Not because I hope for heaven thereby,

Nor yet because who love Thee not must die eternally.

Thou, O my Jesus, Thou didst me up on the cross embrace;

For me didst bear the nails and spear, and manifold disgrace.

Why, then why, O blessed Jesus Christ, should I not love Thee well?

Not for the hope of winning heaven or of escaping hell;

Not with the hope of gaining aught; not seeking a reward;

But as thyself hast loved me, O ever-loving Lord!

E’en so I love Thee, and will love, and in Thy praise will sing;

Solely because Thou art my God, and my Eternal King.

Anonymous seventeenth-century Latin poem

Translated by Rev. Edward Caswall

6. Turn your resolution into a question. Sometimes Christians are afraid to ask questions. We assume that a relationship with God should insulate us from uncertainty and doubt, and that developing a Christian apologetic means having all the right answers. But asking good questions nurtures a spirit of curiosity about the world that is essential to living an examined, purposeful life. So consider focusing your energy on one pressing question this year: What do I really need? What makes me happy? What does it mean to follow Jesus? Which church tradition is best for me? Can I learn from people of other faiths? Is evolution true? Is Christianity true? What is most essential to the Christian faith? Where do my passions lie? What kind of person do I want to become? You might not find an answer to your question, but you will learn so much more than if you hadn’t had the courage to ask.

Asking these sorts of questions is no doubt hard work. But hard work, as it usually does, pays off down the road.

I hope to ask myself questions like these today.

In any case… WELCOME 2011!

A “luxury crystal Benz” encrusted with 300,000 Swarovski crystals is displayed at a Tokyo auto show in Japan.

May God save us from throwing our lives away on such pursuits.

O God let us be / a generation that seeks / that seeks your face / O God of Jacob.

Check out: http://dontwasteyourlife.com/

To live apart from God is to stay in poverty, but to live under God is to live in ineffable wealth.

The proof: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph.

A mediation on Matt. 27:24-26 and the meaning of Good Friday.

They had it all wrong.

The chief priests and elders had gathered a crowd to condemn Jesus. Their plan was finally coming together. They were now closer than ever to getting rid of this insurrectionist – Jesus of Nazareth. He was a trouble maker and he was making the religious institution look bad. He had accused them and condemned them in public of the fact that they had their religion all wrong. They needed to get rid of him – for good. They had no idea what good they were doing.

They brought Jesus before Pilate. As governor, Pilate, could do away with Jesus. Pilate was reluctant to do what the crowd wanted him to do with Jesus. They shouted, “Let him crucified!” But when it seemed like the crowd was getting out of control, Pilate gave up his attempts at justice. After all, he had to watch his own back. “Crucify him!”, the crowd shouted. Pilate, standing over the crowd, took water and washed his hands in front of them, saying, “I am innocent of this man’s blood.” He thought that by washing his hands with water in front of the crowd, he was shifting any wrong-doing of the situation onto the crowd, saying to them, “Fine, we’ll do what you want with this Jesus. But it’s only because that’s what you want. I’m not a part of this.” Pilate’s decision was at best indifference, but ultimately he was looking out for Number One, namely, himself. He had it all wrong.

Having heard what the governor had just said, the people answered, “His blood be on us and on our children!” They didn’t mind taking the blame for any wrong-doing of the situation. After all, Jesus was a fake, and he deserved to die. Oh, but how they had it all wrong.

That very day, Jesus was scourged by Roman soldiers. It was a horrifically cruel punishment. Jesus was tied to a post and beaten with a leather whip that was interwoven with pieces of bone and metal, which tore through his skin and tissue. Then, he was mocked, spat on, and crucified at Golgotha. Those who cared about Jesus, looked on helplessly as their teacher and friend slowly died hanging on that cross. All they could think was, “This is all wrong.”

Jesus did die on that cross that night. The chief priests and elders, the people, Pilate, Jesus’ friends – none of them knew that this had to happen. Jesus had to die. He was doing the will of the One who sent him. He was following orders from above – from his Father. God had sent his Son into the world so that whoever believes in him would not perish but have eternal life. Jesus’ blood was shed for the salvation of sinners.

Pilate thought he was innocent of Jesus’ blood when in fact it was Jesus who was the innocent one. He was the Son of God – holy, perfect, and without blemish. After all, he was God himself. Jesus was innocent. Yes, Pilate had it wrong.

The people who shouted wanted Jesus dead and said, “His blood be on us,” didn’t realize that Jesus’ blood would indeed be on them. But not for their guilt. Jesus’ blood would be on them for their salvation if they would believe and repent. Yes, they had it wrong.

But I’ve passed over a small detail: “Then he released for them Barabbas.” Pilate, as governor, had a tradition of releasing one prisoner to the people at the same time every year. The crowd wanted the prisoner named, Barabbas. He was also an insurrectionist. The thing is, Barabbas, means “Son of the father.” Ironically, the people wanted Barabbas released rather than the true Son of the Father. Oh, how they had it all wrong.

The chief priests and elders wanted to get rid of Jesus, once and for all, for good. But they didn’t realize that Jesus’ death would actually be for good. His death was for good – for our good. It is good for us because by his wounds we are healed. The cross was hell for Jesus so that it would be salvation for us. Oh, how things went from wrong to right in just one night. Oh, how that can change us!

Let us not forget that it was our sin that put him there. But let us not just stop there in today’s solemn remembrance, but let us accept and believe that he went there to the cross because he considered us precious to him. Oh, how he loves us.

It’s Good Friday. Yes, truly, it is good.

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.

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

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.

–

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)

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