tell me why, God
Few people are grief-striken when they hear of criminals or ruthless dictators dying as a result of their offences.
But when "innocent" people perish, perhaps as a result of some natural disaster or act of terrorism, all of us tend to ask why.
This has always been the case.
Job, one of the oldest books of the Bible, is one big question: "Why do the 'innocent' suffer?"
In Luke 13, two tradgedies that had occurred also raised the question, "Why?"
Fo thousands of years in Jewish culture it was commonly believed that people suffered primarily because God was punishing them for some specific sin--which sometimes was the case.
Jesus, however, emphasized that all people must repent before a holy God (Luke 13:1-5)
Why is that?
There really are no innocent people.
As Paul told us," Everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God's glorious standard" (Romans 3:23).
God is not accountable to us to explain why tradgedies occur, but we are accountable to God to confess our sins so that we can be in a right relationship with Him.
When thousands of people died on Spetember 11, 2001, people all over the world asked, "Why?"
As far as I know, God hasn't given us a direct answer to that question.
What's better, however, is that God has given us this promise: If we repent and accept Jesus' sacrifice for our sins, our death will not be the end.
We are assured that our souls will live on---forever!
And with that assurance, we can easily understand why our need for repentance is more important than our demand to know why.
-Dean Ohlman, ODJ
Luke 13:1-5
You will perish, too, unless you repent of your sins and turn to God (v.3).
Saturday, October 25, 2008
The call
Do you prefer not to take phone calls?
Do you cringe with every ring?
There's a guy somewhere in New Zealand who wished he hadn't taken a call.
He answered it, only to hear a police officer telling him the house was surrounded and that he had no choice but to walk out his front door with his hands held high.
The man obeyed the authority and carefully followed his instructions.
He stepped out the front door with arms held high to the sky.
But no one was there to greet him.
No police.
No nothing.
The police officer had dialed the wrong number!
The man waited a few moments, looked around(feeling a little silly), and then lowered his arms and walked back into his home.
Believers in Jesus have received a call that is not a wrong number.
The command from the Supreme Authority tells us we're to go to people around the globe.
There's no mistaking what Jesus called us to do(Matthew 28:19-20):
Go: Use your gifts, talents, and resources to reach out to people who don't know God's forgiveness.
Make: Come alongside people to help them become obedient, growing disciples.
Baptize: Encourage new believers to publicly proclaim their belief by being baptized.
Jesus is calling.
You're wrapped up in a comfortable lifestyle with lots of things to do.
The phone's ringing.
You may be busy and have a task list a mile long.
The phone's still ringing.
You've been called--commanded--to reach out and extend God's truth and love to people of this world.
Don't act as if Jesus dialed the wrong number.
-Tom Felten, ODJ
Matthew 28:16-20
Go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit(v.19)
Do you prefer not to take phone calls?
Do you cringe with every ring?
There's a guy somewhere in New Zealand who wished he hadn't taken a call.
He answered it, only to hear a police officer telling him the house was surrounded and that he had no choice but to walk out his front door with his hands held high.
The man obeyed the authority and carefully followed his instructions.
He stepped out the front door with arms held high to the sky.
But no one was there to greet him.
No police.
No nothing.
The police officer had dialed the wrong number!
The man waited a few moments, looked around(feeling a little silly), and then lowered his arms and walked back into his home.
Believers in Jesus have received a call that is not a wrong number.
The command from the Supreme Authority tells us we're to go to people around the globe.
There's no mistaking what Jesus called us to do(Matthew 28:19-20):
Go: Use your gifts, talents, and resources to reach out to people who don't know God's forgiveness.
Make: Come alongside people to help them become obedient, growing disciples.
Baptize: Encourage new believers to publicly proclaim their belief by being baptized.
Jesus is calling.
You're wrapped up in a comfortable lifestyle with lots of things to do.
The phone's ringing.
You may be busy and have a task list a mile long.
The phone's still ringing.
You've been called--commanded--to reach out and extend God's truth and love to people of this world.
Don't act as if Jesus dialed the wrong number.
-Tom Felten, ODJ
Matthew 28:16-20
Go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit(v.19)
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Selfism & suffering
Have you been infected by "selfism"?
Dr. Paul Vitz feels that much of what today's mental health professionals tell their clients is pure narcissim, egoism, and the worship of self.
People are counseled to become "self-actualized," to bow at the altar of humanism.
But when hard stuff in life happens, suddenly that altar begins to crumble.
When tough times come--when people get bad news from the doctor, or when a loved on dies--all the optimistic, self-focused hot air that's been pumped into them suddenly escapes.
You can almost hear them shriek,"But suffering isn't supposed to be part of my self-actualization!" Jesus wasn't motivated by "selfism".
He accepted suffering as part of God's perfect plan.
He did suffer and die, but He rose again!
There was joy in the morning (on the third day).
There was purpose in the pain. Selfism doesn't understand this reality.
It teaches people to do everything possible--emotionally, mentally, physically--to push suffering aside and seek goals of personal fufillment.
God's goals for you and me will include suffering. Peter, who saw Jesus suffer and who faced great hardships himself, wrote these words :" There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you have to endure many trials for a little while.
These trials will show that your faith is genuine.
It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold--though your faith is far more precious than mere gold.
So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world"(1 Peter 1:6-7) A healthy, strong, humble faith is a cure for the infection of selfism!
-Tom Felten, ODJ
Have you been infected by "selfism"?
Dr. Paul Vitz feels that much of what today's mental health professionals tell their clients is pure narcissim, egoism, and the worship of self.
People are counseled to become "self-actualized," to bow at the altar of humanism.
But when hard stuff in life happens, suddenly that altar begins to crumble.
When tough times come--when people get bad news from the doctor, or when a loved on dies--all the optimistic, self-focused hot air that's been pumped into them suddenly escapes.
You can almost hear them shriek,"But suffering isn't supposed to be part of my self-actualization!" Jesus wasn't motivated by "selfism".
He accepted suffering as part of God's perfect plan.
He did suffer and die, but He rose again!
There was joy in the morning (on the third day).
There was purpose in the pain. Selfism doesn't understand this reality.
It teaches people to do everything possible--emotionally, mentally, physically--to push suffering aside and seek goals of personal fufillment.
God's goals for you and me will include suffering. Peter, who saw Jesus suffer and who faced great hardships himself, wrote these words :" There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you have to endure many trials for a little while.
These trials will show that your faith is genuine.
It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold--though your faith is far more precious than mere gold.
So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world"(1 Peter 1:6-7) A healthy, strong, humble faith is a cure for the infection of selfism!
-Tom Felten, ODJ
Stray Star
The newspaper headline announced: "Young star pulled by wrong crowd may be destined to stray forever."
The article wasn't about a promising Hollywood actor or pop musician whos personal life was disintegrating.
This star was of the outer-space variety.
Known to astronomers as Tauri Sb, the relatively small star(20 percent of the mass of our sun) had been part of a four-star family.
For 20 years, researchers have been watching its movements.
They noticed that the small star was drawn toward a larger pair, coming close enough so that as it passed them, Tauri Sb doubled its speed and shot off away from its original solar family. It looks like Tauri Sb will end up wandering through space.
What happens in outer space is similar to what happens to people on our little planet. Like the young son in the parable, a person pursues bad relationships and wanders far from home.
That "home" may be a family, a church, or friends.
It also usually means wandering away from God.
And It's all too easy to find "friends" who will encourage the wanderer to keep going.
The big difference between Tauri Sb and the prodigal in Jesus' parable is that the star, if it ever turns back home, will be in an orbit far distant from its original relationship to its family.
But the young son came back--back to his father's open arms.
The same can be true for you and me if we have allowed ourselves to be pulled away from a close relationship with God.
We don't have to wonder if the Lord wants us back---He does.
We don't have to wait light-years to repair our relationship---He wants us back right away.(See Luke 15:17-24)
Do you need to come home?
-Kurt De Haan, ODJ
Luke 15:11-20
His father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him(v.20) Once you were like a sheep who wandered away. But now you have turned to your Shepherd, the Guardian of your souls(1 Peter 2:25)
Believing is receiving
"I'll believe it when i see it!" That was the response from a woman who was told that she had won a cash prize, no strings attached.
This woman's response clearly showed that she didnt put her faith in the empty promises of a telemarketer.
There are many things we shouldn't put our faith in--promises of easy money with no effort, tropical vacations with no money down and sight unseen, and buy-now/pay-later marketing schemes.
But there are some things in life we can count on.
For example, we don't question whether the sun will rise every day.
When we exhale, we don't wonder if there'll be enough oxygen left for the next time we inhale.
We can even trust the weather.
In Michigan, we can expect that it's going to get cool, then get cold,very,very cold, warm up a little for spring, and then get blistering hot in the summer.
We know that this cycle will last as long as the earth rotates.
We can count on life being ever-changing.
But prayer can bring stability to it.
Inner peace comes in knowing that whatever we're praying about can be left in God's hands.
It's important to Him.
He won't forget about it, nor will He ignore us.
Faith assures us that God cares about us and that He's working for our good.
Faith doesn't demand that God must come through for me exactly the way I want Him to, or even in my own time frame.
Faith doesn't wring its hands with worry, wondering if anything will come of my request.
It's normal to doubt from time to time.
But when waves of doubt threaten to capsize the ship of faith, remember Christ's words to believe and then receive.
-Allison Stevens, ODJ
Mark 11:21-24
I tell you, you can pray for anything, and if you believe that you've received it, it will be yours(v.24)
"I'll believe it when i see it!" That was the response from a woman who was told that she had won a cash prize, no strings attached.
This woman's response clearly showed that she didnt put her faith in the empty promises of a telemarketer.
There are many things we shouldn't put our faith in--promises of easy money with no effort, tropical vacations with no money down and sight unseen, and buy-now/pay-later marketing schemes.
But there are some things in life we can count on.
For example, we don't question whether the sun will rise every day.
When we exhale, we don't wonder if there'll be enough oxygen left for the next time we inhale.
We can even trust the weather.
In Michigan, we can expect that it's going to get cool, then get cold,very,very cold, warm up a little for spring, and then get blistering hot in the summer.
We know that this cycle will last as long as the earth rotates.
We can count on life being ever-changing.
But prayer can bring stability to it.
Inner peace comes in knowing that whatever we're praying about can be left in God's hands.
It's important to Him.
He won't forget about it, nor will He ignore us.
Faith assures us that God cares about us and that He's working for our good.
Faith doesn't demand that God must come through for me exactly the way I want Him to, or even in my own time frame.
Faith doesn't wring its hands with worry, wondering if anything will come of my request.
It's normal to doubt from time to time.
But when waves of doubt threaten to capsize the ship of faith, remember Christ's words to believe and then receive.
-Allison Stevens, ODJ
Mark 11:21-24
I tell you, you can pray for anything, and if you believe that you've received it, it will be yours(v.24)
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