Repurpose
‘The two greatest days of your life are the day you were born and the day you find out why.’ – Darlene Zschech
“And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.” – John The Apostle
Knowing God is our purpose. And Christ came so that we can know God. Now there is a lot wrapped up into that. Sin has to be removed. A relationship has to be re-formed and reconciled. This form of knowing is not just purely academic. For instance, you may be able to answer every trivia question on Jeopardy in the category Mount Everest, but you’ve never actually climbed it. I would argue that those who climb Everest know that mountain far more intimately than the Jeopardy contestant. And it is this kind of knowing that John is referring to. God wants us to be climbers of Him. And He is far greater than all of the mountains combined. If we think of God as a mountain and us as climbers it sounds adventurous, doesn’t it?
So what keeps us from being adventurers of God?
John follows up his quote above with a seemingly out of place, “Oh by the way…”
1 John5:21 Little children, keep yourselves from idols.
John is basically saying, “Hey I made you to be this mountain climber of the greatest mountain in the universe, but there will be hills that try to distract you. They will be easy to conquer and will make you feel good for a time, but they will never fulfill the longing in your heart. You were made to climb another mountain endless in its challenges and excitement”
It’s easy to climb hills. All of us have chased idols instead of God. We chase women or men instead of God. We chase fame and fortune instead of God. We chase houses and cars instead of God. We may even chase isolation and frugality instead of God.
We need to take a step back and look at the path of our life and ask ourselves if we are climbing hills or The Mountain. Some of us need to repurpose our time. Some of us need to repurpose our money. Some of us need to repurpose our desires. Some of us may need to repurpose all of it.
Ask yourself, “Am I on a purely academic level with God?” Maybe what you think you know about God is preventing you from knowing God. Maybe what you desire and the pursuit of those desires prevents you from knowing God, because they are outside of God’s will for your life.
If we are going to live a satisfying life, an abundant life, then it must be a life that pursues knowing God.
So, go climb that mountain. There is no telling where you might go!
Recess
Ecclesiastes
3 For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:
2 a time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
3 a time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;
4 a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance (aka play);
Almost unanimously everyone answered that the thing they missed most about Elementary School was Recess. Sunday we concluded that the Biblical understanding of play, and the human need for recess are grounded in these things:
- God took a recess. (Genesis 2)
- God made a day for recess and set it apart from the rest of the week. (Exodus 20)
- Animals were made to play and are observed as being playful. (Psalm 104)
- The Bible affirms that there are proper times to play. (Ecclesiastes 3)
- Play (dance) is an act of worship and God can be honored and glorified in our play. (Psalm 149)
Have more fun in 2017. Take a Recess. Relevant Magazine had an article in their latest edition about this topic.
On a historical night…
It has been over a year since I have written a blog. What constitutes this event is the fact that while I swore I wouldn’t stay awake and watch election returns I am still awake at midnight and the President of the United States still has not been called. After all, I stayed awake to watch the Cubs beat my beloved Indians.
From the beginning, I was not a fan of Mr. Trump or Mrs. Clinton and made it clear. But as it became clear that one of them would become the President I had to ask very deep theological questions about this election. I cannot judge the hearts of men or women, but the evidence suggests that both have significant questions with regards to how they view Jesus, the Bible, and orthodox Christianity.
So, this is where I have landed. The Church needs to pray that our leaders humble themselves before God. The Church needs to pray that the hearts and minds of our leaders are submitted to Jesus Christ. The Church needs to pray that our leaders support policies that favor religious freedom and protect the lives of the unborn. The Church needs to quit praying that a Christian is elected, but that whoever is elected repents of their sin and submits to the rule and authority of Jesus Christ.
Before polls were officially closed I gathered with some men and this is exactly what we did. I hope that we all understand that when the dust settles The Church will still need to pray. This is only the beginning.
God Bless The Church!
God Help America!