Thoughts

I know I don't have creative blog titles. Oh, well. I have been mulling over how God chooses to use sinful people. And this is to His glory! If He used perfect people, if they existed, they would get the glory for their works instead of Him. Because He chooses to use messes like us, all the credit, all the glory, all the praise goes to Him! It's amazing. I will most likely be posting more thoughts on this later, but I just wanted to get that out while it was on my mind.

Don't forget to pray; there is power in our God.

Now listening: Anchor & Braille

Thoughts: James 4:15

So yesterday I read about how prideful it is to even remotely assume and plan that we will live another day or another year and make such-and-such amount of money. Our lives are short.

"Instead, you ought to say, 'If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that.'"

This is pretty straightforward. But how far should we take this? Should we say, "If it is the Lord's will I will wake up tomorrow. Then, if it is the Lord's will, I will eat breakfast. Then, if it is the Lord's will, I will get dressed and start my day." I don't think that this is saying that you shouldn't ever plan and live continually on the edge of your seat. Although, I do think it bears a warning on making long-term, money-making plans. Even so, I think the main point is that we should hold our plans in open hands, subject and sensitive to the will of the Lord. Which means we need to be deeply involved in reading the Word and praying, so we can know what that will is.

Now listening: Anberlin (listen to "Autobahn")
Now reading: "Dusk" by Clinton Scollard
Country: Moldova

Thoughts: James 4:13-14

I've been reading James for a while. It has convicted me in many ways and at many times, which I have needed. So I've been camping out there, really reading it over and over, until my actions reflect the Christ-like behaviors described there.
Now, before I begin to read and muse, this is no exegesis. These are simply my thoughts.

"Now listen, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.' Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes."

This makes me think. I plan much of everything. Our culture is all about planning. College planning. Career planning. Retirement planning. Planning, planning, planning. How much of this is healthy and biblical? (I could go much farther into the idea of retirement and savings, and whether they are biblical, but I will stay on topic.) Is the problem with this planning the planning itself of the fact that the individual is planning what he will do to make money or become wealthy. This brings to mind the story of the man who built larger barns to store his forthcoming grain, the equivalent of wealth. Then he wanted to sit back and take it easy. But then God took his life. (Luke 12:16-21) We don't know when that day will be.

It is useless to plan and gain wealth, when it could all vanish from our hands in a moment, at death. We are so temporary.

On another note, I am trying to read a classic poem every day.
Now reading: "A Life on the Ocean" by Epes Sargent
This is what I'm listening to right now.
Now listening to: Mumford & Sons
God willing, I will be going to Europe this summer. Our world is so large, yet so small. It eclipses me, yet fits inside the wings of a plane. In preparation, I've begun praying for a different European country every day.
Country to pray for: Belgium

awake my soul: plead

It's not about me. There is nothing I can do. Salvation rests all in the hands of my God.
Sometimes I feel as though it is my job to save people. If they do not come running to Christ, it is because I am not acting like Him enough or speaking of Him enough. Lies.

Who am I to think that the minuscule contributions (if you can even call them that) I make affect anything? I cannot change a person's heart. I can show him a reflection of God's heart, which is very important, but I can not bring about life change. I can go. I must go. I must live as Christ throughout the world, but nothing is the result of anything I have done. I am simply legs and a mouth; Christ is the head, the heart, the message, the change.

I am proud to think that anything I am doing could possibly change a single person, let alone the world. Yet we are so motivated by the idea of changing the world, making a difference. We get our identity and significance by the difference we make in the world, whether it be in a person or a nation.

But I am realizing more and more that I am helpless to evoke change from myself, let alone anyone else. The older I get, the more I realize how completely screwed up and awful I am. It is only by God's grace that I am where I am. If I cannot change anyone or anything, I must get my significance from God and Him alone, and that I am His.

But then, if our purpose in life is to glorify God, to live like Him, and to speak of Him to a dying world, without control of the results, what can we do? Simply that? Then sit back and hope that the world will change and hearts will break open into new fertile soil, fresh for salvation? NO! Goodness, no. We can pray.

Oh, what a gift this is. As we become like God, He gives us His heart, His passions, His yearnings, and we are able to bring all of this and more to Him every moment of every day. We can cry out to Him in anguish over the breaking hearts that refuse to see truth. We can scream to Him in praise on those days where it is wonderful just to stand and breathe. We can plead with Him for the salvation, for the souls, of those we know and love. Oh, friends, we can pray.

While we are helpless, our God is not. He lives within us and allows us to speak with Him. Is this not amazing?! Why is it so hard for me to want this, to desire to tell Him everything as I should?! Oh, God, give me that desire. Make me like you.

And He will. He has saved us. He will save other as well. Ask Him. Plead for Him for souls. This is not overrated. This is life and death. Pray.

Generation of Contradictions

We are a generation of contradictions. We want every fast and everything to last.

We're the generation that wants the fountain of youth, without searching for it, and while we're still young.We want the status that comes with age, but with the beauty of youth. Death is looked upon as an escape of sorts. If we die young, we won't age. In a sense, we will be young forever. Years ago, The Who sang this sentiment: "I hope I die before I get old." We have lost the patience of previous generations. Jacob who worked 14 years for Rachel? Now we meet at online dating sites and get married in Vegas. Or we skip the marriage process altogether and opt for the quicker, "easier" route of living together without commitment.

We want our name to live on, without putting our name down for anything, whether it be for a traditional office job or a marriage license. We desire connection and community without commitment.

We desire the lives of the rich and famous.

One of our greatest fears is dying alone, unknown and unheard. We want everyone to know and everyone to care. We tweet our lives, and hope someone cares. We network, collecting friends, fans, and followers. Our second greatest fear is that we are insignificant. We want to be someone, do something. We want to change the world. We want a purpose, something bigger than we are.

We're the generation of "The Fast and Furious," but also "I am Legend."

We fear investing, but we want profit, rewards, renown.

See the contradiction? We want immediacy, but we also want legitimacy. We scorn fakes, and desire to make a name for ourselves however possible. How else do you think sites like YouTube came into being and stay in existence? We want our five minutes of fame, our moment of significance, to simply know that someone knows who we are, and maybe even cares.

This has, sadly, climaxed in suicide. As the band Brand New puts it: "If I ever need attention, all I have to do it die." Singer Jon Foreman reiterates this idea: "They won't pay a cent to hear you laughing .They might pay a little to hear you cry. If you do it long enough, they might even pay attention, but they still won't pay respect until you die."

It's a lie.

Our generation has fled from anything that resembles past generations. We can do it faster and better. So long to VCR's. So long to religion. With religion comes responsibility, and, while we desire status, the responsibility that comes with that position is something we avoid altogether. We equate religion with rules, and rules, we think, will only tie us down. They want to stop us from becoming all we can be, from excelling, from being somebody, from having something and everything.

How can my generation be saved? Are we destined for this climb of temporary greatness, then sudden rush into nothing, then death, then, if we're lucky, we will live on. As Batman put it: "A man is just flesh and blood and can be ignored or destroyed. But as a symbol... as a symbol, I can be incorruptible, everlasting." If death leads to nothingness, but after we become nothing, our name lives on, isn't that something? So, once again, we despair of living.

There is hope for my generation. This hope is what it has always been from the very beginning of time: Jesus Christ. How do we reach a generation with this hope, when they immediately dismiss it either as an outdated religion or a helpful, but not saving, teaching? Our generation longs for significance and legacy, but also immediacy. Jesus Christ offers both. He gives purpose and life, and the work done through Him and for Him lives on into eternity. His salvation is immediate. He doesn't wait until you are perfect to save you. He doesn't wait until you are older, or smarter, or richer, or when you have made a name for yourself. He saves you immediately, when you confess your sin to Him, repent, and follow Him. There are two key words here: repent and follow. They imply commitment. This scares our commitment-phobic generation. Even so, not only is it a commitment, but it an investment. You are investing a few short decades here for an eternity. A legacy. A hope.

Our generation has no hope. We are desperate, dying. Longing for a Savior we don't know we need.

"I'm just talkin' 'bout my generation. This is my generation. This is my generation, baby."

These have been some of my recent thoughts about my generation. I'll be adding onto this, perhaps organizing my thoughts more.

What do you think?

Does God Have to Save?

Recently, I heard someone say, "Mercy is surprising because God doesn't have to save us." And I would agree that we are in no way deserving of salvation. This was quickly followed by another thought.

God is just. This means that He, being holy, must punish sin. Justice is an innate and immovable part of Him. It is built into His character. It is one of His attributes. Thus, when mankind sinned, God was moved to punish him. (Side note: I do believe in God's complete goodness; He is not "out to get us." But that's another discussion. Ask me if you want to talk about it.)

God is also merciful. This, too, is an innate and immovable part of Him. It is built into His character. It is one of his attributes.

Back to justice. Because of His justice, God REQUIRES that sin be punished. It is part of His holy nature and cannot be changed. Because of His mercy, God sent a Savior. That mercy is also part of His holy nature and cannot be changed.

Here, now, is my question: Did God's mercy, His character, because of who He (and He alone) is, REQUIRE Him to send a Savior?

Is it possible that God's character required Him to extend mercy and He choose to use His Son the Savior? Or was that not a choice by also required of Himself by Himself because there is no other suitable One to take upon Himself the punishment for our sins?

What do you think? Does God have to save?