God makes man in His image, but doesn't set them on the earth to figure out what to do, or to fend for themselves. He gives man a task, a mission, a good work to do.
Be fruitful and multiple- create families and communities. God created man to exist in relationship, not simply with Him and with creation, but with each other. People were made to have relationships with other people. God is a relational God who exists in community as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; man is made in the image and likeness of a communal God. It is hardwired into who we are as human beings that we need relational community.
Fill the earth and subdue it- explore this wondrous creation I have given you. God created man for adventure, not simply to sit tight and exist, but to embrace the risks and challenges that are in the world. The command is to conquer creation, to see a challenge and overcome it, to look at danger and face it with boldness.
God calls us to community and adventure, love and courage. He made us specifically for these things, and they are written into our souls. We crave adventure, we desperately long for relationships. That is how God made us.
The second part of this is that God didn't just crate man and give him instructions, but He also provides for the physical needs. He gives humanity men and women, establishing the grounds for family, and creating the means for the earth to be filled and community to grow. He gives man the world, full of mountains and rivers, jungles and deserts, and says you are free to explore all of this, it's for you. And then He says, every plant that bears fruit will sustain you. Food was readily available, and man was free to enjoy it. God provided everything man could ever need.
God creates man for a specific purpose, with a specific charge, and needs that are good.
God provides everything that man needs, taking care of every aspect, and making sure that nothing is lacking.
As people, let us embrace who God created us to be. Let us live in relationships, having meaningful community. Let us adventure, coming fully alive as we explore the amazing world God has given us. Let us thank Him for providing for the needs we have.
Fight the lion, 1 Peter 5.1-11
TO GOD ALONE BE THE GLORY!
Friday, November 30, 2018
Wednesday, November 28, 2018
Who is God: Genesis 1.26-27
God had already put in a solid days work on day five. Creating all of the bugs and animals would have been enough for anyone else to call it a day, but God wasn't done.
"Then God said, 'Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.' God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them."
Man was not an after thought, an add on, or an evolutionary being from a lower organism. Man was intentionally made in the image and likeness of God. What's interesting is that if you study the Hebrew, the word Image, tselem is a masculine noun, and likeness, dĕmuwth is feminine. Bearing the image of God carries the meaning of being a representative figure, holding a measure of power and authority on behalf of the one you represent. To be made in the likeness of God is to bear a resemblance to God. Power and beauty are the two things that are present here.
Man was made in the image of God to bear the likeness of God to creation. He was placed in a position to over the rest of creation, not to dominate creation, but to protect, nurture, and cultivate the rest of the world. All people, both men and women, are made in the image of God. One gender is not better than the other, but more on this in the near future.
Man was made in the image of God, and therefore man is a sacred thing. Man has value and worth because man bears the image of God. Man is the dominate species on this planet not because he evolved to a point of advancement above everything thing else, but because God placed him in authority to care for everything else. Man's position of power is not so that he can strip the earth of everything it has to offer, hunt animals to extinction, and dominate those that are left, but to care for the earth and all its inhabitants, faithfully fulfilling the charge given to us by the creator.
Let us see ourselves as we truly are, image bearers of the almighty, put on this planet to represent Him before the rest of creation, and charged with the care of the world.
Fight the lion, 1 Peter 5.1-11
TO GOD ALONE BE THE GLORY!
"Then God said, 'Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.' God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them."
Man was not an after thought, an add on, or an evolutionary being from a lower organism. Man was intentionally made in the image and likeness of God. What's interesting is that if you study the Hebrew, the word Image, tselem is a masculine noun, and likeness, dĕmuwth is feminine. Bearing the image of God carries the meaning of being a representative figure, holding a measure of power and authority on behalf of the one you represent. To be made in the likeness of God is to bear a resemblance to God. Power and beauty are the two things that are present here.
Man was made in the image of God to bear the likeness of God to creation. He was placed in a position to over the rest of creation, not to dominate creation, but to protect, nurture, and cultivate the rest of the world. All people, both men and women, are made in the image of God. One gender is not better than the other, but more on this in the near future.
Man was made in the image of God, and therefore man is a sacred thing. Man has value and worth because man bears the image of God. Man is the dominate species on this planet not because he evolved to a point of advancement above everything thing else, but because God placed him in authority to care for everything else. Man's position of power is not so that he can strip the earth of everything it has to offer, hunt animals to extinction, and dominate those that are left, but to care for the earth and all its inhabitants, faithfully fulfilling the charge given to us by the creator.
Let us see ourselves as we truly are, image bearers of the almighty, put on this planet to represent Him before the rest of creation, and charged with the care of the world.
Fight the lion, 1 Peter 5.1-11
TO GOD ALONE BE THE GLORY!
Monday, November 26, 2018
Who is God: Genesis 1.24-25
The sun rose on day six, greeted by the songs of countless birds, and God went to work. Life filled the sea and sky, but God still had plans to carry out on the land. God speaks again, and animals begin to cover the earth. Cows and ants, lions, tigers, and bears. Orangutans and squirrels, ducks, wolves, and beavers. The jungles, deserts, forests, and prairies were full of life, and it was good.
From the mouth of God comes wondrous variety. Look at how many different types of dogs their are, and the numerous species of insects, who knows how many have yet to be discovered, and how many we have destroyed without even realizing it. There are thousands of mammals, and nearly one million insects in the world, and these numbers don't include the undiscovered or the extinct species. It's estimated that more than five billion species, 99% of all the species that have ever lived, are now extinct. Think about that, the amazing variety of life on this earth (including plants, birds, and fish, as well as the animals created on day six), is only 1% of God's original creation.
God is far from boring, just start by looking at the animals He made, the ones I named at the end of the opening paragraph are some of my favorites, and four of those five just make me smile. These creatures, and the countless others, all came from the mind and mouth of God. He thought them up, then spoke them into existence. My girls love the zoo, we're their all the time, literally my membership is paid for in less than a month. But seeing these animals, how they work, the environments they survive in and how they are built to survive there, it amazes me. Each animal plays a vital role in its environment, the world is meant to function with variety, and when part of that variety is lost, the world doesn't function the way that it was intended to.
Each of us is unique, and each one of us is a vital part of the world. There are things that only you can do, thoughts that only you will have, and things you can say in a way that no one else can say it. Let us learn to embrace the variety, and let each of us be uniquely who we were created to be. That is the way God intended us to be.
Fight the lion, 1 Peter 5.1-11
TO GOD ALONE BE THE GLORY!
From the mouth of God comes wondrous variety. Look at how many different types of dogs their are, and the numerous species of insects, who knows how many have yet to be discovered, and how many we have destroyed without even realizing it. There are thousands of mammals, and nearly one million insects in the world, and these numbers don't include the undiscovered or the extinct species. It's estimated that more than five billion species, 99% of all the species that have ever lived, are now extinct. Think about that, the amazing variety of life on this earth (including plants, birds, and fish, as well as the animals created on day six), is only 1% of God's original creation.
God is far from boring, just start by looking at the animals He made, the ones I named at the end of the opening paragraph are some of my favorites, and four of those five just make me smile. These creatures, and the countless others, all came from the mind and mouth of God. He thought them up, then spoke them into existence. My girls love the zoo, we're their all the time, literally my membership is paid for in less than a month. But seeing these animals, how they work, the environments they survive in and how they are built to survive there, it amazes me. Each animal plays a vital role in its environment, the world is meant to function with variety, and when part of that variety is lost, the world doesn't function the way that it was intended to.
Each of us is unique, and each one of us is a vital part of the world. There are things that only you can do, thoughts that only you will have, and things you can say in a way that no one else can say it. Let us learn to embrace the variety, and let each of us be uniquely who we were created to be. That is the way God intended us to be.
Fight the lion, 1 Peter 5.1-11
TO GOD ALONE BE THE GLORY!
Friday, November 23, 2018
Who is God: Genesis 1.20-23
The Sun has set for the first time on day four. For the first time the earth is being lite by the moon and the sky is full of stars. Imagine what that must have looked like; no electric lights, not even a single fire, no pollution, just absolute darkness, and the clearest sky with every star visible. At this point there is light and darkness, sea and sky, land and plants, now heavenly bodies, but the earth has no life aside from vegetation. The only noise would be the sound of waves crashing on the shore, or the wind blowing in the trees. Honestly, that sounds pretty awesome, I'm not going to lie, but God had much more in mind.
When the sun rose next next morning, God went back to work, and for the first time a animate being is able to move. God fills the sea with life. Fish, sharks, whales, dolphins, sea stars, crabs, lobsters, and clams. All the sea creatures we know about, and all those we don't, all the ones we have fossils of, and those we have no idea ever existed. The waters are alive.
God is not done, next He fills the sky. He makes the eagle and the sparrow, the owl and the raven, the hawk and the song bird, I'm guessing turkeys and chickens come into play on this day too. And I'm willing to say that the flying dinosaurs were made on day five. Those things were real; the Natural History Museum recently hosted a traveling exhibit that featured different exhibits for these creatures, they even had a flight simulator where you could fly as a pterosaur, my girls loved it and by the end they got pretty good. One of my brothers wanted to take his wife to the Art Museum which is across from the Natural History Museum, and so they came up and went to the museum with my girls and me. As we walked through this exhibit, looking at the fossilized remains of these amazing creatures he asked me, "Old Testament guy, where does this fit in?", my answer, "Day five." I don't know how the dinosaurs died out, or when, honestly I don't care. I think their fossilized remains are amazing, and they constantly fascinate me, and I can say with certainty that they existed and God made them. Those that swam in the seas and those that soared above the earth came into existence on day five at the word of God.
God is a god of life, and life that goes beyond the complexity of plants. He creates fish with the ability to swim and breath underwater; He creates birds that can defy gravity, soaring through the air. When the sun set on day five it was to the sound of song birds and whales singing. Life was no accident, it was not the result of a complex evolutionary process taking millions of years, but the instantaneous and intentional creation of the word of God.
Let us marvel at what God has made. Let us be in awe of a the Creator who designed gills to breath in water, and wings to lift a bird off the ground. May we simply take in the reality of what God has done, and be amazed by what He can do. And the reality is, He was only getting started...
Fight the lion, 1 Peter 5.1-11
TO GOD ALONE BE THE GLORY!
When the sun rose next next morning, God went back to work, and for the first time a animate being is able to move. God fills the sea with life. Fish, sharks, whales, dolphins, sea stars, crabs, lobsters, and clams. All the sea creatures we know about, and all those we don't, all the ones we have fossils of, and those we have no idea ever existed. The waters are alive.
God is not done, next He fills the sky. He makes the eagle and the sparrow, the owl and the raven, the hawk and the song bird, I'm guessing turkeys and chickens come into play on this day too. And I'm willing to say that the flying dinosaurs were made on day five. Those things were real; the Natural History Museum recently hosted a traveling exhibit that featured different exhibits for these creatures, they even had a flight simulator where you could fly as a pterosaur, my girls loved it and by the end they got pretty good. One of my brothers wanted to take his wife to the Art Museum which is across from the Natural History Museum, and so they came up and went to the museum with my girls and me. As we walked through this exhibit, looking at the fossilized remains of these amazing creatures he asked me, "Old Testament guy, where does this fit in?", my answer, "Day five." I don't know how the dinosaurs died out, or when, honestly I don't care. I think their fossilized remains are amazing, and they constantly fascinate me, and I can say with certainty that they existed and God made them. Those that swam in the seas and those that soared above the earth came into existence on day five at the word of God.
God is a god of life, and life that goes beyond the complexity of plants. He creates fish with the ability to swim and breath underwater; He creates birds that can defy gravity, soaring through the air. When the sun set on day five it was to the sound of song birds and whales singing. Life was no accident, it was not the result of a complex evolutionary process taking millions of years, but the instantaneous and intentional creation of the word of God.
Let us marvel at what God has made. Let us be in awe of a the Creator who designed gills to breath in water, and wings to lift a bird off the ground. May we simply take in the reality of what God has done, and be amazed by what He can do. And the reality is, He was only getting started...
Fight the lion, 1 Peter 5.1-11
TO GOD ALONE BE THE GLORY!
Wednesday, November 21, 2018
Who is God: Genesis 1.14-19
The fourth day of creation points back to the first day. On day one God created light, and on day four God creates the sun, moon, and stars. God, the source of light, now contains light stars. But something else is happening here, God creates time.
"Then God said, 'Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years'" (Genesis 1.14)
Day and night, seasons, days and years. The earth now had a star to revolve around, and as it revolves the seasons change; as the seasons changes the constellations change. The earth rotates on its axis, resulting in day and night. The gravitational pull of the moon results in tide changes. The sun gives light by day, the moon gives light by night (that's what the original audience thought). The Sun moves across the sky as the day progresses, it's position changes throughout the year. God has created time.
Over the past year the idea of seasons has stuck out to me a lot. A fruit tree does not constantly yield a harvest, that isn't how God designed it to be. There is a season of new life (spring), a season of fruit growth (summer), a season of harvest (fall), and a season of dormant rest (winter) (I'm generalizing here, I know that different plants bear fruit at different times of the year, spent hours figuring out how to maximize my harvest).
In the past few years I've seen that there are times where I am growing, times when I am producing, times when I am harvesting, and times when I need to be resting. I was not made to constantly harvest, and neither were you. You were not made to constantly be producing fruit, and neither am I. God created seasons, and each season has its purpose. There are times where you simply need to focus on your own growth, producing leaves to soak up the sun light and buds that will turn into fruit. There are times where you need to focus on fruit production, allowing your efforts to be fully invested in what you're producing. There are times where you need to focus on harvesting what you've produced, enjoying the results of your work. There are times when you need to simply rest, allowing yourself to recover and heal as you prepare for the next cycle.
This is what God intended, and this is what He created on day four. As we go throughout our days, let us submit to cycle God designed, and let us intentionally live out this pattern of seasons.
Fight the lion, 1 Peter 5.1-11
TO GOD ALONE BE THE GLORY!
"Then God said, 'Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years'" (Genesis 1.14)
Day and night, seasons, days and years. The earth now had a star to revolve around, and as it revolves the seasons change; as the seasons changes the constellations change. The earth rotates on its axis, resulting in day and night. The gravitational pull of the moon results in tide changes. The sun gives light by day, the moon gives light by night (that's what the original audience thought). The Sun moves across the sky as the day progresses, it's position changes throughout the year. God has created time.
Over the past year the idea of seasons has stuck out to me a lot. A fruit tree does not constantly yield a harvest, that isn't how God designed it to be. There is a season of new life (spring), a season of fruit growth (summer), a season of harvest (fall), and a season of dormant rest (winter) (I'm generalizing here, I know that different plants bear fruit at different times of the year, spent hours figuring out how to maximize my harvest).
In the past few years I've seen that there are times where I am growing, times when I am producing, times when I am harvesting, and times when I need to be resting. I was not made to constantly harvest, and neither were you. You were not made to constantly be producing fruit, and neither am I. God created seasons, and each season has its purpose. There are times where you simply need to focus on your own growth, producing leaves to soak up the sun light and buds that will turn into fruit. There are times where you need to focus on fruit production, allowing your efforts to be fully invested in what you're producing. There are times where you need to focus on harvesting what you've produced, enjoying the results of your work. There are times when you need to simply rest, allowing yourself to recover and heal as you prepare for the next cycle.
This is what God intended, and this is what He created on day four. As we go throughout our days, let us submit to cycle God designed, and let us intentionally live out this pattern of seasons.
Fight the lion, 1 Peter 5.1-11
TO GOD ALONE BE THE GLORY!
Monday, November 19, 2018
Who is God: Genesis 1.9-13
Something that may not be known about me is that I love to garden. I got into gardening about 8 years ago, and over that time my dreams have grown to be pretty extensive. I hate decorative landscaping. Don't get me wrong, I think some people have absolutely amazing yards, but I've decided that if I'm going to put that much work into something, it's going to feed me, thus I'm a huge fan of edible landscaping. I began to realize the extent of stuff you can grow in Ohio, and then I began to realize the variety of each type of plant. A little bit of research and planning, and I've maximized my harvest and extended it by months in a few instances. Yeah, I'm pretty into plants.
Each of us is unique with specific interests, and because of this different things stand out to us. A few years ago when I read Genesis 1 the thing that stood out to me was verse 11, "Then God said, 'Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees on the earth bearing fruit after their kind with seed in them'; and it was so."
Day 3 of creation God gathers the water below the heavens into a single place, then He creates land. Once the land is there God fills it with plants and the text specifies that these plants would yield seeds. God creates an ongoing cycle of life. He does not simply create plants to fill the earth, but creates plants that are capable of producing more plants, and those plants will be able to produce more plants, and so on. God has created an unending cycle of life. God is a god of life.
Years ago I heard a question, how many apples are in an apple seed? An apple seed contains the potential for an apple tree, and over the decades that tree can produce countless apples, each one with seeds that have the potential to become a tree and produce more apples with more seeds leading to more trees. You get the idea, an apple seed contains countless apples.
God is a life giver, and as such He created a cycle that produces greater and grater life. Because God gives life, we need to be life givers as well. What kind of seeds are you producing? Do you produce seeds that produce healthy trees resulting in healthy fruit that bring further production? Or do you destroy life? Do your words and actions tear others down or build others up?
God is a life giver, let us be life givers as well.
Fight the lion, 1 Peter 5.1-11
TO GOD ALONE BE THE GLORY!
Each of us is unique with specific interests, and because of this different things stand out to us. A few years ago when I read Genesis 1 the thing that stood out to me was verse 11, "Then God said, 'Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees on the earth bearing fruit after their kind with seed in them'; and it was so."
Day 3 of creation God gathers the water below the heavens into a single place, then He creates land. Once the land is there God fills it with plants and the text specifies that these plants would yield seeds. God creates an ongoing cycle of life. He does not simply create plants to fill the earth, but creates plants that are capable of producing more plants, and those plants will be able to produce more plants, and so on. God has created an unending cycle of life. God is a god of life.
Years ago I heard a question, how many apples are in an apple seed? An apple seed contains the potential for an apple tree, and over the decades that tree can produce countless apples, each one with seeds that have the potential to become a tree and produce more apples with more seeds leading to more trees. You get the idea, an apple seed contains countless apples.
God is a life giver, and as such He created a cycle that produces greater and grater life. Because God gives life, we need to be life givers as well. What kind of seeds are you producing? Do you produce seeds that produce healthy trees resulting in healthy fruit that bring further production? Or do you destroy life? Do your words and actions tear others down or build others up?
God is a life giver, let us be life givers as well.
Fight the lion, 1 Peter 5.1-11
TO GOD ALONE BE THE GLORY!
Friday, November 16, 2018
Who is God: Genesis 1.6-8
I'll be honest, I had to google this one. Initially reading it, I was like what's unique about the creation of the sky? What does this tell me about who God is? So I took to the internet and ended up just typing in "creation day 2" and one of the first thing that came up was a site containing different children's lessons on the Bible.
Children's pastors don't get enough credit. The first church staff job I was at as the youth pastor, and I shared an office with the children's pastor (still the best office buddy I've ever had, and sorry about that one prank I pulled on you, well, sorry I wasn't there to see your reaction). Anyway, I was drafted into helping out with the children's ministry from time to time, even got to teach once or twice, and those were some of the most challenging lessons to write. I swear children's pastors are some of the smartest people in the world, they take these theological concepts and make them comprehensible to young people. Great job to all of you, and so much respect.
Anyway, on day 2, God created the sky, but the significance is that God created the atmosphere. He created the protective barrier from the cold vacuum of space. He created an environment that was oxygen rich. He created an atmosphere that would sustain life on earth.
I hadn't thought about it this way until a couple of hours ago. Realizing that God did so much more than simply making the sky on day 2 makes me see that God is much more complex than we initially realized. Not that making the sky is a simple task, I mean I could never accomplish that, but God was up to so much more than just that.
God is infinitely complex, let us never make the mistake of thinking we have Him all figured out. I have read the creation story countless times, but until early this morning I had never thought about the fact of what that meant. As humans, who haven't existed as long as the sky, let alone God who made it and us, let us never make the mistake of arrogance, thinking we have God all figured out. Let us never stop pursuing a deeper understanding and intimacy with Him. Let us never stop seeking to learn who He is. In this life, probably even in eternity, we'll never know everything.
Fight the lion, 1 Peter 5.1-11
TO GOD ALONE BE THE GLORY!
Children's pastors don't get enough credit. The first church staff job I was at as the youth pastor, and I shared an office with the children's pastor (still the best office buddy I've ever had, and sorry about that one prank I pulled on you, well, sorry I wasn't there to see your reaction). Anyway, I was drafted into helping out with the children's ministry from time to time, even got to teach once or twice, and those were some of the most challenging lessons to write. I swear children's pastors are some of the smartest people in the world, they take these theological concepts and make them comprehensible to young people. Great job to all of you, and so much respect.
Anyway, on day 2, God created the sky, but the significance is that God created the atmosphere. He created the protective barrier from the cold vacuum of space. He created an environment that was oxygen rich. He created an atmosphere that would sustain life on earth.
I hadn't thought about it this way until a couple of hours ago. Realizing that God did so much more than simply making the sky on day 2 makes me see that God is much more complex than we initially realized. Not that making the sky is a simple task, I mean I could never accomplish that, but God was up to so much more than just that.
God is infinitely complex, let us never make the mistake of thinking we have Him all figured out. I have read the creation story countless times, but until early this morning I had never thought about the fact of what that meant. As humans, who haven't existed as long as the sky, let alone God who made it and us, let us never make the mistake of arrogance, thinking we have God all figured out. Let us never stop pursuing a deeper understanding and intimacy with Him. Let us never stop seeking to learn who He is. In this life, probably even in eternity, we'll never know everything.
Fight the lion, 1 Peter 5.1-11
TO GOD ALONE BE THE GLORY!
Wednesday, November 14, 2018
Who is God: Genesis 1.3-5
In the beginning there was darkness, and then God created light. Darkness is merely the absence of light, it's what must exist before light existed. God spoke into the darkness and created the light. Darkness is not bad, God allows it to remain. He separates the light and darkness, allowing both to have their time, and when that happens He declares it good.
Light is day, and that it good. It is when work is accomplished. The light warms the earth, bringing life. But God does not banish the darkness, He names it, declaring His dominion over it, and gives it a proper place. Darkness is night, and that is good. It is a time for rest and recovery. We need both, and God provided both.
There was this show on several years ago called "Dude You're Screwed". The show consisted of a game played by a former Navy SEAL, an active duty Green Beret, a British SAS instructor, and a naturalist survival expert. Three of them would team up kidnap the fourth and then they would drop him in the middle of nowhere is random items, and he had 100 hours to find civilization. Towards the end of the show, fans with survival expertise were invited to play, and they dropped one guy north of the arctic circle during the six months when the sun doesn't set. He would be doing something, and then suddenly fall asleep because his circadian rhythm, the thing that tells your body when to sleep, eat, and basically function for life, was thrown off.
We need that balance of darkness and light. All darkness is not good, and neither is all light. God created the light, but gave it a time to fill the earth. He did not destroy the darkness because His creation would need that too. God gave us the light and He gave us darkness, and that balance is good. I'm not speaking metaphorically, not looking at Star Wars' light and dark side of the force, but simply referring to the natural balance that God created us to live with. There is a time for action and a time for rest.
Sleep is not a bad thing, neither is work, but too much of either is. God created a time for both, and we are given both for our health and well being. Day is good, night is good. Work is good, and so is sleep. This is the cycle that God created for us; He provides for the basic needs we have.
Fight the lion, 1 Peter 5.1-11
TO GOD ALONE BE THE GLORY!
Light is day, and that it good. It is when work is accomplished. The light warms the earth, bringing life. But God does not banish the darkness, He names it, declaring His dominion over it, and gives it a proper place. Darkness is night, and that is good. It is a time for rest and recovery. We need both, and God provided both.
There was this show on several years ago called "Dude You're Screwed". The show consisted of a game played by a former Navy SEAL, an active duty Green Beret, a British SAS instructor, and a naturalist survival expert. Three of them would team up kidnap the fourth and then they would drop him in the middle of nowhere is random items, and he had 100 hours to find civilization. Towards the end of the show, fans with survival expertise were invited to play, and they dropped one guy north of the arctic circle during the six months when the sun doesn't set. He would be doing something, and then suddenly fall asleep because his circadian rhythm, the thing that tells your body when to sleep, eat, and basically function for life, was thrown off.
We need that balance of darkness and light. All darkness is not good, and neither is all light. God created the light, but gave it a time to fill the earth. He did not destroy the darkness because His creation would need that too. God gave us the light and He gave us darkness, and that balance is good. I'm not speaking metaphorically, not looking at Star Wars' light and dark side of the force, but simply referring to the natural balance that God created us to live with. There is a time for action and a time for rest.
Sleep is not a bad thing, neither is work, but too much of either is. God created a time for both, and we are given both for our health and well being. Day is good, night is good. Work is good, and so is sleep. This is the cycle that God created for us; He provides for the basic needs we have.
Fight the lion, 1 Peter 5.1-11
TO GOD ALONE BE THE GLORY!
Monday, November 12, 2018
Who is God: Genesis 1.4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25, 31
In the beginning God spoke the universe into creation; by the words of His mouth, everything physical beings, colors, scents, tastes, and textures, came into existence. God speaks and it happens just as He said, and When He has finished for the day, He observes His work and upon inspection declares that it is good.
The Hebrew word is tove (long o) and it carries the meaning of something being good, pleasant, and excellent. When God is speaking here in Genesis 1, He sees His work as excellent, perfectly complete and impossible to improve on. That is how God works, when He does something, it is done in the most perfect way, a way that only He is capable of.
I've heard people point out the unique phrase in Genesis 1.31, that after God makes woman He declares what He had made very good. People like to say that woman was the crowning achievement of creation, and that it was when she was completed God saw something different, but that isn't the case. Yes, women are amazing; they were made to capture the beauty of God's nature and character in a way no other part of creation could. But it is not this one single act of creation that God declares better and above all of His other creation.
"God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good." (Gen. 1.31a). God looks at all of His creation, from light to woman, and declares the whole of creation to be very good. In that moment, at the end of day six, and yes my stance is six literal, 24-hour days because that is how the original audience would have heard the word yowm, God looks over everything and declares it very good. At the end of day six creation was complete, everything functioned exactly how God intended for it to, there was no sin, no corruption, and so God sees His completed work, lacking in nothing now, and declares it to be exceedingly excellent. It is not one single aspect that warrants this declaration, but the whole work.
Everything God does is excellent perfection. God is not a doer of half way, good enough to get by because He ran out of time before the deadline. Everything God does is done with intentional care, diligently completed, and and warrants the declaration of good. He is God, and is capable of nothing less. Since this is who God is, we need to exercise the same diligence in what we do.
In the movie The Last Samurai Tom Cruise plays an Army officer who is hired by the Japanese to train their army in the 1800's. In a battle he is forced to fight, knowing his troops aren't ready, he is captured by the Samurai he is sent to eliminate and taken to their remote mountain village. While he's there he observes their life style and notes that "From the moment they wake, they devote themselves to the perfection of whatever they pursue." That is how I want to live.
I cannot be good at everything, and honestly I don't want to be anymore. But the things I do, I want to continuously strive for perfection. I saw a quote, I believe from an unknown Delta Force operator, that said, "Amateurs train until they get it right, professionals train until they can't get it wrong." That is how I want to be. In everything I do, I want to work at it until I can't mess it up. Until I've done it properly so many times that it is second nature to do it the right way.
Everything God does, He does exceedingly perfect. As part of His creation, part that is made in His image, that is the way I am called to live. I am called to live with passion, striving for excellence, because that is the nature of the God whose image I am created in. God's work is excellence, and thought I cannot attain that level of perfection, because of who He is, I am to strive for that.
Fight the lion, 1 Peter 5.1-11
TO GOD ALONE BE THE GLORY!
The Hebrew word is tove (long o) and it carries the meaning of something being good, pleasant, and excellent. When God is speaking here in Genesis 1, He sees His work as excellent, perfectly complete and impossible to improve on. That is how God works, when He does something, it is done in the most perfect way, a way that only He is capable of.
I've heard people point out the unique phrase in Genesis 1.31, that after God makes woman He declares what He had made very good. People like to say that woman was the crowning achievement of creation, and that it was when she was completed God saw something different, but that isn't the case. Yes, women are amazing; they were made to capture the beauty of God's nature and character in a way no other part of creation could. But it is not this one single act of creation that God declares better and above all of His other creation.
"God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good." (Gen. 1.31a). God looks at all of His creation, from light to woman, and declares the whole of creation to be very good. In that moment, at the end of day six, and yes my stance is six literal, 24-hour days because that is how the original audience would have heard the word yowm, God looks over everything and declares it very good. At the end of day six creation was complete, everything functioned exactly how God intended for it to, there was no sin, no corruption, and so God sees His completed work, lacking in nothing now, and declares it to be exceedingly excellent. It is not one single aspect that warrants this declaration, but the whole work.
Everything God does is excellent perfection. God is not a doer of half way, good enough to get by because He ran out of time before the deadline. Everything God does is done with intentional care, diligently completed, and and warrants the declaration of good. He is God, and is capable of nothing less. Since this is who God is, we need to exercise the same diligence in what we do.
In the movie The Last Samurai Tom Cruise plays an Army officer who is hired by the Japanese to train their army in the 1800's. In a battle he is forced to fight, knowing his troops aren't ready, he is captured by the Samurai he is sent to eliminate and taken to their remote mountain village. While he's there he observes their life style and notes that "From the moment they wake, they devote themselves to the perfection of whatever they pursue." That is how I want to live.
I cannot be good at everything, and honestly I don't want to be anymore. But the things I do, I want to continuously strive for perfection. I saw a quote, I believe from an unknown Delta Force operator, that said, "Amateurs train until they get it right, professionals train until they can't get it wrong." That is how I want to be. In everything I do, I want to work at it until I can't mess it up. Until I've done it properly so many times that it is second nature to do it the right way.
Everything God does, He does exceedingly perfect. As part of His creation, part that is made in His image, that is the way I am called to live. I am called to live with passion, striving for excellence, because that is the nature of the God whose image I am created in. God's work is excellence, and thought I cannot attain that level of perfection, because of who He is, I am to strive for that.
Fight the lion, 1 Peter 5.1-11
TO GOD ALONE BE THE GLORY!
Friday, November 9, 2018
Who is God: Genesis 1.3, 6, 9, 14, 20, 24, 26
Throughout Genesis 1, two phrases are repeated over and over, "Then God said" "and it was so". God speaks and what God says happens exactly as God said. The first chapter of the Bible tells me everything I need to know about the origins of the earth; it tells me how, when, and by whom the earth was made. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Then God said... and it was so. In the beginning, whenever that was, a few thousand years ago or a few billion, it was in the beginning that God created everything by the words of His mouth. That is all that the Bible tells me in terms of dates of creation, and that is all I need to know. Science can claim, apologists can debate, but the reality is that all the Bible says is "In the beginning God created... Then God said... and it was so."
However, these verses tell us more about God than simply how He made everything, it speaks of His infinite creativity. God is the one who made light so blinding. God is the one who created the sound of water falling over rocks. God is the one who created the colors that fill the earth, every color in my daughter's box of 120 crayons, as well as the countless other varieties in the universe, originated from the mouth of God. God invented color. 'The way a rose smells and the scent of a pine forest, came from the mouth of God. The taste of an apple, the way the juice of a peach feels running down your chin, all from the mouth of God. The way orangutans look, the way squirrels act, the way ducks walk, the way a wolf sounds, all of that came from the mouth of God.
Everything that was made came form the mouth of God. God spoke our universe into existence, thinking up everything that fills it. I had a teacher in high school who offered an extra credit assignment that would allow you to not do any other work for the rest of the class, it was impossible and no one even attempted it, create a universe that involves nothing found in our universe. He told us that it was impossible right after he offered the assignment. I think his point was to give us a glimpse of God's infinite creativity.
Everything you see, every color and shape, came from God.
Everything you hear, every sound and the various volumes and tones, came from God.
Everything you smell, every scent and fragrance, came from God.
Everything you taste, everything sweet, salty, or savory, came from God.
Everything you touch, every texture, came from God.
God is infinitely creative, we've only gotten a glimpse of one small aspect here and now, and as amazing as this world is, it's been tainted by sin. Imagine what fruit tasted like in a perfect world; imagine how flowers smelled before creation was cursed. I feel that my words don't do this justice, and in all honesty they can't.
Let us begin to see the world in a new way, realizing that all of it came to be by the words of God. God is infintley creative, and He has the power to bring His creativity to life...
Fight the lion, 1 Peter 5.1-11
TO GOD ALONE BE THE GLORY!
However, these verses tell us more about God than simply how He made everything, it speaks of His infinite creativity. God is the one who made light so blinding. God is the one who created the sound of water falling over rocks. God is the one who created the colors that fill the earth, every color in my daughter's box of 120 crayons, as well as the countless other varieties in the universe, originated from the mouth of God. God invented color. 'The way a rose smells and the scent of a pine forest, came from the mouth of God. The taste of an apple, the way the juice of a peach feels running down your chin, all from the mouth of God. The way orangutans look, the way squirrels act, the way ducks walk, the way a wolf sounds, all of that came from the mouth of God.
Everything that was made came form the mouth of God. God spoke our universe into existence, thinking up everything that fills it. I had a teacher in high school who offered an extra credit assignment that would allow you to not do any other work for the rest of the class, it was impossible and no one even attempted it, create a universe that involves nothing found in our universe. He told us that it was impossible right after he offered the assignment. I think his point was to give us a glimpse of God's infinite creativity.
Everything you see, every color and shape, came from God.
Everything you hear, every sound and the various volumes and tones, came from God.
Everything you smell, every scent and fragrance, came from God.
Everything you taste, everything sweet, salty, or savory, came from God.
Everything you touch, every texture, came from God.
God is infinitely creative, we've only gotten a glimpse of one small aspect here and now, and as amazing as this world is, it's been tainted by sin. Imagine what fruit tasted like in a perfect world; imagine how flowers smelled before creation was cursed. I feel that my words don't do this justice, and in all honesty they can't.
Let us begin to see the world in a new way, realizing that all of it came to be by the words of God. God is infintley creative, and He has the power to bring His creativity to life...
Fight the lion, 1 Peter 5.1-11
TO GOD ALONE BE THE GLORY!
Wednesday, November 7, 2018
Who is God: Genesis 1.2
In the ancient world, water was a symbol of chaos. It is powerful and unpredictable, and even though it is essential to life, it can easily destroy life. In the beginning there was formless, empty, chaos, but God was there.
"The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters."
This verse has caused some debate in the theological world, which has resulted in what is known as "The Gap Theory" or "Ruin Restoration Creationism". This theory says that there was a first creation in Genesis 1.1, then a gap of time in which the fall of Satan occurred, ruining that creation, and then in Genesis 1.2 God begins by restoring the ruined creation. It's an attractive theory because it allows for faith and science to be easily reconciled, if we have a gap of time it can account for millions of years, dinosaurs, and everything else, but we have to remember that we're dealing with a book of theology, centered on God, written to real people in history.
The original audience of the Genesis was the exodus generation. Up to this point, the only thing they had was oral traditions passed down to the generations, but it is in the wilderness journey that these things are being written for the first time. The original audience isn't reading into this two separate creations, and so we can't do that either.
The key to this verse is that there is emptiness and chaos before God moves. There is a formless void, that is covered with darkness and chaos, but in that God is there, and God is not stagnant. In the darkness, amidst the chaos, God is moving.
God is never absent. Though He may be silent, He is always present. When there is chaos, when there is darkness and uncertainty, God is there. God is over the chaos of your life. God is present in the darkness, and God is at work in those moments.
The Exodus generation would have heard this in the wilderness, a place that was formless and empty, and seen what God could do. They would have heard the chaos imagery and seen the presence of God in it. And that is what we have to focus on. This does not give us a solution to science/faith question, it tells us that God is there in the darkness when everything is in chaos...
Fight the lion, 1 Peter 5.1-11
TO GOD ALONE BE THE GLORY!
"The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters."
This verse has caused some debate in the theological world, which has resulted in what is known as "The Gap Theory" or "Ruin Restoration Creationism". This theory says that there was a first creation in Genesis 1.1, then a gap of time in which the fall of Satan occurred, ruining that creation, and then in Genesis 1.2 God begins by restoring the ruined creation. It's an attractive theory because it allows for faith and science to be easily reconciled, if we have a gap of time it can account for millions of years, dinosaurs, and everything else, but we have to remember that we're dealing with a book of theology, centered on God, written to real people in history.
The original audience of the Genesis was the exodus generation. Up to this point, the only thing they had was oral traditions passed down to the generations, but it is in the wilderness journey that these things are being written for the first time. The original audience isn't reading into this two separate creations, and so we can't do that either.
The key to this verse is that there is emptiness and chaos before God moves. There is a formless void, that is covered with darkness and chaos, but in that God is there, and God is not stagnant. In the darkness, amidst the chaos, God is moving.
God is never absent. Though He may be silent, He is always present. When there is chaos, when there is darkness and uncertainty, God is there. God is over the chaos of your life. God is present in the darkness, and God is at work in those moments.
The Exodus generation would have heard this in the wilderness, a place that was formless and empty, and seen what God could do. They would have heard the chaos imagery and seen the presence of God in it. And that is what we have to focus on. This does not give us a solution to science/faith question, it tells us that God is there in the darkness when everything is in chaos...
Fight the lion, 1 Peter 5.1-11
TO GOD ALONE BE THE GLORY!
Monday, November 5, 2018
Who is God: Genesis 1.1
The Bible has been used as many things throughout history. Some have tired to use it as a historical narrative, trying to piece together a time line or world history. Others have looked to it for answers to science, looking for keys to the origins of life. Still others seek it as a moral code, seeking instructions and guidance for life. Others seek comfort in the promises that it offers. While none of these things is inherently bad, all of them miss the point of the Bible. The Bible is not history or science, moral law or comforting promises. Above all, the Bible is theology, it is the source of our knowledge of who God is.
The very first line of the Bible makes this fact evidently clear.
"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."
This opening statement introduces the main character of the story and tells us some essential things about Him that we need to know as we move forward.
When: In the beginning
Who: God
What: created the heavens and the earth.
The opening phrase tells us that in the beginning, whenever that was, a few billion years ago or a couple thousand, God was there. Before time began, God existed, and it was God who set everything in motion at the beginning. In the beginning, maybe at the beginning is better, God created everything. God made the heavens and the earth, all that exists came from God. This opening sentence tells us that God is eternal, all powerful, outside of time, and identifies Him as the subject of Scripture.
The Bible is the story of God. It tells of His nature, His creation, and His redemptive work to reconcile His creation to His nature. The story begins by introducing the main character, and giving us the first essential details about Him, but like any good story we aren't given everything at once. We get enough to catch our attention, but we have to keep reading in order to learn more.
The Bible is God's gift to us so that we might come to know Him for who He is, not who we would have Him be. When we learn about who God is, we come to see ourselves as we truly are. God is the eternal creator and we are finite humans created by Him (more on this soon). This alone means He is deserves our worship. But this is simply the beginning the first information we are given. Let's keep reading...
Fight the lion, 1 Peter 5.1-11
TO GOD ALONE BE THE GLORY!
The very first line of the Bible makes this fact evidently clear.
"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."
This opening statement introduces the main character of the story and tells us some essential things about Him that we need to know as we move forward.
When: In the beginning
Who: God
What: created the heavens and the earth.
The opening phrase tells us that in the beginning, whenever that was, a few billion years ago or a couple thousand, God was there. Before time began, God existed, and it was God who set everything in motion at the beginning. In the beginning, maybe at the beginning is better, God created everything. God made the heavens and the earth, all that exists came from God. This opening sentence tells us that God is eternal, all powerful, outside of time, and identifies Him as the subject of Scripture.
The Bible is the story of God. It tells of His nature, His creation, and His redemptive work to reconcile His creation to His nature. The story begins by introducing the main character, and giving us the first essential details about Him, but like any good story we aren't given everything at once. We get enough to catch our attention, but we have to keep reading in order to learn more.
The Bible is God's gift to us so that we might come to know Him for who He is, not who we would have Him be. When we learn about who God is, we come to see ourselves as we truly are. God is the eternal creator and we are finite humans created by Him (more on this soon). This alone means He is deserves our worship. But this is simply the beginning the first information we are given. Let's keep reading...
Fight the lion, 1 Peter 5.1-11
TO GOD ALONE BE THE GLORY!
Friday, November 2, 2018
What's Next?
The past few weeks have been a bit of a struggle for me in terms of topics. For a while everything just flowed and made sense, ever since I finished the wounds topic it's felt like I've been struggling and sometimes it's been a day to day thing, if I was lucky I had a week at a time. In addition to the chaos my life has undergone in the past few months, this is part of the reason my posting has come at weird times.
I've also been wondering what I should share. I've mentioned the book I'm working on, and so much of what I'm blogging about lines up with that, pretty much if not I'm working on school my mind is on the book, and I don't want to share too much of that yet. Then there is the issue of my personal journey with this stuff. I have gone back and forth about sharing the name God has given me, sharing the pledge I wrote and took before my brothers. Part of me wants to share it, believing it can help others gain clarity about what I'm talking about and maybe even have a break through in the area of identity. At the same time, it's a deeply personal thing, I've only shared it with one person outside of my group of brothers and the few men who have walked with me through this process. Originally that was my plan for this post, but I don't know that I'm there yet, and until I'm sure I'm not going to share that part of me.
And so now it's Friday, time to post again, and my one idea has been postponed, leaving me to write a post about what I'm thinking is next. So what exactly is my plan? Vision quest 2018 hasn't happened yet, the summer was hectic, and I was hoping to get to it next weekend but something came up and the later it gets in the year the less likely it is to happen. Maybe two weekends out, but if not I'm saying it's probably a no go this year, which I'm a little disappointed about.
The next topic of my focus is passion, but I'm only just beginning to understand what that looks like. The identity aspect took me three years to understand, own, and grasp enough to be able to communicate it clearly. If that trend continues it's going to be 2021 before you really get anything on that. So what's next?
For the past few years I keep thinking about who God is. The more I think about it the more I realize how crucial it is to try and grasp that, and it is only as we come to know who God is that we are able to begin to understand who we are in light of who He is. And that is where I'm feeling led to take this. If I ever go back into church work, highly doubting that's where God is taking me, but if I ever find myself teaching a congregation on a weekly basis I'm going to simply focus on what the Bible teaches us about who God is. After all, He's the subject of the book.
For the next little bit I'm going to begin working through the Bible and sharing what it teaches about who God is. I'm not going to commit to go straight through form Genesis 1 to Revelation 22, I plan on taking breaks as topics come to me, but I can't get away from the sense that this is where I need to take this.
It is in God that Identity is discovered.
It is in God that Passion is recovered.
It is in God that Destiny is pursued.
It is in God that Community is experienced.
It is only when we know God that we are able to begin to understand ourselves.
Fight the lion, 1 Peter 5.1-11
TO GOD ALONE BE THE GLORY!
I've also been wondering what I should share. I've mentioned the book I'm working on, and so much of what I'm blogging about lines up with that, pretty much if not I'm working on school my mind is on the book, and I don't want to share too much of that yet. Then there is the issue of my personal journey with this stuff. I have gone back and forth about sharing the name God has given me, sharing the pledge I wrote and took before my brothers. Part of me wants to share it, believing it can help others gain clarity about what I'm talking about and maybe even have a break through in the area of identity. At the same time, it's a deeply personal thing, I've only shared it with one person outside of my group of brothers and the few men who have walked with me through this process. Originally that was my plan for this post, but I don't know that I'm there yet, and until I'm sure I'm not going to share that part of me.
And so now it's Friday, time to post again, and my one idea has been postponed, leaving me to write a post about what I'm thinking is next. So what exactly is my plan? Vision quest 2018 hasn't happened yet, the summer was hectic, and I was hoping to get to it next weekend but something came up and the later it gets in the year the less likely it is to happen. Maybe two weekends out, but if not I'm saying it's probably a no go this year, which I'm a little disappointed about.
The next topic of my focus is passion, but I'm only just beginning to understand what that looks like. The identity aspect took me three years to understand, own, and grasp enough to be able to communicate it clearly. If that trend continues it's going to be 2021 before you really get anything on that. So what's next?
For the past few years I keep thinking about who God is. The more I think about it the more I realize how crucial it is to try and grasp that, and it is only as we come to know who God is that we are able to begin to understand who we are in light of who He is. And that is where I'm feeling led to take this. If I ever go back into church work, highly doubting that's where God is taking me, but if I ever find myself teaching a congregation on a weekly basis I'm going to simply focus on what the Bible teaches us about who God is. After all, He's the subject of the book.
For the next little bit I'm going to begin working through the Bible and sharing what it teaches about who God is. I'm not going to commit to go straight through form Genesis 1 to Revelation 22, I plan on taking breaks as topics come to me, but I can't get away from the sense that this is where I need to take this.
It is in God that Identity is discovered.
It is in God that Passion is recovered.
It is in God that Destiny is pursued.
It is in God that Community is experienced.
It is only when we know God that we are able to begin to understand ourselves.
Fight the lion, 1 Peter 5.1-11
TO GOD ALONE BE THE GLORY!
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