One of the
great debates of our day is whether or not God exists. Many of our day choose
to believe that the worldview of Atheism (NO GOD) is the best explanation over
and above the worldview of Theism (GOD). So how can one determine which
worldview is true? The only answer is in the evidence.
Now many
want to point to Darwinism as a support to Atheism, but the reality is not whether
one believes in evolution or creationism (another discussion), the bigger question
is “Why is there something versus nothing?” Science is in agreement with the
Bible in the fact that both state the Universe came into existence. So the
question is “Why does it exist now?” From a logical standpoint the only game in
town is that there had to be something prior to the existence of the Universe
that brought the Universe into existence. This makes sense at every level
regarding Cause & Effect. For example, if a book comes into existence there
has to be an author. Therefore, if the
Universe came into existence at some point the only logical explanation was
that there had to be a Cause behind it. It seems to take greater faith to
believe ‘something came from nothing’ than to believe that ‘something came from
something prior to it.’ The first statement of the Bible seems to be the most
logical, and simply put I don’t have enough faith to be an Atheist.
Genesis 1:1 – In the beginning God
created the heavens and the earth
I was
talking to my uncle the other day who said that he had been in and out of
church most of his life and had never been regular until these last few years,
but he was taken aback at how Christians can argue over the silliest of things.
I agreed! Over the years as a pastor, sadly, too many of my phone calls are not
pertaining to theological questions, but where people have gotten upset over
one thing or the other. This is NOT the Christian way!!!
First, I
want to apologize to anyone who has been hurt by “church folk” and hope that
you never judge Jesus by our brokenness. As a sinful follower of Jesus myself and
part of those “church folk,” I may not always represent Him like I should, but that
is why I need Him cause I’m still a work in progress. I am just one beggar
telling other beggars where the bread is.
Second,
if you are a believer, apologize to the world in how you have misrepresented
Jesus by complaining or arguing over silly things. The truth be told when we
stop and count our blessings there should be no complaining at all, only praise
to our King.
Philippians
2:14-16 – Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become
blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved
generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the
word of life—.
Matthew
23:37 – How often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen
gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing.
Jesus
spoke these words in a pretty heavy conversation with the religious folk of His
day. He was addressing the push back and hypocrisy of those who said they knew
God, yet were poor representatives of God. Can you imagine how it would go over
today to have someone be so honest as to call the leaders a bunch of snakes? Yet,
that is how honest and truthful Jesus was to the religious leaders of His day a
few verses earlier in this passage. He was telling them they have misunderstood
who God is and gave evidence in how they have been guilty of leading others away
from Him.
In this
statement, Jesus, in a context of sadness over these religious leaders, reveals
the very heart of God. The Lord longs to gather the sinful to Himself. He gives
us a picture of a hen gathering her little ones to herself which is a very
comforting and nurturing picture of God versus the picture that many of us have
of a God ready to do away with us when we mess up. God wants to pull you in
under His wings so that you can feel safe, comforted, nurtured, protected and
looked after in a world that so easily can hurt us. Sadly, many miss this
invitation of God because of our own unwillingness to see Him as He is, a
loving Lord. What is keeping you from coming to Him today?
The
19th-century British evangelist Rodney (Gypsy) Smith once said, “There are five
Gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and the Christian—but most people never read
the first four.” The reason so many people doubt Christianity today is because many
have not seen the authentic life change in those who claim to be believers.
It’s easy to go to church, hear three points and a poem, shake everyone’s hand
and bid everyone a good week, but it is difficult to actually surrender the
details of our lives to Christ so that He can be revealed in our day to day
living. As the quote above relates, why
should people bother with the four Gospels if they can’t get around the life of
the Christian believer.
So
the question to pose is to the Christian: What kind of Jesus are you revealing
to the world this week? Is it your ‘personal pet Jesus’ that overlooks the
things you do, ‘denominational Jesus’ that fits nicely within your traditions,
or the actual, authentic, historical Jesus of the Bible? I’m reminded of a story where a young boy
named Joe brought his friend for the first time to church. The teacher ask the
class, “Who would you like to be like?” The young friend, not knowing who Jesus
is, said Joe. The teacher, trying to set the boy up for the Sunday School
answer, stated, “Wouldn’t you like to be like Jesus?” The young friend said,
“Yes! If he is anything like Joe.” Would someone say that about you this week?
1 John 2:6 NLT – Those who say they
live in God should live their lives as Jesus did.
Psalm 46:10 – Be still, and know that I am
God;
When I was
young my mother used to tell me I had “Ants in my Pants” because I wouldn’t sit
still much as I was always into something. Sadly, we have become an “Ants in
your Pants” society because most of us hate being still. How many people
constantly stay on their phone nowadays? We are a culture of little
busy-bodies! Over time this kind of approach to life is exhausting to our body
and draining to our spirit.
In this little
verse, God is calling us to be still, but why? The answer is to know that He is
God and not ourselves, or some circumstance or interruption in life. The reason
many of us struggle with hearing from God is because our lives are too loud,
too busy with our own self-will that we cannot hear as Elijah did ‘the still,
small voice of God’ (1 Kings 19:11-13). Sitting in silence, allowing our minds
to declutter and detox from the junk of the world is a necessary practice for
spiritual sanity. Biblical meditation is refocusing the mind on God unlike the
Eastern practice where one attempts to empty their mind which is actually logically
impossible. We must learn to recapture the silence and the stillness of life
and let the beauty of God rekindle the fire within our hearts. There is a time
to be busy, but the joy you get out of the busyness of life will be determined
in how connected you are with God in those still moments we create everyday.
