Roaches In Darkness

I find it simply amazing how God can use any part of His creation to illustrate a point. Recently, God used a common household pest: a roach. What possible Spiritual truth can we learn from a roach? Well, just a few simple facts about how cockroaches work and you will start to see where I am coming from.

These fascinating little creatures (and I say fascinating from a scientific point of view) are very resourceful and very well evolved–if I may be allowed to use such a word. These creatures that would prefer a life outside the home feeding on dead and decay wood and other organic materials also seem to be comfortable in situations inside the homes of ordinary people. The are a nuisance and would not be noticed except when one stray one suddenly catches itself in a brightly lit room. Of course, it instinctively tries do return to some dark crevice to hide its self from the light.

Coincidently, people do the same to God. They live in darkness and enjoy the filth around them. Suddenly, when the light catches them off guard, they would rather run away than be exposed for what they really are. The light has a tendency to show the truth hiding behind the crevices of our hearts. In many cases, the truth becomse exposed and we instinctively make excuses so we can hide from “the light”. But God wants to exterminate these “roaches” in our lives.

Romans 10:9-10 is a key set of verses that shows us what it means to confess in and be saved. We must confess Jesus as Lord and believe in our hearts that God has raised Him from the dead. Once we do so, we have allowed Him full access to our lives. But many don’t want to give everything to God. They want to hold things in dark little corners where the light won’t penetrate. When the light does catch them off guard, they give up on their walk and go back to hide in the darkness. But we can not hide forever.

Proverbs 15:3 says: “The eyes of the LORD are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good.”

Imagine how much more penetrating those eyes are for those who have confessed! Unlike roaches, God is not put off by our dark spaces sin tries to hide in. His light can penetrate all areas of our lives. If we are truly serious about surrending our lives to Him, we have to be willing to allow His light to shine through us. This means there should be no place for “roaches” to hide. He wants to clean our dark spots so that we can be free from the infestation of sin. Sin, like roaches, can infest our lives and become an overwhelming pest. Like with a bad insect infestation, we must allow “someone” to come in and remove those pests from our lives.

Our “someone” is Jesus. Roaches are not fun and neither is sin once the “light” exposes it for what it really is. Sin keeps us in darkness because that is where it thrives.

Are there roaches in your life that need to be exterminated? Are you willing to let the light solve your infestation or are you still hiding in the dark? The dark isn’t fun for anyone and nobody like roaches. God is there ready to remove your roaches. Whether you are a believer who has backslidden or is struggling with some kind of thorn in the flesh or someone who is looking for help from the infestation that is taking over and possibly destroying your life, I can tell you that God is willing to take away all that. A can of Raid will temporarily remove roaches from an imediate area, but it will never be permanent. In much the same way, the things on this earth that we seek to fill these dark holes are only temporary solutions. We need God to be the ultimate exterminator. I take comfort in the words of 2 Timothy 2:19 which says: “Nevertheless the solid foundation of God stands, having this seal: “The Lord knows those who are His,” and, “Let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity.”” 

With a solid foundation in Christ, we can be free from sin; from an infestation that will ultimately destroy us.

Dear Lord,

We know that you and you alone have the power to remove the infestation of sin from our lives. We ask that your light will show us how we’ve allowed this infestation to build up and help pave the way to exterminate sin from our lives. Thank you for Christ who is our Lord and Savior and thank you for dying for us. We know that if we believe on you Lord Jesus that we will be saved (Acts 16:31). We confess that you are Lord and believe in our hearts that you were raised up from the grave. Thank you Lord for your love and interest in me.

In Jesus’ name,

Amen.

Why Sin Is Spelled With A “U”

Selfishness. My continuing observations of the world around me centers on that one word. Yet, most of us deny that we are living a selfish lives. We have become desensitized by the things around us. Our society has worked incredibly hard to make us think that it’s not about us when really it is. My previous post talked about where our joy comes from. I’d like you to indulge me further on this.

There are people that are simply just miserable all the time. You may know some of these people. They are the ones who come home and never have a nice thing to say about their day. This person was doing that and this person was doing this. In my line of work, it could be “this kid is like this and this kid did that.” I’ve been guilty of this on occasion, but it’s becoming less and less frequent as I learn to seek my joy from Christ rather than the situations around me.

That’s where the title of this post comes into play. Have you noticed that every sin mentioned has to do with you? Before you take this as a personaly attack, let me explain. If we look at the Ten Commandments, we see that the first 4 Commandments deal with our relationship toward God.  Only one God, no idols, the sabbath, etc, teach us that God is first, holy, and deserving of our love and honor. Right there, it takes the focus off of us and puts it where it should be. The last of the commandments give us direction that will guide us in that same light.

“Do not steal” is more than just about taking something that doesn’t belong to you. It is synonymous with “Do not covet” as you probably wouldn’t have stolen the item if you hadn’t been coveting it in the first place.  This makes it about “you”, or, about “us” (which ironically is also spelled with a “u”). We begin to become jealous of the person who has this “thing” that we want and we are willing to do anything to get it. “Do not kill” and “do not lie” come into play here. Many will lie and cheat to get there way even if it hurts someone else or in extreme cases, kills. Our jealousy can even hurt people close to us when it comes to loyalty to our spouses.

The religious leaders of Jesus’ time spent a lot of time asking Jesus about why He wasn’t following specific rules. The Bible tells us that Jesus knew their hearts. I believe He knew that they were more focused on each individual law that the failed to miss the bigger picture. If we look at the commandments as a whole, we see that God’s perfect plan–God’s perfect order–has always been in play. We were designed to worship Him and center our lives around His plan and will for our lives. Thus, the Ten Commandments were not given just for a check list of things not to do, but rather a way to direct us away from an “us” centered life of sin into a righteous, free life in Him. It would seem to me however that many Christians to this day focus on the minor rules without looking at the big picture.

The whole idea of this is that we shouldn’t need the Ten Commandments at all. We should be seeking after Christ and so willing to become like Him that our self won’t get in the way. Is your day or circumstance ultimately about you? Are you living your day expecting those around your to conform to your way of thinking? Do you expect people to act a certain way only to be disappointed because it didn’t go the way you had planned? If you answered yes to any of these, then you are hoping in things that will never make you content.

How do we find true contentment? We learn this in Philippians 4:8-9   “Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever thingsare pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there isanything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.” The peace of God is neverending. If we find our peace with Him, then Christians should be the most content and happy people on earth. If you feel free to read on in Philippians 4, you will read about all the trials Paul endured and yet still found peace and contentment.

I leave you with these words from The Message Paraphrased: “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.” Matthew 11:28-30

Patience Jedi

O.K., random title. I am in sort of a random mood. But, that spices things up a bit and makes the blog more spontaneous. This comes from being very relaxed. While most people are breathing a sigh of relief because it’s the weekend, I am relaxed because the day went so well.

Earlier in the week, I had a parent ask how I was able to stay so positive and cheerful dealing with all the students. My reply was it all depends on where  your joy comes from. While I’m not perfect everyday, I am finding it more and more fulfilling to cheerful in the midst of chaos rather than lash out and get angry. Actually, it keeps everything flowing more smoothly. When I am calm, the students are calmer. Calmer might sound like things are nice all the time. They really aren’t.

But, when things don’t go as planned, we are faced with a choice: Do we get upset about it or do we put it behind us? Many come home and vent in anger at the events of the day. This sends them on a downward spiral psychologically and emotionally as they begin to despair and think that nothing ever goes right. Without even meaning too or realizing it, they are in a constant state of frustration, anger, and despair. They feel like they are never happy and can never be happy.

There is good news however. We all have the power to choose how are attitude on life is going to be. Something I’ve always been taught from school, to work, to teaching is that attitude sets the stage for everything. “But Josh, you can’t be happy all the time.” Maybe not. But as a general rule, you can have joy in the midst of chaos. It all depends on your source of joy.

If your joy is dependant on the world around you and  things going as planned, then I’m sorry to tell you, you will be miserable more than you are happy or satisfied. If your joy comes from money and things, I can certainly guess how you would be miserable and depressed with all the news today about the economy. If you joy comes from others, what do you do when they let you down?

My joy comes from Christ. I know that He is perfect and already paid the ultimate price for me. There is no way He can let me down because He has already done everything I ever need Him to do. I am filled with joy knowing that through Him, I can do all things (see Philippians 4:13). I know that I don’t have to operate in my own strength.

Philippians 4:13 shows us that even when we don’t feel like we can handle a situation, even when it goes terribly wrong, even when things at work and home frustrate us, we can rest assured that God will give us the strength to take it on. With His help, we will still be able to find joy in the midst of our circumstances.

So, what is making you miserable? Is it something at work? A job its self? Do you feel as if you have never been happy? That nothing ever goes right? Perhaps your “treasure” is just in the wrong place?

Oh Father,

We are blessed to know that you are our strength, our shield, and our refuge. Thank you for sending Christ to be our deliverer from our sinful ways and thank you for giving us your Word to remind us that our joy comes from You and You alone. We ask that you help us remember this as we go day by day and tackle our daily “giants”.

We thank you and pray in Jesus’ Holy name,

Amen

I wish everyone the best weekend and hope you find “joy” in all you do.

In Christ,

Mr. Josh

The Laws of Science and God

An ongoing discussion I’ve been having with a Christian gone Atheists has proposed that Science proves there is no God and that there is no room for a God in Science. Obviously, I disagree as there are a few laws of science that can allow for God. Granted, it may not necessarily prove just the existence of the Christian God, but it does give a scientific argument for Creationists that secularists can’t argue with. View the following video and then read my continuing thoughts.

We know that the statement “Nothing creates Nothing” is true by looking at science. Have you ever seen a tree appear out of thin air? Do adult humans just suddenly appear or are we born first? We came from somewhere. So if nothing can create nothing, where does “something” come from? Since science confirms that the first law of Thermodynamics is true and can be tested, we are FORCED to believe that “Energy can not be created or destroyed.” So, it MUST have always existed. As the video suggests, it’s either some dumb, unthinking entity or an intelligent Creator that designed the universe the way it is.

One could argue (an Atheists generally do) that more than one energy source is responsible for the matter we have in our universe.  This poses a problem. Do all of these intelligent energy sources have the same idea in mind about what to create and how it should work? And, if they are multiple unintelligent sources, how did all this come about without causing utter chaos?

If Science holds true to their own theories and laws, then there are a lot of questions it has to answer for. This means things like miracles would not be impossible even if they fall outside the laws of nature. Wouldn’t the originating energy source be more powerful than the laws of science it created? So, science would by default have to acknowledge either “God” or a powerful Entity outside of our realm of thinking and testable sciences.

This of course would not force an individual to run and seek God and love and worship Him which He desires. It does make it harder to deny His presence and hand in the universe. It just appears to me that Science has stumbled across proof that God exists but our own stubborness as imperfect humans causes us to be blind to the truth–even if we created our own truth that proved the real truth, we still refuse to believe it.

Psalm 14:1 says: “The fool ^[a] says in his heart,
“There is no God.”
They are corrupt, their deeds are vile;
there is no one who does good.” (NIV, Copied from http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%2014:1;&version=31;)

Sometimes knowledge gets in the way of truly worshipping God. We are so obssessed with knowing all we can that we sometimes learn to much. That was the whole idea behind the tree in the garden. God knew that by eating the fruit, we would gain more knowledge than we know what to do with. Look around. How many useless gizmos and gadgets do we have? How many do YOU have? This is all based on our pursuit of knowledge.

I think the beauty of God is that He doesn’t require you to know everything about Him. He only desires that your heart is to seek Him. By staying close to Him and reading His words, He will fill us with knowledge as we show a hungry heart. After all, we were told by Christ that “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” (Matthew 5:6, NIV) We don’t have to have all the answers, we just have to be willing to allow God to reveal His truths to us. Where do you find your knowledge?

I leave you with these words from “The Message”:

Trust God from the bottom of your heart;
don’t try to figure out everything on your own.
Listen for God’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go;
he’s the one who will keep you on track.
Don’t assume that you know it all.
Run to God! Run from evil!
Your body will glow with health,
your very bones will vibrate with life!
Honor God with everything you own;
give him the first and the best.
Your barns will burst,
your wine vats will brim over.
But don’t, dear friend, resent God’s discipline;
don’t sulk under his loving correction.
It’s the child he loves that God corrects;
a father’s delight is behind all this.

-Proverbs 3:5-12 “The Message”