I’m not going to lie; I am there. My mind Is jam packed with deadlines, stresses and relational issues. Work is stressful, I can’t seem to balance my work and school load, Christmas is coming up, did I mention that work is stressful? It’s easy to get lost in the shuffle of day-to-day operations. At the end of the day, after all I have accomplished, I’m still not satisfied. But then I see where I have erred. My mind is consumed with the here and now. There is no rise-above of my mind towards God. My focus is downward. Colossians 3 says to set your mind on things above. The first verse of the chapter says to set our eyes on heavenly things; where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. So in other words, when we stop looking at our business and look towards Christ, we don’t find him hustling and bustling like we are. He’s sitting down. Why in the world would he be sitting in a time like this? Because there is nothing else for Him to accomplish. He has already done it all, paid it all, said it all, and given it all. I’m not going to lie, this doesn’t make all my problems magically go away, but it is a good way to start.
Frozen Hearts
I am held inside your hands,
but I am not gripped in your clutches
I can wander, but it’s only to let me see
just how empty I am without you
Sometimes, you give me over
to chase my own ambitions
to be dazzled by the idols
and to build my towers to the sky
But then the towers topple
and my ambitions tip over
my strength fails me,
my arms grow weary
Praise be to God
Who thaws the heart
that returns to Him
I stand among the toppled towers
and I feel your hand upon me
I remember your redemption
and I turn my face to you
You take my heart of stone
Hardened by my pursuits
You put in a right spirit
and turn my heart towards you again
Praise be to God
Who thaws the heart
that returns to Him
Faith Moving Forward: Sharpening the Mind
Throughout history, Christianity has faced countless challenges from the waves of shifting culture. The Bible has retained it’s core message despite it being communicated a thousand different ways. The faith which we profess has risen to every occasion, from the reformation to the 1960′s sexual revolution. But it has not done so all by itself. Indeed the sovereign Spirit of God has a crucial role to play in the preservation of the church. But it required a human component as well. Christianity has overcome the cultural distortions of truth through the ages not on the Spirit of God alone, but by critical examination by a mind that is conditioned and trained by the spiritual disciplines of the Word of God and prayer.
As young adults, the need for a sharp mind is enormous. The challenges faced in our culture are more sharply contrasted with the truth of God than they ever have been. For example, sexually suggestive material has seeped into every facet of our media. In generations past it was more subtle or discreet. It was tucked away in a dark building on the wrong side of town, or in a back room of the magazine store. Now it is everywhere. The media industry pipes it into every facet of our entertainment. We see it in our movies and TV shows. It’s marketed to us in the clothes we buy. Our culture really does seem to buy into the old adage that ‘sex sells.’ I even heard one sociologist quoted as saying “pornography is the wallpaper of our generation.”
This is just one of many examples of the cultural crises that we face in our society today. When in generations past young people had to wade around in the waters of secular culture, we are completely submerged. There are countless battlefields calling for a few good men; marriage, drugs and alcohol abuse, abortion, etc. The numbers are in on all of these topics, and they are all shocking. But what I find even more shocking is the lack of ability of our generation to combat against it. We know these things are wrong, and that they need to stop. But we don’t know how to stop it. And what is as ironic as it is dangerous is that it is the culture itself that has hypnotized us into this helpless stupor. In his book Ordering Your Private World, Gordon MacDonald says:
“The unthinking christian does not realize it, but he is dangerously absorbed into the culture about him. Because his mind is untrained and unfilled, it lacks the ability to produce the hard questions with which the world needs to be challenged.” (pp. 114)
The need for clear Christian thinking is evident. Our work is cut out for us. But where do we start? Many young people have resolved themselves to prayer and fasting for change (there have even been entire movements birthed out of this approach). This is a good place to begin, at the feet of the Lord seeking His will. We ought to start there, but we cannot finish there. We must train and equip our minds to know God’s word and to apply it in our lives. We need to study the Bible and let it change the way we think.
Romans 12:2 instructs us to not be conformed to the pattern of the world. And how do we do that? By being transformed by the renewing of our minds. We need to know what the Bible says about the issues we face. But more than that, we need to know how to apply it and make it culturally relevant. This is a bit more of a process. Reading solid Christian literature and attending a local church that preaches the solid, foundational word of God are some other places to start. From there we need the wisdom to take the knowledge of God’s word and apply it effectively and relevantly to our cultural issues. It is when we combine these efforts with the Spirit of God that I mentioned earlier that we will begin to see some real change in our lives and the lives of the lost around us.
It cannot be understated; we are the next generation. It is our job to take the gospel to the world and to pass it on to the next generation. Ronald Reagan once said: “freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.” What if the same truth could be said of the gospel? I believe that we need to train an equip ourselves with this sense of urgency. It was that deep sense of responsibility that caused the church to rise up and defy culture throughout history. This is our hour. And with the Spirit of God and minds equipped and trained by His word, we can overcome.
“Where Are You?”
“9 But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, ‘Where are you?’ 10 And he said, ‘I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.’ – Genesis 3:9-10
Ever since this exact moment in history, man has been hiding.
The great fall of humanity into sin effects everyone, male and female. But this aspect has a unique implication on Adam and his descendants. Why is Adam hiding? Because he is exposed. He knows he has sinned and missed the mark, and the last thing he wants is to be found out. Ever since this moment there has been a fear in man for him to be known for who he is. He sews fig leaves to cover his nakedness.
Every man has his own fig leaf, as John Eldridge explains:
“We are hiding, every last one of us, Well aware that we, too, are not what we were meant to be, desperately afraid of exposure, terrified of being seen for what we are and are not, we have run off into the bushes. We hide in our office, at the gym, behind the newspaper and mostly behind our personality. Most of what you encounter when you meet a man is a facade, an elaborate fig leaf, a brilliant disguise.” – (Wild at Heart, pp. 64)
I’m beginning to see that in order for God to truly shape my heart and bring about the changes I am praying for, He has to take away all of the places that I can hide from Him.
And that, is uncomfortable. But neccesary.
The Night God Called My Name
I had a powerful experience in a church service this past week that I cannot stop thinking about. It just made so many things fall into place in my heart, and put everything into perspective. This was one night when I definitely heard from God. But it isn’t the typical grand ‘word from the Lord’ you typically hear about. I didn’t hear the Holy Spirit speak a whole paragraph. I didn’t even hear a complete sentence. In fact, I only heard one word.
My name.
I was in the weekly young adults worship service at my church. The format of the service is mainly worship. I reached a point where I was just listening to what the Holy Spirit had to say. I felt that still, small familiar voice start to speak to me. I would readily admit that I’m not the greatest at hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit, but I do from time to time.
Whenever God begins to speak to me, He typically will start by just calling out my name. Not in a nagging or condescending way, but gently. He is drawing me to Himself. “Daniel. . Daniel. .” I’ve always been stricken with awe at the way God does this when He speaks to me. There are quite a few people who know me by my middle name, which is Emmett. But God doesn’t call me by that name. He calls me by my first name. This time was no different. I heard the still small voice calling me.
“Daniel. . Daniel. .”
At this point, when I have quieted myself (more or less) and am ready (more or less) to hear what God has to say to me, He begins to say what He wants to. This time was different. He didn’t stop calling my name. Over and over, I kept hearing my name. To the point where I began to be a bit puzzled. It was then that I began to see a visual of what I was hearing.
Now, I’ve never had what many classify an ‘open vision.’ I have not really ever had any kind of vision. This was no exception. I more just. . saw it on the inside. It’s hard to explain. But I know that I saw it and that the Holy Spirit was showing it to me. The vision I saw was all too familiar, yet it was like I was seeing it for the first time.
I saw Jesus. Dying on the cross.
I know that this was more of a metaphorical representation, because there were no people around Him. I didn’t even see the thieves that were crucified either side of Him. I just saw Jesus; hanging on the cross. He was wounded from head to toe, bleeding out from every part of His body. His body was seized up with tension from the raw agony He was in. He had to pull up on the nails in His hands to draw oxygen. He could barely open His mouth. But He was saying something..
He was calling my name.
“Daniel. . Daniel. . “
I realized it all in that moment. This is God. Bleeding and dying for me, right here. All the pain, all the suffering. He was deserted by everyone He ever loved during His time on earth. He was doing it all for me.
His words seemed like a whisper at first. I could see the agony on His bloodied and bruised face as he struggled to get the syllables out. But then the words grew louder. And louder. Until Jesus was screaming my name.
“Daniel . . Daniel . .”
I fell to my knees and began to weep. The warmth of His love came crashing and cascading over me. My fears, my burdens, my sins, they all became utterly eclipsed in this moment. I had an encounter with God’s love in that moment. And all God did was speak my name.
I wish that every human being could see what I saw in that moment. To really experience that. I realize that the manifestation of the gospel is going to be different to different people, but this is the core of the message;
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