Thoughts on Cutler from April 2009

Back in 2009, I wrote an e-mail to my dad about the trade that sent Jay Cutler to the Bears. Too many interceptions and sacks to count later, my thoughts haven't changed.

Since I've sent you an e-mail about every major move in Chicago sports since I got to Purdue, I thought that I would continue that tradition with the recent transaction that sent Kyle Orton, the former Boilermaker, the 2009 and 2010 first round draft picks, and a 2009 third round draft pick to the Denver Broncos for Pro-Bowl quarterback Jay Cutler. Since reports of Cutler's discontent in Denver came up when the team fired head coach Mike Shanahan and the offensive coordinator, Jay Cutler has been linked to the Bears. Many Bears fans are currently rejoicing because they fail to see the impact of such a trade. Let me start off by saying that Jay Cutler is a good quarterback. He's relatively mobile and can make any throw that the team needs him too. He's got a cannon of an arm but also has that soft touch to place the ball where it needs to be. It's been awhile since the Chicago Bears had a quarterback that could do that. Even though we upgraded the quarterback position, that does not necessarily mean that we upgraded the team. Logic says, if you have a guy that can throw the football, you also need a man that can catch the football. With our current core of receivers, we have one guy that can out maneuver any player on the field but cannot catch a ball (Hester), a guy with good hands that I could outrun (Davis), a rookie from last year, and an under-utilized Greg Olsen. Long story short, Cutler put up great numbers in Denver but he also had consistent and reliable weapons down the field. Intuition also says that regardless of the skill of the quarterback, the quarterback needs time to throw the football. Our offensive line has been consistently weak and only growing older since the last glory days of the Bears back in the Superbowl. Grossman didn't have much time to throw. Orton didn't have much time to throw. Since last year's team, two core players left the offensive line. This leaves us with not a lot of talent. Cutler is going to need time to throw the ball, especially with our receivers who have a knack for not getting open. We lost a quarterback that could manage the game and gained a quarterback that has the potential for the big home run plays if put into the right situation. Unfortunately, the Bears are along way away from being in the 'right situation'. Their opportunity to better the team was through the draft. Now they lost three draft picks of which they could have given Orton weapons and time to throw the ball.

There is more to Jay Cutler than the football side, however. Cutler is nothing more than an oversized and overpaid infant. The way he handled the fall-out in Denver perhaps the most unprofessional act in sports in recent memory. At the end of the day, football is a business. The team that pays you has the right to seek to better the team by moving you. The job of the athlete is to shut up and perform to the best of their abilities regardless of the situation placed upon him. Cutler whined, moaned, and demonstrated selfish behavior that every kindergarten teacher scolds her students about.
All in all, we'll have to wait and see how this trade works out by the progress and development of this chicago bears team over the course of the season. At the moment, I'm not sold in it.
Grade: D

Two Things

There are two things that God constantly uses to slap me in the face.

1) Read about the Israelites and their disobedience to God only to realize that I am just like they were.
2) Read about Jesus rebuking the pharisees only to realize that I am just like the pharisees.

owned but caught in God's grace.

Thoughts of the Past Week

+ "I'm not sure why I started to think about this but I think that I've fallen in love with the wrong things." Usually when you hear something like this, you immediately think of things of this word: cars, houses, designer brand goods, etc. I would say that for me, it's something quite different. I've fallen in love with mercy and grace. Each morning, I wake up thinking "Man, I'm glad I'm caught in God's grace and mercy today" rather than thinking "Man, God is awesome. I want to live for Him today." Somewhere over the course of the last few weeks, I've become a lover of God's gifts that He so generously pours out on my rather than God himself.

+"The idea that we have time is merely an illusion." Quite frankly, we don't have time. We don't know what's ahead of us - or anyone else for that matter. I find myself sitting here, almost complacent, when it comes to doing kingdom work and spreading the Good News. I go to school thinking I can be a good witness - tomorrow. But in reality, life is quick and short. I don't have much time. There's a message that I know, one that is radically life changing, that people need to hear not tomorrow or the day after but now.

I should be studying but we all know how that goes...instead, I decided to take pictures of my cat.

Luke 7:11-17

Luke 7:11-17
Soon afterward, Jesus went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went along with him. As he approached the town gate, a dead person was being carried out—the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. And a large crowd from the town was with her. When the Lord saw her, his heart went out to her and he said, "Don't cry." Then he went up and touched the coffin, and those carrying it stood still. He said, "Young man, I say to you, get up!" The dead man sat up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him back to his mother. They were all filled with awe and praised God. "A great prophet has appeared among us," they said. "God has come to help his people." This news about Jesus spread throughout Judea[a] and the surrounding country.

When I first read this passage along time ago, I thought almost nothing of it. Okay, so Jesus performs another miracle and raises a guy from the dead. Cool. But upon further examination during small group this week, this passage came out of the text, grasped and enveloped me inside of it.

Where the heck is Nain? It's a serious question. What was so significant about this little town of Nain that made Jesus decide to go there? If anything, this shows that Jesus is intentional in His actions. Jesus intentionally goes to this little town because of the events that He knew were to happen.

Jesus met the woman where she was.This happens in two accounts. One account is that he goes to Nain and meets with her physically. The second encounter occurs when His "heart went out to her" and connects with her emotionally. At times, we think that God is this impersonal deity, ruling over everything from afar but this passage indicates otherwise. Jesus is very personal. Jesus is able to relate to our pain and our feelings and desires to meet us.

Jesus is higher than culture. Back in those times, touching a dead man would have made Jesus ceremonially unclean and would have been considered taboo. Instead, Jesus intentionally defies culture. Like we saw earlier in Luke 7, Jesus was able to heal the servant of the centurion with a few words from afar and yet here, we see Jesus physically touching the corpse of the young man. His ways are higher than our own. At the same time, Jesus is effectively demonstrating that it is He that cleanses us and gives us life, not the following of ritualistic patterns governed by the customs of society. We also see that Jesus met the young man where he was - dead and gone when he could have easily spoken a few words and gone on with his day.

I am the young man. As I read this passage, I thought a lot about my twenty years of life. I was the young man. I was dead. I had no hope. I was destined for an eternal condemnation, packaged in that coffin ready to be carried to my burial. I had no other way. It was a dead end. And then Jesus came down and met me despite of my sin. He breathed life into this dead corpse and told me to get up. At a point where it seemed like there was no hope, I was given hope in the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Isn't that so exciting? When I think about the height from which I have fallen being overcome by the love of my savior, I can't help but respond in the same way that the town's people did when they witnessed this miracle - I am humbled and in awe of Jesus and will praise Him for eternity.

Something Greater

Colossians 3:23-24 - Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.

I'm definitely feeling the effects of the quarter system. I'm 2.5 weeks into school and my first exam is tomorrow at 7:30 AM! I remember hearing this verse during Vacation Bible Club this past summer and I feel like its no coincidence that God reminded me of it just now. Even though we're students, we're working for the Lord. We're here to do His work and to make Him glorified. An A is always nice but an A isn't eternal. Bringing glory to my maker is so much greater. Now...to learn how to do that. Pray that I can find what it means to serve God through my studies.

Christ is My Cofactor

It's 12:35 AM and I'm sitting here studying my physiology lecture. Keep in mind I'm really tired but I thought I would get a quick blog in. I'm absolutely fascinated by it all. PTL for creating such intricate systems!

While I was sitting here learning about neurotransmitters, I came across an interesting component - the cofactor. I wasn't quite sure what it is so I looked it up:

Cofactor - A cofactor is a non-protein chemical compound that is bound to a protein and is required for the protein's biological activity.

So in the case of NMDA, a ligand gated ion channel, a neurotransmitter can bind to a receptor on an ion channel but without subsequent binding of glycine, a cofactor, nothing can occur. The protein can't function as it should.

My life is largely the same way. I can crazy, trying to produce fruit with my deeds but without the presence and hand of God, all of it is worthless. Each and every day, I need God.

Strange comparison? Yeah, definitely. Regardless of that, God met me where I was and spoke to me.

Rejoice!

Matthew 5:3 - Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

This verse has been on my mind for awhile. While sitting in class the other day, I began to think about my future and inevitably, my future income. As much as a pharmacist's salary is, such a thing is not what will make me rich. I am convinced that I am already rich, not because of anything that I own or have gone but rich in the grace of God.

I am poor in spirit, although that is not to say that I have mastered this. I acknowledge that I have a long way to go. However, I know that my heart is poor in that I am depraved. Each and every day, I need God's grace, mercy, and love to cover me. In times of darkness and times of light, I am nothing without God. As a result of my faith, I am an heir of God. This is something that we should all rejoice in daily.

James 4:13-17

James 4:13-17
Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money." Why, do you not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? you area mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that." As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil. Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins.

At the start of this passage, James is fairly straight forward and blunt. It's not that James advises us not to plan. It would be foolish not to. In v13-14, James is talking about an attitude of ownership and arrogance, one that as college students, we are all too familiar with. Time is a precious thing so we see it as our own, to use it as we please for our own personal benefit. We make plans and try to control them as tightly as possible, not erring for anything. To think that our time is our own is the first crucial mistake - time doesn't belong to us. We're living on borrowed time as recipients of the Lord's mercy. The next mistake is to believe that we have control over our lives. Our lives are also gifts from the Lord. To believe that we are in control - as opposed to God - is to live a life of arrogance. In v16, James captures this idea by stating that such boasting or bragging is evil.

James quickly contrasted such an attitude with one of humility in v15, stating that we ought to live the Lord's will for us. This is an act of submission, lifting our lives up to the Lord and living according to His plans, His timing, and His will rather than our own. This is consistent with what James wrote earlier in the chapter, calling Christians to "submit themselves before God" and to "humble [ourselves] before the Lord". Our lives our not our own. We should continually strive to submit to the Lord's will and to become more like Him in our nature.

With this act of humility in mind, James concludes this portion of his writing by proclaiming in v17 that "anyone...who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins". This idea is not new in the book of James as it is seen in earlier chapters. To know is one thing. To know and follow is another. A humble heart that is submitted to God should be one that is walking with the Lord and growing in the knowledge of His ways. As James stated in chapter 2, works will be a natural outcome of such a growing faith in the Lord. Knowing what God wills and continually resisting is an act of arrogance - by doing so, we are essentially saying that while we acknowledge God and His will for us, we know better than God and will do as we please instead of as He pleases.

As I reflect upon my first week of pharmacy school, I see that God not only answered my prayers but exceeded my expectations. Praise Him!

That Was Easy

Matthew 8:23-26
23Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him. 24Without warning, a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. 25The disciples went and woke him, saying, "Lord, save us! We're going to drown!"

26He replied, "You of little faith, why are you so afraid?" Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.

Worried. That's how I would have described myself at this point last week. Last week, I was deathly afraid of what was to come. Orientation was the next day and I knew no one at Midwestern University. I came before the Lord and asked Him to be with me constantly and faithfully. I asked that He would provide, in His time, a Christian group or even just a brother to walk with over the course of the next four years. My prayer was one of little faith - full of words and ideas along with a great deal of doubt.

The next day, the unexpected happened. In my orientation group was a guy from Wheaton College. Praise the Lord! Fast forward to this week. I had lunch with this guy and we spent a good hour talking about our testimonies - how in our times of weakness, God provided Himself to be loving and faithful. I thought that finding a brother on campus would be a daunting task. To God, it was easy. Pray boldly. Pray with faith.

In these dark hours, I find myself ever increasingly drawn to the cross.

Acts 4:1-22

John and Peter were jailed and put on trial. While there was overwhelming evidence that they were speaking the truth, the Jewish council still did not being their words and instead, feared them. They ordered John and Peter to stop talking about Jesus. This was their reply:

"For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen or heard." v20

I hope to one day have that attitude where I am so in love with and overwhelmed by the Lord that I cannot help but speak about Him to others.

Acts 3

+Peter performs a miracle in the name of the Lord. The crippled man asked for money, he received the ability to walk. We often think we know what's best for us but the Lord gives us what is truly best.

+After he was blessed, the man immediately used his new found ability and praised the Lord while he was walking and jumping. Do we use the abilities that God blesses us with to bring glory and praise back to the Father?

+Onlookers immediately go to praise Peter and John for healing the man. Peter and John have the humble and appropriate response: they give the glory to God and acknowledge that it was the Lord, not themselves, that allowed the crippled man to walk. We shouldn't let our own success blind us of reality. We actually don't do anything. The Lord does everything and thus deserves all glory, honor, and praise.

+Again, in light of the sins of those who wanted Christ crucified, Peter once again calls the crowd to repent. He not only used the healing of the crippled man to praise God and point the glory back to Him but used the opportunity to make Christ known.

Acts 2:42- 47

I write this not as one pointing fingers but as one that wants whoever is reading this to take a step back and examine what is going on around them.

In acts 2:42-47, people respond to Peter's charge in response to the question "Brothers, what shall we do?" (v37)

v42 - "They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to breaking of bread and to prayer.
These believers were devoted to
1) The apostles' teaching (remember the apostles' were charged by Jesus to go and make disciples. These teachings ultimately stem from Christ)
2) Fellowship
3) Communion and prayer

v44 - 47 - "All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved."

You read this passage and one thing in particular sticks out: Unity in the body of Christ. In this passage, there are no accounts of gossiping, slander, factions, or self interest. This picture of the early church is something that all churches should strive for. Notice that this church wasn't a building but a body of believers. People came freely to worship and fellowship. People came with their needs and the people of the church provided for them out of love (v45). This group of people honored the Lord through their actions and were clearly blessed by the presence of the Lord. In the end (v47), their numbers grew. Now, numbers are no indication of how healthy a church is but this much I will say. A healthy church will grow in numbers. It will attract people in the community.

As you look at your respective fellowships, do your fellowships reflect this? Are they places where people can come freely to worship and fellowship with other believers? Are they places in which the body is unified in the Lord's name? Are they places full of the love and grace that our Christ showed us? Do you see or witness other people caring for not only the spiritual needs but the physical needs of their brothers and sisters? Just something to think about.

Acts 2:14-40

I'm having a hard time connecting all the dots in this passage so I will just note what I found interesting.

+Peter was preaching and was well versed in his scripture. He recited and relied upon scripture to make the main points of his speech.

+v 21 "And everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved"

+In verse 21, Peter notes that David spoke about the resurrection of Christ. "Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will live in hope because you will not abandon me to the grace, nor will you let your Holy One see decay. You have made known to me the paths of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence" BEFORE the resurrection even occured, David found strength and refuge in it. He spoke words of joy and gladness. Having knowledge of the resurrection now, why is it that many of us don't display a similar joy? Jesus has not abandoned us to the grace but has been resurrection. Why isn't this hope and gladness in the resurrection manifesting itself in our actions and words?

+v37 "Brothers, what shall we do?" Good question. When face to face with the truth, what shall we do? We have the truth right in front of us. We are called to repent (turn from sin and towards the Lord) and be baptized (a sign of faith)(v38). This is what we are called to do. Will we do it?

Acts 2:1-13

The Holy Spirit is rarely mentioned in the Bible and this is one of the few places where it shows up. In this passage, the holy spirit comes into the house as "a violent wind" and "tongues of fire". Our God is strong enough and powerful for us to communicate in this way. I remember the last time I read about strong winds and fire was in Elijah when Elijah fled from the Lord. Elijah was surrounded by a strong wind, fire, and other natural phenomena but God was not in any of those things. God came to Elijah as a gentle whisper.

God can be loud and bold in His commands and presence. He can also be subtle and gentle. Either way, our job is to listen and to be obedient.

Common Sense But...

So I've never read the book of Acts in its entirety before. My knowledge of the ministry of the apostles post Jesus is very limited. In Acts 1, the disciples (now apostles) look to replace Judas. In making their criteria, they did the following

1) Examined scripture (v20)
2) Set up criteria based upon scripture that did not violate scripture (v21)
It should be noted that some of the criteria in for leadership here isn't explicitly stated in the bible. One requirement is that the man was with Jesus the whole time and must be a witness of the resurrection. This is contextual given the circumstance of the early church. However, in no way, shape, or form, does this violate biblical principles.
3) Proposed options and alternatives (Justus and Matthias, v23)
4) Prayed (24-25)

Clearly, both men were qualified to be leaders based upon their spiritual walks. Both men walked with Jesus through the thick and thin and were eye witnesses to His life, ministry, death, and resurrection. And while this was so, they still prayed about it. Duh. With that said, I am guilty of not praying enough for next years leaders at Cornerstone.

Ephesians 4:1-6

1As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. 2Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. 3Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. 4There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope when you were called— 5one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

Trials, Faith, and Inheritance

1 Peter 1:3-9

3Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, 5who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. 6In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 8Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, 9for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

I've been pretty down lately. A certain set of circumstances related to ministry has worn out my spirit. Quite bluntly, I'm tired. I'm tired of fighting. I'm tired of running the race. I'm not about to quit. I'm just tired. I've grown up hearing all the church/Sunday school answers so when people use it as encouragement, it honestly doesn't hold a lot of weight. We all know what we should do. Doing those actions is not always the easiest. "Oh just rely on God and everything will be okay." While true, there are times in which I do not know what that looks like.

I recently read a friend's blog (thanks Gracie) and talked about 1 Peter 1. And this I know to be true from this passage.

+I have hope in the resurrection of Christ.
+I have an inheritance that will never spoil or fade as a result of my faith.
+Even though I'm going through trials, these trials are refining my faith.
+This faith and hope combines and yields a joy greater than anything I could have sought for myself.

God is good.

Psalm 36

1 An oracle is within my heart
concerning the sinfulness of the wicked: [a]
There is no fear of God
before his eyes.

2 For in his own eyes he flatters himself
too much to detect or hate his sin.

3 The words of his mouth are wicked and deceitful;
he has ceased to be wise and to do good.

4 Even on his bed he plots evil;
he commits himself to a sinful course
and does not reject what is wrong.

5 Your love, O LORD, reaches to the heavens,
your faithfulness to the skies.

6 Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains,
your justice like the great deep.
O LORD, you preserve both man and beast.

7 How priceless is your unfailing love!
Both high and low among men
find [b] refuge in the shadow of your wings.

8 They feast on the abundance of your house;
you give them drink from your river of delights.

9 For with you is the fountain of life;
in your light we see light.

10 Continue your love to those who know you,
your righteousness to the upright in heart.

11 May the foot of the proud not come against me,
nor the hand of the wicked drive me away.

12 See how the evildoers lie fallen—
thrown down, not able to rise!

I read my Bible today. That's the honest truth. However, I can't write this blog because a lot of negative feelings and thoughts have the potential to be spilled. If you read this, just pray for the state of my heart that in all things, Christ may dwell in me and that through my actions, He will be glorified.

Does This Offend You?

Wow, I've been terrible about doing my blog. Anyway...

John 6:60-70

In this passage, some disciples (of whom are unnamed) begin to desert Jesus.

Disiple:(v60) This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?
Jesus:(v61-63) Does this offend you? What if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before! The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life.

I wouldn't go as far as to say that I am offended by Jesus' teachings but there are times that I complain because they are hard. There are times where I quite frankly don't feel like following because it requires sacrifice on my part. Jesus' answer is really convicting. Does this offend you? Does it bother you that it's hard? Does it bother you that you have to give things up? I give you life. Flesh means nothing. Why are you living for flesh?

So, does this offend you?

Jesus, the Bread of Life

JOhn 6:35-59

I don't think I could go a day without eating grain-based food. It's such an integral part of my diet. In the same sense, spending time with the Lord should be a daily thing as well. Jesus is the bread of life, the one that nourishes our eternal souls and gives us something better than the temporary bread that we eat.

It is just interesting to think that despite all of this, I can go a day without spending time with the Lord but I cannot go a day without bread. If I fail to eat physical food, I feel the consequences almost immediately. If I fail to spend time in the Word, I don't feel the consequences even though they are much greater than that of skipping a meal. With that said, I hope to try something new. I hope spend time with the Lord and eat the bread that is eternal before I eat physical bread.

From the Father

John 6:32-33

This is in the middle of Jesus preaching that He is the bread of life. I hope to blog on that tomorrow but this especially stood out to me.

"Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.""

This story took place almost immediately after Jesus fed the five thousand. The people are asking Jesus logical and successive questions based upon Jesus' response to the first. The people ask how to gain the seal of approval from the Lord in which Jesus replies "believe in the one he has sent".

The people ask for a sign from God much like the time when Moses gave the Israelites manna. Jesus replied with what is said in John 6:32-33. This is important to note. Many times, when we do good things or have success, we claim that such things are from us. Jesus quickly squashes the mentality that Moses gave the people the bread and replaces it with the notion that it was God that provided. In our success, we ought not to pound our chests in pride but to bow down and to praise God for His provision.

Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand

John 6:1-15

The Bible doesn't say anything about this but it is a question that came up while I was reading this passage: After Jesus fed the five thousands, was there a single person in the crowd that did not believe in Jesus? It says at the end of this passage that the people acknowledged Jesus for who he is and wanted to make him king. With that said, I still wonder if people denied Jesus for who He is in His very presence and having witnessed this miracle.

This brings me to our response in the presence of God. We see His miracles each and every day. We see His hand and provision every moment of our lives. In response to such things, we have two options: to praise Him as the people did in this passage or to dishonor Him with the condition of our heart.

Closing Thoughts, Pt 1.

Through the years, I have become increasingly confident in my own abilities - maybe even to the point of arrogance at times. I came into this year with my head held high, confident and ready to endure the daunting tasks associated with the second year of pre-pharmacy here at Purdue University. I envisioned myself leaving Purdue in May 2009, head held high, as a member the Purdue School of Pharmacy's 2014 graduating class. As I am down to my final 25 days, I am prepared to leave Purdue with my head held high but not because I am a member of Purdue's pharmacy school and not because I fought an uphill battle to get into Midwestern University's Chicago College of Pharmacy. By all means, I am blessed and thankful to be in the position I am in but my accomplishments are no longer the source of my confidence. To put confidence in the things of this world is foolish. We see how quickly the things of this world fade. I am leaving Purdue not in the confidence of who I am or who God made me to be, but rather in full confidence of the sovereignty of God.

Paul's Charge to Timothy

2 Timothy 3:10-17
10You, however, know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, 11persecutions, sufferings—what kinds of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra, the persecutions I endured. Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them. 12In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, 13while evil men and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. 14But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, 15and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

The reason why I didn't post yesterday was because I was struggling. I was struggling to find something to blog about that came from reading John. It would have been easy for me to put my own thoughts as to what the scriptures were saying but that would have been solely to fulfill this blog requirement. I will endure the punishment knowing full-well that in the process, I honored the Lord by keeping it real.

Today, I struggled again to find truth. Struggling is good but at the same time, I'm hungry to be fed. I opened up my now seldom used devotional book and the passage was on 2 Timothy 3:10-17.

To note
+ Paul endured many hardships. God delivered Paul in every situation. When we are stressed, we must remember that God promises never to leave us or forsake us. There is light at the end of the tunnel. It may not be close. It may not be an easy path to that point, but know that it is there.

+Paul notes that anyone who follows Christ will be persecuted. Definitely heard this one before but in the context of Paul, he wasn't kidding about the persecution part as he referenced the suffering and persecution that he received in three different cities while pushing the gospel forward. Anyone who follows Christ will be in conflict with the world based upon the lifestyle that we are called to live. We are in the world but ought not to be of the world.

+The last part that stuck out to me was Paul's list of the purposes of scripture: teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness. A few things regarding this: what's the difference between rebuking and correcting? In my head, they're similar if not the same but if they were the same, they wouldn't both be listed. I regularly use scripture to teach, rebuke, and correct but seldom do I use it to train myself in righteousness. Through scripture, I learn of God's will for me and I try to apply it to my life. I wouldn't say that I train, however. As an athlete, training usually entails the following: hard work, sacrifice, commitment, pain, goals, consistency, and results. I cannot say that studying scripture entails all of these things. How exactly do I use scripture to train myself in righteousness?

John 4:1-26 - Jesus Talks to a Woman at the Well

It is interesting to note who Jesus had a conversation with in this passage. I did not realize the significance behind it until I read the commentary in my bible. Jesus is a Jew, this woman was a Samaritan. Jesus could have taken a longer route to his destination and avoided the Samaritans but chose to cut through Samaria. In itself, that was a display of love as the Jews and Samaritans had this grudge match going on. I get that. There are more clues than that as to who this woman was. Traditionally, women went to get water from the well in the morning and evening, not at noon like this woman. The only reason why a person would go at noon is to avoid people. This speaks volumes about the woman's reputation. With this in mind, no ordinary Jew would have talked to this woman. Not only was she a Samaritan but one with a terrible reputation for doing wrong as well. Jesus did so anyway.

v13-14 Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."
We all know we need water to survive. I usually drink water shortly after I wake up each day. It's a necessary part of our lives. Jesus likens spiritual food to physical water. We know we ought to depend upon His word. It's something that many of us learned back in kindergarten. I just want to put things into context. Suppose the living water was physical water. Now look at my blogs for the last two weeks. There were days that I did my devotionals and didn't post but for the most part, it is an accurate reflection of how much time I've spent with God lately. In other words, I would be close to dying if not already dead

I like how Jesus finishes this conversation off. Jesus and the woman talk about worship and the location of worship. Samaritans had a separate place to worship the Lord. Immediately after talking about the need to worship by drinking the living water, Jesus stated that it's not the physical location that matters but the heart behind it. We are called to worship in spirit and in truth. So not only are we to depend on His word and turn to it like a man in need of water but we are to do it with the right heart and attitude.

John 3:22-36

In summary: People are distraught. John the Baptist baptized Jesus and yet people are beginning to follow Jesus. John's followers were probably thinking "Man, no servant is greater than his master. Why are people following Jesus and not John?" I love John's reply: [Jesus] must become greater; I must become less.

This reminds me of a passage that I read awhile in 1 Corinthians 1. As Paul was doing ministry in Corinth, people were beginning to take sides with the teachers. Essentially, that would be the same on a micro-scale as the people of Cornerstone saying "I follow Joe" while others are saying "I follow Aaron" while another group of people say "I follow Daehwan". In a macro-sale, it would look something like this:

Person 1:I follow Cornerstone.
Person 2: Well, I follow Campus Crusade.
Person 3: You two are both wrong. I follow Intervarsity.

John's response? I must become less so Jesus may become greater. We ought to respect our leaders and invest in our communities but when it is all said and done, we follow Christ, not the things or people of this earth.

As followers of Christ and leaders of our respective fellowships, we need to be wary of this. It would be easy to become conceited, placing high value on our own actions and using them as a source of pride and accomplishment. Success and actions mean everything in the world but to Christ, they mean nothing. It's all about the heart. Be wary of thinking "As a leader, I must become greater" but rather, think "Jesus must become greater". I would venture to say that the two are mutually exclusive. If you are seeking to become greater, then Christ isn't given all the glory.

This is also a call for unity in the body of Christ. We have many churches. Within those churches, we have many leaders. Despite all of the leaders, we have but one God, one savior, one Christ.

1 Corinthians 12:12-13
The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by[c] one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.

Ephesians 4:3-6
Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope when you were called— one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

John 2:12-23

Just a few things

+The people misused the temple of the Lord as it became a marketplace rather than a sacred place of worship. We saw Jesus' reaction to this as He displayed his righteous anger. Ok, so we don't exactly sell sheep and cattle at church today (at least I hope not) but this is something to heavily consider when we do go to church. The primary purpose of the church is to worship God, not to socialize.

+Notice Jesus' anger in this passage. I never specifically cited this passage but I used to use Jesus' anger as a justification for my own. I'm called to be like Christ and Christ got angry. Good deal, right? Not really. There was a difference between my own anger and that of Christ's. My anger was often personal. So and so did this and I don't agree with it so I will be angry at that person. So and so and I hold different and opposiing views on how to handle this situation so I will therefore be angry at this person until we resolve it. Stuff like that. It is important to note that Jesus got angry in the passage but His anger was over sin. The Lord was not being praised in the temple.

John 1:29-50

Just something to note: John's mission was to point people to Jesus. Upon encountering Jesus, Andrew brought his brother Simon Peter to meet Jesus. Jesus later found Philip, who in turn went and told Nathanael. When placed in the presence of the Messiah, all of these men chose to respond by sharing the good news about who Jesus is. Why can I not say the same about my response to encounters with Jesus?

John 1:1-18

As I am taking a break from 2 Kings, I decided to go back to the gospel of John. I have come to realize that I don't know as much about Jesus's life and ministry as I ought to.

After reading some commentary, here is what I am to expect from reading John.
John starts off by claiming that "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning." Throughout the rest of the book, John continues to talk about how Jesus was fully God and fully human. John also gives accounts of who Jesus is as Jesus states His "I am"'s in this book.

"The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth" - John 1:14

My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. Psalm 73:26

1 Kings 21-22

I just finished 1 Kings. In summary...

+Ahab wanted a vineyard but a man refused to give it to him, per instructions of the Lord. Instead of fighting it, Ahab sulked. That wasn't too bad. He wasn't happy about the commands of the Lord but he accepted them. Jezebel, the queen of Israel, was furious that the king was denied the vineyard. She used deceptions and lies to kill the owner of the vineyard.

+This shows the importance of dating/marrying someone of the Christian faith. I'm not saying that Ahab is completely guilt free here but he was willing to let it all go. Had Jezebel been a woman of God, she would have been accepting of the Lord's decrees as well.

+Upon Naboth's (vineyard owner's) death, the Lord sent Elijah to speak to Ahab. Ahab still blamed Elijah for all of Israel's problems. The Lord spoke through Elijah and delivered a prophecy of Ahab's death. Ahab then repented, sort of.

+After this, Judah and Israel wanted to combine forces to go to war against Ramoth Gilead. Ahab, king of Israel, asked Jehosophat, king of Judah, to go to war. Jehosaphat's reply? "First seek the counsel of the Lord." Keep in mind that Ahab previous repented. Ahab then brought together prophets of one of the idols. Jehosaphat wasn't dumb. He then inquired if there was a prophet of the Lord that could advice Ahab. Micaiahthen told Ahab that defeat was on its way. Ahab didn't listen to the counsel or the Lord, went to battle, and died.

+We knew the day was coming when Ahab would die. The Lord declared in His justice that this day would come. Here's the thing: Had Ahab listened to the Lord and not gone to war, his life would have been prolonged for the moment. It is interesting that we see Ahab finally repent in chapter 21. The Lord provided mercy to Ahab in his repentance. We see in chapter 22 that it was not genuine repentance, however, as Ahab turned back to his own prophets. From this...

1) The Lord is gracious and merciful to even the greatest of sinners. In this chapter, Ahab was described as the "vilest" of them all and yet the Lord provided grace for the moment. The Lord does not turn His ear from those who cry to Him in repentance.

2) Repentance is more than "I'm sorry". Repentance is not our "I can do whatever I want!" card. We see the shortcomings of Ahab's repentance in that He did not turn from his ways. Instead of turning to God, he went back to his old lifestyle of serving false idols. This shows one of Ahab's major problems, even something that we noted earlier when Ahab tried to kill Elijah. Ahab wanted things from the Lord but not the Lord himself. He wanted the Lord's forgiveness but not the presence of God. In fact, he hated the presence of the Lord as he hated the prophets of the Lord that spoke about his coming downfall. When you seek repentance, don't just seek repentance in itself. Seek the Lord.

3) Repentance needs to be continual. It's not some one time thing like Ahab made it. As Christians, we are commanded to walk with the Lord and to stay "in step with the Spirit." This means that we should be turning away from sin and growing more like Christ. However, as long as we are here on earth, we will be plagued by the disease of sin making repentance necessary.

1 Kings 20

This passage was pretty straight forward. The Lord reached out to Ahab and proved His existence and sovereignty not only once by twice. Twice, the Lord spoke to Ahab through a prophet and said that He would deliver the Israelites in war as a result, the Israelites would "know that [He] is the Lord". The Lord held true to His promises and delivered the Israelites twice. I feel that this in itself was gracious enough. The Lord already proved to Israel that He is Lord through the events surrounding the kingdom and Elijah. Not only so, but does God really need to ever 'prove' Himself to us? He's God.

Twice, Ahab fails to praise the Lord and give Him the glory in the victory. This is completely ridiculous. How much more proof do you need? I'm not sure what caused Ahab to look past all of the Lord's advances to reveal Himself and for the opportunities for Israel to turn back but it's a bit foolish, isn't it? When the Lord comes knocking, we need to answer.

The second time, Ahab even let the enemy of the kingdom, King Ben-Hadad, go. The Lord had delivered Ben-Hadad to the Israelites in a certain victory and Ahab let him go. In another event, the prophet of the Lord had clear instructions from the Lord in which he passed onto another solider. This solider disobeyed and died. In the same way, Ahab disobeyed the Lord's commands and was ultimately sentenced to death.

We love before a throne of grace but that is no excuse for disobeyed the commands of the Lord.
Romans 5:20b-6:4
But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, 21so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? 3Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

"What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us. Worship is pure or base as the worshiper entertains high or low thoughts of God. For this reason the gravest question before the Church is always God Himself, and the most portentous fact about any man is not what he at a given time may say or do, but what he in his deep heart conceives God to be like."

- A.W. Tozer

Obsession

I've had the book "Crazy Love" by Pastor Francis Chan of Cornerstone Community Church sitting on my desk for sometime now. I started reading it over the summer and I had to put it down because it was simply too much of a slap in the face for me to read with a clear head at the time. Since then, I haven't picked it back up, until now that is. Instead of reading, I just decided to skim through it. One of the chapters near the end is titled "Profile of the Obsessed" in which he talks about what an obsession for Christ looks like. I'd like to just share a few quotes as I found them very intriguing and convicting.

"People who are obsessed with Jesus aren't consumed with their personal safety and comfort above all else. Obsessed people care more about God's kingdom coming to this earth than their own lives being shielded from pain or distress." (p133)

"Obsessed people are more concerned with obeying God than doing what is expected or fulfilling the status quo. A person who is obsessed with Jesus will do things that don't always make sense in terms of success or wealth on this earth..." (p137)

"A person who is obsessed with Jesus knows that the sin of pride is always a battle. Obsessed people know that you can never be "humble enough," and so they seek to make themsleves less known and Christ more known (Matt.5:16)". (p138)

"People who are obsessed are raw with God; they do not attempt to mask the ugliness of their sins or their failures. Obsessed people don't put it on for God; He is their safe place, where they can be at peace." (p144)

"A person who is obsessed with Jesus is more concerned with his or her character than comfort. Obsessed people know that true joy doesn't depend on circumstances or environment; it is a gift that must be chosen and cultivated, a gift that ultimately comes from God." (p146)

Are you obsessed? I know that I struggle in all of these areas.

1 Kings 19

Matt Redman - You Alone Can Rescue

Too legit.

1 Kings 18

+Once again, we see Elijah's faith in action. This man had faith, not in his own abilities, but in the Lord. In this chapter, he not only presented himself to Ahab, of whom wanted to kill Elijah, but also called out Ahab and all of the prophets of the idol Baal and challenged them on their on ground. The challenge was this: let's each make an altar and call upon our respective gods to bring fire to the altar. Whoever's God is real will be shown by the presence of fire. Elijah then went and mocked the prophets of Baal when there was no fire and then doused his own. Then the Lord sent flames. Oh what faith can do...He trusted in the Lord through it all

+Clearly, King Ahab hated Elijah. While Elijah spoke words of truth from the Lord, Ahab just say it as bad news. Ahab even placed the blame on Elijah when he said "Is that you, you troubler of Israel?"(v16). In living in his pride and sincere foolishness, he failed to see that HE was the cause of all of Israel's trouble. He was just too blind to see it as he was living contrary to the commands of the Lord. We should never be so blind as to discount words of truth because of our own pride. It may suck and reveal a lot about our hearts but repentance trumps continuing to live in sin.

+Back to the topic of sincerity: there is no doubt that the prophets of Baal were sincere in their belief that Baal was the true god. This is evident through their actions. Believing in Baal wasn't just some front. They actually believed Baal was real, hence why they accepted the challenge. Once the prayed to Baal and fire did not come, they slashed themselves with swords. Let's be real. That's just crazy talk there. You have to be pretty darn sure that the god that you are praying to is real to think that slashing yourself with a sword (per his commands) will do something. They were completely sincere in their belief that Baal was real. However, they were sincerely wrong. Again, sincerity means absolutely nothing if your sincerity to follow is placed in anything that is contrary to God himself. When it comes to being sincere, we ought to strive to be sincere within the context of the Lord's will as revealed to us through His word.

+We also see the Lord's justice. The prophets of Baal proclaimed that the Lord is real after they got shown up in this little altar competition. Despite that, the Lord, in his justice, allowed all of them to die. It may seem strange because they finally acknowledge that the Lord is the one true God. This is because we have lost sight of the nature of God. We so often associate God with the characteristics of love, grace, and mercy. While that is completely true, God is also wrathful towards sin, jealous when praise goes to anyone but Him, and just in that he punishes us for sin. Stories like this help us realize the fullness of the grace that was shown on the cross. God easily could have slayed all of us in our sin and been completely justified as in this case but He chose not to. He paved a way for people undeserving.

Faith and Provision

1 Kings 17

Elijah was such a man of faith. It's pretty crazy to see his unwavering obedience to the Lord. The Lord told him to say declare that the Lord would cause a drought in Israel. Let's keep in mind that king Ahab and his wife Jezebel followed Baal, a false god. Not only so but they believe that Baal was the god that yielded rain and plentiful harvest. Let's also keep in mind that Ahad had many of his own 'prophets' and a large military. I don't know about you guys but this isn't the type of man that I would want to cross paths with. In comparison, it's like asking some freshman to start a fight with the varsity captain of the football team. The potential for a beating is quite great. Elijah didn't care. He did it anyway.

And when he did, the Lord told him where to go. There, the Lord provided food and water in a time of drought and famine. After that, Elijah went to a widow and asked for food. God provided not only for Elijah but the widow as well in that her oil and flour (for baking bread) never ran out.

Each step of the way, Elijah turned to God for strength and provision and each step of the way, God provided. Notice that trusting God was not just a one time thing for Elijah. It was habitual and never ceasing. So many times, we depend on the Lord in our times of trials and hardship. Let's make dependence upon the Lord a lifestyle, much like Elijah in this passage. Because truly, without the Lord we are nothing.

1 Kings 15-16

In summary, 1 Kings 15-16 give a list of the kings of Judah and Israel post-Rehoboam/Jeroboam. It's a bit disheartening to read over and over again that this king "did evil in the eyes of the Lord." By the time chapter 16 is over, we are generations removed from King David and King Solomon, seemingly the last two kings that walked with the Lord (with the exception of Asa, King of Judah). I've read about Elijah in 1 Kings (starting in chapter 17) before but even if I hadn't, you just get the feeling that God is about to give everyone a nice big wake up call.

At the same time, this passage really made me wonder. In His mercy, God withheld judgement upon the kings and the nations but it was definitely on its way. Take a step back and look at our nation, one founded on the principles of Christianity. How far have we, as a nation, strayed from God? The other day I was reading an article on CNN about some Canadian high school in which the teachers performed a lap dance at a pep assembly. That in itself was pretty bad. Then to read the comments "Well, it's no big deal. Kids see this stuff on MTV anyway" broke me a little bit more. I don't know what's worse, the fact that people are saying that such a thing is okay, especially in the context of a public school, or the fact that our culture is growing moral-less. Regardless, this is not the life that we are called to live in as Christians. Though our culture may dictate 'right and wrong', we answer to God, the ultimate authority. I am beginning to see more clearly what the Bible means when it says that we are called not to be apart of this world.

1 Kings 14

I'm struggling to see a deeper truth in today's reading. In this, we see God's justice against King Jeroboam of Israel and King Rehoboam of Judah. At this point, both Israel and Judah had fallen far from God in their idol worship. Both Judah and Israel were stricken by war and defeat. The Egyptians attacked Jerusalem and carried off the treasures of the temple built by Solomon.

We see a prime example of the effects of sin. The people were indulging in it. They were more concerned about money and idol worship than the Lord. Instead of drawing closer to God, they became more distant. And while our God loves, He also punishes because He is just. We see His punishment and anger in these chapters.


On a side note, I've been analyzing worship song lyrics lately. Honestly, about 80% of the songs that we sing, I cannot truthfully sing. I wish I could sing them with full honesty but to sing such words would be lying. I find this especially true when singing songs not about who God is but about my response to God. I feel as if it makes more sense to sing praise to God about God than praises to God about what I will do for God. I change. God doesn't. I can't pinpoint the song but one of them has the line "Jesus, you're all this heart is living for." Trust me, I wish I could sing this but I just can't. I know my heart is sinful and each time I sin, my lifestyle is contrary to such words. However, take a long like "How Great is Our God". Regardless of the condition of my heart at that moment, I can sing such a song because they are words of everlasting truth regarding the greatness of God.

A few other times, I'm under the impression that we don't fully understand what we're singing. Take "In the Secret" for example. In that song, we tell God that we want to see His face. If I remember correctly, the only person the bible to see God's face was blinded as God was just so holy and glorious. Or take the song "Listen to Our Hearts." Agreed - words are not enough to proclaim the majesty of the Lord. However, I don't think that means that God should thus listen to my heart. Do we really want God to listen to all the negativity, anger, and bad thoughts that are going on inside of us? We're all sinners. Our hearts are filthy and as it says in Jeremiah 17:9, our hearts are deceitful as well. This isn't a bash on song selection but it's a call for worshipers to understand what they're singing as to not proclaim false claims before the Lord.

1 Kings 13

As I was reading 1 Kings 13 today, I was genuinely confused. I understood what happened but I couldn't see much as to why things happened or the implications of people's actions and decisions. Usually, I just read some commentary and move on. Today, I decided to give it a rest and revisit the passage later. Well, the later was just now. I must say, when you seek wisdom and truth from God, He does not disappoint.

1 Kings 13
Summary: King Jeroboam was sacrificing to the false gods. A man of God came to the altar and rebuked the king and spoke prophecies that the Lord had shown him. King Jeroboam reached out to snag the man of God but his hand shriveled. Jeroboam asked for the man of God to intercede with the Lord and so that his hand could get healed, and it did.
God instructed to man of God to not eat or drink anything and to also not came back the way he came. Jeroboam offers him food but the man complies with the Lords instructions. An old, deceptive prophet finds the man of God and lies to him, saying that the Lord desired that he come back and eat-so the man did. The Lord killed the man of God and the old prophet turned to the Lord. King Jeroboam did not.

I'll start off by focusing on King Jeroboam. This man is genuinely living in sincere foolishness. Here's what I find interesting. He tried to kill the man of God and was thwarted when his hand shriveled. The man of God said that the altar at which Jeroboam was sacrificing would be split into two-and it split into two on the spot. In light of all of this, Jeroboam does not turn to the Lord. He merely sought the Lord's healing so that he could have a normal hand. How many times are we like Jeroboam in this case? We know the truth and righteousness of the Lord and yet when afflicted, we seek comfort, healing, or strength from the Lord? I think we can all say that Jeroboam was a fool but I would venture to say that when we seek things from the Lord, we are fools as well. We are instructed to seek the Lord, to seek His face and not His hand. His hand will come. When seeking the Lord, everything else will fall in line as we grow in our relationship with Him.

The other thing that I found interesting was the old prophet. I don't know what this guys motives were to deceive the man of the God but I will say this: He was deceitful and he pulled it off. He disguised himself as a man of God as well and spoke "words of the Lord". This is something that we need to be wary of in our own relationship with Christ. Books and speakers are awesome and all but they are no substitute for the actual word of God which contains the ultimate truth. Just because a speaker is some great guy or the author is some famous person does not necessarily mean that the words are those of truth and righteousness.

I know that my last blog was titled closing thoughts on sincerity but I couldn't help but find this passage also going back to the idea of being sincerely wrong. The man of God did what he thought was right. He knew that the Lord gave him instructs but the old prophet said that God gave a different set of instructions (which was a lie). The man of God did not know that he was doing wrong by eating food at the old prophet's house. He was sincere in his obedience and compliance to what he THOUGHT was the will of God. In actuality, God did not want him to eat from the old man's house and in fact instructed him not to. The old man was merely lying but for his disobedience, the man of God was killed. Don't become mistaken in walking down a path of sincerity but also ignorance and foolishness. Walk a path in which sincerity and the truth and wisdom of the Lord are mutually inclusive.

Closing Thoughts on Sincerity

On Friday, we watched a message from Voddie Baucham titled "A Warning to Insincere Worshipers" from the Passion: One Day Conference back in 2000. While the video was quite old, as noted by a much different style of dress, the message was still gripping and applicable as the truth in God's word is timeless. He spoke on Isaiah 1:10-15

10 Hear the word of the LORD,
you rulers of Sodom;
listen to the law of our God,
you people of Gomorrah!

11 "The multitude of your sacrifices—
what are they to me?" says the LORD.
"I have more than enough of burnt offerings,
of rams and the fat of fattened animals;
I have no pleasure
in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats.

12 When you come to appear before me,
who has asked this of you,
this trampling of my courts?

13 Stop bringing meaningless offerings!
Your incense is detestable to me.
New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations—
I cannot bear your evil assemblies.

14 Your New Moon festivals and your appointed feasts
my soul hates.
They have become a burden to me;
I am weary of bearing them.

15 When you spread out your hands in prayer,
I will hide my eyes from you;
even if you offer many prayers,
I will not listen.
Your hands are full of blood;

It's pretty clear in this passage that the Lord does not desire our actions in themselves. He desires our heart. He desires a genuine and sincere heart. I cannot agree more. The Christian life is not and never will be about merely our actions. The more important underlying factor is the source of our actions.

However, I believe that this message should have been marked with an asterisk, or Sincerity*. I am not saying that sincerity isn't required in our worship. Sincerity is demanded of us. Here's where I think the asterisk comes in: Sincerity in what?

I remember a time when I was back in third grade. We were taking a math test and the question talked about finding the perimeter of a square with a side length of 3. So naturally, this meant 3+3+3+3 or 12. Wanting to be cool, I decided to bust out my multiplication skills. So I thought to myself, 6+6 is 12 which means I need two 6's. Ok, so the answer is 6x6 and I wrote it down. Well, we all know (hopefully) that 6x6 is actually 36 and not 12. I had mixed up my multiplication. I was genuine and sincere in my answer, I really meant it. That does not change the fact that I was wrong.

Take this biblical example now. In 1 Samuel 15, God instructed Saul, the king of Israel at that time, to go and destroy the Amalekites. The instructions were clear: destroy EVERYTHING and take NOTHING. Saul then attacked the Amalekites. Rather than destroying everything, he took their king and the best of the livestock back to offer up to the Lord. When Saul offered his sacrifice, the Lord did not accept it. Saul was genuine in his offering and sincere as could be. However, he was misguided, incorrect, and straight up wrong in his sacrifice.

Here's the caveat of sincerity. We can be as sincere as we want but if we if we are sincerely wrong, all that sincerity was for naught. Sincerity is no excuse for ignorance. It doesn't matter how sincere or how genuine our motives are if we are living and doing things contrary to the will of God in which we learn through reading His word. It is not okay to say "Oh well, sorry God. I was sincere in my actions and I just didn't know that they offended you." Look at Saul. Saul was sincere and yet God said that he was "grieved that [He] made Saul king". This stresses the importance of knowing God and His will through spending time with Him. Yes, sincerity is an integral part of our worship. However, that sincerity needs to be coupled with the knowledge and obedience of the Lord's commands.

Sometimes the Hardest Thing and the Right Thing Are the Same

Convenience. We live in a society filled with convenience. These days, we don't even have to leave our homes to get what we want. We can call and order food. We can buy groceries online. Instead of going out and buying a book, we can buy the e-book online. We love convenience. Another example of convenience is Las Vegas. There, we can get a glimpse of internationally acclaimed attractions like pyramids and the Eiffel Tower. In this case, convenience skews reality. People marvel at the sight of such things. Yes, it's convenient to go to Vegas and get an all in one tour of the world. However, it's not real. The Eiffel Tower in Vegas pales in comparison to the real thing.

1 Kings 12:25-33.

This Jeroboam guy, the guy that craftily and opportunistically took the throne from Rehoboam was quite cunning. He knew that he would lose control if the Israelites turned back to God and worshiped Him. In Jewish culture, the men were required to travel to the temple in Jerusalem three times a year. So to undermine this, Jeroboam built golden calves. One was located at Bethel, a town 10 miles north of Jerusalem on a highly trafficked road. The other was built at Dan, the northernmost city in Israel.

Jeroboam played this off like a act of love to his people. "It is too much or you to go up to Jerusalem. Here are your gods, O Israel." Here's the nutty part. After all that God had done for the Israelites, they quickly forgot and worshiped these calves! Part of the reason? It was so much easier to go to these calves than to go to Jerusalem. In their convenience, they neglected the Lord and His command to not worship false idols.

To think, the Israelites must have been saying "Wow, worshiping these new Gods is so much easier than worshiping the old God. I like this better." They were lulled into sinning and thinking that the convenient and yet totally fake god was better than the Lord. The people that once worshiped God were now caught in a false reality fostered by convenience.

Now here's a real question: how often do we do this? For the sake of our convenience, how often do we neglect the Lord and His commands? Just because it might be easier for us to follow something that is contrary to what God desires does not make it better nor does it make it the right thing to do. We shouldn't live for convenience. We shouldn't even live to see the fruit of our results and to feel all warm and fuzzy about it afterward. Even when doing the right thing is hard, do it anyway. The reward that we live for is greater than any consolation of doing things the easy and yet an non-glorifying way. Our reward is in heaven, not on earth.
Keep fighting the good fight!

1 Timothy 6:11-16
But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses. In the sight of God, who gives life to everything, and of Christ Jesus, who while testifying before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you to keep this command without spot or blame until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which God will bring about in his own time—God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honor and might forever. Amen.

Conflict, Consensus, and Foolishness

Jeremiah 17:5-9
5 This is what the LORD says:
"Cursed is the one who trusts in man,
who depends on flesh for his strength
and whose heart turns away from the LORD.

6 He will be like a bush in the wastelands;
he will not see prosperity when it comes.
He will dwell in the parched places of the desert,
in a salt land where no one lives.

7 "But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD,
whose confidence is in him.

8 He will be like a tree planted by the water
that sends out its roots by the stream.
It does not fear when heat comes;
its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought
and never fails to bear fruit."

9 The heart is deceitful above all things
and beyond cure.
Who can understand it?

The message of this passage ties in very much with what I read in 1 Kings the other day. Rehoboam turned from the Lord and consulted with his peers. All together, they came up with a plan of action on how Rehoboam should rule the Israelites: with an iron fist. Well, things turned out poorly and Rehoboam lost the throne. Wait, what's going on? Even though the majority agreed upon an idea, they were wrong? Yes, they were wrong. In fact, they were fools.

Here's the problem: they listened to the wisdom of man and not the Lord's. As it says in 1 Corinthians 3:19 "For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God's sight. As it is written: "He catches the wise in their craftiness";". Ultimately, we're a bunch of sad and pathetic fools who know a lot less than we think we do. We are people of pride and 'wisdom', which in reality is a boat of foolishness.

This happens so often when we find ourselves in tight situations. We rely upon our own 'wisdom' to get us out of situations. We use our logic to dig ourselves out of holes, to recover and set our feet upon solid group. We compromise God's commands for our perceived best interest as we listen to our hearts. However, in Jeremiah 17:9, God describes our hearts as deceitful beyond cure! Knowing that our hearts are deceitful, how then can we listen to it?

Listen to the Lord. He is truly wise. Not only so but this passage also notes that those who listen to the Lord and find their confidence in Him are blessed. When in a pinch and in a hectic situation, don't listen to your heart but seek guidance from the Lord.

I think a classic example of this is David (before he became king) while he was running away from Saul. He had the opportunity to take matters into his own hands and kill Saul as they were unknowingly in the same cave. David realized the foolishness of living outside the will of God and wisely abided by the command not to murder. While this did not end his problem as Saul foolishly pursued David pretty much until death, David honored the Lord through his circumstances. Not only so, but we also see that God delivered David, killed Saul, and placed David on the throne.

The Lord alone is wise. Here's the cool part though. He offers us his wisdom.
James 1:5 "If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him." James goes on even further in James 3:17 to describe such wisdom in that the "wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial, and sincere."

Not Just a Pharisee but an Israelite As Well.

When reading the new testament, it really sucks when think a little bit deeper and realize that you are pharisee. When reading the old testament, I think "Man, those Israelites are really stupid", only to realize that I am an Israelite.

1 Kings 12:1-24
In summary: Solomon dies and his son, Rehoboam takes over as king. The people presents a request to Rehoboam that he might lighten the harsh labor placed upon them. Rehoboam consults the elders and rejects their advice to serve the people. He consults his contemporaries and decides that their advice is best. Instead of serving the people, he oppresses the people. The people complain and drive him out of town and elect Jeroboam as the next king.

A few points
+Rehoboam is a clear fool. Unlike David and Solomon, he did not take any of this up to God prior to consulting people. He did not pray or plead with the Lord for guidance. The wisdom of man is the Lord's foolishness.

+Granted, the Lord doesn't always come down and smack us over the forehead with answers but speaks through people. Well, Rehoboam rejected them as well when he listened to his peers instead of the elders.

+Rehoboam was self-seeking. Instead of doing what was best for his people, he did what was best for himself. As leaders, especially in ministry, our needs and desires come after God's. To fast forward, this is essentially the life and ministry of Christ: placing our best interest above His own and serving us in love, providing a way to eternity with the Father. We are called to imitate Christ so in the same way, our community's needs ought to be of higher priority than our self-interest.

+When the Israelites cried out, it was to David, pleading for him to protect his own house. Their unity was found in David, a mere human. As Christians, we need to avoid this sense of association and unity under a certain leader. Our allegiance should not with any person or thing on this earth but under God himself.

+This is exactly what God promised Solomon back in 1 Kings 11. As Solomon did not keep his covenant with the Lord, the Lord said that he would tear the kingdom out Solomon's son's hands. We often forget that God is not only loving but also just. While we are not ultimately condemned for our actions, there are consequences.

I note all of these things with a bit of a cringe. I was so quick to say "Man, stupid Israelites". But man, I'm guilty of almost all of these things.

Gossip and the Church

Christians don't gossip, they just pray. That's the running joke anyway. I think that God has been constantly revealing the condition of my heart. One thing that I greatly struggle with is gossip. I am rarely the instigator of it all. However, at the smell of first blood, I jump right in. Did you know that so and so did this? Oh yeah, I heard about that.

Here's the strange thing about gossip. Even though by reputation gossip is full of lies, it can be full of truth as well. I used to feel justified talking about people if everything I said was true. Man, person x isn't pulling their weight in this group project. This person's so lazy and unorganized. While everything may be true, the question then lies not in the validity of the statement but in the motives behind it. Why am I talking about this information? Is it even relevant to anything else that's going on? Is it out of love or out of spite?

Back to the original statement: "Christian's don't gossip, they just pray." I, for one, am partly guilty of this as well. Hey, did you hear that person x is going through this? Let's pray for that person! Well, what if person x didn't want his life to be a public display for the church? I don't deny that prayer is a powerful thing as is group prayer but sometimes people just don't want everyone knowing their business. Let's say my intent was genuine and out of love and that I don't struggle with gossip. Suppose I were to share that prayer request with a group of people that struggle with gossip. I'm at fault for leading my brothers and sisters into the temptation to gossip by sharing such information.

Regardless of the way gossip manifests itself, either through random speech or organized prayer, it is still a sin. Like all other sins, it places a separation between us and the God that loves us so dearly. Not only so, but it also places a barrier between us and others in the church and the community. What kind of person is going to want to go to a church in which he is talked about behind his back? What kind of witnesses are we if the world observes our foolish talk?

If any of you catch me gossiping, call me out on it. I would greatly appreciate it as I am continuing to strive to be more like Christ. While these are the convictions upon my heart, I also hope that they are the convictions upon yours as well. The Bible clearly mandates that we ought not to gossip. It would be awesome if you could all join with me in this in fostering a more God-honoring and welcoming community.

The God That Promises

1 Kings 10

Back in 1 Kings 3, God offered to give Solomon anything that he wanted. Solomon asked for wisdom and God gave him that. Pleased by his inquiry, God promised Solomon more than just wisdom but both riches and honor as well. Immediately after that, we saw how God gave Solomon wisdom as there are examples of how he handled difficult situations. Other than the temple and palace's construction, we see little of the wealth and honor up until now.

In chapter 10, the queen of Sheba visited Solomon as his reputation has extended to other kingdoms as well. The queen was taken aback by what she saw when she met Solomon. It says that she "came to test him with hard questions." and that in her report "not even half was told". That's how much God blessed Solomon. He had a great reputation but who God blessed him to be even far exceeded his reputation. The rest of the chapter continues to marvel at his wealth.

We all know that God keeps His promises. Sometimes knowing and believing are two different things. When life comes knocking at our door, how quickly we forget the promises of God! He promises us eternal life and never to leave of forsake us. Passages like 1 Kings 10 just help reassure me of who God is. His word is good. Unlike us, if God promises something,it will happen. Live in the knowledge of God and His promises. It'll make all the difference.

Hypocrisy...

Recently, I was confronted about having a sour attitude towards something. During that confrontation, everything that the person said was true and honest. Truth and honestly is okay, right? Well, maybe...

When talking to someone, what's your motive? Is it to glorify yourself as you compare yourself to that person or is it for the person's genuine good? Is their best interest in mind or is the conversation marked with self-interest? The Pharisees were the best at this. They built a reputation of glorifying themselves and making themselves look holy as they pointed fingers at sinners and scoffed. There was no love in those exchanges, just a lot of pride and an improper value of self-worth.

In my conversation, I felt the fingers being pointed as the conversation was a "shame on you, you miserable sinner" conversation. I don't deny that my attitude was sour but something in my heart was just so opposed to listening to a single word in that conversation. I felt attacked personally. I felt myself being looked down up. I didn't want to act.

The more I thought about it, the more foolish I felt. Okay, so maybe I was wronged. Big deal...the fact of the matter is that my attitude was still improper. I was on the verge of letting my pride prevent me from honoring God just because the message was relayed in a less than biblical way. Man, for someone that was so anger about others not being humble, I'm not too humble myself..

Reflections

The following is a testimony not of my own strength and goodness but a testimony of the power of the Holy Spirit. The events of this testimony date back to Wednesday February 10th. Last week, I opened my mailbox to find a letter from Purdue University. With my credentials, I was expecting it to be an invitation for an interview with the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences. When I opened it, I was appalled. It was indeed a letter from the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences but it was not the one that I was expecting. Written on this letter was "...your application...has not been approved".

When I read this, I was not overcome with grief or anger. While disappointed and confused, a sense of peace lay upon my heart. That peace was soon followed by a joy. It was quite fitting that the bible study on Friday talked about happiness and joy. Clearly, I was not happy in this situation as happiness is highly circumstantial. However, the joy that I felt was not in the fact that I got rejected nor was it in the fact that this letter was essentially a one way ticket back to Chicago for the Fall 2010 semester. My joy was found in the knowledge of who God is and His promises. I know that God is sovereign and that nothing can hinder His will. I know that God is calling the shots in my life and no matter how unpleasant they seem at the time, His plan has my best interest written all over it. And most important, I know that this place is not my home. The things of the world fade instantaneously and without warning but God and His kingdom will reign victoriously and gloriously over this earth for eternity.

The rest of that day was quite strange. I'm not going to pretend that the letter didn't affect me. It was impossible to read that letter, collect myself, and take my organic chemistry exam. But by the grace and strength of God, I was able to do such things. Throughout it all, my heart did not despair but rather, it sang praises to God the entire night. I don't think I've ever been filled by the Spirit in that manner before. In circumstances that should have had me broken, I had a joy that could not be contained.

This joy manifested itself in my conversations with my friends that night and proved to be an opportunity to both share and express my faith. When my friends heard about my circumstances, they were more angry and upset than I was. Many of them used explicative language to describe my situation showing genuine anger towards Purdue which is understandable. I know that it is within my nature to do this as well as I have done it in the past. For some reason, my heart was completely calm. Instead of joining in with the anger, I responded in humility with quietness and grace. I admitted my shortcomings and wished them the best moving forward in their studies. My friends noticed this as many of them noted how surprised they were by my calm and graceful reaction. My reaction even allowed me to talk about Christianity with another friend. I know that this calmness and grace were not of myself but by the Holy Spirit living within me.

I don't know where I will be next semester. The fact that I will be transitioning away from Purdue and to a new place both saddens and scares me. I am truly thankful for the time that I was given here at Purdue. Many of my friends said that I "wasted my time taking all of the hard pharmacy courses." While I did not achieve the result that I wanted, by no means was it a waste of time. God placed me in a position to pursue a superb education. While it sucked, I realized how blessed I am to be able to study organic chemistry and anatomy within Purdue's pharmacy school, the second best pharmacy school in the nation. Through it all, God humbled me, taught me what it meant to glorify Him through my work, and showed me what it means to have faith in the unseen.

I know that this next chapter in my life will be both exciting and nerve racking at the same time. However, I know this as well. God is faithful. The God that created the universe in its glorious perfection and had a plan for the redemption of mankind since the beginning has watched over me and blessed me the entire life. This same God will continue to direct my paths and lead me in becoming more like Him as I move forward as well. There is nothing to fear as God is in control. Give thanks to the LORD for He is good. His love endures forever.

God is always in control. Never forget that.

Jeremiah 29:11-12
"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.

1 Kings 3:16-28

1 Kings 3:16-28

Back to Solomon. The more I thought about what I read yesterday, the more I began to think about my own prayers. Solomon didn't pray that God would make him a good leader. He prayed more specifically: give me discernment to be a good leader. So God gave him that wisdom. He also gave him opportunities.

This is where it picks up from the section that I read today. Solomon had the opportunity to display the wisdom that God gave him and he did when two women came to him fighting over a child. Each one claimed that the child was hers. God not only changes us when we ask Him to change our character so that it is more like Him but He also gives us opportunities to use those blessings to glorify and honor Him. In the context of this story, Solomon used his wisdom to bless the actual mother of the child by proving which one was the mother and also glorified God through the situation by ruling with integrity and wisdom.

So I might not be king and I may never have to do a paternity case. However, God has blessed me in so many ways. Much like Solomon, it is now my turn to be a good steward of those blessings and to use them to bless others and glorify the one who gave them to me. In essence, I'm blessed to bless others and to glorify our God.

1 Kings 3:1-15

Man, this passage is so cool.

I want to focus on the events of Solomon's dream in v5-15. The Lord appeared to Solomon and told him to "Ask for whatever you want me to give you." Solomon didn't ask for power, wealth, safety, or comfort. Solomon asks for God's wisdom and a "discerning heart" to be able to be a God-honoring leader. Solomon could have asked for ANYTHING. He put God's will before his own needs. If God were to ask me this, I feel like a lot of my answers would be a bit selfish. What I pray and what my heart actually wants are on a different note sometimes. I pray for God to allow me to surrender my will to Him but if He were to say ask me for whatever I want, I'd say pharmacy school.

God's response is pretty sweet too. God gave Solomon wisdom and more than Solomon could have imagined: riches and honor. If only I could have that outlook as well. I'm not saying that turning to God and seeking His will first will lead to wealth and riches. The whole "prosperity gospel" sham is a bit on the bogus side. But I know this: Our God is a God who provides according to our needs and our best interest. Solomon wasn't concerned about everything else. He just wanted the wisdom and mind of God. He got it and God blessed him in abundance. Instead of seeking this world and all that is in it, seek God first. Let Him take care of the rest.

Do You Remember?

Romans 2:5a "Remember the height from which you have fallen!"

I remember. At least now I do anyway. For various reasons, I have been unable to focus on my studies today. Instead of wasting my time sitting on ESPN.com, I decided to clean out my computer. Man, the stuff that I found...

I don't remember much about life back in my senior year in high school or even my freshman year of college when I first got my laptop. I remember the things that happened but I don't remember my feelings and thoughts behind it all. I found so very dark journal entries on my computer talking about a lack of confidence and a distaste towards life. I defined my self-worth by my accomplishments: grades, stuff, and friends.

Times have changed. I'm not a perfect person and I acknowledge that. No longer do I define myself by such criteria and yet I find that I have gained it all. It is ironic to see that once I turned towards God, everything else fell into place. That is not to say that living for God will make life on Earth comfortable but I believe that it is due to a change in perspective. I view myself not as the sum of my accomplishments but as a sinner caught in the grace of a just but merciful and gracious God.

Remember the height from which you have fallen. As I reminisce, I thank and praise God for bringing me to the place that I am now. I am not perfect but He has picked me up out of my grave and set my feet upon solid ground. Thank you God.

1 Kings 2

I'm honestly not too sure what to take away from this passage. In essence, King Solomon establishes his rule as the king over Israel. In the process, he strikes down many that unjustly oppose him and those that have personal agendas. Adonijah, David's other son, still wanted the throne that was rightfully Solomon's. He made a request to marry Abishag, David's "live-in" nurse, but was too cowardly to approach Solomon himself. He asked Solomon's mother to make the request and she did. Eventually, Adonijah paid his life for such a request.

I honestly don't know how I go on and apply this story. Honestly, that's all it seems like, a mere story. I'm guessing that this sets up later events. I sure hope so. I'll keep reading to see if I can find anything.

Tim Tebow

I need to be more like Tim Tebow. I'm not talking about Tim Tebow the football player. I'm talking about Tim Tebow the shamlessly bold and faithful Christian. For those of you that don't follow sports, let me quickly mention his accolades from the past four years. *

2006 season
SEC All-Freshman Team[69]
SEC Freshman of the Week[70]

2007
Walter Camp Foundation National Offensive Player of the Week[71]
Southeastern Conference Offensive Player of the Week, three times[72][73][74]
Davey O'Brien Award winner[75]
Heisman Trophy winner
Maxwell Award winner[75]
Walter Camp Award finalist[76]
Sporting News Player of the Year
Harley Award winner
NCAA QB of the Year[77]
ESPN The Magazine Academic All-American football team[78]
Manning Award finalist[78]
Rivals.com National Offensive Player of the Year[79]
Rivals.com SEC Offensive Player of the Year[80]
First-team All-SEC (Associated Press,[81] Coaches,[82] Rivals.com[80])
Associated Press SEC Offensive Player of the Year[81]
Associated Press Player of the Year[83]
First-team All-American by: Associated Press, Football Writers Association of America, Walter Camp Football Foundation, Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, ESPN, CBS Sports, College Football News, Rivals.com, and Scout.com
James E. Sullivan Award, awarded to the Nations top amateur athlete[84]
Roy F. Kramer SEC Male Athlete of the Year.[85] Third Florida Gator to win this award, Danny Wuerffel (won twice) and Ryan Lochte.
ESPY for Best Male College Athlete[86]

2008 season
First-team All-America by College Football News.
Disney Spirit Award[87]
ESPY for Best Male College Athlete
Heisman Trophy finalist
Manning Award winner
Maxwell Award winner
Southeastern Conference Offensive Player of the Week[88]
2008 SEC Championship Game Most Valuable Player
First-team All-SEC (AP,[89] Coaches,[90] Rivals.com[91])
Southeastern Conference Offensive Player of the Year
Southeastern Conference Scholar-Athlete of the Year[92]
Wuerffel Trophy winner

2009 season
William V. Campbell Trophy (formerly the Vincent dePaul Draddy Trophy, "The Academic Heisman") winner
Lowe's Senior CLASS Award
Heisman Trophy finalist
First-team All-SEC (AP,[93] Coaches,[94] Rivals.com[95])
Second-team All-America (Walter Camp Foundation)
Southeastern Conference Offensive Player of the Year


Impressive, huh? I haven't followed college football my entire life but I would venture to say that Tebow is perhaps one of the most dynamic players that college football has ever seen. While his quarterback skills are in question, Tebow is undoubtedly going to be picked in the upcoming NFL draft. Yet, with millions of dollars on the table, Tebow will be making a political statement in a Pro-Life Superbowl advertisement this coming weekend. With so much money on the line, it is rare to see someone of Tebow's stature making a political statement that can and will alienate a part of his fan base. As ESPN.com author Jemele Hill stated in her recent article, "an athlete's choosing to do what Tebow is doing might be professional suicide". And yet, she also brought up another good point when she stated "I don't care if you're pro-choice or pro-life, conservative or liberal, God-fearing or atheist, you've got to admire Tebow for standing with conviction, even as he's opening himself and his family up to criticism." This man is shamelessly bold.

After reading this, I can't help but feel that Tim Tebow has the right idea as a Christian. Some may disagree with me in the fact that Tebow is forcing his ideas upon others with a Superbowl advertise, perhaps the single most watched sporting event. I'm not for forcing my ideas upon others either. However, this man finds his identity and security in Christ alone and is not afraid to show it. This man is living out his faith. In an interview last year, Tebow was quote as saying "For me, every day includes four things: God, family, academics, and football, in that order." He's not afraid of the critics nor is he afraid of losing money because of his faith.

Paul talked about this in the book of Romans
Romans 1:16-17
"For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith"

Romans 8:38-39
"For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Tim Tebow is living out these two verses. There is no questioning that. I wish I could say the same about myself.


*Wikipedia