Day 140: Transformation by God

"These are wells without water, clouds carried by a tempest, for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.  For when they speak great swelling words of emptiness, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through lewdness, the ones who have actually escaped from those who live in error."  2 Peter 2:17-18

I found this message to be harsh, but it is an important reminder for us and how to live.

We all have a host of temptations that attempt to rule over us every day.  Sometimes, we overcome them; other times, we are overcome - thus is life.  In addition to being overcome by temptations, we will go out of our way to justify ourselves by judging all of those around us for everything we can imagine.  We will start to speak great words that are just empty.  When we do that, though, we become empty wells or weak clouds.  We give up all control over our lives to whatever temptation that comes our way.

Now, this might sound like a dead end, but that's not the case.  Sure, we can become like an empty well or a mere cloud, but we were all created in God's image.  God is working in all of us.  We don't have just one option to give our control over to temptations.  Instead, we can hand the control over to God, the expression of perfect, unconditional love in our lives.

When we try to talk our way through our temptations and our sins, we only become further enslaved by our sins.  However, when we start to adopt everything that God teaches and tells us, we can start to transform our lives.  It might start with just words.  Rather than deceive ourselves with our own words, we can speak the truths that we learn through God.  Once we speak them, we will start to live them.  Once we live them, we inch closer to God.  As we go further down our journey, we will start to become much more like God.  We need to allow for God to do the work in our bodies so that we can continue to heal. 

 

Day 130: True Faith

"If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, 'Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,' but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit?  Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead."  James 2:15-17

Here is a sharp way of putting this message.  Unfortunately, this same issue still applies today.

With the rise of social media becoming platforms for people to project all their feelings, including support and denunciations, there have been some ideas that have become quite popular.  One of these that has been getting lots of backlash from secularists is the notion of stating, "Pray for ___", where the blank is usually a country/city in the West.  I must admit, I agree with the secularist argument.  In fact, James even agrees, as he has written above.

For many, church has become something more of a habit rather than an act of devotion.  There's nothing ever planned on Sunday mornings, and there are many places that don't even open on Sunday, so what better to do than to go to church?  And that's all that happens.  Crowds fill up the pews in churches all over the world on Sundays, but that's all that happens.  So many people will show up on Sundays, but when it comes to volunteering for charities or giving time for other things, nobody shows up.  You can wear the cross around your neck, but are you ready to pick up the cross that is still lying in your room?

The truth of the matter is that our faith should be producing works.  Our faith is not something that just stays stagnant.  I mean, there are countless examples that remind us that our faith is not dead.  Jesus never says, "Say you believe in me, but stay seated."  No, in fact, Jesus says, "Follow me."  We have the Holy Spirit guiding us to do many great things in our lives.  The word Spirit comes from a word meaning breath/wind.  If it's still, it's no longer a breath or wind.  In this same way, we should be looking at all of our aspects of our lives in faith.

Why do we read the bible?  We should be reading for answers and for a strengthening relationship with God.  Why do we pray?  It should be so that we can keep up our communication and have a moment to breathe in between living our tough life and continuing with more works.  It should also be a chance for us to receive strength to continue.

So, when it comes to praying, it shouldn't just be a post on Facebook.  It should be a true meditation, one that gives us strength to do all that we can to help out those around us.  Our prayers should be our calls to action.  God calls us to action during our prayers.  Our faith calls us to action.  Our faith calls us to lead, to follow, to act, to love.

Day 072: Truth

Truthful lips establish a testimony, but a hasty witness has an unrighteous tongue.  Proverbs 12:21

This proverb is telling me about the importance of telling the truth from an interesting standpoint.

The best thing about telling the truth is that it is something that will ultimately feel the most comfortable to the teller.  There's no need to be hasty in making up an entire history behind a lie when telling the truth.  Telling the truth also establishes a testimony about your own character.  If you are bound to tell the truth at all times, then you will show that you have a very good character.

Delving deeper into this proverb, though, I find that this concept can be applied to another aspect of living.  When we know what the truth is, we can find comfort in it.  When we are living in a lie, or even when we are living in a fiction, reality (or truth) weighs down on us.  If you watch a movie or read a novel, you might enjoy experiencing a new world, but once you close the cover or leave the theater, you are stuck with your own world.

However, imagine how much comfort can come from knowing that the truth that weighs down on you is not fiction or hardship, but love and grace.  In God, we can find the truth, which is a story of love from God to each one of us.  We can find comfort in knowing that God loves us and builds us up to love all of those around us.

If times are feeling stressful, perhaps it's time to go back to God.  Perhaps it's time to contemplate the beauty of the love that God has for us.  This Lent, turn to God so that you can find more of this love that comforts us in all of our hardships.

Day 005: Truth Abounds

"God by wisdom founded the earth and prepared the heavens with discernment. With perception the depths were broken up, and the clouds flowed with dew."               Proverbs 3:21-22

I adore reading the Scriptures that are usually bunched up and called "Wisdom Literature" because of the way they make me think.  I can't take anything just for its face value, but at the same time I can't forget the value of the words.

Of course, what comes to mind is the opening of John's Gospel, which states that the Word, or Reason (which is an older meaning of the word logos), was present in the very beginning.  And that then brings about the idea that Jesus has always been around.  Going even further, I can also say that this passage from Proverbs explains that Jesus is Wisdom, Discernment, and Perception.

A few years ago, when I was starting out in my creative writing program at the University of Houston, I learned some major guidelines for writing poetry.  The two that were always passed around were, "Avoid cliches", and, "Avoid abstractions."  Taking these two to mind would help any poet avoid writing a poem that belonged in a Hallmark card (two words that meant that one's writing was not worth reading).  Avoiding abstraction, though, meant to avoid words that encompassed the world in a concept, such as wisdom, discernment, or perception.  Does this sentence really mean anything: "The wisdom of discernment is the beginning of perception"?  I find that each word is just too broad.

However, the best poetry would be whenever we students could find a way to incorporate such great terms into concrete ideas so that we could understand them better.  By wisdom, God founded the earth.  God prepared the heavens with discernment.  With perception God broke up the depths.  In keeping with the words of Proverbs, I can see that the writer is trying to tell me something, that there is wisdom, discernment, and perception all around me.

After reading this, I understand that God has prepared a world for me that will teach me in so many different ways.  Just as nature inspired the Romantic poets and urban life the Beats, there are so many more aspects that can teach me and everyone.  The only thing left to do is to seek it out, to trust in God with all my heart and not exalt my own wisdom (Proverbs 3:5).

The Soul

"So give for alms those things that are within; and see, everything will be clean for you." (Luke 11:40)
Before God, there will be no faking.  God will see through the mismatched colors, the cargo shorts, and the flannel shirt.  God sees what is deep within.  God sees the glitter and the fabulousness that is within.  So, before we go about living a life that is "clean" on the outside but "dirty" on the inside, let us come forward to God.  Let us give to God all that God has given to us.  Let us take off our mask that we use to get by and praise God with our whole heart, mind, and soul.  Just as Jesus made sure to make the unpopular and the downright ugly righteous and holy, so shall we make what is seen by others as detestable a glorification of our Lord of all.