Yearning

I have a yearning – a yearning for something greater. I realize that the yearning in me only exists because what I do have is not enough. I’m not yet full; not yet content; not yet satisfied.

But how could this be? I think of the victims of the earthquake in Haiti and how so many are without food, water, and shelter – the most basic of needs. And here am I, never hungry or thirsty for more than 5 minutes and sleeping in a warm and comfortable bed every night – and having so much more than these things. Yet, I can’t shake this feeling of emptiness.

My stomach is a constant reminder and illustration of this longing in me. Everyday I eat – not a day goes by that my stomach is not filled with good, nutritious, delicious foods. But my stomach never fails at eventually wanting more. After hundreds and even thousands of meals, it still wants. It yearns. It longs. For more.

And so does my soul. My soul thirsts; even faints (Ps. 63). No matter how well my day goes – at the very end, when the sun is far and the stars are near, I’m yearning for something greater. No matter how stimulating my class or how intimate my time with friends or how sincere the family get-together or how exciting the movie or how successful my work  - I end up in the very same place – “in a dry and weary land where there is no water” (Ps. 63).

I thirst and no amount of water from my Brita pitcher can quench it. I can practically feel it in a tangible, physical way that I am missing something. This discontentment; this dissatisfaction; this yearning sometimes comes in the form of boredom, loneliness, and even depression. Not being one to like things unsolved, I often ask myself, “What am I to make of all this?”

I don’t yet have an answer to that question as I usually fall asleep trying to answer it only to face it another day. But once in a while, I remember that I’m not alone. I recall that this is not just my problem. I remember that humanity shares this struggle with me. Indeed, it’s been on the minds of some friends who I must thank for sharing on their own blog.

Ecclesiastes says, “He has put eternity into man’s heart.” How does one fill a space of eternity? What does this mean? C.S. Lewis has a great observation in his book, Mere Christianity, “If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.” So what can fill the void? What can satisfy the desire? It is eternity – that is, eternity in another world. Where? Well, not here. The yearning is real. It’s a yearning for another world.

I feel that if there’s anything I am learning as I grow older it is this fact: that no experience satisfies the desire which I find in myself. And that desire is for eternity. It is a void that can only be filled by the one who sits above eternity itself. The Ancient of Days. The Alpha and Omega. The Sovereign One.

O but how in the very moment I come to this realization, I’m struck with an innate and very familiar impulse to rebel. It’s in this place where instead of falling on my knees to lean on Him, I quickly tie my shoelaces to get back in the rat race (definition: an endless, self-defeating or pointless pursuit). I frantically search a barren wilderness (i.e., life on earth) for a spring of living water – the kind that would quench my thirst once and for all (John 4). But I end up settling for mere mirages – cheap imitations of the real thing. Foolishness. Stubbornness. Unbelief. All things I need to be purified from.

So what am I left with? Two choices.
1. Continue in the rat race and hope for the best
- or -
2. Surrender and lay it all down before the only One who can do anything about the void.

Tonight, I rebel against my rebellion as I pray, “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul…” (Ps. 23).

Have you struggled with anything like this? What are some ways you’ve been dealing with the struggle?

For more on this topic, check out Matt Chandler’s sermon series on the book of Ecclesiastes here: The Village Church.

 

New Year’s Resolution?

My 2010 New Year’s resolution: to make resolutions for next new year’s in 2011.

 

This Christmas: Christian Radicalism

Ever hear of those people who say how Jesus was so radical? I am one of those people. He willingly sacrificed himself not just for his followers (Eph. 5:2), but even for those who hated him and wanted him dead (Rom. 5:6; 10). Radical. What would make a man, a God-man, even the Son of God commit such radicalism? It was his radical love (Jn 3:16).

And I believe as followers of Christ, we ought to also be just as radical. I recently read about how one group of blog-readers together donated $30,000 to build a kindergarten in Vietnam in a matter of 18 hours. Then just two weeks later, another $30,000 was donated so that a second kindergarten could be built. This happened in a time when money is stretched thin – in the midst of one of the worst economic recessions in decades. This happened in a time when society and culture says it’s okay to spend money on yourself because it’s your money – you worked hard for it. You can do what you want with your own money.

But Kingdom-minded people are different. They don’t store up treasures where moth and rust destroy (Matt. 6:19). They don’t worship money and material things (1 Tim. 6:10). They know they are temporary residents in this world (1 Pet. 2:11). They have an inheritance that is unmatched by any earthly fortune (1 Pet. 1:4). They give their hard-earned money to better the education of a few 5 year olds they’ve never met. They do radical things out of the radical love by which they’ve been saved.

Are you radical?

My guess is that most of us don’t wake up in the morning and think: “Today, I’m going to be radical.”

But we can!

So then the question is:

How can you be one who practices this kind of Christian Radicalism?

Step 1. Remember who you are. Your identity is in Christ and him alone. Your value comes from him, who loves you and gave himself for you on the cross (Gal. 2:2o). Your worth is in the God who knitted you together in the womb (Ps. 139:13) and is mindful of you right now and unto eternity (Jer. 29:11; Ps. 8:4; Rom. 8:28; Rom. 8:32).

Step 2. Actually, there is no other step. Step 1 is all you need. It’s the constant remembering, accepting, and acknowledging of the gospel that transforms us. When we remember who we are in Christ, we don’t look to our wallets or the vehicle we drive for our value. We can loosen the grip we have on our material possessions. We don’t hold so tightly onto our money because that is not what defines us. Christ does. He is our value.

So friends, this Christmas season, remember who you are in Christ. You have value. So give. Give freely. Give cheerfully. Because the One who had it all, gave it all for you.

Merry Christmas,

Dan

 

A Thousand Words…

They say that one picture can speak a thousand words. We, the GCTS Shan/Dai Adoption team, have such a picture from our recent trip to C**na this past summer.

One of my teammates, Hae-Rin, explained our picture to the seminary community during the Global Chapel service. The following are her words:

When Kristin asked our team to choose one picture to share with you all this morning, all of us readily came to agreement that this one perfectly captures a simple lesson that God had for us in C**na – one of longsuffering prayer.

This is a picture that was taken about three weeks into our trip, in a Dai village we were staying in for a few days.  Michael, our missionary friend, took us to the side of this road one day, and began to explain the picture we saw before us.  The road on the right, as you can see, was dry, hard, and bumpy.  It was, in a word, unpaved, making it very difficult for travelers. Michael explained to us that this road was being prepared to be paved, and that our prayers would do the same for the hearts of the Dai – hearts that have been hardened by centuries of idol worship, hearts that have been dry and thirsting for freedom from fear of spirits that would harm them – hearts that so desperately need the good news of Jesus Christ.  Our prayers would pave the way for the Gospel to be planted in their hearts.  And as Michael went on, we began to realize that prayer was not just the first thing we do in missions; it’s the first, second, and third thing we do in missions.

It hadn’t taken our team very long to discover that prayer would be the most important work we do during our stay in C**na.  In fact, most of our time was spent either in prayer, in walking, or in eating.  Sometimes we did all three at the same time.  If we truly believe that salvation belongs to God alone, that missions is God’s work, He seemed to be telling us, “Pray, pray some more, wait, ‘be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth”. And so we quieted our action-oriented, results-seeking minds, and we waited.  We still wait.  We wait for the day that God’s jealousness for a people for Himself will reap a great harvest among the Dai – one greater than the harvest you see on the screen.

There were moments when I despaired, how will our prayers ever make a drop of a difference on the dry, hardened hearts of the Dai?  But then, I would turn my eyes from the road to the rich, green fields, the vision that Michael helped us to see that day.  And I’d find hope again – hope of a great harvest, and that our prayers would have played a role in it.

Now, as we’ve come back home, and committed to pray for the Dai during this month of October, this image of a dusty road next to a bountiful harvest continues to help us pray and press on.  I pray that you also would be moved and challenged to do the same.

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Satan dreads nothing but prayer. He fears nothing from prayerless studies, prayerless work, prayerless religion. He laughs at our toil, mocks at our wisdom, but trembles when we pray. (Samuel Chadwick)

 

FML

You might be familiar with this fairly new catchphrase. You might see it written on someone’s status on Facebook. You might hear someone mutter it when they’re having a bad day.  You may have said it yourself. Admittedly, most people use it as sort of comic relief or even to receive sympathy in a humorous way – lighthearted and harmless.

However, I’m going to suggest that perhaps FML isn’t as harmless as we all think it is. That perhaps we ought to take more thought to what comes out of our mouths. The Bible says, “Out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks” (Luke 6:45). The ESV Study Bible comments on this verse: “The true nature of people’s hearts can often be seen when they speak off-the-cuff, without reflection.” And this is precisely my concern with the way we communicate today, especially in light of this digital-online world.

The 21st century person is more connected to people than ever before in history. We are literally connected to the entire planet. We are living in an exciting age of technology that allows us to communicate our thoughts, feelings, ideas, and dreams in never before seen ways. In part, we have the ability to communicate at lightning-quick speeds. If we’re really happy about something, it only take a few presses of some buttons to let all our followers know on Twitter. If we’re not having such a good day, we can update our Facebook status in a matter of seconds to let others know. And my concern is that perhaps we are too quick to say what is on our minds – both online and offline.

I want to suggest that FML, as lighthearted as it can be, can actually mean something deeper than simple humor. One’s mouth speaks out of the overflow of the heart. Could it possible that we mutter something like FML, off-the-cuff, without reflection, we’re actually revealing something harmful in our hearts? Even when we’re joking, isn’t it true that there is some truth behind our words?

Now if you’ve read to this point and you still don’t know what FML stands for: then don’t worry about it. =)

As for the rest of us, I’d like to entertain this thought that maybe, just maybe, FML can be an incredibly unhealthy thing to ever say to one’s self. I want to suggest that FML, as a simple complain as it might be, may actually be the beginnings of something really destructive: self-pity and despair. Sure there’s no harm in joking, but isn’t it possible for even a joke to get out of hand and hurt people? Then I might argue that even a joke about ourselves, like FML, could get out of hand and hurt us. I’m cautionary because I know that something so seemingly insignificant has the power to be very significant. And what is at the root of FML is a sort of self-pity and despair that none of us would benefit from. Despair is when one says, “I have nothing to be thankful for in my life. I deserve more than this. I deserve better than this. I’m entitled to bliss and no trouble should ever come across my path.”

For us, Christians, it is particularly harmful to our souls because despair says, “God is not good. He is not in control. He does not love me. He doesn’t care about me. He is not directing my life. He has left me.” Certainly this is one of the greatest tools the devil has in his arsenal. It is the unbelief of God’s goodness and love. One of the reasons why God allows us to go through hardships is to weed out that hidden sin of unbelief in so many of our hearts. This is the sin of misplaced trust in something else (most often ourselves) rather than our all-loving, eternal heavenly Father. It’s when we’re walking through the fire of trials and hardships that we really come face to face with who/what we put our trust in. A fact of life is that whenever you put your ultimate trust in someone or something other than an all-satisfying God, you set yourself up for failure and despair.

Thank God for the gospel. The gospel says that those who have put their faith in Christ have freedom from that kind of failure and despair. Jesus Christ the Son of God, blameless and righteous, rejected majesty and glory – what he fully deserved – to take on the wrath and judgment of God – what he didn’t deserve at all. All so that we might receive the undiluted eternal love of God the Father despite our sins – a love we don’t deserve. You, Christian, are accepted by the Father because Christ was rejected on your behalf. You are accepted by the Creator and Master of the universe. Not only that, but He is at work in your life, guiding and directing your steps with an undying love. He sees all that you need and provides in the right time. He is with all his eternal energy and power working on your behalf! Even the things that are “going wrong” in your life are being used to for good even if you cannot see it. He does and He is working on your behalf. He did on the cross and having risen from the grave, he is sitting on the right hand of God working on your behalf now unto eternity.

Heed these powerful words of Martin Lloyd-Jones:

“We are always looking inwards and pitying ourselves and being sorry for ourselves, and looking for something to help us. Get rid of that outlook, forget yourself for a moment; the battle is the Lord’s! Salvation is His. It is for the honor of His great and holy Name. But go further and realize that because it is God’s battle this almighty power is being exercised on our behalf even when we do not realize it. Things are being done in this great campaign of which we are not aware. We may perhaps be half-asleep at our post, and we do not realize that the great Captain is planning something with respect to us. We are unconscious of it. We would all be lost were it not for that. He, I say, is exercising this power on our behalf.”

- The Christian Soldier (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1977), 30.

So the next time something is not “going right” and you despair and you mutter “FML” may it be “Forgive Me Lord” as you remember the gospel and who you are in Christ. You are accepted and loved. And your good is being worked out by your heavenly Father who cares for you. Brothers and sisters, despair not! God is on your side!

All of this reminds me of this song by Hillsong called, “Made Me Glad”

I will bless the Lord forever
I will trust Him at all times
He has delivered me from all fear
He has set my feet upon a rock

And I will not be moved
And I’ll say of the Lord

You are my shield, my strength
My portion, Deliverer
My shelter, strong tower
My very present help in time of need

Watch and listen here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCmBTV08ylc

See also:
Psalm 46:1, 34:1, 92:4

May the Lord bless you and keep you.

Peace,

dan

 

Talk About Abortion

First, educate yourself on abortion and then decide which stance is God-glorifying. You can do that at abort73.com

Next, talk about abortion! Don’t know what to talk about? Here are 15 talking points, from desiringgod.org

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“You will know the truth and the truth will set you free.” - Jesus Christ

1. Existing fetal homicide laws make a man guilty of manslaughter if he kills the baby in a mother’s womb (except in the case of abortion).

2. Fetal surgery is performed on babies in the womb to save them while another child the same age is being legally destroyed.

3. Babies can sometimes survive on their own at 23 or 24 weeks, but abortion is legal beyond this limit.

4. Living on its own is not the criterion of human personhood, as we know from the use of respirators and dialysis.

5. Size is irrelevant to human personhood, as we know from the difference between a one-week-old and a six-year-old.

6. Developed reasoning powers are not the criterion of personhood, as we know from the capacities of three-month-old babies.

7. Infants in the womb are human beings scientifically by virtue of their genetic make up.

8. Ultrasound has given a stunning window on the womb that shows the unborn at eight weeks sucking his thumb, recoiling from pricking, responding to sound. All the organs are present, the brain is functioning, the heart is pumping, the liver is making blood cells, the kidneys are cleaning fluids, and there is a fingerprint. Virtually all abortions happen later than this date.

9. Justice dictates that when two legitimate rights conflict, the limitation of rights that does the least harm is the most just. Bearing a child for adoption does less harm than killing him.

10. Justice dictates that when either of two people must be inconvenienced or hurt to alleviate their united predicament, the one who bore the greater responsibility for the predicament should bear more of the inconvenience or hurt to alleviate it.

11. Justice dictates that a person may not coerce harm on another person by threatening voluntary harm on themselves.

12. The outcast and the disadvantaged and exploited are to be cared for in a special way, especially those with no voice of their own.

13. What is happening in the womb is the unique person-nurturing work of God, who alone has the right to give and take life.

14. There are countless clinics that offer life and hope to both mother and child (and father and parents), with care of every kind lovingly provided by people who will meet every need they can.

15.Jesus Christ can forgive all sins, and will give all who trusts him the help they need to do everything that life requires.

 

Being Pro-Life Christians Under a Pro-Choice President

(Photo source: BBC News)

I’m totally ripping this off of sharing a post from Desiring God’s blog. But before I copy and paste share, I’d like to just say, God bless America and our 44th President, Barack H. Obama. Our country has made some tremendous progress in the last century in many aspects. I hope that this new presidency is a true reflection of the heart of America and our nation’s ability to stand for what’s right and good. It’s with this hope in mind that I share this post from John Piper on what it means to honor our new president in light of his pro-choice stance.

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(Author: John Piper)

That is the title of a sermon I preached January 17, 1993, three days before Bill Clinton was inaugurated president. It is just as relevant—or more—today.

The text was 1 Peter 2:17, “Honor the king.” I closed with eight ways to honor a pro-choice president. The seventh was this:

We will honor you by expecting from you straightforward answers to straightforward questions. We would not expect this from a con-man, but we do expect it from an honorable man.

For example,

1. Are you willing to explain why a baby’s right not to be killed is less important than a woman’s right not to be pregnant?
2. Or are you willing to explain why most cities have laws forbidding cruelty to animals, but you oppose laws forbidding cruelty to human fetuses? Are they not at least living animals?
3. Or are you willing to explain why government is unwilling to take away the so-called right to abortion on demand even though it harms the unborn child; yet government is increasingly willing to take away the right to smoke, precisely because it harms innocent non-smokers, killing 3,000 non-smokers a year from cancer and as many as 40,000 non-smokers a year from other diseases?
4. And if you say that everything hangs on whether the fetus is a human child, are you willing to go before national television in the oval office and defend your support for the “Freedom of Choice Act” by holding in your hand a 21 week old fetus and explaining why this little one does not have the fundamental, moral, and constitutional right to life? Are you willing to say to parents in this church who lost a child at that age and held him in their hands, this being in your hands is not and was not a child with any rights of its own under God or under law?

Perhaps you have good answers to each of these questions. We will honor you by expecting you to defend your position forthrightly in the public eye.

You have immense power as President of the United States. To wield it against the protection of the unborn without giving a public accounting in view of moral and scientific reality would be dishonorable. We will honor you by expecting better.

 

Fight FOCA!

Dear Friend,

I’m writing to let you know about a terrible piece of legislation called “The Freedom of Choice Act” (FOCA).

FOCA would establish the right to abortion as a fundamental right (like the right to free speech) and wipe away every restriction on abortion nationwide.

It will eradicate state and federal abortion laws the majority of Americans support and prevent states from enacting protective measures in the future.

• FOCA will do away with state laws on parental involvement, on partial-birth abortion, and on all other protections.
• FOCA will compel taxpayer funding of abortions.
• FOCA will force faith-based hospitals and healthcare facilities to perform abortions.

Please read the expert analysis by Americans United for Life (AUL) and sign the Fight FOCA petition at: http://www.FightFOCA.com

Thank you,

dso

 

The New Year Has Come!

Last night, as I sat in the New Years Eve service at FKPC, I was reminded of how quickly time passes us by. The year, 2008, was a blur – seemingly having become history to us all in one swift motion. I recently came across a photo of an Australian bee landing on a hedge cactus flower:

Besides the obvious beauty of the photo, I was captured by what the caption said about this flower: “It opens in the evening for one night only, before withering away in the morning.” And I thought about how our lives are just like this flower. We wither away only after a few years of living and breathing. One night we will come to realize that we are near the morning of our withering. So how shall we live?

The Christian hope is that we do not need to live and die by the mantra, “Carpe Diem” (capture the day), which so many, especially in the West, fall slave to. This is because we acknowledge and believe that we are but aliens or sojourners in this life and this world. We are on a journey home to Heaven, where we will one day meet our Maker and Lover, the triune God. We still aim to live a full life now, realizing that every minute of the day is a gift from God purposed for His glory and our enjoyment. Yet, we are not under the pressure to live a full life just because we realize it will be over one day. This life is not all there is to it. The reality is that we are eternal beings with either of two eternal destinies. One will be spent in worship and adoration and reciprocal love between God and His family. The other will be spent in abandonment and darkness, the result of all those who reject God’s love.

So let us live a full life in 2009, but for the right reasons. Let us do so in community – loving one another, bearing each other’s burdens, forgiving one another. Let us do so with thankfulness – all the time. And may we grow in our love of our savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us and died for us. “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Gal. 2:20). Amen.

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Are you making any resolutions this year? We’re tempted to aren’t we all? Of course, because we want a happier and joyful life. Consider saying, “No!” to resolutions in 2009. Here’s why: (From Desiring God blog)

Reading Martyn Lloyd-Jones’ classic Spiritual Depression would be a strong way to start the new year.

The title can be a tad deceiving. It’s not merely a book for those with a pronounced sense of spiritual depression. It’s a book for all Christians—for the daily spiritual depressions we all face this side of heaven.

Lloyd-Jones ends his second chapter with these challenging and refreshing words:

Would you like to be rid of this spiritual depression? The first thing you have to do is to say farewell now once and forever to your past. Realize that it has been covered and blotted out in Christ. Never look back at your sins again. Say: ‘It is finished, it is covered by the Blood of Christ’. That is your first step. Take that and finish with yourself and all this talk about goodness, and look to the Lord Jesus Christ. It is only then that true happiness and joy are possible for you. What you need is not to make resolutions to live a better life, to start fasting and sweating and praying. No! You just begin to say:

I rest my faith on Him alone
Who died for my transgressions to atone. (35)

Happy New Year to you all!

dso

 

Thinking About the Age to Come

Great quote I read today from firstimportance.org – a site dedicated to “Living Each Day in the Good of the Gospel.” I visit it daily to be encouraged in my faith.

Anyway, this quote got me thinking about “the age to come.” That is, the new heaven and new earth that the apostle John saw in a vision from Christ of which he wrote in the book of Revelation. Have you thought about heaven lately?

Christian Hope & the Age to Come

“Christian hope is not about wishing things will get better. It is not about hoping that emptiness will go away, meaning return, and life will be stripped of its uncertainties, aches, and anxieties. Nor does it have anything to do with techniques for improving fallen human life, be those therapeutic, spiritual, or even religious. Hope has to do with the knowledge of ‘the age to come.’ This redemption is already penetrating ‘this age.’ The sin, death, meaninglessness of the one age are being transformed by the righteousness, life, and meaning of the other. What has emptied out life, what has scarred and blackened it, is being displaced by what is rejuvenating and transforming it. More than that, hope is hope because it knows it has become part of a realm, a kingdom, that endures. It knows that evil is doomed, that it will be banished. This kind of hope has left behind it the ship of ‘this age,’ which is sinking. And if this other realm, this place where Christ is even now ruling, did not exist, Christians would be ‘of all people most to be pitied’ (1 Cor. 15:19). Their hope would be groundless and they would have lived out an illusion.”

- David F. Wells, The Courage to be Protestant (Grand Rapids, Mi.: Eerdmans, 2008), 206.

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Also, see my post related to this: Decay to Restoration

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Oh and just one more quote =)

“Purged, cleansed, disinfected, sanctified and blessed”

“All that has enriched and honoured the life of all nations in all history will be brought in to enrich the new creation. The new creation will not be a blank page, as if God will simply crumple up the whole of human historical life in this creation and toss it in the cosmic bin, and then hand us a new sheet to start all over again. The new creation will start with the unimagineable reservoir of all that human civilization has accomplished in the old creation – but purged, cleansed, disinfected, sanctified and blessed. And we shall have eternity to enjoy it and to build upon it in ways we cannot dream of now as we will exercise the powers of creativity of our redeemed humanity.

Think of the prospect! All human culture, language, literature, art, music, science, business, sport, technological achievement, – actual and potential – all available to us. All of it with the poison of evil and sin sucked out of it forever. All of it glorifying God. All of it under his loving and approving smile. All of it for us to enjoy with God and indeed being enjoyed by God. And all eternity for us to explore it, understand it, appreciate it, and expand it.

If this is the new creation that the Bible promises, you can understand why I don’t want just to ‘go to heaven when I die.’ Who wants just heaven, when God promises heaven and earth?”

—Christopher Wright, The God I Don’t Understand (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2009)

Cheers,
dso