As soon as they landed, they left everything and followed Jesus.
Observation
Jesus is preaching on the shore of Galilee. The crowd presses in
around Him, so He gets into an empty boat and tells Simon to go out a
little way.
After Jesus has finished preaching, He tells Simon to go deeper and
let down his nets. When Simon does this, there is such a large catch,
he has to call for help to bring it in. There is enough fish to fill
two boats.
Jesus tells Simon, James and John to come with Him to catch people
instead of fish. So they immediately leave everything to follow
Jesus.
Application
It was the right place, the right time, the right thing to do. So
they left everything to follow Jesus.
When Jesus calls, it is always right to go with Him. He is never
late, always on time- the kairos
time, the time of opportunity, the crossroads moment.
A decision “Yes” or “No” in
that moment of calling changes the direction of our whole lives.
Not all of us are called to abandon
our business and family on a spur of the moment decision. But when
the call to take a new direction comes, you know because God has been
talking to you for months, maybe years.
The opportune moment comes, or
perhaps a crisis, and Jesus says, “Come and follow me.”
I have found in my life that God
plants an idea or dream in my heart. I think “Yes. Some day that
will happen.” Suddenly “some day” is “this day” and always
too soon in my human thinking. But in God’s timing the opportunity,
the resources and support from others, all come together and I am
persuaded to say “Yes” again to Jesus.
Prayer
Lord I thank you for your invitation to work for you in your Kingdom.
Help me to always say “Yes” to your call. Amen.
It was the year King Uzziah died that I saw the Lord. He was sitting
on a lofty throne, and the train of his robe filled the Temple.
Observation
The heavens open for Isaiah, and he sees the Lord sitting on a high
and lofty throne. Mighty six- winged seraphim fly around the throne
calling out praise to God. Their noises shake the Temple, and it is
filled with smoke.
Isaiah is afraid because of his sin, but one of the seraphim comes
down and touches his lips with a burning coal for forgiveness.
Isaiah is given a message to take to the people to hear but not
understand. They will fail to repent until the nation is devastated
by God’s judgement.
Application
Oh to see the Lord high and lifted up!
When we truly enter into worship, whether at home or in church, we
can go beyond ourselves and lift up our eyes to our Redeemer.
To see the Lord high and lifted up, we must lift up our eyes.
The problem is that too often our eyes are firmly pointed down, our
focus remains on earth and not in heaven, even when we pray or sing
praise. Too many people keep their focus on their circumstances.
For other people, the focus is on themselves. “I can’t pray out
loud or sing aloud because other people might think I’m doing it
wrong.” We are not to be self-conscious but God conscious.
The open vision that Isaiah experienced is not a common event. That
does not mean that we should not expect to see the Lord in dreams and
visions or hear His voice through the Holy Spirit.
To do these things we must seek Him. We must look to Him. We must
pursue His glory.
It doesn’t have to be spectacular. It is the still, small voice or
the tough of the hem of His garment that will change our hearts and
our lives.
Prayer
Lord, let me see our glory. Teach me how to pursue you and to seek
your face. Amen.
Photo credit: Flickr, Waiting for His Word, no edits made. C.C. Licensing.
This post is part of a weekly series focused on the National Geographic Channel’s documentary miniseries “The Story of God with Morgan Freeman.” I’ll be tackling the topics of that series from a Christian perspective over the next few weeks, usually by Tuesday night or Wednesday morning. This post is based on the next episode, “Apocalypse,” which will air on 4/10 at 9 p.m.
I think most evangelicals go through a Rapture obsession.
I remember when it happened for me. I was 15 and my parents had taken me to a dc Talk concert. During the show, the trio played a cover of Larry Norman’s “I Wish We’d All Been Ready.” When the group got to the last verse of the song, what had been a light-hearted, energetic show suddenly chilled me to the bone:
The Father spoke, the demons dined How could you have been so blind? There’s no time to change your mind The Son has come and you’ve been left behind I wish we’d all been ready
I’d been raised in a Baptist church since infancy, so I knew that my family believed in the Rapture — the time when many Christians believe Christ will take His living and dead followers up to Heaven. According to that interpretation of Scripture, nonbelievers will remain to suffer through a period of suffering (the Tribulation) that culminates in the reign of the Antichrist, the battle of Armageddon, the fiery destruction of the planet and, ultimately, the Final Judgement. I’d heard about this for years, but this was the first time I began to consider its implications.
Would I be alive when Christ returned? What if I wasn’t truly saved? Would I be left behind? What would it be like for those who were? I had nightmares of friends and family suffering catastrophic war, giant locusts and continent-demolishing earthquakes.
A few months later, Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins published the first “Left Behind” novel. Like many other evangelicals, I devoured it. I also read other books that promised to unlock the code of Revelation, listened to church leaders theorize about the Antichrist’s identity — often the Democratic presidential candidate — and sometimes jumped if I heard something that sounded a little too much like a trumpet.
This wasn’t a new fad. Hal Lindsey ignited Christian culture’s end times obsession with his 1970 book “The Late, Great Planet Earth,” which theorized that the Rapture and Tribulation could play out in the ’70s and ’80s (spoiler alert: they didn’t). Russell S. Doughton’s “A Thief in the Night” and its three sequels depicted the Rapture and Tribulation for Christian filmgoers several decades before Kirk Cameron and Nicolas Cage were left behind. And any time a new war or global conflict occurred, writers found a new way to link those events to the Biblical warnings of trumpets, seals and horsemen — all for a price. Rapture culture is so pervasive that even Homer Simpson got in on it.
It’s easy to understand the evangelical obsession with the end times. We love doomsday stories, and Earth under the Tribulation is the ultimate dystopia. It’s the perfect plot for a movie, complete with apocalyptic weather, a world war and supernatural beasts; it’s no wonder Christian bookstores are filled with Rapture films and books. Plus, there’s a smug satisfaction evangelicals get from Rapture narratives. Not only do the bad guys get judged, but we don’t have to suffer; we get to sit on a cloud in Heaven watching the show.
Two decades after that concert, I’m a bit chagrined about how into all of this I was. Many Christians, including myself, actually believe “Left Behind” is way off base. The word “Rapture” doesn’t appear in the Bible at all. The idea of Christ coming to rescue believers before the Tribulation was popularized by an Irish priest in the 1800s. While Christians do believe Christ will return, judge the living and the dead, and bring Heaven down to Earth, we’re a bit muddy on how that all works. Some still believe in a pre-tribulation Rapture; others believe it might happen afterward or halfway through. Still others believe that Revelation is symbolic of events that have already happened, or is both a warning to the early church and a political allegory. The ominous number 666 conjures pictures of tattoo’d barcodes in some believers’ heads, while others believe it’s actually a reference to Caesar Nero, who was persecuting Christians around the time Revelation was written.
The truth is, I don’t know how the world is going to end. I also don’t know
when
it’s going to end, or if I’m going to be around to see it. I’ve stopped worrying or trying to figure it out. As a Christian, I rest in Jesus Christ and His finished work. If He chooses to take me away before things get bad, through death or Rapture, I’ll welcome it. But if it’s His plan for me to endure the Earth’s final days, I believe that He’ll give me the strength to do that as well. My job is not to try to predict events or look for hidden Bible codes. My job is not to fear the end times or pray for judgement. My job is to trust.
And to hope, which is something that goes missing in all the Rapture obsession.
In a culture that peddles fear and tension, end times theology has taken on a grim tone. Yes, the Bible says that things will get dark before Christ’s return. And looking around our world, it’s easy to see violence and disaster everywhere and wonder just how much worse it’s going to get. Admittedly, sometimes it feels like I’m just waiting for God to step in and say, “Time’s up.”
But what gets lost in the Rapture hysteria is that the promise of Christ’s return is not one of destruction, but of renewal. It’s a reminder that no matter how dark this world gets, there’s coming a day when Christ will make it right. This world might be destroyed by war, but it will be renewed by love. Oppressive regimes will be wiped away, replaced by a good king who’s died for his subjects. Sickness and death will be replaced by a life more vivid and vibrant than anything we can imagine. Revelation ends not with a war but with a feast. Not with enemies, but a family. Not with screaming, but with singing.
Contrary to media portrayals — and, very often, our own words — Christianity is not about licking our lips and waiting for our enemies’ annihilation. It’s about believing a truth so beautiful that we want the entire world to believe it: God has made a way for us to know Him. Many times when I was younger, I wondered why Jesus didn’t just take the disciples with Him to Heaven and end the story there. Why wait several millennia to return? It’s only been in recent years that I’ve discovered two reasons. One is that we know this world is a mess, and Christ’s followers are tasked with making it less messy. We have the job of preparing for the king’s arrival by pushing back the effects of sin. We’re called to love and serve others, live peacefully, take care of the planet, and pursue justice. And the other reason? Christians believe in “the more, the merrier.” We believe that the reason Christ hasn’t returned isn’t because He’s lazy or slow, but because He’s patient and has given us time to reach the world with His message. Those two things drive missionaries in every corner of the world and should be the beating hearts of our churches. That — not politics, morality or nationalism — is the heart of evangelicalism.
One thing that Morgan Freeman mentions at the end of the episode is that the word “apocalypse” doesn’t mean annihilation or ending. It’s actually a Greek word that means “unveiling.” And these days, when I look out at our world and think of what my faith tells me comes next, I’m no longer filled with fear, but with hope and expectation. For the Christian, the apocalypse isn’t the war to end all wars. It’s the wedding to end all weddings, and the start of the true story we’ve been preparing for all of our lives.It’s not an end; it’s the beginning of forever.
Any time any person (usually a christian) says “Changing this will lead to that,” they are scorned for espousing the slippery slope theory. Sadly, human nature being what it is, the slopes are often slipped.
We see this already in Australia. Just one year after the Same Sex Marriage plebiscite, which we were told would not affect anybody, we find that attacks are being made on the rights of religious schools to teach their beliefs about human sexuality. They said, “If you don’t like same sex marriage you don’t have to have one,” but already the pressure is building for schools and, soon, churches to buckle under and negate their own faith.
People around the world have been shocked by the decision in New York State to allow abortions right up until birth. A baby now has not even the right to live right until it is safely born. The city was lit up in pink in an obscene celebration of this event.
But it gets worse. In the state of Virginia similar legislation is being introduced. The Governor of that state has been reported to have coldly described a scenario in which labour starts before an abortion is completed. The baby is born naturally and then made comfortable while the doctor and the mother decide whether to kill the baby or allow her to live. In normal societies this is called infanticide and fills people with revulsion.
Whenever people decide to live their lives separate from God, it always results in a death culture. Whether it is the traditional pagan human sacrifice or its modern versions of abortion and euthanasia, humans will be sacrificed.
Fifty years ago this would have prompted outrage but now we are not surprised as the slopes continue to be slipped.
A number of times in the scriptures people are given choices and exhorted to “choose life.” Have you ever wondered why they had to be told to “Choose life”? Isn’t that a normal desire?
No. Sin, our built in rebellion against God always drives us towards death. A culture that ignores God will always, in the end, choose death- even the deaths of newborn babies.
CIMMERIA—Speaking in a message sent from the Hyborian Age, famed sword and sorcery hero Conan the Barbarian apologized to all women everywhere for his harsh treatment and objectification of women, as well as his harmful comments about hearing women’s lamentations.
The catalyst for Conan’s change of heart was reportedly a brief Gillette ad, which he viewed through a dark sorcerer’s portal before cutting the foul wizard’s head off.
“Many times I would grab women by the hair, tell them to shut up, and rescue them from pirates or enchanters without so much as asking their consent,” he said in a statement. “Now, thanks to Gillette, I see that my past behavior is not the best a man can be. It’s not the best a Cimmerian can be.”
“I vow to do better,” he said.
Once a fearsome barbarian who roamed the land in search of fame, fortune, and glory, Conan now hangs out at local taverns, where he lectures men who get too saucy with the waitstaff. “Actually, Ulrich, this serving wench is worthy of our respect and doesn’t deserve to hear your disparaging comments,” he said to a friend at a recent encounter before cutting his head off.
Conan also vowed to strive for better gender representation in his quests. Instead of venturing into sorcerer’s towers and dank dungeons by himself or with a companion who inevitably gets killed in the first room, the barbarian conquerer promised to raid dungeons with a party of at least 50% women.
Gillette spokesperson Howie Robert said the company was very pleased with Conan’s progress. “This is exactly what we knew would happen: men with the worst masculine instincts would check out a razor commercial and immediately change their ways. We totally didn’t do it for publicity or anything.” Conan quickly cut off Robert’s head.
Based on his new change of heart, Conan the Barbarian will be adapted into a new film, Conan the Sensitive, featuring Emily Blunt in the leading role instead of Jason Momoa.
Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will
become useless. But love will last for ever.
Observation
We can have all the spiritual gifts in the world, but without love it
is nothing- a noisy gong or a clashing cymbal.
Love is patient and kind. It is not jealous, boastful, proud, rude,
demanding or irritable.
The gifts of the Holy Spirit such as prophecy will pass away because
in heaven they will no longer be needed. Love lasts for ever.
We see things imperfectly now, but in eternity we will see clearly.
Application
This chapter is famously called the “Love Chapter.” It is
sandwiched between two sections of Paul’s most extensive teaching
on the spiritual gifts.
Some people try to contrast love and gifts. They claim that Paul is
saying that love is better than prophecy or speaking in tongues. But
he is not giving us a choice of one or the other. He is saying that
anything we do in the name of Christ has to be done with love. If we
don’t love the people around us, the actions we produce clash with
the motives of our heart, rendering them useless.
The gifts of the Holy Spirit will not be needed in eternity. They are
needed in this life because our relationships with God and with each
other are marred by sin. People are hurting because of sin. The gifts
will not be needed in heaven where everything is made perfect. This
does not mean we should ignore them in this life.
Some people argue that now we have the complete New Testament, the
perfect revelation of God’s will, then the partial things are now
useless. There is no place in Scripture that says the gifts will
cease.
We must pursue the fullness of the Holy Spirit- love and prophecy,
the fruit and the gifts. In this way Christ is glorified in us and
through us.
Prayer
Fill me Holy Spirit. Let every gift and all love be expressed in me.
Amen.
They delight in the law of the Lord, meditating on it day and night.
Observation
& Application
Those who refuse to walk with the wicked or with sinners are blessed.
They meditate on God’s word day and night and prosper like a tree
that bears fruit in every season. They are the tree of life for the
nations and prosper in all they do.
God’s word is life-giving. It brings us to salvation and shows us
how to live in God’s ways. The Scriptures correct us when we are
wrong and equip us to shine the light of God’s glory in every
situation,
We should meditate on God’s word day and night, delighting in His
ways.
So many christians give scant attention to God’s word, and wonder
why they can’t hear God or find His direction.
Studying the Bible is the foundation of every christian discipline.
We pray because God tells us to and we find out how to do it through
the examples of people in the Bible. We fast because God tells us to
do so in His word.
To love God is to seek His ways.. To love God means that we want to
know more about Him. We do this primarily through reading and
meditating on the Scripture.
People often think to meditate we need to empty our minds of all
thought. Biblical meditation means filling our mind with Him. We
savour the word of God, letting key thoughts, words and phrases go
around in our head until they become a part of who we are.
Prayer
Thank you Lord for your holy word. Help me to be faithful and
diligent in reading it day and night. Amen.
. @HHShkMohd honors the winners of the Gender Balance Index 2018. The Index features three categories: Best Personality for Supporting Gender Balance, Best Federal Entity for Supporting Gender Balance, and the Best Initiative for Supporting Gender Balance. #UAE
Barbara Kay at The Post Millennial puts her finger on what is so disturbing about the central image of the Gillette ad. The line of worthless men manning their grills symbolizes hard working married fathers. From “Toxic masculinity” in advertising: keeping women scared and men shamed:
For what does a neatly-dressed man standing behind a barbecue signify? Think of every Father’s Day ad you have ever seen. How many of them feature barbecue tools? Maybe 50%? Why? Because when men barbecue, they are usually in a back yard. If men have a back yard, it means they live in a house. If they have a house, they are generally married with children. When men barbecue, they are usually feeding their families and friends and having fun doing it. In other words, barbecue men are deeply invested in family life.
They are, in short, fathers. And what is the easiest way to produce boys who do not understand or respect the boundaries between positive and negative masculinity? Take away their fathers.
…
The barbecue men are the reason most boys with loving fathers grow up to be strong, productive men: men who will never be a threat to anyone—except to bad guys who never learned the boundaries for—or how to positively channel—aggression, because so many of them had no fathers to teach them.
Kay says that after realizing this she finally understood why the ad prompted such a visceral reaction for her. I think she is dead on here. Gillette’s ad isn’t just garden variety misandry, it is an attack aimed primarily at respectable men. I understood that at some level, which you can see from the title of my original post on the ad, but I didn’t put my finger on the meaning of the men grilling. It is the masculine equivalent of women baking apple pies.
It is interesting to see that while Christian culture has been going after married fathers for years both via sermons and films with no complaint, when Gillette crossed that same line secular culture was outraged. I also think it wasn’t a coincidence that the central theme of the movie Courageous was expressed by the Christian men complaining about their fathers while sitting in Adam’s backyard, eating the steaks he had just grilled for them. The symbolism of the barbecue is important enough in Courageous that the scene appears prominently twice in the movie’s trailer. The first time is immediately after the words “Fathers Struggling to Connect”, and the second time is when Adam hands the other men his resolution and announces “I don’t want to be a good enough father.”
