My Personal Beliefs
I wrote this in 2001 during the pursuit of a ministry position. The church had asked me to write a statement outlining my beliefs. I found that intriguing; I was excited to cull through all the doctrines and traditions and try to prioritize the most important elements of my faith. After I had completed it I emailed a copy to my dad and asked him what he thought. Right off the bat he pointed out something I had comepletely missed - they didn't want this kind of a statement at all; they wanted to know where I stood on baptism, the Holy Spirit, "women's roles," denominationalism... He was so obviously correct. But they got this anyway.
I post this today because of Dell Kimberly's (Who Told You That) blog post today on Undeniable Truths. Thanks, Dell for making me think of this.
God exists and He loves. The fact that He is and that He loves is our only hope both in this life and forever in eternity with Him. Because He loves, we know what love is.
We receive His love through His promises. Promises given to Abraham and his descendants. Fortunately, we need not depend upon human ancestry for these promises – we are children of Abraham through faith, for he is the father of the faithful. But promises are not enough, especially when they are so veiled as to be indecipherable even by prophets who searched intently to understand them better.
We receive His love through His commands – that is how He chose to reveal His righteousness to us initially. But that is inadequate. Because of that revelation, sin gained power in our lives and God found fault with people.
This is where the story gets good . . .
We receive His love best of all through the presence of His Son and Spirit in our lives. Rather than pour out judgment because of our faults, He poured out redemption in the blood of Jesus. And His Spirit also was poured out on us by that same love. Just as we receive righteousness through the Son, so we are led into all righteousness by the presence of the Spirit. The Spirit works through His sword, the words of scripture, and through His presence. In fact we cannot discern spiritual words without some benefit from the Spirit of God. This presence of God among is an extravagant expression of God’s tender love for us. God desires that we all accept His extravagant love
But there will be a judgment against those who reject Jesus and do not accept His words. God is powerful Creator, so it is understandable that His judgment will be carried out with power. All His enemies will be destroyed: Satan, his angels as well as those souls whom God judges unworthy to enter His own glory; death, sorrow, confusion and fear – doubt, hunger, sin and sloth. These will all be destroyed to have no more power over us.
Praise God! His ways are just and forgiving. Judgment comes with power and mercy.
We have been redeemed from the worldly system and brought to life in Jesus. We have rejected the flesh to answer the Spirit. And so we have been given purpose by His mercy – we are ministers of reconciliation. We have left all to follow Him and so we call Him Savior and Lord. We desire to learn to love what Jesus loves, to hate what Jesus hates, to become unconcerned with those things He is not concerned with. We want to be like Him in righteous living and in purpose. So we place the Father at the highest place. We seek first His kingdom. And we love the people around us, honoring our brothers and sisters above ourselves, and even laying down our lives to reconcile people to God.
How great is the love the Father has lavished upon us that we should be called His children.
Summary:
• I believe in the Father - Powerful Creator who willed us into existence through the force of His words.
• I believe in the story of redemption from before the fall into eternity. The words were spoken for life and for freedom.
• I believe in Jesus, the Son. Present and working with the Father at creation, He disavowed the glory and privileges of deity to become the perfect sacrifice, the ultimate expression of God’s love. He humbled Himself to death by His own volition. He raised from the dead by God’s power and so began the defeat of God’s adversary.
• I believe in the Spirit who leads us and aids us in understanding the righteousness of God – Who also comforts us in our present state of mortality, giving us a foretaste of the Heavenly Presence and sealing us for His sake.
• I believe in the first command: to love God with our entire being, to worship Him and bring glory to Him through our words and our lives.
• I believe in the second command: to love all others as they have need – especially those of God’s family.
• I believe in the mission of Christ to reconcile the world to Himself, thus fulfilling the Father’s design for Him. Which mission was first transferred first to His apostles and later to us as we accept His grace and call Him Lord.
• I believe God’s people have a bond that is greater than friendship or earthly family. We ought to encourage and admonish one another as brothers and sisters.
• I believe God is the ultimate Judge and we are not. But that we must be faithful to teach everything that is right. We cannot turn to the right or the left.
• I believe that God will deliver us from this world and its ways into a better world by the redemption that comes through faith in Jesus. (We share with Jesus in life by our baptism for the forgiveness of our sins – trusting in His grace toward us.) On that same day of deliverance for God’s people, most will meet their doom, having failed God’s righteous judgment since they have not trusted in the righteousness of Christ. Lord, have mercy on us all.
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Friday, February 27, 2009
Love
I really like the first few verses of 1 Corinthians 13:
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.
If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never fails.
(1 Corinthians 13:1-8a)
There is no higher value than love. There is nothing more important than love. There is no greater commandment than love. There is no better marker for the “one true church” than love.
Conversely; there is no more pronounced deficiency in a person’s life than a deficit of love. There is no easier place to stir brother against brother, sister against sister than the one where love is in decline. There is no more caustic place to raise your children than a place where they are not loved.
We need love. We desperately need love. We need it so badly that we sometimes deny our need for it and pretend to be thick-skinned, self-sufficient, an island. But it’s not true – we all strongly feel the gaping hole that demands to be filled by love.
Thank God he loves us. And more, he intends for us to love one another…deeply, intently, sacrificially. To surround one another with protection and love. To give our very hearts to each other.
Love never fails.
I really like the first few verses of 1 Corinthians 13:
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.
If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never fails.
(1 Corinthians 13:1-8a)
There is no higher value than love. There is nothing more important than love. There is no greater commandment than love. There is no better marker for the “one true church” than love.
Conversely; there is no more pronounced deficiency in a person’s life than a deficit of love. There is no easier place to stir brother against brother, sister against sister than the one where love is in decline. There is no more caustic place to raise your children than a place where they are not loved.
We need love. We desperately need love. We need it so badly that we sometimes deny our need for it and pretend to be thick-skinned, self-sufficient, an island. But it’s not true – we all strongly feel the gaping hole that demands to be filled by love.
Thank God he loves us. And more, he intends for us to love one another…deeply, intently, sacrificially. To surround one another with protection and love. To give our very hearts to each other.
Love never fails.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Grieving Your Loss
In some ways the essence of temptation is loss. And the question that goes with temptation is, “What will I lose?” or at least, what is the perceived loss?
From the first sin of Adam and Eve we can see what they were afraid of losing. They believed the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil could give them something superior to their current pursuit of righteousness. They were, in fact, tempted by a good thing, a spiritual thing – the desire to know what is good and the ability to avoid what is wrong. I think most things we are tempted by can be seen as good things: certainly we are only tempted by what we desire.
When faced with their temptation in the Garden, Adam and Eve could only resolve their circumstances by losing something. Either they would choose to honor God and trust in his provision and lose the ability to gain the special knowledge and wisdom they believed the fruit would provide. Or they would choose the fruit as a pathway to spirituality apart from God’s provision and lose something of the intimacy of that relationship.
Either way, when the decision had been made and all things done, they would feel the loss. What would have happened if we had…? That is what makes it temptation. Of course the stronger the desire, the deeper the sense of loss. If we choose wrong, we lose something of righteousness and relationship – and we will feel that loss. If we choose well, we lose the pleasure or reward we desired in the first place – and we will also feel that loss.
Innocence lost. Naiveté gone. So, this is what the world really looks like. Jaded, Cynical. Aren’t these just responses to our loss? Satan deceives, then he accuses.
Thank God for Jesus and restoration.
In some ways the essence of temptation is loss. And the question that goes with temptation is, “What will I lose?” or at least, what is the perceived loss?
From the first sin of Adam and Eve we can see what they were afraid of losing. They believed the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil could give them something superior to their current pursuit of righteousness. They were, in fact, tempted by a good thing, a spiritual thing – the desire to know what is good and the ability to avoid what is wrong. I think most things we are tempted by can be seen as good things: certainly we are only tempted by what we desire.
When faced with their temptation in the Garden, Adam and Eve could only resolve their circumstances by losing something. Either they would choose to honor God and trust in his provision and lose the ability to gain the special knowledge and wisdom they believed the fruit would provide. Or they would choose the fruit as a pathway to spirituality apart from God’s provision and lose something of the intimacy of that relationship.
Either way, when the decision had been made and all things done, they would feel the loss. What would have happened if we had…? That is what makes it temptation. Of course the stronger the desire, the deeper the sense of loss. If we choose wrong, we lose something of righteousness and relationship – and we will feel that loss. If we choose well, we lose the pleasure or reward we desired in the first place – and we will also feel that loss.
Innocence lost. Naiveté gone. So, this is what the world really looks like. Jaded, Cynical. Aren’t these just responses to our loss? Satan deceives, then he accuses.
Thank God for Jesus and restoration.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Refined
I have to admit that it frightened me to hear about salmonella in peanut products. But that turned to anger when it was reported that Peanut Corporation of America knew that their product was tainted with the deadly bacteria. Can you imagine how those sickened by the product must feel? And then there was the contaminated baby formula from China, where six babies died and over 1200 were sickened, and now thousands face atypically formed kidney stones.
Purity is important to our health. I never thought much about drinking from the stream when I was a child, but now I know what might be upstream. Pure clean water is essential to health and intellect.
Satan is the salmonella of our thoughts. He deceives, then he accuses. He is the impurity of our spiritual diet and the complications he brings when we indulge can be deadly. His deception is subtle - he takes what is good and makes it seem so much better under his terms. He gives every good thing new meaning. For the person desiring spiritual fulfillment, he brings spirituality. For the one needing deeper companionship and passion, he brings the depth of intimacy. For the one For the one seeking truth, he brings a truth that fits their size. But his spirituality is not a relationship with the Father, but a distraction from Him. His intimacy - his passion - is often based on sensuality, other times deception, sometimes substitution: satisfying for a moment, but self-imploding in the long-term. His truth resolves the crisis, but spins out more problems; more deception.
No wonder scripture sometimes describes our experiences in this life as refinement. The Spirit of God is working in our lives to rid us of the power and consequences of sin over us. God wants more for us than to merely escape the flames; he wants us to receive a purified life; he wants us to live a transformed life; he wants us to trust with a renewed, refined faith.
Purity is not just about eating and drinking: it is keeping ourselves for God’s service. Purity is another way of saying holy living. We are God’s holy people his pure refreshment. Let us feast on a pure life – a buffet of choices that glorify God in holiness.
I have to admit that it frightened me to hear about salmonella in peanut products. But that turned to anger when it was reported that Peanut Corporation of America knew that their product was tainted with the deadly bacteria. Can you imagine how those sickened by the product must feel? And then there was the contaminated baby formula from China, where six babies died and over 1200 were sickened, and now thousands face atypically formed kidney stones.
Purity is important to our health. I never thought much about drinking from the stream when I was a child, but now I know what might be upstream. Pure clean water is essential to health and intellect.
Satan is the salmonella of our thoughts. He deceives, then he accuses. He is the impurity of our spiritual diet and the complications he brings when we indulge can be deadly. His deception is subtle - he takes what is good and makes it seem so much better under his terms. He gives every good thing new meaning. For the person desiring spiritual fulfillment, he brings spirituality. For the one needing deeper companionship and passion, he brings the depth of intimacy. For the one For the one seeking truth, he brings a truth that fits their size. But his spirituality is not a relationship with the Father, but a distraction from Him. His intimacy - his passion - is often based on sensuality, other times deception, sometimes substitution: satisfying for a moment, but self-imploding in the long-term. His truth resolves the crisis, but spins out more problems; more deception.
No wonder scripture sometimes describes our experiences in this life as refinement. The Spirit of God is working in our lives to rid us of the power and consequences of sin over us. God wants more for us than to merely escape the flames; he wants us to receive a purified life; he wants us to live a transformed life; he wants us to trust with a renewed, refined faith.
Purity is not just about eating and drinking: it is keeping ourselves for God’s service. Purity is another way of saying holy living. We are God’s holy people his pure refreshment. Let us feast on a pure life – a buffet of choices that glorify God in holiness.
Sunday, February 01, 2009
The Higher Cost of “Unforgiveness”
All of us face hurts of many kinds. Others have threatened us, accosted us, betrayed our trust. We have faced loss and heartache. Sometimes we hold onto those events and they become touchstones in our lives that begin to define our response to the world around us. It’s one thing to forgive people when they are sorry and something else entirely to forgive someone who has become an enemy.
When Jesus washed his disciples’ feet he told Peter that unless he washed him, Peter could have no part with him. Jesus makes this connection of his service he performed for the twelve, in washing their feet, with the cleansing that he offers through the cross which must be received if we are to continue in a relationship with him. Jesus’ service to his disciples that evening was redemptive in that the cleansing he offered was especially needed since they would all run away. How would they have thought of Jesus' words and actions in retrospect when they came to believe in his resurrection?
But Judas was there also. Why did Jesus wash Judas’ feet? He knew that Judas would not return; he knew that he could not cleanse him and said as much (“you are clean, though not every one of you.”) Perhaps Jesus washed Judas’ feet because of what it did for himself. It was as much a redemptive act for his own sake as for the disciples. It was a way to bless his enemy and do good to the one who cursed him.
When we are hurt by others, our best course is to choose an active forgiveness. Unforgiven hurt leads to rejection of the perpetrator, but also to others who eventually become lumped into association with him/her. It leads to rebellion, retaliation, isolation and eventually a bitter life that rubs itself onto everyone around. Unforgiven hurt leaves the perpetrator in control.
When he washed Judas’ feet clean, I imagine Jesus wishing there was a way to break through and truly cleanse the dark heart of his betrayer. And when we find positive ways to approach our “enemies” we take a step forward in cleansing them as well – living in the likeness of Jesus.
All of us face hurts of many kinds. Others have threatened us, accosted us, betrayed our trust. We have faced loss and heartache. Sometimes we hold onto those events and they become touchstones in our lives that begin to define our response to the world around us. It’s one thing to forgive people when they are sorry and something else entirely to forgive someone who has become an enemy.
When Jesus washed his disciples’ feet he told Peter that unless he washed him, Peter could have no part with him. Jesus makes this connection of his service he performed for the twelve, in washing their feet, with the cleansing that he offers through the cross which must be received if we are to continue in a relationship with him. Jesus’ service to his disciples that evening was redemptive in that the cleansing he offered was especially needed since they would all run away. How would they have thought of Jesus' words and actions in retrospect when they came to believe in his resurrection?
But Judas was there also. Why did Jesus wash Judas’ feet? He knew that Judas would not return; he knew that he could not cleanse him and said as much (“you are clean, though not every one of you.”) Perhaps Jesus washed Judas’ feet because of what it did for himself. It was as much a redemptive act for his own sake as for the disciples. It was a way to bless his enemy and do good to the one who cursed him.
When we are hurt by others, our best course is to choose an active forgiveness. Unforgiven hurt leads to rejection of the perpetrator, but also to others who eventually become lumped into association with him/her. It leads to rebellion, retaliation, isolation and eventually a bitter life that rubs itself onto everyone around. Unforgiven hurt leaves the perpetrator in control.
When he washed Judas’ feet clean, I imagine Jesus wishing there was a way to break through and truly cleanse the dark heart of his betrayer. And when we find positive ways to approach our “enemies” we take a step forward in cleansing them as well – living in the likeness of Jesus.
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