God pursuing in the romantic sense. We read the Song of Solomon and think it sounds like a lovestruck teenager writing to his first crush. A lovestruck teenager God doesn’t seem to powerful to us, or maybe it’s just the overt sexual overtones. So we pass over the book a lot of times and don’t think much about what it means to our faith. God is PASSIONATE about you and I, in ways greater than we can comprehend. The love between a man and wife is just a fraction of the love that God has for us.
And I think that is part of the reason God as the lover has become, less preached on in Western society. For the woman who had a husband leave her, it’s hard to think of God as someone passionately in love with her. For the husband who’s wife had an affair, it’s hard to worship the God who chooses only him. So we worship the God that we can understand. We can understand the God who takes us in as his children, like in Romans 8. Because so many of us are broken and wounded like children who have been adopted are. We can worship the God who is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords as revealed in Revelations. But, a God who pursues us like a man after his first love, the God who has loved us with an intense passion and devotion since before we were created. In a country with a divorce rate of over 50% it’s easier for the churches to just avoid.
The individual Christian however cannot lose it’s identity as the Bride of Christ. We each individually are the Bride of Christ, just as all the body of Christ collectively is the Bride. Each of us loved individually, special and unique, a divine FAVORITE of the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last. From here on out wake up each day and say out loud, I am God’s Favorite. But only if you truly believe, only if your ready to live your life as if you truly are God’s Favorite. Now once again shout it from the top of your lungs. I AM GOD’S FAVORITE!!!!!!!!
Monday, April 26, 2010
Monday, March 15, 2010
Passion for the Word
A Passion for the Word
Odd, the way the less the Bible is read the more it is translated- CS Lewis
Anybody who knows me, knows that I love to read CS Lewis. If your a friend of mine online, you have seen me quote him many times. You may even remember me putting this quote up. When I first read this the truth of it stuck in my head and crawled up in there. I thought about it all night, and decided to do some research on the subject. According to Wycliffe Bible translators website as of 1998 there are 1,168 languages that have some part of the bible available in their primary language. Of those 438 have access to the entire bible in that language. This however does not account for the many different versions available in some languages such as English. If you can not find an English language version of the Bible that you can read and understand, then I don't know what to tell you. And in our society today, as long as you have internet access or a computer with you, you don't even need the Bible in physical form. There are innumerable software programs and websites available that have the entire Bible available at a instant. With the Bible so readily available to us, you would think that Christians especially in America. Would be reading the Bible on a daily basis. After all, it's not for lack of opportunity to read them.
But then I read the statistics from this telephone poll conducted in December of last year by Rasmussen Reports.
18% of Regular Churchgoers Read the Bible DAILY
32% Say the read the bible a couple times a week
20% Read it at least once a week
26% Rarely or Never Read the Bible.
I don't know which number saddens me more, the fact that less than 20% of churchgoing Christians read their Bibles on a daily basis. Or that over a quarter of them don't read their bibles at all. Now to be honest I'm not sure how many they interviewed for this poll. But I would be willing to guess that if you polled every churchgoing Christian nationwide the percentages would be about the same. Why are American Christians so apathetic when it comes to reading our Bibles? I say our not just because I am an American Christian, but also because I need improvement in this area as well. Have we forgotten the command given by Joshua?
Josh 1:8: Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth;
meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it.
Then you will be prosperous and successful.
We have people around the world starving for a copy of the Word in their languages. According to Wycliffe there are still over 2300 languages that have no portion of the Bible in their language. Around the world there are people still being persecuted for owning a copy of the scriptures. For years those who have opposed Christianity in governments tried to outlaw the Bible. Owning a Bible in communist Russia was a crime, smugglers used to walk backwards into Russia and it's republics to fool border guards.
Yet here in America where we have access to the Bible any way we want, our nation has lost it's passion for the Word. Do we not realize the privileges we have as a society? For years after the completion of the Bible, it was only available in scroll form. Taught in the synogogues, or passed around from house to house like Paul's letters. In around 600 AD the Roman Catholic church outlawed any translation of the Bible other than the Latin Vulgate. From this time until the 1380's when John Wycliffe, translated the Latin Vulgate to English, whom the previously mentioned Bible Translation group get their name. The Bible was only available in Latin, that's a period of 780 years. The church did this to increase the power of the clergy, who were trained to read the Latin, while the common person did not have the schooling necessary. Because of this the church was able to endorse such practices as the selling of indulgences. The common people had to believe what they were told, they had no way to check the authenticity of what they were being told from the pulpit.
But that was just the opening pebble of what would become the Reformation, in 1440 the printing press was invented by Johannes Gutenberg. An invention which allowed for the printing of documents, instead of each being hand copied. This invention would allow for the spread of Bibles in the languages that people spoke, at a cheaper cost than paying for someone to hand copy it. And in the coming years the Bible would begin to be translated by men such as Martin Luther, William Tyndale, and Myles Coverdale among others. A couple of important dates to know
1517 Martlin Luther translates New Testmant into common German dialect-1530's publishes entire bible in German
William Tyndale in 1525-1526 the Tyndale New Testament became the
first printed edition of the New Testament scripture in the English language. Burned at stake in 1536
1535 Myles Coverdale a friend and contemporary of William Tyndale. completes the Entire Bible in English for publication
Or how about the people's reaction to the hearing the Bible in their own languages? In 1496, John Colet, another Oxford professor and the son of the Mayor of London, started reading the New Testament in Greek and translating it into English for
his students at Oxford, and later for the public at Saint Paul’s Cathedral in London.
The people were so hungry to hear the Word of God in a language they could understand, that within six months there were 20,000 people packed in the church and at least that many outside trying to get in!
These men of faith endured persecution, ridicule, excommunication, and even death to provide the common people with the ability to read the Bible in their languages. Often copies of the newly printed Bibles were confiscated and burned by religious officials. Or they would buy the newly printed Bibles from those translating them, then burn them. But the translators would take the money church officials gave them for the Bibles and print new ones!
In those days it would not have been uncommon for people to set aside a little bit each month and save until they could afford their own copy. Having your own copy of the Bible was important and precious. Think about anything you've saved up money for, when you finally can afford it. You go out and buy it, your so thrilled and happy. You've met the goal you've been working toward for so long. That new possession is going to be precious and important to you. That is the attitude and excitement that people had for owning a copy of the Word of God. They wanted to read it for themselves.
What happened to that PASSION? The burning desire that the people at the time of the Reformation had for the scriptures? Do we have it too easy in America? Would we value the scriptures more if we had to scrape and fight and claw to have a copy of them? I think part of the reason people don't read the Bible is that it is more than just a book. The Bible shows us ourselves in it's pages and can make us uncomfortable when we see ourself mirrored in its pages.
God's word is living and active. It is sharper than any two-edged sword and
cuts as deep as the place where soul and spirit meet, the place where joints and marrow meet. God's word judges a person's thoughts and intentions.-Hebrews 4:12
It's much safer to stick to cute little devotional books, sermons that don't mention our human failings, and a nation that no longer wants the Churchgoers to be it's conscience. The Word of God, is not an easy book to read, it's words will challenge and convict you. If you let them. When the Word became flesh in the body of Jesus Christ, he would point out what was lacking in the religious institutions of his day. The leaders of his day didn't like that, and we try to avoid it now. A national culture of convenience and apathy, leads us away from anything that challenges. Let us watch tv that entertains but does not stimulate thought. Movies that help us forget our problems, instead of pushing us to help those less fortunate with their problems. And video games that let us turn off our minds for hours at a time, instead of using that time to meditate on our lives.
Now don't get me wrong, I enjoy those things as much as anyone. But if we as a society and more importantly as the Body of Christ. Are not willing to cut down on things that distract us from the business of the kingdom. Then who will be available to do the work of the Kingdom? The only way we will see this nation changed, to see ourselves be blessed, and to see those that we love and are lost, be changed by the transforming power of God. Is if the Body of Christ rediscovers it's passion and desire for the Bible. Because the Bible contains the words that the world needs to hear. The Bible is what reminds us of the grace that has been given to us. And it is the Bible that challenges us to go out into the world and change it.
Odd, the way the less the Bible is read the more it is translated- CS Lewis
Anybody who knows me, knows that I love to read CS Lewis. If your a friend of mine online, you have seen me quote him many times. You may even remember me putting this quote up. When I first read this the truth of it stuck in my head and crawled up in there. I thought about it all night, and decided to do some research on the subject. According to Wycliffe Bible translators website as of 1998 there are 1,168 languages that have some part of the bible available in their primary language. Of those 438 have access to the entire bible in that language. This however does not account for the many different versions available in some languages such as English. If you can not find an English language version of the Bible that you can read and understand, then I don't know what to tell you. And in our society today, as long as you have internet access or a computer with you, you don't even need the Bible in physical form. There are innumerable software programs and websites available that have the entire Bible available at a instant. With the Bible so readily available to us, you would think that Christians especially in America. Would be reading the Bible on a daily basis. After all, it's not for lack of opportunity to read them.
But then I read the statistics from this telephone poll conducted in December of last year by Rasmussen Reports.
18% of Regular Churchgoers Read the Bible DAILY
32% Say the read the bible a couple times a week
20% Read it at least once a week
26% Rarely or Never Read the Bible.
I don't know which number saddens me more, the fact that less than 20% of churchgoing Christians read their Bibles on a daily basis. Or that over a quarter of them don't read their bibles at all. Now to be honest I'm not sure how many they interviewed for this poll. But I would be willing to guess that if you polled every churchgoing Christian nationwide the percentages would be about the same. Why are American Christians so apathetic when it comes to reading our Bibles? I say our not just because I am an American Christian, but also because I need improvement in this area as well. Have we forgotten the command given by Joshua?
Josh 1:8: Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth;
meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it.
Then you will be prosperous and successful.
We have people around the world starving for a copy of the Word in their languages. According to Wycliffe there are still over 2300 languages that have no portion of the Bible in their language. Around the world there are people still being persecuted for owning a copy of the scriptures. For years those who have opposed Christianity in governments tried to outlaw the Bible. Owning a Bible in communist Russia was a crime, smugglers used to walk backwards into Russia and it's republics to fool border guards.
Yet here in America where we have access to the Bible any way we want, our nation has lost it's passion for the Word. Do we not realize the privileges we have as a society? For years after the completion of the Bible, it was only available in scroll form. Taught in the synogogues, or passed around from house to house like Paul's letters. In around 600 AD the Roman Catholic church outlawed any translation of the Bible other than the Latin Vulgate. From this time until the 1380's when John Wycliffe, translated the Latin Vulgate to English, whom the previously mentioned Bible Translation group get their name. The Bible was only available in Latin, that's a period of 780 years. The church did this to increase the power of the clergy, who were trained to read the Latin, while the common person did not have the schooling necessary. Because of this the church was able to endorse such practices as the selling of indulgences. The common people had to believe what they were told, they had no way to check the authenticity of what they were being told from the pulpit.
But that was just the opening pebble of what would become the Reformation, in 1440 the printing press was invented by Johannes Gutenberg. An invention which allowed for the printing of documents, instead of each being hand copied. This invention would allow for the spread of Bibles in the languages that people spoke, at a cheaper cost than paying for someone to hand copy it. And in the coming years the Bible would begin to be translated by men such as Martin Luther, William Tyndale, and Myles Coverdale among others. A couple of important dates to know
1517 Martlin Luther translates New Testmant into common German dialect-1530's publishes entire bible in German
William Tyndale in 1525-1526 the Tyndale New Testament became the
first printed edition of the New Testament scripture in the English language. Burned at stake in 1536
1535 Myles Coverdale a friend and contemporary of William Tyndale. completes the Entire Bible in English for publication
Or how about the people's reaction to the hearing the Bible in their own languages? In 1496, John Colet, another Oxford professor and the son of the Mayor of London, started reading the New Testament in Greek and translating it into English for
his students at Oxford, and later for the public at Saint Paul’s Cathedral in London.
The people were so hungry to hear the Word of God in a language they could understand, that within six months there were 20,000 people packed in the church and at least that many outside trying to get in!
These men of faith endured persecution, ridicule, excommunication, and even death to provide the common people with the ability to read the Bible in their languages. Often copies of the newly printed Bibles were confiscated and burned by religious officials. Or they would buy the newly printed Bibles from those translating them, then burn them. But the translators would take the money church officials gave them for the Bibles and print new ones!
In those days it would not have been uncommon for people to set aside a little bit each month and save until they could afford their own copy. Having your own copy of the Bible was important and precious. Think about anything you've saved up money for, when you finally can afford it. You go out and buy it, your so thrilled and happy. You've met the goal you've been working toward for so long. That new possession is going to be precious and important to you. That is the attitude and excitement that people had for owning a copy of the Word of God. They wanted to read it for themselves.
What happened to that PASSION? The burning desire that the people at the time of the Reformation had for the scriptures? Do we have it too easy in America? Would we value the scriptures more if we had to scrape and fight and claw to have a copy of them? I think part of the reason people don't read the Bible is that it is more than just a book. The Bible shows us ourselves in it's pages and can make us uncomfortable when we see ourself mirrored in its pages.
God's word is living and active. It is sharper than any two-edged sword and
cuts as deep as the place where soul and spirit meet, the place where joints and marrow meet. God's word judges a person's thoughts and intentions.-Hebrews 4:12
It's much safer to stick to cute little devotional books, sermons that don't mention our human failings, and a nation that no longer wants the Churchgoers to be it's conscience. The Word of God, is not an easy book to read, it's words will challenge and convict you. If you let them. When the Word became flesh in the body of Jesus Christ, he would point out what was lacking in the religious institutions of his day. The leaders of his day didn't like that, and we try to avoid it now. A national culture of convenience and apathy, leads us away from anything that challenges. Let us watch tv that entertains but does not stimulate thought. Movies that help us forget our problems, instead of pushing us to help those less fortunate with their problems. And video games that let us turn off our minds for hours at a time, instead of using that time to meditate on our lives.
Now don't get me wrong, I enjoy those things as much as anyone. But if we as a society and more importantly as the Body of Christ. Are not willing to cut down on things that distract us from the business of the kingdom. Then who will be available to do the work of the Kingdom? The only way we will see this nation changed, to see ourselves be blessed, and to see those that we love and are lost, be changed by the transforming power of God. Is if the Body of Christ rediscovers it's passion and desire for the Bible. Because the Bible contains the words that the world needs to hear. The Bible is what reminds us of the grace that has been given to us. And it is the Bible that challenges us to go out into the world and change it.
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
One Night, Two Hearts
On the night of the last supper, two of Jesus's disciples stood out in the attitude of their hearts on that fateful night. The first was Judas, and the second was John, the reason these two stood out is that illustrate the two responses to Christ that many people have.
First let's look at Judas, the one who betrayed Jesus. Many theories have been bandied about as to why Judas made the decision to betray Jesus. Most of them have of course centered around greed, since he accepted a bribe from the Pharisees to do so. But I believe it goes even deeper than just greed. You have to remember and understand the culture of Judaism and the Messiah they were longing for. The Jews were not looking for a meek, lowly carpenter turned Messiah. They were looking for a grand political and religious leader. Someone who would lead a overthrow of their Roman occupation and restore Israel as a national power. For part of his ministry Jesus might have fit what a lot of people were looking for. Large crowds were beginning to follow him, he had some influential friends that he had helped, and money was coming into his ministry. In fact Judas was the treasurer for the ministry.
But then Jesus began to talk about his oncoming suffering, about his followers needing to eat his body and drink his blood for eternal life. The large numbers of disciples went away, the treasury started to dwindle. Not only because fewer donations were likely coming in, but also because Judas was stealing from the funds. Judas who had been one of the 12 and one of the 70 sent out to preach the gospel, heal the sick and raise the dead. Decided that it was time for him to cut his losses, he was in a great position as treasurer if Jesus became king. Not a great position though if he's about to be crucified. So he made the decision that because Jesus did not fit his impressions of what Messiah should be. Because he did not want to be king like Judas hoped he would. But probably most importantly following Jesus meant putting himself in harm's way, giving up his way of life, and possibly dying. Judas decided to give up 3 years of walking with Jesus for the price of a slave.
How many others since then have tried Jesus for a little while, maybe visited a church a time or two, picked up the bible and tried to read it. But because Jesus did not fit their preconceived notions, or because what he asked of them was too much. They never follow him down the road that Jesus wants to take them on.
John however had the right idea, or as Howard might say he was in the right posture. He was seated right next to Jesus, so close that he could lay his head on his chest. You want to grow closer and be have a more intimate relationship with God? Follow the example of John, get close enough so that every time Jesus's heart beats, you can hear the pounding of it in your head. Get close enough to him so that his heartbeat becomes your heartbeat. You notice how Jesus may have reprimanded his disciples for arguing about who would become the greatest. But he had no problem with John wanting to be as close to him as possible. The Bible says if we draw near to him, he will draw near to us. He doesn't make us chase him, he doesn't play hide and seek. Instead he promises that those who seek, will find him, and to those that knock the door will be opened.
First let's look at Judas, the one who betrayed Jesus. Many theories have been bandied about as to why Judas made the decision to betray Jesus. Most of them have of course centered around greed, since he accepted a bribe from the Pharisees to do so. But I believe it goes even deeper than just greed. You have to remember and understand the culture of Judaism and the Messiah they were longing for. The Jews were not looking for a meek, lowly carpenter turned Messiah. They were looking for a grand political and religious leader. Someone who would lead a overthrow of their Roman occupation and restore Israel as a national power. For part of his ministry Jesus might have fit what a lot of people were looking for. Large crowds were beginning to follow him, he had some influential friends that he had helped, and money was coming into his ministry. In fact Judas was the treasurer for the ministry.
But then Jesus began to talk about his oncoming suffering, about his followers needing to eat his body and drink his blood for eternal life. The large numbers of disciples went away, the treasury started to dwindle. Not only because fewer donations were likely coming in, but also because Judas was stealing from the funds. Judas who had been one of the 12 and one of the 70 sent out to preach the gospel, heal the sick and raise the dead. Decided that it was time for him to cut his losses, he was in a great position as treasurer if Jesus became king. Not a great position though if he's about to be crucified. So he made the decision that because Jesus did not fit his impressions of what Messiah should be. Because he did not want to be king like Judas hoped he would. But probably most importantly following Jesus meant putting himself in harm's way, giving up his way of life, and possibly dying. Judas decided to give up 3 years of walking with Jesus for the price of a slave.
How many others since then have tried Jesus for a little while, maybe visited a church a time or two, picked up the bible and tried to read it. But because Jesus did not fit their preconceived notions, or because what he asked of them was too much. They never follow him down the road that Jesus wants to take them on.
John however had the right idea, or as Howard might say he was in the right posture. He was seated right next to Jesus, so close that he could lay his head on his chest. You want to grow closer and be have a more intimate relationship with God? Follow the example of John, get close enough so that every time Jesus's heart beats, you can hear the pounding of it in your head. Get close enough to him so that his heartbeat becomes your heartbeat. You notice how Jesus may have reprimanded his disciples for arguing about who would become the greatest. But he had no problem with John wanting to be as close to him as possible. The Bible says if we draw near to him, he will draw near to us. He doesn't make us chase him, he doesn't play hide and seek. Instead he promises that those who seek, will find him, and to those that knock the door will be opened.
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