Keep me safe, my God, for in you I take refuge.
- Psalm 16:1
Every day, terrible things happen. People die in car crashes or from cancer. Families and marriages crumble due to the sinful actions of one. We cannot know what tomorrow will bring. Perhaps we will be the victims of some horrible event. Whether purposeful, accidental, or natural, there are many things in the world that can cause us harm. What are we to do about it?
In a word, we need to trust. For those of us who call upon the name of the Lord, God is our refuge. He is our stronghold. He is the one who will keep us safe. It would be easy to get tripped up on this point, as it depends on your definition of safe. Yes, sometimes God will save you from a terrible situation. Sometimes God miraculously cures that cancer or prevents that drunk driver from barreling into you. Sometimes God stands in the way of the world and keeps you safe from its dangers.
But what about when He doesn't?
The greatest trust is not nearly to believe that God will keep you safe in this world. God has never promised us that bad things won't happen. He's never said that we won't have pain or suffering or have our lives cut short. Every day we live in this world is a gift from God that we should not waste. Yes, we should pray that God will keep us safe in the world. We should pray for healing and rejoice when it comes. That, however, is not the great safety that God promises us. The truth is that each of us will, someday, die. It is an inevitability of life. When that comes, is it God no longer keeping us safe? Is He no longer our refuge? Of course He is. The greatest trust is to know that no matter what happens to us in this world, no matter what pain we go through, and no matter how many years we are given to live on Earth, that God has our souls in His hand. God's primary goal is not to merely keep us safe for our lives in this world, that are here today but gone tomorrow. His primary goal is to welcome us into His kingdom to be with him for eternity. I do not fear the world or the oncoming death, for I know that God is holding me in his hands. He is my refuge, and He will keep me safe, forever and ever.
Friday, October 26, 2018
Monday, October 22, 2018
Random Bible Verse
In an effort to increase my writing and continue to keep this blog active, I am going to try something new. I will be using the random bible verse page at DailyVerses.net to fuel future blog posts. I will take the verse and reflect on it. I will not select a new random verse if I do not like the first one provided each time. Some of these posts may be more interesting than others, but so be it. My comments may be a direct response to the verse, or it may be thoughts that the verse brings to my mind or stories it reminds me of. I look at this as a writing exercise as much as it is a content driver. I will be trying to do this a few times per week, if things go as planned. And thus, here is the first one.
Fools show their annoyance at once, but the prudent overlook an insult.
Proverbs 12:16
We live in a reactive world. People allow themselves to be offended at every little thing somebody else says that doesn't match what they believe or how they live. We often see people who believe differently than us as the enemy. We insult other people with harsh words, and then throw fits when those same people insult us. We don't take time to understand the viewpoints of other people, instead assuming the worst about them. We assume that we are the only ones seeing things correctly, and that everybody else is foolish or stupid or selfish or evil. We are so easily set off by the words of people we don't even know.
It is inevitable that we will interact with people who disagree with us on many different issues. What we cannot do, however, is simply throw insults at anybody who disagrees with us. Such reactive emotions do nothing but raise tensions and sever relationships. We must all learn how to have profitable discourse instead of simply yelling at each other. When others do hurl insults at us, we must not return fire with our own harsh words. We live in a diverse society with a free exchange of words and ideas, and that should be celebrated and not weaponized. We should seek to understand one another and converse peacefully with those we disagree with. In the end, none of us is perfect and none of us have a full understanding of how life works. We need to see each other as real people of equal value instead of looking down on anybody who sees things differently.
Fools show their annoyance at once, but the prudent overlook an insult.
Proverbs 12:16
We live in a reactive world. People allow themselves to be offended at every little thing somebody else says that doesn't match what they believe or how they live. We often see people who believe differently than us as the enemy. We insult other people with harsh words, and then throw fits when those same people insult us. We don't take time to understand the viewpoints of other people, instead assuming the worst about them. We assume that we are the only ones seeing things correctly, and that everybody else is foolish or stupid or selfish or evil. We are so easily set off by the words of people we don't even know.
It is inevitable that we will interact with people who disagree with us on many different issues. What we cannot do, however, is simply throw insults at anybody who disagrees with us. Such reactive emotions do nothing but raise tensions and sever relationships. We must all learn how to have profitable discourse instead of simply yelling at each other. When others do hurl insults at us, we must not return fire with our own harsh words. We live in a diverse society with a free exchange of words and ideas, and that should be celebrated and not weaponized. We should seek to understand one another and converse peacefully with those we disagree with. In the end, none of us is perfect and none of us have a full understanding of how life works. We need to see each other as real people of equal value instead of looking down on anybody who sees things differently.
Monday, October 8, 2018
Crutches
"Organized religion is a sham and a crutch for weak-minded people who need strength in numbers. It tells people to go out and stick their noses in other people's business."
- Jesse Ventura
I remember when this quote was made years ago, back when Jesse Ventura was the governor of my state. It is a point of view shared by many others around the world. Many other such quotes have been made, of course, but this is the one I'm going to focus on.
Here's the kicker: I don't completely disagree with his assessment.
Just most of it.
When people say that religion is a crutch, I have this to say: they're right, and for followers of Jesus, that's the way it should be.
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight."
- Proverbs 3: 5-6
"And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus."
- Philippians 4: 19
God is our great provider, and part of surrendering our lives to Him is accepting that we need Him. The Bible does not say that we are strong enough on our own, or that we do not need anything from God in order to survive and live successful lives. No, it says to rely on Him for everything. So yes, God is our crutch, for without Him we cannot walk. And I wouldn't have it any other way.
Most importantly, salvation comes to those who believe in Jesus Christ and accept His salvation for our sins. This is something we cannot acquire on our own: Jesus died for us, and only by leaning on that salvation can we enter Heaven once we die. Attempting to get to Heaven on our own is foolishness. Jesus is our crutch to get there, and accepting this truth is the only way to salvation.
When it comes to organized religion being a sham: I wouldn't stretch it that far, but I will say this: organized religion has some major problems. Why is that? Because the organization of religion is run by sinners like you and me. It is run by people with major problems, just like every religious and secular organization in the world. I do believe that Christian leaders should hold themselves up to a very high moral standard, but expecting such people to have perfect records is expecting the impossible. The only human to ever have a perfect record was Jesus Christ. The Christian church can be a wonderful thing that spreads the good news of Jesus, but it is still run by sinners in a sinful world.
Oh, and we're all sinners with major problems, by the way. I couldn't do any better.
Yet I am not a Christian because of the church. My belief in Jesus is not based on the quality of religious leadership or the inner workings of the Christian organization. I am a Christ followers for this reason: it's true. Don't let Christians turn you off from Christianity, because ultimately, for you, it's not about the rest of us. It's not about how Christians behave or how sinful they are, because we're all sinners. It's about love and salvation. It's about your eternity. It's about you and Jesus.
I have no doubt in my soul that Jesus Christ is not a fairy tale, and that there is a true God in Heaven looking down on me. I believe that there was real blood shed on a real cross by a real human, and that the death of Jesus and His resurrection on the third day is the reason that I will spend eternity in Heaven. This is not some work of fiction I enjoy, it is the truth that I follow in my life. It impacts everything I do.
On a side note, and I have posted about this before in more detail, but we are not really meant to be religious. Religion is man made and run by those pesky sinners. Religion is traditional and ritualistic. Religion is following rules for the sake of following rules. The world sees me as religious, but I try to live beyond that. I try to live as a follower of the one and only true God, and the choices I make are due to my belief that they are the right choices, not simply because a religion tells me so.
There are many around the world who think that anyone who believes in God is weak minded, which is just a politically correct way of calling someone stupid. They say we invented God because we wanted to believe there is more to this life, more than just birth, death, and a few meaningless years in between. First, it is hard to talk to anyone who thinks anyone with a differing opinion from them is "weak minded." I would never define an atheist or otherwise non-Christian person as weak minded. I may think they need Jesus, but that certainly doesn't mean they're unintelligent. Also, believing in God is not something to be done only by those who turn their brains off. To me, it is only logical that there is a God, and I cannot fathom a universe coming to existence without such a being.
Finally, Ventura is certainly right about one thing: going out and sticking their noses in other people's business. We Christians should be involved in the lives of non-believers, so that we can minister and witness to them, giving them opportunities to accept Jesus as their savior. Is this because we're nosy? No, it comes down to one truth: without Jesus, everyone on this planet will be alone for eternity. It is our duty as Christ followers to spread the gospel, not because we're trying to increase our religion's dominance or get more people to come to church. No, we do this because the love and grace of our lord Jesus Christ compels us to, because we do not want to see anyone perish. We share the gospel because it's true.
In closing, Christians are imperfect beings whom Jesus died for, just like everybody else. The difference is that we have chosen to believe it. We have chosen to accept the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. We have accepted the fact that we need God to have a full and fulfilling life. Even if the world chides us and does not understand, Jesus is our crutch, because without Him we cannot stand.
- Jesse Ventura
I remember when this quote was made years ago, back when Jesse Ventura was the governor of my state. It is a point of view shared by many others around the world. Many other such quotes have been made, of course, but this is the one I'm going to focus on.
Here's the kicker: I don't completely disagree with his assessment.
Just most of it.
When people say that religion is a crutch, I have this to say: they're right, and for followers of Jesus, that's the way it should be.
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight."
- Proverbs 3: 5-6
"And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus."
- Philippians 4: 19
God is our great provider, and part of surrendering our lives to Him is accepting that we need Him. The Bible does not say that we are strong enough on our own, or that we do not need anything from God in order to survive and live successful lives. No, it says to rely on Him for everything. So yes, God is our crutch, for without Him we cannot walk. And I wouldn't have it any other way.
Most importantly, salvation comes to those who believe in Jesus Christ and accept His salvation for our sins. This is something we cannot acquire on our own: Jesus died for us, and only by leaning on that salvation can we enter Heaven once we die. Attempting to get to Heaven on our own is foolishness. Jesus is our crutch to get there, and accepting this truth is the only way to salvation.
When it comes to organized religion being a sham: I wouldn't stretch it that far, but I will say this: organized religion has some major problems. Why is that? Because the organization of religion is run by sinners like you and me. It is run by people with major problems, just like every religious and secular organization in the world. I do believe that Christian leaders should hold themselves up to a very high moral standard, but expecting such people to have perfect records is expecting the impossible. The only human to ever have a perfect record was Jesus Christ. The Christian church can be a wonderful thing that spreads the good news of Jesus, but it is still run by sinners in a sinful world.
Oh, and we're all sinners with major problems, by the way. I couldn't do any better.
Yet I am not a Christian because of the church. My belief in Jesus is not based on the quality of religious leadership or the inner workings of the Christian organization. I am a Christ followers for this reason: it's true. Don't let Christians turn you off from Christianity, because ultimately, for you, it's not about the rest of us. It's not about how Christians behave or how sinful they are, because we're all sinners. It's about love and salvation. It's about your eternity. It's about you and Jesus.
I have no doubt in my soul that Jesus Christ is not a fairy tale, and that there is a true God in Heaven looking down on me. I believe that there was real blood shed on a real cross by a real human, and that the death of Jesus and His resurrection on the third day is the reason that I will spend eternity in Heaven. This is not some work of fiction I enjoy, it is the truth that I follow in my life. It impacts everything I do.
On a side note, and I have posted about this before in more detail, but we are not really meant to be religious. Religion is man made and run by those pesky sinners. Religion is traditional and ritualistic. Religion is following rules for the sake of following rules. The world sees me as religious, but I try to live beyond that. I try to live as a follower of the one and only true God, and the choices I make are due to my belief that they are the right choices, not simply because a religion tells me so.
There are many around the world who think that anyone who believes in God is weak minded, which is just a politically correct way of calling someone stupid. They say we invented God because we wanted to believe there is more to this life, more than just birth, death, and a few meaningless years in between. First, it is hard to talk to anyone who thinks anyone with a differing opinion from them is "weak minded." I would never define an atheist or otherwise non-Christian person as weak minded. I may think they need Jesus, but that certainly doesn't mean they're unintelligent. Also, believing in God is not something to be done only by those who turn their brains off. To me, it is only logical that there is a God, and I cannot fathom a universe coming to existence without such a being.
Finally, Ventura is certainly right about one thing: going out and sticking their noses in other people's business. We Christians should be involved in the lives of non-believers, so that we can minister and witness to them, giving them opportunities to accept Jesus as their savior. Is this because we're nosy? No, it comes down to one truth: without Jesus, everyone on this planet will be alone for eternity. It is our duty as Christ followers to spread the gospel, not because we're trying to increase our religion's dominance or get more people to come to church. No, we do this because the love and grace of our lord Jesus Christ compels us to, because we do not want to see anyone perish. We share the gospel because it's true.
In closing, Christians are imperfect beings whom Jesus died for, just like everybody else. The difference is that we have chosen to believe it. We have chosen to accept the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. We have accepted the fact that we need God to have a full and fulfilling life. Even if the world chides us and does not understand, Jesus is our crutch, because without Him we cannot stand.
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