Blogging From the iPhone.

Just thought I'd try a blog post from the iPhone.

Now for a quick nugget.

Adam and Eve's sin was not that they did a wrong thing or a bad behavior. In fact, God had already called them good. They simply decided that God couldn't be trusted. And that is what we all do to this day. We want to call our bad behaviors sin when in actuality, we just don't trust God to make us right people. God is not waiting for us to choose between right and wrong. He desires our trust. He has already made us right.

P. S. This must be what it looks like blogging from the iPhones perspective. Plus I wanted to try the handy add a pic from this app!


- Laboriously typed from my iPhone!

DON'T WASH YOURSELF CLEAN

I received an encouraging e-mail nugget today and wanted to expand the thought a little. This is adapted from an analogy by Hans R. Waldvogel, who is also the nugget of the week.

Let's say a woman was given a new washing machine but doesn't know what to do with it. She is so used to using an old washboard to clean her clothes that the only thing she can think to do with this new machine is to rub the dirty clothes against the insides of the drum to get them clean. Since this obviously doesn't work, she goes back to the old way of doing things and uses the "reliable" method; the old washboard. Finally, someone comes to her aid and gives her instructions on how to use the new washing machine and how easy it is. Instead of rubbing her knuckles bloody, she would simply put the dirty clothes in and add soap and the machine does all the work for her while she sits and relaxes.

Now imagine that someone offers to do your dirty laundry while you take it easy. You agree. But after a few moments you start to feel guilty that they are in there working and you are resting. So you get up and go help. This is exactly how modern Christians think. Even though they've been given this new "machine" they don't know what do with it and even if someone comes to do it for them they don't want it.

Here's what has happened: Instead of accepting the New Covenant that Christ gave, modern Christians are stuck using the Old Covenant methods of getting themselves right, or clean, before God! We are all guilty of this. But we can't continue this any longer. We have but one active participation in our relationship with Christ, only ONE! And that is to rest in His work. Our work is to NOT work. It is hard to do but it's what is required if we want to be alive in Christ!

We cannot mix the old with the new. The new has replaced the old. Get free'd up!

DOES ANYONE REALLY CARE?

I've been stewing on these thoughts for a while and have finally gotten the chance to blog about them. (i.e. the kids aren't climbing all over me!) It's really a simple question: Does anyone really care about the Gospel? By that I mean, are we not so incredibly blown away by what Jesus has done for us that we can't keep quiet about it? I mentioned in an earlier post that I talk about Jesus with my non-Christian friends WAAAYYYYY more than my professed Christian - church going- Bible reading - praying friends. I find this so unbelievable. I mean, sure, I hear the occasional "I'll pray for you!" or "Praise God!" or something like that but come on! Is that what comes from the life of a Christian? Jargon? Convenient phrases that really say nothing? I don't think Paul or, say, Martin Luther were very silent long after they discovered the fullness of Christ's Gospel in their lives. I frankly can't believe it's not the ONLY thing we as Christian brothers can even talk about once we are together. Now, we obviously all have other personal interests. I like talking about astronomy or politics or music. There is obviously a place for that talk in our lives. But again, I'm always stunned at the lack of conversation we as brothers and sisters in Christ engage in outside of Bible studies or church. It's as if as soon as that's over there is almost a sigh of relief that it's over and you can now talk about something you really care about. Like your careers or what's on TV or recipes or something. Every few weeks I'll get a notification e-mail or a FaceBook post that let's me know that God has blessed somebody with something or a job or helped them do something or improved their life in some way. Or they'll be asking for prayer in regards to personal things in their lives and usually those requests involve some sort of improvement in their day to make life more convenient for them. That sounds harsh and it should because it's true. Truth should be offensive. There is no reason to not come together as Christians and support each other through prayer and comforting words. However, the very reason we can call ourselves Christians lies in the person and work of Jesus Christ. If we truly understood what He did and I don't think we all do, we could never be silent about it. It would be a part of our daily conversation. Not every now and again with updates on how good life is all the sudden and oh yeah Praise God! I mean having that deep understanding that we are completely deserving of nothing and we can proclaim boldly that He has already made us perfect and given us everything we need even if life around us doesn't look so. I'm not making a new law that says you aren't saved if you are not constantly talking about Jesus but I am saying that we don't do it. And that should concern each and everyone of you. Pause for a moment and think to yourself if you truly understand the depths of Christ's finished work. If not ask me. I'd love to talk about it! And talk, and talk and talk.........Thanks for reading.

A BAD ARGUMENT

I'm sure you've heard it said that it would take more faith to believe what atheists believe than what a Christian believes. How could this be? This is a crucially bad argument. What folly in this statement. It clearly takes ONLY faith to believe in the precepts of Christianity and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Therefore it cannot take faith to believe in anything else, specifically evolution.

IT'S HARD TO CONVINCE AN ATHEIST

I've discovered a lot about my faith by conversing with atheists. I have two dear friends who are atheists and I talk to them more about Christ than I do with most of my Christian brethren. (Look for a blog post about that soon!) Having these two friends has been very eye opening and thought provoking. I understand the "other side" better than I did. I had them pegged quite wrong. You won't get much help from most of today's Christian outlets on how to talk with an atheist. They are really missing the mark. They have a certain formula on how to deal with their objections and what your response in return should be. In other words, they teach you to "prove" your Jesus! But the atheists aren't buying it. None of us have any reason to believe what we believe as Christians. We come up with things to make us feel better about believing so that we don't actually appear crazy. But come on, this Jesus fella claimed some wild things and don't even get started on that crazy Old Testament God. If you sit back and start from the beginning and lay out what you believe about Creation all the way to Christ's life in you, it is apparent nonsense. However, we have been given the "secret ingredient" that others aren't - that is faith. Faith is the key - it is the gift that is necessary to have it all make sense. The reason an atheist isn't going to get what you're saying is that they have not received the gift of faith. We can talk and talk and talk and try and prove or convince them to no end. Until you realize they don't operate in faith, you will never get anywhere with them. That's not to say you throw in the towel and give up. I'm all for defending the faith and giving a reason for the hope that is within us. And that faith comes from hearing the Word. And what is that Word? It is none other than Jesus Himself! Until you truly hear Jesus you'll never have the faith to believe it all. Don't think for a second that you can muster that faith or by your brilliant apologetics that you'll be able to convince them to have faith in something so unreasonable to them. Only Christ can do that. But they must hear Him not you. At the end of the day, I agree with them that I have no reason to believe what I do; no proof exists for it. But I believe it as only one that has been given everything by Christ can believe it. I must look out of my mind to them. On that I will also agree with them. But by the grace of our Lord, He allows me to know Him according to His great will and purpose. On that I say, Amen!