Warping His Image

"The loss of the concept of majesty has come just when the forces of religion are making dramatic gains and the churches are more prosperous than at any time within the past several hundred years. But the alarming thing is that our gains are mostly external and our losses wholly internal; and since it is the quality of our religion that is affected by internal conditions, it may be that our supposed gains are but losses spread over a wider field.
The only way to recoup our spiritual losses is to go back to the cause of them and make such corrections as the truth warrants. The decline of the knowledge of the holy has brought on our troubles. A rediscovery of the majesty of God will go a long way toward curing them. It is impossible to keep our moral practices sound and our inward attitude right while our idea of God is erroneous or inadequate. If we would bring back spiritual power to our lives, we must begin to think of God more nearly as He is."

A.W. Tozer - The Knowledge of the Holy

I was reminded this week of how little justice we bring to who God is. I believe that much of the issues plaguing our minds and bodies are caused by the warped and distorted view of our Lord. It is one thing to fix our eyes on Jesus, but another thing to know what kind of Jesus we are looking at. Some of us are fixing our eyes on a self-constructed God that mirror bare fragments of who Jesus really is. The issue is not the sincerity of our pursuit, but the exactitude of the image we are pursuing.

Let the Guy Sleep

These days, I am learning that God's promise to you will always come to fact no matter how difficult our situation may be in getting there. Faith occurs between the revelation and the destination for faith is no longer required when you have arrived. When reading Mark this week, we discovered an interesting point worth identifying in the story of Jesus calming the storm (4:35-41).

The question asked was "Why did Jesus think that the disciples had no faith?" The obvious answer would be that they questioned whether Jesus would let them drown (4:38). But the faith issue in this story is not that they did not believe in the power of Jesus to save them, but that they did not trust in His original statement that indicated that they would make it to the other side.

Think about it... Why would Jesus tell them that they have no faith if the disciples themselves went to Jesus in the time of need. If I was Jesus I would have said "Good boys! In times of distress you came to me because you had faith that I could calm the storm". But that was not the issue. Jesus was not concerned with the fact that the disciples came to him in the midst of a difficult situation, he was concerned about their faith in making it to the other side.

If the disciples believed they would make it to the other side, the storm wouldn't have even initiated a fear within them to begin with. Although there is an element of faith in acknowledging that God can calm our storm, there is a greater faith in the fearless assurance that whether the sea appears calm or chaotic, God will bring you to the other side. If God instills a dream in your heart, it will come to pass no matter how hard it is for you to get there. Therefore pure faith would have no reason to wake Jesus up.

We can wake him up to talk about how uncomfortable it is row the boat with wet underwear, or to ask him which direction to go because the waves have made us go off course, but there is no need to inquire whether we will drown or make it to the other side. That question is irrelevant to one who is certain about God's original statement that they would get there.

My buddy David summed this thought up nicely by stating that it is the difference between believing that God CAN and believing that God WILL. We all know that God CAN calm the storm, CAN bless our finances, CAN heal our sickness, and CAN mend our relationships, but we need not fear that he WILL bring us across the sea, WILL give us what we need, WILL be our strength when we feel weak, WILL give us the community that fits. God is faithful and his promises in our life will never be swayed no matter what the situations.

May we trust enough to fear not, row on and let You sleep.

My New Love

It's been a few weeks since I arrived in Boston and I have concluded that I love here. Maybe it's the fact that starting new is always exciting, or that my favorite season of the year starts in September, or that ministry has started off extremely well, either way I feel confident and sure of my place here in this city for this particular time in my life.

CARLESS

For the first time since I got that precious G2, I live in a city with no personal motorized transportation. I live on the other side of town from my bestest friend, attend 6am prayer meetings in a church that is a 10 min drive away from my home, and the temperature is rapidly dropping. This may be a walk in the park for some of you, but Jesse is spoiled when it comes to getting around town. His father drove him daily to a school which would have taken 7 min to walk to, his idea of a hand-me-down was an Acura Integra from his sister, and his family always asked HIM for permission before taking out the car that THEY actually owned :) So getting to morning prayer has its drawbacks for a guy like me.

But in the midst of such a loss, I have found a new love. Her name is Bertha... A Red 2008 DRAFT racing road bike from Laundry Bicycle across Boston University. There really is no better way to get to know your new city then to ride your bike around town. Whether it is riding down the Charles River bike path, or swerving through ridiculous Boston traffic, there is a thrill in moving through the city on two wheels.

So no need to worry mother, I've found my way to get around. We'll see how I deal with the Winter, but so far the Fall has been treating me well.