Saturday, February 28, 2009

Wisdom: Looking At Life From God's Perspective

Wisdom is looking at life from God's eternal perspective. It's like Jim Eliot, the now famous baptist missionary during the 1950's who, at the age of 28 along with 4 other men, was killed by an indiginous tribe in South America. Eliot and his colleagues were attempting to share the message of salvation through Jesus Christ when they were speared near on the banks of the Curaray River in Ecuador. Eliot is often quoted as having said, "he is no fool who trades what he cannot keep for what he cannot lose." Eliot was, of course, refering to trading this life, which none of us can keep, for eternal life with Christ, which can only be attained by letting go control of this life and trusting it to Jesus.

That is what wisdom is all about. It is recognizing that there is a God - not equal with me, but greater than me - who rules and reigns over me and over all of creation. It is acknowledging His sovereignty and yeilding willingly to His plan. It is believing that He is inherently good and trusting that He has my best interest at heart.

Wisdom is believing these things, but not just believing them. it si acting on your beliefs. Living them out, regardless of cost to yourself or uncertainty of reward. It is trading what you cannot keep, for what you cannot lose.

Read: Psalm 14:1; Psalm 19:9; Psalm 27:1; Psalm 111:10; Proverbs 29:25; James 1:5

Thursday, February 26, 2009

Jesus Reveals A Deeper Righteousness

I just finished reading the words of the Lord in Matthew chapter 5. What a powerful message! I love this chapter and often find myself drawn to it when I'm reading the Bible and don't have a planned place to read. Matthew 5 is only part of what theologians call "The Sermon on the Mount," when Jesus addressed a crowd of followers from Galilee or Capernum who had congregated to listen to what this new teacher had to say.

Interestingly enough, Jesus begins his discourse (which may have actually been things he taught on many occasions, to many crowds, not just this one time) with some statements about the condition of his audience. "Blessed are the poor in spirit...blessed are the meek...blessed are the peacemakers...blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness!" Jesus was addressing a crowd of very common people - people some cultures may view as peasants, or in our society the blue collar people. They were not the heads of state, or nobility of the land. They were common Palestinian people. People who knew oppression at the hand of the Roman government. People who also knew exploitation at the hands of their own religious leaders, the Pharisees. And Jesus looks at them and says, "Blessed are you when you are persecuted for righteousness sake."

Blessed for being persecuted? Blessed for being spiritually destitute? What is this teaching that sounds nothing like the typical message of religion? This is Jesus. Jesus looked at people and saw their needs. He saw their heart. He saw their sins. And He loved them so much that He wanted them to be free.

In this chapter Jesus goes on to point out several of the Jewish teachings on moral issues, such as divorce and adultery, anger at others, making promises that you cannot keep, how to treat your enemies. And He makes the point that the teachings the people had followed do not go deep enough to foster true righteousness. He said it is not enough to just be sexually faithful to your spouse, you must be faithful in your heart also. It is not enough to just keep from murdering others, you must be patient and loving toward others also. It is not enough just to keep the law of God, you must love God with all of your heart, soul, mind and strength.

The incredible thing about Jesus is that He comes along and reveals to everyone who will listen that it is not just enough to do what people think you are supposed to do. If you want to be holy you must live it from your heart. Just think about the following statement that Jesus made, and keep in mind that the Pharisees in their day were the respected religious leaders. We know the term now to represent hypocrisy, which Jesus did reveal. But at the time people did not see it that way. They thought these guys were really doing it right. But listen to what Jesus had to say to everyone who was following the leaders: "For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven."

How is it that today we do the same thing, thinking that we can simply follow the religious leaders of our day and time and not give attention to what is really going on in our own hearts? Do you think it is enough to just do what you are taught by someone else you respect?


Saturday, February 14, 2009

Character vs. Career

Recently I've been having trouble with my computer. As a graphic design professional I put alot of strain on my machine by working with large, fairly complex files and often several applications at a time.

So I decided to make some hardware upgrades to beef up the performance of my machine, seeing that buying a whole new computer is out of the question for me right now. They don't actually make it easy on you to do this sort of thing yourself. never the less being the 'sort-of-ambitious' and 'not-too-scared-by-technology' type, I decided to blaze the trail.

Well, needless to say, I encountered plenty of challenges. Then, a few days ago, once I had ordered all the parts I needed, removed the cover of my machine, and began getting into the nitty gritty, God politely interrupted my progress--in the way of trials.

No, we're not talking fierce suffering or fiery persecutions here. Just simple frustration at the lack of support from parts manufacturers or direction from anyone interested in helping a poor 'do-it-your-self-er!' Anger and impatience began to kick in. I began to get frustrated and most of all everything was taking longer than I had so happily pictured. Let me just take this chance to admit for someone who grew up thinking and being told I was a Type B person--I sure seem to exhibit quite a lot of Type A tendencies!

That's when God so kindly intervened. It was about that time that I was forced to set it all aside for a previous engagement with my wife. As we rode in the car together we discussed the events of the day and she empathized with my techno-frustrations, knowing that I had been grappling with these computer problems for days, and in fact months.

Then she said something that I knew was the Lord speaking through her. The exact words I don't recall but the idea was this: "Joel, God cares more about your character through this than the end result of your computer." Bang! A light bulb lit up. Right then I fell under the conviction of the Holy Spirit. I knew she was right and that I had not been practicing patience, or even kindness with the myriads of people I had been dealing with on the phone.

Right then I decided to ask God to renew my perspective and thanked Him for teaching me yet again that the development of my character is way more important than the development of my career or the efficiency of my computer. I asked Him to help me cultivate the character of Christ in how I respond to every minor or major situation in life. And I thanked Him for using my wife to minister to me, and for giving me a woman who He is also doing a work in.

I can't say that my computer is 100% where I'd like it to be yet, but I can say that keeping a Godly attitude about the process has sure helped me enjoy the steps a lot more.