4 Questions: Part 1

The most important thing about a man is not what he at a given time may say or do, but what he in his deep heart conceives God to be like.  We tend by a secret law of the soul to move toward our mental image of God.           A. W. Tozer

Last week at NavNight, the speakers challenged us with 4 questions in order to give each of us a better understanding of our own faith.  I decided that this would be a really interesting exercise to try here and could also give my friends a look into my faith.  So here goes...

1.  What attribute of God is most real to you?

It's really tempting for me to say something like His unconditional love or His faithfulness to his promises.  Even though those attributes are probably better, I think that the one that is most heartfelt for me is God's wisdom.  

"By wisdom the LORD laid the earth's foundations,

by understanding he set the heavens in place;"

Proverbs 3:19

One of the reasons I chose wisdom is because I feel like I've experienced it for a longer time than any of the others.  Even as a child, I was fascinated by the wonder of God's creation, and I took every opportunity to learn more about it and became quickly concerned with its accurate explanation and understanding.  Even now I see the understanding of God's creation a holy task, because in it we see the His wisdom.

Just as God's was wise in the way He planned the universe (if you can say that a being not limited by time plans), He is wise in planning my life.  Even without mentioning Jeremiah 29:11, (which when read in context only applies to Israel) we have an even greater promise that everything will work for our good.

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."  Romans 8:28

Just imagine the wisdom it takes to make everything work for our good.  My wisdom isn't even sufficient to see how things are working for my good let alone making them work for my good.  Even worse, half the time, my own desires are not for my own good.

If I were asked what quality I pray for most, it would also be wisdom.  I see so many times where my understanding is inadequate, or even more telling, when I look back at my actions and see my foolishness in them.  Actions are a much bigger part of wisdom than we often think.  Jesus even said, "But wisdom is proved right by her actions."  Matthew 11:19  I want God to impart to me His wisdom, and the actions to back it up.

2.  What attribute of God is least real to you?


During NavNight I answered this question with passion, but I'd like to change my terminology to zeal.  I am changing it because in the Bible, passion is always associated with sinful desires; zeal is the quality that is associated with God.

"I will now bring Jacob back from captivity and have compassion on all the people of Israel, and I will be zealous for my holy name."  Ezekiel 39:25


Zeal, which I will define as energetic and unrelenting enthusiasm for God's name, is the one quality that I struggle with the most.  It is a manifestation of the joy that is found in God.  Because I approached my faith so rationally and methodically towards the beginning, I fail so often in the realm of enthusiasm.  This is sad because it is even a commandment in the Bible.

"Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the LORD."  Romans 12:11


Although this is the quality that I struggle with the most, it is also the one that I have seen the most growth in recent years.  Much of this is because of a few key relationships that I formed in high school with people who's zeal was contagious.  Enthusiasm is almost by definition contagious and one of the main ways that I try to compensate is by spending my time around people who have it.  That is one of the reasons that I am so thankful for the great friends that I have around me, elevating my spiritual fervor.    Of course, I owe most/all of my growth in this area to God.  Zeal is very difficult to fake and every bit of it that I have can only come from Him giving it to me.

Now I want to talk a bit about how these two qualities are supposed to interact.  First, one caveat from Proverbs.

"It is not good to have zeal without knowledge, nor to be hasty and miss the way." Proverbs 19:2


This means that our zeal should be based on wisdom.  In other words it does no good to have zeal if it isn't based on knowledge.  But also notice that this verse treats zeal as the end and knowledge as the means, which means that zeal is one of the purposes of knowledge and not the other way around.  It is just as bad (if not worse) to posses the knowledge and not use it for its purpose.  We must have zeal and wisdom; spirit and truth.

"God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship him in spirit and truth."  John 4:24

Love Wins...?

After looking at much of the controversy produced by Rob Bell’s new book, Love Wins, I decided to read it in order to get a better idea of what it actually said.  For anyone not familiar with the controversy, the book is about Heaven and Hell, and points to a theological point of view known as universalism.  A universalist believes that at the end of it all, one way or another, all people will go to heaven.

Now your first reaction to this perspective should probably be

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life.  No one comes to the father except through me.”  John 14:6

Good.  I believe it.  However, reading this verse more carefully (and in context) you will notice that this only means that Jesus is the only one who can save you.  Though it’s easy for us to add on to this verse that you must be a Christian to obtain this salvation, it doesn’t explicitly say so.  The thing we are to take from this verse is that Jesus is the only means of salvation.

A couple years back I started struggling with this issue as I was trying to witness to one of my friends.  I started looking through the Bible to find everything the Bible says about hell and came to many of the same conclusions that Bell did.  Unfortunately, Jesus wasn’t as clear on the subject as we’d like Him to be.

So I got my own copy of Love Wins and have now read it.  Before I give my criticisms on it, I must say that it was truly enjoyable to read and even inspired me to want to be a better representative of God's kingdom.  I think Bell has a true talent for sharing the gospel, in a clear and encouraging way.

However, even with my meager knowledge of the Bible and the Greek language, it was obvious to me that Bell had made many unfounded claims about certain passages that obscured their true meaning.  Because of all of the fallacies and deception in the book, I've lost much of my respect for him.  I cannot recommend for anyone to read this book because one could very easily deceived by the quotes taken out of context or by the fabricated meanings for several Greek words.

When I looked at this issue a few years back, I studied many difficult Bible passages and concluded that it would not be unbiblical for God to save everyone in the end.  However, the majority of the evidence does not point that direction.  I think that it would be great if God saved everyone, but God whose  “understanding no one can fathom” Isaiah 40:27 may think it better not to.

As far as the critics go, I think most of them miss the point.  Hell is a real issue that Christians and nonchristians both struggle with.  Rob Bell does not fear the really hard questions about it and neither should we, because God sure doesn’t.  Also, the book does a great job at bringing heaven and hell into the present tense.  His criticism of the modern church being more concerned about the future than the present was truly convicting.

As far as the inconsistencies, I hear passages quoted misleadingly to promote the opposite side of this issue just as much (if not more).  It is time that we all become honest about our questions and our own inability to answer them.  It also wouldn’t hurt us to take our questions to the One who’s big enough to handle them.

“Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.  The man who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know.  But the man who loves God is known by God.”  1 Corinthians 8:1-3

Beginnings

So I guess I'm starting a blog.  This should be fun and entertaining.  I don't think I'll be very consistent, but hopefully I can do enough that it will be useful.  I want to do this to help myself become more intentional about learning what God has to teach me and to share this with others.  I have a journal and my favorite thing about it is that through writing in it I learn more about myself and about God.  I hope that the affect will be the same with the blog.  

About the title: I named my blog "A Breath from Heaven." I hope that you can see the purposeful verbal irony in the phrase.  First, it refers to the way we were created with the breath of God. 

The LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.     Genesis 2:7

My life come from Him, therefore I am the direct result of a breath from heaven. Not only that, but I was revived by His breath, and I received the Holy Spirit by His breath.  

And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit."     John 20:22

So my life was created by God's breath and the proof of his salvation in my life also comes from His breath.  He is more ways than one the beginning of my life.

The title's second meaning is "A Breath [away] from Heaven."  It implies that all that I am guaranteed is the breath I have right now.  I could be taken away at any moment to heaven.  For me, this means two things.

     1.     I need to live my life to the fullest, doing as much as I can with the                time I'm given. 

Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.     Ephesians 5:15-16

     2.     I must put my worth in heaven, where it will last.

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."  Matthew 6:19-21

Though in one way the day that I die will be and end, in a much bigger sense it is a beginning.  So my prayer is that God will continue to breathe into me so that my life stories will be a part of His life story.