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Knowing God in a Deeper Way

Well over the past few years I have been on a journey trying to find out what exactly I believe about Christianity. During this time I have drifted from what I was taught when I was younger, now there are things about the Reformed tradition that I do not agree with. However there are things that I agree with them on and think that they have right. One is the Heidelberg Catechism, this is a theological statement of faith that has a lot of depth to it. The catechism is divided up into 52 parts and is normally studied or talked about on Sunday. However I will try to put it up on Thursday so that I and those who read have a middle of the week reminder of Jesus and a devotional. So I hope that you come back every week for this. I also hope for those that read this that it leads you closer to Christ and may help you know him more.

Lord’s Day 1

1. Q. What is your only comfort in life and death?
A. That I, with body and soul, both in life and death, am not my own, but belong unto my faithful Savior Jesus Christ; who with his precious blood has fully satisfied for all my sins, and delivered me from all the power of the devil; and so preserves me that without the will of my heavenly Father not a hair can fall from my head; yea, that all things must be subservient to my salvation, wherefore by his Holy Spirit he also assures me of eternal life, and makes me heartily willing and ready, henceforth, to live unto him

2. Q. How many things are necessary for you to know, that you in this comfort may live and die happily?
A. Three; the first, how great my sins and misery are; the second, how I am delivered from all my sins and misery; the third, how I am to be thankful to God for such deliverance.

With the answer to the first question let it sink in a little. It continues to strike me that I am not my own. In a culture that screams individuality it is hard to remember that I am not my own. I need to remember that I was bought with a price and what I do should bring glory to Jesus. It is of much comfort that nothing can happen without God knowing it. I am reminded of Psalm 139 and how wherever we are there God also is.

The second answer brings much comfort in that no matter what I have done I am delivered from it. That is the great joy of Christianity that no matter what I am delivered. What great joy that should bring in every day life no matter what my situation is.

I hope that this has strengthened your relationship with Jesus as it has me. May your understanding of Him continue to grow every day.

Not my own strength

As a human, especially one that grew up in the United States is very easy to try to rely on myself. For many years in my Christian journey I have tried to do the right things by my own strength. Isn't this something that we all have tried and have failed at. I will admit it, I have failed while relying on myself and my strength to become more like Jesus. The other day while spending time with God through prayer and reading of the Bible I came across this passage and it struck me and has stuck with me so I decided that I would share it. It comes from Jude.

24 Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, 25 to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.

Neither you nor I can keep ourselves from doing what is wrong. However it does not end there. Isn't that the joy of Christianity that it doesn't end at what we can not do. We can not save ourselves and right our relationship with God because of our sins. There is nothing we do can. However the story does not end there. Jesus lived a perfect life, died in our places and rose from the dead conquering sin. Our sin no longer has power over us if we believe that Jesus is God and died in our place for our sins.
Now may seem like a huge rabbit trail off from what it started as however I hope you will see the connection soon. In my life I have accepted the fact for a long time that I can not save myself from my sin and can not on my own restore my relationship with God. That being said, on the other hand I have seemed to think that after I was saved and put into the right with God that I could make myself into the person that He wanted me to be. I thought that by trying to live a certain way that I could have life to the fullest and while that is partly true, I failed to realize that I can not do it on my own. I need to rely fully on God. Jesus is the one who can keep me from stumbling and living a life outside of the one that leads to life to the fullest. I was foolish for believing the lie that I could accomplish it on my own. So often I have moved forward under my own power and not my the power of the Holy Spirit and wonder why nothing happens. Before I move I need to first pray and rely on God and the guiding of his Spirit. Only then can I live life to the fullest. So I ask you who are you relying on? Yourself or the power of God and his Spirit. Let me tell you from experience life to the fullest does not happen by relying on yourself but on Jesus. May you experience this freedom from doing life on your own and learning to rely on Jesus for everything and may the Holy Spirit guide our lives and may the world know him through that.

Learning to follow him more each day,
MJV

Yeah

The past couple of months have been a time of great reflection. During this time I have done a lot of reading of Biblical scholars. One of the people I have been reading has been N.T. Wright. He is one of the best Biblical scholars that I have ever read. His views on most topics seem to be in line with what the Bible has to say. His views have explained a lot of New Testament that used to be fuzzy, even for a Bible student. The teachings of his have helped me grow on this journey of Christianity. I have heard some good sermons that have convicted me very greatly. The conviction has not been in a bad way but in a positive way that has allowed me to look at my life and start to change it. During this time I have seen Christianity that was more of a show and then Christianity that is stripped down and raw. These people have gone back to the basic, to the truth of the Bible and are pursuing it has hard as they can. My personal times with God have been to say the least amazing. Some hard, some joyous, others just hard to explain to anybody. However they have been growing times, true blessings in my life. Most of all it is great to have a wife who is growing, maturing, deepening her faith and going on this crazy journey of life with me.

Learning to follow Jesus who is Lord more and more...
Mike

This past year

I am sitting here watching a movie at my parents house in between Thanksgiving parties and I am just thinking about how blessed I am. I have the most amazing wife in the whole world. This year has been hard in many ways however it has been a year where I have been able to search for what I really believe. I have been able to dig into what I believe and why. It is a whole different experience from learning in college. It has been a very freeing experience and one that has blessed me greatly. It has prepared me so imensely for teaching and leading teenagers. It has been a time where I have been able to move away from preconcived overly fundamentalist ideas to what the Bible says about living. Christianity is a lifestyle... it is a way of life that should consume every part of my life.

This past year has been another great year for Natalie and I to grow closer together. This year led us through a lot of trials but we have weathered them together and have become so much stronger together and closer to God through this.

So I am just so thankful for this past year. (cue the cheesy music)

Love of Christ

This is a topic that I have been thinking about for a while now and have trying to put into a coherent thought. How does a follower of Christ love like him? What would it look like in our lives? I know that in this life time we will never be able to love as Christ did, surely that shouldn't stop us. So how do we as Christians go about this? I was reminded of the story of Zacchaeus by a pastor that I listened to. Imagine being there and Christ who is God and a holy person said to this filthy scum "Hey get down from that tree, I want to hang out with you" (my paraphrase). The reaction of the religious leaders of the time was probably how most of us would react at first. What the leaders expect and how we as Christians would like to react is to gather our power and strike Zacchaeus down from that tree with lightning and go "that's what happens to sinners." However that wouldn't be against what Jesus was about. So we are called to love those who we are sinners. When I start to get self righteous in this situation or ones like that I try to remind myself that I am just as if not more sinful than them and that Christ loves me. He is so passionately in love with me that he pursues me. So as a follower of Christ and trying to be like him I am to love everybody no matter how "untouchable they are." Now that is hard, Christ says "Follow me." Simple yet so hard. I hope we strive to be like him.

Holy

The church does not need a bunch of people who are trying to act more holy than each other. Think about it, why do we as a church tend to hide our scars and cover up what is wrong in our lives. I question this practice a lot. We serve a God who even after he rose up still had scars on his body. So why do hide ourselves? Are we afraid of letting go and truly serving and depending on God. I am reminded of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount as recorded in the Gospel of Matthew. He talks about authentic and living our lives for the right reason. This brings up the question, why are we doing what we are? Is it for the glory of God or for our glory? Do we hide our scars so we seem holy? I hope that we can learn in our walks to be authentic. I know that this word has been thrown around a lot in Christian circles but I want to challenge people to try to live authentically for Christ. We need to check our motives. Why are we doing what we are?