We are far too easily pleased.

I will echo what a good friend of mine recently blogged about,  from C.S. Lewis’s, The Weight of Glory, 

“If there lurks in most modern minds the notion that to desire our own good and earnestly to hope for the enjoyment of it is a bad thing, I submit that this notion has crept in from Kant and the Stoics and is no part of the Christian faith.  Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak.  We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea.  We are far too easily pleased.’

 So very true,  all is gain when you deny yourself and find your identity in Christ.  

“But whatever thing were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ.  More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish so that I may gain Christ”  Phil 3:7-9

 

Your life is not yours.

Recently thinking about life, being a Christian, what does this mean?  This means that God even though I have sinned against him thinking this life is mine, my days, time, work, money, health is mine and it’s not.   Nothing in this world is ours, it is God’s and a Christians life is to give back to him.  Jesus died for our sins on the cross, in complete humility for all of our sins. 

Phil 2:3-11

Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.  Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interest of others.  Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of man.  And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obediant to the point of death, even death on a cross.

 So often we think that this time on God’s earth is ours, that we deserve something,  we dont.  But God is a gracious God who is sovereign over everything.   Jesus died so that we could be reconciled to him, and be his people, so that we give God the Glory he deserves.   I admit to being just as guilty of this in my own heart as everyone else.  Giving and receiving is an important part of a church.  I recommend a sermon on this at http://media.marshillchurch.org/ under topical series, money, subcategory Giving and Receiving. 

Film and Theology

I have a great interest in starting something on film and theology, the credit goes to my Pastor who greatly influenced me into this area, but recently watching many movies, and being a movie buff, I would like to start something on film and theology and need resources on how to do so and also some others who would be interested in this…. The number 23 is a decent movie recently seen with theology behind it,  based on Numbers 32:23 ‘But if you will not do so, behold, you have sinned against the Lord, and be sure your sin will find you out’  The movie omits the first parts of this passage and focuses on the latter, ‘and be sure your sin will find you out’  also the movie 300 has some theology behind it, but more to come and hope that someone will lend a hand in this area. 

Total Hope

In my life of 21 years so short lived, I was very set on finding a meaning, a philosophy, or a purpose.  Until I came to Christ and am so thankful and undeserving I had no purpose. My worldview before was that of, if I just learn more I can understand, if I just see more of the world then I will know, If I just do more of this or more of that, I will find an answer.  Often today in America there is an especially disheartening world of depression, loneliness, anxiety.   The phrase, “EMO” often comes into play, that we are just here and theres no real meaning and its so dark. 

Solomon speaks of the reason why so many come to this conclusion in the search of wisdom,  Eccl 1: 18 “For in much wisdom is much vexation, and he who increases in knowledge increases sorrow.”  He is saying that those other “philosophers” that think well I’ll just get a degree in this, or I’ll study history so I dont make the same mistake twice, end up doing that which they set out not to do.  They fail.  Well cheer up because the world sucks, and you suck but there is hope.  And that hope is in Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour.   There is redemption through his blood.  

John 6: 26 ‘Jesus answered them “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you  saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.  27 Do not labor for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you.  For on him God the father has set his seal.”  John 6:  35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst” 

So when you say that well, I have found something new something different, Solomon again goes over this,Eccl 1: 9 What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun.   10 Is there a thing of which it is said, ‘See this is new’?   11 It has been already in the ages before us.  There is no remembrance of former things, nor will there be any rememberance of later thing yet to be among those who come after. ”  The trends of the generations with music, religion, culture, intellectual studies, all searching for an identity, all seeking a purpose and why, well in the book of Genesis 27 “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”  So it is right to seek purpose to seek truth its in our nature because God mades us that way, and he justified this through his Son Jesus Christ.

The  Gospel says that we are  redeemed, that this is made right in the person of Jesus, that he was tempted without sin, was crucified and resurrected overcoming the sin, death and toil of this world that in him and through him we can find redemption, we can find a saviour.   So cheer up and don’t be so Emo because you in fact suck but there is one perfect who came to be and who is to come without beginning and without end and that is Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour. 

John 3: 16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.  17Gor God did not send his Son into the world to codemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.  18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe in him is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 19 And this is the judgement: the light has come into the world, and peopled loved the darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil.  20 For everyone who does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.  21 But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his deeds have been carried out in God.” 

Two are better than one.

Jerry Bridges has an excellent section in his book The Discipline of Grace,  titled Two are Better than One,  “Since mortification is a difficult work, aimed at subduing strong desires and deeply ingrained habits we need the help of one  or two friends to engage in the struggle with us.  These friends should be believers who share our commitment to the pursuit of holiness and who are also willing to be mutually open with us about their own struggles” (p.195). Ecclesiastes 4:9-10, “9 Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. 10 For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up!” This is great in the sense that we have brothers and sisters in Christ in this world, because the Lord blesses us with these people but also more importantly the Church.  So that we can all rally and stand for the cause of Christ Jesus in whom we don’t deserve. 

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