What is a Christian to do? We are angry, we are frustrated and we are concerned. It has already begun, I’ve watched my friends get more and more engrossed in watching and criticizing everything Barak Obama does. Are we going to spew the same hatred, vileness and vitriol that was spewed at us? Are we to become like those who hated us? Is it time for our revenge, to get back at those who hate us?

Right now I am sure many Christians want to question God about what is going on. Why is this man president? Someone who seems to disagree with many of the things that God cares about. Why is this man so successful, why did this man win the election?

I imagine the answer that we might get is the same answer that Peter got, when he questioned Jesus about what is going to happen with the beloved disciple John.

“When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, “Lord, what about this man?” Jesus said to him, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me!””
(John 21:21-22 ESV)

So what about this man Barak Obama, if God wills him to be President, what are we suppose to do? We are to do what we always are suppose to do, and that is to follow Jesus.

We have a choice, we can either obsess over everything President Obama does, get angry, get frustrated and become fruitless. Or we can continue to do what God has commanded us to do.

The Jews were looking for a powerful political messiah, the same as people today. Jesus refused to involve himself in the politics of the day because his mission was much more important. The Jews wanted to be saved from the Romans. Jesus saved us from ourselves, our sins, death and the wrath of God.

From the little I know of the New testament, neither Jesus nor the other New Testament writers often criticized or disrespected the governments that were in place. I think the story i below helps us understand how His focus was never to save us from the government, but we are to respect it.

“Then the Pharisees went and plotted how to entangle him in his words. And they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are true and teach the way of God truthfully, and you do not care about anyone’s opinion, for you are not swayed by appearances.Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?” But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, “Why put me to the test, you hypocrites?Show me the coin for the tax.” And they brought him a denarius.And Jesus said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?”They said, “Caesar’s.” Then he said to them, “Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”When they heard it, they marveled. And they left him and went away.”
(Matthew 22:15-22 ESV)

In fact his respect for the government authority placed by God took Jesus right to the cross (John 18:33-36 ESV)

Okay so what do we do?

1. Decide that our focus is on the ONE TRUE MESSIAH, we follow Jesus Christ.
2. “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.This is the great and first commandment.And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.””(Matthew 22:37-40 ESV)
3. Love your enemies and pray for them. We cannot become like many on the left became. (Matthew 5:43-44)
4. Remember that there is going to be people who hate us not only because we maybe conservative or republicans, but most of all because we are Christian (Mark 13:13 and John 15:18)
5. Remember we are being watched and the way we act reflects on Jesus Christ. See these posts: They Are Watching… and The Day After…
6. We realize that the field are white for harvest and we go out and make disciples (John 4:35 and Matt 28:19-20)
7. Barak Obama is “preaching” about unity, love, charity, and sacrifice as if they are new ideas. Take those openings and teach people about where those ideas came from, the gospel of Jesus Christ.

We are exiles here in the United States of America, our ultimate authority is not the government of the United States. We don’t necessarily have to like our new president, but we have to remember it is our responsibility to do everything to honor and glorify God.

P.S. I definitely am not saying that we cannot question see this blog post by John Piper.

The church service ends, people mingle out to the lobby and we get a chance to fellowship for a few minutes before we all leave, back to our busy separate lives.

What about in those few minutes each day that you see your husband, wife, kids or other loved ones?

What do you say in those precious few minutes?

I know that more times than not I have some sarcastic witty (maybe), sly dig to zing my friend or brother/sister in Christ. How often has those fallen flat and maybe even caused damage?

I have been thinking a lot lately about the way people use sarcasm and what role does it play in our ability to communicate with each other.

The world seems to love sarcasm. Most media, especially talk radio and television is based upon sarcasm. If the world is in love with sarcasm, should we as Christians love it too?

We are told we are to encourage and stir each others faith! We also told to bear each other’s burden and to restore those who have fallen in sin.

And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works,not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.  (Hebrews 10:24-25)

Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. (Galatians 6:1-2)

In order for us to do this, it means we need to swallow the sarcasm, take down the facades, put away our defenses, throw away the heart of stone and take hold of the heart of flesh that God promised us. We need to put ourselves out there, willing to be vulnerable. We need to stop looking at our relationships as though they are part of a tv sitcom and start looking at them as the Christ-filled, love-filled relationships they are suppose to be.

A couple thoughts on how we can be more intentional in our fellowship:

1. Look to see if people are hurting or not?
2. Tell people how you geniuinely you feel about them?
3. Dare to reach out and ask for prayer and help when you are in need?  

How else can we make our fellowship more intentional and more Christlike?

Technorati Tags: Fellowship, Life, Love

How I Approach God When Feeling Rotten

November 17, 2008  |  By: John Piper

A vague bad feeling that you are a crummy person is not the same as conviction for sin. Feeling rotten is not the same as repentance.

This morning I began to pray, and felt unworthy to be talking to the Creator of the universe. It was a vague sense of unworthiness. So I told him so. Now what?

Nothing changed until I began to get specific about my sins. Crummy feelings can be useful if they lead to conviction for sins. Vague feelings of being a bad person are not very helpful. The fog of unworthiness needs to take shape into clear dark pillars of disobedience. Then you can point to them and repent and ask for forgiveness and take aim to blow them up.

So I began to call to mind the commands I frequently break. These are the ones that came to mind.

• Love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. Not 95%, 100%. (Matthew 22:37)
• Love your neighbor as you love yourself. Be as eager for things to go well for him as you are for things to go well for you. (Matthew 22:39)
• Do all things without grumbling. No grumbling—inside or outside. (Philippians 2:14)
• Cast all your anxieties on him—so you are not being weighed down by it anymore. (1 Peter 5:7)
• Only say things that give grace to others—especially those closest to you. (Ephesians 4:29)
• Redeem the time. Don’t fritter or dawdle. (Ephesians 5:16)
• Set your mind on things that are above. Connect all your thoughts to Christ. (Colossians 3:2)
• Do not return evil for evil—like when your wife or daughter says something you don’t like. (1 Thessalonians 5:15)
• Rejoice always, and again I say rejoice. Always. If sorrowful, keep rejoicing. (Philippians 4:4; 2 Corinthians 6:10)
• Give thanks in all circumstances. All. All. All. (1 Thessalonians 5:18)

So much for any pretensions to great holiness! I’m undone.

But now it is specific. I look it in the eye. I’m not whining about feeling crummy. I’m apologizing to Christ for not keeping all that he commanded. I’m broken and I’m angry at my sin. I want to kill it, not me. I’m not suicidal. I’m a sin hater and a sin murderer (“Put to death what is earthly in you” Colossians 3:5. “Put to death the deeds of the body” Romans 3:18.)

In this conflict, I hear the promise, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1John 1:9). Peace rises. Prayer feels possible and right and powerful again.

For me one of the bigger reasons I check Facebook on a daily basis is to see how my friends are doing and to find specific reasons to pray for them. Some of the social interaction on Facebook may not be great, but I have found it a nice way to pray for my friends and keep in contact with people I normally wouldn’t

Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires, not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.
C.S. Lewis
The Weight of Glory

Why is it that I find that the mud is far more attractive than the holiday at sea. It is something that I have been reflecting on a lot lately. The things that I want are to be love, to love, and to glorify God. What I do of course the second someone gets close to me, shows me love, shows me that I have value because God gave me value is go dive back into the mud hole just to be able to go “see, I am worthless”. Having strong desires and truly getting them met is very scary to me. I am comfortable in my sin. I feel I deserve my sin. I DESIRE my sin. But the sin is so empty, so meaningless.

“Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.”
(Romans 13:1-2 ESV)

“Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good.”
(1Peter 2:13-14 ESV)

People are watching our reaction, if we are bitter and complaining about this election, it may show that we are not putting our faith into our Lord. We need to stop worrying, start praying, and keep our hope focussed on our treasures in heaven.

“For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hopethat the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.”
(Romans 8:18-25 ESV)

Matthew 6 has a lot to say on how our attitude is supposed to be, at all times, but I think especially on a day like today.

Maybe with this election this is a chance for us to become more dependent on God and not depend on institutions of this world to reach out to those we are supposed to.

Technorati Tags: Politics

Of all arguments against love none makes so strong an appeal to my nature as “Careful! This might lead you to suffering.”

To my nature, my temperament, yes. Not to my conscience. When I respond to that appeal I seem to myself to be a thousand miles away from Christ. If I am sure of anything I am sure that His teaching was never meant to confirm my congenital preference for safe investments and limited liabilities.…

There is no safe investment. To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket—safe, dark, motionless, airless—it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. The alternative to tragedy, or at least to the risk of tragedy, is damnation. The only place outside Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers and perturbations of love is Hell. (From The Four Loves, as found in The Inspirational Writings of C.S. Lewis, 278-279.)

Technorati Tags: Life, Love

Technorati Tags: God-dependency, Salvation, self-sufficiency, world

The problem is not that satan is going to ask us to kill someone as in the case of Isaac and Abraham. You would know to test that right away. The problem is that satan is far more insidious than that. He is not going to be that direct. He is far more subtle than that. He masquerades as an angel of light. Satan’s strategy is to wear us down. Satan is patient. Each time we succumb to the enemy’s temptation, it erodes what God has built in us, takes us further away from God, and all that we know true, until someday killing someone seems to be right and what God wants. This is a very slippery path. I think it is why we are commanded not only to confess our sins but to repent, turn away from them. We must close and lock the door to satan.

Satan tempts us in order to make us fail (and turn away from God). God tests us in order to confirm our faith or prove our commitment. (NIV NEW Study Bible).

I think our circumstances are quite different than that of Abraham’s in a couple of different ways. First, our relationship with God is not as direct as it was with Abraham. Secondly we have not only the Bible, the Holy Spirit and a personal relationship with Christ to counsel and guide us. Thirdly I think Satan’s hold on the world is far stronger. Lastly Satan knows he lost the war, but he wants to make Christ’s victory as costly as possible. Personally I think the last point makes him far more dangerous.

The more I look at this, the more I realize how important your statement is. We cannot believe that some “voice out of the darkness” is necessarily God. I don’t think it is lack of faith to test something (in fact if we don’t test it, it maybe disobedience to God). God not only gave us the tools, but he gave us the command.

This leaves two questions(actually I have about 200)…
What do I test?:
Everything… Being more practical, Test anything that looks to be questionable, to be good to be true, anything that is shortcuts and makes things easier, and offers that “expire”. God never said it was going to be easy living the Christian life. Personally it has been one of the hardest, challenging and painful things I have ever done. It also has been one of the most beautiful and fulfilling.

How do I test?:
Pray about it. Pray strong, persistently and ask God for his strong guidance and discernment. Talk to your friends, your mentors, your parents and pray with them. Read and trust your Bible. Using the tools of Ephesians 6. Lastly the thing I am learning is submitting to God. (this of course leads me to another discussion about how do you fight through submission, love, truth, etc, )

Let me explain that a little better, I am not talking about submitting to the “suggestion”. I am talking about submitting to our Lord, our King, our Father, our Friend, our Guide. The One we know. The more I force a situation because “I” think it is good the more I screw it up. It is why I have been TRYING to submit and let him guide me, instead of trying to run my life myself.

1 Thessalonians 5:21 – Test everything. Hold on to the good.

Romans 12:2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewsing of your mind. Then you will be test and approve what God’s will is – his pleasing and perfect will.

1 John 4:1 Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

Matthew 4:3-4 The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” Jesus answered, “It is written: Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”

Hebrews 4:12-13 For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul, and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight Everying is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him who we must give account.

Technorati Tags: devil, discernment, fighting, War