The Attorney General's Office Called!

To the four people that happen to fall onto this blog on occasion, I wanted to announce that I have an interview with the Virginia Attorney General's Office on March 7, at 11AM EST. It is for a position with the Commercial and Financial Law Section, and I am very excited about the prospect for working for them. The Attorney General graduated from Regent, and is a very godly man. Pray that God grants me the right words, and reminds me that since He is in complete control of the situation, there is nothing I can do to thwart me getting the job if He ordains it!

Thanks.
(and has it really been a week since I've posted? Yikes--I'm surely not a very interesting sort, huh?)

You Might Be Looking For Work If...

1. You check your secondary email more than once a day.

2. You get a little too excited when the phone rings.

3. The highlight of your day is checking the mail (and you know that if you get something, it's a "no").

4. You look forward to doing random errands (a chance to get out of the house).

5. You've likely contributed to the destruction of half of a forest by sending your resume to every place that you can think of, twice (just in case they didn't get it the first time) plus any place that might potentially start in the future.

6. If you're not in a dating relationship or married, trying to date would be easy, since you've heard NO so many times, rejection no longer has any sting (in fact, as a side job, you could help people with their problem of saying "no" by being a testing subject).

7. You've burnt up more cell phone and calling card minutes than you care to remember (though you remember paying for them).

8. You have the time to make silly lists.

Prayer and God's Obligation

There seems to be a trend today, especially with the ever-popular prosperity gospel, that says that if I ask God for something, then He will have to give it to me. John 15 (verse 7 and 15) has two instances where Jesus states that if we ask for something in His name, then it will be given to us. Now, most folks tend to gloss over the preceding phrases in both instances: if you abide in me and my words abide in you. How many of us can honestly say that we do that before coming to the Father? Do you study (not just read) the Bible, hiding its words in your heart? I can honestly say that I don't do it well at all.

Why is this phrase important? Well, in studying the Word of God, we understand what God would will for our lives, and consequently, we can understand the love God has for us. This love includes how He answers prayer--saying sometimes yes and sometimes no. Yesterday, my pastor preached on John 9, where Jesus heals the man who was born blind. Was it a result of the man or the parents' sin? No, it was so that God's work would be shown through the man.

If we do not know the Scriptures and see how God has worked, then we can get the idea that all things we ask for are proper and right, and if a person is sick, dying or otherwise suffering, that they should be healed. This is not the case--it may please God to ordain that it continue for a time.

To be clear, God is not obligated to answer the way you want because He may have some situation in place to make your heart tender towards Him, relying on Him. James 1:2 states: Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. If suffering is ordained by God to refine us in the progress of our sanctification, then we should rejoice that the God that justifies does not leave us in one place, but helps us to persevere to the end.

What Defines Our Christianity

Last week my pastor continued preaching through John, and finished up John 8. In contrasting the believing world and unbelieving world, Jesus stressed that the true believers, in believing in Him and what He said, will define their Christianity by their relationship with Him. Unbelievers, on the other hand, may be zealous for God but not find themselves in a relationship with Jesus.

Why is this distinction important? The Apostle Paul, in several places, exhorts Christians to have zeal for God, but it must be according to knowledge (see Romans 10:2). In other words, the zeal for God must be anchored in our relationship with Jesus as His Son--the zeal (and any works that arise from it) must flow from this relationship, not be the basis of our standing before God. Our inner desires drive our actions, and having a right relationship through Christ changes those desires so that we are not faulted with being ignorant of these spiritual truths.

In the end of Chapter 8, John shows Jesus pointing out to those Jews who claim that God is their Father, that if He was their Father, then they would love him, and hear his words. Since they do not hear, they are not of God. This is harsh! But this connects back to John 6, in that those that hear are called by the Father (see 8:47).

So what does this mean for us? That we cannot rely on our zeal for God in our activities (and our own self-righteousness) to save us, even if given to service in the Lord, because it is our relationship with Him that saves. We cannot find our own path to God--it must be through Christ.

Grasping for Joy and Fighting for Hope

I was reading today in Romans 12, verses 9 through 15, on the marks of a true Christian. Verse 12 says: Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.

That's a tough verse for me, especially right now. More and more days pass, and there is no news on the possibility of a permanent attorney position, and more people around my wife and I are pregnant (some for whom it is not the first time). So how hard is it to rejoice? Hard to impossible, to be honest. As for patience, I'm a pretty patient guy (you could ask those that know me) but I'd have to say that I'm fairly worn out. And prayer? I'll be honest that lately I've been at a little of a loss to know how--the more I think on it, the less I know to say, and I praise God that the Spirit knows my groanings when I am in this place.

God has been gracious to us while during law school and me passing the bar--if you would have told me the struggle would have been in finding the job, I wouldn't have believed you!

Then we come to verse 15: Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. I would be lying to say that I had not been wrestling with feelings of jealousy and envy with those who have been blessed with what my wife and I desire. Believing in the providence of God as we do, we know that God has set things out as He has for a reason, but knowing that doesn't make it any easier. It takes a lot, even with the help of the Spirit to muster congratulations to those who receive what we lack.

I have been pondering on the second half of that verse (or at least the concept) in my own thoughts, and it brought me to the book of Job. In the body of Christ, it can be very easy to become like the friends of Job. With Bible in one hand, we can make very quick (and sometimes very insensitive or inappropriate) conclusions or statements to the person in suffering or grief as to what needs to be done or how the situation needs to be handled. Now, notice that I didn't say that the conclusions or statements were correct or incorrect--the statements could be fully Biblical but completely untimely and ultimately not loving. The simplicity of the last part of verse 15 is simply this: simply weep with those who weep. This doesn't mean to tell them, "hey it will all work out" or "your time will be soon" (because they are truly not the ones to be able to make those promises--only God knows) but it does mean, "I'm sorry you are going through this" and holding them up in prayer or even holding them physically.

Natalie Grant sings a song called "Held", and the lyrics are quite appropriate:
"This is what it means to be held.
How it feels when the sacred is torn from your life
And you survive.
This is what it is to be loved.
And to know that the promise was
When everything fell we'd be held. "

I don't know how much longer the "falling" will go, but the only thing we have left is to trust in God and what He will do. It's very hard to keep hope, to fight for it--so I must ask the grace of God to give it and trust Him to hold us both while we wait.

This Week's Interviews

I had two interviews this past week, both for prosecuting attorney positions, and I think they went fairly well--having had six such interviews of this type, it would seem that I am destined to be a prosecutor. The one I had yesterday did not go exactly as I thought it would, but I seemed to be received well--if I got this one, no moving! It is in God's hands now.

Revival--True Reformation or Emotional High?

My (college) alma mater is currently having chapel, a chapel that has been going on, continuously, since Monday at 10 AM. Now, being that this is Wednesday, this is over two full days. Now, it must be said that there was a revival of immense proportions at that school in the early 70s, when my parents attended--this one lasted for days, almost a week, if I recall.

Even while at Asbury, I noticed a tendency to hark back to that revival, with almost an envious nostaglia, wishing that it would happen again (I even decided once to attend the last evening service during a "revival week" where it seemed they wanted to keep the mic open and force the issue).

I will withhold any abrupt judgments about the situation, only because I am not there, and cannot witness what is going on. However, it is important to note several things. This was a student-led chapel, and from the student comments, it would seem that this is very emotional event. Now, don't get me wrong--we are emotional beings. But I do have to slightly question the folks who begin with "God spoke to me...". God has spoken, quite clearly, through His Word. There are some within the Christian community that indicates He speaks verbally all the time, but I cannot say that this would be supported Scripturally (I firmly believe, however, that through the help of the Spirit, when you read Scripture, the Spirit can lead you to a certain answer in the Scripture).

In addition, I do not know the hearts of those involved, and I pray fervently that for those who did come forward and give themselves to Christ, that it was indeed genuine. However, since the college is most definitely Arminian in its views, they would hold that the decision invokes the regeneration and salvation of the individual, and not the other way around (evidenced by the quote that refers that the music draws people in, and them wanting to be transformed draws them--what causes this desire? well, they would say, the people themselves). It is quite easy to be sucked into an emotional feeling, and a person go forward and say a prayer (or kneel for countless hours while others are watching).

I have always been puzzled, as well, with the reference to "rededicating" your life to Christ. I may do a more extensive post on this issue, but looking to the Scriptures, Luke 9:23 speaks of daily taking up your cross and following Christ. I have to make a choice when I get up every day to follow Christ--it's a simple truth. But I also have to plead for the grace to do it, because I can't do it on my own. The problem I guess I have with "rededication" is the form that it takes--usually public proclamation. As a result, who gets the glory? My gut feeling is that the person does. I just don't see any examples in the Bible of this type of "rededication". Are the folks that are rededicating their lives actually asking everyone who is in attendance: "Will you please help me as I trudge on in the faith, correcting me when I stray?" No, of course not, because it is never presented that way--only a promise made by the declarant that they will do better than they have been. But enough about that.

I say this all as a word of caution--I do not doubt for the most part that the intention is nothing but genuine. I wish them all the best, and I hope that it does produce true reform in the students, faculty and community. The true test of whether the Spirit really moved in these individuals is to check back in six months, a year, five years. Will these same individuals be praising the Almighty God then (evidence of true saving faith)? Or will the emotional high be gone?

Hanging on

This photo about sums it up for me (as in my life and how it goes as of late)

Belief and Unbelief

Recently, in reading an ongoing dialogue between someone that holds to Reformed theology and someone who does not, I have come to the following conclusion. Reformed theology holds that mankind starts from a state of unbelief, whereas those with the opposite view would see mankind as having the ability to not believe.

These opposing views take their positions from what they hold on man's degree of depravity. In the fall, Adam sinned against God, and sin entered in the world. Now, after this, in what state does man find himself? Reformed theologians would hold that man is utterly depraved, or "broken", where those on the other side of the argument would temper this a bit, saying since we were made in the image of God, man is merely "bent."

For those that would hold to men being able to not choose God, they would hold that a person that is presented with the Gospel is able to choose or not to choose whether to follow it. On one level, this is true; we see individuals make decisions (whether to turn left or right down a street, buy this piece of furniture, etc.) every day. However, to we stop to think what were the motivations and desires behind those decisions? As I have mentioned before, definitions are quite important. It can be debated what type of free will is in existence after the fall. I am not arguing that those that are not in Christ do not make choices, but they choose in a different sense--they choose out of their sinful desires. They desire their sin more than honoring Christ, because they are not made aware of Christ through the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit.

Many who proclaim man's "free" will claim that men and women can take the initiative and seek God out, since for them, all men are given a "hole" of sorts that deep down, they know they must fill with God. If this is true, then why is it that much of the world fills it with other things, and lives seemingly happy and blissful? Perhaps it is because they do not know the truth, because it has not been revealed to them, their eyes not having been opened. And even if some do seem to seek out God, by coming to church or some other ministry event, saving faith is only produced when God regenerates the individual by first changing their desires.

I always come back to the parable of the sower (Matthew 13:1-9). Where the seeds fall on rocky ground, these are those whose faith is built on their own efforts, where there has been no effectual calling of the Holy Spirit. You know of whom I speak--the individual who attended your church for several weeks, came forward and was told to say the sinner's prayer, perhaps persisted for a while, and then never showed again, and it has been years. When they are confronted, they care nothing for growing in the faith--it was at most "something else to try." Here, the deepest desires of the individual were not changed--there was an outward profession, but no inward change, which can only be affected by the Spirit. (See John 3)

And what does Jesus follow up with the disciples in explanation? That to them is given the secrets of heaven, but it has not been given to them (the crowds to whom he was telling the parables, who had not yet believed). He quotes from Isaiah: "You will indeed hear but never understand, and you will indeed see but never perceive. For this people's heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them."

This cannot be more clear: God would heal them, but they choose their sin. One need only look to Romans 1 to see this again:
"For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness supress the truth." (v. 18)

Men condemn themselves--make no mistake of that. However, their desire for their own glory and their own sin is so strong, that they cannot have a desire for God on their own that would lead to saving faith. God must first change their desires to bring them to Christ--God in fact frees our will by destroying the power sin has over us, and when we are awakened to the truth, the beauty of the Gospel is irresistible. But this is not something we are "forced" by God into doing! If anything, we were robots and slaves to sin before the Spirit came to regenerate us! This awakening is the grace of God.

Musical Chairs and Providence...

Wondering about the relation, I guess? Well, looking at where I'm at right now, both in reality and spiritually, I thought of these terms. Why? Well, as a Christian, it's very easy to look at others in the local church and compare sufferings and blessings.

In our small group at church, within the last two years, all the young couples in our group have been blessed with children, while we have not recieved that blessing yet. In addition, my unemployment adds to this feeling of void. So, in having our group study this evening, we began studying the Beatitudes.

The study began with what does it mean to be poor, and in another way, being poor in spirit. My wife and I, of late, have known of the former quite well, and as a result, experienced (through the grace of the Father), the latter as well. A few weeks ago, my pastor likened the tests that we experience in this life to being stretched like a rubber band, ever so slowly so that it does not break. The experiences over the last few months have definitely stretched us, and had the effect of emptying us of reliance on anything that we might be able to do, because as we have seen, there is simply nothing that we can do, on our own effort.

So how does this relate to the title of this post? The importance of holding to the sovereignty of God during this time cannot be overstated. My belief in His providence over all events, even in my own life, is an assurance that sustains me, and that is sustained by the grace of God through His Spirit. Otherwise, I would feel that God's blessings are simply handed out during a game of spiritual musical chairs--on the days or during the times of my life where I am faithful to God and obedient to His commands (finding the chair before the music stops), He will bless me. However, if I believed this way, I would view this time as a time of despair and wonder what I have not done to please God (or what I have done to have deserved this punishment).

In the comparison, it is easy to see what we lack and think that others do not lack--but as I ponder it, I wonder if it is not that God ordains us to want (lack) for different things. This would indeed foster the need for community in the church, and the interdependence that we are to have among brothers and sisters in Christ. If we all lacked the same things, we would commiserate rather than try to lift one another up. (However, the manner in which encouragement takes form can seem trite to those who receive it, but this is another post).

As it stands, the study our small group did does make me feel quite raw (and I would be wrong in saying that it does not affect me), as from my human standpoint, it does not seem that my wife and I can go much further in this time of lacking, but I know that God will sustain in only a way that He can see--and I must trust that He knows the end of it, and that He will get the glory for it.

Proclaiming Truth

Rarely do I ever speak of "popular" culture on this blog, but in watching, yes, American Idol it was amazing to me what takes place. No, not the horrible singing--reading about it, you would know that this was a given. What amazes me more than anything, is the people who tell these horribly sounding individuals that they have talent. Allegedly music teachers and parents tell these individuals that they are "the best" and sing wonderfully. Huh?

Brace yourselves--another pop culture reference. I like movies. One in particular that had a refreshing viewpoint was The Incredibles. One line I liked especially, was this: "If everyone is special, then no one is." What a striking thought, that some are talented at some things, and some are not! I cannot simply strenuously believe that I am the best baseball player and think that I can walk onto Fenway Park and demand to play, can I? Of course not.

Skills can be developed, but in most cases, there has to be a base of talent. Several cases in point: I like to play on computers, and so when in college (combined with the fact that I heard they earn decent money), I decided to pursue a degree in computer science. Things went okay the first semester, then I hit a class on C++. I studied HARD, and still only managed to barely pass on two tests. You know what? I figured out that it wasn't for me, and my professors and my friends, when I asked their advice, agreed. They didn't try to perpetuate any silly notions that I would be the next chief computer engineer at NASA.

Another example is when I was growing up: I tried the normal sports, like basketball, football and t-ball, but I just didn't have the right skills and amount of talent needed (honestly, the only play I ever made in t-ball was when I happened to stick my glove up close to the top of my head and the ball landed there--have you seen The Sandlot? The "new kid" was me.). However, my parents didn't say, well, "you're great!" They put me into soccer, which was a perfect match, and I've been playing for fun ever since.

All this is to say, if we can't be honest and truthful (in a loving way) on these matters, are we really loving those who are closest to us? Such deceit is a false flattery, and does the recipient no justice.

The Drawing of God and Judas....

I have found yet another great blog, Triablogue, that speaks in great detail about the passage at the end of John 6 that I had earlier tried to expound on. This article does a much better job of it, and is worth looking at.

In addition, another article deals with the issue of false assurance that is quite rampant within the Southern Baptist Convention, and some things that could be done to correct it.