The word "joy", or words containing it (such as "joyful"), appears in the Bible 242 times. So it must be important, right?
For seven days celebrate the Feast to the LORD your God at the place the LORD will choose. For the LORD your God will bless you in all your harvest and in all the work of your hands, and your joy will be complete.
Deuteronomy 16:15
David told the leaders of the Levites to appoint their brothers as singers to sing joyful songs, accompanied by musical instruments: lyres, harps and cymbals.
1 Chronicles 15:16
He will yet fill your mouth with laughter and your lips with shouts of joy.
Job 8:21
The precepts of the LORD are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the LORD are radiant, giving light to the eyes.
Psalm 19:8
But may the righteous be glad and rejoice before God; may they be happy and joyful.
Pslam 68:3
So exactly what is joy? And how do we feel it? Honestly, I wish that I had all of the answers. Sure, it's easy to talk about being joyful, but it's pretty hard to actually do. As Christians we should have "the joy of the Lord" at all times. Right? But then the car breaks down when our bills haven't been paid, our paycheck isn't what we thought it would be, our boss is driving us crazy, our kids are failing, and so on... Maintaining that joy can be pretty hard at times.
Maybe it would help to see exactly what joy is. I mean, do we really know what that word means and what it feels like? Here's a video you may or may not have seen.
That's how God wants us to be! No worries, no thoughts, just delight in His creation. That baby elk is having a ton of fun. Now, I know, that animal doesn't have bills and responsibilities. But maybe...just maybe...we can sometimes put those things away. When we pause and concentrate on God, we can feel that Joy.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
unChristian: Hypocritical
So now that things have calmed down a bit in my own life (just finished performing in Much Ado About Nothing with my wife), I can get back to my plan to further discuss David Kinnaman's book, unChristian. Today I want to concentrate on one of the biggest perceptions about Christians...that we are hypocritical.
What does it mean to be hypocritical? Basically it means to say one thing and do another. With Christians it means talking a lot about God, Jesus, and the teachings of the Bible, but not acting on them in any significant way. One quote from Kinnaman's book really grabbed me, and it speaks to some Christians. A woman told of her husband abusing her, "even though he taught Bible studies about how husbands should love their wives." A man interviewed for the study said "My former pastor used to teach baptism by immersion, then he got a better job with the Presbyterians and now he teachs baptism can be done by sprinkling. What you believe depends on where your paycheck is coming from, I guess."
Wow, is this how Christians are really seen? Among young non-Christians surveyed, 85% know at least one commited Christian, yet only 15% thought that the lifestyles of those Christians were singificantly different from the norm. When born-again believers were surveyed as to their own lifestyles, they were statistically just as likely as non-Christians to gamble, become drunk, view pornography, and other bad behaviors. I hate to say it, but it's not rare to see Christians talking a lot about how Christ is working in their lives, but then failing to see this happening. I've seen it in people around me, and have been guilty of it myself.
So what does all of this mean? Well, we Christians are human, and full of sin just like anyone else. Unfortunately, having a faith in Jesus does not keep us from making mistakes. We're going to mess up despite our best intentions. But hopefully we won't do it as willingly as non-Christians.
Kinnaman talks about "transparency", and I think this can be a good model. This means that we need to be open with people about our failings, and apologize for them. We can't have a "holier than thou" attitude and think that we're better than anyone else. When we mess up, we need to fess up (to draw on my Southern heritage) and admit to the mistake. We also need to have transparency about ourselves, realize our hypocracy, and work hard to fix this problem. Knowing that we're ambassadors from Jesus to the world, and that our actions influence people's opinions about God, Jesus, and Christianity, we need to more actively study our own behaviors and see if they meet with the Bible's standards. Holding a mirror up to ourselves is a difficult but necessary step.
If we're going to have people believe what we say about God, we need them to be able to trust us. If they see us as hypocrites, they won't give us that trust. We also want people to be drawn to Christianity and want to become Christians. But to do that, we need to show them a better, non-hypocrotical person.
What does it mean to be hypocritical? Basically it means to say one thing and do another. With Christians it means talking a lot about God, Jesus, and the teachings of the Bible, but not acting on them in any significant way. One quote from Kinnaman's book really grabbed me, and it speaks to some Christians. A woman told of her husband abusing her, "even though he taught Bible studies about how husbands should love their wives." A man interviewed for the study said "My former pastor used to teach baptism by immersion, then he got a better job with the Presbyterians and now he teachs baptism can be done by sprinkling. What you believe depends on where your paycheck is coming from, I guess."
Wow, is this how Christians are really seen? Among young non-Christians surveyed, 85% know at least one commited Christian, yet only 15% thought that the lifestyles of those Christians were singificantly different from the norm. When born-again believers were surveyed as to their own lifestyles, they were statistically just as likely as non-Christians to gamble, become drunk, view pornography, and other bad behaviors. I hate to say it, but it's not rare to see Christians talking a lot about how Christ is working in their lives, but then failing to see this happening. I've seen it in people around me, and have been guilty of it myself.
So what does all of this mean? Well, we Christians are human, and full of sin just like anyone else. Unfortunately, having a faith in Jesus does not keep us from making mistakes. We're going to mess up despite our best intentions. But hopefully we won't do it as willingly as non-Christians.
Kinnaman talks about "transparency", and I think this can be a good model. This means that we need to be open with people about our failings, and apologize for them. We can't have a "holier than thou" attitude and think that we're better than anyone else. When we mess up, we need to fess up (to draw on my Southern heritage) and admit to the mistake. We also need to have transparency about ourselves, realize our hypocracy, and work hard to fix this problem. Knowing that we're ambassadors from Jesus to the world, and that our actions influence people's opinions about God, Jesus, and Christianity, we need to more actively study our own behaviors and see if they meet with the Bible's standards. Holding a mirror up to ourselves is a difficult but necessary step.
If we're going to have people believe what we say about God, we need them to be able to trust us. If they see us as hypocrites, they won't give us that trust. We also want people to be drawn to Christianity and want to become Christians. But to do that, we need to show them a better, non-hypocrotical person.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
unChristian
A couple of weeks ago I picked up a book at Family Christian Bookstore that was 50% off...unChristian by David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons. I am a non-traditional Christian and came from a background where Christ wasn't the center of our family. Having come to faith in Jesus later in life, I have a different perspective than many Christians. So I am interested in how to reach people in a non-traditional way (hence the way I do ministries). So this book caught my attention.
Kinnaman works for the Barna Group, a well-known polling company who studies Christianity and religious trends in society. This book is the result of extensive study of the opinions and views of people both within and without Christianity. The data is fascinating, especially in how "outsiders" view Christians. Kinnaman focuses on six big viewpoints of these people towards Christianity, why they feel this way, and what we might be able to do to change these perceptions. I'm not going to go into too many details now, as I plan on discussing it more during this month.
Frankly, I think that this book should be required reading for anyone involved in minstry or churches. There are reasons why younger people are turning away from Christianity, and we have done it to ourselves. By appearing judgemental, hypocritical, bigoted, and other negative traits, we have pushed people away from us. Our attitudes have taken away from the true message that God has for us. Really, we have no one to blame but ourselves. This is why every Christian minister and teacher should absolutely read this book. Believe me, it will change how you view your duties, outreach, and the world around you.
But that's a good thing. We need to recapture society and be viewed differently. Only by showing people how wonderful God is and his incredible grace will people want to turn to Him. And it's really about people wanting to be involved with Jesus....we can't force them to. The message is great, but we need to improve as messengers. Since we did this to ourselves and to God's Kingdom, we can also change it back. A book like unChristian can help us by identifying our failures. It's a harsh mirror that Kinnaman holds up, but it's one we need to look in.
I can't recommend this book highly enough. I will be briefly discussing some of the highlights of it in the upcoming weeks, but it won't be the same as reading the book yourself. Click on the image to go to one of the online retailers where you can buy it.
Kinnaman works for the Barna Group, a well-known polling company who studies Christianity and religious trends in society. This book is the result of extensive study of the opinions and views of people both within and without Christianity. The data is fascinating, especially in how "outsiders" view Christians. Kinnaman focuses on six big viewpoints of these people towards Christianity, why they feel this way, and what we might be able to do to change these perceptions. I'm not going to go into too many details now, as I plan on discussing it more during this month.
Frankly, I think that this book should be required reading for anyone involved in minstry or churches. There are reasons why younger people are turning away from Christianity, and we have done it to ourselves. By appearing judgemental, hypocritical, bigoted, and other negative traits, we have pushed people away from us. Our attitudes have taken away from the true message that God has for us. Really, we have no one to blame but ourselves. This is why every Christian minister and teacher should absolutely read this book. Believe me, it will change how you view your duties, outreach, and the world around you.
But that's a good thing. We need to recapture society and be viewed differently. Only by showing people how wonderful God is and his incredible grace will people want to turn to Him. And it's really about people wanting to be involved with Jesus....we can't force them to. The message is great, but we need to improve as messengers. Since we did this to ourselves and to God's Kingdom, we can also change it back. A book like unChristian can help us by identifying our failures. It's a harsh mirror that Kinnaman holds up, but it's one we need to look in.
I can't recommend this book highly enough. I will be briefly discussing some of the highlights of it in the upcoming weeks, but it won't be the same as reading the book yourself. Click on the image to go to one of the online retailers where you can buy it.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Are You Approachable?
This year at Dragon*Con one of our Fans For Christ members received a compliment from someone at the fan table registration area, which was right next to our table for the weekend. She said that we were most approachable and easy to talk to Christians she had ever been around. At first I thought "Great! That's what we're trying to do! We want to show non-Christians that we're really no different than them and want them to be able to talk to us." But the more I thought about it, the more I felt it was a strong, bad, but well-deserved statement on modern Christianity.
Many people see conservative Christians as prudish, judgmental, elitist, and isolationist. As much as I hate to admit it, this does hold true in many cases. My father's next-door neighbor is a Baptist minister and wife, and they are poorly regarded by the entire neighborhood. They have created so many problems by their negative attitudes and picky behaviors towards other people. This has made my father rather cynical about Christianity. After all, this minister is acting as a representative of Christ to other people, and he's not being a good ambassador.
A friend of ours was excited about being a part of a newly created church. They are fans and geeks, go to cons, and run a comic and gaming store. They thought that their pastor was accepting of them, their hobbies, and their business, and they were looking forward to being able to invite their friends to a church that would accept these eccentricities. Then their pastor told them that they had to be careful about these things because it might reflect poorly on the church. The pastor was worried about what people would think about appearances, not as much about what was in their hearts.
Is this the image that non-Christians see? Unfortunately, yes. This is more common that I would like to admit, but I have to be truthful. And this is totally against what Jesus did! He was criticized by the religious leaders of his time because He hung around sinners, beggars, prostitutes, and others that were considered pariahs by "polite society". Did Jesus worry about that? No. He openly defied the temple leaders and others by going where people were in need. And he made himself approachable and easy to talk to. Shouldn't we be like Jesus?
We are supposed to be showing people God's love for them. We are supposed to reach out to those that nobody else wants. How can we do this if we hold ourselves off and are constantly condemning or insulting people? We can't. If we want to truly fulfill the Great Commission, we need to make ourselves real and approachable. We need to make people comfortable around us. Look at my Ninjate points 6-8 on the side bar. Become the kind of Christian that people want to be around and you'll have a much better chance of leading them into the arms of God.
Many people see conservative Christians as prudish, judgmental, elitist, and isolationist. As much as I hate to admit it, this does hold true in many cases. My father's next-door neighbor is a Baptist minister and wife, and they are poorly regarded by the entire neighborhood. They have created so many problems by their negative attitudes and picky behaviors towards other people. This has made my father rather cynical about Christianity. After all, this minister is acting as a representative of Christ to other people, and he's not being a good ambassador.
A friend of ours was excited about being a part of a newly created church. They are fans and geeks, go to cons, and run a comic and gaming store. They thought that their pastor was accepting of them, their hobbies, and their business, and they were looking forward to being able to invite their friends to a church that would accept these eccentricities. Then their pastor told them that they had to be careful about these things because it might reflect poorly on the church. The pastor was worried about what people would think about appearances, not as much about what was in their hearts.
Is this the image that non-Christians see? Unfortunately, yes. This is more common that I would like to admit, but I have to be truthful. And this is totally against what Jesus did! He was criticized by the religious leaders of his time because He hung around sinners, beggars, prostitutes, and others that were considered pariahs by "polite society". Did Jesus worry about that? No. He openly defied the temple leaders and others by going where people were in need. And he made himself approachable and easy to talk to. Shouldn't we be like Jesus?
We are supposed to be showing people God's love for them. We are supposed to reach out to those that nobody else wants. How can we do this if we hold ourselves off and are constantly condemning or insulting people? We can't. If we want to truly fulfill the Great Commission, we need to make ourselves real and approachable. We need to make people comfortable around us. Look at my Ninjate points 6-8 on the side bar. Become the kind of Christian that people want to be around and you'll have a much better chance of leading them into the arms of God.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Christian Sci-Fi/Fantasy
Many traditional Christians wouldn't touch a science-fiction or fantasy novel with a ten foot pole. There is something about the genres that makes some Christians worry that these are anti-Christ stories or that the subjects somehow are against God. Those same people seem to forget that C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien were some of the penultimate fantasy writers that people still emulate today, and both were strong Christians who included Biblical themes in their books. Many people may not realize that Lewis also wrote sci-fi. So if these authors can include Christianity in their novels, why can't modern writers?
That's why I wanted to give a little plug to a few people I know. My wife and I met Michelle Weston at Dragon*Con, and were excited to talk to her. She is a published author that wants to write more Christian-themed fantasy fiction in the vein of Lewis. She gave us one of her books, which I am very much looking forward to reading. You can find her at www.elysianchronicles.com or www.mbweston.com. She was very supportive of what we were doing through Fans For Christ at the con, and I admire her desire to do genre work.
There is a newer publisher that has decided to concentrate on Christian speculative fiction, and is growing its library of books. Marcher Lord Press is trying to show writers and fans that you can be a Christian, write Christian themes, and still have genre settings. I love what they do and think they have some great books (which I'll review at another time).
I know that I don't have a wide readership on this blog, but maybe I can influence some of you to support other Christians and check out some of these books. We can follow Christ and still read fun stories that aren't set in our modern world.
That's why I wanted to give a little plug to a few people I know. My wife and I met Michelle Weston at Dragon*Con, and were excited to talk to her. She is a published author that wants to write more Christian-themed fantasy fiction in the vein of Lewis. She gave us one of her books, which I am very much looking forward to reading. You can find her at www.elysianchronicles.com or www.mbweston.com. She was very supportive of what we were doing through Fans For Christ at the con, and I admire her desire to do genre work.
There is a newer publisher that has decided to concentrate on Christian speculative fiction, and is growing its library of books. Marcher Lord Press is trying to show writers and fans that you can be a Christian, write Christian themes, and still have genre settings. I love what they do and think they have some great books (which I'll review at another time).
I know that I don't have a wide readership on this blog, but maybe I can influence some of you to support other Christians and check out some of these books. We can follow Christ and still read fun stories that aren't set in our modern world.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Dragon*Con 2009
The last few weeks have been pretty hectic preparing for our annual Dragon*Con trip, hence the even less than regular updates. But I'm home now, and thanks to God had a great time. For a full report, you can read it on the Fans For Christ website, at this link.
One of he biggest things I learned at the con was that God is faithful and will provide. In the weeks leading up to the con my family ran into some pretty frustrating and depressing problems with cars and finances. We worried that we weren't going to be able to pay for things. Even though we knew that Satan was trying to keep us away, and this was really a spiritual battle, it was still pretty hard. It shouldn't have been. We have been in tough situations before, and God has never let us down.
We humans are pretty bad worriers. We fret and wring our hands and moan about not knowing how we'll get through. God must be sadly shaking his head at any Christians doing this. After our service on Sunday, I was talking to my wife about it and was amazed at God's grace and providence, berating myself for ever being concerned. God showed us in some incredible ways that he wanted us at the con and would take care of us. We shouldn't be surprised, as this is exactly what He promised! The same is true in the rest of our lives. It's pretty scary some times, but if we trust in and rely on God fully, he will take care of us.
"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?
One of he biggest things I learned at the con was that God is faithful and will provide. In the weeks leading up to the con my family ran into some pretty frustrating and depressing problems with cars and finances. We worried that we weren't going to be able to pay for things. Even though we knew that Satan was trying to keep us away, and this was really a spiritual battle, it was still pretty hard. It shouldn't have been. We have been in tough situations before, and God has never let us down.
We humans are pretty bad worriers. We fret and wring our hands and moan about not knowing how we'll get through. God must be sadly shaking his head at any Christians doing this. After our service on Sunday, I was talking to my wife about it and was amazed at God's grace and providence, berating myself for ever being concerned. God showed us in some incredible ways that he wanted us at the con and would take care of us. We shouldn't be surprised, as this is exactly what He promised! The same is true in the rest of our lives. It's pretty scary some times, but if we trust in and rely on God fully, he will take care of us.
"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?
"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Matthew 6:25-34
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Blessed To Be A Blessing
The Lord and said to Abram, "Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you. "I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you."
Genesis 12:1-3
Many of us have heard the saying "we are blessed in order to be a blessing." I have seen that recently in my life. Both of our vehicles broke down in the same week, but thankfully we have a man in our church that owns an auto repair shop. He drove with my wife's father almost an hour away to help her when the belt on the van broke. And he wanted us to bring it to his shop a few days later so he could do a more permanent fix. He also replaced the water pump on my car the week before. And in both cases he let us do this with minimal payment, knowing that we would pay him back in the upcoming months. Because of him, we now have safe, driveable vehicles when we don't have the ability to immediately pay for repairs. He truly blessed us by his actions.
Today a woman in our church came up to me and told me that she had discovered a lump on her dog's neck, but they barely have the money to keep a roof over their heads (for those who don't know or haven't read my profile, I am a veterinarian). Tearfully she asked if I could take a look at him for her. Remembering Brian's blessing to us, I realized that God was allowing me to give back, and I quickly agreed to come over to her house tomorrow to look at her dog and see if it is something that needs to be taken care of right away or if it could wait a while.
God helps us become who and what we are. He gives us desires and abilities that others may not have. I have no particularly great skill with cars, despite the fact that my father used to be a mechanic and worked for Volvo as a regional sales manager. Yet I have skill with medicine and animals. I'm definitely a capitalist and believe in free market enterprise, and don't think that these views are incompatible with Christianity. But I also think that we should be examples of God's blessings, especially to other Christians. God gives us these skills so that we can be a light in the world, and an example of what His love is like.
In your own lives you have knowledge and abilities that others don't. Look at how you can use those to further God's Kingdom, and how you might be a blessing to others. God gave this to you to use for Him and for others, not merely for yourself. And He will bless you when you are generous with His gifts.
Genesis 12:1-3
Many of us have heard the saying "we are blessed in order to be a blessing." I have seen that recently in my life. Both of our vehicles broke down in the same week, but thankfully we have a man in our church that owns an auto repair shop. He drove with my wife's father almost an hour away to help her when the belt on the van broke. And he wanted us to bring it to his shop a few days later so he could do a more permanent fix. He also replaced the water pump on my car the week before. And in both cases he let us do this with minimal payment, knowing that we would pay him back in the upcoming months. Because of him, we now have safe, driveable vehicles when we don't have the ability to immediately pay for repairs. He truly blessed us by his actions.
Today a woman in our church came up to me and told me that she had discovered a lump on her dog's neck, but they barely have the money to keep a roof over their heads (for those who don't know or haven't read my profile, I am a veterinarian). Tearfully she asked if I could take a look at him for her. Remembering Brian's blessing to us, I realized that God was allowing me to give back, and I quickly agreed to come over to her house tomorrow to look at her dog and see if it is something that needs to be taken care of right away or if it could wait a while.
God helps us become who and what we are. He gives us desires and abilities that others may not have. I have no particularly great skill with cars, despite the fact that my father used to be a mechanic and worked for Volvo as a regional sales manager. Yet I have skill with medicine and animals. I'm definitely a capitalist and believe in free market enterprise, and don't think that these views are incompatible with Christianity. But I also think that we should be examples of God's blessings, especially to other Christians. God gives us these skills so that we can be a light in the world, and an example of what His love is like.
In your own lives you have knowledge and abilities that others don't. Look at how you can use those to further God's Kingdom, and how you might be a blessing to others. God gave this to you to use for Him and for others, not merely for yourself. And He will bless you when you are generous with His gifts.
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