On Our Own

Some people say that every human has some good in him. Those people say that man will naturally do the right thing; in order to explain all the bad in the world, those people say that society teaches man to fend for himself. Society teaches man to only think about himself; it teaches man to steal from others; it teaches man to harm others to get what he wants; it teaches people to shout and maim each other with their words; it teaches man that taking another human life is acceptable if such an action gives you what you want. Society is the main problem with the world, according to these people.

Have you ever raised a child? I have not personally raised a child, but I have had a part as a babysitter and an older brother. Children do not naturally want to obey what I have to say. They have a will in them to do what they want to do, and, if you haven't noticed, children don't really want to do the right thing. They hit; they steal; they lie, and, according to most parents' discovery, no one had to teach them to do those bad things. Children automatically do what society at large would declare to be wrong.

Look at primitive societies. They do not have extensive extra-cultural influence. They don't have televisions that display contemporary societal thought; they don't have computers in order to access other societal blemishes, yet, in spite of their isolation from the evils of society, primitive cultures still contain thievery, adultery, rape, and murder, so the source of evil cannot be a sophisticated society.

I know that not many people would admit that they believe that society is to blame for man's problems, but I hear many people say that they wrong that they have done was the fault of someone else. Men and women point fingers at each other declaring the opposite party to be the guilty one in divorce cases. Children blame parents for their problems later in life. Citizens point their fingers at the government as a great giver of problems. Basically, for every problem that has ever existed, there is at least one finger pointed at another human being. People don't generally take the fault completely for their own wrongdoing.

What is wrong with man? Man is supposed to be the pinnacle of the natural world, yet he seems to stoop to the lowest of actions toward his fellow man. The answer is simple: man is not naturally good. If you took away all influences and left man to his own ends, he would still do the wrong thing because doing wrong is in his nature. Yes, man may seem to have altruistic moments; that fact I cannot deny, but man's base nature demands that he look out for his own interests above all others. This is the simplest way to explain why there are bad things in our world. Man is naturally bad.

However, knowing that man is naturally bad is the first step in discovering a solution.

John 3:16

Fingerprints

God has made the world. He crafted every plant, animal, mineral, and human that has ever existed. He is the originator of everything that one can see, feel, smell, and taste. However, the perfect world that perfectly reflected the design and glory of its Creator no longer exists. That world was tainted and gradually destroyed by sin. Even now, the world is degrading farther and farther away from the original state. Plants fade away. Animals die; and species go extinct. Humans grow sick and die despite all our advances in medicine. Human society faces greater and greater challenges as the centuries bring us closer to the end of time. Despite this degradation, small reminders of God exist in His created beings. Each landscape, flower, insect, animal, human, society, and culture reflect a small amount of their original glory. One just has to look closely.

Look carefully at the world around you, for all things, from the ordinary to the extraordinary, from the great to the small, from the obvious to the obscure, bear the fingerprints of God.

Working and Waiting

A friend of mine recently posted one of my favorite poems "The Strands of Time." In this poem, Longfellow describes the path to greatness as laden with difficulty, and he states that the struggle is worth the effort because others will be able to follow in the footsteps that have already been made. Then, at the very end of the poem, Longfellow says something simple yet profound. The last line reads, "Learn to labor and to wait."

Some people believe that success only includes head-splitting labor and fatiguing physical toil. However, Longfellow captures the two sides of "excelsior" living in an easily over-looked line. Working and waiting are both required to achieve success. Yes, striving is necessary, but the time will come when no amount of striving will place one any further ahead. What can one do when he is faced with an insurmountable challenge? When no amount of arm-flailing or frustration-shouting gains any ground, what is then left to do? The answer is simply nothing. Nothing.

"How can you say that?" a reader might query. "Why would you give up like that?" I have tried everything that I possibly can to make sure that I am well enough to go back to school this spring. I have been to doctors and experts; I have prayed my heart out to God; and I have gone to His Word and fellowshipped with His Spirit to try to gain answers about what I should do next. I have stayed up many nights crying because my soul is so troubled, yet I have received nothing with which I can make a decision about my future health and future education. What can I do now? What options are left? None. I can do nothing.

Depressing picture, huh? Well, I only told you about my part. The best is yet to come, for you see, when I am at my weakest, God can be at His strongest. He does not work when I feel that I am at my strongest, for at that point, I am trying to work things out myself. When I cease my labor for sheer exhaustion, God can then begin to change me, and He has been changing me. The best part of all of this is that each time I fall, God is willing to help me back up. Each time I question, God tenderly hushes my cry. Each time I struggle against the pain, God presses me against Himself to shield me from myself. Each time I try to fix things on my own, God tears up what I have muddled, and He makes me whole.

Working and Waiting, Working and Waiting.

For me, now is the time to wait.

Naked

C. S. Lewis has a collection of readings called The Business of Heaven. His reading for January 8th created a sense of deep humility in me. This simple thought also convicted me. It caused me to ponder the purpose of my daily living. I am counting this thought as a star for 2014.

When any man comes in the presence of God he will find, whether he wishes it or not, that all those things which seemed to make him so different from the men of other times, or even from his earlier self, have fallen off him. He is back where he always was, where every man always is.... No possible complexity which we can give to picture of the universe can hide us from God: there is no copse, no forest, no jungle thick enough to provide cover.... In the twinkling of an eye, in a time too small to be measured, and in any place, all that seems to divide us from God can flee away, vanish, leaving us naked before Him, like the first man like the only man, as if nothing but He and I existed. And since that contact cannot be avoided for long and since it meas either bliss or horror, the business of life is to learn to like it. That is the first and great commandment.

Challenged yet? Do you realize that one day you and God will stand face to face? Do you realize that no excuse that you could possibly make will be of any good on that day? Therefore, the only logical step after such a realization is to live for Him completely, unreservedly, for this is "the first and great commandment."

Paradox

"A most ingenious paradox!"

You might recognize this quote from The Pirates of Penzance. A paradoxical idea is what in the end saves the day, for someone who has a birthday on February 29th might be a certain number of years old, but he  has had only a small number of birthdays. A paradox -- two opposing truths.

Paradoxes are not limited to Gilbert and Sullivan musicals. Truths exist about the world that seem to be in opposition. For example, society at large says that a man should love his family above all else, but God says to love Him to the extent that one's love for his family appears to be hate. Society teaches you that one should respect everyone else's opinion and allow them to express what they think freely. God demands that His followers follow His commands only. In our minds, both of these idea systems seem to be right, but God demands almost the exact opposite. How can one, then, reconcile these ideas?

Here's the low-down. God created the world to run His way. It's not really meant to be run man's way. However, if we learn to truly love God, then we will learn to truly love our family. If we learn to commit to God's way of thinking, then we can truly understand how other people think, for God is the source of knowledge and understanding.

So, yes, the world and God hold similar values in certain areas, but the world will never be able to achieve its goals because the world's system of thought will never seek God as its primary source of truth. It will try to solve its problems without Him. Trying to do something right the wrong way is still wrong.

Do the right thing by seeking God first -- another star counted.

Heavenly Love

Yes, I know that I am going to post this at around three in the morning, but I needed to share this gem that I found today.
My sophomore year of college was one of the worst years of my life. This probably sounds like a real downer already, but hang in there. I entered my first semester with an overload, and I barely escaped with my life. The most logical thing that I could do at that point was to take an even greater overload the following semester. During my second semester, I took an overloaded schedule; I participated in choir, orchestra, band, and handbell choir; I tutored; I toured with my choir; I performed with the orchestra in the musical; and on top of all of that, I tried to find time to sleep. Now, I understand that this list sounds like a boast. Believe me, this feat was not completed well. I almost failed a key class, and I failed the requirements for my music minor. Nothing glorious happened because I tried to to complete all those credits and perform in all those groups. During that time, the handbell choir that I played in was learning a song titled "In Heavenly Love Abiding." Our director only read the words to us once, and I still do not know them well, but their effect on my at the time was minimal. I might have felt moved slightly at the thought of God's care in my life, but I was too busy, my mind was to cluttered to even try to think of God's care in my life. During that time of great distress, I was too preoccupied with the glitter of performing and impressing mankind to even notice God's provision.
As you can imagine, by the end of the semester, I was toast. I threw myself into a summer job working at Southland Christian Camp, and I still did never saw God's working in my life. Junior year was almost no better. What's happening now? This is supposed to be my senior year, so what's happening? I am not at school; I am not working; I am not able to work on some of my favorite hobbies; I am not able to even cook in the kitchen without significant pain. God has taken away everything that I thought was so important: performing, serving, trying to gain the favor of man; and He has given me an almost sedentary life. I am basically sitting at home on the computer because doing anything else give me great pain.
Where does the good news come in? I am now forced to live in the light of God's abiding love. I cannot live each day without him. I probably would go insane without His provision in my life. He provides strength to do things that I do not want to do. He gives wisdom when I am lost. He provides the perfect encouragement when I am at my lowest. He lets me abide in His heavenly love. Here are the words to that song that I should have listened to more closely two years ago that I rediscovered today. I hope they can lead you to realize the sustenance that He provides when you abide with Him. This is my first star counted this year.

In heavenly love abiding,
No change my heart shall fear;
And safe is such confiding,
For nothing changes here.
The storm may roar around me,
My heart may low be laid;
But God is round about me,
And can I be dismayed?

Wherever he may guide me,
No want shall turn me back;
My Shepherd is beside me
And nothing can I lack:
His wisdom ever waketh,
His sight is never dim;
He knows the way he taketh,
And I will walk with him.

Green pastures are before me,
Which yet I have not seen;
Bright skies will soon be o'er me
Where the dark clouds have been;
My hope I cannot measure,
My path to life is free;
My Savior has my treasure,
And he will walk with me.  --  Anna Waring

Count the Stars

Thousands of years ago, a man heard a voice that seemingly came out of nothing. This voice told him that he was to be a father. He was not going to be merely a father of a family, but he was to be a father of a nation. Because this man had been childless for so long, he had already chosen an heir. However, this voice took him out at night and told him to look at the heavens. This voice asked him to count the stars. The story does not tell us whether or not he tried, but he probably became quickly overwhelmed by the sheer multitude of lights in the night sky. This voice, God Himself, told Abram that his progeny would number as the stars in their multitudes. From that moment, each star represented a portion of the grand promise that God had made to Abram (Abraham). Each glimpse into the night sky reminded him of a moment when God promised him a nation as a heritage. However, God's promise did not come immediately, and Abraham tried to make the promise happen in his own power. He lost sight of the glory of the stars. How could Abraham forget the great promise of God when all he had to do was to look out into the heavens and see the host of heavenly lights? How could he simply throw away such a beautiful and powerful promise? Abraham simply doubted. He doubted God and His promise. He forgot to remind himself of the promise. He forgot to count the stars.
Now, many parts of the world are covered in light-bedecked cities. The flashing signs and baleful streetlights mask the light of the stars. Abraham is dead, but the multitude of his children still exist. His spiritual children, Christians, are the greatest part of God's promise to Abraham. Christians represent the fulfillment of the promise that was made to Abraham on that night when the stars shown uninhibited.
How much are we Christians like Abraham? Most Christians live as if God had never done anything for them just like Abraham lived as if he had never received the promise. We have forgotten the greatness of our God whose promise to Abraham worked our salvation. We have forgotten the intimate nature of the relationship that God wants with each believer. We have forgotten the profound change from our image to the image of Christ that God wants to work in us. We have forgotten the promise of the eternal glory we will be translated into at the end of our time on earth. We have forgotten to count the stars.
I myself have forgotten. I have seen the wonders of the world and the wonder of my own salvation, and I still live as if God has done nothing for me. Through this blog I hope to begin to count the stars, and although I know I shall not uncover all the amazing displays of God in my life, I will at least have started so that I may continue when I can see their Creator face to face.