And so God begins the daunting task of starting over. The hard work of rebuilding life. Piecing back together a broken world.
Heart of Darkness
The corruption was so vast and so evil that God actually regrets that he made man in the first place and is deeply grieved to see what has become of the special creature He made in His own image. And because the evil is so radical and so pervasive, God performs an equally radical and pervasive form of surgery.
Anatomy of Sin
Who knows how long Adam and Eve lived and worked in the glory of Eden. What we do know is that there came a day when paradise wasn’t enough. Tempted by Satan, they disobeyed God. They fell into sin. And because of their exalted position - literally God’s vice-regents on earth - all of creation suffered the consequences of their tragic choice.
In the Beginning...Jesus
In the beginning...
Readings for the Day: Genesis 1 & 2
Nothing. Emptiness. Void. Before time. Before space. Before matter. There was only God. Already Trinity. Already Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Existing from eternity in Three Persons. Complete. Full. Rich. God needed nothing. God lacked nothing. God was eternally satisfied in Himself. Decision. Resolve. Commitment. God choosing to create. God choosing to bring forth life and light and beauty and order. God choosing to love and be loved.
Let there be Light!
Let there be Heaven!
Let there be Earth and Seas!
Let there be plants, trees, and flowers!
Let there stars and sun and moon!
Let there be fish and birds!
Let there be beasts on the earth!
Something. Time and space and matter now come into being. A universe filled with stars and planets and galaxies bursts into being. The first sunrise. The first sunset. Tides begin. The first buds appear on the earth. The first babies are born on the earth and in the sea. And through it all, there is God. Still lacking nothing. Still needing nothing. Still eternally satisfied but deeply in love with all He creates.
Out of love, God provides a guardian. Someone to take care of all He has made. A creature made in His own image. Male and female, they too are to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. They are given a sacred charge. To subdue the earth. To hold dominion over creation. God entrusting to them a precious gift. They are to steward life. To make sure it flourishes and God’s good purposes come to pass. They are to nurture and care for it. They are to work and keep it. They are to guard and protect it.
So much gets lost in the debates over whether creation happened in six literal 24-hour days. Or whether the plural first person (“Let us make...”) is an early reference to the Trinity or simply the use of the royal “we” that was common in Ancient Near East literature. Or parsing the differences between the two creation accounts, one poetry (Gen. 1) and one prose (Gen. 2), that we lose sight of the point of the text.
God creates something out of nothing. Brings order to chaos. Light to darkness. Fills the void. And then sets humanity up as His vice-regents on the earth. They are given the authority to rule over all He has made in His name. They are to walk in obedience with Him and thereby enjoy a unique relationship with their Creator. They are to work. They are to be fruitful. They are to multiply and fill the earth with the image and glory of God. This is their purpose. This is the role God designed them to play.
Think about all God has entrusted into your hands today. Think about all the responsibilities God has given you. Family. Friends. Work. Wealth. Talent. Ability. How are you stewarding these gifts for His glory? How are you living out your God-given purpose to nurture life today in all you say, think, and do? How will you contribute to the flourishing of those around you?
Drawing Close to God in 2018
Reading the Bible every day is essential to one’s spiritual growth. Not because God has given us homework but because God’s Word is “living and active.” God’s Word is literally “God-breathed.” God’s Word comes alive through the Holy Spirit and speaks to the deepest needs of every human heart. It is the primary way we get to know God and it is the primary way He speaks to us.
Ethiopian Revival!
To be Christian is to be a missionary. To love God is to love the people God loves. The lost. The lonely. The busy. The hurting. To follow Christ is to follow His lead in extending compassion and grace and proclaiming the truth to those in need wherever they may be found. To serve Christ is our highest calling and to this great end, we must “mutually pledge our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.”
#IStand vs. #TakeAKnee
As I watched my Facebook and Twitter feeds erupt over the weekend, I found myself grieving for our country. It seems so clear to me that our great adversary, Satan, continues to tighten his grip around our collective throats. The rage, hate, and vitriol is shocking. The name-calling and character assassination is appalling. We appear locked in perpetual adolescence, unable to see beyond our own emotions. In the midst of it all, I have found myself asking, "How would Jesus respond to this situation?"
Dispatches from the Front: Eastern Ethiopia
Dispatches from the Front: Djibouti
Senite has the most beautiful smile. Her joy as she speaks is palpable. She laughs when she talks about being put in prison with her husband. She constantly interrupts herself to give praise to God for His faithfulness. She speaks of persecution and beatings and threats as if these thing are normal, which they are in her context. Her passion to share Christ is contagious and convicting.
Dispatch from the Front: Uganda
Pastor Silvest is an amazing Ugandan pastor who has planted nine churches (and counting) in his country. Humble. Soft-spoken. He speaks of God with a deep voice and an even deeper faith. He has been beaten several times. He has had his home robbed. His family threatened. Early in his ministry, his only means of transportation (a bicycle) was stolen so he walked from church to church to preach on Sundays.
Dispatch from the Front: South Sudan
Anarchy. Civil War. Unspeakable tragedy. Lawlessness. Suffering. Drought. Famine. Disease. Death. These are the conditions under which the Kingdom of God is growing in South Sudan. 150,000 new believers in the last ten years. 180 new church plants. 77 indigenous church planters risking their lives for the sake of the gospel. Through these incredible men and women, the Kingdom of God is growing through miracles, signs, and wonders. And I get the pleasure of spending a week with them. Like Elisha of old, I find myself wanting a double portion of their spirit.
God and Politics: Death Penalty
On June 17, 2015, 21 year old white supremacist Dylann Roof attended a prayer meeting at the historic Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, SC. He was not there to pray. He was not there to study the Bible. He was there to kill. After sitting through an hour of the meeting, he opened fire on the 12 other attendees, killing nine of them. All African-American. Six women. Three men. One of them the senior pastor. Another a state senator. Unrepentant, he confessed his crimes to law enforcement officials, boldly proclaiming that he wanted to start a "race war." In December 2016, a jury found him guilty of 33 federal hate crimes and last week sentenced him to death. He is awaiting trial in South Carolina on 13 counts which also will likely merit a death sentence.
God and Politics: Abortion
Every single human being who has ever been born has carried with them - in their bodies, minds, and spirits - the image of their Creator. As such, we do not draw our primary worth from our utility. From what value we add to society. From what we can produce or achieve. Our value is not extrinsic but intrinsic because we have been endowed by our Creator with a worth we cannot begin to measure.
Gospel and Politics: Refugees
I realize I am going where angels fear to trod here but I am compelled to do so by the fact that I believe the gospel of Jesus Christ is truly the only hope for the world. It meets us right where we are at in the daily mess we make of our lives on a personal, national, and even global scale. God does have something to say about what's happening in our world today and His Word is too often lost amidst the tumult and noise of our culture.
The Edge of the Abyss
Recently, I attended a meeting with other pastors of churches that are similar to mine for the purpose of getting some coaching around how to be a better leader. And I have so much to learn. The image I came back with is of me staring down into an abyss, recognizing that what I'm seeing is the darkened depths of my own heart and soul.
Post-Election Spiritual Practices: Love Without Strings
"Ain't free will a bitch?" I was walking with one of my favorite theology professors through campus one day and his comment totally caught me off guard. First, because I had never heard the man cuss before. Second, because we were talking about how hard it is to love our enemies like Jesus commanded.
Post-Election Spiritual Practices: Live Among
One of the biggest things I've learned is that the myth of a unified nation is really a white man's dream more than it is a black or brown man's experience. It is a white male's dream more than it is an Latino or Asian woman's experience. It is a heterosexual man's dream more than it is an LGBTQ experience. It is a Christian man's dream more than it is a Muslim man's experience. And in the wake of the shattering of such national myths, I find myself crying out with the Old Testament prophet Jeremiah, "Is there no balm in Gilead? No physician there? Why is there no healing for the wound of my people?" (Jeremiah 8:22)
Post-Election Spiritual Practices: Leave
We must be tender and compassionate with one another. Gentle. Kind. For this is not an easy process. It is not for the timid or the cowardly. It takes courage to engage. Courage to boldly go into these contested spaces and begin a dialogue. Courage to listen and not speak. Courage to learn from another person's experience. Courage to put aside our need to be right or justified in our own eyes. Courage to learn from those who are on the other side. Courage to leave the echo chambers of our own making and enter the marketplace of ideas to contend for what we believe to be the truth.
