Heaven on Earth?

"Heaven's Garden" by Marina Petro marinapetro.blogspot.com

I have heard some Christians say that they don’t need to wait for heavenly glory, that with Jesus, earthly life is sweet enough.

Well, to be honest, I’m not there yet.

Maybe it’s because I’m not the best Christian in the world (I freely admit that I’m not) but I don’t find earthly life to be sweet. With Jesus I’d say it’s just bearable. Without Him, I can’t imagine.

Sometimes this life is just so incredibly wearying I can’t stand it.

Now before you call the Crisis Center on me, let me just say I am not slashing my wrists or anything. I’m just saying that this world is not heaven.

Whatever Belinda Carlisle might have sung back in the 80’s, heaven is NOT a place on earth.

(image from wikia.com)

My devotional from “Jesus Calling” by Sarah Young for today read as follows:

“Do not long for the absence of problems in your life.

That is an unrealistic goal, since in this world you

will have trouble. You have an eternity of problem-free

living reserved for you in heaven. Rejoice in that

inheritance, which no one can take away from you,

but do not seek your heaven on earth.”

I found this encouraging, because the truth is, I really have been longing for a problem-free life.

I mean, aren’t we all?

(image from clipartof.com)
Isn’t that the basis for every advertisement and infomercial there is, a promise to eliminate our problems?


It‘s a cheerful smiling voice saying, “Do you suffer from blank? Well try new blank and all your troubles are over!”

But that’s not what Jesus promised us.


He said, “In this world you will have trouble.” (John 16:33)

But the verse doesn’t stop there.

“But take heart!” He adds. “I have overcome the world.”

So when we’re looking for Jesus to take away all our problems, we’re looking for the wrong thing.

We're looking for heaven on earth, when we should be looking for Jesus Himself instead.

Guess What? I Don't Know Everything!

 

Did you get that? I do NOT, in fact, know everything.

I am very embarrassed to admit this.

Okay. Okay. You can stop laughing now.

I know you're probably saying, "Duh, Christie. Obviously you don't know everything. NO ONE does."

But here's the thing: I like to think I know everything. Or at least most things.

I mean, don't you?

(image from http://darleneanitascott.wordpress.com/)

I prefer to think I'm smart and know the answers.

Yes, I was that kid in school. The one with her hand up when the teacher asked a question, jumping and going, "Oooh! Oooh! Pick Me! ME! I  know!"

But I just had a little rude awakening. Yesterday I read Luke 5:1-11. This is the story of the calling of Peter, James, John and Andrew.

"Calling of the Fisherman" Harry Anderson http://www.dst-corp.com

This lesson just showed up last week at the kids' class I teach at the chapel. I've done it before: you make a fish craft; you sing "Fishers of Men," et cetera.

So when I saw that this was the Bible readng,I said to myself, "I know this one. Like I told the kids: The disciples weren't catching anything so Jesus told them to let down their nets on the other side and then they had lots of fish. Then they all left their nets and followed Him."

Then I read it:

¹ One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret, with the people crowding around Him and listening to the word of God, ² He saw at the water’s edge two boats, left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets. ³ He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then He sat down and taught the people from the boat.
⁴ When He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.”
⁵ Simon answered, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.”
⁶ When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. ⁷ So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink.
⁸ When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!” ⁹ For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, ¹⁰ and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon’s partners.
Then Jesus said to Simon, “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will catch men.” ¹¹ So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed Him.

Okay. Whoops.

I realized  I had taught the kids the wrong story! The "Let down your nets on the other side" thing didn't happen until after the Resurrection! This story wasn't the same at all!

Now, maybe you think that's a ridiculous distinction; after all, it was still about the disciples catching a bunch of fish after following Jesus' instructions.

But I thought I knew what I was talking about. And it turns out I didn't.

It's like when that kid waves and waves his hand at the teacher until she finally calls on him and then he gets the answer wrong.

Ouch.

This is just another example of God showing me I don't have all the answers.

The disciples weren't able to catch any fish until they had listened to Jesus' teaching and then  followed His instructions.

Just like I should be doing.

Right after I apologize to all those kids.....

Theological Thoughts at a Three-D Film?

Last night my husband and I went to see the movie Wrath of the Titans.

It wasn't bad, I guess. The special effects were very cool. No expense spared there, obviously.

In fact, I guess they spent so much on the special effects that they didn't have any money left over for a decent script. (cue the laugh track)

(images from wikipedia.org)
This was a sequel to Clash of the Titans (2010), which was a remake of Clash of the Titans (1981).

Are you confused yet?

But seriously, folks...

What really struck me during this movie was the portrayal of the god Zeus.

Zeus was played by Liam Neeson and looked extremely godlike through the whole movie.

He looked exactly like what I would expect the real God to look like, if people were going to cast Him in, say, a remake of The Bible, or something.


image from http://rezirb.com

But truthfully, I don't think the REAL God loks anything like this.

What do I think He looks like? Here's a surprise: I DON'T KNOW!

(I John 4:12a "No one has ever seen God." Duh!)

But I do know that whenever we, as humans, try to make an image of God, we mess it up. Badly.

Like the Israelites did in Exodus 32, with that ridiculous golden calf.

Or, in fact, through the ENTIRE Old Testament, when they kept making idols of wood, and stone, and gold, and silver. When NONE of them were real!

And of course, we still do this today, in different ways. Mostly by trying to make our own image of God in the way WE want Him to be.

We want Him to do what we want, and when He doesn't we get mad. We don't like to think that it's actually about His plan, and not our agenda.

Okay. Back to Perseus, Zeus and the Titans.

In the movie, Zeus sadly tells Perseus that since people have stopped believing in the gods and stopped praying to them, it has robbed the gods of their power. Perseus steadfastly refuses to pray anyways, tries to stop the Titans and save everyone by himself, and ends up having to save Zeus from Hades, because poor Zeus is so depressed and drained by everyone's lack of faith in him.

(I know; it's a complicated plot. I had trouble following it myself.)

This struck me as incredibly sad, because I think this is the actual image we have of God sometimes: When we pray, we wake God up and get him to do stuff. For us.

Like He's sitting around waiting for us to imbue Him with power.

Say WHAT?!

That's absolutely ludicrous, isn't it?

Here's a news flash: GOD DOESN'T NEED US! We need Him!

We don't make Him; HE made us!

It's not about our plans; it's about His plan!

Not that we don't pray, of course. We're commanded to pray; that's a whole other subject.

But we don't pray because God NEEDS us to. We do it because WE need to.

And we trust that He hears, and He is always working, remembering Isaiah 55: 8-9:

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the LORD.
“As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts."

God is SO much bigger than Liam Neeson.

He is so much more our image of Him.

And He is the one in control!

Why I Shouldn't Get Complacent

(image from wikipedia)

Last week in Sunday School, we were talking about the Ten Commandments, and how we sometimes break them.

(Yes this was an adult class. And no, we didn't give specific examples.)

I said that I thought I was doing pretty well on the "Thou shalt not murder" one.

Obviously I said this to get a laugh, but my classmate answered seriously. She said to remember that just not killing anyone is not enough.

Matthew 5: 21-22 says:

²¹ “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ ²² But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sisterwill be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the court. And anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.

Wow. That's convicting.

I guess I'm not doing as well as I thought.

The Call of Jeremiah

http://www.crown.org/godprovides/pub/JeremiahsCall.aspx

When Jeremiah is called by God to bring His words to the people, unsurprisingly, Jeremiah tries to get out of it.

(As did Moses. And Gideon. Et cetera. I mean, don't we ALL?)

But I think God's response here is interesting. And also applicable to those of us called to speak for Him today.

Reading from Jeremiah chapter 1, verses 4-8:

Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

⁵ “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you;
Before you were born I sanctified you;
I ordained you a prophet to the nations.”

⁶ Then said I:

“Ah, Lord God!
Behold, I cannot speak, for I am a youth.”

⁷ But the Lord said to me:

“Do not say, ‘I am a youth,’
For you shall go to all to whom I send you,
And whatever I command you, you shall speak.
⁸ Do not be afraid of their faces,
For I am with you to deliver you,” says the Lord.

Why does God say, "Do not be afraid of their faces?" And why would Jeremiah be afraid of their FACES rather than, say, their fists? Or swords even? After all, he lives in kind of a warrior culture. Seems like he ought to worry more about something worse than folks making faces at him!
(image from http://mychinaconnection.com)

But I think God is talking about something more relevant to us today even than it was in Jeremiah's time.

I think He is talking about being afraid of the OPINIONS of others.

Sometimes we are way more afraid of people's bad opinions than any physical harm that might befall us.

We're worried more by the idea of being made fun of than of actually getting hurt.

We are more concerned about looking foolish in front of our peers than any real injury they could inflict on us.

We're more afraid of losing face than getting punched in the face.
But God says, DON'T be!

He says, Don't be afraid of their FACES!

(image from http://www.gmgdesign.com)

Continuing with verses 9 and 10:

⁹ Then the Lord put forth His hand and touched my mouth, and the Lord said to me:

“Behold, I have put My words in your mouth.
¹⁰ See, I have this day set you over the nations and over the kingdoms,
To root out and to pull down,
To destroy and to throw down,
To build and to plant.”

So we don't have to worry about saying the wrong thing, or looking stupid in the eyes of others.

Because if we are allowing God to speak His words through us, the opinions of people don't even MATTER.

In other words, they can make all the faces at us they want, but it won't hurt.

It's only His word that has the power to actually DO anything.

But I admit, this is way easier said than done. I'm still afraid of their faces.

Lord, help me to remember that it is only Your opinion that matters.

Seeing Him in the Sky

This is a photo my niece Jennifer took last summer. Can you see God in the sky?

This is a cool picture, but the truth is, we can see Him in the sky EVERY day!

As Psalm 19 says:

¹ The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
² Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they reveal knowledge.
³ They have no speech, they use no words;
no sound is heard from them.
⁴ Yet their voice goes out into all the earth,
their words to the ends of the world.

Every time we see the beautiful sky God has made, it is telling us of His glory!
Isn't that amazing?

Thanks for the inspiration to: missionary Ralph McIntosh at http://www.actsfoundation.org/

Trash Theology

So I was thinking about Jesus at the recycling center.

I know. It's strange. But stay with me here.

(image from wikipedia.com)

Here in Hawaii we have to put a five-cent deposit on plastic bottles and aluminum cans, which we can get back when we recycle them. I think a few other states do this too.

(Oh and they also tack on a little one-cent tax that you don't get back, but that's another post.)

So a lot of people go to the recycling center. It's not just for the homeless anymore.

Anyways, I was thinking about the theology of recycling.

Does anyone remember a long time ago when they had returnable glass bottles? I know, we're talking a LONG time ago.

I'm dating myself a bit here, but when I had my first job at a grocery store there were still a few people using the old glass Coke bottles.

Here's how that worked: People would pay the bottle deposit when they bought the Coke and then bring back the empty glass bottle to the store and get the deposit back. Then the store would send the bottles back to the plant to be sterilized and refilled with Coke.

(Image from dnkvariety.com)

Okay, all you young people are shocked. "The SAME bottles?" you say. "To be USED again?!"

Yep. Back in the day, we used to WASH things.

But nowadays, when you bring back your used bottles and cans, they melt them down and make them into new bottles and cans.

Are you seeing the link to Jesus yet?

Here's a hint: 2nd Corinthians 5:17
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

Get it?

Did you ever see that bumper sticker? You know the one that says, "Jesus saves; Buddha recycles."

Now that's clever. But actually it should be THE OTHER WAY AROUND.

Because Jesus doesn't just wash us out and stick us back out there in the world.

He actually REMAKES us into a NEW creation.

And that's why the recycling center is called....

The Redemption Center!