Phil the thinker

Financial Peace of God

2009-09-10T00:51:00.006-04:00

Emily and I have recently began what I have affectionately called a "debt blitz." Two months ago we found ourselves overcome by personal pressure to get out of debt. Pressure not brought on by anyone but ourselves. Biblically i find it very disobedient to have debt.

Many of our financial thoughts have been influenced by Dave Ramsey. You should check him out. www.daveramsey.com So many Americans and Christians alike I believe have been negatively effected by an immediate gratification mentality in our culture. 30 years ago credit cards came into existence and have been out of control ever since. Do you remember the days when you saved for what you wanted. Maybe you do, but those days seem long gone. Credit allows me to buy whatever I want now. I don't need to save for it.

The best thing we had going for us was "Layaway." What happened? It went out of style as soon as it came in. Once you could buy something with credit there was no reason to purchase that same item weeks or months later after saving for it.

Jesus said it was difficult for the rich to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Matt 19:23-24 "Then Jesus said to his disciples, "I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." His disciples thought it would be impossible "When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, "Who then can be saved?"

Of course Jesus was talking to a man who had "great wealth." That of course isn't most of us. Or is it? I know you've heard the stats before but I think they need repeating. Those of us who make more than $35,000 a year are richer than over 95% of the world. Did you know that three billion people live on less than $2 per day while 1.3 billion get by on less than $1 per day.

Jesus also said "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." We have to recognize the principle here.

Think about how often we purchase things we won't be able to take to heaven. Most everything. Now before you think I'm over the top here, I'm not referring to literally everything, but what about those CD's we buy or the DVDs, or the new rug we need to go with out living room, or the new phone we just bought because every two years if not more often... we need another. Do you really? I know.... It's a christian CD, or it was just a great movie, or you fill in the blank. It's all called the same thing: justification.

Now don't get me wrong. You won't soon find Emily and I living in the middle of Kansas in a sod home or anything, growing our own crops and away from the world. Although that would be cool. God has placed us in this country. But I do think that we all should seriously reconsider what we believe to be needs and wants. Especially considering those things we go into debt to purchase. I believe it's time that we reconsider how rich we are and how that plays into our full devotion to God.

Though the Bible was set in a different time setting and culture I believe that these principles are relevant throughout time. God is great at that, isn't He?

Davids emotions

2009-09-08T09:29:00.004-04:00

Wow! Lately I've just been in awe of God's greatness. In awe of His goodness. I really just love the Lord. I am not sure quite how to explain it any differently than that. Maybe I could say that I really appreciate God, or really care for him in indescribable ways. I just really love the Lord.

One of the things I enjoy so much about David's writings is his sincerity. He writes the way he is truly feeling. When reading through the Psalms it's difficult to find a more genuine heartfelt text in scripture. Look at Psalm 63. David says God "I earnestly seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you." He goes on to say. I will be satisfied with you as I am with the best foods. This is deep stuff. But verse 6 gets to me the most "On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night." Come on now... These are great thoughts. But take an opportunity to read through this Psalm. You'll get a chance to feel what David feels about the Lord.

This is powerful to say these things to God but to say these things to anyone else is a little over the top. Think about it... You can come up to a friend of yours and say "Man I prayed for you last night." He'd say "thanks Man", or maybe "I appreciate that." That's the end of that moment, conversation over. But imagine in your deepest most passionate voice if you said "Bro, I thirst for you, I long for you. Last night while in my bed I couldn't stop thinking of you." It wouldn't be long before you had one less friend. But this is the best way David knows how to show his feelings about God. It's a deep lasting forever type of emotion. I want that. I want to feel that way towards the Lord.

David amazes me at his honesty. He really loved God. God is truly the epitome of all things good, great and loving. Any description of Him won't be enough to explain how great, powerful and merciful He is.

I can't dictate my feelings towards the Lord sometimes. But I know that I owe Him everything.... Everything. It pulls deeply and emotionally at my heart. I really just love God.

The Bible passage that's never preached! Part One

2009-08-26T13:59:00.004-04:00

In all my years in sitting through sermons... at church, at conventions, and yes even at Bible college, I cannot remember a message preached on this passage. Romans 14. This chapter, towards the end of one of our most famous biblical letters, has a very important cultural message that I had never heard before. Yes you've heard it's terminology. Your Bible probably labels the passage "The Weak and the Strong" But read the chapter, it's very interesting, and I would conclude that it doesn't define those terms in the way you've commonly heard them taught.

Romans 14:1 "Accept those whose faith is weak, without quarreling over disputable matters."

This isn't a very difficult verse to understand. There are Christians whose faith is weaker, and those whose is stronger. A weaker brother or sister is a Christian "who because of the weaknesses of his faith, knowledge, conscience, and will, can be influenced to sin against his conscience by the example of a differing stronger brother." (Friesen 398). So a weaker Christian is someone who can be influenced because of their weaknesses. Their conscience may be overly sensitive, their will may be easily turned because they aren't fully convinced of something and may act contrary to their conscience. They may not be as biblically knowledgeable as a stronger brother. Or ultimately their faith, or their firm conviction that the way they choose to live before God is truly the correct way.

A weaker brother is not someone who simply disagrees with you, or gets upset when you both don't feel the same way about a subject.

A stronger brother is someone who then is strong in the way the other is weak. They have the faith and firm conviction in the way they live before the Lord, they have wise Biblical knowledge, and a strong conscience. They live in the freedom of their conscience without being influenced by the different opinions of others.

The chapter goes on to exemplify the freedom that we all should have in making decisions about subjects or things that are biblically disputable. Paul specifically speaks to those who felt that it was sinful to eat certain foods (weaker brothers) and to those who faith allowed them to eat anything (v 2). As you continue to read through the passage you see that Paul says it's wrong to judge those who don't feel the freedom you do (specifically those who eat anything compared to those who don't, but eat just vegetables).

Verse 5b says "Everyone should be fully convinced in their own mind." This is the important principle here. Whatever you feel about a disputable matter (something the Bible doesn't directly command) is your own conviction. Verses 6-9 say that everyone does all that they do before the Lord, for Him. If you eat meat, then you thank God for it. If you don't then you thank God for that as well. Paul says don't judge those who think differently about things than you do. Eating meat wasn't wrong for anyone at that time, and neither was not eating it. But there were those who got caught up on the fact that someone would choose to do something that to them or to their conscience, they didn't feel the freedom to do. Do you think this happens alot today?

Verse 12 then goes on to say that we'll all stand before the Lord and give an account for what we believe. Paul warns not to go on judging others that may be weaker than us, and surely we wouldn't judge those stronger than us. Would we?

This is a very difficult teaching because there are a lot of things the Bible doesn't give a direct command on, things that are disputable. Paul here doesn't give a direct command in reference to eating certain foods. For some their conscience doesn't allow it, but for others it does.

What do you think are examples of areas of this freedom that the Bible doesn't give a direct command on? For a long time movies were sinful, some believe that social dancing is sinful, what about tattoos? Are they sinful? Or are these areas that the Bible doesn't give a specific command to do or not to do?

Some look at an translation of the than the KJV as unholy. Some maybe watching t.v., or kissing before you're married, or wearing a two-piece, or playing cards. These may be comical to some of you. right? What convictions do you have that may actually be disputed by other christians?

To push a little further, what about smoking? Does the Bible say not to? What about drinking wine in moderation? What about Sunday being the most Holy day?

There are endless examples in culture that the Bible simply cannot address. So what are we to do? Think about it. Read Romans 14. I'm interested in hearing your thoughts.

I believe that Paul does give us some teaching that will guide us and I will dig deeper in Part two (Rom 14:13 - 15:2) and discuss how Paul tells us to view these things.

- Alot of my thought from this post are credited to the author Garry Friesen in his book "Decision making and the Will of God"

Because I said so...

2009-08-14T10:49:00.006-04:00

Do you remember the times when you were a kid and that's the answer you got. "Because I said so." "But Mom, that's not fair." It didn't matter that life wasn't fair because of what you weren't getting. Your Mom, your Dad, the parents around you who God choose to raise you, had the power and authority to let you know how it was going to be.

I admit I didn't always understand that. I still don't think I do sometimes. The intellectual in me as a child would respond, "I know that life's not fair, but you can do something to make it more fair? Can't you?" You see to me there was some grave lack of justice going on. Whatever the situation was, I deserved more. But my Mom didn't see it that way. Your parents probably didn't either, and so we were given the ultimate response to all our endless childhood "How come?" and "Why?"questions: "Because I said so."

Romans 9:18 says "Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy and he hardens whom he wants to harden." We've heard that before in scripture, but look at what Paul goes on to say: 19 "One of you will say to me: 'Then why does God still blame us? For who is able to resist his will?'" These are great questions. Honestly, if God, the omnipotent, sovereign, omniscient being that He is chooses to do something, then who are we to stop Him? But then, why are we to blame for those things, it's not like we are going to resist His will (the sovereign one that always comes to pass)? Are we?

But Paul goes on to say "But who are you, a mere human being, to talk back to God? Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, 'Why did you make me like this?' Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for disposal of refuse?" In other words, who am I to tell my maker and God what to do? Am I confused about who has the authority here?

This doesn't sit well with me. Does it you? Would God really harden a heart? Would he really do that?

I believe that it's difficult for us to balance God's nature at times. We call Him loving and gracious, but forget that He also must be equally just. We call Him "our Father" but forget that we should also fear Him. A.W. Tozer says "All of God's acts are consistent with all of His attributes... All God does agrees with all that God is."

God has the power to act and do anythings He wants. We cannot stop Him, we cannot control Him. Whatever He chooses to do is the perfect thing to do, it's the just thing to do.

We don't deserve anything from God. We're all sinners right? (Rom 3:23) If it were just up to God's justice, we would all be dead, but God is equally merciful, that's why we have a chance of redemption. He sent Jesus, He is the way to reconcile ourselves of sin, to God.

This seems to be a fairly grim outlook on life? Yes, and no. Remember He is both merciful and just. We don't deserve anything we've been given by God, it's only by His grace.

That's what I'm thinking on today. God's grace. If you rely on God's grace too much, maybe you should think more on His justice. If on His justice and think He isn't a loving a merciful God. Think then on His grace. He is a personal God.

Today I'll remember that I'm not owed anything, but desire to love the Lord because of his mercy and grace on me through faith. It's a perfect balance. But in the end God is and always will be God, and you can't argue with "Because I said so."

Why I Blog!

2009-08-12T12:18:00.004-04:00

I secretly always had a desire to blog. Now is the time where it has finally caught up with me and I've decided to take it on.

Here are my reasons:
- I process verbally. (Never thought I'd be saying that)
- I enjoy contemplating challenging thoughts and ideas. This blog will offer me a better opportunity to work through my everyday ideas.
- I want to challenge others to think with me. I believe no one should should just accept a piece of information without first understanding it. We accept too much and understand too little.