So what is the hardest thing to do as a Christian? What’s the hardest virtue to achieve?
Ok, so yes, it’s not true for everyone, but I think Psalm 131 focuses on something that is incredibly difficult for most of us. Humility. And I don’t mean false humility. I don’t mean being depressed or thinking lowly of yourself. I mean the stuff that 131 talks about. Read it through. Listen to the words. It’s an interesting description of how we should be before God.
A big part of the humility here is that absolute trust in God. The kind of trust that says you know God has everything in control and so you don’t need to worry about it. Imagine that, God doesn’t need you to worry. A kind of humility that gets that there are some matters that are just too great for us to understand, too wonderful for us. It makes me think of the idea of trusting God’ s plans, really trusting them, even when it seems like he’s sending you and other people down crazy roads, with crazy pain. In that circumstance, humility is still being able to rest on God’s will like a baby trust it’s mom. I love that visual, of a baby that’s just been fed by it’s mom and just lays against her. There’s nothing more peaceful or trusting than that image.
Oftentimes we don’t think of our worry or our constant grabbing of control as pride, but this psalm challenges us to think again about that hard Christian virtue. . . humility.
Tags: god's plans, humility, psalm 131, trust
Does your Gospel have a hole in it?
Does this book have a hole in it’s treatment of a possible hole?
For the next few weeks I want to do a series discussing the book, “Hole in the Gospel”. The book was written by Richard Stearn, president of World Vision. They are an incredible organization and my family sponsors a child with them. We love it and I believe in them. The book’s basic premise is that the Church today though is missing something integral, that in focusing on salvation of the soul, we have become neglectful of the world around us today. That we have forgotten the element of the Gospel that is about change around us right now- feeding the poor, healing the sick, reaching out to those on the fringes and in greatest need.
In some ways, he is right on. And he’s got a big agenda in trying to wake up and stir some passion in people who are often complacent. He does a lot of work dealing with statistics but also in painting very real pictures of people and churches who are both hurting and those who are helping. He starts the book by turning the focus squarely on himself and I admire him for that. And not only does he paint the immense need, but he also paints the potential that exists to meet those needs.
At the same time, I do have very significant concerns with the way the book comes out in the end. Most importantly, the fact that a book about completing the Gospel, fails to use the Gospel as motivation or give us the medicine of the Gospel to grant forgiveness to us for our neglect of the kingdom work we should be doing today in this world.
That’s the quick review, but this book has so much to it, I’d like to dig in further. And while I have these concerns, there is so much good here that I hope you’ll join with me in thinking it through and considering the implications for us as individuals and as members of Christian churches. So let’s get that thinking started with a couple of significant questions he asks.
Gospel means “good news”. What does “good news” mean to the world’s 3 billion poor or the millions of AIDS orphans in Africa?
Do you really want your heart to break for others? Don’t we often pray that God would protect our hearts?
2,000 years ago, 12 people changed the world. Imagine a world in which two billion Christians worked to do the same?
What if we actually demonstrated God’s love for the world instead of just talking about it?
The End . . . dum dum dum (insert ominous music)
Some of the final chapters of this book talk about the subject of the end of time, specifically in reference to Satan and the final battle. This is obviously kind of a big and tough topic to talk about with a kid and there is a sense of that in the way Colton was willing to discuss it with his parents. He did say he’d seen Satan, but wasn’t willing to describe him, just too scary. I found that interesting. We have some scary images from popular culture; the Bible sometimes uses serpentine imagery, and sometimes he’s described as originally being beautiful (cf Ezek 28:13). We don’t really know what he looks like though much of the popular imagery with horns and red colors comes more from Greek mythology. But I have to say that part of me thinks Satan would be intimidating and scary, and part of me wonders if he would be deceptively attractive.
One piece from these sections that I found challenging is when Colton said that Satan isn’t in hell yet. Now we do see Satan roaming the earth in a sense; God allows him to do this within limits. And there is the idea of Satan as the accuser in Job who stands before the Lord, so this might be the idea, but we definitely see imagery of Satan being cast into hell as well in the Scriptures (cf Rev. 12, Lk 10), especially with Jesus’ ascension into heaven.
Finally, Colton does talk some about the end. True to little boy nature, he’s interested in the swords and bows and arrows and monsters. Again, this is one of those sections that’s kind of hard to get a read on. Most sections we see in the Bible describe the final war with Jesus and his angels as the triumphant army. It’s possible the saints could come with him, though generally the view of the end seems to be one where the Saints join Jesus after all this happens on the earth, where at the very end the believers on earth are raptured up to meet Jesus and the heavenly host as they come down triumphantly (1st and 2nd Thess. discuss this some) This is more about the triumph though than the battle.
In the end you can see that these, like many questions raised by this book, are hard to determine. The reality is that as has been said before, the Bible doesn’t give us a lot of details about heaven, the interim state, or exact narrative of how things will go. The challenge for me in this section, like all the others, is to remember that the Bible does focus most of my attention toward what comes after this age, the resurrection and the new heavens and new earth. Revelation, like the other sections of Scripture, want me to focus on this as the final and greatest hope.
So in summary, I fully agree with the title of the book, “Heaven is for Real”, but would encourage all of us to join with Scripture in looking forward to this as only a foretaste of the feast to come.
Tags: end times, heaven is for real
Where were you on 9-11?
What were you doing?
What were you thinking?
These are the questions many of us are reflecting on this week as we approach this solemn 10th anniversary. I remember where I was. Waking up in my dorm and switching on tv before I headed to chapel. After that day, I don’t like to leave my house without turning the tv on in the morning. I feel like there might be something that I need to know. After just watching soundlessly for a few minutes my roommate burst into the room and saw that I was indeed watching. We looked at each other and reflected that there was no better place to go than church.
I remember sitting in chapel as one of our professors spoke that morning. He reflected that clearly he would be speaking about something other than what had been planned. Now he was one of those Old Testament professors who seemed like he’d spent so much time reading Jeremiah, Isaiah, and Ezekiel that he had become a prophet. And that’s what he was to me that morning. Speaking of the evil that had happened. Speaking of the evil in our world, even in our own country. Evils done by others, but also pausing to let us consider that we too were guilty of evil. It was not about assigning blame, but about reflecting on the fact that we were all being confronted that day by the consequence of evil all around us.
And we all felt that day that we needed to cry out for mercy. Psalm 130 and this video of it by Sons of Korah captures that feeling. That feeling where you see evil and it’s so raw that you just need to cry out for mercy.
Lord have mercy!
How can this be happening? How can towers be falling? How can planes be rammed into buildings? How can people be jumping out of burning buildings? Those thoughts and images chilled us to our bones. And we cried out to God for mercy.
And Psalm 130 tells us that as we cry out, even when we don’t see the answers quite yet, we are waiting for the right person to come. I love the verse, “My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen wait for morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning.” Watchmen would stand on walls for those long nighttime hours. It was the most fearful time to watch, the time when enemies are most likely to attack. But they knew that relief was coming. There was no question that the sun would rise. And a new day would begin.
So even as we cried out that day to God for mercy, we knew he would answer. Even today as we still remember back, even as we watch. . . and as we wait. . . we know that we are like watchmen waiting for the morning.
God has heard our cry. He is coming. He comes with unfailing love and full redemption. He comes with mercy.
(Just a note- the image above is a painting by artist Sally Beck, and is displayed in the September 11 Memorial Museum. I encourage you to click on the image above to read her statement about the painting)
There are so many questions people have about heaven, but some of the biggest are related to the idea of people in heaven. What will we look like? Will we know other people? Will we see friends and relatives? Other people from the Bible? This list goes on.
The book has some interesting things to say about these subjects and some of it is really moving, and some of it raises more questions for me. Let’s think about a few of those things.
Colton’s experience in heaven showed that you would definitely know other people. He met biblical figures like John the Baptist. He also met family members. One of the interesting points in this is that what he learned about his family members the father doesn’t believe he could possibly have known outside of a authentic heavenly trip. He met his Dad’s grandpa, “Pop”. And what he saw of Pop was a younger version than he had ever seen in pictures before, yet he was able to point out Pop in such pictures later on. He also told his parents they had another daughter, one in heaven, who had died in Mommy’s tummy. They had never told Colton about this.
These are some amazing moments, stories that do two things. One they affirm hopes that many of us have, that already in heaven we’ll be with loved ones in a meaningful way. The second these stories do is lend some evidence to the idea that Colton did really have some kind of miraculous experience. To know about his sister and recognize a younger version of Pop, those are some pretty amazing things.
At the same time, I do wonder about some of the things he says. Will we know each other in heaven? Will we be wandering around, learning new things, hanging out? Perhaps, the Bible doesn’t say anything really for or against that, though in the few glimpses of heaven we have the focus is more on being at peace, resting, and praise of God. The one description that really seems to be challenging when I line things up with the Bible is the description of all people being like angels (pp. 72-74). Angels and humans are different beings, created by God for different purposes. We know we’ll have heavenly bodies in the resurrection to come, but why would that include wings and will we have a little of that body already in heaven before the resurrection? The angels we see come to earth don’t have wings or necessarily halos though their faces do sometimes glow. Halos are actually an idea that started in pagan culture and eventually Christian artists adopted the look (I’m not saying halos are bad, just not necessarily Biblical outside of the idea of faces shining) There are seraphim and cherubim in heaven who do have wings, but most angels aren’t represented that way. And for humans to suddenly be made like seraphim, cherubim, or angels seems out of place with the Biblical idea of humans eventually having their own bodies raised in a more perfect form (1 Cor. 15 is the best passage about resurrection).
Again, the concepts in this book offer a lot of material for thinking and I hope that this is a book that continues to push many of us to go to the Scriptures and stand firm in the hope we have. A hope of heaven, but also of the resurrection and life eternal with Christ.
Tags: angels, heaven is for real, other people
Maybe this seems like a ridiculous question- is family still considered a blessing?
Of course it is! And in some senses I certainly agree. After all, when you talk to people and ask them what they value most, family is consistently ranked near the top. People still get excited about having babies. People still travel at holidays to be with family.
But then I thought about this question that popped into my mind a little more. As families continue to fray and as fewer and fewer people know what it is to have a mom and dad who stand with them throughout their lives, there is a loss of value in family. As we fill up our kids lives with so many activities or so much time out of the house, maybe there is a loss there as well. It’s not that people wouldn’t say they value family, but some families can start to lose that connection via deeds, even when the words are right.
Those things I considered, but even more important to this discussion is the word “blessing”. Blessing implies that family is a gift, a gift from God. How many people are truly attributing their family to God? How many people are really looking for a spouse with what God wants in mind? How many people are keeping God in mind as they pursue children? Or as they think about the constant decisions they make as they raise their kids?
Family is a blessing. As you listen to the psalm, think about it. A desire to follow God, to walk with him, means that he will bless you and one of the main places of blessing is family. And so as we seek to walk with him on a daily basis, we should also on a daily basis give thanks to him for family, and seek to apply his intentions for family life to our own.
Tags: blessing, family, psalm 128, sons of korah
Have you ever had a time in your life when things were going so right that you felt like it must be a dream. You know, one of those pinch-yourself-moments.
When I read Psalm 126, I love the language that’s up front. “When the Lord brought back the captives to Zion, we were like men who dreamed”.
Like men who dreamed. The context is that this psalm was probably written by the people returning from the exile in Babylon. Remember, they were conquered by the Babylonians and in three separate events people were ripped away from their homes, families, and native lands and taken away into a foreign country. Not only this, but they had watched as their city, Jerusalem, and even worse, their Temple, had been destroyed. Then they spent 50 years in captivity! Can you imagine how many times they dreamed of going home. Can you imagine how many times they talked with each other about what it would be like to return to their lands. To see the cities, rivers, and of course Jerusalem. I’m sure they did literally dream about it.
And then it happened. Persia takes over and releases the captives, and not only that, sends them home with money and treasures to rebuild the temple and the city. Talk about a dream coming true.
And so they can make all the connections. We did “sow in tears”, but now we’re “reaping with songs of joy”. And this is no strict metaphor. This psalm is a song. Remember, that’s why we’ve been linking to songs throughout this series on the psalms. These are songs they actually sang to God. They responded to this dream come true by singing. As they walked up the hills toward Jerusalem, their hearts would leap with joy as they saw the city and the Temple, and they would be remembering what they’d come from, and how great God was, and they would just have to burst forth in song (this run-on sentence is intentional- imagine the joy just building up and overpowering them). They’d remember their dream come true.
Dreams can come true. As you see dreams come true, do it- actually sing to God. I know I feel kind of embarrassed sometimes to sing (my voice is not good to put it kindly), but there’s something about it, actually singing to God, especially as you praise him for making a dream into reality.
Tags: dreams come true, psalm 126
If Jesus could talk to you, what would he say?
I think that’s a question a lot of us would like the answer to. In the book, Heaven is for Real, little Colton Burpo speaks of an experience where while very sick he says he went to heaven and got to speak to Jesus. Now in many Near Death Experiences, the things people seem to relate from Jesus don’t seem like the main things I’d imagine Jesus would have on his mind and some are downright wrong. Reading some research that compiled them I saw things like “Go hug others”, “Who would you like to reincarnate as?”, “The rapture will come before you die” (and the man died a number of years ago).
What’s nice here is that the words Jesus speaks to Colton do seem a little closer to what I’d imagine. One of the most important things he learns is that “people need to have Jesus in their heart”. I’d imagine that an evangelistic emphasis is probably the most important thing that Jesus could send us out with having been to heaven (Matt 28:18-20). One of the other main things he was told is that “Jesus really loves children”. Now it’s hard to say that Jesus loves children more than anyone else. There are certainly examples of Jesus speaking of his love for children in the Bible, and yet I think these words are important because Colton was a child. Jesus would want our children to know that even at their young age, Jesus loves them in a special way as little ones (Matt 19:14). Colton also remembers Jesus telling him that his healing would be an answer to his father’s prayer. That would be a powerful thing to remember, and something the Bible does speak of regularly, that Jesus in this time until he returns, is in heaven hearing our prayers and intereceding for us (Heb. 4:15-16) .
I’m not always sure what to make of everything in this book, but I do think that these messages accurately reflect Jesus’ words to us. The beauty of course, is that we don’t have to go to heaven to hear them. Jesus speaks these same encouraging words to us in the Bible. And while I’m sure it would be amazing to experience heaven today, I can also find incredible strength in the times when I really spend time in the Bible and truly let it be God’s Word. We often call it that, but I think sometimes we need to pause and let it truly act that way. Read the Bible, and imagine it as God speaking to you.
Really.
Because he is.
“Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion which cannot be shaken but endures forever”.
This is the first verse of Psalm 125 and I love that visual. I love the strong music that Sons of Korah sets to this psalm. My confirmation verse was actually Ps 27:1 and for my confirmation banner I had an image of a big castle, “the Lord is my stronghold”. Maybe I’ve just always been fascinated by knights and castles and once upon a time I thought I would have liked to have lived in the Middle Ages (prior to reading history texts focusing more on things like the Black Death than chivalry), but there is something in this image of a castle that I think is really powerful. The impenetrable fortress.
Psalm 125 is another in the grouping called the Psalms of Ascent. It was something pilgrims would have spoken as they looked up at Jerusalem on their way for religious festivals. And part of what they would have seen was this mighty city Jerusalem which had repelled so many enemies previously. All that history would have been on their minds. And as they approached for festivals, they would have been thinking about the blessings of the Lord. How he was committed to strengthening his people through these festivals. How he had blessed them with the Promised Land itself, a sign that he would care for his people and drive out those who were evil. Why? Because in lifting them up, they were light in the world. Because in throwing down enemies he was showing his power and protecting his people so that they would not be tempted towards evil.
That’s why God protects his people, in the past, today, and forevermore. We feel the forces gathered against us. Sometimes people, sometimes events in life, you can fill in the blank. . . . But remember this image of the fortress, and how God strengthens you to be a fortress, one block in his building called the Church, meant to stand on the hill for others to see, and for them to know that it is God’s power that makes you a stronghold in this difficult world.
Tags: lord stronghold, mount zion, psalm 125, sons of korah
We’ve all had images of Jesus pressed into our heads since the time we were children. What does Jesus look like in your imagination?
We know some are probably not accurate. Jesus is not likely to have blonde hair or blue eyes given his Jewish genes. But there are so many factors that go into our mental images. Some of it is simply what we’ve seen in traditional paintings, some is based on what we imagine having read stories in the Bible, some maybe even based on speculation from specials on The History Channel or something of that order.
But in Heaven is for Real, one of the topics that gets some significant attention is the description of Jesus. There are a number of elements, but Colton’s description of Jesus includes many things- he has pretty eyes, a purple sash, a diamond crown, rides a rainbow colored horse, markers (description of the bloody marks on his hands), sits on a chair next to his dad, lights up heaven with his light, etc.
It’s interesting to think about these traits. Much of it probably does fit in with our thoughts of Jesus, and as the Dad points out, many of the elements line up with parts of Scripture. One of the interesting things though that we see with this book as we continue to compare it to the Bible, is the difference in emphasis on what heaven is like right now vs. what is going to be in the age of come when Jesus returns. Most of the elements listed above are found in passages of the Bible talking about Jesus return to earth and the future age. In the book, the empahsis is clearly on heaven right now. Of course, talking about time and heaven, and the future is difficult, and as the book points out, time works differently for God, so perhaps this is part of the puzzle. Regardless, as the Bible pushes us to focus on the resurrection still to come, it seems best to look at these images of heaven, about Jesus and the other topics, and realize that while they’re wonderful, the best is yet to come. All of heaven, all of what we experience on earth, are simply foretastes of the greatest feast!
P.S. The picture shown above is that of a young girl named Akiane who started painting pictures from a young age based on visions she describes in this story. It’s the only picture of Jesus that Colton accepted as accurately depicting Jesus. All others he said weren’t quite right.
What You're Saying...