Christians have a lot of big words that they like to spout off without really knowing what they mean to sound smarter and holier. Seriously, how many people honestly know what the word "propitiation" means? I’ve had this beef with plastic Christianity for a while now ("plastic Christianity" referring to the "holier than thou" Christians who would have people believe that they have it all together, paint a pretty smile on their faces for church, and let their negative attitudes, lusts, and judgement of others grow like a fungus in the darkness of their "protected" souls… but that’s for another blog post). Both as an English nerd and a Christian trying to learn to stay real, I try very hard not to use words that I don’t really know what they mean. So when I looked at my list and saw that the next identity I’d have to tackle is "reconciled," I have to be honest I cringed a little. So what does an English nerd do when faced with an uncomfortable word? I head for a dictionary! Especially this one!
I feel the need to begin with the second definition that Merriam Webster gave, which is this: "To make consistent or congruous." In the previous post, I mentioned God having an original plan when He created mankind. It was a plan to have a deep, meaningful relationship with us, completely pure and free of shame. The Bible tells us that He would walk with Adam in the cool of the day in the Garden of Eden—this perfect paradise of a place that He gave the first couple to live in. I also mentioned that He allowed that original plan to die at the hands of the free will that He gave mankind. Through salvation and by this second definition, He reconciled current reality with that original plan! He made it possible for us to have a relationship with Him that is "consistent or congruous" with that original plan. Colossians 1:22 puts it this way: "But now He has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in His sight, without blemish and free from accusation." We are now in line with that original plan, because Christ paid the penalty for our sins so that we can have that pure, perfect relationship that God always meant to have with us!
The first definition provided was "to restore to friendship or harmony, settle, resolve." Romans 5:10 tells us "For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to Him through the death of His Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through His life!" Sin made us God’s enemies, it put us against Him, we were at odds with Him. In this sense, reconciliation is removing that conflict that sin created. Our struggle against God has been settled and resolved through the forgiveness of our sins, and our friendship with Him is restored!
In Christ, I am reconciled. The sin that separated me from Him is paid for and forgiven so that I can have that perfect, pure relationship that God originally intended to have with mankind. I am holy in His sight, I’m without blemish and free from accusation, and I can walk with God in the garden in the cool of the day. And if that’s not something to get excited about, then I don’t know what is!
"All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And He has committed us to the message of reconciliation."
2 Corinthians 5:18-19
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Saturday, March 12, 2011
A New Identity
The previous post was about how we are created by God, which applies to every human being. The rest of these identities however need a little extra background information.
When God created Adam and Eve, He placed them in the Garden of Eden. It was situated between two rivers and abundant in both plant and animal life. Adam and Eve were given authority over the garden and provided with everything that they needed. They worked together and God walked with them in the garden. Many of us are familiar with the Sunday school coloring sheets of Adam and Eve grinning those perfect grins as they stand so conviniently behind trees and bushes while Eve’s hair is always in front of both shoulders, but when you really stop to think about it, that doesn’t really paint an accurate picture. There was a purpose for their existance, they had everything they could ever need, they had each other, and they had a relationship with God. There was no pain, no suffering, no shame. The coloring sheets are careful to cover up their nakedness for the little eyes in our churches today, but Adam and Eve didn’t have to worry about it. It was how God created them. It was God’s original intent.
But God didn’t want slaves or robots. He didn’t want pets that only stayed because they had no where else to go. No, God wanted a deeper relationship than that. So, He introduced this little thing called free will. He placed a tree in the Garden of Eden and told Adam and Eve that they were not to eat of it. Well, we all know how well that went over. Adam and Eve disobeyed this one rule that they were given, and thus God allowed His original intent to die. Sin and pain and death came onto the scene. God had to clothe Adam and Eve because now there was shame. He sent them out of the garden, and out of His presence. The relationship was broken.
God doesn’t give up that easily, though. He still wanted a relationship with us. He still wants it today. But there is a dilemma. God is a perfect God, and sin is a serious thing. The Bible tells us that "All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23). We all know that nobody is perfect, so there is no way that we can earn our way back to the glory of God on our own. The Bible also tells us this: "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 6:23).
As that verse eludes to, God had a solution to this dilemma. In the Old Testament, people paid for their own sins through sacrifices. Blood had to be shed to pay for all of the ways that they fell short. To restore the relationship, God provided The Ultimate Sacrifice that would cover everyone’s sins for all time: His Son, Jesus. Jesus was born of a virgin, therefore pure from sin, lead a perfect life as an example, made no mistakes, committed no crimes, was hated, mocked, spat upon, and executed on a cross as a criminal. Jesus suffered through God’s judgement and death in our place. Then to prove His divinity, power, and authority, He didn’t stay in the tomb. He rose again three days later, because He was greater than death itself!
And so we have an answer to the dilemma of sin’s separation between us and God. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16). I grew up in the church, was saved at the age of 8, have heard about sin and our need to be saved from it at least ten different ways, and have heard/presented the "process" of "getting saved" at least five different ways. But the whole thing is quite simple and easily summed up in one verse: "If you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved." (Romans 10:9). There are lots of prayers and processes and tools out there that are all powerful things, but that verse sums it all up. If you openly name Jesus as the Lord of your life and believe what the Bible says about our need for a savior and how God provided one in Christ, then that’s it. Your sins are paid for, you are forgiven, you have that relationship with Christ, and you are saved!
To become a citizen of the United States, one must go through a naturalization process before being identified as an American. The identities that I’m going to delve into through the rest of this blog are similar. This is about identity in Christ. If you are not saved, then you do not have this identity any more than a Mexican isn’t an American (sorry, couldn’t help it!). If you want to know more, feel free to shoot me an e-mail, or talk with a friend who you know is saved, or read the Bible to find more for yourself.
If you are already saved, then from here on out, this blog is all about who you are!
When God created Adam and Eve, He placed them in the Garden of Eden. It was situated between two rivers and abundant in both plant and animal life. Adam and Eve were given authority over the garden and provided with everything that they needed. They worked together and God walked with them in the garden. Many of us are familiar with the Sunday school coloring sheets of Adam and Eve grinning those perfect grins as they stand so conviniently behind trees and bushes while Eve’s hair is always in front of both shoulders, but when you really stop to think about it, that doesn’t really paint an accurate picture. There was a purpose for their existance, they had everything they could ever need, they had each other, and they had a relationship with God. There was no pain, no suffering, no shame. The coloring sheets are careful to cover up their nakedness for the little eyes in our churches today, but Adam and Eve didn’t have to worry about it. It was how God created them. It was God’s original intent.
But God didn’t want slaves or robots. He didn’t want pets that only stayed because they had no where else to go. No, God wanted a deeper relationship than that. So, He introduced this little thing called free will. He placed a tree in the Garden of Eden and told Adam and Eve that they were not to eat of it. Well, we all know how well that went over. Adam and Eve disobeyed this one rule that they were given, and thus God allowed His original intent to die. Sin and pain and death came onto the scene. God had to clothe Adam and Eve because now there was shame. He sent them out of the garden, and out of His presence. The relationship was broken.
God doesn’t give up that easily, though. He still wanted a relationship with us. He still wants it today. But there is a dilemma. God is a perfect God, and sin is a serious thing. The Bible tells us that "All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23). We all know that nobody is perfect, so there is no way that we can earn our way back to the glory of God on our own. The Bible also tells us this: "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 6:23).
As that verse eludes to, God had a solution to this dilemma. In the Old Testament, people paid for their own sins through sacrifices. Blood had to be shed to pay for all of the ways that they fell short. To restore the relationship, God provided The Ultimate Sacrifice that would cover everyone’s sins for all time: His Son, Jesus. Jesus was born of a virgin, therefore pure from sin, lead a perfect life as an example, made no mistakes, committed no crimes, was hated, mocked, spat upon, and executed on a cross as a criminal. Jesus suffered through God’s judgement and death in our place. Then to prove His divinity, power, and authority, He didn’t stay in the tomb. He rose again three days later, because He was greater than death itself!
And so we have an answer to the dilemma of sin’s separation between us and God. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16). I grew up in the church, was saved at the age of 8, have heard about sin and our need to be saved from it at least ten different ways, and have heard/presented the "process" of "getting saved" at least five different ways. But the whole thing is quite simple and easily summed up in one verse: "If you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved." (Romans 10:9). There are lots of prayers and processes and tools out there that are all powerful things, but that verse sums it all up. If you openly name Jesus as the Lord of your life and believe what the Bible says about our need for a savior and how God provided one in Christ, then that’s it. Your sins are paid for, you are forgiven, you have that relationship with Christ, and you are saved!
To become a citizen of the United States, one must go through a naturalization process before being identified as an American. The identities that I’m going to delve into through the rest of this blog are similar. This is about identity in Christ. If you are not saved, then you do not have this identity any more than a Mexican isn’t an American (sorry, couldn’t help it!). If you want to know more, feel free to shoot me an e-mail, or talk with a friend who you know is saved, or read the Bible to find more for yourself.
If you are already saved, then from here on out, this blog is all about who you are!
Friday, March 11, 2011
Created
Our identity begins with creation—as do the lies that modern culture tell us about our identity.
We live in a society obsessed with information. Scientists wear blinders and try to stuff the origins of the universe into numbers and data and concepts that fit into finite human comprehension. After all, knowledge is power. Power corrupts. Study hard. Be evil. But I digress. Scientists, biology classes, "intellectuals," and many others bombard us with theories of chemical reactions and adaptations producing life on earth and therefore there is nothing beyond what "reason" can explain.
This opens up discussion for a wide array of topics, which could quite easily lead to an entirely new blog (a project which I shall leave to someone who is actually good at science… I’m an English nerd, science is not my calling). But here in this blog on our identity, this is the point I’d like to point out. This clip features William Provine, whose ideas are echoed by Richard Dawkins. Both men are evolutionists and avid atheists. Listen to what Provine himself has to say about the implications of evolution.
So basically, the "intellectuals" of today’s culture tell us that we just kind of happened as an accident of chemical reactions and organisms learning better ways to survive, we’re born, hang out on earth for a little bit, and then we die and that’s that. Provine even goes so far as to say that we don’t even have free will while we’re here: everything we do is simply a natural reaction to stimuli. What an empty and pointless existence.
The Bible tells us otherwise. The Bible tells us that we are created in the image of God.
"Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.’ So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them." (Genesis 1:26-27).
We were created in the image of God and given authority over His creation. Beyond that, God did not create us simply by speaking, as He did the rest of creation. No, the Bible tells us that He hand-crafted Adam from the dirt with His bare hands. God did not see Adam alone as complete: man needed woman in order to totally reflect God’s image. So God hand-crafted Eve from Adam’s rib. God put more effort into the creation of mankind than any other thing in the universe.
This isn’t just humanity though, it doesn’t stop there. God didn’t create Adam and Eve, program them with reproductive tendencies, and leave the rest of us to biology. God created me. God created you.
"For You created my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from You when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, Your eyes saw my unformed body." (Psalm 139:13-16a).
I was first shown this passage at an Acteens retreat, and the discovery I made that day is still written in black ink in the margin next to that passage in my little blue Bible: "I am not a mistake!" God creates life: Not humans, not accidents, not mindless and undirected biological processes.
I was carefully crafted in my mother’s womb. I am fearfully and wonderfully made. I am created in the image of God!
We live in a society obsessed with information. Scientists wear blinders and try to stuff the origins of the universe into numbers and data and concepts that fit into finite human comprehension. After all, knowledge is power. Power corrupts. Study hard. Be evil. But I digress. Scientists, biology classes, "intellectuals," and many others bombard us with theories of chemical reactions and adaptations producing life on earth and therefore there is nothing beyond what "reason" can explain.
This opens up discussion for a wide array of topics, which could quite easily lead to an entirely new blog (a project which I shall leave to someone who is actually good at science… I’m an English nerd, science is not my calling). But here in this blog on our identity, this is the point I’d like to point out. This clip features William Provine, whose ideas are echoed by Richard Dawkins. Both men are evolutionists and avid atheists. Listen to what Provine himself has to say about the implications of evolution.
So basically, the "intellectuals" of today’s culture tell us that we just kind of happened as an accident of chemical reactions and organisms learning better ways to survive, we’re born, hang out on earth for a little bit, and then we die and that’s that. Provine even goes so far as to say that we don’t even have free will while we’re here: everything we do is simply a natural reaction to stimuli. What an empty and pointless existence.
The Bible tells us otherwise. The Bible tells us that we are created in the image of God.
"Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.’ So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them." (Genesis 1:26-27).
We were created in the image of God and given authority over His creation. Beyond that, God did not create us simply by speaking, as He did the rest of creation. No, the Bible tells us that He hand-crafted Adam from the dirt with His bare hands. God did not see Adam alone as complete: man needed woman in order to totally reflect God’s image. So God hand-crafted Eve from Adam’s rib. God put more effort into the creation of mankind than any other thing in the universe.
This isn’t just humanity though, it doesn’t stop there. God didn’t create Adam and Eve, program them with reproductive tendencies, and leave the rest of us to biology. God created me. God created you.
"For You created my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from You when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, Your eyes saw my unformed body." (Psalm 139:13-16a).
I was first shown this passage at an Acteens retreat, and the discovery I made that day is still written in black ink in the margin next to that passage in my little blue Bible: "I am not a mistake!" God creates life: Not humans, not accidents, not mindless and undirected biological processes.
I was carefully crafted in my mother’s womb. I am fearfully and wonderfully made. I am created in the image of God!
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Identity in Christ
Identity is an important thing. It defines who we are, what we do, and how we interact with others as it either limits or builds our security and confidence. According to www.meriam-webster.com/dictionary , identity is "the distinguishing character or personality of an individual, individuality, or the relationship established by psychological identification." When someone asks to see your identification, you usually pull a card out of your pocket, wallet, or purse that describes you with a set of statistics: height, weight, gender, some kind of code or number, hair color (as if you can’t already tell that I’m blonde), and so on.
We live in a culture that tries to tell us that our identities are defined by our actions, our experiences, our achievements, our education, our bank accounts, or even our appearances. This world has a set of standards that it uses to measure us, and make certain that when we don’t measure up to those standards that we know it.
But did you know that, as Christians, we have a special identity in Christ? Sure, I’ve always known that. "I’m made in the image of God, I’m the daughter of the King of kings, I’m precious and loved, and He sent His Son to die for me so that I can be forgiven." It’s the stuff I’ve spouted off since Sunday School when I was four, of course I know that!
Then things started happening in my life that showed me just how insecure I was in this identity. I found myself letting the culture I live in identify me. To help solve this identity crisis, my counselor gave me a list of words that God uses in the Bible to describe me with the reference for the verse where each identity is found. As I started to look at who I really am in Christ, there were several other people in my life who were simultaneously studying the same thing… and each of them had another list. As everybody continued studying and collaborating, and as I continued compiling everything that I was learning, I quickly realized that I wanted to go into more depth with this identity that I was learning about. There is so much more to each item on this inexhaustive list than just a couple of memory verses.
As I continue to learn who I really am in Christ, I invite you to join me on this journey. I’m going to use Bible verses, Biblical stories, research, music, videos, art work, poetry, anecdotes, largely worthless statistics that you’ll never remember once you leave this page, and whatever else I possibly can to create as deep of a definition as I can for each of these things that we are because of Christ. I encourage you to apply each one to yourself, and share with others what you’ve learned. There are few things in this world as powerful as when Christians join together to learn things with each other! If you’d like to share what you feel something means to you or if you have something to add, feel free to leave a comment or shoot me an e-mail. I’d love to hear from you! Let’s team up and learn together!
So grab your Bible, highlighter, pen, note pad, and coffee (or Mountain Dew, for those of us not patient enough to "acquire the taste" for coffee), and join me on my adventure to discover our true Identity in Christ!
We live in a culture that tries to tell us that our identities are defined by our actions, our experiences, our achievements, our education, our bank accounts, or even our appearances. This world has a set of standards that it uses to measure us, and make certain that when we don’t measure up to those standards that we know it.
But did you know that, as Christians, we have a special identity in Christ? Sure, I’ve always known that. "I’m made in the image of God, I’m the daughter of the King of kings, I’m precious and loved, and He sent His Son to die for me so that I can be forgiven." It’s the stuff I’ve spouted off since Sunday School when I was four, of course I know that!
Then things started happening in my life that showed me just how insecure I was in this identity. I found myself letting the culture I live in identify me. To help solve this identity crisis, my counselor gave me a list of words that God uses in the Bible to describe me with the reference for the verse where each identity is found. As I started to look at who I really am in Christ, there were several other people in my life who were simultaneously studying the same thing… and each of them had another list. As everybody continued studying and collaborating, and as I continued compiling everything that I was learning, I quickly realized that I wanted to go into more depth with this identity that I was learning about. There is so much more to each item on this inexhaustive list than just a couple of memory verses.
As I continue to learn who I really am in Christ, I invite you to join me on this journey. I’m going to use Bible verses, Biblical stories, research, music, videos, art work, poetry, anecdotes, largely worthless statistics that you’ll never remember once you leave this page, and whatever else I possibly can to create as deep of a definition as I can for each of these things that we are because of Christ. I encourage you to apply each one to yourself, and share with others what you’ve learned. There are few things in this world as powerful as when Christians join together to learn things with each other! If you’d like to share what you feel something means to you or if you have something to add, feel free to leave a comment or shoot me an e-mail. I’d love to hear from you! Let’s team up and learn together!
So grab your Bible, highlighter, pen, note pad, and coffee (or Mountain Dew, for those of us not patient enough to "acquire the taste" for coffee), and join me on my adventure to discover our true Identity in Christ!
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