Angels

Angels

I love the thought of angels.

Whenever I begin to think of angels images of chubby babies with wings come to mind.

They seem very nice to me because I love babies and I love things that fly, so flying babies make me almost giddy.

Then after the chubby, baby angels, I think of feminine looking beings with golden hair wearing banners that say things like Peace on Earth, and hope.

Neither of these are likely to be what angels are really like.

They're pleasant enough though.

The Bible doesn't describe the physical appearance of angels in much detail, but what we do know is that there are a lot of them in existence (a countless host of them appeared when the cute baby Jesus was born) and  that when people see them there usual reaction is to be very terrified.

Angels are always saying, "Fear not."

That's usually their opening line.

Some people in the Bible fall down when they see them (I figure they faint in fear).  Angels are often described as shiny or glowing (my guess is that they glow because they have been in the presence of God himself).

But they probably don't look like cute babies with wings...because who could be scared of those guys?

I have never seen an angel of which I was aware.

But from what I can gather they are very intimidating, very imposing and very awe inspiring.

They probably get the adrenaline going pretty fast in a mortal human being if they appear to one.

Max Lucado has some books that have some illustrations of angels.

They are often depicted with swords and look tough the way a soldier looks tough.

I think he's on to something with those illustrations.

Well, in Hebrews 1: 14 the Bible says:

"Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?"

(by the way, this is a rhetorical question to which the answer is yes).

So how amazing is this?  Here is what I know.  I will inherit salvation.  I know this not because I deserve it or I'm really saintly, but because I trust in Jesus.

So, this verse says that angles are real beings that are here to serve me.

WOW!

Why would God send angels to help me out?

How would I feel is God opened my eyes and let me see the spiritual world around me?

When do these guys show up?

Is this getting weird to you?

It gets weird to me until I realize that there really is a battle between good and evil going on in this world.

One needn't look any further than the evening news to be aware of that.  And you can bet that's just the tip of a very large, very horrible iceberg. 

There is a spiritual war going on.  If you don't believe it try explaining how Hitler duped an entire nation of educated people into killing off all Jewish people.

That idea doesn't make a lick of sense in any average persons book.

Or think about what grown ups do sometimes to children.  

Why would someone hurt a child?

So there is a spiritual war going on.   And it makes sense that there would be spiritual beings battling.

And if they are sent to serve those who know Jesus, we must need help, and protection, and battling done on our behalf.

That's a lot to take in....

But I'm glad that a good God sends angels to help us.  I hope when I get to the other side I will get to speak with some angels who fought for the followers of Jesus.  

I bet they have some really good stories to tell.  I bet some of them will make us laugh.  Some will make us cry.  Some will make us realize how close we were to very awful things.

Most of all we will be thankful and humbled by what God has done on our behalf.

Thanks God.  

  

Colossians, No Wait Hebrews

So after the book of Philippians is the book of Colossians.  Usually I read straight through, but I have been having discussions at work and we landed in Hebrews for a while so I thought I'd just read through Hebrews instead.

So I thought I'd meander and write about Hebrews and sort of introduce the book to any readers who don't know about it.

Hebrews was written to...HEBREWS...Ta Da!

I know that's kind of a surprise, but it's true.  

Scholars don't really know who wrote this book, it could have been James, Paul, Apollos, Barnabas, Luke (use the force Luke) or Jimmy John (okay, Jimmy John is NOT a real possibility), just thought I'd thew it in there for fun.

The particular group of Hebrews that it was written to were Hebrews outside of Israel in other parts of the Roman Empire.  Letters were often circulated to various churches, so many Christian Hebrews may have read this letter.

Christian Hebrews?  Christian Jewish people?  Is this possible?

YES

Actually, the first Christians were Jewish.  Jesus is Jewish too.

Yeah, I know, a lot of people don't realize this, but it's a fact.

Can someone be Jewish AND a Christian?

Absolutely.

Jewish people are Jewish by birth, just like Chinese people are Chinese by birth.  Being Jewish is a nationality.  Of course, you can also follow the Jewish religion and you can do this is you are a Jew by birth or if you just want to become Jewish.

Some Jewish people accept that Jesus was the Messiah/Savior and they become Christian Jews OR what is commonly called a Messianic Jew.

So you can be both Jewish and a Christian.

So that settles that.

The book of Hebrews is chock full of great stuff and one could study it for a very long time.  

So let's jump in and start with something so great that it makes me want to hug people.

In chapter one verse three it says this:

"The Son (Jesus) is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being..."

There is more, but I'm going to stop here and just dwell on this for this entry.

Jesus is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being...

Do you know why I love that great sentence?

Because it means that when we look at Jesus we are seeing what God is like.

OMG

Yea, really oh my God.  God is like Jesus.

And Jesus is someone I can totally approach right?

Jesus wanted little kids to come see him, 

Jesus hung out with prostitutes and very dishonest men.  

Jesus healed people who were sick and cried when he saw the desperate straights that humanity is in.

Jesus said any one who wants to come to him can come to him.

Jesus was tempted to do very bad things.

Jesus fed fish sandwiches to hungry people.

Jesus talked to people that everyone else avoided like the plague.

Jesus warned people to search for real truth.

Jesus saw through fakers.

Jesus told it like it was.

Jesus did things I can't do.

Jesus got mad at evil.

Jesus laid down his life for me.

If that is what God is like, then count me in.  

Count yourself in if you want.

Just ask God to come into your heart...he is ready...and guess what?  He really likes you.

What do I Need?

Phil, Phil, Phil........

Lot's of stuff in the book of Phil.

I finished reading the book of Philippians today and I was struck by something.

NEED

So here is what Paul says about need in Philippians Chapter 4.

"I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty.  I have leaned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.  I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength."

That last little part on there is great....it's daily inspiration to hang on the fridge...I can do all things....I LOVE THAT.

Here is a little problem I found with that one.

I found that I was approaching God with some spectacular plan of my own design and pretty much telling him that "I can do ____________ through Christ who gives me strength.  Right God? Right?"

Then thinking, "Come on power of God to do whatever I want."

Except that God is not a genie in a lamp, and he is not Santa Claus.

He is God.

And thinking about that makes my heart pound a little harder, because God is beyond my ability to explain, or comprehend and I certainly don't wield an ounce of power over him and I'm pretty sure he can't be manipulated my my crafty little plans.

So doing "all things" must have a deeper meaning than getting God's power to do what I want.

So I had to think about something else too.

Paul says he knew what it was to need and to have plenty.

I have had a lot of experience with having plenty, most of us in the western world have.

We have so much that we have to do things like go on diets and purchase magazines about controlling clutter, or hire organizers to tame the stuff in our homes.

I'm not against having plenty, in fact I think it's very nice, and I think God is okay with having plenty too.

It's what we do with the plenty that concerns him (but we'll save that fun topic for another day).

Need

I have known for a long time that God will supply my needs.  He has a long track record with me and many other people of doing so.  He has met my needs in some very creative ways and more often than not he has given me my wants too.

But not always.

Because you know what happens to a person who gets everything they want.

It is something called, a spoiled, rotten brat.

And God doesn't want a bunch of spoiled rotten brats running around.

So sometimes he strips us down I think.  He clearly did it with Paul.  Paul's life was in danger many times, and ultimately he lost his life for the sake of Christ.  It is believed that he had his head chopped off.

So I started thinking, "Didn't Paul NEED his head?"

Why did God not supply that need?

Then I thought of another story I heard just the other day about a missionary who ended up being shipwrecked and slowly died of starvation.

His last act in this life was to write praise to God as he lay dying.

That guy needed some food and God didn't give it to him.

So how are we to take this all in?  Clearly there are things people need to live and sometimes they don't get them.

We have two choices:  

1. We can decide that God must not REALLY supply what we need, which would make him a liar and not very good at all.

OR

2. God defines our needs in a very different way.  He is ultimately good and gives us what we need according to his big, giant plan.

In the past thirty two years I have learned too much about God to doubt his ultimate goodness.  I waver at times, I definitely have questions, but when it comes down to a final answer I know that God is good.

And I also know that he is not a liar.

Because I wouldn't waste my time on a God like that, I'd just do whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted because it God is bad AND a liar he is definitely not getting my allegiance.

The truth is, he has my allegiance, because he has shown me countless times that he is good, and trustworthy and truthful.

So what do I do with need?  How do I quantify what is a need?  To stay alive I need three things; food, clothing and shelter from the elements.

If I live somewhere really warm, we could probably take it down to one: food.  Because really and truly if you life somewhere balmy the last two won't really kill you if you don't have them.

Except that would be embarrassing... and pretty unreasonable.

However, is the ultimate goal of life just to stay alive?  

Good luck with that one, because no one is getting out of this life alive.

Here is what I think this really all comes down to.

If you are a follower of God he has a plan for your life and a deadline for your life.

He will give you everything you need to carry out the plan, and then he'll take you out of here.

So needs are really all of his deciding if you have given your allegiance to him.

When if comes down to what we REALLY, REALLY NEED, there is only one thing.  We need to know God, we NEED to know that when we leave this world we will meet him and he will accept us.

This is a need he HAS undeniably supplied for everyone and it came a a great personal sacrifice to himself.

He gave us Jesus, his death to pay for or sin, and his resurrection to prove that there is life after death (I'll write about that soon) and hope that this life is not all there is.

So all REAL needs are met, we just have to ask God to give us a relationship with him.

His answer will be yes, so don't worry about that.

"He has given life, and godliness, and the knowledge of him who called us, for his own glory and goodness."
So go ahead and trust him.
He's good, he's good, he's goooooooooooooooooood.

Amen

Still in Phil

Couldn't resist that blog heading.  I love rhymes.

I'm still reading in Phillippians, though my reading today also took me to Mark 3 and 4 and Hebews 6 and 10.

Please don't be under the impression that I read this much Bible every day, it's just that I'm sick and laying in bed and reading is a great way to pass the time between the naps and eating chicken soup.

The book of Phil is one of my favorites.  It holds one of my favorite verses:


2:14 Do everything without complaining or arguing, 15 so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe 16 as you hold out the word of life--in order that I may boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor for nothing.

Before we go any further I have something to make you laugh, as you know the Bible has many versions and I frequent a website called biblestudytools.com to compare them, because though I own a few translations, I don't have nearly as many as biblestudytools.com.

Here a a few variations on Phil. 2:14

Do all things without protests and arguments; (Bible in basic English)

Do all things without murmurings and disputings:(KJV)

And do ye all things without murmurings and hesitations: (Douay - Rheims)

(hee, hee, YE....do ye, do ye, do ye)

Haced todas las cosas sin murmuraciones ni discusiones, (La Biblia de las Americas)

(!Que bueno!)

Faites toutes choses sans murmures ni hésitations, (French)

(Oui ye)

Do all things without grumbling or disputing ;(NAS)

But here is my all time favorite:

Do everything without kvetching or arguing,(Complete Jewish Bible)

Quit ye your kvetching!!!!

I have to admit I kvetch all the time....ye.

And, when I don't kvetch out loud, I kvetch in my head.

But, I do get the idea.  It means not to be a whiner and not to be argumentative.

This is loud and clear to me now because as I sit writing, my children are supposed to be doing their chores.  A couple of them are, and they are doing it without kvetching, this is very attractive and wonderful.  The others are complaining, and procrastinating and arguing about who does what.

Kvetching is totally unattractive and somewhat infuriating.

My real favorite part of this passage is the shining like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life part.

The word of life.

Do you know what the word of life is?

Its' all over the Bible.

One of the best word of life verses is in John 1:12

"To all who receive him, to those who believe in his name, he gave the right to become the children of God."  

That's the word of life.  You can be one of God's children, all you have to do is ask God to forgive you and understand that Jesus' sacrifice on the cross paid for every bad thing that you or anyone else has ever done.

Wala!

The shining like stars in the universe is kind of nice too.  That is apparently a very beautiful way of saying that as you tell people that God loves them and wants a relationship with them you will end up looking pretty good yourself because you are doing what God designed you to do.

When I think about people that do this, it's true.

Billy Grahm (very sparkly)

Jim Elliot (wow)

Beth Moore (shiny)

Grandma Han (ohhhh)

I know, they aren't really glittery, but there is something amazing about their person, it is as if God himself is shining through them.

And that's all I have for today.

http://www.xenos.org/teachings/?teaching=1126

December 30, 2011

Today I began reading the book of Philippians.

A guy named Paul wrote it.

Some people call him Saint Paul.

I like to think of him as Paul my Man.

He is responsible for most of the New Testament.

Before he wrote it, before he became a Christian, do you know what he did?

Was he a lawyer?

No.

Was he a traveling merchant?

No.

Was he a barista?

Definitely not...but it would be fun if he made a mean latte on top of being the author of most of the New Testament.

Do you give up?

He went around the Roman Empire and killed Christians.

Yiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!

So, kind of public enemy number one if you were a follower of Christ.

I would have avoided him like the plague and there was no chance he was getting near my children.

Oh no.

But do you know what?

Jesus got a hold of him.  If you want you can read that fantastic story in the book of Acts (not written by Paul, but by a guy named Luke).

Yes, Jesus got a hold of him and he realized he needed forgiveness.

Kind of a "duh" moment if you're going around killing innocent people, but the funny thing is that while Paul was killing and jailing Christians he thought he was doing a good thing and that God was pleased with him.

Here is the good thing I read today.

"He (God) who began a good work in you carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." 

He certainly began a good work in Paul right?

Paul went from Christian hunter, to Christian finder and converter.

And then he wrote the New Testament.

And now he's in heaven with Jesus.

So it gives me hope that Jesus won't give up working on me.  If I could impact the world even a millionth of how Paul did, well, I think that would be a very great thing.

Maybe that's why I write...

December 27, 2011

I sat down to read the Bible today.

It's been a few days since I did that.

Do you know what jumped off the page?

What jumped off the page was this: if you have asked Jesus into your heart you are not just his child, not even just his loved child, but you are his dearly loved child.

I dearly love my children.  I agonize over doing the very best things for them.

Sometimes I succeed, sometimes I fail.

It follows reason that if God is perfect, AND he dearly loves us, that he must dearly love us perfectly.

Wow.

That puts hard times into perspective.  God won't let anything happen to us that he can't do something good and loving with.

That means that bad stuff can be put to work for good.

"God works in all things for good for those who love him and are called according to his purpose."

That's in a book called Romans in the eighth chapter.

There's a lot of good in this world.

There's also a lot of bad in this world.

I'm glad that I am dearly loved perfectly so that the good and the bad can all have some sort of purpose.

The End

Christmas

This Christmas is going to be different this year I think.

I don't know why I suppose that, but somehow God has pulled the distractions of shopping, and baking, and dress shoes and hair cuts out of my life.

How did he do this?

He put Oz and I in a position to be broke...at least for the time being.

Here's the weird thing, being broke while it have it's very anxiety ridden side (when I forget that God really does love me and wants to take care of me) has some decidedly amazing advantages.

What's good about being broke you ask?

Well, the biggest good thing is to watch how God provides for your needs...mostly through people who love you.

I have cried tears of joy more often this year than I can remember because God has put some really generous people in this world and Oz and I are lucky enough to know them.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Here is something else.

Very often, the world looks pretty bleak.

At this very moment there is high unemployment, terrible news of parents hurting their children, there is still theft and murder and rape and people starving in the world and so many unmentionable things that it pains my mind and heart to think about them.

There are wars in many countries.

But the world has looked very bleak before.

In 1809 Napoleon was marching across Europe and the world was focused on what terror would come next from his hand.

It was a frightening time.

But do you know what?

In 1809 in a tiny, log cabin in the still very new country of the United States of America there was a little baby born.

A baby that no one thought would be of much significance.

Do you know what his name was?

It was Abraham Lincoln.

And that guy changed the world in a very good and very big way.

So who knows who is being born right now...maybe today...in a small village in South Africa, or in the run down streets in Moscow...maybe someone who is destined to be great is being born.

I love thinking about that.

But do you know what I love thinking about even more?

During the reign of Caesar Augustus while the Roman Empire ruled the known world, there was another really amazing thing happening.

In a small village...one that you would not stop in if you were passing through 2000 years ago, there was another baby being born.

His parents were broke too and they were nobodies and the mom was no more than 15 AND she was pregnant AND unmarried and only a couple of people knew who the father was...cause it wasn't the stand in father that was with her.

AND the people who knew who the father was weren't sure they really believed the whole story.

The little baby born was Jesus.

And his name means God With Us.

And what was God thinking plopping down in the middle of nowhere in a very scandalous situation?

He was thinking that he would step into this very broken world and he change it forever.

And he did.

Because he didn't just come to be with us and teach us how to be good.

Because I've tried that thing...and it did not go well.

He came to rescue us from all our sin..

all the bad things we do....

He came to rescue us from having a meaningless life.

He came to die to pay the price of our sin.

Yep, sin has a price.  God says that it's price is that you can't be with him ever.

Sin means separation from God and everything good.

But when Jesus grew up to be a man, he knew it was God's plan for him to pay the price for us so that we wouldn't have to pay it ourselves.

God really loves us a lot.

That is really good news.

He stands at the door of your heart and knocks.

If you want, you can invite him in.

He is a gentleman and won't break down the door.

If you invite him in he will forgive you for everything you have done, are doing, and will do.

Here is something I read this morning that is good to know about God.

Paul (who was a VERY bad man who God decided he would like to put to work for good) wrote this:

"I pray that you may be rooted and established in love, may have power together with all the Lord's holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ."

That great thing is found in the book of Ephesians chapter 3

Merry Christmas.

I wonder who is being born today?