From the time I was a little kid in VBS to when I was baptized as a 13-year-old to now, I have done a lot of growing. I have gone through various stages where I have thought different things and acted in different ways. At the best of times I have legitimately tried to do what God wanted me to do; at the worst I have striven for my own interests. But, I'd like to think that I have generally been open to new and better ideas, or at least deeper levels to good ideas I already had. Even now, though I believe that what I believe is right, I have no doubt that something will happen to make me throw out something I currently think for something better. This is not to say that I am fickle or wishy-washy; I carefully examine a new thought before I accept it. Nonetheless, I am open to accepting new thoughts. (Of course, it helps that I have a standard, the Word of God, by which to judge things.)
Something that has recently become a new thought to me is the idea of helping people. Okay, I knew that it was good to be nice to people and to help someone pick up their books if they drop them, but I have not always been willing to do the extra, uncomfortable things like visiting people in the hospital and talking to "weird" people. (Not that I haven't done these things at all, but I haven't always had the best attitude about doing them.) I guess I always thought that it was nice to be helpful, but that doing so was not actually a requirement of Christianity. After all, we are saved by grace, not by works. While this is still true, my eyes have been opened to the reality that the world's problems are my problems. The thing is that, if something is important to God, it should be important to me. I know that I can't single-handedly save the world, but if Christ is in the business of saving the world, and I am part of His body, I have a part in saving the world. I shouldn't be interested in helping people to gain my own salvation; my salvation has already been gained, so I should act accordingly.
Many Christians act like their "correct" opinions will be what gain them entry into heaven. However, Jesus speaks differently:
34 “Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35 For I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; 36 naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’ 37 Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? 38 And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? 39 When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ 40 The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’
41 “Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; 42 for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; 43 I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.’ 44 Then they themselves also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of [or serve] You?’ 45 Then He will answer them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ 46 These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
—Mathew 25:34-46 (NASB)
People may have different thoughts about when this conversation with the King takes place, but the point is that God is interested in having people help people. Here is another example:
18 A ruler questioned Him, saying, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” 19 And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone. 20 You know the commandments, ‘DO NOT COMMIT ADULTERY, DO NOT MURDER, DO NOT STEAL, DO NOT BEAR FALSE WITNESS, HONOR YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER.’” 21 And he said, “All these things I have kept from my youth.” 22 When Jesus heard this, He said to him, “One thing you still lack; sell all that you possess and distribute it to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” 23 But when he had heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich.
—Luke 18:18-23 (NASB)
Again, we could quibble about whether or not Jesus wanted this man, or us, literally to sell all of his, or our, possessions, but we would be missing the point. The important thing to note here (besides the fact that what Jesus was asking is impossible and that only God can make it possible, as is shown in the rest of the passage) is that simply following rules is not enough to please God. He wants us to give everything for him... AND Jesus is concerned about poor people.
If you read enough about Jesus and his disciples, it looks highly likely that giving to the poor was something they used the money in their treasury for. When the woman anointed Jesus' feet with perfume and the statement was made about how the perfume should have been sold and the money given to the poor, Jesus says something along the lines of, "You will always have the poor to help whenever you want to, but you will not always have me." I have heard this statement used as a reason not to bother with poor people. However, Jesus didn't say not to help poor people; he said that poor people would always be around for the disciples to help whenever they felt like it. When Judas went away to betray Jesus, the other disciples assumed that he was going off to give money to the poor. There are multiple verses (fulfilled prophecies, in fact) about Jesus preaching the good news to the poor. If you are really interested, put the keyword, "poor" into a Bible search engine and see what pops up. It will become obvious that God's people helping poor people is important to God.
Of course, there are other ways of being helpful besides giving to the poor. James talks about true religion being that of helping orphans and widows in their distress. In the book of Acts there is mention of the early Church distributing food to widows daily. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus talks about giving to those who ask and going the extra mile. Again, the Bible is full of charges like this. Like I said before, I know that a person alone can't fix the whole world, but if Christ helped people during his time as a human, those of us who make up the body of Christ should be carrying on his work.
Now, how do we actually go about doing this? When you start looking into all of the different ministry methods, it can become quite overwhelming. There are many different schools of thought as to the best way to go about helping people, and I totally respect that. I think it is even possible to hurt people while you are trying to help them, so it is really good to know what you're doing before you start handing out stuff on the street. However, don't allow confusion over the form to keep you from performing the function. I cautioned against handing out stuff on the street. Well, truth be told, I myself have gone and done exactly that. Reevaluating the situation, I may or may not have done the same thing if I had realized then what I realize now. It's possible that I was simply enabling the people I was trying to help. BUT, at the time, it was very important for me spiritually to have done what I did. It was a milestone in my faith journey. I probably wouldn't use that same method again for helping people, but the experience was very valuable in that I learned that helping people is not as hard or as scary as I thought it would be. I learned that poor, homeless people can be very nice and grateful and that they don't necessarily want to kill me. I learned that making connections with people I would otherwise never interact with can be exhilarating. If I had hesitated to act on the Spirit's prodding (and that's what I believe it was) and had waited until I knew all of the ins and outs of ministering to the homeless, I never would have learned those lessons. It is possible that I made a mistake in my method, but my heart and my spirit were right on.
If we are to do what God wants us to do, we have to be willing to make mistakes. We certainly don't make them on purpose, but it is our mistakes that help us to learn and to do better next time. I started out this post talking about how I have grown throughout my life. We need to realize that ministries can (and should) grow too. We should always be looking to find better ways of doing things, but, in order to do that, we need to have started doing something in the first place. God wants His people to help other people. It it so easy to make excuses not to do this, but I think it is clear that this is what we will be judged upon when we die. All of our other sins just serve to make us "unproductive and ineffective," keeping us from doing the "good works" which God "prepared in advance for us to do." The Bible talks about sin being something that "easily entangles" us, in the sense that it keeps us from moving forward with what we should be doing. If you look at sin that way, with a goal in mind of doing God's work, it is harder to justify doing it. Anyway, again, as members of the body of Christ, the work we should be doing is trying to help people. We should expect to make mistakes and to grow in our thinking along the way, but the biggest mistake of all would be not even to begin.
-BB
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Oklahoma!
Becky and I just got back from ten days in Oklahoma! We visited with Ben, Crystal and Caitlin Martin in Edmond for the first few days then finished up our time with Keith, Shelia, Sarah, Tim and Emily Bowman in Mustang (both areas are suburbs of Oklahoma City).
We had a great time relaxing, eating, sleeping, playing Wii golf, Apples to Apples, Rock Band, Band Hero and Back Words. I also got the chance to shoot rifles, shotguns and a pistol with Ben and his friend Britton and Britton's wife Carie. It was a true Oklahoma experience!
We also enjoyed three trips to Braum's for ice cream and chicken fingers. Other fine dining experiences included Slim Chicken's, Chicken Express, Steak n Shake, Flat Tire Burgers, The Mantel and Cattlemen's.
We were able to fly for free since I had $800 in flight vouchers that I got last year for bumping off of a flight out of Chicago to Charleston! I always love to travel and travelling for free is even better! I just remember feeling like God was telling me to get off that plane last October; I'm really glad that I did! We were extremely blessed to bask in the fellowship of our friends for the week.
I have added a few pictures from our trip below.
Enjoy!
We had a great time relaxing, eating, sleeping, playing Wii golf, Apples to Apples, Rock Band, Band Hero and Back Words. I also got the chance to shoot rifles, shotguns and a pistol with Ben and his friend Britton and Britton's wife Carie. It was a true Oklahoma experience!
We also enjoyed three trips to Braum's for ice cream and chicken fingers. Other fine dining experiences included Slim Chicken's, Chicken Express, Steak n Shake, Flat Tire Burgers, The Mantel and Cattlemen's.
We were able to fly for free since I had $800 in flight vouchers that I got last year for bumping off of a flight out of Chicago to Charleston! I always love to travel and travelling for free is even better! I just remember feeling like God was telling me to get off that plane last October; I'm really glad that I did! We were extremely blessed to bask in the fellowship of our friends for the week.
I have added a few pictures from our trip below.
Enjoy!
Monday, August 1, 2011
What's Brown and Dirty and Crawling with Worms and Small Bugs?
Compost!
A couple of weeks ago Becky and I buried a pile of leftover food scraps, used coffee grounds, filters and melon rinds in a hole in the ground that we dug in my Dad's backyard. We are very interested in using composting as part of a sustainable/high yield agriculture approach in Nicaragua over the next five years.
I read Composting for Dummies which said that it could take 6 months to a year to get usable compost. I was a little dismayed to think that it would take that long. Enter Nurse Karen Thompson! She is a composting authority (recognize her authoritaaay!) and she assured me that it wouldn't take nearly that long. The conversation went something like this (emphasis on the word something)
Me: "But Karen, Composting for Dummies said that it would take 6 months to a year to produce usable compost..."
Nurse Karen Thompson: "You don't need no stiiiiinking book, (insert swarthy Mexican accent here) but you are a dummy so I agree with the book on that point...
Me: "So you don't think it will take 6 to 12 months for organic material to break down to the point that it can be used in a garden?"
Nurse Karen Thompson: "Honey, dig you a hole, put some food scraps in it, cover it with dirt and dig it up again in two weeks..."
Me: "Two weeks! Wow! That's a lot shorter than what the book said...
Nurse Karen Thompson: "Trust me."
Me: "Ok."
Well, for the record she was right! Becky and I went over to Mom and Dad's house this afternoon, two weeks from the day that we put the food scraps in the ground and sure enough we had compost! In fact, we thought that maybe we weren't digging in the right place because I was pretty sure that we would be able to identify the food mixed in with the dirt. WRONG! We finally found one piece of an eggshell so we knew that we had found our spot. We were both amazed, two weeks was all it took.
We are going to do another turbo composting experiment starting later this month and we will be taking pictures and measuring the pH of the soil on a regular basis over the course of about three weeks. I will post on that once we get it rolling!
A couple of weeks ago Becky and I buried a pile of leftover food scraps, used coffee grounds, filters and melon rinds in a hole in the ground that we dug in my Dad's backyard. We are very interested in using composting as part of a sustainable/high yield agriculture approach in Nicaragua over the next five years.
I read Composting for Dummies which said that it could take 6 months to a year to get usable compost. I was a little dismayed to think that it would take that long. Enter Nurse Karen Thompson! She is a composting authority (recognize her authoritaaay!) and she assured me that it wouldn't take nearly that long. The conversation went something like this (emphasis on the word something)
Me: "But Karen, Composting for Dummies said that it would take 6 months to a year to produce usable compost..."
Nurse Karen Thompson: "You don't need no stiiiiinking book, (insert swarthy Mexican accent here) but you are a dummy so I agree with the book on that point...
Me: "So you don't think it will take 6 to 12 months for organic material to break down to the point that it can be used in a garden?"
Nurse Karen Thompson: "Honey, dig you a hole, put some food scraps in it, cover it with dirt and dig it up again in two weeks..."
Me: "Two weeks! Wow! That's a lot shorter than what the book said...
Nurse Karen Thompson: "Trust me."
Me: "Ok."
Well, for the record she was right! Becky and I went over to Mom and Dad's house this afternoon, two weeks from the day that we put the food scraps in the ground and sure enough we had compost! In fact, we thought that maybe we weren't digging in the right place because I was pretty sure that we would be able to identify the food mixed in with the dirt. WRONG! We finally found one piece of an eggshell so we knew that we had found our spot. We were both amazed, two weeks was all it took.
We are going to do another turbo composting experiment starting later this month and we will be taking pictures and measuring the pH of the soil on a regular basis over the course of about three weeks. I will post on that once we get it rolling!
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Eye of the Tiger
Becky and I went to Clemson, SC this weekend to visit with our friends Jay and Anita Wood and to speak at the Clemson Church of Christ this morning. We were really looking forward to this trip as many of our friends from Palmetto Bible Camp worship at the church in Clemson. In fact, our friend Danny Vaden is the preacher there and Matt Fields is the Youth Minister.
We ran into some pretty gnarly traffic coming into Columbia and my car has an issue with a loose belt that occasionally makes the engine overheat and the air conditioner not work. What this all means is that we ended up sitting still on I-26 with all the windows down and the heat on full blast to keep the engine from going supernova on us. Oh yeah, and it's already like 110 degrees outside to start with. Thank you God for GPS! (seriously, I'm not joking) We got off at the next exit and let the GPS on my Droid phone guide us about 10 miles around whatever was causing the congestion and we ended up right back on I-26 in the middle of Columbia with no traffic what so ever! Being able to get the car moving always seems to make that belt connect again and drive the components that turn the radiator fan and the compressor on the air conditioner. As long we are moving we're fine; if we sit too long we overheat. I really need to replace that belt...tomorrow...
Same thing happened on I-85 just outside of Anderson and once again the GPS did a great job in guiding us around the problem and right to Jay and Anita's front door.
We had a great time Saturday night hanging out with the Woods! Anita made pork chops (awesome!) and we did a lot of talking while working on a puzzle together at the dining room table. Anita displayed that she is a lot smarter than Jay, Becky and I by going to bed at a reasonable hour. The rest of us stayed up till 2:30 in the morning talking and searching for just one more piece of the puzzle that would fill that annoyingly empty spot on the table. Anita is originally from Ecuador and was very gracious and helpful to Becky and I by answering all of our questions about the Spanish language; now we are fluent! (not really but that would be great)
This morning we got up and enjoyed this really good hot, gooey, cinnamon roll bun thing that Anita made for breakfast. In fact she wrapped up the half we didn't eat and we brought it home with us (yum).
The Clemson church was really cool. They are a close knit group of believers who obviously love and care for one another very much. I made a short presentation before Danny Vaden preached a great sermon and I think we were all blessed to be there. Many thanks to Danny, the Elders and all the Brothers and Sisters at Clemson Church of Christ for making us feel very loved and welcomed.
Oh yeah, how could I forget? Danny is doing a series of fasts this year and right now he is fasting from sound; which means he walks around with a pair of large earmuffs on his head that are designed for shooting guns without losing your hearing. I can't lie; he looks really funny with those things on but I love what he is doing. Check out his blog at...
http://www.yearoffasting.blogspot/ .com.
After service we all went right down the street to have lunch at the Mellow Mushroom (pizza joint) which was really good. Becky and I split a large mighty meat pizza and a chef's salad. Afterwards we went back to the Wood's house and took a much needed nap before hitting the road for home. We ran into a lot of rain on the way home and got some Lenny Kravitz song stuck in our heads (which was really weird because we never had the radio on at all and still can't figure out where that came from).
Now we are home, unpacked and ready for bed. We had such a good time! It was very relaxing and fulfilling. What a blessing to be able to travel and enjoy worship and fellowship with the family of God in different places.
Thank you so much Jay and Anita and thanks so much also to the Clemson Church of Christ. May you all be richly blessed in Jesus Christ!
We ran into some pretty gnarly traffic coming into Columbia and my car has an issue with a loose belt that occasionally makes the engine overheat and the air conditioner not work. What this all means is that we ended up sitting still on I-26 with all the windows down and the heat on full blast to keep the engine from going supernova on us. Oh yeah, and it's already like 110 degrees outside to start with. Thank you God for GPS! (seriously, I'm not joking) We got off at the next exit and let the GPS on my Droid phone guide us about 10 miles around whatever was causing the congestion and we ended up right back on I-26 in the middle of Columbia with no traffic what so ever! Being able to get the car moving always seems to make that belt connect again and drive the components that turn the radiator fan and the compressor on the air conditioner. As long we are moving we're fine; if we sit too long we overheat. I really need to replace that belt...tomorrow...
Same thing happened on I-85 just outside of Anderson and once again the GPS did a great job in guiding us around the problem and right to Jay and Anita's front door.
We had a great time Saturday night hanging out with the Woods! Anita made pork chops (awesome!) and we did a lot of talking while working on a puzzle together at the dining room table. Anita displayed that she is a lot smarter than Jay, Becky and I by going to bed at a reasonable hour. The rest of us stayed up till 2:30 in the morning talking and searching for just one more piece of the puzzle that would fill that annoyingly empty spot on the table. Anita is originally from Ecuador and was very gracious and helpful to Becky and I by answering all of our questions about the Spanish language; now we are fluent! (not really but that would be great)
This morning we got up and enjoyed this really good hot, gooey, cinnamon roll bun thing that Anita made for breakfast. In fact she wrapped up the half we didn't eat and we brought it home with us (yum).
The Clemson church was really cool. They are a close knit group of believers who obviously love and care for one another very much. I made a short presentation before Danny Vaden preached a great sermon and I think we were all blessed to be there. Many thanks to Danny, the Elders and all the Brothers and Sisters at Clemson Church of Christ for making us feel very loved and welcomed.
Oh yeah, how could I forget? Danny is doing a series of fasts this year and right now he is fasting from sound; which means he walks around with a pair of large earmuffs on his head that are designed for shooting guns without losing your hearing. I can't lie; he looks really funny with those things on but I love what he is doing. Check out his blog at...
http://www.yearoffasting.blogspot/ .com.
After service we all went right down the street to have lunch at the Mellow Mushroom (pizza joint) which was really good. Becky and I split a large mighty meat pizza and a chef's salad. Afterwards we went back to the Wood's house and took a much needed nap before hitting the road for home. We ran into a lot of rain on the way home and got some Lenny Kravitz song stuck in our heads (which was really weird because we never had the radio on at all and still can't figure out where that came from).
Now we are home, unpacked and ready for bed. We had such a good time! It was very relaxing and fulfilling. What a blessing to be able to travel and enjoy worship and fellowship with the family of God in different places.
Thank you so much Jay and Anita and thanks so much also to the Clemson Church of Christ. May you all be richly blessed in Jesus Christ!
Don't Count Your Chickens Before They Sign the Lease
Well, we thought we had some renters lined up to rent our house. We thought that all of our house disposal problems were over (at least for the next year that these people were going to rent our house for). You may have seen on Facebook or on thegoatlife.com that our troubles were over...
But alas, they are not.
Our renters had given a verbal commitment to rent our house and had passed an income level check and a credit check, but one minor detail had not yet occurred...
They hadn't signed the lease.
They had until last Thursday (July the 28th) to do so and we just assumed that they would, but they didn't. They instead decided that they wanted to rent a condo rather than a house. That's cool, no problem, no hard feelings. In fact after mowing my almost half acre lot for two summers I sometimes wish we had rented a condo instead of buying a house.
But the moral of the story is that God is really, really good and if He wants us to live in Nicaragua He will take care of this issue and every other one that we will face. Me jumping the gun out of excitement and then having to make a great big sandwich out of my words does not in any way nullify His faithfulness.
Please join us in praying for faith and patience as we wait to see how He will handle this.
Our renters had given a verbal commitment to rent our house and had passed an income level check and a credit check, but one minor detail had not yet occurred...
They hadn't signed the lease.
They had until last Thursday (July the 28th) to do so and we just assumed that they would, but they didn't. They instead decided that they wanted to rent a condo rather than a house. That's cool, no problem, no hard feelings. In fact after mowing my almost half acre lot for two summers I sometimes wish we had rented a condo instead of buying a house.
But the moral of the story is that God is really, really good and if He wants us to live in Nicaragua He will take care of this issue and every other one that we will face. Me jumping the gun out of excitement and then having to make a great big sandwich out of my words does not in any way nullify His faithfulness.
Please join us in praying for faith and patience as we wait to see how He will handle this.
Saturday, July 23, 2011
Psalm 119 - Becky
I want to share with you some thoughts about my random Bible reading for today. I used to try to follow along with a Daily Bible or at least to go in chronological or some other order, but I have found that it works better for me right now to read bigger, "stand alone" sections every few days instead of reading smaller bits of a continuing story every single day. Don't worry; I do try to read a big enough chunk each time to get the full context. Actually, for things like the "Pauline Epistles" (especially, say, Galatians or Ephesians) I highly recommend reading entire books in single sittings to achieve greater understanding. Anyway, this morning I randomly opened up to Psalm 119, and, to be honest, I was not so thrilled about it. For one thing, I knew I needed to read the entire Psalm (which is long) to get the big picture. Also, the whole thing is about following God's law (which can be a major guilt trip if taken the wrong way). However, in reading it this time I was intrigued, encouraged, and challenged. Below are just some of the ideas and questions I gleaned from it. For those of you who have studied it too, I welcome your thoughts as well.
One of the first things that caught my mind was in verse 41: "May your unfailing love come to me, O Lord, your salvation according to your promise." Those of us who read this now through the lens of Christ might pass this over because we are so used to hearing about salvation and the fulfillment of God's promises. However, when David wrote this, Christ had not yet died, and I'm not sure what God had told David about the whole salvation thing. I'm very interested to know what David was talking about here (and in the numerous other places in the Psalm where he mentions salvation). The quick answer that comes to my brain is that David was referring to the promises God gave to Abraham and Moses, particularly the stuff in Deuteronomy about the blessings the Israelites would receive for following God's laws. I get the feeling from various accounts of David that he took this stuff very seriously. I just wonder what he actually knew about the salvation that would come through Christ's sacrifice. When we read Psalm 119, which type of "salvation" should we be thinking about? Like I said, we are accustomed to thinking of salvation through Christ, but is there some other level of salvation from God that David knew before Christ even came? (I certainly don't believe in salvation apart from Christ, but is Christ's salvation a part of some bigger, general kind of salvation?)
Another thought I had that partially answers this question is that there is benefit simply from following the laws themselves. In verse 45, David says, "I walk about in freedom, for I have sought out your precepts." In general, we tend not to associate laws with a word like "freedom." Again, this makes sense in light of Christ sacrifice, but that hadn't happened yet. I propose that these laws (or "precepts" or whatever) are not so much devices to control us and to keep us from doing what we want (i.e. experiencing "freedom") but are statements about the way the world works. (C.S. Lewis talks about this in "Mere Christianity," which we are studying in our Sunday AM class, but this idea has been rolling around in my brain for a while now.) These moral, spiritual laws are, in my opinion, akin to laws of science like Gravity and Relativity. Verse 152 says, "Long ago I learned from your statutes that you established them to last forever." As long as there is a physical world, things that go up will always come down again. In the same way, it is always a good idea to treat people with the love in which you would have them treat you, and there will never be a situation in which you should cheat on your spouse. What I wonder is, if gravity can be observed scientifically and even measured, can the same be done with spiritual laws? Well, I know that we can observe them, but it would be interesting to see if they can be tested and analyzed scientifically. Maybe it doesn't work that way; I don't know. I guess maybe that's what the Pharisees tried to do, breaking the laws down into formulas. Still, it would be encouraging to have everyone agree that, yes, this is how the world works and so we should live accordingly.
I say that, feeling frustrated that the world just doesn't "get it," even though God's laws really are as obvious as gravity. However, I myself don't follow these laws perfectly (far from it), even though I know how good and true they are. The third thing I noticed in this Psalm was David's cry for help from God so that he would be able to follow the laws. He uses phrases like "do not let me stray from your commands," "turn my heart toward your statutes," "let no sin rule over me," etc. Over and over again he asks God to come in and control him. On the surface, that looks even less like "freedom," but if you think about it in terms of freedom from sin, it makes a lot of sense. I have had numerous discussions with people about free will versus God's control over our lives (though I really don't wish to get into that here), and many people have brought up that God doesn't micro-manage our lives. However, I say that the absolute best thing for us would be to have God micro-manage our lives. We know from experience that, despite our best intentions, we simply can't follow God's laws perfectly on our own. What a relief it would be to have God swoop in and make us do everything we're supposed to do! (I understand that would affect the love element on our part, but I am talking about God controlling people who have already decided to love Him.) I love verse 109: "Though I constantly take my life in my hands, I will not forget your law." I know I live this way all the time, doing things that are stupid even though I haven't forgotten what I should be doing. What I really want is for my life to be in God's "hands." Thankfully, we do have salvation, and we live in a time when we do know about Christ. We don't have to be plagued by guilt all the time, so I can read this Psalm without breaking down in shame.
If anyone has any thoughts to add, especially if you have any more information about the context of this Psalm, please share.
-Becky
One of the first things that caught my mind was in verse 41: "May your unfailing love come to me, O Lord, your salvation according to your promise." Those of us who read this now through the lens of Christ might pass this over because we are so used to hearing about salvation and the fulfillment of God's promises. However, when David wrote this, Christ had not yet died, and I'm not sure what God had told David about the whole salvation thing. I'm very interested to know what David was talking about here (and in the numerous other places in the Psalm where he mentions salvation). The quick answer that comes to my brain is that David was referring to the promises God gave to Abraham and Moses, particularly the stuff in Deuteronomy about the blessings the Israelites would receive for following God's laws. I get the feeling from various accounts of David that he took this stuff very seriously. I just wonder what he actually knew about the salvation that would come through Christ's sacrifice. When we read Psalm 119, which type of "salvation" should we be thinking about? Like I said, we are accustomed to thinking of salvation through Christ, but is there some other level of salvation from God that David knew before Christ even came? (I certainly don't believe in salvation apart from Christ, but is Christ's salvation a part of some bigger, general kind of salvation?)
Another thought I had that partially answers this question is that there is benefit simply from following the laws themselves. In verse 45, David says, "I walk about in freedom, for I have sought out your precepts." In general, we tend not to associate laws with a word like "freedom." Again, this makes sense in light of Christ sacrifice, but that hadn't happened yet. I propose that these laws (or "precepts" or whatever) are not so much devices to control us and to keep us from doing what we want (i.e. experiencing "freedom") but are statements about the way the world works. (C.S. Lewis talks about this in "Mere Christianity," which we are studying in our Sunday AM class, but this idea has been rolling around in my brain for a while now.) These moral, spiritual laws are, in my opinion, akin to laws of science like Gravity and Relativity. Verse 152 says, "Long ago I learned from your statutes that you established them to last forever." As long as there is a physical world, things that go up will always come down again. In the same way, it is always a good idea to treat people with the love in which you would have them treat you, and there will never be a situation in which you should cheat on your spouse. What I wonder is, if gravity can be observed scientifically and even measured, can the same be done with spiritual laws? Well, I know that we can observe them, but it would be interesting to see if they can be tested and analyzed scientifically. Maybe it doesn't work that way; I don't know. I guess maybe that's what the Pharisees tried to do, breaking the laws down into formulas. Still, it would be encouraging to have everyone agree that, yes, this is how the world works and so we should live accordingly.
I say that, feeling frustrated that the world just doesn't "get it," even though God's laws really are as obvious as gravity. However, I myself don't follow these laws perfectly (far from it), even though I know how good and true they are. The third thing I noticed in this Psalm was David's cry for help from God so that he would be able to follow the laws. He uses phrases like "do not let me stray from your commands," "turn my heart toward your statutes," "let no sin rule over me," etc. Over and over again he asks God to come in and control him. On the surface, that looks even less like "freedom," but if you think about it in terms of freedom from sin, it makes a lot of sense. I have had numerous discussions with people about free will versus God's control over our lives (though I really don't wish to get into that here), and many people have brought up that God doesn't micro-manage our lives. However, I say that the absolute best thing for us would be to have God micro-manage our lives. We know from experience that, despite our best intentions, we simply can't follow God's laws perfectly on our own. What a relief it would be to have God swoop in and make us do everything we're supposed to do! (I understand that would affect the love element on our part, but I am talking about God controlling people who have already decided to love Him.) I love verse 109: "Though I constantly take my life in my hands, I will not forget your law." I know I live this way all the time, doing things that are stupid even though I haven't forgotten what I should be doing. What I really want is for my life to be in God's "hands." Thankfully, we do have salvation, and we live in a time when we do know about Christ. We don't have to be plagued by guilt all the time, so I can read this Psalm without breaking down in shame.
If anyone has any thoughts to add, especially if you have any more information about the context of this Psalm, please share.
-Becky
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Update From Tommy
Just wanted to give you all some updated information on what is going on with us.
I was laid off from my job a few weeks ago. I know that sounds like a bad thing but it has really been a blessing.
We are leaving the United States on September 29th. We have our flights booked and are making final preparations for departure.
That being said, we are still fundraising and have not reached our goals yet. If you have joined us as a monthly sponsor or made a one time donation...
THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!
If you haven't, we really need your help. Our monthly budget is going to be revised down to around $2000 a month so that's just 200 people helping us out by giving $10 a month. If you are able and willing to give more then that's fine too. I just don't want anyone to think that $10 a month won't matter in the grand scheme of things. It will.
Our house is still for sale and is also now on the rental market for $1300 a month through Carolina One Real Estate here in Charleston. Other than fundraising this is the last big visible hurdle that we need to get over. Please pray for this particular issue. I have cashed out my 401k and the longer it takes to get something done with the house the more of that money we are going to have to burn through making mortgage payments.
All of this is really small potatoes in light of who our God is. We are being constantly blessed and sustained in this work. Please don't hesitate to give God everything you have and serve Him with all your heart.
He is worth it!
Tommy
I was laid off from my job a few weeks ago. I know that sounds like a bad thing but it has really been a blessing.
We are leaving the United States on September 29th. We have our flights booked and are making final preparations for departure.
That being said, we are still fundraising and have not reached our goals yet. If you have joined us as a monthly sponsor or made a one time donation...
THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!
If you haven't, we really need your help. Our monthly budget is going to be revised down to around $2000 a month so that's just 200 people helping us out by giving $10 a month. If you are able and willing to give more then that's fine too. I just don't want anyone to think that $10 a month won't matter in the grand scheme of things. It will.
Our house is still for sale and is also now on the rental market for $1300 a month through Carolina One Real Estate here in Charleston. Other than fundraising this is the last big visible hurdle that we need to get over. Please pray for this particular issue. I have cashed out my 401k and the longer it takes to get something done with the house the more of that money we are going to have to burn through making mortgage payments.
All of this is really small potatoes in light of who our God is. We are being constantly blessed and sustained in this work. Please don't hesitate to give God everything you have and serve Him with all your heart.
He is worth it!
Tommy
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