Becoming
Twelve years ago on this day, June 1st, I walked down the aisle of First Baptist Church of Jacksonville, FL and made the biggest decision of my life.
I became a Christian.
I was only 9 years old when this happened. Little did I know that I would be here reminiscing on how much of a journey the Christian life has been in 12 years.
Ever since I accepted Christ in Jacksonville at the age of nine, I've:
moved to a different state, struggled with the Lord, doubted his existence, wrestled with the idea of God, dealt with sin in my life, felt God leading me to serve him in full-time ministry, developed a Christian worldview, went to a Christian University, dealt with the difficulty of breaking up with a girl, served as a youth intern at multiple churches, lived in 3 apartments and 2 houses, and eaten well over 500 junior bacon cheese burgers from Wendy's (I know, disgusting, but they are so good).
So, what have I learned from all of this? I've learned that
I am weak, but He is strong.
From the time since I was nine years old to where I am right now, a 21 year old, unemployed student, I have struggled with maintaining a righteousness that calls for perfection.
I've been weak. I've made mistakes. I've let people down. I have made a fool of myself on more than one occasion.
But that's just it. That's what I've been wanting.
No, I've not wanted to make mistakes and let people down. Instead, I have wanted to be real with people. Being real with people means exposing yourself as a sinner that is saved by Jesus. That's what I've had to learn through my errors and mistakes.
I think that once we meet that point, where we realize that we cannot please people through our righteousness, we no longer try to become a people-pleaser, or a "good" Christian. We become aware of Jesus Christ, our righteousness. And we realize how he makes us perfect through our mess, our weakness.
May we come to understand that life is indeed hard, and it kicks us on our rear time and time again, and people will not always like us
but
God makes us perfect through our weakness.
But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. 1 Corinthians 12:9
Become weak so that you can boast all the more about the Grace of Jesus Christ to a dead world.
A Restless Heart
I have just finished this semester of school for the Fall of 2008, and let me tell you, I'm more than thrilled to have made it this far. Since I've made it this far on my journey towards a B.A. in Theology, I wanted to share with the masses a quote from Augustine.
"You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you."
Restless.
What does it mean to be restless? It may stand for one who is constantly doing things in life that are not necessarily bad, but just time consuming. I'm sure I've been restless countless times in my life. During those times, I can tell you this much, that I did not fall asleep at night resting in the Lord. I chose to rest in the things that filled my life, which, at times, are not Christ. There are times when I fill my life with schoolwork or busywork, which is all good and Godly, because I'm doing it all for the sake of Christ, but I miss the point if I stop there.
It saddens me to see Christians become so busy that they don't have time to stop their hectic schedules and remember why they are living. Until our heart and our desires rest wholly in the Lord, our cracked hearts will never be filled.
At times, you may find yourself becoming so busy to the point that your heart is becoming restless, even when you are serving Christ. If out of your restless heart comes a desire to do look like a Christian in front of others, examine your heart and ask yourself if you are really doing these things out of a heart that is filled with the Lord. May we not get so busy doing life as a Christian that our hearts become distracted, but may we start living life as a Christian with our hearts sold out to Christ.
Don’t Mind Me
There is a certain passage in the Bible that talks about how we are supposed to live the Christian life. For those raised in the church or for those who attend a Christian University/College, these words are all too familiar, the words of Christ in Luke 10:26-28:
"26And He said to him, "What is written in the Law? How does it read to you?" 27And he answered "YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND; AND YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF." 28And He said to him, "You have answered correctly; DO THIS AND YOU WILL LIVE."
Here we have the story of a Lawyer asking Jesus how he must inherit eternal life, but I feel that the Holy Spirit wants believers to get more out this verse than just love your neighbor with your heart, soul, and strength. Christ tells the Lawyer to use his all his mind.
We as Christians, me included, are the most unintelligent people in America today. Because of this unintelligence (which includes a lack of understanding of Sound Doctrine, correct Theology, Non-hollow and captive Philosophy, no understanding of religions other than Christianity, and countless more) we have become Christians with no passion. We don't tell others about Christ because we are afraid of what questions they may ask to counter our attempt at spreading the Gospel. We have failed to Love the Lord our God through using our minds. And we wonder why our culture has become more infatuated with sex, money, and fame rather than with Christ.
The whole idea of using our minds as a means to Love God was embraced by Paul, who reasoned with Jews and Gentiles in the synagogues (Acts 17:16-17), by Daniel, who was chosen by Nebuchadnezzar because he showed intelligence in every branch of wisdom (Daniel 1:4), and by countless others who used their God-given brain to reason, debate, argue, and persuade with Love.
How have we become so dull when it comes to using our minds to Love God? Have we let laziness sleep with Christianity? Have we abandoned the study of the Logic of God (theology)? Doctrine? Has the Church been led astray by moral relativism? Have we abandoned the utmost call on our lives to Love God with our mind?
We cannot share the Love of Christ because we fail to Love God with our mind. We become awkward believers because we don't know about any other culture other than the sub-culture that we are in. We become a hindrance to other believers willing to grow. Pastors become lazy in the pulpit and focus more on using their speech techniques than on using their minds.
I urge you to become aware with the world around you, ask God for wisdom and knowledge, get out of your Christian sub-culture, and leap over hurdles of fear when attempting to Love God with all of your mind.
Love the lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind.
Head Knowledge
I've been super busy catching up on school work, so I apologize for the lack of blog posts, but it's ok though, because I was being productive.
Tonight I had a discussion with someone which made me stop and think later on that night about what was said. I had told her that I am learning so much in school, everything from Apologetics to Zoroastrianism, and am having somewhat of a difficult time remaining in the Lord at the same time. She responded with a simple phrase that has been ringing in my head for the rest of the night, "It's not about the head knowledge, but rather, about the heart knowledge."
Head knowledge. The knowledge of, in this case, the Bible, God, and Christianity.
Heart knowledge. The relationship aspect of Christianity, or the relationship with Christ that we have.
Now I can understand that a Christian must possess each one of these bodies of knowledge, but how much of a head knowledge do we need in order to be in continual growth in Christ? Or how much of a heart knowledge do we have before we just don't know anything about the deep issues or tough topics of the Bible? I know plenty of folks who aren't going into the ministry, and are going into secular jobs instead. Should they know as much of the Bible, of theology, of God, as I, a future minister of the gospel, should at this point in my life?
In order to grow in the Lord, one must study who God is and what he has called us to do. Not only to obey his commands, but to make disciples of all nations. But should Christians skim over the important words that were spoken in Hebrews 5:12-14,
In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.
Do those who are not going to be in ministerial positions need to know systematic theology? Do they need to know about Israel and God's judgment? Do they need to know about debatable issues such as predestination and speaking in tongues? Where must we draw the line as to how much a person not in a ministerial position must have of this head knowledge?
I can't stress this enough: I am learning daily about how much God loves me and about how little I know about Him and His creation. I beg you to ask yourself this question, do you have the head knowledge without the heart knowledge, or the heart knowledge without the head knowledge?
I invite all thoughts, insights, criticism, questions, and comments, because I'm just one voice among a sea of voices.
Love God. Love All.
