Lessons Learned from the Poor. By David Guertzki
The link above is a post from a professor and mentor of mine. At first I thought it was simply another account of a missions trip. But not with David. Thanks David for this post.
Context: David is observing a class in Ecuador. Its a partnership class with Briercrest and Compassion International to combine in-class theology with the outworking of theology. Love the idea of this class and hope to join one day.
When you look at my last post you may say, “Wow! That was a long time ago.” To those who continuously check my blog, I say sorry for that. But, let me explain this interesting journey I have been on.
I started reading a book called, The Imitations of Christ, by Thomas a Kempis and if you have ever read any of his material, he focuses a lot on humility. The second chapter hit me in regards to my blog. There was a statement, “If you wish to learn and appreciate something worth while, then love to be unknown and considered as nothing” (9). To put it in context, Kempis is talking of fighting pride and thinking more highly of others than yourself. At this point I asked myself, “Why am I writing my blog?” I have been aggressive in creating a nice looking blog and commenting on other people’s blogs so they would read mine, but to what end. My motives have been mixed.
On one hand I desired to reflect on culture and speak from a Christian world view and also post sermons and thoughts from sermons. But I had this conflicting motive that wanted to be known. I wanted to spread prove to the world I could write and had ideas that the world would love to hear. I desired fame. I feel weird even writing that out. Of course, in order to becomes a writer that may be necessary, but my heart was full of pride. I feel as though this has been a part of my life all along. I want to be known. In the end my life is one of anxiety and anxiousness. It is a life that is not content.
Identity. I am forgetting who I am. I am in Christ. He is who I am. Why do I need to be known. My purpose is not to be known, my purpose is in Christ and to make him known.
Kempis says, “All men are frail, but you must admit that none is more frail than yourself,” meaning I can sin at any moment. Who knows how long I can hold up before I relapse into sin? Into pride?
So this is why I have not written a post. I am working through motives. I probably will continue blogging regularly again. But I will probably sift through my motives each time I write. Until then, Blessings, Merry Christmas. May this season be one of Joy and Love in Christ. May you sense his Spirit, our Emmanuel.
What Christians Should Know about Halloween | The Resurgence.
Here’s an interesting article on Halloween (Click the link above!). The part I disagree with the most is the very end where he talks about mocking the devil. I would be weary about mocking him. Jude warns us well,
In the very same way, on the strength of their dreams these ungodly people pollute their own bodies, reject authority and heap abuse on celestial beings. But even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not himself dare to condemn him for slander but said, “The Lord rebuke you!” Yet these people slander whatever they do not understand, and the very things they do understand by instinct—as irrational animals do—will destroy them. (Jude 1:8-10).
Though we have authority in Christ, we must remember that the authority stays in Christ. Though he is intricately woven into our lives, he still holds the authority.
Besides that point, this read is very interesting. Check it out.
I read an article today that stunned me. Here it is: “Children sexually exploited by gangs” Or simply google Sexual Exploitation in the UK and you’ll see what this blog post is all about.
This article was written concerning the UK. This is a highly organized country right? I do not wish to slander England, but I do desire for change as is the call of the church. I am stunned by these numbers:
“Current Estimates say up to 10,000 children could be affected.”
“Involves children as young as 11″
This next one is shocking: “Three-quarters of England’s local safeguard and child protection boards were not recording information on child sexual exploitation, the report said.” The report was done by The University of Bedfordshire.
The question we encounter is this: What is the church to do?
The government is taking action on this, since this article was in part from the deputy children’s commissioner. So does this let us sit back and ride the government’s back? Of course not.
We are called to care for the least of these. James says, “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world” (Js 1:27). Between this and Jesus’ comments about little ones, I think we have a strong mandate not only to talk about protecting children buy to act on it.
This begins at home. Tomorrow I am helping teach a seminar on Plan to Protect. This Plan is to protect our children from such things. Church’s should first have a plan of how they are protecting their own children. Next we look to the children in our community. How are they being protected. I am glad to say that our country reports and keeps very good records of abuse to children. As the body of Christ we have a call to act justly and we must act (Micah 6:8). I am not sure how you wish to care for our children, but we must care for them in Christ’s name. Physically and spiritually. We must not separate the two as we care for them. Our goal needs to be as protective brothers and sisters.
I have been really mean to people who picked on my little sister. She is mentally handicapped and vulnerable. Not only have individuals picked on her so have systems. I do not take well to that. I have battled school systems, principals, teachers etc., to make sure my sister was protected and enjoying life.
This attitude should not change when it comes to the children all around us. When we encounter injustice, I firmly believe our gospel calls us to act. I realize we cannot do it all, but we can at least be participating in the capacity we can handle. I think of organizations like Invisible Children. This organization is helping children in central Africa. White Monkey’s and Free Burma Rangers. Women are being rapped and children stolen to be in the army. The rant will stop for now. Let’s just act. This should be a no brainer.
Genesis 11 angers me. As I finished reading this passage in preparation for my message this Sunday my blood boiled. Not at men, but at God. How could he divide the unity that was beautiful. Man was successful. They created brick and was on their way to creating the largest building of their time, one that would reach the heavens. God himself said that anything would be possible for them. Then, like a Greek God, He confused man and separated them from their success. Why would he do this?
As I was preparing today I realized I was reading it with my North American eyes. Success? Is that really such a great thing to be unified around, especially when built on the selfish ambition that the people of Babel were soaking in. “Let’s build for ourselves a great city so our name will be great!!!!” God is not even on their radar.
But then, as I think about this story as an explanation of why we have so many cultures, I can’t help but be angry yet again. God caused division in culture which has lead to wars, racism, and genocide. At least man was unified. But then again, who I am to say man would not soon have a civil war. God choose the lesser evil in this. Instead of being unified around evil and selfish ambition, he separated man like two unruly friends in a classroom.
So here we are, surrounded by racism, war and genocide because of the differences in cultures. The question is, what do we do with it as the church? Now that we know we all come from the same family and that we are all made in the image of God, what are we going to do? We have a call, as a church, to have unity in diversity. To not think that every Arab is strapped to a bomb. To not think that every Mexican is dirty. To not think that every white person is rich. To not think that every black person is African or poor. The list goes on. Our call is to realize and live in the unity we have in Christ. Our call is to act out against the racism we see and bring appreciation to the diversity that our God has created.
As I read about Elisha raising Axe heads all I can think is
this: Divination. He is using sorcery. Why else raise an axe head? Then there is a profound incident where Elisha is surrounded by the enemy, but reveals to his servant that there are more for him (in the spiritual realm) than against them.
Have you ever wanted to do miracles and have special abilities and thought, if only I could get closer to God, then I could do magic? Not even in a childish way, but like healing people of cancer, or blindness, or multiply food for famine.
My thought is this: Elisha is a “man of God,” that is what the scripture calls him. But how? Is it because he spends a ton of time with God that God gives Elisha special powers?
This morning I hurried to watch Marc Martel perform on Ellen this morning and therefore lacked in time with God. Regrettably, there are sometimes long stretches where I do not spend much time with God in prayer and thought. In these times I do not feel close to God and often God draws me back to him. So when I made time this morning for God I found Elisha, a man full of the Spirit who knows God’s will. Does God have so much favour on him (even that he can raise an axe head from a river) because Elisha spends time with God?
Here’s where my thought landed: God has a will and a plan and he is acting that will and plan out. The only way to know and be in that plan is to be with God. When I lack in spending time with God and am investing my time in the world, I ignore God without wanting to.
It looks like God simply likes Elisha better than anyone, but I have a peculiar feeling that Elisha spent every moment conversing and aware of God around him. So the answer is “no.” I don’t think God gave Elisha special abilities as a gift because he spent time with Him. But, God was able to work through Elisha because Elisha was in conversation with God.
Today, I have been challenged. I need to spend time with God so can actively participate in the divine. So I can participate in God’s work. If I truly want to be like Elisha, in that I can raise an axe head, I better be listening to God. Maybe he won’t get me to make an axe head float, but I can be sure that I will be blown away by how God will use his servant.
A Letter to His Flock from the Pastor Imprisoned by the Iranians.
As I have read this story I have found it no bigger than that, a story. He is far removed from me and I know nothing of this man. But it was in reading his letter that he became real to me. Yusef, a modern day Peter, Paul, whoever you want to say. He is a man that is full of grace and truth, refusing to deny his faith. As I write my emotions are full of not anger, nor sadness, but of encouragement.
In North America we do not face “fiery trials” as this man does. Ours are more subtle. Our biggest trial is most likely our apathy. But this man, and his family, face a trial that seems mystical and fantastical to us. He is about to die for his faith. I simply want to make a few observations:
1) His story is affecting Christianity and the world. Media has got a hold of this story and is running wild with it. Never before has he had a better platform.
2) In the midst of this platform and death, his words are full of God’s words. God’s words are infused into his very being. Here is one quote:
“O beloved ones, difficulties do not weaken mankind, but they reveal the true human nature.”
I can feel this statement. He is experiencing this firsthand. His letter is one the church needs to read, hear, and experience together. We need to come behind our brother in Christ and life him up in prayer. He still may be executed, but not in vain. His words are full of grace and truth more than any North American theologian could conjure up. For some reason pressure and persecution draws out christianity.
Think about a hard situation in your life. Most times we either react with God or against him. This pastor is reacting with and in God. This pastor knows his identity. My guess is this situation has helped him stabilize in that reality. He belongs to Christ. His purpose is Christ. His life is Christ. His story is Christ’s story. I am connected to him because of this. This is our Story.
Yusef, I pray God’s richest mercy upon you. May you find peace as you struggle for the gospel. May your work in the gospel change hearts and lives. May Iran and the world see Christ through you. May God strengthen you with His Spirit.
As I began to read Hearing the Call, a collection of Essays by Nicholas Wolterstorff, I came across a
paragraph that struck me as the description of the Christian life. Over the past 5 or so years, I have been going through a transformation. I have been going from pride to fall, from narrow to open, from arrogant to convicted, from teenage to adulthood in my Christian walk. The paragraph comes in story form as Wolterstorff depicts his life in light of grace that shaped his life. He is talking about Calvin College and it being grace in his life:
Here too nobody was offering evidences for the truth of Christianity, arguments for the inspiration of Scripture, proofsfor the resurrection of Jesus, best explanation accounts of Christian faith. the challenge set before us was to interpret the world, culture, and society in the light of Scripture — to describe how things look when seen in Christian perspective, to say how they appear when the light of the gospel is shed on them (Wolterstorff, Hearing the Call, 2011, 10).
My immaturity in the faith has been maturing by going through the journey described above. This journey was one from proving Christianity was the best way of life to actually living as a part of God’s kingdom. The former is not a bad place to start, but I have to admit, it is only a starting point. The point of proving Christianity as the best way of life is not as major of a contribution to the world as it is to oneself. We feel as though we need to stand up for God to prove he exists. This may be the task for some, but it is majorly for getting use to being a Christian. We have to prove to ourselves that Christianity is the best way.
Going from this way of Christianity to the latter way has given me life. It allows me to both rest in Christ, yet work vigour sly for his kingdom. At this point we can “embody Christ in culture” (Wolterstorff, 9). The former way we are fighting with the world as we would envision “aliens and strangers” to do (1 Peter 2:11). In the latter way we have a chance to form the world from within it. We live as a part of the world and yet shed the light of the gospel as we go. This is the true meaning of “whatever you do, in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him” (Col 3:17).
Now I go back to reading. I think I am going to like reading this guy’s thoughts.
