The Death of Will

While I no longer claim to be Southern Baptist, there were some good things that came from being raised that way that I will never forget. One of which was a question taught by David Atkins from a Catechism: "What is the chief end of man? To glorify God and enjoy Him forever."

This is so straightforward that the simpleness of it is overlooked for something more complex.
It is so straightforward that I have trouble understanding it.
There are many reasons for this but most can be connected a a sin such as pride.
Some other reasons can be because I seek a way to control how and when this happens.
Perhaps Luke 22:42 offers some help to enjoying God when pride and control abound.

It says, "Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done."

Jesus is getting ready to start the crucifixion process and then he prays this.
He is asking God for a different way, but in the end He understands the importance of things happening this way. He understands the perfect will of God. He understands that it sometimes looks different than how we think it should. And in this is one way that we can glorify God and enjoy Him forever. It is the death of our will.
It is the death of wanting things to go our way.
It is the death of thinking we know everything and have all the information.
It is the death of self.

And this is where I struggle.
Your will instead of mine.
That is what leads to the best life.
My pride tells me that I am always right and that others (including God) don't know what is going on. But the truth is, it doesn't matter how much I think I know, or how right I think I am, if I am not seeking Him first and laying down my will, I have no idea what it means to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.

Not my will, but yours be done.

How does someone even say that and mean it and live it?
How am I supposed to live in such a way that isn't absolutely selfish.
That is how society teaches me to live, what can I do?
How do I do something that constantly seems so out of reach?

It has to be everyday.
The death of my will has to happen everyday.
It is continual. It is admitting that I am not God.
It is looking to Jesus and realizing that if He had to do it, it would be foolish for me to think that I do not have to lay my will aside.

Not my will, but yours be done.
Everyday.

The Glory of it All

What even is there to say after the last few days in this country. How do I respond? How should a believer, a follower of Christ respond to lives being lost? Do I seek justice? Do I pray? Do I offer scripture? Do I post cute little sayings? Do I deflect and post stuff that has absolutely nothing to do with anything? What do I do?

What do I know?
Death is hard.
It comes for everyone.
It is impossible to escape.
Sometimes it comes far too early.
Sometimes it comes in unjust ways.
Sometimes it just doesn't make any sense.
But knowing this, doesn't make it any easier when death comes.
Alton Sterling's family knows this.
Philando Castile's family knows this.
The family of the officer's in Dallas know this.
I know this.
If you're reading this, you probably have lost someone close to you and know it as well.
If you haven't lost someone close, you are blessed with that but know, you will eventually.

Anything else to say here feels cheap. I've tried.
It seems that we do not get mourn and grieve without someone telling us we are doing it wrong or someone saying we should not mourn the loss of a certain life for some stupid reason in this internet age.

Don't be that person.
Don't trivialize what others are feeling.
Just because you are heartless doesn't mean that there is nothing to grieve.

Allow people to mourn for the loss of life.
Allow people to grieve for the state of this nation.
Don't trivialize this for someone else because you don't get it.
Don't offer cheap anecdotes because you don't know what to say.
Don't be Job's "friends" that tell him he is wrong for grieving the loss of his family.
Don't start a pointless argument on the internet because you are ignorant.
If someone is grieving and you don't know what to say, don't say anything.
You don't have to say something all the time.
Hold a hand. Give a hug. Cry with them.
If you want to show some someone love, just be there.

The Fear

"Only fear the Lord, and serve him faithfully with all your heart; for consider what great things he has done for you. But if you still do wickedly, you shall be swept away, both you and your king.”

1 Samuel 12:24-25

1 Samuel 12 is a farewell address of sorts for Samuel. His purpose is fulfilled. The Israelites have their king, and now it is time for him to move on and for Saul to lead the Israelites into being a great, God-honoring Kingdom. But things do not exactly follow that plan.

In this passage there are two pretty simple formulas:

1. Fear the Lord.

2. Follow His commands.

3. Prosper

or

1. Don’t fear the Lord.

2. Don’t follow His commands

3. Be “swept away.”

This is not a new idea. This is pretty much the idea put forth in much of the bible. We could debate what it means to prosper or do well (maybe another time?) But this is it. It is simple; it is to the point; and it is seemingly impossible. 

In the very next chapter, we have an example of Saul not fearing the Lord. So that didn’t really last long for Him. We don’t really have to go far or think too hard for many more examples of the Israelites doing things that showed their lack of fear or trust in the Lord. 

Fearing the Lord requires a certain level of humbleness that doesn’t seem becoming to people in western society. It requires us to admit that we are not our own bosses. It requires us to look up and realize that their is one much greater than us. It requires us to die to ourselves. Everyday. 

While this situation might seem bleak and we might wonder if we will ever have a proper view of fearing the Lord and a proper view of what it means to follow him, there is some good news. 

While it might seem impossible for us, there was one that it was not possible for. 

This is Whom we follow. 

This is Whom defeated sin. 

This is Whom died on the cross. 

This is Whom did not stay dead. 

This is Whom our life is found in. 

Yes, there are times that we will fail. But that isn’t where are story ends. If it was, I wouldn’t be here. I am only here now because of the grace and love of my savior. Without that, I would be off chasing money somewhere drowning in sin and doing my best to mess up everyones lives that I would happen to come in contact with through my extremely selfish actions.

None Shall Stand

"Therefore God also highly exalted him
    and gave him the name
    that is above every name,
10 so that at the name of Jesus
    every knee should bend,
    in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue should confess
    that Jesus Christ is Lord,
    to the glory of God the Father."

Philippians 2:9-11

Interestingly enough, the name of this blog is derived from the idea presented in this passage, and it has never been talked about on this blog before. So this seems like a good time to do that.

This passage is pretty clear.
Every knee.
Every tongue.

This is a lesson I have had to learn.

It hasn't been easy. 

It hasn't always been something that I have chosen. 

There are a few reasons for this:

1. I did not have a healthy fear of the Lord.

2. Sin is comfortable. 

3. Pride doesn't relent. 

But, really, all three of these are related. Recently, I preached on the fear of the Lord. I won't go into much detail about it now, but my next post will probably be a summary of sorts of that message. Without a healthy fear of the Lord, the life of a believer is focused on the wrong things. Priorities are mixed up. It is more focused on self than anything else, and that leads into finding comfort in sin or something other than the Lord.

Without a fear of the Lord, sin becomes more commonplace than it should. Will we ever be perfect? No. That doesn't mean that we should be accepting of sin either. How often do you find yourself doing something that you know you should not be doing but do not know how you really got there? That was the story of my life for more than ten years. There have been many times in my life in which I would be in the middle of doing something and have to stop and ask the question, "how it got this far?" I have to go back fifteen or so years to see the roots of some problems. One such problem came in the form of addiction. Sometime during the year 2014 I realized I was addicted. I was addicted to something that changed and altered how I viewed the world and my savior in ways that I never imagined. I was addicted to pornography. It got there through never viewing it as something that was dangerous to my being. It got there because I assumed I could stop at any moment. It got there because of pride.

Pride would not let me tell others about my problems. Pride allowed my sin and addiction to stay in a place of comfort and ease rather than where it should have been. It nearly ruined my life. Pride does not relent. Even now, it does not relent.

The good news is that the Lord does not relent as well. We don't have to be perfect. We don't have to do everything right. We don't have to have it all figured out. We don't have to do any of this because there was One that did.

At the name the name of Jesus...

I suppose I was fortunate.
Jesus found me and gave me a way out.
He gave me a choice.
He showed me that at His name, everything will bow.
At His name, sin has to flee.
At His name, death loses its sting.
At His name, I had to bow.

This is the only way I know of that leads to change. 

It is through recognizing he is sovereign and Lord of all. That is through open confession of sins and idols and whatever it is that is keeping you from him. You can’t do this on your own. You can’t fix this by yourself. You can’t do this apart from Christ and a body of believers. 

Every knee. 

Every tongue. 

You can either do it in life or death, but one will turn out much better for you.