Serie on the Basics of Christianity

I have reached the end of a series that has been very dear to me.

When I started posting these messages I was not at all certain of what the reaction would be.

And I did not feel, and I still do not feel, like an authority about Christianity.

But I wanted to talk about the basics.

What is it that we really believe, the essence of Christian faith.

Not the differences and difficult questions but what is the heart of Christianity.

It may seem like a simple thing but it really is not.

And I could not have done it without all that I have learned from so many people full of God's love and spirit.

And I could not have done it without prayer and God Himself.

I hope I have not mistaken too much.

But here are the links to all the posts in the serie on the Basics of Christianity:

To begin, read Natural law. A post about the law we all have in our hearts.

If you would like to know what comes after read the post about Moral law.

Having read that, you'll need to know Which moral law to choose. 

If you agree we need to choose a moral law, maybe you'll agree that We need God.   

After we have understood the need we have for God, it is time to research What is sin. 

Having accepted your need for God, what kind of God is exactly a Christian God? This you can find out about in What we Christians believe. 

Why is it so hard to follow Christian faith? What prevents you to believe in God?

Do not let yourself to be fooled by Christianity and water. 

Who was first? The chicken or the egg? Read the post Of good and band - who was there first? The chicken or the egg? 

If God is above everything else and did not create evil then Why God accepts the evil in the world?

We run on God, like a car on gas. This is why We cannot live without God.  

Do you want to know about the good dreams God sent to us? Read Who is Jesus?

Are you ready to believe? Do you know who The Perfect Penitent is? And what He means to us.

But How can God help us if He has never needed help Himself?  

Would you like to know how to obtain this new life in Christ? Then read Conductors of the new life.  

How to achieve that new life, what is needed? Read in What is repentance?

What to do after repenting? Are you wondering if this is for you? Now, It is time to choose.

Wondering what to do after you have given your life to Christ. Read How to preserve Christ-life after acquiring it?

 

Thought for today

Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy 1

What is the Sabbath?

Phillip Cary, in his book Good News for Anxious Christians: Ten Practical Things You Don't Have to Do, says: “Every time we turn to Christ in faith it is like a moment of Sabbath, a little foretaste of eternal rest and glory. The gift of that moment lies not in what we do but what we receive. It is the holy time set aside to receive the greatest gift of God ever has to give, which is himself, in his own beloved Son.”

 
What does this mean to the people today? For me personally. Today people want to be connected 24/7. 

I find myself waking up and checking out what is happening in Google+, Facebook and in my blog. 

Since I am ex-pat, living abroad, far away from most of my family and friends, this is the easiest, and sometimes only, way to keep in contact with the people I miss.

Besides my family and friends, I have met new people and made new friendships online. Many of these friendships are very meaningful and the people are real for me. We share our lives and we share our faith, we encourage each other and let each other know that we are facing similar challenges in our lives and faith.

There is a lot of talk about this phenomenon. People don’t exactly know how to deal with it. Many people talk about their “real-life” and “virtual” friends. Others say that people online are as real as the ones we meet elsewhere.

In churches there is talk about online services, online evangelism, online preaching and reaching out online to win more souls.

I want to think myself to be part of this.

All this seems good but still, people worry. 

Is it OK to use internet on Sabbath? Should we do it as Christians or should we keep ourselves away from the computer as part of the Sabbath rest? Will the computer only keep us busy and not allow the use of internet as a way to sanctify the day? 

Mark Buchanan says in his book The Holy Wild: Trusting in the Character of God:  “Most of the things we need to be most fully alive never come in busyness. They grow in rest.”

There are people that feel this means we should not be online, we should turn off our cellphones and disconnect from the world.

I feel that we should not make rules and regulations. After all, like Jesus says in Mark: And he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. (Mark 2:27)

It would be easy to say, "Don't use computer on Sunday!" "Turn off your cellphone during the Sunday!".

Rules are easy to make and easy to break.

But life isn't easy. What if someone uses the phone or computer to read Bible? What if they use it to listen to the Gospel and Christian music?

So, using the computer or phone to do "Christian things" is OK.

But shouldn't everything be then just Christian on Sunday?Does that mean watching movies on Sunday is a sin? Or going out with your family?

Here comes the difficulty of the rules.

Maybe we should explore further what Sabbath means in the Bible. Why it was given to people.

In Ezekiel we can find that the Sabbath is a sign of covenant between the man and God. God tells the prophet: Also I gave them my Sabbaths as a sign between us, so they would know that I the Lord made them holy. (Ezekiel 20:12)

I think it is very important today to remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. But there are different ways to keep Sabbath holy. As Emily Dickinson said: “Some keep the Sabbath going to church, I keep it staying at home, with a bobolink for a chorister, and an orchard for a dome. ”

This is the first part of three part consideration on what is the Sabbath. In the next part I will concentrate on the reason why God Himself celebrated Sabbath and gave it to men. 

You can find the second part of this series here.

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good.

⁶ So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, ⁷ rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

Colossians, New International Version (NIV)

In America today is Thanksgiving Day. It's not my tradition but I can clearly see in the Bible that thanksgiving is something all of us Christians should do.

I wanted to dedicate this post to giving thanks. But in reality, for a long time, I have wanted to dedicate my life to giving thanks to God.

I will praise God’s name in song and glorify him with thanksgiving.

Psalm 69:30

There are so many reasons why I just wouldn't be here, not be me, if it weren't for God and His divine intervention.

So many reasons why I wouldn't want to be here without God and His love.

¹⁵ Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.

Colossians 3, New International Version (NIV)

For some time allready I have wanted to make my life a beautiful sacrifice for Him.

Live my life for Him, in everything and everywhere, every moment of time.

Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for mankind,

Psalm 107:8

To be able to say, it is not me but God, who works through me.

It is not for my own praise but always to exalt Him.

² Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.

Colossians 4,New International Version (NIV)

I may not be able to do incredible deeds, but the deeds I do. I want to dedicate to His glory.

It is hard and painful. How many times have I cried and felt I can't do it anymore.

But the most marvelous thing ever is to feel God on my side. To know He's there, no matter what happens, He will take care of it.

This also will pass.

¹ Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good.
His love endures forever.
² Give thanks to the God of gods.
His love endures forever.
³ Give thanks to the Lord of lords:
His love endures forever.

Psalm 136:1-3

New International Version (NIV)

It is not that I want to live for God. It is not that I need to live for God. It is that I cannot not do it.

There is nothing for me, if it is not with Him.

²⁸ Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, ²⁹ for our “God is a consuming fire.”

Hebrews 12, New International Version (NIV)

There is no new day, there is no morning. There is no nights rest and no sleep after tiring day.

For me, without Him, there is nothing.

And for this, for ever, I give thanks for Him.

I will give thanks to the Lord because of his righteousness; I will sing the praises of the name of the Lord Most High.

Psalm 7:17

Seeking Communion (Or Why I don't want to enter a convent)

Liv Migenes writes in her blog Writings from a Faithful Doubter of her yearning for solitud to better hear God's voice. She writes "I yearn to live biblically. Not the "no-make-up, no-earrings, no...no...no" Christianity but a Christ-mirroring Christianity. I long to go away and shed the confusing, restrictive bindings of this world and even of this religion".

I can see why it is so enticing. I think all of us Christians feel this call for solitud, time alone with God. It is an esential part of our journey as a Christian. We need to spend time with God. It is a thirst, a healthy apetite, hunger that needs to satiated.

But at the same time the hunger is turned into something else. Just like we thirst for water and find ourselves drinking a soda, or hunger for a good meal and start eating a hamburger with fries. Our healthy hunger for God, thirst for the living water that is Jesus, is thwarted, confounded by smoke and mirrors.

And the smoke and mirrors here is the convent.

Migenes continues "There are times like today that I wish I could enter a convent. I think part of me would be happy. At least in what I imagine convent life to be. Detached to the cares of the world and yet attached to fellowship. Simple living with hours devoted to worship and prayer. Disconnected yet connected".

I admire her way to describe a yearning that I feel. This is it, my heart sings. I want to detach myself from the world and attatch myself to something more worthy. Devote my life to worship and prayer. I want to enter a convent also!

I haven't got a lot of experience of convents. Just the fact that I live in a country with long history with Catholicism that is filled with convents and monasteries. I know intelectually what a convent means. I know that there are different orders that dedicate themselves to different things. I know about Mother Theresa and her work. I even have entered to a monastery, at least to their museum and I have many times walked pass monasteries and convents. But I have not really experienced a convent. I only have a mental image of one.

And I think that is where the smoke and mirrors come. I imagine the convent as something dedicated to contemplation of God's word. A place where I can dedicate myself solely to seeking Jesus and His will. But is that really the truth?

A friend of mine told me once that she wanted to be a nun. She was raised in a very Catholic home, went to a Catholic all girls' school that was run by nuns and she thought that life of a nun must be wonderful. Just reading Bible, spending time in the church, contemplating the glory of Jesus, the saints, the miracles and Virgen Mary.

Then she had a long and sincere conversation with a nun, as an adult. And that conversation changed her. She told me that she never thought that nuns cared about things like that. That they would bicker, that there would be lazy nuns, that they would care about "mundane" things, that they would be just normal people!

So, our first mirage, the smoke and mirrors, is that convent is really just a community of people, humans like us. Most of the nuns and monks aren't saints, more than any other Christian trying to fulfill God's will.

But more serious for me is the ultimite lie, the real show of smoke and mirrors that occurs to us.

Most of the Christians never enter to live in a convent or a monastery. Not even Catholics or other Christian religions that have convents and monasteries. But especially evangelic Christians who don't have them.

Why then this need for a convent? One reason, in my opinion, is what Migenes herself states "That cozy convent that I'm ready to run to is just a way for me to avoid what seems impossibly overwhelming".

The convent seems an easy option, escape from the reality. Somewhere perfect, almost like heaven, just dedicated to God.

But for me that is just more smoke and mirrors to cover the original smoke and mirrors. The ultimite lie is that we need a special place to contemplate God. That we can't do it in our busy everyday lives. That we can't make our own homes a place of worship but we need to go somewhere special to do it, be someone special.

 A lie that makes it OK that I don't pray every day. That I forgot to read Bible today. That I didn't follow the ten commands. After all, I live in the fallen world. I'm not perfect. It's not like I lived in a convent and could dedicate all my time to just contemplate God's glory.

This makes me admire Migenes even more. Because she isn't fooled by the lie. She sees beyond the smoke and the mirrors. She recognizes her real hunger and thirst "The imagined convent becomes be my prayer closet - a reverent place where I meet with God and I am intimately sustained by His love. A time to lift up those in my "world" who are drowning in the darkness and can't call out for help. A time to remember that greater is He who is in me then he that is in the world. A time to draw nearer to the holy fire of His presence where my light burns brightly".

I want to dedicate a closet in my house for prayer... But I need a bigger closet...

Smoke and mirrors!

I want to dedicate myself to God, now, here, everywhere, every moment!

The post by Liv Migenes is called "Seeking Solitude (Or Why I Want To Enter a Convent)". You can find the original posting here.

Faith in Christ

We are often hindered from giving up our treasures to the Lord out of fear for their safety; this is especially true when those treasures are loved relatives and friends. But we need have no such fears. Our Lord came not to destroy but to save. Everything is safe which we commit to Him, and nothing is really safe which is not so committed.
A. W. Tozer

Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
Matthew 7:7-8
The King James Version

“[To have Faith in Christ] means, of course, trying to do all that He says.
There would be no sense in saying you trusted a person if you would not take his advice. Thus if you have really handed yourself over to Him, it must follow that you are trying to obey Him.
But trying in a new way, a less worried way. Not doing these things in order to be saved, but because He has begun to save you already.
Not hoping to get to Heaven as a reward for your actions, but inevitably wanting to act in a certain way because a first faint gleam of Heaven is already inside you.”
C.S.Lewis ― Mere Christianity