Of God and Country

It may just be that I'm not exactly the most nationalistic person in the world, but for the longest time, I've been wrestling with a strange attitude creeping into my thinking... something that feels foreign, not only to my past way of thinking, but to the thinking of those around me now.

What do you think about the importance of politics... of the government... of America?

By that, I don't mean "What's you're opinion of politics?" or "Are you liberal or conservative?" No, I'm asking about something more meaningful than that. What I'm really asking is, "How important is it?" And before you label me as an anarchist or even worse, a college student that doesn't vote... let me explain.

I grew up like every average American kid, and was born and raised in the south. As a result, my education taught me that there was glory in the American Revolution and every war since, that democracy is king (pun anyone?), and that freedom, justice, and the American dream are what we as Americans should strive for above all. While I understand how an American education leads to an American glorification, that's not even what I want to address. What I have really come to realize now is that... the church does it too.

What do I mean, you ask? Let me put forward a couple of examples. Growing up, I remember several points of debate within the Christian community concerned with faith and country. The highlights include the possibility of removing "In God We Trust" from currency, removing "Under God" from the pledge of alegiance, teaching evolution in schools, and just about every election featuring the godly conservative against the atheist democrat (during a debate in 2004, my siblings and i threw easter eggs at the TV when John Kerry showed up on the screen). Now it's true that these issues contain aspects of our faith and citizenship and must therefore be recognized. However, when the church gets up in arms while claiming that "God is being taken out of America," I believe we have crossed a line.

I spent the 2 weeks studying Acts 10 as a part of my Greek Exegesis course last fall. This chapter marks the beginning of the Gospel being preached to the Gentiles. Take a minute to realize what that means.Throughout the Old Testament period, God communicated with, protected, and disciplined the nation of Israel. He commanded his people to keep away from the other "Canaanite nations" so that the idol worship and immorality of the culture would not pull them away from the true God. In Acts 10, Peter shares the Gospel with these pagan "outsiders," and they come to belief in Christ. What a glorious turn-around this was, not only for the Gentiles, but for the apostles to realize that the whole WORLD could come to Christ!

While the apostles realized the glory of God's plan, some of the Jewish people were less understanding. Many held tight to their identity as a nation set apart, and reacted violently and maliciously towards any who thought otherwise. They saw God and Nation as one inseparable concept, and saw any change in that as heresy. Could it be that the American church does the same?

When we shake our heads in shame because the government wants to take God out of the pledge, are we doing so because less people will come to Christ, or because our country won't take up our Christian identity? When we groan as states legalize same-sex marriage (the number is constantly growing), are we saddened that so many in our country are caught in such a painful, entrapping sin that misses God's best for us, or are we simply upset that others are allowed to sin... even others that don't even know Christ?

When we hold America to a Christian standard, we tell hundreds of thousands of people that they have to obey a God that they don't believe in. We shove aside the Gospel and God's grace, and instead place commandments of God on those who don't even know Him. In fact, how contradictory to the gospel is that? So often we get frustrated and angry with those who don't abide by God's standards when we know they haven't even experienced his grace. In this we reflect our desire for moral conformity rather than the salvation of our countrymen.

America is indeed a blessing from God, a place to live and interact in great freedom, and for that I am thankful. But what if America wasn't the most important identity we hold? What if it were simply the context in which God has placed us to reach the world? Can we see the presence of sin as a need for God's grace and forgiveness? Can we pray for all the canidates, see votes as opportunities and not duties, and the increase in godlessness as an opportunity for revival?

Let freedom ring in the hearts of the redeemed, let liberty come to free slaves of sin, and let the justice of God come with His kingdom.

Brian

Christlike Nothingness in a Culture of Entitlement

A Purpose

    One of the chief reasons that Scott Holcombe and I keep this blog (and I believe Scott would agree) is to share insights and revelations of Christ received through the Scriptures first, and then through the qualities of our culture and the world around us. Put simply, the Christian life is never static. The follower of Christ is continually observant and receptive to the words of God in the Scriptures. In addition, this revelation is not simply stored, but is the window in which we evaluate and view the world around us.

    This blog is where we have the privilege of sharing what the world looks like in light of God's truth. It's the very heart of how we develop our "Christian Worldview." Notice I said "develop." At no time did a man or woman come to Christ and then instantly see the world as God sees it. Never was one able to identify every single philosophy and mindset that contrasted with God's plan for his people. But praise be to God, for He continually "puts (his) laws into (our) minds, and writes them on (our) hearts." (Hebrews 8:10)


Economic Entitlement


     I remember a while ago back in my high school years hearing of "economic troubles" on the news. I assumed back then that as long as I wasn't a stock broker, banker, or CEO, I really wasn't in any trouble at all. I was under a juvenile assumption that because my family had lived comfortably as long as I could remember, I would do the same even after I left home. Surely it was only fair that I was able to get a job, buy a house, and get around while living in America... it's what everybody did! Sure, they would talk about economic troubles on TV, but around me I saw people living life like always, so surely it was all just talk. I felt ENTITLED to a comfortable life, given to me because I deserved it somehow.

    However, you and I now know that this is not the case. My eyes have been opened to see those who are not as fortunate as my family was, and that it's not all comfort and safety. Personally, I have discovered through experience how difficult it is to secure a job and a healthy savings. As I grew in my perception of how my culture worked, I realized that what I thought was automatically mine - a house, a job, and an income - wasn't necessarily mine to claim. Instead, as Paul writes to the church in Philippi, "My God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus." We are only entitled to what our God says we need. Though I think I "need" a job, a comfortable income, and a safe and secure house, I actually only need that which God has planned for me to possess.

Personal Entitlement


     Here is where I risk receiving a lot of mixed response... but I am fully convinced of what God is teaching me, and I am coming to realize what a RADICAL humility God has called His followers to. Too often we are under the impression that when God calls us to humility, he calls us to humility by our cultures standards. So as long as we aren't coming off as prideful and selfish to others, we believe we are successfully living a life of complete humility.

    The problem is, our culture's view of pride and humility is based off of the assumption that we have an understood entitlement as human beings to a "certain set of rights." Therefore, it's not the least bit selfish to not only get upset when our order at the local restaurant is messed up or doesn't arrive in the expected time limit. In fact, its not even abnormal to expect a discount or a free coupon in return for our inconvenience. If someone cuts us off while driving down the highway, it is only expected that we return the favor by blasting the horn or throwing up our hands in disgust. And here's the kicker... if someone makes incorrect and hurtful statements about our character, we are expected to treat them with disgust because of what they said, even when we know the statements weren't even true. A good friend of mine once blew me away with his reaction to a similar situation. When falsely accused of shallowness, he told me "at first I was angry, but then realized, it really doesn't matter what he thinks... God knows my heart, not him!"

Check this out.

Philippians 2:3-7
    Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. ⁴Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. ⁵ Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, ⁶ who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, ⁷but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.


    What catches my attention is that Paul is talking about a mindset and attitude, not simply a behavior. This isn't a 1st century behavior that doesn't apply to today's culture, it's simply having the mind of Christ. No matter where you are or what group of people you are with, placing others as more important than yourself looks the exact same! Verses 5-7 show us where this humility comes from. It comes from the mind of Christ... and what is the mind of Christ? To make yourself nothing. 


   This is where I and countless others just don't seem to get it sometimes. Our culture tells us we have a certain worth in our existence, and indeed, we do... but it is NOT of ourselves.We do have worth, all created men and women, and that worth is bound in the fact that we are in the image of God. Apart from God, Brian Dicks is worthless. Without Christ, I have no right to respect, and no right to dignity. I am called to become everything that I am in Christ, but nothing of myself. Any rights that I do not have in Christ... these I am called to let go of. This is what it means to become nothing in Christ.


I once heard a preacher over the radio exclaim, "How do you know if you are living like a servant? How do you respond when you are treated like one?" Our servant-hood to Christ does not simply describe our behavior... it is our very identity. My prayer is that myself and the rest of God's people are continually intentional about how we live, that the church may show Christ to the world in our life, until He comes. I pray that we strive to become nothing in ourselves, and everything in Christ.


Brian Dicks

Death, Where is Thy Sting?

(This post is a response to the sudden death of Meagan Jones, Junior at Bryan College)

One of the most brilliant and effective strategies of combat has always been this: Take the ultimate weapon of the enemy and turn it upon them.

It's modeled in many movies and popular stories of warfare and struggle... that incredible moment that when all seems lost, the hero finds a way to take an enemy's greatest advantage and use it to destroy them. The Death Star becomes the death of the Empire... the One Ring is dropped into Mount Doom, and Mordor's armies are wiped out.

Let's take a glimpse into another story of good vs. evil. The setting is a picturesque land, filled with beautiful scenery. There are no threats or danger, and the residents are free to live in harmony with the land, and with the One who brought this perfect land into being. In fact, the inhabitants are so special to their maker that He made them to act and think like Him, though still limited, lacking His infinite power and might. All is right and good.

But soon, we sense something is about to go wrong. A devious figure who just doesn't seem right approaches two of the inhabitants, and carries out a plan of deceit. He convinces these inhabitants to commit the one act that their Maker knows will throw all of the goodness of the land into turmoil. Not realizing the gravity of their actions, they forsake instruction and in doing so, the enemy strikes a swift and crushing blow! You see, this devious figure turns out to be no one else than the leader of all evil, whose only desire is to draw the inhabitants of the land away from their Maker, to become greater than the maker, and to bring all of humanity to death and destruction.

You see, death is his one weapon. His deception allowed him to silence every single person who ever lived with suffering and pain, all concluding in death. There was no stopping it... humankind was powerless against it. It was that moment in every good story in which you think all is lost.

But like only the most memorable and meaningful of stories, RESCUE COMES. And like the best stories, it comes in the most unexpected way. A man like all the rest begins speaking of life. Many miss the point he tries to make, but a select few begin to realize just who he actually is. Rumors spread that this man was promised by the Maker... promised as one who would save all of humankind! However, the enemy - still wielding the dagger of death - brought him down. His fellow man conspired against him as the enemy had planned. The hero was tricked, snared, beat down, and hung up to die... or so everyone thought.

No one knows what exactly happened those next few days. Some say the hero traveled to the enemy's prison and released those who had been chained in eternal death. Some say he simply slept, others think he was with the Maker. But while all mankind sat in the sorrow and hopelessness that they had always known, and as the enemy watched with satisfaction at his apparent victory...

The earth shook VIOLENTLY, and the tomb - the one that held the one called Jesus - SPLIT WIDE OPEN.

For the first time ever, death was countered. The "unbeatable" weapon of the enemy was beaten. But it was not merely defeated. No, death itself had produced life! The death of mankind's Savior only brought Him back as one never to be touched by death. And in Christ's great act of salvation, the death that bound all men was now what brought life... not just any life, but life as the Maker had first intended. The weapon of the enemy was turned against its owner, and now every use of death upon those who clung to the Maker yielded full, unbreakable life.

There are some who may look on Meagan's death as a complete and utter tragedy. Indeed it is tragic for one so young and so loved by her friends and family to suddenly become absent among them. Though we know death comes to all, we do not expect it so soon. But for those of us who know this story, for those of us who know how true it is... Meagan's death is not death at all. We know that Meagan knew this story too, and that she held to it in complete faith. We know that just as the grave could not hold our Savior, it has no hold on her. Death, where is thy sting? Thanks be to God, Meagan feels no more pain after you. Death, where is thy victory? Thanks be to God, Meagan has experienced the greatest of victories after you. Thanks be to God.

Brian

Slave of Christ

Paul identifies himself, as he often does in his letters, as a δοῦλος of Jesus Christ.  Most English versions translate this "servant."  Others translate it "bond-servant," or "slave".  The greek word here literally means "slave," but in our context the word slave has extremely bad connotations.  Because of this, modern translators opt to go with a word that keeps the "idea," but isn't distorted by our cultural understanding of slavery.

John MacArthur wrote an entire book on exactly what Paul meant when he used the word δοῦλος, and although I have not read it, I have heard him speak on the subject, and would highly suggest it.


Here's the crux of what I want to say about this concept.  We have such a negative sense of slavery here in America, and rightly so!  No human being should be bought as property by another human being!  But think with me for just a moment about why Paul uses this term.  What can we draw from the first few words of Romans?


Why is it wrong for a human to be the property of another human?  Because all humanity is created equal, right?  There is no superior race, superior breed of humanity, etc.  God created all humanity from one man.  My point here is not to argue the "wrongness" of slavery, but to get you to see what I'm going to say next.


I think that we normally read Paul's introduciton of himself as a slave of Jesus Christ and think something like this..."Ok.  So, Paul is saying that he is acts as a slave of Jesus Christ. He has chosen to totally commit himself to Jesus Christ his master."  I think that this gets at part of Paul's heart, but let's keep probing deeper.


Another reason human slavery is so wrong (disregarding those who choose slavery because of a debt owed or something similar) is that freedom and vitality of life is stripped from the individual who is forced into slavery.  They can no longer do what their heart desires, but are forced to do the will of their master.  Maybe that's how some of you think about yourself as a "slave" of Jesus Christ.  I think it goes even further than that for us.


Think with me about this passage in Ephesians 2.

2 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 

So, unlike the otherwise free African slaves that came to America years ago, we were not free to live as we pleased.  We were not "OK" until God made us His slaves.  In fact, Ephesians says that we were DEAD!  What is a dead person free to do?  You were spiritually dead! Hopeless!

4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. 

God in His what?  His Authority as a Master to get all the slaves He could? NO! His mercy!


Being a slave of God means that He has rescued, redeemed, delivered, and purchased you!  He reached down into your "deadness" and sin and purchased you for Himself.  It's God's grace that you are His slave!  It's not some sort of Divine Master that rules over you with an iron fist relationship, but a love relationship.


Paul's use of the word δοῦλος reminds us that we did not choose to "come under the 'Master-ship' of God" or "decide that God was the best person to work for." No.  It's because of the incomprehensible, majestic mercy of God that reached down and saved you and I from death by purchasing us with the blood of His Son, Jesus Christ.  We have been purchased by the Creator, the King of King, the Sovereign God of the universe and now we serve Him with our lives.

Unlike the slavery we know, in which hope was stripped away from the slaves, our slavery is at the very center of our hope.  God reached down and purchased hope for us through His Son.

Stop believing the lie that God saving you ruined your ability to experience life to the fullest.  Being a slave of God does not limit your freedom, but rather enhances it.

Stop and thank God that in His mercy He saved you.

Proudly accept and "wear" the title "slave of Jesus Christ," for there could be no greater title.

Scott

What We Learn from Ruth

            I studied and taught through the book of Ruth this summer in our college ministry at Grace Baptist Church in Chattanooga, TN.  It was a phenomenal experience for me in both the learning and the teaching aspects!  At the end of my studying, I wrote out a summary of the lessons that I believe God had us to focus on this summer from Ruth.  I hope that they are both encouraging and challenging to you.

What Do We Learn from Ruth?

            Now that we can see not only the individual scenes of the book of Ruth, but now also the book in its entirety, we must ask, “What does the Holy Spirit intend us to learn about God’s character, how He works in our world, and how we should correctly respond to Him?”

            In chapter 1, we learned that God is Sovereign over all events in all of history.  But not only is He Sovereign, He is also good and trustworthy!  In the midst of the most intense pain and greatest loss, God has not turned His back on us.   In the midst of dark, oppressive times, God is still working in our world.  Many times, however, when difficult situations come our way, we become bitter and miss God’s work in our lives – our Bitterness Blinds Us from Seeing God’s Blessings.  Even when we can’t understand what God is doing, even when it seems like God is against us, we must trust His Word and trust His heart.

            In chapter 2, we focused in on Ruth’s journey into Boaz’s field.  She didn’t think long and hard about which field to choose, nor do we sense any kind of pressure.  This was just a daily decision.  But this decision was essential to God’s plan of redemption! Ruth had to end up in Boaz’s field.  Since we can see the entire story and then the larger Story of God’s redemptive work, we get insight into how God interacts and leads His people.  Though we don’t see Ruth struggling with the decision, we do see her coming under the “wings of God” in chapter 1.  She made a decision that the God of Israel was the God that she would serve and love.  Just a few verses later we find her in Boaz’s field.  Ruth was simply doing life “under the wings of God.”  She was going to provide for herself and Naomi, not doing anything “spiritual,” so to speak.  Too often, in our minds, we limit God to the spectacular, the big, the weighty!  But the story of Ruth teaches us that God works in the small, the minute, the daily grind.  We said that the defining moment of our lives may come when we are simply being obedient and “doing life.”  Every conversation, every relationship, every accident is a part of God’s working in our lives.

            In chapter 3, we mainly focused on hope.  Naomi went from hopelessness in chapters 1 & 2 to finally catching just a glimpse of God’s kindness to her when Ruth relays her encounter with Boaz.  Naomi realizes that God is not against her, but is fighting for her.  As soon as she realizes this hope, she begins fighting for others.  

                We too, when we have hope for or in something, take the focus off of ourselves and onto the source of that hope.  This enables us to fight for people rather than ourselves.  The reality is that we have the greatest hope, the ultimate hope of eternal life with the God of the Universe because of what Jesus has done for us on the cross.  However, too often we live our lives as if we do not have hope!  We live to build ourselves up, live to secure earthly hope, earthly security, earthly pleasures for ourselves at the expense of others because we don’t understand the hope that we have.  Jesus secured all that we could ever want or need on the cross.  And His resurrection gives us hope and sends us out into the world.  As we come into a deeper understanding of the hope that we have, we are freed to love unconditionally, serve passionately, and give relentlessly because I am secure.  I don’t have to secure anything else for myself, but fight with God in His plan to spread His love and Glory over the earth.

            In chapter 4, we see Boaz as the redeemer of Ruth.  The whole idea of the kinsman-redeemer is a beautiful picture of Christ!  Ruth was a foreigner, she was hopeless and helpless, and had no way to redeem herself.  All that she had to offer was her broken life.  We see her at Boaz’s feet in chapters 2 & 3, her rightful position in that culture, but also her position of humility.  Boaz is a close relative of the family, he has the wealth needed to redeem her, and he was willing to do just that.  He does all that was necessary to secure for her a hope and a future with him, and takes her as his own to be his bride.  

           Do you see the picture yet?  

           Ephesians 2, as well as other passages, tells us that we were “dead in our trespasses and sins.” We were foreigners, not only non-Israelites, but sinners that God could not justly have anything to do with.  All that we had to offer were the filthy rags of our sin, and our dead hearts.   The only place that we can go is the feet of Jesus, who God sent down to earth to die in our place.  We cannot do anything to earn our way into the family.  In fact, we wouldn’t even know that we needed to be revived unless God’s Spirit had not revealed that to us!  We too were hopeless and helpless.  So, God in His mercy sent Jesus to be our redeemer.  Jesus became “like us” when He took on human flesh.  

          Not only was He human so that He could die in our place, He was fully Deity so that He was able to pay the infinite penalty for the sins of the whole world.  Lastly, and most unbelievable, He was also willing to do all of this for us!  Hebrews 12 tells us that Jesus endured the cross because of “the joy set before Him.”  That joy was glorifying the Father by redeeming a people from every tribe, tongue and nation to worship Him.  Jesus endured the cross to redeem you and me!  We are His beautiful bride; He is our Kinsman-Redeemer! And Boaz in the story of Ruth embodies Christ as the greatest redeemer.

            Every trial, every blessing, every encounter, and every seemingly insignificant decision is part of a much larger, grander plan of God.  God’s work in our world is to bring glory to Jesus, the great redeemer.  The book of Ruth shamelessly points to Jesus in both the concept of the kinsman redeemer and the Offspring of Ruth.  So, Naomi’s heartaches – they were about Jesus.  God leading Ruth into Boaz’s field was about Jesus.  Boaz’s work of redemption was a picture of Jesus’ redemption of all those who would trust in Him including both past, present, and future humanity.  Piper clarifies this in saying, “the blood of Jesus flows forward and backward in history.”  Jesus paid for the sins of Boaz, Ruth, and Naomi, just like He did for you and me.  They were trusting by faith that God would send a redeemer; we trust that He did send that redeemer – Jesus Christ. 

            Just like the lives of Naomi, Ruth, and Boaz were about Jesus, our lives will be to the glory of Jesus.  If we are believers, we will glorify Him by eternally showing and glorying in the work of His grace and mercy, and being ambassadors of His grace to the rest of the world. If we do not trust in the work of Christ, we will glorify Him by proving the justice of His character and wrath against sin.  God desires that all come to repentance, and if you haven’t ever trusted Christ, today is the day for you to do that.  Look and see the beauty of what Christ has done and the beautiful picture of it in the book of Ruth.  Your life, whether you are a believer or not, is not about you.  You are here to serve a much larger, much more significant purpose than to fill a spot on earth for 80 years.  Our lives are about the Kingdom of God.  

             Remember, Ruth teaches us that we can bear the weight of great loss because we know that God is a loving God, working for our good and the Glory of Jesus in every situation.  We can stop living for ourselves because Jesus has secured all that we need on the cross, enabling us to love and serve others rather than ourselves, regardless of our circumstances.  Ruth points us to the Gospel, and the Gospel reminds us that our lives are not our own, we have been bought, like Ruth, with a price.  Therefore, we live to honor Christ, not ourselves.

The Aroma of Christ

Well, it has definitely been a long time. Apologies for the lack of posts the past couple of months!

This morning has been an early one for me. It's my first morning in Budapest, and the sun rises at an early 4 AM, so I've been at it since about 5:30 this morning. While I usually meet an early morning with contempt, this morning has been a wonderful time to learn how to use a french press, enjoy the fruits of my newly found skill, and sit down to drink; not only coffee with cream, but also the Word of God.

Wow.

Have you ever thought about how crazy that is? I mean, I just finished reading a message.... from the real, true, existing God. Mind-blowing.

Anyways, after reading a couple chapters worth in 1 Kings concerning Solomon's specs of the temple, I turned to my New Testament reading for some of Paul's teachings in 2 Corinthians. Sometimes I'll read a passage that makes me say to myself, "Wow, that's incredible... I wonder, how many others have yet to be impacted by this?" Hence my urge to write, the shocking realization that it's been way too long, and now here I am.

As we read Paul's epistles, we can''t help but notice his ridiculous obsession with metaphors. Almost every "catch-phrase" involves a metaphor... "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race," "Run in such a way to receive the prize," etc. In chapters 2-4 of 2 Corinthians, Paul pulls out all the stops on his metaphors, and in doing so paints a spectacular picture of the Christian's relationship with Christ. While I want to talk about all of them, I'll just focus on the first. Let's take a look.

The Aroma of Christ.

"For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, and the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things?" -2 Corinthians 2:15-16


To be honest, this phrase has always puzzled me. Not often do we see Christ compared with a smell, and Paul doesn't give much of an explanation for this unique comparison. But I did a little bit of studying, and found some amazing stuff. First, while Paul uses the Greek word osme for "fragrance" in verse 14, a word that can be used of good and bad smells, he uses the word eueida for "aroma" in verse 15, a word that characterizes only pleasurable smells!

Second, this aroma is experienced by God (aroma of Christ to God), giving a picture of God's delight in His children's teaching of the gospel. Finally, this teaching is shown to be a fragrance of life to those who are saved, and a fragrance of death to those who are lost. Therefore the Gospel brings hope of life to those in Christ, but the scent of certain death to those in sin, making evident their need for salvation.

When you think about it, an aroma is one of the most powerful metaphors, because smell is one of the strongest senses of the human body. While it may seem that our sense of smell is inferior to those of taste, sight, touch, and hearing, it is actually quite impacting. Our smell has the strongest tie to our memory out of all 5 of our senses. Its for this reason the the smell of salon products will always instantly bring me back to Christmas in the early to mid 90's. We would spend Christmas at my grandparents house in  Illinois, and the strong smell of the beauty shop my grandmother ran in the basement stuck with me.

If our words, actions, and lives are an aroma of Christ, that means our interactions with people cause them to "smell" Christ. In interactions with unbelievers, the aroma we carry will cause them to catch the presence of a gift they don't possess. Paul tells us that it is the smell of death... to the unbeliever, our aroma is the confirmation that they are not yet saved by God's glorious grace. In many cases, this will be likely to instill a desire for the aroma they smell to be an aroma of life to them.
 
In interactions with fellow believers, this means that the aroma brings them back to an overwhelming memory of Christ's love. Whether it be a simple meeting at a coffeehouse, a Sunday morning at church, or a game of frisbee at the park; if we have the aroma of Christ, just being around other Christians will encourage them and strengthen them in Christ, while the aroma they carry will strengthen us as well. That's what true Christian fellowship is; the mutual strengthening and encouraging of believers in Christ.

Is Christ so evident in your thoughts and actions that you give off His aroma wherever you go?

As High as the Heavens are Above the Earth

A devout and godly Christian that dies from cancer at an early age...

An earthquake that kills thousands and thousands of people in Japan...

A group of terrorists that kill thousands of  innocent people on 9/11...

A God that allows people to suffer, some for eternity in an awful Hell...

A God that sacrifices his own perfect Son for a group of people who defy Him...

What do these have in common?

These situations are all related in that they often go against our basic sense of reasoning and our view of who God is. Ask any non-Christian why they don't believe in the existence of Christ, and they will likely name one of these events, or others like it. Even if Christ did exist, they still don't see how he could possibly have their best interests at stake. 

The sobering thing is though, not only "unbelievers" think this way. So do Christians! I would be lying if I claimed a never-wavering faith in every single thing God does or has done, whether in my life, in history, or in Scripture. If you are like me, the question "If God is good, why do these things happen?" is sometimes never fully satisfied. 

We try to answer it cleverly by saying "Well, it's obviously because of sin's presence in the world." True, but why did God allow sin in the world? If He hates Sin and He hates suffering, why does he allow it? 

Well, because He's God, and He does what He wills.

Sadly, this answer isn't quite as satisfying as we'd hoped it would be. It sounds to many like the principal Christian cop-out. "Just because, He's God." But it's true, He is God, and He does do things that don't make sense to us. But instead of gaining a sense of security, the only thing this statement does is cause us to bite our lip.

Why doesn't this give us a sense of joy and security? 

Because despite the fact that God is sovereign, bad things still happen!

We aren't letting go of our own human reasoning. We want God to line His reasoning up with ours, but He's God, and He doesn't, and it's not fair. We wouldn't say this of course, but I know I feel it often. Again, all we do is bite our lip and sigh while saying "God, you know what you're doing."

What if we lined our reasoning up with His? 

What if, while acknowledging we will never understand God's reasoning, we made it our own!?

What does this look like? It looks like accepting every circumstance with a genuine joy, because the God of the universe is in control! Instead of simply claiming "He will make things turn out in the end," we can claim "Things are just as they should be, and are that way for a glorious purpose!"

Does this take away grieving and sadness? By all means no. But in a statement that many would consider extreme (and I don't often state the extreme), I believe this takes away confusion, doubt, and anger in the hardest circumstances. But before you protest...

In this life, we will never be completely free from confusion

Just as we will still sin as God's children on earth, we will still doubt. But just as we are sanctified and sin is no longer our master, neither is doubt and confusion! Instead, the doubt of God's plan is not natural, but rather a human arrogance; a sense of entitlement to our own sense of reasoning. 

"For as the heavens are higher than the earth,so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." Isaiah 55:9

In Christ, every season is a season of joy and security.

Brian

Francis Chan on Arrogance (3:00 to 7:00ish)