Break from school = pleasure reading

I've had time to do some reading this morning and I thought that it was worth sharing. What I was reading is that we must look at our problems with the eyes of Christ and live with the destination in view. We need to have the end in sight. Revelation 7:9-10 is that end. "After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: "Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb". We need to have the end in sight while we are living in this age. It clarifies our values in the present. The most important thing today is not the new house, new job, or latest ____. The one thing worth celebrating for all of eternity is your redemption. We will be a part of that great multitude celebrating the one thing worth living for: the Lamb and his salvation. God is preparing us to live in his kingdom at this moment. He is refining us and making us more holy today than we were yesterday.

Once we trust in Jesus as the only Lord of our life, we are justified - seen as just before God, and we get credit for living a perfect life. BUT that's not all we get, we get everything we need to live holy, God exalting lives here. That's part of sanctification. We do this out of living with hope in future grace- the grace that God will give us in 10 seconds, 10 days, and 10 years from now. God has been faithful to us in the past, and he will continue to do it in the future. Putting our trust and hope in His future grace will allow us to conquer our unbelief and sever the root of sin. When we realize this and see the future, it changes the way we live. We all need our values clarified so we are reminded that the physical world around us with its pleasures (nice food, clothing, cars, etc.) is garbage compared to the pleasures of knowing and delighting in God (Phil 3:8) . They will not make you happy. All the good things in this world are there to elicit happiness in us and make us think of our Creator who alone will satisfy. Happiness and enjoyment are not bad things at all, but are instead created to drive us to God and Christ- our only means of being with God through his sacrifice for us. When we delight in him, we prize him above all else - for God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him (John Piper).

The following is a passage from the book I was reading this morning. The author is talking about his rebellious child, but I saw in it the situation with my father. He is about to start chemotherapy next week in order to - Lord willing - eradicate cancer from his body. For you, you may see a situation that you are going through and my prayer is that it will be of comfort to you in whatever problem you're struggling in. I felt like I needed to share this. The text that follows is an illustration of the application of the principles above.

It was one of those late-night, concerned-parents conversations that come when you get scared about where one of your children is headed. The longer my wife and I talked and brainstormed about worst-case scenarios, the more we felt parental panic. We focus on our fears of all that could go wrong. Our panic did not subside until we began to help each other see the Lord at work in our child's life. We were dedicated Christian parents, but we were still blind to what the Lord was doing before our eyes. We were looking in all the wrong places at all the wrong things. The result was hopeless panic.

We needed to see that our hope was not in the fact that we had everything under control - we obviously didn't. Our confidence could not be in the fact that we had everything tied up in a neat little bow- things were actually quite messy. Our confidence had to be that Christ was carrying us - and our child - through the process he had ordained and would complete. We began to see that this hard moment was a God-given step toward a wonderful destination. This prepared us to deal in a very different way with the issues that had previously produced fear.

Is there someone in your life you are looking at through the lens of pessimistic fear? Is there someone you've given up on? Is there someone you do all you can to avoid? Is there someone in your life you fear? Is there someone you are bitter against? Is there someone you envy? What might God be saying to you about your relationship to this person? How does God's "steps to the destination" perspective change the way you relate to him or her?

You need to make your final destination the lens you use to evaluate your life. We all know that life is sloppy, hard, messy, shameful and boring.

We often deal with things that are out of our control. Good things tend to go band and bad things tend to seduce us. People leave us hurt and disappointed. Change is often much, much slower than we want it to be. God's Word is full of powerful life principles, but applying them to life is not always an easy task. We tend to encounter the same problems again and again. It is easy to believe that we are powerless to change and that all our effort is meaningless.

The gospel calls us to look at the messiness of life in a radically different way. The good news of the gospel is that Christ has conquered sin and death, and with them every word, action, desire, and response with meaning and purpose. There are no completely hopeless situations. The gospel welcomes us to a hopeful realism. We can look life in the face and still be hopeful of who Christ is and where he is taking us. Everything God has brought into your life has been brought with your destination in view. God is moving you on, even when you think you are stuck.

Your destination is secure. All of the things that are truly worth living for cannot be taken away from you! Yes, you can lose your job, your health, your house, your car, or your friend. The loss of any of these things would be hard. But you cannot lose your identity in Christ. You cannot lose his love and grace. You cannot lose his gift of forgiveness or the place reserved for you in heaven. When you keep your eyes on the destination and pursue the things that move you there, you can live securely in a world where it seems as if nothing is guaranteed. You will not escape the difficulties of life, but you can rest assured that your Savior will use each one to prepare you for the place he is taking you.

Think about it for a moment. You can be at peace even though you do not know how today's drama will end or what tomorrow will bring. You can live with joy even while things make you sad. Christian joy is not about avoiding life while dreaming about heaven. It is about taking an utterly honest look at all earthly life through heaven's lens. There we find real hope.

Well, I hope I didn't just type that in vain. I know God will use it in someones life, and for that it was worth it. If you liked that passage, and want to hear more, please buy the book, "How People Change" by Paul Tripp and Timothy Lane (taken from pp 43-44). It's worth it.

Have a great day.

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Books that influenced this post: "How People Change" by Paul Tripp and Timothy Lane and "Desiring God" and "Future Grace" by John Piper and obviously The Word of God

Don't Waste Your Life

The things we spend our money on will show where our priorities lie. If we ask ourselves, "What's wrong with this vacation? or What's wrong with buying these new clothes?" we will be in danger of looking just like the rest of the world. Instead ask, "Would this ____ glorify God? Show others that I value Christ?" If you ever wonder why people never ask you to give a reason for the hope that is in you (1 Peter 3:15) then it's probably because they can't see any different hope in you. If your life looks just like everyone else, yet you claim to be a Christ follower, then do you really believe that the Word of God is true?

We must show the world that we honor Christ above making ourselves comfortable (Luke 14:33). We must show that we want the Glory of God shown in all nations rather than show that we have the best clothes, lifestyle or technology (Matt. 28:18-20). We put our time and effort into wasted pursuits. If we don't live as if Christ is our Lord and our lives are not lived in submission to His will, then what are we doing? Please don't hurt the witness of the church. If you are a Christ follower, don't waste your life on what the world wastes theirs on... TV, money, comforts. If you claim to be in the Spirit but show NO fruits of the spirit (Galatians 5:22), or you produce "bad fruit" and want to live life for yourself and your pursuits such as partying, making lots of money, getting new "stuff" or simply living against God's Word and Plan (Galatians 5:19-21) then ask yourself if you really are a Christian (Galatians 5:13). We must maintain the purity of Christ's bride, the church (Revelation 21:9).

So with gentleness and humility, we must restore one another out of love and help each other see our faults and blind-spots (Matt. 7:5). The blind-spot of acquiring wealth and success that we as Americans often overlook is a problem and leads to many sins (Luke 6:20,24). We need to see the severity of our sin and remember that Christ died so we do NOT have to live in sin anymore, we are free! (Romans 8:1-4) We should give freely (2 Cor. 9:7) , love fully and glorify God in our actions. We must live like Christ radically changes our lives - because he does if you are in Him. (Romans 8:9-11)

Believe me, I'm the first one to tell you that I have wasted a lot of my life. I wish I hadn't pursued the things I did, but I'm a new creation and there has been a change in me. I'm now striving for and praying for a life that counts. My hope is that you will consider your life and lifestyle, and how it fits in with God's plan.

Don't Waste Your Cancer

As many already know, my father was diagnosed with colon cancer a couple of weeks ago and underwent surgery on Friday to have a foot of colon removed. The surgery went relatively well, and he is still recovering in the hospital. He will still need chemotherapy and radiation. Please keep him in your prayers. I pray that he will take this article to heart and will live out its Truth.

One of the blogs I read (desiringGod.org) referred to this article that John Piper wrote a couple of years ago on cancer. This is an incredible list of God-centered ways to think about cancer and our response, and I would encourage you to share this with anyone who has or is going through cancer or any illness.


Don't Waste Your Cancer

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By John Piper February 15, 2006

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I write this on the eve of prostate surgery. I believe in God’s power to heal—by miracle and by medicine. I believe it is right and good to pray for both kinds of healing. Cancer is not wasted when it is healed by God. He gets the glory and that is why cancer exists. So not to pray for healing may waste your cancer. But healing is not God’s plan for everyone. And there are many other ways to waste your cancer. I am praying for myself and for you that we will not waste this pain.

1. You will waste your cancer if you do not believe it is designed for you by God.

It will not do to say that God only uses our cancer but does not design it. What God permits, he permits for a reason. And that reason is his design. If God foresees molecular developments becoming cancer, he can stop it or not. If he does not, he has a purpose. Since he is infinitely wise, it is right to call this purpose a design. Satan is real and causes many pleasures and pains. But he is not ultimate. So when he strikes Job with boils (Job 2:7), Job attributes it ultimately to God (2:10) and the inspired writer agrees: “They . . . comforted him for all the evil that the Lord had brought upon him” (Job 42:11). If you don’t believe your cancer is designed for you by God, you will waste it.

2. You will waste your cancer if you believe it is a curse and not a gift.

“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us” (Galatians 3:13). “There is no enchantment against Jacob, no divination against Israel” (Numbers 23:23). “The Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly” (Psalm 84:11).

3. You will waste your cancer if you seek comfort from your odds rather than from God.

The design of God in your cancer is not to train you in the rationalistic, human calculation of odds. The world gets comfort from their odds. Not Christians. Some count their chariots (percentages of survival) and some count their horses (side effects of treatment), but we trust in the name of the Lord our God (Psalm 20:7). God’s design is clear from 2 Corinthians 1:9, “We felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.” The aim of God in your cancer (among a thousand other good things) is to knock props out from under our hearts so that we rely utterly on him.

4. You will waste your cancer if you refuse to think about death.

We will all die, if Jesus postpones his return. Not to think about what it will be like to leave this life and meet God is folly. Ecclesiastes 7:2 says, “It is better to go to the house of mourning [a funeral] than to go to the house of feasting, for this is the end of all mankind, and the living will lay it to heart.” How can you lay it to heart if you won’t think about it? Psalm 90:12 says, “Teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.” Numbering your days means thinking about how few there are and that they will end. How will you get a heart of wisdom if you refuse to think about this? What a waste, if we do not think about death.

5. You will waste your cancer if you think that “beating” cancer means staying alive rather than cherishing Christ.

Satan’s and God’s designs in your cancer are not the same. Satan designs to destroy your love for Christ. God designs to deepen your love for Christ. Cancer does not win if you die. It wins if you fail to cherish Christ. God’s design is to wean you off the breast of the world and feast you on the sufficiency of Christ. It is meant to help you say and feel, “I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” And to know that therefore, “To live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Philippians 3:8; 1:21).

6. You will waste your cancer if you spend too much time reading about cancer and not enough time reading about God.

It is not wrong to know about cancer. Ignorance is not a virtue. But the lure to know more and more and the lack of zeal to know God more and more is symptomatic of unbelief. Cancer is meant to waken us to the reality of God. It is meant to put feeling and force behind the command, “Let us know; let us press on to know the Lord” (Hosea 6:3). It is meant to waken us to the truth of Daniel 11:32, “The people who know their God shall stand firm and take action.” It is meant to make unshakable, indestructible oak trees out of us: “His delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers” (Psalm 1:2). What a waste of cancer if we read day and night about cancer and not about God.

7. You will waste your cancer if you let it drive you into solitude instead of deepen your relationships with manifest affection.

When Epaphroditus brought the gifts to Paul sent by the Philippian church he became ill and almost died. Paul tells the Philippians, “He has been longing for you all and has been distressed because you heard that he was ill” (Philippians 2:26-27). What an amazing response! It does not say they were distressed that he was ill, but that he was distressed because they heard he was ill. That is the kind of heart God is aiming to create with cancer: a deeply affectionate, caring heart for people. Don’t waste your cancer by retreating into yourself.

8. You will waste your cancer if you grieve as those who have no hope.

Paul used this phrase in relation to those whose loved ones had died: “We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope” (1 Thessalonians 4:13). There is a grief at death. Even for the believer who dies, there is temporary loss—loss of body, and loss of loved ones here, and loss of earthly ministry. But the grief is different—it is permeated with hope. “We would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:8). Don’t waste your cancer grieving as those who don’t have this hope.

9. You will waste your cancer if you treat sin as casually as before.

Are your besetting sins as attractive as they were before you had cancer? If so you are wasting your cancer. Cancer is designed to destroy the appetite for sin. Pride, greed, lust, hatred, unforgiveness, impatience, laziness, procrastination—all these are the adversaries that cancer is meant to attack. Don’t just think of battling against cancer. Also think of battling with cancer. All these things are worse enemies than cancer. Don’t waste the power of cancer to crush these foes. Let the presence of eternity make the sins of time look as futile as they really are. “What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself?” (Luke 9:25).

10. You will waste your cancer if you fail to use it as a means of witness to the truth and glory of Christ.

Christians are never anywhere by divine accident. There are reasons for why we wind up where we do. Consider what Jesus said about painful, unplanned circumstances: “They will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors for my name’s sake. This will be your opportunity to bear witness” (Luke 21:12 -13). So it is with cancer. This will be an opportunity to bear witness. Christ is infinitely worthy. Here is a golden opportunity to show that he is worth more than life. Don’t waste it.

Remember you are not left alone. You will have the help you need. “My God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19).

Pastor John

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Original link is here.

Today's story about a 37 year old mother with cancer is here.

Reprinted with permission. By John Piper. © Desiring God.

Website: desiringGod.org

Failed Service Project?

Some fellow dental students and I have been excited about participating in a health fair for a few weeks now. Today we were going to help out with the Spring Fling health fair for children in Birmingham. We had all of our toothbrushes and brochures, our directions and gas in our cars- we were ready to go. So we drove out to the Fairgrounds and we had a hard time finding the place we were supposed to go. The fairgrounds were under construction, and the only place that said "fairgrounds" was having a flea market. We decided to go ask some people in the office and see if they knew where Gate 12 was. A nice man that worked there helped us call many different places and asked us if we were from "one of those prank shows" - we weren't trying to catch him on candid camera- we were just lost.

When we first got there we tried to call our contact, but her phone was off. We looked up numbers for anyone we thought could help us, but to no avail. We finally decided to go home and I gave the lady one last call. She picked up and told us they were actually at Legion Field! So we drove to Gate 12 at legion field and it was deserted. There was not a single car or person, pretty much the opposite of a children's health fair. So we decided to go home because it looked pretty creepy and unsafe.

I believe God was showing us that our plans are weak compared to His supreme plan. When we make plans, even plans to serve others, it may not be what God had in mind. We may not see the reason why or we may think we have a small glimpse of the reason why, but we cannot fathom all that He has in store for our lives. All we can know and can abide in is the knowledge that He is in control and is doing everything for His purpose- to make His name known to all people.

So when your plans don't go exactly as you had planned, just know that He is in control and has a purpose. We don't have to know why, but instead just go along with what happens and trust Him.

If we look at the situation without knowledge or belief in God, it would seem like a wasted Saturday, but if we look at the situation with a God-centered perspective, we know that it wasn't failed at all, but all went according to Plan.

Easter

Easter is not for the eggs. It's for Christ. It's for God. It's for us. Many people around this time of year question the resurrection of Jesus and ask if it really happened. In our church, we talked about the four most common reasons skeptics give for not believing. These are: Jesus didn't die on the cross (he was just really really really badly hurt). Jesus' tomb wasn't empty. The disciples stole the body. Or The disciples were delusional when they actually saw Jesus.

There are several problems with each of these theories, but some of the most convincing evidence comes from the fact that the disciples were willing and did lay down their lives to defend this truth and to spread the Good News to anyone who would hear. People don't go to their death for a lie. Also, there is no other rational way to explain the major shift in Judaism and the new Christian movement that happened after Christ's death and resurrection.

If what we hear is true, it has massive implications for our lives. If it is not true, Christians should be pitied more than any people because they celebrate a lie. If you don't believe he died, flat-lined, dead - and rose from the dead, his heart started beating again, breath again filled his lungs - then I challenge you to find a better answer than the Christian explanation of what happened. If you can't then the only answer is that He has "authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again" (John 10:18).

This means He is Lord over life and death, and is Lord over your life. If He is Lord we have no other option than to surrender our lives and our desires to the Lordship of Jesus. Our beliefs will be manifested in our thoughts and our actions, and we will be radically changed forever. You will not look the same as you did before. You will not act as you did before. You will be transformed from the inside out. You can tell when someone has the Spirit of Christ in them. Is it in you?

Driving home

I was driving home today when I saw a large truck with the sign "Earned. Never Given." on the side of it and a sword - as this picture shows. I figured it was for the Marines, and I began to think a little more about it. I realize the Marines are very hard and must be earned, but then I had a revelation - God's way is the opposite. "Given. Never Earned." No matter what you do, no matter how hard you try at the Christian life you cannot do it. No matter how many years you go to church, or how many quiet times you do or how often you read your Bible, you CANNOT please God. Activities that you do apart from the Holy Spirit and try on your own are worthless. It is impossible for us tragic sinners to please a holy God. God's love can only be given by GRACE alone through FAITH alone in CHRIST alone. It is a gift.

Doing Bible studies, praying, reading the Bible, and going to church are acts of obedience that flow from the realization of His divine gift to us- the gift of the Gospel. Since God desired to reconcile Himself with the people He created, He realized a Sacrifice must be made to cover the sins of His people forever and so He sent his Son, Jesus, to live a perfect life and die on the cross and take our sins upon Himself, so we could be free. BUT sin did not have victory over Him, because on the third day, he defeated death and defeated sin forever... so WE do NOT have to live in our sin anymore. Any sin we struggle with has already been defeated and does not have a hold on us any longer. We get the gift of the Gospel, eternal life spent with God and the understanding that we are His. We are sons and daughters in Christ and of the Father.

From His love for us flows the desire to be more like Christ in our actions and in our desires - which happens through a transformation of our hearts. If you are re-born, your heart has been cleansed and replaced with His heart and you will trust in Him for your sustenance and your life. Your will, mind, and actions will have no choice but to be like His mind, will, and actions.

So, in a nutshell, thank God it is Given freely and Never Earned - because there is only one person who could earn it- Jesus- and He has already Earned our salvation for us by his obedience to God all the way to the cross. Since He earned it and gave it to us for us to enjoy, then we have no other option but to spread that joy we have to other people. The reason we are alive and the reason we go to church or read the Bible or learn more about Jesus is to spread the Gospel - the good news - to people who have not heard of it. It is not for self-consumption but rather for reproduction.

So go and do it.

Joining the church

We've decided to join a church here in Birmingham, and we've found one that we really enjoy. Tara and I have been attending since September, and we are now official members of The Church at Brook Hills, an amazing church with a biblical mission - To make disciples of all nations. This was the command of Christ and many do not even know of it. We are thankful that we have found our church and our pastor, David Platt because we have experienced immense spiritual growth that is NOT for our OWN use, but instead to SPREAD the WORD to OTHERS and make disciples. Many often see Christianity as stopping with themselves and the consumption of church activities for the betterment of themselves. The problem is, it leaves out the other half of the equation. If we learn anything in church, or from our devotions, or from prayers, worship, or service, we are to PASS IT ON to others. When sharing with others about what God has done in your life and sharing the Word with others becomes our goal, and our mission becomes pouring our lives into others, it will accomplish the goal of Christ - to see all nations and all peoples represented in His Kindgom. We must strive to learn more and encourage one another to Show the Word with our actions. We must hold each other to higher standards and help each other when we struggle, for this is the way we are called to live. I have learned a lot in the past few months from hearing David's teaching and through reading the Word of God - again, not for myself, but so I can pass on what I learn to encourage others. Be encouraged, God has promised to bless His plan and He is faithful.

Short story - Our small group at church was collecting toothbrushes for a remote village in Peru who did not have any. Being the dental student in the group, I was tasked with finding any toothbrushes at school. So, I procrastinated and finally decided to email my professor and ask if she knew any way to get some donated toothbrushes. She then replied to me saying that her aunt has been a missionary in Peru for over a decade and she has a special place in her heart for Peru. She also just happened to have three large boxes of toothbrushes, floss, and toothpaste - just in case anyone happened to need it! She then told me that she was happy she could now clean out her closet and she was so happy that she could donate to the people in Peru. -- Here's the cool part -- I did NOTHING to set this up - it was ALL part of God's plan. Through my simple action of emailing a professor, which took about 3 minutes, and trusting that God would be faithful- He worked through us to provide oral hygiene products to a small village in Peru. He set it up so that HE would get all of the credit - for I cannot claim ANY credit for this divine transaction.

I thought my blog was lacking some substance, and I'm glad I finally realized that what I should have been talking about all along has been with me from the beginning.

PS - if you want to watch any of David's teaching - I recommend the Abide or Lifeblood series, in the .mov format for Quicktime. It'll change your life.