1000 gifts, part 3

shout-out to Ann Voskamp.

*

1000 gifts:

1) a cuddly puppy keeping my left leg warm.
2) an awesome brother willing to humiliate himself so I can pass a class.
3) green grass everywhere!
4) the small joy of knocking out each class one by one on finals week.
5) green leaves!
6) the moments of sunshine worth running out onto the deck to enjoy.
7) a job with security.
8) an overworked, stressed, dedicated mother who still loves us when we demand yet another thing from her.
9) the bumpy adidas slides that massage my feet after working all day.
10) big fluffy dinner rolls. the buttery kind.
11) the refreshing cool front after weeks of stifling humidity and sharing a fleece blanket with my puppy.
12) little 100 calorie pop-tarts and good, strong coffee.

and to add:

13) those girly moments when all I wanna do is paint my nails with my sisters.
14) a new, evening job for the school year.
15) the heads-up from a considerate friend about a job opening at her company for next year.
16) football season. how I missed thee.

*photo from Kansas City Star article on the Steelers/Eagles game on August 18, 2011. 

Totally Depraved.

"what are you going to say before God?"

I was only eleven or so, but after a discussion with my parents about grace, forgiveness, and my personal spiritual state, my dad posed this challenge to me.

"what are you going to say before God? if you die today, and you're standing before God at the gates of heaven, and He asked 'why should I let you in', what will you say?"

young and unsaved, I remember going about the next few days pondering the question. I would get nervous, even. what if I did die now, and I didn't have anything rehearsed? being open and trusting, I walked down a couple houses to my Catholic neighbor friend to play.

after a rigorous game of riding bikes around her yard and pretending they were cars in traffic and we were in our twenties, I brought up the heavy topic on my mind. neither one of us really wanted to discuss it during the Arthur the Aardvark episode, but we hawed and hummed for a bit until she giggled, "I'd say 'hey! let me in! I'm a good kid!'"

my dad raised me more biblically than that, so I smiled half-heartedly and began to write a speech I would present before God. "I believe in Jesus Christ, and I know He's the Son of God, and I, I, I."

the popular belief among Christians today is that man somehow has a little bit of good in him. Albert Martin, who I've mentioned in a previous blogpost, spoke at a conference on the five points of Calvinism. the point of this blogpost is not Calvinism, so I won't get into that (yet). I wanted to focus a little more on what he covered in the topic of total depravity.

there are so many things to cover with total depravity, but the main part I would like to talk about is man's inability to commend himself to God. before salvation through Jesus Christ, every human being is completely dead in their sin.

yes, of course, there are good people out there. they help the little old ladies across the street, carry groceries for pregnant women, save another person's life, or risk their own for the good of the many. think of all the nurses, doctors, soldiers, policemen, fire fighters, and other occupational heroes that do exponential good for so many people. or the fathers, coaches, teachers, neighbors, grandparents, mothers, bus drivers that are small-town heroes in their own way. humans are not incapable of showing civil kindness. that is evident.

however. any one of those people, those heroes, whether acclaimed or not, who do not believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, who do not proclaim Him as Lord and Savior, who do not fervently acknowledge that they would still be walking dead if it wasn't for Him and His grace alone... are still totally depraved.

"What then? Are we better than they? Not at all; for we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin; as it is written, 'THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE; THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS,THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS FOR GOD; ALL HAVE TURNED ASIDE, TOGETHER THEY HAVE BECOME USELESS; THERE IS NONE WHO DOES GOOD, THERE IS NOT EVEN ONE. THEIR THROAT IS AN OPEN GRAVE, WITH THEIR TONGUES THEY KEEP DECEIVING, THE POISON OF ASPS IS UNDER THEIR LIPS; WHOSE MOUTH IS FULL OF CURSING AND BITTERNESS; THEIR FEET ARE SWIFT TO SHED BLOOD, DESTRUCTION AND MISERY ARE IN THEIR PATHS, AND THE PATH OF PEACE THEY HAVE NOT KNOWN.THERE IS NO FEAR OF GOD BEFORE THEIR EYES.'" Romans 3:9-18(NASB).

what could I possibly say to God as I stand in His presence upon death? if it wasn't for God alone... His "invisible hand" moving me to search for a foundation, a truth. His choosing me, electing me to be among His fold. His work of rebirth in my soul, creating a new person, a new being, a new workmanship. His harsh, challenging, heart-breaking methods of bringing me closer to Him. I would still be glorifying my own lusts, strutting my way to hell.

so I will finally answer my dad's question:

"what are you going to say before God?"

nothing. I will simply refer to Jesus Christ and bawl in reverence, "only He can recommend me, because even my best work would make You dry-heave in disgust. Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe."

Doing Vs. Being

I promise I am still alive. the past couple of weeks have been a little hectic. I'll be posting more often in the next week, I hope. :)

in the meantime, I want to see if I can get some interaction or discussion. one of my friends posted an interesting article by Kurt Willems. in it, Willems vehemently declares he's done with living like a Christian. I'll let the article speak for itself.

personally, I'm only a little conflicted upon reading this. I agree that simply acting like a Christian doesn't do any good. my grandmother was a dedicated Sunday school teacher, but she didn't believe Jesus Christ was alive in heaven. however, the whole mystic feeling to his "being" spiel makes me a little leery.

perhaps the best way to describe the reason for my suspicions is to turn to James:

"But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does." James 1:22-25 (NASB).

read the article and then use the comments: do you think Willems is mystifying the Christian walk a bit too much? since the law (perfectly fulfilled in Christ) explicitly commands us as believers to do the deeds Willems claims he won't do... is he encouraging Christians to be only hearers of the word?

or... is he onto something? clearly, it's not enough to just do works, especially for the wrong motive. however, clearly we are supposed to do Christ-like actions, as Christians.

feel free to comment. by all means. this is why I make the comments available to the public!

1000 gifts, part 2

shoutout to One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp.

"Therefore I will give thanks to You among the nations, O Lord, and I will sing praises to Your name." Psalm 18:49 (NASB).

1000 gifts:

1) a cuddly puppy keeping my left leg warm.

2) an awesome brother willing to humiliate himself so I can pass a class.

3) green grass everywhere!

4) the small joy of knocking out each class one by one on finals week.

5) green leaves!

6) the moments of sunshine worth running out onto the deck to enjoy.

7) a job with security.

8) an overworked, stressed, dedicated mother who still loves us when we demand yet another thing from her.

9) the bumpy adidas slides that massage my feet after working all day.

10) big fluffy dinner rolls. the buttery kind.

 and to add:

11) the refreshing cool front after weeks of stifling humidity and sharing a fleece blanket with my puppy.

12) little 100 calorie pop-tarts and good, strong coffee.

Valiant.

in John Bunyan's Pilgrim Progress, a character named Valiant led Christiana, Christian's wife, and their children to the bank of the Jordan River. here they waited to cross until their time (destined by God, of course) to enter the Celestial City.

there are many memorable and encouraging characters in John Bunyan's "dream", but Valiant always stands out to me. most especially when he delves into the Jordan to cross to the angels of God waiting for him on the other side. strong throughout the entire journey, focused solely on reaching the city of God, Valiant never falters. even when facing the murky waters and strong currents of the Jordan, he yells out

"O Death, where is your victory? O Death, where is your sting?" 1 Corinthians 15:55

am I deficient? am I actually saved if I can't stare earthly death (or ridicule) in the eye and say "hit me with your best shot"?

I'll admit, I'll stay silent when Satan taunts me in a college classroom with liberal, evolutionist professors. I'll uneasily shrug it off when a homosexual smears their lifestyle in my face. today's culture has taught my generation to be tolerant of everything except for Jesus and true Christianity. I experience it firsthand. but do I openly speak up? no, I am not so Valiant.

the worst they can do is kill me. torment me to death. and in America, the worst they can do is mock me. does it really matter? will it really sting? of course not.

"The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever." Isaiah 40:8 (NASB).

so why am I so afraid?

the same reason why Peter sank on the rolling waves when Jesus called him onto the water. I'm scared of the murky water and strong current, threatening to pull me to the rocky bottom and beat me senseless.

of course, there's no need to be rude and openly bash a professor over the head with a Bible in the middle of class. or grab a soap box and a sign and stand on a street corner and act better than I know I am. but in conversations with friends, classmates, and friends of friends, I should trust God more and stand firm. I should not be ashamed of His holy and perfect priorities and perspectives.

Valiant stands out most to me not because I relate to him, but because I want to relate to him. to have the same confidence and courage to strike out into the battlefield of life and know that this is but a fleeting moment in God's eyes. as John Bunyan wrote in his hymn:

"He who would valiant be 'gainst all disaster,

Let him in constancy follow the Master.

There's no discouragement shall make him once relent

His first avowed intent to be a pilgrim."

as my last college semester draws closer, pray God I will true Valiant be, at school, at work, at home, and especially after graduation.

obviously, Christians are warned of mockery. I fully expect it. but my old man battles with the new, saying "yes, yes, you know the popular thing to say", while the new man stutters, "but! I know that Christ suffered worse for me." this post is really for venting my disappointment in my own shortcomings.

why I'm not emergent, number 2

if you remember, last time I mentioned Rob Bell. and if you remember, he's a complete, blasphemous heretic. he claims there is no hell, or at least, God doesn't use it for people. lucky for him, there will be a first-class room with an excellent view waiting for him there. and I can say that confidently, since Paul declares

"I am amazed are so quickly deserting him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed!" Galatians 1:6-9 (NASB)

 man, it's so true and important that Paul says it twice.

tonight, we listened to a sermon by Ted Donnelly on Romans 9. I couldn't help but think of Rob Bell and his defenders when Professor Donnelly mentioned the politically and socially incorrect truth about God's elect and effectual calling.

let's amuse the emergent, post-modern, Rob-Bell-ish thinking for a second.

• there is no hell.
• or at least, God doesn't intend to use it on anyone. God is love, dudes. peace.
• God will save everyone.
• they could be Muslim, and the door is open. doubly wide, apparently.
• or Hindu.
• or really any religion besides true Christianity.
• heck, they could be flat-out atheists.
• they'll get to heaven!!!! party hats for everyone. the candy bags are by the door, don't forget to take a swing at the devil pinata!!!!

awesome! but.

• hell and Muslims, Hindus, Jews, atheists, agnostics, nominal Christians, etc:

"Then another angel, a third one, followed them, saying with a loud voice, 'If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he also will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mixed in full strength in the cup of his anger; and he will be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever; they have no rest day and night, those who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.'" Revelation 14:9-11 (NASB).

"And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire." Revelation 20:15 (NASB)

• God saves everyone:

"And not only this, but there was Rebekah also, when she had conceived twins by one man, our father Isaac; for though the twins were not yet born and had not done anything good or bad, so that God's purpose according to His choice would stand, not because of works but because of Him who calls, it was said to her, 'The older will serve the younger.' Just as it is written, 'Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.'" Romans 9:10-13 (NASB)

"So then He has mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires." Romans 9:18 (NASB)

• God is not love if He doesn't save everyone:

"What shall we say then? There is no injustice with God, is there? May it never be! For he says to Moses, 'I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.' So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy." Romans 9:14-17 (NASB)

there are plenty more verses, but that would make a super long blog post that no one would read.

to claim that God will save everyone, that all people, no matter what they believe, will go to heaven, is to discount His mercy and grace. if everyone can make it to the pearly gates with little more than a little friendliness, why did Christ need to die? according to Rob Bell and many other emergents and like-minded people, we don't need Him. He is useless. God, the Son of God, is useless to them.

O God, don't let me fall into the same, apathetic trap... don't let me lose my wonder.

"The beauty of grace is that it makes life not fair." Relient K. 

1000 gifts, part 1

I'm sure most people have heard of or read the book "One Thousand Gifts" by Ann Voskamp. Voskamp has excellent perspective on the will of God through both the bad and the good times. she encourages everyone to think of the gifts God gives each day, instead of focusing on the trials. the more we recognize the little things that God blesses, the more we seek to praise Him even in the storm.

I started a list a while back, during the spring semester of this year. I was stressed, and it was nice to focus a little on something small but awesome, especially during the mid-term/final weeks.

1) a cuddly puppy keeping my left leg warm.

2) an awesome brother willing to humiliate himself so I can pass a class.

3) green grass everywhere!

4) the small joy of knocking out each class one by one on finals week.

5) green leaves!

6) the moments of sunshine worth running out onto the deck to enjoy.

7) a job with security.

8) an overworked, stressed, dedicated mother who still loves us when we demand yet another thing from her.

this is what I started with. I'd like to continue it starting now.

9) the bumpy adidas slides that massage my feet after working all day.

10) big fluffy dinner rolls. the buttery kind.

No Rights.

"you have no rights."

Granny shook her finger at me while I sat fuming over something trivial that seemed unjust at the moment. I had given her my argument, huffed and puffed, sulked a good deal, and knocked my pillow once or twice. maybe I wasn't mad at her, but she got to hear it since no one else would listen. whatever happened, it just wasn't fair. how could they treat me like that? don't I deserve some kind of respect?

"you have no rights. I have no rights, they don't have any rights, you have no rights."

but I think I do. most American Christians do, too. it's our right, you can't take away our rights, this is rightly mine, blah, blah, blah. when really, we deserve nothing.

well actually, we do deserve something.

"Woe to the wicked! It will go badly with him, for what he deserves will be done to him." Isaiah 3:11 (NASB).

"How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified and has insulted the Spirit of grace?" Hebrews 10:29 (NASB).

of course, this talk of punishment or "judgment" might seem a little vague in these verses. the Bible, however, is painfully clear on what all humans born into this world deserve. Jude urges,

 "Now I desire to remind you, though you know all things once and for all, that the Lord, after saving a people out of the land of Egypt, subsequently destroyed those who did not believe. And angels, who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, He has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day, just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they in the same way as these indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh, are exhibited as an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire." Jude 5-7 (NASB).

isn't that a tough one to read? most so-called "Christians" today would refuse to believe a God that would destroy everyone who does not believe. their god is rational, urges people to come to him, and when they refuse him, he weeps.

in your dreams.

the truth of the Bible is: yes, "God so loved the world" and urges believers to spread the gospel and pray for the salvation of the lost, but God is a jealous God. 

"You shall not make yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing lovingkindess to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments." Exodus 20:4-6 (NASB).

when God says He visits the iniquities of the fathers on the children, He implies that all people are guilty, since every child is born into the world with the sin of their fathers (or, Adam and Eve, the first man and woman who sinned against God) and will be punished for not only their fathers' sin, but their own. and so on through the generations.


people today are under this false pretense that God loves everyone and gives everyone a second chance. and that humans themselves somehow deserve it. in fact, they get angry if you simply suggest that maybe they don't deserve heaven and an eternity with God. practically livid. how dare you suggest that I don't deserve heaven? I'm a Christian, aren't I? I have rights!


"you have no rights."

Granny smiled a little, because she knew I knew what she was talking about. "Granny, that is not the point, it simply isn't fair--"

"nooo, what isn't fair is that Jesus died for you. and that God's grace was extended to you. and that now you have a hope after death that no other religion promises. a true hope. you don't deserve that. it doesn't belong to you. you have no rights."

and like most grandmothers, she's right. I have no rights to boast of. just the grace and mercy of God.

"'But let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord who exercises lovingkindness, justice, and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things,' declares the Lord." Jeremiah 9:24 (NASB).

"But may it never be that I would boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world." Galatians 6:14 (NASB).

 "For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them." Ephesians 2:8-10 (NASB).