Taste And See

"There is a difference between believing that God is holy and gracious, and having a new sense on the heart of the loveliness and beauty of that holiness and grace. The difference between believing that God is gracious and tasting that God is gracious is as different as having a rational belief that honey is sweet and having the actual sense of its sweetness."

~ Jonathan Edwards

Just like any other relationship we have, we cannot have a healthy and complete relationship with God unless we have some kind of contact with Him. I can read all I want about someone by reading their profile on Facebook, and I can believe every word they write there with all my heart, but if I don't interact with them face to face, the friendship can only be so deep. Experiencing God with our senses and in our hearts doesn't validate our faith but it adds value to it.

Although Edwards uses the specific examples of God's holiness and graciousness, these two attributes could easily be replaced with any quality we know to be true of God. Whatever facet of his character we look at, there must always be a moment at which we not only believe it, but encounter it for ourselves.

So as you go about your day, week, and life I hope that you will join me in thinking about who God is and why we know Him to be who He says He is. I hope that our eyes are opened to the miracles and blessings around us that speak to his goodness, love, and faithfulness. That we would recognize the times He shows Himself to be our Comforter, our Protector, or our Prince of Peace.

For many people, our ability to communicate these personal revelations of God's character will speak louder than any intellectual information we give about Him. That knowledge is both necessary and valuable, but when we can attest to it within the context of our own lives, a new level of its truth is communicated.

"Taste and see that the Lord is good.
Oh, the joys of those who take refuge in him!"

~ Psalm 34:8

Meaningless?

A couple weeks ago, I started reading the book of Ecclesiastes, written by King Solomon. Some of my friends and I were having a discussion about the last chapter of this book, and it peaked my interest. Ecclesiastes has always been a confusing book for me, and I decided to take a deeper look at it.

Two weeks later, I'm two chapters in and honestly don't understand much more than when I began.

Opening up my Bible to the book of Ecclesiastes, I scanned my eyes down the bold print on the first page, perplexed by what I saw.

Everything is Meaningless

Wisdom is Meaningless

Pleasures are Meaningless

Wisdom and Folly Are Meaningless

Toil is Meaningless

I didn't know what these meant, but I began reading.

"Meaningless! Meaningless!

says the Teacher.

Utterly meaningless!

Everything is meaningless."

~Ecclesiastes 1:2

Immediately I turned to my notebook. "Why does he say everything is meaningless?" I wrote. "Don't we have a purpose? Don't the things we do have meaning?"

Reading further down the page, I grew more and more discouraged. Geez, I thought. I don't remember Solomon being such a Johnny Raincloud! Nothing he has ever observed or done has any meaning at all?!

Considering Solomon has been remembered throughout generations for his wisdom, wealth and for the temple he built in Jerusalem, that didn't seem to give me much hope for having a meaningful life.

But before you get overwhelmed with the negativity of this post, allow me to share with you what I'm learning from this chapter/book of the Bible.

It is believed that Solomon wrote Ecclesiastes near the end of his life. Looking back on his accomplishments and mistakes, he came to the conclusion that they all were empty.

"I have seen all the things

that are done under the sun;

all of them are meaningless,

a chasing after the wind."

~ Ecclesiastes 1:14

As I thought about this statement, I began to see it's truth. We place so much value in the things that we do, yet how often do we do something worthwhile while never actually investing in it's purpose?

Most of us could quickly recognize the people in our lives that have opened our eyes to what it means to engage in the heart of a project or ministry, versus those who have gone through the motions - even if they had good intentions.

This realization challenged me to examine everything I do and the way I do it.

In my journal I wrote, "The things I do - big or small - may or may not have meaning in and of themselves, but is Ecclesiastes written to help me think about how to bring meaning to them? I get so caught up in my routines and what's normal or expected that I forget to bring meaning to what I do."

Two days later, I went to my first church service at The Rock in San Diego. Near the end of his sermon, Pastor Miles McPherson said something along the same lines.

"Don't let your routine box God out from interfering with your life."

Good intentions aren't enough. I don't want to box God out, but it's so easy to get stuck in a rut without even realizing it. I have to be proactive and intentional about the things I do, and not allow myself to compromise their worth by letting them become too familiar.

If I learn nothing more from Ecclesiastes, I hope to learn how to open up the compartmentalized boxes of my life and allow God to inject meaning into them.

The Method of Meekness

"Jesus calls us to His rest, and meekness is His method. The meek man cares not at all who is greater than he, for he has long ago decided that the esteem of the world is not worth the effort."

~A.W. Tozer

I'm reading a great book right now by Timothy Keller, called The Prodigal God. He talks about how many Christians gravitate towards the disposition of the elder brother in the story of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15, striving to control God by their good behavior. Our tendency is to perform, and in that we lose the joy of being a son or daughter of our merciful and loving Father.

Tozer says something similar, stating that we become so caught up in others' opinions of us that we are rendered incapable of experiencing the rest that Jesus died to give us. We keep polishing our image so as to appear perfect to God and others, and it's not until we catch a realistic glimpse of ourselves that we see that we're not worth the trouble. We're messy, and until we let others see that, no one is going to be very interested in the gracious message our Father wants to share through us.

Including ourselves.

My prayer is that you and I would operate in a method of meekness, so that we may experience the rest that we're meant to have. I hope that today we would consciously choose not keep up an immaculate "elder brother image." Instead may we realize that we are no more worthy of our Father's favor than any rebellious "younger brother" we may come across, no matter their past, present or future.

Struggling to earn the world's esteem is foolish. We already have a Father whose love erases any need to prove ourselves.

May we rest in that truth today.

"But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him."

~ Luke 15:20

Some More Food For Thought

I have some more quotes saved in my phone that I'd like to put up. I'm still trying to get my thoughts together for my next blog post, so this is all I have for now.

In case you didn't read or don't remember, a couple blog posts ago I shared some of the things I've been reading lately that challenged me. This is what I've collected since then. I hope these provokes as much thought for you as they have for me.

"A thousand voices clamor for our attention, and a thousand causes vie for our support. but until we have learned to be satisfied with fellowship with God, until He is our rock and our fortress, we will be restless with our place in the world." ~ Erwin W. Lutzer.

I thought this was a profound insight into the plight of our culture. Even in the Christian culture, I think we become so invested in the various and popular "movements" circulating around that we end up ignoring the Man who laid down His life for relationship with us. And it is only when we learn how to live within that relationship that we begin to have real impact.

"The Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost." ~ Luke 19:10

Something about this really stood out to me as I read it. It's another verse that I've heard a thousand times, but something about the heart of God was peeking out from behind the letters on the page, and I noticed it in a way I never had before. If this is why the Son of Man came, then shouldn't it be what I am about? And not with the reluctant attitude of a law-abider, but with the genuine passion and love of a father seeking out his child.

"But we are not of those who shrink back and are destoryed, but of those who believe and are saved." ~ Hebrews 10:39

What more is there to say? This is the boldness that we're meant to operate in. What if all Christians actually did? I'm pretty sure things would look different. I know I would.

"The difference (between the rich young ruler and Zaccheus) was that one saw how much he had to lose. The other saw how much he had to gain." ~ Beth Moore

This made me wonder whose attitude I tend to adopt. When God invites me to a deeper level of relationship with him, am I more likely to see it as an interruption of my routine or as an opportunity to delve into the very purpose of my existence?

"When you wake up, WAKE UP! It's healthy!" ~ Maria, The Sound of Music

It's kind of funny that I took it from a musical, but I really do think it's a great quote. In the same way that we may be walking around in bondage despite being made free, I think we sometimes go weeks or months at a time without "waking up," despite being awake. Even though this quote wasn't written in that context, it is a good reminder for me.

"How tragic that we in this dark day have had our seeking done for us by our teachers." ~ A.W. Tozer

This is hugely challenging for me. I don't want to be someone who lives off of secondhand knowledge. I want to encounter for myself, in addition to benefiting from my teachers' experience.

"In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams." ~ Acts 2:17

I love this. It isn't a theory, it isn't a wish, it's the author's revelation of what will happen. I think we're going to start seeing a lot more of this in the church. I'm excited to watch how God moves through His people during this season of history.

"Now we read the (Bible) as the record of what God said when He was for a brief time in a speaking mood. ...The facts are that God is not silent, has never been silent. It is the nature of God to speak." ~ A.W. Tozer

How incredible it is that we serve a God who still speaks. We're not solely dependent on the Bible, written thousands of years ago. He is always revealing Himself. I just don't always listen.

"Christ's ultimate goal in any work He assigns to us isto reveal Himself, either through us or to us." ~ Beth Moore

I read this on a day that I was feeling burnt out. I had been working a lot of hours and as much as I loved what I was doing, I was also tired of the day-in, day-out routine of it all. But when I read this, I was reminded that everything I do has purpose. God wants to reveal Himself to the people I deal with, and He can use me to do that. And He will reveal Himself to me through them if I open my eyes to it.

"The Sermon on the Mount cuts across differences of temperatment and variations in capacity. It outlines the kind of character which is possible for any man, gifted or relatively ungifted, strong or weak, clever or slow." ~ J.B. Phillips

I wonder how many people disqualify themselves from relationship with Christ because they don't think they could ever "measure up." And yet, that is the beauty of what Jesus has offered us. There is no qualifier. We can't do anything to earn or lose what we've been given. On the same note, the very nature of the gift negates any excuse we may make as to why we don't really want to operate in it.

And that's all for now. I have more quotes on my phone, but this already seems long. I'm hoping to put up another post within this next week, but I hope that at least one of these excerpts provided you with something to ponder on until then.