Monday, August 20, 2007
BLAH BLAH...
I know that my posts get quite wordy and honestly, even after writing a lengthy post, I still don't feel I have expressed myself well. Do you ever want to express an idea but regardless of how many words you put down, the idea still has more to say, more angles to be looked at? Words are such limited things and Lord knows I am not a master of them.
Changing view of heaven...
My View of Heaven is changing. I was reading a book about heaven. It was talking about what the scriptures say about it. The book was trying to encourage its readers by making the place more real by giving the physical biblical descriptions of the place because it is harder to be motivated by something abstract that can't be understood. I must confess that for me the book was quite the opposite.
I have always held to the idea that heaven will be so wonderful and so wholy other that I cannot imagine what it will be like. Truthfully, this is not the attitude of scripture. One time, when I was a boy, I asked my mom if I could have a Ferrari in heaven. My mother, in her wisdom, told me, "If you still need a Ferrari to be happy in heaven, then you will have one."
After being challenged by the idea of this book I sat and pondered my own idea of heaven. Why would the very descriptions of heaven from the Bible itself be discouraging for me? What was my view of heaven? I discovered that my view of heaven included being able to travel through all creation and ruling over parts as God's representative. The Bible, on the other hand, describe a new heaven and earth and we are normal, human citizens of a physical city. We are still human, still have hands and feet, still cannot fly... This just didn't fit my expectations. I then began to investigate the root of my expectations. Could the enemy have snuck into such a holy thing? I concluded that my thoughts of heaven may be tainted by ORIGINAL SIN! The sin of wanting to be like God.
I have such a desire to shed the limitations of my humanity to achieve something more. This may sound admirable but why should I want to achieve more than I was created to be? how much more would I want to achieve? If I understand my fallenness, then nothing will be enough and I would want to continue to achieve a higher plain until achieving some sort of deity. Now do you see the common roots to original sin? In my view of heaven!
God created me to be human and I should ascribe to be nothing more than he created me to be. Yes, I should long to shed my sinfulness but remember that sinfulness is not the original design of being human. I should long to achieve my created role as re-perfected human. Does that mean I can fly? or bend reality like the silver surfer? or have the powers of Superman? Humanity was never designed to do that. Humanity was designed to bring glory to God by ruling over the created earth. In heaven we will still be human.
Granted, things will be much different and better than in the beginning with Adam, but that does not include "superhuman powers" or deity qualities. Will I always be bound to walking a terrestrial globe and experience eternal life in a very similar way to how I sense this current life? Maybe, maybe not. The scriptures definately lean toward this end. The point is that my joy should be based in perfected relationship with my creator and serving his original created purpose for humanity and nothing more.
Eating everything I want gets me fat, eating right gets me healthy and feeling good. I don't even need to give an example story to understand getting everything you want opposed to having everything right. I am and will always be a limited being. Now, and always, I will have to trust the only unlimited being who loves me deeply to provide for me what is truly best and right. My joy in heaven will not come from having everything I want but from having "everything right!"
I have always held to the idea that heaven will be so wonderful and so wholy other that I cannot imagine what it will be like. Truthfully, this is not the attitude of scripture. One time, when I was a boy, I asked my mom if I could have a Ferrari in heaven. My mother, in her wisdom, told me, "If you still need a Ferrari to be happy in heaven, then you will have one."
After being challenged by the idea of this book I sat and pondered my own idea of heaven. Why would the very descriptions of heaven from the Bible itself be discouraging for me? What was my view of heaven? I discovered that my view of heaven included being able to travel through all creation and ruling over parts as God's representative. The Bible, on the other hand, describe a new heaven and earth and we are normal, human citizens of a physical city. We are still human, still have hands and feet, still cannot fly... This just didn't fit my expectations. I then began to investigate the root of my expectations. Could the enemy have snuck into such a holy thing? I concluded that my thoughts of heaven may be tainted by ORIGINAL SIN! The sin of wanting to be like God.
I have such a desire to shed the limitations of my humanity to achieve something more. This may sound admirable but why should I want to achieve more than I was created to be? how much more would I want to achieve? If I understand my fallenness, then nothing will be enough and I would want to continue to achieve a higher plain until achieving some sort of deity. Now do you see the common roots to original sin? In my view of heaven!
God created me to be human and I should ascribe to be nothing more than he created me to be. Yes, I should long to shed my sinfulness but remember that sinfulness is not the original design of being human. I should long to achieve my created role as re-perfected human. Does that mean I can fly? or bend reality like the silver surfer? or have the powers of Superman? Humanity was never designed to do that. Humanity was designed to bring glory to God by ruling over the created earth. In heaven we will still be human.
Granted, things will be much different and better than in the beginning with Adam, but that does not include "superhuman powers" or deity qualities. Will I always be bound to walking a terrestrial globe and experience eternal life in a very similar way to how I sense this current life? Maybe, maybe not. The scriptures definately lean toward this end. The point is that my joy should be based in perfected relationship with my creator and serving his original created purpose for humanity and nothing more.
Eating everything I want gets me fat, eating right gets me healthy and feeling good. I don't even need to give an example story to understand getting everything you want opposed to having everything right. I am and will always be a limited being. Now, and always, I will have to trust the only unlimited being who loves me deeply to provide for me what is truly best and right. My joy in heaven will not come from having everything I want but from having "everything right!"
Destination vs journey...
Most of the time our culture is focused more on the destination rather than on the journey, the numerical results rather than the process.
As I reflect on my time here in Guatemala I am constantly reminded of one of God's greatest lessons to me during the past several years even before Guatemala, one of leading. I have often questioned myself when I think God is pointing me in a certain direction and giving me a particular vision only to change it at the end. This comes up again as we change gears from Jordan. But I am comforted by these same lessons in the past like with Kids Alive. Had we not come to Guatemala with them I would have never gotten involved with eMi. I don't think I would have come to Guatemala to do engineering (I would have done a Jonah and run the other way). With each change in course I must trust God for his bigger vision. This does not necessarily mean a better destination either, getting back to my first point.
I have found that God is much more interested in who I am than what I do. This is fleshed out in: He is much more interested in WHO I am where I am and HOW I live there than He is interested in WHERE I am. He is much less interested in the destination than in developing my character along the way. He also uses a "leading" to one thing to get us going in a particular direction only because it is needed to get us going in a direction that can later be changed to a different place that we would have gone to in the first place. I hope that makes sense?!?
Bottom line is: I must follow God to the best of my ability and focus on that which God focuses, my character. It is my faith/character development that prepares me for the work God has for me to do in this life as well as in eternity. This is the only thing I can take with me. Whatever accomplishments, accolades, destinations I have achieved or reached are only by the grace of God anyway and really don't amount to much of anything. Although I always have to have a destination in mind, my focus must remain on the journey, not the destination.
As I reflect on my time here in Guatemala I am constantly reminded of one of God's greatest lessons to me during the past several years even before Guatemala, one of leading. I have often questioned myself when I think God is pointing me in a certain direction and giving me a particular vision only to change it at the end. This comes up again as we change gears from Jordan. But I am comforted by these same lessons in the past like with Kids Alive. Had we not come to Guatemala with them I would have never gotten involved with eMi. I don't think I would have come to Guatemala to do engineering (I would have done a Jonah and run the other way). With each change in course I must trust God for his bigger vision. This does not necessarily mean a better destination either, getting back to my first point.
I have found that God is much more interested in who I am than what I do. This is fleshed out in: He is much more interested in WHO I am where I am and HOW I live there than He is interested in WHERE I am. He is much less interested in the destination than in developing my character along the way. He also uses a "leading" to one thing to get us going in a particular direction only because it is needed to get us going in a direction that can later be changed to a different place that we would have gone to in the first place. I hope that makes sense?!?
Bottom line is: I must follow God to the best of my ability and focus on that which God focuses, my character. It is my faith/character development that prepares me for the work God has for me to do in this life as well as in eternity. This is the only thing I can take with me. Whatever accomplishments, accolades, destinations I have achieved or reached are only by the grace of God anyway and really don't amount to much of anything. Although I always have to have a destination in mind, my focus must remain on the journey, not the destination.
Thursday, August 16, 2007
The servant with 7 talents...
No one knows just how much of a goober I really am more than myself. I know my hidden fears and inadequacies. I know when I am just putting up smoke and mirrors to make myself look better than I am. At times I fear what God puts in my hand. It just seems like too much. I want to represent him well but I know my own faults and I don't want my faults to reflect on who God is.
In the parable of the talents Jesus mentions the servant who was given 10 talents, one who was given 5 and one who was given 1. Both of the first two servants doubled their money but the last servant hid the talent. He didn't gain but he didn't lose either. He just didn't risk anything. Jesus praised the servants of 10 and 5 and rebuked the last with 1. I wish Jesus had included in his parable the servant who was given 7 talents.
The servant who was given the 7 invested the money the best he could but the investment went bad and he returned with only 2 talents. This is the guy I am interested in. Would Jesus still praise him?
Don't misunderstand me here. We haven't made some colossal mistake or lost anything. My point is not about loss but about the nature of risk. As missionaries, ministers, Christians, we take risks based on faith. God also "risks" by entrusting things, tasks, people to us. This is my main fear. If I live in "faith" and take on God's tasks, if I receive the 7 talents and do my best with them, what happens if the floor drops out? I know how faulty I am.
I know the "sunday school" answer is that the work is solely God's and I cannot accomplish anything on my own. God is sovereign over it all and he can ensure whatever outcome he wishes. I know that it is the very fact that he uses fallen humans that shows the extent of his grace, redemption, love and glory to me, those around me, as well as all creation, which, knowledge of God is creations chief end.
I know this but still at times Jesus' "burden is easy" starts to feel a bit heavier. Trusting God to accomplish his work even through a goober like me is where I need to stay. With God in control, maybe the apparent loss of the 7 talents brought about an entirely different kind of profit, this to say, that investing in God never results in loss.
I have such a love for God and such a desire to see his purposes fulfilled that I want to see the best of the best working for him and I just wouldn't place myself in that category.
I just know that I don't want to be the servant with one talent that didn't risk anything but I wonder what Jesus would have said about the servant with the 7 talents who, by his own idiocy, lost it all...
In the parable of the talents Jesus mentions the servant who was given 10 talents, one who was given 5 and one who was given 1. Both of the first two servants doubled their money but the last servant hid the talent. He didn't gain but he didn't lose either. He just didn't risk anything. Jesus praised the servants of 10 and 5 and rebuked the last with 1. I wish Jesus had included in his parable the servant who was given 7 talents.
The servant who was given the 7 invested the money the best he could but the investment went bad and he returned with only 2 talents. This is the guy I am interested in. Would Jesus still praise him?
Don't misunderstand me here. We haven't made some colossal mistake or lost anything. My point is not about loss but about the nature of risk. As missionaries, ministers, Christians, we take risks based on faith. God also "risks" by entrusting things, tasks, people to us. This is my main fear. If I live in "faith" and take on God's tasks, if I receive the 7 talents and do my best with them, what happens if the floor drops out? I know how faulty I am.
I know the "sunday school" answer is that the work is solely God's and I cannot accomplish anything on my own. God is sovereign over it all and he can ensure whatever outcome he wishes. I know that it is the very fact that he uses fallen humans that shows the extent of his grace, redemption, love and glory to me, those around me, as well as all creation, which, knowledge of God is creations chief end.
I know this but still at times Jesus' "burden is easy" starts to feel a bit heavier. Trusting God to accomplish his work even through a goober like me is where I need to stay. With God in control, maybe the apparent loss of the 7 talents brought about an entirely different kind of profit, this to say, that investing in God never results in loss.
I have such a love for God and such a desire to see his purposes fulfilled that I want to see the best of the best working for him and I just wouldn't place myself in that category.
I just know that I don't want to be the servant with one talent that didn't risk anything but I wonder what Jesus would have said about the servant with the 7 talents who, by his own idiocy, lost it all...
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