A Grateful Evangelist

Always be joyful. Never stop praying. Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus. 1 Thessalonians 5:18

The church I attend made us take a test to determine what our natural talents are, because they believe that Christians should use their natural talents to serve each other.  My test results showed that I am an "evangelistic person" who wants to tell people that God loves them and wants to be with them.  As I thought about my talent, I started to wonder what an evangelist looks like.  How do evangelists preach; how do they pray; how do they feel.  Are they angry people who want to rebuke others?  Are they friendly folks who love to be around others?  Are they aggressively trying to make as many coverts as possible?  Are they constantly praying that God would give them powerful words?

These is an important question for me, because my best friends, and some of my closest family members are non-Christians.  I pray for them when I can, but I've been praying for years and haven't seen a lot of changes in their lives.  I began to wonder if I'm not praying effectively for them, so I decided to ask God "how to pray" for my non-believing loved ones.  The response I received was very remarkable.

As I was asking God how to pray, I felt prompted to think about God's desire for people.  I realized that God desires everyone to know Him and come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9), but I also realized that God wants us to give thanks for every circumstance.  That's a biblical command, and the will of God for every person.  God wants grateful children.  It's no different than any other parent or person for that matter.  Does anyone want to be around someone who is always complaining about how bad their life is?  Does any parent want to hear their kids constantly asking for stuff?  I don't think so.  I think parents ultimately want to hear, "Thanks dad, I really appreciate you," or "I love you mom, because I know you do the best you can to take care of me."  That's what every parents longs to hear, and God is no different.

So I began to ask the Lord, "How can I be grateful when praying for people who don't love the Lord?"  And that's when I realized that I can be grateful for two things:

1. I am grateful that I have the opportunity to pray and witness to them.  

God has placed people in my life so we can grow closer to God.  God wants everyone to acknowledge Him as their God and savior, and I get the chance to encourage others in that process.  It is a privilege for me to pray for the people that I love.   I want them to know God, because I couldn't imagine eternity without Him.
  

2. I am grateful that God is so patient and compassionate to all of us.

My friends and my family deserve nothing from God, but don't misunderstand me, I don't deserve anything from God either.  We have all chosen to reject God at times even though He is gracious and loving to each of us.  He has been gracious to me even though I have mocked Him, thrown insults on other Christians, and acted in ways that goes against His truth.  Picture yourself in God's position: what would you do with someone like me who has insulted you and hurt your children?  Would you be willing to show love and compassion?  I wouldn't.

I have the tendency of rejecting people who reject me, but luckily God is greater than me in love and compassion.  God has been patient with me even though I've hurt Him.  He has been patient with my friends and family even though they hurt Him.  I am so grateful that God is patient with each and every one of us.  I'm also grateful that God has given each and everyone of us the opportunity to help our friends and family grow closer to Him.

So I encourage you to spend time thanking God for His love.  Everything you have is a gift from His hand.  God is good.

Flawlessly Relevant

“All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.” 2 Timothy 3:16-17

This week was frustrating for me, because I was to doubting the validity of the bible.  I have realized that I've misinterpreted the bible at times, and that many of the older folks who taught me had done the same thing.  As these frustrations began to build, I wondered how much we have gotten wrong and whether or not we needed to rewrite our textbooks.  Is it really true that ALL scripture is inspired by God (2 Tim 3:16-17)?

I do believe that to be the truth, but it's interesting that I am wrestling with these thoughts while attending seminary.  I mean here I am, surrounded by smart men and women who have studied the bible for decades and believe it to be the authority in their lives, but I'm more skeptical than ever before.  What is going on?

It was explained to me last week that seminary isn't a "special time" where Christians are safe from the schemes of Satan.  Instead, many seminary students are plagued by more doubts and more temptations than ever before, partly because its hard to read the bible as a text book and maintain its authority in your life.  I mean, isn't the point of higher education to question the current paradigms?  Aren't college students taught to examine and then critique their textbooks?  Don't teachers encourage students to "think outside the box" and reach for greater truths?   I know my undergraduate professors did.

I was a chemistry major as a college student.  We knew that certain parts of our textbook were out of date.  We knew that scientific advances would soon cause other parts of our textbook to be inaccurate as well.  Science isn't perfect, and needs to be refined.  The point of chemistry was to learn from the current information so we could refine and perfect it.  But how can you refine and perfect the bible?  Isn't it the perfect book?

That's the problem with my thinking.  I'm learning that seminary isn't intended to refine and perfect the bible:  it's intended to refine the perfect the student (although we won't be perfect until we reach heaven).  It's true that "refinement of the student" is the point of science as well, but there is also the hope that we will discover something new that will rewrite our textbooks.  But unlike scientists, a biblical scholars will never unlock some "new mystery" that will allow us to rewrite our theology. The bible is complete as it is.

While most people don't go to seminary, I still think everybody deals with these doubts at times.  Humans spend so much time trying to learn from the faults of others and questioning the practices of our leaders, that we find ourselves doing the same thing with Jesus.  We begin to question the authority and validity of His story, believing that it's a flawed book that is irrelevant to today.  But that's not true.

The bible is both flawless and relevant.  The bible flawlessly shows the fact that God is perfect in love and justice, and it shows that mankind is sinful and corrupt.  The bible relevantly shows how sinful people can relate to and be in relationship with a perfect God.

So let me ask you a question: if there is a God, and if that God created everything, and if we will spend eternity either with or without that God, what could be more important and relevant than knowing how to relate to Him?

I believe in God, and I believe He is the only flawless and truly relevant thing in my life.  Do you?  Why?

The Pursuit Of...

In my last blog I wrote that seeking God is a passionate, zealous and continuous activity.  We pursue God the way He pursues us.  But if you are like me, it's hard to know what we are trying to pursue.  Are we pursuing facts and theology about God?  Are we pursuing a good feeling?  Some might ask what kind of God we are pursuing; an angry God, a happy God, distant but wise God?  Another might ask why we are pursuing Him; is He is hiding from us?  

Let's take another look at some verses which discuss seeking God: 

But from there you will seek the LORD your God, and you will find Him if you search for Him with all your heart and all your soul.  (Deuteronomy 4:29)

Glory in His holy name; Let the heart of those who seek the LORD be glad. (1 Chronicles 16:10)

O God, you are my God; I earnestly search for you. My soul thirsts for you; my whole body longs for you in this parched and weary land where there is no water. (Psalm 63:1)

Evil men do not understand justice, but those who seek the Lord understand all things (Prov 28:5)

The young lions do lack and suffer hunger; but they who seek the Lord shall not be in want of any good thing. (Psalm 34:10)

The first thing that stands out to me is that we are seeking after a person.  Deuteronomy says that we will find HIM if we seek.  Everything else that I mention will flow from this thought.  We don't seek stuff (even good stuff like spouses, children, jobs, etc); we seek God Himself.  This is important, because sometimes we forget that God has feelings, and that God created us to be with Him.  With that said, we see that seeking God will result in: gladness, refreshment from longing, understanding and many other good things.  

These are all great gifts, especially if we stop and think about what they mean.  For example, could you imagine be so satisfied that you never want anything ever again?  That would be amazing.

I want to admit that the reason I focused on the priority of seeking after God instead of His gifts, is because I struggle to do that.  To be honest, I often catch myself seeking after God because I know He brings joy and peace.  I'm like the kid that goes to my friends in order to play with my friend's toys.  I think that is something we all struggle with, but I know that God will gently remind us when we are doing it.  Let me give you a quick example:

Last week was challenging for me, because I wanted peace and rest.  It eventually became my main focus throughout the day.  In my desire for rest and relaxation, I failed to appreciate the amazing opportunity I have to search for God in seminary.  Although God desires to give us rest (and "love, joy, peace, patience, etc"Gal 5:22), it's easy for me to desire the rest, joy and peace above desiring Him.  I know that to be true, because many times  I avoiding being with God when He is suffering.

That statement might raise a question in your mind: "Does God suffer?"

And the answer is Yes!

The problem with this world is evident.  God didn't indent for people to starve to death.  He didn't intend for women and children to be sold into sex trafficking.  He didn't intend for children to be forced into fighting a war.

Those things hurt God's heart.

What about the people who die everyday without hearing the good news that God loves them and wants to be with them?  What about people that are killed by their parents because they choose to believe in Jesus?

Those things hurt God's heart.

Seeking God will bring us incredible rewards, but it also requires work and sacrifice at times.  Jesus suffered for us, and He asks us to pay it forward.  In other words: followers of Jesus must be willing to sacrifice for others just like Jesus sacrificed for them.  This means forgiving people who hurt you, asking for forgiveness when you hurt others, and showing love to your enemies.  It's not always easy, but it's worth it.

A small sacrifice that I make is writing this blog in order to help people understand that God loves them.  It's not a big deal, and only takes a few hours, but it is something I think is important.  In fact, it makes me feel good in the end, because I grow closer to God by writing about Him, and I have faith that God uses these words to express His love to others.   But in reality, it's not about me or my feelings.  Neither is it about you and your opinion of me.  It's about God and His desire to tell people that He loves them.  I want to be the messenger of His good news:

"God loves you, wants to be with you, and is worth every sacrifice you will make."

I encourage you to seek God passionately, and remember that you are seeking Him instead of His stuff.  If the creator of the world wants to be in a deeper relationship with you, why wouldn't you want to spend time with Him?