Journey Into Rest

On By Heart, Mind and Soul CareIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

I have begun taking a sabbath. I should have been doing this for a long time; perhaps I thought that a few hours at a church service qualified for a day of rest. No. What I mean by taking a sabbath is to take a whole day off from work that drains, the attempt at accomplishing, draining activities that do not replenish.

As I spend my Sunday’s resting, renewing my spirit, playing, feasting, etc, I am going to read through Marva Dawn’s book Keeping the Sabbath Wholly. The first chapter is titled “Ceasing Work”. I was moved and motivated to trust God with my work; to put it aside for one day and trust the LORD for wisdom and guidance in my papers, reading and classes. It also moved me to work more efficiently the other six days.

I want to share something from her book that inspired me; perhaps it will inspire you as well to look into taking a day to set aside to refresh and refuel your relationship with yourself and God.

“This book is dedicated to all the people who need the Sabbath –

the busiest, who need to work from a cohesive, unfragmented self;

social activists, who need a cycle of worship and action;

those who chase after fulfillment and need to understand their deepest yearnings and to hear the silence;

those who have lost their ability to play because of the materialism and technologization of our society, who need beauty and gaiety and delight;

those who have lost their passion and need to get in touch with feelings;

those who are alone and need emotional nourishment;

those who live in community and need solitude;

those who cannot find their life’s priorities and need a new perspective;

those who think the future is dictated by the present, who need hope and visions of the future to change the present order;

those who long for a deeper family life and want to nurture certain values;

the poor and the oppressed, who need to mourn and to dance in the prison camp;

the rich and the oppressors, who need to learn nonviolence, stewardship, and God’s purposes in the world;

those who suffer, who need to learn how suffering can be redemptive;

professional theologians, who need to bring the heart back into theology;

those who don’t know how religion fits into the modern world, who need a relationship with God;

those who are disgusted with dry, empty, formalistic worship and want to love and adore God;

those who want to be God’s instruments, enabled and empowered by the Spirit to be world changers and Sabbath healers.

Are you enticed? Curious maybe? I am excited to see what God has in store for me.

God’s Purposes in Suffering

On By Heart, Mind and Soul CareIn SufferingLeave a comment

As I have been doing some study on God’s work in the midst of suffering, I ran across this fantastic post by Paul Tautges (website here: http://counselingoneanother.com/2012/03/20/36-purposes-of-god-in-our-suffering/ ) that gives thirty-six purposes of God in the midst of suffering. These are fantastic. What a wonderful time one could have as they take each purpose and meditate slowly through the Scriptures. God does not waste our pain.

  1. Suffering is used to increase our awareness of the sustaining power of God to whom we owe our sustenance (Ps 68:19).
  2. God uses suffering to refine, perfect, strengthen, and keep us from falling (Ps 66:8-9; Heb 2:10).
  3. Suffering allows the life of Christ to be manifested in our mortal flesh (2 Cor 4:7-11).
  4. Suffering bankrupts us, making us dependent upon God (2 Cor 12:9).
  5. Suffering teaches us humility (2 Cor 12:7).
  6. Suffering imparts the mind of Christ (Phil 2:1-11).
  7. Suffering teaches us that God is more concerned about character than comfort (Rom 5:3-4; Heb 12:10-11).
  8. Suffering teaches us that the greatest good of the Christian life is not absence of pain, but Christlikeness (2 Cor 4:8-10; Rom 8:28-29).
  9. Suffering can be a chastisement from God for sin and rebellion (Ps 107:17).
  10. Obedience and self-control are from suffering (Heb 5:8; Ps 119:67; Rom 5:1-5; James 1:2-8; Phil 3:10).
  11. Voluntary suffering is one way to demonstrate the love of God (2 Cor 8:1-2, 9).
  12. Suffering is part of the struggle against sin (Heb 12:4-13).
  13. Suffering is part of the struggle against evil men (Ps 27:12; 37:14-15).
  14. Suffering is part of the struggle for the kingdom of God (2 Thess 1:5).
  15. Suffering is part of the struggle for the gospel (2 Tim 2:8-9).
  16. Suffering is part of the struggle against injustice (1 Pet 2:19).
  17. Suffering is part of the struggle for the name of Christ (Acts 5:41; 1 Pet 4:14).
  18. Suffering indicates how the righteous become sharers in Christ’s suffering (2 Cor 1:5; 1 Pet 4:12-13).
  19. Endurance of suffering is given as a cause for reward (2 Cor 4:17; 2 Tim 2:12).
  20. Suffering forces community and the administration of the gifts for the common good (Phil 4:12-15).
  21. Suffering binds Christians together into a common or joint purpose (Rev 1:9).
  22. Suffering produces discernment, knowledge, and teaches us God’s statutes (Ps 119:66-67, 71).
  23. Through suffering God is able to obtain our broken and contrite spirit which He desires (Ps 51:16-17).
  24. Suffering causes us to discipline our minds by making us focus our hope on the grace to be revealed at the revelation of Jesus Christ (1 Pet 1:6, 13).
  25. God uses suffering to humble us so He can exalt us at the proper time (1 Pet 5:6-7).
  26. Suffering teaches us to number our days so we can present to God a heart of wisdom (Ps 90:7-12).
  27. Suffering is sometimes necessary to win the lost (2 Tim 2:8-10; 4:5-6).
  28. Suffering strengthens and allows us to comfort others who are weak (2 Cor 1:3-11).
  29. Suffering is small compared to the surpassing value of knowing Christ (Phil 3:8).
  30. God desires truth in our innermost being and one way He does it is through suffering (Ps 51:6; 119:17).
  31. The equity for suffering will be found in the next life (Ps 58:10-11).
  32. Suffering is always coupled with a greater source of grace (2 Tim 1:7-8; 4:16-18).
  33. Suffering teaches us to give thanks in times of sorrow (1 Thess 5:17; 2 Cor 1:11).
  34. Suffering increases faith (Jer 29:11).
  35. Suffering allows God to manifest His care (Ps 56:8).
  36. Suffering stretches our hope (Job 13:14-15).

1 John 2:21 Exegetical Insight

On By Heart, Mind and Soul CareIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

Exegetical Insight:

“οἴδατε” is perfect indicative active[1]. This is present tense knowledge. It is not that someone knows something in the past and that is good enough. John is able to write these things to his readers because they currently possess a knowledge that allows them to discern truth from error (lies).

As we know, this indicates a current state of relational knowing of Jesus Christ. As verses eighteen and nineteen indicate, there were some who were, for a time, a part of the group. However, they then followed after different “ἀντίχριστος”, or antichrists. The truth was not in them; they did not “οἴδατε” , or know the truth. This truth is found in verse thirteen and verse twenty-two. The truth is they “νενικήκατε τὸν πονηρόν” (verse thirteen). The lie the “ἀντίχριστος” peddles is in verse twenty-two, “ἀρνούμενος τὸν πατέρα καὶ τὸν υἱόν”, anyone who denies God the Father and Jesus His Son.

 

So this tells us that John is able to tell them truths because they know who the Father and the Son of God are; this enables them to know the truth.

[1] Cleon L. Rogers Jr & Cleon L. Rogers III. “The New Linguistic and Exegetical Key to the Greek New Testament.” (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1998.) 594.

 

Lent

On By Heart, Mind and Soul CareIn Lent, Spiritual DisciplinesLeave a comment

A friend of mine sent me an article that has proven helpful to him during the season of Lent. I was enriched by this so I want to share it here.

Sunday of Forgiveness – Great Lent: A Season of Spiritual Springtime

“Thus saith the Lord Almighty; there shall,be fasts in the House of Judah unto joy and gladness and unto feasts goodly, cheering, and joysome” (cf. Zacharias 8:19)

a. In the Paschal Vigil, the decisive criterion in our experiencing a personal Resurrection-Renewal will not be the maintenance of the Fast, but mutual love; the practice of sympathy and empathy; sensitivity before the misfortune of our brother; the rebuilding of our person relationships with Christ.

b. The Great Fast is not a Great Desert, in which we wander, beleaguered for forty days. But it is a stroll through the Garden of the Kingdom, unique in beauty and comeliness.

c. Nature’s Spring coincides with the Springtime of Lent: “The Springtime of the Fast hath dawned, as hath the Blossom of Repentance.

d. In the Lenten Springtime:

  • our hearts are warmed and enlightened through prayer-fasting-almsgiving;
  •  we return to our fervent and radiant relationship with God and our fellow man;
  •  we rise above self-centeredness, that is, we remove ourselves from the center of our attention;
  •  we open the realm of our hearts, such that they overflow with God and our brother.

+ Bishop Cyprian of Oreoi

Season of Lent

On By Heart, Mind and Soul CareIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

It is not in my nature to be liturgical in my spiritual life. I was neither raised in a high church tradition nor have I participated with any seriousness in liturgy during my life time. So it is with some baggage-free excitement that I lead my family through Lent this year. I am excited to learn more about myself; but I am most excited to learn more about God as I see what is in me that needs to be confessed and discarded.

We have decided to do two things. First, we’ve radically changed our diet, it is a fast really. We are purging all but the simple foods of vegetables, fruits, and lean meats. For me this is a big deal because the biggest area of weakness is in my diet. I am the least disciplined eater I know. The second area we are focusing on for Lent is our spiritual lives. With this area I am doing two things as well. I am simplifying my Scripture intake to focus on Romans exclusively. The second area of focus during this season is my prayer life; I am doing fixed hours of prayer to help me focus and prioritize this more important discipline of the Christian life.

As I spend these few years in seminary preparing for the next season of ministry I see the importance of focusing on the inner life of my soul. One of the things I began to notice (and I noticed this first in myself and then began observing this my ministerial colleagues) was the sense of needing to focus first on ministry administration and less on ministering to the Father and to ourselves through the Word and prayer. It seemed we were very tempted, and succumbed more than we should have, to being fruit inspectors instead of root cultivators. The fruit of our lives and the lives of those we were called to lead was what became the most important thing of our ministries. Fruit such as attendance, weekly and monthly giving, etc. God is not wanting His Spiritual leaders to focus their time and energies into being fruit inspectors. The fruit is His business.

I look forward to all the Father has for me during this season.

A Very Good Friday

On By Heart, Mind and Soul CareIn Good Friday, Next StepLeave a comment

Christ died for me yesterday. At least yesterday is the day we celebrate and remember his vicarious death. For me. For us. I believe this fact, it changed my life. But I don’t believe because it changed my life. Truth is not made true because an experience makes it true, truth is true because God authors truth. For that I am grateful, otherwise my life would be one pursuit of truth-backing-experience after another.
There is no truth that can top Christ’s vicarious death for me. God’s wrath was satisfied in His Son’s death. Christ atoned for my sin in His death. Peace and goodwill can flow freely because of the death of our Savior Jesus. I say that in light of more good news.
I was accepted to grad school yesterday. I am amazed at the goodness and provision of God. I have desired to go to Multnomah for years. And years. My few unfinished undergrad classes stood in the way of my pursuit of the desired MDiv. I’m ecstatic.
I began to ponder this, why am I more excited about getting accepted to grad school than I am over the death of Christ? I haven’t come to any solid conclusion yet other than it is still evidence of the idolatry in my heart that God needs to weed out. For this revelation I am grateful. I want Him to have no less than all of me. And I know He will keep working until He does. He began a good work two thousand years ago. He will continue the good work. Until the good work is finished. That, indeed, is good news that makes for a Good Friday.