Improved or New?

As my girlfriend, Megan, and I sat together on the couch last night, an interesting report came on the news. It was Fox News interviewing Joel Osteen in lieu of his new book titled Break Out, which is already a bestseller. Any time Joel Osteen's name is mentioned, my reaction is to sit up straight, put my thinking cap on, and listen. And I do so because I believe he does as good a job as any at opening wide the gates of hell to all who will listen.

It's not that Osteen's message is lies through and through. It is sprinkled, battered, and coated with strong biblical truth. But the core of the message is poison. His gospel is not a gospel of complete transforming power - it is a gospel of self improvement. It is the realization of potential already inherent within every human being.

And since I've been meditating on Romans 1:16-17 this week, I began to think about what the gospel does to us. Is it the power of God to make good people better? Or is it the power of God to make dead mean alive, to make sinners saints, to make old people new? Does God stop at improvement? Or does He make the children He chooses into new creations?

The New Testament is packed with illustrations that answer this question. And the Bible states in clear terms that we once indeed were "dead in [our] trespasses and sins" (Eph. 2:1). Part of the glory of God in the gospel is the truth of resurrection. And it is also transformation:

Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh (Ezek. 36:26).

Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come (2 Cor. 5:17).

Before we say anything about "better," let's talk the gospel. Let's talk about a God who took us when we had nothing to bring to the table and made us new creatures in Jesus Christ.

He Gave

John 3:16

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son,

that whoever believes in Him should not perish

but have eternal life.

Even before the foundation of the world, He saw the catastrophe. When there was nothing, perhaps that Father looked into His Son and presented the eternal plan to hear His dear child say, "Father, Your will be done." The grandest scheme was about to take place. The stage - planet Earth - was set.

And thousands of years later, the fullness of time came. The Father looked into a broken world and sent a Remedy. He looked into sinful mankind and sent them a Savior. He beheld a sick, lost people; He sent a Healer and a Shepherd. Out of the darkness, Light shined.

And on that hideously wonderful night in Bethlehem, God committed a crime for the ages: He sent His dear Boy - God of God - to become man. "He Himself bore our sicknesses, and He carried our pains; but we in turn regarded Him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted." And one day this baby Boy, who was - and is - the hope of the world, would be pierced through and crushed, bent and broken for our sins. This is the gift.

Yes, that night God flooded the world with His grace. He did the unthinkable, the unimaginable. He loved. And in His love He gave.

So let us, with hearts full of joy and praise, also give. Let us give of our hearts and souls. Let us give of our very lives - our own selves. All we are and all we have, let it be His. For in His mercy He gave His all for us; in our worship we give all we are for Him. Not because He needs us, not because we deserve Him, but because He first loved us. 

Because He gave.

RE: A Round-Up of the Holy Hip Hop Squabble

The following is a link to Thabiti Anyabwile's response to a recent panel on reformed rappers. Having watched the video I was greatly disturbed and upset as a close listener to Christian hip-hop. Let it be said, however, that I am thankful for the public apologies that have taken place since this panel happened.

A Round-Up of the Holy Hip Hop Squabble

Giving Thanks for Secured Blessings

Today is the day we gather with family to fellowship and eat. We enjoy our abundance of supply, and we enjoy each other. We relish the cooler weather that so permeates the memories from this time of year. We enjoy a day off. We enjoy football. We enjoy shopping. Today we are thankful for all these things.

But let us never forget that it is today that we have an opportunity to be thankful to God for loving the world and offering His Son. We are thankful because Christ gave. He gave in His live, and He gave in His death. And because He gave, we live. And we give. We give thanks to Him for all He has secured for us in securing the most important thing - our salvation in Jesus Christ that we may know Him.

Romans 8:32 (HCSB)
He did not even spare His own Son
but offered Him up for us all;

how will He not also with Him grant us everything?


Happy Thanksgiving!

Hosea 1

Perhaps this is a cheap way of coming up with a post, but work has been quite the time-consumer lately. I realized today when I was emailing a friend that it had been quite a long time since I put into words what God had been showing me directly from His word. And that is sad because the main reason for that is that my time in God's word has not been consistent or deep at all lately. So yesterday I started Hosea, and these are some of the things I found:

Right now I am studying Hosea, which is a really interesting book. Yesterday I read chapter 1 about Hosea being commanded to take a whore for a wife and have "children of whoredom." It's amazing to see so much of God's anger and mercy in one passage: He never excuses the guilty, [and yet] He adopts illegitimate children. I don't know how all that works exactly - I'm just glad He does. Because I was an illegitimate child, and He adopted me into His family.

Found and Forgiven; Fondled and Free

Romans 8 is perhaps the most comforting passage in all of Scripture for me. It reminds me who I am and who God is. It tells me what the Holy Spirit is doing and what Christ as done. It shows me that I belong to God - and He fights for me and blesses me and gives to me. He loves me. It challenges me in light of these things to battle my sin and conquer. It consoles me in that it affirms that through Christ I am already a conqueror. It says, "Kill your sin," and when I fail as I so often do, it says, "You are free. There is no condemnation for you."

And in light of these things, we can take heart that there is nothing in this world or the next that can sever us from God's presence or separate us from His love. Our God is for us!

Battling Uncertainty and Unbelief

Everyone thinks God is good until life is bad.

Perhaps you are in a place similar to the one I find myself in these days. School just doesn't make any sense. The job is tough. Your relationship is falling apart. One more shred of bad news came today. Yet another bill. The doctor still doesn't know. The car is falling apart. You're betrayed, rejected, ignored - invisible. You're lost, and there's no map. No clear sense of direction. No understanding of purpose. No clear calling. Nothing.

This is going to sound like the end of a writing because I do not yet have a beginning. That part has not been written in me yet. All I know is this: hardship is the test of obedience. Even in our most difficult circumstances, we must remember that God is not a man like us. He does not waver; He is not prone to change. He does not base His decisions on a moment but on the eternal wisdom He possesses.

(You don't have to know. You don't have to understand everything. You don't have to have an extensive game plan. Just hold on for the ride. One day everything wrong will be made right).