God As Father (February 2012)

How did you do last month? Did you think about what your lifestyle was saying, or not saying, about God? For myself, I know sometimes I was showing people that God is ridiculously loving and other times that God is inconsistent and moody. Oh, and unforgiving. Man, that social experiment was sobering!

Father, Dad, Good & Bad

This month we'll look at how we, as men, portray God to the watching world. Listen to the way Jesus tells us to pray:

'Our father who is in heaven, hallowed be Your name.'

Jesus tells us to think of God as a father, THE Father - what does that mean to you?* When you think of your own father, what kinds of emotions are kindled? Love? Joy? Admiration? Hope? Anger? Fear? Hatred? Indifference? It's possible that your experience with your earthly father has left you with a bitter spike wedged between you and any concept of God as your heavenly father. You may not even be ready to admit to yourself that your distrust, or rejection, of God is based primarily on the way you see your earthly father. What you may not know is God is aware of that, He is suffering with you, and will continue to speak through His word, and through others, to you about who He really is. I would ask you, especially, to stick in till the end of this post and struggle with what you find.

Often times our earthly fathers have fallen horribly short of representing the God who made them to reflect His image, and His character. Though imperfectly, men were made to be examples of the God who is our protector, our shield, our loving provider, and our peaceful place of rest. I believe this is one of the reasons Jesus chose to describe God here as Father. He says something about what God's name signifies that is worthy of looking at here. The word 'hallowed' means "holy, consecrated (set apart), sacred, revered," and we should recognize that God alone is worthy of this kind of reverence.

But men, especially, are to consider their worth as God's created leaders of the family, and what their performance (or lack thereof) portrays about God (even if inadvertently). Are we pursuing holiness, or just holes-in-one? Are we set-apart keepers of God's desire for fathers, considering our duties to be sacred, or are we gathering in packs of bitter and selfish men who whine and moan about their wives and children when they're not there? Does you family revere and respect you or mainly just tolerate you, or try to stay out of your way? Listen to what scripture's holiness codes have to say to fathers:

"Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word... So husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself; for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church... Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord."

Ephesians 5:25-26, 28-29, 6:4

"Husbands, love your wives and do not be embittered against them... Fathers, do not exasperate your children, so that they will not lose heart."

Colossians 3:19, 21

Our pursuit of holiness as fathers, or men in general, is just that - a pursuit. A journey. A work we begin and never finish in this life. Leading our families should be sacrificial, not domineering or oppressive, if we are to be like Christ. Our leadership should uphold the need for our sanctification, time in the word, and unity within the body of Christ through baptism and fellowship. We are to feed and care for our relationships with our wives and kids and so fulfill the call of Christ on our situation. There is a place for discipline of your kids but the goal should always be their instruction in life and in the Lord. If our families have lost heart, if our relationships there seem mere shells of what they once were, it's time to recenter on the Source of life and follow the Christ by whose name we are called.

It's time to grow up and seek God for the direction and strength to be who you were created to be. Earn your Father's Day this year. Change your ways to align with Christ, and let the Holy Spirit change your heart for your spouse, children, and everyone else in your life. I know this has been a heavy read, so take a moment to watch the below video by Church On The Move, even leave me a comment and join the discussion below, and then get back to work!






And don't worry women, we'll be talking about you next month.

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* For those of you who want to think deeper, I say "think" because Jesus paints numerous pictures of God for us to understand God's qualities. For our time on earth we see God imperfectly, as dimly through a mirror, and only when we see God face to face will we see God as God truly is. I think many will be surprised that God is not a man, as we think of and know men to be now and throughout history, even a perfect man. The perfect God-man of the Trinity is Jesus the Christ, but God is Other, as the Spirit is also Other. Neither God the Father nor God the Holy Spirit are ghosts though, so we use words we can understand to try to wrap our minds around the mystery that is God. How else could we explain that God is One in three distinct persons? If this is hard for you to grasp, don't worry about it! Theologians who have studied it throughout history have disagreed and tried to explain the glorious nature of God, and no one has it figured out - so don't hang your faith or salvation on whether or not you figure it out! We would all do well to study as we want to and develop opinions as we want to, but not make those opinions something on which another's salvation, or faith, hangs.

Status Pain

Actually a website: visit for an idea of my concern here.

This post has been a long-time coming, but something I think about at least every day. When I scan the Facebook wall to see what "friends" are up to, I see many statuses that are a little confusing to me. They seem to be the equivalent of e-mail spam, personal contact's version of fishing for compliments, and can be at least as damaging or manipulative as either. Very little of the words on this post will be from me, so let's get to the status updates in question and I'll have some closing thoughts/questions at the very end: 

1. I personally believe in Jesus Christ. One Facebooker has challenged all believers to put this on their wall. The bible says, if you deny Me in front of your peers, I will deny you in front of My Father. This is a simple test. If you are not afraid to show it, re-post this. I proudly did! (: 
2. Like this status if I've ever made you smile(: repost and see how many likes you get(:
3. What if I died tomorrow -- would you miss me here?  
4. Single or not put this as your status & see what you get Inbox only!!!..

1. ♥ = I want a relationship
2. :) = I kinda like you
3. :p = I'm shy.... but your cute
4. XD = I want your number
5. :D = you mean everything 
6. </3 = I regret leaving
5. Ugh, I feel so ugly today! (posted alongside new profile pic, looking good) 
6. Truth is...
   
7. Repost if you're ending 2011 single. If someone wants to change that they'll send you a ♥.

Disappointment Waiting To Happen

I'll stop here because it's getting depressing to wonder about the emotional health of so many people I know. What are the unintended consequences of posts like these, of turning to "social media" while losing the ability (skill?) to socially engage others in person and build up meaningful relationships? Have we been sold the illusion of cyber-friendship? What if you don't re-post the first (are you denying Jesus?); what if no one likes, responds, re-posts, or affirms your internet-appeal for affirmation? What does that do to your self-worth?

How Do You See God? (January 2012)

Last year we talked about sin and how we will all, ultimately, see God as God is and be without excuse. This year we'll discover definitively who God is... just kidding. That would be hard! Not only that, but knowing God completely is impossible. Even through Jesus, we're only scratching the surface of the enormity of who God is - and yet God has chosen to reveal Himself to us through Jesus and enables us to get to know Him through the Holy Spirit. *

This year we're going to talk about how, as Christians, the way we treat others says volumes about us and what we believe about God. To start out, I want you to take a moment to think about the ways you might talk about God or describe God to someone who has never heard of God. What would you say?


....

Did anything come to mind? What are some of the descriptions you would use of God?

Long-haired, white-haired, blond-haired, dark-haired?
Non-existent, Figment of our imagination, Lie?
Concept of self, Concept of Greater Good?
Robe, Suit, Sandals, Glowing Orb?
Man, Woman, Both, Neither?
Involved, Disconnected?
Caring, Uncaring?
Strong, Weak?
Old, Young?
You, Me?
Us?

Often times, the things we've heard before shape the way we see God - good, bad, or indifferent. And sadly, many Christians are responsible for the ways their friends, family members, or coworkers see God. For example, if someone claims to know God but is hateful or indifferent to others, they will inevitably see that this must be what God is like if one of God's followers is like that. Don't we look like those we follow? Isn't that the point? How many people do you know who would say, "I can't stand this person. But you know what? I want to be just like them!" No - that would be absurd!

This year we will examine how what we are like as Christians tells others what God is like as God. This month, think about what you are telling others in your daily life. Are you showing them God, or just yourself?

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* Video was removed due to copyright complaint by Focus on the Family.

All Things New (December 2011)

God has promised us that, in Christ Jesus, we will one day be clothed with bodies like these, but imperishable, and have lives like these, but without the pock-marked, bullet-riddled tell-tale signs of sin (1 Cor. 15:53-57). Can you imagine how great it will be to no longer have fear of death or harm, fear of sin’s consequences, or fear of separation from the relationship that even now gives life and breath to us?! There is no greater idea or hope on this earth with which to occupy ourselves. The redemption of the whole world–and that includes us!–is a glorious thing that we in Christ will witness for eternity as God reveals what He has known and seen since eternity past. This is the ultimate victory, the end of death and sin and isolation.

Take a moment to read Revelation 21:1-7. After all the evil, all the sin, all the selfishness of fallen humanity has run its course, and after the judgment of God falls against these things and restores His creation–all of it–we’ll see what we can scarcely imagine now. We’ll still have heaven and earth, but new. We’ll have bodies, but new. We’ll have God, but in a new way. Face to face, and with no fear of death, because death is gone, out of God’s presence. For eternity.

We all must respond to sin personally. It ultimately doesn’t matter what we think, but what God says about it–and the bottom line is we all have the disease. But this month we close the year out bringing our minds back to where they belong: on God. The work of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit assures us that sin is not the final chapter of our story. In fact, because of Jesus, the final chapter of our story is the continuation of God’s story in a light we’ve never seen. We will be where we were designed to be, in the presence of God as God truly is, and no more allegory or metaphor or limiting descriptions will be needed. Free of sin forever, we will simply see that God is–and, for the first time in our lives, that will be enough.