Creation Next Door

I went for hike today by myself.  This is so nice sometimes, to get out and be by yourself in this wonderful creation we live in.  There is something powerful about being quiet and still, away from the hustle and bustle of everyday hurried existence.  If you never do this, I urge you to.  I really saw the importance of it today, standing on a mountain, far above all that usually consumes my time.  The creation around us speaks so boldly of it’s Creator that you can’t help but see God in it.   But something else struck me today.  I was coming slowly down the mountain, thinking about how wonderful this world is and how beautiful creation is and just enjoying the silence, when someone yelled.  I looked down and I could see a group coming up the path and they were being noisy and loud and having a good old time, and I was mad.  How dare this group of people ruin my wonderful time experiencing creation.  And then it hit me.  These people are creation, just as much as the tree next to me.  And not only that, but these people are the very part of creation that I am called to love.  I am called to take care of nature and to protect it and to be a good steward of it, but I am not called to love it in the way that I am called to love people.  When I think about experiencing creation, I think about going out in nature.  But we can experience creation by going to the mall and being around people, people who are created in the image of God and who we are called to love and live with.  Let us enjoy nature, but let us never fail to see the creation right next door to us.

Following Jesus and Protecting the Environment

Climate Change.  It seems to me that when you say those two words, everyone has something to say about it.  Some call for urgent action, some deny that it is a problem, and some just don’t care.  I think what amazes me the most is the Christian response to it that I have witnessed.  Although it seems that more and more Christians are recognizing that it is an issue to our world today, many still look at it like it is some liberal invention or some scientific ploy.  Even when study after study comes out showing the effects on our planet and the ways in which our activity is causing that, many Christians still look the other way. 

            I just read an article on newest UN report on climate change, and it says that urgent action is needed to combat climate change.  This is not something that was written by some crazy environmentalist, but by was contributed to by 2500 scientists.  That’s quite a few.  It also says that it is not completely hopeless, and that there are real and affordable ways to combat climate change.

            As Christians, we must be on the forefront of doing this.  We are called to be stewards of this earth that God made.  We cannot be ok with the destruction of the environment.  How we treat creation shows how we feel about its creator.  We see in scripture that all of creation testifies to the glory of God (Psalm 19, Romans 1), yet Christians today often treat the non-human aspect of creation as unimportant.  How can we take so lightly the destruction of something that shows the glory of God?  I personally believe that God is more clearly seen in an amazing sunset or the view from a mountaintop than in a well-reasoned philosophical argument.  I believe that we must continually strive to preserve the beauty and the wonder of the natural world, and in doing so we are preserving that which show the glory of God.

            So let’s learn about climate change, not just assume things.  Let’s read about the little things we can do to help.  Let’s be willing to work with non-Christian group to combat climate change.  And also let us pray for guidance and wisdom, so that in whatever we, be it recycling or saving the rain forest, God is seen and glorified.

Everyday Jesus

I think as Christians we tend to overly spiritualize everything. We forget that Jesus is the Lord of our everyday lives as well. I am currently reading through the book of John, and I love this book because all through we see a picture of the human side of Jesus. John does an excellent job of showing us this dual picture of Jesus, both as a guy, a dude, someone fully human, someone we can relate to, because he has experienced what we have experienced, and also fully God, who has, through his death and resurrection, made it possible for us to be washed clean and brought back into relationship with God, while also on a larger picture making it possible for His Kingdom to begin to show through to this world as we become more like Him, and setting the stage for the hope we have in Him, which is the reconciliation of ourselves and the rest of creation with God. Now, I said that all in one sentence on purpose because, even thought everything in that sentence might be accurate (or not, because somewhere in there my theology is probably wrong, a lot of our theology probably is, and I think Jesus is ok with that), it is sometimes how we think about Jesus, in these awesome terms, but at the same time we forget the reality of this in our daily lives. I know I do this all the time. Too often I am content with knowing all this stuff about Jesus and what he has done. But Jesus didn’t invite us just to know about it, he invited us to experience it. To experience the transforming power of His work on the cross. To experience the new life that He has for us. I am far to content to know things and not truly walk in them. To know about Jesus without living it out. Now knowledge has its place, I believe that. Jesus said that we need to love God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength. How we use our minds in important. But I want to be someone who strives daily to walk in all that I know about Jesus, and do so humbly , and to let Jesus transform me as I follow him. Now, I am horrible at doing this, but thankfully Jesus isn’t. So I have to give it up to him. I want to truly follow him, but I can only do it well with His help.

Ritual

God is so big, and God loves us. That statement is so simple, yet so much of what I have been learning lately is wrapped up in it. To be honest, I have had a hard season of time, especially spiritually. I have had a hard time praying and reading my bible consistently, and when I do it feels very formulaic and structured. When I feel like this, I usually do the same thing, try to get up early and journal more. This is good, but it is not long before I get tired doing the same thing. It becomes just another religious ritual.
Here is the dilemma that bounces itself around in my head. I hate doing religious rituals for the sake of doing them, thinking I am a good Christian because I do them. On the other hand, I have been feeling like I need more discipline in my spiritual life. These two seem to go against each other in my head, and bicker relentlessly. I have finally come to the conclusion that discipline and ritual are not the same thing, because for too long that is how I saw them. I think the important thing is that any discipline I have in my life needs to be grounded on the foundation of Jesus.
I think we as Christians too often snub our noses at any form of religious expression that has the look and feel of a ritual. We see the only true and real form of worship, prayer, and devotion as that which comes out of us in its pure, original form. The prayer which is most original, that is the one that God likes the most. This has been my mentality far too much. I get so caught up in how I am supposed to spend time with Jesus that I forget how powerful it is to simply spend time with Him. I want my mentality to be such that I can read a five minute prayer that someone else wrote, or pray on my knees for an hour the most original prayer I have ever prayed, and in both of those give my everything to Jesus. I can’t be so arrogant as to assume that God can only use original thoughts that come out of my head to mold me and strengthen me.
All of this being said, I love Jesus, and I want to grow in Him and spend time with Him. Whatever form my time with Jesus takes on from one day to the next, I want my focus to be on Him. Like I said earlier, God is big, and He loves us, and that is just freaking cool.

Why I am blogging (again)

So, I started this blog because I want to write more. I enjoy writing, and want to become better at it. Not so much grammer and all that; that I will always be bad at. I mean better at getting my thoughts written out (or typed out). So, I hope to write often on here. I started another blog but only wrote in it a few times before I forgot my password and coundn’t get back in. Bummer, I know. So I am starting this one, and hope to write much more in it, about God, life, fun, Jesus, theology, and other interesting things that are on my mind. If you are reading, thanks, feel free to discuss anything I write, especially when it comes to Jesus, the bible, theology, and the church, which will probably make up a considerable about of my writing. Thank you, have an awesome day, peace out and God bless.