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Striving for Obscurity
One of the early teachings that I was exposed to as a young man who was beginning to take his faith seriously was the benefit, and the need, for the man of God to “strive for obscurity.” After hearing this a few times, I felt compelled to dig into what I was being challenged to do. What does “obscurity” mean? How do I Strive for it? When can I know that I am successful or have failed in this endeavor?
First, I needed to get my arms around what it means to be “obscure.” A summary research of definitions yielded the following: “the state of being unknown, inconspicuous, unimportant,” another definition reads “relatively unknown,” and yet another reads “the state in which somebody/something is not well known or has been forgotten.” These definitions certainly were a help to me in my understanding; however, this was not something that I was certain I wanted to pursue, let alone “strive” to be.
read moreRemembering Romans 2:6
Romans 2:6, “Who will render to every man according to his deeds”, is one of the most important, yet mostly ignored verses in the Book of Romans. I remember an encounter with this verse in a Bible Study in Boston where I was an invited guest. Things were getting uncomfortable as we moved through this chapter, reading about the judgment of God falling upon hypocritical believers, and how we store up wrath for ourselves when we are stubborn and unrepentant before God. Then reading verse 6, it summarizes what has been said and introduces further principles of judgment – detailing glory, honor, and immortality for doing good, and wrath, indignation, and tribulation for doing evil. Suddenly the host broke the tension by saying, “Don’t worry, grace is coming!” referring to Romans 3:21ff.
I have heard people refer to Romans chapter 2 as a “Flyover” chapter because leaders hurry through the material to get to the “good stuff.” As a result, important concepts about no partiality with God (vs. 11), Paul introducing justification by works (vs 13), God seeing and judging our deepest secrets (vs. 16), and how believers’ actions blaspheme the reputation of God among non-believers–all get short-changed. It’s as if nothing matters for our Christian walk once we fully realize that we have been saved by grace. The rest of the chapter says that circumcision, and by implication, baptism, is worthless if we don’t practice the Law and that is something that further encourages us to say, “Don’t worry, grace is coming!”
read moreBiblical Success
Purpose seems to be largely made up of two questions: Why I exist (noun)? and What is my objective (verb)? Success is determined by whether or not I accomplish these things.
If success is determined by whether or not purpose is accomplished, then purpose drives success. And therefore, being Biblically successful means determining a Biblical purpose and executing on it.
In examining my existence, I ask, why am I here? Romans 8:28-30 tells us a bit about God’s purpose, His purpose for us, and why we exist. While the emphasis in these verses has nothing to do with anything we do, the elect are on some level Biblically successful in that they exist for His purposes. We are called, foreknown, predestined, conformed, called, justified, and glorified. This is all certainly part of our purpose; because of what He has done we can exist with a very Biblical purpose; for Him and His purposes. This is why we exist.
read moreHebrews 12:1
Let’s take a moment to walk thru Hebrews 12:1. This verse divides itself into six simple parts.
The first part is “Therefore.” Of course, we must ask what is therefore, there for? This is leading us from the previous verse, and probably Chapter 11, which emphasizes faith. You could also say this references the entire previous part of the book of Hebrews. Hebrews is the “Christ is better than book.” He is better than angels, Moses, Melchizedek, and the Aaronic priesthood, and more. It is about the power of Jesus and appeals to the converted Jew.
read moreThe Fear of Failure
Who really wants to talk about failure? A recent article reported the phrase “fear of failure” as one of the top internet search items, so it appears to be on the mind of many today.
Years ago, I experienced a failure “trifecta.” After nearly 10 years of sweat equity and short-lived successes, my business venture with many investors failed financially. Despite much prayer and counseling, my marriage of 12 years ended in a difficult and costly custody battle involving our 3 young kids. My body started to fail as financial and emotional stress coupled with sleep deprivation further diminished my ability to do even simple tasks. My thoughts became cloudy and my emotions often got the best of me.
read moreTHE BEST OF ALL POSSIBLE WORLDS (Part 2 of 2)
In the Fall and subsequent redemption of man by the blood of Jesus Christ, the glory of God is maximized, in that His Son now takes center stage to a watching universe. But redemption is in response to our sin, and because God hates sin, it must be expunged from us. The Roman Catholic Church teaches the concept of Purgatory, a place after death and before heaven in which one’s sins are purged before entering eternity. The concept of purging our sins seems biblical but the time and place for this is extra-biblical. The time and place for the purging of our sins is not after death and in Purgatory but now and on earth.
Our fallen world is the best of all possible worlds, not to maximize human happiness, but to purge us of our sins. Recall Revelation 22:11: “Let the one who does wrong, still do wrong; and the one who is filthy, still be filthy; and let the one who is righteous, still practice righteousness; and the one who is holy, still keep himself holy.” Something important is permanently fixed in us at the time of our death. If this does not strike terror in us, then we have not understood.
read moreTHE BEST OF ALL POSSIBLE WORLDS (Part 1 of 2)
The world is collectively waging war against God. We neither like the way He made us nor the way He made the world. We feel driven to correct His many mistakes. The rebellion is on, for none can deny the suffering and inequities of life. How can this world be the work of a loving, omnipotent God?
In 1710, the renowned Enlightenment figure Gottfried Wilhelm Leibnitz opined in his Theodicy that our world was not only the handiwork of God, but the “best of all possible worlds.” He was a serious and brilliant Christian, having invented calculus contemporaneously but independently of Newton. Some believe that he was the last “universal genius,” possessing all the knowledge in the world. But few have shared his opinion. In fact, Voltaire, shocked by the 1755 great earthquake of Lisbon that killed 60,000 people, disagreed so vehemently that in Candide, he placed this quote in the mouth of a fool. Most today would agree with Voltaire. But might Leibnitz be right?
read moreThe Loneliness of Christ
Mother Theresa once said: “The most terrible poverty is loneliness, and the feeling of being unloved.” In the words of Sylvia Plath, an American poet, novelist, and short-story writer, “the loneliness of the soul in its appalling self-consciousness is horrible and overpowering.” Many people experience loneliness. Sometimes that loneliness is overpowering. Who understands? Our Lord understands because He, too, experienced deep, soul-shaking loneliness.
Author Dan Brown said: “the worst kind of loneliness in the world is the isolation that comes from being misunderstood.” Few people understood the ministry of Jesus Christ during His lifetime. Probably the only ones who had some understanding of His purpose were his mother, his father, John the Baptist and his relatives Zacharias and Elizabeth (the aged parents of John the Baptist). But Zacharias, Elizabeth, Joseph, and John the Baptist were all dead by the time Jesus began His public ministry.
read morePrayer Day?
I recently went to a local outdoor park with some men and had a half day of prayer on a Saturday morning. We met at 7:30, had coffee and bagels, enjoyed some fellowship and received the instructions for our morning. We used a prayer guide called “Making Time for Prayer” which can be purchased at MIMbooks.com.
Before going into the time, I had rehearsed the issues, “the what” that I was going to bring up before God. Relationships, my to-do list and schedule, health, finances and other complaints—the normal typical issues most of us carry around. I know I needed this time as it had been awhile since I spent three-plus uninterrupted hours with Him. I related to David in Psalm 25:27, “The troubles of my heart are enlarged.”
read moreDeath and Hope
We have a hope to live; a hope for life and a hope to never experience death. We loath the thought of death.
Death is the ultimate enemy of hope. Death is final. It extinguishes hope. In death, hope ceases.
Death, its process and the inevitable coming experience on the other side of death is out of our control.
Perhaps that is why we tend to shy away from discussing death. And we are aware that it extinguishes our hope.
But does it?
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