While trying to maintain sanity in the midst of work and class and class work this week I began reading this book Red Letter Christians by Tony Campolo (which I heard of when he visited Hardin-Simmons and on television when he was a guest on The Colbert Report). It is an interesting book written by a very interesting guy. I am over halfway done and agree on some things with Campolo while disagreeing on other issues. I hope to finish the book soon (hopefully this week). I believe in my heart that my allegiance to the United Sates is always subservient to my allegiance to Christ. It bothers me that many times I feel we believe we are more or less Christian if we support our country that if we do not at times.
This is not to state that I do not like my country. I love America... but my first allegiance, my first pledge is to seek the Kingdom of God, to obey Christ, and to sacrifice my all for Him; in whatever manner that service may play out in my daily life. I know I have brothers and sisters in other countries. I know there are Christians all around the world and our technology is ever-more expressing the idea of a "global village" I believe that we as Christians must embrace and realize that the church in universal, it contains various cultures and backgrounds. Within this truth is the fact that every Christian’s allegiance is first to God and Jesus Christ and second to the world in which we live out our life. Does not the kingdom of God take precedence over the Kingdom of Man? (Acts 4:18-20; 5:28-31)
In Christ,
Daniel
Article:
http://erlc.com/article/to-whom-do-you-pledge-your-allegiance
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Monday, March 3, 2008
Living Alongside God
Life, as I experience it, is full of so many utter distractions that sometimes, many times, it seems almost impossible to be drawn into the presence of God. We have so determined and planned our life in America that we do not truly take the time to sit and ponder, think, pray, or simply converse with God. Where is the room for the Holy Spirit to work? Where is the time for us to become inspired? Where is the time for us to become impassioned with reaching others to God if we never take the time to draw in the presence of God?
I have gone back and forth between doing quiet times, praying, and having times in which my spiritual life is what I would call dry. But why does it become dry? I believe it comes out of those small, seemingly insignificant times where we place top priorities on things other than God, other than seeking to bring about his Kingdom in this world. Many times, we seek to bring our own Kingdom into this world; full of our wants, desires, and needs... we have little regard for God; whether it is because of fear, pride, greed, insecurity.
Those times that at first seem insignificant build up, like a building… or like a game of JENGA. We keep building and building, trying to be sly and continue living our own life while trying to look Christian or appear all right to everyone else. But eventually the whole tower falls down. That is how our spiritual life is when we try to play God, leaving all the empty holes, which only God can fill. Our life becomes so complicated with drama, fronts, hypocrisy, depression, lies, hidden agendas... and then. Boom! Crash! We are totally left devastated. Our spiritual life becomes like a tornado zone, only slight pieces and sections of our faith can be found scattered across the portions of our life. Faith and our walk with Christ seem to be harder at this point, the point when we must now rebuild the foundation from the beginning once again.
However, not all hope is lost. Why? Because if we begin to build our life with the help of God we can now fill in the gaps. God walks alongside us, helping and guiding us in the ways that we should go. If we do not fall into those distractions and temptations then we really have an ability to build a stronger and more personal relationship with God then before. There is really a chance that we could become the godly man or woman that God desires for us to be, that in the midst of the storm we can lay all of our own wants and desires down. Then we believe and trust that God will get us through the hard times.
Yet, we must readily take hold of; we must grasp and be persistent in our faith, not letting it go for every little thing that comes along. Perseverance, standing firm does not imply lack of action but the action of obedience to Christ. It does not mean standing still or simply not doing evil, bad, or not sinning - it means inviting the Kingdom into our daily life. It means practicing and being involved in good, in change, in a reformation of the heart and mind, of enlivening our habits and passions, infusing them with the love and light of the Kingdom of God.
It means listening to the still small voice of God
It means boldly following
It means giving up self
It means grace costing something
It means discipleship as an extension of evangelism
It means showing the light of Christ
It means expressing the Kingdom of God on earth
It means making God first
And making self last
It means something new
Something transforming
Becoming something different
It means living in the image of Christ
It means returning to a right relationship with God
And It means so much more...
~ Daniel
I have gone back and forth between doing quiet times, praying, and having times in which my spiritual life is what I would call dry. But why does it become dry? I believe it comes out of those small, seemingly insignificant times where we place top priorities on things other than God, other than seeking to bring about his Kingdom in this world. Many times, we seek to bring our own Kingdom into this world; full of our wants, desires, and needs... we have little regard for God; whether it is because of fear, pride, greed, insecurity.
Those times that at first seem insignificant build up, like a building… or like a game of JENGA. We keep building and building, trying to be sly and continue living our own life while trying to look Christian or appear all right to everyone else. But eventually the whole tower falls down. That is how our spiritual life is when we try to play God, leaving all the empty holes, which only God can fill. Our life becomes so complicated with drama, fronts, hypocrisy, depression, lies, hidden agendas... and then. Boom! Crash! We are totally left devastated. Our spiritual life becomes like a tornado zone, only slight pieces and sections of our faith can be found scattered across the portions of our life. Faith and our walk with Christ seem to be harder at this point, the point when we must now rebuild the foundation from the beginning once again.
However, not all hope is lost. Why? Because if we begin to build our life with the help of God we can now fill in the gaps. God walks alongside us, helping and guiding us in the ways that we should go. If we do not fall into those distractions and temptations then we really have an ability to build a stronger and more personal relationship with God then before. There is really a chance that we could become the godly man or woman that God desires for us to be, that in the midst of the storm we can lay all of our own wants and desires down. Then we believe and trust that God will get us through the hard times.
Yet, we must readily take hold of; we must grasp and be persistent in our faith, not letting it go for every little thing that comes along. Perseverance, standing firm does not imply lack of action but the action of obedience to Christ. It does not mean standing still or simply not doing evil, bad, or not sinning - it means inviting the Kingdom into our daily life. It means practicing and being involved in good, in change, in a reformation of the heart and mind, of enlivening our habits and passions, infusing them with the love and light of the Kingdom of God.
It means listening to the still small voice of God
It means boldly following
It means giving up self
It means grace costing something
It means discipleship as an extension of evangelism
It means showing the light of Christ
It means expressing the Kingdom of God on earth
It means making God first
And making self last
It means something new
Something transforming
Becoming something different
It means living in the image of Christ
It means returning to a right relationship with God
And It means so much more...
~ Daniel
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